Joe Bloggs

Japanese for nerds

Found a very interesting article on how to learn Japanese. Here's how it starts:

Most attempts to teach Japanese to foreigners start off with long lists of words to learn and endless drills practicing how to say things like "Suzuki-san, konnichi-wa." But with an appropriately nerdular mind, none of this is necessary. The nerd can simply study the formal Backus-Naur definition of the language, and then treat all the individual words to be learned the same way he would learn a long list of manifest constants #define'd in some C library.

It continues in much the same manner and got me thinking I could probably learn 'C' if I applied the thinking presented in the article in reverse. Until I got to this part.

OK, here is another pop quiz for bonus points. Translate the following:

1. Neg(Neg(Neg()), which is naku naku nai
2. Cond(Neg(Neg()), or naku nakereba

It seemed wierd to me and I first checked with the Bloggs boys. They couldn't make head or tail out of it. Then I checked with my university sensei (lecturer), who is now in Japan, and he confirmed the Japanese here was entirely nonsense. That was gratifying - that my Japanese wasn't worse than I thought it was. Nevertheless, even though the English doesn't make much sense either, I still like the author's premise.

It's here

I was just telling a friend the other day that I wouldn't fancy going to Southeast Asia right now what with "bird flu and all that", and what happens? Some 28,000 chickens have come down with bird flu just up the road. I guess chicken is off the menu for the curry tomorrow.

By his balls

Steve Bell, the Guardian's resident cartoonist, has a wonderful depiction of how an ex-cabinet minister has got Tony Blair where it hurts regarding the Kofi Annan bugging claim.

Juxtapositions

Now that I've had my battery replaced in my iBook, I can watch DVDs on bullet train journeys again. I really can't think of a more wonderfully disorientating experience than, say, watching a documentary on crossing the Sahara while Japan whizzes past you at 220kph. While the mind is totally engrossed in the screen in front, the occasional sideways head movement brings one back to the present with a jolt. I've taken the bullet train to Tokyo and back at least 100 times and sometimes I feel I know every knook and cranny of the landscape on either side, but everything seems different when I return from a brief, but deep, sojourn in wartime London, or the sand dunes of Mali. Thoroughly recommended to give you a fresh view of your own environment while putting your head in a total spin.

Underground animals

I love this one. The stars in the sky and animals on the London Underground have something in common.

Via Boing Boing.

Turkish de(light)

Letter to Lord Pembroke in the Foreign Office, London

6 April 1943

My Dear Reggie,

In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time to time. So I propose to share with you a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.

We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when Spring is upon us, but few of us would care to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.

Sir Archibald Clerk Kerr
H.M. Ambassador
Moscow

Thanks to DJ for this one. See the original letter here.

Seven over 170

I guess you have to go to the BBC News website as often as I do to find the screenshot above somewhat disappointing. A few hours before, the 'Breaking News' graphic was used for the Jerusalem suicide bomber story, but it was the top story - as it is now. I appreciate that the Middle East is a powder keg and that in the political spectrum Africa doesn't really figure, but when news comes in of 170 people killed, surely it should displace the one of 'at least seven people killed', however little information there might be on the 170. Africa gets short shrift - even from my beloved Beeb. :+(

Yonder capital

More days in yonder capital beckon. Expect entries as and when they happen.

Fireflies 2

In my search for things Akiyuki Nosaka, I found this interview with him and the director of the 'Grave of the Fireflies', Isao Takahata. Not terribly enlightening, but still worth the read. It was translated from the Japanese and used without permission from an anime magazine.

My sister's death is an exact match with the novel. It was one week after the end of the war. At the countryside of Fukui prefecture where I was, it was the day the restrictions on lighting were removed. It must have been the 22nd. It was evening, and I was picking up my sister's bones. I was coming home in a daze when I saw the village lit up. There was nothing like my surprise then. My sister died in my side of the world, and light was coming back in the other. The return of light also implies the return of peace, and at that time, I felt from deep within that I'd survived, which was also very scary.

Get writing to your MP!

So all the claptrap about an independent and strong BBC could well be just that ... claptrap. Here's what Teresa Jowell, UK Culture Secretary, said to the BBC, at the beginning of the month:

"I can absolutely guarantee that the outcome of charter renewal will be a strong BBC and a BBC that is independent of Government."

Here's what's been leaked to the Sunday Times about plans by the government to break up the BBC. (Linked via ABC in Australia because the Sunday Times wants to charge you to read the story!)

"The report says the Government may remove the BBC's independent status in the wake of a bitter row with the state-funded broadcaster over the Iraq war."

All this from a Labour government. Unbelievable. I wouldn't vote for the bastards in a marginal seat.

