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Tabuchi provides an exceptional account of the difficulties overcome by Rieko Fukushima as she returned from maternity leave to setup the 3-D TV team at Toshiba to commercialize the technology. Her inventive skills, networking and collaboration with other parts of Toshiba, hard work and perseverance paid off when her team solved the problem of being able to view the 3-D television without glasses. The solution was a new algorithm based on Toshiba processer Cell that sent different images to the left and right eyes. Here she describes the astonishment with which her team received the news that a woman was in charge of the team, just returning from maternity leave, and only 39! Was it tough as a woman? Yes, she says! Rieko was exceptional in many ways. Japan's challenge is to get more women with even a fraction of Rieko's talent to make a huge difference in a country where women play a minor role in positions of responsibility and initiative at all levels. It would make a large difference in Japan's prospects in the global economy- about 8.2 million more workers, and an estimated 15% increase in GNP....

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Iran Proposal that asks $2 million per ship to be split with Oman for opening the Hormuz Straits- April 6 2026. China, Japan can pay this amount to get the 90% of the oil they need from Hormuz, which would go to reconstruction of war damage in Iran. India would shift some of its purchase of oil and gas to the US and so will Japan over 2027-2028. This would result in a shift away from the Persian Gulf dependence to renewable energy and to buying oil and gas from US+Venezuela as more reliable sources. European Union and Britain would also make this shift as shown in the adjoining article by Prof Geoffron of Universite Paris Dauphine in Le Monde. The proposal also requires US and Israel to commit to no future attack on Iran, and Israel to stop its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US and DJT call the new regime under a Speaker of the Iranian parliament, an elected president who had to respond to people sentiment in the election, and a grandson of Khomeini, one that is easier to talk with than the earlier regime. The problem remains nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles development that the US has as its sole objective which is what the war is about than Hormuz as the US and DJT say Hormuz is China and Japan's problem where for some strange reason these industrial powers import 90% of their oil from Hormuz and have done this after 40 years of disruptions, a mystery they can solve on their own. ...

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A chance to look at the birth of the universe 3.5 billion years ago. What was there before Brahma's thousand yugas and farther back in time to creation of the universe.  How are such images taken by the Webb telescope? What is a light year and what does it mean to say that the images shown here are 13 billion light years away. Hint: A light year is how long it takes for light to reach us from the vaccuum of space far out in the skies. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. In one year it has travelled 6 trillion miles through the vacuum of space. For these most distant objects detected by the Webb telescope, the particles of light have traveled some 13 billion light years, traveling across space for 13 billion years. It tells what the distant objects were like 13 billion years ago.  The light of a thousand suns mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita is not just a metaphor. When on sees the immensity of space everything down here on earth looks insignificant before the Creator. ...

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Good advice on how to get good sleep at night and a good nights rest. Set a good sleep routine that is relaxing, avoid work in the bedroom, a shower at night helps, create visual separation between work thoughts and sleep time, keep bedroom cool dark and quiet. Do not look at the clock at night. No food in middle of the night, if you wake up read a relaxing book for a bit, and fall back to sleep again.

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Chira and Einhorn of the NYT provide this detailed report on sexual harassment affecting women at Ford Motor Company's manufacturing plants in Chicago. The report describes a culture in which this was tolerated in the manufacturing plants.

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PM Modi will meditate for 3 days and nights at the Vivekananda rock in the Indian Ocean on May 30 to June 1, 2024. In 1892 Swami Vivekananda meditated on a rock in the ocean at the tip of India in Kanya Kumari, as he set India on a path to modernization for the next 100 years and beyond. Many Indians including prime minister Modi have Vivekananda's mission for India's modernization as their clear objective, and this is behind the everything the PM does including the vision of Vikshit Bharat, a developed country by 2047 on the 100th anniversary of independence. Gandhiji read all of Vivekananda's writings and his freedom struggle against British rule was based on Vivekananda's ideas for India's regeneration and renewal leading to his book Hind Swaraj in 1905. The Bhagavad Gita was translated by Swami Swarupananda, a disciple of Vivekananda, and formed the basis for Gandhiji in the freedom struggle against the British.  Europe faced colonization on the Iberian peninsula and invasions right up to Budapest and Vienna by the 14th century, India faced the same and this was followed for India and China by the expansion of the British into Asia when China and India failed to grasp early the importance of science and technology and the new ideas that happened in Europe by the 18th and 19th century. Vivekananda wanted to see science and technology and the advances of modernization brought to the people of India a process happening as India modernizes all aspects of its economy. Vivekananda was also the inspiration for Indonesia's freedom struggle by Sukarno against Dutch rule. India and Indonesia today make up the largest population in the world larger than China and Japan combined, with a common culture and heritage and are together modernizing every aspect of the life of people.  ...

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WSJ looks at Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank that took a $50 billion loan from the Swiss central bank during the current crisis after the collapse of SVB bank.  After a series of scandals and penalties at Credit Suisse, the Saudi National Bank took a 9% stake in the bank. The Saudis say they will not put any additional capital in the Swiss bank, leading to share value dropping by 24%.

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Jasprit Bumrah's 5 wicket haul at Lord's and Root, Carse take England to 387. Archer gets 1 wicket.

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Healthcare coverage of illegal migrants is at the center of the fight between Democrats and Republicans leading to the government shutdown on October 1, 2025. A slight majority of Americans favor deportation of illegal migrants is shown in a recent NYT poll. Even higher numbers are likely to see higher priorities in the Nation than funding of housing and healthcare for illegal migrants when most families in the US are living from paycheck to paycheck and government subsidies and assistance are being cut after Covid.

