Karamoon

Best Japanese Textbooks

2011-12-12T06:33:00.000Z

Over the years I've read hundreds of Japanese textbooks but one stands out as being the best Japanese textbook for beginners. There really is no better Japanese textbook for beginners than "Read Japanese Today" by Len Walsh. It is so beautifully written that even if you aren't intending to learn Japanese you should read it just to see how good a language textbook can be.

Before you buy Read Japanese Today make sure you take a look at this review:
http://www.bestjapanesetextbooks.com/read-japanese-today/

The Card Cheat: Goodbye America

2011-11-24T10:46:00.000Z

When things go away we forget them. America is starting to go away, and we are starting to forget all about it. Strange, but true.

Many people have commented on the situation in the US but few seem to understand just how bad it is. The US economy has been in serious difficulty since 2007. Indeed, it has been argued that this is the longest recession in US history as the Great Depression lasted "only" about 40 months.

In the mainstream media, it is frequently claimed that the US economy will be overtaken by that of China, India or Europe. Differing figures are giving by the IMF, the World Bank and the CIA but they all agree that the US is going to fall a couple of places. They are mistaken. The economic system in the US is inherently unstable because it relies on pretending that everything is ok. Once things start to unravel, people rapidly lose confidence, share prices fall, currencies collapse and assets are sold off. With this in mind, I predict that the US will fall into 10th place within a few years.

Learn Travel Japanese Quickly

2011-10-24T08:13:00.002Z

If you want to quickly learn travel Japanese it's worth trying out the 10-dollar Japanese language course from Sulantra.

Sulantra focuses on "Survival Language Training" so that you learn the right travel Japanese phrases and vocabulary to get yourself out of difficult situations while traveling in Japan. If you're planning to go to Japan you should do the Japanese course 30 days before you are due to leave. That way all the important Japanese words and phrases will be fresh in your mind when you arrive.

It's very convenient to be able to just log in any time to the Sulantra Japanese course and start studying. Although I've lived in Japan for a long time I've been going through the course because there are so many gaps in my Japanese vocabulary such as medical terms or the necessary phrases to rent a car.

Technology and Language

2011-08-01T08:22:00.001Z

It's funny how ubiquitous technology has changed the meaning of various words, phrases and acronyms. I remember when:
(1) A "PDA" was a Public Display of Aggression.
(2) A "window" was a transparent device enabling you to see the scum in the streets without having to smell them.
(3) "Ruby" was a type of Tuesday.
(4) BASIC stood for "Basically, After Sex I Cringe"
(5) A "relational database management system" was a plastic box on your desk that held record cards detailing distant relatives you were planning to stalk.
(6) A "server" was someone exploited by the service industry; they were so unimportant they didn't even have a name.
(7) "Hypertext" refered to sophisticated, non-linear, branching text systems allowing transclusion, high-resolution linking, view control, side-by-side comparison and versioning, not the crappy Web we have now.
(8) A "Mouse" was something dropped down the blouses of female guests when they had outstayed their welcome.
(9) "FTP" stood for "FTP The Pr0n".
(10) An "Eigen value" was the ratio of West German GDP to sales of blue denim jackets and Elton John singles.
(11) "Garbage Collection" referred to books and articles by Nicholas Negroponte.
(12) A "hashing algorithm" was a technique to maximize the narcotic effects of cannabis, often utilizing a euphonium.
(13) "Polymorphism" was my friend Polly after she bought a Wonderbra.
(14) "Duck typing" was something you occasionally saw in the early hours of the morning when the ducks, thinking all humans were still in bed, used their Panasonic Toughbooks.
(15) "Packet switching" was a technique that allowed you to steal your neighbor's mail. (well, maybe that hasn't changed).

Rudie Can't Fail: The Continuing Saga of Karamoon

2011-06-12T08:44:00.001Z

Yesterday I tried to remember the order of 30 shuffled playing cards. I only made 3 mistakes so I'm extremely satisfied with the progress I've been making; a few months ago I'd have struggled to remember more than 7 cards. I'm now about halfway through memorizing 100 people and their actions which I will use to remember numbers. The system I'm using is called The DOMINIC System. It was invented by Dominic O'Brien and is a bit like the Major System.

In a couple of week's time I'll be beginning a new life. More on that soon.

Somebody Got Murdered (By TEPCO)

2011-04-09T10:27:00.000Z

I heard that TEPCO had someone killed a few years ago. The victim was a woman working for TEPCO who is alleged to have been about to reveal something grave before she was killed. Anyone have details on this?

Indonesian Indie Music

2011-04-01T11:35:00.002Z

If Music Could Talk

Scottlo, who I consider to be my main teacher at the moment, recommended that I listen to an Indonesian mix tape called "Perempuan". As the name suggests (at least to those who understand Indonesian), all the songs feature female vocalists.

It's a great mix of music, but three tracks stand out:
"The Tears Never Stop Until I Close My Eyes" by Sarin
"Lagu Hujan" by Amazing In Bed (originally by Koil)
"For Now" by The Wispy Hummers

I'm still waiting for Scottlo to talk about Southeast Asia, and Thailand in particular...

You can, and should, listen to Scottlo here:
http://www.tokyocalling.org

You can download the mix tape here:
http://hujanrekords.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/hujan011-indonesian-netlabel-union-various-artists-netlabel-mixtape-perempuan/

Lost In The Supermarket

2011-03-29T14:45:00.000Z

There's nothing "super" about supermarkets. They are in fact, the opposite of "super".

Some basic questions:
Where does the food in the supermarket come from?
How far does the have to travel in order to reach my local supermarket?
How much energy is required for this journey?
In emergency situations where time is of the essence, can the food be moved faster?
In emergency situations where fuel is of the essence, can the food be moved more efficiently?
If I panic-buy all the monkey food at my local supermarket, does this mean that a child in Sendai can't feed her pet monkey?

Nuclear Japan Who's Who

2011-03-20T07:56:00.025Z

Rationale
I intend this post to serve as a reference to interested parties, providing only the most basic of information. I shall endeavor to keep opinion to a minimum.

The Elements
Uranium
Atomic weight 238.02891 grams per mole, atomic number 92, phone number 555-HOT-STUFF, uranium-238 can be used as a nuclear fuel when it is enriched with 3 % uranium-235, a more unstable isotope.

Plutonium
Contrary to popular belief, plutonium does not come from disgraced ex-planet Pluto. With an atomic weight of 244 grams per mole, an atomic number of 94 and a phone number that is unlisted, plutonium has a deservedly bad reputation. It's used by reactor 3 at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station that was hit the tsunami.

Iodine
During nuclear accidents and explosions any iodine that's lying around becomes radioactive. If people eat or drink the radioactive iodine, or breathe it in, it can be absorbed by the body and result in thyroid cancer. This only happens if your body is in need of iodine. This can be prevented by taking potassium-iodide or potassium-iodate tablets, or by eating iodein-rich foods such as seaweed. The British embassy in Tokyo has been distributing potassium-iodate tablets to people who can prove they are British citizens.

Cesium
The radioisotopes of cesium present a high health risk during and after nuclear accidents. Cesium's radioactive isotopes don't accumulate in the body but they do accumulate in fruits and vegetables. Best avoided if possible.

The Radiation
Alpha Particles
These can be thought of as helium nuclei with both electrons missing. If someone tells you that alpha particles are not dangerous because they are non-penetrating just punch the person in the side of their jaw at a 45 degree angle to the X, Y and Z planes. When alpha particles are ingested or inhaled they about 20 times more dangerous than beta and gamma radiation.

