I'm based in Japan and have to fly in and out every few months for work. Here are my observations:
1. It used to be pretty relaxed. It still is... if I'm traveling with my wife. For the last 18 months, every time I've flown by myself, I've had my bags briefly searched and been given a pat-down by customs after re-entry. (It may be because I wear a kilt.) However, when they do search my bags for whatever reason (hasn't happened in departures for at least 4 years), they apologize and repack everything nicely for me. This is unlike my experience in American airports where my bags are rifled through, and then I'm expected to repack it-- and get yelled at when I can't undo their unpacking job within 15 seconds.
2. Actually, with the fingerprinting, visa-holders get to use their very own line, separate from even the Japanese citizens (since citizens don't get fingerprinted... just us dirty, criminal (and in my case, permanently residing, tax-paying, etc.) foreigners). I'm usually through faster than anyone else, since there are so few of us on any given flight. But even so, passport control is FAST. Almost as fast as the EU: I've experienced fast passport control (i.e. pretty much a walk-through) in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Paris. The fingerprinting and face photographing sucks and makes me mad. But it is really quick.
3. Outbound security is relatively strict, but also quick. A breeze compared to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., or, ugh, Charles de Gaulle (they confiscate soft cheeses in carry-on now, but you're never informed of this when you check your luggage for the flight that connects you to France). That's right, France, I'm going to blow up your plane with my Camembert!
4. I much prefer flying into and out of Narita than I do flying in or out of any international airport in North American, France, or the U.K.
Also, to my knowledge.Wav files don't support tagging, whereas most of the lossless formats do. Sure, you can put a lot of that info in the filename, but if you like details then that filename could get quite long.
e.g. 05-Bob Dylan-Blood On The Tracks-You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go-Folk-1974.wav
And then, if you want to carry that info across in a transcode, you've got to write a script that can extract it from the filename, or use tagging software after the fact. Every time you transcode.
"It's not that companies want to hire Tolstoy," said Susan Traiman, a director at the Business Roundtable, an association of leading chief executives whose corporations were surveyed in the study.
Can you imagine if Tolstoy where around today and had to write an email style manual?
Well, given that he'd probably write it in Russian, I doubt that it would have the effect that these American companies are looking for.
And why did that woman use Tolstoy as an example? As a member of the Russian nobility, it can be assumed that he spoke at least one language other than Russian (French, at the very least), but I wonder if he'd be the expert in English that companies are looking for.
"In the dawn of time... one man and one woman... forged in the spirit of competition... forever changed the course of human history..." [/Announcer Voice]
CAVEMAN GAMES *-The Movie-*
Featuring Ben Affleck as Thag and Renee Zwelliger as Crudla.
Actually, Hokkaido (where the earthquake predicted for Tokyo happened), is not really near Tokyo at all. Also, the epicentre of the Hokkaido quake was out at sea, whereas a Kanto(Tokyo)-area quake probably would have had a land-based epicentre. The news agencies ignored any connection, probably because there isn't much of one.
Also, both this post and the parent post fail to mention that Kushida also made another prediction of a massive earthquake in the Kanto region for November and December, which also never came to pass-- in fact, I don't recall even so much as a tremor since the end of October.
The media in Japan did pick up on both these predictions, to which I paid special attention because I live and work around Tokyo. Most of the people I talk to here think that this guy is a bit of a crackpot and that it's unlikely anyone will pay any more attention to his 'predictions'. (Being relatively new to Japan, I actually made preparations after the first prediction-- boy, did I feel like an ass when the sky didn't fall.)
I'm not a huge fan of Piers Anthony any more, but I find some of his earlier fiction quite interesting. I had forgotten the name of this story (which I probably read for the first and last time about 10 years ago), but I find myself thinking about it quite a bit.
I know there's that usual tripe about 'it's not about how good his writing was, it's that you're older now', but I don't think that's true. His writing way back when was still flawed in many of the ways it is today, but the difference was that he told stories with more heft to them, with a bit more going on under the surface.
