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The Winner Of The Debate: Mike Trout
I am so old that the previous two Triple Crowns were won in a) the first year I had any awareness of the game, and b) the first year I was a true fan.
I got kinda spoiled.
It was – and is – a singular accomplishment. Miguel Cabrera deserves all the praise. He deserves to be in the company of F. Robby and Yaz and all the rest. He does not deserve the Most Valuable Player Award.
I know, I know, I'm the traditionalist and the one who whined here about Felix Hernandez getting the Cy Young last year. And I'm not going to hang this entirely on the idea that historically there was nothing automatic about a Triple Crown equaling MVP (ask not just Ted Williams, but Lou Gehrig). But I also have an appreciation of (if not a slavish dedication to) all the statistics that have come into the game since Carl Yastrzemski's matchless September got him his place in history in 1967. And the thing being left out of the arguments about Cabrera versus Mike Trout is that the reason "The Triple Crown" was such a big deal all that time was that it wasn't just the imaginary title we gave the leader of three Glamor Batting Categories – it was the imaginary title we gave the leader of the only three batting categories we had.
I exaggerate only slightly here. The years that the baseball cards were horizontal and not vertical, we also got Games Played, At Bats, Hits, Doubles and Triples printed on the back. Well, those were just for us kids, right? What about the grown-up stuff?
Who's Who In Baseball – the softcover handbook, still printed, the last vestige of the fabled baseball publishing industry of the 1930's – offered exactly what the baseball cards did…plus stolen bases.
Still, that was nowhere near official. What about the bible of the game? The veritable New Phone Book of the season ahead and the season behind? What about The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide? It dated to 1942 and its antecedents stretched back to Beadle's Dime Base-Ball Player edited by Henry Chadwick in 1860.
Here's exactly what were considered baseball's official stats the year Yaz did The Miggy:
(Sorry for the warping. My '68 guide still has some spine left to it)
This is way more sophisticated, no? Games, At Bats, Runs, Hits, Total Bases (ooooh, Total Bases), Two Base Hits, Three Base Hits, Homers, RBI, Sacrifice Hits, Sacrifice Flies, Stolen Bases, Caught Stealing, and "Percentage" – Batting Average.
By the way, Caught Stealing was a revolutionary statistical addition.
Notice anything missing there? I don't mean WAR and VORP and OPS and UZR and RISP and Percentage of Pitchers Faced With ERA under 4.00. I mean:
In 1968 baseball's OFFICIAL STATISTICS DID NOT EVEN INCLUDE ON BASE, OR SLUGGING PERCENTAGE.
The Triple Crown was The Triple Crown because it was the most sophisticated measurement of a batter's total impact on the game. And in terms of historical placement, it was a gold mine. When Frank Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski won their Crowns we were still a couple of years away from The Baseball Encyclopedia. What those of us who did not have complete runs of The Sporting News Guide, The Reach Guide, The Spalding Guide, The Players' League Guide, and Beadle's Dime Base-Ball Player had, was The Official Encyclopedia Of Baseball.
In one fan's lifetime, in my trip from an eight-year old going to his first Yankee game to the 53-year old sitting in the front row last night going deaf from the excessive PA system, who used to host the telecasts of the World Series before the turn of the century (!), we went from what you see to the left, to WAR and PZR.
That – Full Name, Birth Date, Birth Place, Date of Death (sometimes), Batted/Threw (sometimes), Games Played, Won-Lost Record, and Batting Average – was all that we had for the official baseball historical record the last time somebody won the Triple Crown before Miguel Cabrera did it last night. No homers, no RBI, no Slugging Percentage – no hits, no runs, no errors!
And – you're right – Ruth's entry is the most sophisticated one in the book because he was a pitcher and a position player!
So I applaud what Cabrera did, and I want to buy him something to thank him for doing something that merely reminds me of the excitement of a player sweeping the statistical board – as we thought we knew it – when I was a kid.
But I've grown up (somewhat) and so have the statistics. And I won't labor them anew here but Mike Trout had a remarkable season according to the closest thing we have to an all-encompassing number, WAR:
1. TROUT, Los Angeles (10.72)
2. CANO, New York (8.23)
3. VERLANDER, Detroit (7.44)
4. CABRERA, Detroit (6.95)
5. BELTRE, Texas (6.66)
6. PRICE, Tampa Bay (6.47)
7. GORDON, Kansas City (6.28)
8. HARRISON, Texas (6.09)
9. SALE, Chicago (5.80)
10. ZOBRIST, Tampa Bay (5.6)
11. HUNTER, Los Angeles (5.5)
12. JACKSON, Detroit (5.30)
In short, Trout was about 30 percent more valuable than the runner-up (and that's with Robinson Cano's explosive finish), and he doubled the value of the 12th best player in the league. For contrast, the top five guys in NL War finished in a grouping of 0.5 (Buster Posey 7.2, McCutchen 7.0, Braun 6.8, Molina 6.7, Wright 6.7) allowing room for interpretation and argument. To get down to half the value of the WAR champ, you have to go to Carlos Beltran and David Freese and a tie for 33rd.
That room for argument is non-existant in the American League. Miguel Cabrera won a Triple Crown, and Mike Trout's season was 54 percent more valuable.
Which is, at minimum, the added value of all the new statistics, since Yaz won, and I was a kid, and there were only 20 teams – and "The Triple Crown" was the best we had.
42 Comments
Why can't we make it easy and say that Trout & Miggy are offensively close enough that Trout deserves the award b/c he plays out of this world defense and steals bases….where Miggy is an average/below average defender…
(RBI & BA are meaningless/antiquated stats. Miggy's OPS does not separate him from Trout.)
What meaningless/antiquated stats are you basing your defensive conclusions on?
There's something about Mr Cabrera from the beginning of the season that we're forgetting, which has to be said.
When Prince Fielder came in from the Brewers, Miguel was switched from 1st to 3rd base, after several years of not playing the position – "go back to third and make a defensive fool of yourself"… yet no complaint was heard from the man. Many pundits predicted a Tiger defensive disaster… yet no complaint was heard from the man, and Detroit ended up #12 overall in MLB fielding, out of 30 teams. A .966 fielding % and 19 errors is NOT a Dr Strangeglove scenario in a year of defensive transition.
Put in a very awkward situation, Cabrera led by example of "for the good of the team" spirit and professionalism (the opposite of a diva), and won himself a Triple Crown to boot! If as a baseball fan that doesn't impress you, turn in your credentials now.
Have you ever heard a jazz quartet take itself to the next level when a superior guest musician jams with them that night? Without question Cabrera inspired his teammates and he gets my MVP "applause vote".
While I like the WAR stat, it still isn't perfect and shouldn't be used as the sole measurement for an MVP award. WAR compares players at the same position, which makes it easy to determine the most valuable player at that certain position. However, comparing WAR from position to position doesn't make sense to me. What the WAR numbers tell me, is that there was overall better play throughout the league at third base than the outfield, since Trout's WAR is so high and Cabrera's is relatively low for the numbers he put up.
I do think there is a strong argument for both players, and I believe Trout's defense could be the deciding factor in the MVP race if people aren't blinded by the triple crown numbers.
Love the blog.
1. The games count the same in April as they do in September. This is not a difficult concept. Besides, "coming up big"/ clutch does not exist: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2656
2. Trout OPS in September = .836. Yeah, that's quite a disappearance.
Just a thought, a stat for "coming up big" / clutch doesn't sound that difficult, off the top of my head maybe "low strikeout ratio" + high BABIP with RISP, then maybe add "in late innings" in there.
