Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween
Posted on 6:25 AM by Unknown
It's my favorite holiday and I have done nothing. Well that isn't completely true. I got revenge on Atago-san to Takao hike. I had a very Halloween moment of being stuck in a long, narrow car tunnel while walking and hitting a section where there were no lights and I could here cars entering the tunnel somewhere behind me and I took of running for the next light. I made it alive. The hike to Takao was exceedingly beautiful. Mainly my dieting down to 73kg is destroying all of the fun in my life by making me a real Halloween zombie. I missed the Origami Girls show I had been looking forward to for months due to exhaustion. 2 weeks and 8 more pounds to go. You know what is fun about dropping weight? Nothing. Shut up.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
I Used to Think You Were Crazy, Now I Can See Your Nuts!
Posted on 11:11 PM by Unknown
In the midst of trying to cut weight for next month's match, I turn again to nuts. Which are good for you.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Amy Chavez is a Terrible Writer
Posted on 10:36 PM by Unknown
I picked that title not because it is a conclusion that I just came to - as you well know- or a revelation, but because I hope that Ms. Chavez, much like her compatriot in unpowerful writing Arash Markazi, frequently Googles her own name and feels a slight pin prick of pain over her remarkable lack of talent coupled with her relatively broad exposure. That sounds mean. I admit it is mean. But Ms. Chavez isn't poor Amy in the back of class that we really hope raises her hand and speaks one day. She is someone who is presenting herself, or at least being presented by the Japan Times as a writer. One assumes she is being compensated. Has she turned out anything that has crossed the Mendoza line of mild retardation yet? Recent evidence states no. It might be alleged that I am a jealous person. That watching other people get paid for something I think I can do better leaves me angry and vengeful. I would agree with the latter but not with the former. It isn't jealousy to recognize incompetence. In the same way that Arash Markazi should never have been assigned to cover an MMA event, Amy Chavez should never be asked to write anything that isn't a kitchy recipe book printed on a home computer and given to her neighbors as a Christmas gift.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Class and Health.
Posted on 7:29 PM by Unknown
Thursday, October 22, 2009
More People Do This
Posted on 9:16 PM by Unknown
Congressman Grayson on the Constitution.
and This.
The one thing I hate in any discussion of Sen. Franken is the "Well he may be a comedian but he sure is smart" dynamic. Sure there are some dumb comedians out, but it is very easy to see that through their schtick. To be the kind of comedian that Franken is/was would have been absolutley impossible for someone lacking intelligence. I don't know how we would be less surprised if he was a lawyer, the fallback occupation for those of average intelligence. What about being a comedian and a comedy writer at a high level for decades would makes us think someone is dumb? Maybe that is why most people are so bad at comedy.
and This.
The one thing I hate in any discussion of Sen. Franken is the "Well he may be a comedian but he sure is smart" dynamic. Sure there are some dumb comedians out, but it is very easy to see that through their schtick. To be the kind of comedian that Franken is/was would have been absolutley impossible for someone lacking intelligence. I don't know how we would be less surprised if he was a lawyer, the fallback occupation for those of average intelligence. What about being a comedian and a comedy writer at a high level for decades would makes us think someone is dumb? Maybe that is why most people are so bad at comedy.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Unpowerful Writing
Posted on 11:54 PM by Unknown
I have found an ally in the wet roped struggle against, around and amongst bad internet writing. Not that I hold up many recent posts of mine as great writing...although if someone employed me.... In any case, I thought this was well done.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Mawige
Posted on 10:20 PM by Unknown
I have mostly been following the Savoie case through the vernacular press, and not very closely at that. The impression I had was of a renegade American causing trouble in a quiet neighborhood. I did, however, make the point several times that a big issue was that Japan doesn't participate in the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Also, the way divorces are handled in Japan is somewhat absurd. Usually it goes like this: Couple splits up. Father never sees the children again. I didn't realize until I read the article above that the father had been awarded custody in America and the mother had run back to Japan with the children. I have yet to find any sympathetic ears in Japan. I believe I heard a TV commentator say- and don't quote me because I just caught he saying it while I was doing something else- that it would would be difficult for Japan to sign the treaty because it might interfere with raising Japanese children. I don't mean children who are Japanese. I mean that she implied it would be hard to make them Japanese if custody was divided.
