It’s a two for one special! Come for the paraphrasing of a pretty funny BBC article, and stay for the hook up on ancient cannabis usage!
I happened to pop my head into the ectochat and what to my wondering eyes did appear but a BBC article link!
Upon following it I discovered that this story was indeed lol-worthy as had been indicated.
A rather dedicated but less-than-thorough customs official at Japan’s Narita airport hid a 142 gram baggie of weed into the side pocket of a traveller’s suitcase. The goal was to test the sniffer dogs in a real-life training exercise.
The dogs, however, failed their exercise by not detecting the baggie at all. To make matters worse, the official who hid the 142 gram (that’s 5 ounces for those not familiar with metric) bag couldn’t remember in which suitcase he’d hidden the weed!
That’s right, some lucky schmuck walked out of Narita airport with 5 ounces of free marijuana! Awesome right? Not really, when you consider Japan has rather strict laws against possession which could net this traveller a prison sentence. Officials admitted their mistake and are encouraging the person who got the baggie to come forward in order to avoid unnecessary legal troubles.
In my search for more specifics about the laws, I came across a really interesting history of cannabis, beginning with its place in the ancient world. Which is admittedly far more entertaining than the original BBC story I mentioned. After discussing the knowledge - or lack thereof - by the Greeks, and the ancient Japanese and Indians, it moves on to an entire passage on the history of cannabis in the Arab world.
One of the most fascinating ways to explore the ancient world, I think, is to track a substance or supply through the ages. It brings to light ancient trade routes, how information was shared, which cultures were accepting of new things and which closed themselves off. Following marijuana in such a way is a two fold path. On the one hand you get to see which cultures adapted the plant for use as hemp fibers, and how as a valuable supply the plant travelled the world. You also get to track its history when grown and used as a psychoactive substance, and the attitudes of the cultures which were aware of those properties.
All of that and much, much more at druglibrary.org. If you’re someone who visits Erowid frequently for reference on drug-related matters, I might suggest adding this to your repertoire also.
I just want to apologize for any visitors who have actually gone to infinitedesu.com. While I feel as though I did provide fair warning when I originally linked it, I was looking at WPStats and couldn’t help but notice that people have actually clicked on that.
What you will find, upon visiting infinitedesu.com is the following: …nothing.
Apparently, I let the hosting or the domain or something expire. Could have sworn that auto-renewed. Well kids, looks like it’s technically up for grabs. If you buy it because you saw the name here, let me know so I can congratulate you on your refined tastes.
But if domain sniping isn’t your cup of tea, what you can do is visit RKNet’s new affiliate, TorsoPants. I came across their site earlier today and I was so impressed I decided that I had to be their friend. You can be their friend too, just tell them I sent you, ok?
There’s so much going for them: their site works in Opera without fuss, they’ve got all kinds of great design on the site, there are more hidden fun things than at a hidden fun thing convention, and I guess they’ve got good clothing, or something. I definitely spent a while at the site today, really just exploring all the things to see and do, and trying to decide whether or not I can afford to buy a pair of torsopants (which for those keeping score at home, is like a “shirt” only superior in every way) before I spend the money to renew Infinite Desu.
If I get the cash-money necessary to resurrect infinitedesu.com myself (hint), then I hope to achieve a similar standard of site awesomeness that I saw demonstrated by the proprietors of TorsoPants, instead of the old infinitedesu.com, which just had an annoying animated gif for a background, and the word “desu” over and over and over again.
I realize that some of my visitors may be coming here because they have no idea what the deal is with “desu”. I can appreciate being in the dark like that, and would like to take a minute (just sit right there) to explain a little more about what desu is and why I felt compelled to even buy infinitedesu.com in the first place.
Desu
Verb. Japanese form of the verb “to be”. Example: Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. I am an American.
Exclamatory. Taking a cue from a character named Suiseiseki featured in the 2004 anime, Rozen Maiden, people on the internet have come to use desu in excess. This is most often found in the form of the “desu flood” where by a post or entire thread is comprised of ONLY the word desu, repeated over and over again. It is the determination of Encyclopedia Dramatica’s shadowy editors that Desu is a classic meme. No other sourcesseemed to refute this.
G: it’s not even hot air. it’s the same air that’s been there since birth. It’s since stagnated and aided in the generation of mutant virii that, if ever released, would wipe out all life on earth
not that I’m judgemental or anything
Brian: not in the slightest
More:
Jesse: yeah it sucks cause nobody in here has an open mind about music i understand that it is a work environment and some people get distracted easily, but people were BITCHING ABOUT LED ZEPPELIN yesterday. they were like “what is this, can we shut it off?” luckily i had my samurai sword and i cut them all into tiny fucking pieces and shoved them all into the coffee maker, waited 30 mins and sat back and relaxed to “trampled under foot” while sipping on some piping hot human tea…. assholes
My dear associate SlyFloyd has a very good handle on the hip-hop world, and has brought some really great artists to light. I, on the other hand, know approximately jack-squat about hip-hop with the exception of a few artists that I assume most folks have heard about already. (Talib Kweli, anyone?)
