Caught in a serious YouTube loop - Rhymefest has mad, mad skills.

He's a baaaaad man. In other news, I need to start paying more attention again to hiphop. [Cause a buncha this is like a year old.] A lot of the blingbling nonsense is fallin' off and things are getting back to tight rhymes and beats. Common, Mos, Jay and Kanye are bringing back some old school feel of late...

feat. Kanye West - Brand New


Wanted [from the movie Half Nelson.]


Eminem, Kanye & Common on Rhymefest


More


Rhymefest and Citizen Cope (Live) - Bullet and a Target


Rhymefest vs. Mexicano [battle - Rhymefest just lays waste to this dude. As brutal a battle beatdown as I've seen. Just rips him.]


eminem vs rhymefest [battle]


Rhymefest Vs Swann [battle]

The 70s were a magical, magical time.

Chuck Norris in: "Slaughter In San Francisco"

"...people can have the fun of sex without the side effect of parenthood." - Now that's funny.

Aging populations and lower and lower birthrates.

Considered one of the "huge" societal problems here in Japan as well. Of course, here in Japan they don't have the same recourse the US does... [well, they do, but... you know. Xenophobia, and all that.] in that immigration picks up the slack.

Many more details at the link.

Reason Magazine - Why are People Having Fewer Kids?:

"...total fertility rates (TFRs) are plummeting around the world. Population stability is achieved when each woman bears an average of 2.1 kids over the course of her lifetime—one for her, one for her male partner, and a little overage to make up to childhood deaths. Today, there are sixty countries in which TFRs are below 2.1.

...Japan's from 2.0 to 1.3... The U.S. TFR dropped from 2.55 in 1970 to around 2.1 today, largely because of the influx of higher fertility immigrants. However, the fertility of second generation Americans drops to the level of longer established Americans.

...instead ask why people are choosing to have fewer children? After all, voluntary childlessness seems to violate the Darwinian premise that our genes dispose us, like all other creatures, to try to reproduce.

...Modern societies offer people many other satisfactions and choices outside of the family. In particular women find that their time becomes more highly valued in occupations outside the home. There are no iron laws of demography, but one that comes pretty close is that the more educated women are, the fewer children they tend to have... And finally, the most profound event of the 20th century may have been the sexual revolution's drive toward gender equality, enabled by modern contraception. Unlike other creatures, people can have the fun of sex without the side effect of parenthood.

...the problem—according to happiness researchers, people don't really enjoy rearing children.

"Economists have modeled the impact of many variables on people's overall happiness and have consistently found that children have only a small impact. A small negative impact," reports Harvard psychologist and happiness researcher Daniel Gilbert.

...researchers have found that people derive more satisfaction from eating, exercising, shopping, napping, or watching television than taking care of their kids.

...Of course, that's not what most parents say when asked. For instance, in a 2007 Pew Research Center survey people insisted that their relationships with their little darlings are of the greatest importance to their personal happiness and fulfillment. However, the same survey also found "by a margin of nearly three-to-one, Americans say that the main purpose of marriage is the 'mutual happiness and fulfillment' of adults rather than the 'bearing and raising of children.'"

Gilbert suggests that people claim their kids are their chief source of happiness largely because it's what they are expected to say. In addition, Gilbert observes that the more people pay for an item, the more highly they tend to value it and children are expensive, even if you don't throw in piano lessons, soccer camps, orthodonture, and college tuitions..."

Now THAT is how you study English!

In Japan, hobbies are a serious business.

Making English Work / Study a 'hobby' for Shin-Idemitsu boss : The Language Connection : Features : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE:

"Company Chairman Yutaka Idemitsu starts his day by studying English for an hour after rising at 5 a.m.--a practice that he has maintained for nearly two decades.

Using textbooks for NHK's English-learning radio programs, he copies the dialogues and their translations into notebooks and adds notes on featured words and idiomatic expressions. He then records his notes onto cassette tapes, and listens to his own "programs" before retiring at night or while taking a bath.

