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Showing posts from January 30, 2011

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 ...
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It is the weekend again. Time really moves fast when you travel 50% of the time. I suppose I don't have to travel nearly this much, but I do find it the most cost effective way to do my job. Being away from my apartment so much I have learned a few techniques. I buy a lot of freshies. What do you do with the freshies when you are leaving for two weeks? Also, I don't have a compost pile here, like on the farm. The organics need a purpose. So, what I do is take all my veggie scraps, you know the stump of lettuce, the stem of tomatoes, the pepper that would go to waste, and I freeze them. Then when I have a day or so here I take the frozen stuff out and make a wonderful vegetable stock. You make vegetable stock by getting a big ol' pot and dumping in all the frozen stuff, nothing putrefied, and adding lots and lots of water. You then slowly cook (not boil) over low-low heat for at least 12 hours, more is better. Do not add any salt. Strain the broth and freeze in baggies. ...
As I blogged previously about Sudan's South being like NY's north, They are succeding. We need to do the same in NY! http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0130/It-s-official-South-Sudan-set-to-secede-with-a-99.57-percent-vote