Jerbco

I’ve hesitated to comment on Barack Obama’s speech to the NAACP in Cincinnati last week, because, well, white folks aren’t allowed.   Heck, some pundits have questioned whether Obama himself is allowed to discuss what amounts to a frank discussion of the African American community’s endemic cycle of low expectations.

Let me start by saying this:  Obama’s exhortations that individual responsibility and achievement are the way out poverty and exclusion aren’t a message just for the NAACP.  His words  apply equally to everyone.  A reluctance to take responsibility isn’t a problem found only in the African-American community; we all know that.   I suspect that the problem some leaders have with Obama’s comments, then,  is that they were said publicly.  Obama aired “dirty laundry” in a public form ,  and–some might opine–undermined a private franchise on victimhood and white guilt.

Does this message somehow draw the rug out from under African American grievances against history, white America, and the establishment?  I don’t think so.  It should  be obvious that the dysfunction one sees in our African American communities owes to a very real disenfranchisement and enslavement– one that continues today in the form of a grotesque psychic burden carried around on the shoulders of young black men and women.  And whether or not individual Americans can shoulder personal  responsibility for the slavery and Jim Crow of our nation’s  collective past,  we do have a very real responsibility to help heal what ails our collective soul. And this means finding a way beyond the mental slavery so many still live in.

Yesterday figures came out showing that an astonishing 24% of California high school students drop out before graduation. The percentage for African Americans is 42%.  I’m well aware of the less-than-inspirational state of America’s public schools, but you can’t pin that kind of disparity on Sacramento bureaucrats , the credential system or eroding tax bases.   No, it’s deeper, and it’s more disturbing.  A whole group of people are just opting out.  And when they do, they doom themselves, their families and their communities to poverty, malaise, crime and unhappiness.

Both close friends and public intellectuals have persuaded me that there might be a case for reparations to African Americans.  But I have little faith that any compensation would result in “repairing” the cycle of low expectations in the African American community.  And the reason is very simple:  Responsibility and achievement are simultaneously methods and results. You get them by doing them.  And while the rest of American society owes it to African Americans (and to ourselves) to help heal wounds and to provide support,  it’s clear that the real work is theirs.

So the real question is, does getting real about all this somehow exculpate the rest of us from our onerous historical burden?  Does it mean that we have already arrived at a entirely race-blind society?    I think not,  but it certainly puts the responsibilities of the present into perspective.

Dear Taco Bell,

I try to eat healthy, and Taco Bell was until yesterday the only fast food chain where I thought I could indulge in a little quick food fun without compromising my health in a significant way. My younger brother worked at Taco Bell for two years during high school. And while he often referred to the restaurant as “Taco Smell”– a reference to the fried food aroma that came to permeate his clothes, person and even his car–he never once impugned the cleanliness or healthfulness of its food. Yesterday’s news report about urine and saliva intentionally served to consumers at a Nebraska Taco Bell franchise has changed all that.

What disturbs me most is not just that unsavory and disgruntled fast food employees would serve urine to customers. One only need watch an episode of Jerry Springer to surmise such folks exist. No, what is frightening is the lack of responsibility shown by both the franchise owner and the national brand. Evidently, reserving urine and saliva to customers (it matters not that they were law enforcement officers) was routine. And yet the franchisee disagrees with the court’s modest $40,000 penalty.

I’m sorry, but I cannot feel safe until KFC/Taco Bell insure us that every single employee in that franchise has been fired. How could management not know? And if they did not know, then they weren’t doing their jobs.

I just visited www.tacobell.com, where Taco Bell  insures customers they are doing everything to avoid salmonella-tainted tomatoes from entering customers’ tacos and Gorditas. Well, where’s the press release insuring us we won’t be gulping down human excrement with that next serving of beef and beans? It gives a whole new meaning to the word Chalupa. Ew!

I recently visited my home town of Mentor, Ohio. Mentor has the great distinction of canceling their successful curbside recycling program after five years, when state support for establishment of such programs expired. While many communities continued their program, Mentor decided that two dollars per household per week was too much to ask of local citizens. Way to go, Mentor!

