Daily Dose: 09/24/08

September 24, 2008

» AsianWeek Market Report
» Esquire’s Most Influential List
» FIACONA to Hold Peace Rally/Prayer Vigil at White House
» U.S. Census Data Shows Increase in Foreign Speakers
» Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo to Finally Get Its Gym
» Qigon Grandmasters Visit Ohlone College
» Lincecum Sets Strikeout Record but Loses Game
» Johjima’s Old Boss Retires
» LOLcats Site Has Become a Caboodle
» Soy-Rich Diet Improves Arteries in Stroke Patients
» Jeannie Cho Lee Becomes First Ethnic Asian Master of Wine

AsianWeek Market Report

AsianWeek Market Report
Asian Stock Indexes
NIKKEI 225	Tokyo	12,115.03	24.44	0.20%
HANG SENG	Hong Kong	18,961.99	89.14	0.47%
KRX	Busan	3,119.40	23.91	0.77%
SSE IX	Shanghai	7,083.45	21.37	0.30%
BSE	Bombay	13,692.52	122.21	0.90%
HOSE	Ho Chi Minh	455.05	-10.82	-2.32%
SET	Bangkok	436.44	10.56	2.48%
Asian American Market Report
Yahoo!	YHOO	19.07	0.14	(0.74%)
Citigroup	C	19.38	-0.79	(-3.95%)
Amkor Technology, Inc	AMKR	6.81	0.28	(4.29%)
Sybase	SY	31.94	0.83	(2.67%)
UnionBancal Corp	UB	73.38	0.06	(0.08%)
East West Bank corp,Inc	EWBC	14.025	0.475	(3.51%)

NATION

Esquire’s Most Influential List

Esquire recently named its list of “The 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century.” This list includes people who are bending history right now. The result is a determined, defiant, earnest, brilliant, philanthropic, space-going and smoking hot group. Eight of whom are Asian Americans.

Included on the list are: NY chef David Chang; Chinese communist leader, Deng Xiaoping; musician M.I.A.; Governor Bobby Jindal; CEO of ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi Mittal; President of the Rhode Island School of Design, John Maeda; Manager of the China Investment Corporation, Gao Xiqing; and Geopolitical analyst, Parag Khanna.

— Esquire

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FIACONA to Hold Peace Rally/Prayer Vigil at White House

Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations in North America (FIACONA) is deeply grieved at the continuing assault on Christians in India. To prove their solidarity towards the victims in Orissa, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh in India, FIACONA is organizing a peace rally/prayer vigil at Lafayette Square (North Side Of The White House).

Christians are falsely implicated in the issue of religious conversions, so that they can be harassed, humiliated, hounded, raped, mutilated and murdered. Several nuns have been gang-raped, priests and pastors killed and scores of churches torched, and thousands are homeless.

President of FIACONA, Reverend Bernard Malik says, “I urge the world community to show their solidarity towards the suffering Christians of India, to register their protests in a peaceful way, and to pray towards the normalcy of human rights, love and peace.” It is to be noted that the number of Christians killed within the past few weeks is the greatest in the 61-year history of independent India.

BAY/CALIFORNIA

U.S. Census Data Shows Increase in Foreign Speakers

An analysis of U.S. census data shows that the number of foreign-language speakers, particularly Spanish speaks, has grown dramatically in San Diego County since 1990 in relation to the county’s population growth.

The 2007 American Community Survey sampled 3 million randomly selected U.S. households throughout 2007. Their numbers are far smaller and have fluctuated in recent years; there also have been significant increases since 1990 in Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean speakers in the country. For example, there are more than three times as many Korean speakers today as there were then.

Overall, at least one in three county residents speak a language other than English at home; since 1990, the total number of county residents who speak a language other than English has gone up 66 percent.

— The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo to Finally Get Its Gym

The L.A. City Council’s approval of a long-awaited gymnasium in Little Tokyo has stoked those widespread hopes that the project will bring the scattered Japanese American community back to its historic heart, which is being rapidly transformed by a multicultural wave of new residents and businesses.

After 14 years of struggle, the council unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding to allow the Little Tokyo Service Center to build a four-court recreational center atop a city-owned parking facility slated for construction on Los Angeles Street near 2nd Street. The 35,000-square-foot center is expected to cost $15 million and take three to five years to complete.

To Japanese American community backers, the gym represents far more than a sports facility: It is a linchpin in their efforts to preserve Little Tokyo’s cultural identity and economic vitality because it is seen as the most effective way to attract their youth back to the area.