When his favorite programs weren't aired during his morning study time, Idemitsu used to listen to the CDs that accompanied the books. However, he gradually became dissatisfied with what the CDs offered.

...Now Idemitsu refers to the study of English as one of his hobbies. "It's just fun for me to study English as I always find something new," he said. "That's become part of my life. It doesn't even feel like I'm studying, really."

At the link you can read, basically, about his entire life history studying English, from NHK radio programs after WWII to the present day. It's pretty fascinating.

Weekend activities and amazing kid boxing.

Well, this weekend was taken up with a head cold, spring cleaning, and getting caught in several hours-long YouTube loops.

Graduation pictures, hopefully, up early in the week.

Until then, I give you this amazingly talented child boxer. Mad skills. Just ludicrously good.

Objective/Subjective evidence of affection for this year's graduating class...

My first Jr High Graduation, about 6 months after I first got here - 18 pictures.

The next year - 33 pictures.

This year's class, who graduated today - 100+ pictures. And 3 videos.

So, that's the "objective."

The subjective?

Well, towards the end of the ceremony, when the waterworks started to flow from some of the kids as they "gambaremasu-ed" through their farewell song [and it may sound mean, but a crying Jr High School girl, fighting through tears while smiling and singing = massively adorable] - but towards the end there, I do believe I was getting a little choked up myself. I could feel the tear ducts starting to sting a little bit.

No real tears, of course, because... you know... I'm not a big girl. [Or Japanese.]

But still.

I am really, really going to miss this group of kids. Just an awesome bunch of students.

Pics up this weekend.

Currently causing a [semi-official] panic at my elementary schools and Board of Education.

Maybe "panic" is too strong a word, but everybody is "concerned," and it is a topic of discussion.

Teachers prepare for new curriculum : The Language Connection : Features : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri):

"Under current national curriculum regulations, primary schools may offer English lessons at their discretion as part of a general studies class, but the upcoming revision of the curriculum, whose draft was unveiled last week, makes English compulsory for fifth- and sixth-year students--about one class hour per week.

...At primary schools, homeroom teachers teach all the subjects to the students for whom they are responsible. However, primary school teachers do not get training in English teaching when acquiring their teaching licenses. For this reason, the question of who should offer such lessons has become a major issue.

...The upcoming revision will require primary schools to offer fifth- and sixth-year students at least one class hour of lessons per week..."

And they are, of course, doing this while cutting funding for the JET Programme. So... yeah, okay... maybe not thought out the best, there.

Well, that explains a lot.

Why we're powerless to resist grazing on endless web data - Boing Boing:

"Lee Gomes of the Wall Street Journal writes that recent research shows that a brain rewards itself with a squirt of natural opiates when it comes across new information that requires interpretation. That's why, he concludes, people stay on the Web for long periods of time."

What I've Read - Queen & Country: The Definitive Edition, Vol. 1.

Great series, great collected edition. Despite having read the individual trades before, re-reading them in this edition was worthwhile and a lot of fun. Rucka is easily one of my favorite authors. He writes fascinatingly damaged characters exceedingly well.

Queen & Country: The Definitive Edition, Vol. 1: Greg Rucka,Steve Rolston,Brian Hurtt,Leandro Fernandez: Books:

"Queen & Country, the Eisner Award-winning and critically lauded espionage series from acclaimed novelist and comic book author Greg Rucka, is back in a new series of definitive editions collecting the entire classic series in just four affordable soft covers. In this first collection, readers are introduced to the thrilling and often-times devastating world of international espionage as SIS field agent Tara Chase is sent all over the world in service to her Queen & Country all the while Director of Operations Paul Crocker walks a narrow tightrope between his loyalty to his people and the political masters that must be served!"

"I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind."

village voice > news > David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal' by David Mamet:

"As a child of the '60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart.

...this worldview with which I now found myself disenchanted: that everything is always wrong.

