recently interesting

The following are items I’ve recently shared via Google Reader and find interesting.

• Meet Jake Adelstein, a Jewish reporter who thinks like a Japanese gangster
  Shared on: March 9, 2010
  Jake Adelstein is the author of Tokyo Vice, a new book that chronicles the authors crazy adventures as a crime reporter for Japans largest newspaper. During his 12 years at Yomiuri Shimbun, Adelstein made deadly enemies — and some lifelong friends — in the yakuza, the organized crime underworld that quietly controls a large part of Japan's political economy. The book (which I reviewed in January) chronicles his journey from naive young foreigner to one of the ballsiest reporters on the yakuza beat. Along the way, he discovered that one of the mob bosses, a guy named Goto Tadamasa, had made a deal with the FBI to go to the US and get a liver transplant at UCLA — an embarrassing scandal that Goto didnt want anyone to know about. When Goto found out that Adelstein was investigating, he figured he should just kill him. It was really terrifying, he says. I couldnt even walk outside without my lovable ex-yakuza bodyguard next to me. Fortunately for Adelstein, he found himself still breathing when Goto lost power in October of 2008. Today, he walks the streets of Tokyo with a titanium core umbrella ("a baseball bat would probably make people uneasy") and that keeps him safe... at least for now. Over the next two months, well be collaborating with Jake Adelstein to bring you a series of Boing Boing exclusive yakuza stories. Well kick it off with a two-part QA that gives us an inside look at his life and brings us up-to-date on yakuza influence on present-day Japan. After that, well go behind-the-scenes with Adelstein and his yakuza buddies to watch how they do ordinary things like play video games, use the computer, and chop off body parts. For part one of the QA series, I sat down with Adelstein over bacon waffles and coffee one morning in San Francisco to get some personal stories of Adelsteins connections with the yakuza. Read on to learn about how a Jewish-American from Missouri beat up a mobster with a golf club; the indelible link between gangsters and Buddhist priests; and how Adelstein came to incorporate the highest yakuza values into his daily life. How did you know that Goto Tadamasa wanted to kill you? On the day he got kicked out of the Yamaguchi-gumi*, one of the last things he said as he was getting into his car was: "That fucking American Jew reporter. I'd like to kill him." When I heard that, I thought, well it's nice to be recognized for your hard work. Goto has been connected to 17 unsolved murders. His people are responsible for the attack on film director Itami Jyuzo in 1992. Itami made a movie parodying the yakuza. It showed them as what most of them are, as a bunch of obnoxious sneaky lying thugs, and they didnt really like that. They didnt kill him at first — they just grabbed him as he left his house and slashed open his face in the parking lot. A few years later, he allegedly committed suicide. But what I heard from people who would know is that they dragged him to a rooftop, stuck a gun in his face, and said you can jump or well blow your face off. So nobody out there wants to put a gun to your head and make you jump? Well, I'm sure Goto would like to do it. The question is, what's the cost benefit of doing it? Right now [with the publication of Tokyo Vice] I'm such a public nuisance that whacking me would only bring more heat and might bring political pressure on Japan to close down the yakuza buildings and put them out of business. When you consider the risk of doing that, the analysis is, well, easier to let him live and be a pest rather than make a martyr out of some annoying Jewish-American. Are you scared of the yakuza? Of course I'm scared of them. Even the guys I'm close to I'm scared of. They're like wild animals. These are guys who make a living through violence, and they're very very tough. They just have incredible endurance and tolerance for pain. They're like the Energizer bunny; you can beat them and hit them with a hammer and they'd still come at you like the Terminator. I'm saying this from personal experience. You mean you've actually fought with one? In April 2008, I was trying to figure out how Goto knew that I was writing a book about his liver transplant. There was a yakuza real estate broker; he was a good source, and I had paid him. I remembered having a conversation with him a few months back, and he was asking how my book was coming along — I suspected he might have been sounding me out for information. So I went to his office and said, Listen, did you sell me out on Goto? Did you tell him Im writing a book? And he said, Yeah of course. He pays much more than you do. Why wouldnt I? Its not like were friends. Its nothing personal. He didnt even try to deny it. So I said to him, Remember a couple years ago when Sugiura got hit? Im gonna tell my friends in the Sumiyoshi-kai that you gave away his location. They may not believe me, but they might come ask you some questions, and when they do I dont think theyll be very nice to you. Nothing personal. And as I turned my back to leave, he jumped on me. He started hitting me really hard and kicking me. So I ran to the corner of his room and got a golf club, and kept hitting his knee until his knee broke. I was just running around in circles aiming at his knee. Even after his knee broke, he was still crawling at me. I was like, god! Why dont you just give up? What