FamiLee Life

Don't Kiss on American Airlines (aka Heterosexual Airlines)

Just read this New Yorker story about an incident on an American Airlines flight. No, it had nothing to do with the war on terrorism, except if you include homosexuality as a form of terrorism.

Shortly after takeoff, Varnier nodded off, leaning his head on Tsikhiseli. A stewardess came over to their row. “The purser wants you to stop that,” she said. “I opened my eyes and was, like, ‘Stop what?’ ” Varnier recalled the other day. “The touching and the kissing,” the stewardess said, before walking away....

...The captain told Tsikhiseli that if they didn’t stop arguing with the crew he would indeed divert the plane. “I want you to go back to your seat and behave the rest of the flight, and we’ll see you in New York,” he said.

What is so strikingly wrong about this incident is both the discrimination against gay men showing public affection and the use of anti-terrorism tactics to silence the protest against discrimination. It really eats me up.

Minneapolis may be the hub to Northworst Airlines, but I am glad (in this instance) to not have to fly American. Maybe they need to change their airline to Heterosexual Airlines.

A Woman's Hands...

Length of a woman's ring finger reveals her sporting ability

For an instant guide to how fast a woman can run, take a look at her hands. Women whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers are quicker on their feet, offering a simple way of predicting who will win a race, researchers have found. From a new study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine. Read more here.

I found this following quote the oddest. I guess it's British language.

Professor Spector said: "I was quite surprised to find something. The idea is that it is due to the hormone levels [of testosterone] in the womb. The longer the ring finger, then the more butch you are.But also you are more likely to die from heart disease.

As alluded in the article, this study is part of a long list of studies examining correlates between physical characteristics and other human traits, such as intelligence, sexual orienation, personality, sexual attraction, etc.

Tokyo Rose - A Lesson to Still Learn

I read yesterday in the NYTimes that the famous and mythical Tokyo Rose died on Tuesday. (You can read the full article by clicking More... below).

Iva Toguri D’Aquino, the Japanese-American convicted of treason in 1949 for broadcasting propaganda from Japan to United States servicemen during World War II as the seductive but sinister Tokyo Rose, died Tuesday in Chicago. She was 90.

As I read this story, I started to think about the wacky politics of today and the way in which the government uses threats of treason as a means to engage in unjust actions to justify the war.

D’Aquino, Convicted as Tokyo Rose, Dies at 90

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: September 27, 2006

Iva Toguri D’Aquino, the Japanese-American convicted of treason in 1949 for broadcasting propaganda from Japan to United States servicemen during World War II as the seductive but sinister Tokyo Rose, died Tuesday in Chicago. She was 90.

Her death, at a Chicago hospital, was confirmed by a nephew, William Toguri, who said only that Mrs. D’Aquino had died of natural causes, The Associated Press reported.

Tokyo Rose was a mythical figure. The persona, its origin murky, had been bestowed by American servicemen collectively on a dozen or so women who broadcast for Radio Tokyo, telling soldiers, sailors and marines in the Pacific that their cause was lost and that their sweethearts back home were betraying them.

The broadcasts did nothing to dim American morale. The servicemen enjoyed the recordings of American popular music, and the United States Navy bestowed a satirical citation on Tokyo Rose at war’s end for her entertainment value.

But the identity of Tokyo Rose became attached to Mrs. D’Aquino, a native of Southern California and the only woman broadcasting for Radio Tokyo known to be an American citizen. She emerged as an infamous figure in a rare treason trial.

Convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco on one of eight vaguely worded counts, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She served 6 years and 2 months, then lived quietly in Chicago, running a family gift shop. On Jan. 19, 1977, she was pardoned, without comment, by President Gerald R. Ford on his last full day in office, and her citizenship was restored.

