The Isle of Mongolia

we know that most obscure domains come from far more obscure islands in big waters. the latest addition is intriguing. An American Domain Cow has the following on offering:

.MN is the one of newest domain name for the Internet. The .MN domain is an unrestricted and largely untapped domain name space on the Internet. Because this TLD is "new" to the market, there are Still Really Good Names Available. Great for Minnesota, Mobile Network, Music News, Main, Midnight. Get a .MN Domain Today. - .MN is the ccTLD of Isle of Mongolia.

P. Hulova in the Mongolian steppe

...yuu bna? brought my attention to this interview with Petra Hulova, the young author of a wonderful book In Memory of My Grandmother (Paměť mojí babičce). The Dutch translation is rather a nail biting experience, and yan has some trouble with the german as well. i hope for everyone the English is a bit better experience. regardless, the book is a gem. Mostly because is it is not a tourist guide to Mongolia, it doesnt try explain everything too much, but uses Mongolia as the landscape for an intriguing family saga.


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technorati: mongolia

New Community Site

There is a new community site for/on/in Mongolia(n) Naiz.mn. Check it out!

Mongolia's Ambivalant Gambling History

There has always been a lot of fuss about gambling in Mongolia. During the rule of the Democratic Party even an MP got jailed over the establishment of a casino. Later a law was passed that only gambling machines were allowed, which under Hungarian patronage resulted in every possible gambling machine being imported into Mongolia adding a lot of blinking lemons and cherries to the streets of Ulaanbaatar. Ultimately it created such a stir with people losing their complete family capital in a day that all game centers were closed down overnight.
Turning away from the electronics, there was some confusion about a horse track, followed by the invention of a free-trade zone near the Chinese border. And now again controversy has arisen over a gambling project planned close to the international Chingis Khaan airport. It has turned pretty much the some old thing with parliamentarians accusing each other of chasing after personal benefit in a recent UB Post article.

The draft faced strong opposition from L.Gundalai, chairperson of the Popular Party, who claimed that it was designed to favor a specific business interest group.
.....

But wait for the punch line:

The draft also authorizes the government to set up a special committee to control the working of casinos and other gambling businesses operating round the clock. Only non-Mongolians will be allowed to visit these gambling centers.
(italics are mine)

I think actually although not having casinos in any given country has its charms, having a limited restricted form might be a good middle way. But why in Chingis name would you not allow your own residents to visit these places? Why would you want to make a place in your country where your own people cant come? I don't think there is no economic benefit that would justify that. But hey, who am I? Probably just a potential client to some.
The final question that comes to mind is: will the ban include those very parliamentarians?

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technorati: mongolia

The Ultimate Google News on Mongolia

To keep up to date with any news Google News seems the place to go. If your country is blessed with a customized google news (like cuba) you have it made because all news relevant for your country is automatically sorted and displayed by the big google machine. However, it seems that for Mongolia that might be some time away. Now the problem that arises from this is that you have to use search terms to actually generate some content, and that is not ideal. It means you miss out on a lot of content that IS relevant, but just doesn't feature the keyword provided. But maybe more annoying is getting articles that happen to contain the keyword but just aren't really relevant.
I am afraid there is simply isn't a cure for this ail yet, but there is a way to get a bit more relevant info instead of just typing "mongolia" in the search bar.
The first thing is that you actually want things Mongolian, which would argue for using the search term ^Mongolian^ as well. You could to that with the OR operator resulting in ^Mongolia OR Mongolian^. There is a possibility you might not want information on astronauts landing in INNER Mongolia, which can be achieved by filtering out the term ^"Inner Mongolia"^ (mind the quotes) with the [-] operator, making it all together something like:

Mongolia OR Mongolian -"Inner Mongolia"

You can add as many OR or - operators as you want like:

Mongolia OR Mongolian OR "Genghis Khan" -"Inner -Mongolia" -mining -mines

This would generate results for genghis khan, but not for items related to mining or mines. Of course it is a bit tedious to type all this in on your daily news hunt, so it might help to bookmark the page or create an email alert.







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technorati: mongolia

Mongolia and Brunei....

Sometimes things are unbelievable, sometimes they are predictable and sometimes they are somewhere in the middle, but still take you slightly by surprise.
I heard Monaco and Mongolia started diplomatic relations, because they where simply sitting next to each other (thanks to the alphabet) in a - undoubtedly extremely boring - international meeting. The connection with Brunei seems to be more of a religious issue, where the Islamic minority in the west of Mongolia has established contact with the small Sultanate. A parliamentary visit might take no one by surprise , but the announcement of a visit of president Enkhbayar certainly did.
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technorati: mongolia

Empty Streets in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

A rather unusual site at the main vain of Mongolia's Capital: A carless Peace Avenue encouraged people to go out and stroll on the middle of the street. Even Nomin decided to turn down the volume of its giant lcd billboard opposite of the State Department Store, creating a rare peaceful atmosphere in the heart of Ulaanbaatar.
As announced in several media the carless day is an initiated by the World Health Organization to increase safety in the dense urban area. Although maybe a drawback for the local economy of shops and cafes, it might give a breathe of fresh air to the polluted city center.

Update: later in the afternoon there was a student rally and concert on Sukhbaatar Square
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technorati: mongolia

Khublai Khans Pearls

From the Dutch lowlands i was informed of this rather peculiar article in an Indian newspaper. While in Mongolia the quest for Chingis Khan's grave has still remained unsuccessful - to the happiness of most locals that is - , Abu Dhabi has a Mongolian treasure of its own:

A saltwater pearl insured for $5 million is due to be auctioned in May in Abu Dhabi. The 115-gram pearl is believed to have been the possession of the grandson of Ghengis Khan, the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in the 13th century.
According to media reports, the pearl is expected to attract bids of up to $8 million. The head of a gemstone unit at Dubai central laboratory said the pearl dated back to the 12th century and originated in Mongolia

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technorati: mongolia