On the domestic front, this story was on the news and I said it was a real issue that Japan refuses to participate in this treaty. I was met by; "Wow foreigners like to get divorced." I would imagine that anyone who has been in Japan long enough can tell you that a divorce is preferable to many of the marriages here. Nevertheless, that is all apart from the issue of human rights and Japan's continued penchant to opt of treaties that don't seem Japanese enough.
On the domestic front, this story was on the news and I said it was a real issue that Japan refuses to participate in this treaty. I was met by; "Wow foreigners like to get divorced." I would imagine that anyone who has been in Japan long enough can tell you that a divorce is preferable to many of the marriages here. Nevertheless, that is all apart from the issue of human rights and Japan's continued penchant to opt of treaties that don't seem Japanese enough.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
I Agree.....
Posted on 11:17 PM by Unknown
Here is something new from Debito Arudou about the new McDonald's campaign that I have completely missed out on. Especially considering I am trying to drop 15 pounds for a grappling competition. The part the Debito gets absolutely right is the part about speaking to Japanese people being harder than speaking Japanese. Case in point. A week or so ago, I caught the last train home after kick-boxing. It was late and I was tired and carrying a big gym bag. As I got up to leave the train - I live at the last station- my phone fell out of my pocket. The train employees began running through the train waking up the drunks and telling everyone to get off. I said, in Japanese, "Wait! My phone just fell out of my pocket. It is in that seat." The man looked at me as if I were a dog trying to bark and kept motioning for me to get off the train. I repeated myself several times and then stepped out of the train, bewildered and checking my bag for my phone. I kept saying, "My phone is in that seat!" I guess I should explain that when a train reaches the end of the line they flip all of the seats over so they will be facing the right way going backwards. Even as I am insisting my phone is in the seat, they slam it down the other way. A man in a mask came and shoved my broken phone in my face without saying anything. Not only was it unfortunate and made me angry, it hurt my feelings-which sounds ridiculous- but it did. I wasn't drunk and I was speaking completely coherently to people who were conditioned not to listen. I think most Japanese people I know, especially my girlfriend, think of me as a complainer about all things Japanese. But as I often say, because I believe it, complaining is the first step to democracy.
So much shit gets shitted out of the Japanese media about whatever some moron's idea of being
foreign is, and we, at the street level have to act as the filter. I have taught at 8 junior high schools and a 22 year-old student teacher the other day asks me if I can use chopsticks. The kid who can't remember your name now because you aren't Japanese will be the adult who doesn't give someone a loan or housing. It's a problem.
As usual, the disagreements with Mr. Arudo were numerous.
So much shit gets shitted out of the Japanese media about whatever some moron's idea of being
foreign is, and we, at the street level have to act as the filter. I have taught at 8 junior high schools and a 22 year-old student teacher the other day asks me if I can use chopsticks. The kid who can't remember your name now because you aren't Japanese will be the adult who doesn't give someone a loan or housing. It's a problem.
As usual, the disagreements with Mr. Arudo were numerous.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Ha Ha Rusty
Posted on 9:58 PM by Unknown
Fuhhhhckkkkkk
Posted on 9:53 PM by Unknown
I know this might not make the outer ring of you black-light disaster mandala, but Charlie Davies-rad forward for the US National Team- was seriously injured in a car wreck today. His prospects are iffy. Davies is one of my favorite new players and I had ironically just got him for my new Winning Eleven team today. Clearly this is what makes it tragic. No. Anyone injured is upsetting, this one is just coincidental and I hope the guy is okay because he is a tremendous athlete with lots of potential.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Statomatics
Posted on 8:27 PM by Unknown
If you care about statistics...and environmental statistics...and the misuse of statistics and numbers and information in general than....this.
