http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html

Very very, upsetting. The repercussions for this shooting may become the biggest since 9-11, on American society and especially within the Military. I'm not worried about another Japanese American Internment, but the fact is: the Supreme Court Case which found constitutional FDR's executive order authorizing the Internment remains good law, and that lingers in the back of my mind.

Hopefully, Taiwan will never go to war with the United States.

It might be due to the smaller student body, but I've never been at a corporate/academic setting which such streamlined IT services. Both Foxconn and Berkeley fall well short of the user friendliness of USF Law School's online services.

Debated whether to take Corporations or not; for now opted instead for Federal Income Tax, since it is a pre-req to Corporate Taxation, International Taxation and some other courses, whereas Corporations is always available as a California BAR　course. So for now the line up looks like this:

Constitutional Law
Criminal Procedure
Federal Income Tax
Negotiations, Mediation, and Client Counseling Skills (Pass/NP)
Wills and Trusts

16 Units (Max allowed)

Man, what a boring lineup. Federalist Society is hosting this afternoon a debate between a Proponent for the positives of Guantamo Bay and a Critic. Middle Eastern food will be provided. I'm sure it will be a enjoyable experience.

( My Briliant Idea Under the Cut )

If someone can suggest a female partner or heroine for the story, I'm all ears.

Annnnnnnnnnddddd... some more (but still not all) of that birthday fic I promised you, Aoife-Hime! Including the opening from last time.

Fandom: CCS
Character: Fujitaka, Sonomi
Genre: Chick-flick-ish

( Would it be better if they just skipped the in-between stuff and made out already? )

Am home in Los Altos; standard of living in rented room at SF had been getting progressively worse as food ran out and I had no time to shop or cook because I was going 9AM-9PM every day. So the afternoon after I drove down I went shopping at a Kinokuniya bookstore and a Mitsuwa Japanese super market. The effect was therapeutic and immediate: I bought 3 volumes of Sangatsu no Lion (Like I said I would), Gunslinger Girl volume 11, and Victorian Romance Emma Volume 9 in Chinese.

Here's something remarkable: This Kinokuniya carries manga in 3 languages; traditional Chinese, Japanese, and American. The same volume of Yotsubato! #8 cost: $6.50 for the Chinese version, $8.80 for the Japanese Version, and $10.99 for the American release. I was very surprised. To buy the same manga in California, you pay nearly twice as much for a local version than a Chinese one.

I can read all three languages, but after a few run ins with shoddy Chinese translations (depending on the work, a lot may get lost in translation) I started buying Japanese versions. But then some titles (like Black Lagoon) have such complicated dialogue that my Japanese is not good enough. So for some FAVORITE WORKS (Everything by Kei Toumei and Kaoru Mori, plus a few others) I end up buying both Chinese and Japanese versions. I haven't bought any English ones. For one, I'm afraid the nuance can't carry over as well, and price is also a concern. Like I said: 1 volume of English Yotsubato! = 2 volumes of Chinese Yotsubato!

Also: Did you know they have English translated Yaoi manga now?? Holy Crap! I wonder if I could get a job as a translator.

Mitsuwa was fantastic. A Japanese department store/super market. They were having a Autumn Foodie Theme going on, and there were special offering and samples, from a variety of fried fish cake to rice balls to salt dried fish to mochi stands. I got the following:

3 salted pike fish and 2 salted mackerel for grilling.
1 Katsuo Tataki (a kind of charred broiled sashimi)
1 box of Uni (sea urchin)
1 box of Sujiko
Oyster Mushrooms, Octopus head, Shiitake mushroom, small avocados
Japanese cucumbers, Shoga red ginger,
Persimmons, Leek, 4 mochis (Sakura leaf, black bean daifuku, red bean Ohagi, and another daifuku).

http://www.japaneserestaurantinfo.com/columnsp/shokuzai/111507/index.html

Sujiko (fresh or salted salmon roe still in the egg sac) was definitely the most adventurous item I bought. And kids, I wouldn't recommend trying to prepare at home; you might get grossed out. Turning Sujiko into Ikura was not unlike trying to get the seeds out from a pomegranate, just ickier. By morning though I will have fresh HOMEMADE IKURA!!!

