Fraulein Rottenmeier
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Posted:Nov 25, 2010 6:10 am
Last Updated:Nov 26, 2010 4:10 am 13311 Views
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Japan's famed "maid cafes" featuring coy serving tea in frilly aprons and bonnets have been given a new twist -- a cafe of unsmiling, grim-faced grannies reflecting a fast-greying nation.
Tokyo's Ikebukuro district now boasts Cafe Rottenmeier, named after the disciplinary housekeeper in the hit 1970s anime series Heidi, Girl of the Alps, and has been drawing some 500 customers daily during weekends in November.
Patrons are greeted with a terse "welcome home" by an unsmiling Fraulein Rottenmeier lookalike before being scolded for slouching in chairs or for not removing their coats in the cafe's warm, cosy environs.
There are 30 "Rottenmeiers" who work shifts, including students, office workers and retired real-life grannies, as part of the Festival Tokyo contemporary arts gathering being held until the end of November.
Although the "grannies" range from 24 to 77 years-old -- with the younger matriarchs sporting heavy make-up to look old -- the woman behind the concept says she is making a statement on societal pressures to stay young.
"Pressure on people to stay young is too heavy. It's unnatural. I think people are exhausted under too much anti-ageing pressure," 43 year-old artist Miwa Yanagi told AFP.
Especially in a country that is rapidly greying, with one of the world's lowest birthrates of 1.3 per woman taking a dwindling population even lower, helping deflate an already sagging economy.
The average age of Japan's farmers, for example, is 66.
But Yanagi also sees Japan's elders as a cause for celebration.
"Japan is the world's greatest nation of grannies," she said, a reference to the nation's average life expectancy of over 85 for women, the world's highest.
Yet despite this, Japan "worships young women", Yanagi said. "It loves young women, as you can see in maid cafes or images of women in subculture. Why can't there be a grannies' cafe?"
The grannies, selected from some 50 applicants through an audition, were enjoying being old as much as seemed to be enjoying being disciplined said Naomi Akamatsu, a 42-year-old actress wearing fake wrinkles.
" and girls nowadays long to be scolded," she said of the concept, which Yanagi says demonstrates the need for strong elders in a nation of small, two-generation families.
Questions about the erosion of social bonds in Japan were raised earlier this year following a nationwide survey which found more than 230,000 registered centenarians were missing.
Japan launched the search after a string of grisly discoveries -- including a mummified man in his bed and an old woman's remains in a backpack -- sparked alarm over the fate of many elderly.
The cases triggered a wave of soul-searching over elderly people living in isolation and public outrage at relatives of those missing who kept their deaths secret for decades in order to keep receiving their pension payments.
But while the cafe remains a lighthearted meditation on Japanese society, it is also a celebration of the Heidi legend.
Many of the customers were when the Heidi anime first enchanted audiences on Japanese television in 1974.
The popular series, based on the 19th-century novel by Johanna Spyri, illustrates Heidi's days in the Swiss Alps, with Fraulein Rottenmeier keeping a strict watch.
"I wanted to look at the world of Heidi I feel nostalgic about," said Akiko Nagahama, 44, as she sipped tea at the cafe. "Rottenmeier left a very strong impression on me."
Younger patrons such as Yui Tokunaga, 23, turn up just to see the older, hard-line contrast with Japan's famous maid cafes, which usually feature in skimpy outfits, bowing and kneeling as they stir drinks.
"I associate the image of maids as being cute, but here it's fun to see them being not so," she said.
Kayo Ishikawa, 66, a real grandmother of three who started acting after she retired, also enjoys being an unsmiling, dour Rottenmeier and remembers her daughters watching the anime.
"I think she is a woman who devoted herself to her job... I have the impression that she is a woman who earns money by herself and provides for herself," Ishikawa said.
Yanagi, the artist, said it was great that "elderly women are ready to take on new challenges."
And while she is too young to be a grandmother now, Yanagi said she is ready to embrace the challenges of old age when they arrive.
"I'm looking forward to it," she said.
(from news) by Miwa Suzuki
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What will we see ...................