“A mere wartime myth, Tokyo Rose was to become a disgrace to American justice," Edwin O. Reischauer, the American Ambassador to Japan from 1961 to 1966 and a scholar at Harvard specializing in East Asian affairs, wrote in his introduction to “Tokyo Rose: Orphan of the Pacific,” by Masayo Duus. (Kodansha International, 1979)

The treason charges, Mr. Reischauer wrote, were “egged on by a public still much under the influence of traditional racial prejudices and far from free of the anti-Japanese hatreds of the recent war."

Iva Ikuko Toguri was born in Los Angeles on the Fourth of July 1916, a daughter of Japanese immigrants who owned a grocery store. She graduated from U.C.L.A. in 1940 with a degree in zoology, hoping to become a physician.

In the summer of 1941, she visited an ailing aunt in Tokyo at the request of her mother. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, she was stranded in Tokyo, knowing virtually no Japanese, deprived of a food ration card by the authorities after refusing to become a Japanese citizen and hard-pressed to find work.

In 1942, she obtained a job with Japan’s Domei news agency, monitoring American military broadcasts, and late in 1943 she became an announcer and disc jockey for Radio Tokyo’s propaganda broadcasts, playing American musical recordings on the “Zero Hour” program beamed to American servicemen. She called herself “Ann” or “Orphan Ann,” short for announcer and a play on the Orphan Annie character.

While continuing to work for Radio Tokyo in 1945, she married Felipe D’Aquino, a Domei news agency employee with Portuguese citizenship but Japanese ancestry.

When the war ended, several American reporters learned of Mrs. D’Aquino’s broadcasts and interviewed her in Japan. She said that she was Tokyo Rose, evidently presuming that no great notoriety would be attached to that and perhaps hoping to embellish an intriguing story for American readers, having been paid for her account in a magazine article. She subsequently denied ever having called herself Tokyo Rose in her broadcasts, and no evidence was produced to the contrary.

As an outgrowth of the publicity, Mrs. D’Aquino was arrested and questioned by American military occupation authorities and the F.B.I. The United Press quoted her at the time as saying, “I didn’t think I was doing anything disloyal to America.”

In the fall of 1946, Mrs. D’Aquino was released from custody in Japan after the Army and the Justice Department concluded that there were no grounds for prosecuting her. But the Justice Department reopened the case in 1948. Loyalty issues were becoming a national political flashpoint, although mainly in the context of the Cold War, and the American Legion and the powerful columnist and broadcaster Walter Winchell had spoken out against Mrs. D’Aquino.

Mrs. D’Aquino, who had unsuccessfully sought permission from American authorities to return to California, was arrested on charges of treason, transported to San Francisco, held in a county jail for a year, then put on trial in 1949.

Treason, the only crime outlined in detail in the Constitution, is defined as “levying war” against the United States or giving “aid and comfort” to its enemies. A defendant may be convicted only “on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.”

Up to the end of World War II, there had only been some 30 treason cases in United States history. When Mrs. D’Aquino went on trial, five Americans had been convicted of treason for actions in the war, four having broadcast for Nazi Germany, most notably Millard Gillars, known as Axis Sally.

Tom DeWolfe, a special assistant attorney general, told the jury that Mrs. D’Aquino had engaged in "nefarious propagandistic broadcasts” without being under duress. Former supervisors for Radio Tokyo testified that she had made propaganda broadcasts willingly, and a few broadcast tapes were played for the jury, though none were identified as containing Mrs. D’Aquino’s voice.

Testifying at the 12-week trial, Mrs. D’Aquino denied that she had ever made any disloyal statements on Radio Tokyo. She was supported in testimony from former Allied prisoners of war who had worked in the Japanese broadcasting operation. In a statement that she had given to the F.B.I. in Japan and that was entered in the court record, she said that she had sought to reduce the programs’ effectiveness as propaganda by inserting double meanings in some of her broadcasts.

Mrs. D’Aquino was convicted on a single count of treason, relating to a broadcast she was alleged to have made to American servicemen in October 1944, referring to the loss of their ships. According to prosecution testimony, she said: “Orphans of the Pacific, you really are orphans now. How will you get home now that all your ships are lost?”

