Nothing But Words

The graduating class26-Sep-2009 09:18SONY DSC-W55, 4.0, 12.4mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 1000

Eidan’s first karate graduation26-Sep-2009 08:26SONY DSC-W55, 5.2, 18.9mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 320

For months Eidan’s been dying to start going to karate class, like his big brother Kai, and after we got back from Prague, he finally got his chance. He’s actually technically still too young, but he insisted with the instructor that “I big now and I ready,” so he was given a chance in one class to see how he’d do, and he did well. He’s about a year younger than the rest of the kids in his class – what he lacks in sophistication he makes up for with enthusiasm.

Kai’s been going for about 4 years now, and at Friday night’s graduation he earned a black stripe on his brown belt (red is the next belt, then black). The forms he’s learning now are considerably more complex than the ones he was doing last year. Unfortunately, I was home sick with a cold, and Maria had her hands full with Eidan after his portion of the graduation was done, so we don’t have any video of Kai this time around.

Video – Eidan receives his new belt Video – Eidan receives his new belt26-Sep-2009 13:21

Video – Eidan demonstrates his form Video – Eidan demonstrates his form26-Sep-2009 13:11

Kai gets his brown belth with a black stripe Kai gets his brown belth with a black stripe26-Sep-2009 09:16SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 100

• Japanese picture-puzzle town logos: http://bit.ly/38inhL We lived in Minato. My favorites involve counting characters to complete the names #
• After the 3rd person asked me for help at Ikea, it dawned on me that wearing jeans and a yellow t-shirt is the wrong outfit to wear there. #
• I updated the post about Jablonec – I added a video of Kai making glass, so he can show it in school today: http://toppa.com/jablonec #
• Ah, unintended consequences: the new law punishing ACORN for fraud may ensnare some much bigger fish:GE, Blackwater, etc http://bit.ly/5hNrz #
• Political discussions on US TV are more heat than light – we need a prime time show like this, not more reality shows: http://bit.ly/eSKLb #
• Just a made a Facebook fan page for my Dad's real estate business http://terrytoppa.com/facebook #Newport #RI #realty #realestate #
• Came down with a nasty cold just in time for the weekend. I'm fighting it with pho (dinner was at Anh Hong near 69th St – nearest good pho) #

I had to test this a few times live on Twitter before I got it working. I deleted the incorrect entries right after making them, but they still showed up in feeds – sorry if they seemed like spam.

The short URL link that shows up for this post in Twitter is hosted on toppa.com, not bit.ly. Why give SEO love to bit.ly when you keep it for yourself?

I’ve been using Alex King’s Twitter Tools plugin (version 2.0), which automatically tweets my new posts. The full URLs for my posts always exceed Twitter’s 30 character limit for links, so Twitter automatically shortens them to bit.ly redirect links. And I just installed Husani Oakley’s Link Shortcut plugin (version 1.4), which lets you create short URLs on your own site.

So the trick is getting Twitter Tools to use Link Shortcut to create short URLs for your posts. This takes just a couple of edits to the Link Shortcut plugin.

1. On line 63 in the LinkshortcutDataManager.php file (in the addLink method), I changed return true; to return $ident;. This makes it return the short identifier it generated for your post (I checked all the calls to this method, and they check for any positive return value, so – as currently written – this change doesn’t harm anything).
2. In linkshortcut.php, I added the following code starting at line 37:

   // MT - shorten urls from Twitter Tools
   add_filter('tweet_blog_post_url', 'mt_tweet_shortcut');
   
   function mt_tweet_shortcut($url) {
       $LinkshortcutDataManager = new LinkshortcutDataManager();
       return 'http://toppa.com/' . $LinkshortcutDataManager->addLink($url, date("Y-m-d G:i:s"), false);
   }
   

   This takes advantage of the tweet_blog_post_url filter added by Twitter Tools, which lets you use whatever URL shortening service you like. The addLink() method doesn’t return a complete URL, so you have to add your WordPress base URL. The “correct” way to get it is the get_bloginfo('wpurl') function, but in this case I want the URL without the “www.” portion (to save 4 precious characters), so I just hardcoded it.

   The only hitch is there’s no way to pass a custom name for the link to Link Shortcut (the second argument to addLink), so I’m using the current date and time as a name. The admin page for Link Shortcut shows you the full URL for each redirect link it creates, so the name you assign isn’t really that important.

I’ll get in touch with the Link Shortcut author and see if he’s willing to integrate this functionality into the plugin (in a more graceful way than my hack here).

