Coppers for a cat

What if?

2011-01-27T03:28:00.000-05:00

What if Jesus had died another way? Bizarro cartoonist Dan Piraro has contemplated this. And so have I. Having just seen Piraro's cartoon handling the electric chair, I thought I'd post my own similar unfinished comic. It doesn't seem original now, but here it is anyway:

Bow to me (and squander your potential) my robot!

2010-12-09T21:34:00.000-05:00

When we create a robot or an AI or a new breed of dog¹, do we program it to worship us, its creator?

Isn't the thought that a creator would infuse its creation with a supreme desire to worship it above and beyond anything else just repugnant? And ripe with arrogance and vanity?

When humans create something, we try to give it autonomy, intelligence, free will, etc. Our last concern is that our gadgets turn around and praise us. That would be utterly ridiculous! What do i care if my robot glorifies me or not? What kind of creator would I be if I did? (Imagine further if we did create gadgets to worship us, but also programmed them to not be able to see or hear us... clever...)

It seems highly more likely that the true test a creator would present us with is not how many times we can repeat creeds, but how much we can achieve and evolve and progress independently.

What would you prefer in 50 years? A robot that followed you around chanting your praises and leaving offerings on the kitchen table, or one that solved your problems and those of the people around you in cool and fantastical ways. (If you said "both", please read the last sentence of paragraph 2 again.)

¹ Admittedly, dogs worship us, but it's in their nature, plus, dogs are a bit unsophisticated.

Religion is the best Deception

2010-04-22T03:05:00.000-04:00

If you're a thinking person, then you've got to be skeptical of something which demands belief based only on faith. You just have to be. Why? Well, look around. How many religions are there in the world which require blind faith from their followers? How can one choose the "correct" religion from among these many options? One cannot. There is absolutely no way. So, people end up adopting the religious faiths of their family, neighbours, or countrymen. (Thankfully, a growing number of us don't bother choosing at all.)

An alien landing on the earth confronted by its various faiths would have no clue as to which, if any, of the religions were true. The claims are all the same: "I've got an old book! It's got some good stories in it! You need it to live a good life! You need to believe in this one particular god and this one particular prophet! You want proof? No, no, there's none! You must accept everything on faith! And if you don't, you will suffer eternally in a horrible place!" There is absolutely no reason for the alien to choose one over another, and in fact, there is no real reason to make a choice in the first place. (In this scenario, one hopes that the alien has all the answers, and proceeds to enlighten our little planet rather than destroy it.)

Those who have made this choice (or have had the choice made for them) are imprisoned but are unaware of it. It is extremely difficult to break out of this prison because first and foremost, the inmates are content (indeed begging) to stay! Secondly, once their leap of faith is made, the believer is strapped into an almost unescapable philosophical straightjacket. This is why I call the deception in the title the "best" deception. It is so strong, and so unwielding to any argument. The deception can come from anywhere (one's self, one's priest, one's parents) and it's almost never recognized as deception. The only time someone recognizes this kind of deception is regarding the "other": in another culture, country, or religion. If a Christian contemplates someone of a different faith, the Christian is quite ready to say "that poor guy is deceiving himself" or "is being deceived". But it's just inconceivable to the Christian that he himself is in exactly the same situation.

If I were a believer, but could still construct logical arguments, I would have to conclude that religion was created not by a caring god, but by a devil. Faith in something without evidence is not noble or honourable, it's sinister. Why are we so gullible and so willing to be deceived?

Religious Awe is the Lazy Man's Awe

2010-02-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

I experience just as much (if not more) awe than a religious person does when considering nature, life, the universe, etc. But whereas I know that I can come to a fuller understanding of these things through hard work and diligent study, a religious person more often than not simply says "God did that". To me, this is a lazy man's appreciation of nature. It is the behaviour of a person happy to not understand, or not willing to put in the effort to come to a better understanding of the world.

The other day, I had an idea for a skit, which featured two young boys, one scientifically-minded, and the other not. I imagined the first boy running through a field or forest, excitedly looking at flowers, plants, and insects, and trying to understand the connections between them, and wondering about their origins and evolution. With each object this boy marvelled at, the other little boy would pop into the picture and quickly blurt out "God did that!" Each time, the first boy would answer "Oh" and continue looking at the next object. With each successive "God did that!" and "Oh", the first boy's curiosity would start to wither. Perhaps it would be better to have a religious parent instead of the religious boy. More realistic that way. And sad.

Do mathematicians create or discover?

2010-01-30T12:12:00.000-05:00

The answer to this question will significantly affect the idea of my previous post. I have a feeling that in general they discover. For example, a Tyrannosaurus Rex probably couldn't count, but that doesn't change the fact that it had 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 tail, and "x" razor-sharp teeth. So numbers "existed", but they weren't really being thought about carefully.

If mathematicians always discover (rather than create) mathematics, then my analogy in the previous post becomes quite weak. However, my faulty analogy might not change my acceptance of the (rather unlikely) possibility that an advanced civilization had a hand in the creation of the universe.

I should do some reading on the philosophy of mathematics and then post what I've learned. Stay tuned.

Oh my god. Did I just become a deist?

2010-01-10T13:33:00.002-05:00

I just had an idea about the plausibility of some form of creator, which is quite odd as I'm a diehard atheist (and quite possibly an anti-theist.) I was brushing my teeth, and suddenly I conceived of an idea that, unlike all other arguments I've heard for deism, seemed to have non-zero probability.

