Can nobody spell anymore?  Is this the epitome of computing culture?  There are a seemingly infinite number of people communicating through devices that are the culmination of thousands of years of technological advancements, now.  If humans are really so smart, why the heck is written language so difficult?  This is something that we should have had at least 15 years of practice with in school, no?

I can forgive people who are learning a foreign language for these mistakes, as language is a complex matter.  However, I cannot forgive native speakers.

言語と、すべての状況は良好で、お仕置きよ!

Perhaps I’m a little harsh on people who have spoken a language for 95% of their life but still can’t tell the difference between words like:

• to, too, two
• which, witch
• who’s, whose, hos (yes, I’ve actually seen this on Facebook)
• know, now, no
• there, their, they’re

The list goes on … but I’ll shut up, now.

What’s your biggest pet-peeve with how people communicate in the 21st century?  Is it the lack of language skills many people have?  Is it people’s insistence on using text rather than face-to-face discussions?  Is it people who constantly Tweet what they’re doing on their cell phone while you’re having lunch with them?  I’d love to hear your gripes!

Well, if nothing else, a spammer felt it was an honor to waste time on this site.

From a human perspective, to know that an entire species that called the same world ‘home’ would never again see another sunrise is a little sobering.  We have the ability to protect species, but fail to do so.  We have the ability to recognize and appreciate the poetic justice of cause and effect, yet rarely give such things a second thought.

So, when a group of scientists report to the world that an extinct species can be brought back to life thanks to DNA fragments and some fancy cloning techniques, people rejoice and believe that the revival of one particular animal can make up for the dozens that have been allowed to die for any number of reasons; including Darwin’s ’survival of the fittest’ rule.  But is this really something we should be investing time and money into?

Kenji’s Utopian View

Kenji and I were discussing this subject the other day after hearing how DNA from 19,000 year old fossilized Emu eggs was reconstructed.  He believes that we humans owe it to the planet (not to fellow humans, but the celestial body itself) to find a way to restore it to the condition we received it in.  This means that all of the species that have gone extinct since the rise of Homo Sapiens over a  million years ago would need to be restored, all the landfills would have to be emptied, cleaned, and the resources recycled.  Fish stocks would then have to be left untouched for a few centuries to let them return to pre-industrial stock levels.  From there, humans could look at how to reforest much of the planet and move the human race into huge communal buildings with their own enclosed biosphere.

He believes that by doing this, humans can make a mess in their own world without mucking up the rest of the animal world.

My first thought after Kenji dumped his grand view of the world all over the floor was that something must have been wrong with the always-angry middle manager.  This idea didn’t sound at all like something he’d say.

Naturally, my opinion is a little different.

Let Them Die

I believe that once a species is gone, it should remain gone forever.  The UN has a site that shows some of species that have become extinct since 1970 and, while it’s unfortunate that these animals are gone, they should serve as a warning to the rest of us: just because there are over 7-billion of us today does not mean there will be 7-billion of us tomorrow.  In addition to acting as a warning for our own species, it should serve as a warning of what happens when we don’t manage ourselves well enough.

But let’s not forget what makes a species unique. It’s not just the DNA, but the behavioral traits that are passed down from parent to child.  To think that we can re-introduce a species into the world is nothing short of hubris.  This is like saying we can recreate the lost civilizations of generations long past just by dumping a bunch of baby humans in some remote part of the world and leaving them alone for a few dozen centuries.

The loss of a species is a terrible thing and, as sentient beings, it’s up to us whether we will choose to continue shortening the list of living plants and animals we share the planet with.  However, if we’ve failed to protect something from disappearing, we shouldn’t expect science to save the day and “bring them back”.  This would be no different than cloning a lost pet or child.  It’s disrespectful to the species, and it makes us look like a bunch shallow self-aware hypocrites that cares only about what we see on the surface rather than in the content.

But perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong. Is Kenji right that we should restore the Earth to the same condition that we found it in? What are your thoughts on science bringing back extinct species?  Is this a good thing?

