Bizarre Behaviour on iOS 5

I regularly use three different international keyboards for entering 2 languages + emoticons on my iPhone (I'll just number the keyboards 1-3 for simplicity), and use the little globe button on the bottom left to rotate through them in order as follows:

1 --> 2 --> 3 --> 1 --> 2 --> 3

So if I'm using keyboard 3, I know I have to push the globe button once to get keyboard 1, or twice to get to keyboard 2. It's intuitive and consistent.

Until iOS 5 that is. Now if I leave it on keyboard 3 and don't use the phone for a little while (exact time not known), pressing the globe button does the following:

3 --> 2 --> 3 --> 1 --> 2 --> 3 --> 1--> 2 --> 3

But if I don't leave it long enough, then it behaves the same way as I had previously expected it to.

This bizarre selection order change happens just infrequently enough for me to never ever get used to it, so now whenever I go to press the globe button I have no idea what language is going to appear (out of only two possible choices).

The globe button has become a button of uncertainty, and I don't like uncertainty in Apple products.

Apple, please fix this. Please. If you can put an option in the International Keyboards settings allowing me to turn this "feature" off, then that would be great. I'll use that and say no more on the subject. Or if you really insist that this is best for everyone, why not change the globe icon to something that represents the keyboard you will switch to if you press it. Or have a different "next keyboard" and "most recent keyboard" icons to identify its behavior. Either way, its functionality is currently compromised and it's rather disappointing for the fifth version of anything, given that it worked fine before.

Thank you!

Kawasaki Awa Odori

This was our last public performance this year, and for my money, our best. And very well captured to. We still need some work in areas and a lot of fine tuning before next summer, but I think we've successfully raised the bar and done well for ourselves this year. Video looks best full screen in HD.

Berlitz酷い！

目的と違うと思いますが、この宣伝は在日外国人に対してかなり失礼だと思います。外国人は日本語を習う（習えるのか？！）ことはあり得ないように表現しているから。日本に安心に暮らすために苦労して、日本語を勉強してきた外国人を馬鹿にするな！

http://www.berlitz.co.jp/info/ad1109_pop01.html

Homepage Update #2

The Tokyo Ebisuren homepage is now available in English. To my knowledge, we are now the only Awa-odori team to have the entire homepage including regular updates in English, and one of the only English language Awa-odori resources available at all. Take a look and see what we've been up to!

Tokyo Ebisuren

Homepage Update

After months of work, we finally have the new Tokyo Ebisuren homepage up and running. Please take a look if you're not too busy.

東京えびす連

Fukushima – A Car Analogy

I can't vouch for the scientific accuracy of this as I'm going by what scientists and nuclear engineers have been explaining. However, as the words "nuclear" and "explosion" seem to drive so much irrational fear into people who automatically think in terms of nuclear bombs, which are really hard to make, this gentler (and somewhat tongue in cheek) analogy should make the scale of the current situation a little clearer.

The common perception of the current situation

Imagine you have a very long alley, just wider than a car, and it's filled with little children innocently playing. A muscle car with bull horns on the front (and barbed wire stretched between them) is about to burn down that alley at 150 mph. It cannot slow down or crash or turn for some reason which I don't know, but it just is, and it's going to mow down anybody that gets in its way without even taking a dent. Even the kids at the other end of the alley aren't going to have time to get out of its way. The only thing stopping it is one man with his foot on the brake pedal, but he's getting real tired and the brakes aren't very strong, so it could speed off at any second. It's going to be a disaster. 

What's actually happening

The same car is stopped at the end of the same alley. The engine is idling. The bulk of the fuel has been removed, but there's still dregs left in the fuel tank and pipes so it's going to take a little while for it to run out of fuel. The handbrake is on. And a man is sat in the drivers seat with his foot on the brake. He's getting tired. They're trying to encourage him to stick at it, but it's uncertain if he can keep it pushed down before the engine runs dry and stops by itself. If he dozes off and releases the brake, and the handbrake fails, and nobody else can get to the main brake fast enough, the car will slowly career into a concrete wall that was designed to stop the same car hitting it at 500mph. Just to be extra sure, they've asked the kids to go home to mum until it's sorted.

Fear mongering in the western media and blogs is not helping families who are already distressed (with good reason) worrying (also with good reason) about loved ones in Japan. Please instead consider donating to one of the many organisations providing relief efforts. Please also note that this is in no way meant to imply the current situation isn't dangerous – it is extremely dangerous in the immediate area and the people who are in the most danger at Fukushima are the plant operators who are working tirelessly (and thanklessly) putting their lives on the line to ensure everybody else's safety. 

Google Maps Oddity

Well, I tried saving a place link in My Maps and set it to Public so it would appear in public searches. Do it appear in public searches? Nope. Perhaps it's because nothing is linked to it, so Google doesn't know it exists...

美竹の丘・しぶや レクリエーションホール

There. It's linked. Now be more publically searchable!