| Q&A: Japan honors Houston woman
The Japanese consul general recently awarded LaVerl Daily the Order of the Rising Sun, a prestigious award given in the name of Japan's emperor. Daily, a longtime Houstonian with an art degree from Sam Houston State University, has studied and taught ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arrangement, for more than 45 years. A member of the Japan America Society of Houston who has participated in the annual Houston Japan Festival, Daily was honored for enhancing understanding of Japanese culture and building bridges between the people of Japan and the U.S. She sat down with Chronicle reporter James Pinkerton to talk about the award and her admiration of Japanese culture. Q: You said you've been to Japan countless times, usually twice a year in the spring and fall. Why? A: In the spring, there are the cherry blossoms, and in the fall there are the lemon-yellow colors of the ginkgo tree.
Fabyan trees marked, but not for extinction
Art Eichman was worried. The retired Genevan walks through Fabyan Forest Preserve every day, and his eyes widened recently when he saw a number of the trees near the Japanese Garden behind the old Fabyan Villa marked with yellow ribbons. .
Japanese bakery's origami figures welcome season
Paper cranes, reindeers and frogs are among the hundreds of ways a local Japanese bakery is counting its blessings. Origami figures of all shapes and sizes - at least 1,000 in all - cover a Christmas tree at JTAN Bakery in Lexington. The folks at the bakery, which opened in spring 2006, wanted to show their gratitude for the people in the community who have welcomed them and become fans of their cultural sweets. "I want to show the Japanese culture and show appreciation for the customers," baker Hiroyuki Noura said through a translator. Co-owner Tatsuya "Tattoo" Kimura said the Japanese tradition of origami, the art of paper folding, is a cultural expression to show feelings. Folding 1,000 paper cranes has been a long-standing tradition that has been used to express well-wishing or wishing for one to recover from an illness, Kimura said.
Stocks higher ahead of Fed
Stocks opened slightly higher on Monday as investors waited for more indications about how much the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at Tuesday's policy meeting. The Dow Industrials and S&P 500 each gained about .2 percent in the early going, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq gained around .1 percent. Investors are eagerly anticipating the Fed policy meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to cut rates, although the market is divided over whether it will lower rates by a quarter of a percentage point or half of a percentage point. Swiss bank UBS (Charts) announced an additional $10 billion writedown on its subprime holdings and said the charge could lead to a full-year loss for the firm. But shares rose 3 percent in Zurich as investors took comfort in an $11.5 billion injection the bank said it received from outside investors.
Art calendar
World Art Bazaar, art, clothing, jewelry, textiles and more for sale; through Dec. 9; the Art Center at Linekona; 532-8700. Kailua Second Sunday Art Walk, art openings and events, demonstrations and wine-tasting; 2-5 p.m.; Dec. 9; downtown Kailua; 263-4434. Fifth-anniversary celebration, discounts and new artwork; through Dec. 11; Bethel Street Gallery; 524-3552. Architectural lecture, with Metropolis Magazine editor-in-chief Susan S. Szenasy and documentary screening; 5:30 p.m.; Dec. 12; University of Hawai'i-Manoa School of Architecture, Room 205; free; 956-7225. Holoholo Holiday Party, book signings, artist receptions, sales and more at various Downtown stores and art galleries; 6-8 p.m.; Dec. 13; Downtown arts district; free passport available at venues; 398-7990.
Applicants Flood In For Beta Test Of New 360-Degree Feedback Interface
Panoramic Feedback announced today that it has closed off applications to Beta-test its state-of-the-art user interface for 360-degree feedback. Nicknamed "SASS", the UI uses highly effective web technologies to make multi-source feedback totally accessible. .
Pioneer SE-DIR800C Wireless Headphones Review
Whether playing a videogame or listening to a Blu-ray or HD-DVD movie, the headphones do a fantastic job of picking up highs and lows in the respective audio track. This is due in part to the Dolby Digital sound processing, but also to the headphones' noise-canceling construction. Unlike many wireless headphones that have a softer earpiece that "mushes" around the ear, the SE-DIR800C earpieces are ruggedly built and have a distinct cup that completely envelops the ear from the moment they're put on. As a result, the headphones block more background noise (a whirring computer, a dishwasher, etc.) than other surround-sound headphones we've tested or owned, which lends itself to a much more "private showing" feel. This personal-showing feeling is carried over to the audio itself, which with these headphones truly sounds as though you're sitting in a room surrounded by speakers -- not wearing headphones.
The Team That Put the Net in Orbit
Arlington, Va. AS a young NASA engineer during the 1980s, Milo Medin liked to irritate his managers by building scientific computer networks using freely available Internet software that outperformed more costly commercial systems. He was a member of a rebel generation of engineers and scientists that created what would become the commercial Internet during a tumultuous decade. And this group did so by ignoring conventions and adopting a cooperative spirit that turned into the hallmark of the open source software movement. Some 220 of the original Internet pioneers met here at the end of November to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the NSFnet, the scientific data network that was originally constructed to tie together the nation's five supercomputer centers and that would ultimately explode into today's Internet.
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