Beta Particles
High-energy electrons or positrons traveling at high speeds, beta particles have a medium ability to penetrate, and a medium ability to ionize, when compared to alpha and gamma radiation. Nobody likes Mr Average.

Gamma Rays
What most people think of as "nuclear radiation". Gamma rays are very high frequency waves that are released when subatomic particles do things. Blocking gamma rays requires thick, dense barriers such as concrete blocks or packed earth.

The Companies
TEPCO
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has a history of covering up nuclear accidents. TEPCO has admitted that over the 25-year period from 1977 to 2002 they lied more than 200 times to the authorities.

General Electric
The US company that built three of the six light water reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station. They also make nuclear weapons. Nice work if you can get it. Here's an ABC News article about problems with design of the reactors and their containment systems:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge-scientist/story?id=13141287

Hitachi
Hitachi built reactor number 4. Read into that what you will.

Toshiba
Toshiba built reactors number 3 and 5, and supplied most of the equipment for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station including the cooling pumps.

The People
The "Fukushima 50"
The Fukushima 50 refers to a group of about 200 TEPCO workers, police, firemen and others who are working at Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station to deal with the numerous incidents that are occurring there.

Naoto Kan
Being president of Japan must be tough during times of crisis. On a good day, the Japanese government is lazy, ignorant, incompetent and corrupt. There haven't been any good days since the earthquake.

John Beddington
The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser. He sometimes chats with the UK ambassador to Japan. Read one of his conversations here:
http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=569052582

Akio Komori
Foreign media have been focusing on the fact that Komri, managing director of TEPCO, cried when leaving a press conference. Crying at press conference is a standard operating procedure in Japan so I wouldn't read too much into it.

Dr Masashi Goto,
Goto designed the reactor containment vessels while working as an engineer for Toshiba. Shortly after the earthquake he gave a lecture at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan explaining why he thought the situation was much worse than TEPCO had made out.

Josef Oehmen
Oehmen was the author of a (fake?)letter asserting that Fukushima Dai-Ichi posed no threat to the public. It went viral the day after the earthquake but was quite quickly by myself and others.
http://geniusnow.com/2011/03/15/the-strange-case-of-josef-oehmen/

Keely Fujiyama
When UK tabloid newspaper The Sun published a bizzare apocalyptic account of the situation in Tokyo by Keely Fujiyama, several people in the Twattersphere suggested Fujiyama may have been a fabrication. I can reveal that she is in fact, a real person. She was born in Nottinghamshire, UK in 1975 and married Ryu Fujiyama in 2002. She may have a famous sister. More information will be released shortly...

Taro Kono
Japanese MP who Wikileaks has revealed, expressed serious concern about the safety of Japan's nuclear power industry during dinner with a US official in 2008. Read the leaked cable here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/175295

How Can Hackers Help the Quake Victims?

2011-03-16T15:18:00.003Z

Over the past few days members and friends of Tokyo hackerspace have been discussing the best way to help the earthquake victims in northern Japan. We now have a clear plan, but we need some cash. Please donate if you can:
http://www.tokyohackerspace.org/en/japan-in-crisis

Japan Earthquake Update

2011-03-16T01:42:00.000Z

Despite what the timestamp may say, I'm writing this on Wednesday afternoon, 4 days after the huge earthquake in northern Japan.

Here is the current situation as I see it, written in micro-paragraphs for the Twatter/Facebook generation:

There continue to be problems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. There may be problems at other nuclear power stations, but none has been reported recently.

There's been a lot of hype/disinformation in the Twattersphere. Interestingly, at least among the people I follow on the web, there has been as much calm-mongering as there has been scaremongering. I find this type of head-in-the-sand response very upsetting.

The information provided by the axis-of-stupidity(Japanese government, NHK and TEPCO) has been worse than useless. They are largely the ones to blame for any hype in foreign media. They have talked in vague generalities that frequently don't make any sense at all. I'm never one to defend the shit-for-brains BBC, but at least they've talked to a variety of "experts" about the unfolding situation.

Due to the fact I'm quite far from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima, I'm not really very concerned about the acute effects of radiation. The general concensus, if you can call it that, is that the radioactive isotopes produced in the even of a major fuckstorm would have relatively short half-lives and therefore pose little risk to people in Tokyo.

The chronic effects of increased radiation are a different matter. Tokyo is my home and I would like to remain here for the foreseeable future. I'm concerned that background radiation here might rise significantly and remain high for months or even years. The authorities in Japan don't seem to believe "Honesty is the best policy" so without purchasing a Geiger counter and using it to check food and water, it would be hard to know if we're being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

Many of the key issues regarding the short-term outlook here are not being addressed by anyone. I'll post a list of the key issues(as I see them) later today.

Friends Don't Let Friends Read Josef Oehmen

2011-03-15T00:14:00.002Z

Many people, including some I know personally, have been linking to an article by Josef Oehmen that explains why Japan's nuclear reactors are entirely safe, and will remain so, despite the recent earthquake, tsunami and aftershocks.

Here is a quote from the MIT website:

Josef is the author of the essay “Why I’m not worried about Japan’s nuclear reactors”. It was an email he sent to his family in Japan. When his cousin posted it on his blog, it went viral.

Josef is working hard with a team from MIT to provide an appropriate response to the interest the post has generated. The original blog will be migrated to an MIT site, managed by a team of experts from MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. The link will be posted here when it becomes available.

Josef is not a nuclear scientist or engineer. He is a mechanical engineer by training, working on product development processes with MIT's Lean Advancement Initiative and the MIT-KFUPM Center for Clean Water and Energy.

Please direct all media inquiries to MIT's News Office.

Fukushima Nuclear Spring

2011-03-14T09:41:00.002Z

The situation here in Tokyo is becoming very grave indeed. I managed to get quite a lot of food and drink today but I couldn't get batteries, lights, candles or medical supplies. I can't imagine supermarkets and chemists reopening in the next few days, but just in case I'll go out tomorrow to see if I can get some iodine tablets and other medicines.

I'm about 220 km from Fukushima where the reactors are located which sounds quite far but really isn't when you are considering the movement of radioactive dust and water. Although I have a few hand tools and some basic materials I don't think it would be possible to seal my house against fallout. The nearest DIY store is about a hour on foot, and is very unlikely to be open.

Here are a couple of practical links for people in the Kanto area of Japan.

How to build a fallout meter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kearny_Fallout_Meter

Very practical book on dealing with aftereffects of nuclear accidents:
http://www.nukepills.com/docs/nuclear_war_survival_skills.pdf

Another book on surviving nuclear accidents is "Life After Doomsday". It's available on BitTorrent or eBook websites like http://www.ebookee.com

Here is some info on previous cover-ups of nuclear disasters in Japan:
http://cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit92/

Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: How To Survive

2011-03-13T10:47:00.000Z

IMMEDIATE ACTION: Prepare enough food and supplies for at least a week, longer if you can.

This is not a wait-and-see situation. If we assume that there will be no more major earthquakes, and no worsening of the situation surrounding Fukushima Dai-ishi nuclear power station, it is still likely that the Kanto region of Japan will suffer food shortages.

Some causes of food shortages:
(1) People panicking and buying up all the food. :)
(2) Existing food in Japan failing to reach supermarkets due to lack of fuel etc.
(3) A cessation of food imports. (Japan imports more than half of its food).

Something else to consider: if the nuclear situation worsens, it may not be possible to leave your house(or homestead, as you will learn to call it) for days or even weeks.