But in my life, a brief review revealed, everything was not always wrong, and neither was nor is always wrong in the community in which I live, or in my country...

And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart? Which was it? I began to question what I actually thought and found that I do not think that people are basically good at heart; indeed, that view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine, and that this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama.

I'd observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth, and their pals are giving the world a good run for its money, but that nonetheless, people in general seem to get from day to day...

...I found not only that I didn't trust the current government (that, to me, was no surprise), but that an impartial review revealed that the faults of this president—whom I, a good liberal, considered a monster—were little different from those of a president whom I revered.

Bush got us into Iraq, JFK into Vietnam. Bush stole the election in Florida; Kennedy stole his in Chicago. Bush outed a CIA agent; Kennedy left hundreds of them to die in the surf at the Bay of Pigs. Bush lied about his military service; Kennedy accepted a Pulitzer Prize for a book written by Ted Sorenson. Bush was in bed with the Saudis, Kennedy with the Mafia. Oh.

And I began to question my hatred for "the Corporations"—the hatred of which, I found, was but the flip side of my hunger for those goods and services they provide and without which we could not live.

...What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it was a rather good thing, but tallying up the ledger in those things which affect me and in those things I observe, I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow.

But if the government is not to intervene, how will we, mere human beings, work it all out?

I wondered and read, and it occurred to me that I knew the answer, and here it is: We just seem to. How do I know? From experience..."

"...there are always..."

...something I need to remember.

John Stone Fitness -:

"...there are always people in your life who want to see you fail. Misery loves company. The people I'm talking about are the ones who make light of what you are doing. They try to convince you to eat junk food with them. They roll their eyes when you talk about your fitness program. Some of these kinds of people are more subtle than that, and some are more outspoken, but you always know exactly who they are. Maybe some of them are your friends, and perhaps some of them are people you have to put up with at your office or in your neighborhood...

Keep in mind that you are basically at war with your own mind, and you must do what you have to do in order to get the job done. Each time you're faced with a workout or a food temptation you'll either do the right thing or you'll allow your mind to convince you that you have a good reason not to. Ultimately excuses don't matter one bit--excuses never get you any closer to your goals, so always remember that."

Inspiring and funny.

Humbling too. Via Joe Rogan.

Much more at the link... well worth checking out.

The Joe Rogan Blog » Conduit to the Gaian Mind » I’m giving away my isolation tank.:

"...how we often live our lives on the momentum of the past, constantly defining ourselves by how we have already behaved, constantly cycling through a pattern of pre-determined thoughts moving around on these pre-arranged tracks, instead of running our time on this planet through a well considered, best-case scenario approach.

"I want to live my life in a way that, were I not me, and I saw that behavior, it would inspire me to be a better person.”

I know that sounds like some hippy, trippy horseshit, but isn’t it possible to live like that? Wouldn’t it make the world a far nicer place to live if everyone came to the true realization that the only way to truly be happy in this life is if you’re nice to other people?

Because truly, that is the only way, and if you ask basically anyone in the world what he or she wants most in life, it’s to be happy. Happy and in love, that’s the best feelings life has to offer, and the only people that want anything other than that, are the kind of people that need happiness and love the most.

...The real problem with that kind of thinking, of course, is that the world is infested with morons and douche bags.

...Every fucking day I get a hundred or so links sent to me in the email, and 80% of them involve either a story, a picture, or a video of a douche bag in action.

Douche bags from all over the world. There’s soldiers throwing a puppy off a cliff, men stoning a young girl to death because she was in love with a boy from the wrong religion, a guy shits on his friend’s head while he’s sleeping – you can SEE all these things...

...The average 15 year old of today has a better idea of what horrors people are capable of than a prison guard from the 1940’s.

...But what I’ve found in my life though, is that the nicer I am the less assholes I meet, and that my time in the tank has made me nicer.

The more I make a concerted effort to be positive, the happier I am. To me it’s like a much less annoying form of “The Secret.”

