Pearlstein`s comments

This column by Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post is a useful commentary on the various arguments surrounding the financial rescue package.

Misc advise for travel to Japan

I don`t think these have been mentioned here before:

# If you are prone to get indigestion, even only occasionally, make sure you bring your own antacid tablets. Although the Japanese are prone to worry about their digestive tract (with Yakult and other gut friendly products very common,) when it comes to simple antacids as found in every corner store in Australia, the Japanese just don`t seem to carry them. What products they do have seem to be heavily influenced still be Chinese herbal medicine. They do not provide immediate relief.

# If you are prone to getting the occasional cold sore, take your own tube of Zovirax, the only medicine which actually works against them. Trying to explain cold sores to a chemist, even when there is an obvious one sitting on your lip, will probably involve use of the term `herpes virus` and likely have the staff just thinking about genital herpes and how you are another foreigner bringing filthy disease into Japan. As far as I can tell, Zovirax is not available here (maybe it is by doctor`s prescription?) and the very concept of facial cold sores seems pretty unknown to them. I suspect few people get them here because parents don`t kiss children or babies, which is almost certainly how I got my lifetime infection.

# Never try shaving with a hotel razor. They seem particularly poor quality in this country.

Naked Japan

If you didn`t already guess from my reference to eating unusual seafood, I`m posting from Japan.

I continue to be working on an old laptop and an old version of Internet Explorer, so posting with links is still too much trouble at the moment.

I see that in April 2006 I had a travelogue post up about my last trip to Japan. (It`s a nice little post with decent photos, if I do say so myself. Now that I think about it, I get so little postive feedback to this blog I should take to making comments on my old posts praising how good they still are in retrospect.) Anyhow, if you want to see that old post yourself, just use the blog search above for `ryokan`.

I just spent a couple of nights at another onsen hotel, which Japanese people do to enjoy the hot baths and food. I have been to Japan often enough now that the nudity aspect of it (they are sex segregated anyway) is very passe, but it is hard to lose the capacity for surprise when a middle aged staff woman turns up while I am standing nude beside the bath, as happened last night. It was quiet, and me and my son were the only ones at this particular pool, and she suddenly was there, checking the termperature or something. She said sorry while I discretely dangled the washclothe in front of my, well, dangly bits. It was the least I could do.

Part of the problem with this surprise visit was that I knew that this particular bath was, at a certain hour, going to change over and become a female bath for the rest of the night. I had to trust that I had been informed of the change over hour correctly, as I did not have the skill to double check by asking the unannounced staff women such a question. Being caught in the baths after the changeover would presumably be quite a faux pas. But then again, women walk behind men at the urinal in mixed sex toilets here all the time; I am sure Japanese women can take a nude, pink bodied, embarrassed Westerner in their stride.

Anyway, I soon found Japanese men in the other parts of the baths which I couldn`t see from where I was when the staff women turned up, so it was all OK.

One other feature of the Japanese attidude to nudity which Westerns may find surprising is that it is quite OK for girls up to the age of 8 or so to go into the men`s baths with their father. Also, on TV you will see much more young child nudity than you would in Australia. (A general interest show about a family will show the kids all having a bath together, with nothing hidden, for example.) By Hetty Johnson`s standards, Japan would count as a pedophile`s paradise, yet (as far as I can tell) there is little of that problem here at all, at least until the kids have reached puberty. When they do, then yes, I suppose Japan is a pedophiles gift, as young teenage girls are definitely the open target of lurid interest. It`s very easy to stumble across DVDs and magazines in Akihabara shops showing very young girls in provocactive poses, and these are not sleazy X rated porno shops of the Australian variety. It`s been a while since I have read about it, but every now and then the media will run stories about the problem of teenage school girls who make pocket money by having sex with mature age men. The market for such services is much stronger than in the West, it would seem.

I am told that there was some move to legislate about the exploitation of such youth、but it hasn`t happened yet.

By the way, I wonder if it is possible for the financial system of the West to collapse enough that I am stuck here forever?

UPDATE: just today,　I read in the Japan Times about a man prosecuted for posting naked kid photos on a paedophile network. So the problem is clearly here, but still it seems that generally there is no sense of panic about it when most people think of child nudity as unremarkable and innocent.