What set apart Yaz in 1967, besides the Triple Crown, was his superhuman performance in the pennant race. Delivering in September is huge in my book. Let's compare Cabrera and Trout in September:
Cabrera 104 22 32 6 0 10 27 13 24 0 0 .308 .378 .654 1.032
Trout 101 21 26 3 1 5 6 20 32 6 0 .257 .380 .455 .835
The key points: Cabrera wins in HR, 10-5; RBI, 27-6; BA, .308-.257, and Slugging, .654-.455. OBP is virtually identical. Trout, of course, wins in stolen bases.
If you want to be an MVP you have to deliver when it counts. Cabrera did, Trout didn't.
Uh, it all counts. That's why we look at the whole season instead of cherry-picking small sample sizes. Miggy can be player of the month for September I guess though…
So you're effectively saying there's no difference between coming up big in April and doing the same in September. And it's fine to disappear — as Trout pretty much did — in September when your team is struggling (and ultimately failing) to make the playoffs.
I doubt even you believe that.
Of course it all counts, but as a sample look at the Rangers, leading their division for 161 games, then relegated to the wildcard on game 162. Math as a block for 162 games is good in retrospect, but there's also distribution. You may score a thousand runs in May, but only a hundred in September.
Please don't get me wrong, I believe in Bill James, but I'm still not sure if things go back to square one when every team has a sabermetrics department.
1. The games count the same in April as they do in September. This is not a difficult concept. Besides, "coming up big"/ clutch does not exist: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2656
2. Trout OPS in September = .836. Yeah, that's quite a disappearance.
Oh God spare me the "clutch doesn't exist " trope. Only Stat geeks who never played beyond junior high buy that one. But I realize you guys all have to drink the BP Kool Aid. Sort of like Tea Partiers an Fox News.
I played in high school, as if it matters….
Do you know what an ad hominem is though?
I guess I'd go that way too if the facts weren't on my side.
Try addressing the other points I made. I'll wait…
People like you have been misinterpreting that old Sheehan piece since he wrote it. He in fact says: "The correct idea is that clutch performances exist, and clutch players exist: every last one of them."
His point is that over the course of an entire career the statistics don't support a player being more "clutch" than others. But certainly over a period of time — a game, a week, the month of September — a player can perform better than another. And in virtually every offensive category Cabrera significantly outperformed Trout when his team needed it most.
If Trout had done the same in September his team might still be playing. But he fell off significantly from his extraordinary numbers in the previous months.
I never said — nor would I — that Cabrera is more of a clutch player than Trout. They're both obviously terrific ballplayers. All I said — and the facts support me (since you're big on facts, albeit selectively) — is that Cabrera put up much bigger numbers down the stretch.
Yes, Trout is waaaay better in the field. And Jon Jones is a better MMA fighter than Kevin James. But I think Cabrera deserves points for playing a position he does not want to play! Think about that.
It's not like the Tigers are trying to hide him in left field. No, the dude is standing on the Hot Corner, with one hundred chances per night of ending up with a hole in his throat like one of those anti-smoking PSAs.
I had to look all this stuff up. Shame on you! So I'm thinking it's sounding like the response is more objective rather than subjective or vice versa….whichever? Confusing but then again you're better at numbers. Can we thank Bill James or Earnshaw Cook for this sabermeterics thingy? All I know can fit into a thimble for a very tiny person but I enjoy reading your opinions. Baseball will forever keep us all young at heart and that's the beauty of it. N'est pas? LyK
Where exactly is WAR in the box score?
And how many games did Trout win for Anaheim in April?
WAR– what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Cab– MVP.
It ain't nothin' but a heartbreaker (Mike Trout)
Friend only to the undertaker (Bud Selig)
Acknowledging that this is contrary to your reasoning on Hernandez's Cy Young award doesn't make it any less laughable. Are you now saying that Hernandez's Cy Young may have been justified?
Any other year I'd consider giving Trout the nod-129 runs scored in just 139 games played bolsters any offense- BUT a) the Tigers won their division while the Angels couldn't even finish ahead of the A's and b) the Triple Crown. Even if Cabrera played for the Indians I'd give him the nod. Ironic given that Trout is a fleet footed lead-off man vs power hitting Cabrera (not that Trout's 30 hrs are chop liver) but Trout fanned 40 times more than Cabrera despite 75 less at-bats.
Interesting bit of trivia: When Frank Robinson won the Triple Crown, it was the only time he led the league in any of the TP categories.
Mr. Olbermann this was a great piece breaking down the numbers. Thanks for writing it. Also, I know this is a weird request, but I know of no other way to contact you. Can you unblock me at Twitter @QuadCityPat. I have been an avid supporter of you and your work and really have no idea why I'm blocked. Thanks for your time
I don't trust statistics with the word "Replacement" in them; it smacks too much of scab labor. "See, if we replaced this guy with another guy who wasn't as expensive, we could save some money . . ." I appreciate the main point of your argument, Keith, that HR, RBI and AVG used to be all we had, but if you take OPS, what happens? Cabrera wins. And if we take "Led team to the playoffs" Cabrera wins. Really, isn't that what "most valuable" is about, finally? The Angels couldn't get to the playoffs, so how valuable was he? Not as valuable as Torii Hunter was in September, that's for sure. And he struck out in a huge at-bat against Texas when it mattered last week. He'll have his time. Right now I'd like to see Cabrera have a monster series . . . and the A's win.
(Keith — when will you be back on TV?)
I wish that people would leave their politics off this site. Keith Olbermann is here to talk about baseball and so are we–and I say that as one who thinks he's too conservative. Now, that said, I find it interesting that the baseball traditionalist is using the new-fangled stats, and it moves me off of my view that of course Cabrera should be MVP because he won the Triple Crown. Yet I also think that no one could or should say that Trout was robbed if Cabrera won it, any more than we could say that Cabrera was robbed if Trout won it.
So far so good in the last 48 hours, the baseball comments far outweigh everything and anything else, hooray!
Talking baseball! Kluszewski Campanella. Talking baseball…!
"Everything is relative" — Ma & Pa Kettle
What good is a great WAR if your team does not make the play offs? Seems like the Angels could have saved money with a triple A player.
Lets just say Trout defense makes up for the gap between him and Miggy. You could even say he is slightly more valuable if you think stolen bases are more important than batting in runners…
Further comparing the two… The Tigers don't make the playoffs without MIggy. The Angels don't make the playoffs without Trout… oh wait… the Angels didn't make the playoffs with him either…
You have to be kidding me. Any stat (WAR) that gives more value to a Robinson Cano than a Justin Verlander has to be called into question by even the brightest baseball minds and statisticians. I mean, really. Cano? That's enough for me. MIGGY is MVP.