To get a grip on my idea, I must introduce some relatively simple concepts from mathematics. Mathematicians typically don't deal explicitly with numbers, they deal with objects. They are very good at converting practical ideas into abstract concepts for the purposes of research. For example, take the integers: ..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ... along with simple addition '+'. (The ellipses, by the way, imply an endless continuation to the left and right.) Mathematicians take the integers and addition and abstract them into an object which they call a "group". (Please completely divorce this mathematical term from the normal definition of the word "group" which you are thinking of right now.)

In mathematics, a "group" is a set of things (possibly finite, possibly infinite) along with an operation which describes how the things can be combined, resulting in other things from within the same group. In groups, there's one very special thing called an "identity", which actually doesn't do much of anything. Also, for each thing in the set, there exists exactly one other thing called an "inverse", and when a thing and its inverse are combined, the result is the "identity".

Making this a bit more concrete, consider the group of the integers along with addition. The special thing called the identity is zero (i.e. 0) which clearly doesn't do anything since 5 + 0 = 5. For each integer, there is one inverse. For example, the inverse of 3 is -3, since 3 + (-3) = 0. (Remember, 0 is the identity of this particular group.) As another example, the inverse of -897 is 897, since (-897) + 897 = 0.

The integers are a very large set of numbers, in fact it is an infinite set. But this infinite set can be generated by only the number 1. 1 is called a "generator" of this group. [Just continue adding 1 to itself to get all of the positive integers: 1, 2, 3, 4, ... . Then take the inverse of 1, namely -1, and continue adding it to itself to get the negative integers. To generate 0, simply add 1 + (-1).] The idea of a generator is important as it shows that a very large set can be generated by very few members (and sometimes only one).

Groups seem like quite simple things, and they sometimes are. But their simple definition can be misleading. Once we cast away numbers and just focus on the abstract definition and objects, we start to uncover many very interesting properties. Shelves and shelves of books have been written on Group Theory and current mathematicians are expanding the theory monthly in numerous journals on the subject. (There are one or two other properties of a group, but in the interest of concision, I hope you will trust me when I say they are not very important to this argument.)

So, what is my point. How does this relate to the possibility of a creator? Well, when mathematicians first started thinking about groups, they had relatively little idea of the complexity, unexpected features, or beauty of the characteristics and theorems that would result after intense study. In a similar way, it is not so difficult to imagine a creator establishing its own kind of "cosmic group": a small set of elementary particles or energies (the generators), coupled with some initial rules dictating how these particles and energies interact (the operation). Over billions of years, the world we see today could have evolved from this very simple beginning, as the generators interact with each other, creating new matter and new energy.

This idea does not do away with the infinite regress question: if there was a creator, who created it? And who created the creator of that creator, and so on ad infinitum. This idea does however alleviate a concern I've always had with the idea of a creator. Looking around me, I've always wondered why our omnipotent God (assuming one exists) didn't create a much simpler universe, with no evil, no disease, and no mosquitos. Well, perhaps a creator did create the simplest of universes, using only simple initial conditions, but really had nothing to do with any of its evolution into the current complex and mosquito-infested universe we call home. I'm in no way saying that I could believe in any of the man-made gods that my fellow humans worship. But I could see myself contemplating the possibility of an incredibly advanced alien civilization (probably indistinguishable from God, as Asimov puts it) seeding our universe with the requisite primeval elements.

Of course, this is all a mathematical analogy, and doesn't prove a single thing. It has simply allowed me to consider (however minute) the remote possibly of some kind of creator. Since there is absolutely no evidence for such a creator, I could never bring myself to "believe" what I have just described. However, I will certainly not deny its possibility until a philosopher or mathematician pokes holes in my reasoning.

Missionaries, part 1

2009-12-18T11:57:00.002-05:00

I'm currently reading The Samurai by Shusaku Endo. The book follows the lives of a Spanish missionary in eastern Japan and a poor samurai caught up in the political manoeuverings of his domain's councilmen. The missionary, Velasco, is driven by an overzealous ambition to become Bishop of Japan, and plans a trip to Nueva Espana and then to Spain with some Japanese envoys and merchants in the hopes of establishing a trade treaty in exchange for full missionary rights for Spain. The novel recounts some very interesting historical events, the details of which have unfortunately been lost over the last few centuries.

I have read two of Endo's books (Silence and The Samurai) and they both deal with missionaries in Japan. The other day, while reading The Samurai, I was suddenly struck (actually restruck) with the realization that I am thoroughly against missionary work. In fact, I loathe it. I find it shameful, xenophobic, classist, racist, and baseless.

There are two cases to examine when considering missionary work. The first case assumes the religion being sold is valid. The second assumes the opposite.

The second case is easiest dealt with. In The Samurai, Velasco is expounding the Roman Catholic faith. If Christianity is false, then men and women embarking on missionary work throughout the world is an absurd waste of resources. Since, in general, most religions are exclusive, a given Christian missionary happily believes that while his or her work is worthy, that of all the "other" missionaries is not. Of course, in this scenario, all of the work is worthless. Even more damning and unforgivable in the second case is that the proselytized are torn from their native beliefs and culture for absolutely no reason.

The first case, although highly unlikely, supposes that a particular religion is in fact true. In the case of Christianity then, we are meant to believe that God revealed "himself" to a few people in a very localized area, ignoring all of the other humans on the planet. His plan then being that over more than 2000 years, his word would be preached to, taught to, and forced upon the rest of the world in an eons-long struggle. How much easier it would have been had the all-powerful one made himself known to all nations at once, or at least on successive days? Perhaps in a few weeks, the whole world would have been happily Christian, Jesus wouldn't have died, and we would no longer have Easter. I think it would have been more than a fair trade.

Blogging again.

