大晦日
泳ぎに行こう
行こうかな

Not that I know the origin of this typeface, but IMHO, this is the worst accident in typography and a blatant display of an ignorance of asian culture.

To start with, what analogy is it using to make its reference to asian culture? Which asian culture uses a cuneiform writing instrument? I can only find two possible conclusions:

1. The motive is actually cut bamboo leaves
2. The motive represents the slitty eyes that are typical of asians

In the case of (2), I would find it an insult. In the case of (1), if bamboo leaves were an important motive, then why don't I see native asian fonts using much of it?

Someone must have gotten something wrong somewhere.

the meaning of "publishing" or "publication" is lost on this generation, and it's all the Internet's fault. the Internet is like an abstraction layer between the "physical world" and the "logical world". not that the logical world is ideal or anything, but what it does do, is remove the physical (aka real-world) boundaries from eye. at this point, in 2005/6, when Internet is at most gigabit for the everyday user, experienced users can still notice the difference between a server in USA and a server in Japan, but let's just say this is a temporary technial problem that will be gone by 2010.

my point is this - that the difference between a blog and a diary, is summed up in the world "publish". where a diary is a personal record, for one to find one's own tracks, a blog is a published statement, one's offerring to the world. but nowadays, people write about their private thoughts online as if it made no difference. maybe it really makes no difference to them - but maybe too, that it's not that they want their private lives to be examined, but that, they want a space to shout. to shout back at the world that has pushed them into little cubicles and pigeon holes. it is the peasant living in us, trying to throw stones at the palace walls of a tyrannical king.

so much for civilisation and industrialisation. every year, i come back to the same conclusion - that the world hasn't changed much since prehistory.

anyway, this entry has been sponsored by my new dairy. Proceeds from clicking-through will go to NKF.

現実から逃避しようとはしていない。でも本当に手にしたいものは、もう何かをしたらもらえるものではない。買えるものなら、買ったらいい。見えるものなら見たらいい。わかるものならわかったらいい。でも僕に欲しいものは、「なる」ものだ。顔だけじゃなく、人間そのものを変えたい。前も言ったが、「無駄のない人間」になりたい。いろんな人のいろんな性格の一部を自分の中に取り込みたい。「似ているもの」ではなく、本物になりたいんだ。そんな術、そんな技、どこから習えるのかな。そ、そう。人間ステムセルになりたいです。無限なポテンシャルを秘める存在。それが、僕の生きる駆動力となっている。

だから、僕の道は違うんだ。その道を先に歩んだ先輩、僕にもその道を教えてください・・・

Digital Doodle

水泳が好き。その水に入ったら、すべてが溶けられ、すべてが癒される気がする。潜り込もうとしても、その水面は誰一人も拒否せず、すべてを抱擁してあげる。そんな水が好き。水のような人間になりたい。誰一人も拒否しないですべてを守ってあげる水。優しいながら、普通見えないパワーを秘める水。いくら虐めても、虐められない。強く打ち当てたら、その襲撃を同様に返す力。癖もなし。無駄のなし。そ、そう。僕の目指しだ。

無駄のない人生を。癖のない人間に。

それが僕の目指し、僕のフィロソフィーだ。

好きな人に好かれるのは、すごくすばらしいことですね・・・そんな感じを感じたのは、いつだったっけ？他のものもう要らないと。そんなこと、僕にも二度と来るかな。もう、あきらめたいね。愚かなのは、この心か、この頭なのか・・・

This got me stumped - should I be excited about the possibilties of neural computation, or angry about animal testing?

It sounds like science fiction: a brain nurtured in a Petri dish learns to pilot a fighter plane as scientists develop a new breed of "living" computer. But in groundbreaking experiments in a Florida laboratory that is exactly what is happening.

The "brain", grown from 25,000 neural cells extracted from a single rat embryo, has been taught to fly an F-22 jet simulator by scientists at the University of Florida.

Full story here

Asu no Shinwa (Tomorrow's Legend)

Okamoto Taro's highest art.
This wall painting, measuring 5.5 by 30 metres, depicts the moment just after the nuclear bombing. Despite the dark and painful topic, the first response to the painting is probably "what is this?" - what draws you on the frist look is the powerful colour contrast, the lines that give it a certain beauty - the centrepiece of the work is a dancing skeleton - what is the message of this great piece? It being so dark, yet so beautiful makes the heart skip and the mind inquire.

Currently under restoration since its recovery from mexico after being lost for 30 years. Target completion 2007 July.

http://www.ntv.co.jp/dai2-junbi/photo.swf
http://www.1101.com/asunoshinwa/
http://www.ntv.co.jp/dai2-junbi/shinwa.html

Live coverage here.

This is zlel reporting from Singapore.