I’m far more interested with the obscure, the “noisy”, the psychedelic-inspired, and otherwise just generally quirky music.
In the four concert snippets above I feel tones of both Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach in particular - and the kind of dizzy-handed wistfulness I’ve learned to love and respect from The Velvet Underground’s dreamier tracks. These musicians, centered around core member Tori Kudo, find themselves in the same psychedelic playground as the sisters of Cocorosie.
What got me turned onto the artist was a track found in The Wire #10, a sampler attached to the British music magazine of the same name.
MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ POST OFFICE
Recorded in East Kilbride Arts Centre, Scotland, in May 2002, Blues Du Jour (Geographic) features 41 new compositions by Tori Kudo, the leader of Japan’s Maher Shalal Hash Baz. “Post Office” is one of Kudo’s most gorgeous songs; in his words, the story of a disappearing woman whose hope never vanishes. The track features Alison Mitchell (trumpet) and Katrina Mitchell (xylophone) from The Pastels, in addition to the sevenpiece Maher group which participated in the sessions.
As noted in the description above, “Maher Shalal Hash Baz” is the band name and somewhat of a pseudonym for Tori Kudo himself. But whatever does this psuedonym mean? Via Wikipedia -
Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz - “Hurry o spoil! He has made haste to the plunder!” or “Hurrying to the spoil he has made haste to the plunder” - was the second mentioned son of the prophet Isaiah, mentioned by name in Isaiah 8:1–3. The name is a reference to the impending plunder of Samaria and Damascus by the king of Assyria.
Via Technoccult - Researchers in Japan have been grafting the chilled, severed heads of baby rats onto the haunches of adult rats. It’s been noted that the brain can develop as normal for as much as three weeks in this state.
Maybe lab rats have evolved into really big cyberpunk fans, and they’re hoping to get extra brains so they can stage a takeover. Bow before your multi-headed rodent overlords! My actual question is, why doesn’t the adult rat scratch off this foreign object?
I know I’d be a little put out by trying to run around with a baby head grafted to my leg.
From the UN’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, and MonkeyFilter comes this link to a beautifully presented full translation of the Tale of Genji. The web layout comes in small, easy to read chunks for those of us who have trouble staring at large blocks of text, and it also presents the gorgeous illustrations in black and white. There is a PDF version available, as well as web-based (shtml) full-text version.
For those unfamiliar with the story:
The Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji Monogatari?) is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century, around the peak of the Heian Period. It is sometimes called the world’s first novel, the first modern novel, or the first novel to still be considered a classic. The issue remains debated among scholars.
Anyone who still reads at my “old location” knows that I’ve been having a bit of a family crisis. So yesterday while driving to the Portsmouth Regional Hospital, I was fussing with the radio, trying to find some kind of music that didn’t suck. This task is often challenging in this area, as they tend to play the same five Pink Floyd songs, and a mix of recent popular dreck. (I most often listen to 96.7 since they tend to have a pretty enjoyable mix of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.)
However, periodically I’ll tune in to 106.1 - Portsmouth Community Radio - in time to catch some DJ’s set that introduces me to the interesting, oddball stuff I so thoroughly enjoy sometimes. Yesterday was one of those happy accident days. The two charming ladies setting up the records at the station that day played a unique track called “Japan” by a duo known as Cocorosie.
My immediate impression from the first 30 seconds or so was that Lamb Chop had grown up and started dropping a lot of acid. In two words: Far fuckin Out. As it went on I started to pick out the warm and quirky lyrics themselves, and the choice of instruments that fit the theme. The tune was relatively simple, but that wasn’t a shortcoming, it was a feature that made the song more accessible. At one point the song faded out, and I thought that the next song on the playlist was a lovely, operatic vocal song with minimalist instrumental background. As it turned out, that was an intermezzo of sorts. It was such a striking musical experience that I managed to remember the artist and song title hours later. (A rare feat for me, no matter how much I like what I hear.)
A quick googlin’ turned up one of my favorite lyrics sites: Always on the Run.net. They’ve got a brief bio, lyrics galore, and a couple MP3s available from the group (available from a small icon by their name on the main page).
Hit it up, check it out, and let me know what you think.
