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Showing posts from July 3, 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 ...
Tioga Had a rough night last week. This is a movie of tioga as we left for work. He stays out all night and then I let him inside in the morning. He tucks himself in the bed. There is a lot of stuff going on that is for sure. I have to catch up on the pics and posts. It is kind of rainy today. I did mow a couple of acres in the rain. The windshield wipers worked well. It is great to look back to the back pasture and see alternating strips where I mowed and plucked out the Mutifloral roses. It is a pasture on the comeback. Duane and I were thinking about what the original farmers would think as they see their pastures go wild. They didn't have the same tools to create them that we have today. I have a lot of computer work to do today. BAH.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7616 I like this article in New Scientist. A turn to focus on technology in the last 100 years may have lead us to a slowing of true inovations. That fits with my understanding of how drug research is done. A market is developed/identified first before research is started on a compound. Sometimes drugs that can be developed fairly easily are not developed because the market is not that large. I guess what I am saying is that the economics tied to innovation is technology. Science is not tied to either, unless it is directed as such. I am sore this morning from my work yesterday. I moved a lot of trees and rocks. I have to get at it again in a couple of minutes.