Study highlights global decline

The most comprehensive survey ever undertaken into the state of the planet paints a worrying picture of decline.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Study highlights global decline

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was drawn up by 1,300 researchers from 95 nations over a period of four years.

It concludes the way society has obtained its food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel over the past 50 years has seriously degraded the environment.

And it warns the worsening situation will compromise efforts to help the many people still blighted by poverty.

Specifically, the current state of affairs is likely to be a road block to the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by the world leaders at the United Nations in 2000, it says.

"Any progress achieved in addressing the goals of poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, and environmental protection is unlikely to be sustained if most of the ecosystem 'services' on which humanity relies continue to be degraded," the report states.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would come to this, but the past few weeks this blog has been neglected because I've been busy launching my very own private English school!

It will be a place where neighborhood children come after school to study English and play language games with me in hopes that I can broaden their horizons and teach them not only another language, but also about different cultures.

I could never have attempted this venture on my own, and I owe all my friends who helped me a very big THANK YOU!!

What I started with

This room was originally built as a piano school, but it's been empty for the past five years. It's located directly next to my house, so I approached the owner, an elderly female farmer from the neighborhood, about converting it into a English school. She was ecstatic about my idea, and gave me the room free of charge, assuming I would clean it up.

I asked some people to come lend a hand because there was a lot of work that needed to be done, and I couldn't do it all by myself. I was pleasantly surprised when folks actually showed up to help!

Toku helping out

Jim helping out

Dean helping out

We had to cosmetically construct and re-panel several of the outside walls that had water damage, but none of us were particularly skilled in home improvement techniques, so it was kind of like the Three Stooges with power tools walking around.

We're idiots

It wasn't until we got to the last couple panels that we finally learned a little bit about what we were doing.

A couple of our dubious highlights had to be striping nearly every screw with the power drill and chiseling layers off plywood sheets to make double-decker wood chip fittings, which we later discovered were completely erroneous.

The following weekend we started painting.

Shaka helping out

Me painting

I decided to go with a red, white, and blue color scheme because of the obvious American connotations, but also because I thought a sky blue building would be eye catching to onlookers.

We got quite a few absent stares from people walking to the nearby train station trying to figure out what the hell we were doing.

What it's shaping up to look like

My friend Jim told me he spotted the school from the road and had to salute. Not the affect I'd hoped for, but...

The inside

The inside was in much better shape than the outside. It just needed some kiddy decorations and whatnot.

Puzzle mat flooring

Pictures around my desk

The puzzle mat flooring adds a simple twist to the Japanese style of sitting on the floor, and the picture collage around my desk will hopefully grow in the near future to include pictures of all my students.

One final touch that's not yet completed is a sign board to post outside. My friend Jason was nice enough to come lend his artistic talents.

Jason helping out

Everything about this school is a work in progress, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I got my fingers crossed everything will be okay.

School starts Tuesday!!!

The Online Insurgency

RollingStone.com: The Online Insurgency: Politics

They signed up 500,000 supporters with an Internet petition -- but Bill Clinton still got impeached. They organized 6,000 candlelight vigils worldwide -- but the U.S. still invaded Iraq. They raised $60 million from 500,000 donors to air countless ads and get out the vote in the battle-ground states -- but George Bush still whupped John Kerry. A gambler with a string of bets this bad might call it a night. But MoveOn.org just keeps doubling down.

The Naked Man Festival

Monday afternoon I finally saw one of the most bizarre festivals in the world. The infamous Naked Man Festival in Inazawa City.


Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Man Festival)

I've been trying to see it for years, but for one reason or another I've always missed it. Last year I even tried to participate, but that's a different story for a different time.



I wish I fully understood the historical significance behind the festival, so I could explain why grown men get extremely drunk & naked to go parading down the street in the dead of winter during sub zero temps, but the whole thing makes very little sense to me.



I know it has something to do with 43 year old men and the belief that it's a bad luck year. Supposedly, if a 43 year old man join this festival, it will help bring good luck to him and his family, but judging by some of the characters involved, the whole thing just seems like a great excuse for anybody to get belligerently drunk in public.



