Good summary of the religious beliefs of the framers of the Constitution,
and of the gradual erosion of the early separation of the Church and State.

I have noticed in rival sites’ efforts to make the framers of the Constitution into Fundamentalist Christians, they (intentionally?) confuse the notion of “Deist.” The argument usually goes:

1. People say the founding fathers were Deists


2. This dictionary here has “Deist” and “Agnostic” as synonyms (maybe this is evidence that the site authors don’t want to admit they don’t know what Deism is).
3. Look, most of these guys went to church! That doesn’t sound like an Agnostic to me!
4. The founding fathers must not have been Deists
5. The founding fathers went to church, so they must have been Christians

My response to the fundie revisionists: maybe you guys should read a book that is not the Bible once in a while. A Deist is someone who believes in the role of God in creation, but not the interference- they believe in crazy notions like “personal responsibility” and that you can’t write of the cause of everything as “God’s Will.” What a bunch of lunatics!

I personally think it’s possible to be both a Deist and a Christian (someone who believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ) at the same time.

Contrast this with the opposing view to Deism, which the fundamentalists advocate: The idea that the Supreme Being, the creator of the world, etc etc, is still actively involved with the affairs of the material world we live in. This philosophy is called Theism. Although you generally won’t hear the fundamentalists use that phrase, because it implies there is another valid philosophy besides theirs!

• Wikipedia entry on Deism
• Wikipedia entry on Theism

A bonus feature of this site: my friend Sam hates Andrew Jackson with a passion. Now he has yet another reason!
Web link of note: The Christian Democracy Myth
(At http://monotheism.us/)

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This rules- ever noticed how formulaic Nickelback’s songs are? This guy mixed Nickelback on the left channel against Nickelback on the right channel- they match identically.

In fact, instead of buying the next Nickelback album, why don’t you spend the money on a garage-sale guitar, and write your own Nickelback song? You’ll be famous!
Web link of note: Nickelback vs Nickelback
(At http://www.thewebshite.co.uk/nickelback.htm)

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I started playing City of Heroes this week… it’s a fun game,
but just like in real life you really need friends to play with. Communication skills are essential for a well-honed team machine.

In other news, when you sign up, you are City of Heroes’ bitch. You sign a lengthy Agreement every time you log in, and if anything goes wrong, like the server shutting down, too bad. I see “mapserver failures” all the time, and you have to log in again.

Buyer Beware

When you buy the game, you get one month of usage, starting from the beginning of your account…. NOT from the beginning of your usage. If something goes wrong with that first time, too bad… the clock is ticking. And Support is only open 1pm-5pm Central. I recommend starting your account the early afternoon of the day you intend to play, so if anything goes wrong you can still reach support. If having to do that seems ridiculous to you, I agree completely.

I had a really ugly experience where my account was activated but it thought my time was out before I ever played… and the days were rolling by. My appeals for a refund or a changed billing date were brushed off as not “being part of their policy.” Short of a lawsuit, there is nothing I can do.

The saga:

1. I bought my copy of the game at the mall- $49.99 at GameStop


2. I went to PlayNC.com to create my account, and added my “20 digit serial code”
   to bind my copy of the game to my account. This was on July 13th in the evening, the binding was at 10:21 pm EST ( 7:21 pm pacific)
3. I installed the client. I tried to log in - it told me my time had run out! My bill date on the web site was 3 months at a time, starting on August 13th
4. So much for my gaming night. My next available night was… maybe the next week. Bye bye money! bye bye!
5. I called Support at 11 am PST the next day and got “Chris”
6. even Support can’t add time to an account - like not only is it not “their policy” but that particular department doesn’t have “the tools” do do it.
7. the player can change the billing date but Support cannot-
   the player can change the date… to after when time runs out…
   but then there is a “gap” between when the account is shut down and when the billing starts again.
8. the game code “20- digit serial code” is tied to a particular account:
   once a code is used to start an account, cannot be changed or used again. And Support doesn’t have new codes, and won’t help you get a new one, or invalidate an old one.
9. During the exchange, Chris admitted- there was a server down or a delay or something, until 12:21 am CST July 14th- which would have been 9:21 pm PST. So if I had sat there in front of the computer trying to log in over and over for two hours, I would have gotten on. I guess I must me lazy or something.
10. what would have been nice is if they could have:
    • had an error message that was appropriate to the problem on the client
    
    
    • had some way of getting off-hours support, since nighttime is when most people use the service
    • been willing to credit my account with the lost time (one day in this case)- either by changing the start time of the account binding, or shutting off the account and making a new one with a new start time
11. Basically, they were unwilling to help me at all. Note that if this was the cable company or an ISP, they would credit for downtime, since the outage was their fault.

