October 2011
3 posts
I started something... →
…ish.
March 2011
4 posts
Sunset in the East
I’ve just made one of the hardest decisions of my life. I want to explain it.
I have been in an intermittent state of fear since Friday. Panic has come an gone. I have genuinely feared for my life a few times this week. Right now there is nothing I can do to help people in Japan. I’m just sat in my house, in a relatively normal town, in Japan. Life goes on. And then...
Simple pleasures
Yesterday morning I found myself running along the Kamome bridge across the Tone river, listening to Furr by Blitzen Trapper, at sunrise. It was a magical thing. I was full of the joy of running, the feel of the wind on my face and the aesthetic pleasure of Simple Things.
A few hundred meters on, it suddenly occurred to me that I was running on a huge concrete structure suspended above a river...
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?
Leaving
I love Japan, I really do, but for the first time since I made the decision to go home, I feel actually excited about it.
February 2011
3 posts
Reflection
Reading through old blog posts reminds me how much I’ve changed. I really am not the person who came to Japan three years ago, so I don’t really have to worry about going home.
“samichann:nineteenninetytwo: It really is that simple. We’re the ones who...”
– Drinking, Breathing, Writing, Singing
January 2011
1 post
“Life is good.
Avoid drama and those who create it.
Live your life. Enjoy the...”
– Found this in the back of my notebook. I think I cobbled it together from a few sources.
December 2010
1 post
Tawel Nos (Silent Night) - Melys.
From a John...
June 2009
1 post
November 2008
1 post
May 2008
2 posts
March 2008
5 posts
WatchSinging Samurai. FINALLY UPLOADED.
Desmond Reed - Guinea Pigs
Sarcasm... It's in our genes →
Top Ten Grammar Myths →
February 2008
51 posts
A quick fix would stop drug firms bending the... →
It’s not just about Prozac. Our failure to properly regulate testing in the pharmaceutical industry has devastating costs Ben Goldacre
The Guardian,
Wednesday February 27 2008
Yesterday the journal PLoS Medicine published a study which combined the results of 47 trials on some antidepressant drugs, including Prozac, and found only minimal benefits over placebo, except for the most...
Ball Pit, Phase II →
I posted a while back about a ball pit I’d installed in my room. Everything in that post was true, but the pictures were a little misleading.
Looking at that, you don’t necessarily realize how cramped those people are. I framed the pictures to make it look larger than it actually was (THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID). In fact, the ball pit was only about the size of a large bathtub or small jacuzzi. In...
Brand USA! →
Russell presents his show from Los Angeles - with special guest, Matt Goss.
RH6M: Full Moon →
In this weeks lunar effected podcast there seems to be a running theme throughout as Russell and Jon ask…if you were a lady, what would you look like? If you had to spend the night with a chap who would it be? And who will be dressing as a lady next week? There’s an ‘exciting’ new feature with Mark Lawrenson, Jon has a difficult trip to the supermarket and of course Matt Forde pops in for a...
Fuck Grapefruit →
Should I Stay or Should I Go? →
Some ramblings and musings Recently, I found out that the company I work for was at risk of losing the contract it currently holds with the Kamisu board of education. This was because an ALT employed by Interac decided to try his hand at drug sm… Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Advanced Technology →
TA: Superheroes and Ribbons →
What place to Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Wonderwoman share in contemporary culture? Are they modern myths in the lineage of tales of the ancient Greek heroes? Laurie talks to Roz Kaveney and Kim Newman. He also hears from Sarah Moore who has studied the surprising role of the ‘awareness ribbon’ in modern society.
Magnificent torrent of canards in parliament from... →
David Tredinnick is conservative MP for Bosworth (he was suspended without pay during the cash for questions scandal) and very keen on alternative therapies. Here is a fabulous speech from him in parliament yesterday. As you can see, he talks up the use of homeopathy as a treatment for HIV, malaria, and a whole […]
Material: Solar Panels & Gravitational Lenses... →
In just 40 minutes on a sunny day in the UK, we receive enough energy from the Sun to provide the country’s entire energy requirements for a whole year. Quentin Cooper finds out how we can make more use of the Sun. Why are solar panels currently so inefficient and how can the blackness of a moth’s eye could help improve our ray catching abilities? Also why do stars act like a magnifying...
IOT: The Multiverse →
Melvyn Bragg considers the mind-blowing concept of the Multiverse with his guests: Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge; Fay Dowker, Reader in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College and Bernard Carr, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London.
DrKarl: The lunar eclipse and spy satellites, 21... →
On the night of the lunar eclipse,Up All Night’s Dr Karl takes a look at the big event along with Jeffrey Lashley from the National Space Centre in Leicester. Our science guru also focuses on secret spy satellites: how sugar mills and flour mills can explode and how people who have positive traits such as honesty and helpfulness are seen as better looking.
Zero Punctuation: Yahtzee Goes to GDC →
This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee goes to GDC: a special presentation of Yahtzee’s Developer’s Choice Awards Videos from GDC 2008.
We know nothing about brain evolution →
Filler : 100 Kirbies →
Brand: Russell's back from his break with a belter... →
Russell’s back on top form. In a show that mentions Richard Madeley more often than Richard and Judy: it’s some of the best banter yet. Russell shamelessly flirts with a newsround newsreader, and reveals a secret fantasy involving a well-known TV personality and a cake. But the big question is…does Madeley ever turn up for a chat?
Radiation Vibe: A Mini (Cooper) Adventure →
There are days when I feel like I am used to living in Japan and I am pretty oblivious to the general strangeness. Today was not one of those days By far the strangest experience of the month happened during my second lesson of the day. Unusually… Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Banging your head repeatedly against the brick... →
Ben Goldacre
The Guardian,
Saturday February 16 2008
As time passes, largely against my will, I have become a student of nonsense. More importantly, I’ve become interested in why some forms of nonsense can lucratively persist, where others quietly fail. Brain Gym continues to produce more email than almost any other subject: usually it is from teachers, eager […]
The Drake Equation →
Things not to do in Japan
Offer to do anything, in one step i have gone from ‘crazy foreigner’ to lackey.
grow a beard
buy pet fish in a jam jar from a convenience store
make plans to stay for 2 hours of kendo practice after school.
leave your umbrella on a bus
The hip-biting insect →
Children made me sing this with them. I didn’t dance. Classic Japanese madness. This is the insect that bites people’s hips (read ‘bums’). Very popular.
The hip-biting insect →
“If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty”
– Japanese Proverb
