Author: Heather Meadows

Newsweek: ‘I’m So Sorry’

I just did a lot of chores.

I started with the usual dishes. I do those pretty much every day. Empty the dishwasher, load the dishwasher, wash stuff that can’t go in the dishwasher.

When I was done with that and I’d set out the stuff I need to cook tonight’s dinner, I decided to go ahead and deal with an issue that’s been bugging me for several days: the laundry room/pantry needed to be swept and mopped out.

After the apartment guys took the washer and dryer we were renting, I discovered not only the expected dust and lint bunnies but also a lake of spilled liquid detergent that I had to scrub out by hand (I used paper towels). When I’d finally raked up the majority of the goop, I swept up what I could of the dust and then mopped the closet floor. After that I went ahead and mopped the kitchen floor too.

Then I decided to finally get the stupid laundry off the dining room table–as if doing that would somehow change the fact that my table is in chaos, pushed up against the wall so it’s out of the way for moving in a new washer and dryer and covered with all the junk that had been sitting on the original washer and dryer.

So I put the laundry away, and then I sorted all the dirty laundry into three baskets, lights, whites, and darks, so that when the new washer and dryer arrive–or when we run out of clothes and I have to force myself to go to the coin laundry behind the building–I will at least be organized in advance.

Then I rearranged the junk on the dining room table and tried to convince myself that it looked better. And then I vacuumed the floor where the apartment guys had tracked dirt and lint.

I don’t really feel a sense of accomplishment or happiness, probably because my dining room is still retarded and because none of this has solved the real problem in our lives, which is money.

Google “a house day”, and my blog appears twice in the results, currently as number 6 and number 15. The phrase, adopted from my friend Brooke, does not seem to have caught on elsewhere with Brooke’s meaning.

Robots!

Also in operation at the Baltimore Center is the “MIT-Manus” robot, which has been proven in clinical trials to help stroke patients regain movement of their arms.

During therapy, a stroke sufferer sits at a table with the patient’s lower arm in a brace attached to the arm of the robot.

A video screen prompts the patient to perform an arm exercise such as connecting a series of dots or drawing hands on a clock. If movement does not occur, the robot moves the person’s arm.

If the patient initiates movement, the robot provides adjustable levels of guidance and assistance to facilitate the person’s arm movement.

In the first clinical trial of the robot, researchers found that stroke patients who used the machine four to five hours a week improved faster than those who did not receive robot-assisted therapy.

The research, carried out during the past decade, concluded that manual manipulation of a stroke victim’s disabled limb aids recovery of use of that limb.

“There had been a great deal of intuitive belief that this works, but our research provided conclusive objective evidence,” MIT professor Neville Hogan said.

How awesome is that?

In just a week, it’s climbed from 46% to 51%. Of course, a lot has happened in that week.

People seem to like Koizumi’s maverick actions. His postal reforms may actually stand a chance.

It’s been 60 years, and Japan keeps apologizing. That’s not enough for most of Asia, it seems.

Today’s Japan is not Hirohito’s Japan, just as today’s Germany is not Hitler’s Germany. But the victims of Japan’s World War II atrocities have long memories.

I think, too, that there is an aspect of jealousy at work–jealousy of Japan’s highly favorable relationship with the U.S., of its economic successes in the past six decades. Maybe it doesn’t seem to Japan’s World War II victims that the country has suffered enough, due to how well the country is doing now.

With the anti-Japan propaganda that saturates the lives of people in many parts of Asia, I’m not sure if even the passing on of the people directly involved in the war will have any effect on tensions among the countries. I only hope we’re not seeing the beginnings of a new Israel and Palestine.

Apparently the protesters outside President Bush’s Texas ranch are inconveniencing the president’s neighbors. One neighbor in particular decided to stage his own little demonstration.

Anti-war protesters outside President Bush’s ranch here were startled Sunday by gunshots fired by a Texas rancher frustrated by the group’s presence.

“Well, I’m getting ready for dove season,” Larry Mattlage, 62, told reporters of the shots fired around 10 a.m. (noon EDT).

Funnier still, this guy used to be sympathetic to the protesters’ cause.

Communist officials in Kolkata, India, are banning rickshaws.

“Westerners try to associate beggars and these rickshaws with Kolkata’s tradition, but this is not our tradition,” Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told reporters, adding that the ban would come into effect within five months.

Chinese traders introduced the hand-pulled rickshaw to Kolkata in the early 20th century and sinewy, barefoot men pulling the vehicles are still a common sight in the city.

They are in especially great demand during the monsoon when flooded streets make it hard for commuters to use taxis or cars.

China banned hand-pulled rickshaws after the communists took power in 1949 and Kolkata is one of the only places left in the world where such rickshaws are used as everyday transport.

The only place I have ever seen rickshaws is Japan: in Takayama, Nara, and Kyoto. The rickshaws were tourist attractions, and there were both bicycle rickshaws and hand-pulled rickshaws. I have a nice picture of a young man pulling two girls in a rickshaw (and totally flirting with them) in Kyoto from our honeymoon, but I haven’t uploaded those pictures yet.

In any case, none of those were anyone’s primary mode of transportation. They were similar to the horse-drawn carriages you’ll find in American cities, like Louisville, Kentucky.

I think rickshaws are a unique part of Asian heritage. As I haven’t seen them the way they are apparently used in Kolkata, I can’t say whether or not the hand-pulled, public transportation variety is truly inhumane. I am glad, however, that rickshaws won’t completely disappear from that city, but that officials plan to replace them with motorized and bicycle versions.