I like the Japanese castles the best
Web link of note: Asian Historical Architecture
(At http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/)

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I went to Nak’s today and got a whisk (”chasen” = 茶筅) to make my powdered tea.

The whisks are cut from a single piece of bamboo, with one end thinly split many times over for the brush end, and come in different grades- how many bristles the bamboo is cut into will determine the coarseness of the tea.

I bought the 120 bristle one, but they had two coarser ones, down to 80 bristles.

It turns out that if you break your chasen, it’s bad luck to just throw it in the trash- once a year in May you have a ceremony, “chasen koyō,” in which you burn your brush. I have to be careful with this one because I have no idea where the nearest Shinto shrine is, even in San Francisco.

You need about 1 teaspoon of powder for every quarter cup of hot water.

• Wikipedia: Japanese Tea Ceremony

We’ve secretly replaced the little honey bear in the breakroom with a 55-gallon drum of eucalpytus honey with a gas nozzle on it. Let’s see if anyone notices!

Cute !

We make stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes—only a million times actual size! Now available: The Common Cold, The Flu, Sore Throat, Stomach Ache, Cough, Ear Ache, Bad Breath, Kissing Disease, Athlete’s Foot, Ulcer, Martian Life, Beer & Bread, Black Death, Ebola, Flesh Eating, Sleeping Sickness, Dust Mite, Bed Bug, and Bookworm (and in our Professional line: H.I.V. and Hepatitis).

Each 5-to-7 inch doll is accompanied by an image of the real microbe it represents, as well as information about the microbe.

Web link of note: Giant Microbes
(At http://giantmicrobes.com/)

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I have had a very difficult time trying to compile a list of what episodes I need to find in order to assemble a complete Yamato, Harlock, and Galaxy Express collection, no doubt because not many others share my… rigorous… nature…

So I am noting everything I find here, and a digested version on Wikipedia.

Shown below is a list of every TV episode, movie, OAV release, and TV special I could find in “my shows” (the Leiji Matsumoto shows I watch), in the Japanese kana/kanji and romaji versions of the titles. I have not included themed video games.

Most of the information here came from the Leijiverse, a fan site run in English, Japanese, and French, apparently by a French fan. Some of the links there are broken in the English version- change the URLs to use all forwards slashes = “/” instead of backwards slashes / “sloshes” = “\”.

Some of these literally are 4 minutes… in the US, a “pilot” is an entire TV episode, a standard 28 minutes for a half hour slot. Apparently these “pilots” really are a short promotional preview, like a movie trailer.

Yamato (aka Star Blazers)

• Uchū Senkan Yamato [宇宙戦艦ヤマト] (pilot) (9 minutes, 1974)
• Uchū Senkan Yamato [宇宙戦艦ヤマト] (TV series) (26 episodes, 1974-1975)
• Uchū Senkan Yamato [宇宙戦艦ヤマト] (movie) (120 min, 1977)
• Saraba Uchū Senkan Yamato Ai no Senshi-tachi [さらば宇宙戦艦ヤマト 愛の戦士たち] (movie) (140 min, 1977)
• Uchū Senkan Yamato 2 [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 2] (TV series) (26 episodes, 1978-1979)
• Uchū Senkan Yamato Aratanaru Tabidachi [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 新たなる旅立ち] (TV special) (90 min, 1979)
• Yamato yo Towa ni [ヤマトよ永遠に] (movie) (120 min, 1980)
• Uchū Senkan Yamato III [宇宙戦艦ヤマト III ] (TV series) (25 episodes, 1980-1981)
• Uchū Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編] (movie) (160 min 1983)
• YAMATO 2520 (OAV) (4x 50min episodes, 1994-1996)

Captain Harlock / Emeraldas

Kurahashi Yumiko ( 倉橋 由美子 )

The Japanese names for the stories, and the titles of the books in which they appear

• In “An Extraterrestrial” the alien described reminds me of the Smoky Progg in the Nintendo game Pikmin. Sort of black and nebulous, and a fetus. That game rules.
• “The Woman with the flying Head”
  • “a scholar of the old school called Hyakken” -
  • Poem by Oota Nanpo (his names are also written Ōta, Nampo) ( 大田南畝 )-
    a poet also known as
    Shokusanjin ( 蜀山人 ), who lived from 1749-1823 and wrote a genre
    of poem called Kyoka
    ( 狂歌 ), “crazy/illogical/irreverent poem.”

