Wetter skies

Around 11 pm yesterday we finally started getting that rain they've been promising for the past four days. It's still coming down, and probably will be until this evening. The real bonus is that temps have dropped a good 12 degrees.

It's June... what the hell? I'm gonna jump the gun on the Meteorological Agency here and declare that rainy season has begun.

Greener grass

It may not be that toxic yellow dust from the Gobi, but the pre-rainy season heat wave has hit Tokyo, meaning a 1mm coating of grime on everything inside for every openwindowhour. Yet we dare not leave the windows closed for extended periods, for fear of suffocation or - worse - ghastly electricity bills.

I do so miss central air conditioning!
There, I said it. Now if only Japan would go fight a war or something and bring home those low energy prices.

"Author will create many material the however even..."

I Google hard and often, for work and for play.

Today my searches are all to facilitate the translation process, as another deadline fast approaches. While tracking down the English equivalent of every oddball term that comes up in the original text may not be essential to a faithful translation of the author's intent, I'm a stickler for accuracy. Which persistence just led me astray:

I see the site where pretends that it is original and be distributing the material that took back it from the other place recently a lot. However, this hits to the crime that says the infringement of the copyright.
Please recognize that is clearly illegal, although I may be thinking lightly. If I am becoming silent, although I may think that I do not know The Internet is connected somewhere without fail.
"It is so as not to think that" there is not the translation that is absolutely found. Author will create many material the however even if in all of Absolutely know the work of the self.
Please never do even to other persons, to think that you are done and be disagreeable. And, please never do the such imitation that betrays the person who is taking the trouble of believing you.

The owner seems concerned with due credit, so here: http://webmania.jp/~glasspowder/

Not to poke fun... someone obviously deserves an "A" for effort (although I suspect that's a shoddy machine translation). But being bothered - nay, tormented - by this stuff is an occupational hazard in this line of business.

Now where are my chill pills?

Starchy

Tapioca, anyone?

I've been subsisting almost exclusively on tapioca pudding for the past four days now. It all started innocently enough, with a dessert idea to finish off our Thai dinner menu last Saturday. But the tapioca pearls at our local weirdo foods store were the small variety. And the recipe I was using turned out to be for tapioca pudding using coconut milk, not the coconutty tapioca drink (resembling bubble tea, or boba, or...) that we had a few weeks back at the Thai Food Festival.

Not one to adjust recipes for smaller portions (what am I gonna do with half a can of coconut milk, anyway?), I whipped up all six cups of the goop... only to discover that Rie won't touch it. She'll scarf down natto like the stanky stuff is going out of style, but detests anything with an oatmealy texture. Like tapioca pudding, or gruel.

Enter Jack Sprat.

bonus post

While Michael Moore was scooping up the Palme d'Or for his latest Docuganda, 14-year-old Yuuya Yagira won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for his role in Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Nobody Knows" (Dare-mo Shiranai). According to our Yomiuri paper - it wasn't in the Daily Yomiuri Online as of this post - Yagira is the youngest Best Actor winner in Cannes history, and the first Japanese male to receive an award in any actor category.

Monday afternoon peek into Google-consciousness

Over a month ago, I started a new dailysoy feature based on my nasty habit of using Google as a plaything as much as a tool. At long last, I bring you the second installment.

Top 10 results for today's search - "fly"

1. FLY GUY - Man at bus stop takes off on flight of fancy, but only at your bidding. Turn up the sound and locate your arrow keys... and choose your in-flight interactions carefully, or you could find yourself back at square one.

2. Virgin Atlantic Airways

3. Digital cameras and digital photography online review guide - Why did this site come up third in this particular search? Will they also top the list if you search for phony dog doo or jock-itch ointments?

4. TerraFly - Kinda cool, approaching invasive. Enter a street address or lat/long coordinates to view or purchase digital aerial photos and topographic maps based on Ikonos satellite imagery. Aerial photos down to census and block group scale, plus other nifty stats about the area in question. Unfortunately, they don't do Tokyo, and their images appear to be old. My folks' new house (built some 8 years ago) is still an empty field, for example.

5. FlyLady.net: Your personal online coach... - FlyLady helps you get your home and life in order (by Finally Loving Yourself).

6. FlyFisherman.com: The Virtual Flyshop - "The leading magazine of fly fishing - the quiet sport."

7. The Interactive Fly: A cyberspace guide to Drosophila development
- One-stop cybershop for all your fruit fly needs.

8. TerminalReality.com - games

9. Fly The Copter - South Coast Diaries - simple copter game on "the alternative weblog." While you're there, check out the Ant Arena game, too.

10. Bluefly - Designer Brands

Can't stay put

While dailysoy has been in e-stasis for the past two weeks, my friend the bellman (old site) has moved again. After leaving behind another 3-month dropping, he found himself a new shell - more or less permanent from all outward appearances. Click on the adorable hermit crab to visit the bellman's new home.



In my absence, Blogger has totally revamped their layout. Spiffy. Time for me to grab one of those new templates!

(5 minutes later... I'm sorry, Blogger has "relaunched." Color me out of touch. Anyway, there's this newfangled thing called photoblogging, with unlimited storage. Anybody using this?)

Happy Mothers Day

Hi mom.
Are you taking it easy today? Counting down your last month before retirement?

Rie is working until 3 or 4 - some kind of firewall upgrade - but she has tomorrow off in exchange. I'm translating at home and battling a nasty sore throat that hit me after an ENT clinic visit for something completely unrelated. Kona is sleeping like a dog. We'll call you later.

The Face of Shibuya

A "Shibuya girl" proudly shows her mobile phone covered with purikura photo stickers on a street in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district, popular among young people. [MDN]

Certainly not the only well-known face around Shibuya station, but representative of a sizable constituency. I mentioned Kogals in an earlier post... the "Shibuya Girls" appear to be the same creature, just localized and re-labeled.

Because Shinjuku is close and crowded enough, we don't usually venture into Shibuya. But incidentally, we'll be there tomorrow for two events - the 5th Thai Food Festival [Thai Embassy] and a Stereolab show at CLUB QUATTRO.

Bored with cockfighting?

Try goat sumo.

Goat sumo involves putting two goats into a ring with a radius of about 6 meters and then setting them against each other as they butt horns, stand on their hind legs and attack each other.

Each bout can last for up to 15 minutes unless one of the goats runs away before that time. In the event both goats remain in the ring for the duration, the animal that has made the most hits with its horns is declared the winner. [MDN]