FENG SHUI - Microsoft’s Bad Feng Shui

“After a NY Times story about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, many folks have been commenting on the tiny size of his offic as seen in the news photo. But what’s even more surprising for folks who believe in the stuff, is how incredibly bad the feng shui is for his office.”

CHINA - Sold on a Stereotype

“In China, a genre of self-help books purports to tell the secrets of making money ‘the Jewish way.’”… “One promises “The Eight Most Valuable Business Secrets of the Jewish.”

CHINA - China’s moon plans

“Is China planning to mine the moon? This theory has been floating around for years, and China has officially denied that it plans to dig up helium-3 on the moon.”

HONG KONG - Hong Kong Newspaper Drama Continues

“Sacked editor loses case in labor tribunal against South China Morning Post over claims editor-in-chief fired him for making a joke.”

JAPAN - the Mario-phone that never was

“After the unwarranted hype surrounding Apple’s iPhone, which won’t see the light of day for months yet, we now have a little intrigue over a similarly hybrid phone that never was and never will be.”

SINGAPORE - Singapore bans madonna’s confessions tour DVD

“Madonna’s record breaking Confessions Tour filmed at London’s Wembley Arena during her worldwide sold-out 25-city run in 2006 has been banned in Singapore for her performance on a massive neon cross in a mock-crucifixion.”

SOUTH KOREA - Korean Anti-Semitism

“What has always surprised me in Korea was the very ubiquitousness of anti-Semitic remarks and beliefs I hear from Korean people, another nation that doesn’t really have an obvious reason to have stereotypes about Jews. We’re not talking stereotypes of the Jews as “cheap” or “nerdy” or some superficial stuff you might have picked up in Hollywood films over the years, but some straight-up Protocols of the Elders of Zion, conspiracy-level sneering, leering, and spewing of nearly venomous invective.”

THAILAND - Sorry I’m 25 years late - I got on the wrong bus to go shopping

“It was just a normal shopping trip when Jaeyana Beuraheng bade farewell to her eight children as she left to cross the border into Malaysia. But it would be 25 years before she would find her way home. Now, at the age of 76, she has been reunited with her family and has finally told how her misfortune began when she boarded the wrong bus.”

SINGAPORE - PAP ’sock puppet’ leak a possible PAP ploy

“This is the objective of the counter-insurgents then. It is not to sell the Government message. That is the superficial level. It is to keep everyone separated. It is to introduce suspicion and mistrust into discourse. It is to divide ultimately.”

JAPAN - 1941 documentary: Children of Japan

“I enjoyed this 1941 documentary about the life of a middle-class family in Japan. Released right before Pearl Harbor, this 10-minute film provides an interesting look at the customs, clothing, architecture, culture, and routines of life in Japan 70 years ago.”