Like MacArthur Once Said?

A quote attributed to MacArthur is that Japan is a nation of 12-year olds……

We’re now subscribed to our cable provider’s Japanese-language channel and watch probably for the first time since we left in 1998, a lot of Japanese programming.

Now most of it comes from NHK, the Japanese equivalent of the UK’s BBC, which might qualify my observations after  about a month of viewing.  What I see is programming that is still stuck in the 昭和 days, programming that treats its viewing audience as small children, programing overly focused on eating, eating and eating.

In  one program,大河ドラマ a yearly series based (loosely at times) on Japan’s pre-modern history, there was an episode in which a young woman, sold into basically sexual slavery for her family’s sake, was praised for her sacrifice ( as if she would have had any say in the matter) as the money her family received from the sale helped her mother receive medical treatment.  Sooooo is NHK indirectly giving its nod to this practice?

So why on earth subscribe?  Well, it keeps my Japanese from really going to hell and Wife Unit does like keeping abreast on what goes on in Japan, no matter how petty the subject matter.

 

Well Shit, this is Still Active?!

Thought I had truly messed this blog up via WP through Google, but not so on Explorer. Hmmm.

See too that the other blogs I followed are pretty much moribund; guess it really takes an active mind  and perseverance to just keep blogging.  Some ex-Vox bloggers seem to have moved on to other platforms, Twitter, Instagram, etc., which don’t require the same effort. So perhaps blogging in this form is becoming obsolete, a thing of a not so distant past?

Since the last post.

Did mange to find interment contract work in Central Kentucky up until the end of 2017.  Stayed mostly with Son Unit, and despite ‘know it all’ pronouncements by others in my family, we weren’t at each other throats in the end.  Partly because I knew his apt. is his space, not mine. Now have not found work since and I’m starting to think that its looking pretty hopeless:  couldn’t even get a position as a stocker at a nearby Total Wine store.

He, Son Unit that is, is on the verge of taking a very big step, buying his own house.  The rent  he now pays is to a point that its cheaper to own a house, and at least in doing so, he’s building equity. The price is by standards here, ridiculously cheap, under 200k. I can’t even come up with what might go for under 200k here, unless you are way, way out in the sticks.

On the other hand this roots him further far away, 580 miles away, meaning we will see even less of him. Sad, but perhaps as I have written before, he didn’t choose basket weaving as a college major, so he’s actually got a job, unlike one of his high school buddies who also graduated 4 years ago too, lives in his parent’s basement and works part time at “Best” Buy.

We passed a milestone too: we now own our house outright, a year early thanks to the benefice of a late aunt. But that doesn’t mean we are out of the woods, we still have property taxes to keep up with and right now its about 7.6k a year.

Keep thinking about traveling back to Japan for a visit, but there’s been something that gets in the way. Right now, maybe fall-ish of 2018?  Still wouldn’t mind returning there to work for a few years, and posted my credentials on a local job board. Speaking to some who live there, I get the ‘You can teach English’. Right.  Think I can do better than that.  I wasn’t made a 係長 at a major Japanese corporation just for my looks.

Wife Unit still works where she does and in the many years she has, ur roles have become quite reversed.  I make her弁当’s for  her , drive her to work when she’s schedule for a 5 am start time and then pick her up.  Thankfully while there might be better health insurance coverage offered elsewhere by another employer,  at least we have coverage and thank God its not the nightmare of Obamacare “health insurance”.

And this is a good Segway back into the last post I made.  Am happy we have who we have as POTUS and believe this country dodged a very large bullet in repudiation for a second time a bitter, soulless, self-delusional, carpet-bagging former NY Senator and avarious, pathological, serial liar.  And given the 2016 election  aa year + behind us and yet she still refuses to acknowledge she lost due to her own missteps, only heightens the feeling of relief I have knowing its not her, and her outed sexual predator husband who are in the White House.

Sure this President is disruptive, and this makes many here uncomfortable.  But disruption of what is called “The Swamp”  is what our political system needs. For those who haven’t yet gotten their minds around what ‘The Swamp’ is, I give you this WSJ article, about the fall of one of the Podestas.  The man is a poster child for ‘The Swamp’ and why it needs draining.

 

 

 

 

A Choice Between a Steaming Pile of Dog Shit or an Equally Steaming Pile of Cow Shit?

While the gig has been over for over a week now,  I am still in Kentucky, just chillin’.

While this country is now roughly a month out from choosing a new President, one thing I have noticed here is the striking lack of roadside/house side campaign signs for either candidate.  In fact I don’t think I’ve even seen one, period.  See campaign signs for local candidates, but again, nothing for either of the Presidential candidates.

Seems to be a message in this about how the people here at least, feel about the choice they have for this election.

Misery Has Company

Learned this afternoon tomorrow will not be the last day for just myself.  Another interpreter, who frankly I saw as doing little work, will also turn in his security pass.

The Party’s Over….Over

Had a call last night from the staffing agency that hired me to talk about my contract and was informed this Friday will be my last day on the job.

In a way, resigned; this job came with a expiration date, but at the same time annoyed as I am most likely the first to be let go and second, those who know of this acted as if nothing had changed.

Its been good though hanging out with son unit and I’ll probably miss that. He’s certainly eaten better since I’ve been here and things like keeping his cat’s litter boxes cleaner, as well as his living space (his bedroom is….) cleaner and neater are done more regularly.

So, let’s how long it’ll be before the next gig- unless I hit the lottery.