The Vysehrad cemetery is the final resting place of many famous Czechs

The Vysehrad cemetery is the final resting place of many famous Czechs09-Aug-2009 03:40SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 100

A tree growing along the north wall of Vysehrad09-Aug-2009 03:26SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 160	The north wall of Vysehrad09-Aug-2009 03:59SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 1000	The sunset from the Vysehrad wall09-Aug-2009 03:34SONY DSC-W55, 9.0, 9.4mm, 0.0040 sec, ISO 100
The Basilica of St Peter and St Paul in Vysehrad09-Aug-2009 03:39SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 125	The main door of the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul09-Aug-2009 03:41SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 160	Another part of the Vysehrad cemetery09-Aug-2009 03:41SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 320
Statues in the Vysehrad complex09-Aug-2009 03:42SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 250	View of the Vltava river from Vysehrad09-Aug-2009 03:45SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	The St. Martin Rotunda in Vysehrad09-Aug-2009 03:52SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 250
Southern view from Vysehrad – the wall extends into the city09-Aug-2009 03:56SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 640	Gardens in Vysehrad Fortress12-Jul-2009 18:31SONY DSC-W55, 8.0, 8.2mm, 0.0080 sec, ISO 100	Eidan at the Vysehrad Castle playground12-Jul-2009 18:40SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.0025 sec, ISO 100
The boys at the Vysehrad playground12-Jul-2009 18:44SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 640	Kai at Vysehrad12-Jul-2009 19:09SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.0050 sec, ISO 100	Kai at the statue of Slavoj and Zaboj in Vysherad12-Jul-2009 20:09SONY DSC-W55, 4.0, 12.4mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 160

The first thing you’ll notice when visiting Vysehrad Castle is that there is no castle:

Charles IV converted Vyšehrad into a stone fortress [in the 14th century], joining it to the ramparts of the New Town of Prague, built a Gothic Royal Palace, the Capitular church, and the great new Špička (Peak) Gate. During the Hussite Wars, however, the whole royal precinct was destroyed… The present appearance of Vyšehrad was largely determined in the second half of the 19th century… its major landmark, the neo-Gothic Church of SS Peter & Paul was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style… the present Vyšehrad Cemetery is a unique artistic whole, harmoniously fitting its surroundings. At the same time it is also a unique gallery of funerary sculpture, and an expression of Czech artistic development from the second half of the 19th century to the present day. It is the final resting place of over 600 personalities from the fields of culture and intellectual endeavour.

Prague Castle, which I haven’t blogged about yet, is “the” castle to see in Prague. The Vysehrad Castle isn’t more than a few miles away, and before it was destroyed, “…the two castles maintained opposing spheres of influence for approximately two centuries.”

I visited Vysehrad one evening on another solo outing, and little did I know this was the perfect time to go. Vysehrad is on the highest ground in the southern part of town, and the sunset was spectacular. Apparently the sunsets are spectacular on a regular basis, as there were makeshift bars set up along the top of the northwestern wall, and a small, leisurely crowd was quietly chatting and enjoying the view.

I only had an hour or so to explore the sprawling grounds before it got dark, so I saw just a small part of what Vysehrad has to offer. See the “Plan of Vysehrad” section of the official site to get a sense of everything that’s there. It’s a quiet, green, and peaceful place, but with its huge walls on every side and its commanding view of the city, you can feel its history as a former center of power.

Maria and the boys visited Vysehrad before I joined them in Prague – the photos above include some shots of them enjoying its wonderful playground.

Another remarkable thing is that Vysehrad goes completely unmentioned in the popular Rick Steve’s Prague guidebook. It’s a couple miles from the center of town, but if you have more than a few days to spend in Prague, it’s worth a visit.

Pho at the Dong Do restaurant Pho at the Dong Do restaurant05-Aug-2009 19:44SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 200

Shopping outlets in Little Hanoi Shopping outlets in Little Hanoi05-Aug-2009 20:53SONY DSC-W55, 7.1, 6.3mm, 0.0025 sec, ISO 100

On the bus to Prague’s Little Hanoi – the Soviet-era buildings have been painted with cheerful colors05-Aug-2009 18:56SONY DSC-W55, 7.1, 6.3mm, 0.0040 sec, ISO 100

Going to get some pho with Peter and Tai05-Aug-2009 19:10SONY DSC-W55, 7.1, 6.3mm, 0.0025 sec, ISO 100

Tai told me that the Little Hanoi markets in Prague are made to look just like the ones in Vietnam05-Aug-2009 20:56SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 200

Getting the first bee sting of your life while alone at a bus station in a foreign country, not being able to find the friends you were planning to meet, and knowing you’re about to miss the bus you can’t find, isn’t the best way to start the day.