Within a split second of seeing the instantly recognizable logo for America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration I quickly asked my wife (then girl-friend) if there was actually a NASA branch office in Kakamigahara, Japan.  The response, however, was not quite what I was hoping to hear: laughter.

“That’s just a pachinko parlor,” she said, crushing my hopes of visiting the place and seeing how NASA was cooperating with their Japanese counterparts, JAXA.

Today, after visiting the chiropractor, I was walking to a nearby coffee shop when the trademark-defying games center came into view again … mocking me with their seductive logo.  It’s a good thing I don’t play pachinko, and an even better thing that I can’t convey to the staff of this place just how wrong their name is.  If they want to name their games center after an American organization, that’s their business.  But they should at least have the decency to steal the name and logo of a profitable one.

Do you see pachinko parlors with odd names like this one?  Have you ever gotten your hopes up because you thought a company you admired as a kid had a branch office way in the  middle of Nowhere Land, Japan?

All this said, the highlight of my day is actually one of the little items sandwiched in with the rest of them: Lemonade 2.0.

It was almost two years ago that I had approached my employer with but the first of twenty programming projects that I’ve invested the time to pitch.  The idea was welcomed by local staff, but rejected by HQ for various reasons.  Since that time, I’ve had a total of 19 projects shot down that would have either saved the company a lot of money, saved the staff an awful lot of time, or provided our customers with greater value at minimal cost (to the company).  I’m not going to be bitter about this, as the one thing I have been able to work on has provided me with some pretty nice perks to help me through the days.

Unfortunately, this first project is something that I’ve wanted so badly to introduce to my company.  Not only would I be hailed as a hero by some (which would be great for my ego), but it would also provide both the company and the consumer with a greater amount of value.  For the customer, it’s short-term value.  For the company, it’s both short and long-term value.

But, I digress.  I’m just an English instructor, and the people in HQ clearly know how to run their company better than I do.  (Seriously … there’s absolutely zero sarcasm in that statement).

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda …

So what is Lemonade, you ask?  Lemonade is an application that can be used in an educational setting to manage teacher schedules, school resources, record student records, record lesson notes (both for the teacher or for the student), and it would come with a nice set of reporting mechanisms.  On top of this, the application would be a means of replacing textbooks, CDs, DVDs, and many of the other personalized tools that instructors often need to carry whenever they enter a classroom.  For schools that have their own material, they would no longer need to buy printed copies of their texts, and for students, they could download the free student application and have a textbook and workbook that is always up-to-date.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

I think so … and every person I’ve ever pitched the idea to has said it sounds like a great opportunity to improve both the working and learning experience!  I doubt it’s because my sales skills have gotten better, since I couldn’t sell water to a thirsty man in the desert, so it must be because people actually believe Lemonade could be “the” application for teaching/learning in the future.

Oh, and did I mention that the application is designed for tablet computers and will use finger-friendly menus and a minimal number of clicks to accomplish tasks?  Ah, yes; this isn’t something for the average notebook or netbook user … even though there’s nothing stopping a person from using either of these options to run the software.

So?

After having lunch with Nick, the creator of HotaruCMS, a few months ago I started thinking about what he’d said.  At least I think he said it….  Either way, it was this line that got me thinking about my own future:

There’s no money in software.  It’s all in the customization.

What an interesting idea.  By working hard on building an application and making it available for free, organizations and people will be more willing to give it a shot.  When they like what they see, they’ll probably want to start customizing the tool for their own needs and purposes.  This is exactly what we see with tools like WordPress, Joomla, and HotaruCMS.  My goal will be to do exactly the same thing, with the hope that organizations (especially those in the language sector) give me a call to get more customized versions of Lemonade made for their various organizations.

