Notice from James: I will probably not be updating this section any more because I started a new blog for my hitch-hiking adventures and other activities. If you wish to keep track of me and what I am doing, please visit http://jamesjpn.net It's much easier for me to update it because it uses WordPress technology and I can use any PC to add more posts.
January 23, 2009 I started a new blog devoted to my hitch-hiking adventures in Japan. It is based on WordPress technology and may be easier for me to keep it updated than the old fashion (and sometimes painful) way I update this site working directly with HTML code. You can even add your own comments to my Wordpress blog under each article I write! But I hope you are kind in your comments, for if not, I'll probably zap the ones I don't like. ;-)
Dec. 19, 2008: Found a wonderful web site called Good News About God by Dr. Lorraine Day. I consider her one of the most truth telling people I know of outside of my own close circle of friends. She's got it all -- politics, NWO exposes, spirituality, and health! She had breast cancer and recovered completely without drugs or medicine! Please check out her bio: http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/bio.htm
Dec. 8 - 15, 2008: I took part in an AFS Intercultural student exchange program and helped host two 16 year old boys at my home for a week, Kevin from Sydney Australia and Cookie (his nickname) from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I had a great time learning from them about their countries, and they learned from me what I know about Japan. They are two highly motivated teenagers who study hard in school. Please see some photos I took of the event.
Nov. 27, 2008 Upgraded my main PC to Fedora 10 Linux. See a screenshot of my desktop. The reason the screen is so wide and why the task bars only extend half way is because I am using a dual monitor setup. You may notice that some of the icons on the desktop are for Windows programs. I can run them in Linux with WINE.
Nov. 15, 2008 The graph below shows the distances hitchhiked from the year 2005 to the present. The first bar is year 2005, the second, 2006, etc. Values are in kilometers. You can see that though this year of 2008 is not yet over, I did better than the previous two years already! Unfortunately I couldn't include 2003 and 2004 in the graph because the values were mixed together on my spreadsheet document.
Oct. 31 to Nov. 9, 2008: I went to Aomori city, about 470 kilometers from home, via Akita. Because I had business in Aomori two weekends in a row, and due to the fact it takes two whole days for me to hitchhike there, I opted to spend the week with my friends in Aomori. They kept me busy helping with their computer projects and walking their two dogs, an Akita Inu and a Shizu, twice a day.
Oct. 29, 2008: Just saw for the first time what an Amero coin looks like.
Oct. 26, 2008: Started to use Fedora 10 Linux (still beta) on my main PC. It is definitely the best OS I have used to date.
October 10, 2008: I learned about OpenDNS and how to use it as an Internet content filter both for my home and friends. It works great! OpenDNS is a free service that can be configured to block any web content you deem to be inappropriate for you or for your family. It also speeds up the download of good web sites!
October 2, 2008: A friend introduced to me a great self-help book called, "Who will cry when you die?" by Robin Shama. I read the first 12 chapters and every one was interesting. One point from the book I want to apply is to start to keep a journal. This is different from a diary. In my journal I won't just write events, but lessons of life. Here's some quotes from the book:"Maintaining a daily journal is one of the best personal growth initiatives you will ever take. ... Medical researchers have found that writing in a private journal for as little as 15 minutes a day can improve health, functioning of your immune system, and your overall attitude. Remember, if your life is worth thinking about, it is worth writing about."
Sept. 6, 2008: I've been reading through a book Flat Earth News by Nick Davies. It exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media. The author in the first chapter called, "The Bug the Ate the World" talks about the misinformation the media spread about Y2K. Also see: Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009
Sept. 2, 2008: Ended a morning subscription of the Daily Yomiuri newspaper. I was addicted to reading the newspaper during breakfast. I now read more inspiring materials instead and I feel so much better as a result. It reminds me of the story of the man hitting his head on the wall of an insane asylum. When they asked him why he was doing it, he replied, "It feels so good when I stop!"
Aug. 24, 2008: I just returned from a hitchhike adventure of over 2500 kilometers to the southern Japanese island of Kyushu!
Aug. 6, 2008: One of my friends who is an owner of a business gave me a company PC he said was not in use anymore - a Celeron 1.8 gigahertz CPU desktop with a 30 gigabyte hard disk drive. It had Japanese Windows 2000 installed and still had company documents on it! I promptly reformated the drive and installed Ubuntu 8.04 Linux, and installed Dansguardian Internet content filter. With the older buggy Windows 2000 OS gone, I now have a state of the art OS that transformed the older machine into a great PC that guests and their young people can use to access the Internet and check email -- even though unsupervised! Dansguardian blocks out ALL negative and perverse web content! It's impossible to get around the content filter or make changes to the system without knowing the Root password.
July 28, 2008: Hitchhiked to Tokyo in 8 rides around trip (600 plus kilometers). The first driver was a lady who told me she was only going a few kilometers down the road. She said that she would take me a bit further to a better hitchhike place on the main highway if first she could stop at her house to take care of her children. She invited me in and introduced me to her 14 year old daughter and one month old baby boy. She even asked me if I would like to hold her baby! In spite of the recent rise in violent crime, Japan is still one of the safest countries in the world to live in.
A young couple with their 2 year old son who took me to Tokamachi, Niigata, July 5, 2008.
June 15 to July 6 I've been travelling a lot more this summer compared to last year. During these dates I hitchhiked to 9 different cities travelling 826 kilometers (516 miles) going back and forth to beautiful mountain areas in Niigata and Nagano. Among the people who picked me up was one dentist and his wife, a professional photographer, a young man who likes classic rock and knows about Jeremy Spencer who is a member of my Christian organization, a diamond worker who taught me things I never knew (diamonds will burn under intense heat), and a mother with her two boys 4 and 8 years old......read more of my adventures
Interesting Web Articles
- We don't build temples
- We are not
dropped out of any other church
- We believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible
- We are un-compromised with the World
- We seek to follow our Master 100% of the time
- A summary outlining the basic beliefs and practices of The Family
- The writings of David Brandt Berg -- the writer of the famous "Mo Letters"
Thought provoking articles on other web sites
- What to Expect During World War 3
- Israelites Came To Ancient Japan
- Rock Music and 666 - Web link introduced by Paula
- Great web resource: The Blackened Peak of the REAL Mount Sinai found by Ron Wyatt
- The world's foremost philosophical atheist, Antony Flew, decides God is real after all!
- The Paradise Post Insightful articles and Powerpoint presentations describing the *the real world* behind the Matrix!