An unusual diversion in Japan

For those following the travelogue of my recent Japan jaunt, I did not get to the third "must see" as recommended by our friends (it was Hiroshima), but a visit to other friends to the north of Tokyo happened to be near a place I would not normally visit - the Twin Ring Motegi motor racing/amusement complex.

Less than a decade old, and built by Honda, it's a pretty impressive place even for the uninterested in motor sports person, such as me. Here's a pic of part of the racetrack, where they have Indy races:



It's a big complex, with a hotel and camp area, go cart track, kiddie rides and technology centre.

Of particular rev-head interest is the Honda Collection Hall. It seems to contain examples of just about every model car, cycle or doo-dad that Honda has built. Also included is this replica of the first motor cycle ever built (by a Mr Daimler in 1885):



[Have a look at that seat. I guess they figured they were building a horse replacement, so why not have a seat that is just like a saddle.]

There is also this:



The caption says that this bicycle engine produced in 1947 was the first product to bear the Honda name.

At the other end of the scale is this shiny metal monster:



[Sorry but I seem to have missed taking a pic of the sign, so I am not sure what recent model it is.]

But for a nerdy person like me, the favourite part of the complex is that it is a home to this:





Asimo, the Honda robot, which puts on a demo a couple of times a day. He walks up the stairs, waves a lot, follows the cute human around etc. It's interesting, but also shows how we're a long, long way from Astroboy or I Robot. (Technology really evolves in unexpected ways, doesn't it? Robots, artificial intelligence and human space exploration are so far behind where the 1960's seemed to indicate we would be. On the other hand, the way everyone, even my 82 year old mother, uses the internet was hardly seen coming. Heinlein in the 40's and 50's had it nearly perfectly wrong when he had highly reliable rocketships that were navigated using slide rules. Anyway, I digress.)

This pic shows the evolution of Asimo. I like the earlier versions which are like a microwave on legs:



Once again, I refer readers to Wikipedia for more detail about this complex. Seems from that article that the design of the track has met with some complaint. Here's the official (English) website too.

Those sensitive muslims at it again

World Cup Row: German Brothel Removes Muslim Flags Amid Threats - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

I missed this story from last week:

A giant poster covering the side of the seven-story, 126-apartment building showed a friendly-looking blonde woman lifting up her bra.... Right beneath her pink panties were posters of the flags, including those of strictly Islamic Saudi Arabia and Iran...

The campaign provoked excitement, but not the kind the management was hoping for. Men from the Muslim community came to the door complaining that showing the flags of Saudi Arabia and Iran was an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Later, some returned in masks.

"On Friday evening we were threatened by 11 masked men who demand that we take down the Saudi Arabian flag." ....

"On Saturday night there were 20 masked men armed with knives and sticks. They threatened to get violent and even bomb the place unless we black out the Iranian and Saudia Arabian flags on the poster as well," said Lobscheid.

Far be it for me to defend brothel owners, but surely these Muslim guys should have better things to worry about than where certain national flags appear.

The brothel, by the way, is said to be:

Europe's largest brothel, which incidentally claims to be the world's only brothel with a money-back guarantee for dissatisfied customers...

The local Small Claims Tribunal equivalent might have had some interesting cases.

Something's wrong with those kiddies

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Tough on crime, to hell with the causes of crime if they make money

George Monbiot refers to an old study in England, which I have read about elsewhere, indicating that rectifying bad diet has a clear effect on reducing violent crime. Of course, for Monbiot, this means that the government should be heavily regulating fast food advertising.

But this little part of his article is especially odd:

Which? reports that the most popular ITV programmes among two- to nine-year-olds are Dancing on Ice, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, but Ofcom plans to regulate only the programmes made specifically for the under-nines.

Coronation Street is popular with under 9 year olds??