Brought to my attention by Lisa

Grave of the Fireflies

After Comcast's recent bid for Disney, I read some reports with a reference to the possibility that Steve Jobs and his Pixar company might join a consortium to make a rival bid for Mousehalla. He shouldn't bother. Rather he should be hot-footing it to Japan to talk to the makers of last year's animation Oscar winner. The Studio Ghibli team are the real inheritors of Walt Disney's mantle of master animators. We've just finished watching 'Grave of the Fireflies', which Roger Ebert described as belonging "on any list of the greatest war films ever made". High praise and richly deserved. Ghibli films can be watched on two levels. First of all the wonderful animation. For me, animation is primarily about light and movement and they just don't come any better than what you get with Ghibli. Truly, Walt would be proud of these guys. Then there is the message. Read (and you really should) the linked Ebert review for an excellent assessment, but needless to say here the anti-war message is as clear as the art you see on the screen. One of those to take with you to your desert island.

Take the test

I wrote in an earlier entry how a lot of people think China/Korea/Japan are the same country. So recent Guest Blogger DJ sent along a link to a site to test if you can tell the difference between the three races or if they all look the same. I was pretty crap at it I'm afraid. My score was the same as the average - 7. I'm not sure what that says about me, but apart from couple of 'dead-cert' Japanese and Chinese faces, I was guessing as much from the clothing as anything else, and with that criteria these days they would all have passed as 'western'!

Grow

Not a great game fan here, but this one certainly caught my attention. How much can you grow?

Fine Finnish fine

I don't highlight Finnish stories just because I have two Finnish readers - honest! I do have a strange connection with the country - strange in the sense that I have any connection at all. I've been there on business three or four times and even bought my windows and doors from a company way up in the north of the country. They do certain things right there - and I'm not just talking windows and doors either. A story that has been doing the rounds is that of a rich Finn who got whacked with a stiff speeding fine. How stiff? Er ... EUR170,000 (roughly US$217,000 or £115,000). That's for doing 80kph in a 40kph zone. It seems only 55% of people polled by a tabloid newspaper thought the fine excessive. I'm with the 45%. Here's how the system works over there:

Finnish fines for speeding and other motoring offences are income-related, and are assessed according to net income, on the basis of a certain number of 'days'. The earlier practice of similar fines based on gross income before tax led almost inevitably to economies with the truth amongst radar-trap victims, and now the police have direct GSM phone access to the previous year's tax figures in case offenders are unable or unwilling to say what they are worth.

Guest blogging

A big thanks to DJ for keeping the seat warm while I was away. It was, methinks, such a success, that I'll be asking one of you to do it next week when I have to make another visit to yonder capital.

After all, we're closer to heaven now

'Ladies and gentlemen, we're encountering some turbulence. The pilot has turned on the seat-belt sign and reminds you that now is an excellent time to get right with the Lord.'

Ah! 'Pecksniffian' is now a noun!

'"Detrimental to the interests of the United States." Denied a visa to attend the Grammy Awards, in which he’s a nominee: Buena Vista Social Club musician Ibrahim Ferrer. And five colleagues. ...

'Tell me again how John Kerry, with all his drawbacks, would be "barely any improvement" on this crowd of censorious, vengeful, authoritarian pecksniffs.'

'It's perfectly obvious why he was refused admittance: anyone named "Ibrahim" is probably an Arab terrorist. Just be glad he wasn't arrested as an enemy combatant.'

'Even if the next President did nothing but sit around in the oval office all day calling 1-800-SEX-LIVE and eating doritoes, it would be an improvement on what we have today.'

Sorry to have an entry that's entirely composed of quotes, but they tell the story best, I think.

via Electrolite

Nasa sends Martian back to Mars

The camera imaging CCDs used in the Mars landers Spirit and Opportunity have apparently been etched with artwork showing Marvin Martian of Warner Bros. fame.

One hopes that if there is (other) life on Mars, it does not include intellectual property rights lawyers!

via Boing Boing

Class-action lawsuit against enlargement firms

A California man has started a lawsuit against companies offering solutions for - shall we say - gentlemen of moderate intromission.

"I was wondering for a long time why no one has gotten around to suing these penis-enlargement guys, because it seems like a pretty blatant ... fraud," said New York lawyer Brad Corsello, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Californian Jeffery Horton.

I know scarcely a day goes by without my receiving by e-mail an offer to purchase these products, usually along with one offering breast enlargement. Hey, why not both?

via the Denver Post

BBC says violent games OK

Well, perhaps not quite. But columnist Daniel Etherington of BBCi Collective points out that psychologists have yet to demonstrate a link between the playing of violent games and violent behaviour at large.

'Social, cultural, ethical and neurobiological issues remain in such a tangle that it is trite and irresponsible of ill-informed commentators to claim that games like Grand Theft Auto are central to terrible crime,' he writes in his weekly game column.

