【ワシントン＝古森義久】鳩山由紀夫首相の外交政策顧問とされる寺島実郎多摩大学学長が１２月はじめに「オバマ米政権の鳩山首相への誤解を解く」という趣旨でワシントンを訪れたが、オバマ政権側は寺島氏との接触を一切拒否、鳩山政権への厳しい姿勢をみせていたことが明らかにされた。
オバマ政権に近い米国関係筋が１０日までに明らかにしたところによると、寺島氏は１１月に東京の米国大使館に「ワシントンを訪問し、オバマ政権側の鳩山首相に対する誤解を正したい」という旨の協力を要請してきた。ところが米国大使館は本国政府に、寺島氏の年来の反米傾向や鳩山政権自体の混乱を理由にあげてオバマ政権の現職当局者は同氏と面談しないことが好ましいという「提案」を送ったという。
寺島氏は１２月冒頭の数日間、ワシントンを訪れたが、同米国関係筋は「自分たちの知る限り、寺島氏は米側当局者とは誰ひとり会わなかったはずだ」と述べた。事実、寺島氏はワシントン在住の日本人留学生や研究者約２０人と長時間の懇談などを行ったものの、米側関係者との本格的な会談はないままに帰国したという。
寺島氏はこれまで「対等な日米同盟」「東アジア共同体」「米国と中国の中間に立つ日本」などの主張を鳩山首相に先だって発表してきた実績があり、鳩山首相に外交政策の助言をしてきたとされている。
米側の対日政策関係者の間では鳩山首相が寺島氏に影響されて、日米安保や在日米軍基地の諸問題に関して本来の姿勢よりも米国離れ、中国寄りに傾いたとする考察が強いという。
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Tumblr camera stats
We decided to organize some camera statistics from photos uploaded to Tumblr, and it revealed some interesting data:
One of the most surprising results is the dominance of photos taken with Apple’s Photo Booth application, which snaps photos from the built-in webcams in most Macs.
Entry-level SLRs are extremely popular among Tumblr photographers, especially Canon’s Digital Rebel series. The Digital Rebel XTi/400D is our most popular standalone camera. It’s a well-deserved position: the XTi is a great camera for a great price that introduced many people — myself included — to the world of high-quality photography.
Most Canon SLRs also record the Canon lens model used to take each photo:
The first and second are the new and old (respectively) “kit” lenses bundled with most Canon SLRs. The third-place lens, the 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, is frequently sold as part of a premium bundle for a few hundred dollars more than the standard kit.
The inexpensive 50mm primes are cumulatively the most popular non-kit lenses. This is also well-deserved: these lenses provide excellent optical quality for very little money.
Many people take photos with their mobile phones. Here’s how the top modern smartphone types break down:
Beyond the expected dominance of iPhone OS and BlackBerry devices, Palm’s webOS (Pre, Pixi) isn’t very popular among Tumblr users, but Android devices are gaining popularity.
But the real surprise was Apple’s role, including Photo Booth, in overall camera brands:
The popularity of Macs and iPhones is powerful enough to make Apple almost as popular as Nikon for Tumblr photography.
We just added an “Advanced” button to the Tumblr Bookmarklet, letting you set privacy, date, and tags.
I have the raddest wife & son ever. One of their many collaborations…LLet’s just say there has been a lot of SQUEALING from my side of the office this week.
Since its inception, Colin Meloy’s Tumblr has given me such varied and squealworthy insights into his soul as:
1. his feelings on Depeche Mode (conflicted).
2. the type of bird-themed inlay featured on what is presumably photo of his guitar (adorable).
3. and, perhaps my favorite: these scanned in pictures that his wife/Carson Ellis/Decemberists album artist extraordinaire, and son drew together in their happy little notebook. Dinosaurs! Astronauts! BLINKING EYES, people!
I think part of why this is so interesting is that Colin Meloy and The Decemberists’ music is the kind of stuff that, as JD Salinger has already said much better than I, makes you wish he was “a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.”
In the meantime I will be following him on Tumblr and reblogging pictures of his wife’s Moleskine.I suggest you do the same.