My friend Jason and I showed up to the festival a little late after eating lunch in a local resident's house. Soon after walking out to the street I was offered to guzzle sake straight out of the carton by a one eyed, elder Japanese man. When I humbly declined the offer, he vehemently insisted.


Entering the Temple

All the madness in the streets eventually finds it's way to a temple in the middle of the city.

From what I hear, one poor guy is selected beforehand by a lottery to bear the burden of everyone's bad luck. He is completely striped, shaved, and painted white. Then, at an unsuspecting moment, he appears outside the temple with the task of trying to get inside. It's everyone else's task to touch this unlucky bastard to bring themselves good luck and prevent him from making it to his goal.


Buckets

These guys with buckets have the important job of clearing the way and washing away all the bad spirits. They do so by spreading ice cold water all over the already freezing naked guys and anyone in the crowd that might be standing nearby.


Idiot w/ squid

Jason and I were eventually distracted by this guy waving some squid around. He gave intoxicated a whole new meaning when he started trying to speak English and sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" complete with some weird robot dance.


I love how this photo makes him look like he's got a pencil thin mustache

This guy was just too much and he scared off the locals we were with, so Jason and I decided to split too.

Maybe someday, I'll think of a better way to describe this debauchery, but for the time being, I'm still just scratching my head.

Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

News From The Associated Press



ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- Hunter S. Thompson, the hard-living writer who inserted himself into his accounts of America's underbelly and popularized a first-person form of journalism in books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," has committed suicide.

Kyoto Protocol comes into force

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Kyoto Protocol comes into force

The Kyoto accord, which aims to curb the air pollution blamed for global warming, has come into force seven years after it was agreed.

The accord requires countries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Some 141 countries, accounting for 55% of greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified the treaty, which pledges to cut these emissions by 5.2% by 2012.

But the world's top polluter - the US - has not signed up to the treaty.

The US says the changes would be too costly to introduce and that the agreement is flawed.

Large developing countries including India, China and Brazil are not required to meet specific targets for now.

The Age of Glorious Optimism

This past week I made a sudden trip back to the USA to attend a family funeral for my Uncle Ned.

He fought a seven month battle against a malicious brain tumor, and tried his best to be the Lance Armstrong of my hometown, but some things aren't meant to be.

This is a very sensitive subject for me to write about, so I'm gonna skip most of the details. To be perfectly honest, it's the first time death has ever entered my direct family, and I'm still struggling with how to cope with it.

I will say this though. The bond that was formed by my family members and the outpouring of compassion by members of the Gainesville, GA community made me very proud of who I am and where I'm from.

This past weekend my two cousins, Harris & Stuart, who have been under incredible stress over the past seven months, along with my brother Darrell and another close friend named Rob, decided to decompress by taking a trip into the mountains of Asheville, NC and stay in a converted 116 year old mansion called the Richmond Hill Inn.


Richmond Hill Inn

I was fortunate enough to join them for one night.

By the time I got there Sunday around 5pm, they were all outside playing croquet in the drizzling rain. As I stood by and watched the malevolent game, they told me stories of the previous night and morning.


Shoes off for better knocking


Brotherly love

There was something about my brother walking up and down the old rickety halls wearing a bathrobe and a black equestrian riding helmet to serve coffee to my cousins. I can only imagine the sideways glances of other guests and staff.


Ignatius J. Reilly ain't got nuthin' on DWG

That night we broke the bank and got suited up in coats and ties to have dinner in the five star dinning room called Gabrielle's located on the first floor of the mansion. We were seated underneath a large chandelier and in front the fire place.


Chandelier

The meal lasted almost four hours and included a bottle of champagne, a pallet pleaser of salmon, an appetizer of scallops, two bottles of bordeaux, seared steak, two plates of cheeses, a glass of port for myself, and a chocolate torte to top it off.


