Well, it has been nine days so far since Senator Ray LaHood claimed that we were “this close” to cathcing Saddam Hussein. “Imminent,” the stories said. Is more than nine days “imminent”?

The reason I protest is because I feel that such claims (see my prior story) serve to create false impressions to mislead the public. Example: Bush and his administration dropped so many rumors, hints and indirect, unproven allegations that Saddam was involved in 9/11 that almost 70% of the American people believed it to be a fact.

Ever since we entered Iraq and found that the massive stockpiles of WMD were not there, we have been hearing similar reports, including false and/or later disproven claims regarding WMD in Iraq, as well as several claims–by members of Congress and prominent journalists–that evidence had indeed been found but we just had to wait a little for the official announcement to be forthcoming. This latest claim is just another in that series.

I have the strong feeling that, were a poll taken today, a majority of Americans would believe that we have found proof of WMD in Iraq–which is again why I object to the hint-dropping. It could simply be a politician passing on a rumor they gave too much credence to, but the fact that they are all coming from conservative politicians and pundits, and that there are such a steady stream of them, makes me just a wee bit suspicious.

A former flame and now good friend Hiromi has happened onto a new thing: salt candles. Mined from ancient salt deposits in the Asian subcontinent, these are more than just lumps of salt; they make very attractive candle holders. With holes drilled through their cores, exactly to the size of tea candles, they light up and make for very nice ornaments.

Hiromi gave me one not too long ago (as thanks for helping her set up her web site), and though I’m not much of a candle person, I have to say I do like it. They have an aesthetic, primitive quality to them.

Hiromi (pictured right, with a few of the candles) is testing the waters as to marketing some of them, seeing if there is any demand. If anyone is interested, leave a comment with an email address, I’ll get back to you on it.

Well, CAN-SPAM has been passed, but as I noted previously, this new bill soon to be signed by Bush will likely amount to nothing. All a spammer has to do is move operations overseas–which most have already done–and they avoid the new laws. But no doubt Bush will make a big deal about it. Watch your wallets–ironically, the new law may actually increase spam, by way of such things as encouraging people to add their names to “opt-out” lists, which in fact just gives spammers a list of new addresses to spam. Morons.org also has a nice commentary on it.

As I just noted, I got spammed 50 times by some jerk–mass blog comment spam, my first time. Unfortunately, in Movable Type–the software that runs this blog–to delete a comments you have to click, wait, click, wait, click, click and click again just to delete one comment. There is no batch-deletion built in.

Enter MT-Blacklist, a freeware plugin made by Jay Allen. It not only detects and blocks likely spam, but it allows for just the mass-deletion I was looking for. Just upload three files to the directories noted in the ReadMe file, Chmod the permissions to 755, go to the mt-blacklist.cgi file, and presto, you’re golden. Instead of spending an hour deleting the slimy spam droppings defacing my site, I zapped them all in a few seconds.

Thank you, Mr. Allen!

Any other bloggers paying attention, here is a warning about blog comment spam:

Immediately block IP Addresses stemming from 195.120, I just got spammed by them about 50 times in quick succession. To avoid headaches, keep them out. The specific IP Address is 195.120.185.220.

Thank you. You may now return to regularly scheduled programming.

Well, we do have two of them every year. This was what kept me busy yesterday (today it was grading, and I just finished). This ceremony was a very good one. As of the past few years, we’ve moved up and into the Century Hyatt for our ceremonies; we used to do it in local hotels (the first I presided over myself had all of two graduates!), but our graduating classes have grown to a size that cannot be hosted by the other hotels. And the Hyatt is a classy place.

Machiko Wada, one of our senior students, and one of our very best at that, gave the valedictorian address, and moved everyone to tears; many of the students, both young women and me, were openly crying, and I definitely heard a lot of sniffling behind me.

Afterwards, we moved up to the 27th floor and a very nice new room for the Graduation/Christmas party. For me, as kind of an unofficial photographer (as always), it was great because the light was perfect for taking photos–I got nearly 200 of them, so maybe a few dozen are good enough to print. Here are a few.

Machiko giving her address.

Many of the students wore traditional outfits, including these students’ kimonos.

As always at the Hyatt, the food was first-rate.

Then came the perennial Bingo game. Machiko’s lovely grandchildren were rapt players.

A graduating student, accompanied by a parent and a former graduate.

Yoshi, one of our hardworking office staff.

And Masako, who made my job so much easier when I was coordinator, winning first prize in Bingo: two passports for Tokyo Disneyland. It would be hard to think of someone who deserves them more–and she has two daughters who’d love to go, too.

You may have noticed I’m not commenting about politics much lately; a lot of that has to do with the fact that such commentary takes time, and my time has been kind of occupied lately, what with final exams and all. Today, we had the graduation ceremony (probably the topic of tomorrow’s post), and after that I had some errands to do.

One of them led to a rather unfortunate experience with Apple. I bought this Powerbook G4 (800 DVI) in April last year, so it is about 20 months old, and the battery is wearing down–less than an hour per charge now. Not too surprising, and not bad by itself–I use this thing rather constantly. The problem: well, you’d expect that having sold maybe millions of these computers, and that the batteries of a great many of them would be wearing low about now, that Apple would expect and meet the demand. For some bizarre reason, Apple failed miserably. No electronics shop I went to today had any in stock, and a few even said that Apple had even stopped making them.