In recent weeks JAL has come under more and more fire over safety issues. Here are a few of the problems that have appeared in the news:

On June 15, two front tires fell off a JAL plane as it landed in Haneda.

On July 23, a JAL Airbus A300 took off from Haneda with a known malfunction in one of its two air pressure regulators, only to make an emergency landing at Tokushima when the failing device caused oxygen masks to deploy in the cabin.

On July 24, fire and smoke were indicated by instruments on a JAL Boeing 747 on its way to Narita. The plane landed in Manila, but no traces of fire or smoke were found.

On August 11, a fiberglass panel fell from a JAL Boeing 777 that had just landed in Narita from Singapore.

On August 12, in the most damning incident of all, a JALways plane suffered engine trouble shortly after taking off from Fukuoka on its way to Honolulu. After one of its three engines burst into flames, the plane turned around and returned to Fukuoka. It has since been discovered that approximately 600 fragments of the plane were strewn across residential Fukuoka.

Japan Airlines Domestic Co convened an emergency news conference at Fukuoka Airport and apologized for the incident.

“We are very sorry as we have to report this incident to you just after we have vowed to ensure safe flights” on the 20th anniversary of the 1985 accident, said Haruyuki Egawa, head of the airline’s Fukuoka Airport branch.

20 years ago, a JAL Boeing 747 crashed into Mount Osutakayama in Gunma Prefecture and killed 520 people. One op/ed piece published today revisits the crash and stresses, “Let there never be another major air disaster“. This past Thursday, a group of bereaved family members called into question the official explanation for the cause of the crash, and demanded the release of survivor accounts. According to this group, the official explanation, that a poorly repaired bulkhead caused a change in air pressure that ripped off the airplane’s tail, is not supported by witness accounts.

Off-duty JAL assistant purser Yumi Ochiai, who was 26 at the time and onboard as a passenger, was interviewed. The records show she was asked which direction the air flowed when the cabin air pressure decreased.

“There was no air flow,” she answered on Aug. 27, 1985.

However, the transport ministry’s panel had concluded that pressurized air from the cabin had flowed into the rear part of the fuselage through an opening in the pressure bulkhead partitioning caused by metal fatigue.

Whatever the truth is in this case, it is apparent that distrust for Japan Airlines is growing. Miya Tanaka writes in even more detail for Japan Today about JAL’s continued problems this year alone, and further evidence of passenger distrust.

None of the problems and serious incidents has resulted in severe injuries to passengers, but JAL said they have started to affect its business, with cabin attendants also feeling a sense of distrust spreading among passengers.

Setsuko Onishi, 52, a JAL cabin attendant for 31 years, said there was a case in which a passenger warned a crew member that her voice was too quiet during safety checking procedures in the cabin.

Tanaka cites deregulation and overseas outsourcing as major issues in JAL safety.

To JAL’s credit, there have not been any fatal accidents since the disaster in 1985. And the company is definitely being careful: it cancelled flights in July to repair small cracks found in components of two Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft which serve regional routes. However, given the numerous negative opinion pieces appearing lately, this record alone does not seem to be fostering passenger trust.

It’s likely that the recent problems, especially the smaller incidents, are inflated in the minds of the public due to the anniversary of the accident. This is not entirely fair to JAL; however, it cannot be denied that there are issues that need to be addressed within the company.

[Cross-posted to Japundit]

…that yell was everything I’d hoped it’d be.

While conducting his investigation in the city, Conrad raises his arm, points, and says:

“Was anything over there.”

No, that’s not a typo. It wasn’t a question!

XD

…a Maoh’s gotta have a horse named Ow.

Yeeeeeeeeeeah.

(They’ve never called him a “Maoh” until this comment, so how is the audience supposed to understand that joke, anyway?)

So, I’m watching the dub.

Yes, I am a masochist.

In episode 7, the dub has Gunter say, “I saw that incredible inscription on the back of Morgif’s sword guard.” So it makes me wonder if they didn’t just mess up when typing the sub…

The “we gave that thing to the kid” line was pretty much the same, though. ;P

Of all the voice actors, I’d say Josak and Wolfram’s are closest to the source. Yuuri’s voice actor is actually fairly decent with his intonation…but he’s not Yuuri. The things he says and the way he says them actually make him seem like a different person to me. That kinda sucks.

Conrad is still horribly, horribly monotone. It’s funny, really. I’m looking forward to the Stoffel arc, especially episode 10 where he has to scream, “YUURI!” It’ll be hilarious to see the crazed look on his face paired with a decidedly monotone half-yell…

(By the way, it seems to me that a major problem with English dubs is that the actors don’t speak out, especially when they’re trying to sound “cool”. It’s like they kind of hush themselves up, murmuring rather than speaking normally. I think if they’d just let themselves talk it would work out a little better.

(Maybe.)

Shaker Village, one of Ben and Manda’s favorite places (they go there so often that they pretty much know all the animals), is being spotlighted in the next issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Amy Conway, executive editor of Martha Stewart Living, said Stewart visited Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill “a while back,” saying the domestic diva “was entranced by the architecture” and “found the place to be so beautiful.”

It wasn’t long before the idea for an article was born.

“We found it to be a great opportunity to tell our readers about Shaker style” and to “explain a very important part of our culture,” Conway said.

“It’s in such a beautiful setting … our only challenge was to find out how to edit it down” to fit the space.

Shaker Village is nice. I’ve taken some pictures there myself.

A very nice car in our apartment parking lot has the following written on its windows.

If it was a hate crime, you’d think they would have done something worse to the car. Then again, they might have been afraid of getting arrested.

Either way, whether it’s a practical joke or not, it’s uncool, and kind of icky to have happen near where I live.