2009-12-13T23:05:00.005-05:00

Wow. It's been over a year since I posted anything to this blog. I guess that was about the time when my Twitter-ing began to eclipse my blogging. Twitter is addictive and too easy to use. Blogging requires thought while tweeting does not. You can already see that these sentences are short and useless; a result of too much Twitter use.

The reason for starting up blogging again is a little embarrassing. It's due to an article about the relationship between writing and thinking. However, I didn't even read this article, I skimmed it. But the gist of it was enough to make me rethink blogging vs. twittering. The writer claimed that if one doesn't write, then one doesn't have any serious thoughts. Writing certainly involves thinking and the organization of thought, so I bought this writer's claims quite quickly. I don't want to be guilty of not thinking about serious things, so I will start writing again.

So, here we go...

A truly mad scientist

2008-11-10T01:06:00.004-05:00

This doesn't get any closer to our shared idea of a "mad scientist". Enjoy this TED Conference talk from February 2006 given by Clifford Stoll, a U.S. astronomer.

(If you see a Player 7 or Player 8 message below, just click on one of them and the video will start.)

There's a little child up there.

2008-11-09T21:56:00.005-05:00

The people upstairs are too loud. I live in an apartment building west of Tokyo, and a few months ago, a family moved into the apartment above ours. This family has a young child. This young child likes to run around and bang on the floor at all hours of the day and night, as many children like to do. I have never met this child (in fact, the child is a boy). I'm sure he is quite cute and adorable, but since I've never met him, his representation in my mind is quite blurry and chaotic. I imagine a crazed kid running back and forth with heavy shoes on, pounding on the floor with bats, balls, and rocks; gleefully jumping up and down, knowing full well that he is bothering (no, terrorizing!) the apartment-dwellers below; and more than this, his parents encouraging him to jump from ever higher places, encouraging him to use bigger and bigger bats and rocks, encouraging him to never stop, to stay up late, to wake up in the middle of the night to further annoy us, ... You can see that this has had quite an effect on me. We have spoken to our landlord on a few occasions, and in fact, the flooring above has been worked on on 2 or 3 separate occasions. However, not once did anyone enter our apartment to check whether or not the sound had been diminished. So, in response to repetitive noises from above, I or my wife stand up, make a fist, and hit our ceiling in quick succession. Often, the sound stops for a good 30 minutes to an hour. But, just as often, the kid (or his parents, I'm not sure which) replies with echoing hits to his floor. The mother came down soon after they moved in to apologize for the noise, and once when I met her at our building's entrance she did the same. However, apologies mean nothing when behaviours don't change. I realize children are active and must run and jump and play, but they should do so in a park, or in a zoo, or in a detached house. Apparently, this family's last residence was in fact a house, so they aren't used to having neighbours below them. I'm tired of the noise, and I'm tired of hitting my ceiling. I guess it's time to find a new apartment.

Hit by a food cart

2008-11-09T10:26:00.005-05:00

(She looks so innocent doesn't she? Photo thanks to Girl Least Likely To)

At a recent conference, I overheard some talk about flight attendants. Someone said:

"I hate sitting in aisle seats. If you sit in an aisle seat, you are going to get hit in the head with a food cart."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

I started wondering if a flight attendant's blog is filled with sentences like: "Today was a slow day. I only hit 4 passengers. Fingers crossed for tomorrow." If this isn't a central theme on their blogs, it must be something they frequently discuss behind the curtain as they do their "work". On the few occasions that I've had the misfortune to step into flight attendant territory, I'm quite sure I saw a few scoreboards and Fantasy Foodcart charts hanging on the wall.

(When flight attendants play Quake, do they use the drink cart weapon mod?)

I am macho

2007-04-21T20:59:00.000-04:00

Instructions to anyone who wants to become macho like me.

1. Sit on your bum many hours a day doing math research.

2. Have your wife cook you mountains of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

3. Do little to no exercise.

4. Repeat above for 8 months then move to Japan.

5. Bask in the exclamations from your Japanese in-laws proving that you are indeed macho.

In an upcoming post, how to fix it.

Renting in Tokyo

2007-04-21T04:05:00.000-04:00

My wife and I are looking for an apartment in Tokyo. It's a bit difficult because we're doing so from across the country, in Tottori prefecture. Tokyo is a fairly "racially pure" city, having a foreign population of just under 3%. So perhaps I shouldn't be pissed off with the nervousness of some of the landlords with renting to a foreigner.

The first place we called told us, once they found out that a foreigner was involved, that they would have to see us in person, and would give us their decision as to whether we were accepted after 5 days. Unfortunately, this was not possible for us, as we were not going to make 2 trips to Tokyo, nor would we go to Tokyo earlier and stay in a hotel for 5 days. I can't say whether this is a standard request or not, but I suspect not, as it came after the revelation that a non-Japanese was attempting to live there.

The second place we called was a little less concerned with my race, until the very end, when my wife was asked whether I was white or black, and from which country I hailed.

I suppose this is not out of the ordinary. Coming from a country where many cultures are the norm (at least in cities one one-hundredth the size of Tokyo), I can't even imagine a situation where questions like these would be possible. I would have hoped though, that the qualms these landlords have about foreigners would be evenly spread over each race, and not favouring white guys like me. Just because I lack some pigment in my skin doesn't mean I'm a good person. I'm an atheist for goodness sake!

Anyhow, I'm being told I should take a bath now, so I will.