I have never heard of Emmerdale before, but it is described on one Google link as "a popular TV soap opera set in the Yorkshire Dales." The ITV website provides this synopsis of an upcoming episode (note the title, and visit the website for a pic from the show):

Dominatricks
Tues 2nd May, 7.00pm
When Pollard hears that he may have some information on rival Irvin Ward, he heads off to meet Shirley Walsh in a local layby.

But instead of giving Pollard the information, she turns frisky and tries to give him something else!

It is all of course a set-up, which Pollard realises when the courier photographer snaps him in the act!

Back in the village and another prominent local is in danger of being caught out when Hari lies to Paddy and arranges to meet with passionate Perdy.

And finally, Jean comes up with a plan for her and Terry to stay together, in secret. What’s her idea?

Poor diet amongst kids may be a serious issue, but how about a column on the dangers of little ones watching soaps?

Adams on a downer

Phillip Adams seems to have been on rather a big downer lately. A couple of weeks ago, readers discovered that snakes and him seem to have a special affinity. Next, he seemed to admit to getting depressed by running Late Night Live because of all the worldly troubles that it covers. (Here's a hint Phillip: you wouldn't get so depressed if you made more of an attempt to have right leaning optimists as guests rather than the endless line of lefty pessimists.)

Today, he seems to have taken some political heart from the death of Private Kovco:

Paul Keating was hounded to his political grave by "the recession we had to have". Howard should be hounded to his by the war we had to have. For all the PM's skills in having our troops kept comparatively safe in Iraq, he put the entire country in harm's way by upping the terrorism temperature, by helping recruit a myriad more and by greatly increasing our status as a prospective target.

Now Bush's presidency is in the toilet, yet Howard has, on Iraq, remained flushed with success despite all the lies, death and destruction. But not any more. The sad death of this young man, no matter how it came about, forces attention to be paid to Howard's greatest blunder. And the fiasco of the young man's coffin is a perfect symbol for the greater fiasco of the war. The one we had to have.

I think he's clutching at straws here.I can't see that an accidental death, suicide or even murder of a soldier will have any particular resonance with the public the issue of the Iraq war generally. Accidents or mistfortune happen to soldiers all the time in training or operations; doesn't make much difference where they are.

You never know Phillip, maybe you will strike it really lucky and there will be a terrorist attack on Australian soil so you see (some) public backlash against Howard. The trouble for you will be that the other half of the population will instead see vindication of the anti-terrorism laws, and feel that the warnings about the seriousness of the terrorist threat was justified all along.

Must try harder

Warning over use of wrong antibiotics - National - theage.com.au

I didn't even know that pre-operation antibiotics were used. Well they are, but often not properly, it seems:

Patients are being placed at greater risk of acquiring harmful infections because doctors are giving them the wrong antibiotic before surgery, according to infectious disease experts.

An analysis of almost 18,000 surgical procedures in 27 Victorian hospitals, by the body that collects information for the State Government about hospital infections, shows the proportion in which the choice of antibiotic is described as "inadequate" ranges from 2.3 per cent for cardiac surgery to 56.7 per cent for hysterectomies.

The timing of antibiotic administration is also crucial. A patient should be given a shot of antibiotics ideally in the hour before the surgeon makes the first incision, and no more than two hours before. But too much antibiotic use can build resistance.

Many posts back, when I was reading about hospital doctors and hand washing, I think I read the suggestion somewhere that patients should pin a sign on their chest saying "have you washed your hands yet." (Probably a good way to get rougher treatment, I am guessing.) Anyway, seems it wouldn't hurt to ask questions of your surgeon about your antibiotic too.

Houses and power lines - an issue here soon?

Telegraph | News | Pylon cancer fears puts 7 bn blight on house prices

I don't think I have seen this story in the Aussie press.

It interests me because I happen to live in an area where a couple of new estates have been built with allotments very, very close to high voltage powerlines. (Certainly well within the 230 foot limit refered to in the above story I am sure.)

If this gets some publicity, it will do nothing for the value of houses built in those estates.

More on women in Saudi Arabia

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Saudi Arabia's unseen reform

Back in February, I pointed readers towards a Guardian article on the glacial pace of reform for women in Saudi Arabia.

