Posts by linger
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If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.-- Dorothy Parker
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Speaker: Why the disaster in Japan made…, in reply to ,
Um. I have a Sony Walkman?
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It has been quite difficult to get accurate information in English through official media in Japan. The NHK evening news broadcasts at 7pm & 9pm are usually translated, though with uneven comprehensibility and accuracy: several of their translators are really not able to keep up with breaking news.
Outside those times, for two days after the quake, the only information broadcast in any language other than Japanese (and bear in mind there is an audio subchannel set up specifically for this purpose ) was a repeating 2-minute loop in English, Chinese and Portuguese giving a tsunami warning "could be higher than 3 metres; stay away from the coast"). After the first hour or so, surely additional information could have been given?
The only English-language radio station (AFN) is utterly useless as a source of information: they've continued to broadcast their regular music programming, with occasional notes on how services are being affected on the American bases. (Like just now: "At Yokosuka, [some restaurant] is closed due to difficulties in staff transportation".)
Unfortunately, I have to choose between TV broadcasts (only accessible at my apartment) or internet/email/newspapers (only accessible at my office). It's not an easy choice to make, on a purely physical level.
Obviously, I am back at my office now -- having had to walk most of the way there yesterday morning, at about the time (I've only just found out) when the radiation levels peaked at Fukushima. (I also found out, again only after the event, that my town had a scheduled blackout after I left.)Regular commuting is clearly out of the question.
I was able to get a train only about 1/3 of the way; then I had the option of waiting 3 hours for a 1 hour train journey on a less direct route, or walking 22km to the next station running services (which took me 3.5 hours, so was actually quicker, but not something I'm prepared to repeat on a weekly basis).Looking ahead, I can't see how my university will be able to offer classes to any regular schedule for the next few months.
Plans have been mooted of cancelling April classes, and substituting classes in August -- but that seems even more idiotic: power outages and transportation disruption will only get more frequent as demand for air-conditioning and refrigeration rises from May through July. and power generation cannot be increased enough to meet this projected demand.Even so: it cannot be stated often enough that this event is two orders of magnitude bigger than Christchurch, on every measure - and focussing on Tokyo is very much like deciding to focus attention on the Christchurch quake's impact on Kaikoura.
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Hard News: Again: Is everyone okay?, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Oh. I hadn’t realised, but yes, of course: there’s a wide gap between “team’s operations suspended and returning to Japan” reported here last weekend, and individual members staying on as humans while bodies from Chch continue to be identified. Damn.
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At least it happened after the Japanese search & rescue team got back from Chch. :-/
I’m spending the night in my office – which is a mess, but (i) that’s not much worse than its state before the quake, and (ii) it’s almost certainly in better condition than my apartment. (Which, at best, is unlikely to have electricity or water. But, can’t get there anyway, so, moot point.) Most worrying thing is that the phone system is down – so, am waiting nervously for news of friends in Fukushima. -
Hard News: The Thread, It Is Open, in reply to 3410,
In school, I was often asked, "How's it hanging?",
to which my default response was "Down, due to gravity".
It took me a very long time to realise why other kids found that reply hilarious. -
Hard News: The Thread, It Is Open, in reply to 81stcolumn,
Does my bum look big in this ?
And how totally arbitrary is it that the socially appropriate answer is not:
[ enthusiastically ] Oh, yessss! ? -
Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Sacha,
[Aspies’ muted emotional response possibly being a defense against sensory overload] Works for me too.
Somewhat similarly: during Oliver Sacks’s description of [then, 16-year-old] “autistic savant” Stephen Wiltshire [the essay “Prodigies”, in the book An Anthropologist On Mars], Sacks ties himself in knots trying to answer the question of whether Stephen “experiences” emotions. Sacks’ description is in fact perfectly consistent with the idea that Stephen’s brain does process emotions, but that these are blocked out of his conscious thought. However, because Sacks’ account assumes a particular definition of “experience” = “consciously perceive” that is not really applicable, Sacks misses that key realisation.
(Sacks has identified himself as Asperger’s; and his writings show no lack of empathy. Nor is "lack of empathy" a fitting description of Temple Grandin [who is described in the titular essay of the same book].)[Explicit disclaimer: Asperger’s syndrome is not equivalent to savantism – though they may have traits in common, including the one under discussion.]
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And whatever you think of Key and Brownlee (let’s assume the default position around PAS is: nothing nice)
Why would one assume that? No personal attack is involved in noting that they're currently pushing the "envelope" ahead of evidence.
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From Wikipedia’s article on “Asperger syndrome":
People identifying with Asperger syndrome may refer to themselves in casual conversation as aspies, coined by Liane Holliday Willey in 1999
[Willey is herself diagnosed; thus Sacha’s impression that the term originates from within the group is correct.]