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Friday, May 31, 2002
Sogo teki na gakushu no jikanIntegrated learning time, called sogo gakushu or sogo for short, is Japan's effort to teach school children to think creatively. Beginning in third grade, sogo occupies more school hours than any subject except Japanese and math. Students collectively decide what to research, and the teachers facilitate the projects by bringing in experts and scheduling field trips. Projects include traditional kimono dying, confectionery, Japanese Braille (tenji), the English language, bicycle history, dairy production, creating class websites and, in the case of the expatriate author's fourth-grade son, traditional Buddhist altars.Parents, remembering their years in traditional schools, worry that the time given to sogo will reduce their childrens' proficiency in "serious" academic subjects. College entrance requirements haven't changed. Children may end up spending even more hours in juku (cram schools) to make up the lost academic hours.
A beautiful collection of classical mosaics in Tunisia, on the Tunisia Online website. The "Birds and Fish" mosaic is now my desktop image.
Speaking of the First Amendment...Currently wandering around the 'net in email and on web pages, An Open Letter to: John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States was first read by its author, Claire Braz-Valentine, at this year's In Celebration of the Muse, an annual poetry event at Cabrillo College, California.If you haven't read this yet, take the time to do it now. It is a magnificent statement on the setting of proper priorities. Three cheers for the First Amendment!In Philadelphia today, three federal judges threw out the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a federal law that would have forced libraries to equip computers with net-nanny software to block children's access to obscene material. The judges wrote: "Any public library that adheres to CIPA's conditions will necessarily restrict patrons access to a substantial amount of protected speech in violation of the First Amendment." Full text of the law on the LoC's Thomas website.
Inspired by recent events, the Washington Post published Skeleton Keys, an article on Smithsonian physical anthropologists and crime. The Smithsonian has been assisting the FBI with forensic analysis since the 1930's.
Thursday, May 30, 2002
Flash art interactivesTwo elegant little Flash applets:A mathematical recreation at the London Design Collective A chance to build your own virtual sculpture at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden One very ambitious project: The Whitney Biennial (.com), which is related to the Whitney Biennal (.org) as a derivative work. Wonder Bound: Rare Books on Early MuseumsThe SI Libraries (SIL) have installed this small but elegant exhibit in NMNH's Constitution Avenue lobby. The web version of the exhibit is a joy, and includes images such as as 16th-century Italian museum with seashells and a stuffed crocodile displayed on the ceiling, and an entomological display case being demonstrated by a butterfly-winged cupid.Other things to visit on SIL's website: An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (representing a physical exhibition currently at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Gallery at NMAH) SIRIS, the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System, our online search system Wednesday, May 29, 2002
I'm not surprised.Researchers in Italy have statistically linked symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with piety.The study compares Roman Catholic nuns and priests, committed lay Catholics and people with no religious involvement. What the study cannot say is whether religious upbringing leads to compulsive behavior, or compulsive people tend to be more religious.
Dumbing down school textbooks is not confined to the United States. The Japanese are now concerned that school readers are omitting "difficult", but rewarding, texts in favor of the uncontroversial and easily-digested. Takashi Saito, associate professor of education at Meiji University, has created his own textbook and course of education, which emphasizes writing that is sugomi-ga-aru, or emotionally overwhelming. Since the vocabulary can be advanced, all kanji are accompanied by hiragana. The works selected include translations of Shakespeare and Bertrand Russell, as well as classic Japanese authors such as Soseki Natsume and Ogai Mori. (The last two links are on Mark Jewel's superb Japanese Literature Home Page.)
