He emerged from the metro at the L'Enfant Plaza station and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.
It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L'Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant.
Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
増田美子
- 古代の喪服が白かったということは日本書紀や隋書倭国伝などで知ってい ました。
- 718年に養老喪葬令が出されて、「天皇は直系二親等以上の喪には錫紵を着る」と定められたのがきっかけで 、なぜか黒に変ってしまうのです。唐書の「皇帝が喪服として錫衰を着る」というのを真似したのですが、唐でいう錫とは、灰汁処理した目の細かい白い麻布のことなのを、どういうわけか日本人はこれを金属のスズと解釈し、スズ色、つまり薄墨に染めてしまったというわけなんです。この錫紵の色は、平安時代になると貴族階級にも広まって、薄墨だった色合いも次第に濃くなっていきます。これはより黒い方が深い悲しみを表現すると考えられたからで、あの源氏物語でも、妻を亡くした光源氏が「自分が先に死んでいたら妻はもっと濃い色を着るのに、自分は妻の喪だから薄い色しか着られない」と嘆く場面があります。
- 白が復活したのは室町時代で、途中江戸時代に水色が登場したりしますが、基本的には白が続きます。私が思うには養老喪葬令以降、喪服を黒くしたのは上流階級だけで、庶民は一貫して白のままだったのではないかということです。といいますのは、白い布を黒く染めるには染料もいりますし、手間もかかります。昔は人の死を穢れと考えていて、一度着用した喪服を処分していたようですが、そんな手間をかけたものを庶民が簡単に捨てたとは考えにくい。それに、先祖代々受け継いできた伝統を変えるには、相当勇気がいるはずです。現代よりもはるかに信心深い時代ですから、伝統を変えることによってたたりや災いが起こるのではないかという"恐れ"が相当強かったと思います。
- そして、明治維新を機にヨーロッパの喪服を取り入れて黒になり、現代に至っています。
川上和久
太平洋戦争の時の日本の大本営発表なんかがそうです。ナチスもメディアを統制して情報を巧みに操作した一番の例と言えます。またアメリカもパナマやグレナダに侵攻した時は、徹底的にメディアをコントロールしたことで、ある程度侵攻を正当化するイメージを作り出すことに成功しました。湾岸戦争にもこういった姿勢が継続されたのです。
政治権力と情報操作はほぼ一体のものといえるでしょう。
歴史的に見ても、たとえ現代のようなマスメディアはなくとも、情報は常に操作されていました。
例えば、古代ローマ帝国によって張り巡らされた道路網は、人や物の流通と同時に、情報を伝達するための生命線ともいえるものでした。その一方で統治システムそのものでもあったのです。ローマの統治に必要な情報は、公務連絡として直ちに各地に伝えられましたし、各地域の状況は迅速に収集され、反乱などの予兆があれば直ちに対処できるようにしていました。逆に属州が結集して反乱を起こしたりしないように、極力「ヨコ」の連絡網は設けないようにしていました。このように、この道路網はローマと各地を結ぶ「タテ」のシステムとして機能し、支配の固定化、さらにはその延長線上にある危機管理にも活用されたのです。これも広い意味での情報操作といえるでしょう。
政治権力と情報操作はほぼ一体のものといえるでしょう。
歴史的に見ても、たとえ現代のようなマスメディアはなくとも、情報は常に操作されていました。
例えば、古代ローマ帝国によって張り巡らされた道路網は、人や物の流通と同時に、情報を伝達するための生命線ともいえるものでした。その一方で統治システムそのものでもあったのです。ローマの統治に必要な情報は、公務連絡として直ちに各地に伝えられましたし、各地域の状況は迅速に収集され、反乱などの予兆があれば直ちに対処できるようにしていました。逆に属州が結集して反乱を起こしたりしないように、極力「ヨコ」の連絡網は設けないようにしていました。このように、この道路網はローマと各地を結ぶ「タテ」のシステムとして機能し、支配の固定化、さらにはその延長線上にある危機管理にも活用されたのです。これも広い意味での情報操作といえるでしょう。
武澤秀一
現存する法隆寺は、塔と金堂が"東西・横並び"で左右非対称、真ん中に空白がある伽藍配置になっています。 。。。 日本独特の「空間の美」、「余白の美」がありますね。
例えば、大陸の宗教建築物や宮殿は、中心に建物が威風堂々と連なり、左右対称のものがほとんどです。しかし、法隆寺のように真ん中が空白の状態であると、感情移入がしやすいのです。老子も、器の本質は「うつろ」な部分にあるといっていますが、大陸の建築物以上にこれを表現しているのが法隆寺といえます。人を迎え入れる優しさが、法隆寺にはあるのではないでしょうか。
日本の風土にも関係すると思うのですが、島国で地形が小刻みであり、四季の変化もはっきりとしている。時間的にも、空間的にも変化に富み、こうしたことが細やかな感性を育んできた。
日本人は穏やかな環境の中にあるので、自然に対抗する秩序をつくるのではなく、自らを取り巻く環境に身を委ねるという、やわらかな感性が育ったのだと思います。茶道や華道、書や絵画、そして庭園にも通じるものですね。そういう日本文化の特質が、初めて伽羅に現れた。それが法隆寺なのだと思います。
例えば、大陸の宗教建築物や宮殿は、中心に建物が威風堂々と連なり、左右対称のものがほとんどです。しかし、法隆寺のように真ん中が空白の状態であると、感情移入がしやすいのです。老子も、器の本質は「うつろ」な部分にあるといっていますが、大陸の建築物以上にこれを表現しているのが法隆寺といえます。人を迎え入れる優しさが、法隆寺にはあるのではないでしょうか。
日本の風土にも関係すると思うのですが、島国で地形が小刻みであり、四季の変化もはっきりとしている。時間的にも、空間的にも変化に富み、こうしたことが細やかな感性を育んできた。
日本人は穏やかな環境の中にあるので、自然に対抗する秩序をつくるのではなく、自らを取り巻く環境に身を委ねるという、やわらかな感性が育ったのだと思います。茶道や華道、書や絵画、そして庭園にも通じるものですね。そういう日本文化の特質が、初めて伽羅に現れた。それが法隆寺なのだと思います。
鈴木秀夫
ユダヤ・キリスト教においては「万物が全能なる神により創造されたものであり、世界は決して永遠ではありえない。世界は天地創造から終末に向かって一直線に進行している」という「直線的世界観」があります。その中でフォー・ベター・トゥモローという思想が生れ、すべてのものが一つの流れの中で、終末に向けて進歩している、と考えられています。
それに対し、仏教の場合、前述しましたように、まず、万物が空ですから、絶対者（例えば如来）もまた空でなければならず、天地万物は絶対者と共にあるものである、と考えます。そして、絶対者がなくなるということは考えられないから、従って、天地万物もなくなることはない。さらに、死んだ生物が土に帰り、そこからまた新しい生命が誕生するという「輪廻転生」の概念も加わって、万物は永遠に流転するという「円環的世界観」が成立したのです。
ところが、日本は近年、西洋思想から生れた制度や方法等を数多く取り入れている。中でも代表的なのが「民主主義」ですが、これは本来、仏教徒が主流の日本には根付かない、定着しないのではないかと私には考えられます。
それに対し、仏教の場合、前述しましたように、まず、万物が空ですから、絶対者（例えば如来）もまた空でなければならず、天地万物は絶対者と共にあるものである、と考えます。そして、絶対者がなくなるということは考えられないから、従って、天地万物もなくなることはない。さらに、死んだ生物が土に帰り、そこからまた新しい生命が誕生するという「輪廻転生」の概念も加わって、万物は永遠に流転するという「円環的世界観」が成立したのです。
ところが、日本は近年、西洋思想から生れた制度や方法等を数多く取り入れている。中でも代表的なのが「民主主義」ですが、これは本来、仏教徒が主流の日本には根付かない、定着しないのではないかと私には考えられます。
吉国幹雄
この「始点」に拘り「終点」へと単線的に突き進む「直線思考」は、物質誕生の始点を「原子論」に求め、宇宙の誕生として「ビッグバン」を作り上げた。自然科学におけるこの「直線思考」は、さまざまな起源を想定して科学技術発展へ貢献したが、しかし、要素還元的な発想や線形的発想ではもはやどうにもならない閉塞状況を生み出してしまった。（もともと『宇宙』とはコスモス＝空間なのではなく、時間と空間の広がりを意味し、時間の起源という発想はもともと東洋の思想にはない。宇宙は「混沌」と「存在｣しているものであり、そこには始点も終点も創造主もない。）
榊淳史
「見てはいけない」という禁令を破る話は、たとえば、鶴女房などがある。西洋にも、禁令の話がある。比較してみると、西洋の場合は、禁令を破ってつらい思いをするが、しかし、そのあと、救い手（たとえば王子様）が現れて、結婚などで締めくくる、というパターンがあるのに対し、日本の場合は、禁令を出した本人が、悲しみのあまりにいなくなってしまう、そして、禁令を破ったものは、その場に取り残される、というパターン。
つまり、西洋の場合は、なんらかの結果（たとえば、結婚）があるのに対し、東洋の場合は、元の状態（たとえば、独身）に戻ってしまうのだ．このことを、西洋のある昔話研究者が「すべてを失った無の状態になる」といい、しかし、これを河合先生は禅にも通じる円環的全体性（終わりも始まりも包含している状態）と見て、東洋的な世界観である、と言っている。
つまり、西洋の場合は、なんらかの結果（たとえば、結婚）があるのに対し、東洋の場合は、元の状態（たとえば、独身）に戻ってしまうのだ．このことを、西洋のある昔話研究者が「すべてを失った無の状態になる」といい、しかし、これを河合先生は禅にも通じる円環的全体性（終わりも始まりも包含している状態）と見て、東洋的な世界観である、と言っている。
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Laura Hillenbrand
In the predawn darkness of August 26, 1929, in the back bedroom of a small house inTorrance, California, a twelve-year-old boy sat up in bed, listening. There was a sound coming from outside, growing ever louder. It was a huge, heavy rush, suggesting immensity, a great parting of air. It was coming from directly above the house. The boy swung his legs off his bed, raced down the stairs, slapped open the back door, and loped onto the grass. The yard was otherworldly, smothered in unnatural darkness, shivering with sound. The boy stood on the lawn beside his older brother, head thrown back, spellbound.
