Michael Fitzgerald
Michael Fitzgerald, an award-winning writer and editor, likes journalism because he's always learning things, and having fun doing it. Along the way, he's interviewed Bill Gates at an armadillo race and been the first person to rent a hydrogen-powered car.
A name behind Anonymous — “Mr. IP” — speaks out
Are the most powerful people in the world shadowy figures from the computer underworld whose only location is an IP address? It sounds like something Neal Stephenson or Vernor Vinge would use as a plot element, but a self-proclaimed leader of the hacking group Anonymous told a reporter for the Montreal Gazette that it’s absolutely ...
Fair Trade Day finds movement struggling with success
Small farmers who promote free trade are suspicious of efforts to bring agricultural giants into the fold...
Praycations and pilgrimages
Religion is all about seeking, and the experience of it usually involves some sort of travel, be it via a metaphysical faith journey or an actual pilgrimage. Ben Bowler, a clever Australian social entrepreneur living in Thailand has combined the two in what’s been dubbed ‘praycations.’ Bowler’s concept is to sell tours like Monk for ...
The digital world reshapes the physical one
Sure, computers are everywhere. But these ideas take the digital world into whole new realms. ...
Hollande takes helm in France
Francois Hollande's predecessor was a strong support of America. Hollande will probably focus on Europe. ...
Cinco de Mayo: America’s made-up Mexican fiesta
The U.S. fascination with Cinco de Mayo puzzles Mexicans. They, in contrast, don't throw a big party for, let's say, the Battle of Saratoga. Whatever the case, a round of margaritas apparently are in order! ...
Will your phone be your wallet?
The idea of the cell phone wallet is huge. Banks like it. Carriers like it. Consumers? Not so much. ...
Belief in God dips, but not everywhere
A respected pollster finds that depending on where you live, you may be less likely to believe in God than you were 20 years ago. But there are a lot of exceptions to that rule....
India’s tech rise brings spam crown
Sometimes it’s no good being number one. India, for instance, was tabbed as the top offender in three reports on spam, a catch-all term for unwanted commercial e-mail. Spam ranges from direct marketing e-mail to fraudulent schemes to e-mail containing viruses and other malicious code. The reports came from three companies that make anti-spam and ...
Want to lower your stress levels? Try forest bathing
It lowers stress hormones, enhances the immune system and can relieve anger and depression. And that's just what researchers have discovered so far about Shinrin-yoku or the Japanese practice of “forest bathing.” ...
Afghanistan photos again show the worst side of war
The societal tension of war is this: we glorify our soldiers and demonize theirs. But soldiers are soldiers. They live and train under conditions meant to break down individuality and make their group more important than their selfs. They become heroes, often, for acts that in any other context would land them in jail, or ...
Who controls the Internet and why it matters to you
Whether you're in China, America, Australia or the Netherlands, what you can do on the Internet probably isn't what it used to be. Companies, governments and activists wage pitched battles over free exchange of information. ...
Mitt Romney points, chicken to go and tattoo regrets
What Mitt Romney has in common with Kim Jong-Il, why KFC crossed a line in Thailand, and the trouble with tattoos in Belgium ...
Twizy tickles Europe’s fancy, but will electric car sell?
Despite lots of buzz, electric cars haven’t exactly jolted the car market. The Nissan Leaf is probably the best-selling e-car, but only 27,000 sold worldwide last year. One reason for low sales is that e-cars, like most new technologies, cost substantially more than similar gas-powered cars. It may be that small is better. In Europe, ...
Egypt’s presidential elections filled with intrigue
Politics junkies bored of the American presidential slog can get some kicks from Egypt's election next month: candidates are dropping out left and right and the most powerful political party hasn't settled on a candidate. ...
State surveillance under watch
Leaders in the world's democracies are increasingly citing law and order as a justification to snoop on digital communications and give other intrusive powers to the state. What's democracy without privacy?...
