Thursday June 26
15:15
No Bus Photos - We’re British
When I was last in the UK, I was almost detained and arrested for taking a photo of Yo-Sushi in a shopping mall. In my eyes, I was just a Scottish bloke wanting to show my Japanese friends “Finally there is a sushi restaurant in Glasgow!” In the eyes of Duncan, the “mall security official”, I was a potential terrorist wanting to blow up… Glasgow’s only sushi outlet.
At the time I thought I was just subjected to Duncan’s personal power trip - but it seems not:
Rob McCaffrey, 50, had apparently over 40 years built up an impressive 30,000 pics of buses, coaches and trams from across the globe, but has now put the lens cap on for good because he “keeps being mistaken for a terrorist and paedophile”.
He explained: “Since the 9/11 attacks there has been a crackdown on security and it seems everyone with a camera is now regarded as a potential criminal. The past two years have absolutely been the worst. I have had the most appalling abuse from the public, drivers and police over-exercising their authority.
For god sake people - we can’t even take photos of buses anymore?
A Gloucestershire Police spokeswoman clarified: “If a member of the public becomes suspicious of an individual taking photos in public and makes a complaint to a police officer, the officer will first discuss the matter with the photographer. Normally the individual is more than happy to disperse any suspicion by showing an officer their photos and one of the benefits of digital cameras is that this can be done on the spot.
“However, if the officer remains suspicious as to the content of the images or the photographers intentions they have the authority, under the Police and Criminal Evident Act, to seize the camera and arrest the individual.”
Laws are often created with good intentions - but are open to abuse. I took a photo of a sushi restaurant and I was threatened with being detained and reported to the police - on what basis? The current situation in the UK is ridiculous. We lived with the IRA bombing us for years and we never had this law stupidity.
Tuesday June 24
14:19
Dangerous Acts Such As Diving And Moshing Are Prohibited
It’s funny to see the word “Moshing” on a Japanese website. Viva Summersonic 2008.
Tuesday June 24
10:02
Sandra Bullocks
Acid Stomach Diet Myth
Myth 2: Avoid coffee, citrus fruits and Spicy food
We have been told for years that coffee, acidic fruit as well as spicy foods can aggravate acid stomach. Therefore, we should avoid these in our daily diet in order to reduce acid stomach. A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in May 2006 showed that none of these myths hold true.
So it’s a “myth” that coffee makes stomach acid worse. It doesn’t hold true, you tell us. And your advice for keeping stomach acid under control?
Avoid or limit alcohol, chocolate, foods containing caffeine such as coffee and tea.
People who write this kind of trash should be shot. Or force fed stomach acid.
The power of the internet, eh?
Friday June 20
10:28
You Only Have Yourselves To Blame
From The Economist:
Global music sales took another tumble last year according to the IFPI, which represents the recording industry. A 34% increase in music sold online did little to compensate for the 13% drop in sales of CDs and music DVDs, which account for the bulk of the market. A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast that spending on all forms of recorded music will continue to decline as youngsters turn to other outlets.
I didn’t pay for the new Coldplay album - I downloaded it from torrent.
Why did I do that? How can I justify such an illegal act?
Simple: with their last album - X&Y - Coldplay stole my money.
The only CD player I have is in my PC. I only listen to music on my iPod and iTunes. X&Y was copy protected which means I can’t play it on my PC, and I can’t rip it to iTunes. Price of CDs in Japan is almost double that of the UK, so I felt royally ripped off. The only way I could get the album into my iTunes without paying for it again was to download it from torrent.
The music industry taught me that if I want to play music on my iPod or on iTunes, I should not buy it - I should download it from torrent. Now that they’ve been so kind to teach me that, why should I return to paying?
By the same token, it is impossible for me to pay for DVDs anymore. The last time I tried to play a purchased DVD via my Popcorn Hour, it failed due to copy protection. I had to download from torrent instead.
Even without considering copy protection, it is still impossible. I move from country to country, and if I buy a load of DVDs in country A and then move to country B, there’s a high chance that country A’s DVDs will not play in a DVD player bought in country B…and country B’s DVDs will not play on my PC because it is set to the region for country A. There are hacks round this - forcing me to buy a “region free” dvd player or application - but why should I pay to see something I have already paid for?
The same mistake is happening with Blu-Ray. I already can download Blu-Ray movies and play them freely on my Popcorn Hour. Why would I pay for a Blu-Ray player that has region encoding and will prevent me playing via my media player? No reason.
Music and movie companies ought to stop moaning and do something pro-active. A good example is in Korea: very few people buy CDs, but almost everyone pays to have music playing as their “coloring” (cell phone ring) and background music on their Cyworld home pages. Stop whingeing and work out ways to earn money - don’t expect us to give up the ways you have taught us.
Thursday June 19
17:49
Sickly
I’ve been feeling kind of sickly for the last week, but more so today. Something strange is going on in my tummy and I don’t like it.
I hate going to the doctor in Japan. When I was in Korea, I could go to the International Clinic at Yonsei University and speak with an English speaking doctor who had at his or her command the latest technologies that medical science could offer.. and then some. In Japan I half expect to be prescribed a course of leeches.
From outside Japan looking in, you imagine a technological future society - but nothing is further from the truth. Although it may be the producer of Wii and mini-PCs, and although the Japanese have had internet on their phones for years, the core of the country is quite backward: paper based trails and technology which looks like it hasn’t changed since the 70s - everything is functional, and Japanese have a real unwillingness to upgrade.
Nowhere is this clearer than in a doctor’s waiting room. Walls of hand written cards holding patients details, with not a computer in sight. Equipment that is nothing more than a stethoscope, weighing scales, blood pressure reader, a bed on wheels, and pen and paper. Diagnosis is not read, but pointed to in medical books - presumably to get over the language barrier. It’s like a human version of google but limited only to simple medical searches and the “I’m feeling lucky” button: I say “my symptom is..”, he opens book and points to a page with the result. That’s it. They never actually solve or do anything, just randomly suggest some medicine or say “Hmmm, I’d better send you to someone who actually knows something”.
Fortunately my yearly medical is in 3 weeks time. If it’s in the same place as last year then it’s at a decent hospital, where they have tests and medical equipment (the kind that requires electricity and goes “beep”) at their disposal. I’ll wait to then, unless the symptoms suddenly get worse.
Feel free to send cards and grapes in the meantime.
