Sayaka just returned after visiting me in Tokyo for almost a month. The new year is here and I have lots of projects for this year. I’m going to try to be more skillful at balancing my time between them instead of my usual practice which is to attack them in bursts of enthusiastic effort…
Continue reading Back to everything
Muninn.net takes flight…
þó sjáumk meir um Munin
But I fear more for Muninn…
Muninn.net, which will serve as my online Blog (Web Log), is working after a fairly smooth installation. As I am an extremely forgetful person, anyone who knows the background of the name “Muninn” might find my domain name an ironic choice.
The Norse god Odin had a collection of pets whose names are recorded in legend and which have gone on to much success as trademarks. Muninn, also spelled Munin, is one of two ravens that Odin sent out into the world in search for knowledge each day. What we know of Huginn (Hugin), “Thought” and Muninn “Memory” are, as far as I can tell, only recorded in a few lines of the Grimnismál. However, I am going to try to find out where else one can find mention of them.
Continue reading Muninn.net takes flight…
Eldred v. Ascroft
The net is abuzz with word of the controversial Eldred v. Ashcroft hearing by the Supreme Court, an incredibly important decision with regard to the state of copyright law in the US. As a supporter of copyright reform, and more broadly the public domain and open source movements, I am as concerned as most people. Read more about this huge ruling:
O’Reilly.com Article
Lessig’s Blog
Salon.com Article by Siva Vaidhyanathan
Groceries
After enjoying a delicious assortment of vegetable tempura at my local Tenya tempura shop, I went grocery shopping across the street at Seiyu.
When I was packing my groceries I couldn’t help noticing that the middle-aged woman standing next to me was staring at my groceries and smiling in a most peculiar way.
It wasn’t that she was pleased to see a (male/foreigner) doing groceries since she wasn’t at all staring at me. After she left I paused for a moment to figure out what it could have been.
I suddenly realized that the assortment of items that I had purchased could not have been more stereotypical Western if I had tried: Three liters of drinkable yoghurt, a bag of potatoes, a loaf of bread, and a pack of raw beef chunks.