Archive for February, 2010

Entrepreneurship in Japan Part 1

According toAInternationalEntrepreneurship.com, Total Japanese Entrepreneurial Activity Average (TEA) during 2001-2009 was 3.2%, which was one of the lowest rates amongst the world’s leading nations.

Japan is moving towards a more dynamic work force, but failure is a more serious obstacle than in the West.

The entrepreneurial view in Japan is still based on individuals starting a convenience store or restaurant and the average citizen is very cautious and risk averse- being free from the wrath of a comfortable life legacy corporate system is not encouraged.

But be not scared, at a recent Startup Weekend session in Tokyo,ADave McClure - a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, startup investor, and bloggerAemphasized the importance of projects solving aAproblem- pitch the problem, and share the problem.

In this Forbes article, Yoko Ishikura, a strategy professor at Hitotsubashi University, says that the country has to stop being afraid of dealing with the outside world; companies fear "the loss of competitive advantage if we open up, so we get into this vicious cycle of internal orientation."

Japan Venture Capital Association was started in 2003 with the aim of getting better data on the venture capital market as well as help to develop and improve investment firms (something that has existed in the US since 1973).

Further reading on investment information and exit strategies in Japanese investment can be found atAfutu-risk.com.

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Posted: February 28th, 2010
at 9:21pm by Koookiecrumbles

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Categories: entrepreneurship

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Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent

"Years ago, when you were about four years old, the system set out to persuade you of something that isn't true.

Not just persuade, but drill, practice, reinforce, and yes, brainwash.

The mission: to teach you that you're average. That compliant work is the best way to a reliable living. That creating average stuff for average people, again and again, is a safe and easy way to get what you want.

Step out of line and the system would nudge (or push) you back to the center. Show signs of real creativity, originality or even genius, and well-meaning parents, teachers and authority figures would eagerly line up to get you back in line.

Our culture needed compliant workers, people who would contribute without complaint, and we set out to create as many of them as we could.

And so generations of students turned into generations of cogs, factory workers in search of a sinecure. We were brainwashed into fitting in, and then discovered that the economy wanted people who stood out instead.

When exactly were we brainwashed into believing that the best way to earn a living is to have a job?

I think each one of us needs to start with that."

.:View this manifesto at changethis.com->

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Posted: February 28th, 2010
at 6:13pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: hood status,myninjaplease,life,art,business,robots,politricks,weaponry,9th dan,boredom killer,"ninja",et cetera,diy,blogs,internets

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HMSABeagleAby Conrad Martens.

.:nmm.ac.uk->

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Posted: February 28th, 2010
at 5:21pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: the column

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Muzak Video Sunday 02.28.10

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RBL Posse - Don’t Give Me No Bammer Weed

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Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison

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Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

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George Clinton - Paint the White House Black

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Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.

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Bulls On Parade - Rage Against The Machine

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Posted: February 28th, 2010
at 11:06am by orangemenace


Categories: youtube,music,muzak video sundays

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Four Rookie CEOs and the Great Recession

Ask John Donahoe, who became the CEO of eBay (EBAY) in March 2008. Not only did Donahoe take the reins of the online retailer from one of the star CEOs of the dot-com eraathe current California gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitmanahe did so at a time when the U.S. economy was imploding and eBay’s business model was under assault. Suddenly, the new guy was getting pounded from all sides. One employee wrote an online post arguing that "Donahoe has made eBay a miserable debacle and it’s getting worse every day." The owner of a company that sells on the auction site called his strategy a "concentrated effort to destroy the eBay marketplace." Jim Cramer weighed in on hisAMad Money television show with this vote of confidence: "EBay has lost touch with reality…the company is hapless," he said in September 2008. "They ought to sell themselves to someone." You might call it CEO hell, but Donahoe didn’t kid himself. "It’s going to get worse before it gets better," he kept saying.

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Posted: February 27th, 2010
at 9:11am by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: business

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Michael Steele? For Real?

"michael steele"

*ahem* Michael Steele, my ninja f@$kin’ PLEASE! Are you kidding me? Nobody takes you seriously as is…

.:found over at the Daily Dish->

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Posted: February 27th, 2010
at 7:00am by orangemenace


Categories: celebrity,too good to be true,politricks,photo,fo' real?

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Year of the Tiger

Suh Gong-im, (South Korean), "Tiger Paintings", 2010. Exhibited in Seoul, Sunday January 3,2010 for official start of 'Year of the Tiger'. Photo: Ahnn Young-joon/AP.