My homestead strategy is to stock up on foods that keep well and that I would usually eat. If, as I very much hope, there proves to be no food shortages, I won't have a lot of strange food on my hands.

While there is fresh food in the supermarket, I strongly recommend only eating fresh food, my thinking being that you might not get a chance to eat fresh food for a few days or weeks, so make the most of it while you can.

When buying food aim for 4 things: food that doesn't require lots of water to digest, food that is nutritious, food that is high in calories and food that makes you feel good. Buy a wide selection of spices and sauces as you might be eating the same food several days in a row.

Canned food is great because it can be eaten cold in an emergency and doesn't require water. Dried food such as pasta keeps well, but requires water to cook. On the topic of pasta, here's how you cook it: don't boil and then drain it. Instead, just leave it in a covered saucepan of very hot water until it softens. If you expect water shortages, ensure that you use the water for soup once the pasta is soft enough.

Good luck.

Death Or Glory: The Earthquake

2011-03-11T01:46:00.000Z

Having quite a tough night, what with all the death around here and everything. I'm on the western side of Tokyo; there doesn't seem to have been any damage here so far. The death toll is currently 350 but it's going to go to at least several thousand, assuming nothing more happens. I guess most deaths will be a result of the tsunami, not the quake itself.

There have been serious aftershocks in other parts of japan. The earthquake warning system here is predicting the quakes but the predictions about epicentre locations are not accurate.

I've been sleeping in my clothes, with three bug-out bags next to my futon. Obviously my main concern is my book collection....

Good night, and hopefully not good bye.
Karamoon, Tokyo.

Magnificent Seven

2011-03-10T01:00:00.000Z

In order to get somewhere useful once your brain has suffered sustained attack in the form of industrialized education, one possible approach is to learn from people who were able to get somewhere useful, or people who at least were well on the way. Here are seven people who will be my teachers for the foreseeable future.

Ted Nelson
Still fighting, almost winning.

Mister Rogers
A man of immeasurable power.

Alan Kay
Angry, intelligent and doing something about it

R. Buckminster Fuller
Look for pressing problems, the solutions to which would make things much better for everyone.

Doug Engelbart
We can find better ways to do things, and then apply the methodologies, languages and tools to themselves.

F. M. Alexander
We must look at how we do things, not just what we do. In order to do this we need to pause.

Leonardo da Vinci
Train the senses. Study the art of science. Study the science of art. Understand that everything is connected to everything else.

I'm So Bored Of The USA

2011-02-26T08:16:00.000Z

I have some small but significant progress to report. I'm memorized all 50 US states and state capitals. The names of all the states took 10 minutes to remember. I found the state capitals to be much harder, they took almost 20 minutes.

Career Opportunities

2011-02-15T02:35:00.002Z

Dear Reader, I hope you are impressed that I continue to use Clash songs as my blog post titles...

Recently I've been thinking about what to do with my life. Here are some of the options:
(1) Become a Memory Man.
(2) Teach Tai-chi.(I'd have to learn it first, obviously)
(3) Teach study skills and memory techniques to children and adults.(but nobody in between)
(4) Go into space.
(5) Become a card sharp.(but I'm concerned about the passive smoking)
(6) Write and direct a film.
(7) Write and publish a novel.

Please leave your advice as a comment. Thanks.

Complete Control

2011-02-04T01:05:00.000Z

It's high time that I took complete control of my life. Sadly this is not going to happen but I am endeavoring to take control of my mind.

I intend to memorize the first 101 digits of the number Pi, the first 50 digits of which are 3.1415 9265 3589 7932 3846 2643 3832 7950 2884 1971 6939 9375 10. I also intend to develop the ability to memorize a shuffled deck of cards.

Rock the Casbah

2011-01-19T01:02:00.002Z

I've recently started another blog, Song Secrets, which explores the many hidden themes and messages in songs. It's very likely that someone will try to get the blog shut down soon, so read it while you have the chance:
http://www.songsecrets.blogspot.com

Train In Vain

2010-12-25T07:14:00.003Z

I've recently found myself traveling by train rather regularly. And what do trains mean, dear reader? That's right, trains mean podcasts. I've been listening to Shift Run Stop, Retrobits, CompuCast and SpyCast.
http://www.shiftrunstop.co.uk
http://www.retrobits.com
http://computersciencepodcast.com/
http://www.spymuseum.org/from-spy/spycast

I'm going to try hard to use a Clash song title for each of my blog posts in 2011.

Tokyo Calling, Take Two

2010-10-31T12:07:00.003Z

Tokyo Calling, Japan's first podcast, has returned, under the name "Tokyo Calling: Take Two". It's still at the old URL http://www.tokyocalling.org but the tone has changed somewhat.

Japan Podcast

2010-08-10T10:57:00.000Z

Next week I will be launching the Japan podcast with Terri MacMillan. We will be putting out episodes at the rate of one or two a week, at least until the end of the year.

The podcast is mainly aimed at people outside of Japan who want to know more about Japanese culture or people who are planning to come to Japan. I hope, however, that Japanese people with a high level of English will find the podcast useful as well.

The episodes will be about 15 minutes long although some topics will span several episodes. The episodes will be available from the site as well as iTunes.

http://www.japanpodcast.net
http://twitter.com/japanpodcast

Hot Tub Girl-On-Girl Video

2010-08-04T21:23:00.000Z

I made another animation. It's called Hot Tub. I think you'll like it.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/dv_assets/plot_template_lang3.swf?movie_id=412597

Blogging About Blogs

2010-08-03T05:06:00.000Z

I've started looking for, and reading, blogs of people who have recently moved to Japan. This is far more interesting than reading blogs of people who have been here for a long time, especially if the bloggers live in Tokyo. Tokyo is a wonderful place, but it does tend to fuck you up, in that it weakens your character and makes you lazy. Reading blogs written by people who have just got here is very refreshing, and has given me a much-needed energy boost.

A couple of great blogs I've found are "Hello Sandwich" and "The Get-Go Tokyo".
http://hellosandwich.blogspot.com/
Hello Sandwich is written by Ebony, who lives in Shimokitazawa. The blog deals mainly with Japanese design, and is packed with great photos of cool things and places.

http://thegetgo-tokyo.blogspot.com/
The Get-Go Tokyo is written by Gaby, a young British woman who is a pre-school teacher in Tokyo. Full of great insights into getting your shit together in Japan.

Welcome To The Cheap Seats

2010-07-13T21:07:00.004Z

Went to Ikea. Ate silly Swedish food in the cafeteria. A Japanese girl was trying, exceedingly badly, to sing western jazz songs. By some miracle I had left my suicide pills at home, if I had had them with me I would have downed the whole lot. Sometimes Japan does its best to kill me.

While wondering round Ikea, looking at the shit for sale, I was struck by the similarities between Northern Europe and Japan. They are quite similar. That is all. Sorry, Ikea wiped my brain.

I Should Cocoa

2010-06-28T22:23:00.004Z

My friend Alex Brooke (http://learnjapanesepod.com/) has started an iPhone development group at Tokyo Hackerspace. Despite not having an iPhone, I decided to join. Both my Macs are too old to run the iPhone SDK so I've just been doing Cocoa programming for the Mac, as opposed to Cocoa-Touch programming for the iPhone.

Much as I hate Apple, the iPhone, the iPad and Steve "cunt" Jobs, I must admit Objective-C is a very reasonably language, and Cocoa isn't as lame as it could be.

