La

Whenever I throw I away a plastic bag I feel funny because I invariably put it in another plastic bag.

Well Fuck Me Runnig

I heard a speech by Robert Fisk the other day on Democracy Now! that talked about how Britain invaded Iraq during the 1920s. The simliarities to the USA's claims are absolutely amazing. Even the wording comes close. If you get the chance, listen to his speeches on the Democracy Now! website.

One example: in the 1920s, when Britain invaded Iraq, they claimed that if English troops withdrew from the area, it would lead the region to a state of civil war. The actualy speech is well worth a listen, just to hear how closely that situation EIGHTY years ago resembles the situation we are in now. Truly history repeats itself.

You Make the Call

So, I know it has been ages since I wrote anything, but this is something that has crossed my mind recently and I have been thinking about writign it on here.

I read Guns, Germs, and Steel a while back and Jared Diamond really stressed the importance of the East-West axis in the spreading of materials, foods, culture, etc. So I was thinkign about that and I am kind of fascinated by it. But then I thought of something.

The region at the head of Modern Culture as we recognize of it started in Mesopotamia, with a stint in Egypt, then spread East to Greece, a little more East to Rome, went through ages of stagnation (or Dark) and then moved a bit more East (and North) to England. After that came a big move East to the USA, the current leaders. I know I left out China, but I am thinking in terms of the culture that defines and changes the entire world, not just it's region or continent (no small feat).

Though I look at the USA and I see a nation at the tip of crumbling. I really see the US power and influence waning as the world realizes the extent of the US government's meglomania and the bad affects of US culture and the US way of life (US included). Talk of other countries coming to power and becoming major forces on the world stage in recent years has really focused on one country: China. China lies East of the US. I hope you are catching my point here.

As technology expands, so the power necessary to span great distances decreases. With travel becoming less and less expensive, shipping of goods becomes cheaper and cheaper, meaning the country willing to produce goods for the least amount of money get sthe most production jobs. The internet also helps people produce and create monies without even the hassle of transportation.

Sadly, I am not trying to produce any theory here aside from noticing that World Dominance seems to be moving East bit by bit and the available technology allows that Power to span greater and greater distances. Natural resources are becoming less and less of an obstacle.
I just noticed how World Culture and resource Dominance moved East with the years, though never South (I attribute this to most of the land mass being located above the equator. Think how long it takes to fly from London to L.A and from L.A. to Sydney).

Just some brain candy for you.

Killing My Legs for Beauty

This weekend I took a hike that I had to take before leaving Biratori. The mountain is called Poroshiri-dake (Mt. Poroshiri) and is absolutely fabulous. It was two nine-hour day hikes taht really killed my legs and made me sweat, but the view, as you can see, was spectaculor. The fog kind of hurt the view, but I actually kind of liked the way you see the tops of some mountains sticking out. Plus, I am happy am time I am above the cloudline.

I'm a little sore and I'll write more elaborately about it later, but it was really great and a fantastic way to spend a long weekend. 

Obtuse Female Vocalized

Well, the World Cup is over with and it was a month of beautiful football and a real show in the best football humans can make (well, male humans, but the Women's World Cup is in two years!). But the thing I am most happy about is that Italy won. A big trend in football (propogated in large part by Nike's Joga Bonita ad campaign) is to look only at offensive play. With the big intesst in freestyle football and the dance that can be done with the ball I don't think it is too much of a shock, but to totally ignore everything else is foolish.

A great example is a DVD I bought called FIFA Fever that highlighted 100 years of the World Cup. They had a section on the best defenders of the World Cup and their best players were all high scoring. But high scoring defenders? That's not their job.

But my point in this is this: Italy won by having a pretty regular offense and a fantastic defense. They only allowed two goals in the entire World Cup, one an own goal and one a spot kick. They never conceeded a real goal in the entire tournament and that is just a phenomenal feat. That fact is being overshadowed by a tired, desperate player lashing out uncharacteristically because he really wanted to end one of the best modern football careers with a World Cup win.