The BBC shorter article above covers similar ground, but it is such a bizarre society that I find these reports irresistable. In part:

Saudi universities are segregated, separate campuses for men and women, to the extent that male lecturers as a rule only interact with female students via videophone linkups....

Relating to a visit to a shopping centre:

There is a steady trade at the abaya shop. Next door a display of lingerie is far sexier than anything I have seen in London.

The newest move is to introduce female shop assistants here, so Saudi women no longer need to buy their underwear from male attendants.

Why on earth are men not generally allowed to stand in front of a classroom of women, but can sell them sexy underwear? Just how turned on can a man get by looking at a roomfull of black cloth bags?

And generally:

But all those I spoke to agreed, any new reforms must go slowly to avoid a backlash.

The protest by Saudi women who dared flout the ban on driving during the first Iraq war in 1991 had been disastrous, prompting a wave of conservative anger. That mistake must not be repeated this time.

Toilets in Japan

It's not clear whether anyone is appreciating the posts I am making about my recent trip to Japan, as comments have been non-existent. Oh well, only a couple of posts to go before I have had enough too.

I thought I would mention the Japanese "washlet" toilet, as they are extremely popular there, and a little intimidating to the western visitor. There is actually an extremely detailed entry on Japanese toilets on Wikipedia, which is genuinely interesting and informative, and gives much more information than I can. Nevertheless, I will give my briefer guide here.

I took a photo of the "control panel " on a typical household "washlet" toilet:



The diagrams are relatively self explanatory; even if the symbol for "butt" is a little amusing. Pressing the second or third button from the left would start a whirring sound as a little arm under the seat protrudes and water starts to squirt out, aimed with surprising accuracy to the area in question. Of course, while you are sitting there, until the water starts, you have to take it on trust that the thing is operating correctly. Standing up and checking is, presumably, a good way to get wet. (Actually, the Wikipedia entry says a pressure switch on modern ones stops the spray if you are not sitting on it. Gosh, they think of everything! However, this is not something I would want to test.)

The important thing to know is that the square "stop" button on the left ends the wash. (I am not sure if there is a time limit on the length of the spray if you don't press the stop button; I have personally never let it go on that long.) The water is warmed in the machine, and the spray pressure is adjustable, from "gentle" to "close to enema". Take my advice and pick a middle setting. (On some models it is a round dial that adjusts this, I think on this model it is the bar on the bottom left. Japanese readers feel free to correct me.) Some models have air blowing dryers in them too, but air being blown around a pre-flushed toilet tends to be smelly. I would not take that option if I were buying one.

These type of toilets are not only extremely common in homes, but also department store and restaurant restrooms. Automatic water taps and soap dispensers are also quite common in more recent public toilets.

While older public toilets in parks and subways can be pretty basic (and without a western toilet at all,) newer ones are very nice and high tech indeed. The best one I recall from this trip was upstairs in Tokyo (Train) Station in the restaurant alley area. The whole layout was nice, and with a new model of air hand dryer that actually did work. No chance to take a photo there, though...

One thing a Westerner notices about mens toilets in Japan is how there is very little care taken about whether the urinals can be seen from outside. In fact, on the bullet train, there is a urinal which has a door and a long window on it so that you just look in to see some guy's back if it is being used. I guess this is not unusual for the Europeans, with their old less than full height street pissoirs, but it strikes an Australian as odd.

I now use washlet toilets without fear, and trust that with the advantage of the ever-educational Dominion, you can too...

Pointless message

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | How judge's secret Da Vinci code was cracked

Turns out the judge's encoded message was hardly worth de-coding. I was hoping it would be more pointed, like "the Plaintiff's claim is BS".

Himeji Castle

Second on the list of "must see" buildings in Japan, as recommended to us by our Osaka friends, was Himeji Castle. Himeji is only 30 minutes away on the train, and its castle is indeed spectacular and extremely photogenic:


The view from the top of the tower:


The thing on the edge of the roof is a fish, added as a good luck charm against fire. Unfortunately, the guide said, it tended to attract lightning, so now there are lightning rods attached to them.

