Why organizations fail.

See, this is what Robert Anton Wilson called the SNAFU Principle, and it explains why all organizations, and all bureaucracies, do not work.

As applicable to the Walter Reed fiasco as anything else.

WIRED Blogs: Danger Room:

"...subordinate units submit reports on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to their headquarters. At each level of command, these reports get filtered, collated, combined, and resynthesized. Like the children's game of telephone, the message frequently changes in transmission. The result can be a terribly distorted picture of reality at the higher echelons of command.

In Iraq, where I advised the Iraqi police, I saw this reverse filtration system (whereby excrement is added to the final product, instead of being removed) in action. Reports on police readiness were aggregated, generalized, and stripped of their facts as they moved up the chain of command. In one report, I included an anecdote about an Iraqi police colonel picking his nose to show his displeasure with a new U.S. reporting system for police readiness, a detail I thought illustrated the depth of Iraqi contempt for U.S. bureaucracy. This detail squeaked through, but I earned a sharp reprimand for including it, and I learned to keep such facts out of future reports. By the time our reports reached the national level, they contained little of the detail so essential for explaining our progress in standing up the Iraqi police force. This problem exists in many military organizations. Major problems get renamed "obstacles," or "challenges," or some other noun that connotes a temporary delay in forward progress, reflecting the pervasive "can do" optimism of the military officer corps. Staff officers at each level of command refine and insert caveats into reports to ensure they don't rock the boat too much. By the time information reaches a senior commander or civilian official, it no longer reflects reality."

Utopia USA interview with Robert Anton Wilson - Utopia Online Library:

"There is a little bit more to it than that. It what I call the 'snafu principal.' Communication only occurs between equals--real communication, that is--because when you are dealing with people above you in a hierarchy, you learn not to tell them anything they don’t want to hear. If you tell them anything they don’t want to hear, the response is, 'One more word Bumstead and I’ll fire you!' Or in the military, 'One more word and you’re court-martialed.' It’s throughout the whole system."

Captain America, FU$K YEAH!

Via BeaucoupKevin(dot)com. BlogMachineGo.

Take - one bad 1990 Captain America movie, mix with the theme song from Team America: World Police, add a dash of irony from Marvel's latest crossover Civil War where Captain America gives up like a little girl, and voila!

[audio not safe for work]

See, but no students are listed in the "go to hell" column, so it's okay.

FYI, you're talking about 12 year old kids here...

Teacher advised late students to 'go to hell' : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri):

"A 48-year-old teacher at a middle school in Kawasaki posted the names of students who were late for school on a chart in a hallway in the school that advised the worst offenders to 'Go straight to hell,' it was learned Wednesday.

According to Nagasawa Middle School, the teacher, who is head of the second grade, posted the names of tardy students on the chart, which had columns with headings indicating how often they were late, from September to December. The headings were "Yellow card," "Red card," "Call the parents," "Have an interview with the principal," and "Go straight to hell." The students' names were written on tags and affixed to the chart.

The school said no student had been listed in the "Go straight to hell" column."

Only in Japan.

Well, maybe not "only." But still...

Cross-dresser held over molesting schoolgirl : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri):

"A 32-year-old employee of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting a 15-year-old middle school girl, police said.

Takashi Orita of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, allegedly touched the girl's lower back on a municipal road in the city at about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday when the girl was bicycling home.

Orita reportedly was dressed in a girl's school uniform. He admitted committing the act, according to the police. After being notified by the girl's mother that her daughter had been chased by a man wearing a skirt, the police questioned Orita after they saw a uniform blazer and plaid skirt of a high school in the city in his car near the scene of the crime."

How history gets rewritten.

Or, why other Asian nations hate Japan sometimes.

Pathetic.

Japan's Abe: No proof of WWII sex slaves - Yahoo! News:

"Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday there was no evidence Japan coerced Asian women into working as sex slaves during World War II, backtracking from a landmark 1993 statement in which the government acknowledged that it set up and ran brothels for its troops.

...The Kono Statement was issued in 1993 by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono after incriminating defense documents were discovered showing the military had worked with independent contractors during the war to procure women for the brothels.

The statement has been attacked by right-wing nationalists in Japan, who argue the sex slaves worked willingly for the contractors and were not coerced into servitude by the military.

