Dear Reader,
I am thinking of making this a daily comic when I get back to the States. Please post
with your opinion about whether you would like this, whether you don't care, or whatever.
Thanks!
2014-07-31
漫画 Dealing with Thugs
←
See the Whole Comic
—
Complete Current Story
→
2014-07-30
Change, Climate, Change!
Scientists seem to have a bad strategy, because the debate seems to be stuck on whether climate change is happening and not on what the likely and worst case consequences are going to be, and what we're going to do about them.
Make maps of the world, especially the USA, and color in the regions which will be inundated and tally up how many people will be displaced with maps to where they might be moved. There are many other actions State and Federal governments have to take, just as if a hurricane or earthquake hit -- what will they have to do here? Florida will be gone in most scenarios. All those people will have to move, retirees from New York and elsewhere will no longer be able to move there.
"Um, kids, climate change is bad, m'kay? Gotta stop those greenhouse gasses, m'kay?" doesn't cut it with a lot of people. It's too vague and distant, not relevant to what they're doing. A map with evacuation plans and economic relocation (where will we grow food, which factories must move, etc.?) will make sense. Another thing is which force majeur things, like 100-foot dikes, etc., might we do to keep our cities and other infrastructure where it is for the short- to medium-term, and how much would that cost? Give decision-makers some trade-offs to chew on. Can we build a dike all the way around Florida? Even around Miami? New Orleans? Holland doesn't have as many hurricanes -- could the dike survive those?
Do a best, likely, worst, and DAYUM! case scenario and tie those to parameters like Antarctic ice melt rates and CO2 levels that folks can check to see which we're heading to. My impression is that we know less about how the weather will change, but try to apply the same approach to which places will turn to deserts, have worse storms, and what will we do with all the European refugees when the Atlantic currents get all screwed up again and Europe goes all "Little Ice Agey" on us and can't grow enough food and quadruples their heating budget?
Anyway, food for thought.
Make some real projections people can understand, and real consequences they can decide whether they are willing to accept based on the solutions (evacuations, belt-tightening, etc.) you propose. Then the argument shifts from "is there climate change?" to "What are we going to do about all the bad stuff that's going to happen if we don't address climate change?' It's a lot easier for a politician or tycoon to deny climate change than to explain why he's FOR abandoning Florida, for instance, while his opponents are making serious proposals about solutions.
Make maps of the world, especially the USA, and color in the regions which will be inundated and tally up how many people will be displaced with maps to where they might be moved. There are many other actions State and Federal governments have to take, just as if a hurricane or earthquake hit -- what will they have to do here? Florida will be gone in most scenarios. All those people will have to move, retirees from New York and elsewhere will no longer be able to move there.
"Um, kids, climate change is bad, m'kay? Gotta stop those greenhouse gasses, m'kay?" doesn't cut it with a lot of people. It's too vague and distant, not relevant to what they're doing. A map with evacuation plans and economic relocation (where will we grow food, which factories must move, etc.?) will make sense. Another thing is which force majeur things, like 100-foot dikes, etc., might we do to keep our cities and other infrastructure where it is for the short- to medium-term, and how much would that cost? Give decision-makers some trade-offs to chew on. Can we build a dike all the way around Florida? Even around Miami? New Orleans? Holland doesn't have as many hurricanes -- could the dike survive those?
Do a best, likely, worst, and DAYUM! case scenario and tie those to parameters like Antarctic ice melt rates and CO2 levels that folks can check to see which we're heading to. My impression is that we know less about how the weather will change, but try to apply the same approach to which places will turn to deserts, have worse storms, and what will we do with all the European refugees when the Atlantic currents get all screwed up again and Europe goes all "Little Ice Agey" on us and can't grow enough food and quadruples their heating budget?
Anyway, food for thought.
Make some real projections people can understand, and real consequences they can decide whether they are willing to accept based on the solutions (evacuations, belt-tightening, etc.) you propose. Then the argument shifts from "is there climate change?" to "What are we going to do about all the bad stuff that's going to happen if we don't address climate change?' It's a lot easier for a politician or tycoon to deny climate change than to explain why he's FOR abandoning Florida, for instance, while his opponents are making serious proposals about solutions.
