Transnational Zeitgeist

Happiness Committee formed in Perkins Cole
At the Chicago office of Perkins Coie, partners recently unveiled a “happiness committee,” offering candy apples and milkshakes to brighten the long and wearying days of its lawyers. [Law is] an industry in which about 20 percent of lawyers over all will suffer depression at some point in their careers."
Crown Prince of Qatar invites Singapore Civil Defence Force to help build Qatar's civil defence academy
This is actually old news, but I am damn proud.
Taser International releases new product line
A handy new holster from Taser International Inc. holds not only your stun gun but a music player too. 
The latest Taser -- in a leopard print and costing $379.99 -- ''provides a personal protection option for women who want fashion with a bite,'' said Chief Executive Rick Smith.
Buyers for the Sayang Singapore showcase get 1 free ticket for every 5 purchsed if they say "I love Singapore" when ordering tickets
A very small part of me deep inside aches because I could be one of these people

Tim Etchells:
"I think it comes back again to absence and presence. We feel presence more acutely when the possibility of absence is raised. That's why one's interested in deletion, in absence. Because to think of it points back to the absolute uniqueness of presence."

Georges Perec, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces
“Note down what you can see. Anything worthy of note going on. Do you know how to see what's worthy of note? Is there anything that strikes you? Nothing strikes you. You don't know how to see.
You must set about it more slowly, more stupidly. Force yourself to write down what is of no interest, what is most obvious, most common, most colourless.... Don't say, don't write 'etc'. Make an effort to exhaust the subject, even if it seems grotesque or pointless, or stupid. You still haven't looked at anything, you're merely picked out what you long ago picked out. Force yourself to see more flatly…”