UPDATE 2: it appears that this was reported at Boing Boing before, but I had missed it til now. Since I was last here a couple of years ago, men in Tokyo's famous Akihabara district can also get an ear picking service (done by young women dressed in yukarta while the men lay their heads on their lap.) The general idea is shown in the photo in this article here. I am told by a man who has actually done this that it is on a strictly "no touch" basis, and can also include shoulder massage and a cup of tea. As well as conversation. At 2000 or so Yen an hour (about $20), it's pretty cheap.

It is, I suppose, a not unreasonable thing for a lonely man to pay for conversation with an attractive and relatively intelligent young woman (they are often university students, apparently.) The thing that just makes it weird to a Western mind is the ear cleaning. I am told that there is a maternal love aspect to this, as it is the way mothers may clean their kid's ears. But that just adds another layer of Freudian ickiness to the whole thing, doesn't it?

Absence explained

This post is being made from a Windows 98 computer which rarely is used for English, so the formatting might be out.

I'm off drinking new and interesting forms of alcohol, munching on some pretty strange seafood, taking photos of curious signs, and occasionally talking to the children more often than I do at home. Yes, it's a holiday, and that awful Madonna song just came into my mind. (Gaa. Is there some sort of award for being an embarrassment in every decade of your life?)

One curious thing I have learnt so far is that not having deep REM sleep for 40 hours does not send me insane. I was expecting at least an hallucination,　but nothing. Just bleary eyes. Then again, I did have a dream last night about Kevin Rudd having a scandalous affair with a prostitute. That is so unreal I don't expect that even the shamanic loco juice drinkers of the Amazon go that far.

Posting will be irregular for quite a while yet.
　　　

Asparagus report 2008

Almost exactly a year ago, I commented on the tasteless quality of imported asparagus. Just buy Australian asparagus in season, I suggested.

Well, I don't know what's going on, but I just ate some (apparently) Queensland grown spring asparagus, and what a disappointment. Very tasteless (although the famous toilet after effects still comes through.)

What have they done? Developed a particularly fast growing but tasteless variety for farmers? I'm going to have to look at growing my own soon.

Teh complaint

Over at teh blog with the teh crook name, teh use of teh "teh", formerly teh speciality of teh blogger Kim, has now become increasingly popular with teh academic. Teh repetition is so annoying that teh magistrate would acquit anyone who slapped teh culprits in teh street and told them "for God's sake, give up teh wankily lefty pretentious habit. It makes teh writing look as sophisticated as that in a high school newspaper."

To keep you going

Readers are free to chose one of the following explanations for a lack of posts here for a few days:

a. my secret mission involving leading a crack team of French commando rabbits was a success;
b. Friday night's proof of toilet-cubicle-sex-and-"no that wasn't me, er, yes it was"-karma meant I became a Buddhist for a weekend;
c. have been at the beach trying to convince Andrew Bolt of the error of his global warming ways.
d. just been busy with, well, stuff.

Busyness is likely to continue, perhaps for this week.

In the meantime, here's some worthwhile reading:

* a Guardian opinion piece (surprise) reminds us in an amusing fashion just how often communists have been predicting the end of capitalism. This naturally upsets a lot of Guardian readers in the comments that follow.

* someone at The Times gives a list of 10 books just not worth reading. As it includes Lord of the Rings, I think he's onto something. (The reasons given for each book are pretty funny.)

* Bill Shorten evidently thinks that the fastest way to depose Kevin Rudd is to marry into the monarchy.

The double edged sword of the internet

Obama mobilizes rapid response on Web -- chicagotribune.com

Found via Instapundit, this is just a little bit creepy:

Much of Barack Obama's political success can be traced to a database listing contact information for millions of people, a tool that has proved invaluable in raising record sums of money and organizing a national volunteer network.

Now Obama's presidential campaign is increasingly using the list to beat back media messages it does not like, calling on supporters to flood radio and television stations when those opposed to him run anti-Obama ads or appear on talk shows.