The Ginza today. On Sundays, they block off traffic and it becomes a pedestrian avenue with tables for people to eat and rest.

So I figured, hey, Apple just opened a new store in Ginza! However, it was a bit of a trip over there, so I figured I’d call first (using my mobile, 10 cents a minute). First mistake. I wound up on hold for about 20 minutes, never to be answered. Apple Store Ginza seems to have skimped on either (a) people to answer telephone inquiries, (b) a voice mail system that gives you a hint of how long the wait would be, or (c) both. Quite frustrated, I nevertheless wanted the new battery for the trip home, so I went over–and met with more frustration. After plowing through the huge crowds and finding someone to help me on the 4th floor, they told me apologetically that they did not carry that battery. “But this is an Apple Store, isn’t it?” I asked. “You do carry Apple accessories, right?” And I explained the whole thing about how all the people who bought the same computer would be needing batteries about now. The salesperson at least had the grace to admit that they had been getting a lot of people asking for those, but they had only been open for one week, so….

He told me to go to the Genius Bar, giving me the full expectation that they would be able to grab such a battery from the repair people. So I went downstairs to the 2nd floor and waited 15 minutes for a spot and then 45 for the person to help me–all of which ended in his having me order a battery from the online Apple Store. If they answered their damned phones, they could have saved me two and a half hours and a hell of a lot of frustration and simply told me at the start. Now, they claim that the battery will be delivered in the next day or two–less than a perfect solution, as I will be out often–but looks like it’s the only way. Let’s hope it works.

Larry King can be interesting sometimes, but all too often the show gets just too trashy for me to handle. One recurring theme is the celebrity trial, or the celebrity investigation, which Larry tends to cling to for weeks or months, with Nancy Grace always hovering, always ready to gut and pillory whomever has been accused or is suspect, no matter what the evidence. Although not even close to a legal forum, it is nonetheless a highly popular show, and when Larry starts in by saying essentially that because a person–like Gary Condit, for example–does not come on the show and spill his guts, maybe he’s hiding something, after which Nancy will jump in and comment on how suspicious-looking that is, and how if she were innocent, it is the first thing she would do. (As a lawyer herself, she should know what a lie that is–you should never needlessly expose yourself to questioning which can be used against you in court–especially when you are innocent.)

This is the kind of thing that drove me away from being a regular watcher. I have very strong feelings about the rights of the accused, and a carefully balanced justice system that will do its level best to discover and convict criminals but will be as cautious as possible not to convict or unduly harm the innocent. But such comments–essentially, appear on the show or we’ll talk about how guilty you’ll look–is not only a public affront to the individual’s 5th Amendment rights, but is also a conflict of interest on Larry’s part, one which should never appear on a show that often reports hard news, and one that could potentially destroy the reputation and careers of innocent people.

That tends to be the more serious reason I dislike the show; the more trivial but just as insulting is when he brings on guests like he had tonight, “psychics” like Sylvia Browne. Flipping channels, I saw a few seconds at a particularly outrageous point, and figured this was good blog fodder. Larry has them on from time to time, and every time they come across to any reasoning viewer as absolute frauds–but Larry gives them full credence, even cheering them on with credit they did not earn. I recall one that took a call and predicted that there were problems with the caller’s roof, or the roof of the deceased, on which she was totally incorrect–but after the call had finished, Larry commented that she was “100% correct.”

The “psychics,” rather obviously, are performing what is called the “cold read.” This is achieved by first allowing the person being read to give as much information as possible, and then making guesses that, while sounding specific, can actually be applied to almost any individual, or, if wrong, can easily be turned into a different “sight” or re-interpreted to fit the story given by the person being read. For example, a read-ee might introduce their story by asking about their dead father. Already, even from such a vague description, the cold reader has all kinds of data: the apparent age of the person being read, the gender and apparent age of the person who has died, and, from the speaker’s voice, possibly what part of the country that person came from or grew up in. Then come the vague guesses: “I see a man with a receding hairline,” or “I see a woman with her hair back,” or “I see a man in a uniform.” If the specific person who is being spoken of does not fit that description, then it is applied to any family member, dead or alive–and if that still doesn’t conjure up someone who matches the vague description, then the psychic tells the read-ee that there is someone like that, so go and find out who it is.

So many psychics have their own schtick–John Edwards, for example, works not individuals but crowds–whenever he makes a wrong guess, he claims it’s coming from someone new in the crowd; otherwise, his guessing is so transparent and uninspired, it is frankly astounding that even gullible people could take him seriously. Ergo, my particular enjoyment of the South Park episode that so thoroughly lampooned him.

Tonight on Larry King was little different, except that Browne was in particularly shameless form. Some psychics cover up their mistakes by saying they don’t get them all right (no kidding), or that there are so many people, it is hard to see, or “I just get general feelings, not specific facts.” Browne, however, just plows right through and claims she is right, no matter what. For example, one caller from Japan perhaps tried to trick Browne; here is the exchange:

CALLER: I’d like to ask about my mother. We had some unresolved issues.

BROWNE: Yes. But I don’t know if you could have had any resolved issues with your mother because she was so very difficult to deal with. And I’m not saying that to be cruel. So, you see, the thing that you got to realize is when somebody goes to the other side, everything is OK.

