Category: general

Just read a CNN review of sorts for James Frey’s My Friend Leonard. The book sounds really powerful.

“My Friend Leonard” is told in the same style as “A Million Little Pieces” — an idiosyncratic, repetitive but always evocative spinning of words that approaches stream of consciousness. Frey says the process can have its difficulties.

“It’s exceedingly delicate. I spend a lot of time making sure it flows,” he says.

The books are also fearless. Frey isn’t afraid to show himself in the worst possible light, with the toughest language he can muster. He writes about death, he writes about tears, he writes about wetting his pants when a crazed client points a gun at his head.

I kind of wonder if Leonard is still around, and if so, what he thinks of having his gangster lifestyle outed in a book.

My Friend Leonard is the sequel to A Million Little Pieces, which tells the story of Frey’s battle with drug addiction and also sounds like a good read.

Voldemort! Goblet of Fire!

Dang!

I don’t think I would have thought of that at all. But it somehow seems…right.

I don’t understand…but who cares! Ralph Fiennes! Voldemort!

English is growing in popularity in North Korea, with more North Koreans than ever before taking the TOEFL (they have to leave the country to do so, of course).

One North Korean defector in Seoul said English is also taught in the military, along with Japanese. Soldiers are required to learn about 100 sentences such as, “Raise your hands.” and “Don’t move or I will shoot.”

Some idiot robbed a bank and then called a radio station to brag about it.

The caller described the exact amount of cash taken, noted an employee was in on it and bragged that the group had since been “buyin’ Louis Vuitton this, Blass that, everything, man.”

Authorities quickly traced the call back to Washington’s cell phone and arrested him.

Meanwhile, an Ugandan lawmaker wants to give college scholarships to girls who make it through high school without losing their virginity. As the girls will be required to submit to a gynecological exam in order to prove they’ve been chaste, I recommend that none of them take up gymnastics or martial arts, either.

“We want to encourage people to be morally upright and not to go into early marriages. We also want girls to resist defilement. We do not want these girls to get exposed to AIDS,” Bbaale County Member of Parliament Sulayiman Madaada said Wednesday.

He said he was counting on donors to help pay for the project.

I’m finally getting caught up on my reading–I’d saved quite a few long-ish posts to read later, and I’m getting tired of seeing them sitting in my Bloglines, taunting me. (After this, all I’ll have left to read are 2 About.com Japanese posts…plus 394 Language Log posts. Ugh.)

Anyway, I was reading this post by Jake Zigler, and I came across some absolutely hilarious hyperbole. The setup: a French couple, Pierre and Ruth, has come to stay briefly in the guesthouse where Jake is staying.

Pierre squashed a cockroach and asked Chikako (the manager) if,
“Een Japan… eet ees bad to keel?”

Yes, Pierre, cockroaches are revalled as Gods in Japan. Whole shrines are dedicated to them. If you kill a cockroach you must carry a 200 pound golden Buddha over your shoulders for 6 days, one day for every leg. During wedding ceremony the bride and groom, instead of exchanging rings and a kiss, throw cockroaches on each other, and then lick them, ever so gently. What you just did may have very well caused the Jenga tower that is the French/Japanese foreign relations to faulter if not topple completely onto its side. Spilling its aged wooden blocks made from the sweat and blood of not only YOUR ancestors but the Japanese ancestors. Way to go.

Chikako just said no and gave him a weird look.

Read on for the further, rather disconcerting yet ultimately LOL antics of Ruth and Pierre.

Check out Readers shocked by new Potter book: Surprises cause emotion in many and Review: Charm still strong in sixth ‘Potter’: Mysterious ‘Prince’ prepares stage for final episode

Neither of them spoil the big thing, exactly (the first one goes out of its way to be vague by apparently omitting part of a child’s analogy), but the second one pretty much tells you how things stand at the end of the book, so, you know.

Reuters: Police sent nude shopper home with warning

German police let a nearly naked shopper go home after she told them she was getting groceries in the nude because she lost a spin the bottle contest, a police spokesman in Cologne said on Wednesday.

I like this part:

He said police decided to let her go because few people and presumably no small children saw her at that time of day.

Well, as long as the little children weren’t traumatized by the sight of what people look like under their clothes! ;P

* Actually, I have never played Spin the Bottle, but whatever.

Check out pieman’s latest post on noodlepie, “Bittersweet“. It’s a good story–the title is apt.

dottocomu has a story about a great lacquerware carrying case for the iPod Mini. Makes me almost wish I owned one, so I too could shell out the ￥9800 and listen in style. (Think the MuVo would fit in there?)

There have been quite a few articles in the Japanese news lately discussing the dangers of asbestos. As this was something that was dealt with in the United States when I was a child, I wasn’t sure why there was suddenly such a big focus on it. This article from MSN-Mainichi is the first to offer a satisfactory explanation. Apparently the Japanese government stands accused of negligence; it was allegedly aware of the health dangers of asbestos, but did not act to protect its citizens.

