The WorldTracker SMS. The ‘world’s smallest’ 16 satellite real-time GPS tracking system. Sends reports on its location via SMS messages, either automatically or on demand. Great way to locate those lost brain cells. Or maybe not. $649.00.
Place with packages, vehicles, or personnel, the WorldTracker SMS sends detailed tracking reports of routes traveled for quality control and security purposes. It can report with a variety of uses defined methods such as automatic sending of real-time position data, on demand reporting, and “geofencing”. These reports are sent as SMS text messages over your local GSM cellular network.
“Sony are now making people pay an extra few hundred pounds for a Blu-Ray DVD drive which we don't know is going to be the standard in the next-generation DVD formats,” Thompson insisted.
“This is the company that brought out Betamax – we don't quite know where they're going to go with this,” he added, in a pointed reference to Sony's defeat in the format war against VHS.
MSoft, of course, chose the cheaper HD-DVD route, although have muttered about the possibility of offering a Blu-Ray peripheral if Blu-Ray takes off.
If.
Sony have had a good early view on what people think of their plan, a plan that's probably not too late to change. With Famitsu readers about-turning a full 180 degrees from massive PS3 interest to massive Wii interest, almost everybody complaining about the price point, and lots of anti-Blu-Ray sentiment, do you think Sony might change their gameplan?
Miss World, Miss USA, Miss Hong Kong, and now here comes Miss Blogger PRC! Earlier this month, BlogChina, a poupular -- you guessed it -- Chinese blog site held a nationwide beauty contest for female bloggers. Both the public and a panel of celebrity judges took part in deciding the outcome. In addition to the usual “hotness” factor, contestants’ writing/blogging talent also played a significant role, supposedly. One look at the final awards had us convinced that was indeed the case: Cash prizes between 10,000 and 20,000 RMB were given to the “Most Beautiful”, the “Sexiest”, the “Most Popular”, the “Most Fashionable”, and last which may or may not be the least, the “Most Talented”. Where Shanghaiist just had a few chuckles, some of the more self-righteous web crawlers felt compelled to opine. One male blogger, “Idai” had this to say:
“I like beautiful women and I like BlogChina, but to combine the two together, I don’t see the reason for it.”
A collective gasp of incredulity was heard in BlogChina’s marketing department immediately after.
Hedgehog MumuThe contest ran into trouble and all kinds of bad press when one finalist who blogs under the name "刺猬穆穆/Hedgehog Mumu" posted a number of semi-nude photos of herself (NVSFW) to attract visitors and votes : Traffic exploded, votes soared and, of course, critics poured in. Though Mumu’s ploy seems to have worked (she received the most votes in the public voting phase of the contest), she was awarded none of the prizes in the finals.
Opinion columnists attacked her for “offending the dignity of women”, but Bo kee refused to remove the photographs because they “do not break state laws”, according to Chinese news portal AnHui Hotline.
… She received the most votes in the public voting, but won none of the prizes in the finals.
The Mainichi Daily News has put together an collection of the wacky, wackier, and wackiest world of Japanese ice cream. The following is a list of the flavors. . . Read at your own risk. . .
Wacky Octopus; squid; ox tongue; sweet potato; fried eggplant; crab; corn; koshihikari rice; wasabi; shrimp; eel; Nagoya noodles; chicken wings; miso; cactus Wackier Raw horsemeat; goat; whale; shark fin; oyster; abalone; seaweed; deep sea water; spinach; garlic; sesame; soybeans and dried kelp; lettuce and potatoes; wheat; natto; silk; chicken; black beer; shochu; red wine; tulip; cherry blossom
Wackiest Soy sauce; mamushi (viper); Indian curry; pearl; salad; charcoal; miso ramen; chili pepper; cheese risotto; natural salt; grated yams; cypress; cream cheese; soy sauce cream; squid guts; squid ink; roasted seaweed; hot spring water; cool garlic mint; brown rice; rice straw; hojicha (bitter green tea); persimmon; pickled plums and shiso; collagen lemon; tomato; deep water; Oriental medicine herbs; potato; cheese
Post office workers in Kunitachi, Japan were surprised recently by a many who came in and placed a bag that contained 350,000 yen on the counter, and then fled. Police guess that the man intended to pay back cash stolen from the post office earlier this year.
The same post office was robbed in March this year by a knife-wielding man who stole 340,000 yen in cash, and police believe the man who turned up to return the money was the one who stole the cash.
Police are holding the cash as evidence, and cannot return it to the post office until the statue of limitations on the robbery expires.
Investigators said the money was all in 10,000 yen notes, and was in a brown envelope.
Japan fears North Korea may fire missile Breaking News - smh.com / June 1, 2006 - 12:20PM Japan and the United States have heightened their alert on North Korea's long-range ballistic missile. This was because Pyongyang appeared to have made progress in its preparation to fire the missile, the Sankei Shimbun reported ... the report said the US military has deployed its RC-135S Cobra Ball reconnaissance aircraft to detect the firing of the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, which is believed to have a range of 3,500-6,000 kilometres.