CALLER: But she’s — you can definitely see her on the other side?

BROWNE: Yes. Little. She’s little.

CALLER: Yes, well, the last time I spoke to her, she was alive.

BROWNE: Yes, but see, I don’t — she’s not alive now.

CALLER: She’s dead.

BROWNE: Yes.

CALLER: You’re telling me my mother has died?

BROWNE: Yes.

CALLER: You’re sure about this?

BROWNE: I’m positive.

CALLER: OK. Well, I’ll have to get back to you after I’ve called her.

BROWNE: All right.

Naturally, the caller was not allowed back on or did not have time to check and get back. Highly unlikely that the woman’s mother actually died, though.

A classic trick is the old “he went quickly” routine. If the psychic gets information that would indicate the person might have died quickly, they venture that guess. But all too often, it was a lingering disease like cancer, and the situation deteriorates:

BROWNE: What I’m saying is, wasn’t this a fast death? It looks like she went quick.

CALLER: She has cancer.

BROWNE: Yes, but what I’m saying is she went quick. She felt you holding her hand.

CALLER: I was not over there.

BROWNE: I don’t know. She says she felt you holding her hand.

CALLER: I see. Okay. Okay.

KING: She’s saying she went fast when she discovered the cancer, wasn’t long before she died?

BROWNE: Right.

Nice save, Larry. Usually the psychic provides that rationalization, but Larry has been hosting them for so long, he knows the routine.

Here’s one where Browne guessed wrong and simply plowed through:

CALLER: Is he with me, Sylvia?

BROWNE: Yes, honey. Did you know that he had a stroke?

CALLER: No. The doctor said that — the paramedics said that it was a heart attack, and he went peacefully.

BROWNE: Yes, he did, but it was a stroke, though. But it doesn’t matter. But he did go peacefully. He didn’t know what hit him.

Or this classic of cover-up:

CALLER: I lost my father six years ago on the plane traveling to Europe. I’d like to know how he died, because we never had any explanation from the airline. I was left with my mom suffering from Alzheimer’s. I’m doing his wish. I hope he’s happy and he’s protecting us.

BROWNE: Was your father — had beautiful dark hair with some gray in it?

CALLER: Very blond.

BROWNE: No, no. This man that I see is dark. Dark haired. Because he comes and says he’s a spokesperson.

So if the man she identifies is not the right one, he’s a “spokesperson”–a variant on the “who else could possibly fit the description routine. But Browne takes it to extremes, telling people when her guesses miss that relatives are dead, houses should be vacated, careers should be changed–stuff that could really mess up people’s lives if they take her seriously, as many clearly do. Normally I don’t object to psychics who do their best to make their clients feel good, as part of a self-indulgent fantasy (I don’t respect it, but that’s their choice), but when a person like Browne tells a person that loved ones are dead or that they should change their lives because she can’t do a cold read that well, it’s kind of sickening.

King was helping her out, too. You could hear some callers pausing to think, trying their hardest to come up with some connection that could account for the guesses Browne was throwing out. But sometimes, even the most cooperative callers would get stumped into absolute silence, at which point Larry would jump in, throw Browne a softball (“So once they die, there’s no pain?”), Browne would give a quick reply, then King would move on to the next caller. That happened quite a few times.

Here’s a transcript of the show–you decide.

Again, if this were widely accepted as pure entertainment, it would be fine–but these people try to pass themselves off as the real deal, and though some people get comfort, others get confusion and sometimes life-altering bad advice. Not too funny.

One of the last lectures I gave to my Introduction to Computers classes was on “Spam, Scams and Viruses,” in which I quickly introduced the concept of adware and spyware. For those of you who do not know about these pests, adware and spyware are small, executable files (programs) which are stealthily installed on your computer when you install some freeware or shareware programs. You are not informed that this software is being installed or what it does, which is to monitor your computer use, collect information, send it back to advertisers, and display annoying ads on your computer–as if you don’t get enough ads already. This software can take up bandwidth on your machine, and the worst of spyware can even read your keystrokes, collecting your passwords and even credit card numbers. Webopedia has a good explanation of the vermin.

My lecture was almost prophetic, as in the very next class, when I gave students a web page test, one student reported strange windows opening on her computer screen. I came over to take a look. She had not gone to any commercial sites, only the site I had made for the web page test–no ads there! But sure enough, three or four windows had opened, advertising pornography and other dubious things. I tried closing the windows, and (I should have expected it) when I did so, eight more windows popped up. Damn javascript. I had to move the poor student to another computer–thank goodness we don’t fill up every station. On that particular station, someone must have installed shareware, and Bob’s Your Uncle, there’s the adware mucking things up. A few days later, another station got hit–a student said their computer had frozen, and when I went to look, there must have been twenty browser windows open. I’m not sure whether the adware was also installed on the second station, or if it spread through the network. Thankfully, the school had in any case planned to wipe the computers and re-install everything over the Christmas break.

Don’t think that you’re safe if porn ads don’t overwhelm your desktop, though; some spyware just collects info on you, or does a more subtle job of presenting the ads. If you own a Windows PC, you might want to try the Spybot or Ad-Aware applications to clean your computer. KaZaA users should note that the official KaZaA app loads your computer up with ad/spyware, though they claim they avoid “spyware”–which could loosely be defined as only the most pernicious spyware, as some of the adware they install does indeed spy on you. And using one of the programs I suggested to get rid of the unwanted adware could disable KaZaA, which seems to rely on some of that junk. Better to switch to KaZaA Lite or Diet KaZaA, or try Shareza.

