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Rika Ninomiya

NZ undoes $1m whale case against Japan | The Australian - 0 views

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/...0,,23662989-16953,00.html

Japan Australia

shared by Rika Ninomiya on 14 Aug 09 - Cached
  • AUSTRALIA is likely to abandon its $1 million attempt to take Japan to the international court over whaling after New Zealand gave up its plans to use legal action to stop the annual cull.
  • using aircraft and ships to gather evidence against Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.
  • But the New Zealand Government has since discovered "significant difficulties" with taking Japan to the international court and has abandoned the tactic.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • The hunt for evidence against Japan in its "scientific hunt" for whales became highly contentious when the crew of the environmental crusader ship Sea Shepherd was accused of piracy and violence after activists threw bottles of "acid" and boarded a Japanese whaling ship.
  • Tokyo wants to ensure Mr Rudd's first trip to Japan as Prime Minister is positive and concentrates on climate change and potential joint regional aid projects rather than whaling and the perceived snub in his failure to include Japan on last month's 17-day world trip, which included four days in China.
  • In December, Australia issued a demarche, or formal diplomatic protest, on behalf of numerous nations over Japan's plans to cull about 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales.
  • It is estimated that Australia's "evidence gathering" to form a case against Japanese whalers in an international court, which included the voyage of the Oceanic Viking and aerial surveillance, cost taxpayers more than $1 million. The Rudd Government has been "considering" the evidence for three months and has still not made a decision.
  • pro-Chinese to the point of being anti-Japanese.
  • "agree to disagree on whaling".
  • The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister have signalled they want an end to the diplomatic row with Japan although they still vigorously oppose whaling.
  • Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb said yesterday Mr Rudd had to calm relations between Australian and Japan. Mr Robb said Mr Rudd's perceived "China bias" had caused concerns in Indonesia, Japan and India.
  • Mr Robb said the Prime Minister had sent a "gun boat" after Japanese whaling ships without picking up the phone to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
  • Rika Ninomiya on 14 Aug 09
     
    Very very interesting article on the relationship between Japan and Australia. Especially, after reading an article I posted previously on Okasa and Melbourne being Sister Cities. Apparently Australian government is against whaling done by Japanese and trying to gather evidence, spending over $1million, to bring Japan to an international court. And the article also mentioned how Mr Rudd is seen as Pro-China but Anti-Japan, Indonesia and India, making these countries worry.
Christoph Zed

To climb Uluru or not? Up, down or all over | Ayers Rock - 0 views

www.theage.com.au/...or-all-over-20090910-fiyc.html

culture identiy faith belief clash indigenous uluru australia

shared by Christoph Zed on 17 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Standing 348 metres above its surrounds, this 400-million-year-old loaf-shaped object is easily one of the most recognisable on Earth.The question is whether I should climb it.
  • The traditional owners have asked us not to because of its spiritual significance.’’
  • ‘Human footsteps are eroding the surface and idiots peeing on the top are polluting the waterholes.’’
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • ‘because it’s there”,and his partner in crime Mr Patriotic because ‘‘it’s a national icon and a rite of passage’’, are already planning their assault on the summit the next morning.
  • ‘That’s areally important, sacred thing that you are climbing,’’ continues the sign. ‘‘You shouldn’t climb. It’s not the thing to do.’’
  • ‘I understand the traditional owners’ connection to the land,’’ the Birthday Girl says. ‘‘But what about my need to connect with the land?’’
  • photographer Ken Duncan, who said to me recently: ‘‘No person should own copyright on creation.
  • ‘Please allow us to have our own beliefs and experiences, too.’’ And there lies the rub.
  • From our group, two chose to climb it and loved the experience; some didn’t climb because they respected the traditional owners’ request not to; others stayed on the ground because they were either afraid of heights or didn’t think they were fit enough to make it. But, we all had the choice and that’s what matters. A better question is: should our right to make that choice be taken away?
Christoph Zed

