Month: December 2012

What happened? A look back

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by liberal japonicus regular jrudkis suggested that a discussion about what happened in 2012 might be interesting, so here it is. I googled some lists of the happenings of 2012 and I really only noted three big things. the election Hurricane Sandy Newtown school shooting I thought about including Benghazi and the killing of Trayvon … Read more

Snow at night

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by Doctor Science It’s snowing lightly and sticking, for now, so we’re seeing something a little like a White Christmas. Hopefully it won’t be around tomorrow, when the Christians are driving down from Long Island. Normally me, Our Guy, and the Sprogs celebrate on the 25th in the Tradition of Our People: Chinese food and … Read more

Les Miz: musicals, artifice and realism

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by liberal japonicus

I mentioned that I was taking my oldest daughter to see Les Miz (the movie of the musical). It premiered here in Japan on Friday the 21st, and we were going to see it on Saturday, but it was cold and raining, so we actually went this morning. In looking up stuff, I see that, for some strange reason, the movie opened 4 days earlier here in Japan than in the US Christmas Day opening tomorrow, though I don't think I need to include a spoiler warning…

Some videos and other stuff below the fold

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Cleaning out the spam filter

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by Doctor Science For some unknown reason a whole bunch of comments on my last two posts, including ones from me, have ended up in the spam filter. I’m cleaning it out now, so you should be seeing your comments — but the conversation will be out of order, I’m afraid. LJ, there are several … Read more

Guns and Contamination

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by Doctor Science As I predicted, gun sales are up in the wake of the Newtown massacre, particularly the type of Bushmaster assault rifle the killer used. This is par for the US gun massacre course. Gun buyers all say that such post-massacre surges in popularity are because they’re afraid that weapons associated with tragedy … Read more

‘Grief is its own size’

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by liberal japonicus

A little bit back, Gary Farber linked to this Playboy interview of Stephen Colbert on his facebook page. (apologies for the various stuff around the interview, but I can't find a way to just link to the frame) From the interview, Colbert talks about the experience of his father and two brothers dying in a plane crash when he was a teenager.

The interesting thing about grief, I think, is that it is its own size. It is not the size of you. It is its own size. And grief comes to you. You know what I mean? I’ve always liked that phrase He was visited by grief, because that’s really what it is. Grief is its own thing. It’s not like it’s in me and I’m going to deal with it. It’s a thing, and you have to be okay with its presence. If you try to ignore it, it will be like a wolf at your door.

more rambling thoughts below the fold.

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Watering the Tree of Liberty

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Another mass shooting, this time in an elementary school in Connecticut. I am ill with horror. Have some predictions: The shooter will turn out to be male. He will turn out to be white. He will turn out to be angry at a woman, or women in general If he’s angry at an ex (wife … Read more

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey placeholder

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Our Hobbit tickets are for 4:00ish tomorrow afternoon, but other people will no doubt be reporting back sooner. Start your party and/or rant in the comments here, I’ll chime in after I’ve seen it. Ski the Misty Mountains! Home to the Best Underground Resorts! Travel posters by Steve Thomas.

12-12-12 Concert Live Blog

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The Concert It’s been a long time since I’ve seen The Boss live, but I can’t miss this one. Land of Hope and Dreams I love the way you can sing “People get ready”, to this, how good Bruce is at weaving gospel and rock. Wrecking Ball The swamps of Jersey — the ones he’s … Read more

your cardboard bikes and wind-driven de-mining device Friday open thread

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by liberal japonicus

Two interesting things. The first is this cardboard bike

The Alfa weighs 20lbs, yet supports riders up to 24 times its weight. It’s mostly cardboard and 100% recycled materials, yet uses a belt-driven pedal system that makes it maintenance free. And, maybe best of all, it’s project designed to be manufactured at about $9 to $12 per unit (and just $5 for a kids version), making it not only one of the most sustainable bikes you could imagine, but amongst the cheapest, depending on the markup.

The second is this wind driven de-mining device for use in Afghanistan with the video below the fold.

I understand that the de-mining device might not be the total solution (I wouldn't be walking behind one of them into a minefield), but, the sight of these 'mine kamon' propelled by the wind across the desert at the end of the video makes me smile. Anything that gets you to do a Duchenne smile?

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Us and the rest of the world

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by liberal japonicus I may be wrong about this, but I think that this article is something that is pretty inexplicable to most Americans.  On 26 September, Alex Haigh became the first person to be jailed under section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. His crime was one of which countless … Read more

A long goodbye?

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by liberal japonicus That's a way that Alzheimer's has been described, so I hope I'm not twisting it out of shape and making anyone feel bad when I say that this news story had me think of that phrase.  Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend before driving to the team's practice facility … Read more