But be especially careful if you own a Dell, Dude. They’re not gonna help. I started reading on various web pages that Dell had a policy in which they specifically tell their tech support people not to help their customers with spyware in any way, shape or form. Not only will they not tell you how to remove spyware, but their support staff is enjoined from even telling you about web sites that can help, or asides on personal accounts of what software they themselves use. Zip. Nada. I didn’t fully buy this story, thinking that maybe somebody was taking something out of context, exaggerating, or that it was just a net rumor. But then I checked out Dell’s support pages and found this. In case Dell wises up and removes the page at some point, this is part of what is on the page:

NOTICE: Use of spyware removal software may conflict with user license agreements of other applications installed on your system. Please consult your user license agreements for further information. Dell does not endorse the use of spyware removal software and cannot provide support on these products.

Spiffy, ain’t it? Spyware is today usually classified as a kind of Trojan Horse, a virus, for crying out loud. They would sooner honor the lowlifes that flood your machine with malicious software than help you in the smallest way rid your machine of such garbage. What can you do? Read user reviews of shareware and freeware before you install. Read the EULA if you can suffer through it or decipher the legalese, and even then don’t feel like you’re safe–the vermin are still sometimes there anyway. So caveat emptor, let the buyer beware and all that.

And, by the way, I fully expect this post to get hit by blog comment spam. I have noticed that this spam inevitably shows up in comments on entries that mention spam and other such trash. Isn’t commercialization grand? We’re gonna have to find a new clubhouse.

Note: Dell has, in the past day or two, edited the linked page. It no longer reads exactly the same. Text has been added to (a) rationalize the lack of support and (b) recommend one type of commercial spyware removal software.

As part of trying to make my Internet connection better, I am trying to switch to another DSL provider.

My ISP has been AT&T, and they have been very good–they have been my ISP since I was on a dial-up connection back in ’98. Up until now, I have used NTT Flets for the DSL connection, primarily because they were first into my area (I live in a relatively unknown town next to Tama), and I wanted to get away from ISDN as quickly as I could. But that also caused a problem.

NTT has always, or at least is seems, managed to jigger the setting up of systems so as to benefit themselves most, taking advantage of their position of advantage as the primary telephone company. When the new “MYLINE” service was set up, it was billed as a way of making things simpler–but to me, it seemed like it just made things more complex, and if one did not go through the process, NTT would collect you up as their customer by default. I am not certain of that, but that was my impression.

It is certainly my impression as far as DSL services are concerned. I have wanted to change DSL providers for some time, for several reasons. First, Flets does not provide some services as part of their overall package, such as IP Telephony. Also, I currently pay two fees, one to NTT, and one to AT&T; it would be substantially cheaper for me to consolidate those services and pay one company one fee.

So some time ago, almost one year before now, I started asking–and learned a disturbing fact. I could not switch DSL providers without having three weeks or more of interrupted service. The way NTT has set things up, I have to first end my service with them–and only after the service has ended may I apply for the new service (I have chosen KDDi for their English-language services). And it takes around three weeks, possibly a bit more, possibly a bit less, for the new service to be established.

The only logical reason for this gap is to assure that two companies do not provide DSL service at the same time. Even assuming that this is absolutely necessary, three weeks is an absurd length of time to require between services; most people would not wish to be relegated to dial-up service for the interval, and so would stay with NTT, which always has enjoyed the advantage of getting all the early adopters. Which, I presume, is NTT’s intention.

I personally know someone who simply misled the providers, telling the new one that the prior DSL connection had been terminated when it had not been–and that person enjoyed only a day or two of broken service between them. So it is clearly possible, and the three weeks clearly not necessary. I wanted to follow this friend’s example, but KDDi made it clear that they would have to actively check to see that the prior service had ended.

As it happens, I will be going back to the U.S. for almost three weeks this month, so that provides me with just the break I need. Still, I may have trouble getting reconnected when I come back–late on December 30th–with the holidays so close. But the service people at KDDi have been very good, the rep I spoke to spent a couple hours today helping me plan a way to set things up so there was the greatest chance of things running smoothly; he really went out of his way to help, which made me feel even better about going with that company–how a firm treats its clients has always been a big consideration for me in choosing whom to do business with.

So, with luck, I will not be cut off from high-speed service for long.

I should note here that DSL is improving here in Japan yet again: the old system of 1.5 Mbps, 8 Mbps and 12 Mbps that so far outstripped services in the U.S. is already outdated here. KDDi had even stopped giving their 24 Mbps service because now they have something faster. They offer two speeds: 26 Mbps, and 40 Mbps. Rather impressive speeds. I chose the 26 Mbps package for two reasons: first, as I live about 3 km (2 miles) from the telephone switching station, all speeds come out to about the same for me, just a few megabits per second. But more importantly, the 26 Mbps package provides a fixed IP Address (rather than a global one), making it easier for me to improve my chances at achieving easy voice chat with others. Both speeds have a total cost of about $35 per month, including DSL, ISP and modem/router rental.

Still waiting for vDSL so I can get higher speeds, but for the time being, this will do. Just hope it goes smoothly, and NTT doesn’t find a way to muck things up….

