Kimura’s blog

Christmas time at Roppongi

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:02:52 +0900

They've got this illumination thing going on around Roppongi Hills.

Spider at Christmas

This is right next to that Spider thing in front of Mori Tower. Just ignore some dude in front:-)

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Twitter

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:51:51 +0900

I started experimenting with Twitter.

So far, I don't like it.

I don't get it that people want to broadcast stuff about themselves all the time. Time spent on talking about yourself is time NOT spent on contemplating on matters that's not, for example, clothes you are wearing, type of booze you are drinking, or some dumb stuff you happen to be doing. More people should log themselves off from this seemingly hip connectivity and start reading real books.

I guess I'm old-school :-P

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QotD: Kissing under the Mistletoe

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:53:22 +0900

If you could kiss anyone under the mistletoe, who would it be?

I'm not going to tell you!!

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Quote of the week

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:41:00 +0900

"I love it that I'm the dream girl for geeks. That means smart men like me."

Milla Jovovich

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Let's be honest; we are really in in for ourselves, not for the Earth

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:15:17 +0900

Don't get me wrong; I do think global warming is real, humankind is causing this change to the environment, and the whole change is a huge problem for every humankind on this planet. I think people who want to deny global warming and environmental change are either intellectually dishonest and want to turn blind eye to countless stuff happening out there, or just want to sit on their dumb lazy ass and keep on with their old ways.

(However, I think it's also intellectually and scientifically dishonest not to face the accusation of "cooking the evidence" considering the global warming; and by the way, although I have a lot of respect for all those NPO people, but their naivety is, honestly, kind of annoying. Of course it's political and got a lot of business interests involved. You can't do something this big if you can't come up with something politically acceptable for both developing and "developed" worlds, and is easy for businesses on many levels to hop on. (And by the way, I can't believe they even air those stupid "discussion" programs on environment on so many TV channels to coincide with that COP 15 thing- has anyone counted how much electricity has been spent just to produce those crap?? Why can't they just shut down the fecking station for the duration of the program?? THAT would be so much better for environment, don't you think??)

Anyway, what bothers me about this whole "we must protect the Earth" talk is this tone of, how can I call it, maybe self-righteousness? Like we own the Earth and not the other way around?

What I mean is- imagine you are a dinosaur. This big rock falls from the sky, the land shakes, and the sun stops coming up again. Plants start do die, and your fellow dinos start to die. You would think, "Oh no, this is the end of the world!", right? Sure it is the end of the world for you, but guess what- the Earth moved on. Your time was just a chapter in its long history.

How do you know that, three million years from now, whatever species that 'rules' the Earth writes history of the world and humankind goesn't down in there as "the most efficient destroyer of the old world so the life-form as we know today could be born"? (Did you know that, in the beginning, oxygen was poisonous to the life-forms on this planet?) We think we are turning the Earth into Mars and all, but maybe it's the only purpose us humankind is supposed to serve. It's like Flying Spaghetti Monster. You can't disprove either theory because you don't know. (I'm not saying we should keep driving species into extinction. I'm just not comfortable with assuming one thing, when assuming the exact opposite is also perfectly possible)

What IS clear is, the environmental change is bad for us humankind if it continues. Rising sea level could sink cities and entire nations underwater. Our food supply could be seriously damaged (some say it always is). And generally living condition would be worse for us humankind.

That's right. I think that deep down, we are just saying, "Oh crap, we need to do something about this or our sustained existence, in the long term, could be threatened. Also it seems to be causing a lot of damage to other species. Let's pretend like we are doing this for fluffy animals and rare, exotic flowers (have you ever seen celebs parading for protection of hideous looking but very precious and important spiders and other insects???), although we can never live long enough to know the whole act of destroying them is not what we really are here for. Also, it's a great chance to sell whole new butch of cars, air-conditioning machine, bicycle, PC, whatever, calling them all "green" because we've been running out of innovations".

Environmentalists are saying the "human greed" is making it hard for us to move forward on this issue- it's certainly true, but then again, isn't their stated concern for "the Earth" is yet another greed? Greed for self-preservation of humankind, and also greed to look altruistic while we are just trying to serve our own purpose?

Again I want to stress I'm not saying we should stop worrying about global warming and other environmental changes. I'm just saying maybe more honestly on many levels are in order here.

... I'm probably getting flamed for writing this :-)

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New York Hell Sonic Ballet

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:30:14 +0900

A Japanese jazz sax player Naruyoshi Kikuchi has this band called "Pepe Tormento Azucarar", and their album "New York Hell Sonic Ballet" is the craziest thing I've heard in quite a while. It's got a kind of club jazz, more old-school jazz element, bossa nova, tango, avant-garde violin, and even opera, all mixed up in very inexplicably cool way. I'm probably not really getting this, but it certainly is interesting music.

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Cheapo luxury cars

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:21:46 +0900

Did you know you can buy Alfa Romeo at 3 million JPY? (About 30K USD)? They have a kind of "entry model" nowadays. Actually, I saw a BMW advert with a model in the same price range. It surely is a lot of money, but compared to the price rage their cars usually are in, these models are pretty affordable- Japanese car makers make more expensive vehicles.

I don't get this. Luxury cars are supposed to be more, you know, expensive. Who would they want as their customer? Maybe younger people who may want to trade up in the future? (Terrible idea in Japan, increasing number of young generation thinks owning a car is a stupid thing to do) My guess is they just end up making those who just want that brand name on their ride happy. Which may not be a bad thing, considering today's economic climate..

I don't even know why I'm writing about cars, as I have no interest in owning one. I just saw this ad in a magazine and remembered another BMW ad, so I was kind of intrigued.

But anyway- take note, gold-diggers. You would need to tell which model from which, not just the emblem:-)

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I may have a potential stalker problem

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:01:34 +0900

Good thing my built-in psycho detector is working properly:-)

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Quote of the week

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:29:27 +0900

"The most elusive chimera that the CIA persued, with the encouragement of the ISI, was that "moderate" Taliban Pashtuns would rise to denounce Mullah Omar, hand over bin Laden to the Americans, and join a new coalition government in Kabul.
... the reality was that the ISI had no intention of splitting the Taliban, even if it had the power to do so. There were moderates among the Taliban earlier on, but the ISI had betrayed them to Mullah Omar long ago."

"Descent into Chaos" by Ahmed Rashid

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All the technology is making me dumb - and shallow

nobody@vox.com(Kimura) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:47:04 +0900

Seriously. Maybe I should take a "no high-tech stuff weekend" every month. I should be spending more time on reading books, sitting quietly and contemplating on things, listening to music, enjoying a slow meal with people, and generally taking a break from my life ruled by, you know, computers, Internet, Keitai, Xbox 360, iPod Touch, and any other device that might make my superficial part of my life fun and convenient but deprive me of the time to, ah, get connected with more philosophical/ contemplative part of my life.

... But then again, all it takes is for me to get fired and I'll have all the time necessary to do both:-(

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