After serving her sentence at the federal penitentiary for women in Alderson, W. Va., Mrs. D’Aquino fought government efforts to deport her. She ran an Asian grocery store and gift shop on Chicago’s North Side that family members had opened after their release from a wartime internment camp in Arizona. Her husband returned to Japan after her trial, and she never saw him again.

President Ford pardoned Mrs. D’Aquino after she had appealed to him in writing. The decision was supported by a unanimous vote of the California state legislature, the national Japanese-American Citizens League, and S.I. Hayakawa, then a United States Senator-elect from California.

“It is hard to believe,” Mrs. D’Aquino said on receiving word of President Ford’s action. “But I have always maintained my innocence — this pardon is a measure of vindication.”

Got Math?

Of the 1,116 doctorates awarded by U.S. mathematics departments in 2004-5, 434 of them — or 39 percent — went to Americans, according to the math society's survey. Of those recipients, one was American Indian, 21 were Asian, 14 were black, 12 were Hispanic, and three were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders. Women made up 28 percent of the Americans. From Chronicles of Higher Education article on Black Mathematicians

This is a very interesting set of statistics. The vast majority of PhDs awarded in mathematics go to international students (61%). As expected these days, other racial groups in the United States lag behind their population estimates. Asian Americans are just keeping up with our population numbers at 4.8%. Shock, gasp! Although we are portrayed as model minorities who excel in subjects such as math, the numbers suggest otherwise. Perhaps more of us are going into math-related fields, such as engineering and computer science. It also is probably the case that many of the international students are of Asian descent. Still, in terms of the stereotype, this 4.8% stat gives further proof that we don't all excel in math (or at least excel to the level of PhD).

Take my career in math. In middle school, I recall being one of those kids to sneak a crib sheet into the classroom during a math test. I felt so guilty afterwards that it never occurred again. Still, I guess I felt a strong pressure to perform well in math because I never engaged in such blatant cheating in other courses. In my junior year of high school, I had decided to completely slack off and not read any textbooks or assigned readings for the year (more or less). Slacking off somehow translated into A and B grades, except in math -- I got a D. In college, I took all the basic math courses to get my requirements over and done. For my psychology major, however, I had to take statistics. It was abstract and hard to grasp. I got my only C. Two years later, I went on to graduate school in psychology, terrified of my statistics courses given my past experiences. To my surprise, I did well in the courses. Somewhere along the way, things crystallized and it started to make sense. Maybe I was a late bloomer in math/statistics (true). But I had gained practical experience with survey data in between college and graduate school and I strongly believe that this research experience made statistics more meaningful.

So, perhaps this is the key...perhaps we just need to make math come alive more to younger generations of children. Role models, mentors, practical and interesting case studies and real life examples...these things can make a big difference. Inspiring children to see the value in the abstract.

Why Minneapolis? Husker Du...Enough Said

I believe I have written about this question before and given the same answer - Husker Du. Gonzo Forever reminded me of my teenage angst-ridden love for this post-punk trio from Minneapolis. Way out in the sleepy town that I called home in Connecticut, this band's music made its way into my life via college radio airwaves. Truth be told, they were the best medicine for a 2nd generation Korean American kid trying to sort through race, ethnicity, culture, and just plain feeling different than the middle-class Whiteness that surrounded me. I went on to see them play every time they came into town for the next few years, culminating in my getting thrown out of one of their concerts during the encore by the bouncers who believed I had started a fight (I did not start the fight! I was simply helping a guy who fell down in the mosh pit). Ah, nothing like opening a door with your head. Anyway, Gonzo Forever found this trove of footage of Husker Du on YouTube. Check out all the other HD videos on YouTube. After watching the videos, you hopefully will understand why I was open to moving to Mpls.

Another Jap Car...