2014-07-29
Pull the foreskin, not the wool, over our eyes
Ladies, 10 Things You Need
To Know About The Male
Organ
When I called Benjamin Brucker, M.D,
assistant professor of Urology at NYU Langone
Medical Center, to talk about penises, he had a
lot to say. “I’m happy that I found someone as
interested in the male phallus as I am,” he told
me, enthusiastically. And then he proceeded
to tell me everything there is to know about
penises. Here are the 10 penis facts everyone
handling penises should know:
1. There’s really no difference between
circumcised and uncircumcised
penises. The only discernable difference
between circumcised and uncircumcised
penises is the likelihood of developing penile
cancer (it’s rare in general, but uncircumcised
men are at a higher risk). Uncircumcised men
are also slightly more likely to transmit HPV
and HIV to partners if they don’t use a
condom.
Those bummers aside, most of the
assumptions people have about circumcision
affecting penis size and sexual prowess are
myths. “Being uncircumcised really should not
affect the size of the penis; it’s just the
appearance,” says Dr. Brucker. “It’s probably
not something they really notice, per se. The
foreskin probably pulls back a bit during
vaginal penetration and so I don’t know if
there’s anything they would necessarily
notice.” It’s really just personal preference: Do
you prefer your convertibles with the hood up
or down?
2. Penises can break. “It’s called a penile
fracture. You would think of a bone fracturing
because that’s what most fractures are
described as, but the fracture in the penis
comes from the fibrous tissue of the penis
essentially developing a rip or a tear in it,”
says Dr. Brucker. Because we all know the
penis is not a bone or a muscle, but an organ,
right?! Right! “Sometimes in medical textbooks
they’ll call [a broken penis] an ‘eggplant
deformity’ or an ‘eggplant’ because it will
actually turn purple, bruised, and take on that
shape of an eggplant.” Every man reading this
just swore off eating eggplants forever.
3. But they’re pretty resilient. It might be
easy to do some damage to a penis with an
errant tooth or an overzealous grip, but don’t
worry about doing any permanent damage.
Going limp is the penis’s natural reaction if a
guy is in any kind of pain (to avoid becoming
an eggplant). “The good news about the penis
is that it has a lot of blood flow in most men,
so it heals well and allows your immune
system to work,” said Dr. Brucker, “but just
like any other part of your body it needs to be
treated appropriately and you don’t want to be
too aggressive.”
4. Men can get yeast infections and UTIs
too. Typically, you’re not going to pass on yeast
infections or UTIs to your partner, although it
can happen. “A female urethra is usually about
four centimeters and the man’s urethra is
longer. Some guys can get topical yeast
infections; it’s usually just a skin irritation.
When a man gets a urinary tract infection,
there’s usually a problem going on, like an
enlarged prostate,” explains Dr. Brucker.
5. Erectile dysfunction is usually indicative
of other health issues. “ There’s a whole
category called ‘psychogenic erectile
dysfunction.’ So let’s say a man had an affair
and he goes back to have sex with his wife.
Things don’t feel the same and he has difficult
time getting an erection,” says Dr. Brucker.
That doesn’t mean every man with ED is a
cheater. Stress, drugs (prescription or
otherwise), alcohol, age, and obesity can all
cause ED. Erectile dysfunction can even be a
sign of diabetes or heart disease. “Once you
start to see erectile dysfunction, the first thing
you should evaluate is his overall health.”
6. No one actually knows the average penis
size. There’s no standard tool for measuring a
penis and no easy way of doing so. Some
studies stretch the penis out by tying a weight
to it (oy), others measure from the base of the
pre-pubic area as opposed to the base of the
penis. And penises are always changing size. “A
large portion of the penis is actually inside of
the body and then there’s also the distinction
between when you’re measuring the penis of a
man who has a little bit of weight in the pubic
hair area or not. You can have a guy with the
actual same penis length and he’s super skinny
— the portion of the penis measured may
appear to be longer versus a guy with a little
weight on him.”
