Tokyo parade

In a show of popular support for Tokyo’s bid for the 2016 Olympic games, a parade was held this week on Omotesando. The Shibuya246 blog has some nice pictures.

Japanese market for luxury goods is hurting

This McKinsey report provides an outlook.  The New York Times linked to this in its story on the growth of discount retailers in Japan.

Sports Illustrated article on Wolverines and Coach Rodriguez

A nice read.

Refurbished Hubble Telescope

New images up on the Hubble site.

Rich Rodriguez and the Pahokee connection

Nice article from the Michigan Daily.

Patrick Swayze RIP

Regents’ Cube on the U-M campus

Michigan Today, the alumni magazine, carries a slide show of Regents’ Cube on the U-M campus.

The Cube “Endover” was installed in 1968 when the Fleming Building was completed, and sits in the middle of Regents’ Plaza between the Michigan Union and the Fleming Building. The 2,300 pound cube spins on ball bearings around a steel shaft.

A guy I knew worked the Cube into his workout routine. He would spin it one way as fast as he could, then step away and wait 20 seconds or so until it was safe to jump back in, slow it down and stop it. Then he would spin it the other way. Ten spins each way, if I remember correctly.

Here’s an interesting 3D sketch of the Cube with street view and map from Google.

The sculptor, Tony Rosenthal, passed away this past July.

More on enhancement

This article in UK’s Prospect describes research likely to lead to drugs that will improve human performance and encourage socially beneficial behavior, and debates over the ethical implications. I posted on this issue some months back.

The geomagnetic storm of 1859

Wired commemorates the 150th anniversary of a major geomagnetic storm that caused the most brilliant auroras ever recorded, and allowed telegraph transmitters to work without their batteries. After this event, astronomers began to explore and ultimately understand the connection between solar activity and such storms.

Toyama Koichi campaign video

Via Japundit, this is a pretty funny campaign video from the Tokyo Governor’s race of a few years ago. Apparently, Toyama got 15,000 votes.