Birthday • 1968-07-00 Gender •
Male Location • California Member Since • 2006-03-02 Occupation • Computer Geek Real Name • Joe
Personal
Anime Fan Since • Early 80's Favorite Anime • Battle Angel Alita, Sorcerer Hunters, S-Cry-Ed, Nausicaa, Full Metal Panic 2nd Raid Goals • Lose 50 lbs (23kg) by the end of 2009 & learn a foreign language sometime before I die. Hobbies • Watching anime, riding my motorcycle and learning to play the banjo. Talents • Not playing the banjo...
myOtaku.com: bunraku
Welcome to my site archives. 10 posts are listed per page.
Priorities
Just some brief self-awareness ramblings today.
I have been thinking about what people think is important. For me, I think my actions reflect what I truly find important. Unfortunately, I sometimes get sidetracked with smaller immediate things instead of focusing on the larger important things.
So - I am wondering - for the things that you feel are most important - do your actions consistently work towards those important things or do you find yourself tied up in things that you see as unimportant? If that is the case, do you get angry at yourself for the decisions you make?
What is most important to you & what does that mean? For me, my wife is one of the most important things in my life. What I think that means from a priority perspective is that I need to do what it takes to help give her a livable environment and make time to share my life with her & enjoy her company. House payments, car payments, medical bills, scheduling, home projects, and shopping are some of the specific tasks related ot that priority. Of course, many of these tasks are not specific to that priority, I also have other priorities that necessitate that I.. you know - eat, have someplace to sleep, etc.
If family or friends are the most important thing in your life, what does that mean in your day to day life? How do you spend your resources?
A couple of the priorities that I logically believe are very important, but somehow don't spend the effort to actually do - diet and exercise. I am overweight & have high cholesterol, so I know these things are important to extend my lifespan - which I think is important, but I have not had the passion and focus towards those things to stick to them. The more I think about these things, the more likely I am to stick to it. Unfortunately, taken to the extreme, I am most successful when I am obsessed with it (to the point where other people really get sick of hearing about it).
ok - enough rambling for today. Gotta get back to work. I hope everyone is doing well.
It's all sooo confusing
Hello everybody - Just some random musings today. I have recently had some very good experiences with some customer care departments & some not as good experiences with tech support. I got what I wanted, but somehow it still felt unsatisfying. My wife and I bought a Mac Mini in late March. I had to re-install the OS twice before bringing in to the shop. I got some conflicting information from tech support while they had my machine so that I am not completely confident that I actually know what they did. We started having additional problems with Photoshop and internet connectivity, so we just wanted to be done with our little mac experiment. I checked their web site & it clearly stated that there were no returns after 14 days & there would be a restocking fee if the box was opened. My wife asked me to call anyway. Doesn't hurt to ask, even if I already know what the answer is going to be. I briefly recapped the situation & said I wanted to retuen it. The answer was - sure - no problem & we'll waive the restocking fee. Umm... thank you.
Encouraged by this, I decided to call Adobe. We had spent $650 on a mac specific Photoshop that we would no longer be able to use since we were returning the Mac. Their website specifically said they do not have a program to swap out their software for the same item on a different platform. So - I call up & their response - sure. Just send us a letter of destruction stating the software is uninstalled and the media is destroyed & as soon as we receive it, we'll ship out the windows version but they did charge me $6.41 for shipping. I would much rather be out $6.50 than $650.
So - as a result, I am happy that my personal issues were addressed, yet somewhat unsettled that I cannot rely on the policies posted by these companies. I wonder how much of what happened was dependant on the agent that I was routed to? If I was routed to a recent trainee, would they have been as helpful or would they have restated the policy published on the web? If one agent says no, should I call back and ask a different agent? (My general thought on that one would normally be "no", but I also would not have called in to ask for a refund if the policy said no refunds after 14 days. So - I don't know.
The moral of the story - It doesn't hurt to ask. Generally. Also - I ask that when you do call in - be courteous & don't take it out on the agent if you don't like the company's policy. I'm pretty sure management didn't check with the rep before writing the rules.
More random musings - Canada!
