From The Mind Of “K”

If I ever had an alter ego this would be it. This is the voice of a deep consciousness within. You could say this is my ‘Dark Angel’ riding on my shoulder keeping my senses sharp.

Quite regularly I converse with “K” about issues pertaining to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Here is an excerpt from a conversation we were having during the past Memorial Day weekend (Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday where we pay tribute to our war dead, and the families and friends they left behind).

This Memorial day makes me think about all the dead and injured in Iraq and what they sacrificed. I’m really not sure what these lives changed. It’s bad enough now that its on-going, but what will the future be for these individuals and their families when they return home. This war is something that the country is uncomfortable about, so it will not be a victorious welcome home for people who risked their lives, and that’s a shame. I think the U.S. could have applied itself better when you examine recent concerns regarding the natural disasters in Myanmar and China. It would be great to extend our impact on the world when we provide assistance with acquiring materials for immediate relief efforts, helping and supporting displaced and distressed children, rebuilding damaged schools and animal reserves. I think that makes a bigger impact then all the bullets wasted in Iraq. What is up with the government presenting challenges of getting emergency relief aid into Myanmar? I think that their military is benefiting from the international support and that is why they deny direct support to the country. And don’t get me wrong a response to terrorism is warranted but more aptly in Afghanistan. It seems that we have really let that situation and Bin Laden slip away.

Just a thought from “K.”

We always talk about the war dead with great admiration, and rightly so. They gave the greatest sacrifice – life. We should stand up and salute them. After that, we should turn to those political leaders who put them in harms and ask the questions – “Why did you do this? And, what has it done for our country? ” And we shouldn’t stop pressing for answers until satisfactory ones come. World War II was necessary. Hitler had to be stopped. Albeit we got into the whole thing too late, but we did what we had to do once we were there. Iraq, is a much different story. A personal vendetta that has left over 4,000 people dead (many many more injured), a nation’s economy ravaged, and the reputation of a great country in the toilet. I ask, “President Bush, why did you do this? And, what has it done for our country?” I’m still waiting for those satisfactory answers.

Peace

Motivational – Akita International University

Check out the new Motivational entry. Read all about what drives the students of Akita International University in Yuwa, Akita Prefecture, and me.

Peace.

The Nature Edition Of The Weekly Rant

The new The Weekly Rant is up for your pleasure. Last week’s earthquake is our topic for this week’s rant. With over 10,000 dead I wondered if Mother Nature was screaming for us to get back in balance with her, or if the surrounding mountains were just exhibiting some growing pains Check it out.

The Coolest Sites of 2006 – Jumpcut the One for Me

This is courtesy of TIME.com. They listed the 50 coolest websites of 2006. I checked some of them out. Hits and misses of course. To each there own as always. One website I thought was particularly cool was Jumpcut. If you want to upload, edit and share your home movies, photos, etc. this is a great site for all of that and more. It is powered by Yahoo!, so you will need a Yahoo! account. Once you do that you can register with Jumpcut and do whatever you like. The screens are easy to read, and instructions easy to follow.

The first video I uploaded was a 20 minute live show I played in. The upload was a bit slow, but I think my 5 year old computer plus the 20 minutes of video had something to do with it. In any case, it was swiss cheese after that. I just had to play around and figure things out. No worries, very user friendly. Oh, another feature worth mentioning. You can import from flickr and facebook. I guess if you have any albums you want to share in different ways, or edit into a slideshow you can do so. I’ll end here. Have fun – Jumpcut.

Peace.

Randy Pausch

If you don’t know who Randy Pausch is check out his Carnegie Mellon University homepage for more information. As part of my motivation series I put up 2 videos of his “Last Lecture.” One is a ten minute video from the Oprah Winfrey Show, and the second is the full-76 minute speech from the halls of Carnegie Mellon University. Check out my Motivational page for the videos. He is pretty powerful, and a true inspiration. Enjoy.

Peace

Weekly Rant – In Touch With Out Of Touch

I do remember me saying that I was going to post this by Midnight Sunday Japan Standard Time…After a gig and a day of being sick, followed by a hospital visit I’m submitting the Rant of the Week now…Sorry. That said, here we go…The Weekly Rant is ahead, click the link.

Peace

Motivational I – The Baha’i’s

Motivation is a big thing in life. Without it we do nothing. While I was reading, The Baha’i Faith: The Emerging Global Religion by William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, I thought more and more about religion and how it can motivate people, for good and bad. I found many sections of the book very interesting, and worth taking note of. I am sharing these quotations with you in the first part of an indefinite series on motivation. Visit my Motivational page for my revelation on Baha’i. And keep visiting as I will be updating this series on motivation weekly.

Peace

Update to “The Art And Soul Of The Sword”

Check out the new “The Art And Soul Of The Sword.” I added some video of Master Swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara and his pupils creating a masterpiece. Killer soundtrack as well. Gotta love YouTube.

Peace

By The Hand Of King James

Over the defensive player of the year, Kevin Garnett, goes Lebron James. I guess this is the good and bad of being a star big man. Garnett said it once himself, that to be a good big man you have to be willing to get dunked on. He got dunked on. Crazy though, when you see the video, watch how Lebron lands after the dunk…He could have easily torn an ACL or something like that. Just goes to show how strong and fit he really is. At 6 feet 9 inches and 260 pounds (that’s 205.74 centimeters and 117.93 kilograms for the metric folk out there) – He’s built for these moments. And now the feature presentation:

“LEBRON JAMES, WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE!!!” – LOVE IT!!

All New The Weekly Rant – “When Invasions Are Necessary”

Just FYI, The Weekly Rant will be posted by Midnight-Sunday Japan Standard Time.

So, last weekend there was a huge cyclone, and it devastated Myanmar. Just wondered when the international community would get involved in Myanmar in a more militarily-focused way. When I say “militarily-focused” I mean using the military to protect aide shipments and personnel, rebuild homes and towns, and keep the population alive. This is how military power should be used, but powers like the U.S. Government seem very ready to just wait while someone gives us orders on what to do. Why didn’t we do that with Iraq? Here is Sunday’s, The Weekly Rant – “When Invasions Are Necessary.”