Gee, several posts ago we were actually talking about the Triple Crown. Did you know that Yaz was not a unanimous winner of the MVP? That is, he did not receive all of the first place votes cast for the award. One other player got one other first place vote. Hints: He was a Minnesota Twin. He is believed to be the major leaguer who broke up more no-hitters than any other player. He definitely once played all nine positions in a major league game and unlike Dagoberto Campaneris, he finished the game. I give you: Cesar Tovar
Where was all this WAR discussion in previous years? That's right, it didn't exist. Why then, is it brought out in a year when a player wins the Triple Crown? Where was the importance of WAR in previous MVP races? Nowhere. WAR is a stupid statistic. Wins Against Replacement is meaningless. It's a stat about how well a non existent replacement player would do if they stepped in for a player that exists if both players were able to play the entire season. It not only involves a player that doesn't exist, it determines how well said non-existent player would play and then compares that against the player who exists and how well they would play. Let's review, WAR attempts to put into numbers how many games a team would win if an actual player, using other statistics to guess how his season would pan out, played a full season versus how a minor league non existent player at the same positions, using other statistics to guess how the non existent player would pan out, would pan out.
How many non existent layers of BS does a statistic need before it can be laughed at? Hey, Trout has a better WAGRP than Miggy. Not familiar with WAGRP? It's Wins Against Godzilla and Rue Paul. It's calculated by using statistics to determine how many more wins against Godzilla and Rue Paul a player would receive if Rue Paul went through with the sex change, then injected steroids and topped it off by teaming up with Godzilla to try and replace the player in question. Why it's been left out of the MVP discussion is beyond me. Trout has the better WAGRP than Miggy. Every heard of "WAFC". It's Wins Above Fat Chicks. It calculates how many more wins a player would have if they didn't bang fatties throughout the year versus wins against a fake minor league player who stayed away from fat girls. Trout has a better WAFC than Miggy as well.
Here's a better idea. Look at the stats that matter, such as batting average, RBI's, HR's, OBP, etc, take a look at what a team actually did with a player versus what they would have done if an actual player who exists with a record in either the majors or minors replaced the, and then ask who is the most valuable?
With Trout the Angels lose their division, just as they would have without him. So let's put a stat with three unknowable things (how well a team would do with a non existent player over an existent player, how well the non existent player would play, and how well in that same situation said actual player would play) and put that out in front of just about every other measurable statistic other than stolen bases and use that instead..
What is WAR: "Wins Above Replacement, commonly known as WAR, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic that is used to show how many more wins a player would give a team as opposed to a "replacement level", or minor league/bench player at that position. While WAR values are scaled equally for pitchers and hitters, the result is calculated differently for pitchers versus position players: position players are evaluated using statistics for fielding and hitting, while pitchers are evaluated using statistics related to the opposing batters' hits, walks and strikeouts in Fangraph's version and runs allowed per 9 innings with a team defense adjustment for Baseball Reference's version.
There is no clearly established formula for WAR. Sites that provide the statistic, such as Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs, and Baseball Reference, all calculate it differently; however, all of these sites calculate the value of WAR using these principles, and each site publicly acknowledges their methods for calculating their individual WAR values."
OK, so let's review. Cabrera is ahead in most actual statistics and there is no question the Tigers don't make the playoffs without him where as the Angels don't make the playoffs with Trout yet Trout is the MVP because he's ahead in a statistic baseball experts can't agree on that is derived from other statistics that attempts to put a number to how many games a team would or wouldn't have won if a player was replaced by a non existent minor league player.
How desperate and reaching is that logic? If you can even call it logic. Which no thinking man can. WAR is a reach by Yankee fans who hate the Tigers for beating them three playoff series in a row to justify giving the MVP to a guy whose team didn't make the playoffs with him over the first Triple Crown winner in decades who is in the same league as the other guy and whose team wouldn't have made the playoffs without him.
Delusional doesn't even begin to describe it.


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Origin : Indian
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I posted earlier about how Jimmy Kimmel set up camp inside Billy Bob Thornton's ass last night, not bothering to call that skeeze out on his bullsh-t.
Would Chelsea Handler do the same?
I'd like to believe my Chelsea would NEVER do the same.
At the very least, Chelsea does not play pretend face with Ebola Hilton.
This interview makes my life.
It's Chelsea on her show with Jenny McCarthy and they're telling the audience about the Bravo A List awards the other night. They don't think very highly of the Bravo A List Award. Right off the get, you know these two bitches mean business.
So Ebola is there, and Ebola walks up to Jenny and, well, watch for yourself. It's right off the top.
Finally, right?
Ebola is a disease. She's stupid. She's a virus. She is a piece of sh-t. Tina Fey knows it, Chelsea Handler knows it, Chelsea Handler isn't afraid to say it. And she won't apologise for it either.
This doesn't happen often enough. Not even the Mighty Opes, with all her "honest" talk, would call that virus out for what it is.
Chelsea Handler > Oprah Winfrey
I love her so much.
PS. Have you read Chelsea's My Horizontal Life? I did recently and the part about her night with the midget (not Tom Cruise) will kill you.
Photos from FayesVision/Wenn.com


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LETTER- Let's compete to use new train
Three cheers for Amtrak, the new train, and the rebirth of Virginia passenger rail! [May 20 news story: "Choo ching: New Amtrak service smashes ridership goal"
This train is the City's first train in 30 years and the first to go directly (no train change) from the city to points north of New York City in 159 years. According to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, for March 2010, the fastest Virginia passenger growth has tracked the new train's route: Lynchburg (160%), Manassas (100%), Culpeper (90%), Charlottesville (68%), and Alexandria (38%).
In a friendly competition, Manassas rail advocates intend to take the #1 spot from Lynchburg later this year by 1) generating interest in the June 5 Manassas Rail Festival; encouraging hotels and B&Bs to tell potential visitors on their websites that Amtrak takes them straight into Downtown; encouraging day-tripping; and improving the rail station's webcam.
All cities along the train's route should encourage economic development by doing similar things. Let's see who can increase passenger growth the fastest.
Daniel Peacock
2 comments
Here is the deal. Manassasians have the choice of the AMTRAK or the Metro, or even the VRE.
It is a matter of sitting in traffic to get to the Vienna station for the Metro, or waiting the same amount of time for the mid morning AMTRAK. VRE has a Manassas Park station-
money will be the key
Well, Manassas also has a VRE stop at the actual station in Old Town, as well as the stops at the airport and Manassas Park. Then again, this is a friendly competition where everyone wins.


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THE Coalition has accused Julia Gillard of breaking the law by lying to authorities about a union fund she helped establish 20 years ago, while the Prime Minster has dismissed a key witness against her as a self-confessed fraud who uses Asian prostitutes and is regarded as an imbecile.
As the opposition's deputy leader, Julie Bishop, vowed to keep pursuing the prime minister despite having no documentary evidence to back her central claim, Ms Gillard again protested her innocence and warned the Coalition it risked losing voters by focusing on ''filth and smear and sleaze''.
''There's not one person who's able to come forward and clearly say I did something wrong.''
But she did not deny she had written a letter to West Australian corporate authorities in 1992 vouching for the bona fides of the slush fund.
Instead, Ms Gillard told Parliament that the alleged letter had never been produced.
With Parliament to rise for the year on Thursday, the opposition is pursuing Ms Gillard over her actions as a lawyer 20 years ago with Slater & Gordon.
She provided legal advice to her then boyfriend and Australian Workers Union Victorian state secretary, Bruce Wilson, who established a slush fund in 1992 known as the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
The fund, contributed to by construction companies, was supposed to be used for the re-election of AWU officials on a workplace safety platform but instead Mr Wilson siphoned money from it. In one instance, Mr Wilson bought a house in Fitzroy in the name of his sidekick Ralph Blewitt.
