a blog about soybean cake and other essential topics
I don’t know Charles Leung, who made this gorgeous one-minute time lapse video of the stars in the sky above Hawaii.
But each time that I spot an eye-catching video on Vimeo, I am grateful.
In the past, I’ve gone to Vimeo and found excellent videos about clouds, waves, ocean life and jellyfish.
Two words to the talented people who made these videos: Thank you.
Sir Richard Branson's new submersible, dubbed the Necker Nymph, received widespread media attention. The sleek watercraft is made by Hawkes Ocean Technologies. Image source: Hawkes Ocean Technologies
I know it’s easy to call for innovation to drive economic growth at any point in history.
And the context of the times can always be sticky. If the United States was flush with venture capital or excess dollars in 2010, it would make the answers and next steps so much easier.
Of course, we are all familiar with the economic times.
The Economist, the august, market-oriented publication, recently reminded readers in the United States of words that always merit attention: Jobless recovery.
That said, innovation is continuing in this country – albeit not at the pace that many would like to see – as evidenced by Sir Richard Branson’s new, sleek submersible watercraft, the Necker Nymph.
So in the world of packaging and without rolling your mouse over the image, here’s a question: What are you looking at?
Clear plastic boxes that are perfectly stacked one on top of another with black lettering on white pieces of paper?
Transparency is a good thing.
So, yes, I’ll say it: I like eating cumin.
I’m pro-cumin. No, no. I’m not pro-Cuban. I’m pro-cumin (as in the seed).
What you see here is $2.59 worth of the good stuff.
It’s too bad that blogs – and even the cool-looking iPad – don’t have the technology for aroma to travel from computer to computer.
That, as one word goes, would be badass.
These past few days continue to be a bit busy for me – and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just haven’t had as much time to devote to new posts.
Thoughts still circulate in my head and I will set time aside for new items. This idea, though, caught my attention as I was glancing at Web sites:
The short-selling of stocks – especially of companies that inflate their status or profile – to fund investigative journalism?
So what should all of us say when the foundation run by one of the world’s wealthiest people decides to give $10 billion over the next decade to develop vaccines for people worldwide?
How about, “That’s pretty thoughtful.”
Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the foundation that bears their name, made their announcement on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
I’ve grown accustom to some people – not all – bellyaching or griping about whatever they have: “It’s not enough. Is this all you have? You should do it this way.”
In the hubbub of huffing and puffing, I think we overlook appreciating what we do have.
I’ve always enjoyed the video work of journalist Dan Chung, who is based in China for the Guardian.
In the Vimeo clip above, he captures the color, sound and activity of last year’s Lunar New Year celebration in Beijing – which he calls the world’s biggest “uncoordinated” fireworks display.
Lunar New Year arrives on Feb. 14 – so get ready to usher in the Year of the Tiger with food, family, friends and fun.
I’m a little late writing about the Centennial of the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. But the Jan. 21 event in San Francisco - which featured my aunt, poet Nellie Wong - is noteworthy on many fronts.
Angel Island served as a stopping point for scores of immigrants, many Chinese and including my relatives, from 1910 to 1940.
Keep in mind that the Chinese Exclusion Acts – which limited the Chinese who could enter the United States to certain categories – existed from the 1880s until the 1940s, just before after World War II started.
Some immigrants were sent back home. Others received the green light from federal immigration officials to move to the U.S. mainland. Many spent long periods of time on Angel Island, not knowing their fate.
While two branches of the federal government have embraced social media, it looks like the Supreme Court is doing what it does best: Hearing cases and issuing opinions. Photo source: Supreme Court of the United States
As I was scanning The New York Times article about President Obama’s State of the Union speech, I came across the part in which Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito apparently disagreed with something that the chief executive said.
The Times reported that Alito, as he was sitting on the House floor, appeared to have mouthed the words, “No, it’s not true.”
I don’t know much about Alito. So, I decided to visit the Web site of the Supreme Court of the United States.
My first reaction after seeing it: Wow.
Based on the judicial branch’s Web site – which has a blue background, simple navigational buttons and a photo of the Supreme Court – the justices seem to be a pretty sober-minded group of intellectuals.
Which is fine. Being a sober-minded group of people is part of the duty of representing the judicial branch of the federal government.
But isn’t the 21st century about digital transparency and being a hipster, tech geek in the United States?
Where are the Twitter, Facebook and flickr icons? Where’s the YouTube introduction of the justices, say, enjoying a barbecue on the Potomac?
The Apple Lisa was bulky but had a great, spongy keyboard. Photo source: oldcomputers.net
I’ll admit that the hype and hoopla surrounding Apple’s iPad tablet computer turned my head.
I was reading online updates on my BlackBerry as I was shopping at a store.
You can read all you want about it since journalists flocked to Cupertino, Calif. San Francisco to see Steve Jobs introduce the company’s latest creation.
But I am proud to say that I once used the Apple Lisa – my dad brought one home in the 1980s – and it still holds a soft spot for me in the history of computers.
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