    Receiving guests is what troubles me most But not if the guest is you

    Yono naka ni hito no kuru koso urusakere towa iu monono omae de was nashi

    世の中に 人の来るこそ うるさけれ、 とはいうものの お前ではなし

    quoted by
    Uchida Hyakkien ( 内田 百けん ) : “Nichibotsu heimon”
    ( 日没閉門 ) (1971)

    In the spoof version, “annoys”/”troubles” = urusakere ( うるさけれ )
    is replaced with “pleases” = ureshikere ( 嬉しけれ )

  • technically it’s “The Woman With the Flying Neck” - this might be a commonly known phrase for this monster, which is described in…
  
  
  • Classic of mountains and seas = Shan hai jing ( ), attributed
    to Emperor Yu of the Xia dynastym annotated in the Jin dynasty (265-420 CE)
  • The Account of Seeking Spirits = Soushen ji ( ),
    a Jin dynasty ghost story collection
  • Prince Genji -
    • author
    
    
    • daughter Tamakazura
    • General Higeguro
• “The Trade”
  • The collection this short story is from is called 倉橋由美子 の 会期小片 (I believe)… which would translate to something like “Short Stories of Kurahashi Yumiko”)
    
  
  
  • goblin (mask) named akujou- “evil old man” ( 悪尉 )
  
  
  • goblin (mask) named beshimi - ( 圧面 )… “intense mask” -
    I have also seen a more archaic 2-kanji combination which may mean “eyes devil” because the “mi” is 見 … however the first kanji “beshi” seems to be a chinese character for “devil” which is not in general use
  • Account of Peach Blossom Spring = Taohua yuan ji ( )
    written by Tao Qian [Yuanming] of the Jin dynasty
• “The Witch Mask”
  • The title - ( 雉の面 ) - I believe this is the right kanji… kiji literally means “pheasant” but I think it is the name of the Noh play that uses the witch mask in question. Could also be 雉子.
  • Mask hannya - ( 般若 )
  • Noh play
    The Iron Ring = Kanawa ( 鉄輪 )
    
    (possibly also spelled 金輪 - “metal ring” - although this seems unlikely)
    • sometimes translated as The Iron Crown, as in Eileen Kato’s translation in Twenty Plays of Nō Theater, edited in 1970 by Donald Keene
    • character Namanari - ( 生成 ) -
      

      A
      noh mask = noumen = 能面 used for the wife taking revenge on her unfaithful husband in the second half of KANAWA 鉄輪. … In conception, namanari, as the name implies, lies half way between the human and beast.

      in other words, not quite a hannya ( 般若 ) mask

    
    
    • character Hashihime - ( 橋姫 )

      A noh mask = noumen = 能面 representing a jealous woman who seeks revenge. Named after a lost play which literally translates as “Bridge Princess” … The version which seems to supply the basis for the mask relates how a woman, enraged by jealousy, goes to the Kibune ( 貴船 ) shrine and petitions the gods to turn her into a demon so that she can have revenge… Worn by the protagonist, shite (シテ), in the second act of KANAWA

    • a summary of this play from the Daily Info, Oxford:
      

      Kanawa is a musical about an abandoned Japanese wife who asks the advice of a priestess on how to seek revenge on her husband and his new wife. Following the Priestesses advice, she turns into a demon. Meanwhile, her husband is haunted by nightmares, seeks the advice of a Magician, who fights the demon. The vengeful wife-demon loses the battle and disappears from the scene, with the clear implication that she will be back another day.

    • oops, it turns out I do know what a
      kanawa ( 鉄輪 )
      is- it’s that iron ring with the candles stuck into it that posessed people / witches / demons wear on their heads in Heian-era ghost stories

  • Noh play The Autumn Foliage Hunt = Momijigari ( 紅葉狩り )
    
    
    
    • attributed to playwright Kanze Nobumitsu ( 観世 ) - (1435-1516) -
      incidentally the first person to write Rashomon ( ), the story popularized by Akira Kurosawa-
      the actual gate the play is named for is named Rajomon ( ) (this factoid from an interview with Kurosawa)
    • probably more accurately “Autumn Foilage Viewing”, i.e. when you invite a bunch of friends over and austerely drink tea while viewing the fall leaves
    • history of that period of Noh
  • French author Maurice Mergle wrote “The Mask of a Samurai”
  
  
  • film “The Collector” which was adapted from the book of the same name by John Fowles
• “Spring Night Dreams”
  • somei yoshino cherry - ( 染井吉野 ) - blooms before growing any leaves
  
  
  • Poet Teika ( ていか ) aka
    Fujiwara no Sada’ie ( 藤原 定家 ) aka
    Gonchunagon Teika ( 京極中納言 ていか )
    lived in 1162-1241
  • he wrote waka
  • Poem by Teika : from
    Shoku go shūi waka shū

    Longing for the moon covered with the fragrance of the cherry blossoms I cannot even see my dreams clearly now

    Hana no ka no kasumeru tsuki ni akugarete yume mo sadakani mienu koro kana

    花 の香を flower fragrance [I think this is meant to be "wo" instead of "no"] 掠める 月に [fleetingly touches my consciousness]; the moon 憧れて I yearn for [this is definitely a typo- it's akogarete, not akugarete] 夢も 定かに even definitely in my dreams 見えぬころかな I can’t see

  • Keith Jarrett wrote “Someday My Prince Will Come”
  • Three Beauties of the Land
  • Empress Somedono
  • Councilor Fujiwara Yoshifusa
  • Buddhist monk Shisai, disciple of Kuukai
  • Princess Shikishi / Shokushi: why is there ambiguity about her name?
    