— LA Times

Qigon Grandmasters Visit Ohlone College

EVENT: Qigong Symposium
DESCRIPTION: Qigong Grandmasters from China visit Ohlone College for a two-day symposium to instruct participants in the life balancing health care methods of Qigong. A traditional, movement-based therapeutic exercise technique that harnesses one’s “qi” or life force.
DETAILS: Registration is limited so reserve your spot early, Oct. 11 8 a.m.—5:30 p.m. and Oct. 12 8 a.m.—5:30 p.m., Ohlone College Newark Center, 39399 Cherry Street, Newark.
CONTACT: For more info contact, rkurotori@ohlone.edy or visit ohlone.edu/go/qigong

SPORTS

Lincecum Sets Strikeout Record but Loses Game

SAN FRANCISCO — Tim Lincecum had a rare bad outing, slipping in the Cy Young race as the Colorado Rockies rallied to beat the Giants’ young ace 9-4 on Tuesday night.

Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had four hits including a home run and drove in three runs. Seth Smith homered and had three hits for the Rockies, who snapped a five-game losing streak on the road, winning on the road for the first time in September.

Lincecum (17-5) struck out in 4 1-3 innings to set the San Francisco single-season record with 252 strikeouts. He also allowed six runs and five hits with five walks. His ERA jumped up to 2.66, a point higher than that of New York Mets ace Johan Santana. Lincecum lost his second straight after a six-game winning streak.

Lincecum, who is part Filipino, is making a serious bid for the NL’s best pitcher award and has thrown a combined 709 pitches in his last six starts (an average of 118 per start). He’s scheduled to start Sunday’s season finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Johjima’s Old Boss Retires

The Japanese baseball landscape changed and few on this side of the Pacific felt the change as profoundly as Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima.

Johjima hasn’t played for Sadaharu Oh in nearly three years, but the legend’s announcement said that he will retire following this season was big news. Oh was Johjima’s manager for his entire Japanese career playing for the Softbank Hawks.

“We were together for 14 years, and it was a huge honor to play for a legend like him,” Johjima said. “He played a major role in my baseball career, not only a major baseball figure, but something like a baseball father figure for me as well.”

It’s difficult for American fans to appreciate how big Oh is in Japan, but imagine a team being managed by a combination of Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel. Oh hit a record 868 home runs over 22 seasons for the Yomiuri Giants and has won two Japan Series as manager of the Hawks.

— Seattle Post-Intelligencer

COMMERCE

LOLcats Site Has Become a Caboodle

SAN FRANCISCO — When you LOL at silly pictures of cats with even sillier captions, Ben Huh laughs all the way to the bank.

For the uninitiated, that is Web shorthand for “laugh out loud,” an abbreviation that is common in e-mails, instant messages and online chat rooms. Huh, a Seattle entrepreneur has built a mini-empire on the unique brand of humor illustrated by the “LOLcats” craze: Photos with captions punctuated by deliberately misspelled words and mangled phrases.

His network of eight websites, which includes I Can Has Cheezburger and I Has a Hot Dog, attracts 5 million users and 100 million page views a month. The newest, which launched last week, makes fun of celebrities. It is called ROFLrazzi, as in “Rolling On The Floor, Laughing,” and razzi, as in “paparazzi.”

The Pet Holdings websites have achieved cult status with a populist formula: Users with quick wits upload images bearing idiomatic expressions and idiosyncratic grammar, vote for favorites and post comments. The best of the thousands of submissions the sites receive each day hit the front pages.

— LA Times

GLOBAL

Soy-Rich Diet Improves Arteries in Stroke Patients

HONG KONG — Isoflavone, a chemical found in soybeans, chickpeas, legumes and clovers, can improve artery function in stroke patients, a study in Hong Kong has found.

Published online in the European Heart Journal, it is the first investigation into the effects of isoflavone supplement on the brachial artery, which is the main artery in the arm.

Researchers found that after 12 weeks of isoflavone supplement, at a dose of 80 milligrams a day, there was improved blood flow in that artery, which is especially important in patients who have suffered ischaemic stroke—which is caused by blood clots or other obstructions.

“These findings may have important implications for the use of isoflavone for secondary prevention in patients with cardiovascular disease, on top of conventional treatments,” the researchers wrote. However, the researchers said it was too early to make clinical recommendations about the use of isoflavone supplements for stroke patients.

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Jeannie Cho Lee Becomes First Ethnic Asian Master of Wine

The Institute of Masters of Wine announced that Jeannie Cho Lee, head of Education for The Fine Wine School set up in conjunction with Berry Bros. & Rudd, has successfully completed all parts of the notoriously difficult Master of Wine Examination to become one of only 277 MWs worldwide.

The Korean-born and Hong Kong-based Ms. Lee becomes the first ethnic Asian to achieve the distinction in the history of the program.

The Master of Wine Examination is considered the “PhD of wine” and the highest level of academic accomplishment in the world for the industry. Over four grueling days, candidates must pass exhaustive theory and practical examinations as well as submit a dissertation.

Lee said, “It is an honor to be part of such a prestigious Institution that includes an array of fascinating people with diverse talents, many of whom I now consider close friends. I hope that my MW title provides me with more opportunities to open the world of wine to a wider audience in Asia.”

Daily Dose: 09/24/08

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