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Posted:Nov 24, 2010 8:39 pm
Last Updated:Nov 25, 2010 7:09 am 13229 Views
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Now the world will get a chance to see what position China takes,
N.Korean has shown an enrichment plant, continued it Nuclear program, and now lobbed shells into the South Korean areas.
China sits silent, while it funds and supports N.Korean, while N.Korean using its own funds to build war machine stock. Russia sits back pretending to be silent, while it behind the scenes, still like the strong arm style of dominance based governance. But, reality stand to present that N.Korea cannot and would not be with this arrogance, without Russian and China underwriting, by the continual funding for food and other things, while it allows N.Korea to spend anything it wants on weapons building, and provocations.
It's like China is secretly testing its power of persuasion, by, by supporting and not denouncing this, and stand to the side measuring if it has the clout to show power by not putting a halt to this, and then being elated to assume that no one will do anything for fear of China.
what may result is the world can change in a flash, and that 20 billion surplus can dry up very quickly, and then the European surplus that China enjoys can dry up very quickly.
When nation feel their physical land based security is being insulted, they can stop the economic based feeding of China and its industrial machine and over saturation of markets with cheap goods. Every cycle has its revolution point, and shifts take place to change the world dynamics.
China has not and cannot rapidly convert its people to mass consumers of the stuff it produces, because the income base of the people is too low, and they know, to raise it rapidly would cause mass inflation. to raise income with a swift spike, can trigger internal default of many industrial components, if that comes, then all the national programs grind to a halt.
China may play the strong arm stands, but it is aware that it only works as long as Western Nation, continue to make efforts for diplomacy. but if they get fed up with continually meeting a stone wall, and choose to go in another direction economically, then what suffers is China. Then China will be more than willing, it will demand that N. Korea change its tune and calm its demeanor, and it will push for human reforms within N. Korea.
The People of N. Korea are at the brink of being fed up, with sitting in decline mode, while the rest of the world advances with economic growth. I'd think in a matter of the next few years, N.Korea will themselves impact and change the nature of how they are governed, and may well change who is doing the governing.
Today the world is different, now Chinese people have interacted with people from around the world, they have seen what is the difference between governing styles, and models, they have tasted what its like to have freedoms afforded them by having disposable income. and they are not going to go backwards, nor will they become a silent group, if the actions of the system, cause them the risk of loss. it will be the Wealthy who push for change quicker than one can blink an eye. Because Money is a social measure, in this nation of a billion+ people. The poor have already been pushed from various lands, and some have grown weary of being part of work camps, living in dormitory style work organizations.
Over the years, we've already seen people push the Unions to demand worker reforms. and many many changes not reported in the news, takes places daily. Money has given people options in how they think, and what they do.
Women now have Money, they have become to think about themselves, and not about being wives, so their demeanor has changed. they want wealth in many places, more than they want families. so divorces is rampant, and avoidance of marriage and the lack of desire to give birth, is changing many things.
The world is not disconnected as people think, everything is linked to everything... and change brings changes.
Every country that rushed their production units to China is now on the edge of being insolvent, this tells each nations, that its own people must work, and that means taking back industry to their own soil.
In the current state of conditions from nation to nation, only the wealthy become even wealthier and poverty dominates nation after nation. But the obstinate stand of China on currency and other matters, will be part of its own undoing, Wealth deludes, and Power blinds, and the mix of the two makes arrogance.
Earlier in the year China tried to demand that tech companies who operate in china had to give up their proprietary codes, and this is a very big matter, when China is already one of the world producers of counterfeit and cloned items. so nations are not gullible enough to fork over their codes and intellectual property.
Unfortunately many of the People of China either can't say anything about the stand, or some are simply unaware of what is taking place, but at any rate, they cannot speak out. because the regime of the governmental system will silence such. but even this practice won't continue to stand.
This post may even get banned..  for just talking about conditions within the world we live.
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"the situations" .... Will love survive ?
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Posted:Nov 21, 2010 3:10 pm
Last Updated:Nov 22, 2010 3:51 pm 13637 Views
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the website is interesting but in some ways, contrary to what people claim they are about.
Many talk about how nice and how understanding they are, and some about how educated they are and what their degree is and etc.
But what it comes down to many times is, pageantry of various sorts, and then the search for romantic fantasy and the ability to get taken care of.
