February 27, 2010 archive

Late Night Karaoke

Open Thread

Random Japan

HOLY SMOKES!

White ash and steam could be seen spewing from the sea when an underwater volcano known as Fukutokuoka no Ba erupted just north of Iwo Jima.

In Hiroshima, the municipal government announced plans to re-examine the effects of the radioactive “black rain” that fell on the city after the atomic bombing in 1945.

Over 240 babies took part in a traditional “crying sumo” tournament at a temple in Nagasaki. The little gaffers faced off two at a time, and the first one to bawl was declared the winner.

A 25-year-old unemployed man in Kanagawa Prefecture is in hot water-both with the cops and on the home front-after falsely claiming that he’d been mugged and robbed of over ¥400,000. He didn’t want his wife to find out that he had no money or job.

Believe it or not, police sent nearly 40 cop cars and 140 officers to track down the culprits in the alleged robbery mentioned above, perhaps because the bogus victim said the muggers were “two foreign-looking men.”

Eleven-year-old elementary school student Rina Fujisawa recently passed a qualifying exam to become the youngest-ever professional Go player.

FRIDAY NIGHT DISTRACTIONS

Again, Friday is here.

I hope you`ve had as uneventful a week as I hope you did, except for those who were blessed with something great in their lives, respectively, or even collectively.

For those who have had sadness or disappointments, I`m sorry.

Still, many who`ve been through plenty find a way to overcome their personal trials by putting them on display, publicly.

This opening image of two beautiful friends, was taken at such a place.

Please click on it, to see the mountain of crosses. & more images.

This was taken in Lithuania.

Here is a link to that place, also.

http://www.sacredsites.com/eur…

MOTHER & DAUGHTER

K (5)

Behold, what courtly statecraft!

Photobucket

Greece: “Oh, yeah?  What happened to our WWII reparations, Nazi gold thieves?”

Germany: “Fuck you, Greek deceivers, swindlers, beguilers, double-dealers, fraudsters, scammers, dupers, impostors, peculators, embezzlers, cheats.”

Thus, by first gently and graciously grooming one another’s perceived character flaws, without excessively slavish preening, the negotiations can grind directly into the brass tacks.

It’s called finesse.

Friday Philosophy: Inside the walls

I was asked by someone to recount some of my experiences working as a correctional specialist (aka prison guard) when I was in the US Army (1971-73).  I decided to try to write about that for this evening, although those are not the easiest memories I have to work through, so there will probably be fewer stories than maybe I should have.

I’ve written a little bit about the experience before.  One of the pieces was Ever, which was about prison rape and other mistreatment of our prisoner population.  The other, Bummer of a week, mostly, was written near last Memorial Day.

I’ve also recounted some odds and ends in comments over the years.

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