BBC NEWS | Technology | Call to use more government data - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8241029.stm

governance web internet technology citizen democracy usa

shared by Christoph Zed on 08 Sep 09 - Cached
  • One of President Obama's campaign promises was to make the US government more open and transparent.
  • "It's a great opportunity to redefine how government works," said Mr O'Reilly
  • "We've got to recognise that we can't treat the American people as subjects but as co-creators of ideas. We need to tap into the vast amounts of knowledge... in communities across the country.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • "We have gotten into this model of thinking the government is like a vending machine. We pay taxes and get roads and schools, police and armies and whatever else.
  • "The new model is about participation. It's about the government saying we will provide you with these services that you can build upon.
  • One of the most cited examples of how government-as-a-platform works best can be seen at a site called Apps for Democracy.
  • Apps for Democracy which aimed to "engage citizen technologists to build the perfect technology solution to meet their needs".
  • "With the help of these home-grown innovators, we're engaging the community in government and building a digital democracy model for governments everywhere,"
  • Mr O'Reilly warned that "going back to politics as usual" was not an option and that in the midst of the government's willingness to open up its data, there were some pitfalls to look out for.
jung moon

China's youth look to Seoul for inspiration - 0 views

www.chinadaily.com.cn/...content_509119_5.htm

korean wave chinese pop culture east asian pop culture

shared by jung moon on 27 Aug 09 - Cached
  • jung moon on 27 Aug 09
     
    Korean wave in China (this article is written in 2006 but it is still useful)
Blaze Yau

Stirring tale of dancer who emerged from Mao's shadow - Film - Entertainment - 1 views

www.theage.com.au/...1253385036858.html

Australian movie China Dance

shared by Blaze Yau on 02 Oct 09 - Cached
  • This image was imprinted in our minds
  • This was my bible
  • this was the book that my life should have been following. This man was our god who had saved us from hell! But when I went to America everything contained in this thing - the beliefs, the ideologies - all crumbled right in front of me. I realised I was really the victim of an incredible cultural brainwashing
  • Blaze Yau on 02 Oct 09
     
    A very good Australian film 'Mao's Last Dancer'. The main character(real one) is now living in Melbourne as a stockbroker. I think the film successfully highlights the contradiction between Communist China and America. Should go and see it.
  • fina ramlee on 04 Oct 09
     
    have you seen it Blaze? Anna said it was brilliant.
  • xuejiao lin on 05 Oct 09
     
    Personally, i appreciate this movie so much. Mao's Last Dancer was opened on the same day in Melbourne as another movie called The Founding of A Republic. That was an obvious ideological confrontation. Though the two movies are telling story in the same country. Compared with the Singapore Girl TV Commercial, which was made by Asian for showing oriental spirit to the western in a western way, Mao's Last Dancer was made by Australia for showing their understanding of the age of ideological confrontation. I think for many western audience, there are a lot of languages and ideology during that special years could not be understood forever. But i appreciate the director and adaptor so much. Because sometimes we need others to help us grow.
Christoph Zed

AFP: Kadhafi calls for 'NATO of the south' at Venezuela summit - 0 views

www.google.com/...M5hT-FqACs0lXzH9cRN-FW-VywSvNQ

nato politics power-play

shared by Christoph Zed on 28 Sep 09 - Cached
  • pushing for the creation of a "NATO of the South" by 2011 to counter the military bloc of the United States and European powers.
  • Energy infrastructure development and joint oil project cooperation were the central topics of the meeting,
  • Libya is the gateway to Africa for us because it is a country well-known for its socialist policies that plays an important and strategic role for us
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • no global challenge in the 21st Century that cannot be tackled by Africa and South America, and there is no challenge that can be addressed without
Christoph Zed

Can India's economy overtake China? - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8273464.stm

markets india china economy globalisation

shared by Christoph Zed on 05 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Can the lumbering elephant overtake the hyperactive dragon?
  • In 2010, the Indian economy may grow faster than that of China.
  • China and India, accounting for roughly 40% of the 6.5bn plus people on Planet Earth, are not merely the two fastest growing major economies in the world at present, but are among the few countries that have continued to expand at a time when the economies of most countries have contracted
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Economists argue that one reason why India's economy can grow faster than that of China in the near future is simply on account of what statisticians describe as a "base effect"
  • China's economy is roughly three and a half times bigger than that of India - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measured in US dollars in 2008 for the two countries stood at $4.2 trillion and $1.2 trillion respectively.
  • Two years ago, China overtook the US as India's largest trading partner.
  • World Bank in its Global Development Finance 2009 report projected that in 2010, the rate of growth of India's economy at 8% would be faster than that of China, expected to be 7.7%
  • developing countries could "become a key driving force" in reviving the world's economy
  • it was no longer improbable that India could grow faster than China or that South Asia would expand at a faster pace than East and South-East Asia
Rika Ninomiya