The sky had disappeared. An object that he could see only in silhouette, reaching across a massive arc of space, was suspended low in theair over the house. It was longer than two and a half football fields and as tall as a city. It was putting out the stars.
The sky had disappeared. An object that he could see only in silhouette, reaching across a massive arc of space, was suspended low in theair over the house. It was longer than two and a half football fields and as tall as a city. It was putting out the stars.
Adam Kirsch
Americans’ favorite World War II stories have always been about the democratic heroism of ordinary soldiers; this kind of popular history has never disappeared, and probably never will. Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken” (2010), which has resided for months near the top of the best-seller list, tells the story of Louis Zamperini, an ex-track star turned airman, whose plane went down over the Pacific and who survived weeks adrift on a raft and even worse ordeals in a Japanese prison camp. As the title suggests, Zamperini is an untroubling kind of war hero, because his greatness was his refusal to break, not his ability to break others — a part of the soldier’s job that is far less comfortable to read about. Zamperini was a bombardier on a B-24, and at the very time he was being tortured by the Japanese, other bomber crews, made up of men no better or worse than he, carried out “Operation Gomorrah” — the weeklong raid on Hamburg, Germany, that in July 1943 killed some 40,000 civilians and destroyed virtually the entire city. Can we make room for that story, and others like it, in our memory of World War II? And if we do, can we still keep our pride in a “good war”?
Those are the questions being asked by the new wave of World War II histories. These books are not “revisionist,” in the pejorative sense: they don’t suggest a moral equivalence between the Axis and the Allies, or minimize Nazi crimes, or deny the Holocaust. Rather, they are thoughtful works by professional historians, who are less interested in rewriting the facts of the war than in reconsidering their moral implications.
Those are the questions being asked by the new wave of World War II histories. These books are not “revisionist,” in the pejorative sense: they don’t suggest a moral equivalence between the Axis and the Allies, or minimize Nazi crimes, or deny the Holocaust. Rather, they are thoughtful works by professional historians, who are less interested in rewriting the facts of the war than in reconsidering their moral implications.
Mark Hosenball
Iranian engineers have succeeded in neutralizing and purging the computer virus known as Stuxnet from their country's nuclear machinery, European and U.S. officials and private experts have told Reuters.
The malicious code, whose precise origin and authorship remain unconfirmed, made its way as early as 2009 into equipment controlling centrifuges Iran is using to enrich uranium, dealing a significant but perhaps temporary setback to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons work.
Many experts believe that Israel, possibly with assistance from the United States, was responsible for creating and deploying Stuxnet. But no authoritative account of who invented Stuxnet or how it got into Iran's centrifuge control equipment has surfaced.
The malicious code, whose precise origin and authorship remain unconfirmed, made its way as early as 2009 into equipment controlling centrifuges Iran is using to enrich uranium, dealing a significant but perhaps temporary setback to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons work.
Many experts believe that Israel, possibly with assistance from the United States, was responsible for creating and deploying Stuxnet. But no authoritative account of who invented Stuxnet or how it got into Iran's centrifuge control equipment has surfaced.
吴涛
谈及一些网民拿俄、日两国空军的比较，并得出有关俄空军不如日本的结论，弗尔基米罗夫强调：“战略轰炸机不是与战斗机作战，如果需要它们可以在千里之外发射核巡航导弹，可以说，一旦俄日开打，俄空军在20分钟内就能让日本从地球上消失。”
Anthony Shadida
If the revolts that swept the Middle East a year ago were the coming of age of youths determined to imagine another future for the Arab world, the aftermath that has brought elections in Egypt and Tunisia and the prospect of decisive Islamist influence in Morocco, Libya and, perhaps, Syria is the moment of another, older generation.
No one knows how one of the most critical chapters in the history of the modern Arab world will end, as the region pivots from a movement against dictatorship toward a movement for something that is proving far more ambiguous. But the generation, shaped by jail, exile and repression and bound by faith and alliances years in the making, will have the greatest say in determining what emerges.
No one knows how one of the most critical chapters in the history of the modern Arab world will end, as the region pivots from a movement against dictatorship toward a movement for something that is proving far more ambiguous. But the generation, shaped by jail, exile and repression and bound by faith and alliances years in the making, will have the greatest say in determining what emerges.
Friday, February 17, 2012
WordPress
We wanted to bring the WordPress experience to a larger audience. So we created WordPress.com, a hosted version of the open source package where you can start a blog in seconds without any technical knowledge. We’re a bit of an underdog, as there are much larger hosted blogging services such as Blogger that have been out for years, but when WordPress.org got started people said the blog software market was saturated and there wasn’t room for anything new. (The big players then were Greymatter and Movable Type.) We think we have something unique to bring to the table.
WordPress.com is under very active development, and we roll out updates almost every day. New features and services are driven by you so please use our feedback form to let us know what you want.
WordPress.com is under very active development, and we roll out updates almost every day. New features and services are driven by you so please use our feedback form to let us know what you want.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Alvin Toffler
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Barak Ravid
When he met with Eric Falt, UNESCO's assistant director general for external relations and public information, Ambassador Nimrod Barkan was stunned to be handed a copy of this cartoon and an official letter of protest from UNESCO's director general, Irina Bokova. Falt told Barkan the cartoon constituted incitement."A cartoon like this endangers the lives of unarmed diplomats, and you have an obligation to protect them," Falt said, according to an Israeli source. "We understand that there is freedom of the press in Israel, but the government must prevent attacks on UNESCO."
Barkan pointed out that the government has no control over editorial cartoons printed in the papers. "Ask yourselves what you did to make a moderate paper with a deeply internationalist bent publish such a cartoon," he suggested. "Perhaps the problem is with you."
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks denounced UNESCO for banning WikiLeaks from tomorrow’s international conference about WikiLeaks. The large two-day conference, which has 37 speakers listed, is to be held UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. US organizers have stacked the conference with WikiLeaks opponents and blocked all speakers from WikiLeaks, stating that the decision to censor WikiLeaks representation was an exercise in ’freedom of expression... our right to give voice to speakers of our choice’.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denounced the conference: ’UNESCO has made itself an international human rights joke. To use "freedom of expression" to censor WikiLeaks from a conference about WikiLeaks is an Orwellian absurdity beyond words. This is an intolerable abuse of UNESCO’s Constitution. It’s time to occupy UNESCO.’
WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson expressed consternation in a letter to UNESCO about the exclusion: ’UNESCO has a duty to assure that fairness and balance is secured in important discussions carried out under the banner of the organization. It is obvious that this will hardly be the case, given the selection of speakers. This is both a disgrace to UNESCO and potentially harmful to WikiLeaks.’
Julian Assange calls for an immediate investigation "UNESCO must conduct a full, frank and open investigation as to how its constitution, which tasks it to promote freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of communication, has become a blunt instrument of censorship. UNESCO must demonstrate that cold-war style power-plays, by the United States, or indeed any other country, are no longer acceptable."
The following hash tag may be used to follow the story: "#OccupyUNESCO"
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denounced the conference: ’UNESCO has made itself an international human rights joke. To use "freedom of expression" to censor WikiLeaks from a conference about WikiLeaks is an Orwellian absurdity beyond words. This is an intolerable abuse of UNESCO’s Constitution. It’s time to occupy UNESCO.’
WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson expressed consternation in a letter to UNESCO about the exclusion: ’UNESCO has a duty to assure that fairness and balance is secured in important discussions carried out under the banner of the organization. It is obvious that this will hardly be the case, given the selection of speakers. This is both a disgrace to UNESCO and potentially harmful to WikiLeaks.’
Julian Assange calls for an immediate investigation "UNESCO must conduct a full, frank and open investigation as to how its constitution, which tasks it to promote freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of communication, has become a blunt instrument of censorship. UNESCO must demonstrate that cold-war style power-plays, by the United States, or indeed any other country, are no longer acceptable."
The following hash tag may be used to follow the story: "#OccupyUNESCO"
海尔
Innovation is “the Way of Haier”, which means: create values for customer on the basis of world-class systems and platforms, so as to establish a win-win culture. Meanwhile, Haier is committed to long term success, which depends to a large extent on our values.
Core Values of Haier:
Core Values of Haier:
- Customer Oriented – Think what consumers think
- Development Focused - Entrepreneurial spirit and creativity
- Interest Driven – Win-Win Culture
AfriGadget
AfriGadget is a website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. A team of bloggers and readers contribute their pictures, videos and stories from around the continent. The stories of innovation are inspiring. It is a testament to Africans bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges.
Apple Inc.
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Neil Gaiman
Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.
Drew Houston
Most of our growth is word of mouth/viral, so free users are still valuable: we grow faster, and they refer people who might pay.
Picking the right duration is tricky, and people add files to their Dropboxes at different rates. Many pay eventually after using the free service for a long time.
Picking the right duration is tricky, and people add files to their Dropboxes at different rates. Many pay eventually after using the free service for a long time.
NYDailyNews.com
A father who was upset after a Tennessee couple deleted his adult daughter as a friend on Facebook has been charged in the shooting deaths of the couple, authorities said Wednesday.
The victims had complained to police that Marvin Potter's daughter was harassing them after they deleted her as a friend on the social networking site, Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said Wednesday.
Potter, 60, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in last week's slayings of Billy Payne Jr. and his girlfriend, Billie Jean Hayworth. The couple was shot to death in their Mountain City home in the far northeast corner of the state. Their 8-month-old baby was found unharmed in Hayworth's arms.
The victims had complained to police that Marvin Potter's daughter was harassing them after they deleted her as a friend on the social networking site, Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said Wednesday.
