Wingsuits.

Wing. Suits.

Too cool.

grinding.be » Blog Archive » Wingsuits

Believe nothing... consider everything.

Rule # 2.

They grow up so quickly...

4PM I Got That Ages Ago

Mom: Oooh, guess what I got while I was in Atlanta yesterday?
Daughter, faking excitement: Herpes?!
Mom: No, I got-- Wait, what?!

Mall
Georgia

Overheard by: P-Nuckle

via Overheard in the Office, Jan 10, 2008

Maybe if he flew so fast he reversed the Earth's rotation?

I don't care... I laughed.

9AM But Now I'll Just Make a Bundle Suing You for Harassment

Teen employee: I'm so worried about getting into college. Although, I really don't know what I want to do with my life.
Middle-aged boss: You'd make a great stripper.
Teen employee: You know, I've considered it.

Bookstore
New York, New York

Overheard by: I guess I won't apply for a job after all

via Overheard in the Office, Jan 8, 2008

Break on through to the other side.*

I've now officially entered the "Boy, do I feel crappy but not nearly as crappy as I felt yesterday" portion of our program. Thank god.

After 12 and 10 hours in bed the last two nights, one would hope I felt a little better. Though, truth be told, 12 hours of coughing and sweating doesn't really constitute rest, imho. At least we had a little generic brand Nyquil left to smooth over the bumps. Nyquil, that 13th step in any 12 step program. Good stuff.

And thanks to my illness, I did have my first official desk nap, concordant with the finest of Japanese teaching traditions.

At least that means I should be approaching some semblance of normalcy to enjoy the 3 day weekend... which seems like [though it probably isn't] the first actual weekend in a long time where I haven't had something to do.

Months seemed to fly by as Sandy's 'rents visited, I had English speech practices and contests, the runup of Xmas activities pre-China, China, family/oshogatsu week...

Be nice to really not have anything to do, just veg out and watch TV, read and surf the 'net. Would have sucked pretty hard if I was still sick... knock wood, fingers crossed, etc, etc...

*Apologies to Jim Morrison.

Sick.

Managed to catch, I think, whatever it was Sandy had.

Classes in the AM, which I got through... nice to see the kids again, actually. But this afternoon my legs and back are cramping, I've got chills but can't seem to get warm, and when I cough I can taste the oysters I ate two days ago.

Which is, frankly, kind of disgusting.

15 minutes, then I'm going home, making soup, taking a hot shower and then getting into bed.

Hope Sandy feels better, cause when we're both sick it's the Perfect Storm of crappiness.

Gambaremasu.

You don't screw over the people you claim to care about.

Rule # 1.

Typhoon Cindi, indeed.

Packing up before the return trip home.

That's a lot of stuff.

[No, not all of it made it into the suitcases.]

Steamed Oysters in Japan.

On Sunday we headed over to Bachan's and Sandy, Cindi and I went with her and Kiko and Daijiro to Itoshima.

There we all gathered around a cozy BBQ grill and steamed a bunch of oysters/kaki.

Haven't had oysters right out of the shell in years.

Good, but really ate too much.


Then we just did some sightseeing and walking about.

Nice day, nice weather, nice folks.

Kiko goofing around, running from the "tidal wave."

Afterwards we went over to the Sakurai Shrine and did the traditional New's Year Week stuff.


Cool architecture.




Funniest thing, the lamp panel in Daijiro's car popped out and wouldn't pop back in.

So we raided Sandy's purse, which had a plethora of band-aids and stickers, with which Kiko tried to seal it back up.

Didn't work though, so she was reduced to keeping it propped up with an umbrella the whole ride home.

In Takeshi's words - "That's a Nissan for you." [In Japanese, of course.]

Random pics I took that I thought were cool.

They start the fishermen off young in Japan. This kid was pretty damn adorable.

"You’ve Been Misinformed."

WE THE ROBOTS » Archive » You’ve Been Misinformed

Yeah, you're pretty much screwed.

From Sherdog.com's Photos of the Year.

And that final pic is my man Kazushi Sakuraba, flying high, en route to his NYE victory over Masakatsu Funaki.

"Police Maj. Richard Shade, a former SWAT commander for the department, said it's not unusual for children to be inside homes raided by police..."

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Lima, Ohio Drug Raid Gone Bad:

"Police in Lima, Ohio shot and killed Tarika Wilson, a mother of six, and seriously wounded her one-year-old son during a drug raid yesterday. Police say they were investigating Wilson's boyfriend for drug distribution...

More disturbing, the police are saying they knew there were children in the home, yet went ahead a highly volatile, forced-entry drug raid, anyway. In fact...

Police Maj. Richard Shade, a former SWAT commander for the department, said it's not unusual for children to be inside homes raided by police officers.

And therein lies yet another problem with these raids. It's bad enough that they're dangerous for cops, suspects, and people unfortunate enough to be the victim of wrong-door raids. But even when they get the correct house, there's little regard for the safety of innocent people who might be inside. Why couldn't they have nabbed this guy as he was coming or going? Why not wait for him to leave, then arrest him in his car? Why put six children and their mother in unnecessary peril?"

Cogent commentary:

"Sometimes cops in stressful, confusing situations make mistakes with guns. Sometimes soldiers in stressful, confusing situations do the same. That's why you avoid that situations whenever there's an alternative."

YouTube - Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe - Reality TV Editing

From the BBC show ScreenWipe - showing you just how editing makes or breaks all those un-"reality" shows. Just in case you might've thought otherwise.

Pleasant Surprises.

Came back to work this Monday AM, fully prepared to dive back into classes... despite that feeling of needing a vacation from your vacation. A breakneck week in China, followed by a week of feeling like I was doing nothing but playing catch up with a variety of nonsense...

But!

Much to my surprise and delight, students don't come back and classes don't start until tomorrow. Today is basically a Teacher Work Day. So instead of jumping in headfirst to the shallow end, I get to leisurely stroll back into the daily rhythms of class and school life.

[Yeah, the pool/walk metaphor doesn't quite work there, but I'm low on caffeine. You do what you can.]

So I've cleaned out/organized my desk, distributed my gifts/omiyage from winter vacation, cut up all the pics I printed out for the kids over vacation and I'm once again surfing the school internet.

It's 10AM.

My job rocks.

YouTube - All the Batman Movies in 5 Seconds.

Really, it's all you need to know.

"You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself."

From "Men's Rules."

The rest here.

[But this one is my favorite.]

'No Excuses'

Watch till the end.

JFK Speech on Secret Societies and Freedom of the Press.

Prescient.

BTW, how strange to have an eloquent and erudite speech by a President.

I've forgotten what that's like.

Miller Center of Public Affairs - John F. Kennedy Speeches:

"The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

...Perhaps there is no answer to the dilemma faced by a free and open society in a cold and secret war. In times of peace, any discussion of this subject, and any action that results, are both painful and without precedent. But this is a time of peace and peril which knows no precedent in history.

It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that also gives rise to your second obligation--an obligation which I share. And that is our obligation to inform and alert the American people--to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well--the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.

No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I .am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.

I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers--I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for, as a wise man once said: "An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed-and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian law-maker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment--the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution--not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion."

Street Fighter: The Later Years.

You know, I have never even played this game. But! I know why this is funny. [And it is funny.]

I can only thank Marv, JM and Chuck for their obsessive playing of it every Saturday night in high school at Putter's Palace. With me shooting games of pool and watching them "Shoryuken!" over their shoulders.

[High school wasn't really an exciting time for me, no.]

The first two episodes -





More episodes at this link - Street Fighter: The Later Years.