Even though much of the inside has been rebuilt, it is by Japanese standards (where fire, earthquake and war has made really old buildings rather uncommon) very authentic. We were lucky and had a free english speaking guide for 2 hours.

Once again, Wikepedia has a good entry about this. (Gosh: it says that it featured as the headquarters for the Japanese secret police in "You Only Live Twice", the first James Bond I ever saw.)

Calm down everyone

The oil industry | Steady as she goes | Economist.com

The above article is a detailed and relatively optimistic look at the "peak oil" issue from the Economist.

The only problem I see is that optimism probably helps delay research and development of oil replacements for transport, etc, which for many reasons would be better coming sooner rather than later.

Some ideas on paternity fraud

Mendacious mums can't be let off lightly | Janet Albrechtsen | The Australian

I can't fault Janet's article today on the issue of paternity fraud.

Someone has suggested to her that maybe all births should be the subject of DNA testing. Wouldn't shares in the DNA test companies soar if ever that were seriously proposed!

Maybe some sort of compromise position is desirable: in the event of permanent separation with a view to divorce, then paternity testing is compulsory. The advantage of this is that the test is only done if the issue of child support is raised by the fact of separation. Currently, the Family Court is reluctant to order the mother and child to undergo testing unless the purported father has good reason to believe he is not the true father. Just having a feeling that the child might the result of (say) a suspected affair is definitely not enough.

This leaves many fathers forever suspicious of their ex-partners fidelity, and that does not help resolve issues such as property settlements which can sometimes drag on for years. Of course, some fathers may have completely ill founded suspicions, and the mother should achieve some vindication by having it proved that he is the father.

The more I think about it the better the idea sounds. Maybe some further refinements could be made: the father in any event is not allowed to recover the monies paid prior to separation towards raising the child. (If he has suspicions of infidelity during the marriage, he could ask the mother to undergo testing. If she refuses, he could always force the issue by leaving her and then the legislative requirement kicks in anyway.)

The idea might also encourage fidelity on both sides of the marriage. Husbands who have affairs with other men's wive's might be more cautious about it if it is certain that their paternity will be proved if their lover ever separates from their partner.

I don't know what the error rate of such tests is, but there should be provision to allow a party to require a repeat test by another lab if the first comes in as a big surprise.

If you think this is a good idea, write to your member of parliament, and also buys shares in a test company.

Albanese on Nuclear

Twenty years on: lest we forget the lessons from Chernobyl - Opinion

It would seem that Labor's environment spokesman feels that no changes to Labor's blanket anti-nuclear policies are in the wind. His article above says that the Chernobyl disaster:

"...showed the world that nuclear power was not safe..."

And I suppose that the tens of thousands killed in the process of coal mining shows that it is safer? Comparing known decrepit Russian reactors with state of the art (or newer designs) is a bit of a stretch.

I have no fixed opinion on nuclear power, in that I am skeptical of the extremes on either side of the argument about its use. However, there is work being done on reactor designs which are inherently safer (see articles about pebble bed reactors and using thorium here and here) and these should be investigated by governments as a matter of priority.

Seems that wouldn't happen under Labor though, because nuclear is evil.

Geography and global climate

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fossil gives clue to big chill

The above article points out that the disconnection of South America from Antartica some 41 million years ago is believed to have played (and still play) a very large part in the global climate:

The world was a very different place then. Levels of carbon dioxide were three to four times today's levels and it was so warm that alligators sunned themselves in the high Arctic.

But some 30 million years ago, there was a dramatic shift in climate from "greenhouse" to "icehouse".

The rapid cooling swept over the Antarctic and, over the course of several million years, its pine trees were replaced by glaciers.

Interesting. Global warming is obviously good for alligators and pine trees. Pity polar bears and penguins are so cute.