Just when you thought the congressional campaign between John Kline and Coleen Rowley couldn't get any weirder, a video appeared on a Minnesota political blog showing Kline's district director screaming about "another Jap car."

"I apologize if my words offended any Americans of Japanese descent, including my sister-in-law," Osskopp said. "I allowed my emotions to get the better of me and used a phrase commonly used in my youth, but which is now inappropriate and offensive." From the Star Tribune You also can watch the video of this racist comment at this anti-Kline blog.

Hm....so sad, so sad. It reminds me of the time when I attended a third-party candidate debate that was part of a Nightline program hosted by Ted Koppel. I was a new faculty member at Minnesota and happened to get tickets to this taping. I arrived early and sat front and center -- just three rows back from the stage where Jesse Ventura (still govenor at the time) and Ralph Nader were seated with Ted Koppel.

During the taping, Nader began to speak about minority votes and he starts listing the various racial groups...."African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Orientals..." My mouth dropped. This was Nader, Mr. Liberal, on national television. Shortly thereafter, there was a commercial break.

I stand up and shout out to them, "Mr. Nader, oriental is a rug, not a person. We are Asian American." He looks out at me and profusely apologies, saying he realized his mistake just after the words left his mouth. He seemed sincere, although he never corrected himself on-air. Still, I felt vindicated. Then, Jesse Ventura butts in with stupid comments about how we are all just American and there is no need to label oneself Swedish American, African American, etc. I debate him for the next minute, explaining that such self-labeling does not work the same way for Whites as for racial minority when Whites continue to view and judge me according to my skin color. He just idiotically keeps repeating this rhetorical question. I never got an apology from Jesse Ventura, though I am waiting......waiting.....waiting....

Let's get it straight on the Kline-Osskopp bungle. Osskopp's apology is not really an apology. The Pope's apology to Muslims is even a bit better than this one. Read Osskopp's (and Kline's) statement, he's sorry that his comments offended others, but not sorry for saying a racist comment. I really hate when this sort of fake apology is offered. Have some courage, man, to admit a mistake and to take responsibility for one's words and actions. He further minimizes his sincerity by saying the word "Jap" used to be appropriate and not offensive when he was a youth. Uh, huh? It was ALWAYS offensive and inappropriate! And then to infer that his comment was not racist (or he is not prejudiced) because his in-law is Japanese American is pathetic. Much like someone simply saying they have Black friends and therefore are not racist. Ugh.

A Psychologist, A Genius?

I read yesterday in the Chronicles of Higher Education that a psychology professor was named a MacArthur Fellow for 2006 - aka the Genius Award. It is even sweeter to me that she does research on racial prejudice and stereotypes.

Jennifer Richeson, 34, associate professor of psychology, Northwestern University. She is a social psychologist examining the behavioral and cognitive consequences of prejudice and racial stereotyping to reveal original insights into the dynamics of interracial interactions.

Kudos!

More of the Same :: Sweater Season

As people who know me know well, I am a consumerist at heart (owning 3 Bridgestone bicycles is a case in point). I admit it. Yet I also am a man of simple pleasures, routine, practicality, neatness, and more. I have learned to control the consumerist in me through acceptance and discipline.

So a few years ago, after enduring one cold Minnesota winter after another, I had a winter clothing overhaul. I simply decided to wear v-neck merino wool sweaters for most of the winter. My mornings became easier as I simply perused one of the dozen or so sweaters, like the one pictured above, to don for the day.

Well, the weather over the last couple of days has led to this year's sweater season to begin in mid-September. Simple as that. Cold enough for a sweater, so sweater it is.

Quick Props :: Addicted to Race

Addicted to Race is a podcast show on surprise, surprise racial issues in American society. Harlow's Monkey and Twice the Rice were interviewed yesterday and the podcast is available here to listen. Their interview is about 46 minutes into the broadcast.

African American Barbie Means a Darker Dog

I found this story on LifeHacker but you can read more about it on the Consumerist.

