Voronoi Diagram:

The partitioning of a plane with n points into n convex polygons such that each polygon contains exactly one point and every point in a given polygon is closer to its central point than to any other.

• Mathworld link


• Vornoi Fractals for pseudo-biological structures

Web link of note: Voronoi Diagram Applet
(At http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/chew/Delaunay.html)

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Lots of wacky content here.
Web link of note: World of Wonder
(At http://worldofwonder.net/)

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上妻 宏光

I saw a news clip about this guy in 2001- he’s an electric shamisen player!

I’ve heard it called the “ele-shami” but I don’t see that phrase on his site.
Web link of note: Agatsuma Hiromitsu
(At http://www.agatsuma.tv/)

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Every holiday season, I have about a two month “don’t buy anything” period, in order to avoid buying things for myself which my family might buy me…

Over the years this personal tradition has grown into a new habit- in January I buy something crazy for myself as a reward for not buying anything. So this year I’m thinking about getting an overdose of anime.

Like every Robotech episode. Or even every Gundam episode.

I’m not even finished with the 3rd season of Yamato yet!

They say the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem.

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Very very pretty.

I’ll need one once I get a desk that doesn’t come from IKEA.

Made of the finest hardwoods, iDockCovers are carefully and skillfully hand-finished. Available in a variety of models that cover the spectrum from traditional wood finishes to brightly-colored, high-gloss “electric guitar” finishes. Our products accomodate both the Apple and HP (Hewlett Packard) iPod with the Dock accessory.

Web link of note: iDockCovers
(At http://www.westshorecraftworks.com/)

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Today’s word is:

尊皇攘夷
そんのうじょうい
“Son-no joh ee”

Support the Emperor, Expel the Foreigners!
[prince support expel barbarian]

This was a slogan in the Meiji Era, when power was restored to the Emperor (previously the Shogun was in charge). Meiji’s supporters used this slogan to play on the feelings of xenophobia in Japan at the time.

A little ironically, Japan under Emperor Meiji became more westernized than it had been ever before. The sudden change would be one of the most radical trends in Japanese culture until General MacArthur’s invasion at the end of WWII.

This same logic was used in Japanese East-Asian propaganda during Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in the 1931: let us help you expel whitey once and for all! Unfortunately for the Empire, this time it worked about as well as our description of “defending Freedom” in Iraq.

Ignorance is Strength.

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The Manchurian Mushroom: My Adventures with “The Blob”

by Paul Stamets

Originally published in Mushroom, The Journal, Winter 1994-95

Web link of note: 1995 Kombucha Story
(At http://www.fungi.com/info/articles/blob.html)

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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:

• The Dead Fukuzawa Society
• The Japan Foundation
• Japan Culture Plaza
• Japan Information Network
• Japan Interactive

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

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