Mr Blewitt said last night Ms Gillard may well be innocent of knowing the fund was a rort.
''I don't know if she knew.''
Ms Gillard repeatedly protested that all she did was provide legal advice to Mr Wilson and she had no other knowledge of, or involvement with, the fund, and that she dumped Mr Wilson in 1995 when the fraud emerged.
Ms Bishop has accused the Prime Minister of knowing all along that the fund was a rort and having helped with the deceit.
She alleged Ms Gillard should have satisfied herself that legal requirements were met, which included the union's national executive approving the fund's creation and that it could contain ''AWU'' in its title.
Also, to be incorporated, a fund needed five members whereas this fund had just two - Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt.
Ms Gillard rejected this, saying ensuring whether these requirements were met was a matter for the union and the incorporating body, the Western Australian Registrar of Incorporated Associations.
She said she assumed the AWU had approved the fund because she was dealing with Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt who were elected officers of the AWU.
Ms Bishop alleged the WA Commissioner of Corporate Affairs raised concerns and Ms Gillard wrote in 1992 saying the fund ''complied with the requirements of the Act even though she knew it did not''. Ms Bishop was unable to produce the letter.
Ms Gillard was especially scathing of Mr Blewitt, who claims she illegally witnessed him signing over power of attorney regarding the Fitzroy property without him being present.
Ms Gillard denied this. ''It comes down to Mr Blewitt's word against mine.'' She noted Mr Blewitt fled Indonesia to avoid a police interview in relation to land fraud, used Asian prostitutes and ''has published lewd and degrading comments and accompanying photographs of young women on his Facebook page''.
''Mr Blewitt, according to people who know him, has been described as a complete imbecile, an idiot, a stooge, a sexist pig, a liar, and his sister has said he's a crook and rotten to the core.''
Mr Blewitt rejected her attack as a smear. ''What bloke hasn't on holiday or away,'' he said of the use of prostitutes.
Phillip Coorey is the political editor based in Canberra. He is a two-time winner of the Paul Lyneham award for press gallery excellence.


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The City of Huntsville has a rich history of economic growth since its founding in 1835. As one of the oldest cities in Texas, Huntsville retains many natural and historic resources that offer the community a higher quality of life.
Although the community proudly touts its history, it is not stuck in the past. Capitalizing on the historical nature, natural resources and growing art community has helped the city to earn designations as a Texas Main Street City and State Cultural District. It is with these assets and desire from community leaders to grow that Huntsville will continue to experience a positive trend of development for years to come.
As the county seat of Walker County, Huntsville is located in a prime area of the Interstate 45 corridor. The anticipated growth from the Houston and Dallas metropolises offers many opportunities for businesses and industries. Huntsville is 70 miles north of Houston and 170 miles south of Dallas and sits within the Texas Triangle, the area of Texas outlined by the metropolitan areas of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. This location provides convenient access to the largest cities in the state all while maintaining a charming sense of community for citizens. National Forest land and Huntsville State Park also share the I-45 corridor with Huntsville and are significant tourist destinations for the southeast Texas region. Many visitors utilize the Bruce Brothers Regional Airport in Huntsville, a general aviation airport with a 5000 runway and full service terminal, to access surrounding communities in Walker County. For visitors that do not have access to small aircraft, George Bush International Airport is just an hour south of Huntsville on the north side of Houston and allows for a picturesque drive into town. The Port of Houston and Port of Galveston are also easy to access from Huntsville by way of the Interstate 45 corridor.
Huntsville's prime location is not its only asset; it is also home to Sam Houston State University, one of the fastest growing universities in the state. With an enrollment of over 21,000 students, the University has plans in place to expand their enrollment to over 25,000 within the next few years. One of the greatest benefits of having a university in Huntsville is that it helps to provide a continuous pool of talent for the workforce. SHSU is classified as a "Doctoral Research University" by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, placing SHSU in the top seven percent of all U.S. colleges and universities. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education also classified SHSU as a "Community Engaged" university. This honor was awarded in 2010 to only sixty-one public institutions nationwide and acknowledges the university's significant commitment to serving the community. Several new programs and a steady increase in enrollment will continue to expand the opportunities for an educated workforce for area employers. A new Life Sciences building has recently been constructed and has been serving students' needs since 2018. SHSU is growing fast and continues to contribute to the overall increase in economic activity within Huntsville.
Partnership with the SHSU Small Business Development Center and several departments within the College of Business has helped to assist the City of Huntsville with creating economic development programs for existing businesses and new businesses that are interested in locating to Huntsville. The SHSU SBDC offers business counseling, business planning advice, educational opportunities and access to funding methods for businesses in the community. The City of Huntsville Business Retention and Expansion program works with existing businesses to make sure that local businesses are maximizing available services and are continuing the growth pattern that brought them to Huntsville. Evaluating programs and increasing services to these businesses helps to support the overall health of the city.


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To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in
the country's service and with gratitude
for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.
—President Woodrow Wilson, November 11, 1919, proclaiming the first Armistice Day
In 1954, President Eisenhower declared November 11, Veteran's Day, changing the name from Armistice Day (established a year after the end of World War I.) He also included all men and women who have ever served as honorees.
As the nation extends its gratitude and appreciation to our men and women in uniform this November 11, the story behind our national holiday, its name, and those involved deserve recognition as well. To do this, one must visit Emporia, Kansas, 1953.
If The Shoe Fits
Shoe store owner Alvin J. King was a man whose patriotism was ripe at age 15 when
he tried to join the Navy at the end of World War I. Too young to become a sailor, his support of the military never waned. Later in life, as a business owner, Alvin got involved with American War Dads during World War II. Disappointed that those serving after
World War I were not also recognized, King embarked on a campaign to transform Armistice Day into Veterans Day. His efforts were embraced by most fellow merchants
in town, as well as Emporia's Board of Education. On November 11, 1953, King and his champions closed their doors and observed the first "All" Veterans Day.
King's campaign, however, did not stop there. United States Representative Edward Rees, an Emporia native, helped draft a bill establishing Veterans Day as a national holiday, with its newly christened name and breadth of honor. The bill was signed into law by President Eisenhower in 1954, with both King and Rees present at the signing.
Change Of Date, Its Restoration, and Annual Ceremony
Over a decade later, the holiday was moved to the fourth Monday in October by Congressional law, enacted in 1971. However, several states returned to observing Veterans Day on November 11 for the next four years, when Congress once again
decreed it as the holiday's official date.
Every November 11, at 11 a.m., members from each branch of the military honor our
dead at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The President places a wreath at the Tomb to the sound of "Taps" played on the bugle.
This Veteran's Day
This year, as you hang your flags and proudly wear your red, white, and blue, remember to thank our men and women in uniform for their proud service. We honor a tradition begun nearly a century ago, forged in history, and transformed by a man and his community, who felt that all who serve deserve nothing less.
Department of Veterans Affairs


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Yale University Campus - Student Watch Area
This watch area is for students who want to receive alerts about community concerns in and about the Yale Campus.
Notified About
121 Elm St New Haven, CT 06510, USA - Town_Green
Recent layoffs have meant that as of February 28, 2011, the total number of hours that the New Haven main library branch opens have been reduced from 185 hours per month to 148. The branches have taken the brunt of the reductions, with monthly hours reduced from 136 to 96 including elimination of Saturday hours.