One of the first things one might do in visiting Tokyo is to visit the Ginza district. Made famous in the post-war years by U.S. military personnel doing their shopping and entertaining, the Ginza has today become a kind of upper-class shopping district. To me, this meant that it turned out to be kind of boring. Department stores and boutiques are not my kind of thing, really. There used to be a McDonald’s when I first visited in 1983, but it was more or less banished for not being upscale enough (kind of like the Stanford Shopping Center has been trying to do to their McD’s for a long time). For a while, there was a Mrs. Fields’ Cookie shop there, and that brought me down from time to time. Otherwise, I just regarded it as another overrated, overrun, high-profile street.

But a few days ago a new shop appeared that will again bring me down to the area: an Apple Store.

Now, when I was born my family lived in Cupertino, and I have worked with Apple products since the Apple ][, the Apple ///, and the original Mac. So this store opening in Tokyo was a bit of fresh air–like some other reminders from home, like Costco. And I have visited Apple stores since the one at the Apple campus in Cupertino, and more recently the University Avenue store in Palo Alto.

This one beats them, flat out. It is an impressive sight.

First of all, they have location. The Ginza is not just upscale, it is very high-traffic. And somehow, Apple got a corner lot across from Matsuya Ginza, and kitty-corner to the Ginza Mitsukoshi, two famous department stores, landmarks on the Ginza. Their new building is an impressive structure with the white Apple logo emblazoned on the sides, as well as a rotating Apple logo on top. And it attracts a good number of visitors–the store was crowded in the mid- to late-afternoon.

Coming into the entrance on the first floor, you see something akin to many of the Apple stores, displays with all of Apple’s major products right after the checkout machines (all iMacs, of course). And one of the first things you notice is the staff. Lots of them. I don’t know if some Apple stores in the U.S. are like this, but I do know that it is very Japanese, to have so many salespeople walking around that even in a crowded store, you can easily and quickly find someone who is free to help you; this is typical of Japanese department stores in particular, and Apple did not miss the cue. People in black with Apple-logo shirts everywhere.

The next thing you note is that there seem to be some strange but alluring metal-walled Apple-logo spaces toward the back. I had to come up and look closer to see that they were elevators. Extremely nice elevators, with heavy, rimless glass doors–you could tell it was an original design. I commented on them to a staff member, and he replied, “yes, very expensive elevators.” An interestingly candid comment there….

So I decided to take the elevator up to the fourth floor and then work my way down from there. (The fifth floor, the highest open to the public, is dedicated to Apple Studio lessons, the paid lessons for beginners, switchers, and artists.) The fourth floor is where they have the software and many of the third-party hardware products–for example, they have in stock many of the Belkin products, including the new iPod microphone and media reader. The software, as can be expected for Apple stores, is a good selection, but not great, and is priced at the high end. To be frank, I do my software shopping online, using the mail-order houses. Disappointingly, Apple did not provide educational pricing at the store, either–only at their online shop. A new policy, evidently, as I was able to buy Jaguar for Academic from Yodobashi Camera not too long ago.

In the middle of the fourth floor, there was a table for the kids, and very nicely set up, too. A low, round table equipped with CRT eMacs loaded with kids’ software, with nice, modern-looking black ball chairs set around. Not too many kids in the joint, but they had found this place. A very nice touch.

Also on this floor is a bank of sixteen iMacs, with iSight and high-speed Internet connections, ready and available for anyone who wants to sit down for a spell and cruise the ‘Net with them. Not many open spaces when I visited, but with enough patience you could find a seat and have some fun.

Also, this is the first floor where you notice windows (not Windows, thank goodness–though they do have Virtual PC). It kind of makes you wonder how the glare from the sunlight might affect viewing on the iMacs–I forgot to check for blinds (it was dark out). The second and third floors are windowless, the second housing the Genius Bar, and the third hosting the Apple theater. That’s what leaves room on the outside for the giant Apple logo on the metallic side of the building.

Going downstairs, one finds something that seems very out of place for a shop: a theater. You see this from the elevator going up. It really looks like a movie theater, except for the size and the fact that there is a podium with a tech person giving explanations to the shows. Here is where they give the Introductory Presentations and the Workshops. The Presentations seem pretty much like commercials, introducing the lineup of Apple products. But the Workshops seem to be a very nice service, especially for newbies. The Workshops are free, from three to five of them given each day, each day having a theme (e.g., movies, music, photos). If you want more advanced lessons, you have to pay for the Studio Series.

One flight down from that is the Genius bar, with more Apple and some third-party products lined up (mostly iPods and Digital video equipment, cameras and camcorders). In the middle, there is a railed terrace looking down on the first floor. And to the back, the bar. I stopped there for some time, getting help (in English) for a few issues on my Mac. Consider it a free support center–if you can haul your computer down there, they will look at it and try to help you figure out your problem with it. A lot of people were bringing their laptops in and having them looked at. Come to think of it, I forgot to ask if they could give me some footpads for my Powerbook–one of them has gone missing….

As it turned out, I didn’t get too many actual answers. They had never heard of my problem with browsing networks before (sometimes shared folders, which should appear as network-globes-in-a-glass-box icons, instead show up as plain folders with the same names, but empty), nor could they explain why some of my students’ USB Flash memory sticks were not showing up on my Mac’s desktop. But the Genius helping me did give me some ideas about how to test out why my father in the S.F. Bay Area and I can’t get a voice chat going, so it wasn’t a complete wash.