does it say about you? Don't you have to be a bit crazy to throw snarky comments at yakuza and break their knees with golf clubs? It would say that I have a bad temper. I was angry! I didn't make the first attack, though. That was totally in self-defense. What would you do if someone whom you thought was a friend was like, I planted heroin in your car and called the cops? I would probably be like, I'm in the wrong business. On the wrong beat. I'd probably get out. It was too late, you know? I was committed. Committed to the left lane. I was taking my driving test a few years ago and my instructor said, go to the right lane. And I told him, I can't. I'm committed to the left lane. But isn't there a point in a reporter's life where they realize, if I go any further than this, I'm going to be putting myself and the people close to me at great risk, and you either decide to go ahead or you don't? How did you make that decision? By the time I got to that point, I didn't have a choice. When the FBI and the National Police Agency were putting me under police protection in March 2008, one guy at the NPA whom I had known from my days of covering the police beat said to me, "Let me explain to you how this works. You're probably thinking, alright, I'll just go home. I wouldn't advise that. You've pissed off a guy who has very good connections in the United States. If you go home to your family he'll send someone to where you live and kill you; and if your family's around they will all be killed as collateral damage. If you ask, he'll just say, hey, it was just some crazy foreigner. Never meant for the family to be wiped too. So if you love your family, you're not going home until you resolved this." His advice to me was, "You're a writer. Time to write. He's angry with you now because you have information, but once it's out he'll have problems bigger than you to worry about." Do you worry about your family? I have a guarantee from someone up high in the Yamaguchi-gumi that they won't touch my family. Their word is pretty solid. It's a gentleman's agreement that they'll only kill me, which makes me feel better. Really? Sure, because there's less to worry about. What do you do to keep yourself centered? I meditate. Im going to get my Buddhist priest certification this year — thats what I originally went to Japan for. Ive been offered a meeting with Goto when I get that certification. Hes also a Buddhist priest now. Another boss promised that once they can be sure were not going to punch each others lights out, we should meet. Hes a changed man, he said. Im like, yeah, tell me another one. Is it a trend for ex-yakuza to become Buddhist priests? It's not uncommon. There are two reason for doing this. Once you set yourself up as a religious organization, you don't get taxed on your income. It's a great way to launder money. The other reason is that people love the bad guy becomes a good guy story. As soon as he left the Yamaguchi-gumi, there was an order out to hit him; but as soon as he becomes a Buddhist priest you can't kill him. Here's this guy trying to lead a good life and you killed him. You guys are evil. He's good. Goto leaked the Buddhist priest story all over the place. The priest robe is his bullet-proof vest. Is it your bullet-proof vest too? No, it's just something to do. I've got a lot of yakuza friends and cop friends and reporter friends. They all die early. It would be nice to be able to do their funerals for them. Is there anything about the yakuza that you admire? Unlike in America, where someones word is as light as a feather, some of the yakuza guys have demonstrated incredible loyalty. If they promise something — if they give their word — they honor it, even if that promise is no longer convenient or even detrimental to keep. Bushi ni nigon wa nai. ("A warrior does not have a double tongue.") Once you've said it, then you'll do it. A promise is a promise. It's so rare to meet anybody in this world who has any sense of honor, who puts actual importance in keeping their word. That's one of the nicer things about them. I was a very typical American when I started on this beat. Id say Id be somewhere and I wouldnt, I was late for appointments... To me those are typical American traits — sloppy, forgetful, doesnt honor their word, and doesnt remember the favors that have been done to them. Over time, Ive learned that if you say to one of these people, yeah Ill call you, then you better call them. Every time you say youll do something, you do it, and you build credibility with these people. Im willing to accept their codes of behavior and live by them. There's a lot of wisdom in the things that they've taught me. What's bad about that is that I'm probably a very hard person to be with. I'm a very hard person to date and to have as a friend because my expectations are high. As a result, I don't have that many close friends. I don't know if I'll ever date anyone again. Most of my closest friends are either cops or criminals. You've also said in the past that it's not safe for someone to be too close to you. I wonder if I should hand people a list that says: Hi, here are the risks of being close with me — like a warning on a cigarette pack — I have a dangerous job and I anger people and it might put you at risk if youre perceived as someone very close to me. I'm horribly overly paternal. I'm not a misogynist or a chauvinist, but I keep seeing women victimized. So with my friends who are female, I am overgenerous and overprotective to the point of being