liberal japonicus

by liberal japonicus From the Guardian During the UK's 38-year membership of the European Community, and latterly Union, the true believers had, too often in their eyes, to make special exceptions for the "awkward Anglo-Saxons". The "Brits" wielded handbags and threatened vetoes, insisting all the time on remaining at the top table of discussions despite … Read more

by liberal japonicus Just recently, one of the keys to my morning net surfing has been to go to the Guardian's Leveson inquiry page and catch the live blog for the previous day's session. Because of the time difference, I'm getting it after it has finished, so I can read thru the whole thing. Just … Read more

by liberal japonicus On the 23rd here in Japan, we had Thanksgiving. However, the one here is called Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の日) The modern holiday was established after World War II in 1948 as a day to mark some of the changes of the postwar constitution of Japan, including fundamental human rights and the expansion … Read more

by liberal japonicus Some interesting things about the Oakland OWS protests and the events at UC-Davis that many of you may have already read. This article, about Jean Quan, mayor of Oakland, via Erik Loomis at LGM, is quite interesting, and gives some other links (here, here and here) about the renaming of Frank Ogawa … Read more

by liberal japonicus It occurs to me that if we had robots handle our threads about abortion, it would give us quite a bit of time.  

by liberal japonicus My wife and I were marveling at this A Burmese python slithering through the Everglades proved that her eyes weren't bigger than her stomach, swallowing intact a 76-pound deer. At 15.65 feet, the python isn't the largest on record. But the size of her prey both impresses and concerns state and federal … Read more

by liberal japonicus Though I may be assuming that my foibles are shared by everyone my age, I think that American kids of a certain age, had a fascination with dinosaurs. So if that's the case, this, from the Guardian, discusses recent evidence for dinosaur migrations. What is the evidence? Fricke's team attempted to reconstruct … Read more

by liberal japonicus This is an open thread for what's happening in Libya and anything related to that. If anyone has good links, especially to explanations of factions, people who may emerge, stuff like that, I'll try and move them up here as they appear. I'm also wondering if the various gory pictures that I've … Read more

by liberal japonicus Here's a little note to put something to get the blog thru the week, Johns Hopkins reports that automatic faucets may be germier than old fashioned ones. It's a bit old (from March), but I thought we needed to put something up. I'd also remind you that, despite appearances, all the posts … Read more

By liberal japonicus When I was looking for this 1998 article about tax law and people renouncing US citizenship that I put in a comment, some other things came up. While the 1998 article focuses on the complex decisions that go into choosing to give up US citizenship, this March 2011 WSJ blog piece on the increasing numbers … Read more

by liberal japonicus I'm neither a fan nor an anti-fan of the Boston Red Sox, but their collapse reminded me of something Hilzoy wrote in 2004. She starts off with an excerpt from Poor Man. I'll just clip the whole thing here "… 6-0 in the top of the third. Wow. They really must want … Read more

Two related articles from the NYTimes. This tells the story of two charter schools, one for underprivileged students, the other one of those high powered ones, and their attempt to teach students 'character' with the title "What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?", while this tells the adventures of Clifford Levy (or more importantly, … Read more

by liberal japonicus The Guardian observes, in a piece about Cheryl Cole concert in Afghanistan, has this: The X Factor is becoming almost like America's NFL, whose relationship with the military has become so weirdly symbiotic that flypasts before each game come as standard, the league's flagship show has been broadcast from a military base, … Read more

by liberal japonicus Hartmut can correct that German, I hope, but this Guardian story about genetically manipulated cats that glow in the dark had me singing 'Shine little glowpuss, glimmer, glimmer', which led me to the wikipedia entry for that song, which is originally from the German operetta Lysistrata by Paul Lincke. 

by liberal japonicus Blindsight is the rare neurological phenomenon where someone experiences enough brain trauma to prevent them from seeing normally. Thus if you ask them to tell you what object you are holding in front of them, they can't answer. But ask them to guess what color the object is, they will say something … Read more

by liberal japonicus Count-me-in posted, via Steve Benen, this link to a former Republican congressional staffer who quit because he was fed up and bob_is_boring, (who I am sure isn't, but that is his handle) wondered why it hadn't been front paged. So here it is. It is an interesting piece, and a few have … Read more

by liberal japonicus I'm in Kyoto for a conference. It was a bit iffy, as Typhoon #12 (Japanese number them rather than name them) was scheduled to park itself over Osaka. I took the shinkansen up, which had no problem, but many of the regular train lines south of the area were stopped because of … Read more

by liberal japonicus If you are like me, you may have assumed that the conching in this title is another bizarre and short-lived stunt like planking or owling. It's not: Attention hipsters and other people seeking hipness: there’s a new fad catching on in Western Australia's Shark Bay, and you won’t want to be the last to … Read more

by liberal japonicus This news from the Electronic Frontier Foundation really has me wondering.  The “first sale” principle is what allows the purchaser of a copy of a book or CD or other copyrighted work to later resell that copy to someone else without infringing the copyright owner’s distribution right. It’s an important free-market limitation … Read more

by liberal japonicus Asynchronous because it's Sunday here. Whoops.  Working at a university means, at least for me, that when there are no classes, I really have no schedule. Lots of things to do, mind you, but not having the comforting rigidity of classes means that I don't pay much attention to what day it … Read more

by liberal japonicus This piece about Ralph Branca prompts that question. When I had phoned Branca and told him that his mother, Kati, was Jewish and that thus, according to traditional Jewish law, he and his 16 siblings were, too, the loud man was quiet. But when I had told him of the murder of his … Read more

It is the most logical explanation. Discuss

My timing is always off, but I now realize that the whole "London Calling" theme for the articles on the riots is based on the fact that the song was chosen for the 2012 Olympics jingle. I can't decide if this was an example of British irony biting the country on the ass a stunning example … Read more

by liberal japonicus I tend to think that one of the best things about talking with lots of people via a blog is the way others can, if you are open to it, remind you of things that you liked as well as put you on to things that when you find them, you wonder … Read more

by liberal japonicus In the post on Michael Irvin and bravery, Slart let slip that he studied a little Mandarin and several other folks popped up. Chinese is a wall I have taken a run at three times and am starting on a 4th and I am starting to feel like Pvt. Pyle, Vincent D'Onofrio … Read more