The closing of the libraries is a crucial issue of public space and civic vitality in New Haven. Libraries should be active community hubs where neighbors can meet and cement relationships, not abandoned buildings.
Public Libraries are educational agencies that provide materials and services to all members in the community from preschoolers to seniors. The library is accessible to students for study and research when public schools are not open. The library provides the only computer access some public school students have to complete their homework assignments.
Public Libraries help build a strong economy. Our unemployment rate has been at least 12%, and likely to be above 50% among youth in some city neighborhoods. Many employers have transitioned to online employment applications. Public Libraries provide the only access some people have to computer technology and job searches.
Please "vote" here if you believe that the City of New Haven should immediately restore all of the eliminated library hours, either through re-hiring of laid off employees or through other measures.
Information, updates and additional ways to advocate for this issue will be posted here and you will receive them if you request to be notified of updates.
(I have posted this at the request of an elderly New Haven resident who no longer has access to the internet, due to closing of library hours on Saturday in her neighborhood)
153-265 Whitney Ave New Haven, CT 06511, USA - Yale University CampusIf you do not want neighbors to block Yale from building the new School of Management building click "I want this fixed too" here.
Elm Street Cycle Track? Acknowledged238 Elm St New Haven, CT - Downtown
Last year, in their Downtown Bicycle and Pedestrian Gap Analysis (http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/TrafficParking/pdfs/GapAnalysis2009.pdf), Nelson\Nygaard Consultants recommended a physically separated bike lane—or cycle track—on Elm Street. How would you design such a facility? View a 3D mock-up of two potential designs here and offer your suggestions. Don't like it? Download Google SketchUp to your computer here: http://sketchup.google.com/ and then download my drawings here: http://www.box.net/shared/z8e1db4ssq and give it your best shot.
For cycle track design guidelines and best practices, have a look at this design guide from the National Association of City Transportation Officials: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/design-guide/cycle-tracks/
and this report from bicycle-oriented transportation planning consultants at Alta Planning: http://www.altaplanning.com/cycle+tracks.aspx
New Haven CT - Downtown
Nominate New Haven Here:
For More Info Visit:
Join the Facebook Group:
Google is planning to build, and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country. They will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. Google will offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000, and potentially up to 500,000 people.
141-199 Highland St New Haven, CT 06511, USA - Prospect Hill
Speeding on Highland Street has created an extremely unsafe situation, especially at pick-up and drop-off times at a local preschool here. Yesterday, at about 4:30 PM, a parent's car door was damaged by a speeding car (which did not stop). Thankfully, neither the parent NOR the child was injured. However, there are young children getting in and out of cars, being dropped off by caregivers on foot and by bike, and being escorted across the street here.
Please, we need this speeding curtailed and traffic calming measures implemented before a tragic incident occurs here.
UPDATE: The city and the school now are working together on this-- but in good conscience, we cannot close the issue since it has yet to be fixed.
157 Church St New Haven, CT 06510, USA - Town_Green
This is a thread to discuss issues related to the ongoing problem of violence in some areas of New Haven and surrounding towns. Please vote here if you want to see this problem addressed and if you agree:
1. Every citizen has the right to freedom from fear: a safe neighborhood and a safe house.
2. No child living in New Haven or anywhere else nearby should have to hear gunshots every week in their neighborhood (I currently do!).
3. A friend recently said "it is easier to get a gun than a quart of milk in my neighborhood." This is obviously not an acceptable situation.
4. A comprehensive community strategy is needed to stop the violence. Elected representatives should be able to explain exactly what they are doing to support the community's strategy.
5. The constant outdoor gunfire at the police training range is not acceptable. People living in Newhallville and Beaver Hills hear constant gunfire from this range and it sends the wrong message.
Please post ideas for community organizing to stop the message, links to relevant pages, etc -- and send the message to everyone that enough is enough!
Related articles:
MOTORCYCLES ArchivedNew Haven - DixwellLoud motorcyles, especially during Summer months, constantly disturb and harass citizens of New Haven by operating with illegal and potentially harmful exhaust systems. Why doesn't the NHPD or the Dept. Of Health do anything about this?
New York is working on legislation:
Drivers Ignoring the Crosswalk Acknowledged468 College St New Haven, CT 06511 - DowntownDrivers going both ways on College never stop at the pedestrian crosswalk at the Wall St. intersection. Yale Police needs to crack down on this, since it's only a matter of time before a pedestrian gets seriously hurt here.
HUGE pothole ArchivedGlen Rd. Between Winthrop And Norton New Haven, CT - DowntownHuge pothole on the middle of the street. Took out 2 of my tires.
127 Church St New Haven, CT 06510, USA - Town_Green
This is what the street looks like at 9:30AM. Massive excess of road capacity which leads to speeding, combined with poor conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.
A buffered bike lane, which is a standard in NYC and Philadelphia now, would make the street safer for all road users by narrowing it and reducing speed.
This is a very popular bike route and with an actual lane, bike use would triple overnight (based on experiences of other cities that do this). This would free up more parking for local businesses to thrive and hire more staff.
986 Chapel St New Haven, CT 06511, USA - Town_Green
A former comedy club, this Yale-owned storefront at 986 Chapel Street has been empty since before Bruce Alexander came to New Haven in 1998. (Out of fairness to Bruce, Yale didn't take ownership of this piece of the Schiavone portfolio until 1999.)
C'mon Bruce, you're a real estate whiz. I know you and Yale can do better, -- especially given the fact that this is such a great location. Renovate the hideous storefront into something respectable, and then I bet you'll find a good tenant in a hurry.
PS -- It is not okay that next door at 976 Chapel is also a permanently dead storefront. I understand that it is such a big space that it's tough to rent. However, lower the rent if you have to! This is prime real estate, and the neighborhood deserves another lively retail tenant.
Bruce's bio here:
email Bruce, (politely please), at email@example.com
Apple Store Desperately Needed Archived286 York St New Haven, CT 06520 - DixwellI recently traveled over 1.5 hours to go to an Apple store in the West Farms Mall. I think this would be an ideal location, with shops open late already the hours would be perfect. Coffee houses next door, ABP on the corner - parking down York Street and on Broadway.


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The plan was, for the last day that we were going to book a hotel close to the airport because our flight was scheduled to leave at 7am. We really liked staying in Manhattan, and the Pod Hotel was quite comfortable both in location and cleanliness.
I'm really getting hooked on those Ess-A-Bagels so much that we're going to have a hard time finding the equivalent in Tokyo. This morning I had a "Chocolate Chip" cream cheese and she had a "Very Berry". A little bit too sweet, but they were both delicious.
We went to the Met, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I didn't want to be there too long. It's such a large place we zipped through the places that interested us the most, namely the Roman and Egyptian, and Japanese art exhibits.
From there we went to the Guggenheim Museum.
We didn't go in. We would've been totally burnt out if we did. I took a few photos from outside, then we went into Central Park around the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.
One "landmark" I wanted to check out was the Seinfeld diner, Tom's Restaurant. (Also "Tom's Diner", the Suzanne Vega song). From the outside I could see that it looked nothing like the Seinfeld set.
At that moment I thought it'd be cool to go to the "Soup Nazi" Soup Kitchen International, but looks like I'm quite a few years too late. Also was a bit disappointing I didn't get to see the CBGBs facade either.
We walked to the nearby Columbia University where we sat on the library steps where I picked up some free wifi.
