Do You Get the Point... across?

Milo Frank's book How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less, a heavy tome of 1500 pages....

No, just kidding. Frank's book is svelte (12 chapters, each on average 9 pages, with a 4 page intro). Easy reading that packs a punch. Know what you're after, know what your audience is after, take an approach, hook your reader's attention, present your subject concisely, and finally ask for it, whatever it is that you're after.

There, now you don't have to read the first half of the book.

I invite you, the reader, to use this book to criticize my style... and your own style.

Milton died

Milton Friedman has passed away according to this report from the Cato Institute. It's hitting me hard.

Bluegrass Samisen

When it rains, it pours. More samisen!! This time it's bluegrass samisen from Takeharu Kunimoto with The Last Frontier.



Update (May 31, 2008): I spent quite a bit of time putting together a flash player with a collection of Takeharu Kunimoto's music. I'm disappointed to see today that MyFlashFetish.com has left no trace of my effort, which was up and running above for at least a year or so. It just disappeared. I can't even log in to MyFlashFetish. They don't have a record of my email address anymore.

Update (Nov 7, 2008): I discovered today that the MyFlashFetish.com player is playing music again. It's now someone else's music!! I'll never use their service again. I commented out the flash player. You can still see it in the HTML if you "view page source".

Samisen Boogie Woogie

I love this video, particularly Umekichi Hiyama's samisen segment towards the end.

Here's an article about her in the Asahi Evening News, 'Edo-freak' blossoms by Ken Kawashima.