The Death of Radio
This might be obvious and maybe others have posted this but it's clear to me radio will be struggling to stay alive within 10 years just like newspaper is today.
It's already dead for me. Why? Because I bought an iPhone last year. Since that time, on the way to and from work I listen almost exclusively to either podcasts (This American Life, Radiolab, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History) or streaming music (Pandora, Shoutcast). I get a good enough connection that I can stream all the way to and from work.
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Subtle Racism?
I'm sure this is going to come off to many as something to do about nothing and it certainly didn't offend me personally but....
I was at a food court the other day. Different sections of the food court had labels. There was the "Green" section which was the salad area, there was a "Drinks" section and a "Vegetarian" section for vegetarian friendly prepared foods. There was one area labeled "Home Cooking" and another labeled "International". The "home cooking" area had various chicken and beef dishes and things like string beans, zucchini, mashed potatoes. The international section had Chinese and Indian foods.
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IP rights discussion
Just hoping to get some other points of view.
The Slashdot crowd and similar people like to call IP Imaginary Property to try to point out that there is no such thing and therefore it shouldn't be treated like property. They like to point out that copying some music or a movie or software isn't like stealing because the person who it was copied from has not lost their original
Well, playing devil's advocate...
Money is effectively a fiction. It's just a number in a computer database. When your employer pays you they don't send physical money to the bank. They just tell the bank to subtract from their account number and add to your account number. It's all virtual.
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The Parable of the Talents
TED Talks
It seems maybe I'm the last to know but I just found out about TED Talks. TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is apparently a conference bringing together people from all different disciplines to share their ideas and inspire each other.
Those talks are available online at www.ted.com and they extremely inspiring. They are each only allowed to be up to 20 minutes so they are very easy to watch or listen to. So far of the ones I've watched these were the most inspiring for me.
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CatalogChoice.org
I found out about this site called CatalogChoice.org who is trying to make it easier to opt out of receiving catalogs in the mail. According to them more than 19 BILLION catalogs are mailed out each year. I know that I rarely want the catalogs I get in the mail. Some companiese are particularly agressive and send a new catalog every 2 weeks. I even get catalogs for about 6 previous tenants.
If you are getting catalogs you don't want here's a very simple way to cancel them.
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Shanghai
My Tea Addiction
Around 1994 I weighed 210lbs (95kg). I used to eat pretty poorly. A typical meal might have been some kind of sandwich like a burger or main course plus say fries or other sides and possibly before then an appetizer shared with whoever I was eating dinner with. I might have a soda as my drink or sometimes if I was at the right place an ice cream sunday or malt.
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Site Moved?
It looks like it's finally moved. I've turned comments and the forum back on. I'll cross my fingers things are all working again.
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Wakasanchi
It makes no sense to me how bad Japanese food is in America. Especially in L.A. and S.F. there are large enough populations of native Japanese peoples that you'd think there would be some good restaurants. Although there are some good sushi places, almost without fail anything that is not sushi in pretty craptacular. There are a few places that are okay but none have been true Japanese food.
That is until now. Wakasanchi is 100% authentic. Everything I was given was not in the least bit out of place from my experiences in Tokyo. The "Omakase" or leave it to the chef thing might be a little off putting for some but I think it's for the best because unless you've lived in Japan you would not know what or how to order.
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Back to Baltimore
Today I went back to Baltimore. I hadn't been there in 23 years. I lived there at 19 when I ran away from college with my first girlfriend. I lived there 3 years from 84 to 86 and worked at M.U.S.E. and Microprose.
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Blogging Software
It's come time for me to do something about my blog because lately I've been getting a 15 to 1 comment spam. That means about for every 1 real comment get 15 comments that are spam. The really annoying thing is they are typed by live people who attempt to leave a comment that sounds relevant, but then they leave a link to some website that makes it clear it's not a real comment. That it's just spam.
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What I've been working on
Googling my life away
As of May 5th I started a job at Google in Mountain View. I can't say what I am working on as it is still top secret but I can say it REALLY REALLY wanted to work on it which is why I took the job.
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Adult Story #3
I’m not sure this is really an “adult” story and the names have been changed even though anyone who this story might affect already knows this story
Once upon a time, I think in February 2003 I was living in Tokyo.
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Visiting Tokyo
A Very Happy Birthday to Me!
Pain in the Tooth
So I went to the dentist last week. The last time I went was only 7 months ago, just before I left Japan but about 2 months ago I had a couple of episodes where something got caught in my teeth in the back and it hurt pretty bad. It would pop out and feel better but then a week or so later something would get in there again. Finally it happened once where it hurt a lot and when I brush in the area there was a lot of blood. My toothbrush came out completely red. I though maybe a filling and fallen out or something so I made a quick dentist appointment.
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Shanghai bound
So I've decided to visit Shanghai. I'll only be there a few days. I get in Sunday September 30th and leave on October 4th. That basically gives me 4 nights and 3 days.
Anyone have any recommendations? Must See? Must Eat? Must Experience? Better yet, anyone want to meet up in Shanghai  Show me around, I'll be happy to reciprocate if you ever visit San Francisco.
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Life in America (or at least San Francisco)
Some of my friends have been complaining I haven’t been updating my blog. There’s a bunch of reasons not the least of which is I now live back in the USA so I don’t really have much of interest to share. When I lived in Japan I felt like I was sharing things friends might want to know or at least not have easy access to but now anything I share is just random thoughts. I guess the blog part of my site though has always been random thoughts but then again I think the motivation to update it is not there like it was living abroad.
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Shanghai
Tokyo Trains
More Japanese Chips
Nabe
Osaka, Kobe
Umaibou : Delicious Stick
Getting a Date
Kodo
Design Festa 2003-11
Useful Origami
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