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It’s always a good idea to keep your eye on opportunities being created by our increasingly globalized world.

These 12 well-rated companies are well known for both permanent outpost positions or just making a few annual business trips for those that like to travel and work.

1. kCura – Develops e-discovery software Relativity for managing large volumes of electronic evidence during litigation or investigations.
   Where Hiring: Chicago, IL; Hong Kong; Kraków, Poland; London, England; Reston, VA
2. Hubspot – HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers.
   Where Hiring: Berlin, Germany; Boston, MA; Dublin, Ireland; Portsmouth, NH; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan
3. WeWork – WeWork transforms buildings into beautiful, collaborative workspaces.
   Where Hiring: Austin, TX; Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, England; Mexico City, Mexico; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Shanghai, China; Tel Aviv, Israel and many more
4. ACI Worldwide – ACI Worldwide delivers electronic banking and payment solutions for more than 5000 financial institutions, merchants, billers and processors around the world.
   Where Hiring: Auburn, AL; Bogotá, Colombia; Elkhorn, NE; Limerick, Ireland; Midrand, South Africa; Munich, Germany; Naples, FL; India; Timişoara, Romania; Watford, England and more
5. GovTech – Transform the delivery of Government digital services by taking an ‘outside-in’ view.
   Where Hiring: Singapore
6. Gett – [Enables] consumers and businesses to instantly book on-demand transportation, delivery and logistics.
   Where Hiring: London, England; New York, NY; Tel Aviv, Israel
7. DocuSign – Serving more than 250,000 companies and 100 million users in 188 countries to sign, send and manage documents anytime, anywhere, on any device, with confidence.
   Where Hiring: Bonn, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Kōbe, Japan; Paris, France; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Tel Aviv, Israel; Tokyo, Japan; Warrenville, IL and more
8. Etsy – Marketplace of individual sellers/creators of handmade or vintage items, art, and supplies.
   Where Hiring: Berlin, Germany; Brooklyn, NY; Dublin, Ireland; Hudson, NY; London, England; Paris, France; San Francisco, CA; Toronto, Canada
9. ThoughtWorks – A global technology consultancy [that helps] you invent what’s next, and bring it to life with technology.
   Where Hiring: Barcelona, Spain; Beijing, China; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Chicago, IL; Cologne, Germany; Denver, CO; Hyderabad, India; London, England; San Francisco, CA; Singapore and more
10. Ancestry – Helps everyone, everywhere discover the story of what led to them.
    Where Hiring: Dublin, Ireland; Helena, MT; Lehi, UT; London, England; San Francisco, CA
11. Tenable – Transform your security program with continuous visibility and critical context, enabling decisive action.
    Where Hiring: Columbia, MD; Dublin, Ireland; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Paris, France; Singapore; Stockholm, Sweden; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada; Uxbridge, England and more
12. Kronos – Offers the industry’s most powerful suite of tools and services to manage and engage your entire workforce.
    Where Hiring: Bracknell, England; Chelmsford, MA; Hong Kong; Lake Mary, FL; Melbourne, Australia; Mexico City, Mexico; Montreal, Canada; Noida, India; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Zellik, Belgium

 

From the original article on Glassdoor

In the early 1900’s, European explorers were making the first automotive forays into the Saharan desert. Their efforts sparked the imaginations of many explorers – to go further than any known travelers had ever gone before into this harsh terrain in search of fame, lost cities, and mysterious desert riches. The desert environment was brutal to these expeditions and many ended early in disappointment and some to tragedy.

In 1932, in one particularly desolate and inaccessible location, the explorer Patrick Clayton was making the first known forays into the brutal and windswept Saad Plateau south of the Great Sand Sea. As he was driving in one of the most hostile areas of the Sahara, he noticed something that shouldn’t be there. In a several kilometer area, he found chunks of yellow-green glass.

He collected some for the Egyptian Geological Survey. Clayton returned over the next couple years, collecting more samples until 1934 when he marked his last visit by leaving a whiskey bottle with a note inside

 

The Ancient Egyptians apparently found these glass objects as well, using them as decoration. One can even be found in a pendant worn by King Tutankhamun.

Many scientists today think the glass was a product of a meteor exploding in an aerial burst right before impact to the Earth, causing the surface temperature to reach 1,800 degrees Celsius/3,272 degrees Fahrenheit. Some geologists associate the glass formed from such a large areal burst as analogous to trinitite which was created from sand exposed to the thermal radiation of early nuclear explosion tests. It is estimated to have occurred around 26 million years ago since glass was found knapped and used to make tools during the Pleistocene era.

The image below is of the possible crater from the remaining debris left from the aerial explosion in the area.

References:

• The original publication of the finding by Patrick Clayton.
• https://forums.undeadlabs.com/threads/mystery-of-the-sahara-desert-glass.30210/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_desert_glass
• http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread960470/pg1
• Here is an interesting BBC documentary on the subject:

This looks fantastic!

John Thackwray set up a website where people post pictures of their bedrooms from all over the world. Fantastic, and definitely worth a look.

 

This week in Japan, a new pro basketball league is getting underway, and tonight’s game between Alvark Tokyo and the Ryukyu Golden Kings is being played on an LED court. It’s nuts.

There is a new Butler Café in Shibuya (website) – where men come to your table when you ring a bell and always answer with, “Yes my princess?”. While this idea isn’t completely new – there are maid cafes and hostess clubs for men, and host clubs for women. But the twist with this butler cafe in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan? All the men are Western.

Fascinatingly, the female owner (Yuki Hirohata) of the club walked through Shibuya and asked over 200 women what they were looking for in a cafe. She said these women all wanted waiters that were male, good looking, treat them nice, but most importantly, were Westerners.

“Being gentlemanly in Japanese culture is embarrassing for Japanese men. Women are exhausted with the traditional rules of Japanese society. These guys are different than typical Japanese men – they make me feel special.”

Update: this appears to have permanently closed late 2018. Archive of the old website.

Butler Cafe: aicom shibuya blg 5F, 11-6 Udagawa-cho Bldg, Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku Tokyo

This summed up my experience with Japanese arcades very well. He even includes the ‘Fear of Heights’ experience by Bandai-Namco that I’ve posted about before. But I can’t believe I missed the real cars in Odaiba. Guess I’ll need to make another trip.

Studio Ghibli unveiled several new exhibits at their studio park this last few months. One of the additions is the Totoro Catbus.

Time for another trip to Japan!

It’s been shown in several studies that constantly taking photos of events dramatically reduces your ability to actually remember them (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Want-remember-event-DONT-photo…)

So Rijksmuseum tells you to put down the cel phone. They give you a pad of paper and pencil when you enter the museum and encourage you to draw what you see – to help you experience the awe and wonder of art. They even blog/post people’s drawings.

I, for one, approve.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/startdrawing/draft%20book

What do you do if you’re classically trained on the centuries old shamisen – but want to rock like the young people you are?

The Tsugargu Shamisen Girls show you.