Archive for the ‘fo’ real?’ Category

Primary Sources: No Secrets

WikiLeaks front man Julian Paul Assange and his Icelandic transformation- how did his wish to under-serve those who hold "power without accountability" lead to the disintegration of his own orchestrated press club release? This New Yorker article by Raffi Khatchadourian due out next week explores his undoings in and out of the Bunker.

"If it feels a little bit like we're amateurs, it is because we are. Everyone is an amateur in this business."

.:newyorker.com->

Japan May Pick Robots Over Immigrants

Japan, like many countries across the globe, is facing huge challenges in caring for its aging population.

Its hospitals are stretched because there are not enough nurses to cope.

The low birth rate there means foreign workers need to be recruited but there is a widespread opposition to immigration in the country as many Japanese value an ethnically homogenous society.

For some, robots may be preferable to allowing foreigners to work there.

.:japundit.com->

The Japanese Knowledge Economy

A deep analysis of the current economic and business climate from the perspective of an IT developer and entrepreneur working in Japan.

: read the PDF analysis here by Dominiek ter HeideA:

Sign Language a 'foreign' language?

Twenty students are holding several animated small-group discussions, but no one in thisANorthern Illinois Universityclassroom utters a word.

Their fingers weave in complex patterns as they converse in American Sign Language, which the university has declared an official foreign language.

To the students, the new label is fitting: They say that American Sign Language is distinct from spoken English and that its coursework provides a new perspective akin to the cultural immersion they’d experience in French, Spanish or other traditional language classes.

"It shapes how you view the world around you," said Christine Theobold, a sophomore fromAStreamwood who is taking the most advanced sign class at NIU. "I guess it’s how you view the word 'foreign.'"

Continue reading at .:chicagotribune.com->

Comment Musings through Schindler’s List

Yeah, that’s right.A This is just something random, found when trying to prove how utterly ridiculous most comments are on the internet.A I think we succeeded.

"Schindler's List" is generally regarded to be the best list movie, certainly better than any movie involving buckets. (It's about time someone on the internet took a shot at "The Bucket List," right?) But even though "Schindler's List" is a terribly depressing holocaust film, the trailer for it is still on YouTube. That can only mean one thing: an army of idiots has something to say about it. Here are the 10 most insightful comments about the "Schindler's List" trailer:

10. AZnotCali88
god damn Mexican

Click here for the entire list

Ninja For Hire

The Wall Street Journal investigates the path and rise of the job title, "ninja." Over 800 self-titled ninjas are now public on LinkedIn- but is the ninja always a ninja or can they become a samurai?

The phenomenon started in 2003 and apparently really began to take off last year. Jinichi Kawakami, one of the last living ninjas in Iga, Japan, insists that "ninjas aren’t assassins and a real ninja must have stealth, intelligence, a righteous heart and patience."

Anyways, watch the video my ninjas..

thanks to orangemenace for the link

Avatar’s Deliverable Versions

Protesting against Israel's separation barrier, these Palestinians dressed as the Na'vi from the film Avatar and marched in West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah. via

In total, there were 18 different versions of "Avatar" created for the domestic market, plus an additional 92 for international markets, which were released in 47 languages. The international versions included more than 52 subtitled and 18 dubbed versions on film, 58 subtitled and 36 dubbed versions in digital 3D, nine subtitled and eight dubbed versions in digital 2D, and 23 subtitled and 15 dubbed versions for Imax.

.:hollywoodreporter.com->

Although many people believe that Samuel Johnson said "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," he shouldn’t get credit for this one.

Johnson said something close, but he was following in others’ footsteps. In Boswell’s Life of Johnson, in an entry marked April 14, 1775, Boswell quotes Johnson as saying (on some other occasion), "Hell is paved with good intentions." Note, no prefatory "the road to…" Boswell’s editor, Malone, added a footnote indicating this is a ‘proverbial sentence,’ and quoting an earlier 1651 source (yet still not in the common wording). Samuel Johnson SoundByte Page

30 Pictures of Goats Bein’ Crazy

Okay, so this may be a lame post.A I, however, was vastly entertained.A Check it out.

And, just in case you think that picture isn’t real, which I didn’t because of the semi-pornographic source site, READ THIS, from a more reputable source!A Before you start hating… if I saw a link and it said "myninjaplease.com" and then I went to the site and saw pictures of goats in trees (at least we’re not semiporn) I would think the same thing about this site.A So calm down.