annoying. And there's guilt involved there. I probably care too much because I'm compensating for a time when I didn't care enough. I believe investigative journalists serve a function in society by correcting wrongs that the government or police won't address. It keeps society healthy. I believe in my cause, and am willing to risk personal injury to do that. I'd be setting a bad example for my children if I said, "When the bad guys yell in your face and threaten you, you run away." I like my job. I think I do some good in the world. Has this affected your health at all? You can toss around terms like PTSD, but that's not what it is. There's still a legitimate risk, however small, so I have to be careful. Sometimes I see someone who's walking behind me for too long or someone who just has that look and my fight or flight turns on. I think the psychological term is hypervigilance. When I walk into a restaurant I scope out the place. I almost always sit facing the door. I sleep in two to three hour shifts. I'm in lousy shape after smoking and drinking too much and being under constant stress. The other day, I had a migraine or a mini-stroke. It was ten in the morning, and I was Tweeting on my computer something funny that a yakuza boss had said recently when I noticed I couldn't see out of my left eye. I had a splitting headache and felt really nauseous. I tried dialing emergency but no words would come out of my mouth. So I walked to the clinic down the street, and they ran some tests. I had to cancel my flight to the US and book a new ticket. One of the things I love most about Japan is the public health care system. When I feel bad, I can go to the doctor without going bankrupt or worrying that my insurance company's going to drop me. If you had the choice, would you get out of this lifestyle? Yes, I would love to get out but I can't. I am trapped. How do I earn my living? I write. What's my next book about? It's about yakuza. Until I finish that book, I'm locked in. *The Yamaguchi-gumi is the largest yakuza group in Japan. The other two major ones are the Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai.
• Living with the Tesla Roadster Sport: One week in an electric light orchestra
  Shared on: February 23, 2010
  Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Tesla, Reviews, Electric 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport - Click above for high-res image gallery After finally getting myself situated in the back of the Boeing, I notice the lady to my left wearing a Tesla fleece. As fate, the alignment of the stars and unbridled dumb luck would have it, I was seated next to Rachel Konrad, Tesla's Senior Manager of Communications... for the next 10 hours. After exchanging pleasantries, discussing each other's plans for the Frankfurt Motor Show and getting acquainted, the topic of conversation naturally turned to cars, and the Tesla Roadster, in particular. "It's not just about performance," an overly animated Konrad told me. "What journalists don't understand is how functional it is. Owners forget to clean their windshield because they never have to go to the gas station!" Okay, sure. But if you're selling a vehicle that starts at $109,000, you're interested in more than avoiding dirty hands at the pump. You want the full sports car monty. Power, poise, engagement, the lot. And a bit of green cred to boot surely doesn't hurt. So after several hours of discussion, I finally say, "Hand it over to us for a week. We'll give it a proper review on its day-to-day livability. No track tests. No slalom speeds. No smoky burnouts. Just a comprehensive assessment of functionality." A handful of phone calls and dozens of emails later, I arrive at Tesla's flagship dealership in Menlo Park, CA to pick up a full-kitted 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport. After a tutorial on the charging procedure, the internal computer and signing my life away, I was off. The Roadster was mine for the next five days, so I promptly pulled off into a bus stop, set a destination for the coast, disabled the traction control and laid a set of elevens down the street from the dealership. Ladies and gentlemen, it pays to fly coach. Follow the jump to keep reading... Gallery: Review: 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport Photos by Brad Wood / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.Continue reading Living with the Tesla Roadster Sport: One week in an electric light orchestraLiving with the Tesla Roadster Sport: One week in an electric light orchestra originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
• Pound for pound, bats can drink you under the table
  Shared on: February 3, 2010
  One of the very nice things about fruit is that it will often ferment all on its own. And a few animal species take advantage of this, deliberately seeking out fermented fruit with the objective of painting the jungle red and waking up in the natural equivalent of a ditch at the side of the road. This works well if you happen to be fairly safe from predators, but not many animals have this luxury. Fruit and nectar eating bats certainly don't fall under the heading of "immune from predation," so researchers wondered what happened to fruit bats that ate from the fermented fruit. Considering body weight and the amount of energy required to keep a fruit bat going, the researchers figured that even the low alcohol content of fruit should still be enough to mean that a night's feeding involved a substantial amount of imbibing.