The Tako head (much cheaper than the preferred legs used for sashimi but just as meaty) went with the oyster mushrooms into seasoned steamed rice (half brown/half white). I left the flavor deliberately bland so I could add Shoga or red chili to flavor.

I ate the Katsuo Tataki and one of the Avocados with Ponzu sauce, and Trader Joe's lager.

Am now going to eat some of my fresh made mochi with hot green tea.

This is the way to start a weekend: Manga and Japanese food.

Edit: Emma Volume 9 is FRIGGING AWESOME. I am however going to ignore the last chapter and try my best to pretend it never happened, and that I never read it, for reasons which will be obvious to anyone who has read it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Comes_in_Like_a_Lion

Read Umino Chika's new work after Honey and Clover: Sangatsu no Lion, or March Comes in Like a Lion. It sucked me in right away; the power of Umino's stories is her characters whom the reader can RELATE TO on a heart-to-heart level. Specifically, the struggles and heart ache and longing and relief which the characters experience. I also think the art has improved over her previous work; the lines are cleaner and more powerful now.

Surprisingly, the story contains little Romance; the story is about the main character Rei's quest to live his life after the loss of his family as a boy, and shows his ongoing struggles with his past as well as the acceptance he gradually finds in a neighboring family of three sisters. He's also a prodigy Japanese chess player and a rookie in the professional circuit.

The story prominently features two completely opposite women, both of whom have a very large impact on Rei's life. Both are several years older and beautiful, but while one tries to take care of and provide him with a new place of belonging, the other continually seeks to guilt trip and torment him emotionally. The first (the eldest of the three sisters) is almost too good to be true. The latter is a Bitch with the capital B and an awesome character (from a writer's standpoint) whom I'm surprised Umino came up with, as her stories usually contain such lovable characters.

Go read this guys. As for me, I'm off to Kinokuniya to grab my three Japanese copies tomorrow.

Spent all day playing Tropico: Where you are the El Presidente of a Carribean Island nation. It's a management type of game; get an economy up and running from minerals, vegetable, industry, keep your growing subjects and immigrants fed, working, and happy. I admire the game for its balance of complexity and the tongue and cheek moments: One measure of your score at the end of each "Reign" is how much money you managed to siphon off to a Swiss Bank Account. To build political consensus, you can also arrest and shoot charismatic opposition leaders dead in the street; you can also declare them a heretic. Also, if you choose "Alcoholic" as one of the two Personality Flaws of your dictator, the USSR has improved relations with you (although the Religious faction likes you less). The game allows you choose from a portfolio of famous such rulers (Castro, Che, Peron, etc, etc) and adjust the traits as you desire. The last lady I played with was Kleptomaniac; I think she was the Argentinian lady?

Speaking of factions: It's a good thing that environmentalists are generally one of the less numerous factions; really hard to pay attention to the environment when you're trying to keep up with housing and creating employment for a rapidly rising population. Often I'm forced to close the border to immigrants so I get a chance to educate the local populace first.

Until now I've played the benevolent Developmental Authoritarian State (Think 4 Asian Tigers) model. I provide my workers food, education, subsidized quality apartments (rather than Project Housing) to live in, Social Security, movie theaters, TV, nightclubs... and in return they reelect me every 8 years in consecutive landslides. I've never even had to rig an election or give a tax cut, which in the game is treated like a bribe; a short term boost to your favor best used in an election year for $100 to each member of your population. Only drawback to this is that your respect amongst the Intellectual community takes a big hit.

