Greetings and salutations!

It’s time, once again, for the monthly update! Of course, it’s actually been a full 2 MONTHS since my last post, and for that I apologize. I’ve been quite busy with several things and I was also waiting to post until I had some other big news – but the waiting continued and the post began to fall apart on the back burner. Never one to wish that to happen, I am here with a new post at long last!

I didn’t end up updating my template back-end but I did clean up the navigation a bit. However, now my AdSense ads seem to appear only in FireFox. There are some big announcements brewing but I have to wait on those just a little longer. In the meantime, there is always plenty to discuss, and most of the topics this month have proven to be efficient fire-starters!

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Before anything else, a happy belated Mother’s Day and a happy Father’s Day to those parents out there! I hope everyone is able to take time to appreciate their loved ones in this season and all year ‘round. If I may, I’d just like to post this small tribute:

	My Dad – Wayne Armstrong: Provider, Supporter I didn’t really know my father for a long time but I have come to realize how much of me truly came from this man. Practically, emotionally, and spiritually, he has enabled me to do the things I love to do. Thanks always dad; I love you.
	My Mom – Louise Armstrong: Teacher, Caregiver She raised me and helped prepare me for the life I would live. She gave me love, moral and ethical guidance, and introduced me to the faith. Thanks always mom; I love you.

On Social Networking

Social networking is now, essentially, one of the primary vehicles/applications of the World Wide Web (WWW, Web). While we could debate the very real pros and cons of the technologies around social networking, I’m going to leave such discourse to others who have more time for such things. I do want to say that, as many of you are aware, I use Facebook – the second largest such utility on the Web. I use it because its interface is simple and uniform. It looks good, works well, and has allowed me to get in contact with a great many people from my past/present which is quite useful and convenient!

Inevitably, Facebook has been getting some bad press lately, some of it expressing valid concerns and much of it the typical paranoia so common to these wired times. In response to a presentation questioning the safety of personal information on Facebook, I emailed them directly and received the following response:

Facebook neither harvests nor collects email addresses or other contact information of users for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications, nor do we disseminate this information. We must keep certain clauses in our privacy policy statement to reservethe right to provide such information when necessary.

Though it may not happen often, there are cases when law officers and judges issue subpoenas requiring us to provide certain information about specific users for use in court. We would have to comply with a legal order such as this, which is why we must include this statement in this policy. Aside from such scenarios, however, we do not currently share any unauthorized information with third parties. We certainly do not allow employers any sort of special access to information contained on Facebook, and the only users who can view your information is dictated by your privacy settings on your My Privacy page.

I hope this clarified any confusion about your privacy, but please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for contacting Facebook.

Zack
Customer Support Representative
Facebook

Ultimately, I would hope that anyone with more than a few brain cells would at least take the time to learn about issues related to privacy and proper protocols, expectations, and technologies related to maintaining it on the Web.

On America

For a number of reasons, not the least of which being that I am not American, I try to avoid taking part in discussions wherein rampant and excessive anti-Americanism so quickly takes center stage. However, I don’t believe that it is particularly anti-American to question the foreign or domestic policy of a world power and, especially in light of some recent legislation being proposed in the US, I felt compelled to state a few opinions of my own.

There is so much room for debate here on so many avenues, mostly regarding the views and actions of the present Administration. Just as I did with the previous topic, I want to leave those arguments to people with more time, a group clearly not lacking for members if one spends any time on the Web these days. All I can say is that, while I believe that some of the perspectives of the current government are important and valid, I think it is clear that the approaches which have been taken have met with disastrous consequences.

When I read/hear about legislation aimed at creating a point system for illegal immigrants, granting congress the right to sue OPEC, or continuing the current, failed policies of this government in the Middle East, my blood does tend to boil. When are Americans going to learn that a xenophobic, assimilation based approach to citizenship or religion is no longer realistic, feasible, or acceptable? When are they going to realize that a broken, centralized, non-democratic republican system of government is neither effective, efficient, nor in their best interests? When are they going to learn that the people they govern are, by and large, neither ultra right-wing nut jobs nor far left-wing dreamers? And tell me what the hell ever happened to “…give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”?