Prayer really can help beat alcoholism
People have long known that there’s something powerful about the spiritual aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous, which uses prayer-like rituals and invokes a Higher Power. The joke is that more people find God in church basements (during AA meetings) than in the sanctuary. Now there’s a scientific argument to underlay the folk wisdom. A top British ...
Apple’s CEO goes to China
It’s a big deal when the head of the world’s most valuable company visits its most populous nation. Apple CEO Tim Cook's trip to China drew plenty of attention. Will it bring change?...
Hmong translator may help save other languages
As the number of languages spoken worldwide has declined over the last hundred years, one of the culprits has been technology, especially mass media like television. The Internet, though dominated by English, may help change that. The Web was used to preserve an aboriginal dialect in Australia. Technology made it possible to text and type on a ...
The Pope faces flocks, fires in Mexico and Cuba
Mexico is staunchly Catholic. Cuba is avowedly Communist. Both countries have mixed feelings about the Pope's visit.
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Management by singing: the power of the office choir
Work is work, not play. But in Britain, a group sings a different tune, using music and office choirs to boost morale and productivity. ...
Friday Music: Fela! returns
“Fela!”, the musical about Nigerian music star/radical politician/polygamist Fela Kuti, has come back from stints in London, Lagos and other points, and is now starting a North American tour. Through songs like “International Thief Thief (I.T.T.)” and “Zombie,” Fela established himself as a political force against the state — which struck back violently at him, ...
Tech and Society: Toward a bionic life
It’s one thing for wealthy entrepreneur and futurist Ray Kurzweil to talk up the prospect of bionic limbs providing one tool that will help us live forever. It’s another when a single mom living with her parents can also look at getting a bionic hand. Nicola Wilding, a 35-year-old British woman, is doing just that. ...
Timberland and the Torah: billionaire spreads corporate social responsibility
Barry Swartz made Timberland a model for corporate social responsibility. Now, he's spreading the word -- and calling the Occupy movement "self-indulgent." ...
Cell phones offer targeted marketing in developing countries
The spread of cell phones is changing lives around the developing world. Consumers can now get coupons on their phones, thanks to companies like Jana. Nathan Eagle, CEO of Jana, tells us why targeted advertising means more there than in the West....
The world reacts to Afghanistan massacre
Politicians scramble to react to a slaughter by an American soldier. Tension in Afghanistan rises, and the obvious question is raised: should the U.S. get out now? ...
Google, Facebook and privacy: A debate
We don't think we are data, but what we say and do online paints a picture of ourselves more revealing than we know. What should we do about it?...
Australian Aborigines ask the animal spirits to help fight alcoholism
In Australia, Aboriginal spirituality and Western-style counseling combine to provide a powerful tool for combating alcohol and drug abuse. ...
Tech and Society: French say ‘oui’ to breathalyzers
France will soon require drivers to keep a breathalyzer in their car. Add 'alcootest' to your guidebook. ...
After Carnival, Lent
Doughnuts, satirical floats and eco-fasting - the build up to the Christian season of Lent from Trinidad to Turkey. ...
Xi Jinping heartland detour a hit
What Xi Jinping did in Iowa matters more than what he did in Washington, D.C. That’s how the Chinese vice president’s visit to the United States is being played by one state-backed Chinese publication. Xi will ascend to the presidency later this year. He came to America for high-level diplomatic meetings with U.S. President Barack ...
Jeremy Lin dunks the world!
The incredible benchwarmer-to-star story of basketball guard Jeremy Lin has made for ecstatic fans in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. "The whole of Asia is proud of him" ...
Sweden isn’t paradise for Chinese immigrants
Sweden’s environment, education and high standard of living is drawing Chinese immigrants. Never mind that previous waves of immigrants to Sweden have found it difficult to assimilate. At least 200 Chinese are under investigation by Swedish immigration officials, according to Caixin Media. It isn’t that the Chinese are hiding out from authorities, though – it’s ...
