Getting up to date...

With Nova's demise starting to go into action, today's going to be quite an action packed day.

The General Union are going to pay a visit to the labour standards authority here in Osaka to petition for the payment of wages as well as for them to do something about the company in general for breaking any number of laws.

This article describes the fundamental dodginess behind the latest wheeling and dealing to try to keep the company afloat, although it looks like that's all fallen through as one of the main people involved was arrested the other day on insider trading charges - and Nova was implicitly linked through the article (in Japanese though, so I won't post it). Companies from the British Virgin Islands indeed...

What most people want is for bankruptcy to be declared so that teachers can get most of their back wages paid and they can claim unemployment benefits if they're eligible. Arresting the president of the company for his repeated violations of the labor standards law would be a start.

At least the Australian consulate has said they'll help out Australian citizens. Hopefully I won't need it.

Today could be my last day at Nova...


Some music to lighten things up.

It was good to see that one of my favourite Australian bands, Art Of Fighting, got some nice coverage in the news recently.

Also I want to see the Ian Curtis biopic.

And I made another webpage for my band - which has been linked on my Facebook page - so I'm waiting for the sales to come rolling in... errrrmmmm....


This (October 15th - as it would currently be in the U.S. - so behind the times!) being Blog Action Day, it's about time I did a bit of an alternative energy roundup. This year's theme is the environment.

With Australia's almost complete non-participation in the development and use of alternative energy at an all time low, hurting our economy (thanks John. are you looking forward to the 24th?), at least someone is doing something about getting better and better technology out there.

From California comes a fellow who's invented a way to make small amounts of electricity from small amounts of wind. Ideal for small communities in under-developed regions of the world. Very cool.

A company in Japan has developed a method for manufacturing spherical solar cells which would be much better at collecting sunlight during all times of the day. That makes for much better overall efficiency and economy. Bewdyful! Sugoi!


Lastly, a few interesting tidbits to mull over.

a) What made America great was optimism, according to this article. That's something which is now is stunningly short supply...

b) There's a new country in the world, Richistan. It has no specific geographic location, but it's growing and silently separating itself from the rest of the world.

c) A couple have been driving their way around the world. 156 countries down, 35 to go.

and, d) Photos and footage from World War II - in colour. (with a 'u', dammit!)