"With a high level of technical sophistication, critical customers,
and high innovation rate, Japan is the toughest cell phone market in
the world. So it's not surprising that although Apple is the
third-largest mobile supplier in the world, selling 10 million units in
2008, in Japan the iPhone is selling so poorly it's being offered for free.
The country is famous for being ahead of its time when it comes to
technology, and the iPhone just doesn't cut it. For example, Japanese
handset users are into video and photos -- and the iPhone has neither a
video camera, multimedia text messaging, nor a TV tuner. Pricing plans
in Japan are also very competitive, and the iPhone's $60-and-up monthly
plan is too high compared to competitors; a survey lat year showed that
among Japanese consumers, 91% didn't want to buy an iPhone. The cellular weapon of choice in Japan would be the Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a 3-inch TV
and features 3-G, GPS, a 5.1-megapixel camera, and motion sensors for
Wii-style games. 'When I show this to visitors from the US, they're
amazed,' according to journalist Nobi Hayashi, who adds, 'Carrying
around an iPhone in Japan would make you look pretty lame.'"
February 2009 Archives
So during my Sierra Leone Selma decided to come visit. While she was there she decided to... Well just watch the video. Feel free to post comments. Personally I am speechless.
Today's Dilbert comic is, I think, a fairly prescient entry:
This nifty flash video has popped in many places this week. It does a good job of explaining how we got into this mess.
Another extremely good piece on this, in my opinion, is this clip from This American Life.
Another extremely good piece on this, in my opinion, is this clip from This American Life.
After watching this week's episode, I was annoyed that the show hadn't resolved the basement/phone call cliffhanger from December. When I mentioned this to my friend Roger, he laughed...I'd somehow missed the episode that dealt with it, easily the 2nd most important of the series thus far. Luckily, I was saved by bit torrent.
Now I just have to hope that it doesn't get canceled.
Now I just have to hope that it doesn't get canceled.
Haruki Murakami, one of Japan's most famous authors (and one of my favorite novelists), resisted calls to turn down the Jerusalem Prize. As one might expect, Israel is not well-regarded in many quarters, so the decision to travel to the country, so closely following the military action in Gaza, has sparked criticism in his home country. He decided to accept the prize:
One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it. Perhaps, like many other novelists, I tend to do the exact opposite of what I am told. If people are telling me -- and especially if they are warning me -- "Don't go there," "Don't do that," I tend to want to "go there" and "do that." It's in my nature, you might say, as a novelist. Novelists are a special breed. They cannot genuinely trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.
And that is why I am here. I chose to come here rather than stay away. I chose to see for myself rather than not to see. I chose to speak to you rather than to say nothing.
Please do allow me to deliver one very personal message. It is something that I always keep in mind while I am writing fiction. I have never gone so far as to write it on a piece of paper and paste it to the wall: rather, it is carved into the wall of my mind, and it goes something like this:
"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."
The full text of his statement can be found here.
In the five years I've been in Korea, I've seen a bunch of stories about completely insane rulings that Korean courts have handed out. For example, there is the case of the disabled woman who was repeatedly molested by her grandfather and other make relatives. The court gave them suspended sentences so that the men could continue caring for the young woman.
Today's case is a doosy as well. A divorced man in his 50s married a young Vietnamese woman, had two children, gave them to his ex-wife to raise, then divorced the Vietnamese woman. When the mother sued for custody, the court granted the father full custody, citing that the children "lacked awareness of their mother." But, they are granting the mother weekly visitation rights...yeah, I don't get it.
Today's case is a doosy as well. A divorced man in his 50s married a young Vietnamese woman, had two children, gave them to his ex-wife to raise, then divorced the Vietnamese woman. When the mother sued for custody, the court granted the father full custody, citing that the children "lacked awareness of their mother." But, they are granting the mother weekly visitation rights...yeah, I don't get it.
Яolcats: English translations of Eastern Bloc Lolcats.
You punch like a Georgian!
(h/t to Boing Boing)
Do you mistake us for sincere?
We adorn ourselves thus to mock the capitalist sacrament of annual materials exchange...
You punch like a Georgian!
(h/t to Boing Boing)
Over on the Marmot's Hole, Robert Koehler posted a segment of MythBusters on the Joseon-era hwacha artillery unit. Very cool. Too bad they stopped using them a few hundred years ago.