7. The clitoris is basically a tiny penis. “In
embryologic development, the penis and the
clitoris actually evolve from the same tissue.
So the clitoris can technically become erect,”
explains Dr. Brucker. Basically, everyone starts
with vaginal lips in the womb, and if the Y
chromosome is present, things start flipping
around like a genital Transformer. “The
ovaries, or the gonads, descend and become
the testicles, the labia fuse and become the
scrotum, and then the clitoris enlarges and
becomes the penis.” Wild.
8. There’s really no scientific basis for the
idea of a guy being a “grower not a
shower.” Every penis is different. “You can
have a man with a small penis who gets
erections and is large, or a man with a small
penis who gets erect and it doesn’t grow more,
or you can have a man with a large penis who
gets erect but it doesn’t grow anymore. Or you
can have a man with a large penis who gets
erect and it grow more,” says Dr. Brucker.
Judge not ye the penis that neither grows nor
shows.
9. Only being able to have sex for two
minutes isn’t really premature
ejaculation. “Men think they’re supposed to
be able to last an hour and a half or two hours,
but the reality is most women would say at
that point sex becomes uncomfortable. Most
of the time sex lasts minutes, not hours,” says
Dr. Brucker. The average guy lasts about five
minutes.
10. Men can’t always get erections back-to-
back because their penises basically just
ran a marathon. Every penis is different.
Some can do back-to-back sex sessions, and
others need to take a break and rehydrate. It’s
what’s known as a refractory period. “The
refractory period is just part of normal
physiology. Different parts of your nervous
system are working for erections and
ejaculation, and it’s hard for your body to
switch back and forth quickly. The refractory
time varies a lot based on age and other
issues,” says Dr. Brucker. Don’t be
disappointed if the penis needs a break every
once in a while. It’s just extra time for him to
go down on you or try something new.
#1 and #5 are probably wildly inaccurate, who knows about the others. It is telling, by the way, that #1 is about circumcision. M'thinks he doth protest too much?
It's not about ED or how men experience pleasure (which isn't even mentioned), or how men can best give women pleasure, or even the best ways to get a baby, if any.
Here's what I tried. I suggest a similar tone, even use the letter below, but change it up a bit, e.g., "Please let me know" swapped for "Can you please tell me" "I heard that" for "read an alleged quote" or move the paragraphs around with "tell me if the FOLLOWING information" and so on.
I suggest this "just asking" "neutral-sounding" tone to fly under the radar, put out the message that there is questioning going on, especially if they get hundreds of messages, all politely asking just yes or no. That will send the message that they'd better get their facts straight, that people are no longer just uncritically swallowing whatever the medical industry trowels out.
The next stage is more specific questioning of specific points, possibly with the citation of facts, perhaps expressing "confusion" or "desire for clarification" continue to maintain the posture of "constructive engagement"
Then move on to "challenging" i.e., pointing out the glaring inconsistencies, building sarcastic memes (viral ideas to polarize the public mindset, a kind of "mob consensus" if you will) and directly confronting those who cling to them and probably after that a "making an example of" certain people who continue to defend the wrong way of thinking. This latter can be abetted by the "challenging" of certain individuals or groups to make more extreme actions and statements which are then used against them.
Kind of the "Karl Rove" approach, but with a codicil. The "nice phase four" is where you begin challenging after there are already converts to the new position, e.g., urologists and ob/gynecologists who have already "converted" and form a coherent "loyal opposition" and a matured worldview that others can switch over to when the pressure mounts, also, engineering what that "switching" process can look like, e.g., how to save face like Dr. Spock switched, admitting he had ruined the lives of or even killed thousands of babies, but somehow saying he's not going to do it any more. The "hard-ass phase four" is that you don't provide all that and people have to jump ship now, swallow their pride or whatever...or else.