I hope in my next post to tell you that I've got an apartment. I've got my white fingers crossed.

iPod skins

2007-04-13T00:15:00.000-04:00

I just ordered a skin for my iPod. I hope it gets to me before I leave for Japan. It's a painting of Fuji-san by the same guy who painted this:

Of course, the guy's name is Katsushika Hokusai; his being some of the most recognizable Japanese art for those of us from the West.

I came upon the GelaSkins site after marvelling at the amazing art of Audrey Kawasaki, who designed a couple of skins for the company. I headed straight for the site to buy one of her skins but, although very nice, I think they were possibly a bit too feminine for me.

Since I'm heading to Tokyo in a few weeks, I thought the Tokyo subway map skin would be useful. However, after thinking about it for a moment, and realizing that the back of my very small iPod would be covered with the entire subway map of one of the largest cities in the world, and noting that they didn't include a magnifying lens, I opted for Fuji-san.

Here's a variant of the Tokyo subway skin. Kinda cool and it really screams Japanese at you.

If you've got an iPod and you want to protect it with some scratch-resistant 3M-made ultra-thin art-covered vinyl, then check out GelaSkins.

The Reactable

2007-04-09T00:37:00.000-04:00

I discovered this at the GelaSkins blog. This is extremely cool. A surface which generates sound determined by the type and position of certain custom blocks. Take a look:

There are more movies at YouTube. Search for "reactable".

Finished some books

2007-04-01T16:21:00.000-04:00

I've been addicted to Twitter recently (see widget at top right), and have neglected my blog. I like Twitter's immediacy, and its diary-like feel. I have an awful memory, so this will be a record of my life (including the meaningless little things I do every day) that I'll be able to refer to when I need to. (Until of course, Twitter blows up and all my data is lost. I'll have to check for an archive function but I don't think there is one yet.)

Anyhow, I've finished a few books recently, and wanted to jot down some words about them. First, the somewhat inappropriately-named "Adult Manga" by Sharon Kinsella. This is not about "adult" manga - rather, it's about manga written for adults, a quite different thing. I sometimes felt a bit self-conscious reading the book on the bus. In any case, it was an interesting introduction to Japanese manga. There were a few annoying spelling and grammar mistakes, and sometimes the book felt a bit disorganized. However, if you're interested in the history of manga, how it's produced, how its production has evolved over the years, and what the future holds for the manga industry, then you should enjoy the book. There are a few black and white panels here and there, but don't expect much in terms of illustrations.

I was initially hesitant about reading this book. I read a review at Amazon written by a Japanese person, which criticized it heavily, and without thinking, I took the side of the Japanese person. The reviewer of "Inventing Japan" by Ian Buruma, wasn't happy about the manner in which Japan was portrayed. However, upon reading the book, I see that it falls squarely in the realm of books that I typically read about the United States and Canada. I read Chomsky, Barlow, and McQuaig, authors who are typically critical of government and big business. Buruma points out numerous flaws in Japan's governments and armies from the time of Perry's black ships to the Tokyo Olympics in the 60s. But he doesn't directly criticize Japanese culture or the Japanese people. He possibly criticizes a certain class of Japanese people (the same people who get a finger pointed at in Chomsky's books) , namely the ruling class, which all too often is much too susceptible to bad ideas and rampant corruption. I enjoyed this little book (the main text is just under 200 pages) and would recommend to anyone with a mild interest in Japan. Quite a turnaround from my initial reaction. But it just proves that we shouldn't judge something until we've consumed it, no matter what our first impression.

The last book that I finished is a science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow, "Down and out in the Magic Kingdom". It's hard to know how to describe the book; the premise is so bizarrely original. Most of the book takes place in and around Disneyland in California. People are able to backup their minds and memories, and duplicate bodies are easily regrown. So, if you get into a car accident, you can have your backup "self" imported into a new body. You can also "dead-head" to any particular date in the future. This is not time travel; this is going into some form of suspended animation until 100, 500, or 1000 years from now. If you don't like what you wake up to, you can dead-head for another century. These ideas get a light treatment by Doctorow in this book, but that's what makes it enjoyable. Science fiction is often much too pedantic and drawn-out. Doctorow's writing makes his futures seem palpable and believable. I read this book via email using the DailyLit project.

There. I've finally written another blog post. As I'm frantically trying to finish my math project, I'm also reading some great books: Crypto by Steven Levy (which covers the modern history of cryptography), and The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (an interesting alternate history of the second world war.)

Heading off to Japan in a few weeks! The flavour of my posts will no doubt change quite a bit. Stay tuned!

Cool Japanese music video

2007-03-07T14:30:00.001-05:00

Cornelius' video to his experimental Fit Song.

Eastern Standard Tribe

2007-03-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

As a resident of the eastern standard tribe, I really enjoyed Cory Doctorow's third science fiction book. I may soon be transplanting myself to the japan standard tribe (or the j-tribe as I like to call it), giving me the opportunity to become an industrial saboteur like Art was in EST. I'll have to attempt to match my waking hours with those of my timezone brethren, while maintaining the semblance of a normal life in my new Tokyo job. The idea is to appear to be doing my job well, while in fact doing a piss-poor one, delivering an outwardly perfect-looking product, but which comes with all manner of hidden defects, whether these be in user experience, design, support, manuals, convenience, extensibility, upgradability, etc.

Since my upcoming position in Japan is as manager of a small English school, I won't be able to sabotage a product. But I will be able to sabotage the English language. It will be more difficult with my adult students, but the young children will be easy. I'm reminded of an old Steve Martin skit:

I got a great dirty trick you can play on a 3-year old kid. See, kids learn how to talk from listening to their parents. [...] See what you do, if you have a 3-year old kid and you want to play a dirty trick on him, whenever you're around him, you talk wrong. So now it's like his first day in school and he raises his hand "May I mambo dogface to the banana patch?"

