• ITER - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  “ITER is an international tokamak (magnetic confinement fusion) research/engineering proposal for an experimental project that will help to make the transition from today’s studies of plasma physics to future electricity-producing fusion power plants.”
  (tags: energy economics technology globalization)
• ITER
  “ITER is a joint international research and development project that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power. The partners in the project … are [Europe], Japan, [China], India, [Korea], [Russia] and the USA.”
  (tags: energy economics technology globalization)

• Foreigners flourish in the realm of Japanese arts | The Japan Times Online
  “[Foreigners] who specialize in Japanese arts and culture make immeasurable contributions in their fields; without their passion and sensibilities, many of the existing Japanese art forms would have long ago become stale or even died out.”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)
• Irishman excels at age-old biwa | The Japan Times Online
  “With his back straight and his head up, Thomas Charles Marshall sits down in an arbor overlooking a lotus-filled pond….He slowly reaches for his pear-shaped biwa, a century-old mulberry-wood lute with elaborate mother-of-pearl inlays.”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)
• Aussie geisha speaks out | The Japan Times Online
  “Who wouldn’t want to hear the experiences of a white girl who lived a life that we Westerners have only known through the clouded lens of romantic Orientalism, or ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ or various other media images?”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)
• Learning the sublime ikebana lessons of nature | The Japan Times Online
  “Nature and humanity are brought together in ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging cut flowers. Odile Lundy, a French ikebana master, expresses herself by getting her artistic inspiration from flowers, branches and containers.”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)
• U.S. enka singer takes Japanese soul by storm | The Japan Times Online
  “Decked out in his broad-brimmed baseball cap, silver necklace and jeans, the young man stands alone on a black stage. With his voice full of emotion, he begins to sing in Japanese….This is Jero, the first African-American enka singer in history.”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)
• In the wake of Hokusai | The Japan Times Online
  “From behind his shaggy beard, affable British-born Canadian woodblock printmaker David Bull ended our interview at his studio in western Tokyo with what sounded like a challenge….”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)
• Inking her own mark | The Japan Times Online
  “For Christine Flint Sato, the key to understanding her adopted homeland has been through the world of sumi-e, a Chinese style of water-ink painting adopted in Japan in the 14th century.”
  (tags: asia japan globalization art culture)

• The Space Archaeologists | Popular Science
  What does the past look like from 200 miles up? A new generation of archaeologists has found that the history of civilization may look far clearer from the top of the atmosphere….
  (tags: archaeology history asia)
• Flickr: Search
  Flickr photos of the bas-reliefs at the Bayon temple in Angkor Thom (Cambodia)
  (tags: history photography research)
• Jayavarman VII - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  “Jayavarman VII (1125 - 1215) was a [Buddhist] king of the Khmer Empire (c.1181-1215) in present day Cambodia.”
  (tags: history research asia)
• Bayon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  “The Bayon is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple at Angkor in Cambodia. Built as … the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman’s capital, Angkor Thom.”
  (tags: history research asia)
• Angkor Thom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  “Angkor Thom was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by king Jayavarman VII.”
  (tags: history research asia)
• Photos: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Phrom, Neak Pean, Banteay Srei, Ta Phrom Kel, Baksei Chamkrong, Prasat Bei, Banteay Kdei, Baphuon, Phimeanakas, Prah Palitas, Prasat Sour Prat, Terrace of the Elephants, Phreah Khan, Krol Kel, East Mebon, Chauy S
  (tags: history photography)
• Angkor, Cambodia, Khmer temples, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Banteay Srei, Preah Khan, Ta Prohm, images, videos, photos
  “AngkorBlog is … about the art and architecture of the Angkor area in Cambodia, including the … temples at Angkor Wat, Banteay Srei, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, Bayon, and Preah Khan. It is about the stories, historical and legendary, told by that art.”
  (tags: history photography asia research)
• Angkor guide
  “Angkor Wat? Here’s a translation of Maurice Glaize’s popular and definitive 1944 guide to the Angkor Monuments for free.”
  (tags: history research asia)

… the death of Tim Russert, one of the few political analysts and observers who publicly demonstrated authentic passion for his work and for the American political system, and from whom we could all learn something about the arts of communication, rhetoric, and conversational negotiation.

… and from Senator Joseph Lieberman, an observation about Russert that, to me, is one of the highest compliments one human being can pay another:

" … the truth is he made us all better…."

• Update: Google, Yahoo strike ad deal
  “The nonexclusive deal unites the online advertising businesses of Google and Yahoo and comes as a setback to Microsoft…”
  (tags: yahoo! technology google microsoft)

• McCain: I’d Spy on Americans Secretly, Too | Threat Level from Wired.com
  “If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president’s wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight….
  (tags: politics security privacy freedom)
• Our Collectivist Candidates - WSJ.com
  “… Obama and McCain are telling us Americans that our normal lives are not good enoughThey’re wrong…. Every human life counts. Your life counts.”
  (tags: politics society culture philosophy)
• “Every human life counts”
  (tags: politics society culture philosophy)
• Why [Oil] Prices Rise
  “[The] simplest explanation is that world demand is growing briskly and world supply is not as responsive…. If we want low gas prices, we should lower the costs of exploration and refining. If lowering those costs has environmental costs you don’t like.
  (tags: economics)

• This 20 Volume Print Edition of Oxford English Dictionary Is The Last
  “The NYT says that Oxford University Press has no official plans to publish a new print edition of the multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary….”
  (tags: books history writing)