Matsu’s World: The One Less Traveled

It is interesting how much one learns of themselves by interacting with others. Yes, by interacting with people around you it helps you see yourself better and therefore you end up knowing yourself.

In the past several years I’ve worked with a person who has brought into focus the amount of influence my upbringing has affected my personality and character. I grew up in Japan. In fact, I spent most of the first 18 years of my life there, with the exception of three times when we lived in America for a year each time while on furlough. Well, the oriental influence on me is inescapable. And, this co-worker has been like a highly reflective mirror and given me a better view of myself and how I’ve been shaped by the oriental influences of my childhood.

One of the characteristics of oriental society is subtle communication. So, when I saw this photo posted on the Kyoto Daily Photo blog, I laughed out loud. It typifies how subtle the Japanese people can be, and by extension, how I am at times. The theme for the July 1st daily photo blog photos is “no.” The assignment is to take photos of signs that say “no” or “not permitted.” So, the photo of a walking path of large stepping stones with a single smaller stone sitting atop the first step means, “do not enter,” in the social language of Japan. That is a wonderful example of how small and subtle communication is in Japan — and while it’s subtle, I find it also to be crystal clear and almost obvious. But, that’s just because I think in those same terms.

So, thank you Bert for giving me a better view of myself and through that awareness, making this photograph that much more meaningful and amusing.

Disclaimer: The photo used in this post has nothing to do with the Kyoto Daily Photo blog. I wanted to use the stone path photo, but I didn’t have permission. Therefore, I found a good friend’s photo on the Wilmore Daily Photo blog site and used it without his permission. Hey, what is a friend going to do, sue me? Oh, oh! He seems to be tight with the local police. Maybe I should reconsider my attititude!

This morning during an informal coffee break at work (well, it’s Friday so it was during the donut break) I mentioned the recent release of all of Charles Darwin’s works online by Cambridge University. That seemed to be news to the group of people I work with so I thought I’d post the information here for them to easily navigate to information about this new online content.

If you want to read about the project and the release of Darwin’s work, check out this Wired magazine article.

Or, you can just go straight to the Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online and begin reading digitized copies of his many writings.

You would not believe the commotion the new iMac “Slim” created in my department when the first shipment arrived yesterday. (Do you call it iMac Slim or iMac Silver?)

I was in the conference room working when one of my staff walked in hugging a largish brown cardboard box. In tow was about 10 of his fellow IT guys and gals who knew what was in the box. They had come down to unbox the new iMac where they could all see it and experience the moment, together.

Recognizing the magnitude of this historic moment, I reached for my digital camera, but I had taken it out of my laptop bag the other day, so I swooped up my cell phone and snapped this photo of the team of Apple fans as they posed with their new best friend.

I should also point out that Chris J. Davis is standing to the right, just outside the frame. He did not want people to know he was part of this event. I thought about drawing him in with a pencil, but decided to grant him his wish and leave him out of the photo so nobody would know he was there.

(Note: I decided to make the second photo a black & white pic. It just looked better without color.)

Last week, as part of the technology conference I was attending, I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg, the site of a major Civil War battle in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA. We started at the visitors’ center and museum next to the National Cemetery.

Here is a photo that I captured at the museum. The sign points out that up to 7 million bullets were used by more than 160 thousand infantry men in the 3 days of battle in and around Gettysburg.

The museum also included thousands and thousands of artifacts found in the fields in and around Gettysburg after the bloodshed ended.

Next, we took a bus tour of the town with a guide to point out key battles and events. It was very interesting and sobering to hear how the battle unfolded each of the three days around the town.

A fact that I did not know was that once a soldier was injured, they would be treated by either side of the battle. According to our guide, soldiers were treated the same way, no matter the color of their uniform so all hospitals (most of them were makeshift hospitals in homes and churches).

There were thousands and thousands of Americans killed in the many battles at Gettysburg during those 3 days. In the fields below, armies of the South clashed with those of the North.

Once back at the museum and cemetery, I took this photo of a cannon next to a memorial and Civil War graves.

There were thousands and thousands of cannons firing. It was said that people 20 and 30 miles away could hear the cannon fire. The fields were covered in smoke and bullets, up to 7 million of them, were constantly firing. It is hard to imagine how they functioned in those conditions. As many as 8,000 soldiers died and up to 50,000 soldiers were injured. I had no idea how large this battle was, how long they fought, and how many suffered.