Of course, the results of my deeds won't be obvious for many years, until the kids go on a homestay program in Vancouver, or until they enter an international law program. Possibly, one of them might someday translate from article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties:

A treaty shall be perforated in good smarm in reluctance with the salivary meaning to be trodden to the stems of the treaty in their varnish and in the light of its hairbrush and tortoise.

I have to be honest now. Although I was able to nicely weave Steve Martin into this blog post, I had an ulterior motive for doing so. If you intersect the text of Doctorow's book with all of Steve Martin's stand-up routines, three words from the following sentence stand out. Doctorow writes:

The boats are mambo, but I think that banana patch the hotel soon.

The Art character is attempting to shock the guy on the other end of the comm out of his doziness with some nonsensicality. It works, but it also shocks those readers who, in their youth, spent hours listening to Steve Martin comedy records. It creates a warm little buzz, that then grows and forces you to put down the book, jump on the net, and attempt to download mp3 versions of all of Martin's routines. These readers, and presumably Doctorow himself, are part of another tribe - the SMT (definitely not to be confused with the Sony Music Tribe.)

I thought for sure Amazon would select "boats are mambo" and "banana patch" as SIPs (statistically improbable phrases) from Doctorow's book, but they instead chose the much more highly improbable "axe head" and "left channel" (dripping sarcasm here). The book's title was also chosen as a SIP and this makes sense - the title is quite cool. However, this book is fraught with SIPs much more sippy than "left channel" or "axe head". Amazon should polish their algorithms a tad. (For some reason Amazon.ca doesn't show SIPs yet, so you'll have go here to see what they are.)

This is not really a review - I don't like reviews. It's more of a rambling recommendation. If the first paragraph above piqued your interest, then go find this book. You will be glad you did.

Oh, and if you need driving directions from Mambo Avenue to Banana Patch Court, just click here.

C for Concubine

2007-02-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

The Concubine's Tattoo by Laura Joh Rowland is a 1998 novel set during the Tokugawa Shogunate period (a.k.a Edo Period) of Japan. The hero is Sano Ichiro, a detective in the employ of the shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (who ruled from 1680-1709). Sano must quickly solve the murder of one of the shogun's concubines, who suddently (and violently) dies in her chamber, interrupting Sano's wedding ceremony.

The book is pulp fiction, set in historical Japan. I typically enjoy reading pulp fiction which centres on a subject that I'm fascinated with (which is why I like reading Michael Crichton.) I'm fascinated by Japan so I thought I'd really enjoy the book. However, I was left less than satisfied with the writing style. (The story would make a great movie though.)

I discovered something new about Japanese culture from this book - the burakumin. This is a minority group in Japan that has historically (and perhaps still presently) been discriminated against. I'll let you read the above Wikipedia entry if you're interested. Interestingly, in another book I'm currently reading (Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japan by Sharon Kinsella,) the burakumin are thought to perhaps be some of the original creators or purveyors of manga in the early 20th century. Also, in the 60s and 70s, there was a prevalent theme in manga associated with the rights of the lower classes, including a number of stories featuring Burakumin protagonists.

Another Sano Ichiro detective book sits on my shelf, S for Samurai... I mean, The Samurai's Wife. Both books were gifts, so I'm bound to read them. I hope Rowland's writing improved for her next detective novel.

To: Lisa Simpson

2007-02-25T01:20:00.001-05:00

Ever since December 1992, I've wondered about the novel Ethan Frome. During that month, an episode of The Simpsons aired, in which Lisa is presented with a gift of this Edith Wharton novel. "Finally a copy of Ethan Frome to call my own!" she says. I had no idea what the joke was, although I'm pretty sure that I still laughed. (I learned recently that the enormous tome Lisa received is actually only about 100 pages long. So, if that was indeed the joke, then possibly only American Literature majors caught it.)

I decided to read the book as my trial of the DailyLit web service. The creators describe it thusly:

We got the idea for DailyLit after the New York Times serialized a few classic works in special supplements a few summers ago. We wound up reading books that we had always meant to simply by virtue of making them part of our daily routine of reading the newspaper. The only thing we do more consistenly than read the paper is read email. Bingo!

I received sections of the novel daily through email. It was an interesting experience. At first, it felt odd reading a book via Google Mail, but I quickly got used to it. I discovered that the novel is in fact a romance, and although I don't go out of my way to pick up romance novels, I got caught up in the writing and in the setting. An odd twist at the end of the book was a bit anticlimactic for me, but I enjoyed the experience overall.

I'd recommend the book (as well as DailyLit) to any power web users out there who may feel like they're letting their literariness slip. I'm currently reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom using the service and am quite enjoying it. (You typically cannot read such recent works using DailyLit, but Doctorow ensured this novel was published under a Creative Commons license.)

There's a weak Simpsons thread in this post, so I'll take the opportunity to include here a trailer to the upcoming movie:

Wrong about Japan

2007-02-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

I recently finished this book by Peter Carey. I had picked it up in the hardcover bargain section of one of the big bookstores because of its manga theme. The book was mildly interesting, although perhaps someone who hasn't spent some time in Japan would find it more so.

The mindset that Carey exhibits throughout the book is one which many foreigners share (including myself) when they travel there. We see and feel the history and vastly different culture and we imagine our Japanese hosts as experts in linguistics, literature, classical music, tea ceremonies, construction, anime, World War II, kabuki, Noh, Asian geopolitics, food, kimono, geta, sushi, koto, geisha, kanji and any number of other Japanese topics. We become disappointed when their expert knowledge is not forthcoming. But these are unrealistic expectations. How many of us could answer questions about our country, province, or hometown? I couldn't say much more than "hockey" and "poutine" if a Japanese person asked me about Canadian culture. Perhaps others could be more verbose.