Japan's Defence Agency has also sent an Aegis-equipped destroyer and radar-jamming electronic attack aircraft to gather information, the report said, adding that it is the first time the agency has gathered intelligence through the joint operation of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defence forces.
The report cited a government source as saying the two countries have "raised the level of alert from the initial phase" when asked about the firing preparation of the Taepodong-2 missile.
The report said it was not clear whether North Korea already poured fuel into the engine, but quoted another government source as saying that the preparation is "at its final stage."
The report said, however, many experts doubt if North Korea would really launch the missile, saying Pyongyang just wants to intimidate Japan and the United States while the six-nation talks on its nuclear program are stalled.
Signs of missile-firing preparation were confirmed in early May.
The report said Japan and the United States detected an increased amount of radio communication near a missile test site in Hwadae County, North Hamgyong in northeastern North Korea, that continued to stay high.
They also focused on the fact that the type of communication has changed recently, according to the report.
Japan has sent the Aegis-equipped destroyer Choukai and its YS-11E aircraft to the Sea of Japan to gather information, while the United States is believed to have sent the Cobra Ball stationed in Kadena air base at the end of May, the report said.
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN A Justice Ministry panel has recommended Japanese language proficiency as a condition for long-term visa renewals and ending a special visa program for foreigners of Japanese ancestry.
Here’s some welcome news for anyone not jiving with the whole 2006 “cool biz” fashion campaign that was officially launched yesterday…
Multimedia production company Buildup Co., Ltd. has announced plans to begin renting high-quality animatronic suits in June. First up for rent will be the company’s panda suit.
The realistic-looking panda suit consists of two layers — an inner layer of padding to reproduce the panda’s muscles and an outer layer featuring a coat of high-quality fur. The eyes, ears and mouth are equipped with a total of 14 remote control servo motors, allowing the panda to make facial expressions ranging from pleasant smiles to angry grimaces. To add to the realism, the designers eliminated the peepholes for the person inside. Instead, the performer sees by means of video goggles connected to a CCD camera system.
Although Buildup generally loans its suits to production companies, the panda suit is available for rent to individuals as well. With the rental service scheduled to begin today (June 1), the company has yet to announce the rental price. Only one panda suit is available at the moment, but Buildup is looking into expanding its lineup with suits modeled after other animals.
Here's an interesting article in the June 2006 issue of PopSci about the 50 tons of red gunk that rained on India in 2001. It's possible that the stuff contains critters from outer space.
Louis, a solid-state physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science in which he hypothesizes that the samples—water taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis’s home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001—contain microbes from outer space.
Specifically, Louis has isolated strange, thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures about 10 microns in size. Stranger still, dozens of his experiments suggest that the particles may lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to nearly 600˚F. (The known upper limit for life in water is about 250˚F.) So how to explain them? Louis speculates that the particles could be extraterrestrial bacteria adapted to the harsh conditions of space and that the microbes hitched a ride on a comet or meteorite that later broke apart in the upper atmosphere and mixed with rain clouds above India. If his theory proves correct, the cells would be the first confirmed evidence of alien life and, as such, could yield tantalizing new clues to the origins of life on Earth.
Meanwhile, more down-to-earth theories abound. One Indian government investigation conducted in 2001 lays blame for what some have called the “blood rains” on algae. Other theories have implicated fungal spores, red dust swept up from the Arabian peninsula, even a fine mist of blood cells produced by a meteor striking a high-flying flock of bats.
Louis and his colleagues dismiss all these theories, pointing to the fact that both algae and fungus possess DNA and that blood cells have thin walls and die quickly when exposed to water and air. More important, they argue, blood cells don’t replicate. “We’ve already got some stunning pictures—transmission electron micrographs—of these cells sliced in the middle,” Wickramasinghe says. “We see them budding, with little daughter cells inside the big cells.”
Louis’s theory holds special appeal for Wickramasinghe. A quarter of a century ago, he co-authored the modern theory of panspermia, which posits that bacteria-riddled space rocks seeded life on Earth. “If it’s true that life was introduced by comets four billion years ago,” the astronomer says, “one would expect that microorganisms are still injected into our environment from time to time. This could be one of those events.”
The next significant step, explains University of Sheffield microbiologist Milton Wainwright, who is part of another British team now studying Louis’s samples, is to confirm whether the cells truly lack DNA. So far, one preliminary DNA test has come back positive.“Life as we know it must contain DNA, or it’s not life,” he says. “But even if this organism proves to be an anomaly, the absence of DNA wouldn’t necessarily mean it’s extraterrestrial.”
Louis and Wickramasinghe are planning further experiments to test the cells for specific carbon isotopes. If the results fall outside the norms for life on Earth, it would be powerful new evidence for Louis’s idea, of which even Louis himself remains skeptical. “I would be most happy to accept a simpler explanation,” he says, “but I cannot find any."
new species found: cave dwellers isolated for millions of years
Scientists in Israel have discovered eight new species of sightless critters living in a cave that has been closed from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, they look more like scorpions than Sanrio characters.
Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years.
