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A week in Burma after the storm
is the second of two anonymous eyewitness reports at
danwei.org of the impact and aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis. It is the most gripping and tremendously sad report I have read yet on the human tragedy that is Nargis and the Myanmar Junta's non-response.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 3:38 PM on May 14, 2008
(24 comments)
An "
order of magnitude older than the dinosaurs," even older than clams, bugs, vertebrates, are
jellyfish. At almost 600 million years old, jellyfish are some of the oldest animals on the earth that have survived the test of time.
Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin, (yes, of that
Gershwin family) is a
scientist studying
jellyfish in Queensland, Australia and was recently
interviewed by the ABC. I was particularly disturbed by her gripping description of the tiny
Irukandji jellyfish and how the venom
affects humans. This summer,
swim at your own risk.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 9:58 PM on June 13, 2007
(27 comments)
Hitotoki.org
(Japanese for 'a point in time') is a "new literary site collecting stories of personal, singular experiences in Tokyo." If you've visited Tokyo, please consider sharing a part of your Tokyo experience at hitotoki.org. If you plan to
visit Japan, please peruse what will be an interesting collection of personal stories of life in
Tokyo.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 12:13 AM on May 7, 2007
(23 comments)
If you're lucky enough to own the Nintendo Wii and are of the left brain
variety, have a look at
MiiStation.com, where you can submit a photo and have an artist create your Mii - you know, Mr. Potato Head for the console generation. This is real people (in Japan!) sittin' in front of the tube (probably LCDs or plasmas, maybe even OLEDs?), lookin' at your photos and wavin' that Wii wand.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 5:27 PM on February 6, 2007
(7 comments)
Bubbleprice.com
is the handy guide for Internet startup entrepreneurs to use to calculate their next investment round. If you've recently raised money for your startup, how do you plan to use it? If you're working for a startup, better hope
Matt Marshall doesn't tag you with the dreaded
bubble tag.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 11:56 PM on January 7, 2007
(7 comments)
Wal-Mart fails in South Korea.
As a student of business and a resident of Asia, I am fascinated by the examples of "foreign" businesses who either succeed or fail in Asian markets. Recently,
Vodafone failed in Japan but in a strange twist has signed a
J-V with Softbank to keep their presence in Japan.
eBay failed in Japan as did
Memoirs of a Geisha. I'd love to have a discussion on the successes AND failures of non-Asian businesses in Asian markets and what, if any, lessons can be taken away for those of us who are in Asian markets or wish to enter Asian markets. (Yes, I realize that "Asia" is too broad of a region but I don't want to limit the discussion to just one nation.)
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 2:17 AM on May 24, 2006
(52 comments)
Electro-funk is a often overlooked genre of dance music that is very influential for many genres of dance music that came around it and after it, including Hip-Hop, Dance, Disco, Electric Boogie, Freestyle, Techno and Drum and Bass.
One of the most prominent Electro-Funk DJs was
Greg Wilson, who has set up
electrofunkroots.co.uk to document the
history and
influence of Electro-Funk. Wilson
interviews Quentin Leo Cook, (a.k.a.
Norman Cook, a.k.a.
Fatboy Slim) on Cook's impressions of Electro-Funk and how it has influenced him as a music producer and DJ.
Wilson has also provided a
personal history and
retrospective mix of top Electro-Funk songs to
A Guy Called Gerald for
Samurai.fm.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 6:41 PM on November 29, 2005
(27 comments)
Sketchplanet.com
"is a new web service based around sketches. Taking some obvious cues from Flickr (e.g. tags, ability to comment etc.) Sketchplanet is an online sketching network where people can draw whatever they like, add titles, comments, tags, save favourites and more."
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 6:54 AM on October 11, 2005
(17 comments)
Google Reader.
Google has launched a news reader at the Web 2.0 conference.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 10:43 AM on October 7, 2005
(53 comments)
Aichi Expo 2005 Review.
Yuki of
Kissui.net travels to the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan and posts a wonderful review with great photos and commentary.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 4:31 PM on August 18, 2005
(9 comments)
PingMag
is the name of a new art and design-focused online magazine from Japan. They have many interesting articles on art and design in Japan including an interview with
ELM Design (on their work for Yamaha),
Monolake talking about their network music projects,
Eto Koichiro talking about some of his art/programming projects, a profile of Japanese production house
Little More, and a lot more in both
English and
日本語。
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 1:58 AM on August 5, 2005
(5 comments)
AutoBlogger
is a new tool that helps us busy bloggers by using our own content and a "sophisticated Artificial Intelligence algorithm" to automatically create and post content to a weblog.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 4:59 PM on May 19, 2005
(13 comments)
Limecat is not pleased.
