While Japan has been making cute little sumo-bots,

Korea has been developing robot controlled tanks.

Come on Japan, get your act together! Where are the mechanized engines of death you’ve been promising me since childhood?

Oh, and DARPA is of course trying to automate the monster truck rally, or possibly NASCAR.

This is a simple one. Who can figure out the correct reading of this word?

六ヶしい

I came across it in a 1920s era short story I was reading last week, and when I showed it to half a dozen Japanese people at dinner last night, the only one who could read it was the guy studying for a history PHD.

The Liberal Democratic Party intends to release their proposed new Japanese Constitution next month, at the party’s 50th anniversary. Until then, here’s a leaked version (with MFT’s rough translation) of the preamble:

　日本国民はアジアの東、太平洋と日本海の波洗う美しい島々に、天皇を国民統合の象徴としていただき、和を尊び、多様な思想や生活信条をおおらかに認め合いつつ、独自の伝統と文化をつくり伝え、多くの試練を乗り越えてきた。

The Japanese people have, upon the beautiful wave washed islands of East Asia’s Sea of Japan, while taking the Emperor as the unifying symbol of the people and mangnanimously acknowledging diversity in thought and lifestyle, created and transmitted a distinctive culture and overcome a great number of trials.

　日本国は、主権を持つ民主主義国家で、国政は国民の信託に基づき、国民の代表が担当し、その成果は国民が受ける。

The nation of Japan is a sovereign, democratic state whose government is based on the trust of the people, with which the people’s representatives are charged, and whose results are borne by the people.

　日本国は、自由、民主、人権、平和、国際協調を国の基本として堅持し、国を愛する国民の努力によって国の独立を守る。

The nation of Japan maintains freedom, democracy, human rights, peace, and international cooperation as the fundamentals of the nation and protects its independence via the effort of a people who love their country.

　日本国民は正義と秩序による国際平和を誠実に願い、他国とともに協力し合う。国際社会において、圧政や人権の不法な侵害をなくすため不断の努力を行う。

The Japanese people, faithfully wishing for an international peace based on justice and order, cooperate with other nations. In international society, [the Japanese people] will make persistent efforts to eliminate tyranny and the illegal violation of human rights.

　日本国民は、自由とともに公正で活力ある社会の発展と国民福祉の充実を図り、教育の振興と文化の創造と地方自治の発展を重視する。自然との共生を信条に、美しく豊かな地球環境を守るため力を尽くす。

The Japanese people, for the fulfillment of a free, fair and vibrant society, emphasize the development of the promotion of education and the creation of culture. Making living as one with nature an article of faith, the Japanese people make every effort to protect the beautiful and bountiful global environment.

　日本国民は、大日本帝国憲法および日本国憲法の果たした歴史的意味を深く認識し、現在の国民とその子孫が、世界の諸国民とともに、さらに正義と平和と繁栄の時代を内外につくることを願い、日本国の根本規範として自ら日本国民の名においてこの憲法を制定する。

The Japanese people, while deeply acknowledging the historical meaning of the Imperial Constitution of Japan and the Japanese Constitution, establish this Constitution in the name of themselves, the Japanese people, as the fundamental norm of the Japanese nation, while the present Japanese people and their progeny wish for the creation, both domestically and internationally, of a further just, peaceful, and prosperous era along with the various peoples of other nations.

The BBC has a wonderful first person account of the story behind this iconic photograph.

I looked around for cover but there was none – the only areas that offered any protection were back up Changan Avenue near the Beijing Hotel. About the time I reached some trees along the avenue the soldiers opened up on the crowd at the top of the square. There was panic as people were being hit.

It was impossible for me to shoot pictures as it was too dark and using a flash was out of the question. I looked around and decided that about the only shot left was from the roof of a building with a long exposure of the square and the mayhem.

I went into the Beijing Hotel, which had a commanding view of the top of the square, but when I went in, I was tackled by members of the Public Security Bureau (PSB), China’s secret police.

