Chanpon

Chanpon.org is a site devoted to the mixture of Japanese culture with other cultures. In addition to a web log that any reader can comment on, chanpon.org supports a discussion area and events for registered members. We also support a general mailing list Chanpon-friends for dissemination of information and announcements to the international chanpon community.

This site looks pretty dead.

So does its parent nonprofit, the Momoko Ito Foundation. Note their nice mon (紋 = crest) which has bunnies on it. No momo (桃 = peach) though!

Is Momoko Ito related to Blog-celebrity Joi Ito?

Links on the Momoko Ito site:

Web link of note: Chanpon
(At http://www.chanpon.org/)

Neoteny

Neoteny is a venture capital firm based in Japan committed to helping entrepreneurs build sustainable information technology businesses.

Originally founded in January 2000 as an “incubator”, Neoteny has developed into a focused technology investment team and a consulting practice focused on corporate venture development. The consulting business was spun off as an independant subsidiary in October 2002. Neoteny continues to invest and works with venture businesses in its portfolio. Many of our portolio companies are working together developing markets and products. Our investments are focused on personal communication technologies, networked consumer electronics and enabling technologies. Neoteny invests in all stages with a preference for early stage investments.

Now with McMau

I was walking to the park from Haight and I passed the McDonald’s- in the window there was a poster for a new product called “Mau.” There was a picture of some fried meat on it.

Mau? Like a mispelling of Mao, the Chinese leader? Or:

  • one half of Mau Mau, a political uprising in 1950s Kenya
  • one half of Mau Mau, an Italian band (okay I looked that one up)
  • Mau the card game. Funny, I always thought the name referred to Mao. You know, given the frustrating secrecy of the game.

Except then I realized the sign actually was upside-down. The meat was just the new chicken thing and the word was “new.” The font it was written in made it read upside-down as well.

Someone call Scott Kim.

PeaceWorks

We are guided by the Theory of Economic Cooperation which reveals the following:

Profitable economic cooperation initiatives can cement relations between rivals in the same way that common-place business partners profit from exchange in today’s market place.

In this manner, business can enable the conditions necessary to achieve long-lasting social understanding and prosperity in conflict regions around the world. PeaceWorks acts at the catalyst for economic interdependence.

Simply put, If wallets are married, relations can be stronger. PeaceWorks is founded on this theory — and is proving to be a recipe for corporate success.

Web link of note: PeaceWorks
(At http://www.peaceworks.com/)

Birkball

One of my coworkers was wearing a shirt that said “BIRK CLUB.” Complete with the soap icon.

It was referring to BirkBall. Apparently they used to play this a lot at his grad school.

NOAH: I’d tell you more but… it’s really geeky.

VINEET: The first rule of Birk Club is: Do not talk about Birk Club.

Web link of note: Birkball
(At http://www.birkball.com/)

Yellow Arrow

Participants place arrows to draw attention to different locations and objects — a favorite view of the city, an odd fire hydrant, the local bar. After placing an arrow, a participant sends a text message (SMS) from his or her mobile phone to 1.646.270.5537 with the unique code printed on the sticker and a short text — messages range from literary quotations to personal commentaries to game-like prompts to action. When another person encounters the arrow, he or she sends the unique code on the arrow to 1.646.270.5537 and immediately receives the message associated with it on their mobile phone. Through this location-based exchange of text messages, the YellowArrow becomes a symbol for the unique characteristics, personal histories, and hidden secrets that live within our everyday spaces.

Web link of note: Yellow Arrow
(At http://www.yellowarrow.org/index2.php)

Stupid SysAdmin Tricks: Uniq

SHAC: i just remembered one of the silliest sysadmin hacks ever

SHAC: if you have a file that sometimes has duplicate lines

SHAC: and sometimes doesnt

SHAC: and you want to process each line once

SHAC: if file is called foo

cat foo foo | sort | uniq -d > bar

SHAC: so you cat foo twice into sort so EVERY line has at least 2 instances… then you sort them all out… then you use uniq and say “tell me what lines are duplicated”

SHAC: of course every line is duplicated, but uniq only tells you that once

BRAIN: that is brilliant

SHAC: “boss” taught me it like 4 years ago