All in all, I’ve managed to squeeze about four hours of coding in today where I might have had absolutely zero time had I gone to work.  The result of this labor is in the screen shot here.  It doesn’t look like a whole heck of a lot, but that’s supposed to be a teacher’s schedule sheet where they can click to see the student’s lesson history with a finger’s touch.  Heck, thanks to the kiboshed Lemonade 1.0 and 18 other projects, I’ve already got a solid core of written test code to pull from.  I’ll hope to have the first three modules released in the coming weeks as I put them through various tests at four different language schools in Gifu and Aichi prefectures.

I have no intentions of letting my rapidly aging coding skills go to waste, nor do I want to get pissed off each and every time I look at a forever diminishing pay slip.  Organizational change never happens from the bottom in Japan.  If I really want to make my mark, it needs to be on different terms.

Why is it called Lemonade?  Because when life gives you lemons, you make Lemonade!

Are you a language instructor in Japan?  Would you like to use a tablet computer in class and reduce the paperwork?  What kinds of features would you want to see in an application like this before it could work in your organization?  I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Late this afternoon the Mrs. and I make a trip to the local chiropractor who ran some quick tests and quickly came to the conclusion that I have a hernia.  The first thing that went through my head was Weird Al Yankovic’s rip on James Brown’s “Livin’ In America” song, which kinda helped relieve my stomach of the bottoming out feeling it gets whenever a doctor delivers news that will result in a few days off work.  Thinking back to the chorus, the Weird Al’s take on the situation isn’t far off:

Living with a hernia
Hurts me bad in a tender location
Living with a hernia
Had enough humiliation
Living with a hernia, yow
Got to have an operation

Ow, I live with a hernia
Can’t get up, can’t bend over
Now I live with a hernia

I’m not going to need an operation at this point but, like the fair maidens of years long gone, I will need to wear a corset.  The nice thing about this incredibly tight garment is that it makes hiding “metabolic syndrome” all the easier.  No longer will it be necessary to consciously suck my gut in every time a woman is within visual range.

Unfortunately, this means that I’ll be stuck at home for the next few days while my back recovers … which means that I’ll be studying a lot of Japanese and trying my best not to go stir crazy as I’m forced to remain in one position for too long.

Then again, if I’m forced to stay (mostly) immobile, this will be a good opportunity to work on some programming projects that I’ve fallen behind on.

Have you ever suffered from this kind of problem?  What’s the best way, going forward, to ensure another 70+ years of spinal operation?

10. A Review of 崔の上のポニョ

My review of Miyazaki’s latest film was nothing to write home about.  The article quickly mentioned that Miyazaki would like to retire, and that Ponyo was loosely based on the original “The Little Mermaid”, which was completely changed when Disney took the story last year.  That said, this one post is responsible for 1.1% of all traffic that has come to this site … ever.

9. Reaching a Small City

Why the heck is this even in the top 500, let alone the top 10 most visited posts on this site? The post is essentially just a quick note to mark the 20,000th unique visitor to the site … a number I wouldn’t have thought possible back in 2007.

That said, it seems that every visitor that reaches that page is after just one thing: the royalty-free image that was used.  99.99% of all visitors to that site arrived via Google’s image search, and the other 0.01% by random chance.

8. Creating a REST API With VB.Net, PHP, and MySQL

This one I can understand, as it actually provides people with some relatively-useful information, but it still surprises me that so many people have come here rather than use the more reputed coding websites.  This article was written shortly after I had solved a little bit of a problem involved with accessing an external MySQL database at work.  That said, hopefully it’s helped others with similar issues.

7. MySQL Query Browser and Hosted Databases

Another semi-useful MySQL-based article, but this one shows people how they can directly access a MySQL Database on hosts that support it.  There are some web hosts that will absolutely refuse to give people direct access to their databases, GoDaddy being one of them, but this is useful for anyone that wants to use their favorite developer tools while creating applications.

6. The Painful Long-Distance Only Relationship

People seem to enjoy pain, as this article seems to have been twice as popular as the above posts.  It involves a doomed relationship between two online friends.  One moved from Jamaica to South Korea, and the relationship quickly fell apart with the close proximity.  After they broke up, and “Bob” returned to Jamaica, the two re-started their online relationship … much to the surprise of their friends.