“Progressives” ( I call them neo-collectivist) are like alcoholics; most cannot kick the habit.

What prompted this? This:

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2016/0916brooks.html

Pretty much filed with neo-collectivist claptrap and a glaring unwillingness exhibited by the neo-collectivists I read about,  to intellectually ‘get off the bottle’ of their delusions.

But to start with the first neo-collectivist lament, of elitist deals brokered by the ‘haves’ at the expense of thee ‘have nots’ to lure corporate investment.  The writer is either unable or incapable  due to being in the drunken haze of neo-collectivism of understanding that any corporation deciding to embark  for a major project/investment such as building a new factory, does so at great risk and cost- to the corporations, not just to executives, but to all employees.

Costs not only limited to the physical building of a plant, but costs of hiring, and training workers to fill the jobs,  and costs that must be shouldered with the local governments in providing infrastructure, gas, water, sewer, roads, to support a new factory. Unless a local government does not provide incentives to relocate,  a corporation will look elsewhere. And while  new jobs may be limited in number,  investment means there’ll  still be more jobs than there were before.  Further, this screed  ignores that there is a trickle down effect, such as at the VW plant.  Its suppliers will also build plants nearby which also will provide more jobs and so on.

Next, wages.  First, and repeat after me, working at an automotive assembly plant is not skilled labor.  This is something unions and this neo-collectivist can’t seem to get through their heads.  If you can operate a price scanner at a super market check out, you can work on an automotive assembly line.  All the “skills”  you need are a high tolerance for continuous repetitious tasks and the physical demands for standing on your feet for hours at a time. So why then, should wages be near skilled or professional levels? How do I know about this?  I’ve done it and its probably a pretty good bet this neo-collectivist never has nor knows anyone who has.

Second wages depend all on where one lives, period.  Housing in particular is what drives wages at least in DC, which is why the average annual income  WDC is so high when compared to other parts of the country and  low, when compared to other parts, e.g., NYC or Silicone Valley.  So yes, a $31,000 annual salary would be impossible to live on in WDC, but it doesn’t mean the same is impossible to live on in that part of Tennessee.

Then there is the Just In Time productions system which is alluded to as a bane of the ‘oppressed’ automotive assembly line worker.  JIT has been one of the greatest innovations to manufacturing, period.  Used properly and effectively, it optimizes  production efficiency and eliminates waste, which means whatever the product is, it can be provided have more quickly and cheaply to everyone, which benefits everyone. True, assembly line work is not easy work, and it is not meant to ever be a career IMHO.  A good example of this was a person showing son unit & I apartments a few years ago and complaining about working on an automotive assembly line for 5 years.  My comment to son unit was, why after 5 years was he still an assembly line worker?  lack of ambition to better himself,  poor performance?

And then there is the attack on the UAW for not being militant enough.  As much as the UAW is a parasite on the automotive industry,  it was smart enough to realize that given where its membership is/was and the financial conditions of its main host companies (the Detroit 3)  that they had to abandon their own business model to project the union jobs still left and ensure there would be jobs (and future dues paying members) for the future.

Being true to your cause smacks much like leftists trying to outdo one another in proclaiming their ideological ‘purity’. Rigid ideological purity doesn’t pay your monthly mortgage or enable one to provide a better life for your children.  But then I wonder if  neo-collectivists ever  think of anything else besides what keeps them ‘addicted’

 

 

 

The Difference

Have had a thought about how to best explain the difference between translating and interpreting and why while one may be competent  in doing one, one may  not as competent in doing the other.

So think about this:

While all composers are musicians, not all musicians are or can be composers.

At the Top of the Food Chain

Son unit is part of that as he’s employed by a automobile manufacturer or OEM and not a 1st tier or lower automotive parts supplier.

The differences between these two strata can be illustrated by this.

In preparation for a new model launch, son unit and others have been told that for the remainder of this year, they can expect to work weekends as well as a full weekday schedule. Mentioned this to someone else who told me during his time at a parts supplier for this OEM, employees had to work 7 days a week for 8 months to keep up with the OEM’s demand for parts.

Insane, no?    But that is an example of how life can be for a OEM parts supplier

A Progressive’s (aka neo-Collectivist’s) Stupidity

The photo and caption, copied from another blog

“Remember that next time you get online or use your phone. Those satellites didn’t launch themselves.”

A hearty ‘Amen’ to that.  There’s are times when a person’s stupidity crosses the line from funny to painful.

 

 

Years Ago

During my college job at a grocery store.

while working there a new employee, a woman named Denise, came in to work as a cashier-outside of the butchers, the highest paying hourly job in the store.  Word went around that she was an ex-Playboy Bunny and I guess to satisfy everyone’s curiosity, she brought in a couple of photos of her in her bunny suit.

As I remember, she was attractive, but not heart-poundingly so.  And what else I do remember of her time there were comments made to her or in her presence  the kind of comments that if they had been made now, would have landed the person who made them, the supervisor and the company in deep EEOC doggy doo for harassment.

I never participated in such and said very little to her, probably out of being dumbstruck with shyness. But looking back over the many decades since that time,  feel sad about part of her experience while working there.  There may have been many reason why she quit being a Playboy Bunny, the nature of the work and the environment, personal issues that forced her to leave and take  a job as a lowly grocery store cashier; things that only now occur to me.  Given what might have been why she took that job, its too bad she wasn’t treated differently than she was.

Odd too that after all the years this comes to mind for reflection.  Suppose a part of where I am in life