In fact, if you opt to receive kickbacks on construction projects, siphon money for Swiss bank, or are too enthusiastic about religion, the intellectuals like you less. No wonder all the Commie bigwigs and little wigs purged them; they're smart asses with a different opinion on how government should be run.

I'm only realizing now that the population (every tiny person has a name and background and personality) and jobs are genderized; the engineers who run your all important power plants have to be women, for example. Construction workers may be both genders. Union Teamsters who haul everything around have to be men. High school teachers have to be women, college professors men... but yeah, I'm not going to stir that up.

Given a choice between aligning with the USSR and the USA (either can invade you and end your reign resulting in game over if you piss them off too much) I usually go US; they give more generous foreign aid and provide Tourists, which is a whole other Economy I haven't explored yet. However, once you ally with them and let them build a Military Base on your island the USA starts demanding you conform to their ideals; usually, promoting capitalism with your Radio, News Paper, and TVs. Pompous, but the Russians have little dinaro to spare, so...

Naturally; in the absence of cocaine, coffee and rum seem to be the best cash crops for a Latin/Carribean island nation. Followed by Cigars, and then Pineapples, then Papayas and Bananas. Chopped down trees are sold as logs, lumber, or furniture. Typically, mining is the dirtiest but most easily accessible wealth, followed by industry... the more efficient it is the dirtier it is. Any environmentally friendly measures decrease industrial efficiency and increase expense. Al Gore would be proud.

I haven't been able to get the religious faction happy enough to invite the Pope, which is supposed to be a super boost to my popularity with that segment of the population; having an economy than was 75% Rum based was probably the cause. In this game, religious satisfaction is a trade off with freedom to get drunk.

Oh yeah, ways you can lose the game; you forget to pay-raise your palace guards or soldiers, they over throw you. The income disparity between the higher-educated earners and proletariat becomes ridiculous, they population turns rebel and goes into the woods and starts attacking your infrastructure. You don't feed or pay people, same result. USA or Russia invades you because you were hard on Capitalism/Communism in your rule, you lose.

It's a tough game of political survival and pleasing everyone. The best way? Have no principles, pander to everyone.

What food can $4.00 USD buy you where you are living?

Here in the SF and Bay Area...

12 doughnuts of any variety at Safeway
1 Nutella Crepe from Japan Town
Breakfast Special at Taraval Cafe (2 eggs, 2 bacon or sausage, 2 hot cakes)
2 pieces of nigiri sushi (not including Tuna and more expensive varieties)
2 half Poor Boy sandwiches from Lucky's
4/5 of a Subway foot long
2-4 pounds of Broccoli, depending on season
1 Pint of beer at a bar

I was simply struck by how the same amount of money could buy such different quantities of food. Clearly, based on caloric value alone, the doughnuts are the best option. Health-wise Broccoli wins, but you'd starve. Such a discrepancy may shed some light on food and health and hunger in the market system, a measure of how many calories/essential nutrients one can buy with a fixed amount of currency.

Question 2: Should I feel guilty about eating sushi?

Let the record show that when the office lady walked into Criminal Law class at 7:45PM announcing that the Professor had been stuck on the Bay Bridge since 3:00PM due to a overturned Safeway big rig and was not going to make it to class, I politely groaned rather than burst into applause like my colleagues. I was devastated; I was completely looking forward to being called on to make sense of California's hair splitting of Felony Murders and Misdemeanor Manslaughters and implied malice, etc, etc, etc.

To deal with my grief, I shall use the 2.5 hours to work on fic and play computer games.

For: Aoife-Hime
Title: Every Boy's Dream Come True
Fandom: CCS
Characters: Fujitaka Kinomoto, Sonomi Daidouji

It was one of the oldest tricks in the Shonen Mangaka's playbook; the infallible fallback that generations of authors--deserted by their muse and hounded by their publishers--have resorted to: One day out of the blue a beautiful girl shows up on your Everyman protagonist's doorsteps and begins to dwell with him. Innumerable fan service opportunities follow, a parade of trips and slips and bumps and shared physical proximity that draws the teen couple inexorably into love...