I’ve never been too excited by Apple stores in the past, as they tend to have sparse merchandise and relatively high prices for third-party products, but the Genius Bar and the available accessories in the Ginza store will certainly bring me back. It is an excellent store; I recommend anyone in the Tokyo area to pay it a visit when you have the chance.

Josh Marshall reports that Republican Senator Ray LaHood from Illinois is claiming that we are “this close” to bagging Saddam, and that he knows something that we don’t.

Frankly, I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Republicans have tried to report that we’re “this close” to various breakthroughs in Iraq, and they have always amounted to nothing. Take, for example, Republican Senators in July claiming that we had found “solid evidence” of WMD in Iraq, just wait and see. We waited and saw. Nothing. Then, a bit more than a month later, right-wing pundit Bob Novak assured us that we had proof of WMD, and Bush was just waiting till mid-September when he had even more info and could wow us all the more. Guess what. Nothing, squared.

So I am not too optimistic here. In related news, CNN reported that Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam’s right-hand man, was captured–but they withdrew the story, and just a few minutes ago, the story broke that we don’t have him. I think people’s desire to see progress in Iraq is making them a bit too quick to assume that something is about to happen there–aside from the inevitable downward slide into an even stickier quagmire as a bad situation steadily becomes far, far worse.

The good people at Mac Rumors (the best Apple rumor site, IMO) pointed out an excellent article in the New York Times Magazine on the iPod. The article speaks to both the commercial success of the iPod as well as its cultural impact. A very interesting read.

I should also note here that if you have been exposed to the Neistat Brothers’ film, “iPod’s Dirty Secret” (in which they play a recorded support call–possibly illegal–and show themselves spray-painting an untrue and anti-Apple stencil over posted iPod ads), keep in mind that these guys didn’t do their homework. After 18 months of very heavy use, their iPod’s battery drained out. After a single call to a Mac support person who turned out not to know all his stuff (hardly a new phenomena in the support industry), the Neistats concluded that (a) the iPod’s battery never lasts longer than 18 months, (b) it is not replaceable, and (c) you could only get a functioning iPod again by either paying Apple $255 or simply buying a new iPod, which they did.

In fact, the iPod’s battery lasts longer than that in most cases, even with heavy use; they just got a shorter-lived one. Many iPod users with the original 2-year-old iPod models are still reporting that their battery lasts 8 hours after that much time of normal use. Second, the battery is in fact replaceable, previously with third-party battery replacement kits costing as little as $50, and now through Apple itself.

Now that their errors have been pointed out after 50,000 people saw their movie, they belatedly posted that they tried a third-party battery (after their movie suggested no such thing existed), but they claim that it did not work–which tells as to how well one should research any third-party product, looking for reviews and user comments on which was best and how to install it. They also are now taking credit for providing a solution, while all they really did (at least, it appears they did–post hoc ergo propter hoc) was prompt Apple to provide battery replacement of their own, for (of course) a higher price than the third-party dealers. The Neistats still offer up their anti-Apple movie, now calling it a “documentation of our experience”–that note buried in a link.

Well, we didn’t get as high numbers as expected, but the numbers for people visiting the site were still good. Broke 9000 different visits, and will top out at maybe 4700 unique visitors, with an average of 300 visits per day. Not bad, again considering the modest expectations from the start of the site. Overall, either the site’s growth is slowing down, or this month was a blip. If the former, the numbers could go anywhere; if the latter, then I’m on target for 10,000 unique visitors by next June. Seeing as how in early October I predicted 4000 monthly visitors by year’s end, I tend to be hopeful.

3410 visits were from search engines, 780 of them looking for something on the Matrix, about another 500 looking for information on Panther, OS X 10.3 for the Mac. The No. 1 site for linked references was this one, the name of which I’d rather not mention directly; after that, the blog tracking sites, with some kind of family tree site which apparently linked in to see the hamster movie.

The number one page people visited was the Spoiler Review for Matrix: Reloaded(640 visits), followed closely by the perennial favorite, the entry on Eyelid Twitching (400 visits–I’ve come to accept my fame). After that is my review of Panther (also 400), and then the Spoiler Review for Matrix: Revolutions (360 views). The Great Chicken Struggle, a movie of my hamster vying to get a chicken leg bone into her cage, was downloaded 112 times.

Most visitors came from the U.S., and next Japan. As usual, someone in Estonia looks in from time to time, as do a few hardy followers from Israel, Finland, Singapore and Belgium, along with about 30 other nations. The average visitor stays for at least seven and a half minutes. Most visitors use Windows and MS Internet Explorer (can’t win ’em all).

And by the way, if your IP Address is 82.36.128.40, 219.113.201.110, or 66.151.128.23, then let me know why you’re visiting so much!

I had planned to go to the opening of the new Apple Store in Ginza today, and post on it in the blog tonight, but weather and work interfered, so it will have to wait for a few days. In the meantime:

I have wanted to get IP over Telephone service for some time. Here in Japan, various ISPs offer it, and it would cut my international calling rates down to only 6 or 7 cents per minute–a considerable reduction, especially compared to the dollars-per-minute charges I experienced when I first came to Japan under the KDD monopoly.