That's how this stuff enters the dialogue and becomes fact. Someone says "5,000 polar bears in the wild" and doesn't remember where the number came from. Meanwhile, someone who needs to make a point about polar bears takes the number and incorporates it into their world view. But they have a source! A source who said a number with nothing underpinning it. Hmmmm. But it fits the world view and now everyone must incorporate it or deny it, even though it is a number with no real meaning. Great.
That's how this stuff enters the dialogue and becomes fact. Someone says "5,000 polar bears in the wild" and doesn't remember where the number came from. Meanwhile, someone who needs to make a point about polar bears takes the number and incorporates it into their world view. But they have a source! A source who said a number with nothing underpinning it. Hmmmm. But it fits the world view and now everyone must incorporate it or deny it, even though it is a number with no real meaning. Great.
NFL Players Get It Right
Posted on 7:58 PM by Unknown
Sometimes NFL players come off like preening morons, which makes us.....me...forget that the majority of them are intelligent adults. It is heartening to see a rejection of Limbaugh as owner. While I am sure some African-Americans would play for him, I imagine getting big name free agents would become somewhat of a problem.
Also, one thing I took from the Donovan McNabb incident that doesn't seem to be brought up so much is that Rush Limbaugh was simply hitting his own pitiful average (to reference another sport on this.) It wasn't that he made an unusual gaffe over McNabb, it was that he used the same logic he always uses, very little and skewed tremendously, to try to make a point that only makes sense to a limited and specific audience. The only difference is that in sports it is harder to argue over the results. McNabb is unarguably one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. He is consistently successful. He was before Limbaugh talked him down and he has been since. But this isn't an aberration. Limbaugh is always wrong. He is compensated for his bad judgement, not his foresight. If he was accurate, he wouldn't have hopeless wasted millions thrown at him. He gets paid to get it all wrong, because there is a specific audience out there who need it to come to them wrong so that it will seem to them like they were right all along. Buy the Rams Rush, and will see you create one of the worst franchises in the history of the league. That is, if you hold to your track record.
Also, one thing I took from the Donovan McNabb incident that doesn't seem to be brought up so much is that Rush Limbaugh was simply hitting his own pitiful average (to reference another sport on this.) It wasn't that he made an unusual gaffe over McNabb, it was that he used the same logic he always uses, very little and skewed tremendously, to try to make a point that only makes sense to a limited and specific audience. The only difference is that in sports it is harder to argue over the results. McNabb is unarguably one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. He is consistently successful. He was before Limbaugh talked him down and he has been since. But this isn't an aberration. Limbaugh is always wrong. He is compensated for his bad judgement, not his foresight. If he was accurate, he wouldn't have hopeless wasted millions thrown at him. He gets paid to get it all wrong, because there is a specific audience out there who need it to come to them wrong so that it will seem to them like they were right all along. Buy the Rams Rush, and will see you create one of the worst franchises in the history of the league. That is, if you hold to your track record.
USA!
Posted on 6:36 PM by Unknown
Congrats USA for making the World Cup for the 6th straight time. Was anyone able to watch the game?
This....Exactly
Posted on 6:22 PM by Unknown
Sorry for the feast or famine nature of posting recently (to those who read anyway) and the lack of actual writing in the postings. I was working at the elementary school and busy everywhere else. A three day weekend found me rarely at home.