... A scenario which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the situation Fujitaka found himself in one tranquil Sunday night, after he answered the doorbell that distracted him from his beloved Discovery Channel.

"Termites."

He blinked at the woman in striped suit and black heels standing outside his door with suitcase in tow. "I beg your pardon?"

Sonomi's sighed as though she were being forced to repeat the explanation. "My mansion has termites. The cleanup will take a week at least and I've been forced to clear out."

"Oh. Well, that's... awfully inconvenient."

He winced inwardly when the toy CEO glared daggers into him. The accusatory look soon faded however as she cradled her arms and averted her gaze; sheepishly, even. Fujitaka had never seen Sonomi Daidouji--the woman said to have the most balls in a boardroom filled with men--look so insecure.

Clearly, there was only one option left to him. "Would you like to come in?"

****

"So you two are living together now?"

Fujitaka shut his eyes--breaking the news was harder than he imagined. "We are not living together. She's just staying until the termite work on her house is done."

"So you are living together."

"Not in the way you're thinking of." He was too old and wise to be embarrassed this way by his son. "Anyways, I let her have my room, so I'll be sleeping in the library the next few days."

"Good thing Sakura just left for their school graduation trip."

"And why is that?"

"You two have the house to yourselves for a whole week."

Five minutes after he hung up the Professor's mind remained plagued by his son's deadpanned remark. He stood in the aisle of the supermarket and glanced down at the contents of his shopping basket: Moisturizing body soap, small bottle of deep rinse shampoo, conditioner, tooth brush and toothpaste, and other essential feminine toiletries that he'd been tasked with purchasing. Because unlike him, she was a busy woman with a full schedule.

The gravity of his situation--the direct result of his rash decision caused by the low light that made her body language seem like pleading the evening before--sank in like a battleship scuttled for an artificial reef.

To be Contd?
****

If I were Obama's political adviser, I'd recommend that he strongly consider declining the Prize. I think that gesture would increase his domestic and international capital more than accepting the prize would. His supporters will become even more galvanized and his detractors will respect him, or at least have to shut up for a while. Some thing in the gist of, "Thanks, I'm honored, but this Prize has and should be given for accomplishments; they don't give prizes for TRYING to cure AIDS."

Edit: Never mind, he accepted it. It doesn't lower my opinion of him, but it was what I expected.

Had a hearty breakfast at my greasy spoon this morning. I go once every one or two weeks to nourish myself on something besides broccoli and start the day on a sure footing. While there I read the following passage from the book I usually bring along:

"My nephew," Mr. Mulliner hastened to explain, "was not an author. Nor was Miss Bootle. Very few of those employed in writing motion-picture dialogue are. The executives of the studios just haul in anyone they meet and make them sign contracts. Most of the mysterious disappearances you read about are due to this cause. Only the other day they found a plumber who had been missing for years. All the time he had been writing dialogue for the Mishkin Brothers. Once having reached Los Angeles, nobody is safe."

"Rather like the old Press Gang," said the Sherry and Bitters.

"Just like the old Press Gang," said Mr. Mulliner."

The story was written back in the mid to late 1920s; the relevance of its humor even to today is astonishing. Wodehouse is fantastic, and reading his writing has the double benefit of studying his prose as well as looking into the culture of entertainment nearly 100 years ago. Here's a bit more.

( Barmaids and the genre parody )

Here's the thing: Every sentence this person writes is entertaining. The diction helps some; the funny English names to be exact, but mostly its the tone. I should make this my goal.

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/10/missile-base-2/

I hope there will be habitable ones left by the time I have money to buy one. Living in a deactivated missile silo? That's friggin awesome, I'm surprised no Comic Book Hero has thought of doing it yet.