HikikomoriHikikomori -- "withdrawal" -- is a growing social problem in Japan. As many as a million young Japanese men simply shut themselves up in their rooms for months or years at a time, refusing to speak with their families. Some emerge to commit violent crimes, then vanish into their rooms again. The hikikomori can be seen as the logical extension of otaku, or rabid fan, culture. [more] ... [more] ... [more] ... [more]The astonishing thing to an American reader is that these young men are living in their parents' home, and the parents accept their withdrawal. In the United States, a child's room is seen as the parents' property. In Japan, a teenager or young adult can refuse to give their parents access and have their request respected. RTFMEveryone at the office is chuckling over last Sunday's article in the Washington Post about why Americans don't read product manuals. A sample quote:"Manuals just slow you down and make you feel stupid," said Neil Fiore, a Berkeley, Calif., psychologist and executive coach. "The directions are too slow, too detailed, and use too much abstract, arcane or academic language -- like 'boot up' instead of 'turn on the red switch in the back.' "Also included is the classic stories (which one hopes are urban legends) about the computer user who mistook his CD drive for a cup-holder and the woman who wanted to spin-dry lettuce in her washing machine. The Japanese, on the other hand, apparently adore product manuals, the thicker and more technical the better. I did my share of chuckling over the Post article, but also my share of secret blushing. I had just spent the last several days trying to write a procedure to import characters with diacritical marks from Windows-ASCII to FileMaker Pro, which uses a different convention for the upper-ASCII characters. Last night at about 5 PM I suddenly discovered (or remembered) that the Troi File Plug-In has a function, TrFile-ConvertToFMText, which does exactly that. I had seen it in the table-of-contents; I just hadn't bothered to RTFM. Tuesday, May 28, 2002
The prehistory of Japan has been problematic since late 2000, when Shinichi Fujimura, one of Japan's most famous archeologists, admitted to fabricating artifacts and planting them in at least 42 sites. Our entire picture of prehistoric Japan must now be reviewed, a committee of his peers declared last Sunday. [more] ... [more] ... [more]
The Southwest Museum, whose proprosed alliance with an Indian casino was mentioned here on May 16, is still in trouble. The tribe has voted to table the arrangement pending further study. The museum is now considering affiliation with other, better-funded museums, including SI's planned National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).
The nation's attic indeed....The Smithsonian has just received Cellmark Diagnostic's DNA evidence from the O. J. Simpson trial. It will join NMNH's extensive collection of forensic materials in the anthropology archives.Meanwhile, a forensic anthropologist from NMNH is assisting with the analysis of Chandra Levy's remains. Thursday, May 23, 2002
If we can't do it, neither can theyJapan, denied its request to renew commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), has banded together with 13 other countries to forbid subsistence hunting of bowhead whales by the aboriginal Alaskan Inuit and Siberian Chukotka peoples.The Japanese and their allies had vowed to end what they consider a double standard on conservation issues. Masayuki Komatsu, a member of Japan's delegation gloats: "They are calling this a black day. But the antiwhaling (nations) have used a double standard to hijack this committee and deal black days to us. So for us, today is a very sunny day." "We saw him land!"An eye-witness account of Charles Lindbergh's landing in Paris from a long-lost letter, reprinted in the May issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
James Lileks, whose daily online columns are sometimes magnificent, sometimes infuriating, and almost always literate and entertaining, beamed back today to NASM's Star Trek exhibit, now dismantled and dispersed. The Enterprise is in the NASM museum shop, and Kirk's chair is for sale.
With Star Trek and Star Wars both gone, we're a little short on popular culture these days. Unless you count the new MacDonald's, supposedly the largest in the world, which serves as NASM's public cafeteria. The entry-way graphics combine NASM artifacts with golden arches in ways that would have been unacceptable under a more idealistic administration. One of my colleagues has Photoshopped a response: 
Oh, my!The Smithsonian's inspector general has been investigating Edward Knapp, SI's former comptroller, who resigned last week. The Smithsonian is currently deploying a new financial system, and there have been the usual controversies about whether it is being done correctly. The IG's investigation focused on expense accounts and contracts. Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Dead seals in DenmarkDanish authorities are investigating the cause of death of 60 seals out of a population of 250 on the island of Anholt, which lies between Denmark and Sweden. Autopsies indicate a respiratory bacterial infection, although the bacterium has not been identified. A 1988 epidemic of viral pneumonia killed several hundred seals in the North Sea, but this does not appear to be the same disease.See also the New Zealand Sea Lion epidemic of 1998, the cause of which still seems to be a mystery. The Party Animals have arrivedThe Party Animals public art project is populating the streets of the District with imaginatively-decorated donkeys and elephants. As of May 10, twenty of the sculptures had been installed; the rest will be in place by Memorial Day. But where are they? A map of Party Animal locations is in the works, according to a friend-of-a-friend. Read the whole story in the Washington Post. Friday, May 17, 2002
Life in the federal state-like entityMargaret McGilvray and Dan Redmond, residents of the District of Columbia, have been denied their request to name their baby Alexander Hanley Redmond McGilvray. D.C. law requires that babies born to married couples receive the husband's surname. McGilvray and Redmond are suing the city in District Court. Baby Alexander, now three months old, still does not have a birth certificate.As another District resident, I'm not surprised. I think it has something to do with not having representation in Congress. 