Apparently, if you are an African American who wants an African American Barbie, it means that you must prefer a darker pet dog. By contrast, the regular White Barbie gets the lighter tan dog to match her complexion too! How thoughtful of Mattell! I also love the fact that they named the dog Tanner. Perfect, just perfect.

As a bonus, if you really want to make sure your Barbie matches your race, you can buy a Caucasian Barbie! I kid you not! I am still not sure how this Barbie is different than the original Barbie but I guess Amazon.com thinks so.

Alas, there is no yellow dog to accompany an Asian American Barbie because there is no Asian American Barbie (or at least I can't find one)! However, you can buy a Dragon Lady Barbie if you have an oriental fetish.

The Completist In Me (aka a recovering B.O.B.)

Well, after months of searching, I finally purchased my (hopefully) last bicycle - a 1991 Bridgestone RB-1 - that I found on ebay. This bike completes my set of Bridgestones, including a 1992 Bridgestone MB-3 and a 1993 Bridgestone XO-3. So, as my friend CC pointed out, I guess that this makes me a completist.

But it also reveals my past as a former (and I suppose current) B.O.B. (Bridgestone Owner's Bunch). I discovered Bridgestones by chance really back when I was starting graduate school at VCU. In college in the late 1980s, I rode around on a Trek 800 Antelope. It was a hybrid bicycle that served its purpose back then. By grad school, I had started to ride my bike on trails in the city parks. One time, I decided to jump off a dirt hill and wound up on the ground, having bent my cheap forks in a 45 degree angle. Ouch. It was time to go bicycle shopping. I went to a few bicycle shops and came across the MB-3 on sale. Liking the ride, feel, and look, I bought the bike and thus began a few intense years of mountain biking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And with this purchase, I learned about the history of Bridgestones via Grant Peterson's B.O.B. newsletters. A year or two later, I was able to buy the XO-3 by maxing out my credit card. It was a frivolous buy but well worth it. In subsequent years, I rode the XO-3 more than the MB-3, in part because I had stopped mountain biking.

Okay, enough of my past...the RB-1. I am following in the lead of Peter who also is a RB-1 owner. I've openly coveted his bike in recent months as we would ride around town on Wednesday nights. It awakened the dormant B.O.B. in me and I am glad it did. I feel excited again about bicycling. Thankfully too because I need the exercise and meditative benefits of bicycling.

Well, I am getting the RB-1 fixed up right now at Hiawatha Cyclery near the V.A. hospital in South Mpls. I heard about HC from a friend of a friend who owns a beautiful Rivendell Saluki (the fancier successor to Bridgestones, owned and operated by Grant P). HC is the only place in town to buy Rivendells (check the place out and support local businesses!). I walked into the store and explained to Jim (the owner) what I needed done on the bike. Being 15 years old, the RB-1 needed a new freewheel, chain, pedals, tires/tubes. He asked for my name to write down the order and said, "Oh, you're Rich L." Somehow he knew me. When I asked how he knew of me, he said, "I've read your blog." Too funny. Small world. I suspect it's because I've sometimes written about bicycles. So in return, check out Jim's HC blog where he sometimes lists sales. As for me, once the RB-1 is ready, look for me riding around town.

Sunday Fish Story

Photography by Hapa9
Bad jpg copying and pasting by me

What to do on a drizzling and cold Sunday morning. Well, you could go to church, have brunch, read the NYTimes, play with the children (or pet), watch NFL pregame shows. In short, there is a lot of things that one can do. Me? I decided to go fishing...or attempt to fish. Hapa9 and I made a good effort. After a late night of carousing on Saturday, we managed to wake up early enough on Sunday to drink a cuppa coffee, load up the canoe, assemble the fishing tackle, buy worms, get lost, and finally find Spurzem Lake.