Linux Is Freedom

2010-05-31T13:16:00.004Z

I've made a video about Linux. I hope it's everything you've ever wished for.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/dv_assets/plot_template_lang3.swf?movie_id=412581

Firefox Rocks

2010-05-30T04:32:00.004Z

I've made a short video about the Firefox browser.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/dv_assets/plot_template_lang3.swf?movie_id=412579

BarCamp Tokyo 2010 Winter-Spring

2010-05-21T11:44:00.002Z

Somehow, a year has passed since I(and many others) put together Tokyo BarCamp: As We May Think. The BarCamp was epic. I met a whole bunch of good people, a hackerspace was started, and I decided to stay in Japan..

Next week 120 BarCampers will meet up at the Oracle HQ in Aoyama. I've no idea what will happen but I'm quietly confident that it won't suck too much.

There will be BarCamp related stuff to see here:
http://www.2jpn.com/tokyo-barcamp/

Trip to Seoul

2009-11-09T12:13:00.006Z

Arrived in Seoul for BarCamp Seoul 4, which is taking place tomorrow. Flying from Tokyo Haneda airport was so much more pleasant than flying from Tokyo Narita airport. Partly this was because Haneda airport is actually in Tokyo, unlike Narita airport which is in Chiba.

I took the subway from Gimpo airport to Seoul station and then walked to the Millennium Hilton hotel. The subway in Seoul is cheap, clean and not very crowded. The announcements are in Korean, English and Japanese, as are many of the signs.

The Millennium Hilton hotel is as expensive as it is cheap. Expensive hotels often look cheap because they are full of cheap, crappy people. My room was on the executive floor, because I'm an executive. I was dressed as a tramp, but I was still allowed in. The girl working at the executive reception swiped my credit card many times when I checked in. In the end it either worked or she gave up, so I was able to check in and go to my room.

As I was unpacking my stuff there was as knock on the door of my hotel room. It was a guy bringing me some chocolates and grapes. Very strange. I ate the chocolates, threw away the grapes, and proceeded to the executive lounge in order to use the Net and get some free drinks. As one might have expected, there was nothing "executive" about the people in the executive lounge. Scum.

http://barcamp.org/BarCampSeoul4

The Most Dismal Of Sciences

2009-10-05T02:25:00.002Z

Computer Science (sic) is utterly pathetic. Alan Kay once said something like "If a physicist was unaware of the work of Newton, he/she would be beaten to death with an apple". I wish the same could be said of ignorant computer scientists.

Adrian Cheok's Mixed Reality Lab at Keio

2009-06-15T11:00:00.000Z

This morning I visited the Mixed Reality Lab at Keio university, run by professor Adrian Cheok. I was invited along by David Sonntag, who was making the visit with Kenneth Boff, principle scientist at the Georgia Tech Tennenbaum Institute. Paul Cohen from http://sonicviz.com/ and Jonathan Coopersmith, Fulbright lecturer from the Tokyo Institute of Technology also joined the visit.

We were given demonstrations of a variety of projects involving augmented reality including:

Human Pacman
A pacman game played outside by people wearing AR HUDs.

Babbage Cabbage
A living display capable of showing slow changes in data trends though the medium of color-changing plants.

Petino
A tactile device for augmenting children's social networks, while providing parental supervision and control.

Kitchen Media
A research project aiming at developing augmentation devices for use in the kitchen.

Wiz Qubes
A augmented story book system in which the child interacts with a computerized book using physical blocks.

Age Invaders
A space invaders game resembling Dance-Dance-Revolution in which elderly people can play with their family from a remote location.

I was very impressed by Adrian's team, it was clear that the lab is made up of a very wide rage of people from a variety of backgrounds, it's not just a bunch of techies. I plan to visit the lab in the near future to give a presentation on some the of the tech stuff I'm involved with, such at the Tokyo Hackerspace.

Tokyo BarCamp Happened...

2009-05-13T14:36:00.006Z

Tokyo BarCamp 2006 "As We May Think" still seems like a dream, but there are quite a few photos online that seem to suggest it really did take place: www.flickr.com/groups/barcamptokyo/

I'm trying not to think too much about what went well and what could have been better at BarCamp. I just think we need to do loads more stuff. There should be worth-while something happening every day of the week in Tokyo. Tokyo is big, and there are plenty of cool people in and around Tokyo who are doing cool things so there's really no excuse for slackness.

Tokyo BarCamp: Location And Date Confirmed!

2009-04-17T03:26:00.003Z

I'm exceedingly pleased to announce that Sun Microsystems will be hosting Tokyo BarCamp on Saturday, 16th May. Places are very limited so please sign up here: Tokyo BarCamp When you sign up please include a link so we can contact you directly. Alternatively you can email me daac2000(at)yahoo(dot)com

Many thanks to Jim Grisanzio and Shoji Haraguchi who will be our hosts are Sun. Also thanks to all our other sponsors who are helping to make Tokyo BarCamp 2009 a reality.

Tokyo Barcamp 2009: As We May Think

2009-04-10T04:38:00.000Z

The theme for Tokyo Barcamp is "As We May Think". Participate in Tokyo BarCamp, exploring the future of technology and how we might use it to augment every aspect of our lives.

"As We May Think" is a seminal essay by Vannevar Bush written in 1945. You can read it here: As We May Think I strongly suggest you do. Here are some more resources:

Videos you probably ought to watch
The Web That Wasn't Google Tech Talk by Alex Wright
Hyperland 1990 BBC programme by Douglas Adams about emerging Internet
The Demo The mother of all demos by Doug Engelbart
Transclusion: Fixing Electronic Literature Google Tech Talk by Ted Nelson
Starfire 1994 Sun Mircrosystems concept video.
Douglas Engelbart Doug Engelbart interviewed at Google.
The Politics of Internet Software Ted Nelson talk at the Oxford Internet Institute

Books you probably ought to read:
Geeks Bearing Gifts by Ted Nelson
Tools For Thought by Howard Reingold
Literary Machines by Ted Nelson
Virtual Communities by Howard Reingold
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy
Glut: The Deep History of Information Science by Alex Wright
From Memex to Hypertext: Vannevar Bush and the Mind's Machine by James M. Nyce and Paul Kahn

Geeks Bearing Gifts by Ted Nelson

2009-04-01T10:50:00.005Z

You. Must. Read. This. Book. Now.

Tokyo Barcamp Brain Dump

2009-03-19T23:51:00.002Z

Some wikipedia articles that you should read in order to understand the concept of BarCamp:
BarCamp
Unconference
Foo Camp
Open Space Technology
Self-organization
Emergence
Temporary Autonomous Zone

The Four Principles and The One Law

2009-03-17T23:20:00.002Z

Are you still struggling to understand the concept of Barcamp? Maybe understanding Open Space Technology will help:

The four principles of Open Space Technology:

Whoever comes is the right people: this alerts the participants that attendees of a session class as "right" simply because they care to attend
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have: this tells the attendees to pay attention to events of the moment, instead of worrying about what could possibly happen
Whenever it starts is the right time: clarifies the lack of any given schedule or structure and emphasizes creativity and innovation
When it's over, it's over: encourages the participants not to waste time, but to move on to something else when the fruitful discussion ends

The one law:
If at any time during our time together you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet. Go to some other place where you may learn and contribute.

You Are Standing In A Wiki. What Now?

2009-03-16T23:11:00.001Z

There's been a great deal of interest in Tokyo barcamp but some people still seem to be confused about what it exactly is and how it differs from regular tech events.

One way of thinking about barcamp is to imagine yourself standing inside a wiki. You want to learn, teach and discuss. Barcamp provides you with a small amount of structure in order to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, skills, opinions and ideas. What makes barcamp so different though is that you can "edit" barcamp in the same way that you can edit a wiki. Think about that for a while...