Potter, 60, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in last week's slayings of Billy Payne Jr. and his girlfriend, Billie Jean Hayworth. The couple was shot to death in their Mountain City home in the far northeast corner of the state. Their 8-month-old baby was found unharmed in Hayworth's arms.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
马中欣
马中欣，祖籍浙江东阳，生于兰州，长于台湾，移民美国。
马中欣是职业旅行家、探险家、摄影家、旅行作家，现任美国国家地理杂志特约摄影记者。曾两次受国家海洋局邀请入选中国南极考察队，前往南极中国长城站、中山站摄影考察，获得重大成就。在三十余年的旅行经历中，他独自一人到过全球190个国家和地区，足迹遍布五大洲七大洋，行程百万公里，徒步行走十万公里。已出版《天涯历险》、《冰裸南极》、《探险式环球旅行》等多部著作，被誉为中国第一位深入世界的探险旅行家，中国十大探险家、当代徐霞客等。
20年间靠摄影和出书的稿费完成10多次环球旅行。但知并且一夜之间名声大噪，缘于他对三毛的直率批评。马中欣称，他1995年在北大作演讲时经学生相荐，第一次翻阅三毛作品时，“出于一个与三毛有相似旅行经历的职业旅行家的直觉”，对《撒哈拉的故事》、《哭泣的骆驼》这些脍炙人口的散文产生怀疑。“三毛究竟是怎样一个人？”“三毛书中记述的经历是真事还是作者臆造？”他称，实地考察支持了他原先对三毛的认识。他说，三毛是一个性格叛逆、说话做事随心所欲之人，终其一生，她都是在“表演”，在做“秀”。三毛自己也说：“我最大的创作是我的生活”，“三毛是三毛，我是我，你们都被我骗了。”
马中欣是职业旅行家、探险家、摄影家、旅行作家，现任美国国家地理杂志特约摄影记者。曾两次受国家海洋局邀请入选中国南极考察队，前往南极中国长城站、中山站摄影考察，获得重大成就。在三十余年的旅行经历中，他独自一人到过全球190个国家和地区，足迹遍布五大洲七大洋，行程百万公里，徒步行走十万公里。已出版《天涯历险》、《冰裸南极》、《探险式环球旅行》等多部著作，被誉为中国第一位深入世界的探险旅行家，中国十大探险家、当代徐霞客等。
20年间靠摄影和出书的稿费完成10多次环球旅行。但知并且一夜之间名声大噪，缘于他对三毛的直率批评。马中欣称，他1995年在北大作演讲时经学生相荐，第一次翻阅三毛作品时，“出于一个与三毛有相似旅行经历的职业旅行家的直觉”，对《撒哈拉的故事》、《哭泣的骆驼》这些脍炙人口的散文产生怀疑。“三毛究竟是怎样一个人？”“三毛书中记述的经历是真事还是作者臆造？”他称，实地考察支持了他原先对三毛的认识。他说，三毛是一个性格叛逆、说话做事随心所欲之人，终其一生，她都是在“表演”，在做“秀”。三毛自己也说：“我最大的创作是我的生活”，“三毛是三毛，我是我，你们都被我骗了。”
Jason Chow
Zurich took over from Tokyo as the world's most expensive city to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's most recent world-wide cost-of-living survey.
The study, which is published twice a year, tracks the prices of goods and services such as food, transportation, utilities, private schools and domestic help to calculate scores for each city, using New York as its base with a score of 100. Real-estate prices aren't factored into the survey.
Zurich and Tokyo scored 170 and 166, respectively, indicating that they are about 70% and 66% more expensive to live in than New York.
The study, which is published twice a year, tracks the prices of goods and services such as food, transportation, utilities, private schools and domestic help to calculate scores for each city, using New York as its base with a score of 100. Real-estate prices aren't factored into the survey.
Zurich and Tokyo scored 170 and 166, respectively, indicating that they are about 70% and 66% more expensive to live in than New York.
Bruce Chapman
What do diplomats do when circumstances change before a scheduled international conference to take action? They put out a resounding statement and pledge to meet again. That is what you can expect from the coming global climate summit in Denmark.
The problem for the global warming hysterics is that the globe is not warming this decade. Activists like Chris Mooney who have tried to smear anyone who questioned the extent or causes of global warming now have to deal with growing dissent within the ranks of climatologists.
How much better it would be for them to try to find common practical ground with doubters. You don't have to buy the idea that human beings have caused global warming to agree that Americans should reduce pollution and reduce dependency on foreign oil--and on oil in general. The Obama Administration that has ditched cap and trade for now could achieve an alternative victory by encouraging conversion to nuclear power and abundant, cleaner burning natural gas. At that point, electricity becomes relatively cheaper and electric cars become viable. Meanwhile, agreement also could be reached on helping developing countries to effect a similar conversion.
Instead, we get endless Chicken Little statements that seem to have increasingly little point.
The problem for the global warming hysterics is that the globe is not warming this decade. Activists like Chris Mooney who have tried to smear anyone who questioned the extent or causes of global warming now have to deal with growing dissent within the ranks of climatologists.
How much better it would be for them to try to find common practical ground with doubters. You don't have to buy the idea that human beings have caused global warming to agree that Americans should reduce pollution and reduce dependency on foreign oil--and on oil in general. The Obama Administration that has ditched cap and trade for now could achieve an alternative victory by encouraging conversion to nuclear power and abundant, cleaner burning natural gas. At that point, electricity becomes relatively cheaper and electric cars become viable. Meanwhile, agreement also could be reached on helping developing countries to effect a similar conversion.
Instead, we get endless Chicken Little statements that seem to have increasingly little point.
Niccolò Machiavelli
Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.
塩野七生
ヨーロッパでは、考えていても口には出さない一句がある。それは、民主主義はもはや機能不可になったのではないか、という想いだ。なぜならそれを言ってしまっては終わりだからで、その理由の第一は、何世紀もかけて築きあげてきた文明を自ら否定することになるから。そして理由の第二は、中国を批判できなくなること。いかに経済では強大になったとはいえ、中国には民主主義と自由だけはない。
ところが、誇るに足るはずのこの民主的なシステムとて万能ではない。
ところが、誇るに足るはずのこの民主的なシステムとて万能ではない。
クローズアップ現代
あなたは何歳まで子どもを産めると思いますか？
いつまでも若々しい３０代、４０代の女性たち。
努力すれば若さは保てると考えられるようになりました。
しかし止められないものがあります。
卵子の老化です。
不妊の原因になるとされています。
ところが、その事実を不妊治療で初めて知る人が後を絶ちません。
卵子の老化を知らず４０歳まで仕事に打ち込んできた女性。
２０回以上体外受精を続けています。
仕事に追われるうちに妊娠しやすい時期を逃してしまう女性が増えているのです。
見過ごされてきた卵子の老化がもたらす不妊の実態に迫ります。
いつまでも若々しい３０代、４０代の女性たち。
努力すれば若さは保てると考えられるようになりました。
しかし止められないものがあります。
卵子の老化です。
不妊の原因になるとされています。
ところが、その事実を不妊治療で初めて知る人が後を絶ちません。
卵子の老化を知らず４０歳まで仕事に打ち込んできた女性。
２０回以上体外受精を続けています。
仕事に追われるうちに妊娠しやすい時期を逃してしまう女性が増えているのです。
見過ごされてきた卵子の老化がもたらす不妊の実態に迫ります。
伊藤和子
日本では結婚がうまくいかないときに子どもを連れて別居するのは普通のことです。
特に、DVについては、「配偶者からの暴力の防止及び被害者の保護に関する法律」いわゆるDV法が制定され、DV被害女性は、裁判所から保護命令を受けるシステムが確立しました。保護命令は、加害者の夫が自分や子どもに近づいたり暴力をふるうことを禁止するもので、比較的簡単な立証で命令が出されます。こうしたシステムが確立しているので、暴力を受けたら、まず証拠を保全するより、子どもと一緒に家を出て身の安全を守るよう、支援者たちも私たち弁護士も呼びかけてきました。
ところが、ハーグ条約を批准すれば、国境を超える事案では、いかなる理由があろうと、子どもを連れて母国に戻ることが違法とされ、子どもは原則として帰国させられます。帰国した後には監護権の裁判が待ち受けていますが、子を連れ去った親は不適格とみなされ、監護権をはく奪されることも多いといいます。
このような日本とは180度異なる実務が定着すれば、日本の実務にも影響を及ぼし、DV被害者保護にも悪影響が及ぶ危険があります。
特に、DVについては、「配偶者からの暴力の防止及び被害者の保護に関する法律」いわゆるDV法が制定され、DV被害女性は、裁判所から保護命令を受けるシステムが確立しました。保護命令は、加害者の夫が自分や子どもに近づいたり暴力をふるうことを禁止するもので、比較的簡単な立証で命令が出されます。こうしたシステムが確立しているので、暴力を受けたら、まず証拠を保全するより、子どもと一緒に家を出て身の安全を守るよう、支援者たちも私たち弁護士も呼びかけてきました。
ところが、ハーグ条約を批准すれば、国境を超える事案では、いかなる理由があろうと、子どもを連れて母国に戻ることが違法とされ、子どもは原則として帰国させられます。帰国した後には監護権の裁判が待ち受けていますが、子を連れ去った親は不適格とみなされ、監護権をはく奪されることも多いといいます。
このような日本とは180度異なる実務が定着すれば、日本の実務にも影響を及ぼし、DV被害者保護にも悪影響が及ぶ危険があります。
白石理
政府や自治体が、市民によって選ばれ、支えられ、監視されるというのは、民主社会の原則である。したがって、人権を護るという国の義務は、政府や自治体に任せきりでは満足に機能しない。行政と市民社会の協力がどうしても必要である。市民社会の基盤が弱いところでは人権保障も十分ではない。これは世界の経験から知ることができる。人権NGOは市民社会の活力の象徴でもある。
。。。一口に「人権NGO」といっても活動の仕方も、目的も、内容も様々である。長い年月の活動実績で、社会の信頼を得てきているNGOがある。他方で、流す情報が正確なものではなく、時にその政治的な意図が見え隠れするNGOもある。
。。。一口に「人権NGO」といっても活動の仕方も、目的も、内容も様々である。長い年月の活動実績で、社会の信頼を得てきているNGOがある。他方で、流す情報が正確なものではなく、時にその政治的な意図が見え隠れするNGOもある。
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Human Rights Now
Our mission is to take action to: 1) Contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, with a special focus on Asian countries; 2) Contribute to the development of international human rights standards and norms through the UN and other international institutions; and 3) Promote the incorporation of international human rights standards within the domestic framework in Japan.
In particular, we seek to make a concerted effort to improve the human rights situation in the Asian region, where many people are suffering from serious human rights abuses. By highlighting the situation and enabling victims of abuse to have their voices heard, we spare all effort to make a positive difference. In working to achieve these goals, we would be very happy to cooperate closely with international and grassroots NGOs around the world.