In the grand tradition of oolong comes Limecat, who is not pleased.
Also available,
Limecat Mini: "The world's smallest displeased cat. Five new colors."
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 6:54 PM on October 25, 2004
(28 comments)
Four Decades in North Korea:
The Far Eastern Economic Review interviews Charles Robert Jenkins, who deserted the US Army in South Korea in 1965 and spent almost 40 years in North Korea. Enjoy a fascinating story that parallels the history of the Cold War and is still unfolding.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 11:39 PM on September 1, 2004
(4 comments)
Home is where the heart is.
Karl Taro Greenfeld, journalist and author of
Speed Tribes, among others, has a nostalgic piece in Time Asia (Aug. '03) recounting his heady youth in Tokyo alongside his thoughts on his ailing Japanese grandmother.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 10:18 AM on July 9, 2004
(5 comments)
Thoughts on organizations, markets and the long term.
CSFB gathers a number of luminaries in academia and business (
Bonabeau,
Bingham,
DePodesta,
Enriquez,
Harrington,
McGahan,
Schrag,
Strogatz) to discuss informational diversity, viewing markets as complex adaptive systems, global climate change over millenia, and the imapact of genome science among other ideas.
via
JoHo
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 6:17 PM on January 22, 2004
(5 comments)
What's really undermining the sanctity of marriage?
Dahlia Lithwick has an interesting piece in Slate commenting on the real threats to marriage in light of Massachusetts Supreme Court's declaration that gay marriage is protected by the Constitution. Lithwick lists:
1. Divorce (~43-50% of all US marriages end in divorce)
2. Frivolous marriages (i.e. it is easier to get married than it is to drive a car, buy a gun, buy alcohol, etc.)
3. Birth control (is marriage "only for procreation"?)
4. The various challenges to our time and attention that take away from quality time with our spouses
Can MeFiers please share with those of us yet to be betrothed your secrets in keeping a marriage successful?
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 5:41 PM on November 26, 2003
(55 comments)
Worst Album Covers Ever.
It is either "Let me touch him" or "Julie's Sixteenth Birthday." I'll let you decide.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 5:57 PM on November 4, 2003
(40 comments)
Interview with Bernard Lietaer.
In this engrossing interview with economist, author, professor and businessman, Bernard Lietaer, he argues that complementary currencies (time dollars, local exchanges, bartering, Ithica dollars, “fureai kippu” (caring relationship tickets)), and other non-dominant currency systems can help to enable social change in small ways. Have any of you had any experience with complementary currencies? More inside...
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 2:04 AM on August 1, 2003
(8 comments)
More than a year ago,
MetaFilter discussed a petition to bring "
Spirited Away," the newest full-lenth animated movie by Hayao Miyazki, to the US. Released in Japan as
Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, it is the most popular movie ever released in Japan and has it's US limited release this weekend. Do you think "Spirited Away" will "break through" to a wider American audience when Princess Mononoke didn't? What a wonderfully fantastic movie!
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 10:11 PM on September 21, 2002
(32 comments)
The Weekly Standard: Patio Man and the Sprawl People
There he is atop the uppermost tier of his multi-level backyard patio/outdoor recreation area posed like an admiral on the deck of his destroyer. In his mind's eye he can see himself coolly flipping the garlic and pepper T-bones on the front acreage of his new grill while carefully testing the citrus-tarragon trout filets that sizzle fragrantly in the rear. On the lawn below he can see his kids, Haley and Cody, frolicking on the weedless community lawn that is mowed twice weekly by the people who run Monument Crowne Preserve, his townhome community. More inside...
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 1:48 PM on August 6, 2002
(65 comments)
Japan’s Gross National Cool
- Foreign Policy has an interesting article on the impact of Japanese culture and how it has replaced "Made in Japan" products as the dominant export from Japan. The author points to director Hayao Miyazaki, director/actor Takeshi Kitano, artist Takashi Murakami, and singer/songwriter Namie Amuro, as well as anime in general and Hello Kitty as examples of the global spread of Japanese culture. Do you recognize these people or their work? [more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 2:37 PM on April 30, 2002
(18 comments)
Was MIT or her parents to blame for a suicide?
Challenging NYTimes article on the suicide of Elizabeth Shin, an over-acheiving college student. With the increasing focus on student achievement from earlier and earlier ages, it's clear that children can be deeply affected. How do we, as a society, raise children to standards that we expect without pressure-cooking them to damage or worse?