A couple of months ago, I saw Canada for the first time. ok - I didn't actually cross the border. That was a good hundred yards away & the person I was with did not have a passport, but did have the keys to the car we came in. No - it wasn't some road trip gone awry. I went to western New York for work & a co-worker and I decided to see Niagara Falls while we were there.
The power of the falls was impressive - no doubt about that, but I don't really see this place as a destination - more of a place to stop if you happen to be driving by. That & the natural beauty is somewhat diminished by the large casinos on the Canadian side of the river.
I will say that being that close to Canada, made me think of the arbitrary nature of borders. What makes that side of the river different than this side? How much are the people on the far side different? Was the border drawn because that is where there wa a significant change in the attitudes of the people, or just a random line drawn to keep people from killing each other? How much are we shaped by our government and our culture? How different is it for those people a few miles away? Has their educational system drilled different thoughts into the heads of those "foreigners" than were drilled into our own heads?
A question for you - do you feel that your country's government is the country in this world that most closely matches your beliefs? And a follow-up question - how many countries have you visited? I am curious to see if the answer to the first question will be significantly different for people that have experience travelling internationally.
ok - enough ramblings for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Until next time.
Statistics, Skepticism and Bias
Put on your thinking caps - it's time for a stastistics lesson. Try not to fall asleep, if this is not all review for you, I think it is very important.
I recently read an article from a conservative web site that throws around a lot of numbers. If you are really interested, I can send you the link or later post a URL to it. One important thing I noticed was there was no reference to the source of the statistics. This is an immediate red flag for me. I prefer to see the actual numbers referenced to verifiable sources, like the US census rather than tossed about with the assumption that they are trustworthy.
In general, I have been seeing more and more statistics being thrown around with the intent to pursuade. Unfortunately, I do not believe the american masses understand even some of the basic terminology that becomes very important when trying to understand what these statistics mean. The most important thing when trying to understand any statistic is understanding what is really being represented by those numbers. By making a slight change to the definition of what you are looking at can change the numbers and initial impact significantly.
The first terms I would like to address are Average and Median. These are both generally accepted as ways to measure the middle of a group of numbers, but they do so in very different ways. Depending on what you are looking at, this can be a huge difference.
Average: This takes the total sum of the numbers and divides by the number of items. So, if you have a shopping cart with 3 items in it priced $1, $2, and $3 your total cost is $6 for 3 items. $6 divided by 3 is $2. Your average cost per item is $2.
Median: This takes the middle number in a group. You should have an equal number of items greater than the median and less than the median. With the same shopping cart, the median price of the items you bought will still be $2, since that is the price in the middle.
If the numbers are evenly distributed, these numbers can be the same or very similar. They begin to represent very different things when the numbers are heavily weighted to one side.
Example: There are 10 people in a room. 4 people have $10 each in their pockets. 1 person has $15. 3 people have $20 each and 1 person has $785. The total money in the room is $900. You can then say, the average amount of money a person in the room has is $100. The median amount a person has in a room is $15.
So - for the above example, if someone said that the average person in the room can easily afford to buy a $50 book. That could be considered a true statement since the average amount of money each person has is $100. Unfortunately, the reality of it would be that only 1 of those 9 people could afford to buy the book with the money on hand.
The article I referenced earlier was trying to persuade people that the richest americans were paying more than their fair share of taxes. "The top 1% of american are paying 37% of the income tax". I have seen similar statistics referenced as a standalone statement trying to persuade people that it is unjust that 1% of the people should pay 20% or more of the taxes. The immediate question that should be asked is "How much of the income does the top 1% of americans make?" The answer according to the conservative web site was 19% - no reference given. According to the Tax Foundation for the year 2005, it was 21.2%.
The big question now - Is the conservative web site numbers wrong? Well... no way to tell. They don't say what year their statistics are determined, so we can't even go back to reliable sources to double check. The other item that should be noted in that statement is it is only referencing "income tax". So, other taxes - sales tax, property tax, city and county taxes - all not included. Would that make a significant difference in the amount of taxes paid? Probably, but this was a persuasive article, so, being a skeptic, I would assume that the income tax figures are going to be the most favorable to represent their point of view.
