This NYTimes article tells us what we, computer workers, knew all along: we pretend we spend many hours behind our screens doing useful work as mailing, translating, and writing, but in reality we are bombarded by "digital distractions" that pull us away, so that we end up surfing for news, checking Facebook, or reading our favorite blogs.

You get to your PC every morning with hours of productive time ahead of you. Next thing you know, it’s 5 p.m. and you’ve frittered the day away...

First shock yourself by timing your computer distractions with a free version of RescueTime, and then try to do something about it. As the author if the NYTimes article, Farhad Manjoo, discovers, that is easier said than done. He tries several net blocking types of software, but finds that he easily can go around them...

Perhaps this kind of unconscious fidgeting — whether online or off — is inevitable. The mind is a restless place, and creative pursuits like writing seem unsustainable in long bursts; perhaps the mind just needs frequent breaks.

Anyway, when you do translation work and use online dictionaries or other helpful sources, you will need to keep the net flowing...

Surprisingly, Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn doesn't seem the most sociable of persons. Telegraph.co.uk has an interview with him that attracts attention because of the questions Mr Weiner prefers not to answer. He is very sparing with personal information, but perhaps that fits the boss of a network that is about business connections rather than private life.

What he says about LinkedIn is more interesting:

As well as big companies, several individuals have made some serious money out of the website. Weiner recounts the story of one Dutch user who got so frustrated with the poor battery life of his iPhone that he asked other LinkedIn members if they were experiencing the same problem. "A Chinese company that had developed an iPhone battery got in touch and he was so happy with it that he went into business as a distributor setting up a business called 3G Juice," he says.

Throwing away the Past

The NY Times has an excellent article about the threat of the wrecker's ball to Kisho Kurokawa’s historic Nakagin Capsule Tower, near Tokyo's Ginza district.

This rare example of the fantastic vision of Metabolism consists of a stack of concrete pods, small box-like apartments built as pied-a-terre for businessmen in the hectic metropolis. The capsule hotel on apartment level, so to speak.


[Nakagin Capsule Tower by roryrory]

Appliances and cabinets have been built into the wall, but the most compelling element is the huge porthole window. The capsules were built in a factory and then bolted into a central frame of steel and concrete - the idea was that capsules could be removed or added at will, a reflexion of our ever-changing society where we are all like individual grains of sand

Sadly, this 1972 building has never been refurbished and now is in a terribly decrepit state. The owners of the apartments want it pulled down and even Kurokawa's plees - just before his death two years ago - did not help. Refitting the building seems to be no option for the owners, although it could be done without too much trouble - apparently, the land is worth too much.

When a modern tower inevitably takes the place of the Nakagin Capsule Tower (the waiting is only for better economic times) , it will be a big loss. As the author of the article, Nicolai Ouroussoff, says:

This is not only an architectural tragedy, it is also a distortion of history.

[Thanks to Mutantfroginc]

Going Dutch

Interesting NYTimes article by an "American in Holland" (Russell Shorto), his reactions to Dutch society and its culture of collectivity coupled with entrepreneurial capitalism - the multi-national company was pioneered in the Netherlands, as was the stock market.

The Dutch call their collectivist mentality and way of politics-by-consensus the “polder model,” after the areas of low land systematically reclaimed from the sea. [...] Everyone had to deal with water. With a polder, the big problem is pumping the water. But in most cases your land lies in the middle of the country, so where are you going to pump it? To someone else’s land. And then they have to do the same thing, and their neighbor does, too. So what you see in the records are these extraordinarily complicated deals. All of this had to be done together.

[Typical Dutch polder landscape by ingo.ronner]

He writes about the good points of the welfare state (everyone gets compulsory medical insurance for just a small amount of money) and the sense of community, but also the negative points, the fact that through the collusion of Christians with socialists on Sunday all shops are closed, killing the life of the cities on this most boring day of the week.

The conclusion is that there are many similarities with the U.S., but that paradoxically, although they pay higher taxes for their collective system, the Dutch are more free: "having more security makes the quality of life better."

Amazake stall from 100 years ago

Amazake is not a type of sake, but rather a hot and sweet rice drink that contains no alcohol. It is the perfect refreshment for a cold day.

In this 100 year old picture you see a stall for amazake (and to the left one for ameyu, syrup with hot water). Two women are sitting on stools drinking the hot beverage. Although the cherry blossoms are out, it is probably still cold, and rain is threatening as they are carrying umbrellas.

A new way of drinking amazaku in summer is to refrigerate it.



[Uploaded to Flickr by Okinawa Soba]

This glass lantern-slide was published by T. Takago in Kobe, but the original image is attributed to K. Tamamura of Yokohama.