This prompted me to see how much more I could reduce the waste I deposited in my weekly garbage container. I live in Oakland, California where we are fortunate to have an expansive curbside recycling program. Plastics, metals, glass are all collected in a single bin, which is collected weekly. Two years ago, we received large green bins for yard waste and kitchen refuse (including food-soiled papers, bones, meat, fats etc.). It’s all processed in a composting facility and rich soil amendments can be purchased in bulk at reasonable cost from our waste company.

I added two items to my kitchen which have helped me reduce my dump-bound waste to a single plastic shopping bag per week, on average.

1) A step-lid kitchen trash bin marked “recyclables only”. Once or twice I week I transfer to contents to the recycling bin outside.

2) A lidded Rubbermaid one-gallon pitcher. I use this for all kitchen scraps. It seals in odors and sits on my kitchen counter. Generally, I dump the contents in my composting container in the backyard. Meats and soiled papers that I can’t compost cleanly at home, go in the green bin with my lawn clippings etc.

Has it made my life harder? Actually, I find this system easier. And taking but one little bag to the trash can each week is a joy.

We pay more for our curbside service than many communities, but our dumps are filling up less quickly and we’re avoiding long-term costs. From a financial point of view alone, it makes sense. Environmentally, we’re reducing our footprint.

Like many communities in the United States, our service is contracted out to Waste Management, Inc. If your community is service by WM and you don’t have these services, you might inquire with your elected officials as to why.

God Damn America. God Bless America.

The furor over Jeremiah Wright’s u-tubed words (and ensuing problems for Barak Obama’s campaign) indicates little understanding of what the reverend was saying. Don’t misunderstand. After Wright’s recent road-show, it’s clear he’s a grandstander. He’s a pulpit rhetorician after all. But when Jeremiah Wright speaks of America’s aggression against the world in Iraq and elsewhere and intones “God damn America!”, is he so wrong? Is God pleased? When he opines that 911 was retribution, is he so different than libertarian darling Ron Paul speaking of blow back from our violent escapades abroad? And when he asserts that America believes in the white superiority and black inferiority is he really off track?

I think we need to set visceral reactions aside and look at these issues more subtly. People are offended, yes. Well, his words meant to offend. But I think it’s fair to say that the majority of Americans do not believe that the color of one’s skin predestines them to a life of excellence or mediocrity. One of the great strengths of America is the belief that anyone can rise to greatness based on hard work. In so many ways this is a country of meritocracy and second, third, fourth chances. Yes their are golden gateways and their are roadblocks. But in the end forget the ivy degree, the family pedigree, the moneyed background, twenty years after high school the greatest factor in achieving success is drive and ambition.

At the same time, however, our society does reflect an unconscious internal belief in white superiority and black inferiority. Face it. A large segment of America’s black population lives in inferior circumstances and makes inferior achievements. A disproportionate number of black Americans have lower incomes, less education, and lack the necessary social skills for economic success.

While white supremacists point to this as proof of an ideology of white superiority, many of our fellow black citizens internalize and perpetuate this structure themselves. The limited achievement of so many young black Americans in urban centers and in tony suburbs (see “What’s wrong with Shaker Heights“) compared to Asians, Whites and Latinos in the same schools indicates something is very wrong. When you believe in your own inferiority, why bother? While this started in a vicious slave ideology and was perpetuated by Jim Crow, it’s taken on a life of its own. This psychic damage is the real legacy of our slave-holding past. The question is not which racial group initiated this thought process, it’s which group has the power to change it. I think we all have part in the solution, and I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to find one. But I suspect the real solution resides within the black community itself.

Meanwhile, the Pope’s roadshow ended with a lovely “God bless America” in New York. Pope’s confer blessings, that’s what they do. And while it’s quite nice of Benedict to bless the United States, the phrase “God Bless America” sounded less popely and more populist than anything. Oh, how we love to hear those words. Perhaps he’ll get some converts to join the shrinking ranks of new-world Catholicism?