Japanese science-fiction writer Sakyo Komatsu and cat Cats in Japan:Two stories from Asahi Shimbun:Nekobukuro, a place where you can rent time with cats. Buddhist funerals for cats. Very old e-textThe University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has begun an online library of all known cuneiform texts. The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, cdli, is still in its infancy but is fascinating to explore.Oh, the serendipity of the web!A Google search on "cdli" turned up not only more information about the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, but the Liber CDLI, a Thelemic sacred text on Eroto-comatose Lucidity, or religious revelation through sexual exhaustion:....The Initiate may then be allowed to sleep, or the practice may be renewed and persisted in until death ends all. The most favourable death is that occurring during the orgasm, and is called Mors Justi.
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) is currently planning a September 11 exhibit to mark the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Artifacts on display will include aircraft parts, the door of a ruined fire truck from the
Pentagon and personal items retrieved from the World Trade Center. Exhibit design will give special attention to pacing and privacy, and will provide places for visitors to sit and reflect. Opportunities for early exit will also be provided.
Congress passed legislation last December making NMAH an official repository for artifacts from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. NMAH's web site includes "July 1942: United We Stand", a virtual exhibit on the patriotic display of American flags on magazine covers during World War II. The exhibits mentions a similar movement after September 11, 2001. By the way, if you haven't seen the Smithsonian's redesigned web site, it's worth a look. Thursday, May 16, 2002
And finally..., as a fitting end to an annoyingly weird day, purple carrots (which was apparently the original color, before the Dutch bred them orange in the 16th century, in honor of the House of Orange) have been re-created in England. Also black-and-white carrots. Also rainbow carrots. You'll be able to get them for £1.19 at Sainsbury's this summer.
Fresh Fields, eat your heart out!
Speaking of avoiding advertisements, which I mentioned in this morning's post on the NYT archive-search fees, there are now programs which supress those annoying pop-up ad windows that make web-surfing feel like a stroll along the streets of Tijuana. I'm sure the head of Turner Broadcasting doesn't like those either.
Lunch with really old companionsThe Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) has added the Fossil Cafe to its hall of paleontology. Diners can view actual fossils under the clear plastic tops of their tables, which double as small exhibit cases. I haven't eaten there yet, but it sounds delightful.
The Southwest Museum in Los Angeles has struck what many feel to be a devil's bargain with a local Indian tribe. The Pechanga Band of the Luiseño Indians will provide financial support in exchange for loans of artifacts to be displayed at a museum to be built at the tribe's successful casino.
