I find it difficult to write about New Orleans. I’ve only visited the city twice, but really loved it. I especially loved the wonderful hospitality I received there. When I was there 12 years ago my friend (who I hope is OK!) told me about the potential for such a disaster. In 2002 I watched [...]
This Foreign Affairs article by George J. Gilboy focuses on trade between China and the U.S., but it has some good news for Taiwan. I remember reading many alarmist articles a few years ago, at the time that both Taiwan and China entered the WTO, about how China was catching up with Taiwan in the [...]
A sixth of the world’s population lives on less than a dollar a day. Most of these 1.2 billion people are women, and they spend a significant amount of their day gathering fuel: Because of their traditional responsibilities for collecting fuel and water, in many developing countries women and girls would benefit the most from [...]
Writing in the Asia Times, Zafar Anjum explores why China’s film industry has netted so much love from Hollywood, while India hasn’t produced a single art-house hit since Lagaan won the best foreign language film Oscar in 2001. Part of his answer is that the Indian film industry is content to live off of its [...]
Seems that violent worker protests aren’t unique to China, and “Made in Taiwan” does not ensure that something is made under humane working conditions. A riot by Thai workers on Sunday night in Kaohsiung wasn’t a prison riot, but there were many common features. Although the workers are not prisoners, their freedom is restricted to [...]
My brother, a computer-scientist, often jokes that my beloved Zojirushi rice cooker, which boasts “Advanced neuro fuzzy® logic technology,” is all the Japanese have to show for the billions of dollars they invested in “fifth generation computers.” Well, a recent post by Mark Liberman at Langauge Log seems to suggest that my brother might be [...]
There are three aspects of the recent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza which interest me: Why did they do it? Can Gaza survive? And what’s next? First, as to why they did it, there was an excellent piece by Ethan Bronner in the New York Times last week. The question is why the very people who [...]
I’ve stayed out of the whole “stolen” election issue, because I tend to believe that both sides play pretty dirty whenever they can. I’m all for creating a more transparent system, and having a paper trail, and a host of other electoral reforms (such as instant runoff voting) but I’ve never seen anything conclusive showing [...]
Just watched the film, Catch-22. I read the book so long ago that I didn’t feel any need to compare it to the original, and so quite liked it. True, Mike Nichols seems unsure whether to go with Fellini or Marx Brothers in tone, but he is still able to squeeze out some truly memorable [...]
Watch the video. Join a vigil this Wednesday. (via BoingBoing) UPDATE: Vigil pics from Flickr. {Cindy Sheehan}