Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Asian vs European Regionalism – how do they compare?

Interesting read I’m posting more for me reference than anything else, but thought it might be of interest to my Asian and European readers :)
Asian regionalism: How does it compare to Europe’s?
(h/t to Gen)

So, who will you vote for?

Continuing the topic of elections, here’s a ２くらべ (nikurabe) for the 2008 US elections:

p.s. you’re vote won’t be anonymous :)

Overseas Vote Foundation

If you’re a U.S. Citizen living overseas, the Overseas Vote Foundation may be of interest to you. You can vote online, print your ballot out and send your vote home. Apparently Fedex sends all ballots from Japan to the states for FREE!

Who’s Inconvenient Truth?

My buddy Jun shared a link via email earlier today:
Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own “Inconvenient Truth”
What’s really annoying about these sensationalized news bites is that they’re just that – sensationalized.  It talks about energy totals, but there’s no mention about the more important factor – energy source. If even 10kWh is from [...]

Japanese attentiveness at its finest: measuring construction noise

If you’ve been to Japan in the past few years you’ve undoubtedly noticed the uptick in building construction.  From architectural marvels such as Herzog and Demuron’s Prada building to the Mori group’s campus-size Roppongi and Omotesando Hills to even an onsen in the middle of Roppongi, new buildings and establishments continue to pop up like [...]

Speechless

WWLAM Interview with New Orleans Mayer Nagin
man … oh man …. oh man …
you have to listen all the way through.

(a few) sources of reason

JesusLand
Rove’s re-election strategy was elegantly simple: Scare the bejesus out of Jesusland. Faggots are headed your way! Satanic Muslims are hiding everywhere! That’s all it took to get Jesusland to do the job. Intellectual conservatives like the National Review staff are flattering themselves if they honestly believe Jesusland cares about conservative thought. The “reality-based” folks [...]

Bible Belt Ain’t Livin’ it up

Walking the walk on family values.
For all the Bible Belt talk about family values, it is the people from Kerry’s home state, along with their neighbors in the Northeast corridor, who live these values. Indeed, it is the “blue” states, led led by Massachusetts and Connecticut, that have been willing to invest more money over [...]

The Biggest Public Relations Disaster In Human History

Could this be true?
Not to get all political on you, but really: The speed with which the US lost global goodwill and sympathy from 9/11 to the present day may be unparalleled in human history. Nobody has lost that much goodwill so quickly before.
From The Ludologist. Good comments follow too.

Californyork

Why California should divorce the U.S.