The obligatory “if you like” list:
The Flaming Lips
Ween
Poe
That one operatic song from The Fifth Element
Modest Mouse
Lamb Chop, grown up, on acid (not the actual band named Lambchop, mind you)
For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of having a radio show. I loved radio. Every Christmas I would spend the entire day just listening to old episodes of This American Life. It was my tradition. With the advent of podcasting, I felt that there was finally a medium better than radio. For a short time I even did my own podcast, which was considered awesome, but was actually terrible. But I believed in the medium, I saw that there were a lot of things people were doing with podcasting that people did not do with radio.
So when I decided to try and get a radio show, I thought I would try to create a radio show with all the virtues of podcasting. And that was my plan. Until today. Because my show was greenlighted today. The station I will be on thought my demo was good, but they have a popular show that mixes Japanese and English, and they want me to throw out appropriate Japanese expressions at random times. And they want me to talk about plamo, action figures, and figurines.
Random Japanese expressions. Really. I feel like a whore. But, that’s showbusiness!
This Words To Know is being brought to you today by “why the hell not?” and also by “not formatted anything like the other ones”. Now with 99% less Wikipedia and 100% more link mouseover info. This makes it sort of revolutionary among its brethren, and also somewhat of a jerk.
First thing's first. With the recent pet food scare, and me owning a kitty of which I have yet to take pictures, I decided it was time to find out what kitty ought to be eating. There were a lot of resources out there, but the best has to be this recipe for a “raw food” catfood. More on how that works out later.
One of the suggested ingredients in there is a whole rabbit (minus skin and fur of course). That's not a euphamism for kibble, either. That's the real deal, 1 whole Peter Cottontail, 1 whole Benjamin Bunny, 1 whole hexen hase[2]. I myself am going to settle for the chicken option, it's a lot more accessible and ultimately much more afforadable.
That's just one of several things I've managed to suss up lately. I've gotten into a lot of bizzare philosophical debates on IRC lately, and one of the most recent involved average IQ. (Intelligence has been on my mind a lot lately, particularly the calling into question of my own. Which is a patently ridiculous scenario, I realize.) Of course, show me a person with a truly average IQ and I'll probably be so stricken by the unlikelihood of it all that I'll spontaneously develop bizzare psychic powers to not be outdone in the oddity department.
Speaking of the oddity department, and discoveries, I've decided that I'm intensely enamored of the whole “Gothic Lolita” fashion style. The lovely Annalee over at ToM pointed out the store site for Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. I spent a while browsing there and then struck out on my own, looking for moresuper-fun visual styles in that vein. It is of course by no means practical, but it's so enjoyably artful that I can't help but be fascinated by it.
This leads to my last little bit, which like most of the rest of this post will be less of an proper WTK and more of a personal aside. At some point while gushing over how adorable a bunch of cosplayers were I quipped something to the effect of “quick, everybody gimme me money so I can buy a Suiseisekicostume!” However, my attempt to be funny went slightly off-center with someone and I wound up being donated $15 through PayPal. …so now I intend to hold that money aside and put it towards buying real hosting for my site as I mentioned wanting to months ago. I guess I am willing to take other donations but I'm not really all that keen on the idea since it feels sort of absurd to take handouts for something as simple as hosting. What I will accept with open arms are suggestions on a low-cost, stable hosting solution that will support wordpress.
Walked all up and down the strip. The shuttle from the hotel dropped us off at the Tropicana. We milled around uncertainly, then decided to just start walking. A lot of the routes are very roundabout, but we managed to make it over to the MGM Grand without too much trouble. We milled around in there for quite a bit, and wound up making dinner reservations at Shibuya. Once that was taken care of, we wandered off in search of more adventures.
If you don't mind doing a hell of a lot of walking, the on-foot route up and down the strip is actually quite enjoyable. Minus all the timeshare presentation solicitors, of course. It's funny, I went on vacation to get away from salesmen for a while. I found myself confronted with several, and not on a strictly conversational/business level either.
From the MGM, we made our way down and breezed into the Hawaiian Marketplace that's hosted by Polo Towers. I stopped in this little Japanese-run shop called Yokohama Okadaya and bought a little purse so I could go out without my jacket. (The weather is really too warm during midday to warrant a leather jacket.) From there we walked to Aladdin, and I convinced Ian to peruse their shopping arcade with me, since I noted they had a Sephora and wanted to check it out. Didn't end up buying anything during that trek. There were a lot of really high-end designer shops, and if I were richer and thinner I surely would have gone into a couple of them.
We went past Paris Las Vegas and their reproduction Eiffel Tower. I have no idea if it's a completely to scale replica or not, but I'd assume it would be.
We popped across the street to the Bellagio, which had several more high-end designer shops that I didn't patronize, and a gallery of fine art that we really should have gone into.