Keeping it real imaginative - Film - Entertainment - theage.com.au - 0 views

www.theage.com.au/...1251001979034.html

Anime StudioGhibli CulturalProduct Japan

shared by Rika Ninomiya on 05 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Pixar's creative head, John Lasseter, is one of Miyazaki's biggest fans.
  • In contrast to the way Lasseter has surged into the future with 3D computer-generated animation, Miyazaki has upheld the tradition of 2D hand-drawn animation. Now that Pixar is part of Disney, Lasseter has used his considerable clout to have the studio release an English-language version of Miyazaki's latest film, Ponyo,
  • The film uses the voices of stars including Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon and Tina Fey, with Noah Cyrus - the younger sister of Miley Cyrus - as Ponyo, a cute goldfish that yearns to be human.
  • Rika Ninomiya on 05 Oct 09
     
    Studio Ghibli is the most successful anime production house in Japan. It's persona has captured not only Japanese but also people around the world, regardless of their age. This is one cultural product of Japan which is appreciated by many around the world.
Andrew Ooi

Study Pushes for Net Neutrality, New Journalism Models - Business Center - PC World - 0 views

www.pcworld.com/...ity_new_journalism_models.html

internet neutrality Internet

shared by Andrew Ooi on 04 Oct 09 - Cached
  • The U.S. government should advance an "ambitious" plan for universal broadband availability and should ensure that broadband networks are open to all content and applications, according to a new study on public information needs in the digital age.
  • calls for new ideas to share news and information, even as the traditional newspaper industry appears near death.
  • The study calls for the U.S. government to increase support for public media and push ahead with the government transparency and accountability efforts
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Big, centralized newspapers and TV stations often don't serve local communities well
  • Andrew Ooi on 04 Oct 09
     
    A study in the US. Death of conventional journalist methods?
Christoph Zed

BBC NEWS | Technology | Barcode replacement shown off - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8170027.stm

shared by Christoph Zed on 28 Jul 09 - Cached
  • We think that our technology will create a new way of tagging
  • can be interrogated from far away by a standard mobile phone camera
  • However, the team also thinks they could be used in consumer applications, such as supermarkets, where products could be interrogated with a shopper's mobile phone
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Let's say you're standing in a library with 20 shelves in front of you and thousands of books." "You could take a picture and you'd immediately know where the book you're looking for is.
  • estaurant could put menu information inside the tag. When the data is uploaded to Google Maps, it would automatically be displayed next to the image of the restaurant,
glen donnar

Chinese hack into film festival site - 0 views

www.theage.com.au/...stival-site-20090725-dwvx.html

communication international china australia film festival

shared by glen donnar on 25 Jul 09 - Cached
  • CHINESE hackers have attacked the Melbourne International Film Festival website in an intensifying campaign against the screening of a documentary about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.
  • The hackers replaced festival information with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans
  • "It is obviously a concerted campaign to get us because we've refused to comply with the Chinese Government's demands."
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Last week, three Chinese directors withdrew films, with two denying they were forced to do so by Chinese authorities. Director Tang Xiaobai, who withdrew her film Perfect Life after being phoned by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said it was her decision to boycott the festival."I do not want to see my film screened on the same platform as a film about Kadeer," Tang told the official English-language newspaper China Daily.
Yu Cao

Roy Greenslade: US journalists pardoned after Clinton visits North Korea | Media | guar... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...north-korea-clinton

north korea america journalists

shared by Yu Cao on 05 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Yu Cao on 05 Aug 09
     
    two American journalists detained in North Korea have been released after Bill Cliton's meet with Kim Jong II
Yair Frid

