CBS doesn't know the difference between Japan and China

Only adding to the evidence / myth that Americans don't know much about the world that exists beyond their borders comes this piece from CBS News' website. The flag has since been corrected, but the woeful Photoshopping of the image (shadow pointing wrong way, and it isn't the Moon; it's one of Saturn's) remain.

Another reason to drink coffee #2

Not only can coffee perform a host of useful tasks in keeping your body healthy, it looks like it can also prevent cirrhosis of the liver too! Maybe I could subtitle this post another reason to drink beer as well!


Matt arrived safe and sound, as did his cargo of Penfold's which has been duly drunk already! Delish! Tomorrow we're off to Hiroshima to check out the sights, sounds, tastes and so on. Gonna rain though, but nevermind.

Stay tuned for more!

Long time.....

Sorry about the break. It's been quite a few weeks.

Been dealing with two deaths in families; one here and one back home. Also been sick since the end of April. Work's also been really busy when I haven't been taking time off. Blogging's been one of the last things on my mind.

At least the Socceroos gave me a good reason to break my blogging drought.

I caught the game in Akashi last night at Murphy's Irish Bar. Mostly a Japanese crowd including a fellow teacher who was decked out in the blue strip. Was touch and go until the end which was just fantastic - a dream start to the World Cup for us. Me and another Aussie fellow named Nathan jumping up and down in front of the big screen after the game must've been quite a sight!

I'll give a big credit to the fans in the bar though - they were gracious in defeat. One poor fellow next to me whose favourite phrase whenever something exciting happened (about once every two minutes!) was, "My stomach hurts," bought me a beer after the game, so I bought him one back.

Bring on the Brazilians and the Croates!

Stuart (from England) and I practice our celebrating before arriving at Murphy's

I don't know what's more amazing; we scored three goals in ten minutes,
or this hot babe actually wants to have her picture taken with me!

Nathan gets a drubbing from his friend after the game.

Long time.....

Sorry about the break. It's been quite a few weeks.

Been dealing with two deaths in families; one here and one back home. Also been sick since the end of April. Work's also been really busy when I haven't been taking time off. Blogging's been one of the last things on my mind.

At least the Socceroos gave me a good reason to break my blogging drought.

I caught the game in Akashi last night at Murphy's Irish Bar. Mostly a Japanese crowd including a fellow teacher who was decked out in the blue strip. Was touch and go until the end which was just fantastic - a dream start to the World Cup for us. Me and another Aussie fellow named Nathan jumping up and down in front of the big screen after the game must've been quite a sight!

I'll give a big credit to the fans in the bar though - they were gracious in defeat. One poor fellow next to me whose favourite phrase whenever something exciting happened (about once every two minutes!) was, "My stomach hurts," bought me a beer after the game, so I bought him one back.

Bring on the Brazilians and the Croates!

Visitors!

... Actually just one. My best mate, Matt, will be tramping over the hills and dales of Japan as part of his World Domination Tour 2006. I'll be one of his able Assistants of Mayhem. Heh heh heh!

The madness shall ensue here.

Water, water ... anywhere?

Today's scary reading is brought to you by the U.N.

The Global International Waters Assessment report was released recently. Ironically it was released in Dubai, which has got to be one of the driest places on Earth.

Anyway, it makes for some reading that will keep you up at night. GNN has an excellent article summarizing the issues brought up by the report.

And if you like pictures, the International Water Management Institute has one that will keep you thinking for a while.

Sweet dreams.

Feeling like...

...crap today.

At last, I have a day off but my throat feels like it's lined with razor blades. Almost ran out of voice last night at work, but managed to scrape (pun) through without it cutting (pun) out!

At least my awful sense of humour hasn't left me.

The weather's crap outside too. Nature feels the same way I do today. Good day to stay inside...

So, I'm drinking as much Vitamin C as I can, I'm on the Net and cruising the morning papers.

I often tell students to read the papers and use the Net - especially the higher level ones. Goodness knows, they may also improve their world view. Some of the ones who I know DO read the internet in English are some of the most balanced, wise and interesting Japanese I've come across in my time in Japan.... actually, people who read more than the TV page and Sports Section the world over are generally more interesting, in my opinion.

So, I thought it was time to give you a rundown of the daily ritual. Sometimes it's twice-daily since I usually do another round when I get home after work.

1. Slashdot. It's called 'News for Nerds' but it's usually the first with the lastest in development in new technology. I usually skip the bits on Open Source software and the high tech stuff and go for the consumerables and the cultural articles.

2. The Drudge Report. One of the better news blogs, and certainly one of the longest-running and (in)famous. Matt Drudge may be right-wing, but he's fast. If something's going down, this is site is usually the first to report it.

