Jason’s Random Thoughts

It seems the next time I fly back to Canada, it will need to be a direct flight. I have no intentions of saving a few hundred dollars by flying into Portland or San Francisco, only to run into some complication concerning US Customs and my digital equipment. According to this article from PC World, the US Border Agency says it has the legal power to seize our digital equipment indefinitely in the name of security, thus granting the U.S. government the opportunity to collect massive amounts of information about it’s own people, and those who are just passing through.

Considering how I have NEVER gone into the U.S. once without some kind of bad luck (food poisoning, luggage falling apart, being refused boarding a plane, being refused entry back into Canada when walking over the Peace Bridge, getting sick after eating at various restaurants, having a drunk American jerk shove me into a wall at a hockey game because I wasn’t wearing a home-team jersey, etc.), I will not risk the possibility of being stripped of my digital electronics. Sure, I always have backups of the data, but that’s not the point. It’s the principle of the matter.

If I have to fly through the US in order to save a few hundred dollars on the already-expensive flights to Canada, only to have my notebook, PDA, cell phone or digital camera taken, then I’m out a lot more money than I “saved”. On top of this, if the US never has to give stuff back, this is a great excuse for anybody working at the US Border to take whatever the heck they want from me and keep it for themselves. While the US government has some pretty impressive databases, I somehow doubt that everything seized will be properly recorded or processed.

I seriously hope that the next leader of that country can put things back to the way they were before Bill Clinton left office. While the nation wasn’t perfect, it was a heck of a lot friendlier than it is now. Security is important, yes, but what price must people pay for that security? Most of the country’s people are already armed … do they really need to be protected by the ever-watchful eyes of big brother, too?

It’s a shame that the country that once stood for freedom has gotten lost in its search for peace of mind.

It’s a good thing I don’t write software for companies, anymore

Bookmark To:

Over a year has passed since 新潟県 (Niigata Prefecture) suffered a massive offshore earthquake.  Measuring 7 on Japan’s scale of 7, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant quickly shut down the four reactors operating at the time.  Aside from an outdoor transformer catching fire and some radioactive material from a spent fuel storage pool leaking into the sea, there was no major damage to the plant.  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has inspected the plant twice and found no serious damage to the facilities.  So this begs the question: Why isn’t the plant brought back online?

Disaster prevention was key in the design of this nuclear power plant, and the safety mechanisms worked near-perfectly.  The reactors were quickly shut down through automated systems, the rods were secured, and not one life was lost.  The facility was hit with a quake measuring 7 out of 7, in a country where Richter’s Scale just won’t do, and it’s still standing.  Surely this is a redeeming qualification to resume power generation in a country where a summer-time electrical consumption rate of 98.2% capacity is considered “expected.”

Oddly enough … no.

The seven nuclear power reactors, which together are capable of generating 8.21 GigaWatts (more than any other plant on Earth), will remain offline for the summer and probably until sometime in mid-to-late-2009.

About As Green As An American SUV

Electricity is insanely important in Japan as anything that can be plugged into a wall socket is plugged into a wall socket.  Chairs, sofas, coffee tables, aquariums, book shelves, digital scales, toothbrushes, and throw rugs.  Anything and everything that can have a computer chip, light bulb or fan, usually gets one … whether it’s necessary or not.  With such a reliance on power, the Japanese public will not tolerate such Third-World situations as rolling blackouts or, heaven forbid, brown-outs.  To this end, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) resumed operations at two thermal power plants in 横須賀市 (Yokosuka).  While this will help compensate for the lost power generation from Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, it will also emit an extra 30,000,000 tonnes of CO² into the atmosphere.

Yay.

Despite the rage and insults lobbed at China for their excessive use of coal-powered plants, few people pay attention to where their electrical power comes from.  With so much of the country flirting dangerously with shortages this summer, it’s time for us to think about these issues.  TEPCO must show that it’s implemented a dynamic set of safety measures if it wants to resume operations at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, and government agencies need to make more of an effort to educate the public on the need for nuclear power plants.

Whether this will happen, though, remains to be clear.

Bookmark To:

武島 (Takeshima) is a group of disputed islets situated between Japan and South Korea. The South Korean government claims this patch of land is sovereign territory and refers to it as Dokdo. Japan, on the other hand, steadfastly sticks to the position that the island group is an integral part of the country’s territory historically as well as according to international law. This has been the case for over half a century, and will likely continue to be the story for the same length of time.

We can see the same kind of story between Japan and Russia concerning the sovereignty of 色丹 (Shikotan), 国後 (Kunashiri), 択捉 (Etorofu), and the はぼまい (Habomai) group of islets just off the northern coast of 北海道 (Hokkaido). Unlike the situation with Russia, though, the South Koreans are much more ambitious with their dramatic territorial claims.

But who is the rightful nation to this semi-appealing group of rocks sitting exposed in the middle of the Sea of Japan?

Historical Perspective

Japan first took control of Takeshima in the early part of the Edo period (1603-1867). Before this time, there were no inhabitants on the islands, and the only significance this small region had was the fishing. The islets were put under the jurisdiction of Shimane Prefecture in 1905, and all was well and good with the situation.

