36 Views of Mt. Fuji

Today wasn't a boring day... in fact, quite the opposite. Despite that, I succeeded at stumbling across something online that's completely cool. Katsushika Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Japan) is a collection of woodblock prints done over 150 years ago.

This collection gave me a great idea! "Uh oh," I know... I am going to attempt to make a collection of views of Mount Diablo. I live at the base of the tallest mountain in the San Francisco Bay area, I like mountains, I need something to do with myself sometimes, so why not go for it?

The set displayed at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-six_Views_of_Mount_Fuji

More artwork from Hokusai: http://visipix.dynalias.com/search/search.php?u=2&userid=1240926867&searchmethod=tree&startsearch1=go

My favorite three prints:

Lake Suwa in the Shinano Province

Umegawa in Sagami Province

Inume Pass in the Kai Province

Where the Smarty Pants Are

I stumbled across two articles today that are centered on intelligence/smart people. I just don't see how this could be a popular topic: smart people are just so boring! I kid, because I did find the articles interesting enough to share. It does, however, make me wonder why there is a readership/demand for statistical analysis as in the first article... I think it feeds a collective narcissistic tendency of the smart-folk. I'm just sayin'.

First Article: "America's Smartest Cities-From First to Worst," is exactly what it sounds like. It's a list of the 55 largest cities in the U.S. and which ones are the smart kids in class. I was pleasantly surprised by the high marks for Baltimore. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-04/americas-smartest-cities---from-first-to-worst/?cid=bs:archive9#

Second Article: "Religion and Learning: what we know," puts an argument about atheism/theism into question. If you've heard the remark, "As a group, atheists are more educated than theists," this article shows such remarks to be a bit rash. The analysis does have shortcomings and doesn't disprove said comments, it merely shows the comparison to be more complex than most people have realized. And please don't tell me that theists are the smart ones either, because being smart isn't an excuse or proof of anything. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/oct/05/atheist-religion-education-demographics-class

The China Channel

The NYT ran an article yesterday claiming that China is planning on opening up its media/entertainment companies to public investors. I'm a fan. Despite the whole authoritarianism thing, I've liked our biggest trade partner across the Pacific (second only to Canada) for many years now. I mean, come on! They're the ones that made most of my toys growing up! It is cool to see a country making good choices, cautiously going to an open market system step by step. They have seemed to be making progress my whole life.

The best way to gain foreign investors would be to ease up on the media control, and they seem to be leaning that way. If nothing else, I predict that the influx of money will result in some awesome action movies.

The Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/global/05yuan.html?em