On Japan

It’s been very nearly a year now, on my second time ‘round here in Japan. Generally speaking, I have fulfilled my main goals in returning here and am quite satisfied with my experience thus far. I should take this time to mention that it would be far too easy to continue living in Japan for the long term. We essentially have fairly easy jobs which involve little responsibility and half-decent pay with which we can generally live quite comfortably. Sure, there’s pretty much no future in terms of what most people look for, but neither is there the pressures and hassles of such a future; all that being said, I am looking forward to moving on.

As far as the apartment goes, I don’t think I mentioned that Dane left and Rob moved in. Rob is from Manchester and we get along exceedingly well. Marc is still here but planning to move out soon. I know I don’t discuss my roommates much or many individuals here for that matter. However, in the news of late, a very good friend of mine is working in the US presently. While I miss her, I was blessed enough to see her come to faith before she left which is tremendous! In the not-so-good news department, another friend of mine here was recently involved in an altercation which resulted in some time spent in a police station and a great deal of general unpleasantness; but I suppose it keeps things interesting.

I’ve been keeping fairly busy recently with a bunch of things. Some pictures, posted for your viewing pleasure, testify to recent trips to Koshien to see a professional baseball game (Yomiuri Giants (7) vs. Hanshin Tigers (1)) for a friend’s birthday. The game itself was a near blowout and the Tigers have sucked badly lately, but it was fun to hang out with friends. I also took a trip to one of the few remaining places I wanted to visit on the mainland – Hiroshima!

The city of Hiroshima itself was beautiful and the weather while we were there was nearly perfect! The attitude of the city was even more relaxed than Osaka and I enjoyed the holiday feel immensely. We visited Peace Memorial Park which was both an educational and somber experience. While I feel the various memorials and exhibits effectively portrayed the horrors of nuclear war, I didn’t get the sense that the Japanese people there were as personally connected to those horrors as the Jews I saw at the holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. Aside from that, my personal highlight of the trip was climbing Mt. Misen on Miyajima Island. Pictures of that adventure have also been posted.

Other than that, as far as socializing goes, I’ve been floating around, visiting the usual Nova hangouts in Namba and Shinsaibashi, as well as exploring new venues with Rob. One place we’ve come to call home on Friday nights is Papillon, this great little coffee house by day and vintage bar by night. There’s always great live music (mostly Elvis tunes) and open mic shenanigans to enjoy – and the host of “regulars” is always a welcome comfort.

Not so comforting, though, has been some of the insanity which continues to reign at Nova. While I did sign my new contract, renew my visa, etc. – the company has been struggling with a rash of bad press and legal injunctions following that government raid I told you about in March. Most recently, the company has been banned, for a period of 6 months, from signing new customers to contracts of a year or more in length. Despite the rabid Nova hate evident among its current and former employees, I actually didn’t have a lot of personal complaints with the company. Recently, however, they have upset me by making unwarranted adjustments to my transit allowance and by not replacing the break room microwave – some night shift employees actually pooled some money to buy our new ones….uncool.

Personally, I’ve just been dealing with a lot of frustration lately; some related to relationships and identity issues of a more personal nature, but mainly due to the ongoing ‘hurry up and wait’ game that I continue to play with the Israeli bureaucracy. It’s really upsetting me but I continue to push on and I am confident that all things will work out for the best. These days, my focus is increasingly on trying to find things that I am genuinely passionate about. Just finding them is much easier said than done, never mind the balancing act that remains in regard to the inescapable practicalities of life. It’s certainly a challenge to my overall health these days, but I believe revelation is coming.

On Israel

A recent editorial published in the NY Times by Thomas Friedman was titled ‘What a Mess’ and subtitled ‘If America can talk to Iran, Israel can talk to Hamas.’ Why even bother reading the actual article with a title that says it all? This is a classic example of the ignorance and audacity of much of the western media regarding Israel or the Middle East at large. For one thing, you cannot compare a nation state (Iran) with a terrorist/political group (Hamas). For another, unlike Hamas, Iran is not raining down rockets on American civilians on a near daily basis and, finally, it is a big step to say that America is “talking” to Iran, as diplomatic relations have hardly been re-established!

LINKS

• Qassam Rocket Attack in Sderot
  
• Which Jerusalem?
  
• In Retrospect of the Six Day War
  
• A Different Perspective on the Six Day War (NY Times, Membership Required)
  
  

With Hope,
Joseph

Social Networking | American Policy | Hiroshima Memorial