HmphThe New York Times, a prime source for material in this weblog, is now charging for access to articles over seven days old. Major Smithsonian-related articles I cited only last week are now being flogged for $2.50. My opinion on this development, as you might guess, would not be accepted by the Smithsonian net-nanny.To their credit, articles which have already been linked appear to be free. It's just the search results which are billed. So if someone were to create daily pages linking all the NYT articles and make the indexes available to the rest of us, we could keep our free access to the archives. Probably. But it would also probably be declared illegal, or at least immoral, like fast-forwarding through commercials, which the head of Turner broadcasting considers theft. Wednesday, May 15, 2002
News on the netOn one hand, there's entirely too much news on the net. On the other, it's hard to find sources that aren't fronts for particular points of view. From time to time I'll be posting links to what seem to be even-handed sites, with an emphasis on non-US material.Links:
Art as paid advertisementI found the site below because Mouse had sent me a link to The Google AdWords Happening, a description of a project to buy rights to certain words on the Google search engine and display short poems as advertisements. Google seems to have been less than amused by the project, but only because the site pointed to by the ads had nothing to do with the linked words; it consists, in fact, of a single error message stating that the site is only accessible to browser versions not yet invented.One does find oneself thinking of possible variations on this idea, doesn't one? Haiku as raw materialIn the web-work Loosen Text 8x8, poet Sal Randolph starts with eight haiku on spring rain by 18th-century poet/painter Yosa Buson, and creates incremental translations and interpretations. Links to the texts are arranged in an 8x8 grid, with each vertical line representing one haiku. Within each line, the links point to:
Randolph's other projects include Free Words. Tuesday, May 14, 2002
In search of the "Lord God" birdIs the ivory-billed woodpecker actually extinct? The bird is so impressive that the colloquial name for it was the "Lord God bird". It hasn't been officially sighted for 50 years. But there's evidence that it may be hiding in the swamps of Louisiana.On April 1, 1999, David Kulivan, a forestry major at Louisiana State University (LSU), reported seeing an ivory-bill in the wild. Officials at the North America division of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics agreed to sponsor an intensive search in eastern Louisiana's Pearl River Wildlife Management Area. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, LSU, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Cornell University also participated. The search lasted from January 17 to February 20, 2002. No birds were spotted, but other signs of living ivory-bills were found. Unusual woodpecker hammering sounds were recorded, and large pieces of bark were found stripped from dead trees; the ivory-bill strips bark from trees to search for insects. Meanwhile, the search continues. The location of the "hot zone" of apparent ivory-bill activity is being kept a secret. A moratorium on logging in the region has been in place since the 1999 sighting. And the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has left a dozen acoustic monitors in the forest to gather information. Links:
Monday, May 13, 2002
Gogatsu-byoGogatsu-byo, "May disease", has traditionally been a spring-time despression affecting Japanese university students. Now it seems to be spreading to other populations, such as young workers, high school students and perhaps even toddlers. Is this a real response to Japanese social pressures, or yet another example of a transient mental-health epidemic, such as the "mad travellers" of 1880's Europe.
In another followup to the Blue Ribbon Commission's report, Washington Post writer Jonathan Yardley complains about the current state of NMAH. I am encouraged that the state of the Smithsonian has become a matter for national (or at least Beltway) debate. The "increase and diffusion of knowledge" should be a cooperative venture.
Friday, May 10, 2002
This does seem to be National Conceptual Art Day. In an appropriate counterpoint to Luke Helder's planned smiley-face of pipe bombs, Los Angeles artist Richard Ankrom's project might be described as helpful vandalism. His carefully-crafted freeway sign fills the real need of directing motorists to northbound I5 (the Golden State Freeway) from the Pasadena Freeway.
Caltrans officials, who hadn't noticed the addition until the story was leaked by the artist's friend, will leave the sign in place for now, although they may replace it as part of a general signage upgrade to more reflective material. There are currently no plans to press charges. Perhaps we should just use serial numbersFrom the May 13 issue of the New Yorker: Johnnie Thomas, a seventy-year-old African-American woman, has been having trouble with airlines recently. Her name is too similar to "John Thomas Christopher", an alias used by Christian Michael Longo, a fugitive who has already been apprehended. Longo was born in 1974 and has blue eyes and reddish-blond hair. But hey, you can't be too careful these days! So Ms Thomas has been delayed, searched, interrogated and harassed on several recent flights.Deirdre McNamer reports Ms Thomas' efforts (thus far unsuccessful) to get her name cleared. Apparently several other "John Thomas"'s have been complaining about this lately. Weblogs as therapy?The Daily Telegraph reports that writing emails about emotionally-charged events, such as the September 11 attacks, is good for your health. University students who wrote emails about their feelings were healthier in the following weeks than those who did not. This seems like a "Well, DUH!" conclusion, but it's nice to have it verified by statistics.Presumably the electronic journaling of weblogs has similar effects, which is an excellent excuse for this magnificent self-indulgence. Self-expression of any kind is a Good Thing. Although probably creating smiley-faces with mailbox bombs is an exception. Thursday, May 09, 2002