When a group of enthusiastic, open-minded and knowledgeable people are in a small space together for an extended period of time, amazing things tend to happen. Difficult problems are solved, projects are born, minds are expanded. The whole is far, far greater than the sum of the parts. This is the real-world manifestation of Web 2.0. This is self-organization. This is emergence. This is the most intense thing you will ever experience.

Bar Camp Tokyo 2009

2009-03-15T02:55:00.008Z

I've decided to organize a Bar Camp in Tokyo for late May. (See the entry Wikipedia for background on Bar Camp).

Please sign up here if you want to attend: Tokyo BarCamp

You can follow Tokyo Barcamp on Twatter: www.twitter.com/tokyobarcamp

Bar Camp differs from other tech conferences in that everyone must participate. There are no presentations/workshops/discussions scheduled in advance, instead attendees sign up to do events on the day, usually by writing their events on huge pieces of paper on the walls. Also, Bar Camp is free.

At Tokyo Bar Camp expect presentations/workshops/discussions on blogging, podcasting, Perl, AJAX, the theory of hypertext, web spidering, smart mobs, wiki, Ruby-On-Rails, wearable computers, augmented reality, startups, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web 4.0, the maker revolution and maybe even teledildonics.

A Change Of Focus

2009-03-14T03:52:00.002Z

Although I will still follow infosec, my main focus from this point on will be building Web 4.0. Somebody has to. The Web is too important to leave to a bunch of dickheads who think Starbucks is cool...

I aim to start with a Web 4.0 Intranet, possibly something running over a Bluetooth PAN. Anyone want to give me some startup money?

Tame Goes Wild

2009-03-13T05:24:00.003Z

For no particular reason I found myself revisiting Tame Goes Wild, one of the best websites I've ever seen. It is simply huge. And very well written. And full of practical information. And it contains 15,825 photos that Joseph Tame has taken over the past 20 years. And it makes me feel very jealous. If I can turn this jealousy into action I might be able to turn Tokyo Robotnik into something decent. (although I'll make sure it doesn't lose its harshness)

Someone (that British twat from Wired and the EFF, I think) once said that you should never look at the Web when trying to do something constructive because you will always find thousands of people who have done it already, and much better than you could ever hope to. Another way of putting it is that the Web is so big that it makes everyone feel small. Thanks a lot, Joseph Tame...

More Twattering

2009-03-12T23:04:00.002Z

I seem to be spending more time on Twitter. This is clearly a bad thing. AFAIK, there is no way to receive SMS on Japanese mobile phones. Does anyone know of a gateway that I can use?

Follow me on Twitter, if you really have nothing better to do:
www.twitter.com/karamoon

Photos From Afghanistan

2009-03-11T12:46:00.000Z

Tokyo-based photographer Gianni Giosue took these photos in Afghanistan:
www.gaia-photos.com/afghanistan-circus-for-children/

Staying Safe On And Off Line

2009-03-04T23:04:00.001Z

The EFF have built a great website about how to be more secure when using computers. The best thing is that it's aimed at beginners.
https://ssd.eff.org

Reading List

2009-03-03T04:49:00.008Z

Seven books I intend to read soon. I don't own any of them so if you have them and are in Japan please lend them to me!

The Laurie Lee Trilogy
"Cider With Rosie", "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning" and "A Moment Of War"
I always think of Laurie Lee as being someone you read at school for GCSE/O-Level English Literature. Cider With Rosie is also a favourite of English Language schools, in fact, I first heard of it when a Spanish home-stay student living with my family was reading it as part of her summer English course. Having said that, My friend Damon Coulter sungypsy.wordpress.com/ swears by Lee so I think I'll probably like his stuff a lot. Lee seems to have lived quite an incredible life, although not quite as incredible as my own.

"The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom" by T. E. Lawrence
Laurence Of Arabia's autobiography. This is probably the book I am most looking forward to reading at the moment. I'm also looking forward to dragging my family into the desert in a few years time to ride on camels, navigate by the stars, look at mirages and generally pretend we are in a Tintin story.

"A Murder Of Quality" by John le Carré
This is le Carré's second novel. I've recently re-read his first: "Call For The Dead". His early stuff is simply amazing. It's a pity his recent novels are junk.

"The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp" by William Henry Davies
I remember hearing extracts of this being read on the Mark And Lard Show on BBC Radio One in the late 1990's. One extract I remember very clearly is when the author got his foot crushed while jumping onto the back of a freight train in the USA.

The Human Cougar by Lloyd Morain
Morain's hard-to-find book on drifters, hobos and wanderers. I've heard it's a real gem.

Thank Fuck It's Not Friday

2009-03-02T05:46:00.000Z

Between my two Japanese lessons I had lunch at T.G.I. Friday's. Fuck. Very, very, very grim indeed. I feel so sorry for the staff, they are forced to dress and act like simpletons. I took lunch with a Korean friend called Jasmine and Li, her Chinese friend. I struggled to keep up with the conversation as the two of them speak much better Japanese than me. Jasmine spent several years living in Hong Kong and mainland China so Jasmine and Li's lingua franca is Mandarin, not English. Our conversation was thus a mixture of Japanese and Mandarin, with very little English. I had to think so hard that my brain bled.

Goodbye Windows

2009-02-28T23:20:00.000Z

This evening I read an article entitled "10 Things Windows 7 Must Do To Succeed". I find it amazing that people still talk about Windows. The only thing Windows needs to do is fuck-off-and-die, as soon as possible.

While Windows is probably one of the worst pieces of software ever created, I strongly believe that all other popular OSes are also pretty crappy, although Mac OS X and Linux are certainly the worst. I just wish Windows would go away so we can focus on everything that's wrong with current OS architecture and UI.

Reverend Billy on Off The Hook

2009-02-26T23:36:00.001Z

Listened to the Reverend Billy being interviewed on Off The Hook. A few months ago I watched his documentary "What Would Jesus Buy?" on Google Video Great stuff.

Second Life, Second Wife

2009-02-20T23:58:00.003Z

As a result of listening to Scott Lockman's fascinating podcast "Meet Scottlo Scorbal" I've been thinking about Second Life a lot recently.
http://meetscottloscorbal.blogspot.com
I don't have a computer that can run the SL client, but I hope to buy or build one soon.

Me Needs Meades

2009-02-19T23:00:00.002Z

Taught all day. One of my lessons consisted of watching a Jonathan Meades program "Absentee Landlord" with one of my students. I sometimes think I'm the luckiest person alive.

Tokyo Calling, Over And Out

2009-02-18T23:55:00.004Z

Just got the rather shocking news that Scott Lockman has decided not to continue his podcast "Tokyo Calling":

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to bring you this little audio thing for the past four years. I've decided to finally end the wonderful ride to pursue other interests.

It saddens me deeply to think that there will be no more episodes of Tokyo Calling. It has had a huge influence on me over the past few years. On the other hand, it's great the Scott has ended on such a high note.

I, Robert

2009-02-17T23:29:00.002Z

Started reading Asimov's "I, Robot", probably for the sixth time. It is my sincere hope that Asimov will be remembered as a clumsy and dull writer.

First Day Of Spring

2009-02-14T23:06:00.000Z

The weather was lovely today, about 20 degrees centigrade. In such good weather it seemed appropriate to stay indoors so I watched several episodes of "The Computer Chronicles" on Google Video. In the afternoon I took a walk into the "real" Japan to meet a couple of friends. We chatted for several hours about the technology industry, focusing on the concepts of built-in obsolescence and perceived obsolescence.