It did so as recently as Monday night, when it orchestrated a massive stream of complaints on the phone lines of Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM in Chicago when the radio station hosted author David Freddoso, who has written a controversial book about the Illinois Democrat.

Some posts about the Crash

Just for my benefit as well as yours, here are some useful pieces on the current financial crash:

Roger Altman in the Financial Times

John Gapper in the Financial Times (who believes AIG should not have been bailed out)

A New York Times column here.

What I want to know is this: if Australia's financial position is so much better, how come our dollar is dropping so much against the US dollar (and Japanese yen?)

Of interest

'Calm before storm' may foreshadow climatic tipping point

This study sounds very interesting, but it is still not at all clear what they think could constitute a sign of the climate "slowing down". (I would have thought that temperatures not rising as expected might have been an example, but that is not mentioned, so maybe it isn't?)

Backfire again

Palin's Yahoo! Account Hacked | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

I like this comment that follows the story:

"Now, American People, don't worry, us democrats will not invade YOUR privacy, just our enemies!"

Top threat down

Colbert Report's Threat Down this week was particularly good:

Anything but less sex

HIV rates climbing: new figures - Yahoo!7 News

The story covers not just HIV, but an increase in all STDs across Australia.

Most surprising is this:

Plans are afoot to introduce a radical plan to control syphilis by mass treating the highest-risk gay men regardless of whether they have contracted the infection.

"We think that's the best chance we have of taking the wind out of the outbreak," Prof Donovan said.

So, just give up on any concept of responsible sexual behaviour, and just treat any gay man who is having a new partner every week with antibiotics?

The report also notes this:

He said he was also concerned by a new trend of HIV infections arising among heterosexual businessmen and miners from WA, Queensland and the Northern Territory who travel to Papua New Guinea for work.

"Gay tourists also need to be more vigilant than ever as it has recently become very clear that in most Asian cities HIV epidemics among gay and bisexual men are now raging virtually unchecked," Mr Baxter said.

Most Asian cities, I note, are not Catholic, yet the condom message is not working so well. The magic power of the condom has been greatly exaggerated, it would seem.

Conspiracy of the day

Can icy fuel bring down an airliner? - tech - 16 September 2008 - New Scientist Tech

New Scientist seems to have opened up every story to comments. This'll be an interesting experiment.

Anyhow, see the link above for their short story on the reason for that odd malfunction of a B777 at Heathrow earlier this year. The investigation is blaming ice build up in the fuel system, but the circumstances still seem rather odd.

Of most interest is a comment that follows that suggests that Prime Minister Gordon Brown may be to blame (well, indirectly.) The idea that a PM could be so hapless as to cause a plane crash has such appeal that I sort of hope it is true.

PDS worse than BDS

Anne Lamott on grief, despair, and the 2008 presidential election | Salon Life

Gosh. So you thought during the election campaign of 2004 that the prospect of George W winning a second term was driving progressives crazy? It's really shaping up as nothing compared to the tearing of garments and wearing of sackcloth being threatened if McCain/Palin win. (I am not sure if a string of celebrities have started threatening to leave the country yet, but it will be bound to come if McCain continues to poll well.)

Also, as this attempt at humour linked above makes pretty clear, it's mainly because of the Palin element.

Enough with the "lies"

Outrage at McCain--a loser strategy. - By Mickey Kaus - Slate Magazine

Kaus' argument (about how Democrats who cry "liar liar" are pursuing a losing strategy) makes a lot of sense.

Ever since 9/11, many liberals (especially those like the Daily Kos crowd, but older politicians will also seize on it when it suits them) have started acting as if political discourse has never involved ambiguity, exaggeration and half truths. For them to label every statement of their opponent that is not shown to be 100% "true" as an outright "lie" just makes them look immature, naive, and (at least in the case of politicians who know better), insincere. Yet it is a tactic that they are finding very hard to abandon, despite the harm it is causing to their side.

Go Brendan...

By which I mean, "go away, Brendan". Brendan Nelson's success tomorrow in the Liberal leadership would just ensure another year of tension with the Coalition continuing to poll badly against a Prime Minister who is already widely acknowledged as (at least) being a disappointment. Everyone knows he is unelectable. It's just that Brendan hasn't got the message yet.

