Made by Kenichi Tanaka, this video represents through various infographics some of the well know statistics about Japan… and some more other ones really worrying  that I was not aware of (like food consumption). While I was living in Japan I was overly struck by the amount of bottled water, plastic bags, disposable chopsticks (article on reducing the use of bottles, plastic bags and disposable chopsticks) and other behaviors that are not your typical nippon cliche.

(Via Coolinfographics.com and Slidecoach)

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My left foot after the race. Photo by Matteo Penzo

On Sunday 21 March 2010 I participated in the Stramilano 10km race, the first official run using the Vibram FiveFingers shoes to simulate barefoot running. While I’ve been a FiveFingers user on-and-off for the last 3 or 4 years, I’ve only started running using them one monts ago and this race in Milan was the longest distance I’ve used them so far (10 km).

My reasons to use the FiveFingers are many but one of the most important ones is that since November 2009 I’ve been feeling acute knee pain while jogging for more than 2 km. As I’m constantly traveling, I haven’t been able to do an accurate medical check-up but it is planned in the short term. I’ve been practicing sports for several years and I’m not new to knee pain. The causes are multiple but it had never happened while doing light running. A secondary reason is that I’m a pure-heart geek and last Sunday I participated in the Stramilano together with my friends from the GeekRunning group.

My Vibram KSO FiveFingers

My Vibram KSO FiveFingers with tune belt attached for the Nike+ sensor

The result was that I could finish the race at a regular pace with no pain. Now some of my leg muscles are a bit sore because I was not training often enough and because running with the FiveFingers stimulates different muscles that when using regular sport shoes. I aslo got some minor blisters on the internal side of my feet as I still have to completely “break” into the shoes.

Geek Runners after the Stramilano (photo from Matteo Penzo's flickr but not taken by him)

The model I currently use is the FiveFingers KSO combined with a “tune belt sensor pouch” (Amazon link) to hold the Nike+ sensor (Amazon link) I use to track my running (through the iPhone). I’m looking forward to running in them on a weekly basis and, why not, do some trekking too.

Side-effect of running in the Vibram FiveFingers: I got asked at least a dozen times how it was to jogg in them and if it was healthy for my feet.

I probably made all the mistakes listed in this article, pity I didn’t find it earlier.

More photos

My Vibram KSO FiveFingers with tune belt attached for the Nike+ sensor

Tune belt for Nike+ Sensor

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My photo of Larry Lessig in Remix (Italian ed.)

September 5, 2009

I first met Larry Lessig at the iSummit ‘08 in Sapporo, Japan (where I worked together with the iCommons team). I took several photos during the event and one of Lessig giving the closing speech was selected for the Italian edition of his latest book, Remix, published in September 2009 by ETAS (part RCS-Corriere della [...]

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Since I got my iPhone I’m using less my Moleskine

August 23, 2009

Since I got my iPhone a couple of months ago, I noticed I started using much less my ubiquitous Moleskine notepad.

Maybe it’s because the iPhone is now more ubiquitous in my universe than the Moleskine. I used to carry it everywhere in my back pocket but now it stays mostly inside my backpack. I use [...]

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I’m in Amsterdam

August 2, 2009

So finally almost 1 month ago I moved to Amsterdam to work in a very cool international event, PICNIC (more on my work in PICNIC on my blog dedicated to Conference Basics), that will take place next September 23 to 25.

The office is in the beautiful area of Jordaan, on the Herengracht canal. I also [...]

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I’m moving my blog here… please be patient!

June 10, 2009

I’m changing hosting service but there was some delay with the domain transfer… now that I’m moving to Amsterdam I’m kinda busy but my personal blog will be back online soon…. in the meanwhile why not visit my other blog, Conference Basics?
cheers
gian

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Dilbert on MBA holders

May 20, 2009

Tomorrow I will officially get my Executive MBA degree at MIP-Politecnico di Milano… and my friend Eli the Best just sent me this cartoon by Dilbert

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My new blog on Conference Management

April 19, 2009

F
or several years I have been in charge of startup, marketing and operations of a company in the executive education area that organized conferences with outstanding business speakers and most recently I work as a freelance professional.
I have dealt with speakers like Bill Clinton, Michael Porter, Philip Kotler, Kevin Roberts, Lawrence Lessig, Malcolm Gladwell, Rudy [...]

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[ita] Cory Doctorow è passato da Milano. Speriamo qualcosa resti

March 10, 2009

La Mediateca Santa Teresa era piena come mai prima. Cos’è che ha portato tutto questo pubblico ad incontrare Cory Doctorow? Chiedendo ad alcuni, mentre faccio da buttafuori della sala per permettere ai tecnici di finire con le prove, mi rendo conto che non tutti sanno chi è o di cosa parlerà il relatore della serata. [...]

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