The two are still very much in an online relationship and visit each other twice a year.  However, they’ve agreed not to spend more than two weeks with each other per year.  While they might be happy with that relationship, I’m still scratching my head in confusion.

5. Is Katakana English Unnecessary?

Katakana English. The bane of many English-speaking people learning the Japanese language, and many Japanese people who are learning English.  One of my wife’s university professors argues that Katakana English causes more harm than good, and I agreed with him.  There were quite a few comments, many of which completely ignored the content of the article, but this article continues to bring in a large audience every month … mainly due to Google’s Image Search and that big カタカナ chart at the top of the article.

4. Japan Sucks

This one should come as no surprise. My rant against people who do little more than complain about their lives while doing nothing to resolve the matter has attracted a lot of attention.  Not only does this article have more comments than any other, but it’s also the most sarcastic article currently on j2fi.net.  While I doubt that there will be any other posts like this written here, it is certainly fun to get people riled up every once in a while.

3. Getting The Most Out of Your Battery In Ubuntu

Back in 2007 when I made the 6-month switch from Windows to Ubuntu, I had noticed that the battery life in the most human-friendly version of Linux sucked.  After shutting off several of the warnings, I came across an interesting discovery … a notebook could go for a very, very long time with 0% battery remaining.  While I no longer use Linux for anything but servers, this article continues to be useful to many people who come here looking to get more out of their notebooks with the open source operating system.

2. Are You Prepared? / The Unemployed Gaijin

Before the brunt of the more recent economic crisis, I had written about how foreign workers in Japan needed to assess their strengths and weaknesses in the event that they’d find themselves out of work.  While I tried to make the post sound professional and helpful in about 1,500 words, it brought out a lot of bile and trolling shortly after being posted on Debito’s site.  Suffice to say, the message that I was trying to convey was completely lost on most of the people who have read the article and, considering how often I find myself trashing newer uninformed comments, it continues to bring people with short attention spans who’ll fire off comments before finishing an article.

マイヤー

1. Japan’s “New-Half” Culture Goes Mainstream

Considering the picture that greets people when they arrive, I’m not surprised this is the most commonly visited post, responsible for 38% of all traffic to this site, despite being over 14 months old.  What’s really interesting, though, is that Haruna Ai has become far more feminine and attractive since then.  If there is ever a contest where the grand prize is a date with Haruna Ai, I’d be all up ons….

So, there we have it.  The top 10 posts that have brought people to this site over the last four years.  Oddly enough, none of these are my favorite … those posts see almost no traffic.

Opera released their latest update yesterday and when they said it was fast, they weren’t kidding.  Opera has been consistently faster than IE and FireFox for me, but this latest update blows all previous versions out of the water.

If you’ve never given the browser a try, I strongly suggest you do.  It’ll change the way you browse the internet.

If I were to believe the big blue banner that greeted one of my infrequent visits to the site, I’d think that I hadn’t found any of my friends or family as quickly or easily as my sister, fellow ex-pat, or brother.  But this couldn’t be further from the truth.  Fact of the matter is that I’ve found plenty of people on Facebook, and been spammed right off the damned service.

On top of this, Facebook seems to be implying that some of my contacts are feeling lonely and that I should help find them more friends to communicate with.  I don’t know what’s more insulting: that Facebook thinks Yves doesn’t have enough friends, or that Facebook thinks I have time to find him more!

Several months back I had written about how I’ve essentially given up on Facebook, and this is still true.  I visit the site every now and again to remind some friends to participate a little more on Twitter, but that’s about it.  The site has become little more than a nuisance at best, and a time sink at worst.

If this is the culmination of Web 2.0, I’m almost afraid of what 3.0 will look like in 5 years’ time.

Does anyone else think Facebook has become the AOL of 2010?  Am I the only one that finds this online “community” about as welcoming as the run-down community centers we pass by in the neighborhood? I’d love to hear your opinion on this.