Stand up Liberals: re-read the polls tonight and don't bother with another "fair go" for Nelson.

Roger knows Whoopi

Roger L. Simon: Whoopi’s not dumb - she’s just a fake

Roger Simon has an interesting post up about Whoopi Goldberg and her recent "return to slavery" comment on The View.

Old time sex

The love lives of the ancient Romans - Times Online

This is an extract from Mary Beard's just published book on what Pompeii tells us about the lifestyle of ancient Romans. It's pretty interesting. She writes:

Power, status and good fortune were expressed in terms of the phallus. Hence the presence of phallic imagery in almost unimaginable varieties all round the town. This is one of the most puzzling, if not disconcerting, aspects of Pompeii for modern visitors. There are phalluses greeting you in doorways, phalluses above bread ovens, phalluses carved into the surface of the street and plenty more phalluses with bells on and wings.

Yes, I recall years ago seeing a ring in the British Museum with a little erect penis diagram on it. I wonder what passed for pornography in those days? Did teenage boys sneak into the kitchen to look at the ribald drawings on the pottery? Or were human copulation and erections of such common knowledge that there was no sense of it being inappropriate for young children's eyes?

Beard also writes:

For elite men, the basic message was that sexual penetration correlated with pleasure and power. Sexual partners might be of either sex. There was plenty of male-with-male sexual activity in the Roman world, but only the very faintest hints that “homosexuality” was seen as an exclusive sexual preference, let alone lifestyle choice.

It's odd to think that the Romans would find Oxford Street in Sydney hard to understand. And it's also probably fair to say that they would find the concept of "gay marriage" ludicrous, and not because of religion.

The Roman baths are discussed as well, and this part shows the old guys could see still cause and effect:

And it is not only the modern visitor who is drawn to reflect on quite how hygienic it all was. There was no chlorination to mitigate the effects of the urine and other less sterile bodily detritus. Nor was the water in the various pools constantly replaced, even if there was sometimes an attempt to introduce a steady flow of new water into them.

The Roman medical writer Celsus offers the sensible advice not to go to the baths with a fresh wound (“it normally leads to gangrene”) . The baths, in other words, may have been a place of wonder, pleasure and beauty for the humble Pompeian bather. They might also have killed him.

UPDATE: here's a way in which the position of women in the Roman empire wasn't bad, at least for the ancient world:

As the responsibilities of women became more significant to their husbands' prestige and political clout, so education for women became increasingly more common. Unlike Athens, it became acceptable in Rome for girls as well as boys to receive elemental education, to have read "improving" Roman and Greek authors and to be able to discuss political affairs. Boys then went on to higher studies, including rhetoric, the passport to political careers, while women married in their mid-teens. Throughout the Empire, however, a woman cherished her ability to read and write both as a mark of excellence and as a sign of her status.

The separation of women enforced by the Greeks had never been the Roman way; women were permitted to go out in public, attend lectures and meetings, dine with guests, and conduct their own affairs with some initiative. At the same time, as moral guardians of the health and virtue of Rome itself, their behavior was severely scrutinized for signs of intemperance, sexual laxity, or extravagant (and dangerous) display.

Sounds as if the women of Rome may have had more independence than many in present day Afghanistan or (arguably) Saudi Arabia. Nothing like progress, hey?

Unimportant information continuing

While I'm on a science fiction roll here, have I ever mentioned before that I quite like the movie version of Lost in Space? I watched it again over the weekend for the first time since I saw it at the cinema, and my original impressions are not revised: quite faithful in an updated way to the original opening episode of the TV show, impressive special effects (yes, OK, with the exception of the monkey, but it wasn't in shot all that often), huge expensive sets, and acting that was actually significantly better than that in many science fiction films. Besides which, I've always liked Mimi Rogers, William Hurt and Heather Graham. I even think Matt LeBlanc wasn't bad in his role. It was aimed more at a teen/young adult audience than the kiddie show that the TV series devolved into, but that didn't particularly bother me.

I don't understand why it got so many strongly hostile reviews.

It's well worth the dollar or two it would cost to hire at your local video store. Or just go buy it for $7 at Kmart.