Seriously though, I can think of many advantages to living in a nuclear silo. Being underground the place would be quiet, have great acoustics, be energy efficient in Summers and Winters, solar would be practical in Texas, safe against intruders, natural disasters, everything up to nuclear attacks. There would be tons of living space (depending on make and model), with possibility of opening up extra sunroofs to let in light.

I want one. Forget beach and gated golf communities, I want a mansion in a nuclear silo. So long as its within 25 miles of a sizable city, I'm good.

Edit: Apparently there are a lot of these big silos up in Spokane Washington. That seems like a reasonably nice (read: civilized) place to live in, unlike Wyoming and Kansas.

Edit 2: Finally! Hell March with 2009 Footage. Kind of an amateur job compared to the better video edits I've seen from non-Professionals, but mreh.

Happiness comes in many forms, such as: Fridge full of beers, fresh sausages, bacon potato and half a Black Forest Chocolate cake left over the previous days party.

Working on Aoife-Hime's birthday story, brb.

Thank youuuuuuuuuu Internet. The splice of Prussia/HUngary onto Milly/Lelouch at 1:12 (OTP squared!) made me cry manly tears.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6333415

EDIT: Stoneware Crock pots are NOT SAFE for using on stovetops! Heard two cracking noises before I removed the inner pot from the flames, checked for cracks, THEN went online to look at the manual.

Note to self: Don't be a gender cliche; read the manuals before using.

In Celebration of Oktoberfest and sixty years of Great Chairman Mao's Revolution tomorrow I'm hosting a small lunch gathering of friends at home. I provide all the food, they bring the drinks. College football and cut throat card games followed by USC vs. Cal at 5PM; if all goes according to plan I won't even need to prepare munchies for the Big Game.

If you know me you know I don't skimp on food. I have 5 kinds of Wursts from the local German deli Dittmer's (which I don't know how to cook but have an idea) and produce from local European Open Air Market The Milk Pail. I also have Black Forest Cake, BBQ and Onion Ranch chips, A&W Root beer from Safeway's; some things are better slow/organic/local, some are better factory made.

Only thing I forgot? Spices, for the German Red Cabbage. My recipe called for:

6 whole peppercorns
2 whole cloves
2 whole allspice
1 bay leaf

So I figure, "Mreh, I'll just run back to Safeway after dinner and pick up what I need." To my dismay--due to my ignorance in American home cooking--I found that I have to buy spices in little bottles with thousands of whole cloves or allspice or peppercorn. I only need two allspice/cloves. That bottle would make this recipe x500 times.

So instead of awesome aroma reminding them of the Holidays my guests will just have to suffer Chinese Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage, which coincidentally looks and tastes like German red cabbage.

Happy 2X Birthday, Aoife-Hime! I'm going to try to write you some fic this weekend, so look forward to that.

Edit: I'm panicking now because I have good sausage but don't know how to cook them. The internet has failed me with its conflicting opinions. I've seen beer/water simmer, grill, and pan fry, in different combination and order. HELP.

All kidding aside, I'm glad I speak (and read and write) their language.

I'm not kidding; my high school friend actually is a rocket scientist.

N says: I don't think the feds will forgive any of my loans, because I have a job whereas there are lots of jobless grads around these days
DH: That's the Gov for you
N: Anyway, I'm going to aggressively pay down the interest loans. And try to inflate my way out of the other ones.
DH: Should really consider that offer from Iran
DH: "Dude, we'll repay your student loans. And we'll pay you in awesome non-US currency too."
N: What do the Persians eat? Shih Kabobs?
DH: Lamb? Gyros? Iranian food: Rice based, cheese, herbs, garlic onion pomegranates dates, lamb chicken... sounds pretty good to me actually.
N: I guess anything is good if you cook it right.
DH: Best would be if you could work for China. No problem with food. Strongest currency in the world. Although it'd be crappy if the ChiComs sent you to work wherever they keep their test ranges. Azerbajian or Mongolia or something
N: I'll have to make them pay me upfront. I don't trust those guys.
DH: Can't be worse than attending Cornell; instead of stargazing you watch the sheep