Japan: We’re not Greece, people
The rest of the world may now think of Japan as the land of the setting, not the rising, sun. But the Japanese would like to point out that they’re not dead yet. The Japan Times penned an eloquent editorial arguing that outsiders focus too closely at the country’s “obvious” weaknesses – astronomical debt, moribund ...
A look inside Pakistan’s “Flying Classroom”
From Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, comes a photo essay on the ‘Flying Classroom,’ a bus that brings school to children in Pakistan who don’t have access to education. The Flying Classroom started up in October 2011. It is a collaboration between the Pakistani charity Thespianz Foundation and the Goethe Institut, a German cultural mission. The Flying ...
Finnish cell phones finished
“Made in Finland” once held cachet for cell phone buyers. But as Apple and Google have remade the market for mobile phones, Finland’s Nokia has floundered. Now, it will no longer even make phones in its home country. Nokia said it would stop making phones at its plant in Salo, Finland, as well as plants ...
Chinese moms look to U.S. for second children
China’s next big export to the U.S. might be pregnant. Chinese families looking to bypass China’s one-child policy have flocked to Hong Kong over the last decade, filling its maternity wards. In 2001, 620 babies were born in Hong Kong to mainlanders. Last year the number hit 34,000. But that’s put pressure on Hong Kong ...
Gaddafi is gone but omnipresent in Libya
Degaddafinated, the Libyan Twitter slang for being free from Gaddafi, is not like decaffeinated. Only traces of caffeine remain in coffee that’s labeled decaffeinated. But while Colonel Gaddafi himself is gone, he lingers everywhere in modern Libya, and it’s hurting the country’s ability to move past his rule. That’s the argument anyway from Gada Mahfud. ...
The ninja way of business
Ninjas know a lot of things, but do they know business? Students at Japan’s Mie University are about to find out. The university hired Jinicha Kawakami, the head of the 500-year-old Koga ninja clan, to teach how ninja techniques apply to business. “I hope to compile research on ninja skills, which are the culmination of ...
Why China thinks it’s good for Africa
In the Western press, China is accused of treating Africa like a quasi-colony. The typical narrative is that China enters African nations, takes their resources, then leaves. Nothing could be further from the truth, argues Wang Xioyang, a research scholar at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Writing in the China ...
UK ‘pirate’ top question in Obama chat
Quick, who’s Richard O’Dwyer? O’Dwyer was the subject of the top-vote getter among 133,000 questions submitted for a Google+ Hangout chat with U.S. President Barack Obama. O’Dwyer is facing extradition from the United Kingdom for running a site called TVShack that posted pirated TV shows and movies. His site was shut down after he was ...
World to Twitter: New policy is twaddle
Twitter, the darling of protest movements, now faces the ire of activists angry about its new censorship rules. There are smiles in the Queen's palace in Bangkok, but frowns in a lot of other places....
India’s math anxiety
Americans look at a place like India and get math envy. After all, the Indian computer scientists and engineers that have made outsourcing such a big business must mean the country’s math education is strong. Indeed, in tests like the GMAT, which is used by business schools to vet students, India’s scores are in the ...
In Poland, ACTA’s just another name for SOPA
After ACTA was signed on Thursday, Poles weren't masking their feelings.They took to the streets and to the airwaves. This forced the government to backpedal. But ACTA is a different beast than SOPA. Will the protests put it in its place?...
Russia tries to spawn a Silicon Valley
For all its technical prowess — the first satellite launch, the first supersonic passenger jet, the creation of the light-emitting diode, to name just a few — Russia has never produced a Microsoft, an IBM or a Google. The country is trying to change that. The Russians are looking at Silicon Valley as a model, ...
Rushdie row ‘shames’ Jaipur Literary Festival
It’s hard to upstage Oprah Winfrey, but Salman Rushdie did it at the Jaipur Literature Festival,without even appearing. Rushdie was due to speak at Asia’s largest literary festival, but threats of violence (real or invented) caused him not to come. At the last minute, a planned video speech was also canceled, due to alleged concerns ...
