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Showing posts from August 26, 2007

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. At the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. They jumped off the cliffs at the souther end of the main island. If you have seen theoriginal color footage taken at the time. I am sure you were moved with mothers holding their babies jumping to th...
My net connection is still broke at home. I won't be paying them this month. I have a lot of pictures to post. The two new cats are adjusting and their personalities are starting to come thru. Partial list for the long weekend: firewoord, rear pasture gate, mowing, and generally winterizing. I am working on a amateur radio in Antarctica project as well. The ice flights started last week. It appears the second flight or so there was a medavac. The NZ newspaper said that someone fell from the top of the C-17 during prefight inspection and broke their leg. There are some pretty good pictures in the "af.mil" story. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123066330 http://www.stuff.co.nz/4178203a11.html
I am still having internet issues (ISP problems) at home. I can only see some parts of the net. My Indian friend has indicated to me that they have refered the problem to a "Master Technician". Dennis, Julie, Sandy and Greg came down this weekend. I have a lot of photos to post when I am capable. We all had a good time. The two new cats are settling-in. Here is some big news in physics it seems. Everyone was thinking we were getting closer. It appears we are there. Of course there will be a lot more questions, but this appears to be a real milestone in actually detecting low-energy neutrinos. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=109893 Here is a quick movie of the storm that knocked the power out Saturday night.