This changed in the 1950’s, though, when South Korean President Syngman Rhee declared Takeshima as sovereign Korean territory and gave them the name of Dokdo (meaning “Independent”). This transpired shortly before the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into effect in 1952, where Japan’s internationally recognized sovereign territory was mapped out. Since this time, South Korean military personnel have illegally occupied the islets.

The Current Situation

South Korea and Japan are neighbours, both politically and geographically. The nations have worked together well in the past, and they’ll need to continue working together if they hope to create any lasting relations with North Korea and secure their position as an economic power-house on the Pacific coast. While there has been quite a lot of huffing and puffing on various subjects, the nations of South Korea and Japan are not all that different. Why the mention of a group of islets in a teachers’ manual warrants the recall of ambassadors and prompts official protests is beyond me.

The teacher’s book explicitly avoided talking about the Takeshima islets as though they were an integral part of Japan’s territory, and asked that lessons on this disputed collection of rocks be handled in the same fashion as how teachers currently discuss the disputed regions in the northern territories. This includes discussing the dispute between the nations, as well as the history behind the political impasses.

Looking at this from a third perspective, it’s clear that Japan’s Education, Science and Technology Ministry has clearly given a good amount of consideration towards South Korea and how they would view the instruction booklet. Despite this, the South Korean government is opposed to the move, and proved it by temporarily recalling their Ambassador to Japan, Kwon Chul Hyun.

That said, what Japanese school children are taught in school regarding these disputed lands could affect their sovereignty at some point in the future. If the residents of this nation are completely unaware of the history regarding Takeshima, they may let the region go at some point in the future to the Koreans, which could then affect Japan’s commercial concerns in the region.

Or so I’m told.

Diplomatic consideration belongs in government buildings and should have little to do with how Japan decides to discuss a portion of their history with the coming generations. Unlike the curriculum guidelines that are laid out by the ministry every ten years, the instruction manual is not legally binding. That said, it’s significance cannot go unnoticed as it often serves as a guideline when editing school textbooks and during classroom exercises. For this reason, publishers will have to commit themselves to providing incredibly clear explanations of the situation in their textbooks, while teachers must properly educate their students. This will be some slippery ground as nations tend to be quite sensitive about topics such as sovereign soil.

Finding a solution to the Takeshima islets issue will be incredibly difficult. Hopefully the governments of these two nations can sit down and rationally discuss the topic without upsetting too many of the ultra-nationalistic individuals on both sides of the sea. It’s incredibly important that Japanese people understand the issue and can state their case to the international community, but it’s also important to keep an open dialogue with their passionate neighbours.

Bookmark To:

Countries such as Canada and Japan have faced some pretty tough competition over the last quarter century in the domestic tourism business, but it seems that they have an ally in the fight to keep our hard earned money inside our own borders: the United States of America.

Nick from LongCountdown recently sent me a link to a Washington Times article that outlines one of the possible ways people will be kept “in line” while on a commercial flight and, not surprisingly, I’m quite pissed off about it. Luckily it’s just something that’s being discussed, but it wouldn’t surprise me if something of this magnitude was introduced after the next time a plane is used as a missile.

The device in question is essentially a wrist bracelet with an internal GPS, which will allow the US government to keep track of all passengers from the time they get on the plane, to the time they disembark. As an added feature, these bracelets will have the ability to shock someone severely enough to render the victim somewhere between unconcious and dead. While this might sound like a great idea if we’re flying between Earth and Hell, this is hardly the treatment that one should have to expect after paying ridiculous air fares, obnoxious fuel surcharges, airport upgrade fees, and concourse “food”. And that’s all the crap we’re forced to do *before* we get on the damned plane!

Although I might act like one at times, I’m not a psychopath. If I’m spending over half-a-month’s salary for the “luxury” of sitting in a cramped cabin with people who smell like ass for the 12+ hours it takes to get from Japan to North America, the least these people could do is treat us like paying customers.

Oh, I forgot. In America, you’re guilty until proven dead. This is true regardless of whether you’re Canadian, Lybian, North Korean or, oddly enough, American.

The Revitalization of Local Tourism

One nice aspect about this absurd rush towards “safety” is that fewer people will be willing to leave their countries or fly on American airlines. This could mean that commercial American aircraft will be making less runs to other countries, which will do wonders for the atmosphere. On top of this, people will get to see more of their home countries and/or fly their own domestic airlines. I’m sure that JAL in Japan and Air Canada in Canada will appreciate any extra business they might receive. Heck, anything to stave off the semi-annual bankruptcy declarations and government bail-outs for these companies will be a welcome change.

I’m looking forward to whatever domestic tour packages the local companies might put out in the near future. It should be fun to read “Why be treated like a criminal on your vacation? Come visit sunny Hokkaido!” There are quite a few places that I’d like to see in this country and, if I’m lucky enough to spend the rest of my life in Japan, it would be fun to visit every prefecture and major city before kicking the bucket.