Tuck My Life

2009-02-13T23:13:00.001Z

I spent several hours this evening reading www.fmylife.com/ It made me feel quite a bit better about myself.

Forensics Can Be Fun

2009-02-10T22:34:00.001Z

My experiences with technology tend to be negative, so I'm usually overjoyed when something actually works. Today I was able recover my photos of Thailand from a corrupted memory card using some straightforward forensics software. I am as surprised as I am happy...

Twatter

2009-02-08T23:27:00.002Z

I've finally joined Twitter, mainly so that nobody else take the user name "karamoon".

Insight Of Japan

2009-01-26T23:14:00.001Z

My friend Tomoko has started a new blog to help people who are learning Japanese:
http://insightofjapantomoko.blogspot.com/

Bullet In The Head

2009-01-24T23:11:00.001Z

Taught kids this morning. Had lunch with my friend and her lovely 3-year-old daughter. Afterwards I felt happy, so I watched some stuff about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes: video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7106504922469354610
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockwell_shooting
The incident was investigated by the Independent(sic) Police Complaints Commission, which is rather odd as de Menzezes was shot by special forces, not police. Needless to say, I no longer feel happy and probably never will again.

The Cuckoo's Egg

2009-01-08T23:36:00.001Z

Started reading "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. I tend to agree with everyone else, it really is one of the most exciting books on computer security ever written...

Don't Be Afraid Of The Light

2009-01-06T23:28:00.003Z

We are told that it is darkness, and that entering it will result in unspeakable woe. The nature of the woe is not even hinted at, I guess this is why it is "unspeakable woe".

To go as far as to say that the darkness is actually light, and that what we are living in is darkness, to say that we should all plunge into the light and find salvation within it... Talk of these ideas in forbidden.

Resorting To The Resort

2009-01-05T23:58:00.002Z

For some reason I was compelled to telnet to "The Resort", a virtual community from the days before the web.

If you've never telnetted to anything before, now is the time to start:

In Windoze: Hit Start, click "Run" then type "cmd" and hit return. This will open a command prompt. Type "telnet resort.org:2323"

In Mac OS X: Open a terminal window and type "telnet resort.org:2323"

In Linux open a text shell such as bash and type "telnet resort.org:2323"

Enjoy.

Finding Japan: Last Episode

2009-01-04T21:03:00.001Z

Christopher has posted the final episode of his podcast: Finding Japan. Well worth a listen.

www.findingjapan.com/2009/01/04/347/

The Cheshire Catalyst Makes Me Want To Die

2009-01-03T23:35:00.000Z

Well, it's not really Cheshire who makes me want to die, it's really his writing. Cheshire's writing is evil. There's no other word for it. Read his articles in 2600, read his website, and you to will want to die.
http://cheshirecatalyst.com

I particularly recommend his coffee stories. They take you beyond death.
http://cheshirecatalyst.com/coffee.html

Hackers: Bystanders Of The Computer Revolution

2009-01-02T23:22:00.002Z

Currently reading "Hackers: Heroes Of The Computer Revolution" by Steven Levy. It's not very good.

Rogue Trader 88888

2009-01-01T23:30:00.002Z

Watched "Rogue Trader", the true story of Nick Leeson, a Singapore trader for Barings Bank. Leeson started to secretly trade for the bank in an effort to cover up a mistake that one of his colleagues had made. Needless to say, the consequences were as disastrous as they were hilarious...

Rogue Trader is a very cheap film with a made-for-tv feel, but the story is engrossing and the lead is played by Ewan McGregor who manages to add a little quality to the film. Watch it now.

Nick Leeson now tours the UK, telling people how to crash the banking system. You can book him at www.NickLeeson.com

Reading Day

2008-12-30T23:31:00.003Z

Spent almost all day reading "Revolution In The Valley" by Andy Hertzfeld. It consists of a series of anecdotes about the making of the Apple Mac. The reader is given the clear impression that Steve Jobs is a fucking psycho.

I've recently realized that I'm surprisingly poorly read where computer history and culture. In the near future I intend to read "Insanely Great: Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything " and "Crypto: Secrecy and Privacy in the New Cold War" by Steven Levy, and "Accidental Empires": How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can't Get a Date" by Robert X. Cringely. Are there any other books on the history and culture of computing that I should read?

The Jonathan Meades Collection

2008-12-28T23:38:00.002Z

I received the Jonathan Meades Collection today. It consists of three dvds, containing a total of eleven programmes, every second of which is genius.

Severn Heaven

In Search Of Bohemia

Get High

Belgium

Remember The Future

The Absentee Landlord

Double Dutch

Fast Food

Father To The Man

Magnetic North

Hacking At Random: Call For Papers

2008-12-26T23:01:00.004Z

A call for papers has been give for "Hacking At Random".
https://www.har2009.org/

While trawling YouTube I came across a moving impromptu performance by RATM:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwzW2QFnwo

History And Culture

2008-12-26T23:01:00.003Z

A relative sent me three books on computer history/culture for Christmas. "The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage" by Cliff Stoll, "Revolution In The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made" by Andy Hertzfeld, and "Hackers: Heroes Of The Computer Revolution" by Steven Levy.

Karamoon's Kristmas Address, 2008

2008-12-25T23:09:00.003Z

I, Karamoon, condemn the world in the strongest terms possible. I guess that's enough...

Earthships For Breakfast

2008-12-21T23:18:00.004Z

Breakfast with Ben and Chi-chan. We talked a lot about Earthships and the possibilities of building them in Japan.

A brief guide to Earthships:
(1) Earthships use passive-solar heating.
(2) Earthships use thermal mass, in the form of very thick walls which hold heat.
(3) Thermal mass is significantly different from insulation.
(4) Earthships do not require any connection to infrastructure.
(5) Earthships are the future and the past.
(6) www.EarthShip.net

Vincent Van Gough, Vincent Can Cough

2008-12-16T23:05:00.001Z

Watched a documentary series about the life of Vincent Van Gough. The documentary claimed to be based on letters Vincent wrote to his brother Theo. It made Van Gough out to be a drunk pervert, which he may well have been.

The Pinkest Of Cows

2008-12-14T23:50:00.004Z

Watched "The Corporation" with Alex. In the evening we went to "The Pink Cow", a popular gaijin hangout in Shibuya. It was my first time to The Pink Cow, and I was semi-impressed. It was expensive and a bit smoky, but it was slightly better than I expected.

All The President's Pen

2008-12-09T23:43:00.002Z

Watched "All The President's Men" for the first time. Overall it's very good, but it's let down by poor acting. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman can only be described as lame.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level Three

2008-12-07T23:07:00.007Z

Took level three of the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam. I hadn't studied much so I didn't have any chance of passing but I was happy to find that the listening section wasn't so tough. The test was held at several sites across Japan. I took it at a campus of Tokyo University. The campus was swarming with French. They were simply everywhere. Being French they were instantly recognizable. They were all wearing blue jeans, brown shoes and leather jackets...

After the text I ate "soup curry" in Shimokitazawa. It was rubbish but as I had walked for two hours in order to find a restaurant that looked inviting, I told myself that it wasn't so bad.

In the evening I borrowed "All The President's Men", "The Conversation", "Take The Money And Run" and "The Front" from the DVD rental shop. I also borrowed the first DVD for Miami Vice.

Keep It Miyashita

2008-12-05T23:44:00.005Z

Bumped into a friend and her daughter in the local Indian restaurant. This kind of thing never happens in Japan. They joined me and Chichan for lunch. We talked about hard-to-diagnose blood-borne diseases and we ate curry.