3. The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age / The Australian. I do the big three of Australian newspapers. I also visit The Advertiser but not on a daily basis. The SMH and Age are basically the same paper but with a little difference according the to city they're designed for. The Australian is there for balance, although the editor leans more to the right for my liking. These ones I tend to crawl through, reading anything that catched my eye. It's the only way to keep up with what's happening at home. The 'Tiser is great because it contains news that no one else will find interesting unless you live in or come from Adelaide!

4. Fark. This one gets my vote as the *best* news blog in the universe. I get my weird, funny and interesting news from here. I also get a lot of my desktop wallpapers from the Photoshop forums and Farktography sections. An awesome page.

5. Crisscross. The old Japan Today webpage that was bought out recently. This one's good for combining news about Japan from a variety of news sources although it can be a bit too brief for my liking. I need some interesting meat on my newsey bones.

6. Mainichi Daily News. 'mainichi' means 'daily' in Japanese so it's the Daily Daily News. That kind of makes sense in a Japanese kind of way! This one is good for balancing crisscross as well as having an excellent 'weird Japan news' section.

7. The Register. Another tech page. Balancing Slashdot, this one is based in the UK. Home of the BOFH, this site was shown to me by one of my former housemates who works in networking. The BOFH has got to be one of the funniest online humour sites, even if you're not up with all the tech-lingo, you've got to enjoy the way they undermine corporate life.

8. Guerrilla News Network. One of my doses of left-leaning news. This site collates a lot of articles from journalists and bloggers. Often interesting and thought-provoking. I really like their weekly 'Good News Roundup'. I wish other newspapaers would do the same thing.

9. ZNet. Also on the left side of the political spectrum, this one contains writings from many well-respected writers, journalists and others on a variety of topics. I have especially appreciated the coverage of what's been happening in the US and Iraq since 2001 as well as the translations of articles about Japan that have appeared in the press here but I haven't been able to read.

10. Rajah. I have to include my favourite WWE page here. YES, it is mindlessly violent entertainment. YES, it is horribly right-wing, jingoistic, patriotic and sexist drivel. But hey, everyone needs a vice - and this one's MINE! Get over it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen usually gets me through breakfast and getting ready for work, or sees me through post-work dinner and ready for bed!

Time to get more Vitamin C!

Signs of the Apocalypse #12

Jason Gillespie scores 201 not out.

In doing so, he went past Mark Waugh's [153], Michael Clarke's [151], Steve Waugh's [200] and David Boon's [200] highest Test scores. He also became the first Aussie nightwatchman to score a century for 30 years.

I'm almost as astonished as Dizzy is!!

more dust

Yup, it's still dusty outside. Not as bad as it still is in China. The news today said that China is creating rain to try to wash the streets as well as clean the air. The dust cloud reached Tokyo on Tuesday.

Looking outside this morning, there is definitely still a yellow-ish tinge to the air. Thankfully the wind hasn't been as strong as it was last Saturday.

Today is day 11 of 13 at work. REALLY looking forward to Friday!

Dust, dust and more dust

On Saturday night I finished work and stepping out into the evening air proved to be quite an interesting experience. The day had started bright, clear and windy... really windy. During the afternoon I noticed the smell of dust coming through the office. I thought the place just needed a vacuum. By the evening the atmosphere was quite foggy, but more like a dirty, greyish yellowish fog. Looking up, the sky was clear and moonlit, but the view of the castle from the station was almost completely obscured by the fog.

Yep, it was a dust-storm, blown across from China by the strong winds of the morning. It was certainly the worst I had ever seen it in the five years I've been in Japan. The smell got in everywhere and while it was annoying, it wasn't unpleasant. I feel sorry for all the severe allergy sufferers though; this time of year id the worst for pollen in Japan and so the dust must make it truly a horrible expereince.

Here are a couple of links to pictures from 2001 and an ABC discussion from 2004 which shed some light on the situation. One frightening aspect is the level of heavy metals and pollutants that are blown across as well as the topsoil.

The last couple of days have been rainy though, so that should settle things down, for now anyway.

There is movement at the station - literally. Himeji Station has been being rebuilt/renovated/extended as long as I've been here and FINALLY it seems like something is happening.

Over this weekend they're lifting out the bridges to the west of the station and finishing the new overhead rail lines that will make the crossings near the station history and improve the traffic conditions.

I stopped by for a look-see after dinner at Everest last night (see the Himeji Restaurants page for more) and took some pics, then again while shopping today. They have the biggest mobile crane in Japan to do the job. Apparently it's 250 metres tall at its full height. As they say in the West, "That's a mighty big crane you got there," and as they say in Australia, "No shit, Sherlock!"