THE FACT BIT: The headline on this article is misleading. All 3-Web/Cybersurf services are being cancelled-- not just the ones resold through Canada Post. I don't know what it's like in other Canadian cities, but here, you could buy a "Free Internet For Life" 3Web CD from the local variety store (actually, you still can-- 3Web evidently hasn't told its resellers about its nefarious plan yet). They were rebranded and sold or given out by numerous companies (e.g. HMV)-- I guess that was their plan: targeted advertising.
THE RANTY BIT: Now while 'Free Internet For Life' may be an impossible claim, those people (like my girlfriend) who bought the CD based on its advertising got very little 'Free Internet' (as little as 5 days!). I've encouraged her (and the few other people I know who bought a 3Web CD) not to go onto 3Web/Cybersurf's new pay-for-internet plan, because the faster the backlash of false advertising runs this company into the ground, the better.
END BIT: Anyway, that's my rant. Apologies for the disjointedness. I guess I'm just pissed off that now I've got to do the extra work of getting my girlfriends and other friends signed up to REAL internet accounts. $^#%#%$@!!!
"We look back on people like Galileo with awe, at how he wouldn't be silenced by the simpleminded religous zealots. He died for what he believed for, this kid died because he feared for his life."
Actually, Galileo didn't die for what he believed in, and he *was* silenced, at least in his lifetime. (ATTENTION: What follows is a simplified and encapsulated version of History. I know I am neglecting details, but this is effectively the story.) He had to produce his works in secret and smuggle them out of the country. However, his credibility was shattered because the Inquisition forced him to recant. He was afraid of torture and death, and decided that his hypotheses weren't worth suffering over. Sure, he defied the church once before that, but he spent the last years of his life under house arrest, which, given what often happened to such heretics at that time, was a very comfortable fate.
"By the way, this is the way Liberace got back at reporters for implying that he was gay. He actually went to court and swore that he was straight! Since no one could find evidence to the contrary, he won the case. "
Oscar Wilde tried the same thing after someone reported that he was gay. He actually went to court and swore that he was straight. Since they found evidence to the contrary, he ended up in the clink (okay, okay, not because he lost the case, but because homosexuality was something one went to prison for in turn-of-the-century England). Just a thought...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm based in Japan and have to fly in and out every few months for work. Here are my observations:
1. It used to be pretty relaxed. It still is... if I'm traveling with my wife. For the last 18 months, every time I've flown by myself, I've had my bags briefly searched and been given a pat-down by customs after re-entry. (It may be because I wear a kilt.) However, when they do search my bags for whatever reason (hasn't happened in departures for at least 4 years), they apologize and repack everything nicely for me. This is unlike my experience in American airports where my bags are rifled through, and then I'm expected to repack it-- and get yelled at when I can't undo their unpacking job within 15 seconds.
2. Actually, with the fingerprinting, visa-holders get to use their very own line, separate from even the Japanese citizens (since citizens don't get fingerprinted... just us dirty, criminal (and in my case, permanently residing, tax-paying, etc.) foreigners). I'm usually through faster than anyone else, since there are so few of us on any given flight. But even so, passport control is FAST. Almost as fast as the EU: I've experienced fast passport control (i.e. pretty much a walk-through) in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Paris. The fingerprinting and face photographing sucks and makes me mad. But it is really quick.
3. Outbound security is relatively strict, but also quick. A breeze compared to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., or, ugh, Charles de Gaulle (they confiscate soft cheeses in carry-on now, but you're never informed of this when you check your luggage for the flight that connects you to France). That's right, France, I'm going to blow up your plane with my Camembert!
4. I much prefer flying into and out of Narita than I do flying in or out of any international airport in North American, France, or the U.K.
Also, to my knowledge .Wav files don't support tagging, whereas most of the lossless formats do. Sure, you can put a lot of that info in the filename, but if you like details then that filename could get quite long.
e.g. 05-Bob Dylan-Blood On The Tracks-You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go-Folk-1974.wav
And then, if you want to carry that info across in a transcode, you've got to write a script that can extract it from the filename, or use tagging software after the fact. Every time you transcode.
Tagging is a good thing.
Well, given that he'd probably write it in Russian, I doubt that it would have the effect that these American companies are looking for.
