Is it weird if I find this interesting?

[gurdymonkey]

This was posted to the JML list today.
'
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091222a5.html
precipitated the poster to find this even MORE interesting article about archeological excavations of early toilets in Japan.

Matsui, A., Kanehara, M., and Kanehara, M. 2003. "Palaeoparasitology in Japan -
Discovery of toilet features" _Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz_ (98)1
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0074-02762003000900019&script=sci_arttext

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DVD player has been returned to Helmart for a full refund. They get to keep the DVD because after three mouth breathing minimum wage slaves couldn't figure out how to get the DVD out and were about to send for a fourth, I told them I didn't have time to wait all day for them to figure out something that will probably take a return to the factory to resolve. I suppose I COULD have demanded a manager and tried to make them give me another $20 to cover replacement of my copy of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." I have learned my lesson. Walmart is good for a three pack of Fruit of the Looms, a case of toilet paper and a Snickers bar - and little else.

Radio Shack, on the other hand, is the flip side of the coin. The young lady behind the counter cheerfully processed my return of the cables it turned out I don't need and handed me my cash so quickly I decided I had time to make the trip up to Emeryville to Best Buy.

I can at least get into a satisfying fight with a condescending Geeksquadder should the replacement crap out on me.  I picked out a Toshiba model based solely on pricepoint and my satisfaction with my Toshiba laptop so far, brought it home, installed it in under five minutes and enjoyed the newest "Star Trek" movie last night, having recently acquired a previously viewed copy for cheap. I also browsed BB's DVD selection and picked up a copy of "LA Confidential" for $9.99.
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Estrella pre-reg has been achieved and I have to get to work on pre-war projects. The following one is entirely allison_is ' fault: I have to whack together the makings of a class on first contact between the Japanese and Westerners in the 16th century. Got the idea during a conversation back in September when I Googled some examples of namban art to show her. For historical context's sake, I should probably take the subject into the 17th c., at least as the expulsion of the Portuguese, the edicts against Christianity, and the deal that allowed the Dutch to stay as long as what happens in Deshima stays in Deshima.

Comments

[knittingknots.livejournal.com]

oooh...I read the first article today when it came through the JML list today (where I am guilty of lurking but almost never posting) but missed the second one...funny how we can find that stuff interesting. But I do.

Off to go read this one as well.

Contact with Westerners

[crimsongriffin.livejournal.com]

Funny, a man named David Pepper who is a Japanese antiquarian, and I - we thought we should do a class at Pennsic (if I make it!) on persona - on why it is possible to play a half-Japanese persona, based on the contact with Europe and the numbers of bastard children they left. But he has all the books...:(

After all, people squabble so much about the Japanese thing - why not just say, hey, my father was a lice-ridden Portugese sailor/lumpy Dutch merchant man, and my mother a splay-footed rice paddy worker that was in the wrong place at the wrong time? Perfectly period of course! A blend of Asian and European history the SCA CAN'T argue with.

But of course there were not always peasant stock kids, some made it into samurai families.

Watcha think? I am not even that much into Japanese persona, I just like to tweak people's noses.

Re: Contact with Westerners

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Ew. Bushi are bad enough, but those namban smell nasty!

I'm an equal opportunity nose tweaker: I get a great deal of mileage out of walking around events gawking at the funny manners and customs of gaikokujin I've been lost among. ;-D

Toilets

[crimsongriffin.livejournal.com]

The toilets at Himeji castle were open to the public last time I was there! So, no I found your interest perfectly natural.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimsongriffin/3018785530/in/set-72157608775444264/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimsongriffin/3017952135/sizes/l/in/set-72157608775444264/

Yes, well. All I can say is, in this case, thank GOD it isn't the usual squat toilet!

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

Hellmart is also good for cheap solid color patternless mens ties (for cosplay). And it's good for finding single-use do-it-yourself ear piercing guns. (I don't trust strangers' aesthetics and multi-use possibly non-sterile guns on my kids' ears.) It's also good for spotting very strange varieties of human (http://www.peopleofwalmart.com). But not much else.

[xrian.livejournal.com]

Class sounds fascinating. Maybe a reprise in the West sometime?

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Definitely! The art alone from this period could take up an entire class. (Do a web search on "namban art" if you're curious.)