Last week I received both my
Nintendo DS Lite portable game station — and the two Japanese language applications I’ve been coveting that prompted me to by the DS in the first place. First off, the DS is a great little device. DS stands for Dual Screen. This little clamshell device boasts two screens side-by-side, and excellent touch-screen and style input, voice recognition, decent audio output, and excellent screen rendering even in daylight.Rather than plunk down hundreds for a electronic Japanese-English dictionary like Canon’s WordTank, I opted to spend another $129 for the DS and a English-Japanese application module for the DS called Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten Kanji Dictionary The dictionary itself has some great features, especially the excellent input recognition, including Kanji input. As for the dictionary database itself, it’s limited to the Genius dictionary found on most electronic dictionaries. Some of the larger or more specialized dictionaries you might get with your Canon aren’t here. But I’m in my first year of Japanese study, so I figured I wouldn’t miss these anyway.

But the primary reason I bought the DS was to use 200 man nin no Kanken Learning the various Onyomi and Kunyomi for Kanji is a daunting exercise in memorization, practice and diligence. This breaks fun little application breaks down the first 10 years of Kanji study required by Japanese schools into 10 levels of related exercises (study mode) and quizzes (test mode) that stress both recognition and production.

The Kanji input recognition is great. Kana, Romanji and Arabic numeral input is good, though some of the Japanese peculiarities (the number four is drawn from the bottom of the vertical stroke) took some time to figure out.

When I encounter a Kanji I’ve never seen before or a on-yomi or kun-yomi that I can’t differentiate, it helps to have a good index of readings at hand. (And I really wish Kanken had this feature — at least in study mode). For this I use the classic reference on writing and reading Kanji by Sakade and Henshall: Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese

I’m a big consumer of Japanese podcast material to aid my study of Japanese.  I’ve only been at it for 5 months, and I subscribe to the AJATT school of thought.  Just keep filling your ears, eyes and brain with good Japanese input and you’ll see more progress than through well-organized study alone.  Language study, after all,  is an exercise in immersion.

A few months ago, I stumbled across the free podcast materials put out by friends Beb and Alex in Osaka.  Irreverent, sometimes off-topic, culturally astute and not always oriented specificially toward specific points of grammar or dialect, Bev and Alex are fun to to listen to.  Bev, a native Osakan, provides lots of insights into Kansai dialect, Alex provides the humorous take of a bilingual Englishman working in Japan.  They’ve been at it for several years on a regular basis. In addition to providing some interesting vocabulary, grammar and usage points, one gets some vicarious thrills when they ride the Shinkansen, visit strange vending machines, discuss the relative merits and demerits of Japanese beer, or try to order pizza over the phone.

More recently, I found JapanesePod101.com’s podcasts. These are nominally free podcasts updated on a daily basis. They are more coherently organized around topics and points of grammar and usage, and the production values are more slick than Beb and Alex’s production.  The Podcasts usually begin with humorous well-acted dialogs with convincing character actors. Sounds great, huh?  But I just can’t bear to listen to them.  First there are the commercials for JapanesePod101’s monthly service embedded into each podcast.  There’s a concerted up-sell going on here.  Secondly there’s the host’s super Genkiness and insistence on moderating every verbal exchange.  The dialogs and lessons would be much more useful and enjoyable without the host’s interruptions and insistence on controlling the discourse. (I suspect JapanesePod101 was his baby).

I tried JapanesePod101’s paid service. I found the study materials lacking pedagogical insight, and the monthly fee is rather high for a podcast service.  Yet, it seems like a successful business model; many folks are using it and they’ve branched out into Korean101Pod and Italian101Pod offerings.

But for my work-day headphone listening, I prefer the hilarious and insightful fun provided by Beb and Alex — much as I prefer Sake to Amway soap.

I found an an excellent page with free materials offered by a Japanese Language School. It’s not an online school, but they provide a download page with tons of great tools for learning verbs, adjectives, particles, Kanji etc. Most of it is organized by JLPT level. I hope to take the first exam, the JLPT4 next year.   I used the Firefox Flashgot extension to download all the materials at one time.

