Obsidian Wings

Rumblings

by liberal japonicus

Well, rumor here in Japan is that Tokyo will go into strict lockdown relatively soon. One of the reasons Japan has taken a slowly slowly approach, according to this chatter, is that Abe doesn't want to crash the Nikkei and since March is the end of the fiscal year, April will see it sooner rather than later. While a number of bodies have recommended it, another push is because of the death of Shimura Ken, a very famous TV comedian due to the virus, which seems to have sharpened minds. Imagine if Johnny Carson had gotten it and died.

As to what everyone has to look forward to, a friend of mine in Korea as part of her job works with journalists. A journalist met her and later had a positive test for corona. She got tested and turned out negative, BUT she has to stay at home for 2 weeks. She gets a call twice a day to make sure she is home, she had to put an app on her phone to send information twice a day as well. Her "burough" in Seoul delivered masks, hand sanitizer, cleaner for the house, a trash pouch and a thermometer to her and she has strict instructions not to leave the house. (Fortunately, Korea has a lot of delivery food services, so that's not a problem) If she is caught going out, there is a 3 million won (about $2,400) fine. And they have flattened the curve...

Urbi et Orbi

by liberal japonicus

Thought I would open another thread, this time centered around Pope Francis' recent homily, in which he gave the blessing in the title, explained by this wikipedia page.

The Urbi et Orbi address and blessing is the most solemn form of blessing in the Catholic Church, and is reserved for the most solemn occasions. These occasions include Easter, Christmas, and the proclamation of a newly elected pope concluding a conclave.

And CoVID-19.

The text is here, an explanation is here.

Just to be clear, I'm not Catholic and when asked, I say I was raised Christian. I balk at the missionary impulse in the homily, but find some of the ideas and discussion worth considering. So, another thread that is for all intents and purposes open, but I would be very interested in what others think about what the Pope said.

Check please!

by liberal japonicus

Posted on a friend's facebook, who said he got it from Popbitch

A man in hospital is one of the first to use the new Dyson ventilator.

Doctors say he's picking up nicely.

So a thread for jokes. No politics..... unless it's funny.

What do you say to Covid if it were your barber?

by liberal japonicus

Thinking about this. Answer below the break.

The other other stuff (politics)

by JanieM

In response to Girl from the North Country's request.

I suppose it's futile, but I'm going to ask anyhow. Can we try to keep it to

-- reportage and not bloody-minded rants about the facts being reported, and

-- constructive ideas and links to useful info, actions, etc....

It's hard enough to fight off despair even when not being clobbered over the head with it all day long.

The Other Stuff

by JanieM

I wrote on the 1192 tsukuro! thread about my mom getting injured in a fall this morning, but I don't want to have dragged that thread off topic, so here's another.

Sort of an open thread, but no politics, please. If you have practical thoughts on taking action politically, go to the "Returning Fire" thread and share. We can use all the ideas we can get.

1192 tsukuro!

by liberal japonicus

This is prompted by my reply to Girl from the North Country concerning the fact that Korea basically has one big urban center and the problems it causes as well as me remember Russell's observation (I think) about how a particular size of village/town was self selected. I'm too lazy to look up anything, but I'm sure that there are papers about this, but I'm wondering, given what we know, what is the ideal size of a nation? What kind of mix of urban and rural areas should it have? Forgetting history for a moment, if you could 'make' a country, what would work best?

I'm thiking that it should be relatively compact, have at least two urban centers to counter balance each other. Not too far north, not too far south. What other things do you need? What features make things crappy in the countries we live in now? France is a little too big. Countries that are too big seem to, with the possible exception of Canada, always have issues. Island countries like Japan and England also have issues with foreigners it seems. Too small is just silly (San Marino? Really?)

I suppose there is also some cultural aspects to this. It always amazes me, my city, Kumamoto, which is often considered 'inaka' (Japanese for the Australian 'back of beyond) would be, if you could pick it up and drop it in the UK, be somewhere around the 3rd to 5th largest city.

The title comes from a mnemonic Japanese students use to remember the foundation of the Kamakura shogunate and it means 'Let's make a good country', Of course, some argue that 1185 is the foundation of the Kamakura shogunate, and 1192 is the year Minamoto no Yoritomo became the first shogun, (link), so the mnemonic is wrong. But anyway, a silly little thread to avoid talking about the crap that is going on.

Korea and sexism (and tech) part 2.37 of 3

by liberal japonicus

TLDR: The 2.37 means that the tech part will be a little sparse, but it is there if you somehow manage to get to the end

Returning Fire

by JanieM

There are times on this blog, one of them just this morning, when people write as if any attempt at moderation is objectively pro-Nazi.

I'm not buying it. Maybe certain kinds of venting help the venter somehow, but there’s a tipping point beyond which conversation amongst the rest of us, even rancorous conversation with rivals, is drowned out by the noise. There's also an issue of air time, a point that's probably too obvious to need belaboring.

In the spirit of actually doing something useful, I decided to gather a list of organizations that give us leverage for what bobbyp calls "returning fire." Please feel free to add your own favorites in the comments.

These are big national projects:

The Poor People's Campaign, with the Reverend William Barber, among others.

Fair Fight, spearheaded by Stacey Abrams.

These are related to immigrants and immigration, both based in Texas:

The Texas Civil Rights Project.

RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.

These are local to Maine, but there's probably something like this in your state:

The Capital Area New Mainers Project, helping mostly Muslim immigrants, founded in the basement of the area's only Jewish temple after the last election. When I despair, I think of the Middle East, and then I think of this outfit.

Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project.

In case you want something angled differently, check out your local land trust:

The Land Trust Alliance. Because winning the political war will be a hollow victory if we don't have a viable planet left to live on. I provide my local land trust with advice about the effective use of commas, which is apparently a rarer skill set than clearing trails, and safer, since no tick bites are involved.

Politics and insanity thread

by liberal japonicus

A thread for your political thoughts, as a futile attempt to protect the non-political ones. Have at it.