The Best of the Bloggerside

****This is a cross-post from www.bahainine.com/blog/****


It's been quiet around the blog, but that's about to change. As the site gets up and running there are two purposes we want to serve with this blog - the first is to update you on new features and changes to bahainine. The second is to highlight some of the great stuff - blogs, music, projects - that are out there waiting to be discovered. That's what I'm going to do right now.

First, though, a quick order of business. Part of what we're trying to do with this site is foster more connection and community between Baha'is out there on the internets. Lots of other religious communities have names for their internet communities - Mormons call theirs the 'Bloggernacle' or the 'Bloggernacle Choir' after the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City; Catholics call theirs 'St. Blog's Parish', the Jewish community calls their internet presence 'the j-blogosphere.' Thinking that Baha'is could use something like this, I'm tentatively coining the term 'the Bloggerside' (like Fireside, get it?).

So, without further ado, the first installment of 'The Best of the Bloggerside'

Some cool resources Baha'i developers have been hard at work on:
Over at bahaitools.com they've got a cool toolbar for internet explorer and firefox. It's got, among other features, a Badi (Baha'i) calendar, one-click search of Baha'i reference library, Huquq information, and even, should you need it, a mithqal converter.
They also have a calendar application for windows based mobile devices. Feast dates, Holy Days, sundown times - all on your mobile phone!

Here's an amazing web-based memorization tool, fully loaded with all the quotes from the Ruhi books. I've personally used this in study circles I've tutored and folks have loved it. Highly recommended.

One of my favorite things about being involved in this project has been discovering amazing music from all over the world. First, here is video from Mana, an Polynesian Baha'i youth arts group from Australia. A Hidden Word about backbiting put to some killer music. I'm impressed how professional Baha'i videos are becoming.

Did you know that one of the biggest pop stars in Hong Kong is a Baha'i? I didn't, but I can see why some people call Khalil Fong the Justin Timberlake of Chinese language pop.

Finally, my buddy Jon from growing up just started his own label, Next Movement Records, and the first artist, Badi, just dropped his album. You can see a performance from this year's Northeast Baha'i Youth Festival here.