...Mystical visions have been a part of the growth of humans forever, but a lot of so-called “no nonsense” people may tell you that the pursuit of such visions are just a self indulgent waste of time. They will tell you that serious men and women of science have no use for seeing things that aren’t really there.

What’s hilarious about that, is that a visionary experience was the motivation behind the work of the man who invented modern analytical thinking, René Descartes.

He had a series of dreams in 1619 where the angel of truth came to him and explained to him how he was going to measure and define the laws of thought with mathematics.

It’s one of the main foundations of modern scientific thinking, and it came to him from an angel in a dream.

...I think we may have to learn to accept the idea that there may very well be something that we’re all a part of that we’re not completely aware of - that we really are just a part of this huge, gigantic oneness of everything that we can’t really detect under normal circumstances because of our ego and our physical limitations.

Just because we can’t sense something doesn’t mean it’s not there.

...The bottom line about this life is that as of right now, it’s confirmed that it’s temporary.

You’re going to die, and no one knows what the fuck is going to happen when that moment occurs. There’s a lot of speculation, but until you cross over to the great beyond and come back to talk about it, I’ve got nothing to go on.

And if you DO cross over and come back, then you’re a fucking zombie, and I’m gonna hit you in the head with a shovel before you can steal my brains..."

Overheard in...

But the Question Was...

Guy: ... Because the pope touches himself. That's my answer for the first question. That's my answer to any question, really.

History class
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Overheard by: Kaiti
via Overheard Everywhere, Mar 12, 2008

[Works for me.

And now, on relationships...]

Wednesday One-Liners Were "Working Late"

Guy: So, he's pissed off because he's dating this fucking hot stripper -- she's, like, West of freaky -- and he can't tell anybody because they're all friends with his fiancé and would tell her.

--Brooklyn-bound D train, Atlantic Ave stop
Overheard by: just visiting

German girl, after breaking kiss with another chick: Don't worry about my husband too much...

--Frost St, Greenpoint
Overheard by: jayloo

Black man on cell: ... So I put my hand between her legs... Nah, she wasn't wearing any panties... She's mad cool, but she's married...

--Q46 bus
Overheard by: Izabela

Ghetto mama: ... And I said to her, 'No, I did not fuck yo' husband. But I did let him eat my pussy!'

--Nostrand Ave
Overheard by: Kris S.
via Overheard in New York, Mar 12, 2008

Thoughts on "Thoughts on Thoughts on Spitzer."

I thought this particularly apropos the sexual politics of the Spitzer debacle, especially as mainstream US views on female sexuality are deeply rooted in a body-hating Puritanical ethos and fear of female sexual power. IMHO.

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Thoughts on Thoughts on Spitzer:

"...Of course sexism restricts autonomy in all sorts of ways that deserve consideration when discussing the prevalence of prostitution or the choice to enter sex work. Of course it’s deplorable that sexually adventurous young women are constantly told they are “degrading themselves” by seeking out various experiences, that every bit of enjoyment eats away at some secret store of purity. This whole tradition–the idea that women need be preserved in glass so as not to “ruin” themselves, lest they diminish their sexual value by “giving it away”–restricts the lived autonomy of women in ways I can’t even begin to articulate. None of the slut-shaming makes sense unless you assume women live to give themselves to men in their purest possible form.

If you find all of these cultural pathologies unfortunate, what is the public policy you should prefer? It seems to me that it is not the policy that deems it a crime against the American people to open your legs. Anti-prostitution laws add a layer of legal sanction to all of our worst intuitions about the treatment of sexually independent women; they strengthen and validate the idea that women who bed men with any frequency are sick, marginal, pariahs. Even decriminalization, which treats Johns as outlaws and sex workers as victims, assumes that all sex workers are damaged, that no woman would ever love sex enough to make a career out of it. And why not? Well, because every woman knows that she is her sexual purity rating. No sane woman would ever choose to mess that up.