Paging Dr Skippy

In further medical news, the SMH also reports this weekend that a new promising antibiotic compound has been found in - of all places - wallaby milk.

"What's that Skip? You want this man in septic shock to put his head in your pouch? Are you sure?"

Aquarium blues

Cats are given a hard time in this blog; now it's the goldfish's turn.

The SMH reports that a drug resistant strain of salmonella has been proved (by Australian research no less) to live in fish tanks:

Australian researchers proved the link between gastroenteritis and fish tanks by showing that the strains of salmonella in patients and in their home aquariums were genetically identical.

Diane Lightfoot, a salmonella specialist at the University of Melbourne..said the study highlighted the need for care when cleaning tanks.

Fish were good pets, she said, "and fish tanks aren't to be feared. But commonsense hygiene is needed." This included washing hands after touching the water or gravel and making sure the water did not splash onto surfaces where it could contaminate food, she said.

To be fair to goldfish, the article does only refer to "tropical" fish, so maybe an unheated tank of the kind most goldfish have to put up with is not such a risk.

Little publicity expected

ScienceDaily: Ancient And Modern Evidence Suggests Limits To Future Global Warming

The above story is 2 pronged. The study indicates that global warming due to greenhouse gases is definitely real, but the models also indicated that the "worst case" temperature rises are less likely than previously estimated.

As it contains this semi-optimistic estimate on the temperature rises, will it attract any media attention?

Here's another article that contains some moderately good news on 2 aspects of the global warming issue. As Real Climate has not attacked it yet, I am guessing that it is not controversial.

On liberal churches

The New Yorker: Online Only: Content

Strange that the New Yorker contains a fairly conservative assessment of what is going on in the Episcopal Church, and Anglicanism more generally. This part rings particularly true:

The liberal, mainline churches are losing parishioners across the board. The conservative churches are not only growing but growing by leaps and bounds. To me, the reason seems obvious: if you’re shopping for faith, faith is the thing you want, not a watered-down version of a civics lesson. That’s not to say that the evangelical or more orthodox view is just a marketing tool, but people who get up on Sunday morning and say “I think I’ll go to church today” tend to want the genuine article, rather than a speculative “maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not true, we’re all on this journey together” exploration. Because it’s a lot easier, frankly, to stay in bed and get up in time for the first football game.

I believe that the most liberal and outright politically active Catholic church in Brisbane (St Mary's at South Brisbane) has a large number turn up for Sunday masses. But I think this is because it attracts disenchanted left-y Catholics from all over the city.

That parish has hosted a (secular) gay choir, been rapped over the knuckles for changes to the baptism rite, and featured street facing anti-John Howard signs erected on church grounds. Irritates me no end...

Science gives a tick to globalisation?

Does Globalization Help or Hurt the World's Poor?

This is really interesting. Scientific American (above) has a free article available on the effect of globalisation on the poor.

The article criticises both free trade and anti-globalisation activists for claiming too much for their own side of the argument. However, it seems to me to contain much more comment and information that is "pro" globalisation rather than "anti".

The point about antiglobalisation is also that it is not just a school within a group of economists who hold this debate; it is a "popular" movement as well which brings a heap of (often) nihilistic, irrational and "let's bite the hand that feeds me" attitude that is very hard to stomach. Globalisation can have bad effects, is not the sole reason for some countries' improvement, and local governments have their role to play in regulating it too. But to deem it as fundamentally evil, as anti globalisation protesters are inclined to do, is just silly. It seems well established that if the protesters completely got their way, they would hurt the people they claim to be wanting to protect.

Anyone, it would seem that such protests have reached their zenith and may dwindle further. Good.

Enough of my mini-rant. Read the article.

Dershowitz on Moussaoui

The abuse excuse. By Alan M. Dershowitz

See above for an interesting Slate article on the use and misuse of "diminished moral culpability" arguments in the American criminal system. Alan Dershowitz can write unusually clearly and succinctly for a lawyer.