This was the discussion that Kenji and I entered into earlier this week after discussing the recent discovery by Apple that some of their overseas equipment manufacturers have failed to meet all the criteria that Apple, as a “responsible organization”, has laid out as part of their contract.  The kids that worked for Apple’s suppliers weren’t as young as 11, but that’s beside the point.

Oddly enough, this is a topic that both Kenji and I agree on so I won’t go into too many details. However, what was interesting was how we both viewed the situation on a grand scale. It comes down to a very simple question consisting of only two simple words: who cares?

Do We Really Care?

Oh, sure, most people would be appalled at the thought of a child working in a factory because their family was too poor to afford food. But would it stop us from buying a highly sought-after product? $20 says most people would quickly say “no” or, at the very least, hesitate before answering. It’s not that we don’t care … it’s simply due to the fact that we’re fortunate enough that these things happen to nameless, faceless people thousands of kilometers away who we’ll never see, hear, or know. This is like worrying about the fate of a baby rabbit after being handled by humans and its mother rejects it. Yeah, it’s sad, but it won’t stop some of us from wanting to cuddle baby rabbits.

What’s interesting here isn’t the fact that Apple made this information freely available before the problems had been resolved, but the fact that the factories in question are also responsible for manufacturing products for several of the largest, most influential technology companies on the planet. HP, Dell, and Lenovo are just three of the many companies who, in addition to Apple, call on the services of companies who are willing to manufacture many of our fancy electronics for a fraction of the price we’d pay if something were “proudly made in the USA” or some other nation. What this tells us is that most people in western nations will have a high probability that at least one product we own was manufactured by someone who has been poisoned, treated poorly, paid unfairly, or otherwise subject to conditions we would find unacceptable in our civilized nations.

Should Buying Local Be An Option?

Kenji and I quickly switched gears from this subject to what might happen if a company like HP were to manufacture and assemble most of their equipment in North America rather than East Asia.  Sony is notorious for their high prices and unacceptable levels of quality, but that’s what happens when you manufacture and assemble products in a nation with a high standard of living and first-rate infrastructure.  If HP were to produce as much as they could within the United States, would we see a similar sky-high price tag and sub-optimal operational life?

In all realities, HP would probably pull an IBM and switch over to providing mainly services rather than products.  The amount of pollution that is created during the manufacture of our electronics is nothing short of staggering.  One of the reasons the air in North America is so clean is because much of the heavy polluting industries have been farmed out to poorer nations that will sell their children future for pennies if it means the parents could live like kings today.  We’ve seen the same pattern happen everywhere the noble cause of globalization has gone, and it’s yet to reach all corners of the world.  Sure, there are still a lot of heavy industrial corporations spewing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere in Canada and the US, but it’s nothing compared to what these two nations have strong-armed developing nations into doing.

However, setting such issues as pollution aside, considering how detailed and customized technology companies can make our products now, would it not make sense to provide us the option of having our product manufactured and assembled in our home nations?

It would cost a lot more. The processors would undoubtedly still come from Malaysia.  But it would give the buyer the ability to proudly say that they’re supporting their own nation’s economy and providing jobs to their countrymen.  At the end of the day, isn’t that what people really want to see?  Respectable jobs in their own country rather than in someone else’s backyard?

Neither Kenji nor I thought this would be very likely in North America or even Europe.  Wealthy nations have stood on the backs of the poor since before written history began.  While the people might show outrage at the thought of a nameless, faceless human being subjected to inhuman treatment, it will not get in the way of our lusting over shiny new objects that would fill our acquaintances with envy.  It is, after all, human nature.

Disclaimer:
Kenji and I both abhor child labor and having people work under sub-human circumstances for the sake of a dollar.  The comments that we made about “who cares” were based on our observation that most people can’t be bothered to go out and vote in their own country, so wouldn’t be too concerned about the poor conditions people in wealthy nations have unknowingly subjected to those in less fortunate circumstances.  It’s all out of sight, out of mind.