.:artdaily.org->

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Posted: February 26th, 2010
at 9:57pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: art

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A Dozen: Allen Vandever

You may have seen Allen Vandever’s work here at myninjaplease.com- you can check out all of his past entries here. Here he goes into depth about the meaning behind his paintings and gives the audience a look into what moves his brush. Definitely worth checking out. Allen is making his art debut on the international scene this April, 2010 at NEXT, part of Art Chicago. And now to the interview.

Giant

When did you first know that you wanted to be a painter?

My first memories are of lying in my crib looking up at a print of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. When I close my eyes I can still see the color and pattern; it's as though the painting was a landscape I would travel through. The brushstrokes were pathsathe fields of colors were lakes and meadows. Thanks to my grandmother, I was creating from my earliest years and have never stopped. So, I guess I have always been an artist; painting is just the medium I have focused on.

What philosophies dominate your view of the art world?

I'm not one to lay claim to following one philosophy, for I try to take parts from all things and absorb them into myself. I do the same with art that I see. I guess you could say my philosophy is Al-ism: the one that I create, and embodies who I am.

Chasing the Dragon

How do you use the Internet to publicize your work?

Social networking is a great way for a large audience to see your work and to follow what you are doing. When I came back from my time on the Volcano, I wanted it so that when someone 'googled' my name the first page would be about me. Now, the first ten pages are about me. This was part of the foundation for my art career that I planned while living on the volcanoamaybe the altitude had something to do with it?

Life is tough for an artist, what makes you strive to move forward on a day-to-day basis?

Life is tough for everyone; especially those who strive to move forward to improve themselves. I feel the only way to move forward is to come to peace with where you are, and once you have conquered the 'now,' you are in the present, and finally at a place where you can move forward. Work, work, work.

Dreams from Childhood

How do you distinguish your dreams from your creative work?

I try to integrate my dreams into everything that I do, and I try to integrate what I do into my dreams. So my dreams are my creative work and what I paint comes from them.

Do you see challenges as obstacles or opportunities?

Of course I'm going to say opportunities! Whoever does not allow suffering and struggle does not know what life is all about. Seriously, challenges are what are between our present and where we want to be: Anothing more, nothing less.

New Pair of Shoes

What makes the art community in Chicago unique?

I have not yet found my niche in the many Chicago art communities. And though there are so many, there doesn't seem to be much interaction between them. AI am more interested in the art world. Sure, this beast seems mythical at times, but I know I must keep hunting it that some day I will hang its head over my mantle, then finally sit back with my pipe and whisky, while all is at one in the world.

What’s your view on online galleries?

I haven’t had much experience with online galleries yet, but I think there is great potential for a large international audience to see your work. Finding new ways to sell your work more inexpensively can be a good thing.

Tree Dreams

You are making your work available to the public for the first time at NEXT 2010, why is this?

This isn't the first time I have shown my work. For many years, I have displayed my art in different venues, exhibits, galleries, and competitions, but NEXT is a venue at the level I would like my work to be showcased on the international scene. People will be there to see what is coming next to the art world, and I hope that they see my work and embrace it as so many others have.

What separates your work from the next artist?

I use art as my tool to express and fine-tune my vision in my process of Individuation. My vision is what I see when I close my eyes, and this world I see is so beautifulathis is what I am trying to project onto the canvas. This vision is my path towards what some people call enlightenment: it is a search for knowledge, wisdom, and this elusive concept of the 'self.'

Dream

Where would you like to see your work exhibited?

First and foremost, I would like my artwork on the walls of my friend's homes, which is surprisingly hard to do! It's funny, I try and give them really good deals or make work that is affordable for them, but most of them do not take advantage of this! I don't know if they just don't like my work or if they think I should give it to them for free. Anyway, I would also like my work shown in art museums around the world. Then, eventually, in art history books. AMight as well shoot for the stars, right?

Who would you like to collaborate with?

All the people interested in the idea of 'process,' change, and struggleaand especially those reading this.

:: All images courtesy of Allen Vandever ::

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Posted: February 26th, 2010
at 9:08am by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: contemporary,a dozen

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WEISS / MANFREDI: Diana Center

Barnard College’sADiana Center, a 98,000 SF multipurpose arts building designed byAWeiss / Manfredi, has recently opened for use. The competition-winning design aims to transform the project from simply an art facility into a "social nexus", creating new spaces for interaction and collaboration between the building’s users.

The 7-storey structure includes architecture and painting studios, a 500-seat performance space, black box theatre, cafe, dining room, reading room, classrooms, and exhibition galleries - all contained within facade of 1,154 clear and color-integral glass panels, intended to reference the brick and terra cotta used Ain the surrounding neighborhood.

.:more over at ArchitectureMNP->

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Posted: February 26th, 2010
at 8:30am by orangemenace

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Categories: architecture

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