This article on student debt hits to close to home for me to even write about. If I start it will turn into the kind of downward sucking vortex whose spin science has shown us can not actually grow large enough to hamper a ship. Mine could. My student debt isn't even that high. It is just that unpayable. The frustrating part is that you are not allowed to advance in society until it is. I can't get an assistantship or any other loans for grad-school until my debt is paid, or being paid, the same process really, but I can't get a better job, especially in this economy until I go to grad school, which is pretty much all I have ever wanted to do. The frustrating thing is, and I have a feeling this isn't just me, is that I did nothing irresponsible along the way. I went to school, like we are all supposed to. I went to school, I even tranfserred to a cheaper school fearing the financial implications. I graduated and got a good job on JET. The only real mistake I made was leaving JET but that was for a girl, and when you are 24 you make decisions about girls that you really shouldn't. After that I did okay for money but the economy crashed. I didn't see that as what was happening at the time but reading back now it is clear that Japan went down before America, and Miyazaki went first in Japan. (If you exclude Okinawa, which started from further down and is always kind of down.) When I quit eikaiwa I was lined up for a very good paying job that disappeared due to the economy and I had quit eikaiwa because I wasn't getting paid. Schools in Osaka stopped paying for full time teachers because their city government went in debt. Osaka built the ATC and tried to bid on the Olympics, meanwhile me, and people like me suffer under the yoke of our on seemingly responsible decisions. It is at the point now, and I am sure I am not alone in this, where joining the military seems like the only rational decision and the only way to address debt. Debt that I again emphasize was incurred in trying to make all of the right decisions. Not by spending on credit cards, not in buying cars. Not in building useless skyscrapers or starting senseless wars. I am just part of a group of people who it has been decided are just big enough to allow to fail.
Update
One related thing I forgot to mention is:
This system of debt serves to create a permanent underclass that finds it impossible to move up in society based on their own merit. It means that grad-school and other professions are accessible to people who don't need learns and can have their debts paid for them. Of course, that includes people who worked hard and earned scholarships. But also includes a class of dilettantes who will only reinforce their position. This couples with the current health care disaster to create an underclass and force it down lower and lower and render it permanent.
This article on student debt hits to close to home for me to even write about. If I start it will turn into the kind of downward sucking vortex whose spin science has shown us can not actually grow large enough to hamper a ship. Mine could. My student debt isn't even that high. It is just that unpayable. The frustrating part is that you are not allowed to advance in society until it is. I can't get an assistantship or any other loans for grad-school until my debt is paid, or being paid, the same process really, but I can't get a better job, especially in this economy until I go to grad school, which is pretty much all I have ever wanted to do. The frustrating thing is, and I have a feeling this isn't just me, is that I did nothing irresponsible along the way. I went to school, like we are all supposed to. I went to school, I even tranfserred to a cheaper school fearing the financial implications. I graduated and got a good job on JET. The only real mistake I made was leaving JET but that was for a girl, and when you are 24 you make decisions about girls that you really shouldn't. After that I did okay for money but the economy crashed. I didn't see that as what was happening at the time but reading back now it is clear that Japan went down before America, and Miyazaki went first in Japan. (If you exclude Okinawa, which started from further down and is always kind of down.) When I quit eikaiwa I was lined up for a very good paying job that disappeared due to the economy and I had quit eikaiwa because I wasn't getting paid. Schools in Osaka stopped paying for full time teachers because their city government went in debt. Osaka built the ATC and tried to bid on the Olympics, meanwhile me, and people like me suffer under the yoke of our on seemingly responsible decisions. It is at the point now, and I am sure I am not alone in this, where joining the military seems like the only rational decision and the only way to address debt. Debt that I again emphasize was incurred in trying to make all of the right decisions. Not by spending on credit cards, not in buying cars. Not in building useless skyscrapers or starting senseless wars. I am just part of a group of people who it has been decided are just big enough to allow to fail.
Update
One related thing I forgot to mention is:
This system of debt serves to create a permanent underclass that finds it impossible to move up in society based on their own merit. It means that grad-school and other professions are accessible to people who don't need learns and can have their debts paid for them. Of course, that includes people who worked hard and earned scholarships. But also includes a class of dilettantes who will only reinforce their position. This couples with the current health care disaster to create an underclass and force it down lower and lower and render it permanent.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Joel Tudor
Posted on 6:12 PM by Unknown
I confess to having never heard of this guy until he was brought up at the gym yeterday. Good on you man.
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