"There can only be one."

Golden Girl, that is.  Rue McClanahan, 76, Actress and Golden Girl, Dies - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

We're all idiots - Slate shows how we rewrite history.

Rewriting History Is Easier Than You Thought | Disinformation:

"Slate just conducted an interesting experiment in Orwellian-style rewriting of history. Readers were asked to share their their recollections of recent historical events, many of which never actually happened. That didn’t matter though; a large percentage recalled, for instance, how angry they were when Obama infamously shook hands with Ahmadinejad (which he didn’t). The lesson being, if you ask someone to remember something, they will..."

Afghanistan in the 50's & 60's looked cool.

Via Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan... | Foreign Policy

Michelangelo FT - heretical, subversive - W.

Can't Be Unseen:

"'Michelangelo put in there as a snub to the Catholic church. They declared it illegal to operate on cadavers for scientific research, but doctors and Michelangelo himself practiced it in secret... he included the fruits of his research in this painting to elaborate on their own metaphor.'"

Sulu FTW.

What, too soon?

"Economic Hitmen" - Global Politics & Economics 101.

What do you know? There's an actual name for it - "Occipital Neuralgia."

Been getting headaches for a few years now that I've forever blamed on old training injuries and poor postural habits/sitting at the computer too long. Sometimes they're just brutal, waking me up at night and demanding hot showers to the base of my skull/neck to dull the throbby stabbing. As much time as I spend on the 'net it only occurred to me today to type in my symptoms into the computer and see what the mighty Google had to say about it - ["headache" "base of skull" ftw, btw] - describes exactly my symptoms and my probable causes. Good to know it's not something more serious, sucks to know that there's really nothing to be done besides what I already do - [rest, heat, massage, etc...]

Occipital Neuralgia Information Page:

"Occipital neuralgia is a distinct type of headache characterized by piercing, throbbing... chronic pain in the upper neck, back of the head, and behind the ears, usually on one side of the head. Typically, the pain of occipital neuralgia begins in the neck and then spreads upwards... The pain is caused by irritation or injury to the nerves, which can be the result of trauma to the back of the head, pinching of the nerves by overly tight neck muscles..."

Started getting these after a particularly bad neck *crack* from landing on my head while shooting for a double leg takedown in the dojo... and I tend to hold all my stress in my neck anyways. Double whammy.

"...frequent lengthy periods of keeping the head in a downward and forward position are also associated with occipital neuralgia."

Computers, books, reading, of course...

"Treatment is generally symptomatic and includes massage and rest. In some cases, antidepressants may be used when the pain is particularly severe. Other treatments may include local nerve blocks and injections of steroids directly into the affected area."

More at Occipital neuralgia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Downside of spending a week amongst the elementary school munchkins - they have infected me with their tiny, tiny diseases.

Blah. One day to the weekend. Hope I avoid hacking up a lung before then.

Training.

I am amazing in nothing but my inconsistency...

5/26 - Atlas Lesson 1, DB Squats/Sissy Squats, SLDL/Lunges, Calf Raises, Situps/Leglifts
5/27 - 20m intervals/shadowboxing, mma
5/28 - Pushups/Flyes, Press/Laterals, Row/BW Row, OVH X/Tri Pushups, Alt DB Curls/Curls
5/30 - 20m intervals/shadowboxing, mma
6/3 - AM - SGL Arm DB Swings/Snatches
PM - Push Press, Laterals, SGL DB Row, BW Rows, Hypers, Fist Pushups, Strap Tricep X/Curls, 15m shadowboxing/cooldown

It had me at "Trust Fall" - Mediated Mortal Kombat.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Warren Ellis' Twitter is special place.

Warren Ellis Twitter: A Sponge For Mental Pus:

* @kumimonsteri may possibly have just signed an email as "Prime Minister Batman"

* Tomorrow I will begin my political campaign by changing my twitter ID to PrimeMinisterBatman. Good night, bat-chums.

* Good morning, bat-voters.

* Prime Minister Batman is tired and would like to go to bed now.

* I will give a prize* to any UK voter who shows photo proof of a write-in vote for Prime Minister Batman on Thursday.

* ( * said "prize" may turn out to be, I dunno, old bits of my skin or something)

* A hard day of campaigning for Prime Minister Batman, kissing babies and passing on my hereditary gingivitis

* Prime Minister Batman is accepting that he will not be Prime Minister tomorrow. His is the batarang of sadness.

* Prime Minister Batman’s electoral batphone is not ringing. Does no-one want to cut a bat-deal to form a government?

Man, I miss Hawaii sometimes - new "Hawaii Five-O" trailer.

I'll end up watching this just to see places I recognize. Hawaii is awesome.

Best thing I've watched this week - "Leave Me."

Leave Me from Daros Films on Vimeo.

Jurisprudence.

Overheard in the Office | Technically, She's Also My Aunt.:

"Judge: You've been charged with violation of section [...] of the city code: having an open bottle of alcohol in public. How old are you?
Dirty, shirtless white man: Eighteen.
Judge: Does anyone else live in your household with you?
Dirty, shirtless white man: Yeah, my girlfriend and our two kids.
Judge: How old is your girlfriend?
Dirty, shirtless white man: Thirty-eight.
Judge: Thirty-eight? How long have you two been living together?
Dirty, shirtless white man: About seven years.
Judge: You're 18 and you and this woman have been living together for seven years??
Dirty, shirtless white man: Yeah.
Judge: Can you post $100 bail?
Dirty, shirtless white man: I have no money, judge.
Judge: Uh, well, then just come back on November 26, okay?
(man leaves)
Judge, to law clerk: He's got enough problems.