Despite the official acknowledgment, Japan has rejected most compensation claims by former sex slaves, saying such claims were settled by postwar treaties. Instead, a private fund created in 1995 by the Japanese government but funded by private donations has provided a way for Japan to compensate former sex slaves without offering official government compensation. Many comfort women have rejected the fund. "

The monthly reading list for Feb 07

Lots of cotton candy for the mind this month...

Kitchen Table Talk (新書): Anything and Everything Essays on America and Japan by Kay Hetherly. Student of Sandy's let her borrow it... some interesting, some banal observations on life in Japan, and being a foreigner here. Quick, interesting read.

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. Hilarious comedy writing about West Coast Vampires. The same author who wrote Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, which is phenomenally funny.

The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman. Great Houdini bio. Interested in him since I was a kid. I even learned how to do some magic when I was a lot younger, and made my dad sit through a "magic show" once. I did have a handcuff and chain escape though. Thanks Johnson Smith Catalog!

Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by Various Authors. Gift from a friend, and classic tales of the Bat throughout the ages. The O'Neil/Adams 70's stories are always a good read.

Dc Super Heroes Super Healthy Cookbook by Mark Saltzman, Judy Garlan, Michele Grodner (Author). A 1990 reprint of an early 80's book is filled with that era's licensed Superfriends-esque art. Awesome trip down nostalgia lane with some cool recipes to boot.

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher. Saw the series based off the novels on SciFi, so I thought I'd pick up the books, at least the first one. Think Philip Marlowe/Raymond Chandler. With magic. Very cool.

Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior: A Companion to the Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman. Love Millman's work. Probably the first or second most influential writer on my outlook. RA Wilson's is probably more insightful to me now, but I've been reading Millman since high school, and his practicality mixed with spirituality always is enlightening and helpful.

America - where you can go to jail because jurors are fucking idiots.

Boing Boing: Pop-up porn case update:

"We've been covering the unfair conviction of substitute teacher Julie Amero, who faces imprisonment for the crime of being present in a classroom equipped with an adware-infected computer. Here's an interesting development in the ongoing story: ...[juror] Fred F.'s own words and lack of punctuation speak the volumes that I dare not say.

"she was pronounced guilty because she made no effort to hide or stop the porno, not just because she loaded the porno onto the machine. Going to the history pages it was obvious that the paged were clicked on they were not the result of pop-ups."

That statement is in direct conflict with the testimony on record. Amero did everything short of turning off the computer, which she was instructed by a superior not to do. The children from her class testified -- right in front of this juror -- that she did make every effort to hide what was being displayed. He also seems to have picked up the same in-depth knowledge of Internet Explorer possessed by the Norwich police computer expert, which could be defined as; little to none."

Boy, is he dumb.

Human rights are no match for the Godzilla toppling hive mind of Japan. Like fatty butter.

Education minister slammed for comparing human rights to fatty butter - MSN-Mainichi Daily News:

"An advocacy group slammed Japan's education minister on Tuesday for comparing human rights to fatty butter and saying too much would give Japan 'human rights metabolic syndrome.'

'No matter how nutritious it is, if one ate only butter every single day, one would get metabolic syndrome,' Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki reportedly said at a speech in south Japan on Sunday. 'Human rights are important, but if we respect them too much, Japanese society will end up having human rights metabolic syndrome.'"

Pride 33 - "Second Coming" HL

Pride 33 - Mixed martial arts event of the year so far... probably one of the better events of the past few years.

Great highlight film from danfaxe on YouTube.

Warning! Comic book geekery ahead!

So really, only Johnny will get this.

So.

Marvel's Civil War mega-uber-crossover finishes.

To sum up...

Captain America cries and quits. After being tackled by the 9-11 heroes. And seeing collateral damage.

[Despite having fought through WWII and wrecking the Marvel Universe on an almost daily basis.]

Iron Man/Tony Stark - "I'm kinda a fascist tool. I win! Yay!"

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic writes the worst love letters ever.

New Marvel Universe status quo for heroes - work for the government or Go To Jail in Otherdimensional Space Gitmo.

Wow, does that conclusion ever suck. Hard.

You know, DC's mega-uber-crossover Infinite Crisis was bringing the barely-holding-it-together-crazy at it's conclusion too, but nothing this awful.

It's not enough that my country seems prepared to hand over every available freedom for some false semblance of security... but now the heroes in my comic books, too?

