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CATS!!!!!

       Ok, so, to start I love all animals but I need a topic for this blog and I’m looking at my cat memed binder so today it’s cat blog day.

      Out of all the animals in the world, I think cats are most like humans. Mostly it’s because no two cat have the same personality like people. Some like to lie in the sunlight, others are lazy, most can be nasty, and the wonderful few are the friendliest you’ll ever meet. See! Just like people! They’re also enthusiastic eaters like us! Ok, we don’t hunt down our food and leave it’s guts on our masters’ front steps.....but that’s not the point.

      Here’s the Japanese aspect in this blog today. Japanese bobtails are very prized in Japan usually because many Emperor have owned one. There’s a well known legend that tells the tale of why they have short tails. Apparently, a cat was sleeping by a hearth (fireplace) when it’s tail caught on fire. Panicking it ran through the whole city liking all the wooden buildings on fire and destroying the city. The Emperor was so angry, that he decreed that all cats have their tails cut off. Note: this is a legend and probably not true so there’s no need to worry about the poor kitty cats.

      Another famous cat in Japan is the Maneki Neko meaning ‘beckoning cat’. Perhaps you’ve seen it. It is the waving cat that stores put in the front window. Depending on which paw is waving, it means wealth, luck, or just welcoming a customer. One of the most well known stories about the origin of Maneki Neko goes like this:

“A feudal lord - some say it was Naotaka Li, lord of Hikone district - was passing Gotoku-ji when it started to rain. As the lord took shelter under a tree on the grounds, the priest's cat peeked out of the temple and raised a paw to invite the lord inside. The lord was curious about this unusual behavior and walked to the temple courtyard for a closer look. When Naotaka Li was standing in front of Tama in the courtyard, lightening struck the tree under which he had been sheltering. The lord's life had been saved, and he immediately believed the cat to be an incarnation of the Goddess of Mercy.” That’s why they are considered lucky. This is why I love cats, they aren’t all nasty hissing wild animals. They can be helpful and fun.

Sources:

• http://manekinekomusic.com/legend.html

Japanese Vending Machines

Random blog post time!

It is quite clear that the US has fallen behind in the technology of vending machines. It’s a bit harder to find one especially if you live in a small town like I do. Not that many care, I just think it’s interesting and this is a post about them.  When people go to Japan, they are amazed by how many vending machines there are. They are very popular and some of them are highly advanced in their technology.

The first vending machines in Japan were wooden and dispensed stamps and postcards. Since then, the mechanics involved have been dramatically advanced. Now, many of them have electronic screens. A vending machine company can collect information from a machine like at what time of day what drinks sell the most. In the morning, coffee and juice sells the most and at night soft drinks are usually purchased. Even more advanced machines with look at someone walking up to it, analyse their face structure to determine age, and recommend a certain drink for their age type. That might seem kind of creepy (and it is) but many don’t care or actually like it. They can learn what others their age are drinking and join the trend or try something new that many like. Kind of makes me feel sad for American vending machines that are broken down or grey.
It might seem silly but it’s nothing to sneeze at. In 2008, vending income was around $6 trillion. I’m not sure if that’s in yen or dollars but if it’s in yen that’s still about $10,626,996.72 today. (yeah I put that into a converter, whatchu gonna do ‘bout it?)
In America, it’s pretty rare to find a vending machine that sells things besides drinks and food. Personally, it feels like I’ve accidentally discovered a dinosaur. I stare at it with surprise then get on with my life. In Japan, it’s not so hard to find cigarettes in a vending machine. According to eHow, “..underwear, socks, instant and cooked noodles, and eggs. Even Rhinoceros Beetles have been dispensed from Japanese vending machines.”
When the first vending machines came out in Japan, other machines like it were created as more and more became interested in them. Machines that would play a clip of a movie if you put a quarter in them came about and others. Of course the movies were in black and white but they were still quite popular especially among kids. There aren’t any around now, sorry.

Really it’s amazing the kinds of things you can find in Japan, so, until next time, see ya! :)

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_qJFMXp-w- Vending Machines History and How they work

Read more: Information About Japanese Vending Machines | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5530362_information-japanese-vending-machines.html#ixzz2MsqgB5ac- Stats on Vending Machines

Geena Davis In Miss R

We’re still watching Miss Representation. In one of my earlier posts I was ranting about people mistrusting the interviewees in the documentary. Well, for this post I’m going to prove that one of them is at least reliable on some of the opinions they give.

I was watching the documentary and was surprised when the actress Geena Davis was interviewed to speak about women being represented poorly in the media. I was intrigued a couple times when she gave several statistics and seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the subject. I was surprised because I couldn’t help but think: But she’s an actress. Why does she know all these statistics about women in the media? Well, I did some research and found some pretty interesting things about her that I didn’t know.

            First off, she is the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Media. With her program, she did some extensive research on children’s movies. She found that, “for every female character there are three male characters in G-rated.” With this knowledge, Geena and her program work to get movie creators to make movies with an equal ratio of girls to boys.

            Looking at her biography, website, and learning about an award for her work in this area I’m definitely more inclined to respect her opinions in this matter. If she’s managing this big institute, doing research on these things, and as an actress herself, surely she is reliable when it comes to how women are presented in the media.