    Princess Shokushi (or Shikishi) (d. 1201) was a daughter of Emperor Goshirakawa (1127-1192; r. 1155-1158) and served time as the Shrine Priestess at Ise. She was the finest love poet of her generation, producing work of intense passion, and one of the most skill users of the technique of honkadôri (allusive variation), becoming popular in waka at the time.

  • poem by Princess Shikishi:

    I am never at ease in a spring sleep; the cherry blossom, short lived, is blown by the winds even in my dreams

    yume no uchi mo utsurou hana ni kaze fukeba shizugokoro naki haru no utatane

    夢の内も 移ろう 花に 風噴けば 静心無き 春の転寝 dream inside even the fleeting flower(blossom) the blowing wind (a sense of calmness) eludes spring siesta/nap

• “The Passage of Dreams”
  • Poem by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune [ 藤原良経 ] (1169 - 1206 ) is called
    Fūboku waka shō
  • poem text:
    

    the fan by which I brought a breeze now itself is blown by autumn’s wind

    Te ni narasu natsu no ōgi to omoe domo tada akikaze no sumika nari keri

    手に鳴らす The fan in my hand blows summer 夏の扇と 思えども I thought but ただ秋風の just the autumn wind 住みか成りけり on its course through my place

• “The Special Place”
  • the title is more accurately “The Chosen Place”

• “Flower Abstraction”
  • The collection this was taken from I think is
    幻想絵画館 - which would be something like “House of Fantastic Pictures”
  • Species of cactus - Epiphyllum oxpetalum - is named in Japanese “gekka bijin” ( 月下美人 ) = “moonlit beauty”



• “The Long Passage of Dreams”
  • Noh play Kayoi Kamachi
    • attributed to Kan’ami Motokiyo (1333-1384) 観阿弥
    • is this person’s given name is uncertain ( Kan-ami )

    • translated by Eileen Kato as “Komachi and the Hundred Nights”
    • translation appears in “Twenty Plays of the Noh Theater”, edited by Donald Keene
  • Noh mask koomote
  • Noh mask roojo
  • Noh mask komachi
  • kotatsu -
  • chazuke
  • Noh play “Courting Komachi”
  • Noh play “Stupa of Komachi” - Sotoba Komachi ( )
    • attributed to Kanze Motokiyo
    • translation “Komachi on the gravepost” translated by Royal Tyler
    • translation appears in Granny Mountains: A cycle of Noh Plays

  • haiku by Yokoi Yayuu [ 横井也有 ]
    (1787-1823) appeared in his
    Semi (no) in(1759)
  • poem text:
    

    Locusts make one feel hot [to] the extent I feel like cutting down the pine they are on

    semi atsushi matsu kirabaya to omou made

  • The Account of Living in a One-Foot-Square-Room = Hōjōki ()
    
    • Translated by Helen McCullohugh in Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology
  • more on Kanawa ( 鉄輪 ):
    • mask hashihime

  • Tales of Ise = ise monogatari ( Ise 物語 ), appears in a translation by Helen McCullough
  • Noh play Kagekiyo ( ) - Arthur Waley translated this in The No Plays of Japan (1976)
  • phrase happi hangiri akujō idetachi
  • The Account of Spirits and Miracles in Japan = Nihon Ryōiki ()
    

    • attributed to a monk, Kyōkai
    • translated by Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura in Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition:
      the Nihon Ryōiki of the Monk Kyōkai

  • Noh play Adachigahara ( ) aka Kurozuka ( )
  • the well of “Prajna Paramita”
  • Buddhist phrases:
    • rupa
    • selva dharma
    • sunyata - the void

  • Noh mask kobeshimi
  • Noh play Nomori ( )
    • attributed to Zeami ( ) (1363-1443)
    • translated by Royal Tyler in Pining Wind: A Cycle of No Plays (1978)

  • Noh play Tamakazura ( )
    • translated as “The Jeweled Chaplet”
    • translated by Janet Emily Goff in Noh Drama and The Tale of Genji: The Art of Allusion in Fifteen Classical Plays (1991)

0765601583

I first saw this site due to his speculations on dividing California posting.
Web link of note: Geoff’s Musings
(At http://geoffland.blogspot.com/)

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