YouTube - Food Fight - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

Food nationalism history war

shared by Yair Frid on 24 Aug 09 - Cached
  • xinning ji on 24 Aug 09
     
    it is a quite funny animation. Also, in an interesting way, it uses symbolic languages to represent the modern world, pop culture and globalization. In my point of view, there is a global war in which sushi represents Asia and hanburg and chips play as West. they fight with each other in order to prove which one is more dominant and powerful.
  • Yair Frid on 25 Aug 09
     
    Its the recent history of war:Go here to see which country is represented by which food, its quite cool http://www.touristpictures.com/foodfight/cheat.htm
Yair Frid

World Military Strength Ranking - 0 views

www.globalfirepower.com/index.asp

shared by Yair Frid on 17 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Yair Frid on 17 Sep 09
     
    Very cool and interesting page. Enjoy!!!
  • Christoph Zed on 19 Sep 09
     
    Interesting to see that 10 of the 30 are European states. No wonder Russia wasn't to happy about the US-Proposed Missile Defence Shield. (which will now not be built in Poland btw). Russia also wouldn't be happy about being ranked lower than China (and prbbly contest it) India's ranking could be seen as a surprise - at least compared to its media coverage in the west - and then of course Egypt is very interesting as well. These would help to explain the US's continued and long-standing commitment to these two countries especially.
glen donnar

Politics comes before lights and camera - Opinion - theage.com.au - 0 views

www.theage.com.au/...1248546628873.html

miff china australia international relations politics culture film nation states

shared by glen donnar on 02 Aug 09 - Cached
  • THE Melbourne International Film Festival has it all: dramas involving officials from foreign governments, larger than life characters sticking to matters of principles whatever the consequences and the struggles for liberation.
  • documentary about Rebiya Kadeer
  • subsequently three Chinese films were withdrawn.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Loach's
  • The role of political actors, and the nation state in particular, in the film industry is enormous.
  • the film appears as the product of an individual visionary. This view of filmmaking is about as realistic as the standard Hollywood happy ending. The reality is that films are rarely, if ever, the personal, unadulterated vision of a director. They are influenced or, depending on your point of view, compromised from the start by those who bankroll the films.
  • what gets far less attention is the extensive role played by political actors in the filmmaking process.
  • In some respects, the most surprising thing about these kerfuffles is not that they have happened, but that they don't happen more often. While most of us think of film festivals as cultural events, the truth is that they are also deeply political events.
  • most films would not be made were it not for generous state subsidies.
  • And in spite of nice-sounding claims about facilitating cultural dialogue, nation states don't fund films because they love a good story. They do so because film can be a highly effective means of spreading influence. Since they're footing the bill, it's understandable that they want a say in the content of the film and how it is positioned.
  • films and film festivals are the continuation of politics by other means. It shouldn't be imagined that this applies only to authoritarian states such as China or political organisations with clear political objectives. Nearly every Australian film is made with some public money, and so filmmakers are subject to similar, if far more sophisticated and subtle, forms of state influence.
  • China has miscalculated the extent of its reach and, in the process, provided both the Kadeer documentary and the film festival an avalanche of publicity. And Ken Loach, in remarkably poor political judgment, has effectively silenced himself by withdrawing his film.
sayaka uchida

How To Avoid Getting Kidnapped In China - Forbes.com - 0 views

www.forbes.com/...i-leadership-managing-hui.html

china business

shared by sayaka uchida on 04 Aug 09 - No Cached
  • There are a lot more similarities than differences between the U.S. and China. But some of the differences are substantial.
  • Americans confronted with business disputes expect to turn to lawyers and courts. That isn't done nearly as often in China. Companies, especially smaller private ones, turn instead to relationships. If they don't have relationships to turn to, they sometimes fall back on threats and physical fighting. But you see many more paper tigers than real ones.
  • Use relationships rather than legalese whenever possible to solve problems.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Many Americans have heard of guanxi, but it's often translated wrongly to mean relationships with powerful people
  • Guanxi means something very different from the American concept of connections.
  • It means being in a social circle where you can let your guard down a little, because there is deep trust, perhaps from generations of coexistence, living in the same neighborhoods or even with interwoven family relations.
  • Long-term perspective is very important in China. A defaulting borrower should avoid saying he won't pay and instead pay a little right away and explain that he is hurting but will make good in the future. You cannot rely on bankruptcy to absolve debts.
  • ou need to know that relying on the law to avoid making payments to Chinese businesses doesn't usually work
  • To be successful long term, your company must have strong contracts and good legal advice, but it also needs to understand the importance of relationships, and nurture those as well.
Christoph Zed