Contact Dr. Brucker’s Practice Managers by email Ivana.Morgan@nyumc.org or Ellen.Taunton@nyumc.orgEngineering this is all part of the process.
subject: Was Dr. Brucker quoted correctly on differences between circumcised and uncircumcised penis?
Dear practice managers of Dr. Benjamin Brucker
I read an alleged quote from Dr. Brucker that there is really no difference between a circumcised and an uncircumcised penis, but that uncircumcised men are more likely to develop penile cancer or transmit HIV or HPV to their partners, and that the only real difference is appearance.
Can you please tell me if the foregoing information is in fact what Dr. Brucker is teaching, telling patients and the press? I would like to be able to tell if he is being misquoted and I would not wish to cite such quotes from him without ascertaining that they are authoritative.
Thanks in advance for your timely and thoughtful response
Yours sincerely
[my name]
To Know About The Male
Organ
When I called Benjamin Brucker, M.D,
assistant professor of Urology at NYU Langone
Medical Center, to talk about penises, he had a
lot to say. “I’m happy that I found someone as
interested in the male phallus as I am,” he told
me, enthusiastically. And then he proceeded
to tell me everything there is to know about
penises. Here are the 10 penis facts everyone
handling penises should know:
1. There’s really no difference between
circumcised and uncircumcised
penises. The only discernable difference
between circumcised and uncircumcised
penises is the likelihood of developing penile
cancer (it’s rare in general, but uncircumcised
men are at a higher risk). Uncircumcised men
are also slightly more likely to transmit HPV
and HIV to partners if they don’t use a
condom.
Those bummers aside, most of the
assumptions people have about circumcision
affecting penis size and sexual prowess are
myths. “Being uncircumcised really should not
affect the size of the penis; it’s just the
appearance,” says Dr. Brucker. “It’s probably
not something they really notice, per se. The
foreskin probably pulls back a bit during
vaginal penetration and so I don’t know if
there’s anything they would necessarily
notice.” It’s really just personal preference: Do
you prefer your convertibles with the hood up
or down?
2. Penises can break. “It’s called a penile
fracture. You would think of a bone fracturing
because that’s what most fractures are
described as, but the fracture in the penis
comes from the fibrous tissue of the penis
essentially developing a rip or a tear in it,”
says Dr. Brucker. Because we all know the
penis is not a bone or a muscle, but an organ,
right?! Right! “Sometimes in medical textbooks
they’ll call [a broken penis] an ‘eggplant
deformity’ or an ‘eggplant’ because it will
actually turn purple, bruised, and take on that
shape of an eggplant.” Every man reading this
just swore off eating eggplants forever.
3. But they’re pretty resilient. It might be
easy to do some damage to a penis with an
errant tooth or an overzealous grip, but don’t
worry about doing any permanent damage.
Going limp is the penis’s natural reaction if a
guy is in any kind of pain (to avoid becoming
an eggplant). “The good news about the penis
is that it has a lot of blood flow in most men,
so it heals well and allows your immune
system to work,” said Dr. Brucker, “but just
like any other part of your body it needs to be
treated appropriately and you don’t want to be
too aggressive.”
4. Men can get yeast infections and UTIs
too. Typically, you’re not going to pass on yeast
infections or UTIs to your partner, although it
can happen. “A female urethra is usually about
four centimeters and the man’s urethra is
longer. Some guys can get topical yeast
infections; it’s usually just a skin irritation.
When a man gets a urinary tract infection,
there’s usually a problem going on, like an
enlarged prostate,” explains Dr. Brucker.
5. Erectile dysfunction is usually indicative
of other health issues. “ There’s a whole
category called ‘psychogenic erectile
dysfunction.’ So let’s say a man had an affair
and he goes back to have sex with his wife.
Things don’t feel the same and he has difficult
time getting an erection,” says Dr. Brucker.
That doesn’t mean every man with ED is a
cheater. Stress, drugs (prescription or
otherwise), alcohol, age, and obesity can all
cause ED. Erectile dysfunction can even be a
sign of diabetes or heart disease. “Once you
start to see erectile dysfunction, the first thing
you should evaluate is his overall health.”