I wanted to go to the Rockefeller Center before dusk, so we could go to the "Top of the Rock" observation deck during the day and the lights at night. In my opinion I think the view from here is superior to the Empire State Building.
One highlight of the Manhattan skyline is the Empire State itself and the Rockefeller is in a great mid-Manhattan position which shows off Lower Manhattan to the south and Central Park in the north.
By day..
.. And at night.
We would have stayed there longer, but I thought we'd have one last crack at the cancellation line for "Wicked". Nope, we missed out. I'm happy I still got these panoramas looking really good. I did another for Times Square.
..And one more of the rooftop view from the Pod Hotel.
For the whole trip I'd taken about 466 photos. I managed to squeeze them in a New York Minute (and a half). Don't blink or you'll miss something. Look carefully for that pesky Battery Park squirrel!
Thank You New York for the most interesting experience. Worlds away from Japan, and another world away from where I'm from. It's definitely help me understand the New Yorkers that I've met here in Japan.
I'll be back again someday, for sure. But next time it won't be via San Francisco. It's the longest 6 hour flight you could imagine. Still 'Frisco looked great from the plane. Might be a worthwhile destination to visit.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Jimmy In New York : Day 5
The plan was, for the last day that we were going to book a hotel close to the airport because our flight was scheduled to leave at 7am. We really liked staying in Manhattan, and the Pod Hotel was quite comfortable both in location and cleanliness.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Jimmy In New York : Day 4
This morning we decided to have another Ess-A-Bagel. I had a strawberry cream cheese one and she had a sundried tomato one. They both tasted great, but the strawberry made it taste more like a cake, than a sandwich. Very filling though.
The sun finally came out so it was time we went to the Empire State Building.
During the day from the outside, the building doesn't look as good as it does at night, but now that it's the highest in New York it does have a commanding presence in the New York skyline. Actually, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the NTT docomo building.
Again we waited for quite a while in a security line before going up to the 86th floor. Along with our CityPass entry, we got a very informative audio tour player. Looking out at the view I couldn't help but think of the Twin Towers and how it was a long way down.
From there we went back towards Broadway and Times Square. We went to Sam Ash Music where I bought a really nice microphone preamp (RNP). Compared to Australia or Tokyo, it was much cheaper here, even with the sales tax. One thing I don't like about America is how they don't quote prices with tax. I hated seeing a price and not knowing what the final price was until I got to the checkout. What's up with that?
In Times Square we happened to see the Naked Cowboy strutting his stuff on the streets.
We overheard a scalper selling tickets for "Wicked". I was close to buying them, but I was scared to be risking buying counterfeit ones.
Instead we went to the Museum of Natural History as it was one of the included tickets on our CityPass. A LOT of the museum was dioramas of stuffed animals. It might appeal to the kiddies but for me it was kind of boring. What WAS really interesting was the planetarium show narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.
We were close to Central Park so we went past the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon lived, and was shot outside by Chapman. There isn't any indication to tell you this is the place. There is no name on the building, only a gate person with Dakota on his uniform.
Across the road in Central Park there is a memorial to John Lennon.
A full and tiring day.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:30 pm 0 comments
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Jimmy In New York : Day 3
Nothing says New York more than the Statue of Liberty so it wasn't till I finally saw Ms Liberty herself, that I felt I was really in New York city.
Before getting on the subway, I asked a station employee on the platform for directions. I asked for "Battery Park" and he asked twice where I was going. In the end I said "to catch the Liberty ferry" which happens to leave from Battery Park.
One thing I noticed straight way when I arrived is that New Yorkers can be quite, how can I say, abrupt? Not exactly welcoming, but I did realize that once disarmed, they can be quite friendly.
There is a security line to board the ferry. Although long when we got there, it moved fairly quick.
As we got closer to Liberty Island, I was surprised about the size of the statue. Of course it's much bigger than the replica in Odaiba, but from pictures and movies I envisioned a gigantic monument.
The ferry stopped at Ellis Island before heading back to Manhattan. We didn't get off. There was still a lot to see today.
Most importantly I HAD to take a picture of squirrel in Battery Park that didn't stay still long enough for me to take its picture. Well worth it. Cute huh?
From there we went to Ground Zero. If you didn't know what happened, it just looked like any other construction site. I wish I was here before the towers came down. I think New York really misses the Twin Towers. I think they should build two towers at the same scale to bring the Manhattan skyline back to (almost) how it was.
Before going across Brooklyn Bridge we went to Burger King. I ordered Quarter Pounders. The checkout guy didn't understand me. I thought it was my accent until I realized Quarter Pounders are Macdonald burgers. Oops.
I wanted to go to the place on the Brooklyn side where I always see Twin Towers pictures looking into Manhattan. From this view the missing towers were even more obvious.
We were going to go to Katz Delicatessen in NoLita, famous (or infamous) for the Meg Ryan orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally", but it was further than we thought, and instead tried to make it back to Times Square to hopefully score cancelled tickets to "Wicked".
No luck there, so we decided to call it a day.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Jimmy In New York : Day 2
We woke up about 7am. For breakfast we went to Ess-A-Bagel.
I'd never really had them before, and now I'm totally hooked. I had an Olive cream cheese bagel.
First stop was MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. There was a long line, but we decided we'd get the New York CityPass which gave a discount on the places we planned to visit.
This place was easily the most interesting museum for me with works from Warhol, Dali, Pollock, and an excellent, special exhibition of Tim Burton's work.
Most bizarre was the Marina Abramovic exhibit which featured live "art" of naked people. Makes you wonder what people consider art these days.
The Museum was so tiring but after we finished there, we made our way past Tiffanys (yes, that one), then to FAO Schwarz toy store which you might remember from "Big" where Tom Hanks played the big piano. Right next door is the Apple store.
Most days were rainy, so after there we made our way back to the hotel.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:55 pm 0 comments
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Jimmy In New York : Day 1
I had some days of annual leave to use or lose before the end of the month. I wanted to get out of Japan for a while and go somewhere other than back home. The options were Hong Kong, Shanghai or New York.
After checking out airfares I found out it wasn't much more to go to New York. I'd never been to America before, and in my mind New York always captured my imagination as the place to go for the American experience.
I put in my leave request and was happy when it was approved.
We flew into JFK arriving about 3pm and took the Airtrain and a subway connection to Midtown Manhattan. I booked the Pod Hotel (formerly Pickwick Arms). It's a very clean hotel. The location was good and the price was great.
The room was tiny. Only room for one person to walk through at a time. There are four bathrooms on each floor with a light that shows if it's occupied. We never had a problem with not being able to use them when we wanted.
Shortly after we arrived we decided to walk to Times Square. Although we were both quite jet lagged, we decided to buy 50% tickets at TKTS to see "Chicago". It cost $70 each, and we were seated about the 10th row from the front.
I had trouble keeping my eyes open. The show was fantastic. The lead role of Roxie Hart was played by Destiny's Child, Michelle Williams. All the performers were great and I really enjoyed the show.
Once we got back to the hotel I took no time getting to sleep all prepared for the next day's sightseeing.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
A St Pat's Day Karaoke
We're coming to the end of another school year, and consequently that means filling out a lot of kids certificates. I seem to get these to do at the end of my shifts, or when I don't have any in-between times to do them, meaning I've been overtiming just to do them.
Today was particularly annoying as it's not only "Station Beers" night, but also St Patrick's Day.
