Rising Sun

Finished my talk, more conference today but it’s interesting.

Japan is super. I’ve never felt so out of place in my life. I have this phrasebook – problem is when I say konichiwa, they start talking in Japanese and I have absolutely no clue what the person is saying. I don’t know how to work drinking fountains, or toilets, or automatic doors, signs are gibberish and I can’t use chopsticks, computer won’t plug in to socket, took me five minutes to turn on lights in my hotel room, I don’t know what time it is or what day it is, or why it’s so damn humid. The people are so nice though, they can tell I’m clueless. Loved the pop music on the airport TV and the airplane painted like Pokemon. Saw Cinderella’s castle from the bus. To Kyoto tomorrow – the city by the bay.

Capsule

At the suggestion of KS, look at my fancy accommodations in Tokyo. It’s like a morgue for the living.

Use of the amenities in the Capsule Unit:
You can control any of the amenities in the capsule by using the control panel.

Finally, my own spaceship!

Running Stories

Mel Sheppard – liked the part about Teddy Roosevelt, and the javelin throwers on the boat to the Olympics.

Cambodian marathoner.

Destroy All Monsters

I obtained my Lonely Planet Japan book at Moe’s last night, so it’s on! Also obtained a Japanese phrase book which confused me because from my giant-monster films, I’ve learned Japanese pretty well. Its similarity to English is uncanny, except for the habit of moving your mouth without speaking any words, and the opposite: ventriloquism without the dummy.

During the Q&A after my talk, some dude was really upset – from what I could tell he didn’t think any chemical reactions could happen in space. “It’s a vacuum! It’s a vacuum!” he screamed. Maybe he was talking about his own head? Then some other dude stood up to argue with previous questioner and repeated exactly what I said on my second-to-last slide. I smiled and nodded. I said in my talk “We haven’t measured XX, but we will soon, and it will be interesting to see where they fall on this graph”. So naturally the third question was “Where do XX fall on that graph?”. I sighed and pointed to a random place. Conferences, I think, can devolve into lameness and hand-waving. So the next day I went to the Baltimore National Aquarium – which was spectacular. I still think my favorite aquarium is Monterey, but this was very classy. I think aquariums, zoos, and places like this should have every other day be a No Kid day. Kids are obnoxious. I nearly strangled the 500th little sh|t who yelled: “It’s Nemo!” when it definitely wasn’t Nemo. That’s a chambered nautilus.

Land of the Rising Sun itinerary: Climb Mt. Fuji, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo. Maybe another hike. Will I be as popular with the ladies as my friend Art Against the Machine? No.

Wild Montana Skies! The Video

I uploaded this awesome video to something called blip. Watch it immediately, hope you like it.

dirty socks

I just gave my talk in the socks in which I hiked 40 miles in Glacier NP.

Somebody posted our Montana pictures, nicely organized by day.

This is Ken Burns filming a commercial for his new documentary series on the national parks. He said: Hi, I’m Ken Burns. This (spreads hands to showcase Swiftcurrent Lake and Glacier Point) is yours.

Look at this toad.

Moose gonna hit you with the ice grill.

#1

July 2008 626
Originally uploaded by talia.starkey

This is the Biggest Truck in the History of the World. It resides in Sparwood, British Columbia, Canada. Highlight of the trip? Possibly.

Out of the wilderness, into the fire! Things I learned from the last few days:

1) The red-eye may seem like a good way to save time but it’s not worth it.

2) Soft-shell crab is extremely delicious.

3) The transition from worry about getting eaten by grizzly bears to creating a talk on comets is not so smooth.

4) The Baltimore light rail is a bargain.

5) I’m sleepy.

Glacier/Waterton Lakes is the most beautiful place in the world! So many adventures. Pictures, and surely more details, are coming soon. Plus J/S B’s wedding was wonderful. But I think everybody’s highlight was the firecracker tank race DF, AG and I staged the night before.

I may get to extend my RING OF FIRE tour in a couple weeks. Up up up on the burning ring of fire.

More 800

Video! And a nice article on Andrew Wheating by SI’s Tim Layden. This is how it should be: a person shows some ability in sports; a bending corner kick, or a nice jump shot, but if you can run then none of that other stuff matters.

Off to The Emerald City, then Wild Montana Skies!!!

800 was amazing, Symmonds 1:44.11 FTW. Khadevis Robinson led for a fast opening 600m, D3 Willamette alumn Symmonds made a “hockey move” with 160m to go to get out of a box, then obliterated the field in the stretch. U of Oregon soph Wheating, who was a soccer player as of 3 years ago, closed very well in the outside for 2nd place and an unlikely Oly berth. Robinson held the rail in the last 100m, then inexplicably drifted to the outside of lane one, allowing big-time underdog Christian Smith to sneak past on the inside and dive for the tape!

So the three spots went to Oregon-based athletes! The crowd goes wild! This race is always one of the most exciting. It’s been said that anyone good enough to make the Olympic final can win, same is likely true for the Oly trials.