We left there and got close to Caesar's Palace, but only to each grab a lemonade with tequila and midori. It was extremely refreshing, given all the walking we'd done. It doesn't look like much on the map, but to get most places, you have to go from casino to casino, and that involves circumnavigating their pit to figure out where the restaurants, shops and exits are.
After our lemonade, we decided to head back in the interest of not being late for our reservations. One of the sister casinos to the one next door to us, Barbary Coast, was past our route, and it looks a fair sight older and in poorer shape than South Coast.
We made it back early and exhausted to the MGM, and decided at right around 5:30 to see if the restaurant would take us a bit earlier than our 6pm reservation. Luckily they were happy to accomodate, and we had what is probably the best dinner of our entire lives to date.
We had our napkins laid in our laps for us, a book of sake selctions before us, and a menu that was appointed with some of the most elegant choices I think I've ever seen. We had not one but two servers, really. We ordered a carafe of Tengumai sake, warmed, although we were cautioned that most of their selection of about 150 kinds of sake was better served chilled. When the miso soup kicked in we finally overcame the shock of the decision-making process, we got an appetizer of sunomono, two kinds of seaweed and eggplant. The eggplant was a little funky, but the rest was beyond good, and I found it hard to keep from just constantly stuffing my face until the food arrived. He got a tray of vegetable maki, I got a tray of crab, avocado, and mixed greens. They both came in modest portions, but it was all so good I had a difficult time keeping a respectable pace yet again. The sake ran out at the same time the food did, which worked out nicely, since the sake paired with the food in a way that was indescribably fitting. We each had a glass of chilled plum wine, served in snifter-like wine glasses. This was perfect as it allowed the wine's aroma to really sock you right in the face when you went to sip. He got some banana-rum flambed crepes. I only had one bite and decided that I didn't care for it overly much. It wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't what I was after at all. I got a selection of little sorbet scoops. There was peach, apricot-ginger, lychee, and a dark red berry. I adored the berry, and the lychee was almost like rose water sorbet instead. The apricot-ginger wasn't quite my speed, so I left most of it for Ian, and the peach wasn't quite as distinctly fruity as I'd hoped, but it was very good either way. Total for the whole experience with tax and tip? About 150$. Granted it took quite a chunk out of our vacation funds, but it was more than worth it. Again, were I a richer person, I'd be going back there on a regular basis.
The rest of the night was spent wandering about. We made our way over to Excalibur, whose one redeeming quality was that they had a bar right inside the door. This was a relief because it took a great deal of walking just to get inside. The arcade was shockingly devoid of Joust, or any interesting games for that matter. They had 3 DDR-knockoff machines, one of which was working (and occupied).
We left there and made our way to the Luxor. I really really like the architecture and the decor of this place. Although as a pretty hardcore RO player, I kept expecting a mob of ancient mummies to jump out and attack my face. XD The shops with all the neat egyptian junk were just starting to close at that point, so we decided to see what the story was with the shark show at Mandalay Bay.
My suggestion is not to walk to Mandalay Bay from the Luxor. We did that, not knowing there was a shuttle AND a tram between the two locations. After discovering that the Shark Reef thing is cheap, we vowed to return at a more appropriate hour and decided it was time to hop the shuttle back to the hotel. We took the tram from Mandalay to Excalibur and popped across the street to the Tropicana to wait. I misread the schedule sheet and we had a half hour to kill, so we went inside the Tropicana from a side entrance and wasted some change on the slots. That was pretty much that.
Yesterday -
In the interest of resting all our worn out body parts, we opted to pretty much just stay in. We went next door, had breakfast, got booze, came back, grabbed a movie from the front desk, and settled in. I can at this point recommend watching White Noise. I didn't know it had Michael Keaton in it. That's almost always a selling point of a film for me. :) I cannot, however, recommend Red Eye. Cillian Murphy should really be ashamed of himself for this blah, short, basically pointless film. My theory is that Wes Craven decided to try his hand at a 24-like situation. He failed.
Today -
Since we napped away a good deal of yesterday, it was about 3am when we decided it was time to go have breakfast. We went back to the same cafe we'd had breakfast at before to take advantage of their Graveyard Shift specials. That was the most food I've ever eaten for 2$ in my whole life. Awesome.
No clue what's on the agenda for today, but I suppose that sitting here isn't getting me any closer to anything awesome. I want to try to hit The Palms today, and hopefully the art gallery at The Venetian.
Some kids play in the sandbox. We play in the.... litterbox??? The RKNet staff is pleased that you decided to stop by. Currently this is a multi-author project, with a rotating cast of totally kooky characters. Contact giania [at symbol] gmail [dot] com if you'd like to play here too.