****

DH: So what'd you think of Von Braun? Is it simply a matter of "If I had America's tax payers' money backing me I could've made that spaceship fly too"?
N: Well he was the mastermind behind the Saturn V rocket, which blasted the Apollo capules to the moon.
DH: Can you overcome Murphy's Law by throwing enough money at it?
N: Can't really argue with that.
DH: Guess the answer is yes then.
N: Money+time=quality. The Soviets had some really smart guys, but no money
DH: No money?? But they didn't operate on a cash economy right? "We'll just requisition anything you need from the Union."
DH: Unless what smart scientists need to function is... "Beach houses, Ice cream, night life, attractive women, high quality of life in general." Yeah, even the Soviet Union might have trouble getting that for their smart guys
N: Engineers need pizza, beer, junk food, cool gadgets, and finally, attractive women
DH: Soviet Engineer: "We want video games!"
Political Commissar: "You can have Siberian Gulag?"
Soviet Engineer: "Fine. No video games."
N: 1 month later: Political Commissar: "I wonder why he defected to the United States..."
N: These days, we also want fast Internet connections.
DH: I mean, Russia had none of those things; great classical and ballet but I don't know if that was everyone's thing... the women probably went to the Politburo, fat bastards. Now that'll really make a scientist defect
N: A month ago, our network went down, and withing 10 minutes everyone was standing up in their cubicles like prairie dogs, looking around to see if anyone know what to do.
DH: Haahahahaha
Nemo says: Even the telephones were IP phones.
DH: "Call Obama, tell him we're under attack by Chinese military hackers."

9 SIGNS A GUY IS A KEEPER

http://dating.personals.yahoo.com/singles/datingtips/88524/dating-tips-9-signs-a-guy-is-a-keeper/

I cringed when I read this; seriously? I consider myself a reasonably nice guy but this made me sardonic. Quoting the guy from the Mac-PC commercial, "Call me when you're ready to compromise, lady."

Also: "If it's too good to be true, it ain't."

I'm not ruling out that there are Perfect Guys like these out in the world. The population is 6 billion and growing, so the math is in your favor that there's maybe... 13 of them in existence at any one time. Part of growing up is reconciling Dreams with Reality though.

It's very hard for me to picture what kind of person wrote this article.

There is one guy that comes close to fitting this bill though; naturally, he's from a Shoujo Manga: Shinogu from Hot Gimmick. Yeah, no need to say more.

Had choice of attending the Labor Law Student Association or the Estate Planning Society's General Meeting. I went to the latter; it seemed more practical. The Estate Planning Society just got started last semester, which was surprising to me, and the speaker was a very nice guy who had the energy and charisma of a depleted Energy Bunny. If I WERE the guy on the podium talking, I'd have billed the event as:

"Estate Planning! Come learn how you can protect your future wealth and the wealth of others! Get paid to give Uncle Sam and his IRS Minions the Middle Finger and enjoy your spare time while doing it!"

Maybe if I step up and take over the Society I will do that next year, but that would mean I'd have to commit myself. I'm certainly tempted by its advantages: You're not suing or being sued by people as part of your job, you MAY well have a lighter workload than your regular lawyer counterparts, and there are lots of rich Baby Boomers heading towards bucket kicking who live in the Bay Area.

While it does lack the glam and excitement of litigation, I like the idea of helping people pass on their savings to their posterior. Or helping them feel assured that their kids will not sue each other over their estate.

Anyways, I need to talk with a estate planner to see what the job and lifestyle is really like. Challenges: The relevant course work seems hefty, namely many tax courses, yuck. -____- Plus my current experience is shaping up towards the International Corporate Transactions path.

Decisions decisions.... Oh yeah, and I have to wake up tomorrow at 8:00AM, so I can get to school at 8:30AM for the free Noah's Bagels and spreads and Coffee the SBA is handing out.