I live in an old Edwardian farmhouse that was lifted and converted into a duplex after the 1906 quake left San Franciscans looking for housing on the sunnier side of the Bay in Oakland. Like many older homes, it has never had a central heating system. I’m taking bids on installing two separate HVAC. Standard forced air ducting is out, since it will destroy the building and it’s generally a lousy way to go anyway. In the past few weeks four companies have been out to spec and bid on either mini-split heat pump systems or high-speed mini-ducted heat pump systems.

One company, Your Energy Source, is an excellent example of thievery and deception in the marketplace. Their agent arrived at my door, puffing like P.T. Barnum the minute the door opened. He entered and asked me for the third time if there were a “Mrs. Erb” as well. (more on that later).

Striding through my main hallway to the back of the house, he confidently proclaimed: “I see it already. What you need is a dual heat-pump system, we’ll need a new 220 line, and two gas furnaces as well. I can do it for $20,000. What do you think?”

Me: “There’s no basement or crawlspace here, but the attic is large. Don’t you want to see the rooms, and view the downstairs unit as well.”

PT: “Oh. Yeah. Sure. You’re gonna need financing. One year same as cash. Interest free.”

Me: “I’m paying cash. Would you like to get up in the attic to see how we might route the ducts? How many mini-duct outlets do you think we’ll need for 1300 square feet?”

PT: “Mini-ducts right. 1300 is for both units? Right, let me run to the car……….Here’s the financing agreement. Let’s call my boss about installation (Dials cell phone and puts on speaker).”

Me: “Do you plan to use the Unico or Spacepak system for the system?”

PT: “Not Trane. Their too noisy. We’ll go with a Rudd; they cost more they’re the best.”

Me: “Hmm. Do these furnaces have some kind of option to run on high-speed mini-ducting?”

PT: “Mini-ducts. Right You’ll need two compressors and two furnaces. Steve, are you on the line? Mr. Erb here needs an install date. When can we get an engineer out here?”

Steve: “Hi. Mr. Erb. Hold on, let me check.”

Me: “What this? I told you, I’m paying cash. I don’t need a financing agreement. And is this a purchase agreement or a proposal here?”

PT: “$20,000 is a great deal. Everybody wins. Everybody wins.”

Me: “I don’t do business this way. I’m taking proposals and will decide based on the best value overall”

Steve: (hangs up)

PT: “Well, I can’t have an engineer out here to look at the details until we have an agreement.”

Me: “Well, we’re done here. Thank you for coming.”

That was a 6 or 7 minute visit.

One week later………

Your Energy Source Main Office: “Mr. Erb. We’re calling to see if you’re ready to make a decision.”

Me: “No. I’m unhappy with the meeting I had with your representative. Let me tell you exactly what happened. (I retell the above)”

Your Energy Source: “Let me talk with our manager and call you back.”

5 minutes later….

Your Energy Source: “Mr. Erb that gentleman is no longer with the company. What can we do to still be considered? Can we send a senior engineer out to your house at your convenience? We’re very sorry for our agent’s behavior. This isn’t how we do things.”

Me: “Saturday at 12 is the only time I have. See you then.”

Saturday: 11:25…..

PT: “Mr. Erb it’s Keven PT on the line. Just calling to see if you’re ready to sign for the offer I made you last week.”

Me: “No. I talked with your main office yesterday. They’re sending somebody else out to look at the house and do an analysis in about half an hour. They told me you were fired.”

Pt: “I haven’t been fired. I’m doing my followups.”

ME: “Whatever. I’m on my way home. Sorry, have to go.”

Calling Your Energy Source’s Office.

Me: “Hello, Shauna. I spoke to you a few weeks ago. And I’m expecting an agent today.”

Shauna: “Yes. Dave’s on his way. Sorry about the problems with the other guy. Dave will be at your place in about 15 minutes.”

Me: “Shauna, you guys told me Kevin had been fired. He just called me about the contract and is working for you. I’m sorry, but I won’t be taking a bid from you guys. Goodbye.”

Moral of the story. Some businesses are run like Ponzi schemes, snow jobs, used car lots or scams. This is one.

