How a grave can be made less grave, or putting the fun back in the funeral

This is a very timely article since plenty of Slovaks will have spent lots of money on flowers and candles over the holiday.  Is buying a personalized coffin wasting money on something that will just end up disintegrating in the ground?  Should death be made less somber and scary, and more familiar, like the Ghanaians managed to do with this custom?  What is the effect of Slovak customs around death and dying?  Finally, what shape would you choose for a coffin?  Or would cremation be your preference? (The article is a bit longer than some, so make sure you go through all three pages, but feel free to skim some parts.)

Should phones be used as pacifiers?

What are the dangers and the advantages of letting small children play with mobile phones, ipads and other electronic devices?  Should such devices be designed and marketed for young children?  Would you give your child something like this?  What should parents do when a child becomes bored in a public place?

Reviewing Radicova

What do you think is important about Radicova and how she will be remembered?  Had she the chance to accomplish anything important?  Was she (and the coalition she headed) weak and unstable, or simply more democratic than the opposition?  What could she have done differently?  Finally, you may feel that she is down but far from out.  Is the Spectator jumping the gun in terms of looking back already?

Why grass does not make a slope slippery

What do you think about the Dutch policy on marijuana use?  Is it hypocritical to make something illegal but to not enforce the law?  Or to enforce it only for tourists and not citizens?  Or to disallow advertizing for this product and not others?  Do you think the author is right when she claims that the slippery slope argument does not hold in this case?  That making marijuana more easily available does not lead users toward experimenting with harder drugs?  Would such a policy work in Slovakia?

In the face of opposition

What do you think causes racist extremism and what can be done to counter it, both around the world and in Slovakia?  Under what circumstances can people make a 180 degree turn in their opinions like this man did?  How common do you think such “conversions” are?  What keeps people trapped in their status in the eyes of others like this man’s tatoos?  Do we believe someone when he/she says that he/she has “really changed”?   Did this man deserve his second chance?

Do we need more women on the airwaves?

This is the last entry you can comment on for the first half of November.

Here is an article about how the UK radio business, and especially radio host positions, are dominated by men.  What might be the reasons for this?  How much do you think this holds true for Slovakia?  What is your relation to radio?  Do you think it is becoming a more or less important medium these days?  Are there any negative effects to be feared by the fact that it is male-dominated?  Are organizations like Sound Women an effective way to fight this?  Finally, given that Slovakia has one of the highest pay gaps between men and women, what should be done to make sure that people are paid fairly and not simply according to their gender (as they appear to be in the UK radio business)?

Facebooking in Tok Pisin

Has the reach of modern technology gone too far?  Are primitive cultures in danger of losing their integrity?  What are the benefits and negative side-effects of globalization of this type?

A crisis of character?

The writer seems to claim that recent events of social unrest, such as the riots in London, were caused by a lack of character (or individual morality).  Do you subscribe to this view, or would you look to more societal or economic causes?  Are young people less virtuous than they were in the past?  Is it time to bring the teaching of ethics and character-building back to the classrooom?  If so, what would (or should) this look like?

Biking in the snow

An article close to my heart, since I spent around two years in the Twin Cities using only a bicycle as transport in all kinds of weather.  Apparently things have gotten better for cyclists since I was there.   Could such improvements also be made in Bratislava?  Should they?  What have your biking experiences (or experiences with cyclists) been like here?  In what circumstances is it realistic to live without a car?

Slovakia in the NYT’s eyes

One possible benefit of the Euro’s crisis and possible bailout is that this small little-known country is getting a lot of coverage from world media sources.  What do you think about how the New York Times portrays us?   Is the picture that they give their readers of Slovakia accurate?  Did they emphasize something too much or forget to report something else?  What about their treatment of the crisis itself?

The power of negative thinking

Another article which has some relevance for me since there is a large Hmong population in the Twin Cities and I once taught writing to a class of mostly Hmong students. 

What is your experience of the mind-body connection?  Is it as powerful as this article claims?  If positive thinking can make you healthy, can negative thoughts/beliefs make you unhealthy or even kill you?  Do you believe in evil spirits or curses?  Or do you have any strange sleep experiences to report?

When the guilty prove innocent

This is the last entry you can comment on for the second half of October.

Everyone knows that a justice system can make mistakes, but what can be done to minimise them?  How have things changed with the advent of DNA testing?  Is the possible innocence of those who are convicted a good argument against capital punishment?  How should the government compensate those whom they incorrectly incarcerate (or execute)?