The first time I met my wife-to-be, I found myself asking her about her feelings towards Americans because of Hiroshima. That's similar to her asking me how I felt about Newfoundlanders, due to their late entry into Confederation. It's just completely irrelevant. (Although, it does rub me the wrong way that it took them so long to join, damn them! ... kidding of course.)

The book tells the journey of father (Carey) and son, as they try to each discover their own personal "real Japans". Carey's publishing connections allow him to set up some impressive interviews in Japan (for example, with Miyazaki Hayao, creator of My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away) which he is later disappointed with, because his supposed clever insights into Japanese animation (and other cultural aspects) are not met with the enthusiasm and understanding he expects.

There are a few minor factual errors (I've become a manga expert while reading Adult Manga) and a number of interesting manga illustrations.

Recommended for fathers with young teen aged sons, either of whom are interested in Japan.

An uneven match

2007-02-17T19:04:00.000-05:00

I'll let the graphics speak for themselves. Visit this site (www.wellingtongrey.net) for more interesting graphics and cartoons.

Pinball Funk

2007-02-17T01:34:00.000-05:00

One of the first mp3s I ever downloaded way back when Napster was cool, was a Sesame Street song (perhaps) called "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12". I believe this song is the reason I love jazz (and related genres), pinball (although I can't remember the last time I played), and numbers (especially, seven!). Check it out:

I am now trying to convince myself not to buy the DVD "Sesame Street: Old School (1969-1974)".

"Don't do it."

I baked with yeast!

2007-02-14T18:09:00.000-05:00

Today I got the urge to make some bread. My wife and I have been on a "submarine sandwich" binge for the last little while so I made long buns. I've made a few breads in the past, but this was my first (non-breadmaker) yeast bread. Here's what they looked like before going in the oven

and here's after.

The odd-shaped one is supposed to resemble a heart for Valentine's Day. I forgot to snap a pic, but I drew a jam heart on it.

I'll have to try again, because although these were pretty tasty, they were a bit small and had the consistency of dinner rolls. In fact, if I added a bit of flavour, they would taste exactly like the delicious rolls one is served at Red Lobster.

Greg Palast's "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy"

2007-01-30T00:11:00.001-05:00

I almost didn't read this book because the cover contains a quote by Michael Moore (he describes the book as "Courageous reporting.") Although I think I'm quite left of centre politically, I cringed through a number of scenes in Fahrenheit 911, and wasn't too impressed with him after having watched Michael Moore Hates America. However, the book came well recommended, and not being one to judge a book by its cover, I started reading The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast.

The book's subtitle is "An investigative reporter exposes the truth about globalization, corporate cons, and high-finance fraudsters". Britain's Tribune Magazine called Palast "the most important investigative journalist of our time." On some level, I was reminded of books by Noam Chomsky (the New York Times said he "is arguably the most important intellectual alive today,") although Palast's writing style is much less dry and perhaps a little too familiar for some readers (he likes to emphasize by using such adjectives as "fucking".)

I recommend the book: even with its swearing, length (~350 pages), and occasional feeling of disorganization. I suppose it's sometimes difficult to nicely put together so many depressing facts about our political and economic leaders.

Icy street

2007-01-19T01:27:00.000-05:00

We recently had icy rain in southern Ontario, and I'm very glad I didn't experience anything like this:

When I was in Spokane in winter a number of years ago, I remember wondering about the strange sounds that the car tires made. From what I remember, tires had to have chains put on them during the winter-time. Sounds like a great idea.

Tupper's Self-Referential Formula

2007-01-18T14:22:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Minding The Planet blog, I just came across this incredible formula discovered/invented/pulled out of a hat by Jeff Tupper (who possibly works at the University of Toronto - I couldn't find much info on him.)

(Quick formula/graph lesson: Everyone remembers the formula for a parabola (y=x²), right? When plotted on graph paper, it resembles a smooth letter "v" extending upwards forever.)

So, why is the above formula (or inequality, to be exact) so amazing. Well, if you plot it on a very, very, very tall piece of graph paper, and look way-y-y up, you'll see this:

An image of the formula is found in the graph of the formula! (Wow!!) I'm a math geek so this kind of thing excites me.

Had these types of problems ("Roughly sketch the graph of this self-referential formula.") appeared in high school math class, I'm sure a lot of us would have done better.

I wonder if this could be applied to cryptography, ie. create a function which graphs a secret message somewhere in the x-y plane.

Formula images thanks to:
Weisstein, Eric W. "Tupper's Self-Referential Formula." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TuppersSelf-ReferentialFormula.html

The Train Man

2007-01-17T02:06:00.000-05:00

I've started watching Densha Otoko (Train man) with my wife again. This time, I've forced my parents to watch it with us. I think they're happy I did. This Japanese television mini-series is based on the (possibly) true story of a Tokyo Akihabara-area anime otaku who befriends a (I don't want to use the word "normal" but I will) normal, and much more socially comfortable, girl.

My wife and I fell in love with the show when we were living and teaching in Japan. I can't remember how we found out about it, but I'm very glad we did. At times it is almost too heart-warming, and that (besides its extreme unbelievability to some) may be its only flaw.

In Canada, it may only be available as a somewhat illegal download. Its movie form (which I haven't seen yet and which is pictured at left) is available in the West, as well as some manga comic books.

