There is an overhead associated with just START before rolling. There is also an inertia energy loss in first motion that regenerative braking can’t recover in short distances. The maximum efficiency is constant speed at the lowest acceptable speed. Bob Wilson
A rather long-winded one -- abandon hope, all ye who enter here, yadda-yadda --- Not sure how many here will be able to relate, so another layer to warning to those who cross the tape... --- Have loved a Japanese language TV series on NF, probably 10 - 11y now, called 'Midnight Diner', and its spinoff (also NF). Strange thing to be so enamored with a series, given lack of direct contact with storylines and culture, as a JA raised in HI. Takes place in defo urban Tokyo, of which I'd visited relatives only a few times in early childhood... usually passing thru to get to northern Japan -- which looks very little like the setting of the series. But like many things about the JDM, there're moments of 'clarity' felt intensely, watching this very-postwar-urban-Japanese set of self-contained stories... and have no idea what part of me resonates with them, or why. Have watched Japanese language TV, anime, films, and other media since '70s / '80s... so whils vocab's right-shite having no one to reinforce conversational skills... the rhythm of the language, even its change in lilt for the various dialects in Japan, hits some deep heart spot rarely felt elsewhere. Going back to Japan for the 1st time in 21y a decade back, was a literal flood of this very thing -- which unfortunately, could've paid more attention to family there than I did (don't feel bad -- they've plenty of poor and grating-for-an-American-qualities deserving, from past visits). Don't think my subconscious has been pinged w\ this strange longing more times (felt as a permeating, constant silent questioning) at any other time in life. Is it weird, for someone raised nearly entirely free of the systems and society so naturally encoded into everything in the series... yet feel a strong kinship for things I'd not personally experienced? Guess that's the dilemma of dual-cultured diaspora everywhere, really. Just in my case... would really like a glimpse into the stories and exps of my Japanese lineage, creating the conditions for this profound, almost disorienting sense of... not deja vu, not nostalgia either. But something in between, like my past is calling to finally meet me. A long lost brother on the other end of a non-existent, temporal call, wants to meet and fill me in, on a hidden branch of my tree... and another universe. What I like about Japanese storytelling of the kind in MD, is it's a classic- (and apparently cult- too for later gens) JDM way of telling a story, just with the period and characters swapped. And Japanese stories tend not to spare the audience the pain and loss and sadness of life... just not glorifying it with M60s and explosions, either. All the chars in MD are the totally-normal sorts of characters in any big city izakaya would attract in the wee hours, just a diner serving mild drinks, vs. a bar. And that interplay, at least to me, is engrossing and evocative of warmth and connection, none of my non-Japanese peers (excepting those who're exp'd w\ big-city Japan, like Sasebo / Yokosuka Navy vets, and Yokota / Iwakuni AF vets) would have any clue about, at least non-tangentially. So why is this novel in the Coincidences thread? Well, the only other Japanese production that's evoked such strong feelings I can't explain -- but for completely different reasons -- is a 2002 anime TV series called 'Haibane Renmei' (灰羽連盟, 'Ash-Wing Federation'). Looks cutesy on the cover, but a definitely-darker and more adult series, mark my word. Do like more overcast, somber stories for anime... but the reason this is a coincidence, is I began watching MD again on NF, after trying to find info online on HR, on a whim -- and it turns out, 'Midnight Diner' started out as a manga series that became a live-action one -- just like HR began as a manga before it became animated. But what's really weird... is the two creator's family name's the same: Abe. Yoshitoshi Abe for HR, Yarou Abe for MD. Someone with less baggage against Japanese culture (specifically its cuteness tropes, and the Western tendency to dismiss anime as glorified Saturday cartoons (some merit, but mostly unearned) might enjoy Haibane Renmei and its excellent storytelling, esp from a Western pov, actually... but for most, I'd say the less you know the better 以上です... どうも.
A year in Okinawa, 1972-3, I studied Japanese (B and C). I throughly enjoyed the Japanese even though I was not there voluntarily (Marines.) Too hot for me, a great place to party. The Northeast coast, so spiritually healing to me. Bob Wilson
