February 1999

• The Ties Talk Archive has been updated, with several new pages added. Every page now has a "Last updated" date at the top for easy reference.
  (28 February 99)

• Ed Uthman strikes again! Always one of the more prolific cyberpathologists on the Internet, he has just posted a page about Autopsy Tools. I have linked it to my Morgue Page.
  (26 February 99)

• Most Nikkei-jin have been to Nihongo Gakko (Japanese language school) at some point in their lives (sometimes at more than one point) in an attempt to retain or acquire their heritage language. This topic of came up recently on the Ties Talk e-mail list. Read the what people remember of their experiences on the J-School page of the Archives.
  (23 February 99)

• There's an update at the Nikkei Nexus
  (21 February 99)

  

• Portland Printemps
  The days have been getting longer and sunny breaks between the rain and clouds are becoming more frequent. I saw a sakura (cherry) tree in bloom in Portland today. It was next to an apartment building, where the temperature is probably a few degrees warmer than out in the open, but this is an indication that spring is coming soon.
  (21 February 99)

• Heavenly Creatures (UK/New Zealand 1994; Dir: Peter Jackson) ****
  At an all-girls school in 1950s Christchurch NZ, dowdy, working class Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) comes under the influence of glamorous but sickly upper class Juliet (Titanic's Kate Winslet in her cinematic debut). The teenage girls share active imaginations and become fast (and in the view of their parents unnaturally close) friends. When events conspire to separate them, Pauline decides they must kill her mother. The film is visually rich and does a great job of representing the girls' fantasy world. The final murder sequence is spare but chilling. This is a true story: the girls were convicted, served gaol time, then were released on the condition that they never see each other again. Both live in England today; Juliet -- now "Anne Perry" -- is a successful author of mystery stories.
  (19 February 99)

• Blow-up (UK 1966; Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni) **1/2
  Hugh Grant lookalike David Hemmings portrays a fashion photographer in the middle of London's hip Mod scene during the Swinging Sixties. When he captures on film a liaison between a coltish Vanessa Redgrave and her boyfriend, he inadvertently witnesses a murder. The heart of the story is his realization through a series of photo enlargements (hence the title) that he has recorded the image of dead body. If this film were made today, the image would be digital and this lengthy, suspenseful sequence would only have taken a few mouse clicks! The main character is based on a real person, David Bailey. A bonus is a cameo concert performance by a young Jimmy Page and the Yardbirds.
  Swinging at a different speed
  At 62, photographer David Bailey, the notoriously hedonistic fashion shutterbug
  of 60s London, may have slowed down his lifestyle, but not his work.
  Blow Up a London nightclub which opened during the Mod Revival in the mid-1990s
  Mod Films An online catalogue of films set in the Mod scene (12 February 99)

• Meyers Briggs Type Indicator: INTJ
  One of my most interesting courses this term is MINF 518: Organizational Behaviour. My fellow students and I are learning about the human factors, group environments and organizational structures we will be dealing with as health informaticists. Today we all found out the results of our Meyers Briggs Type Indicator assessment. MBTI is a way of describing and classifying personality, and has numerous applications in areas like team building at work, marriage (another type of team building, I guess), career counselling, etc.

  I tested as a Rational NT:

  This is the "Knowledge Seeking Personality" -- trusting in reason and hungering for achievement. They are usually pragmatic about the present, skeptical about the future, solipsistic about the past, and their preferred time and place are the interval and the intersection. Educationally they go for the sciences, avocationally for technology, and vocationally for systems work. Rationals tend to be individualizing as parents, mindmates as spouses, and learning oriented as children. Rationals are very infrequent, comprising as few as 5% and no more than 7% of the population.

  --Keirsey Temperament and Character Web Site

  In addition, my NT subtype, INTJ (Introverted INtuitive Thinking Judgemental) is rather rare, comprising no more than one percent of the population. About one quarter of my class tested as INTJ, though -- it is interesting that we have all been drawn to the field of health informatics.

  This exercise was quite enlightening, and showed how knowledge of one's MBTI can help one succeed (or at least do better) in life and at work when dealing with people who have different MBTIs.

