Books, Politics, Travel... Life

Anyone Read Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr

2006-03-31T22:06:00.000-08:00

Just finished this fascinating look at Japan.
For anyone who has traveled/lived in Japan, one of the questions Kerr attempts to answer is for such an advanced, affluent country why do most of it citizens live in low quality houses with no central air, heat, dryers, limited space and exorbitent prices? He makes an excellent case for the answer.
I will be moving out to Japan shortly and will definitely be looking for evidence for much of what he writes.

One big question I feel he lives unanswered however, regards Honda. Kerr writes in passing that Honda moved it HQ to the US to avoid the bureaucracy and governmental controls. Is that correct? Did Honda move it's HQ to the States? I had always heard Honda had moved many assembly plants to the States to get around US import restrictions. Anyone know?

Matt

Disappointed with J-Walking

2006-03-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

Was I the only person disappointed with J-Walking the other night?????

The big question with J-Walking is, "can there be that many clueless Americans??????"
I personnel don't think the US holds the monopoly on clueless people for no matter where you go around the world you will find what you're looking for. If you're looking for insightful intelligent Americans you'll find them. If you're looking for close-minded less than intelligent "insert country here" you find them too.

So, J-Walking makes it a point of find those clueless Americans and well, they are hilarious to watch. But, what is the sample audience??? I would think that most people understand the "J-Walkers" are picked for their ignorance and the people who answer questions cogently are not featured "J-Walkers."

Last night or perhaps two nights ago J Leno went to the casting call in LA for The Apprentice. Arguably the casting call for The Apprentice will feature the best and the brightest around the country. But, as we all know there are still plenty of knuckle-heads out there. So why didn't J Leno ask the standard fair. Who's the Prime Minister of England, what country did the President just return from and the like. Instead he went for less substantive questions which did produce some laughs but were a far cry from what people are used to.

Next time, let's see who's in line to work for Donald Trump. I'm sure Trump would appreciate the initial cut on who the knuckle-heads are.

Matt...

Great Quote

2006-03-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Great Quote from NPR, talking about the World Baseball Classic. (What happen to the US????????)

Well, of course we didn't make it very far and at the final game in San Diego between Cuba and Japan the fans did the wave.
Baseball fans of the world unite! Then they went to YMCA. But here's the quote, "It turns out everyone, no matter where they're from looks kind of ridiculous dancing to the Village People." Nice!!!!!

Break, Break

Anyone out there read "Sneaking into the Flying Circus?"
Great look into the Republican Presidential Primaries. Another great quote describing the reports on the campaign buses, "As semi-drunk nerds riding on a bus." Hilarious!!!!

Matt

Incessant Musings for the Traveling Soul

2006-03-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

First Blog....

No where better to start than the NY Times and NPR. Great article about NPR today talking about their funding and how it was effected by a donation of $230 Million.

Couple of thoughts. I became a fan of NPR about 5-6 years ago and have remanded an avid listener. I haven't donated though. Not sure why I never have.
---Tangent thought... a while back there was an editorial (again in the NYT) from Ben Stein writing about donating to his alumauter. He initially made the point that because Yale's endowment is so huge, what's the point of donating any amount. Then a couple of days later he writes a second editorial in response to a flood of angry responses, to basically say, the donations are a small token thank-you for everything the schools about. I thought the response to his initial editorial was interesting.--- Back to donating to NPR. Yes, I need to, if nothing else to get a coffee mug.

1.5- It's interesting to hear people say NPR is too liberal. While I suppose I could best be ID'd as a moderate Republican, I've always thought NPR pretty balance (I will admit that along with the NYT, which is a bit Left leaning, I read Slate whenever I can) specifically wrt the military.

And 2nd. To anyone out there who works at/on NPR. Keep up the good work!