New progress in animal rights?Would the privacy of Ryma, the National Zoo's late giraffe, be violated if his medical records were released to the press? That was the official statement of the Zoo's director. The Washington Post jumped on this excuse with glee. It would be hilarious, if it weren't so damn' embarrasing.We need more Feejee MermaidsBlake Gopnik, Washington Post staff writer, begs to differ with the special commission's report on the deplorable state of NMAH, reported in yesterday's entry. He states:Like many other leaders in the museum world, the compilers of the report want tidy order imposed on this kind of fertile chaos. They believe, that is, that the "nation's attic" should become the nation's history class. But where would you rather spend an afternoon, in school or up under Grandmother's rafters?As a lifelong museum professional, I sympathize. It was the cluttered, slightly fusty atmosphere of Los Angeles County's Natural History Museum that caught my imagination and led me, first to the California Academy of Sciences, and then to the Smithsonian. Museums may be (in the currently popular phrase) secular cathedrals, and they may be teaching institutions. But they are also attics, cabinets of curiosities, Wunderkammern, and stratigraphic records of generations of curators, conservators, wealthy donors and the changing interpretations of the material world. Baltimore's American Dime Museum, direct intellectual heir of Barnum's American Museum (home of the notorious Feejee Mermaid), is at least as honorable a representative of museum culture as the Smithsonian. Time for a revival?Composer/lyricist Frank McNulty has written a musical about Orville and Wilbur Wright, "The Flight Brothers". Sound clips are available on the web site. See a program from a 1975 production at East Carolina University. Wednesday, May 08, 2002
We've been waiting for this oneThe special commission's report on the state of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) is out. [more] The Blue Ribbon Commission on the National Museum of American History was created by the Regents last year to evaluate the museum's structure and content.To no one's surprise, the commission found serious problems with the layout and content of the museum. Major recommendations include providing a chronological orientation section and opening up the core of the museum to provide sight-lines to different spaces. More controversially, the commission recommended exhibit treatment of the role of religion in American history. Other topics for which expanded treatment was recommended include slavery, capitalism and cowboy culture. (Kenneth Behring has already offered to pay for an exhibit on the American military.) Where will the money come from? "If you have a clear and powerful vision, the funding will follow," said Richard Darman, chairman of the commission. The National Council on Public History noted the creation of the commission last July, as part of its ongoing coverage of the Smithsonian debate. The commission was also mentioned in the Washington Post's extensive magazine article on the NMAH / Kenneth Behring / Catherine Reynolds controversy, History for $ale, which appeared last January. Tuesday, May 07, 2002
Times is tough all overAttendance at the Smithsonian is down 30 percent since last year. Of course this reduces revenue, which is why SI is reducing staff. Since over 90 percent of the budget goes to payroll, staff reductions are the only practical way to deal with the shortfall. It's a good time to look indispensible.In other SI news, the show On Miniature Wings: Model Aircraft from the National Air & Space Museum opened in the Florida International Museum in St. Petersburg. Thursday, May 02, 2002
There's more than one way to take over the worldHaving failed to conquer the world militarily in the 1940's, Japan reinvented business. By the 1980's, American companies were eagerly copying their organizational techniques. But the economic miracle has imploded, and now Japan is conquering the pop-cultural universe with its gross national cool. Douglas McGray, writing for Foreign Policy magazine analyzes the cultural strategy of Pokémon, anime, and the Pada Pada dance craze.In a different response to the Japanese economic crisis, author Kazumi Sometani advocates the idea of the demon boss, an authoritarian tyrant who can get the economic ball moving. Point 5 of his seven-point program: "It's OK to take your subordinates out drinking, but even under the influence of merry intoxication, don't lapse into equality. Submission is a habit easily lost. Make sure it isn't." One hopes this is one Japanese business strategy that will not be copied by American corporations. Kabuki in the 21st centuryAki no Kappa, a kabuki drama composed in 1982, features a folkloric water-spirit as well as human characters. In previous performances, the kappa was invisible, like the giant rabbit in "Harvey". Now, thanks to real-time computer animation, the kappa can appear onstage as a hologram, manipulated by a back-stage actor.In more traditional performances, the Kabukiza theater in Tokyo dedicated its April performances to Utaemon Nakamura VI, the 20th century's most distinguished onnagata, or performer of female roles. Utaemon's two adopted sons led the performances. One of them, Kaishun Nakamura, is an onnagata like his father. Find more information on kabuki in the Kabuki for Everyone website. |