Your Energy Source deserves to fail. I look forward to working with one of the three  other honorable, knowledgeable and professional organizations that took the time to do things right.

Perapera-kun.. I love this Firefox add-on. When enabled, simply mousing over Japanese text will give you English meanings for Kana and Kanji — as well as Hirigana pronunciation for Kanji, and more Onyumi and Kunyumi readings than you could possible use. I can’t believe it’s free.

Kanji-King is a Palm-OS application I have running on my Palm Treo. It’s a great tool for learning Kanji (as well as reading Hirigana and Katakana). It’s actually only free for 30 days. But I found the price of about $30 very reasonable for the ability to practice on the bus, train, during boring staff meetings, etc. You can load practice lessons by JLPT level, and it has lessons organized as well by the chapters of the major classroom textbooks (including Minna no Nihongo). Another nice feature is the Kanji writing practice mode — which both animates stroke order for any Kanji and can recognize Kanji entered and validate the stroke order.

Dokusha is another Palm OS application. This time it really is completely free. It’s great for practicing Kanji recognition. It’s not as good as Kanji-King for practice, but the Kanji explorer mode is great for exploring families of Kanji by radical and compound.

I’m a language junkie. I love languages. Once you’ve mastered one foreign language, so many others seem ripe for the picking. I speak German fluently; it’s a fun and creative language.I learned it in college and by living in Munich for two years. (Getting a doctorate in German literature didn’t hurt either!) Since then I’ve learned enough Latin to travel Europe’s churches and historical sites comfortably, and I speak passable Spanish — though that’s a work still in progress. I’ve dabbled in French, Portuguese and Italian, though only enough to be polite, order a coffee and travel with a dictionary. From there, I’ve become a programming language junkie, but that deserves a separate post.

I’ve finally decided to branch off from the Indo-European family and am studying Japanese quite seriously. This time, however, it’s a combination of online instruction and self-study. I’ve already posted about the excellent online instruction at JOI. As for self study, here are a few books, tools and resources I’m finding invaluable.

Books.

My classes at JOI use Minna no Nihongo. It’s a Japanese-only text book (Hirigana, Katakana & Kanji) similar to the kind of scenario-based language textbooks used in most American foreign-language classrooms. But it’s also singularly Japanese in it’s method and provides insight into Japanese culture in its design and usage.

Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig present a somewhat controversial method for categorizing and learning the meaning — the meaning only, not the sound or ‘reading’ of Kanji. Heisig learned 2000 Kanji iin about 8 weeks of full-time daily study in the early seventies using this method. Given that it takes 12 years for Japanese students to learn as many, this is a tantalizing option. Currently I’m only about 10 days in with about an hour a day of regular study. But I’ve learned about 90, which is more than first-year Japanese students learn. I find his method effective. You can get the first lesson of about 150 Kanji free at his site.

Japanese the Manga Way sounds like a goofy, low-grade phrase book for Manga lovers. Actually, it’s an excellent review of most of the major points of grammar and usage in easily digestible chunks illustrated with usage from popular Manga. I use it to review and anticipate lessons that come up in my online classes. It also has one of the best reviews of the Kana, intonation and writing of any of the books I’ve reviewed.

Japanese Step by Step is the first Japanese language book I purchased. It provides easily digestible coverage of basic sentence patterns, as well as verb, adjective and particle usage. Especially useful are the word lists, which are great for practicing Kana reading and for loading your vocabulary with verbs, nouns and adjective for use in classes. It’s probably the best intro for complete novices interesting in how Japanese works.

Tools.

If you seriously want to be literate in Japanese you need to master the two syllabaries — Hiragana and Katakana–as well as at least 2000 Kanji. For write practice, I use Buddha Board, a “self-erasing” writing tablet. A friend gave me a small one a few years ago as a desk toy. I rediscovered it when I started learning Japanese. Most instruction methods encourage the use of Kanji paper or graph paper and pencil. But I find that using a brush provides more insight into the writing system and aids in the recognition of Kani and Kanji in various styles and fonts. Also investing in a better brush than the lousy one supplied will help you master some of the art of calligraphy.