On my Avarlyn forum, Roger posted a link to a related item, the singijeon.
On my Avarlyn forum, Roger posted a link to a related item, the singijeon.
Thanks to a user's comment on a review on AV Club, I spent the past hour reading a fascinating article about a possible refutation of Chomsky's Universal Grammar. The article is quite long, but in short, a linguist and his wife, Dan and Keren Everet, went into the jungles of the Amazon to convert the Pirahã to Christianity by translating the Bible into their language. The Pirahã language is notoriously challenging to outsiders, in part because it relies heavily on parsody and seemingly lacks color terms, numbers, abstractions, and recursion. The work, over a couple of decades, drove Dan from his faith and split the couple. Dan's research challenges Chomsky's belief that recursion is a universal language trait. Since Chomsky began formulating his theory - which is now akin to dogma in linguistics - he has refined his belief in recursion to the point where it is the core tenet of what makes human language unique among living beings. If a tribe in the Amazon lacks recursion, does that lend credence to older theories like Sapir and Whorf's?
Very good read.
Very good read.
I am practicing my Krio
Here is an example greeting:
jknight: Kusheh, Howdy body?
aristotle: Dee Body fine fine. Howdy day?
jknight: Tell Got tank you. OK, a de go naw
aristotle: Arayt, wi go tok bak
Here is an example greeting:
jknight: Kusheh, Howdy body?
aristotle: Dee Body fine fine. Howdy day?
jknight: Tell Got tank you. OK, a de go naw
aristotle: Arayt, wi go tok bak
What is up with 30 Rock sucking this season? It's gone from being my favorite show on TV to...being less than my favorite show. Seriously, the McFlurry thing?
It's that most saccharine of holidays: Valentine's Day. Oh sure, it started out in the 5th century as a day to remember a martyred Catholic priest(or bishop), but now it's the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
Korea has adopted this barbarous celebration and given it a little twist. Instead of the man blowing $156 on flowers, cards, and jewelry, Korean ladies have to buy ever-more-expensive and elaborate chocolate gifts for their boyfriends.
According to some dribble I saw on CNN last night, around the world, some 85% of all Valentine's gifts are purchased by women, so maybe the Korean take is not so uncommon globally.
Korea has adopted this barbarous celebration and given it a little twist. Instead of the man blowing $156 on flowers, cards, and jewelry, Korean ladies have to buy ever-more-expensive and elaborate chocolate gifts for their boyfriends.
According to some dribble I saw on CNN last night, around the world, some 85% of all Valentine's gifts are purchased by women, so maybe the Korean take is not so uncommon globally.
Only in Sierra Leone can you win at poker and receive a free goat in one day.
Yoon Jeung-hyun, South Korea's finance minister, has publicly stated that he expects the nation's economy to shrink by 2% in 2009. This is a reversal from previous statements that the government expected a 3% growth. Of course, anyone looking at Korea's exports in December would know that there will be no growth any time soon.
Science is my religion. I'll admit it. The scientific method is my Apostle's Creed. Charles Darwin is my St. Paul. Rationalism and logic are the cardinal virtues.
When people ignore the preponderance of science, I am agitated, chagrined. Question science, certainly. Science demands that you question it. Nearly every theory can be improved by the right question, by one clever man or woman disagreeing with the conclusion of her peers.
Which brings me to the tragic nexus of familial pain, fear and science that is the autism/MMR vaccine story. Never for a second do I loose sympathy with the families who are involved in this issue. The staggering rise in autism cases is something that demands answers. However, when people ignore study after study after study that discredits a theory out of fear, I cannot support them.
Consider this article that casts grave doubts of the very study that gave credence to the idea that vaccines may cause autism. That Dr. Wakefield was working with a lawyer preparing a case against the MMR vaccine, and that the medical records of the 12 children involved in his research discredit claims he made, there can be no faith in the theory he advocated. That this theory has led to a surge of measles cases around the industrialized world, and that children too young to be vaccinated have died from the actions of parents not getting the vaccine is inexcusable.
I could go on and on with this topic. And certainly one could raise many questions about anything I've said here. People should. That's how it works. When science is your religion, the only thing that is truly sacred is the scientific method itself.
When people ignore the preponderance of science, I am agitated, chagrined. Question science, certainly. Science demands that you question it. Nearly every theory can be improved by the right question, by one clever man or woman disagreeing with the conclusion of her peers.