However, I use NTT Flets to get my DSL line, and they do not allow IP Telephony–about the only service that doesn’t, probably. I have wanted to switch, but in Japan the DSL people have a nasty little piece of red tape: if you want to switch DSL providers, you must complete your disconnection from the provider you currently use before you are allowed to sign up for any new service–and after signing up, it will take up to three weeks to get your new DSL service in. So one must go without the Internet for that long if you want to switch. Something tells me that NTT planned it that way–as it was with me, they have the advantage of being the first to offer DSL anywhere, so they have all the early adopters trapped.

So my current plan is to go off of NTT as I leave for my Christmas trip to the U.S., and sign up for another service–likely KDDi, as they have English support–to begin as I come back from the U.S. That might, however, cause me to miss a few days at either end, but I might be able to arrange for dial-up connections for those few days, and certainly it is much better than going three weeks without.

In any case, IP Telephony is catching on in the U.S., it seems, and is at the center of some debate, as it would allow the Telecoms to avoid a hundred years of regulation, not to mention a great amount of taxation. Currently, the Internet is not taxed (you know they’re gonna do it, eventually), nor is email regulated, and that is how telephony works: instead of using a circuit to send an analog signal carrying a voice conversation, the IP phone call is achieved instead by digitizing the call, and, in the same way that any Internet data are transmitted, the audio is divided into small packets. So you say, “Hello,” and that sound is compressed and then cut up into packets, which are then routed over the Internet; when they get to their destination, they are reconstituted into the original file, and the “Hello” you just said is then played from the local station to the recipient of your greeting. By doing this, not only can the quality of the audio be greatly improved over current phone standards, but many phone conversations can be sent via the same wire that used to allow only one. That’s part of how they save money and can offer low rates.

But they also save because there are no taxes or regulations, that is good and bad: good because it means things are cheaper, but bad because governments lose a lot of tax revenues which they must make up for elsewhere, and many of the regulations are intended to protect consumers.

The Seattle Times article covers the issue pretty well. The lowdown: enjoy it while it’s still this cheap, it will likely not last too much longer.

For the first time the blog took shape back in April, I’m trying a new look to the joint. I was kind of getting tired of the old look. I tend to prefer brushed metal (and yes, I know a lot of Mac people don’t, but I do), and was able to Photoshop up a few nice graphics for the header. Not much time for actual blogging, as I am both correcting last-chapter exams, prepping grade calculations, and authoring a new final exam for my Introduction to Computers class (four sections this semester!).

I’ll be back in full force in a few days, and hope to blog through my trip back home to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Speaking of Christmas in Japan, I recalled this photo taken many years ago–1989, if I am not mistaken–of my workaround for the Christmas Tree problem. Since full-sized trees are so expensive, and I am not too fond of fake ones, I compromised and got a bonsai. It was affordable because it was already on its way out, not having been well-maintained at the garden shop I bought it from. But it made a quite nice tree, matching my apartment at the time in size, no less. I even made a popcorn-and-cranberry wrap for it, though I do not clearly recall what I used for cranberries, as they aren’t sold here in Japan, at least not that I was able to find.

Anyway, I thought this made a very charming compromise between Japan and America during the holidays.

Come to think of it, it was ’89–that’s a trans-bay world series cap I got as a gift, sitting under the tree (next to it, really), and the Loma Prieta of ’89 interrupted the series.

Look at one of the top political stories on Fox News’ web site–not presented as an editorial, but straight news–and tell me about how Fox is not conservative, or is even just slightly so. This network is so tilted I’m surprised they don’t slide right off the media table.

In the meantime, the rest of the “liberal media” is still largely ignoring the fact that Republican staffers were caught red-handed raiding the Democrats’ server computers, stealing their files, and then leaking said files to Sean Hannity on the “fair and balanced” network. How is this not big news? Fox, CNN, USA Today, ABC, and MSNBC–none of them are even listing the story on their web sites, not even among the minor items in their political news sections–or any sections at all–fully 24 hours after the news broke. Only CBS seems to be covering the story seriously after the original AP report broke just a little more than a day ago–they have it right at the top of their political section. Even on omnibus news sites like Yahoo News, the story is buried among the minor, small-type stories at the bottom of the Congressional news section within the Political section of their site–and even then, it is listed as “Senate Republican Staffer Put on Leave.” Three stories down from the news that some Representative held a news conference with the San Diego Chicken and will send baseball equipment to Iraq. (I would not even have heard of this news myself if I were not a daily visitor to Josh Marshall’s excellent Talking Points Memo site.)

“Liberal Media” my foot.

Remember about three weeks ago, when Washington Republicans got all out of sorts when Sean Hannity, a well-known conservative pundit on Fox, revealed a memo drafted within the Democratic party? The memo, actually, was not really that bad–it did suggest that Democrats should try to make political hay out of investigations into pre-war intelligence, but it laid out plans in a very reasonable way, even stating that an investigation should not be called for until “it becomes clear we have exhausted the opportunity to usefully collaborate with the majority.” It did not say anything about being dishonest, rather it slammed the Bush administration for its dishonesty and outlined the Democrats’ responsibility to report this dishonesty.

