Just a Gwai Lo replied to my post on Proposals – in response to his “ rant on marriage “. I agree I may have made some over-generalizations but I appreciate that he said I admit that her being a woman and my being a man probably helps her case rather than hinders it .
I liked reading Makiko Itoh’s post on Girl’s Day in Japan:
The centerpiece of Girl’s Day is an elaborate display of exquisitely crafted dolls, called hina, that depict the wedding procession of a princess. The bride and groom are decked out in court regalia from days long past, and accompanied by a whole retinue – 3 ladies in waiting, 5 musicians, and so on. The bride’s dowry is also part of the procession.
There were three girls in our family, but for a long time we didn’t have a real set of hina. One reason for this was because we had moved around so much – living in the UK, Japan, and the US before I was 11. Once we returned to Japan and settled down in our own house, it became one of my mother’s top priorities to get a real set of hina. But my father made it quite clear that it wasn’t in the budget to get the kind of hina set she had in mind.
Anita Rowland linked to The Scribbler : fun to try and look at the gallery!
Ted posted about skater Sarah Hughes in Money is not richness and SUVs in Bigger isn’t better .
This post of Ben Hyde’s on Mr. Smoot knowing his calling gave me a laugh. Years ago while walking across the Harvard bridge together, Ted had told me the tale of this poor pledge who had been used as a unit of measurement, the paint marks on the pavement as proof. As I said to Ted tonight: I thought it was some kind of legend. I didn’t imagine Smoot was a real live person, nevermind now the president of the International Standards Organization.
Ted looked at me askance: People at MIT always tell the truth .
4 responses so far ↓
1 Shane Curcuru // Mar 5, 2004 at 8:40 am
Indeed, smoots are a real unit of measurement, and Smoot is a real person. Didn’t know he was in ISO tho – quite a ways to go, although somehow oddly appropriate.
My question: is the bridge still the same length? It’s been rebuilt since the original 1962 measurement, and I’m wondering exactly how long it is now…
2 Katherine // Mar 6, 2004 at 9:52 pm
I like it when you cross-reference Ted’s blog. Reminds me to go take a look at it. Keep letting us know when he writes about you and/or the kids…
3 Katherine // Mar 6, 2004 at 10:02 pm
P.S. My dad was in Cambridge at the time of the Smooting…he was class of ’64 at Harvard. I wish I could ask him about his memories of that time (he died in 1994, when I was 21 – we just passed the ten year mark). FYI, I could have been used to measure the bridge – I am also 5’7″. My dad was 6’1″ so that wouldn’t have worked at all!
4 Ted Leung // Mar 7, 2004 at 1:13 am
The way Smoot was used as a measurement was they rolled him on the group. One complete revolution along the axis passing through the top of his head through to the bottom of his toes. It had something to do with his nose going around once, as I recall…