Boss Diversity

13 December 2008 | 18:01 | biznomics, entrepreneurship, humour | No Comments

From “‘Dilbert’ on how to save your career”, an interview with Scott Adams:

Q. I know you don’t like to give advice, but do you have any general thoughts on how to cope with hard times?

A. The best plan now is to have as many bosses as possible. I call it boss diversity. If you work for a company and you have one boss and that boss doesn’t like you or wants to get rid of you, you’re in trouble. But if you work for yourself, you have lots of bosses, who are your customers, and if a few of them decide they don’t like you, that’s okay. You can get new ones. Boss diversity is the one kind companies don’t talk to you about, but it can save your career.

Hallelujah



Krugman’s Interstellar paper

14 October 2008 | 21:21 | biznomics, geekery | 1 Comment

With Paul Krugman recently being awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, I was reminded of a paper of his from 1978. I think I originally got it from Gruber (Daring Fireball) …



2kurabe “Web Directions East 2008″-themed widget!

4 October 2008 | 13:43 | Internet, Japan, conferences, events, geekery, web2.0, worklife | No Comments

In collaboration with the folks at Web Directions East and in anticipation of their first conference in Japan, we’ve put together a 2kurabe widget with a custom “skin” (theme)!


At the moment there is only one 2kurabe, but more will appear automatically as the WDE team adds them.
Enjoy!


So, who will you vote for?

23 September 2008 | 23:14 | America, politics | 1 Comment

Continuing the topic of elections, here’s a 2くらべ (nikurabe) for the 2008 US elections:


p.s. you’re vote won’t be anonymous :)



Overseas Vote Foundation

23 September 2008 | 12:40 | America, politics | No Comments

If you’re a U.S. Citizen living overseas, the Overseas Vote Foundation may be of interest to you. You can vote online, print your ballot out and send your vote home. Apparently Fedex sends all ballots from Japan to the states for FREE!

200809231238.jpg



Web Hosting in Japan - Unbeatable Prices!

18 September 2008 | 0:53 | Internet, Japan, geekery | 4 Comments

W00t, w00t! After many months in agony of local (Japan) web-hosting prices, I have finally found a server farm worth it’s dime.

They are Tsukaeru.net, they’re located out in Nagano, and they’re run by an Aussie - which means English support! They have a massive data-center all for themselves, and their prices are comparable to what you find in the U.S.

If you need Japan-local hosting for latency reasons, want price / service ratios you see in the U.S., and don’t mind English service and support to boot, you can’t do any better than these guys.

If you sign-up for a dedicated server now, you even get an iPod Shuffle to boot! :) If you’re as excited as I am about this and feel even an inkling of gratitude, be sure to use the link above when you sign up!



Web Directions East 2008

11 September 2008 | 15:29 | Internet, Japan, conferences | No Comments
wde08.gif
Web Directions East is coming to Tokyo! November 7th to 9th.
English announcement
Official Japanese site
If you’re living in Tokyo and developing for the Internet, you probably don’t want to miss this event. Keep an eye out for a partnership with Majides, Inc. too!


2kurabe Flash widgets - now live!

27 August 2008 | 23:50 | geekery, web2.0, 日本語 | No Comments

「2くらべ」ブログパーツフラッシュ版がいよいよ誕生!遊んで、作って、是非お友達と共有して下さい!

A Flash-based widget (aka “blog part”) of 2kurabe is now available. Check it out, make some 2kurabes, and spread the word!




Super Mario Mushroom Burgers!

24 August 2008 | 11:33 | diary, geekery, tokyo life | No Comments

Made some Super Mario Mushroom Burgers for my girlfriend’s birthday.

1-hour in the kitchen.

7-hours of full stomach (these were big burgers).

eternal cuteness.

P1000452

Credit to Instructibles.



Duplicating (aka “Backing Up”) Your OS X Leopard DVD

21 August 2008 | 22:19 | geekery, macnuttery | No Comments

Took me a few searches, but finally found a decent explanation on how to duplicate your OS X Leopard DVD. The key is not to choose “New Image” in Disk Utility, but to go through File > New > Disk Image from …

Remember, you’ll need to use a Dual Layer DVD.