A recent Wired article talked about it, and I wholeheartedly recommend the show to anyone with a media player and a heart, regardless of size. I can be as cynical and cold as the next person, but this show never fails to bring a strange wetness to my ocular area.

Listening to Kandinsky

2007-01-11T01:43:00.000-05:00

I don't know anything about art, but when I saw some Kandinsky prints a few years ago, I knew I liked them. Perhaps it had something to do with music. I recently discovered that Kandinsky claimed to be a synesthete.

Synesthetes are a bit like superheroes, in that they have special powers. Kandinsky could apparently hear certain aspects of his art (shapes, colours, etc.) He could also paint sounds, like "middle C" for example. That's pretty cool.

I certainly don't have this power, but tonight, as I was clicking through various Kandinsky images on the web, I heard a kind of buzzing in my head.

It could have been the sake (お酒) I was drinking, but I don't think so.

Phishing

2007-01-08T03:11:00.001-05:00

I received my first real phishing emails the other day. (I say "real" because they were apparently from one of the financial institutions I deal with.) Yahoo threw them into my bulk folder (yay Yahoo!), but I just had to look at them. The emails asked me to click on a link to update my account details.
The emails included my bank's logo and some text, all of which were in the form of an image, so if I happened to click anywhere, I would have been redirected to the fake web page. When I hovered over the image, I could see that it linked to a site whose URL started with the exact text of my bank's website. Had I quickly glanced at it, rather than closely examine it, I could have been fooled. The URL was in fact extremely long, finally ending in a different domain name. I reported the phishing emails to my bank and received some canned response. I'm not sure what, if anything, they can do.

The message: Be very careful when handling emails apparently from companies you deal with. Make sure links are valid. And don't ever give up your account information on request. Your safest bet is to read the email, close it, go to your bank's (or other company's) website as you normally would, log in, and see if you're asked to do anything. If not, ignore the email.

Happy surfing.

Oil painting

2007-01-08T02:08:00.001-05:00

Inspired by my wife's new hobby (and prompted by her prodding) I started my first oil painting tonight. This is the first "coat" (I don't know the lingo yet) ;-)

After adding some highlights, I'll post the final product.

Baby hatches

2007-01-06T20:55:00.001-05:00

(This doesn't have to do with chicks or poultry.)

Discovery Channel News recently reported that a hospital in Rome accepts unwanted babies through a private (and comfortable) hatch in the wall. Apparently, this is a renewal of an age-old practice (the baby hatch was formerly called a foundling wheel) and is becoming more and more common, especially in Europe.

We've all heard horrible stories of newborn babies found in the most unpleasant of places. This offers desperate mothers a nicer option.

I couldn't find any mention of baby hatches in Canada, although a hospital in my former country of residence is looking into setting one up. Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture will call their hatch a stork's cradle, and will no doubt be plastered in cute cartoony bird and baby drawings. (Don't get me wrong, I love manga in advertising. I'm tired of seeing real people in ads.)

Guilty until proven innocent

2007-01-03T20:03:00.000-05:00

I recently had a talk with a good friend of mine about the law and the familiar maxim "Innocent until proven guilty". We quickly came to the realization that the accused person should be granted the option of complete anonymity until such a time that he or she is proven guilty. This is not to say that the trial should be closed to the public. It should definitely be open to ensure that the judicial process is running fairly. An open system with a "hidden" defendant would probably be a difficult thing to set up, but it seems to be necessitated by the maxim.

If a verdict of innocent was found, the defendant could then decide to make the proceedings public or not. If a verdict of guilty was found, then the case could be made public by the court

Asleep in a tree

2006-12-26T01:06:00.001-05:00

The other day, I watched a squirrel wake up from a little nap on the middle of a branch on a cold, windy day.

Then it stretched its front legs (arms? paws?) far out in front of it, like a cat! Pretty damn cute.

Deja vu

2006-12-25T23:48:00.001-05:00

I'd like to see an old movie remade almost exactly in its original form. Of course, there would be new actors, crew, soundtrack, film equipment, special effects, etc., but I'd like to see the director mimic the original as faithfully as possible.

Classical music is recorded and performed all the time. Conductors infuse their own interpretation into the old works for sure, but typically don't modify the compositions in any other way.

It'd be an interesting experiment to see if the same could be applied to movies.

The Chips are Loud

2006-12-21T03:48:00.001-05:00

Salty snack makers are always proclaiming how crunchy their snacks are. TV commercials zoom in on mouths crunching down on crunchy things. The ads yell out: We're crunchy! We're really, really crunchy!!

To that I simply say, Why?

I'm constantly trying to hide my snack-eating habits from my wife and family. Try sneaking a chip from the chip bowl when it has been designed to create mini sonic booms. And every bag of chips I touch announces itself with a loud crackle.

What is it with snack makers? By selling crunchy products in crackly packaging, they are decimating their bottom line. How many bags of chips have gone uneaten, because a spouse came downstairs? Or because you didn't want to wake your next door neighbour?

Imagine a quiet bag with tasty quiet chips inside. Soy-based, zero trans-fat, quiet vegetable chips of course. Mmm.

Full Metal Cans

2006-12-20T18:25:00.001-05:00

I've been getting a lot of cola on me lately. Every time I crack open a can of pop these days, Diet Coke flies everywhere. It's not a significant amount really, but when you're talking about splashing pop, every drop matters.

The pop level actually looks higher in the cans I've opened recently. Could this be? Are the robots at the factory having a bit of fun? Is this happening to anyone else?