The other quote from that article I would like to analyze is this: "The upper income bound for the middle class is now roughly $68,000—some $23,000 higher than in 1967. Thus, a family in the 60th percentile has 50 percent more buying power than 30 years ago."
Sounds pretty good doesn't it? There is a slight of hand done here. The article was written in 2007. They give an income comparison to 1967 (40 years) and then follow it with a "buying power" comparison to 1977. Their use of the word "thus" implies that it is a logical conclusion when they do not provide any supporting data for their claim. They also do not provide a definition of "buying power". The other item I would note is that they chose the 60th percentile. I don't care for the use of the word percentile here. The percentile term could be for a family exactly AT the 60% mark similar to median, or I believe it is actually revferencing everybody at or above that level (the income most likely averaged) - including the top 1% of people making over 20% of the money.
Instead of researching both 1967 and 1977, I decided to find some statistics for just 1967. Was there a bias on my part to choose that year instad of 1977? Absolutely, the math is easier based on the stats I found for my definition of "buying power".
First off, to determine "buying power", I will use the Consumer Price Index (obtained from the US Dept of Labor) and compare that to the median income for 1967. The median income for 1967 was $7,143 (US Census). The median income for 2006 (most recent data I found) was $48,201 (US Census). This is an increase of about 575%. The consumer price index for the price of all goods in urban areas for 2006 (that's what dept of labor uses) was 603. That means you will need to spend 6 times as much to buy the same stuff as you would have had to pay in 1967. 1967 was the old standard for CPI, so it's CPI is 100 (which is where the easier math part comes in). So - to determine comparitive buying power, I will to compare the median income to the cost of stuff.
(insert nasty math stuff here)
So, when I did my comparison for median income compared to CPI, I did get an improvement of 11.9%. That is however, a far cry from the 50% improvement that they want you to believe. Is their number false? Possibly, but more likely just very misleading.
Be skeptical. Be informed. Be a force for good in the world.
If at least one reader get's something useful from this, I'll be a happy guy. Take care.
Is overkill the next TV standard?
I saw an interesting article today on the future of television standards. The current high-end standard for TV is HDTV with approximately 2,000,000 pixels. I've seen it in the stores - pretty impressive. I am however, behind the times with a 27" cathode ray tube TV and DVD player in the family room. ok -in my office, it is closer to a history lesson with turntable, laserdisc, s-vhs, dvd player along with a sega Genesis and PS2 (but I do have a 20" flat-panel to represent the present in there).
Today, I saw an article that mentioned NHK's effort in developing a new standard called UHDV. If successful, it will be 7,680 × 4,320 pixels - about 4 times as many pixels in each direction - 16 times the number of pixels total as HDTV. I think by the time this comes out, my eyesight won't be good enough to be able to see that level of detail. The kicker to put this in the overkill category was the proposed sound system. 22.2 (aka Hamasaki 22.2). Why, yes, that is the same naming convention as the 5.1 or 7.1 systems out today. 5.1 means 5 directional speakers and 1 subwoofer. Center, Front-left, front-right, rear-left, rear-right and the sub.
Therefore, 22.2 means 22 directional speakers along with 2 sub-woofers. There are 9 speakers supposed to be mounted above ear level, 10 at ear level and 5 below ear level. I'm not sure how it would sound, but I am pretty sure my wife's head would explode if I tried to bring 24 speakers into our family room.
Implicit Association
I took a very interesting online test today. It is sponsored by Harvard University (I'm sure you've heard of that school before). It is called Project Implicit. It uses word and picture association to determine if you have any automatic preference between 2 groups. I took the test comparing European American to African American. At the end of the test, they show what the results of their testing has been as well as your individual results. I assumed there would be some preference to European-American in the overall results, but was surprised to see how much. Over 50% of americans had moderate or strong preference towards european-americans. Add in slight preference & it goes up to 70%. I hope that we are making progress towards a less prejudiced society, but this sudy shows we still haave a long ways to go.