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Snow Can Be Annoying

         It has snowed again today but it is an irritating snow. It’s not deep enough to do anything fun like sledding or building a snow man. It’s just a little powder sprinkled here and there. Just enough to freeze over night and make you fear for your life when you go out to your car. The snow came pretty fast. Yesterday it was near forty degrees and today it’s in the teens  Not matter how long I’ve lived here I don’t like the cold and just can’t get used to it. What’s even crazier than the temperatures is the people. There’s always someone out walking to school in shorts or a tee shirt. Heck  I’ve even seen someone in flip flops  That reminds me of what people do in, I think Switzerland? A few people with their friends sit in a sauna for a while and then run outside and jump into a freezing lake or something crazy. It’s really amazing what the human body can do. See, if I tried that I’d probably die of shock.
        Of course I don’t want a big snow to come and dump two or three feet on us. However, the weather just jumps around and sometimes it’s annoying. One week you wake up and breath in the fresh air and know that spring is on the way. The next, that red stuff in the thermometer is dropping like my chances of finding a date to homecoming. You never know what the weather’s going to do next week. Honestly, I don’t know how the weather men and women do it  (Yeah I know how they do it smartypants but you know what I mean)
       This winter has been weird. We had one big show storm in December but that was it. We are almost through January which is supposed to be the coldest and most snowy month of the year but we’ve got almost nothing  I walk home from school and I here birds chirping like it’s spring  That can’t be normal. Oh well, with my luck next winter we’ll just have a crazy snowy cold winter. Of course I said the same thing last year.....and the year before that....

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Miss Representation

Warning...Again: the following contains opinions that may not be shared by everyone. Educated arguments to these opinions as opposed to hurtful words are advised.

       
       Well, apparently my class still has to write something about gender and gender roles so here I go.
       The documentary, Miss Representation, that my class is still watching made the claim that most women shown in the media have no power like the men do. Or if women do have power their bad girls who can beat everyone up and wear tight clothing. The documentary said most women were shown as these bad girls, the cutsie damsel in distress, or women looking for love in a ‘chick flick’. The documentary does acknowledge Oprah and some other women but says that these women in the media are few. I kind of have to agree with that.
       What I don’t agree with is the political section in the documentary. At one point a woman says something like ‘if there were more women in politics, the government would actually get something done’. I think it was a different lady who said that women make better politicians. I have to say not necessarily. What makes someone a better politician is their ability to do the job not their gender.
       Another point, someone insinuated that girls vote for girls and guys vote for guys. They showed a clip of a girl running for a president position but losing. Then the documentary reported that most of the girls voted for a guy. The documentary seemed to say that if the girls voted for a girl then for once a girl would be in high power. I can’t agree with that. I would vote for her if I thought she had the skills and was right for the job not just because she’s a female like me.

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Miss Crazy

Warning: the following contains opinions that may not be shared by everyone. Educated arguments to these opinions as opposed to hurtful words are advised.

            Lately in my Language Arts class we have been watching a documentary called Miss Representation. It’s about how women are portrayed in the media. The claim is that women are seen in the media as *ahem* sluts and we all have to be beautiful and crazy thin. The documentary writers present some evidence such as personal stories, interviews with regular high school students, and grown-ups with degrees in journalism or psychology.

In my class, we watch a bit of the documentary and then pause it to point out rhetorical strategies. We point out the writers many claims, what sort of reasoning are they using (deductive or inductive), how the writers present the evidence, and how the presentation affects your opinion. Or at least we are supposed to be doing these things. We don’t because people get so hot over what the documentary is saying that class turns into a big debate. Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I’m not saying they can’t talk about it but the class isn’t applying the terms. Well, some do but it’s only to try and connect a logical fallacy to what the documentary is trying to say so it seems false. Again, I know people want to give their opinions what seems like all the time but I’d rather get through the documentary. Get through it, look at all the claims, evidence, and the reasoning and then apply the terms to advance the skills I’m trying to learn. I want to get through all that, probably form my own opinion but keep it to myself, and do it all with minimal conflict. Well…that’s what I want but it’s absolutely not what will/did happen (we’re only fifteen minutes in ;-;).

What really irked me was when people started to question the people who got interviewed with degrees. The teacher showed a list of them and their reliability but people still questioned their authority. Sometimes it’s good to question an authority if you’re in search of the truth but these people clearly knew what they were talking about. I suppose what really upset me wasn’t how people kept returning to question the authority but the fact that people are so distrustful. It’s a sad world when people listen to something or someone but don’t believe them from the start. I guess it’s this distrust that makes people shut down to arguments that they don’t like. By shut down I mean people listen to an argument but they have no intention of considering the view of the other person as truthful in anyway. However, maybe they do consider some of it true but they don’t say so. I view arguing as a break down in clear communication. People just get upset or stressed and it just seems to lead to miscommunication. Now this is talking about the debating in my class not real debates.

*sigh* I really hate arguing and debating. It just upsets me when people get angry with each other and I know they’re not really angry but they seem angry. I guess everyone has their own way to release anger and stress. Like this post I just did which is really me ranting. Curses! It’s irony!

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