Well … maybe not *every* city. Tokyo seems just a bit too crowded for my liking
The Better Air Safety Solution

If the governments such as those in America really want to keep the airways safe from terrorists, what they need to do is start having people board the planes naked. Completely and utterly naked. The advantage to this is the huge reservations that many will have about flying in the nude. Who would want to sit on a plane with a bunch of ugly old men? On top of that, with everyone covering themselves with their hands, who would want to touch anyone else? If that’s not enough, who would want to sit in a seat that some other naked ass was in? It’s bad enough that we do this with toilets … but something with a back and head rest would be quite a bit different.

Most of the world’s more extreme religious nuts all feel that the body is a dirty thing and should be hidden from sight. On top of this, many of the more extreme religious nuts will not want to look at the naked form of the opposite sex, as that would be like looking right into the eyes of Satan. They must resist temptation, after all.

So, after all the pat-downs, metal searches, X-Rays, sniffer dogs, and “random” extra security checks, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to demand that people disrobe and remain that way until they disembark at their destinations. If this isn’t enough, perhaps the US government could even insist we all have a bar code stamped onto our left arms.

And why not? This wouldn’t be the first time that a government of the world has done such a thing while transporting fellow humans.

Bookmark To:

The Chicago Tribune recently ran an article discounting a position held by long-time comedian-turned-sociologist Bill Cosby that rap music and hip-hop culture is partly to blame for the “moral breakdown of the family” unit. Associate Professor at the Chicago State University, Yan Dominic Searcy, cuts right to the chase in the piece and, oddly enough, his position almost mirrors my own when it comes to the validity of Cosby’s recent book, “Come On People: On the Path From Victims to Victors,” co-authored by Alvin Poussaint.

I read this book a few weeks after it was published and, after just a few dozen pages, I was left scratching my head over the content. I’ve read dozens of sociology books on the subject of racial poverty in various countries, and to say that rap music is to blame for the state of America is about as insightful as saying cream cheese is responsible for America’s obesity epidemic. Sure, people who listen to rap music might go out and commit the same type of crimes they hear about in music or engage in various sexual activities with others, but most people won’t. Why not? Because the average person is smarter than this.

I’ve been listening to rap music since the early 90’s. I remember a time when LL Cool J sent ripples through the industry by saying “I don’t give a damn” in his hit Let Your Backbone Slide. We’ve come a long way since then, with artists like Eminem saying “I don’t give a fuck,” and 50 Cent talking about how “suckin’ his dick is the real career move.” But does such explicit language really corrupt today’s listeners?

In a word: no.

Twenty years of hip-hop has given me, a typical lower-class white man, some insight into another lifestyle in an entertaining and creative way. I’m not going to grab a gun, round up a posse and settle a score. I’m not going to go club-hopping to pick up sexually over-charged women who think it’s better to get through life on their back than with their brains. I’m not even going to flaunt any wealth I might acquire in an attempt to impress others or inspire envy. Though the music certainly “speaks to me,” it doesn’t control me.

Music Reflects Reality

Eminem said it best in Sing for the Moment that “music is a reflection of self” and “we just explain it, and then we get our checks in the mail.” Rap and hip-hop doesn’t alter reality, it reflects reality.

Many of the truly talented artists grew up in adversity. Violence. Police harassment. Poverty. Drugs. Sex. We’ve all heard time again that if we really want to excel in something, talk about something we know. Well, guess what, Bill? These people are talking about what they’ve been through and what’s still going on in communities all over the world. Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Dr. Dre would not have gotten anywhere singing about responsibility, education, or building self-esteem with some lyrically twisted version of John Lennon-esque communal enlightenment. If the communities affected by violence, crime and excessive youthful promiscuity really want to change rap music, they need to change reality.

Of course, this is not something easily done, and would require a whole lot more than just a change in the lyrical lexicon.

Leave Sociology to the Sociologists

Societies have had problems since their inception billions of years ago, and are not limited to human societies alone. That said, the view Cosby and Poussaint portray is not one that should be published in books. Before reaching the halfway point of Cosby’s cynical compilation of condescendingly colourless crap, I was wondering why this was published in a book rather than on a blog. The statistical numbers that are quoted are so obviously tweaked to make it sound as though teen pregnancy, murders, and drug consumption is at an all-time high that you’d have to be daft to take it at face value. As Searcy points out, these issues have been on the decline since the 1970’s … an era that both Mr. Cosby and Poussaint should remember well.

Social ills are so complex and difficult to categorize that it cannot be solved with one grand solution. I completely understand that both Cosby and Poussaint want to see poverty-stricken individuals, regardless of ‘race’, make something better of themselves. But to put the blame on one subject, while ignoring the bigger picture, is an insult to every person that has read their book or lives in the ghetto. I’m a semi-educated white male who has never had to live through these conditions, but even I can see music is not the sole culprit, if one at all.

Sociology should be left to the sociologists. If the rest of us have an opinion, it should be said online rather than paper. There are just too many opinions and not enough fact making it into print recently, which only cheapens the value of books.

Bookmark To: