I tested myself to see if I fit the stereotype by trying to explain this joke to a Japanese friend, in Japanese. After a collective effort which determined that there isn't a concise noun phrase in Japanese that's equivalent to "bilingual"/"trilingual" etc (anyone else know if that's actually the case?), I think the point was communicated, which I hope implies graduation to at least some limbo between "American" and "bilingual".
Another RITer- one of my friends is quoted in the article- I don't think I ever knew Mike's name but we were definitely in the same place at the same time quite frequently.
Definitely sad.
I'm in precisely the same boat; I knew the face, not the name, and friends were quoted in the article. I'm really saddened by the loss. He was far too young, and clearly on top of his game. It's a shocking reminder of our own mortality.
I've wondered about the effect that environmental factors might have on Japan's current predicament- something in the water? did processing of soy products change at some point such that levels of the estrogen analogs ended up being higher? I guess I haven't been quite curious enough to see if there have been any rigorous studies that have compared T levels there over the last few decades.
Same age... this thread is really making me feel old. Generally I still feel like I'm just getting out here and just getting started still in terms of career, life, etc. I really hope it's not all downhill from 30!
Related to the main subject, I don't think my levels have ever been low, but I've always been surprised at how quickly I lose muscle mass when I'm not working out. That might be more related to protein intake and other genetic factors though, since I've always been pretty lean.
Nah, you can start gym/intense excercise anytime, I started about... 31? Major imporovement in about everything, including sex (you don't get tired so easily for example). There is no "too late" age.
As for losing muscles - our bodies run in "least necessary amount needed" mode, since muscles are nutritient-hungry to sustain if not needed. You need to constantly push them to even sustain your level of strength/endurance. If I stop all my activities for 2 weeks, you feel horribly weak when coming back. Marathon runner could write books about it :)
LG only sells it's latest HBS900 headset at AT&T stores and when I visited, their only model was tied down to the table - no way for me to pick it up much less wear it before I was supposed to buy it.
It's also kind of vital for the balance of the planet's ecosystems, as we're slowly finding out. If we melt it to get materials under there, there's a sizable chance of long term regret.
Whereas Mars doesn't have an ecosystem at present and no species to endanger.
I want to make other planets livable so we can stop killing this one so much.
> I want to make other planets livable so we can stop killing this one so much.
What (insufficient thought it might be) political support there is for efforts to stop killing this planet is based largely on the idea that "its the only one we have", so I'm not sure that really works.
I would certainly be in favor of terraforming Mars, and then seeing what could be done.
One might (or might not...) want to wait until we have clear evidence that it is indeed sterile. In either case the first thing to do would be to seed it with engineered robust lichens, or the like, just to get things started.
I was lucky enough to find a copy of the 2nd ed. in the closet of an apartment I moved into during college. I really need to actually read it sometime!
I've been intrigued as to why Mormons have such an seemingly disproportionate "success" rate, and ended up doing a bit of research on the matter. It really seems like it comes down to facing failure repeatedly. And most of them get the experience when they're around college age as well. I've been trying to figure out how we could build something secular into normal primary education that would achieve the same result.
It's already done at many schools for fundraisers. Things like having the kids sell chocolates or magazine subscriptions. Also girl scouts with their cookies.
People buy that stuff just to help out kids though. Going door to door selling a 'magical candy bar' that can radically change someone's life for eternity would be much harder. I guess part of that is also conviction in what you are selling.
Much of the time it's the parents doing the pushing, and the kids in tow for the "do it for the children" factor. The kids probably don't really know what's going on, and don't have to take direct responsibility for any of it.
Rude service in a taxi in Japan would be somewhat shocking, but they're also comparatively more expensive than most other places. One time I couldn't find a hotel in Tokyo, so I took a taxi- it turned out to be just around the block, but it still cost like $6. But hey, the cars are nice and the white glove thing is always an interesting contrast to NYC.