City Court
Long Beach, New York

Overheard by: Big Larry"

New 'Scott Pilgrim Vs The World' Trailer = WIN.

"You ever heard of the term 'anger sex'?" - Bryan Ryan. "The only kind I know, Bryan." - Sue Sylvester

BR - "I should tell you I'm married."

SS - "Not a problem for me."

BR -  "And I'm still cutting half your budget."

SS -  "Eh.  Win some, lose some."

BR - "Should I lock the door?"

SS - "No.  Got a secret room upstairs.  Like Letterman."

"You can't feed a child sheet music... Well, I suppose you could, but they'd be dead in a month." - Bryan Ryan

"...unless you wrote down that your dream was to work for a mid-market health insurance provider or find an entry-level job in an elderly care facility, you're going to be very disappointed." - Bryan Ryan

"Now I run a successful used Hummer dealership. Don't make that face. Global warming's a theory." - Bryan Ryan

"Then, something amazing happened. I was introduced to Jesus. He was my Honduran social worker." - Bryan Ryan

Final Sports Day - the video.

Chock full o'awesomeness.

Final Tsuyazaki Jr High Sports Day. from Rob Pugh on Vimeo.


Bonus - I give you Japan's highly regimented PT warmup routine!

The Standard Japanese Physical Warmup from Rob Pugh on Vimeo.

Musicals - despite my wife's claims to the contrary, I think, if memory serves, my appreciation of musicals goes back to shows my older brother took me to at Jacksonville High School.

I do kinda dig on musicals, and that predates, even my Joss Whedon experiences.  And despite having gone to/taken the Mrs to Mamma Mia!, I'm pretty sure it predates my marriage as well.

I'm almost positive I was taken to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Sweeney Todd by my big brother.  But this would have had to have been, like, before I was 10, maybe?

And it would have been at the crosstown/rival HS, so not sure why we'd have gone to that, unless my brother was dating somebody over there.

I do, though, remember Grease on heavy rotation on HBO in my youth, and Olivia Newton-John in tight black leather certainly did play a role in some youthful fantasies...

Watched/2 weeks - okay, Glee is pretty damn entertaining.

So, since the last the last thing I need is more TV mucking up my life I'd avoided Glee, just on general principles, despite hearing solid reviews round and about the internets.  But given this week is an episode directed by Joss Whedon and [guest] starring Neil Patrick Harris [whose Dr. Horrible and Harold & Kumar work has made me a fan for life] I checked it out.  [Joss Whedon is my master, now.]

Oh, it was good.  It was soooo good.  To the point where I needed to download the rest of this season's episodes.  And while the JW/NPH ep is probably the best of the bunch... geez, is this a just a good, good TV show.  Witty, smartly written, fun.  And Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester is straight genius - "I've always thought the desire to procreate showed a deep, personal weakness."

The Daily Show, Korgoth of Barbaria, Superman/Batman - Public Enemies, UFC 113...

Smallville - season finale... sometimes this show is so good [particularly the Geoff Jones scripted eps] but usually this so is soooooo painful a watching experience.  Despite interesting premises, it has wooden acting and characters who are internally inconsistent and ridiculous to the extreme.  I can't even mention the # of times my internal dialog shouts "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"  But still, the geek allure is strong, and I watch.  Season Finale was equal parts of awesome and "that makes no fucking sense whatsoever."  So there's that.

Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, The Boondocks, Strikeforce Heavy Artillery, House, Castle, Big Bang Theory Season 1, SNL, Justified - [great show, but so sick to death of cop shows where the protagonist violates no end of civil liberties/rights because they're in the "right,"], Modern Family, The Middle, NCIS, Luther, 30 Rock, Community, The Office, Parks and Recreation, The Mentalist, TUF, The Good Guys, Stossel, Chuck Season 1, Newsradio S1&2, WSM 2010...

Final Sports Day.

Last Jr High Sports Day of my 5 year JET Programme experience...


Band warms it up...


Some MCs for the day.





So... much... running...  [all day.]

Kids are awesome.











Previous graduates revisit the old haunts.

Elementary school visitors. [Undefeatable cuteness.]


Sports Day'll wear you out.

Best obstacle course'in.




3 legged race.

Jumping Rope.


I don't even know what you call this... but it's awesome.


Rodeo!



Lunchtime bento time.

Sports & Club March-on.

In the clubs relay...


...it seems to me the Judo team always draws the short straw.


They always finish dead last...

...but unfailingly with the awesome judo flip.

PTA event. I'm so good I can do it with my eyes closed.



Jr High School girls become ridiculously vicious w/the tire & rope pull.

Brilliant.

Best Japanese event, ever - kibasen!




It's not Japan if there isn't taiko...

...or synchronized performance.



End of the day...


Final thanks...



And, of course, at the end of a day in the hot sun, a beer almost as big as your head.

I am, I think, going to desperately miss this all about a year from now.

Best job ever.