In particular, we seek to make a concerted effort to improve the human rights situation in the Asian region, where many people are suffering from serious human rights abuses. By highlighting the situation and enabling victims of abuse to have their voices heard, we spare all effort to make a positive difference. In working to achieve these goals, we would be very happy to cooperate closely with international and grassroots NGOs around the world.
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VOA现场
美国国会及行政部门中国问题委员会的听证会把重点放在对高智晟的刑事监禁的最新宣布上，并且将提出有关他目前状况的关注。包括高智晟的妻子在内的证人将提出高对中国边缘化群体的法律辩护，包括宗教从业人员、农民工和人权活动人士以及他本人的强迫失踪等问题。其他专家将代表高智晟讨论目前的国际法和人道主义的宣传力度。听证会还将听取另一位被监禁的持不同政见者郭泉的妻子的证词。郭泉正在监狱服刑10年。他和高一样因为宣传人权和民主而受到惩罚。
Peter Morville
Ambient findability describes a fast emerging world where we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime. We're not there yet, but we're headed in the right direction. Information is in the air, literally. And it changes our minds, physically. Most importantly, findability invests freedom in the individual.
Hiroshi Ishii
At the seashore, between the land of atoms and the sea of bits, we are now facing the challenge of reconciling our dual citizenship in the physical and digital worlds. Our windows to the digital world have been confined to flat rectangular screens and pixels, or ‘painted bits’. While our visual senses are steeped in the sea of digital information, our bodies remain in the physical world. The vision of tangible bits is to provide seamless coupling between these two very different worlds of bits and atoms. Tangible Bits give physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible and blurring the boundary between physical space and cyberspace.
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.
Since that time, 200,000+ Peace Corps Volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.
Today's Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in emerging and essential areas such as information technology and business development, and contributing to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Peace Corps Volunteers continue to help countless individuals who want to build a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities.
Since that time, 200,000+ Peace Corps Volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.
Today's Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in emerging and essential areas such as information technology and business development, and contributing to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Peace Corps Volunteers continue to help countless individuals who want to build a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities.
Peter Menzel, Faith D’Aluisi
The Model Student
Calories: 2400, Country: USA
Her 2,400 calories could rise or fall depending on whether she’s indulging in comfort food
with her boyfriend or slimming down for a modeling job.
MiyabiyamaThe Sumo Wrestler
Calories: 3500, Country: Japan
To achieve his fighting weight, the mountain of a man spent years force-feeding himself many more calories than the listed 3,500. Now it takes fewer calories to maintain his 400-pound bulk. During the week of his interview, he was in training for a tournament—one of six big yearly matches—so he wasn’t drinking alcohol or eating at restaurants with sponsors of his club. His calorie count would have been higher at those times.
Exit Mundi
Isn't life a bitch? The world is going to end. You don't even have to be a religious fundamentalist to see that's true.
Some people collect postal stamps; Exit Mundi collects scenarios of what could go wrong with the world. Sure, our planet could get hit by an asteroid. But hey, that's nothing. Did you know we could all be munched away by hungry molecules? Or that our physicists could unintentionally wipe us all out while tinkering with particles? `Oops, sorry...'
Exit Mundi isn't in it for doom preaching, but strictly for fun. It's a fascinating thought: if that &*%#-comet didn't wipe out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, we wouldn't be here pondering about apocalypses and armageddons in the first place. The dinosaurs roamed our planet millions of years longer than we did. If it wasn't for the comet, they still would.
That's why this site is a tribute to floods, quantum explosions and awfully big chunks of space rock falling out of the sky. If there's a lesson to be learnt, it should be that within every end looms the dawn of a new beginning.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
Some people collect postal stamps; Exit Mundi collects scenarios of what could go wrong with the world. Sure, our planet could get hit by an asteroid. But hey, that's nothing. Did you know we could all be munched away by hungry molecules? Or that our physicists could unintentionally wipe us all out while tinkering with particles? `Oops, sorry...'
Exit Mundi isn't in it for doom preaching, but strictly for fun. It's a fascinating thought: if that &*%#-comet didn't wipe out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, we wouldn't be here pondering about apocalypses and armageddons in the first place. The dinosaurs roamed our planet millions of years longer than we did. If it wasn't for the comet, they still would.
That's why this site is a tribute to floods, quantum explosions and awfully big chunks of space rock falling out of the sky. If there's a lesson to be learnt, it should be that within every end looms the dawn of a new beginning.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
Kim Zetter
The government released Steve Jobs’ FBI file Thursday, including details of a background check done for a presidential appointment in 1991 and a bomb threat against him in 1985. The document also indicates that Jobs had a Top Secret government security clearance while working at Pixar.
The background check for an appointment to the president’s Export Council, under former President George H. W. Bush, included interviews with friends and colleagues to make sure there was nothing in Jobs’ background that would open him to blackmail.
One interviewee remarked on Jobs’ well-known drug use — which included, by his own admission, the use of LSD during his schooldays.
Others mentioned that Jobs couldn’t be trusted and that he was able to create a reality-distortion field.
The background check for an appointment to the president’s Export Council, under former President George H. W. Bush, included interviews with friends and colleagues to make sure there was nothing in Jobs’ background that would open him to blackmail.
One interviewee remarked on Jobs’ well-known drug use — which included, by his own admission, the use of LSD during his schooldays.
Others mentioned that Jobs couldn’t be trusted and that he was able to create a reality-distortion field.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Maria Robinson
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Faisal Al Yafai
The clouds of conspiracy are gathering over Syria. With more than half of Syrians supporting President Bashar Al Assad, there has been a concerted effort by the western media to minimise his domestic support while maximising criticism of his failings. In particular, the effectiveness of the observer mission is questioned, to speed the day when the United Nations authorises Nato intervention and ushers into power a more pro-western Syrian government.
That, at least, is the analysis of the situation that has been best articulated by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian and Aisling Byrne of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum website. It is not wrong. But it is not right, either. Very few of the separate claims of this theory are inaccurate, but the way they are strung together misses the nature of what is happening in the Levant.
... Egypt and Libya were good guys, until one day they simply weren't. The complicity of western governments in repressing Egyptians and Libyans was forgotten.
There were some hints of culpability, usually phrased as a wistful "we should have known more", but the dominant narrative was simplified to exonerate the western powers. Questions about the cost of the war and the involvement of the West were raised, but western politicians were always framed as disinterested and impartial. That, for much of the West's media, was the only conceivable frame.
That, at least, is the analysis of the situation that has been best articulated by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian and Aisling Byrne of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum website. It is not wrong. But it is not right, either. Very few of the separate claims of this theory are inaccurate, but the way they are strung together misses the nature of what is happening in the Levant.
... Egypt and Libya were good guys, until one day they simply weren't. The complicity of western governments in repressing Egyptians and Libyans was forgotten.
There were some hints of culpability, usually phrased as a wistful "we should have known more", but the dominant narrative was simplified to exonerate the western powers. Questions about the cost of the war and the involvement of the West were raised, but western politicians were always framed as disinterested and impartial. That, for much of the West's media, was the only conceivable frame.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
John Rawls
All social primary goods - liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self-respect - are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any or all of these goods is to the advantage of the least favored.
Robert Nozick
If the state did not exist would it be necessary to invent it? Would one be needed, and would it have to be invented? These questions arise for political philosophy and for a theory explaining political phenomena, and are answered by investigating the "state of nature," to use the terminology of traditional political theory. The justification for resuscitating this archaic notion would have to be the fruitfulness, interest, and far-reaching implications of the theory that results. For the (less trusting) readers who desire some assurance in advance, this chapter discusses reasons why it is important to pursue state-of-nature theory, reasons for thinking that theory would be a fruitful one. These reasons necessarily are somewhat abstract and metatheoretical. The best reason is the developed theory itself.
板谷敏彦
統治システムを隋・唐代と中国から輸入した日本は、宋代から中国とたもとを分かち、身分制を温存した。「中国化」の対立語は「江戸時代化」である。
日本は明治維新で一度は「中国化」するものの、選挙制度を通じて地域利権代表による「江戸時代化」へと逆戻りしてしまう。そのあらわれが、政治家の世襲、地縁、地元の利権などであった。
ところが今度は世界が「中国化」しはじめた。レーガンやサッチャーの新自由主義の波である。規制緩和は既得権益の撤廃を意味した。世襲議員が頼りなく見え、利権を持っていた業者、公務員、労働組合までも含めた既得権益がおかされる。これまで自分を守ってくれていた地縁にも終身雇用の会社にも頼れなくなってしまった。
「日本化」を克服するには「中国化」の道しかないのであろうか。
日本は明治維新で一度は「中国化」するものの、選挙制度を通じて地域利権代表による「江戸時代化」へと逆戻りしてしまう。そのあらわれが、政治家の世襲、地縁、地元の利権などであった。
ところが今度は世界が「中国化」しはじめた。レーガンやサッチャーの新自由主義の波である。規制緩和は既得権益の撤廃を意味した。世襲議員が頼りなく見え、利権を持っていた業者、公務員、労働組合までも含めた既得権益がおかされる。これまで自分を守ってくれていた地縁にも終身雇用の会社にも頼れなくなってしまった。
「日本化」を克服するには「中国化」の道しかないのであろうか。
與那覇潤
中世の昔から日本は「グローバル・スタンダードに合わせるのか、日本独自の道をゆくのか」で揺れてきて。。。ただし、その「グローバル・スタンダード」は「中国標準」のことだった。
実際、。。。宋朝以降の中国の国内秩序と、現在賛否両論の「グローバリズム」の国際秩序は、すごく似ていて。よく言えば徹底的な競争社会、悪く言うと弱肉強食の格差社会で、形式的には「平等」な条件で自由競争していることになってるにもかかわらず、実態としては猛烈な権力の「一極化」や富の偏在が起きている。そういう中国＝グローバル社会のあり方を受け入れるか否か、で国論が二分されたから、日本は中世のあいだはものすごい内戦状態だったんだけど、結局、「受け入れない」という結論を出したおかげで、近世にはピタリと平和になって。。。
今日のグローバリゼーションの核にあるとされる「西洋文明」というのは、新参者として後から日中に割り込んできたわけ。しかもコイツが曲者で、ある面では中華文明に似てるのだけど、他の面では日本文明に近い。その結果として、20世紀の半ばまでは日本文明のほうが相対的にうまく適応していたのですが、冷戦が終わる頃から、「停滞する日本」と「台頭する中国」という構図が出てきちゃった。
実際、。。。宋朝以降の中国の国内秩序と、現在賛否両論の「グローバリズム」の国際秩序は、すごく似ていて。よく言えば徹底的な競争社会、悪く言うと弱肉強食の格差社会で、形式的には「平等」な条件で自由競争していることになってるにもかかわらず、実態としては猛烈な権力の「一極化」や富の偏在が起きている。そういう中国＝グローバル社会のあり方を受け入れるか否か、で国論が二分されたから、日本は中世のあいだはものすごい内戦状態だったんだけど、結局、「受け入れない」という結論を出したおかげで、近世にはピタリと平和になって。。。
今日のグローバリゼーションの核にあるとされる「西洋文明」というのは、新参者として後から日中に割り込んできたわけ。しかもコイツが曲者で、ある面では中華文明に似てるのだけど、他の面では日本文明に近い。その結果として、20世紀の半ばまでは日本文明のほうが相対的にうまく適応していたのですが、冷戦が終わる頃から、「停滞する日本」と「台頭する中国」という構図が出てきちゃった。
朴国熙
韓米自由貿易協定（FTA）の再交渉を求める野党・民主統合党（以下、民主党）と統合進歩党は8日、再交渉が実現しない場合、FTAの廃棄に向けて行動を起こすという内容の書簡を米国大使館に提出した。両党所属の議員96人が連名で作成したこの書簡は、オバマ大統領、バイデン副大統領、ベイナー下院議長宛となっている。
書簡で民主党は、昨年から毒素条項として注目されてきた投資家・国家訴訟制度（ISD）、（協定内容の見直しを認めない）ラチェット規定、開城工業団地で製造された製品の原産地問題など、10項目についてFTAの発効前に再交渉に応じるよう求めた。しかしこのうち自動車のセーフガードを除く9項目は、2007年に盧武鉉（ノ・ムヒョン）前政権が合意した協定文にも含まれている。
書簡で民主党は、昨年から毒素条項として注目されてきた投資家・国家訴訟制度（ISD）、（協定内容の見直しを認めない）ラチェット規定、開城工業団地で製造された製品の原産地問題など、10項目についてFTAの発効前に再交渉に応じるよう求めた。しかしこのうち自動車のセーフガードを除く9項目は、2007年に盧武鉉（ノ・ムヒョン）前政権が合意した協定文にも含まれている。
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Jeffrey M. Jones
Three in ten Americans interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God.