In sum: If we are ever going to introduce a conceptual distinction between the moral character of individual women and the integrity of their hymens, it seems extremely important not to criminalize aberrant sexual behaviors."

And now, on a lighter note...

As apparently everything in the world is pissing me off today and I'm starting to hate everyone - except, unsurprisingly, the actual people and things around me. Damn you, Internet!

[And now I understand that sometimes "ignorance is bliss."]

Ah, well.

First, I give you what might be the finest martial arts film of our generation.

I give you - The Foot Fist Way!

[Keep an eye out for the NC references you NC folks... the wife spotted 'em.]



And finally, the best "father-sons" moment on the internet. Totally awesome and the only conceivable reason to have kids :)

We've become nations of fearful sheep. And our leadership encourages it.

Time to fight security superstition | Technology | guardian.co.uk:

"The Met's latest poster campaign urges Londoners who spot "unusual" activity to ring the police and let them know. Examples include someone taking pictures of CCTV cameras or acting out of the ordinary. After all, these are dangerous times, and we all must be vigilant.

Contrast this for a moment with an earlier dangerous time: the Blitz. Bombs rained down upon London on a near-daily basis, killing, maiming and laying waste to whole neighbourhoods (one American friend recently described a trip around east London where his hosts pointed to every car park and said, "Of course, that was bombed in the Blitz" – and came away with the impression that Hitler had dropped car parks on Hackney).

Back then, the government's message to the people wasn't "Take your shoes off" or "place your liquids in this bag". Instead, King George's printer stuck up millions of royal red posters bearing the legend "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON."

The approaches are markedly different - eternal (even fearful) vigilance, versus a reassured, Zen-like calm. "

Shocking.

No, wait. The opposite of that.

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Dick Cheney Wins World Fantasy Award:

"An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime."

Catholicism's desperate bid for relevance - "...a new list of Seven Sins."

They are, as to be expected, bullshit.

Vatican comes up with a new list of Seven Sins - Boing Boing:

"In the sixth century, Pope Gregory handed down a list of "seven cardinal vices." Now the Vatican has issued an additional seven "social sins."

"You offend God not only by stealing, taking the Lord's name in vain or coveting your neighbor's wife, but also by wrecking the environment, carrying out morally debatable experiments that manipulate DNA or harm embryos," said [Bishop Gianfranco] Girotti, who is responsible for the body that oversees confessions.

The seven social sins are:

1. "Bioethical" violations such as birth control 2. "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research 3. Drug abuse 4. Polluting the environment 5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor 6. Excessive wealth 7. Creating poverty

The original deadly sins: 1. Pride 2. Envy 3. Gluttony 4. Lust 5. Anger 6. Greed 7. Sloth"

The sheer irony of one of the world's wealthiest organizations decrying "excessive wealth" is almost too much to take. Especially as they continue to tell the poor people of the world that God said they should be tithing 10% of their income for the church. So that would be #s 5, 6 and 7.

You know, this would all be more humorous if I didn't spend part of the day reading [today is High School Entrance Exam day, there's a paucity of classes] excerpts from the Report of the Philadelphia Grand Jury on sexual abuse in that diocese of the Catholic Church.

It's in the recent anthology I picked up Everything You Know About God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion. You can find a lot of the same info online here and here, via BishopAccountability.org and The Memory Hole.

Including depressingly sobering, sickening and infuriating highlights as:

"• A girl, 11 years old, was raped by her priest and became pregnant. The Father took her in for an abortion.

• A 5th-grader was molested by her priest inside the confessional booth.

• A teenage girl was groped by her priest while she lay immobilized in traction in a hospital bed. The priest stopped only when the girl was able to ring for a nurse.

• The Archdiocese official in charge of abuse investigations described one abusive priest as “one of the sickest people I ever knew.” Yet Cardinal Bevilacqua allowed him to continue in ministry, with full access to children – until the priest scandal broke in 2002.