And why did that woman use Tolstoy as an example? As a member of the Russian nobility, it can be assumed that he spoke at least one language other than Russian (French, at the very least), but I wonder if he'd be the expert in English that companies are looking for.
"In the dawn of time... one man and one woman... forged in the spirit of competition... forever changed the course of human history..." [/Announcer Voice]
CAVEMAN GAMES
*-The Movie-*
Featuring Ben Affleck as Thag and Renee Zwelliger as Crudla.
they're trying to promote a kinder , gentler image of a grammer nazi.
That's "grammar" Nazi.
Actually, Hokkaido (where the earthquake predicted for Tokyo happened), is not really near Tokyo at all. Also, the epicentre of the Hokkaido quake was out at sea, whereas a Kanto(Tokyo)-area quake probably would have had a land-based epicentre. The news agencies ignored any connection, probably because there isn't much of one.
Also, both this post and the parent post fail to mention that Kushida also made another prediction of a massive earthquake in the Kanto region for November and December, which also never came to pass-- in fact, I don't recall even so much as a tremor since the end of October.
The media in Japan did pick up on both these predictions, to which I paid special attention because I live and work around Tokyo. Most of the people I talk to here think that this guy is a bit of a crackpot and that it's unlikely anyone will pay any more attention to his 'predictions'. (Being relatively new to Japan, I actually made preparations after the first prediction-- boy, did I feel like an ass when the sky didn't fall.)
I'm not a huge fan of Piers Anthony any more, but I find some of his earlier fiction quite interesting. I had forgotten the name of this story (which I probably read for the first and last time about 10 years ago), but I find myself thinking about it quite a bit.
I know there's that usual tripe about 'it's not about how good his writing was, it's that you're older now', but I don't think that's true. His writing way back when was still flawed in many of the ways it is today, but the difference was that he told stories with more heft to them, with a bit more going on under the surface.
THE FACT BIT: The headline on this article is misleading. All 3-Web/Cybersurf services are being cancelled-- not just the ones resold through Canada Post. I don't know what it's like in other Canadian cities, but here, you could buy a "Free Internet For Life" 3Web CD from the local variety store (actually, you still can-- 3Web evidently hasn't told its resellers about its nefarious plan yet). They were rebranded and sold or given out by numerous companies (e.g. HMV)-- I guess that was their plan: targeted advertising.
THE RANTY BIT: Now while 'Free Internet For Life' may be an impossible claim, those people (like my girlfriend) who bought the CD based on its advertising got very little 'Free Internet' (as little as 5 days!). I've encouraged her (and the few other people I know who bought a 3Web CD) not to go onto 3Web/Cybersurf's new pay-for-internet plan, because the faster the backlash of false advertising runs this company into the ground, the better.
END BIT: Anyway, that's my rant. Apologies for the disjointedness. I guess I'm just pissed off that now I've got to do the extra work of getting my girlfriends and other friends signed up to REAL internet accounts. $^#%#%$@!!!
SIG BIT:
"We look back on people like Galileo with awe, at how he wouldn't be silenced by the simpleminded religous zealots. He died for what he believed for, this kid died because he feared for his life." Actually, Galileo didn't die for what he believed in, and he *was* silenced, at least in his lifetime. (ATTENTION: What follows is a simplified and encapsulated version of History. I know I am neglecting details, but this is effectively the story.) He had to produce his works in secret and smuggle them out of the country. However, his credibility was shattered because the Inquisition forced him to recant. He was afraid of torture and death, and decided that his hypotheses weren't worth suffering over. Sure, he defied the church once before that, but he spent the last years of his life under house arrest, which, given what often happened to such heretics at that time, was a very comfortable fate.
"By the way, this is the way Liberace got back at reporters for implying that he was gay. He actually went to court and swore that he was straight! Since no one could find evidence to the contrary, he won the case. "
Oscar Wilde tried the same thing after someone reported that he was gay. He actually went to court and swore that he was straight. Since they found evidence to the contrary, he ended up in the clink (okay, okay, not because he lost the case, but because homosexuality was something one went to prison for in turn-of-the-century England). Just a thought...