Pew Research Center
Nearly half of the public (49%) says they have had a religious or mystical experience, defined as a "moment of sudden religious insight or awakening." This is similar to a survey conducted in 2006 but much higher than in surveys conducted in 1976 and 1994 and more than twice as high as a 1962 Gallup survey (22%).
Kyoungwha Kim
With Asia’s elderly population poised to double within four decades, more money is being plowed into preserving wealth than enhancing growth, driving up demand for the region’s bonds that are beating returns on stocks.
The number of Asians 60 or older will exceed 1.25 billion, or 24 percent of the population in 2050 from 10 percent in 2011, according to data compiled by the United Nations. That helps explain the surge in pension fund assets and shows why the region’s emerging-market debt returned 63 percent in the five years through 2011. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares excluding Japan gained 17 percent in that period.
The number of Asians 60 or older will exceed 1.25 billion, or 24 percent of the population in 2050 from 10 percent in 2011, according to data compiled by the United Nations. That helps explain the surge in pension fund assets and shows why the region’s emerging-market debt returned 63 percent in the five years through 2011. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares excluding Japan gained 17 percent in that period.
TehranTimes
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei"Recent developments in the region show that the Iranian nation has been able to find friends, supporters, and allies for themselves over the past three decades."
Ravi Somaiya, Alan Cowell
Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper subsidiary reached a new batch of settlements in the hacking scandal that has convulsed parts of the British press, police and political establishment, according to lawyers.
... Mr. Murdoch’s media empire agreed to pay substantial damages to several dozen high-profile victims of phone and e-mail hacking, and lawyers for those victims said they had seen documents showing that senior managers not only knew about the practice but also lied about it and destroyed evidence as part of a cover-up. ...
... The settlements disclosed last month included those of the actor Jude Law, who received about $200,000; Sadie Frost, his ex-wife, who received $77,000; Ben Jackson, his assistant, who received $61,000; Gavin Henson, a Welsh rugby star, who also received $61,000; and Denis MacShane, a member of Parliament, who received $50,000.
It was unclear how much the Murdoch businesses will end up having to pay after all the cases are settled.
According to the police, there may be as many as 800 victims.
... Mr. Murdoch’s media empire agreed to pay substantial damages to several dozen high-profile victims of phone and e-mail hacking, and lawyers for those victims said they had seen documents showing that senior managers not only knew about the practice but also lied about it and destroyed evidence as part of a cover-up. ...
... The settlements disclosed last month included those of the actor Jude Law, who received about $200,000; Sadie Frost, his ex-wife, who received $77,000; Ben Jackson, his assistant, who received $61,000; Gavin Henson, a Welsh rugby star, who also received $61,000; and Denis MacShane, a member of Parliament, who received $50,000.
It was unclear how much the Murdoch businesses will end up having to pay after all the cases are settled.
According to the police, there may be as many as 800 victims.
田中宇
工業化はアフリカ諸国にとって独立以来の夢だったが、欧米に頼んでも実現できなかった。それが中国に頼むと、資金を貸してくれ、インフラ整備も中国企業がやってくれて、工業化を開始できる。この状況を「中国は、アフリカの独裁で腐敗した政府高官に贈賄し、インフラを整備してやると甘言を吐き、利権を悪辣にあさっている」と批判することもできる。しかし現実を見ると、アフリカは経済発展によって、保健衛生や教育水準の分野も改善している。１０年で世界で最も経済成長した１０カ国のうち６カ国がアフリカだ。欧米がこの数十年間やれなかったアフリカの発展を、中国が実現しているのは確かだ。
Jason Burke
Fresh violence has broken out in the Maldives after Mohamed Nasheed, the ousted president, claimed he was forced to give up his office at gunpoint, raising the prospect of a fierce struggle for power in the island nation.
Translation
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme (Français: Universal)
Всеобщая декларация прав человека (Русский: Universal)
世界人权宣言 (中文: World)
Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme (Français: Universal)
Всеобщая декларация прав человека (Русский: Universal)
世界人权宣言 (中文: World)
(語本日: World) 言宣権人界世
(العربية: World/International) الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان
United Nations
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 sets a common standard to ensure that all human beings are treated equally. The United Nations has advanced and supported democracy and democractic goverance through electoral assistance provided to over 50 countries since 2010 alone. The UN has assisted in milestone elections in many countries, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Nepal, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, and Timor-Leste. The United Nations has formulated more than 80 treaties and declarations protecting and promoting human rights, for example, banning the participation of children under 18 in armed conflict and prohibiting the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Susan Rice
Out of every tax dollar you pay, 34 cents goes to Social Security and Medicare, 22 cents to national security and our amazing military, and a nickel to paying interest on the national debt. Just one-tenth of a single penny goes to pay our UN dues.
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The other alternative to the UN is that we do nothing and that these con icts fester, spill over, and create an environment where criminals can operate and where terrorists can nd a safe haven.
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We see human rights and democracy not only as the expression of universal values, but as the only means of achieving the goals of long-term political stability and sustainable economic development on the African continent.
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The other alternative to the UN is that we do nothing and that these con icts fester, spill over, and create an environment where criminals can operate and where terrorists can nd a safe haven.
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We see human rights and democracy not only as the expression of universal values, but as the only means of achieving the goals of long-term political stability and sustainable economic development on the African continent.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
読売新聞
米国の格闘技の試合を無断で動画投稿サイト「ニコニコ動画」に公開したとして、警視庁は６日、千葉市稲毛区穴川、無職奥山整容疑者（２６）を著作権法違反の疑いで逮捕したと発表した。逮捕は５日。
発表によると、奥山容疑者は２０１０年９～１２月、米国の総合格闘技「ＵＦＣ」の３８試合を、自宅のパソコンからニコニコ動画に投稿し、不特定多数が閲覧できるようにした疑い。調べに対し、「自分が好きな試合を多くの人に見てほしかった」と供述しているという。ＵＦＣを主催する米国法人が昨年１０月、同庁に相談していた。
発表によると、奥山容疑者は２０１０年９～１２月、米国の総合格闘技「ＵＦＣ」の３８試合を、自宅のパソコンからニコニコ動画に投稿し、不特定多数が閲覧できるようにした疑い。調べに対し、「自分が好きな試合を多くの人に見てほしかった」と供述しているという。ＵＦＣを主催する米国法人が昨年１０月、同庁に相談していた。
Maria Panina
A Russian team has succeeded in drilling through four kilometres (2.5 miles) of ice to the surface of a mythical subglacial Antarctic lake which could hold as yet unknown life forms, reports said Monday.
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica and scientists want to study its eco-system which has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years under the ice in the hope of finding previously unknown microbiological life forms.
"Our scientists completed drilling at a depth of 3,768 metres and reached the surface of the subglacial lake." ...
"Because the lower layer was formed 400,000 years ago, from the composition of the gas it is possible to judge the gas composition in the atmosphere 400,000 years ago and during the time that has passed since the formation of the lake."
"From there, it is possible to identify and forecast certain climatic changes in the future. This is very important."
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica and scientists want to study its eco-system which has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years under the ice in the hope of finding previously unknown microbiological life forms.
"Our scientists completed drilling at a depth of 3,768 metres and reached the surface of the subglacial lake." ...
"Because the lower layer was formed 400,000 years ago, from the composition of the gas it is possible to judge the gas composition in the atmosphere 400,000 years ago and during the time that has passed since the formation of the lake."
"From there, it is possible to identify and forecast certain climatic changes in the future. This is very important."
Christine Haughney
After the flames were extinguished Sunday night, firefighters made the discovery: a body, deep in an abandoned crew room, in a subway tunnel on the F line just north of 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
The victim was obviously homeless. Less apparent were his circumstances and history, but it did not take long for those to emerge. Of all the homeless people in the subway, the victim, Anthony Horton, 43, had been among the least faceless.
