FOR YOUR CALENDAR

A DAY IN JAPAN WITH PATRICIA

Patricia is excited, we both are, to share the story of our traditional Japanese wedding at Senju Shrine, a Tokyo shinto temple.

Date:  Friday, June 9, 2023

Time: 10:00 am (following Tai Chi on)

Address:  21682 "B" Ocean Vista Drive. Laguna Beach, 92651

Go-yen and Goem

Tom and Virginia display their go-yen (5 yen coin necklaces).  In Japanese word play, go-yen and goem, a word community are often linked together  Yugi, my friend from Niimi told me that in Japan, people carry two or three of these in their wallets, or as shown here, wear them as a necklace.

Click HERE, for Yuji: a short documentary  or click on the image below.

Click HERE for our Japan Web site.  It includes 34 Travel Tips, a Library and hundreds of pages of interesting notes and photos about both ancient and modern Japan.  (The site is optimized for tablets and computers, but on mobile devices you can scroll to the bottom, then click on WEB VERSION.  

When you click on each of the following photos, they are rendered in a larger, more dramatic, even more beautiful format. Thank you Ron.

Japan Travel Tip #1, in the right column is for those interested in the important things to know before traveling to Japan. As you finish the first travel tip, click on NEWER POST at the bottom to go to Tip #2.

Four years before our wedding, we sat together to pen the principles for our marriage. 

A year before our wedding I had those First Principles engraved in kanji on the inner surface of Patricia's engagement ring.

Click HERE for:

First Principles for a shared lifetime.

Below:  Tom in a summer Yukata, and Anna in a kimono from Kyoto.

 
   

Four years before our wedding, Patricia and I sat together to pen the principles for our relationship (based on our reading of Steinbeck and Ricketts). A year before our wedding I had those First Principles engraved in kanji on the inner surface of Patricia's engagement ring.

Click HERE for:   First Principles for a shared lifetime.

My favorite video of Patricia 's Bullet Train experience.

What are the chances of catching this on video?

 

A kintsugi style bowl, 

once broken,

now more beautiful. 

Click HERE for more kintsugi: A Celebration of Broken Places

More traditional kimonosBelow (right) Mary, on the runway, displays a Yukata or summertime kimono.

Click HERE for Japanese Kimono: A Complete Guide

If you have photos of our Japan Day celebration, I will post them here.

Please send to 1tobymanzanares@gmail.com

Guide for a First Timer's visit to Japan

with 34 Great Travel Tips click HERE

Travel through time.  Walk the way of the Shogun. Thinking back on 9 visits to Japan, I can see why my journeys there felt more like time traveling. One moment you're enjoying a wedding reception 50 floors above Rippongi, Tokyo and the next you're walking the Temple of the Correct Fortune from the Kamakura period over 600 years ago.

Shōfuku-ji in Hagashimurayama, Tokyo, the Temple of Correct Fortune, is registered as a National Treasure of Japan, the oldest building in Tokyo.

Tip #15 Click HERE for Home Stays In Japan  They are the best way to learn about the culture of Japan. Book home stays instead of ordinary hotels. Stay with a three generation Japanese family. In Asuka Village for example, Patricia was treated by Tanaka-san to the 23 step process of dressing in a kimono.

Violet shows Mary how to tie a yukata.

When Tanaka-san (above) in Asuka, Japan,

first dressed Patricia in a formal kimono, there were braided cords, a silk obi and, I lost track, 22 other pieces used to dress her properly. While it took a long time for such a happy outcome, each moment was visual and kinesthetic poetry.

Like all of our experiences in Japan this was done in a mindful, thought filled way, without a sense of time. 

This reflected the Japanese concept of 

Ryote to ryome de

"With both hands, and both eyes."

In the presence of our Japanese hosts, or even people on the street, each experience left us with a sense that something just happened that was mindful, earnest, and heart-felt.

Ryote to ryome de

a gift,

given with both hands.

In 2005, while preparing for my Japan-Fulbright time in Japan, we were taught, when exchanging business cards, to receive their cards with both hands, bow, read earnestly each word on their card, check the back, then with both hands bow and give our card, mindful and timelessly.

Ryote to ryome de

a gift,

given with both hands.

While I take this moment to bow out, check back soon as more photos will be posted.

If you have photos of our Japan Day celebration, 

I will post them here.

Please send to 1tobymanzanares@gmail.com

Maybe next time, I will introduce you to Gassan Sadatoshi,

the finest sword smith I've ever met in Japan. 