High-brow Mongoloids

Afterwards, we went back to our rooms in silence and decided the meal was fantastic, but the cheeses were a bit too much.


The Age of Indulgence

I have the greatest family in the world, and it hurts that it took losing a main member to help me realize it.

Back to the Blog

After a month long hiatus, it's been difficult to get back into this blog, but I'm trying. I haven't had much free time to spend with it because I've been focusing my energies on other projects, but now it's time to continue my documentation.

This past weekend I was invited to join five coworkers for a company paid trip to the snowy Japanese Alps. There was Christian, a space invader from Planet Macheesemo, Bradley, a good ole Aussie lad, Crazy Will, a noisy hole, Luke, a bald Canadian Aikido master, and Dan, a chachi trying to mooch a free ride. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience that had it's ups and downs, but overall it was a great time.

We met around 4am at Christian's house and piled into his big Bongo Friendee van for the four hour drive into Nagano Prefecture. Most people slept (and farted) for a majority of the drive except for the the last leg when we woke up and started pumping music out of an iPod to get fired up as we pulled into the snow covered parking lot at Hakuba 47 ski resort.


Three amigos

While listening to AOA and getting dressed, we met up with three JET teachers (Tyler, Noah, and Nicole) that drove in from Aichi Prefecture as well. Before long, Christian, Bradley, and I were all bombing down the slopes and zipping between trees in knee deep powder. Sheer bliss.

Throughout the day we would bump into other people from our group, like Crazy Will who was trying to learn to snowboard. He took a few bad stacks and hurt his knee, but he kept getting up to try again and again.


Bradley chillin'

By about three thirty, my body started getting really tired; I have to get back into shape after gaining about ten pounds while vacationing in the U.S.A. I met up with Will and we decided to call it a day and have a beer at the bottom of the mountain.

That night we stayed in a backpackers lodge called Snow Beds that's located close to the Olympic ski jump used during the Nagano Olympics back in '98. For dinner we went to a cozy log cabin restaurant called Gravity Works that served tasty pizza & pasta and showed videos. We all sat around with our feet up drinking beer and watched the remake of the Italian Job.

After eating, a debate started between Christian and the other members of our group about how to spend the companies money. The debate stopped just shy of a shouting match because everyone was too confused about what the other was arguing. In the end I can't remember what got settled because I quit listening and started watching Charlize Theron in the Italian Job.

Back at the lodge, I went to bed early with my headphones on while Will, Bradley, and Luke stayed up farting and singing bad 80's pop songs from Sheena E and Ray Parker Jr. It was like some kind of bizarre slumber party for the middle aged.

The following day we went Tsugaike ski resort just down the road, but I felt like the wind had left my sails. I was just too tired from the day before and felt real heavy from all the pizza I ate at Gravity Works.

Christian, Bradley, and I still managed to put a few good runs in through a treed section off the top lift, but we all called it a day early and piled back into the van for the drive home.

The drive was uneventful except for the fact that we had three iPods and an iTrip in the back seats, so we took over Christians radio until he turned the volume down on us. Then we busted out our headphones and two splitters and continued to rock out in our own minds.

Good times.

Global poll slams Bush leadership

BBC NEWS | Americas | Global poll slams Bush leadership



More than half of people surveyed in a BBC World Service poll say the re-election of US President George W Bush has made the world more dangerous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4185205.stm

Holidays at Home

I spent December 16th until January 10th back home in America with my family.

It was a bitter sweet homecoming and deeply personal to me, so instead of recounting my whole experience on this blog, I'm just gonna post some of my favorite pictures taken while I was home.

Enjoy.




Our crew in Aspen



Our chalet in Aspen



Hawkins, Harris, Uncle Ned, & Stuart



Hawkins, Harris, & Uncle Ned



Uncle Ned & Stuart



Uncle Ned in the gondala



Darrell nursing Ned



Skiing on Aspen Mountain



My brother Darrell



Christmas tree at home



Stockings



Todd explaining how he broke his brother's fist with his face



Leanne & Drew