MBA presidents not big in Japan
One of George W. Bush’s professors from business school says America can’t afford another MBA president. “Mitt Romney and other Republican candidates are all promising the same failed policies that have given us the Iraq fiasco and the Bush Great Recession,” Baruch College-CUNY professor Yoshi Tsurumi wrote in The Japan Times. Tsurumi taught a year-long ...
China takes stock of “Leakgate” hacking spree
Chinese hackers routinely stands accused of breaking into sites around the world. Even technology standouts like Google and RSA Security have suffered breaches. One report said that Chinese hackers had stolen $500 billion worth of information from U.S. companies alone in 2011. Now the Chinese are being hacked themselves. Caixin Online published a lengthy look ...
Anxious about China? So are the Chinese
Americans feel anxious about China and its seemingly inexorable growth. People in China feel the same way. Many Chinese feel they cannot get ahead in their own country, even after attending university. Some try to escape the intense pressure cookers that are Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, going to smaller Chinese cities seeking opportunity. But there, ...
How do you say “Touchdown!” in Japanese?
When we think American sports in Japan, we think baseball. But Japanese also play football in college and pro leagues. Some of those players want to hit the big time, the National Football League. This week Tokyo held a scouting combine, an event where potential NFL players are evaluated, and drew a number of young ...
China, India join in with world’s biggest telescope
China and India have picked their horse to back in the race to build the world’s biggest telescope. The two nations signed on to help build the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, a project spearheaded by scientists at Cal Tech, the University of California and a number of observatories, and based in Hawaii. Japan and ...
Scotland, England: the disunited kingdom
Are Scotland and England headed for a split? A lot of Scots think being part of Great Britain isn’t so great. The leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, said Tuesday that they’ll get their chance to vote on the question in 2014. It’s 1,000 days to decide their future, trumpeted The Scotsman. Not ...
Ahmadinejad, Chavez yuck it up in Caracas
Atomic bombs aren’t funny, but Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joked about them when they got together in Caracas this week. Chavez joked that he had a bomb under the knoll in front of his presidential palace. “That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out,” he ...
Turkey looks for spy kids
Okay, Spy Kid wanna-bees, the Turkish National Intelligence Agency is looking for you. The National Intelligence Agency, known as MIT in Turkey, put up a Web page for kids on its site. The page features a Turkish children’s actress who guides kids to games that foster a taste for espionage. The site also gives kids ...
Five surprising U.S. exports
The US may be the world's biggest importer of goods, but it's also near the top when it comes to exports. Some of our fastest-growing exports might surprise you. ...
Syria lurches towards an endgame?
The new year brings new intensity for Syria's protests. No one knows when -- or if -- Assad's regime will fall, or what will happen next. But we do know this: Filipino migrant workers are choosing to stay put....
Nigerian oil prices fuel anger
Unhappy New Year, Nigerian drivers. This week Nigeria’s government ended a longstanding petroleum subsidy, and gas prices doubled and even tripled overnight. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil-producer. The Nigerian government argues that eliminating the subsidy is part of a deregulation effort that will boost economic growth in Nigeria. One reason why: the money the government saves ...
Japan’s favorite girl band hits the big 3-0
Happy birthday, Shonen Knife. Japan’s peppy, sunshiney girl band Shonen Knife hit a milestone birthday on December 29th. That’s the day 30 years ago that Naoko Yamano, Atsuko Yamano and Mitchie Nakatani went into a recording studio for the first time. The Yamano sisters and Nakatani have since built a cult following, including fans like ...
Israeli secular/sacred dispute grows
Muslim women in France, Canada and elsewhere are under pressure to take off garments that obscure their faces. In Israel, Jewish women are under pressure to cover up. Ultra-Orthodox groups have always held to stricter rules than other parts of the Jewish community, including requiring women to dress in ways considered modest. But one city ...
Americans not going postal anymore
Send a letter lately? Neither have a lot of people. The Post Office is still big, but shrinking like a snowman in spring. Does it have a future? ...