One of the PSB ran up to me with a electric cattle prod and hit me in the side with it. Others punched and kicked at me. They ripped my photo vest off me and took all the film I had shot that evening. They were going to keep the cameras but I convinced them they were useless without film, so they returned them and I told them I was going to my room.

The PSB had missed three rolls of unexposed film in an inside pocket of the photo vest.

For comparison, here’s a photo I took that shows you the same piece of street on a better day.

That, my gentle reader, is the title of a scientific paper that was yesterday awarded the 2005 Ig Noble Prize in Biology. And what better place to announce it than here on Mutantfrog.com?

Here’s what the abstract has to say about this fascinating inquiry:

This study provides a survey of frog odour (with particular reference to Australian species) and discusses the human perception and classification of frog volatile secretions. Professional and amateur herpetologists were solicited for information on the frogs they perceived as odorous. In addition, volunteers were asked to smell stressed frogs and describe the odour that they perceived. A total of 131 species, representing 30 genera (14 Australian and 16 other) and 11 families were assessed for odour. Odours ranged from pleasant floral aromas (e. g. Notaden spp. and Neobatrachus spp.) through to acrid, repulsive odours (e. g. Litoria alboguttata). The systematic relationships of these odours and their potential biological roles are discussed.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

As much as I would like to, I don’t have time right now to go into any deep philosophical musings about cyber-capitalism and online economic opportunity, or how the internet has freed information and charging money for it is against the spirit of blah, blah, blah… So just to be clear from the outset, however much what I’m about to say might or might not reflect my ideological attachments, the real purpose of this post is to let off some steam on a Friday afternoon, and the NYTand Mr. Roubini just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to speak. It is emotion talking, not reason, okay?

That said, here it is:

Why did you have to start charging for content!?????????

First, the NYT required registration, which was annoying enough because if you were in a computer lab and just wanted to check one story in a hurry, you had to remember your username and password. If, on the other hand you were always using the same machine, no problem – just have your computer remember your info. That works fine of course, until you go to a computer lab for the first time in ages, or use someone else’s machine to check one story in a hurry and it’s been so long that you have forgotten your username and password (I’ve had mine since around 1996, so this has happened to me a few times.)

Then, all these other journalistic outfits started requiring registration. If you’re a regular reader, this is not such a big problem. But if you follow someone’s blog link to an out of town paper, or one you don’t normally read, then you have to register just to read one lousy article. Well, it’s a good thing that both 12345 and 90210 are actual zip codes, and that most sites will let you in even if you enter your name as “George W. Bush” or “Zamfried Hockenluger.” (And don’t get me started on bastards who want to send your password to the email address you provide before you can sign in.)

Now we have NYT Select. Not that my lone volley of anger is going to hurt something the size of the NYT, but if you think I’m actually going to pay you money to read more M. Dowd or T. Friedman, when I rarely read it for free before you’re crazy. Besides, don’t all those folks make enough money recycling their op-eds in to another book every other year?

As for Mr. Roubini, I loved his blog. It just got better and better. I recommended it to countless people. His onsite reviews are right on the money – “…best economic website in the world.” But $599 a year for a subscription to the Roubini Global Economics Monitor!!

This by no means a personal condemnation of Mr. Roubini. Hell, I would have done the exact same thing. I’ll still read his papers in academic journals or what have you. And I don’t feel guilty for attacking the NYT, because it’s a faceless, evil corporation, bent on destroying all good in the world (I’m kidding, of course). So to redeem myself for my emotional outburst against the spirit of capitalism, I’ll do something that no self-respecting would-be commie would never dream of and just admit the honest truth about my ire: I’m just pissed to have lost access to such a wonderful resource.

Ran across a crazy story in today’s Asahi(print edition, so sorry there’s no link) about a restaurant in Phnom Penh that was recently shut down by local authorities for it’s Pol Pot era themed decor and cuisine!

I ran a Google search in English and managed to find a Reuters report from last week that wasn’t quite as good as the Asahi story, but good enough to suffice for the purposes of this post. From Reuters:

Faithful to the Khmer Rouge era… the waitresses are barefoot and clad in the black pyjamas and red-white scarves of the guerrillas.