After 2 plus hours of paddling, drifting, fishing, we ended up with one fish (pictured above) caught by Hapa9 using a trailing line, baited with a worm, as we drifted and fished with other rods. We named him Harry and, in the end, released him back to the lake. It was a pathetic catch, though it felt good to at least catch something. Not surprisingly, given my terrible luck with fishing, I caught nothing. In fact, we had no bites at all aside from the one catch. Alas.

There was another fisherman out on the small lake who seemed to be catching fish. Wisely, he had an anchor on his boat which allowed him to stay in what seemed to be a good spot. Being in a canoe, we didn't think to use an anchor. Instead, we were at the mercy of the wind which kept drifting our canoe into the weeds. Lesson learned.

Still, there is something calming and relaxing about fishing. Mind you, I was never a huge fishing fan as a kid. I used to fish with my neighbor for catfish in local ponds near our homes but I never owned my own rod and reel (until last week!). I still don't know what lures and bait to use for which kinds of fish with whatever kinds of weather. Plus, being such hyperactive kid, fishing was too slow and not stimulating enough for me. I needed to move around more.

It might be age or living in Minnesota, but it appeals much more to me these days. Maybe it is adulthood and the craziness of everyday life. Sometimes it is good to engage in activities that slow down life. Shared activity with friends is also something I appreciate more as an adult. It gives us time to talk, share, and just enjoy each other's company.

So, I may not have caught any fish on Sunday. I may have been wet and cold, plus tired and in need of a nap, but it was a worthwhile trip that nurtured my soul and deepened my friendship.

Restroom Ratings...

I was searching the web for some new karaoke spots and came across this website -- RestroomRatings.com. How did I come across it exactly? I google keyword searched "Poodle Club Minneapolis" and this was listed #3!

The site features historical articles on restrooms - from its origins, Minnesota public restrooms, Japanese restrooms, fun facts about urine. All sorts of oddities plus reviews of restrooms at local restaurants and bars.

I always wanted to take photographs of graffiti in restrooms and publish a coffee table book. Maybe I will just create a blog for bathroom graffiti.

Survivor: The Competition of the Races

This is an old cartoon from SecretAsianMan but it's applicable to the latest version of Survivor. It's a funny cartoon. Nothing much to add.

Here is another take on the Survivor show from a recent post on BlackProf (click here).

An Omen?!

Lately, I have gotten more and more into bicycling. The reasons are many, including the wonderful weather, the price of gas, the greenhouse effect, and the need for more exercise. At any rate, it has been a lot of fun dusting off, fixing up, and riding my bicycles (yes, plural -- I used to ride a lot when younger!). My other summer activity has been managing the ground pests that are trying to take over my home. In the past, it has been the squirrels and more lately the chipmunks. But as you may know, chipmunks actually are just small squirrels.

Well, FreeLooseDirt sent me the following story. I think I need to take it as an omen....

Squirrel in spokes floors cycling opera singer
Tue Sep 5, 2006 8:33 AM ET

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A squirrel scampered into the bicycle wheel of an unlucky Finnish opera singer, causing him to fall, knock himself out and break his nose just ahead of the world premiere of a new opera.

Esa Ruuttunen was pedalling his way to the Helsinki Opera House last month when the squirrel ran into his spokes.

The singer ended up concussed and in a local hospital, rather than at his rehearsals for the Finnish opera Kaarmeen hetki (Hour of the Serpent), which opens on September 15.

"He is not yet singing in rehearsals, but thinks he will be able to perform at the world premiere," Finnish National Opera spokeswoman Heidi Almi told Reuters.

The squirrel died in the accident.

p.s., I googled for images of "squirrel and bicycle" and actually came across a number of photos on the web of bicycle/squirrel collisions. However, I chose the wiser path to not post any of these pics. Don't want to anger the squirrel gods.

Sir Barkley -- Governor Barkley

There is something tantalizing, promising, and funny about Charles Barkley running for the gubernatorial office in Alabama. Read this brief ESPN story about Barkley's take on Democrats, Republicans, Religion, and Gay Marriage.