At Havel’s death, doubt fogs his legacy
As the late Vaclav Havel receives eulogies for his life’s achievements, some of those achievements are under pressure. Havel, a Czech writer and activist, was one of a number of dissidents who led their countries out of oppression in 1989. The relative lack of violence during political changeover led to this being called the “Velvet ...
Narco wars heat up Mexico, Kenya
As the scourge of drugs spreads, it causes more extreme reactions from government officials desperate to stop it. Except when they’re not. The Mexican state of Veracruz took over the police force of Veracruz, a city of nearly 700,000 people on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, a notorious port of entry for drugs. Veracruz laid off all ...
China infiltrates South America
Is China colonizing South America right under the U.S.’s nose? The fast-growing Asian nation has invested $75 billion in South American countries since 2005. Argentinian soy, Brazilian sugar and Peruvian copper are just some of the commodities flowing back to China as the result. Some call this a new kind of imperialism, economic colonization. The ...
In Somalia, a Tweet to the last character
Kenya’s fight against the Islamic militant group al Shabaab in neighboring Somalia has spread to Twitter. Kenya invaded Somalia in late October, its first incursion into a neighboring country since its post-colonial era started in 1963. Kenya’s public aim was to prevent kidnappings of Kenyan citizens it felt were being perpetrated by al Shabaab, an ...
Soccer players fuel reverse Mexican migration
While the U.S. tries to stop Mexicans from entering the country, some Americans are trying to stop the ones who live here from letting their kids from going back. Richard Sanchez is one example. Born and raised in the U.S., where he plays now for FC Dallas, that city’s entry in Major League Soccer, ...
Putin’s ‘project’ coming to an end?
Even rampant voting fraud barely secured a majority for Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party in the recent Russian elections. Disgruntled voters signaled they are ready to push aside the puppet role they’ve adopted for the last 20 years. At the ballot box, on the streets, in sports arenas and in the blogosphere, they are are ...
China’s low-cost labor strikes back
China built its export economy on low-cost labor. But that labor now expects more for its effort. In recent weeks, factories making goods for major brands like Apple, Adidas and New Balance have seen workers strike for better conditions and higher pay. Workers also have struck firms announcing layoffs. At one company that supplies bras ...
Japan’s Arab Spring
The Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in March has sparked a version of the Arab Spring in Japan, argue two Japanese intellectuals. The Japanese government’s Katrina-like inability to respond to the Fukushima crisis galvanized the Japanese public, say Hiromi Murakami and Kiyoshi Kurokawa of Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, writing in The Japan Times. “Civil society ...
Korean politician throws a bomb
Politicians fund bombs and are often accused of dropping rhetorical ones. A South Korean politician threw an actual bomb this week. Kim Sun-Dong, a member of Korea’s opposition Democratic Labor Party, threw a tear gas canister at the vice speaker of the ruling Grand National Party. Kim wanted to prevent a vote to ratify the ...
Canadian prisoner stuck in Guantanamo limbo
Canada may seem like America’s staunch ally and mild neighbor to the north, but that doesn’t mean it’s a secure place to send prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. Canada has expressed a willingness to take Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who is the only Western prisoner remaining at Guantanamo. Khadr, now 25, was tried for terrorist ...
Even pangs of love can’t break world’s longest hunger strike
The world’s longest hunger strike goes on, unchecked by appetite for anything but justice. It was 11 years ago, in November 2000, that Irom Sharmila, now known as India’s “Iron Lady,” stopped eating. She started her hunger strike to protest the killing of 10 civilians allegedly by Indian soldiers in her home state of Manipur, ...
Book return reads well in South Korea
Can a few books ease tensions between two of the world’s most wired nations? Japan and South Korea, where almost everyone has broadband, share long cultural and historical ties. But the two nations often resemble Asia’s version of the Hatfields and McCoys, famous feuding clans of Appalachia. Koreans remain angry about Japan’s perceived lack of ...