People wonder why they don't learn anything about each other.
Many of the women are generally a trip when it comes to personal realism, unfortunately, because many only want fantasy more than reality. instead caught up with some Cinderella story illusion... as long as its all about their fantasy; sadly not all but a great many, could care less about what his fantasy is, it only matters if its easy and will lead to getting her fantasy met without much effort or giving of anything if she can avoid giving it.
Try to talk with them about anything beyond 'embellished materialism and some type of pageantry in life', and the fold up and shut down. some are in love with their own look, and nothing matters except how much they can use it for pageantry of various sorts. the sad part is, when age comes and take it away, so many become bitter, and some become angry about what they think they should have gotten but did not get. some become angry because they could not find someone to worship them, and some just get angry because they could not control situations with whims and attitude.
Talk about Bs, and patronize them, and they become interactive, but when one meet them, the minute the man does not talk about what she wants or what she feels is her drama, she will tell him, that he does not listen, or that he does not communicate.
It kinda goes back to what EZ, in the magazine says,
"I'm simple. I give the women food, clothes, some snacks,
and the remote control and she gives me pleasure and little
attitude. Life is simple. They are happy and I am happy.
what seems to interest many women, seems to be more about how much they are patronized, and if someone is willing to bend over backwards to give them stuff and act as if he will allow her to be his personal dictator of what to think, how to feel, and to ration sex to him based on how much of what she expects, of which he provides. and most of all, how much money can they amass. or what status title can they acquire.
What it generally all leads to is "a ride on the divorce merry go round", or "the sing a sob and claim hurt, because they were not worshiped', and the string of broken relations, and the dating merry go round, that amounts to collecting free dinners, to sit and pass judgments without self involvement to communicate or relate as simply human beings.
The simplest love may well be found, if a man can find a woman who is less about materialism, and less hung up about thinking her looks should get her this or that.. and find one who is actually a person that has a sense of care, and a true and honest will to share.
Now, just where that might be found, may remain the big mystery of time.
To find a mate who is capable of loving, first one must find one that is expressive within sharing what is "care".
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who's paying attention... ???
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Posted:Nov 20, 2010 3:25 pm
Last Updated:Dec 2, 2010 6:56 pm 13545 Views
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The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission charged in its annual report on Wednesday that state-owned China Telecom advertised erroneous network routes that instructed "massive volumes" of U.S. and other foreign Internet traffic to go through Chinese servers during an 18-minute stretch on April 8.
Marine Colonel David Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters, "We're aware that on the 8th of April ... Internet traffic was rerouted through China."
He added at one point that he did not know if "we've determined whether that particular incident ... was done with some malicious intent or not."
Moments later, he said there was no evidence that anything malicious had occurred, a position he repeated when pressed about the discrepancy in his remarks.
The U.S.-China Commission in its 2010 report said the incident affected traffic to and from U.S. government and military sites, including those for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' office, the armed forces and some commercial websites.
In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the commission's report on China's military capabilities and economic policies, saying it distorted reality and was symptomatic of Cold War thinking.
China Telecom separately has denied the charge that it "hijacked" U.S. Internet traffic by sending false notifications that prompted other servers to route traffic through China on the assumption that it was the most efficient path.
(from news)
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The US and any other nation this happen to need to wake up, 18 minutes, is a long time and a lot of data, that can be stolen, once its routed through these Chinese Servers, that is enough data to keep them busy for months if not a year or so, sifting through it, to crack codes, see how codes are crafted, and every other kind of thing that 'data mining' can achieve.
When the US awakens to the fact that China does not see itself being a Democracy, and it does not see itself caring about the US, more than it cares about pushing China's agenda. and that is to get anything and everything it can for China, by any means that it can for as long as it can be gotten. When the global community realize that China is not doing anyone any favors, it does nothing unless it gains by high % or it simply does nothing and takes a solemn stand.
example: that should tell much....
For the Money that China makes off the world as a whole, it could have sent Tents to Haiti for every family, with only one days production. but they simply do not operate by such charitable concepts for nor toward the world community on that scale.
in some Chinese Stores, or food places, you can go in and buy something and if it cost $20.01, they 'some' break a $100 bill, just to get that penny, or you cannot leave with the food or what ever it is you are trying to buy. if and they give you that penny, you are indebted, by unspoken means.