6. No one actually knows the average penis
size. There’s no standard tool for measuring a
penis and no easy way of doing so. Some
studies stretch the penis out by tying a weight
to it (oy), others measure from the base of the
pre-pubic area as opposed to the base of the
penis. And penises are always changing size. “A
large portion of the penis is actually inside of
the body and then there’s also the distinction
between when you’re measuring the penis of a
man who has a little bit of weight in the pubic
hair area or not. You can have a guy with the
actual same penis length and he’s super skinny
— the portion of the penis measured may
appear to be longer versus a guy with a little
weight on him.”
7. The clitoris is basically a tiny penis. “In
embryologic development, the penis and the
clitoris actually evolve from the same tissue.
So the clitoris can technically become erect,”
explains Dr. Brucker. Basically, everyone starts
with vaginal lips in the womb, and if the Y
chromosome is present, things start flipping
around like a genital Transformer. “The
ovaries, or the gonads, descend and become
the testicles, the labia fuse and become the
scrotum, and then the clitoris enlarges and
becomes the penis.” Wild.
8. There’s really no scientific basis for the
idea of a guy being a “grower not a
shower.” Every penis is different. “You can
have a man with a small penis who gets
erections and is large, or a man with a small
penis who gets erect and it doesn’t grow more,
or you can have a man with a large penis who
gets erect but it doesn’t grow anymore. Or you
can have a man with a large penis who gets
erect and it grow more,” says Dr. Brucker.
Judge not ye the penis that neither grows nor
shows.
9. Only being able to have sex for two
minutes isn’t really premature
ejaculation. “Men think they’re supposed to
be able to last an hour and a half or two hours,
but the reality is most women would say at
that point sex becomes uncomfortable. Most
of the time sex lasts minutes, not hours,” says
Dr. Brucker. The average guy lasts about five
minutes.
10. Men can’t always get erections back-to-
back because their penises basically just
ran a marathon. Every penis is different.
Some can do back-to-back sex sessions, and
others need to take a break and rehydrate. It’s
what’s known as a refractory period. “The
refractory period is just part of normal
physiology. Different parts of your nervous
system are working for erections and
ejaculation, and it’s hard for your body to
switch back and forth quickly. The refractory
time varies a lot based on age and other
issues,” says Dr. Brucker. Don’t be
disappointed if the penis needs a break every
once in a while. It’s just extra time for him to
go down on you or try something new.
#1 and #5 are probably wildly inaccurate, who knows about the others. It is telling, by the way, that #1 is about circumcision. M'thinks he doth protest too much?
It's not about ED or how men experience pleasure (which isn't even mentioned), or how men can best give women pleasure, or even the best ways to get a baby, if any.
Here's what I tried. I suggest a similar tone, even use the letter below, but change it up a bit, e.g., "Please let me know" swapped for "Can you please tell me" "I heard that" for "read an alleged quote" or move the paragraphs around with "tell me if the FOLLOWING information" and so on.
I suggest this "just asking" "neutral-sounding" tone to fly under the radar, put out the message that there is questioning going on, especially if they get hundreds of messages, all politely asking just yes or no. That will send the message that they'd better get their facts straight, that people are no longer just uncritically swallowing whatever the medical industry trowels out.
The next stage is more specific questioning of specific points, possibly with the citation of facts, perhaps expressing "confusion" or "desire for clarification" continue to maintain the posture of "constructive engagement"
Then move on to "challenging" i.e., pointing out the glaring inconsistencies, building sarcastic memes (viral ideas to polarize the public mindset, a kind of "mob consensus" if you will) and directly confronting those who cling to them and probably after that a "making an example of" certain people who continue to defend the wrong way of thinking. This latter can be abetted by the "challenging" of certain individuals or groups to make more extreme actions and statements which are then used against them.
