JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

Every year at this time we are caught in the Julian and lunar calendar battle of when spring will actually be upon us. And every year there is a little, but significant, indicator of the actual beginning of springtime. Luckily for the past fifteen years we have been able to reserve a little patch of the true island naturalness in the suburbs of Okinawa City. Despite the constant construction, our own yard still possesses the micro ecology that allows fireflies, dragonflies, baby frogs, lizards, fruit bats, local species of birds, and even a mongoose occasionally frequented our little haven of Okinawan nature. In November each year, as the weather chills, the local birds of prey head south. And every year there are a few stragglers that grace our home with their awesome presence. This year there was a new falcon or hawk, I’m not sure of the exact breed, that provided a daily moment of pleasure as it landed on the electric wiring right outside our front door. The bird was a magnificent specimen of grandeur. As I glazed up with glee at the striking markings and ever-alert eyes, the bird would look down at me as if to say “What do we have here?” It is when these birds no longer visit us daily that I know that the weather has warmed enough to announce the true beginning of spring. To me this is one of the true beauties of life on the island we call Okinawa.

In college I majored in Asian Studies. One of the things we learned is that the local culture tends to adopt systems that meet their needs better than existing systems. In religion that seems to be the adoption of Christianity for many of the locals. However, when one adopts a system to meet needs are they really a true follower or just using the program to get what they want? Given that thought, for people who are raised with the theology does Christianity mean being naive?

Although I have only been using the internet for a few years, one thing I have noticed that occurs frequently is the large number of outdated or unmaintained web pages. This type of information might be great when one is doing a research project. However, only finding information that is six or seven years old in the top returns of the search doesn’t do very much in expediting the process if one is hunting for current information Shouldn’t there be an archive section on search engines for web pages that are older than six months old? That way people who are not looking for current info can hunt the advanced search section. And whose responsibility is it to make sure the info being provided is as current as possible? Is it the search engine’s or the webpage author/master’s? Doesn’t providing an outdated search result increase the possibility of unscrupulous persons or organizations of using false information as a means of projecting a false image of current events to unwitting viewers? Shouldn’t there be a penalty for web pages that fail to provide a “last updated” statement in the ranking system no matter how many links are connected to the site. After all is there a current system that proves when the links were last utilized? The bottom line is most people are looking for the most current and accurate information when they do web searches. By failing to provide a system that ensures the links being provided in the top results of a search meet the requirement of an active site, the engines are falling short of the goal.