Harnessing artificial tornadoes as an energy source

(names may have been altered to protect the innocent)

eimajination: imagine weather war...
Edmund: more power in the wrong hands... scary thought
Edmund: since hurricanes and tornados generate their own self sustaining weather systems
eimajination: actually wat i think is third world countries should someday stop selling oil
eimajination: but sell power
Edmund: hmmm you have a point there
eimajination: then they will get out of poverty.
Edmund: the infrastructure's not gonna be easy though
eimajination: ya
eimajination: but now the develped countries are bullying the oil producing countries loh
Edmund: hmmm well since the 3rd world countries are already in that kinda debt
Edmund: heh
Edmund: might as well right
eimajination: it's just not right loh
eimajination: developed countries pretending to be civilised and all
Edmund: hey... economics make the world go round
eimajination: but it also makes the rich richer and the poor poorer
eimajination: it enforces a country-scaled global class system
Edmund: hmmm wonder how we can break that
eimajination: oil loh
eimajination: free market on oil
eimajination: let oil prices go according to demand
Edmund: hmmm energy costs are gonna sky rocket
Edmund: probably gonna force us to use alternative fuel as well
Edmund: hmm maybe not a bad idea
eimajination: yes
eimajination: IMHO it's the most concrete solution to 3rd world poverty loh
eimajination: but nobody wants to pay for their freedom
Edmund: well personally it might be a situation that the 3rd wold is too addicted to foreign aid
Edmund: it allows for a lot of things to remain in status quo
Edmund: no impetus to learn how to fish
Edmund: when the fish is given to you all the time
eimajination: ya but at the same time
eimajination: the so-called foreign aid is not real loh
eimajination: basically they WANT 3rd world countries to remain 3rd world countries
eimajination: instead of pouring in aid, i think they might be able to achieve more if they schooled a select group of kids all the way into university...
Edmund: hmmm how do you define the group?
Edmund: how can you confirm that one of them won't turn into some megalomaniacal maniac?
eimajination: u need to school them in their national values also loh
Edmund: schooling on national values is one thing
Edmund: accepting it is another
eimajination: ya but if u want them to be able to fish...
Edmund: and come on, how much does it cost to get a kid from infancy through uni?
Edmund: in the grand scheme of national budget
eimajination: not that much
Edmund: negligible
eimajination: therefore you can school quite a lot of kids
eimajination: mebbe a few thousand kids?

籠もられている感じだ。外に出たいけど、誰にもどんな説明もしたくない。でも出たらきっと聞かれる。だから出かけない。だから籠もられている。目に見えない鎖に縛られているようで、どうしようもない。インターネットはもう飽きたほどだけど、出られるのはここからだけ。こんな存在きっと僕だけが感じているではない。でもこんなやるせなさを感じていたあなたは、どんな道を踏んできたの？

異様なリズム

最近生活のリズムが変わった気がする。自分のリズムが変わったじゃなく、周りのリズムとのシンクロナイズが変わっている気がする。面白いことが偶然に起こり、何かが起こりそうな時察せるようにそのことにあわせるような動きをしたりしている。何かが起こるのでしょうか。楽しみにしている。

Say No to Handbills

The problem with doing a compaign to advocate saying no to handbills, is that you can't do handbills. You'd probably have to wear boards hung over your shoulders or hold up banners while the crowds go by. But still, I hate handbills.

Because handbills are expensive. To the marketing team, they may be one of the cheapest ways of advertising, but it's putting all the resources into the wrong places. Each sheet of handbill may only cost that much money, but they also warrant only that much attention. A victim walks by, collects a handbill, glances at it, walks to the corner, and tosses it - perhaps onto the floor. Worse still, passers-by taking pity on those whose work is the distribution of handbills, take a copy of the handbill only so that they can toss it off into a dustbin two metres away. All this when the industry does not assure us where all this paper is coming from. Are trees replanted for every tree fell for this? Business is disgusting.

Why not give out packets of tissue paper, or postit-pads or something that is of more use to the potential consumer? If you just want to get seen, why not get someone to hold up signboards or dress up so that you get the attention? Please please don't do anymore killer marketing campaigns...

Advertising agencies, please!

Living Out of a Suitcase

Machine's been down and all this week I've been living on Knoppix. Just got the latest version on CD today, and finally got it figured out... had terrible problems with performance and couldn't maintain a decent presence on msn cos I didn't have enough memory to make context switches bearable. But finally I'm getting the hang of it. Here's my secret....

knoppix desktop=twm screen=800x600

Yeah, that's it. The 800x600 really makes a difference... guess video is expensive. But the most amazing thing has been this... Knoppix has felt as much home as Windows did. But then again, my top-listed apps in windows was firefox, gaim, vim and bash.... haha.