I was tempted to break open a can of chu-hi while writing, but I wrote them out reasonably quick, and hot-stepped it to the usual meeting place. After we all finished our cans we went to the Hub, the default gaijin's British pub in Japan.
Well actually before we did that, we stopped into the nearby UFO catcher as one of the guys was kind of obsessed with a weird rabbit toy for his gf. The guys were trying to pick it up, but I knew it needed a little staff help. I called one over and got him to make it much easier. First try missed, but the second one I did and won it for him. Sugoi ne?
There are two Hub's in Yokohama. The closest to the station was packed (much more than usual), but we couldn't get anywhere to sit. I thought the atmosphere was all right, but the other guys wanted to go to the other Hub.
Arriving there it was practically empty. I was kind of disappointed. There was an amusing group of cute Japanese girls getting quite tipsy (yes that's you Tomoe and Yuko!) that approached us and spoke a lot of broken English, but it made the night quite entertaining. Definitely better than a bunch of guys practising their English!
We all missed the point of no return regarding our last trains, so we all decided to go to a Re-mix karaoke box to while away the hours till first trains of the morning. Great thing it was only 1,200 each until 5am! We smuggled in a few drinks for a little more dutch courage.
Many songs were slaughtered beyond recognition. My favourite was "Alone" by Heart. There was also Backstreet Boys, and a few Japanese hits for good measure. Considering the mood of the evening I should have looked up a certain Stephen Stills song.
By daylight we were all drained and made our way back to the station. It was lucky I had the day off. I didn't get up proper until about 3.30 with a very late breakfast.
I had a great night out. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:59 pm 2 comments
Monday, 15 March 2010
One of the things I had mentioned in the past was how great it is to be able to tune into my radio stations back home on the internet. Up until now Japanese radio stations have been noticeably absent online.
Finally it's possible!
Radiko allows you to listen to quite a few Japanese radio stations with the ease of your internet connection.
Knowing the Japanese, the portal probably restricts users to Japanese IP addresses. Being in Japan this is a little hard to test out myself. If anyone outside the "centre of the universe" wants to give this a try, I'd like to know if it works for you.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:59 pm 6 comments
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Touch & Try
I went to the Camera & Photo Imaging Show at Pacifico in Yokohama today. By registering on their website, I got free entry too!
While I could show you pictures of cameras and lenses, I think it would be far more interesting to show a few pictures of the booth babes that made a company's camera look oh so desirable.
One camera on display was the 3D camera from Fujifilm. By wearing 3D glasses, the images on the TV screen looked pretty impressive. Seeing the pictures on paper still left quite a bit to be desired though. I'd like to see how this progresses in the future.I wasn't the only one with a camera, so it was pretty funny watching geeks like me getting their part of the action.What was most interesting to me, (other than the models), was the Sigma 50mm lens, and the forthcoming G2 cameras from Panasonic. I sold my GH1 a while back, so I think I sold it at the right time. The most noticeable difference was the touchscreen. Nice idea, and I like the new blue colour too.
It was a good (White) day to rival the Motor Show in the number of fine J girls, so I was happy. Later on, I treated the gf to some yummy Chinese at Xin-li (also known as "Red Tiger"), on the 6th floor of CIAL complex in Yokohama Station. First a feast for my eyes, and then a feast for my stomach. Perfect.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Little Tokyo
Idle hands are the devil's workshop supposedly, so I like to find new things to do. Well at least to stop myself from getting bored.
I want to get better at photoshoping, so I thought I'd look up some cool tricks to spice up my Tokyo snaps.
One very cool trick is to fake an expensive Tilt Shift lens that creates an amazing optical illusion of a miniature model set. In a nutshell, you get a wide angle shot preferably from above, and gradually blur both foreground and background. The final pièce de résistance is to up the saturation to approximate the "plastic" look, and there you have it!
I'm still learning to perfect it, but I think my attempts have come out ok.
This is Hama-rikyu Gardens we went to almost exactly two years ago (Wow, I've been here too long). I don't have too many wide shots but with the Conrad Hotel in the background already dwarfing the garden pavilion, I thought it'd help the illusion.
Here's one from Akihabara I took today. I tried to find the highest point possible, specifically to do my version of a miniature Akiba. Not too many places 'round here. Mandarake would have been the perfect building if they didn't put the suicide preventative netting around the staircase. I went up a few escalators in an office building on the main road across from the big Sofmap.
Look at the cute little people!
It's very impressive when you see this effect on VIDEO. Check this out! Also very worthy are the Youtube videos like the one below. (No, this wasn't done by me. I wish!)
At the moment the apartment is covered in scaffolding for what looks like a re-paint so I "forced myself", ha ok, it gave me an excuse I didn't need, to go to Akihabara and Ochanomizu.
I've retired my Panasonic headphones. One ear cuts out and I'm sick of doing the "twist & flex" to hear from both of them. They had a good run I guess. My Kenwood cans are fantastic, but because of the sound leakage and size, they aren't really practical for the trains. I had my mind set on a pair of Sennheiser CX300 II. The cheapest was an online order, but I had luck with E-Trend via Kakaku for 3,980 yen without any headaches.
I'm one of those people that like to open headphone packs carefully, so I watched an unintentionally hilarious (to me anyway) unboxing on Youtube that actually finished without the guy being able to open it! Myself I managed a tiny cut on my finger from sharp plastic, but no major damage (to myself or the box).
The other interesting photo manipulation trick I'm digging at the moment is getting some of my pictures "Lomo"-ized. A friend once showed me photos she'd cross processed with slide film, and the saturated colours looked awesome.
There's something undeniably cool about the character and feel that it can add to a photo. I followed this guide to get the effect. In keeping with my Akihabara day, this is my Lomo version from my ahem, Akiba maid "archive".
I hope you enjoyed my little bit of "artistic expression". Got something quite interesting coming up. Don't change that dial!
Monday, 1 March 2010
How To Use A MUFG/UFJ ATM
Like I promised, I've finally put together a rudimentary guide to using your UFJ account to do bank transfers with their ATMs.
Although there IS an English menu, UFJ does NOT have a transfer button to do things like say, pay your rent or send money anywhere! For English, you only have access to basic functions like withdrawals, deposits and checking your bank balance.
This is the first screen you'll see as you approach the scary ATM machine. See that English button? Don't push it. It won't help you here. As indicated, hit that お振り込み (transfer "furikomi") button, and we're off!
This page lists after hours bank fees. When I did this, it was after hours so this probably won't come up if you do it in banking hours. Press that green button to continue.
This is just a fraud warning screen. Press the blue button on the left.
If you have the usual UFJ cash card, press the button indicated here. See that red button on the top, right hand corner? I like to call it the "abort" button. Screw up on any of the screens, press this to cancel your session. Über useful ne?
Next, enter your PIN number. Mine is.. nah, it's a secret.
If you make regular payments (say for rent), it's a great idea to get the staff to make a "furikomi cardo" (transfer card) for you at an ATM, which will bypass the next few steps of inputing the recipient's bank details all over again. Otherwise, good practise I suppose.
This is a list of banks. You'll have to use your eagle eyes to recognise a bit of kanji. UFJ branches are easier. If the bank is not listed here, press the "other banks" button.
If it IS a UFJ bank, select the branch here. UFJ branch not on this screen? Select the "more" button.