Speakers blare out tunes celebrating the 1975 toppling of U.S.-backed president General Lon Nol and the walls are adorned with the baskets, hoes and spades Pol Pot hoped would power his jungle-clad south-east Asian homeland to communist prosperity.

And it gets worse… Having adapted a move that sounds like it came straight out of Robert Mugabe’s playbook (hat tip to Curzon for that one), the owners are actually plugging their cafe’s appetizing menu of “rice water and leaves” as a way to lose weight!

Recognising that many tourists might not be able to stomach such a close brush with the Killing Fields, the “Khmer Rouge Experience Cafe” is also promoting itself to those wishing to shed a few pounds.

“It’s good for me to slim down,” said Tan, a 40-year-old Malaysian visitor.

I just mentioned that the editor of the CIA world factbook seems to consider Taiwan an oddly stateless territory. This makes a little more sense if you read about why Amtrak recently changed Taiwan’s entry in their website’s country selection form from “Taiwan, province of China” to merely “Taiwan.”

In the letter, the FAPA pointed out that in a 1996 memorandum, the US State Department stated that since the US has no diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, US officials need to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan.”

Amtrak was established by the US Congress and receives funding from the government, therefore, what they do should be in accordance with the rules set by the government, the letter said.

According to the article, Amtrak changed their website in response to a letter of complaint written by Wu Ming-chi (吳明基), president of Formosan Association for Public Affairs.

“I was informed that Amtrak takes no position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan and simply lists all countries around the world according to ISO 3166-1 provided by the International Organization for Standardization, which does not list Taiwan as a province of China”, said Wu Ming-chi (吳明基), president of FAPA in the letter.

The funny thing is, he has his facts completely wrong. If you actually look at ISO 3166-1 on the ISO web site, you’ll see that they DO list Taiwan as “TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA!” Whatever the US government policy on Taiwan’s name is, it’s a little funny that Amtrak responded to a complaint that didn’t even correctly cite the International Standard Organization’s name for the country. In fact, the FAPA website even contains a letter of complaint written to the ISO about this very issue, written by the same man who had claimed in a different complaint that the ISO has NOT referred to Taiwan as a province of China! And I just noticed that both letters were written ON THE SAME DAY! I think my head is spinning.

July 18, 2005

Masami Tanaka, President
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
1, rue de Varembé, Case postale 56
CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland

Dear Mr. Tanaka:

I write to you today to express my serious concern about the ISO 3166-1standard which lists Taiwan as a province of China. This issue has caused strong feelings on the part of Taiwanese around the world. I therefore urge you strongly to correct this factual error.

I understand that ISO seeks to stay politically neutral and uses UN sources when developing the ISO standard 3166-1. As stated in the FAQ section on your ISO website, “the printed edition of the [U.N.] publication Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use gives the name we use in ISO 3166-1.” However, I would like to point out that the UN Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use does not list Taiwan at all – let alone lists Taiwan as a “province of China.” (See: the on-line version of the Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use on the UN website. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49alpha.htm) Moreover, the FAQ section from your website adds that, “since Taiwan is not a UN member it does not figure in the UN bulletin on country names.” Thus, there is no source for the use of such misinformed
labeling as “Taiwan, Province of China.”

In addition to the validity of the source the ISO uses when referring to Taiwan, we would also like to point out that it is incontestable reality that Taiwan is not a part of China. All this, despite China’s political claims to the contrary. Taiwan is a de facto sovereign nation
that democratically elects its own president and government officials. The Communist government in China has never exercised any jurisdiction over Taiwan since it was established in 1949. If the ISO intends to stay politically neutral, as it prides itself of, labeling Taiwan as a province of China, simply because China says so, would constitute a double standard.

I urge the ISO to revise the 3166-1 standard and eliminate the term “Province of China” from its listing of Taiwan.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cordially yours,

Dr. Ming-chi Wu, Ph.D., President
Formosan Association for Public Affairs

I think that if Dr Ming-chi Wu wants his complaints to be taken seriously in the future, he should start by keeping his own facts straight.

(Thanks to Michael Turton’s blog for pointing out the Amtrak article.)