I was supposed to meet Tai – one of Maria’s students – and Peter – a Prague native who was assisting Maria with the student activities. Our destination was Little Hanoi – the Vietnamese community on the southern outskirts of Prague. I knew which bus we were supposed to take, but I couldn’t find it. Luckily Tai found me just a minute before the bus was leaving (it was at a small terminal hidden behind a wall of tall shrubs). We ran back to the bus and got on just in time. The ride was about 30 minutes, and it was my first time venturing out of Prague’s tourist areas. As we left Smichov station, the beautiful old buildings gave way to row upon row of communist-era concrete apartment buildings. Peter explained to me that after the Velvet Revolution, President Václav Havel hoped that people would abandon these buildings (he referred to them as “rabbit cages”). But as drab and unpleasant as they were, people had been living in them for decades and had created communities around them. So instead the buildings are being renovated and painted bright, cheerful colors.

While Peter educated Tai and I about the history of the area, we educated him about Vietnam. My knowledge of Vietnam is limited to two subjects: the Vietnam War, which I studied off and on for years, and phở – Vietnamese beef noodle soup – my favorite food. But Tai did most of the talking, since he is a 2nd generation Vietnamese-American. Tai was also our ticket into Little Hanoi: to get in, you have to pass through an entrance and either 1. have a wholesale vendor’s license, or 2. look Vietnamese (or be with someone who looks Vietnamese).

It turned out the “Sapa” building at the entrance used to be an office building where Peter had worked many years ago, and he hadn’t been back in at least 10 years. So for him it was an unusual experience, coming to a place that was familiar in some ways and very unfamiliar in others. As for me, I was happy that the pain in my hand from the bee sting had subsided (but since it was my first sting, the swelling and itching had just begun).

Our first stop was the Dong Do restaurant for lunch, which of course meant phở. Peter was very curious, as he had never had Vietnamese food before, and I was excited to have my first bowl of phở in Europe. It was a restaurant with a full menu, not a specialty phở shop, so the phở wasn’t amazing, but it was still very enjoyable. One of the best aspects of phở is there’s something about it that inspires lively conversation. Peter told us stories of life under communism, and Tai shared stories of his father’s life in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.

After lunch Tai took us for a quick tour around the markets (this was his second trip to Little Hanoi). It’s primarily a wholesale, business-to-business district, not a retail market, so there’s nothing especially attractive about the surroundings, which consisted of simple concrete and metal buildings. They primarily sold imported clothing, which wasn’t something I needed, but it was still fun to look around.

If you’re visiting Prague and want to venture out to Little Hanoi, the article here has more information, as well as directions. Remember though, you need to either look Asian or have a local vendor’s license to get in. There’s also another group of Vietnamese shops in Prague 4, described here.

• @MisterD – sorry for the late reply. I'm in the midst of major house remodeling, but I hope to get back to Shashin and my other plugins soon #
• Why I'm not blogging right now: the flooring I installed last week is top nailed. I've got 455 nail holes patched, 759 to go – roughly #
• "Getting a good night’s sleep is actually a lot more complicated than one would think" http://bit.ly/uzFAv -his charts are hilarious+perfect #
• Had a nice meal at Lacroix for Restaurant Week, although I've never been oh-so-politely rushed through a meal. Can't complain for $35 though #
• An explanation of my last Tweet for non-Philadelphians – Restaurant Week: http://bit.ly/JdXJ #
• Came home to a big disappointment – guys who did good work for me before did a lousy job refinishing my salvaged, antique oak flooring #
• http://twitpic.com/idsy3 – Who knew you could get a fridge made just for kimchi. I don't know about these salesmen though. #

The Old Jewish Cemetery The Old Jewish Cemetery07-Aug-2009 16:43SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 100	The Old Jewish Cemetery The Old Jewish Cemetery07-Aug-2009 16:43SONY DSC-W55, 2.8, 6.3mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 100	The Old-New Synagogue The Old-New Synagogue07-Aug-2009 17:13SONY DSC-W55, 7.1, 6.3mm, 0.0080 sec, ISO 100
Ceremonial Hall Ceremonial Hall07-Aug-2009 17:12SONY DSC-W55, 7.1, 6.3mm, 0.0040 sec, ISO 100	The Jewish Quarter has many beautiful Art Nouveau and Baroque buildings The Jewish Quarter has many beautiful Art Nouveau and Baroque buildings07-Aug-2009 17:17SONY DSC-W55, 7.1, 6.3mm, 0.0080 sec, ISO 100	Streets of the Jewish Quarter Streets of the Jewish Quarter07-Aug-2009 17:15SONY DSC-W55, 8.0, 7.2mm, 0.003125 sec, ISO 100

I’m finally getting back to blogging about the rest of our trip. I’m not even halfway through, so there are several more posts to come. I ventured out on my own one afternoon, to Prague’s Jewish Quarter. It’s main attraction is the Jewish Museum, which actually consists of seven different sites, most of which are synagogues. According to Rick Steve in his Prague guidebook, it “is the most interesting collection of Jewish sites in Europe.” The Museum doesn’t allow taking pictures inside any of its buildings, so unfortunately I’m limited in what I can show you here. If you go to their web site’s Permanent Exhibitions page, and then follow the links for the different buildings, you can see some interior pictures.