If it's an outside bank you select the first letter of the BANK's name. In this example, I'm looking for Kyoto Bank, so that would be "ki" (キ). You'll have to know your katakana alphabet here.
Ok, so here you see all the banks starting with "ki", the button I've marked is Kyoto Bank.
Now we have to get the BRANCH of the (in this case) Kyoto Bank. Again, select the first letter of the bank BRANCH's name.
The previous screen I just selected "ki", so here are the BRANCHES that start with "ki".
Ok, so now we have the bank and branch in place, we have to tell WHAT kind of account this is. In most cases it will be a standard bank account, so press the left button.
Enter the account number to send the money and press that green button.
Put in the transfer amount, hit the yen key, followed by the adjacent green button.
This just says it won't be processed until the next business day because it was out of banking hours at this time.
If you have some kind of special student/corporate number use the other button. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, press the button indicated.
EDIT: The "special number" 入力する (input) is a place where you can add a reference number if you need to: "I add my reference number with my Name in English - top-click on the left button: 入力する). I just hit a space after typing in my full name and then add my reference number. The receipt that the ATM spits out will show the 'transfer to-Bank details", and below that, my name in English on one line with the Reference number on another line." (Thanks Ken!)
This screen is just an identity check. If you see your name where it's indicated, press "はい" (yes).
This is a final check screen with all the details. Of course I've blanked out all the details for privacy. If it's all ok, press the green confirmation button!
Because I did this just for this demonstration I didn't go any further. From memory the following screens asks if you want a receipt and if you want to do any other transactions. Easy huh?
I'd just like to add a little disclaimer: While I think I've tried to do this walk-through as clear as I can. (I was drinking a can of chu-hi writing this) I take NO responsibility if somehow you cause earthquakes, tsunamis or send your money to my account by "accident". If you panic at any stage, hit that red "abort" button on most of the top right-hand screens, and ask for staff/security guard to help. I KNOW how stressful it is to work these things in Japanese.
An email has been sent to UFJ to add some English to bank transfers to hopefully rectify this situation in the future to make this post redundant, but personally I'm not holding my breath. Considering the amount of English speakers with UFJ accounts I don't think it's too much to ask, is it?
If you are a traveller here and have a foreign ATM card, you CAN'T use your card here at all. Instead go to Citibank where facilities like Cirrus allow you to use your home card.
If this helps anyone, please leave a comment of thanks. Just keeping my karma clean..
UPDATE: Apparently it is possible to have your account online now:
"I set myself up with an online MUFJ bank account. I can't read kanji but using Chrome Browser I could translate the essential Japanese. If you try and do it right, they'll send you this cute looking toy calculator, which is in fact, is a special password creator. When I'm working my way through the online MUFJ furikomi (bank transfer) windows I come to a page where I have to press the little red "1" on this cute little password creator, it gives me four numbers that I put in the password box. Pretty, pretty, pretty Cool.
Now I can do furikomi from the comfort of my home. That's all I use the online for, in addition to checking my balance. The only limitation with the online furikomi is that you can only transfer up to ¥100,000. However, at the bank branch ATM I transferred as much a ¥300,000."
(thanks to Ken!)
So there you go, maybe UFJ has actually done something to keep up with the times! (I wonder if the bank interest is still at 0.01%? LOL
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:23 pm 56 comments


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In Leonidio it's all Greek even to the Greeks
In the province of Kynouria and at just 3 hours from Athens by car, there is the township of Leonidio, built between the sea and the foot of the mount Parnon.Completely devastated by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt in 1826, the place brags about the Frankish-styled stone mansions,and the gardens of geraniums, honeysuckles and lemon trees giving off a scent of nostalgia .Striking among the mansions are those of Polýtimos and Katsikóyiannis, whereas temporary exhibitions are housed in the tower of Tsikaliótis'.
The sweet "tsakóniki" aubergine, an appellation d'origine contrôlée (= controlled designation of origin) product grows in the fertile plain around Leonidio. Visit the festival of "tsakoniki" aubergine in August, when delicious dishes are served based entirely on aubergine, and cooked on the spot by the local cooks. Taste alsolocal honey, noodles and rusks.
In the narrow streets of Leonidio and the villages around it, a different language is spoken. It's the Tsakonian language, which derives from the ancient Doric dialect. Regarded as the oldest dialect in the world, it is spoken and written by some 2,000 people in this area.
While in Leonidio:
• enjoy the sea and the sea sports at the cosmopolitan beach of Pláka, or explore the beaches of Poúlithra, Tygáni and Fokianós to enjoy blue waters in peace, and
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Buses to Arcadia: 2710222560
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Daniel W. Youngstrom, a graduate of Marlborough High School and former Massachusetts State High School Science Fair exhibitor, has achieved a rare honor: As a grad student at Virginia Tech, Dan has received a Fulbright fellowship. A Ph.D. candidate in biomedical and veterinary science at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Dan helps develop stem cell treatments for horses. Later this month, his Fulbright fellowship will take him to Riga, Latvia to pursue his work at the Cell Transplantation Center. "The Cell Transplantation Center is similarly developing cell-based therapies to treat a variety of conditions in humans," he said. I am excited to apply my experience in veterinary research to its work, and the collaboration should prove to be mutually beneficial." Dan was involved in the Marlborough High School Science Fair in 2004 and 2005. He took his 2005 project to the Worcester Regional Science and Engineering Fair and then all the way the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair. Yet another science fair success story! Congratulations, Dan! Read more on Virginia Tech News
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Optical stuff is great, as everyone knows: optical links mean huge bandwidth right now, and computers running on photons rather than electrons might be truly amazing things - tremendously powerful, very economical of energy, and potentially able to exploit quantum effects to achieve all manner of mindbending feats.
But unfortunately, there is as yet no way to handle photons other than in a fibre. To perform operations with them they generally have to be converted into old school electrical impulses - and that makes Professor Holger Schmidt and his crew mad.
One of the things one needs to be able to do in handling photons on chips is to slow the little fellows down or stop them altogether. Schmidt and his fellow researchers say they have done this, and what's more done it using ordinary kit rather than an exotic lab rig.
"We can change the speed of light - just by turning the power control knob," boasts the prof, with pardonable smugness.
"Slow light and other quantum coherence effects have been known for quite awhile, but in order to use them in practical applications we have to be able to implement them on a platform that can be mass-produced and will work at room temperature or higher - that's what our chips accomplish... The simplest example of how slow light can be used is to provide a data buffer or tunable signal delay in an optical network, but we are looking beyond that."
The "integrated photonic chip" produced by Schmidt and his collaborators apparently works using "quantum interference effects in a rubidium vapor inside a hollow-core optical waveguide", built into a silicon chip using ordinary manufacturing techniques.
"Normally, the rubidium vapor absorbs the light from the signal laser, so nothing gets through. Then you turn on the control laser and boom, the material becomes transparent and the signal pulse not only makes it through, but it also moves significantly more slowly," says the prof.
"We can potentially use this to create all-optical switches, single-photon detectors, quantum memory devices, and other exciting possibilities."
Schmidt and his colleagues were funded by the US National Science Foundation. They also received money from famous beaten-track-averse battleboffinry bureau DARPA, whose name for the lightspeed-wrangling quantum rubidium optichipware is "iPhoD" (integrated Photonic Delay).
Schmidt and his team's new paper Slow light on a chip via atomic quantum state control can be read in full for free here courtesy of Nature Photonics. ®