Bamboo Innovator

Space Burials at $1,990 Give Aging Japan Cheaper Funeral Option

Space Burials at $1,990 Give Aging Japan Cheaper Funeral Option

Burial options in Japan are expanding beyond the traditional Buddhist ceremony. You can now send a loved one’s ashes into space. Closely held Elysium Space Inc. is offering a service in Japan to send a portion of a person’s cremated remains in a capsule that will circle the earth for several months for $1,990. Relatives and friends can track the spacecraft’s trajectory on a mobile phone app. Like a meteorite, the remains disintegrate upon entering the earth’s atmosphere, “blazing as a shooting star,” according to a company statement. About one gram of a person’s remains are placed into an individual “space-grade” aluminum capsule, Benjamin Joffe, a spokesman for the company said in an e-mail. Missions will carry between 100 to 400 individual capsules, he said. The service will give a new option for Japanese looking to reduce the size and expense of funerals as relatives become fewer and traditional ties weaken in one of the world’s fastest aging societies. The cost of a renting a burial plot and buying a tomb stone in Tokyo is about 2.7 million yen ($27,400), according to Japan Institute of Life Insurance. The market for funeral services in Japan rose 0.7 percent to 1.3 trillion yen in the year ended March 2010 from a year earlier as the number of aged Japanese increased, according to the marketing and credit research firm Teikoku Databank Ltd. based in Tokyo. Elysium Space began taking U.S. space burial reservations in the U.S. in August. The San Francisco company’s first launch is scheduled for next summer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net

David, Goliath and the appeal of the underdog: A Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell on this often-misunderstood story

David, Goliath and the appeal of the underdog: A Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell on this often-misunderstood story

Posted by: Kate Torgovnick
September 30, 2013 at 12:22 pm EDT

For 3000 years, the story of David and Goliath has seeped into our cultural consciousness. This is generally how the tale is told: a young shepherd does battle with a giant warrior and, using nothing but a slingshot, comes out victorious. But is this really what the Bible describes? In today’s talk, Malcolm Gladwell — whose new book is titled David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants — takes a closer look at this classic story, digging into the details which are easily lost on a modern audience. Overall, he asks: was David really the underdog in this fight? It all begins with a closer look at that sling (which is not the toy slingshot we might picture), and at the five rocks David picked up to use in it. “The term ‘David and Goliath’ has entered our language as a metaphor for improbable victories by some weak party over someone far stronger,” says Gladwell in this talk. “Everything I thought I knew about that story turned out to be wrong.” Fascinated to hear more, the TED Blog called Gladwell to unravel why the underdog story has such resonance and why rethinking David and Goliath is important now. (As a bonus, we also asked him what pasta sauce he prefers.) An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Read more of this post

Toyoda’s legacy goes well beyond the lean: The innovator who led Toyota insisted that people were as important as the production system

September 30, 2013 5:17 pm

Toyoda’s legacy goes well beyond the lean

By Andrew Hill

The innovator who led Toyota insisted that people were as important as the production system

Eiji Toyoda was the man who taught the world’s production workers Japanese. If you know kaizen means continuous improvement, and use kanban inventory tags to eliminate muda, or waste, then Toyoda, who died recently, was your sensei. The Toyota Production System he championed as head of the carmaker in the 1970s and 1980s, traces its roots to a fail-safe device devised by Toyoda’s uncle to cope with thread breaks on mechanical looms. Multinationals have since turned its efficiency methods – “lean” production, just-in-time supply chains and outsourcing – into a habit that is woven through the fabric of global production. However, in future, Toyoda’s insights into the power of human initiative will be more relevant. Read more of this post

Amanco Brazil identified unmet needs; The Latin American pipe manufacturer challenged a market-leading brand

September 30, 2013 5:00 pm

Amanco Brazil identified unmet needs

By Paulo Rocha e Oliveira

The story. In early 2006, Amanco was Latin America’s leading manufacturer of pipes and fittings for water management systems. But in Brazil, despite a decade or so of operating there, Amanco was losing money. Grupo Nueva, Amanco’s Swiss owner, was preparing the company for an initial public offering and needed the balance sheet to be spotless. Roberto Salas, Amanco’s chief executive, had to decide on a strategy to turn things round. Should he propose selling the Brazilian subsidiary or present a plan for how to increase its 16 per cent market share? Staying in Brazil meant either competing on price (and lowering shareholder expectations), or developing a branded strategy to take on Tigre Tubos e Conexoes, which accounted for 61 per cent of sales in Brazil and had proved resilient to challengers. Read more of this post