• Prints of inside-out teddy bear photos
  Shared on: January 27, 2010
  Kent Rogowski takes portraits of cute teddy bears that are gutted and turned inside out to reveal their even more lovable sides. The series of photographs is compiled in the delightful 2007 book Bears. Today, 20x200 issued limited edition archival pigment prints of two of Rogowski's bears. The 14" x 11" editions are limited to 500 and sell for $50. Two 40" x 30" prints of each are also available for $2,000. Kent Rogowski "Bears" prints here and here. (Thanks, Alan Rapp!) Previously:Teddy bears turned inside-out: photo book by Kent Rogowski - Boing ...
• FreeDocumentaries Catalogs Free Documentaries for Your Viewing Pleasure [Movies]
  Shared on: January 9, 2010
  FreeDocumentaries is a large repository of documentary films that have been released by their respective copyright owners for public display. You wont be stuck watching dated old films however—the offerings at FreeDocumentaries are recent and intriguing. One of the problems with many of the free offerings you'll find on the internet, especially in the category of full length movies, is that they're rather lacking and often filled with outdated and boring films. FreeDocumentaries is packed with recent films that are quite interesting like Adam Curtis' The Century of the Self, Michael Winterbottom's The Road to Guantanamo, and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. You can browse the documentaries by topic, search by title or topic, or view films by the regions they document. Clicking on any film listing will give you a trailer, additional information about the film, and allow you to select the window size you want to watch the film in. FreeDocumentaries is completely free and requires no registration. Have a favorite site for watching free movies online? Let's hear about it in the comments. FreeDocumentaries [via WiseBread]
• The Kingpin
  Shared on: December 21, 2009
  An exposé of the world's most notorious wildlife dealer, his special government friend, and his ambitious new plan. Photo Gallery and more info.
• Man's ecstasy collection stolen
  Shared on: December 11, 2009
  A thief ripped off a man's collection of more than two thousand Ecstasy tablets. (Stock photo for illustration purposes only.) The 46-year-old, who lives near Amsterdam, Netherlands, contacted the police because he's afraid that someone might take some of the pills which he claims could be poisonous. From the Edmonton Sun: A report in De Volkskrant daily Thursday said the man claimed he was not a drug dealer or user. "I've tried it before but didn't like it," the report quoted him saying. "My passion for collecting comes from the varied collection of colours, shapes and logos that are printed on the pills." According to a police statement, the man gathered the pills over a 20 year period and carefully stored them in coin collecting folders. Ecstasy pill collection allegedly stolen (via Dose Nation) Previously:Obama ecstasy tablets Boing Boing Colorful ecstasy mimic tablets and cocaine in a ukelele - Boing ... MDMA and loud music affects rat sex life - Boing Boing
• One Year Later: A Glimpse At Bernie’s Life Behind Bars
  Shared on: December 11, 2009
  It sort of feels like the name Bernie Madoff has been a household one for about two decades. Hard to believe he’s only been gracing headlines for one year. But what a year it’s been. Twelve months ago, Madoff was still running his investment shop, still living with Ruth in his posh Upper East Side apartment, still gracing events in bespoke suits, still jetting off on exotic vacations whenever he felt so moved. Today, as WSJ reporter Dionne Searcey writes, Madoff is inmate no. 61727-054 in the medium-security federal prison in Butner, N.C. Searcey, in her story today, gives a good glimpse into what his life is like behind bars and prison wire. She writes: Inmate No. 61727-054 shares an unlocked cell at the medium-security prison at Butner Federal Correctional Complex with a younger man named Frank. He wears khaki prison garb and has been spotted walking on an outdoor track. He plays bocce, chess and checkers. He scrubs pots and pans in the prison kitchen. . . . The 71-year-old Mr. Madoff also is salvaging something that disappeared in the outside world the moment his fraud was exposed: