Author: travel67

Quite Interesting

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I was watching the latest episode of the British quiz show QI yesterday and spotted one of my images being used to illustrate the Hadaka Matsuri in Okayama. A little surprised that the researchers managed to get the details of the festival so confused. There is no mud involved in the Okayama Hadaka Matsuri (but this does occur at a different “Naked” festival) The winner doesn’t get two sticks but the sticks are thrown into the throng of men by the priests and fought over. The sticks are now thrown at 10PM rather than midnight. And finally, the men are wearing fundoshi loincloths so they are not actually naked.   At the moment you can watch the episode on You Tube, my pic is at about 33 minutes. And a final quite interesting fact. Host Stephen Fry will play the part of the Master of Laketown in the new Hobbit movies.

Mac Pro Graphics Card Upgrade – ATI Radeon HD 5770

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This blog post has a geek rating of 5. It has explicit descriptions of computer parts and even the cultural references are aimed at those who believe anoraks are not just for rainy days. After replacing the “panic locked” SSD drive  and restoring the system from Time Machine, my Mac Pro computer was working once again. On Facebook I happily stated that computer, printer and Photoshop were all in sync and I could get back to work. Then a few hours later there was a glitch in the matrix. Turning off the computer and turning it back on again didn’t help. My Nerd Herd friends Robert, Nate and Pietro were out of Okinawa so I’d have to work things out myself. After a bit of research, I came to the conclusion it must be an issue with the graphics card. The issue being it was no more. It had ceased to be. It had expired and gone to meet its maker. My Mac Pro is a 2007 model 1,1 with a nVidia GeForce 7300GT graphics card with 256 …

Kabuki-cho, Tokyo’s Red-Light District

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Kabuki-cho is Tokyo’s entertainment and red-light district. It is located on the east side of Shinjuku Station, it is literally on the other side of the railroad tracks from the government buildings and corporate offices of West Shinjuku. Kabuki-cho is filled with bars, restaurants, and the infamous host and hostess clubs. Some of the establishments are run or controlled by the Yakuza and there are numerous stories of people having a couple of drinks in a bar and then being given an unexpectedly large bill. Signs for different clubs fill the streets with the pictures of various hosts and hostesses on display. There are also a surprisingly large number of florists. It turns out that customers often buy roses for their favorite host / hostess along with huge floral displays for birthday parties and the opening of a new club. Other stores provide customers with gifts that are cringeworthy. Although, if you like crocodile skin and things encrusted with fake diamonds, you’d be in retail heaven. Some establishments have signs saying JAPANESE ONLY. Large guys …

Data Asset Management

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Veteran motorbike riders are well aware of the fact that it’s not a matter of if you have an accident, but when. For this reason it’s worth investing in the best protective gear possible. Experienced computer users will likewise tell you that it’s not a matter of if your hard disk drive will fail, but when. And it’s not just hard drives, almost any kind of digital data storage device can become unreadable. This includes CDRs, DVDRs, Blu-rays, Solid State Drives and even the optimistically named Secure Digital (S.D.) cards. People treasure their pictures. As the forest fire approaches or flood waters rise,  it’s wedding albums and family photographs that are saved not plasma televisions and golf clubs. Unfortunately, in this digital era, many people have their images stored on a home computer and when it dies, they’ve lost months or years worth of memories. Data recovery services are an option, and I know of several photographers who have paid thousands of dollars in fees to companies that were able to get back a portion …

Birds of Japan – Updated

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Here’s a quick update to a previous blog post on field guides to Japanese birds. Along with the two books previously mentioned, is a new volume by Mark Brazil (who turns out to be a friend of a friend). A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia by Tadao Shimba. Colour photography throughout , covers over 600 species with a brief description of each bird including its geographic range. The photographs range in quality but still give you a good idea of what the birds look like. One problem I  noticed is that the book has the English and scientific names of the bird, but not the common Japanese name. If you  buy this book and plan to use it while in Japan (which would be most people I imagine)  having the Japanese name would allow you to ask locals what a bird was or confirm your guess. Until the photographic guide came out the standard book (in English) of Japanese birds was A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan by …