They are not designed as a nation that grooms its people for charity of any sort. Therefore, they are themselves aware of how vast corruption is, and how common place it is for corruption to be a part of their system, so.. those things tell a lot.
but it also tells a great deal, when any nation, hijacks the internet traffic of any other nation.
They simply demonstrated, their ability, to hijack internet traffics and hold it captive for a full 18 minutes without any alarms going on.
they could inject any kind of bug or trojan they wanted into the system during that time,.. or have a cypher, that seeks out and target certain things, and craft a trojan, to go after certain things.
People around the world, had better pay attention and wake up, International espionage is big business, and China is a big player on that arena, with its own agenda and its own criteria of aims.
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the ways of the world.
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Posted:Nov 20, 2010 1:15 pm
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 8:46 am 13058 Views
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It's as simple as 1. 2. 3.
(1). Get dressed and go out to see something or be a part of something/
then its about '
(2). Get undressed (straight out naked) and 'Celebrate' something.
(3). Prepare to repeat the cycle.
and people then claim they are "happy and life is fulfilling"...
 
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what happen with technology?
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Posted:Nov 20, 2010 1:04 pm
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 8:46 am 12654 Views
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google use to translate the page, and make the Chinese language into English, now it only highlights it and it remains in Chinese?
Its interesting, when technology gets to a point to actually function, they go and do something to it, and make it less functional. Its almost as crazy as some Microsoft stuff, they had at one point word programs that were cool and easy to utilize, and then they got so called smart, and make it the most cumbersome program to do certain things, it use to do with great simplicity and ease.
Before.... Google had a thing where you could right click, and translate the page, now, you click translate, and it leaves the composition of the blog in Chinese, and then its unreadable by people who don't read the Chinese script.
the faster processing speeds get the less some programs will do, and when they have good features, they take it away.
I remember back in 2003-2004 I had a Motorola phone, that was easy to use, flip it open and type what you like, click internet and navigate to what you want, then they changed, and came out with the crazy Razor, which I never liked and never bought one, today, I use the lowest cost service which is $50 a month for everything, the Motorola phone, is ok, it cost only $79, I only use it to talk, and occasionally send a text, I don't play 'the testing game, because its much easier to simply talk.. I don't need to read e-mail on it at this time, so i don't use it for that, and I don't surf the web, even though it has it, there is no need to strain my eyes, and cramp my fingers. the Camera is crap, but I don't take pictures with it, so over-all it pretty much serves the purpose of being a cell phone. the biggest problem is, that its a cheap phone, and does not have the capability to download the address book to my computer.
I'll wait, until the other phones drop more in price, and these low budget service providers make them available at a low cost, then I'll probably switch to one that is easier to use, but I simply don't see the need to pay a high bill for a I phone or some other fad that changes with the season.
I think Japan is so far ahead of us with the technology development and use, because they explore what can be done, and they actually do it and make it available. here we are years behind, not only in what a phone can do, but in the networks that allow them to do things.
Japan will have things like the Ipad, by what ever name they choose to call it, that will do everything, that it takes two or three different units in the US to do,
today, if a person has a Ipad, it should be able to connect with the phone, and both work on the same service plan, as well as both send out a wi-fi multi like signal, without attaching anything else to it, and have a superb quality camera as well as other things, and
the phone itself should be able to work with real connection speed all across the United States.
It's a waste of money every 6-9-12 months they come out with something that 'almost does what it should be capable of doing", and people rush out and dump the money, and find it is still a handicapped unit, when they truly want to do things with it.
I see people in the stores, living by using only one hand, because they can't bear to put the phone down for 30 seconds. Every morning driving to work, someone is weaving across the traffic lanes, and every time, it is someone with a phone guled to their ear, or the people with the ear piece on, from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed.
but the even funnier part of technology is, people post what they are doing on things like twitter, and then some post stuff on Facebook, about drugs, drinking, and every sort of thing, and they remain unaware their employer may just search them, and they find they don't get a job, because of some picture of some thing they posted.
goodness.. can you just imagine, if they create a car, that can be programmed to go to a destination.. people will be stone crazy and cars will jam up the streets even more so, because people will program them to go, just for the sake of seeing it do it.
what might tomorrow bring ??? some things I'd hope they improve and reach a point of better connections and truer multi use capability.. We are sure to see some big changes in what tech arrives to present in the next 5 yrs..