The GOP, naturally, glossed over this and railed at the Democrats for being so heinous. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said, “I will not permit the Intelligence Committee to be so misused for blatant partisan gain,” and while completely ignoring the appearance that Republicans stole and leaked the memo, he instead attacked Democrats, saying “the author or authors and intended recipient or recipients of this memorandum to disavow this partisan attack in its entirety,” and until that happened, the Intelligence Committee “cannot function and will not serve its purpose.”

In outrage, Republicans have been trying to figure out how exactly to punish Democrats, including calling for an ethics investigation, or even reworking the committee’s rules to essentially remove any power or influence at all for Democrats serving on the committee. Senator Orrin Hatch agreed that the memo bordered on “treason.” He also said that was “no indication” that the memos were stolen.

Well, guess what. It turns out that the memo–which, by the way, was a draft memo, written by a staff aide and never approved by any Democratic Senator nor ever distributed among Democrats–was stolen by Republicans. Specifically, by one of Orrin hatch’s own staff members, apparently with the help of a former staff member.

About a week ago, Senator Durbin filed a formal complaint to Capitol police, and just now the news is breaking that the majority staffer was likely responsible, having raided the Democrats’ computers for files that could be damaging to them if made public (it is reassuring that the memo in question was the worst they could find). And if indeed that is proven, then it only naturally follows that the memo was subsequently leaked by Republicans, to Fox News, coincidentally a conservative network, and Hannity, a conservative pundit.

At least Hatch has the decency to decry that this happened “on his watch.” But it also shows up the massive dishonesty and hypocrisy within the Republican party. One wonders what one might find if one raided their secret files….

It is interesting to note, by the way, that the “liberal” press is not only under-reporting the story (burying it deeply, while the memo leak itself was front-page), but it is also refraining from even using the word “stealing”–instead referring to the incident as “improperly obtaining.”

Just like Bush “improperly obtained” the election.

Well, it is exactly a month before Christmas, and I’ve noticed people putting up their Christmas decorations recently; scattered apartments and houses around Tokyo putting up lights, stores with the usual displays, playing Christmas carols for store music. Even though Japan is predominantly Shinto and Buddhist, with Christians forming a minority 1% or so, Christmas is nonetheless a middlin’-to-big thing over here, for much the same reason it is in the U.S.: commercialism. But with a Japanese twist.

The traditions in Japan are different, however; first of all, almost nobody has an actual Christmas tree. Trees in Japan are way too expensive, and there are no Douglas Fir farms in the hills that I know about. If anyone has a Christmas tree in Japan, it will be made of metal and plastic, readily stowed away in a closet from January, waiting for the next holiday season. And, to the best of my knowledge, even if a Japanese family has a tree, presents don’t get put under it; it is simply a decoration. No cranberry-and-popcorn strings, either (I always loved making those with the family), rather just some ordinary store-bought garnishes. I’ve never seen tinsel here.

Presents are exchanged, though Christmas is not exactly the reason: it is bonus season. In Japanese employment, one’s meager salary is usually bolstered by bonuses, traditionally given out twice a year–once in summer, once in winter. The summer bonus marks the Chugen season, the winter one is called Seibo. Each one is marked by a special gift section created in stores across the country, sometimes taking up as much as half of a floor of a department store. In such gift areas you’ll find a plethora of items, popular ones including small rolled hams, and a wide variety of product packs–a 20-piece soap package, a 15-can beer package, packages with assortments of cookies, coffees, salad oils, fruit juices, canned seafood, and countless other consumer items. One buys gifts here and either gives them or has them delivered to the recipients. The Seibo gift centers are already open for business.

Next is a tradition also made in Japan: Christmas Cake. Don’t ask me why, probably a confectioner thought it up, just like they thought up White Day for bakers (White Day comes a month after Valentine’s Day–Valentine’s is for chocolate, which women give to men; White Day is for men to give cookies or other treats to women, and is supposed to have been created simply as a way to sell sweets). At Christmas time, people who choose to celebrate have a Christmas Cake. It even became a metaphor in the 80’s–women who had not married by age 26 were rather callously called “Christmas Cake,” meaning that nobody wants to buy the old cakes after the 25th of December. That attitude has changed, by the way, and most young people today have never even heard of the expression.

And for some reason, Chicken is the meal of choice. Turkey just isn’t popular here, I suppose, and ham isn’t exactly the same, either. I found out early on that if you want KFC on the 24th of December, you’d better make a reservation (yes, you heard me) if you don’t want to wait two hours for your order to be filled, or better, just go another day. KFC is swamped on Christmas Eve. Good thing I always vacation in the U.S. every Christmas (coming back to Japan before New Year’s–I like that holiday here). Not that I eat at KFC anymore–they usually refuse to let you choose which pieces you’re going to get.

One other Christmas tradition in Japan: romantic evenings at a romantic restaurant, followed by a visit to a love hotel (or perhaps any nice hotel would do). Again, I don’t really know why, but having a date on Christmas Day is considered a must for young couples. This article refers to a love hotel in Kanagawa which has permanent Christmas decorations in order to attract visitors. Some say there is an urban legend that if you confess your love to your special someone on Christmas Eve, your wish will come true.

But to many in Japan, Christmas is simply a secular affair, if an affair at all. Some make something of it, others do not. Here is an interesting sampling of responses in a kind of “man-on-the-street” survey in Tokyo. And here is an interesting article from the Japan Times last year about Christmas in Japan, including some history behind it.