Hung out in Shibuya. There was a very small protest against Nike consisting of about 20 protesters and 50 police. Nike have bought a small park in Shibuya and plan to destroy it. Currently there are a bunch of homeless people living there, and poor people like me hang out there drinking cans of tea from vending machines because we can't afford to go to cafes.
More info here, but only in Japanese: minnanokouenn.blogspot.com

Security Resources

2008-12-04T01:06:00.003Z

Here are some security resources that I have found to be of the highest quality.

Websites:
www.lightbluetouchpaper.com
www.crypto.com/blog
www.doxpara.com
www.phrack.org
www.renderlab.net
www.churchofwifi.net

Non-technical Books
"Secrets And Lies" by Bruce Schneiner
If you buy one book on security, get this one.

"Beyond Fear" by Bruce Schneiner
If you buy two books on security, get this along with the above...

"The Art Of Deception" by Kevin Mitnik

"Hackers' Handbook 3.0" By Dr. K

Semi-technical Books
"Security Engineering" by Ross Anderson

"Hacking Exposed Series" by various authors

"The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey" edited by Emmanuel Goldstein

Technical Books
"Applied Cryptography" by Bruce Schneiner

"Hacking: The Art Of Exploitation" by Jon Erickson

I also recommend attending the CCC in Berln and HOPE in New York. See www.ccc.de and www.hope.net for details.

If you are in Tokyo come along to a Tokyo 2600 meeting. www.tokyo2600.net

Learn Japanese Pod

2008-12-01T23:47:00.003Z

Anyone wanting to learn Japanese should listen to the Learn Japanese Podcast by Alex Brooke.

The main site is here: learnjapanesepod.com
Episodes can be downloaded here: japanese.libsyn.com
The forums are here: learnjapanesepod.com/forums

DVD Bonanza

2008-11-07T23:44:00.001Z

It was poor-peoples' day at the DVD rental place(200 yen per dvd) so I borrowed a bunch of films.

"Mister Lonely" directed by Harmony Korine, "Modern Times" directed by Charlie Chaplin, "Coffee And Cigarettes" directed by Jim Jarmusch, "Naqoyqatsi: Life As War" directed by Godfrey Reggio and "The Sting" directed by George Roy Hill.

I watched Mister Lonely in the evening. The story is irresistible; a Michael Jackson lookalike living in Paris meets a Marilyn Monroe lookalike who invites him to live in a commune for lookalikes in the Highlands of Scotland. It's the type of film I could watch for the rest of my life. In fact, I think I will.

Terrie Lloyd Talk

2008-11-06T23:38:00.002Z

A businessman called Terrie Llyod gave a talk at the Tokyo PC Users Group. I love attending the meetings, it's like being in a Glengarry, Glen Ross. Everyone is so desperate. There was even a mineral water salesman. When he introduced himself he tried to sell mineral water. There were two clowns who claimed to be getting energy from hydrogen. It's all so funny yet so tragically sad, like Japan.

Llyod's talk was about starting software companies in Japan, then selling them to foreigners. Someone should tell him that there's already too much software.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

2008-11-01T23:06:00.001Z

The first of the month is cheap cinema day in Japan so I watched some cheap cinema in Ebisu.

Ebisu is a lovely place, close to Shibuya but very different in character. Before watching the film I went to Good Day Books. Although I have many books, I felt it necessary to buy some more. Buying books at Good Day Books is very unpleasant for several reasons. The books are expensive, their condition is poor and most of them are trashy novels which the dumb Americans here read. The main reason that shopping at Good Day Books is so unpleasant is that the owner is a total, utter, fucking cunt.

Despite the above, I bought "Secrets And Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World" by Bruce Schneier and "Call For The Dead" by John Le Carre.

The cheap cinema I watched was "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead", directed by Sidney Lumet. Good, but grim.

I Ain't Gonna Work On Maggie's Farm No More

2008-09-25T23:42:00.003Z

My last English lesson at the community centre. It was also my last early morning lesson. From this point on I don't need to teach before 10 am.

Goodbye, Cruel Beard

2008-09-23T23:28:00.001Z

Today I shaved my beard off in preparation for going to Thailand on Friday. It feels strange. When I return from Thailand I shall re-beard and I vow that I shall never be beardless again.

Bother That Cat

2008-09-18T23:31:00.002Z

Read "Mog The Forgetful Cat" with one of my students. Life is very, very good.

Surprisingly Busy

2008-09-16T23:40:00.001Z

Spent the day studying Japanese, watching Ted Nelson lectures and reading early James Bond novels. In between all this I somehow managed to teach English and go running.

Picnic In The Park

2008-09-14T23:36:00.002Z

Met up with some people from the Learn Japanese Podcast for a picnic in Yoyogi park. There were about 10 of us at the picnic and I think everyone had a great time.

After the picnic some of us went for a meal in a Japanese pub. We will be having monthly meetings from now on so I should be able to find some people to help out with my film and other projects that I want to do.

The Learn Japanese Podcast is really rather good so if you want to learn some conversational Japanese check it out:
www.LearnJapanesePod.com

Climbing Tou-no-dake

2008-09-12T23:52:00.005Z

Walked up a mountain in Tanzawa, an area of Kanagawa prefecture. Tou-no-dake is 1,491 m (4,891 ft) and walking up it was a perfect way of reminding myself that I am very unfit.

Walking up mountains is best done alone, regardless of any safety concerns you may have. I was walking in the afternoon so the mountain was deserted, allowing me to feel I was deep in the wilderness, even though I wasn't far from houses, roads and vending machines.

As I started making my way down the mountain the sun set. I had a couple of torches with me but chose not to use them. Walking down in the dark was quite difficult but very exciting. I could hear snakes slithering away from me and also Japanese mountain leeches dropping from the trees.

I think I'm pretty much hooked on mountain walking now, so expect more of the same in the future.

Climbing Oyama

2008-09-07T23:26:00.001Z

Walked up Oyama in Kanagawa prefecture. It's only 1,252 metres, but I still found it quite challenging. Fuji is 3,776 metres, so I have a lot of training to do if I want to make it up Fuji any time soon.

Wikipedia entry

A Dark Night For The Dark Knight

2008-08-27T23:25:00.003Z

Went to the 9pm showing of the new Batman film at my local cinema. There were only about 10 people at the screening. The film was good but too long. Like life?

Canadian Dry

2008-08-16T23:19:00.004Z

This morning I met up with cheerful Canadian Aaron in Shibuya. His site is here: www.bluesandbrownbooks.com

After grabbing free magazines in Tower Records we walked to Harajuku where we ate curry and talked of the issues of the day. We then took the metro to Akihabara. Aaron bought another two R4 cards because he wants to promote software piracy.

We took the train home and then we ate curry at the Indian restaurant near my house. We then watched "The Power Of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil".

A wonderful Canadian friend once said to me "You seem to be very interested in Canada". My reply to her was simply "Somebody has to be".

The Third Karamoon

2008-08-13T23:46:00.000Z

I watched The Third Man again for the first time in many years. I have a feeling that I shall be watching it on quite a regular basis for the next year or so.

"You know what the fellow said—in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The fucking cuckoo clock."

All I Need Is Iannucci

2008-08-12T23:27:00.001Z

I found the following on the website of The Guardian, a UK newspaper:

Don't call me, I'll be wrapped up
by Armando Iannucci

So there I was, walking along the road one grey summer morning, when I espied a man, somewhat cheerless of disposition, his wife and children stringing along, all carrying boxes and an enormous amount of bubble wrap. 'We've sold the car,' said the man to my curious look. 'Bloody stupid idea. We should have sold it after we carried everything to the storage place, not before. But then we needed the money to pay for the storage place.' His four children looked at the ground, defeated by the unavoidable economics.

