Like a phoenix, rising over Arizona...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

文月

Pretty soon I shall be moving to a different site (along with different blogging software). Blogger just ain't cuttin' it and I think I might fancy having my own webspace. You have been forewarned...

Rain, rain, go to Spain...

If it doesn't stop raining soon, I'm going to have to build a large, commodious boat. You know. An ark?

A yen for yen

The Japan Times recently ran an interesting article about why the ¥5 and ¥50 coins have holes in them. I have always had a bit of a fascination with foreign currency. When I visit a country, I like to bring a sample of its coinage back with me. And having lived in Japan for five years, the yen holds a special place (although, ironically, I have hardly any Japanese coins). The ¥1 coin, being worthless, also feels worthless, being made of aluminum. I've heard it actually costs more to make the coin than it is actually worth. The ¥5 and ¥50 coins are both really neat, since currency with holes in it isn't that common (coming from the US, at least). So an interesting article. And I learned a new Japanese word! ibari, the stub left after breaking the coin from the casting mold. This word, being completely useless in everyday situtations, will of course have pushed out a more useful word, like rikujouboueitai...

Listening to Shiki no Uta, from Samurai Champloo

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Now that's what I call style. Granted, I've never read any of his stuff or really knew who he was before today, but just look at that hair! And the glasses are rather boss too. Reminds me of Trotsky...

The New New Orleans?

Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with this? I mean, after all hell broke loose after Katrina, yes. But almost a year later? Is New Orleans going to be relegated to the status of a ruin, visited by tourists but uninhabitable? Besides, I have little faith in the military's capabilities as a police force...

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead....

Happy Bloomsday, everyone! The day where you snuggle up with your dog eared copy of Ulysses and try to read it all in one go. This, being rather difficult to accomplish, can be substituted for reading the first few chapters or just perusing any other tome of Joyce. Of course, if I were to do this day right, I would have ditched work, had an Irish breakfast, then read all about Leopold Bloom in the shade of a tree down on the banks of the Potomac. Maybe next year, when I buy myself a bowler...

In truth, if I really wanted to do it right, I would fly to Dublin and join the merriment. Perhaps a certain 蝠 would be interested in a sojourn in his ancestral homeland?

North Korean comedy?

If it weren't for their ability to level Seoul, this might be funny:

In a statement it [KPA] said the US flights were "openly crying out for a pre-emptive attack" on the country.

When the US has half a million troops lined up along the DMZ, then you can start worrying about an attack. And would a US attack on North Korea even count as "pre-emptive?" Both sides didn't sign a peace treaty after the Korean War. More of the same from Koryo, I suppose...