Speaking of that, I've been reading people's ideas about what exactly Materazzi said to Zidane and my favorite one so far is "If I were a ball, how would you put me in the net?"

While it is Technically Pronounced Blaz

So, Congrees (or, the Senate or representatives to be more specific) wasted time debating falg burning, a perfectly good, protected-with-good-reason right of free speech in the USA. I'm sure everyone has their opinion about this matter, so I figured I would give my two cents as well and follow the herd.

I really do love the USA, or its potential given the state of the nation currently. It allows its citizens numerous freedoms, including the freedom to criticize it publicly, which is a massive freedom that shoul dnot be taken lightly nor ever negated. One of the great things about the USA is its rights anbd its willingness to realize the inalienabiltiy of those rights toevery citizen withint the state.

The flag is the symbol of those rights and should be treadted with respect. I do like the tradition of not letting the flag touch the ground, for example. I think the citizens of a state that allows them such freedoms (on paper at least, seeing where the USA might go to) should tkae some care to show respect to an institution that allows them those freedoms. But as this paragraph states in the beginning, the flag is symbol of those rights, ont thoe rights themselves. If we let a symbol of our rights overshadow our rights, then we aren't appreciating our rights as citizens of a free state, and that is far more of a crime to me than disrespecting a mere symbol of those rights.

So, all in all, I am and have always ben for flag-burning. Expressing discontent or the state of our nation can be the most patriot way to support a nation, provided their is honoralbe intent and worthy criticism behind the protest. I tihnk now more than ever flag-burning should take palce, not as a sign of disrespect towards the USA, but as a sign of repsect and desire to keep the freedoms that said state offers its citizens. That the Senate is even discussing making the idea of expressing an opinion of the state illegal to its citizens infuriates me more than anything and causes me to lose more faith in the nation than any act deemed unpatriotic by media of Congress. They have lost all perspective.

A Wonderful Way to Kill an Hour

Search on the internet for a game called Luxor. It's grand. I only got to play the trial version, which one only gets to play for an hour, but it was an hour well spent in my opinion. Something about it just gets me. I want to play.....and play......and play....

In other news, I started sleeping in the afternoons to catch the World Cup games. It took about a week and a hlaf to get used to, but it is oh so worth it. Huzzah for good football!

Been Down So Long

Okay, so there has been no posting for a long, long time. There is a good reason, though, and that reason is the most entertaining sporting event on this planet, The World Cup.

Even though the games run from 10PM to 6AM here due to the time difference, I have only missed three games and now that my sleep schedule should be in order, that should be all (save for two games when friends from Tokyo will be up).

So far, The Wordl Cup has been phenomenal. The first of three rounds of qualifiers are over, so every team has played one game and it is a pleasure to watch. The first and foremost thing that makes this World Cup great is more a trend in football itself, which is it becoming even more of a world sport. Football is arguably THE sport of Earth and with media and foreign countries getting more and more accessible, the quality of football of smaller nations is skyrocketing. For example, pretty much all of the African countries are really kicking ass this year. Especially the Ivory Coast. Beautiful play!

The one country that does fall out of that is the US, though. Last year's World Cup and the great performances of the national squad all came to naught last week as they forgot how to play football and came out and played soccer. It was pathetic. I was ashamed to be a US footballer. Hopefully it is a fluke and they don't really suck THAT badly, but they played like the '94 or '98 team, not like a team of this century. If they planned on playing this bad, they should have put Adu on the reserves list and brought him out halfway through the matches to get him some World Cup experience for 2010.

So, if you aren't watching the World Cup, do it. If you aren't a football fan, give a couple of games a watch. There is a reason it is so popular, because it is fast paced, non-stop, highly tactical and very dependednt on various skills and the ability to improvise with a tried body. Just look at how much the players sweat.

Oh yeah, one thing that I noticed about this World Cup. A lot of the major teams gave bad shows (England, Holland) and a lot of smaller teams really came and kicked some ass (Ivory Coast). The gap between teams is really small this year and that makes for some great matches. Now, if only the refs could be consistent and fair, because I have seen about four matches I consider reffed competently.