'I take it you're going to the storage place?' I said, trying to be friendly. 'D'you need any help?'

'We'd love some,' said his wife, and I could tell from her husband's look that he had been too embarrassed to ask but was now relieved his face's sullen begs were being answered.

'OK, I'll bring the car round and we can load up.'

I came back with my seven-seater, folded the back seats down and helped them load their boxes.

'Storing your stuff while you find somewhere smaller?' I asked, at the point where I realised we hadn't said anything for 10 or so minutes together and something needed to be said.

'Sort of,' said the man. He glanced at his wife, who nodded back. He turned to me and, staring at my nose, said: 'We were going to put all our things into storage, then we looked at the great rates they were offering and decided it would be cheaper if we went into storage as well.'

'What d'you mean?' I asked, slightly trembling.

'It's fine,' said his wife. 'We're putting all our furniture into boxes and storing them in one unit, then we'll box me, Tom and the kids up and get someone,' (she looked at me) 'to put them in a unit next to it.' She handed me some of the bubble wrap.

I've never had my gob smacked before, so don't know what it feels like, but I'm pretty sure it feels like how I felt just then. 'But, you are people,' I squawked, 'You've got heads and legs and everything. You can't just wrap yourself up.'

'Think you're clever do you?' said Tom the man. 'Not so clever you haven't missed the most brilliant money-saving scheme to stare you in the face? Sod mortgages and car insurance. Sod food bills and cavity wall insulation and buying too many lemons every week. Tell electricity and petrol and lettuce to take a flying frig. Pizzas and milk and batteries and potatoes can all go have a running crap. Plasma screens with sport, and biscuits with raisins. Dreck. All of it. Toilet duck and Vimto, all we spend on plates and flannels and marzipan and hammers and shoes.

'Why should all this cruddy dust suck at my purse? For the price of 20 rolls of bubble wrap and a hundred quid a month for two storage units, me, Judy and the kids are packaged and contented until everything outside sorts itself out.'

I drove Judy, Ken and the children to a storage warehouse in the suburbs. I guessed they were having a collective nervous breakdown and thought the kindest thing to do was follow their whims to the point where they could see they had become unsustainable. If I took them to the storage place, there'd come a point where they would realise they couldn't just wrap each other up and forget about themselves.

As I drove up, I could see other families arriving, their children all carrying unfeasible amounts of bubble wrap. Some had painted their own cardboard. The place had a carnival feel to it, but a carnival at which people hurl themselves down a log-flume without sitting on a log first. Everyone was smiling, but I could see the little tremors behind their eyes. I had to stop this.

I went over to the main office. A sign said '££££s OFF FAMILIES!!!' A man was taking money. 'This is appalling,' I said. He smiled and asked me to look at how happy everyone was. 'You want to take this one positive away from them?' he said. 'They've come up with a solution and it's brought them relief. You feel qualified to tell them they're wrong?'

I looked round. A father was Sellotaping his son into an enormous Tupperware crate. Another mother had wrapped herself in newspaper and masking tape, leaving a hand free to seal up a cardboard box from the inside. I saw an older brother push a younger brother into a poster tube. A girl was wrapping her hamster up in red paper. A boy was individually wrapping his socks and Top Trumps cards. A family of 26 were rolling a dice to see who would get to go in the crate that hadn't originally been used to carry vegetables. And all of them were smiling.

That was what I remembered most; each one of them was perfectly happy to undergo total packaging. I tried pulling them out, but the nearer I got, the more their smiles made sense. I took my decision and, tearing off a corner of wrapping paper and wrote down everything you're reading now. I've found a box I like, and Tom has agreed to seal the top. If you read this, don't open me up unless you're absolutely sure things have got considerably better. Thanks.

Captain PUGwash

2008-08-07T23:40:00.004Z

This evening I attended the Tokyo PC Users Group. There was a talk on search engine optimization. The term itself is utterly ridiculous because it concerns techniques that can be used to make a website get indexed well by search engines, and, hopefully, cause a site to get a good ranking for relevant key words. It has nothing to do with optimizing search engines.

The speaker was very friendly and tried very hard, but he knew almost nothing about his topic. As a result his talk consisted almost entirely of inaccuracies and contained major holes. It was a real shame but it is sadly indicative of Tokyo. The foreign community here doesn't really give a fuck about quality. I left the meeting very depressed. I would love to organize something truly world-class here along the lines of Google Tech Talks or the Chaos Communication Congress. To do so would involve a daily struggle against mediocrity. I guess I should get started though.

Back To The R00ts

2008-07-16T23:17:00.002Z

Went through some of my old issues of 2600 Magazine When I get some money together I'll buy the Best Of 2600 book. I might add that I suggested such a book to the editor of 2600 at the 21st Chaos Communication Congress.

Taught a kids' class for two lovely five-year-old girls. Afterwards I spent a long time thinking about what children should really be taught. I came up with the following list: cooking, knot-tying, hacking, throwing shuriken, phreaking, barehand killing, planning picnics, swimming, back flips and sword fighting.

Dear Karamoon...

2008-07-07T23:25:00.002Z

Dear Karamoon,

This is just a quick note to remind you of the following: Industrial education is morally indefensible. Anyone who allows their children to enter the industrial education system is failing in their duty as a parent. There are no exceptions. Fuck school.

Yours,
Karamoon

Needless to say, my children will not be attending school.

Can You Sing A Rainbow Bridge?

2008-07-06T23:26:00.004Z

Somehow I managed to get up early enough to meet up with Christopher in Odaiba. I found Christopher with a Canadian called Aaron. Aaron, like all Canadians (with the exception of the RCMP) was lovely. We had brunch at a chain restaurant. We then walked across the famous Rainbow Bridge all the way to Tokyo Tower. Rainbow Bridge isn't very rainbow-like in the daytime, but it was still quite impressive.

Tokyo Tower was crowded and silly, like many things in Tokyo. It is going to be pulled down soon, and a new Tokyo Tower will be built in Ueno, another part of Tokyo. Scientists have predicted that the new Tokyo Tower will be slightly less crowded than the old one, but just as silly.

The three of us took a train to Akihabara. Christopher introduced us to a good Indian restaurant where I ate some Kashmiri curry. We then wondered around for a while. It was my first time to go to Akihabara since the Akihabara Massacre. At the spot where the massacre took place people had left food and drink. Aaron bought an R4 card which allows the Nintendo DS to play copied games. Playing games is probably not a good use of Aaron's time, nor is writing the second "o" every time he writes his name. Don't people know there is a war on?

After saying goodbye to Christopher and Aaron, I went to Shibuya, where I spent an unreasonable period of time trying to find somewhere quiet to have a cup of tea. In the end I gave up and went to a chain restaurant.

The Robot Man

2008-07-05T23:10:00.000Z

Today I met up with a Japanese man who used to work for Apple as a hardware engineer. He is retired now but works on projects of his own including building a sophisticated robot. He has also been a radio Ham. Run DMC once said "Next time somebody's teaching make sure you get taught". Wise words, which I intend to follow.

Propaganda

2008-07-03T23:52:00.004Z

One of the perks of teaching English in Japan is that you are able to spread propaganda. There is something quite refreshing about spending 90 minutes indoctrinating a group of Japanese adults during an English lesson on the evils of the G8.