Still a long way to go until the station is complete, but this is a big step towards the end of the line. (pun intended)

Random playlist

I love Winamp - such a neat little program. I also really like my 300GB external hardrive sitting on the floor. At the moment I have 70 hours of tunes loaded up. 1017 songs to be exact!

Here's a sample of what I'm listening to - courtesy of the 'random' function....

From Samarkand To Bukhara - Bonus Track (untitled) - traditional music from Uzbekistan
Gary Numan - Cars - classic 70s techno-rock
Propellerheads - Take California - beats for the masses
Sonic Youth - No Queen Blues - from a live show
Ry Cooder - Brothers - from the 'Paris, Texas' soundtrack: one of my favourite movies
Big Country - In A Big Country - rockin' Scots tear up the 80s
Aqueduct - Frantic (Roman Polanski Version) - found while random searching on the Net
Go Home Productions - Daft Britney - mashup of that girl with Daft Punk - surprisingly good
Jaya Semara - Balinese Gamelan Music
Hall & Oates - Kiss On My List - the best cheese is 80s cheese
The Sundays - Joy - live performance from the French radio program in 1992. I miss this band
Kenji Kawai - Ghost Hack - from the 'Ghost In The Shell' soundtrack. Awesome movie
Kenji Kawai - Access - from the same soundtrack - so much for 'random'!
Revenge - Kiss The Chrome - Peter Hook from New Order's solo project - great bass, silly songs
Dizzy Gillespie - Theme from the cool world - When I read Chandler, this is the music I dream of...
Mazzy Star - Flowers In December - beautiful music - wide open sounds
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Gemini Spacecraft - defies decription; a classic!
Sonic Youth - Junkie's Promise - from the classic 'Washing Machine' album - gritty grind
Zbigniew Preisner - Beginning of the Story - from the 'Aberdeen' soundtrack - delightful Celtic inspired piano piece
Sonic Animation - Didley Squat - late 90s Aussie dance anthem
Sonic Youth - Bull In The Heather - get the feeling I like Sonic Youth?!
Parker and Lily - The Low Lows - spacy mid-West hotel at dusk music
Grace Jones - Love Is The Drug - Miss Jones' take on the Roxy Music classic - frantic
Go Home Productions - The Whale and the Walrus - lavish mashup of the Beatles hit
Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better - HOWAAARD! This song rocks.
Tori Amos - Angie - Tori does her acoustic piano thing to the Rolling Stones ditty - like this one
Go Home Productions - Safesurfing for No One - another Beatles mashup - 'random' failing again
Barry Manilow - I Write The Songs - heh heh heh! "I've been alive forever..." Prophetic!
Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night - never really understood why myself....
Severed Heads - Someone Who Doesn't Need Their Organs Anymore - Aussie electronica; from 'The Illustrated Family Doctor' movie
Cliff Richard - Devil Woman - "Honestly, you'd think 'Devil Woman' had never been written!"
Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy - Aaaah the smiles keep coming
Jane's Addiction - Stop - Air guitar!
James Taylor - Fire and Rain - another classic tune
Machine Go Boom - This Song's A Secret - any song with the refrain "I know you'll be dancing on my coffin lid" deserves a listen or three.
10CC - I'm Not In Love - going through the 70s catalogue a bit here!
Go Home Productions - Message Of Love - this time Grandmaster Flash and XTC get mixed up - this works really well!
Parker and Lily - Swim To Me - spooky space-race sounds in this one
Wilco - War On War - a great American band
The Smiths - Paint A Vulgar Picture - Morrissey croons, Marr strums; twas such a good music partnership...
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust - ooh yeah!
St. Etienne - Mr. Donut - Lounge infused pop. I actually went to Mr. Donuts today, so there you go!
New Order - State Of The Nation - not one of their best singles, but some good moments.
Little General - Beauty Fades (Dumb Is Forever) - great title! Little known Melbourne group
Midnight Oil - Short Memory - this song is over 20 years old and still relevant.
Yo La Tengo - Wasn't Born To Follow - Hoboken's finest light it up
Roxy Music - Avalon - a classic! (I wonder how many times I need to use this word today)
Slowdive - Sweet Child O'Mine - one of the mildest covers of a wild song you'll ever hear.
Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon - Plastic Jesus - heh heh heh! This has to be heard to be believed!
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Bladerunner - starts like the Dead Kennedys, ends like a train wreck
They Might Be Giants - Someone Keeps Moving My Chair - no idea what this song is about
Boys Don't Cry - I Wanna Be A Cowboy - 80s one-hit-wonder..... thankfully!
Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love (live) - from the Stop Making Sense CD - funky
Yo La Tengo - Last Days Of Disco - Cool sounds from New Jersey
Chenard Walcker - Monome Valentine - French audio artist mashes up funk, jazz and others

...and I'm spent! Time for dinner.

More will be added to the drive.... more musical randomness shall ensue!