Which brings me to the tragic nexus of familial pain, fear and science that is the autism/MMR vaccine story. Never for a second do I loose sympathy with the families who are involved in this issue. The staggering rise in autism cases is something that demands answers. However, when people ignore study after study after study that discredits a theory out of fear, I cannot support them.
Consider this article that casts grave doubts of the very study that gave credence to the idea that vaccines may cause autism. That Dr. Wakefield was working with a lawyer preparing a case against the MMR vaccine, and that the medical records of the 12 children involved in his research discredit claims he made, there can be no faith in the theory he advocated. That this theory has led to a surge of measles cases around the industrialized world, and that children too young to be vaccinated have died from the actions of parents not getting the vaccine is inexcusable.
I could go on and on with this topic. And certainly one could raise many questions about anything I've said here. People should. That's how it works. When science is your religion, the only thing that is truly sacred is the scientific method itself.
After being snowed-in in London, hanging out at pubs, drinking beer, visiting the sights, and drinking more beer, I am now in Freetown. But as all good adventures begin, you have to have an interesting start to the tale, and Freetown, Sierra Leone is no different. But instead of me telling the story I will let a professional tell it: Hard Landing in Freetown: Seat Belts Not Mandatory
Next up, the hotel. After staying in the Park Lane Sheraton, central London on Piccadilly, in an executive room I was, umm, spoiled. I knew the Freetown hotel would be different but I wasn't expecting a thin sheet covering a plastic wrapped hard mattress sitting on a bed three inches off the floor. But after the flight and a few beers I was tired and the bed began to look good. Thanks to the few beers I wake up in the middle of the night. I proceed to stub my toe on a 2 inch high piece of wood blocking off my entire bathroom door. I curse at the wood trying to figure out why it is there. I devise a plan involving either a crowbar or a blow torch and a monkey, every good plan has a monkey. Then this morning when my shower floods my bathroom and the wood keeps the water from going into the rest of my room I begin to understand why and decide to nix the plan, except for the monkey. Welcome to West Africa.
Next up, the hotel. After staying in the Park Lane Sheraton, central London on Piccadilly, in an executive room I was, umm, spoiled. I knew the Freetown hotel would be different but I wasn't expecting a thin sheet covering a plastic wrapped hard mattress sitting on a bed three inches off the floor. But after the flight and a few beers I was tired and the bed began to look good. Thanks to the few beers I wake up in the middle of the night. I proceed to stub my toe on a 2 inch high piece of wood blocking off my entire bathroom door. I curse at the wood trying to figure out why it is there. I devise a plan involving either a crowbar or a blow torch and a monkey, every good plan has a monkey. Then this morning when my shower floods my bathroom and the wood keeps the water from going into the rest of my room I begin to understand why and decide to nix the plan, except for the monkey. Welcome to West Africa.
On last night's Scrubs the guest star was ukulele virtuoso Kate Micucci. She's fun. And, she has big, brown eyes. Also, she builds sand castles. Check out her video for "Dear Deer". (h/t to Boing Boing for the video)
Disheartening news in the literary world: the Washington post is shuttering its stand-alone book review section, Book World. Book World was one of the last of its kind, and is being cannibalized by other sections because it has never generated the revenue the paper wanted. Publishing companies generally spend very little on newspaper ads, focusing their marketing on chain booksellers like Barnes & Noble.
Book World will remain a distinct entity online. I hope that this means the weekly podcast survives.
Book World will remain a distinct entity online. I hope that this means the weekly podcast survives.
I saw this in Glenn Greenwald's blog on Salon today:
It is a sobering realization to see just how much we (i.e. Americans) spend on the military. Almost 50% of the world's defense dollars are American. I would imagine that if one adds in support given to Israel, South Korea and other nations for their defense budgets, the percentage would likely be over 50%.
It is a sobering realization to see just how much we (i.e. Americans) spend on the military. Almost 50% of the world's defense dollars are American. I would imagine that if one adds in support given to Israel, South Korea and other nations for their defense budgets, the percentage would likely be over 50%.
The past several days have been uncharacteristically warm for early February. I was walking up the hill from my Korean lesson at the local Starbucks this morning, sweating in my light jacket. It's about 44° now, the average, according to Weather.com, is around 38°. The gnawing Siberian winds have disappeared. Next I'm sure will be a resurgence of mosquitoes.
