Please note that this version of the Webhits section is no longer being updated. You should be redirected in a second to the new version (if not, click here).
Semitism.net - a Jewish blog providing news, information and comment on events in Israel and the occupied territories, and in the Jewish and Arab communities worldwide.
Treppenwitz - a blog from Israel by Mr David Bogner.
Rafah Pundits Radio - a Palestinian blog from the town of Rafah in the Gaza strip.
Tell Me A Secret - a blog by Khalid Jarrar from Baghdad, has an account of a recent interrogation of him by Iraqi police (traumatic, but according to his account far, far less so than it might have been). I have no knowledge of Mr Jarrar's character: the account may or may not be accurate, his fears may or may not have been justified. But it sounds like it could have been a case for Amnesty International. Which is appalling, Mr George W. Bush.
AllAfrica.com - the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide, with offices in Johannesburg, Dakar, Lagos and Washington, D.C.
Libya: News and Views is a digest of news about Libya (partly in English although much of it is in Arabic) from a variety of sources. The contact name for the site is one Dr Ibrahim Ighneiwa, whose home page is an excellent guide to Libya, both what's good there and what's bad.
Kushibo-e Kibun - random thoughts and commentary about selected social, political, economic, and medical issues of the day affecting Korea and East Asia (along with North America) blogged by Seoul journalist Kushibo.
North Korean News.Net, all the latest breaking North Korean news, collated from a variety of sources, including global TV networks, major newspapers, news wires, and a dedicated team of journalists.
North Korean News aggregated by NewsLib, the free news library system. These are generally items published in the world press.
PK Reports from Pyongyang - feature articles from the Japan-based North Korean news service "The People's Korea"
Brazzil Magazine - Fresh news daily from the online English-language magazine dealing with Brazilian politics, economy, behavior, music, tourism, ecology and culture in general.
InfoBrazil - independent analysis and opinion on Brazilian current affairs.
Colombia Week, published by a mixture of Colombian and North American staff.
Venezuela Analysis - an editorially independent website aspiring to become the primary resource for information and analysis on Venezuela in the English language.
MABB blog on Bolivia and Latin America (and other topics) by Miguel A. Buitrago.
Latest Advances in Hydrogen Energy as published on the site of the International Clearinghouse for Hydrogen-based Commerce, compiled by Mr Richard D. Masters. Mainly concerned with developments in hydrogen fuel technologies for cars.
Marquardt Beauty Analysis of California - a company dedicated to researching human visual aesthetics for applications in the arts, medicine, dentistry, psychology and the fashion and cosmetics industries.
Sex, Guys and Cyberspace: Effects of Internet Pornography and Individual Differences on Men's Attitudes Toward Women - a research paper by Azy Barak, William A. Fisher, Sandra Belfry and Darryl R. Lashambe on the subject of measurable psychological effects of internet pornography (and therefore discussing the impact of sexually explicit visual imagery), published in the Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, Vol. 11(1) 1999. In view of the subject matter, I should label this parental advisory, but this is a completely sober piece of academic literature.
A review by Sarah E. Hinlicky for the magazine First Things of Wendy Shalit's book "A Return to Modesty", which discusses issues related to visual representations of women.
The Hijab Shop, based in the UK, is an online specialist shop for Islamic headscarves for women. The website's Hijab articles section is particularly interesting.
Women in Islam - a public page from the !!!!Shiya Muslim MSN group
Magic Dragon multimedia is an extremely detailed resource on science fiction, fantasy and adventure stories from throughout history (to name but a few sections). It's an award-winner
The Art Fix - an electronic venue of free and alternative promotion and distribution of art and literature for the sake of sanity, happiness and art itself.
Android Blues, a 3D gallery by digital artist Steven Stahlberg. As well as providing a showcase for his own work, the site's links section provides a compendium of many other websites about digital, comic book and fantasy art.
Graffiti Against The System (G.A.T.S.) is the site of an L.A.-based "revolutionary graffiti" group that argues for the importance of graffiti as a means of fighting against political and judicial injustice.1
An extract from a book by William Upski Wimsatt highlights potential health risks associated with spray-painting.1 Please note that, according to internet sources, both the spray paints themselves and many of the products used to remove them can produce toxic fumes of the potentially cancer-causing substance methylene chloride (one of a class of chemicals known as Volatile Organic Compounds).
This is not to say that inconsiderate graffiti is not a major problem. In the U.K., a 1971 law prohibits the creation of graffiti outside an area designated for it, and recent legislation has given the police extra powers to impose fines on those who create graffiti, those who sell spray paint to children, and on businesses which fail to clean up graffiti on their property out of their own pocket. An American education program called Graffiti Hurts, which campaigns against graffiti vandalism, highlights evidence of the detrimental impact of graffiti on the local community, and offers guidance on graffiti removal. It also advises that the cost of graffiti removal is a heavy financial burden on local authorities. On the other hand, it also states that community-approved murals enhance the local environment and have tended to be respected by graffiti practitioners in a way that bare walls have not; it also appears to have no objection in principle to the creation of legally designated graffiti walls, although it does not consider them to have been a success in the past. This may point to a compromise solution, or it may not.
On a lighter note, J. Scott Armstrong's satirical article "The Graffiti Problem" will be of no help whatsoever to those engaged in combatting graffiti, but it is quite funny.
Eccentric Cinema - cult movies, reviews and downloads. Strictly parental advisory (and responsible parents may well advise no to anyone under 18 who asks their consent) and probably not one for the squeamish, this is nonetheless an excellent guide to an eclectic range of movies and TV shows, some popular, others obscure (NB it's best viewed in Internet Explorer or with a plug-in for pop-up image captions).
Alex Breure's Osama bin Laden gallery. This link is dedicated to the inhabitants of Islamabad, Riyadh, Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam, Mombasa, New York, Bali, Istanbul, Madrid, London, Birmingham, Sharm el-Sheik and all other innocent people who have suffered at the hands of pseudo-Islamic terrorism.
Muslims Against Terrorism - a compendium of quotations from the Koran that are indicative of the central importance ascribed by Islam to non-violent behaviour. This forms part of the website Islam For Today.
Understanding Jihad - an article by Farida Khanam (from before the September 11th atrocity) on the original meaning of the Islamic term now usually translated as "holy war".
What does Jihad mean? - a 1997 article by Douglas E. Streusand for the Middle East Quarterly, which advertises itself as America's most authoritative journal of Middle Eastern affairs.
The Trail of Political Islam - an essay by Gilles Kepel, published on the openDemocracy website based on a talk he gave in London, on the history of Islamist political movements.
Militant Islam: Roots, History and Ideology - a 2001 article on the history of militant Islamist violence, published on the website of Hadassah, the women's Zionist organisation of America.
Back to contents page. 1I shouldn't feel the need to add this, but for the record I do not, of course, advocate the use of graffiti to cause criminal damage to other people's property.
It is possible, though I would hope unlikely, that you may deem some material linked to by this website to be unsuitable for young children. Basically, I assume that anyone using this website is allowed to do so because they are deemed to have a sensible and responsible attitude to any content they access. I promise not to be gratuitously offensive, since I have no wish to offend anyone, but in the event that I may include material of a potentially objectionable nature I make no apologies for doing so. I AM NOT YOUR BABY-SITTER.
The Francis Was Here music directory - A selection of musicians I would like to recommend to you.
RockyMania's Free-For-All Links Directory.