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Jaishankar  of India and Blinken of the US join to say the world should not be divided into political blocs and that there is room for working together in different groupings such as the Quad, in the Indo-Pacific economic cooperation, as two largest democracies, and for the rule of law, open navigation in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific. Both agree that polical complexity should not be reduced into black and white and simplified. For India Jaishankar says it means we are in a certain location in the world, there is history, our experience is different, all this shapes how we see the world. India gives voice to the aspirations of over 2 billion people in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries. It created the G20 out of the G7 nations.

Baerbock of Germany adds that Europe has to accept that in the past it when it backed colonialism based on attitudes at the time, when it supported Apartheid in Africa, it had made mistakes.

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Edison's learning mindset and his persistence has lessons in work today.

These lessons apply to individuals as well as countries and groups, to create a thinking mindset. Will this plan work, what are the assumptions and what is it based on, test it out. If it fails try changing it. Test again. Does it work. What were the assumptions and what is it based on, what if we change this part. Try again. In this way Edison found answers to difficult problems in his inventions. 

The search for a vaccine, other problem solving at the individual, small group, and national level, can be done in this way. For the vaccine there is the added factor of time- how quickly can we do this? The Oxford vaccine works with an approach that has worked for other types of coronavirus in the past research efforts, what component can be changed or inserted so that a tested approach can be used instead of starting from scratch in this case.

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Tiny sheikdoms such as Kuwait were set up in the heydays of the British Empire- in 2026 Kuwait's 1.5 million residents and 3 million expatriates face a completely stalled economy following the blocking of the Hormuz Straits. The kingdom is dependent now on $1 trillion reserve fund as it seeks to resume oil exports.

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It is not just about the Apple ad Crush video that turns millions of hours of creativity in books media by crushing it into an iPad Pro that people find repulsive. Look carefully and the iPad which was touted for it helping to create a big change in promoting education has done little and Apple has not increased literacy in the world through the iPad. New products from Apple, Google and other tech companies are only slight variations from the old. A thinner iPad when the previous iPad was already thin, and small changes at the periphery that are no longer in much demand. Prices are still way too high.

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With imported farm laborers not allowed into Britain during the pandemic local people volunteered for the job of berry picking during strawberry season. A professional cricket player for a team in New Zealand whose season was interrupted says its hard work but he enjoyed it. He picked 565 pounds of strawberries in about 6 hours. He says he is proud of his effort, and he thinks he did something worthwhile plus in the outdoors.

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In a historic visit Chinese president Xi Jinping visits Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram). Chinese Buddhist scholar and monk Xuanzang spent time in India, arriving in 627 AD to look for Buddhist manuscripts in Nalanda and other places, returning to China in 643 AD, where he translated these manuscripts deepening China's knowledge of Buddhism. Bodhidharma the son of a Pallava king in southern India left for China in 527 AD bringing Buddhism to China. The Pallava dynasty ruling in southern India at this time had trade, religion and cultural connections with  Fujian province in China. Chinese president Xi was a governor of Fujian province and has a strong interest in history and culture. This follows a visit by Xi to Ahmedabad with its Gujarati culture, and prime minister Modi's visit to Wuhan, China in 2018 to bring the two leaders together in personal relationships. India and China are also increasing cultural contacts and tourist visitors with easy visa arrangements. The idea is that currently a huge gulf in understanding exists between India and China, which contradicts the historically close relationship with the spread of Buddhism from India to China, Japan, and South east Asia. Mamallapuram is now a UNESCO historic site.   ...

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President Biden sets out the new role of America in the Asia Pacific region at the APEC CEO Summit. Key points from hours of discussion Biden had with Xi Jinping during his visit to the US- 

"Let me be clear. America does not seek conflict with China." And that "America is not decoupling with China. It is de-risking and diversifying from China." For his part Jinping has said- "There are a thousand reasons for us to want good relations with the US." This may be the biggest achievement of both leaders.

 

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With the surge in travel that might even exceed prepandemic levels in the US this summer, being better prepared helps. Some tips in the WSJ- morning flights have fewer delays than later in the day, TSA Precheck $78 for 5 years or Clear at $189 a year are a good way to avoid lines, the Delta or United App that lets you know how far your gate is and where to be dropped off at the airport, packing right,  the drop off, and food and drink.

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The Boeing Starliner docks with the International Space Station on June 6, 2024. It carries 2 NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni WIllliams who will spend a week at the Space Station.

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The lockdowns and remote work have led to men spending more time taking care of children at home. The stereotype of the hapless dad as a second grade caregiver is now out of date. Dads have learned a lot during the pandemic.

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Sidney Poitier accomplished a great deal for the cultural changes that happened since the fifties in race and attitudes in America and Europe, by portraying black people in brave and interesting roles. Here Germany's DW.com looks at Bahamian-American actor, film director, and civil rights activist Poitier in a European perspective. Poitier was born to parents from the Bahamas where he grew up, and lived with his brother in Miami at age 15. There he could barely read and learned reading from a Jewish waiter while doing dishes at a restaurant. DW.com says "In the Heat of the Night" remains one of the best films to deal with the issue of racism. Other Poitier films also took up the issue of racism from different angles to defuse prejudice. Critics said the black characters in his movies are always good hearted, strong, proud, but not showing human flaws. DW.com points out that Poitier would have preferred to also play different roles, but he wanted to contribute to the black community through his acting. Poitier had depth of talent and character. A quote on Arizona State University website for the film school named after Poitier shows his thirst for knowledge: "No one knows all there is to know. The task is to learn as much as you can about as much as you can."  Both Poitier and Belafonte who had backgrounds growing up in the West Indies in families struggling to make a living, never stopped learning. ...

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The overhaul at the Confederation of British Industry after issues with its working culture and problems about how women were being treated at the CBI.