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 12:24 PM on April 27, 2002
(54 comments)
Japanese Devils
is a documentary featuring 14 veterans of the Imperial Army testifying to their brutal participation in Japan's 15-year war against China. Director Matsui Minoru presents a powerful historical record of these soldiers' individual crimes, helping to break Japan's long silence about its wartime atrocities in China.
Please also see
Iris Chang's "The Rape of Nanking'' and be aware that the Japanese government is
still whitewashing their brutal WWII history via
school textbooks. We must understand the truth of history so that we are not doomed to repeat it.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 6:23 AM on April 4, 2002
(5 comments)
Business magazine editor sleeps with interviewee.
Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Wetlaufer interviews retired GE CEO Jack Welch for HBR. They begin a torrid romance (Welch is, of course, still married to his second wife.) Other editors find out about the romance and Wetlaufer cancels her story. Other HBR editors call for her resignation and the managing editor merely reassigns her. 2 other HBR editors quit in disgust. You can't make this stuff up!
Additional coverage via
Financial Times;
Boston Globe;
MSNBC.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 3:11 PM on March 12, 2002
(9 comments)
The Euphemism Generator
can create up to 68,289,490 unique phrases! Do you have a favorite euphemism?
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 2:45 PM on March 5, 2002
(36 comments)
NYT Magazine's Lauren Slater on Self-Esteem
Last year alone there were three withering studies of self-esteem released in the United States, all of which had the same central message: people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the cause of our country's biggest, most expensive social problems. The research is original and compelling and lays the groundwork for a new, important kind of narrative about what makes life worth living -- if we choose to listen, which might be hard. One of this country's most central tenets, after all, is the pursuit of happiness, which has been strangely joined to the pursuit of self-worth.
Great, long article on the change in perspective on self-esteem. Do you question yourself? How does your self-esteem impact yourself or others around you? Is high self-esteem importatnt to you? What if your high self-esteem could negatively affect others around you?
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 9:17 AM on February 5, 2002
(39 comments)
New Yorker profile of bin Laden from Jan '00
Interesting background information on bin Laden from over a year ago.
"In a country that is obsessed with parentage, with who your great-grandfather was, Osama was almost a double outsider. His paternal roots are in Yemen, and, within the family, his mother was a double outsider as well—she was neither Saudi nor Yemeni but Syrian."
In his [bin Laden's] mind, the United States had become to Saudi Arabia what the Soviet Union had been to Afghanistan: an infidel occupation force propping up a corrupt, repressive, and un-Islamic government.
...that the more serious threat bin Laden poses to the interests of the United States lies in his ability to destabilize friendly Arab governments, such as Saudi Arabia's, whose support is geopolitically crucial to us.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 8:49 AM on September 18, 2001
(6 comments)
Digital Renaissance: Convergence? I Diverge.
MIT's Director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies, Henry Jenkins, speaks about the different aspects of "Convergence." Working at a large multinational company who is banking on "convergence" for future success, and yet skeptical about "convergence" personally, I welcome MeFiers to post their opinions on Jenkins' differentiation of "convergence" and what you think will be powerful or popular in the near future. Taken from
Tomalak's Realm.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 8:28 AM on June 17, 2001
(4 comments)
Roden Crater
is an extinct volcano in Arizona and doubles as a $7M land art project by
James Turrell. I look forward to visiting the site on my next trip to the Southwest.
"If you're not an optimist, forget being an artist," Mr. Turrell said. "I've been lucky. I never felt any entitlement. I'd hoped interest in this work would get going sooner because it wasn't meant to occupy my whole career." The sun was going down and the sky was red and purple. "But that's fine. I have nothing better to do."
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 8:07 PM on April 9, 2001
(2 comments)
"The Most Dangerous Piece of Software in the World."
With his usual hyperbole, Calcanis of
SAD calls
WebWasher a scary product. We all know that net advertising is not profitable (i.e. Salon going to subscriptions) and as products like WebWasher proliferate, we can be truly assured that none of these net business models are worth anything. Of course software to kill ads on the web has been around for years but is this the one that will break into the mainstream?
Better sell your DoubleClick stock (like it was worth anything to begin with ;)
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 7:29 AM on March 22, 2001
(35 comments)
'I Feel A Great, Personal Loss'
Conservationist Rakhaldas Sengupta spent nine years restoring the world's tallest Buddha statues...
This has been covered by MeFi before but Sengupta has a perspective on the statues that hasn't come to light yet. To think that the Taleban is destroying these 1700 year old statues breaks my heart. I hope I never understand the reasoning of religious zealots.
posted to MetaFilter by gen
at 1:51 PM on March 9, 2001
(8 comments)