  Workforce Investment Network - Job Seekers
  Take the online, computer-scored test and find out your MBTI
  The Mating Quiz
  Use knowledge of your MTBI to help in your relationships
  Meyers Briggs Type Indicator Prayers
  Each is written as if by one of the 16 MBTIs. (11 February 99)

• A few days ago on Ties Talk, an e-mail group of Japanese Americans, I introduced the topic of ohaka half expecting to hear back, "What is an ohaka?" (When I first posted About Obon, a sansei (third generation) Japanese Canadian asked me to add some text because he didn't understand what the images showed.) I was surprised and heartened by the depth of feeling these Ties Talk Nikkei-jin have for their ohaka. You can read their messages on the Ohaka Page of the Ties Talk Archive.
  (10 February 99)

• Jeder fur sich und Gott gegen alle (Every Man For Himself and God Against All: The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser) (Germany 1974; Dir: Wolfgang Herzog) **
  The strange but true story of a teenage boy who was found at the Nuremburg city gate in 1828, unable to speak more than two sentences and unfamiliar with people and the ways of society. According to his autobiography (penned after he had been taught how to write) this was the effect of having been raised in a cellar with no human interaction. A pedestrian, linear screenplay makes this a bit of a yawner, but there are a few scenes that stand out, like Kaspar's outwitting of the Professor of Logic (Prof: What one question will allow you to tell if a man standing at a crossroad is from the Village of Truthtellers or the Village of Liars? Kaspar: Ask him if he is a tree frog!) Was he for real? Was he a hoax? Or was he teleported by aliens? The autopsy at the end of the film doesn't reveal the answer, despite the glee with which the city clerk notes the findings to complete his file (the first medical informaticist?). Modern psychiatry explains this as a case of child abuse.
  Kaspar Hauser Case summary and Suzanne Vega tie-in
  Famous Mysteries More about Kaspar Hauser and other found people
  Kaspar Hauser Syndrome Of Psychosocial Dwarfism: Deficient Statural, Intellectual, And Social Growth Induced By Child Abuse
  (06 February 99)

• It was an exciting afternoon up on Marquam Hill, site of my school, OHSU! Somebody spotted a gunman, and the police were quick to ethusiastically respond, as usual. I was in a lecture at the time, but found out about the situation on our classroom's front screen Internet connection.
  (03 February 99)

• news:sci.lang.japan
  Here is a Japan-related newsgroup that is a slight cut above the others. It is not immune from flaming, but at least when that happens it is literate and witty! Plus, one can learn a thing or two about the Japanese language:

  The Origin of the Modern Japanese Days of the Week

  > Before the 1868 Meiji Restoration, Japan had a six-day week .
  > The seven-day week system was adopted from Western culture,
  > which names days mostly after Roman gods corresponding to
  > the planets that can be seen with the naked eye.
  > And of course there are days named after the Sun and the Moon.
  > The Japanese day names are just translations:

  Eng	French	God	Heavenly Body	Element	Nihongo
  Sun	Dimanche	---	Sun=Hi(Nichi)	---	Nichiyoubi
  Mon	Lundi	---	Moon=Tsuki(Getsu)	---	Getsuyoubi
  Tue	Mardi	Mars God of War	Mars=Kasei	Fire=Ka	Kayoubi
  Wed	Mercredi	Mercury Messenger God	Mercury=Suisei	Water=Sui	Suiyoubi
  Thu	Jeudi	Juno Queen God Wife of Jupiter	Jupiter=Mokusei	Wood=Moku	Mokuyoubi
  Fri	Vendredi	Venus Goddess of Love	Venus=Kinsei	Metal=Kin	Kinyoubi
  Sat	Samedi	Saturn God of Agriculture	Saturn=Dosei	Earth=Do	Doyoubi

  > Knowing the names of the days of the week in Japanese gives you
  > some bonus vocabulary: the names of the planets that can be seen
  > with the naked eye! They come from the Five Elements of ancient
  > Taoist theory (Fire = Ka (Hi), water = Sui (Mizu), Wood = Moku (Ki),
  > Metal (gold) = Kin, Earth = Do (Tsuchi)), which Japan imported
  > from China in 10th or 11th century.

  Some other Japanese language information has been collected on the Alternative sci.lang.japan FAQ website.
  (02 February 99)

• I have posted The Master's, a page about my studies.
  (01 February 99)

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