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Showing posts from March 12, 2023

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 ...

Chased by a Bear

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It was/is good to hire others to do the work on the house. It is very uncomfortable at times, but it accelerates things. I am unhappy with the craftsmanship. The most prized skills for this kind of work is speed. Quality skills comes in second. In the normal DIY home improvement strategy you do the inside work first then do the outside work. If you do it the other way around your taxes will go up while the inside is not worth it. I always say that property should have higher tax assessments on property that is not kept up, not higher taxes for property is kept nice. The poorly conserved properties are a drain on civilization. There should be an incentive to keep your property in good repair. Well, you might say, ""I dont want the government judging what should be done to my house". The fact is they are already judging your house with an assessment that penalizes only on how how nice your house "looks" as well as some basic stats (which are good and should be p...