All of this blogging is making me thirsty. You're thinking "Don't drink pop, drink water or juice" right? Water and juice just don't have the same zip. Maybe if the water and juice companies made it more fun to open their products, I'd think about it.

Here it goes... (anyone know an onomatopoeic word for a can of pop opening?) ... and nothing. Blogged too soon I guess.

"Dot" Comms

2006-12-20T12:24:00.001-05:00

Recently, in an article on Wired News, products were profiled which could track a woman's fertility cycle. So a woman's cellphone could tell her that her period is starting, or perhaps her PDA could tell her that now is the best time to try to make a baby, or her feminine napkin could alert her with a ring tone to indicate that it's time to ...

Perhaps that last one could be left for a bad SNL skit.

Carl Sagan blog-a-thon

2006-12-20T01:58:00.000-05:00

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan. To mark the occasion, the blogosphere is talking about Sagan and the effect of his work on its constituent lives.

I remember reading Comet as a kid. This was a big, difficult, but enjoyable book. Not sure how much I've retained (a comet's tail always points away from the Sun!) but it did feed and fuel my interest in science. I remember watching Cosmos on television, and taking in Sagan's obvious deep respect and admiration of our universe.

Later, I was enthralled by Contact, Sagan's only novel. I recall the wonderment towards science in the book, as expressed by Ellie, the main character. Sagan's ideas and descriptions were so fascinating that I remember feeling almost dizzy with awe during certain sections.

When SETI@home offered me a way to take part in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Sagan was a big proponent of SETI) over the internet, I jumped on board immediately.

Perhaps as a tribute, I will finally read Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, which I have on my shelf but have never read.

"As I got off the plane, he was waiting for me, ..."

You Only Live Twice

2006-12-19T14:51:00.000-05:00

After watching a few James Bond title sequences (here, via BoingBoing) I got the urge to watch You Only Live Twice because of its Japanese setting (and because my wife is Japanese). At the time of the movie's release in 1967, Sean Connery had suggested that this fifth Bond movie could be his last, although he ended up returning for two more (the last being unofficial) in 1971 and 1983.

I enjoyed the movie as an historical curiosity, but otherwise it was not great. It got mixed reviews when it came out (one critic expressed hope that it would be the last Bond film ever) and it appeared in the same year as the 007 spoof Casino Royale which starred Peter Sellers and many others as James Bond (scenes of which you can probably find on YouTube.)

I was very surprised to learn that Roald Dahl, author of some of my favourite childhood stories (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, among others), wrote the screenplay for You Only Live Twice.

The writing seemed fine, but the special effects were none too special. Probably the best effect in the movie was Donald Pleasance's makeup as Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Blofeld is the forerunner to the Dr. Evil character.) Source material for the Austin Powers movies is plentiful and it was fun to watch Blofeld prance around in a somewhat effeminate manner. Bond-san's makeup was laughable when he was transformed into a Japanese farmer, and his chest hair grew back remarkably fast for the last scene in the lifeboat.

Can't wait to watch the other early Connery Bond films.

Coffee music

2006-12-18T20:07:00.000-05:00

Does anybody know why the sound of my spoon against my coffee mug increases in pitch as I stir? Can you check this with your mug of coffee?

Pour instant coffee into mug. (Yes, I'm lazy.)
Pour boiled water into mug and stir.
Listen to pitch of the coffee music.

I think this also happens when I make hot chocolate, and Orange pekoe tea with sugar.

I assume it has something to do with substances dissolving into the water. I initially thought it was the speed of the water turning in the mug. But I slowed the water down (even reversed it) but the pitch stayed constant.

Any chemists out there care to explain?

Digital vs. Analog

2006-12-18T11:18:00.000-05:00

Recently, I’ve been getting a touch ticked off with digital technology.

If I pick a CD at random from my collection (say Soundgarden, or some Prokofiev), chances are pretty good that at some point, one of the songs will start skipping. I’m not sure what to do when this happens. Do I whack my CD player? Do I stick a paperclip in there somewhere? Maybe I’m supposed to hook a cable to the back and send in some hex codes?

I rent DVDs from a variety of places: convenience stores, the big rentals shops, the independents, even the online shipping services. Very often, and regardless of source, the DVD will slow down and eventually stop somewhere near the middle of the movie. Wonderful - what to do? Ah, but here I have a remedy. Follow: One, stop DVD. Two, go to menu. Three, choose next chapter. Four, rewind until close to defective area. Five, repeat process many times, as I usually get too close to defective area. Six, press play. (I suppose I could apply this method to my skipping CDs, but there’s a difference in media here. Songs have a much less linear importance to them. I don’t often stop a song and later feel the urge to start listening again from where I left off.)

I have regular cable TV where I live and have had no digital occurrences. However, I used to visit a home whose occupants subscribed to digital cable. They invariably had to sit through blocky patches of black dancing around their screen. Actors and actresses morphing into patchy goblins and then snapping back to their beautiful selves. When I visit my parents, who have no form of cable, I’ve seen a few episodes of this same black pixelation. I guess some stations are broadcasting signals which at some point in their transmission are digital.

I am definitely not a Luddite, but recently I’ve been cursing digital’s name. I’ve been thinking of seeking out alternatives. I’ve been reminiscing of the days of old: static on an old Beatles LP, and nudging a skipping needle; adjusting the tracking on my VCR; positioning the rabbit ears above my TV in just the right orientation.

With analog, when a problem occurred, I could typically see or hear “through” it. A bit of static or white noise. I could deal with these minor annoyances. But now, I’m starting to feel a bit of rage each time I experience a digital defect.

Are we moving forwards or backwards? Or perhaps we’re in the midst of a really long lateral play.