Mr. Horton found solace in the blackness of the tunnels. He made the subway the subject of his canvases, the muse for a graphic novel that he co-wrote, and the place he called home for the better part of his adult life, even when he had other places to stay.
... The book was based on his life underground. He told of a dozen or so rules of thumb, including: Always carry a light. Anything you need can be found in the garbage. Always have more than one spot.
Then there was this: Always have a way out that is different from the way in.
“He was a gentle soul, and I admired him.” ... “I wanted him to live a long time.”
The victim was obviously homeless. Less apparent were his circumstances and history, but it did not take long for those to emerge. Of all the homeless people in the subway, the victim, Anthony Horton, 43, had been among the least faceless.
Mr. Horton found solace in the blackness of the tunnels. He made the subway the subject of his canvases, the muse for a graphic novel that he co-wrote, and the place he called home for the better part of his adult life, even when he had other places to stay.
... The book was based on his life underground. He told of a dozen or so rules of thumb, including: Always carry a light. Anything you need can be found in the garbage. Always have more than one spot.
Then there was this: Always have a way out that is different from the way in.
“He was a gentle soul, and I admired him.” ... “I wanted him to live a long time.”
Leslie Kaufman, Kate Zernike
Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.
In Maine, the Tea Party-backed Republican governor canceled a project to ease congestion along the Route 1 corridor after protesters complained it was part of the United Nations plot.
In Maine, the Tea Party-backed Republican governor canceled a project to ease congestion along the Route 1 corridor after protesters complained it was part of the United Nations plot.
The Republican National Committee resolution, passed without fanfare on Jan. 13, declared, “The United Nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so-called ‘sustainable development’ views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership and individual travel choices, and privately owned farms; all as destructive to the environment.”
Rodd Wagner, Gale Muller
The best happen when you and someone who has strengths that complement yours join forces and focus on a single goal. Your strengths cancel out your partner's weaknesses, and vice versa. You accomplish together what could not be done separately.
Before you can forge a successful alliance, you must understand what you bring to the combination, and equally important, what you don't.
Before you can forge a successful alliance, you must understand what you bring to the combination, and equally important, what you don't.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Kenneth Roth
The sad truth is that the dominant Western policy toward the Arab people traditionally has been one of containment. Today many applaud as the people of the region take to the streets to claim their rights, but until recently Western governments frequently acted as if the Arab people were to be feared, hemmed in, controlled. In other regions, democracy spread, but in the Middle East and North Africa, the West seemed content to back an array of Arab autocrats, so long as they in turn supported Western interests. Elsewhere, governments were expected, at least in principle, to serve their people, but the West looked to the monarchs and strongmen of the Arab world to guarantee “stability,” to keep the lid on popular demands. The world’s promotion of human rights had an Arab exception.
The Arab Spring showed that many people in the region do not share the West’s comfortable complacency with autocratic rule. No longer willing to be the passive subjects of self-serving rulers, they began to insist on becoming full citizens of their countries, the proper agents of their fate. In one country after another, an act of repression sparked popular outrage at a regime that had taken one brutal step too many. This time the much discussed but long quiescent Arab Street arose and upended the old order. In finding its collective voice and power, the region’s people transformed its politics in a way that will not be easy to turn back.
The Arab Spring showed that many people in the region do not share the West’s comfortable complacency with autocratic rule. No longer willing to be the passive subjects of self-serving rulers, they began to insist on becoming full citizens of their countries, the proper agents of their fate. In one country after another, an act of repression sparked popular outrage at a regime that had taken one brutal step too many. This time the much discussed but long quiescent Arab Street arose and upended the old order. In finding its collective voice and power, the region’s people transformed its politics in a way that will not be easy to turn back.
朱景文
... 在这些条例中，都重申各级人民政府保证 宪法所规定的公民言论自由的权利。并且同时规定，公民在行使这些自由和权利时，必须遵守宪法和法律，不得损害国家的、社会的、集体的利益和其他公民的合法的自由和权利。这些条例中所包含的限制性规定大体包括下列一些内容：
- 反对宪法确立的基本原则的；
- 危害国家统一、主权和领士完整的；
- 危害国家安全、荣誉和利益的；
- 煽动民族分裂，侵害少数民族风俗习惯、破坏民族团结的；
- 泄露国家机密的；
- 宣扬淫秽、迷信或者渲染暴力，危害社会公德和民族优秀文化传统的；
- 侮辱或者诽谤他人的；
- 法律、法规规定禁止的其他内容的。
Somini Sengupta
A discomfort is sweeping through Europe about the ways in which Internet companies treat personal information. That discomfort has, in turn, prompted proposals for stricter regulation of online data across the continent. And Europe’s moves to protect Internet privacy — something Americans have not, as yet, actively agitated for — have given rise to a thorny question: How do the laws and mores of different nations manage, if at all, the multinational companies that now govern our digital lives?
United States House of Representatives
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) supports the designation of a ‘‘Pi Day’’ and its celebration around the world;
(2) recognizes the continuing importance of National Science Foundation’s math and science education programs; and
(3) encourages schools and educators to observe the day with appropriate activities that teach students about Pi and engage them about the study of mathematics.
兼好法師
世の人相逢ふ時、暫くも黙止する事なし。必ず言葉あり。その事を聞くに、多くは無益の談なり。世間の浮説、人の是非、自他のために、失多く、得少し。
これを語る時、互ひの心に、無益の事なりといふ事を知らず。
これを語る時、互ひの心に、無益の事なりといふ事を知らず。
佚名
世界上目前使用人数最多的语言是汉语，据统计，汉语的使用者数量超过16亿，主要分布在亚洲地区，是世界使用者人数最多的语言，使用的广泛度居世界第二位。
汉语又叫中文、汉文、中国话，包含书面语以及口语两部分，古代书面汉语称为文言文，现代书面汉语一般指现代标准汉语，方言众多，某些方言的口语之间差异较大，而书面语相对统一。
汉语主要分布国家和地区为中国大陆、香港特区、澳门特区、台湾地区、新加坡共和国等地，据联合国教科文组织统计，世界上会说汉语的人大约有16亿，是世界人口数量使用最多的语言（占世界人口使用语言五分之一）、使用广泛度居世界第二（英语广泛度第一）。
汉语是联合国承认的官方六大的工作语言之一，它以北京语音为标准音，却又不等同于北京话，是摒弃了北京语音中的一些土音而形成的，汉族的通用语在中国大陆称为普通话，在香港、澳门、台湾称为国语，在新加坡、马来西亚称为华语，但较之普通话有部分差异。
吉尼斯网友情提示：古汉语也曾对其周边国家的语言文字产生过重要影响。例如日语、朝鲜语、越南语中都保留有大量的古汉语借词以及古汉语书写体系文字。
汉语又叫中文、汉文、中国话，包含书面语以及口语两部分，古代书面汉语称为文言文，现代书面汉语一般指现代标准汉语，方言众多，某些方言的口语之间差异较大，而书面语相对统一。
汉语主要分布国家和地区为中国大陆、香港特区、澳门特区、台湾地区、新加坡共和国等地，据联合国教科文组织统计，世界上会说汉语的人大约有16亿，是世界人口数量使用最多的语言（占世界人口使用语言五分之一）、使用广泛度居世界第二（英语广泛度第一）。
汉语是联合国承认的官方六大的工作语言之一，它以北京语音为标准音，却又不等同于北京话，是摒弃了北京语音中的一些土音而形成的，汉族的通用语在中国大陆称为普通话，在香港、澳门、台湾称为国语，在新加坡、马来西亚称为华语，但较之普通话有部分差异。
吉尼斯网友情提示：古汉语也曾对其周边国家的语言文字产生过重要影响。例如日语、朝鲜语、越南语中都保留有大量的古汉语借词以及古汉语书写体系文字。
Jak
Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the Chinese languages.
Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on how literacy or mastery is defined and measured.
西澤隆
人口減少の進行、国際競争の激化など、日本は未曾有の構造変革期にいます。
地方に目を転じると、過疎化の進行や商店街のシャッター通り化など衰退が目立つ地域が、急速に増加しているように思えてなりません。地方経済の再生が日本経済再生の鍵を握ると言っても過言ではないでしょう。
地域再生の柱は、その地域に根ざした逃げない産業を作り育てることにほかなりません。
食の安全や食料自給率の低下が日々問題視されるなか、アグリビジネスはその大きな柱の一つになると確信しております。日本には、世界中に、いや日本でもあまり知られていない農産物をはじめとする貴重な資源が未だに多く眠っています。また、そうした資源を生産し、活用する技術には、世界でも十分通用するものも含まれております。更に、そうした生産物やその生産技術は、他産業の持つノウハウと結びつくことにより、大きな付加価値を生み出す種でもあります。
地方に目を転じると、過疎化の進行や商店街のシャッター通り化など衰退が目立つ地域が、急速に増加しているように思えてなりません。地方経済の再生が日本経済再生の鍵を握ると言っても過言ではないでしょう。
地域再生の柱は、その地域に根ざした逃げない産業を作り育てることにほかなりません。
食の安全や食料自給率の低下が日々問題視されるなか、アグリビジネスはその大きな柱の一つになると確信しております。日本には、世界中に、いや日本でもあまり知られていない農産物をはじめとする貴重な資源が未だに多く眠っています。また、そうした資源を生産し、活用する技術には、世界でも十分通用するものも含まれております。更に、そうした生産物やその生産技術は、他産業の持つノウハウと結びつくことにより、大きな付加価値を生み出す種でもあります。
Saturday, February 4, 2012
田村秀男
ユーロ加盟の問題５カ国、ギリシャ、ポルトガル、アイルランド、イタリア、スペインと、フランス、ドイツの標準国債の利回り推移である。２００２年にユーロ建て国債が普及して以来、各国債利回りはほぼ１本の縄となり安定していたが、０８年９月のリーマン・ショックに直撃されバラけてしまった。Alfred M. Worden
Now I know why I'm here
Not for a closer look at the moon,
But to look back
At our home
The Earth.
Quietly, like a night bird, floating, soaring, wingless.
We glide from shore to shore, curving and falling
but not quite touching;
Earth: a distant memory seen in an instant of repose,
crescent shaped, ethereal, beautiful,
I wonder which part is home, but I know it doesn't matter . . .
the bond is there in my mind and memory;
Earth: a small, bubbly balloon hanging delicately
in the nothingness of space.