Jesus, is that ever disappointing.

On the other hand, a great comic, with some serious surprises and well done character moments was the wrap up of the Ralph Dibny - "I'm a detective." - Elongated Man storyline in 52 last week. Comic book-ing awesomeness, that was.

Batman VS the Department of Homeland Security.

This was quite the good comic book read.

Boing Boing: Batman Year 100: Batman versus the DHS:

"Batman Year 100 is set in 2039, 100 years after the 1939 debut of The Bat-Man. America has become a Soviet-like military society, where corrupt Department of Homeland Security officials reign supreme in a land of suspended habeas corpus and universal surveillance.

Oh, kinda like now... - Rob

Batman is now a mere urban legend in Gotham City, but he is still alive and well, living in the cracks of totalitarian America. When he witnesses a Fed shock-trooper's murder, he becomes the target of a violent, determined investigation from the DHS brass, who are determined to destroy 'the last mask' and perfect their vision of an America where they are the only authority."

Lesbian Koala Caged Heat Sex Orgies.

Just. Awesome.

Independent Online Edition > Australasia:

"Female koalas indulge in lesbian 'sex sessions', rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.

The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual."

I figured out why my social skills suck.

I'm still trying to figure out what makes me tick, let alone other people. I've no time for them yet. [How's that for your "false dualism of the day"?]

The Madison Update (and the Brittney Update) » Brazen Careerist:

"Knowing what’s going on in popular culture is important. It’s the world we live in. To be oblivious to popular culture is to snub one’s nose at the majority of society. And how can you claim to have good social skills if you are not interested in the majority of the people in this world? Good social skills means being interested in what makes other people tick."

Somebody's been watching too many Japanese horror movies.

The Ring, anyone?

[How cute is my wife? I mean, seriously?]

That's an authentic old school Japanese well too.

Mameda, Hita

To close the day we stopped by Hita, and the Mameda "old town" historical area to check out a few museums and shops.





The area is pretty well known for it's Japanese Hina dolls. They had some upwards of 350 years old. Japan is quite the artsy-craftsy nation. Little girl dolls. Same country that brought you samurai and ninja. Go figure.






[This one's really just for Dad Snider.]





Sandy being all historical like. Check out that iron! Good thing we've got 100 yen dry cleaning now.

"Walk with the animals, talk with the animals..."

After the bridge, we stopped by a restaurant - not to buy food, of course, as Bachan made and brought bento for everybody - but to use their tables to eat. The place was just in front of a petting/feeding zoo with goats and rabbits. So we fed some animals.

Here's Bachan feeding the goats....





And Sandy with the rabbits...

Traversing Otsuribashi

Don't look down.



There were a few amazing waterfalls you could see in the valley. This was the one I liked the best...





You could feel the bridge swaying and bouncing as you walked across it. Kinda cool.



Safely having gone over and then come back.





A few more...





The wooden pillars are inscribed with [roughly] "Japan's tallest pedestrian bridge" {above} and the name of the bridge {right}.

This bridge is taller than Godzilla.

Went to Kokonoe Yume Otsuribashi in Oita-ken this weekend, Japan's longest and tallest suspension bridge for pedestrian-type folk, with Sandy, Bachan and Kawabata-san.



Bachan on the bridge.



Quite a drop.




The best part was that midway through the bridge was a graphic depicting the height of the bridge with other known monuments and architecture... like the pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, and...



...What's this?!





Yes.

This bridge is taller than Godzilla.

What? You thought he was just a movie? Silly gaijin. He is real. He is 100M tall.

Very subtle, yes?

The Heart of the Matter: Repercussions from Iraq:

"Did you know the name of the current US-assisted Baghdad security sweep is Operation Imposing Law? Don't our Pentagon people vet the acronyms formed by these operations? That, or some irony-loving staffer managed to sneak this one by his irony-blind superiors...

...(BTW, I smiled at this line in the Time article, regarding the Shiite ceremony called Ashura: "The faithful march in the streets, beating their chests and crying in sorrow. The extremely devout flagellate themselves with swords and whips." In other contexts, flagellating oneself with swords and whips would be called "insanity." When the behavior is apparently religiously motivated, it is known as "devotion." Journalists in training, take note.)"

PostSecret always provides me with at least one "gut punch" worthy postcard.

As always, many more secrets at the link.

PostSecret:

"(PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.)"