Kind of the "Karl Rove" approach, but with a codicil. The "nice phase four" is where you begin challenging after there are already converts to the new position, e.g., urologists and ob/gynecologists who have already "converted" and form a coherent "loyal opposition" and a matured worldview that others can switch over to when the pressure mounts, also, engineering what that "switching" process can look like, e.g., how to save face like Dr. Spock switched, admitting he had ruined the lives of or even killed thousands of babies, but somehow saying he's not going to do it any more. The "hard-ass phase four" is that you don't provide all that and people have to jump ship now, swallow their pride or whatever...or else.
Contact Dr. Brucker’s Practice Managers by email Ivana.Morgan@nyumc.org or Ellen.Taunton@nyumc.orgEngineering this is all part of the process.
subject: Was Dr. Brucker quoted correctly on differences between circumcised and uncircumcised penis?
Dear practice managers of Dr. Benjamin Brucker
I read an alleged quote from Dr. Brucker that there is really no difference between a circumcised and an uncircumcised penis, but that uncircumcised men are more likely to develop penile cancer or transmit HIV or HPV to their partners, and that the only real difference is appearance.
Can you please tell me if the foregoing information is in fact what Dr. Brucker is teaching, telling patients and the press? I would like to be able to tell if he is being misquoted and I would not wish to cite such quotes from him without ascertaining that they are authoritative.
Thanks in advance for your timely and thoughtful response
Yours sincerely
[my name]
2014-07-28
Which Gender is in Control?
"To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize."
— Voltaire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQyJEXe7W0
— Voltaire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQyJEXe7W0
模倣子 Crypto-Fetishism and Polyarchy
I'm in a maid café having coffee and om-raisu. I just got shiatsu
and talked about my memoire and other novels with a young woman also
wearing a French maid's uniform.
Japan strikes
a very odd balance between the skebey and the ridiculously cute, and
it's inexplicably serious and non-exploitative and often not even erotic
in the way westerners would think of it.
Much more to be said on this.
Also
one sees the "female privilege" factor of just standing around, maybe
in a maid's uniform, even without skills or even enthusiasm still
guarantees one sure employment and even a good income.
A third of the clients are female, and some have brought their kids, so it's like Disneyland.
It
occurs to me that many of these kinds of contemporary Japanese cultural
phenomena (many but not all borrowed out of context from foreign
cultures) blur across a continuüm between silly, childish, cute and
innocent and the profoundly fetishistic and erotic. At the same time the
Japanese tend to be self-consciously conservative in many respects.
Point
being, this undeconstructed largely alien-derived continuüm of
ideological imagery and iconography lends itself to the Japanese
integrative political propensity Karel van Wolferen elucidates in "The
Enigma of Japanese Power" i.e. the inclusion of everyone into the power
structure.
A very unamerican concept. Much more could be written about this.
Oh,
god, one of the maid girls is wearing a purse labeled "Lolita girl"
(ask me about my translation adventures for the fashion designer press
interview).
A word of apology since you
probably imagine that I'm embroiled on some kind of dress-up orgy.
Nothing could be further from the truth, which is precisely the point.
It
further occurs to me that this uniquely Japanese feeling of being
(gaily) lost and adrift in this crypto-ideological morass which is
nonetheless highly rule-based is the antithesis of the Kafka-esque
scenario of "everybody knows what's going on except for you (and we
don't care that you don't)" which is replaced by "none of us really
knows what's going on and it's fine if you don't either and please join
us!" (Japanese love of words such as "club" "system" etc.)
I
wonder if any of this would be relevant to your anti-violence theme.
The Japanese are very non-violent and also deeply tribal, so perhaps
so. My theory is that this kind of crypto-fetishistic polyarchism may be at or near the root of this relationship to non-violence.
I thought of a title you might use on a poem about all this. Let's see if I can remember it. Something like:
Deconstructing
Crypto-Fetishism and it's Relation to the Formation of Integrative
Polyarchic Power Structures while sitting in a Japanese Lolita French
Maid Café
Kind of catchy, no? Kind of rolls off the tongue? Maybe a little simpler would be:
Crypto-Fetishism and Polyarchy
or...
