Monday February 15
 
10:32
 
Aaarrrrrgghhh GOOGLE!

A very pissed off letter I want to send to Google Adsense but can’t because there’s no contact option:

Dear Google,

I have been an Adsense user for a long time.

Suddenly you have decided that my earnings must be shown in Japanese yen because I live in Japan. It’s not something I want, but I have to do it to continue with adsense – fine.

However, you tell me I must accept new terms and conditions and these are only shown in Japanese. I don’t speak Japanese. Just because I live in Japan, it doesn’t mean I speak Japanese.

My computer is set to English. My browser is set to English. My account is set to English. But you insist that terms and conditions are shown to me in a language I don’t understand? Ridiculous.

There is no way in Adsense support to contact you about this. No way to get help about the terms and conditions. What am I supposed to do?

It’s bad enough that every time I go to http://www.google.com/ you ignore my PC OS language, browser language setting, Google account language setting, the fact I’ve clicked on “Show Google in English” millions of times, and you redirect me to http://www.google.co.jp/ – but presenting Japanese terms and conditions to me and forcing me to accept them without giving the option of a different language or even be able to contact you about them is just taking the biscuit.

Repeat: PC has English OS. Web browser has English as the primary encoding language. Google account is set to English. Stop thinking that what I really want is Japanese!

Arrrrggghhh!

Of course this letter will have zero effect and I’ll be forced to accept terms and conditions I don’t understand, but writing it made me feel a whole lot better.

Friday January 8
 
13:38
 
Suicide

I just found out one of the bloggers I used to read religiously about Korea committed Suicide in 2006. Yeah, it took me a long time to find out – but after he left Korea, I stopped reading his blog.

One of the reasons I stopped blogging about personal stuff is that people read your blog and think they know everything that is going on in your life. People who read Shawn’s blog had no idea of what the guy was really feeling behind the scenes, and Shawn’s suicide illustrates that.

I actually bought Shawn’s original book when I saw it on sale in a bookshop in Korea. He inspired many people with his blogging and humour.

Thursday January 7
 
15:15
 
@ Places with funny names

Don’t laugh.

Thursday January 7
 
11:18
 
Dr Slaughter

Great page of funny names. Can you believe people are really called…

• Bonnie Beaver
• Chip Munk
• Dick Face
• Dr Slaughter
• Sharon Fillerup

Don’t miss the “Longer submissions” at the end:

Meg Boner sent me this: “This one is real – it’s mine. My maiden name was Meg Ann Childress. Nothing exciting. Well, I married Alan Boner, and now I am Meg A. Boner!”

Thursday January 7
 
10:13
 
Yaeba

A new search term suddenly became popular on my blog yesterday – Yaeba. I mentioned Yaeba before on my post “The blog for Japanese girls with bad teeth“. Why the term should suddenly become popular now, I don’t know.