There were a number of other tests available as well. I do not recall what they all were but they included age, race, gender, sexuality and others. There were over a dozen overall. Here is a link if you want to go try it out (choose 'Demonstration' if you want to take on of the tests): https://implicit.harvard.edu
Just don't blame me if you don't get the result you wanted. Feel free to e-mail or PM me if you want to know what my personal results of the test were. I am interested to see how other people do - especially people who are native to countries other than the U.S.
Excuse me, but I have to go now. I hear a hot tub calling my name. ^_^
Local Sushi
As many of you know - I have recently relocated from the Seattle area to northern California.
I was a bit concerned with my ability to find good sushi, sake, anime, etc. I know if I drove down to San Francisco, I would be in otaku heaven - but that is a 2 hour plus drive each way depending on traffic, so it will not be a weekly event. I am pleasantly surprised at what I found - ok - haven't found a place to rent anime yet, but as far as the others go - I think I will be ok.
As far as manga goes - the local comic shop has a pretty decent selection & then there is Barnes and Noble. I won't find anything really out there, but at least they carry a good number of titles. Anime for sale - there is an electronic superstore in the area called Fry's that has a nice Anime aisle. Also - they are not going to be searching for any unusual titles, but at least they have volume.
As far as sushi goes - I was pleasantly surpised at a place called Wasabi House not too far from our new home (2-3 miles) - too far to stagger, but a nice quick drive when you are hungry. They have a nice selection of sushi with an... almost french presentation. Yeah - not your average place. A normal sushi presentation is on a small sinple decorative plate - normally not much larger than the sushi roll itself. It would come with ginger (to cleanse the palette) and wasabi (to torture the uninitiated). This place served the sushi roll on more of a platter. The sushi roll takes up a small portion of the plate with the rest of the area being taken up by some type of sauce. The sushi roll we ordered had a red ring of chili sauce around the plate. It was a fairly common chili sauce - I forget the name, but it usually comes in a large squeeze bottle with a rooster on the label. I digrerss - what a shock there. Many of the sushi are much more decorative with the sauce patterns in the shape of a fish or '49ers or something else mildly amusing. The sushi was tasty and I enjoyed having the chili sauce dip as an alternative to the wasabi. They did have a few coices for sake. Few. They actually had about 6 on the menu, but in reality, they only had 3 in stock. The one I had was considered a 'premium'. I would call it 'good' - not great or premium, but good. I'll have to check BevMo's selection to see what they have to offer by the bottle.
The local grocery market carries the brand of udon soup I like. In Seattle, we would end up going to 3 different stores to do our shopping, but we found a store close by that allows us to actually do almost all of our grocery shopping in one place. I still have to go to a health food store for the yeast free bread. Yeah - I didn't think you could make bread without yeast either, but apparently you can.
So ashamed.
Yes, I have been busy, but to not have posted in this long is shameful.
For those of you remembering my last post, I had purchased some grated wasabi. I did a side by side comparison between that & the cheaper "wasabi" provided by the japanese restaurant where I purchased the california rolls for comparison. I chose california roll because it is kind of a neutral sushi that won't overpower the wasabi, but still has some flavor.
I did 2 comparisons - the first mixing equal amounts of wasabi with soy sauce and dipping the sushi briefly. The second comparison was putting a small amount of the wasabi on the tip of my tongue - no blending.
Blending:
The real grated wasabi was prepared in an oil based solution. This led to difficulty in getting a smooth dissolve in the water based soy sauce. The horseradish based wasabi blended quickly and smoothly in the soy sauce.
Blended flavor:
The standard wasabi had an overpowering flavor. I think I would have to use much less of the wasabi in order to get a blend that complemented the sushi rather than replacing the flavor of the sushi.
The recommended blended amount of prepared grated wasabi (the real stuff), offered a much better level of flavor that did complement the sushi rather than overpower it.
Straight:
Both cleared my sinuses. Wasabi is japanese horseradish, so they both had that lovely decongestant effect. From a strictly "heat" perspective, I think they were pretty close. The horseradish based wasabi had a much stronger flavor, while the grated wasabi was... cleaner. Yeah - my culinary vocabulary seems to need a little improvement. Overall, I don't think there was enough of a difference to hunt down the real grated wasabi. The more important aspect to me is to find the right ratio of wasabi to soy sauce and then the proper dipping technique so that you can add the flavor without drowning out the sushi. I sound like such a sushi snob - just wait until I talk about sake - snooze city. Life goes on.
