Taking it Outside

Been thinking about names, especially after Sebastian addressed me as liberal_japonicus. I take the underscore as a signal (either concious or unconscious), as was noted a while back by Dutchmarbel.  One of the things that I like about the ObWi community generally not using typographic conventions on people's names or slagging off on people's names, but it prevents finding out why people choose the names they do. For instance, a person appeared for a one off comment under the handle  The Baglady and had a sharp riposte delivered, which is unfortunate because the baglady has a blog and you can glean other information. I have a bad habit of trying to piece together what someone is like from the various bits and pieces that you find, and I make a conscious effort not to write about them, but it would be interesting to know why the writer chose the moniker the Baglady and how her blog, which deals with lots of questions of financial independence relates to that.

I see Turbulence's name and I always think 'laminar' for unknown reasons. I always wonder how many people get an immediate impression for seeing Anarch's name that has some connection with anarchism, though I think the name comes from a Blake poem (whereas the related dr ngo comes from e e cummings) I was also thinking that my screen name, liberal japonicus, probably gets people's backs up from the get go. I'm not claiming that I am not liberal, but the whole idea behind the name was a homage to Roadrunner cartoons, where they introduce RR and Wile. E. with latin names (the episode list from Wikipedia has all of them), coupled with the fact that Japanese society is very conservative in temperament and outlook, so I do feel like a rara avis here. I also get the impression that the mere usage of pseudonyms might get people upset, because they might feel that the person is automatically engaged in the discussion in a non serious way. 

So chat about this or tell us what is up with your name. Or talk about something else.

Wrong Wrong Wrong

Via Patterico, the military has ordered him to stop blogging.

Lt G had (IMO) one of the best milblogs going. (Warning - audio automatically plays.)

The most ridiculous part is the post that got him in trouble. It takes a lot of practice to be as dumb as Army bureaucracy, but they've been at it for 233 years.

One of my colleagues is researching the economics of Kentucky bourbon (seriously!) and is interested in trying to get a handle on how the fact that ethanol has driven up the price of corn is affecting the industry. He is planning on going to Kentucky for a week in August, I believe, and I'm trying to suggest a contact or two. If anyone has an idea, let me know at libjpn at the usual gmail

This great op-ed from the LA Times reminds me of the pow-wows that I went to while I was in grad school. One of the most solemn points of the pow-wow was asking the veterans to come down to start the pow-wow. Highly recommended.

 via Bitch PhD

Echoing my comment about Hume on Obwi

What if you had faith?

Would that free you to experience  the world without worrying too much? Can you just perceive it without thinking so much?

Or would you worry about the folks who didn't have the faith, or worry that people may say that you are wrong? 

Started this thread up for crionna, who will be in Tokyo for a week. I'll list some recs, please feel free to add your own in the comments, or just write about some silliness you have heard about and want the skinny on.

First, I highly recommend the Palevsky/Kinoshita Guidebook to Japan which has everything one could imagine. The discussion of architecture is especially good. Its one shortcoming is in the map department, so do pick up a bilingual atlas of Tokyo if you are just going to be in Tokyo for the week (which is what it sounds like)

One of the favorite places to go, Tsukuji, the Tokyo fish market, has been restricting visitors because of both health concerns and overcrowding, so I am not sure what the situation is now. However, because of the jetlag, it is a great place to go cause you will be awake and you will see why Japan is the largest consumer of sea products in the world.

It used to be that all the kids doing 'cosplay' (costume play) went to Harajuku, but more and more have been going to Akihabara, which is where the recent stabbing occurred. That brings up another point, which is how much of an anomaly the incident was: one has to really try very very hard to find a place that is dangerous in Tokyo

The biggest factor in deciding what you want to do is budget, so some ideas on that would be helpful. Do get a Japan Rail pass, you can hop on the Shinkansen (bullet train) and make a day trip to any number of places.

Unfortunately, wireless access isn't so good in Japan. Here is a list of free spots, the pickings are slim. Alternatively, internet cafes have become ubiquitous. usually about 4 to 5 dollars an hour, 10 dollars for a 3 hour pack, open 24 hours a day.

I'll keep updating this unless something gets going in the comments

Unfortunately, I can't post the javascript, but here is an image from http://www.many-eyes.com/

A very cool data visualization site. I want to figure out a way to drop student essays in here to have them see their collocates and patterns. 

In this thread, I suggested that we might avoid the 'fixed' form to make a point and I popped open a fight between Slarti and Phil. I have no idea what is going on and I, like Hilzoy, don't want to go rooting around Goldstein's blog to figure it out, but this touches on something that is one of my reasons for sticking to only commenting on ObWi. I think that one natural result of moving to different groups is that one adopts the norms of those groups.

The alternate thesis is that when things get rough, the first thing that needs to be jettisoned is civility. Discuss

Not McCain's

 I love the Tool like voice from God. 

I'm not a member of the corect party