Each site in the Museum has objects and historical accounts from different periods in the many centuries of Jewish history in the Czech region. For the most part it is a thoroughly depressing history – for any given period, it’s mainly a question of how severe their deprivations were. While there were a few periods when Jewish life flourished in Prague, in most times they endured rules such as limits on the number of children they could have (to “control” the Jewish population) and having to pay “tolerance” taxes (i.e. for their existence being tolerated). In the worst of times they were driven from their homes or slaughtered. The Nazi concentration camps were the horrific culmination of this history. The Nazis used Prague as a repository of treasures stolen from Jews throughout Europe. Prague’s Jews were among the last sent to the concentration camps, as they were first put to work organizing and archiving all the stolen valuables. All of this made me think of the offhand comments people often make about the Middle East, saying that people there are crazy and that they’ve been killing each other for centuries. European history isn’t all that different.

For most of their history, Prague’s Jews were banned from living anywhere but the Jewish quarter. For me the most moving site was the Jewish cemetery. Since they didn’t have any other land to bury the dead, over the centuries they piled graves upon graves. As the ground settled over time, the result was a densely packed, topsy-turvey field of tombstones. The Pinkas Synagogue’s display of artwork by some of the 15,000 children who lived in the Terezin Concentration Camp was also deeply moving (Terezin was not a death camp per se, but those who survived it were ultimately sent to their deaths at Auschwitz).

But amid the suffering, there was also amazing art, music, poetry, and culture. The museum brings all of this to life as well. The neighborhood is also home to the finest Art Nouveau buildings in Prague.

• Spent the day installing my salvaged antique quarter-sawn white oak flooring in the sunroom. Good explanation here: http://bit.ly/i8gWD #
• Fixed missing pictures in my old post on Kai's kindergarten graduation in Japan 2 years ago. Fun if you haven't seen it- http://bit.ly/GT1fX #
• My DSL was down for 72 hours, but now I'm finally back online. I've got the shakes but I think I'll be ok #
• Parenting 1st for me: got both boys mad at me at the same time. Had to leave the pool as soon as we got there & realized I forgot Kai's suit #

A former student of Maria’s took this picture in Shinjuku. It’s Taro Aso, the Prime Minister of the recently defeated LDP05-Sep-2009 13:58EASTMAN KODAK COMPAN KODAK EASYSHARE M320, 3.2, 7.1mm, 0.0080 sec, ISO 80

One of Maria’s former students, now in Tokyo, took this picture in Shinjuku. It depicts Taro Aso, who in the wake of the LDP’s defeat, is now the outgoing Prime Minister of Japan.

The cover art for the Economist’s Sept 5th issue: Dokkaan means “explosion”

The Economist’s articles about the election are good – see this week’s Leader article and their more detailed Briefing article. Maria’s the expert on Japanese politics, not me, but she pointed out to me an aspect of the story that’s been missing from the Western press. Koizumi won a big victory for the LDP in 2005, partly because of his promise to privatize the postal saving system (a particular area of interest for Maria). The Western press depicted the 2005 election as a call for “reform” from the Japanese people, but it also represented a political maneuver by Koizumi to undermine the old guard of his own party, which opposed him on many issues and relied upon the patronage politics of the postal savings system. So while the DPJ’s landslide victory last week was certainly a resounding call for change, it’s also partly the result of the intra-party fight Koizumi started in the LDP several years earlier, which had the effect of weakening the party overall.

The Katakana word on the Economist’s cover is “Dokkaan” which is an onomatopoeia word for “explosion.”

Something I haven’t found any news on yet is how the Happiness Realization Party fared in the election. It’s the political arm of the “Happy Science” cult. The closest analogy to the US would be if there was a political party based on Scientology. They’re known for their wealthy members, they require large sums of money or expensive gifts from their followers to reach successive stages of enlightenment, and their leader claims “…he is the incarnation of El Cantare, a 9th degree spirit who was originally sent to the Earth from Venus 600 million years ago.” They claim to have 10 million followers, and they managed to field candidates in all of Japan’s 300 single-seat electoral districts.

• Know what you're putting on and in your body: http://www.goodguide.com – the UI and rating system are simple but don't dumb things down. #
• On behalf of my Dad – condo for sale in Newport RI – http://bit.ly/6H2vc
  #newport #realestate #realty #
• Tin is the 10th anniversary metal, so should I get Maria aluminum tubes for our illicit centrifuge, or tin flashing to prevent roof leaks? #
• Retweet: @speno – on DIsney acquiring Marvel – I liked this Marvel vs. Disney drawing. Very nice! http://bit.ly/dYyEn #
• http://twitpic.com/g9e12 – Kai learned how to ride a bike today #
• http://twitpic.com/g9e58 – And Eidan came along for the ride #