Warren Buffett’s Fourth Tweet Ever Was About ‘Breaking Bad’: “Not even the Oracle knows what will happen tonight”

Warren Buffett’s Fourth Tweet Ever Was About ‘Breaking Bad’

SAM RO SEP. 30, 2013, 7:48 AM 10,613 4

Billionaire investing legend Warren Buffett is a fan of AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” In fact, his fourth Tweet ever came two minutes into Sunday night’s series finale. “Not even the Oracle knows what will happen tonight,” he said. He even dressed up for the part.

Caveman cuisine at the office: Stressed executives are resorting to the diet of their ancestors to deal with the modern world

September 30, 2013 5:59 pm

Caveman cuisine at the office

By Charles Wallace

Dan Benjamin is an entrepreneur whose business is at the cutting edge of the US’s technology and online media industries. Yet when he began experiencing a host of unexplained allergies, high cholesterol and hypoglycaemia, he ignored his doctor’s advice and put his family on a diet likely to have been eaten by his hunter-gatherer ancestors 100,000 years ago.

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Ngiam Tong Dow: On healthcare, F1 and politicians

On healthcare, F1 and politicians

What’s the challenge for Singapore as a medical hub? Is the F1 a “frivolous” use of taxpayers’ money? What do today’s younger politicians lack?

BY –

3 HOURS 28 MIN AGO

What’s the challenge for Singapore as a medical hub? Is the F1 a “frivolous” use of taxpayers’ money? What do today’s younger politicians lack? Outspoken former top civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow served as Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office under Mr Lee Kuan Yew, as well as in various other ministries. As Chairman, concurrently, of the Economic Development Board, he had, in the 1980s, championed the idea of developing Singapore as an international medical centre to tap the region’s growing middle-class market. In line with that vision, medical school enrolment was increased. These are edited excerpts of a wide-ranging interview with Dr Toh Han Chong, Editor of SMA News, published in the September issue of the Singapore Medical Association’s newsletter. Read more of this post

Lessons from fallen financial idols

Lessons from fallen financial idols

Tuesday, Oct 01, 2013

Goh Eng Yeow

The Straits Times

As a financial writer who tries to help readers to understand the intricacies of the stock market, I have often turned to the folksy quotes of investment guru Warren Buffett to make my point. But let’s face it, most of us are not likely to have the patience to buy a stock and then hold it for decades like Mr Buffett. The likelihood is that if we make a decent profit on our investment, we will take the windfall and use the money to reinvest somewhere else. Read more of this post

Only Finland’s best become teachers

Only Finland’s best become teachers

Monday, September 30, 2013 – 17:09

Sandra Davie

The Straits Times

Some top scholars in Singapore would find it an unconventional career path but Finnish high-scorers Aurora Ojamaki, 21, and Aleksi Lindberg, 23, chose teaching over law. They graduated among the top 10 per cent of their cohort in high school, and could have easily gone on to law school. Instead, both applied several times before landing a place in a teacher-education degree course at Helsinki University, one of eight universities in Finland offering such a course of study. Ms Ojamaki said: “The first year I applied for a place in law, I got it but I turned it down as in my heart I wanted to become a teacher.” Read more of this post

The Vatican bank will publish a detailed annual report for the first time in its history today as it seeks to improve financial transparency after several corruption scandals

Vatican Bank to Publish 2012 Annual Report in Transparency Drive

The Vatican bank will publish a detailed annual report for the first time in its history today as it seeks to improve financial transparency after several corruption scandals. The bank, formally called the Institute for Works of Religion, or IOR, will release its 2012 full report at about 8 a.m. Rome time, giving a breakdown of its balance sheet and income statement. The Vatican bank earlier this year reported 2012 profit more than quadrupled to 86.6 million euros ($117 million), according to its website. Read more of this post