I found interesting his argument that a combination of nature (genes) and nuture (upbringing) is probably responsible for violent behaviour. But in any case, he says, more research is needed.

via the Beeb

Guest Blogger anyone?

Off for a few days. I'm thinking of introducing a 'Guest Blogger' feature for the few times of the year I lose my Net connection. Anyone fancy the job?

Who's objecting?

I've heard a lot of people complain that the spam they gets orginates out of China/Korea/Japan - it's astonishing how many people think they're all the same country, but that's another blog entry - and I know some webhosts just block all Chinese and Korean IP addresses, but spam is a technologically created problem and technology is going to have to solve it. Something to do with authentication and SMTP (don't ask!). But then again something going on in China shows that maybe the politicos could be pushed into doing something worthwhile if spam hits them were it hurts. In China pain comes in the form of political spam. This Associated Press report says the Chinese "government has launched a fight against junk e-mail, fearful that the spam amassing in citizens' inboxes may contain pornography, anti-communist sentiments or other objectionable material". What's the bet it's the second item that worries them most. Now, if we could only think of something that would worry the U.S. (where most spam still originates) authorities, they might be moved to take similar action. (I don't count the recent 'CAN SPAM' bill passed by Congress as credible action.)

Been "activating enegetically" recently?

Sometimes I think how sweet life is and then ... I get a piece of English like this to proofread:

Dr. Y., who is one of the Ninth B. Prize For E. (Y1999) awardees, moved to newly established "Inter-University Research Institute, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature" in April, 2001 in Kyoto City. He has been carrying out the research project titled "The quality of the environment in the river systems and reveal of the environmental consciousness. His study has not been limited in the field of natural science such as the ecology in the river systems and biogeochemistry, he also has been studying on the methodology which clarify how human being recognize the environment. After receiving the award, he has been contributed so many papers to academic journals and activating enegetically.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets and
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test

One of those times I wish could take a quick jaunt back to London. An exhibition of David Bowie photos is on in London. Brings back lots of memories.

Googling efficiently

On the Google theme - this is one even you non-geeks should go out and read. GoogleGuide teaches you, amongst other things, how to select terms and search (more) effectively and how to search using Google's special tools and shortcuts.

Via (one of those useful blogs) Boing Boing

Blogger rant

There's someone out there who thinks blogs should die. He says, "the Web is in risk of drowning under a tidal wave of morons who throttle search engines with writing that has no purpose".

No mincing of words by Mr. Joyce either. Here are just a few of his sub-headings:

You (we bloggers) are all pretentious twats
All of your blogs talk about the same crap
You are fucking stupid
You are all sheep
Your blog is fucking up Google

It's that last point that is his real beef with us bloggers, and although his readers give him grief on that particular point, I have long considered telling Google to go away. Not because I'm concerned about Mr. Joyce's surfing experience, but rather because I know the raison d'être of Joe Bloggs. I don't need, or want, people I don't know to read what I write. My audience, and I think the majority of bloggers would concur, is those who are in my email address book (or those that were in it before the last crash!). So Joyce can go screw himself because this goes on. Now where's that .htaccess file?

Finnish Ice Scream

Hey, one of my readers is from this northern Finnish town, where they have this thing called Mieskuoro Huutajat. What is it? A normal choir that doesn't sing, but rather screams everything at maximum decibels. Apparently they toured Japan, but I missed them. One performance where you could probably save money by listening from outside the auditorium.

Have you heard them Marko?

Knickers and bras all out of shape

They do get their knickers in a twist about things on U.S. TV don't they? Or should that be 'bras out of shape'? Move on folks, nothin' happenin' here.

Superbowl

Caught two snippets of the US Superbowl and I have to say I loved it - and no I'm not talking about Janet Jackson's boobs. It's great to watch a technical game which I know just a little about, but with no partisan interest.

The first snippet was when one of the teams had inches to make on their fourth down and they went for it rather than kicking upfield. When they succeeded, I let out a "Oh good". Mrs. Bloggs asked, "who are you supporting?", to which I replied, "I have no idea and I don't even know which team has the ball, but they got so close, it would have been a shame if they hadn't made it". I can't ever imagine making such a comment watching English Premiership football.

The second snippet was, of course, like the Rugby World Cup Final - the last kick of the game. Great stuff.

Washing up to the radio

Mrs Bloggs took the boys out bowling and I had a peaceful day listening to BBC Radio 4 on the Net (obviously) while doing the washing up. Another good reason to support the Beeb - tons of radio (and all the latest TV news as well) available on the net for easy consumption. It was good to listen to Just a Minute again. One of the contestants, Giles Brandreth, reminded me a little of both Derek Nimmo and the best of them all, Kenneth Williams.

Do you believe?