The next thing I would like to do is to make my own flavor of sushi. I am into hot peppers, so I purchased a few mild peppers (Anaheim and poblano), sushi vinegar and sweet rice. I am going to make some pepper sushi. Of course, I have been a bit lax with the cooking lately, so I am not sure when exactly I am going to make this, but I hope it is before the peppers go bad. By the way - a friend of mine taped an episode of a show called "Good Eats" for me that talks about peppers. Great show. It talks about the science of cooking as well as recipes and techniques. That reminds me - I need to set up a subscription on Tivo to catch more episodes.
As some of you may know from reading Yensid's site - we are in the process of buying a house a couple of states away - California (the state where I grew up). The process is incredibly stressful & I am sooooo sick of signing my name. First, there are the offers, counter offers, loan applications, disclaimers, loan paperwork, insurance, request for repairs & I have heard the closing paperwork is the worst of the bunch. I'm not sure I even want to see that.
The whole house shopping thing is the excuse I am using for not updating more often. I do enjoy visiting you all & hope to continue to do so even if I am not posting. I'll give you an update once I am in California to let you know if I find any good anime sources outside of San Francisco (I'll be in the Sacramento area), although I think a subscription to Netflix may be in order.
Another snow day?
We had a little bit of bad timing yesterday.
They predicted snow overnight Tuesday night, but we only got a dusting. My wife had an appointment about 15 miles away in the afternoon yesterday. It was about a 20 minute drive - nice and dry, good traffic. We got there about 3:30pm, finished up there and made one additional stop to buy a part I needed for my motorcycle. We left there before 4pm.
I decided to take the backroads because the freeways would be starting to get heavy by 4:00. The first part of the drive was normal. Not much traffic. After a few miles, it started to get interesting. It started snowing. Well, I think it was snow. I am not much into the white stuff, but it looked kind of like a cross between snow and hail. It looked like little styrofoam pellets hitting the windshield (but they made more noise). Very white and round. The roads pretty quickly became white. It was all pretty good until we turned on 124th Ave NE. We stay on that road for 1.5 miles & there is a slight downhill followed by a n uphill. Not a steep hill, just an incline.
An hour.
It took us over an hour to travel a mile and a half. I was watching the people going the other direction as we were heading downhill & noticed quite a bit of tire slippage. One person actually stopped in the middle of the road to chain up. This road is 1 lane in each direction with a suicide lane, so blocking a lane is really not recommended. We finally got to our uphill section.
As we approached our uphill section, I noticed quite a bit of foot traffic. People with nice shiny shoes talking on their cell phone. It didn't look like they were prepared for walking in bad weather, so we figured they didn't intend to walk when they left. Then we started to see the abandoned cars. There were a number of cars that just pulled over partway up the hill. Luckily, my wifes car has traction control which kicked in as we started up the hill. We made it - slowly, but in control. I love traction control. Once we made it past that section of road, it was not too bad. Overall - 20 minutes to drive there - 2 hours back.
Last night they said that the snow event would be over by 8pm. We went out to dinner and a book signing (I'll let Yensid talk about that - she knew who he was, I didn't) and got home just about 8:00pm. Our driveway was a little wet, but there was no snow sticking. This morning - oh, look - another snow day. Except that my wife has a dentist appt today. So, I expect in a couple of hours, I will be out shoveling our driveway (road). I counted the number of steps from the bottom of the driveway to our parking area (where it is flat) & I think it was 130 steps. That's a lot of shoveling.
I am reading a book on sushi, so hopefully, that will be the topic of my next post. One of the things I learned so far is that most Americans have never had wasabi. Most of the "wasabi" available in the US is actually a paste made of horseradish, flavorings and coloring. I did find a tube of actual grated wasabi & am anxious to try it. I'll let you know how it goes.
Priorities 
It's all sooo confusing 
Statistics, Skepticism and Bias 
Classic (?) Rock 
This is only a test 
Implicit Association 
So ashamed.