Not for a closer look at the moon,
But to look back
At our home
The Earth.
Quietly, like a night bird, floating, soaring, wingless.
We glide from shore to shore, curving and falling
but not quite touching;
Earth: a distant memory seen in an instant of repose,
crescent shaped, ethereal, beautiful,
I wonder which part is home, but I know it doesn't matter . . .
the bond is there in my mind and memory;
Earth: a small, bubbly balloon hanging delicately
in the nothingness of space.
Center for Democracy in Lebanon
The Center for Democracy in Lebanon (CDL) supports, strengthens and enhances the aspiration of the Lebanese People to be governed by a secular and democratic government of their own.
Rick Gore
Who were the Phoenicians? We know they dominated sea trade in the Mediterranean for 3,000 years. Now DNA testing and recent archaeological finds are revealing just what the Phoenician legacy meant to the ancient world—and to our own.
...
The tests could confirm that men of Tyre - Christians and Muslims alike - are related to the ancient traders. Wells and Zalloua also took samples in other parts of the Phoenician world, where results may reveal the same lineage in areas of former colonies like Sardinia and Malta.
...
The tests could confirm that men of Tyre - Christians and Muslims alike - are related to the ancient traders. Wells and Zalloua also took samples in other parts of the Phoenician world, where results may reveal the same lineage in areas of former colonies like Sardinia and Malta.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Serendipity 3
ser•en•dip•i•ty (n) the art of making happy discoveries, or finding the unexpectedly pleasant by chance or sagacity
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
The much-anticipated Fifth Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is the premier resource about words for people who seek to know more and find fresh perspectives. Exhaustively researched and thoroughly revised, the Fifth Edition contains 10,000 new words and senses, over 4,000 dazzling new full-color images, and authoritative, up-to-date guidance on usage from the celebrated American Heritage Usage Panel.
The print edition includes a passkey code for a free download of a smartphone app that works with the iPad/iPhone/iPod or Android platform. A $24.99 value, the app puts the entire dictionary at your fingertips anywhere, anytime, making this one of the most comprehensive and accessible resources available on any mobile device.
The print edition includes a passkey code for a free download of a smartphone app that works with the iPad/iPhone/iPod or Android platform. A $24.99 value, the app puts the entire dictionary at your fingertips anywhere, anytime, making this one of the most comprehensive and accessible resources available on any mobile device.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Amy L. Strauss
Punctuality is defined as the act of arriving at or completing a task, event, or engagement at or before a previously designated time. Perhaps most easily thought of as being “on time” or “on task,” punctuality, or the lack of, is in most cases an individual trait or tied to an individual event or task. It is, however, a more widespread problem across some cultures.
By far, punctuality is a much higher priority in countries that are largely industrialized, such as the United States, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom. For countries such as Spain, India, and those in Latin America and the Middle East, however, punctuality is a much lesser priority. When a culture relies heavily on clocks, time dictate the start of events, meetings, and the like. It is in these cultures that watches, clocks, and time pieces are generally kept in unison. In event time, the focus is less on time and more on the event itself, meaning that people living by event time will see an event through before carrying on to the next.
... To that end, Japan, a country that is hypersensitive to the clock and the need to be punctual, has developed such a reliance on the adherence to schedules that its transportation workers fear reprimand for delays. Commuter trains connect with only minutes to spare before their riders must make their next connection. Such a focus on punctuality has been blamed for accidents, such as the one that occurred in 2005 when nearly 100 people were killed because the commuter train's engineer was trying desperately to make up 90 seconds.
Punctuality is to an extent a relatively modern concept. Clocks and standardized time have only been in use for little more than a century. Prior to that, there were wide variations in the keeping of time, thereby making punctuality nearly impossible. Clocks were set relative to the sun's position, making them inaccurate. It was not until a global standardized time plan went into effect that there was a gauge of timeliness.
By far, punctuality is a much higher priority in countries that are largely industrialized, such as the United States, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom. For countries such as Spain, India, and those in Latin America and the Middle East, however, punctuality is a much lesser priority. When a culture relies heavily on clocks, time dictate the start of events, meetings, and the like. It is in these cultures that watches, clocks, and time pieces are generally kept in unison. In event time, the focus is less on time and more on the event itself, meaning that people living by event time will see an event through before carrying on to the next.
... To that end, Japan, a country that is hypersensitive to the clock and the need to be punctual, has developed such a reliance on the adherence to schedules that its transportation workers fear reprimand for delays. Commuter trains connect with only minutes to spare before their riders must make their next connection. Such a focus on punctuality has been blamed for accidents, such as the one that occurred in 2005 when nearly 100 people were killed because the commuter train's engineer was trying desperately to make up 90 seconds.
Punctuality is to an extent a relatively modern concept. Clocks and standardized time have only been in use for little more than a century. Prior to that, there were wide variations in the keeping of time, thereby making punctuality nearly impossible. Clocks were set relative to the sun's position, making them inaccurate. It was not until a global standardized time plan went into effect that there was a gauge of timeliness.
Support-Native-American-Art.com
The medicine wheel consists of the four cardinal directions and four sacred colors representing certain properties:
- blue (north) ... defeat; trouble ... winter - a season for survival and waiting
Wisdom, intellect, the adult self, MIND
Element = Wind/Breath - yellow (east) ... success; triumph ... spring - a re-awakening, the power of new life
Illumination, creation, the wonder child self, SPIRIT
Element = Fire/Life Source - black (west) ... death ... autumn - the final harvest, the end of life's cycle
Introspection and intuition, the physical body, MANIFESTATION
Element = Earth - white (south) ... peace; happiness ... summer - a time of plenty
Trust and Innocence, EMOTIONS
Element = Water - Center ... learning, SELF
Balance, beauty, harmony
The symbolism may vary from tribe to tribe.
Greening the Blue
During 2011, the United Nations Headquarters (UNHQ) in New York consumed 10,077 cartons of paper, each approximately10 inches tall.. If we were to stack all that paper up, it would build a structure 8,397 feet tall, or over 15 times the height of the Secretariat Building (544 feet).
Printing is not just about paper either, but also about the ink, which not only has environmental but also financial consequences. In 2011, UNHQ in New York spent approximately $1.2 million on toners/cartridges. 60% of that spend was on colour cartridges. Do we really need it? Go easy on the colour.
Less is more, both for the environment and for our budget!
Printing is not just about paper either, but also about the ink, which not only has environmental but also financial consequences. In 2011, UNHQ in New York spent approximately $1.2 million on toners/cartridges. 60% of that spend was on colour cartridges. Do we really need it? Go easy on the colour.
Less is more, both for the environment and for our budget!
Tenement Museum
We tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants.
They faced challenges we understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means.
In recognizing the importance of this seemingly ordinary building, the Tenement Museum has re-imagined the role that museums can play in our lives.
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the history of immigration through the personal experiences of the generations of newcomers who settled in and built lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side, America's iconic immigrant neighborhood; forges emotional connections between visitors and immigrants past and present; and enhances appreciation for the profound role immigration has played and continues to play in shaping America's evolving national identity.
They faced challenges we understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means.
In recognizing the importance of this seemingly ordinary building, the Tenement Museum has re-imagined the role that museums can play in our lives.
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the history of immigration through the personal experiences of the generations of newcomers who settled in and built lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side, America's iconic immigrant neighborhood; forges emotional connections between visitors and immigrants past and present; and enhances appreciation for the profound role immigration has played and continues to play in shaping America's evolving national identity.
New York Transit Museum
The New York Transit Museum, one of the city's leading cultural institutions is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history, and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. The Museum explores the development of the greater New York Metropolitan region through the presentations of exhibitions, tours, educational programs, and workshops dealing with the cultural, social, and technological history of public transportation. Since it's inception over a quarter century ago, the Museum, housed in a historic 1936 IND subway station in Brooklyn Heights, has grown in scope and popularity. As custodian and interpreter of the region's extensive public transportation networks, the Museum strives to share, through its public programs, this rich and vibrant history with local, regional, and international audiences.
Museum of Tolerance New York
The Museum of Tolerance New York, modeled ater the highly successful Museum of Tolerance Los Angeles, is part of the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is a global Jewish human rights organization that confronts anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism, promotes human rights and dignity, stands with Israel, defends the safety of Jews worldwide, and teaches the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.
The New York Times
Friday, August 2nd, 1918
Open New Subway Lines To Traffic; Called A Triumph
Great H System Put in Operation.
Marks an Era in Railroad Construction.
NO HITCH IN THE PLANS.
But Public Groups Blindly to Find the Way in Maze of New Stations.
THOUSANDS GO ASTRAY.
Leaders in City's Life Hail Accomplishment of Great Task at Meeting at the Astor.
The new H system, so-called utilizes the old subway as its base. On the east side the old subway lines form a connection with the Lexington Avenue subway at the Grand Central diagonal station. The tracks across Forty-Second Street to the Times Square Station are the horizontal bar of the H and are used for shuttle service. At the Times Square Station the new Seventh Avenue subway is joined to the tracks of the old subway, extending up Broadway and forming the west side line of the new system.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Yoji Watanabe
Capt. Kurusu, born in January 1919, died due to an accident at Tama Army Airfield on February 16, 1945. When an air-raid siren sounded at the airfield, all pilots including Capt. Kurusu ran to their aircraft. As he was trying to pass in front of one plane, it moved forward two to three meters, and its propeller cut his neck. His severed head flew up two meters, and his headless body moved forward four or five more steps. This accident was unavoidable even though 1st Lieutenant Umekawa, the pilot of the plane that hit Capt. Kurusu, had fourteen and a half years of flying experience. If someone had given instructions to 1st Lieutenant Umekawa on the taxiway, this unfortunate accident could have been avoided. However, no one was giving directions to the aircraft. Capt. Kurusu was running in 1st Lieutenant Umekawa’s blind spot as everybody hurriedly ran to their planes to make sorties. 1st Lieutenant Umekawa honestly reported the accident to his commander, Maj. Yoshitsugu Aramaki. Maj. Aramaki did not say anything to 1st Lieutenant Umekawa, whose face was pale. Later, the Imperial Army leaders overlooked the accident since it was unavoidable.