I spent 2 timeless hours with him, one afternoon.

His time, a gift, given with both hands.

For Gassan in his home, slide the scrubber bar to 1:56, 

one minute, 56 seconds into the video clip.

Click HERE for more about Gassan Sadatoshi

Wedding slide show (click below to start sound track)

HOW TO HYPNOTIZE A ROOSTER.

Last week Elle mentioned hypnotizing a rooster, but when it came to an explanation, I opted for DG, delayed gratification, a way to heighten interest by delaying the answer to an interesting question. For discussion next Friday.

Ethologists, scientists who study animal behavior, refer to this as "tonic immobility", a semi paralytic state triggered in some animals when threatened by a predator, like "playing opossum" or "deer in the headlights."

Click HERE for more details. 

Have Tai Chi: Will Travel

Click HERE for: TAI CHI ALISO CREEK WEB CAM

FRIDAYs, 8:30 AM

While we practice Tai Chi on the beach, our friends on the road can practice with us by bringing up the Aliso Beach Web cam Friday's at 8:30 am. Click on the web cam link above.  As you travel, send us a photo or short video clip so we can see what you see. And travelers can see us practice Tai Chi at Aliso Beach.

June 18, 2023:  From Alaska, Ron, midway through Polar Bear tai chi.

When Paul was dog sitting in Palo Alto.

From Palo Alto, Paul followed along as we practiced our Friday Tai Chi. This was his view (above). 

He took this screen shot at the end when we turned around and waved at the webcam (right).

Meanwhile Ron and Lee are making tall friends in Cancun.

Ron

Tai Chi on Playa Mujeres Beach in Cancun. 

ChatGPT: Our Next Salon Discussion recommended by Ron

Ron suggested this article about artificial intelligence as a topic for our next salon. 

For discussion Friday, March 10.  

Click HERE to read the article as it appears on Henry Kissinger's Website or scroll down to read it here. As time allows, I will update the annotations over the next two days. (They will appear below on this page.) 

ChatGPT Heralds an Intellectual Revolution

By Henry Kissinger,

Eric Schmidt

And Daniel Huttenlocher 

By the way... Henry Kissinger will celebrate his 100th birthday May 27, 2023!

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2  "ChatGPT give me 6 references for the treatment of my mother's brain tumor."

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11  Use of quantum theory here ... see discussion note #3 

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DISCUSSION

How much of this article was written by Elenor Rhunde...

... by Henry Kissinger?

1. LIST OF Ai FIRST PRINCIPLES from our Salon discussion. (With alacrity: cheerful readiness.)

Click HERE for IDEO ai Ethics Cards

2. ChatGPT ... new intellectual revolution? Not until AI understands.

cGPT requires human vetting for accuracy confidence, for example, 

On page 7 (above) ChatGPT was asked to give:

6 references to Kissenger's thoughts on technology.

ChatGPT's response was wrong for five of six listed references.

ChatGPT made up (fabricated) 5 of the six listed items. We know ChatGPT is being "fine tuned" but it has not yet been programmed to deliver reliable citations.  

Would you follow ai's recommendations?  For example: 

"ChatGPT give me 6 references for the treatment of my mother's brain tumor." 

I don't want ChatGPT fabricating results when I'm searching for critical medical information for someone in my family. 

3. Pull out the red flag of skepticism (page 11) whenever you hear QUANTUM THEORY unless it's cited in an article from Cal Tech or MIT or spoken by an actual physicist.

Click HERE for more on quantum science and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

Toby's take:  ChatGPT does not know the accuracy of what it writes. For now it collects data randomly, to create a dialog that writes randomly generated bridge sentences that appear to be human, but are not. For now the first questions is: What percentage of ChapGPT is accurate? Until it is 100% accurate, it should be not be considered ready for mass consumption. Consider  a longitudinal study of a limited beta release.

HOW TO PROLONG A HEALTHY MIND

Source credit: The Guardian

Click HERE for full article.

The 100-Year Life: How to Prolong a Healthy Mind

IF YOU TALK, YOU LIVE WELL

 Click HERE for the full article

Our Tai Chi group is a California version of a Blue Zone where we talk over coffee and tea after Tai Chi.

"Sardinia has been identified as one of five regions in the world that have high concentrations of centenarians. There are 534 people who are 100 or older, or 33.6 for every 100,000 inhabitants."