Musings on Crypto-Fetishism and Polyarchy while sitting in a Japanese Lolita Maid Café
The
dictionary doesn't know "polyarchism" so I guess that's another
neologism I've invented. The closest word might be "anarchy" but that's
not at all it.
Blessing for the Next Generation
Whenever people don't immediately accept and like you, may you feel genuine surprise.
詩：他人の人生
Riding the public train
A glimpse into the lives of anonymous others
Unspoken pardon for our own shortcomings
A stylishly-dressed young woman stands before me
She pulls her wedding ring from her designer bag
And turns it anxiously, self-consciously
Before putting it back on
I notice she is flushed,
Glowing even
Her hair disheveled
In very un-Japanese fashion
She seems unaware of this
Her black-and-white shirt droops
Revealing blue bra strap
Proclaiming in block letters
Nothing easy is worth doing
Insouciance for anonymity
Because it is defended by others
Out of indifference
But also out of the respect
Born of self-interest
Our exchanged and averted glances bespeak
Understanding and forgiveness
My station is next
I offer her my seat
Before she leaves my life forever
As quickly as she entered it
A glimpse into the lives of anonymous others
Unspoken pardon for our own shortcomings
A stylishly-dressed young woman stands before me
She pulls her wedding ring from her designer bag
And turns it anxiously, self-consciously
Before putting it back on
I notice she is flushed,
Glowing even
Her hair disheveled
In very un-Japanese fashion
She seems unaware of this
Her black-and-white shirt droops
Revealing blue bra strap
Proclaiming in block letters
Nothing easy is worth doing
Insouciance for anonymity
Because it is defended by others
Out of indifference
But also out of the respect
Born of self-interest
Our exchanged and averted glances bespeak
Understanding and forgiveness
My station is next
I offer her my seat
Before she leaves my life forever
As quickly as she entered it
2014-07-26
2014-07-24
漫画 Stud Farm
←
See the Whole Comic
—
Complete Current Story
→
I'm in Tokyo! It's already Friday over here. Hope to get my immigration business and maybe all of my "bureaucratic" stuff taken care of today.
I'm in Tokyo! It's already Friday over here. Hope to get my immigration business and maybe all of my "bureaucratic" stuff taken care of today.
2014-07-23
漫画 Reward for Bravery
←
See the Whole Comic
—
Complete Current Story
→
I'm off for Japan today! I plan to publish again on Friday (which may look like Thursday!) and keep them coming every two days until I get back on 6 August. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't have any problems, and keep watching this spot!
2014-07-21
Japanese Class
I'm off for Japan until August 6!
i - fu - do - do review
groupish vs individual-ish
red vs. change
opposite - against
"stubborn" "hang in there"
Taiwan, taiphoon
the many faces of "Ko"
"Long Ago in Egypt"
"re-entry permit"
"meeting my Swiss friend in Tokyo"
Beards and hair
right (to do)
"red" vs. "change" etc.
2014-07-19
2014-07-17
2014-07-15
Japanese Class
Woman throwing javelin = dignified
i fu do do = pomp and circumstance
Get together
Get it together
"for the use of"
get the answer out = get Kiki out
Stubborn = sticktoitiveness
to end
to put an end to
garlic & human flesh both make a good meal for somebody
an invitation...
...different radical to "self-introduction"
greeting
kinds of document kanji
divorce form
library: map & document building
Majime = true face eye = serious, earnest
Alice drew and wrote this - can you translate the writing?
2014-07-13
2014-07-11
2014-07-09
2014-07-07
漫画 Her Body, Her Choice, too
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See the Whole Comic
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Complete Current Story
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This vignette will be continued later on. In the interval, Zeppelin will go on for a while. I will be in Japan from July 23 to August 6, but plan to keep publishing comics during that time, so stay tuned!