respect. “To every con artist, he is the godfather, the don,” says an inmate interviewed earlier this week. Shortly after arriving at Butner in July, reports Searcey, Madoff told Nancy Fineman, who represented investors in a suit against his wife, that he was fending off inmates who wanted to make a buck off his notoriety. “People wanted his signature because they wanted to sell it on eBay, so he wouldn’t sign anything,” she says. Some of Madoff’s fellow inmates suspect he has money hidden somewhere and try to cozy up to him in hopes of learning its location. But correctional officers keep a close watch on Madoff and don’t allow groups to crowd around him. “He looks like the rest of us doing time,” says the inmate who asked not to be identified. “He just acts like a normal guy.” One of our favorite anecdotes in the story concerns the above photo. Kenneth Calvin “K.C.” White, whose prison sentence in Butner for bank robbery overlapped with Madoff’s for several weeks this summer, says he met him in the line where inmates await medication. White is an artist who painted several murals throughout the prison. Madoff struck up a conversation, saying: “You’re the guy who does all the pictures around here,” White recalls. According to White, Madoff chatted about the fraud’s aftermath, claiming he “carried” employees at Bernard L. Madoff Securities LLC for more than two decades, yet wound up with an astronomical prison sentence. “I guess he felt they turned their back on him,” White says. Still, Madoff seemed proud, walking around the prison with his head held high. “He carried on like he’d been doing time for years,” White says. Madoff asked White to paint his portrait, so the bank robber drew a fast sketch in the prison paint shop in which Madoff worked at the time, according to White. Madoff told White he didn’t want to be depicted in his prison khakis, White says, so he drew him in a suit and tie. Photo: Philly.com
• Major record labels rip off 300,000 songs for compilation CDs, may owe $60 billion in damages
  Shared on: December 7, 2009
  Commentary: Even large multinational corporations can infringe someone's copyright.
  Jazz great Chet Baker's estate is suing the major record labels for releasing his music on Canadian CDs without paying compensation (a common practice in Canada, where over 300,000 songs have been released on CD without compensation). The defendants -- Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada -- have admitted that they owe at least CAD$50 million, but Baker's estate is entitled to up to CAD$60 billion. The claims arise from a longstanding practice of the recording industry in Canada, described in the lawsuit as "exploit now, pay later if at all." It involves the use of works that are often included in compilation CDs (ie. the top dance tracks of 2009) or live recordings. The record labels create, press, distribute and sell the CDs, but do not obtain the necessary copyright licences... It is difficult to understand why the industry has been so reluctant to pay its bills. Some works may be in the public domain or belong to a copyright owner difficult to ascertain or locate, yet the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Cockburn, Sloan, or the Watchmen are not hidden from view. The more likely reason is that the record labels have had little motivation to pay up. As the balance has grown, David Basskin, the president and CEO of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd., notes in his affidavit that "the record labels have devoted insufficient resources for identifying and paying the owners of musical works on the pending lists." The CRIA members now face the prospect of far greater liability. The class action seeks the option of statutory damages for each infringement. At $20,000 per infringement, potential liability exceeds $60 billion. Geist: Record industry faces liability over `infringement'
• Scottish brewery launches beer with 32% alcohol content.
  Shared on: November 27, 2009
  'World's strongest' beer with 32% strength launched. A warning on the label states: "This is an extremely strong beer; it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. In exactly the same manner that you would enjoy a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost." (from the BBC) So, who's in?