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Showing posts from February 20, 2005

Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
Pervasive computing journal I received my first copy of Pervasive computing yesterday. Interesting journal and of typical IEEE high quality. I was invited to co-author a journal article in another journal this week, which I accepted. I was invited by a Physicist PhD to collaborate on an article describing how a special area of economics afflicts technical communications and the information industry. The foundation work was first published in 1967. The concept I would characterize as part of the body of the "Economics Way of Thinking." John Maynard Keynes describes this kind of thinking as an "apparatus of mind." I think the article will have some good life to it as it resonates through the community in which we are introducing it. Also this week, I was asked to contribute to a book (soon to be published) on the Toyota way as it applies to technical communication. I agreed. I will not have my name on the cover but I will be credited in the book. So this week ...
It doesn't seem like it has been a week since I last blogged. Apparently it has been. I have joined the 1990s! I now have a cell phone along with Bonnie. We got Tracfones which are prepaid PCS type digital phones. It works at the house so that is great. Coverage is pretty good. Out here coverage is a big deal and something you cannot take for granted. I am doing a NPV analysis of the prices over minutes over time to ensure I am getting the best deal. Homework is taking quite a bit of my time. I am learning a lot about finance. This week we did regressions for portfolio analysis of beta among other financial models including Fama-French and emerging financial behavioral models. We have ducks! I picked them up Friday. Currently we have 8 ducks. Liz and Ken will take 5 leaving us with two hens and a drake. They are young mallards. I leared how to clip their wings as to not let them fly away. They are quite nervous still. I hope they settle down. They are really uptight. The chi...