Chris Anderson on the Economics of 'Free': 'Maybe Media Will Be a Hobby Rather than a J... - 0 views

www.spiegel.de/...0,1518,638172-2,00.html

shared by Christoph Zed on 29 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Yes. It's all about attention. That is the most valuable commodity. If you have attention and reputation, you can figure out how to monetize it. However, money is not the No. 1 factor anymore.
  • maybe the media is going to be a part time job. Maybe media won't be a job at all, but will instead be a hobby
  • The question is can people get the information they want, the way they want it?
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The online economy is about the size of the German economy. And it's based on a default price of zero. Most things online are available in a free form. We have never seen an economy this big with a default price of zero. I realized that we needed an economic model to explain how an economy could be based on "free." And we need to understand the psychology of that. We have the psychology of free, we're drawn to it, but we feel cheated by it. If something used to be paid for and then it becomes free, we think the quality is lower. But if something has always been free, and remains free, we don't think that.
xinning ji

Craig D. Lindsey on pop culture overload - Lifestyles - News & Observer - 0 views

www.newsobserver.com/...1638386.html

pop-culture celebrity entertainment

shared by xinning ji on 09 Aug 09 - Cached
  • More media outlets appear to be reporting entertainment news more than hard news. You go to your nearest Rite-Aid and find racks of tabloid magazines, usually reporting on the same thing in their cover stories.
    • xinning ji
      xinning ji on 11 Aug 09
       
      compared with pop culture with high culture, is it pop culture is easier understood and more entertainning than high culture? Also in my opinion, pop culture can be dominated by any social groups, such as people in low class, middle class or high class. But high culture traditionally was the interest among middle and high classes.
  • I remember 1999 as a grand year for pop culture. Pop music was bombarded with boy bands, singing Lolitas and Latino heartthrobs. George Lucas was ready to unleash the first chapter of that dismal "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. Stanley Kubrick gave us his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," after he passed away that year.
  • Pop culture has become one big guilty pleasure -- a gluttonous, confectionary hodgepodge that you know is bad for you but you just can't keep away.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • junk-food culture
  • It's more than just actual entertainment. It's all this extraneous mess that people seem to care about now.
Lucy Rechnitzer

Twitter taken down to silence one man - 0 views

www.theage.com.au/...nce-one-man-20090808-edml.html

shared by Lucy Rechnitzer on 16 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Twitter taken down to silence one man New York August 9, 2009 CYBER attacks on Twitter and other popular web services last week disrupted the lives of millions of internet users, but the real target was one man: a 34-year-old economics professor from the republic of Georgia.
  • The attacks were ''the equivalent of bombing a TV station because you don't like one of the newscasters'', said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at internet security company F-Secure.
  • The hackers used a botnet, a network of thousands of infected personal computers, to direct massive amounts of junk traffic to Cyxymu's pages on Twitter, LiveJournal, YouTube and Facebook in an attempt to disable them.The millions that were affected were, in a sense, simply bystanders, experiencing shrapnel from an internet blitzkrieg that took aim at one person and knocked out an entire community.
xinning ji

Jobs bonanza for indigenous youth in WA | The Australian - 0 views

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/...25197,25720799-5013945,00.html

shared by xinning ji on 07 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Australia's greatest social challenge is the condition of its indigenous people -- every government recognises that
    • xinning ji
      xinning ji on 07 Aug 09
       
      the gap between indigenous people and non-aboriginal people exists for a long time since the land was invaded and colonized. although the Australian government admits the existance of these indigenous people and as the previous one lived in this land, it still treats them in a way of exclusion and discrimination. Rather, it is hard to indigenous Australian to achieve social equality and respect.
  • He has also continued the Howard government's intervention into Northern Territory indigenous communities and used earlier COAG meetings to win co-operation from state governments to lift their spending and remove red tape hindering proper delivery of services
  • "I look forward to being part of the discussions about how governments together can deal with some of those long-term issues amongst indigenous Australians -- that's a high agenda item."
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