来栖三郎
民主主義の下においては、個人の尊厳は絶対であり、人権の平等は不動の鉄則である。新憲法やその下に行われる幾多の立法は、もちろん民主主義の礎石であるには相違ないが、たとえ新憲法がなくなっても諸般の立法がなくなっても、人格の尊厳がなくなってしまうわけがない。すなわち真の民主主義の基盤には憲法法律を超越した、それ自身普遍普段に厳存する基本人権の観念が存在しなければならない。
しかし人権の平等ということは、人間がいずれも一つ一つの煉瓦のように、機械的に画一せられた存在であるということでもなければ、またそうさせねばならぬということでもないはずである。
。。。
われわれは西洋の歴史を読んで、宗教と政治との分離がつとに行われたのを知っており、またこれがために幾多の闘争が行われたのを知っている。
しかしその反面において、われわれは西洋の民主主義とキリスト教の人道主義とが、切っても切れぬ連繋をもっていることをとうてい否定することは出来ないのである。
。。。
敗戦以来多数の日本人がキリスト教信者になりつつあることを聞いている。この傾向が将来どこまで発展して行くかということは、われわれの精神生活の進化の上から観てもすこぶる注目すべき問題である。しかしそれと同時にこの問題は、われわれが築きあげんとする民主主義が、その基盤をどこに置くかという問題とも至大な関連を持っているのである。
民主主義は結局人道主義の上に立たなければならない。西洋諸国においては、民主主義はキリスト教という既存の地盤の上に繁栄して行ったのであるが、宗教を異にし伝統を異にするわれわれは、将来この人道主義の基盤をどこに求めて行くべきであろうか。われわれの精神生活の根源をなす儒教仏教に、新しい人道主義の息吹を求めることが、果して出来るであろうか。高踏的な「礼節仁義」、階級的な香のする「慈悲」に、積極性、能動性、平等性を与えることが畢竟可能であろうか。これらはわれわれ東洋人に残された、今後の大きな宿題であるといわなけらばならない。
しかし人権の平等ということは、人間がいずれも一つ一つの煉瓦のように、機械的に画一せられた存在であるということでもなければ、またそうさせねばならぬということでもないはずである。
。。。
われわれは西洋の歴史を読んで、宗教と政治との分離がつとに行われたのを知っており、またこれがために幾多の闘争が行われたのを知っている。
しかしその反面において、われわれは西洋の民主主義とキリスト教の人道主義とが、切っても切れぬ連繋をもっていることをとうてい否定することは出来ないのである。
。。。
敗戦以来多数の日本人がキリスト教信者になりつつあることを聞いている。この傾向が将来どこまで発展して行くかということは、われわれの精神生活の進化の上から観てもすこぶる注目すべき問題である。しかしそれと同時にこの問題は、われわれが築きあげんとする民主主義が、その基盤をどこに置くかという問題とも至大な関連を持っているのである。
民主主義は結局人道主義の上に立たなければならない。西洋諸国においては、民主主義はキリスト教という既存の地盤の上に繁栄して行ったのであるが、宗教を異にし伝統を異にするわれわれは、将来この人道主義の基盤をどこに求めて行くべきであろうか。われわれの精神生活の根源をなす儒教仏教に、新しい人道主義の息吹を求めることが、果して出来るであろうか。高踏的な「礼節仁義」、階級的な香のする「慈悲」に、積極性、能動性、平等性を与えることが畢竟可能であろうか。これらはわれわれ東洋人に残された、今後の大きな宿題であるといわなけらばならない。
来栖三郎
長い封建政治の後に、突然欽定憲法によってほとんど闘うことなしに参政権を与えられた日本の民衆には、長期にわたる苦闘を経てマグナカルタを戦いとり、幾多の政治的試練を凌いで議会政治を守り続けてきた英国大衆のごとく、参政権の貴重さに対する深刻な自覚がなかったのである。仏教によって諦めを教えられ、儒教によって政治上の幸福を治者の「徳」に期待することを教えられてきたわれられ日本人は、被治者としての権利を主張することを知らなかったのである。
われられは泣く子と地頭には勝てないと訓えられ、長いものに巻かれろと訓えられてきた国民である。少数ながら強い結束と力をもってすれば、いかようにも引きずり得る国民であることを、満州事変と二・二六事件とによって如実に示してしまったのである。今後われわれがこの悲しむべき過去の因習から脱却して、民主主義国家を建設し得るや否やは、今われわれの嘗めつつある苦い敗戦の経験が、わが国民一般にどこまで過去の過誤を認識せしめ得るかということに、かかっているのである。
すでにマックアーサー元帥は、「。。。」という懸念を表明している。けだし従来わが国においては、一群の新聞雑誌記者が筆を揃えて書けば、それがただちに世論として受け取られる傾向があり、数万の群集が帝都の一角に集合して、あらかじめ用意された決議文に拍手を送れば、それがただちに全国民の意思を代表するものであるかに主張せられる有様であるから、軍隊が廃止せられ、警察が改善せられ、暴力団体が解散せられても、マックアーサー元帥の懸念を正当づける要因は、国民の生活態度の中にいまなお多分に存在しているのである。
。。。
しかし「諦」の因習によって極端な自己否定に陥った個人の間からは、政治上の向上も経済上の進歩も生まれてくるわけはなし、治者の「徳」にのみ依存する政治組織の下においては、大衆はややもすれば政治を他人事と考えて無責任なるエゴイズムに走るのみで、その間に真の民主主義が生まれてくるはずがない。われわれ日本人は今新たに民主主義の発程を切るに当って、まず「諦」の魔睡から覚醒し、他力本願政治の冬眠から脱却しなければならないのである。しかして後に改めて個人の尊厳に目覚め、己を尊び人を尊び、自己を愛し、他人を愛するいわゆるエンライトンド・セルフ・インテレストの何物なるかを体得する必要がある。
われられは泣く子と地頭には勝てないと訓えられ、長いものに巻かれろと訓えられてきた国民である。少数ながら強い結束と力をもってすれば、いかようにも引きずり得る国民であることを、満州事変と二・二六事件とによって如実に示してしまったのである。今後われわれがこの悲しむべき過去の因習から脱却して、民主主義国家を建設し得るや否やは、今われわれの嘗めつつある苦い敗戦の経験が、わが国民一般にどこまで過去の過誤を認識せしめ得るかということに、かかっているのである。
すでにマックアーサー元帥は、「。。。」という懸念を表明している。けだし従来わが国においては、一群の新聞雑誌記者が筆を揃えて書けば、それがただちに世論として受け取られる傾向があり、数万の群集が帝都の一角に集合して、あらかじめ用意された決議文に拍手を送れば、それがただちに全国民の意思を代表するものであるかに主張せられる有様であるから、軍隊が廃止せられ、警察が改善せられ、暴力団体が解散せられても、マックアーサー元帥の懸念を正当づける要因は、国民の生活態度の中にいまなお多分に存在しているのである。
。。。
しかし「諦」の因習によって極端な自己否定に陥った個人の間からは、政治上の向上も経済上の進歩も生まれてくるわけはなし、治者の「徳」にのみ依存する政治組織の下においては、大衆はややもすれば政治を他人事と考えて無責任なるエゴイズムに走るのみで、その間に真の民主主義が生まれてくるはずがない。われわれ日本人は今新たに民主主義の発程を切るに当って、まず「諦」の魔睡から覚醒し、他力本願政治の冬眠から脱却しなければならないのである。しかして後に改めて個人の尊厳に目覚め、己を尊び人を尊び、自己を愛し、他人を愛するいわゆるエンライトンド・セルフ・インテレストの何物なるかを体得する必要がある。
Steve Winwood
Don't be sad, ...
All I have, it's yours if you think it helps you ...
There is only one who means more than all to me ...
I see that there's no need in trying to run ...
All I have, it's yours if you think it helps you ...
There is only one who means more than all to me ...
I see that there's no need in trying to run ...
J-CASTニュース
NECは、2012年1月26日、3月期の連結業績見通しが1000億円の当期赤字になり、グループで外注含め1万人の人員削減を行うと発表。27日には、NEC子会社で電子部品事業を行っているNECトーキン（仙台市）が、全従業員の約16％にあたる250人の希望退職を3月に募集すると明らかにした。
さらに経営効率化のため、東京・神保町にある本社機能を、5月をめどに宮城県白石市の白石事業所に移す。東京本社の従業員240人の半数程度や、仙台本店の従業員の一部を白石事業所へ異動させるという。
「NECトーキンの裏事情」という3年前からあるスレッドには、発表前の26日に人員削減に関する通達が書き込まれた。その後、「うわあああああああ いやだいやだいやだ」「組合のお力で白石移転を止めさられませんでしょうか？？ 白石に引っ越しとか出来ない…」といった叫びが寄せられた。
さらに経営効率化のため、東京・神保町にある本社機能を、5月をめどに宮城県白石市の白石事業所に移す。東京本社の従業員240人の半数程度や、仙台本店の従業員の一部を白石事業所へ異動させるという。
「NECトーキンの裏事情」という3年前からあるスレッドには、発表前の26日に人員削減に関する通達が書き込まれた。その後、「うわあああああああ いやだいやだいやだ」「組合のお力で白石移転を止めさられませんでしょうか？？ 白石に引っ越しとか出来ない…」といった叫びが寄せられた。
Jill Britton
Porch of Maidens, Acropolis, AthensThe ancient temple fits almost precisely into a golden rectangle.
Mathematicians had the contribution of the Greeks in mind when they christened the ratio "phi" in tribute to the great Phidias, who used the proportion frequently in his sculpture.
Shu Xian Wui
The Venus de Milo sculpture was carved by the Greek sculptor Alexandros. The statue adheres, intentionally or not, strictly to the Phi, Golden Ratio or Golden Proportion of 1.6180339887...
Wikipedia
- A typical digital camera's aspect ratio is 1.333... (4:3)
- International paper sizes' ratio (ISO 216) is 1.414 ... (√2:1)
- A 35 mm picture's aspect ratio, as well as iPhone displays' ratio, is 1.5 (3:2)
- Golden ratio is 1.6180339887...
- Super 16 mm is 1.666 (5:3)
- Widescreen TV, as well as APS-H, is 1.777... (16:9)
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Exactly what is the criminal offenses rate in the area where your home is? Low or excessive? The automobile car insurance quotes online may also be partially influenced out of this factor. Living in a dangerous area, risking potential vandalism and theft will be higher, as well as the rate increases accordingly.
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