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Captivating
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Posted:Nov 19, 2010 7:01 pm
Last Updated:Nov 19, 2010 7:05 pm 12585 Views
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just watching the birds....
as I walked to my car, the birds hovered over the court house, a majestic ornate old building, that spews history into the simplicity of viewing, the tree lined streets, and the court yard trees,marking the solidity of aged grace, the true majesty of natures enhancements to the structures of mans creations.
Astonished by the intricacies of birds in flight, the flow, and the interweaving, the shape formations, dazzling delight of the solo artist, that seem to dart though flowing up and down, as the formation change direction, adjust altitude, and spike dive, quickly, fluttering back up into an amazing fade in and fade out. Their angle, makes artist strokes seem like 's play, yet as dazzling in the beauty created.
A flock takes a pause on the tree tops, as the pack moves with the smoothing of a swarm tied on a string, one group takes back to the air as another moves into position for a rest.
Again and again, the soloist, move from one flock to the next, weaving through as if to blend, but remaining solo, yet seeming to fly masterfully across the pack.
"What an Amazing display of the perficient flight of birds, making beauty of nature.
just watching the birds.
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"to realize"
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Posted:Nov 19, 2010 4:57 am
Last Updated:Nov 19, 2010 5:26 pm 12745 Views
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Never look down on anybody, unless you're helping them up.
Read quietly then send it back on its journey
To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.
To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.
To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who has failed a final exam.
To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to a premature baby..
To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.
Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.
To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.
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- IQ
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Posted:Nov 18, 2010 4:54 pm
Last Updated:Nov 19, 2010 4:37 am 12735 Views
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An Idaho judge has set bond at $100,000 for a Boise woman police say posed as a physician and duped at least two other women into having their breasts examined by her at Boise-area nightclubs.
Kristina Ross, 37, remains in Ada County Jail in Boise on two felony counts of practicing medicine without a license.
Police say Ross introduced herself to victims -- one at a downtown Boise bar and the other at a nightclub in a Boise suburb -- as a plastic surgeon named Berlyn Aussieahshowna, a name that turned out to be bogus.
The two women told Boise officers they believed Ross was a physician because of her apparent medical knowledge, and they agreed to undergo what they thought were breast exams, which happened at the bars.
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what does it take for women to take responsibility for what they do, "anyone ignorant enough to fall for having their breast examined as some medical procedure in a "BAR'. should be kicked out of the police station.
maybe one day women will realize lesbians are as much prone todo what ever to get a quick feel, just as much as women assume men are prone to stuff.
but any woman who has sex, or have her body fondled, probably need to not expose to the world some claim that she is blindly unaware of what she is doing !!!, that seems to say a lot more about "lack of" intellect, than their claim they were done wrong, "after the fact"
goodness, you want a breast exam, go to a doctors office !!! geez !!!
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Woman declares on 105th birthday
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Posted:Nov 14, 2010 2:49 pm
Last Updated:Nov 14, 2010 2:49 pm 11107 Views
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What could a 105-year-old birthday girl possibly want for a gift?
"I'm just looking for a husband!" Esther Mauzy told party guests Saturday night, prompting the room to erupt into laughter at her San Clemente home. "I've only had five! I think I should have another one, don't you?"
Relatives of Esther Mauzy react to one of her witticisms as she celebrated her 105th birthday Saturday night in San Clemente.
Mauzy, born Nov. 13, 1905, in South Pasadena as Esther Hargrave, took on surnames of Osterhout, Gilette, Maisch, Duke and Mauzy.
Two of the marriages ended in divorce. Mauzy outlived the other three husbands.
"I think she's had more than her share," grinned her , Diana Ogilvie, who organized Saturday's reunion of about 25 family members from around Southern California.
Asked about the way people live today vs. when she was a , Mauzy said, "Everything is different." Asked which is better, today or a century ago, she said, "I love life, wherever I am
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