The Japanese government knew from at least 1976 that asbestos posed a health risk not only to workers at factories using it, but to their families and residents in the area, it has been learned.

However, in spite of its awareness of the dangers, the government failed to introduce effective countermeasures. As asbestos-related deaths continue to be reported, the government is likely to face criticism over its inaction.

[…]

But after issuing the notices, the government did not introduce any illness prevention measures for residents living near factories that handled asbestos or for the factory workers and their families.

This month, it was learned that 31 residents living near Kubota Corp.’s now defunct Kanzaki factory in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and the wife of one worker at the factory contracted mesothelioma and died. The factory had handled asbestos for many years.

It was also learned that a woman living near Nara Prefecture-based Tatsuta Kogyo Co. died from mesothelioma.

Apparently, 650 JR rail cars still use asbestos as insulation.

The Japanese Mint will be releasing two sets of Doraemon coins. The limited edition set has a run of 60,000 and will cost ￥13,000. The mint will accept unlimited orders for the second set, in a plastic case, which will cost ￥2300.

Meanwhile, Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank, based in Gifu, will offer a slot machine game to its ATM customers beginning August 8. The game, which activates automatically after a cash withdrawal, will allow customers to win back bank fees or cash.

Asahi reports that a new trend, mothers taking their children abroad for months or more at a time in order to study English, has emerged in Japan, coinciding with the opening of English language classes in elementary schools.

Rie Hirakawa, a representative with Ryugakutoshokan, a study-abroad coordinating service based in Tokyo, said: “Parents who come to us (seeking advice on mother and child programs) have one common characteristic. They all experienced the economic bubble when they were students.”

Most of the mothers enjoyed overseas travel as college students, and maybe they even did a short study abroad stint, she said.

Another important factor in the equation is that Japanese fathers are becoming more low-maintenance and self-sustaining.

“This phenomenon we are seeing now, the increase of mother and child ryugaku, was unthinkable a decade ago,” Hirakawa said.

It sounds like a unique and effective way to give children a head start in English. I feel sorry for the husbands who have to stay home, though!

Augusta Chronicle: Library looks to innovate, improve service

Mr. Smith said a patron could place six to eight books on the machine at a time, insert a library card and have the books scanned and checked out. He said books would have a digital card inside for scanning. The price of the system, which he said would be the only one he knows of in the Augusta area, would exceed $200,000.

In the long run, though, he said, “it’s for staff-cost savings. We won’t have to have as many people at the circulation desk, and it’s a self-service concept.”

Mr. Smith said officials also are considering offering patrons a smart card.

“You can actually go up to the circulation desk and say, ‘Could you put $35 on my smart card?’ That will allow you to put the card in a copier to pay for copies, and it also will allow you to pay fines,” he said.

Mr. Smith said the card also might be used for patrons to pay for a cup of coffee at a coffee shop that will be inside the library building.

Mr. Smith said a final innovation being looked at with the new library is a means by which patrons could be notified when a book is due back. He said a patron could check out a book and be able to choose to have a reminder sent via e-mail.

I’m hoping if they do go the smart card route, they’ll put in some smart card machines, with which you can add money to your card yourself. That would go right along with the self-service concept.

Depending on where Sean and I end up moving next June, I may become a member of this library! (I’m still holding out hope for North Augusta. We’ll see.)

In honor of the anniversary of man’s first trip to Luna, Google presents the following. Zoom in all the way for a cheap laugh. (Via BoingBoing.)

In related news, Happy Birthday, AJ!

Snopes has an article up about the thing I was trying to forget. I received the email forward Snopes mentions. Really, I’m just linking it as an archive for myself. I wouldn’t suggest that anyone else read it, as it is sickening.

Somehow, seeing it on Snopes, seeing that it was in fact real, and seeing that the situation is completely and unalterably over has provided some closure for me. A cold comfort after what happened to that child, though.

Teaching group [in Britain] to consider banning word “fail”

The word “fail” should be banned from use in classrooms and replaced with the phrase “deferred success” to avoid demoralising pupils, a group of teachers has proposed.

Members of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) argue that telling pupils they have failed can put them off learning for life.

In a conversation with me, Hai adds,

(16:20:32): death should be referred to as “indefinitely deferred living”
(16:20:53): and that way, people can avoid dealing directly with their problems
(16:21:19): i propose the New School Method
(16:21:36): where all students are graded on a system of A-F
(16:21:40): but can only achieve Bs
(16:21:51): that way, they never get their hopes up by getting As
(16:22:06): and they never feel like they’re not keeping up by getting Cs, Ds, or Fs
(16:22:40): that way, once they reach the work force, they’ll feel empowered and happy
(16:22:51): and society will fail 5 years after they graduate

Sounds like a plan!