Karin Ishida from Ishida Finance (center), with MEDUSA (left), preparing the takeover of Goldman Sachs
Rapid-Fire Trading
About 28 percent of the shares traded in the U.S. during the fourth quarter were handled by automated brokerages using algorithms to generate rapid-fire trading strategies, according to estimates from NYSE Euronext, the world’s largest operator of stock exchanges. That’s up from 17 percent a year earlier, and almost three times larger than the portion of volume generated by individual investors, according to NYSE Euronext.
Goldman May Lose Millions From Ex-Worker’s Code Theft, Bloomberg, July 7 2009
Sergey Aleynikov
In case you haven’t seen the headlines, a former Goldman computer wiz and Russian immigrant was arrested by a team of FBI agents at Newark Airport on July 3. Sergey Aleynikov was charged with stealing and sending overseas secret computer code which the firm uses to automatically trade stocks and commodities. “The trades made…typically generate many millions of dollars of profits per year” for the firm, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case by Special Agent Michael G. McSwain of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The firm believes, the complaint said, that if the programs end up in the hands of competitors that its ability to profit from the strategies would be “significantly diminished.”
The Secrets of Goldman Sachs, Businessweek, July 06 2009,
“I am deeply moved, I feel the power of this construction in Odaiba, because it uses what I call the ‘twilight colors,’ which are not the colors of real weapons but peaceful colors, colors that little kids like and that tell people ‘don’t give up hope.’ I believe this statue in Odaiba will serve as a new Statue of Liberty, something that will inspire people and the new generations.“
Yoshiyuki Tomino
in Gundam promotes Tokyo 2016’s Olympic bid, Japan Today, 09th July 2009
Mythopoeia (μυθοποιία “myth-making”) is a narrative genre in modern literature and film where a fictional mythology was created by the author or screenwriter. The word mythopoeia and description was coined and developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s. The authors in this genre integrate traditional mythological themes and archetypes into fiction.
As opposed to fantasy worlds or fictional universe aimed at the evocation of detailed worlds with well-ordered histories, geographies, and laws of nature, mythopoeia aims at imitating and including real-world mythology, specifically created to bring mythology to modern readers, and/or to add credibility and literary depth to fictional worlds in fantasy or science fiction books and movies.
Gundam has presented many propositions that we face today in the real world. It will certainly live on for many years to come, perhaps another 50 years.
Gundam reminded viewers and fans of the potential power of humans and encouraged them not to lose hope.
When I saw it*, it was so powerful. Its toy-like color was so peaceful. To me it was the color of hope, not a weapon.Gundam is not just an animation or a robot. It’s much deeper than that. Gundam is quite awesome, and that’s why I say there is no comparison.
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Gundam turns 30; robot will live on, creator says, AP, Mari Yamaguchi, 7 July 2009
* Odaiba 60-foot high Gundam
When Dreams Come True
Patrick Galbraith, ethnographer at the University of Tokyo, and author of The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan :
Gundam is a flashpoint in otaku. These guys were so interested in this world that they started making their own encyclopaedias, their own model figures, their own world here. They took a cartoon on television and fleshed out an entire universe around it. “That kind of intensity is really what it means to be an otaku in Japan.”
“Otaku people are people who have an ideal of the future, who have an ideal of technology that’s so strong and so important to them that they’ve moved far away from the bounds of reality,” he added.
Giant Gundam robot stalks Japan, BBC, Ben Sutherland, 8 July 2009
Yukkuris are fictional creatures created by the fanbase of the Touhou video game series. They consist of the (usually) disembodied heads of various characters from Touhou, which are somehow able to move about, speak, and eat despite being only heads. A large amount of cartoons, stories and background concerning them has been created, despite not being official parts of the Touhou series.
They get their name from their catchphrase in Japanese, “Yukkuri shiteitte ne!” (ゆっくりしていってね!) which literally means “Do it slowly!” but is more often translated as “Take it easy!” The term “Yukkuri” is Japanese for “slowly”, but has connotations of being at ease or relaxing. Thus, their name is literally “Slow” or “Easy”.
Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Kishin Shinoyama
Mishima Letters
The 1967 and 1970 letters, addressed to his American friend Jan von Adlmann, an art museum director, hint at a possibly intimate relationship between them, while a series of pictures foreshadow Mishima’s suicide.
Mishima in both letters spoke of Saint Sebastian, a third-century Roman martyr and an oft cited symbolic figure of homosexuality.
In one letter, he thanked Adlmann for a gift, presumably an art book on Saint Sebastian, praising its “lyricism of brutality.“
Letters, photos of author Mishima to be auctioned, AFP, 06 July, 2009
Saint Sebastian
Saint Sebastian (died c. 288) was a Christian saint and martyr, who is said to have been killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians. He is commonly depicted in art and literature tied to a post and shot with arrows. Because of the strange nature of his martyrdom, he is often considered to have been martyred twice.
St Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OP
Ringo Mogire Beam (林檎もぎれビーム) by Kenji Ohtsuki and Zetsubou Shoujotachi
–>Video from Russia Today (3min10)
“We were mainly trying to get a kick out of what we were doing just on a personal level, and not really concentrate much on what possible audiences, wherever they may be, would think or feel. On the other hand, conceptually speaking we took the stereotypes of the Soviet era, reinterpreted them with the means of the visual language of contemporary Japanese animation. Along the way, any type of ideological messaging was entirely irrelevant to us,” Misha Shpritz told RT.
Misha and Alyosha say, they came up with the idea for “First Squad” about five years ago, sitting in a pizza parlor in Munich.
First Squad: The Moment of Truth”, Russia Today, Valeria Paikova, 06 July, 2009
God Is Always Watching You Desuyo
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