Taken from #24: Japanese Sushi Students Aim for a Job Overseas

A lot of interesting stuff going on these days. From an economic and sociological standpoint, China is a continued area of fascination. The country does some things right yet the by-products are difficult to control and I’m hoping it doesn’t spiral out of control.

-Eugene

Reference
SSS – : Denotes a short article.
***: Denotes an article I found particularly interesting
Picture: self-explanatory
Video: self-explanatory

Feel free to comment below and reference the link #.

An archive of previous Link Dump’s can be seen here.

*If you’re always on the go, I’m a huge advocate for Instapaper. Basically you can bookmark links to read on your mobile device later and it can strip away all the unnecessary imagery to load more quickly.
**If you encounter a login page for a NY Times article (yes there are quite a few of them…), I highly suggest signing up for a free account or else use this dummy one I set up.

Login: tempaccountNYT
Password: tempaccountNYT

#1. Is Search Now A Strategic Industry in China?
If you look at China’s big industries, the trend has been to ensure three different entities exist. This can be seen over airlines and mobile communications. With the China government recently announcing that it will create its own search engine, does that mean that this is something of importance to the government. One would definitely think so even more so than air travel perhaps.

#2. ***Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory
A very thorough look into factories that produce fake footwear. Yes it’s true replicating footwear has become an art for Mainlanders.

#3. China’s Growth Leads to Problems Down the Road
You heard about that 9-10 traffic jam in China? There are more on the way as infrastructure simply can’t keep up.

#4. ***China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy
A sobering look into the situation at end. While China is the second largest economy in the world, there is still room for much growth. As it stands, the US’s per capita GDP trounces China’s by a long shot, however going forward a government that calls all the shots make for some tidy decision making.

#5. Tensions Over Chinese Mining Venture in Peru
Sketchy shit going on in South America… on the surface it appears as though China is making a sincere effort to invest in the country’s infrastructure.

#6. ***Chinese Hospitals Are Battlegrounds of Discontent
Sad stories of how doctors can lose their life after being thrusted onto the scene without the proper education and training.

China Corner/

#7. Vitamin D Found to Influence Over 200 Genes, Highlighting Links to Disease | Vitamin D May Treat or Prevent Allergy to Common Mold
Vitamin D is the big deal of 2010 and 2011.

#8. The Secret Histories of Those @#$%ing Computer Symbols
Where did signs such as play, pause, on/off originate from?

#9. New Link Found Between Inflammation and Cancer
I thought these two were a given? I guess not but yeh… inflammation such as that cause by insulin can’t be healthy.

#10. Behaviors and Attitudes Towards Oral Sex are Changing, Study Shows
Ya don’t say…

#11. ***Comparison of Harvard Study Results with ChiRunning
Some interesting but simple mathematics regarding ground force based on landing zones on your forefoot, midfoot and heel when running.

#12. Bootcamp Palestine: The Manmaking Machine
How to build a tough motherfucker. No this has nothing to do with inept Filipino special forces.

#13. The Ugliest Catch
Ugly fish that are now becoming the new sport… and some don’t taste half bad.

#14.The Seven Principles and You
Seven different training principles. I don’t think any particular one is heads above the rest, but a combination is obviously the key.

#15. ***Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Much Needed Downtime | Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain
I’ve always thought about what’s beneficial that comes from unwinding and unplugging. I definitely relate to some of the people in the articles that state that being on their phone was simply a time killer but at the root of it, new thoughts and ideas don’t have the ability to develop when you are continually being electronically stimulated.

#17. Watermelons Get Small
The big ass watermelons as we know it are being phased out in favor of small, seedless versions.

#18. ***Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?”: America’s Misguided culture of overwork
Germans work less and are more efficient… resulting in more freetime. Yes freetime makes Jack a happy boy. So what is it about American culture that results in extra, unproductive and unfufilling workhours?

#19. The Most Isolated Man on the Planet
A man in Brazil roams in a 31-square mile radius and the Brazilian government is out to protect him from any human contact. A pretty noble act given what one could do with the space he occupies.

#20. Toronto’s Backyard Axe Throwing League
Forget beersbee, throwing axes at a target is the new extreme backyard sport.

#21. The Rise and Fall of American Apparel
In one corner, you hate American Apparel for what it represents, that is… a super creepy/perverted owner. However on the other hand Dov Charney is pretty legit for apparently pushing domestic production (although they hire illegal immigrants) and offering superior working conditions in the production industry. Oh if you didn’t hear, AA isn’t in the best financial health.

#22. Does Kanye’s Twitter Mark the Death of Music Magazines?
Kanye doesn’t like giving interviews cause he gets misquoted, making Twitter his perfect platform. Tons of readers and everything he says, he means it.

#23. Grapefruit’s Bitter Taste Holds a Sweet Promise for Diabetes Research
I wonder if the bitter-compound has something in relation to that seen in bitter melon.

#24. ***Japanese Sushi Students Aim for a Job Overseas
Once an art, sushi probably cans till be considered an art form. However, it has just been fast-tracked. It’s not about 10 years now, it’s about only about a couple. However the definition of sushi will probably change as it experiences an injection of global/regional flavor.

#25. Forget Ads in Books, Lit-Lovers Face An Even More Hideous Prospect
Don’t think it’s going to happen? Ads in my e-reader. The writer brings up a good point, books like movies are things you get very much into and readers won’t like to get interuppted in the middle of their erotic thriller with a full-screen ad.