• On at least one occasion Cardinal Bevilacqua agreed to harbor a known abuser from another diocese, giving him a cover story and a neighborhood parish here because the priest’s arrest for child abuse had aroused too much controversy there. Officials referred to this sort of practice as “bishops helping bishops.”

• A nun who complained about a priest who was still ministering to children – even after he was convicted of receiving child pornography – was fired from her position as director of religious education.

• When the Archdiocese did purport to seek psychological evaluation of a priest, the primary tool for diagnosis was “self reporting” – in other words, whether the abuser was willing to admit that he was a pedophile. Absent such a “diagnosis,” the Archdiocese declined to treat any priest as a pedophile, no matter how compelling the evidence.

• Even when admitted, the abuse was excused: an Archdiocese official comforted one sexually abusive priest by suggesting that the priest had been “seduced” by his 11-year-old victim.

• When one priest showed signs of seeking penance from his victims, the church-run “treatment” facility urged Archdiocese officials to move him to another assignment away from the victims – in other words, transfer him before he apologizes again."

And in one case, in the aftermath of boy reporting being raped by a priest at his school, one of his teachers - a nun - began referring to him by a girl's name in front of all the other students.

When he asked her to stop, he was given demerits.

They are, as an organization, fucking evil.

Period.

What I've Read - "When killing activists, never shoot for the head, always aim for the heart." - The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman

Outstandingly innovative graphic design. Rich with ideas and concepts. A plot that zigs when I thought it was going to zag. Really, really entertaining. Interesting thoughts on media, entertainment, education, information, religion, violence, cults and... well... life. Highly Recommended.

The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman:

"As an act of violence spirals out of control to encompass the entirety of the news media, a cult has emerged from the errors and retractions that have ruined careers, marriages and even lives. Under direction from his cult master, The Hand leads an army of followers committed to revolution, willing to die for their cause.

"...NETWORK meets FIGHT CLUB..." - Andy Diggle"

From the book notes/references [which are almost as interesting as the narrative,] by Hickman -

"...this idea that being a protestor is not just a noble activity but is a righteous work done by the enlightened is some type of reality-warped, romanticized notion of the sixties. For the most part, this is nothing more than public therapy by part-timers. Their focus isn't actually on changing the world; it's on making a public display, a cathartic offering, out of the guilt they live in an opulent society. There is nothing more pussy than sitting around and doing chants and singing songs pretending like that is going to change the world. Nothing. It's an embarrassing charade by the wealthy."

...and this one I particularly liked:

"The idea of an established persona - that you are the sum of all your experiences, decisions and feelings - is false. We are, in fact, quite malleable to new experiences, peer influence and tragedy. Adaptability, humanity's evolutionary strength, is also one of its greatest weaknesses."

Spitzer - Arrogance and Hypocrisy.

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not prostitution should even be illegal [to paraphrase the Great Carlin - if sex is legal, and selling is legal, why isn't selling sex legal?] remember this was Mr Hard-Nosed-Prosecutor-Super-Cop. Mr Law-and-Order.

Always remember they will lock you up and throw away the key, not give you a second thought, and then high five over a round of drinks at the bar while waxing philosophically about how you brought it on yourself and the importance of the rule of law in society.

But the laws only apply to you. Not to them. They're special. The laws are only for the little people. Or whoever they don't like. They don't care about the law, they care about power and their personal agenda.

Yeah, fuck them. Schadenfreude all around... it's on me.

The Spitzer Scandal: Lust Plus Pride - TIME:

"On a day of heavy ironies for one of America's most prominent and promising politicians, there was this: the prostitution ring that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer allegedly patronized was called the Emperors Club VIP. It was the governor's own imperial mien, after all, that will make this fall from grace particularly bruising.

...The allegations could be particularly damaging to Spitzer, a former hard-nosed prosecutor who had made ferreting out corporate malfeasance and cracking down on corruption centerpieces of his political platform."