JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

Last night was a perfect example of the lack of understanding of a concept behind a message. When the evening was over I walked into the restroom area only to find a group of persons had graffitied all over the wall-sized mirror. (We normally allow people to leave a “little mark” on the bathroom walls, not the mirror, just to tell the world they were at the club at one point in time.) The reason I say it was a group is because the message was written not only in English, but what appeared to be Spanish, and Kanji as well. (I doubt very much the extensive Kanji was written by a non-native of this area.) The main message on the mirror was “World Peace”, among other sayings pertaining to such. The reason I said that the concept behind the message was lost on these individuals is that the method of delivering the message was anything but peaceable. Never, except in the direst of circumstances – such as to save a life of someone in immediate danger, is causing damage to another person’s property an act of peace, no matter how well intended.

I first saw this on Slashfood and thought it was so unusual that it needed sharing. Here are some very unique USB devices.

When does one individual’s right to be an “idiot” cross the line of another individual’s right not to be forced to deal with other people’s irresponsible behaviors?

For those of you who are not ready to give in to the doldrums, here’s a site that will help bring some little warm fuzzies.

Well the holidays are upon us. I wish everyone a safe and joyous season.

(Click on image to view large size)

One view of a December sunset on Okinawa.

If two people get together, one speaks one native language and, after years of schooling, a little bit of the other person’s language; the second person speaks a second native language and, after years of experience, a little bit of the other person’s language; does it really matter which language they speak to one another, or is it more important that they’re trying to understand each other and are communicating?

Normal vs. Nerd

If a “normal” person submits their brain to “outside influences” they hope to gain the insights of a nerd, but if a nerd submits their brain to outside influences what do they gain, normality?

Brad and I were recently discussing the belief of judging an argument by its merits. As far as I know, this is a basic and well-known belief. In order to gain footing, some people use the belief as a means to manipulate social situations. It is not uncommon for these people to disguise negative behavior under the category of (among other things) fun, thereby presenting a positive or benign face. In doing so, a person who sees through the disguise is manipulated into either letting the negative behavior stand or confronting it and taking the risk of being seen as the aggressor in the situation. In this way, the perpetrators achieve the goal of presenting a negative public image of the target as either weak or aggressive, depending on the chosen reaction to the behavior. This is one of the reasons I’m not really into images or politics. I would rather discuss the issues not waste time with tactics that accomplish very little other than give the persons involved a game to play.