2014-07-05
2014-07-04
漫画 Manga Table of Contents
| Vignette | Synopsis |
|---|---|
| The Poets of Porcadis | |
| Meet the Boys | Our heroes, Lenny & Sparky, are prowling around East Porcadis Park on what turns out to be a very strange and mysterious mission for a shadowy patron. |
| Lulu Goes to College | Their quest leads them to Porcadis University, the Department of Mythology and Crypto-Memetics, and Lulu is persuaded to become a graduate student. |
| Lulu Meets the Blue Horn People | Lulu's advisor leads her and her fellow students on a fantastical jaunt into and workshop of anthropology, biology, and ultimately memetics and memetic engineering. |
| Lulu's Internship at SCARE | Lulu's starts interning at a local company to help them transform their business processes using the memetic analysis & engineering skills she's learning at school. |
| The 2nd Coming | While waiting for her advisor to come back, Lulu once again locks horns and crosses swords with Pénélopé over points of philosophy and the bedeviling question of whether the office doughnut pool really is as fair as Lenny & Sparky think it is. |
| Schrödinger's Catachresis | Our heroes awaken to find themselves in a strange place with some strange new companions. |
| Mop & Broom Con | Lulu & Penny are taken on a study trip to the nerdy, feminist Mop & Broom Con. |
| Financial Intelligence | Upon hearing Lenny & Sparky's timeworn refrain about how broke they are, Lulu treats them to coffee (again!) and tries to teach them (and you!) her method of keeping track of her money and growing her Financial Intelligence, Financial Integrity, and ultimately (hopefully) reaching financial security. |
| Cloud of Dreams | Lulu & Lenny meet a new friend in East Porcadis Park, and they all discover that there's more going on at Lenny's place of work than meets the eye. |
| Step Forth | Casey confronts some inner truths about himself, his self-image, his relationship to himself and others, and to women in particular. |
| Zeppelin | Deb and Lulu go to see Nick and Guillermo off only to find that they may all be confronting dark forces they have only just begun to understand and which may lead to civil war. |
| Mr. Peabody & The Mermaids | |
| A trip to the full-service Native American Bank | Honquèrelle's & Mr. Peabody's projects lead the gang on an adventure to a bank that tries to meet everyone's needs. |
| Electionville | Honquèrelle & Alexántebra use a new on-line game to try to get into office to prevent some bad trends from making it into Siren Cove. |
| The Tale of Treat | Umiko and Honquèrelle's son, Treat, each undertake a quest. |
| Mermaid Comics and Japanese Mermaid Puns | One-frame jokes and puns. |
2014-07-03
Escape Hatch
Escape Hatch -- this is awesome! Women have the option of "opting out" of all the hard work and responsibility, and not only do many of them do so, despite often superior intelligence and qualifications, the fact that they could colors everything for both genders.
Oh, by the way, acid attacks are rare, and happen to men almost as much as women (graphic to follow) -- so yes, there is still "male privilege" there (just a very tiny, almost statistically insignificant amount).
As usual, true to form, crypto-pseudo-feminists lie like rugs by omitting and distorting data to make women look more like victims than they are, and make men look like villains.
Oh, by the way, acid attacks are rare, and happen to men almost as much as women (graphic to follow) -- so yes, there is still "male privilege" there (just a very tiny, almost statistically insignificant amount).
As usual, true to form, crypto-pseudo-feminists lie like rugs by omitting and distorting data to make women look more like victims than they are, and make men look like villains.
2014-07-02
Last Two Japanese Classes
Stupid polyglot puns, kanjis with repeated radicals, old-style characters, etc.
Princess Rum-chan from Urusei Yatsura -- a perfect tie-in for Bacardi Rum, or what? I pitched this to my German buddy in Tokyo who was going to go pitch them for the Japanese market, by the way. Bats with tiger striped outfits. Perfect!
"Drawing" vs. "drawing"
Different kinds of job kanjis.
Home, convenience, delivery, box lunches, lawyers, and nurses
Nurses, hats, prostitutes, guns, and "serving it all before with the sound of 'zen' "
something, something shi-komu...what?
Places in Japan, "I'd like to see the time processing testing wrapped up this week," "Certainly, boss"
"Please don't get pissed off"
Transitive / Intransitive Verbs
Bad Dream
"Left out of the club"
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