The discovery was made in a cave near the central Israeli city of Ramle during rock drilling at a quarry. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions.
"Until now eight species of animals were found in the cave, all of them unknown to science," said Dr Hanan Dimantman, a biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He said the cave's ecosystem probably dates back around five million years when the Mediterranean Sea covered parts of Israel.
The cave was completely sealed off from the world, including from water and nutrients seeping through rock crevices above. Scientists who discovered the cave believe it has been intact for millions of years.
"Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman.
Samples of the animals discovered in the cave were sent for DNA tests which found they were unique, he said. The cave has been closed off as scientists conduct a more detailed survey.
"This is a cave of fantastic biodiversity," Dimantman said. link
Japan Acoustic Lab has "recreated" the voices of Leonardo and Mona Lisa. Using methods employed in criminal investigations, the Japan Acoustic Lab says it has analyzed the skeletal structures of the historical figures' faces to replicate how their voices would have sounded.
"We believe we were able to create the voices that are very close to the real voices. Perhaps it was really how they really sounded," the lab's chief Matsumi Suzuki says on the website.
A former police engineer who specializes in audio analysis, Suzuki says he assumed the woman in the legendary famed Leonardo painting was 168 centimeters (5 foot, 6 inches) tall, giving her a relatively low tone for a woman.
"We cannot tell exactly how tall she was. So we analyzed the length of her right middle finger" and looked at the average height of Italian women, he said. For Leonardo, Suzuki made his voice around the time when he was 60 years old to match his bearded face in the famous sketched portrait.
"Because the beard covers his jaws in his portrait, we could not tell his exact skeletal features. We assumed that he had a heavy-jowled face, giving him a nice, bass tone," Suzuki says. It is, of course, a publicity stunt to promote the launch of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code.
Suzuki, who frequently appears in popular media, has used his skills in a variety of fields, such as analyzing voices in purported recordings of Osama bin Laden.
He also collaborated with Japanese toy maker Takara Co. to create the smash-hit Bowlingual, which is said to interpret dog language. For the toy, Suzuki received the 2002 tongue-in-cheek IgNobel Prize in the field of peace for scientific achievement that "cannot or should not be reproduced."
While taking a break from the UK game industry to raise her child, a programmer created a self-contained ecology on a Second Life island, with numerous species and natural phenomenon that must work together to keep the system function: clouds rain on the land, nourishing the plants (which also respond to sunlight), bees spread pollen to help the plants reproduce, birds eat seeds to keep the plants from growing out of control, and so on.
On Tuesday morning at Hangang River Park in Seoul’s Yeouido, beekeeper Ahn Sang-gyu does a “bee attack” performance by covering himself with about 180,000 bees and jumping from a 60cm podium onto the red circle of the Japanese Hi no Maru flag. A puzzling statement of protest over Japanese claims to the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands:
“The honeybee dares to abandon its life when enemies are attempting to attack, to protect its own home. From now on, I hope these bees will contribute to protect our Dokdo”, Ahn Sang-Gyu said.
He first stood on a scale model of Dokdo and stripped off his outer hanbuk and stood in place for two hours so the bees could settle in place, and then jumped from a 60cm high platform onto a Japanese Hi no Maru flag that was laid out on the ground, so that the bees would “attack” it. The 187,000 bees represent the cumultative 187,453 square meter total of the Dokdo islands. He was stung in over 200 places, but isn’t allergic and the pain has faded in the 2 days since the stunt. He said, “No matter how much it hurts, I will not run from Japan’s provocation,” and “I wanted to show that not jus the people of Korea, but also the bees are angry.”
Yes, this was a fantastic idea of a publicity stunt. Now, nobody will believe that South Koreans are xenophobic, racist, backward and isolated by having desecrated the Japanese flag yet again. Geez.
Tragedy is when I get a papercut on my finger, comedy is when you fall down a hole and die. Case in point, in a moment.
Between Aum Shinrikyo and “thallium girl” (as she was often referred to in the Japanese press) there is a rather disturbing trend towards stories involving poison. But they needn’t all be; there is comedy too.
BEIJING (Reuters) ? Two hapless Chinese thieves gassed themselves to death with cyanide along with five intended victims while trying to rob a gambling den in the city of Ruichang, the Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.
A court in nearby Jiujiang Thursday sentenced their three surviving accomplices to death for the robbery, carried out last June.
One of the three passed out for several hours from the effects of the gas—but still remembered to rob the dead of 15,950 yuan ($1,990), five mobile phones and a gold necklace when he came around, Xinhua said.
A single virus-infected PC caused confidential security information relating to a japanese power station to leak on to the Internet.
It is believed that files detailing information on the Chubu Electric Power Company’s security procedures and plant layout were compromised by an unauthorised file-sharing program, Share.
Other compromised data included the names and addresses of security staff, and the location of the plant’s control room.
The virus has not been named, but is believed to have inadvertently infected the PC of a single member of staff. Ironically, this staff member was working for an out-sourced IT security firm supposed to guard the plant. (<_<)
The company also runs nuclear power stations in Japan, though the plant affected in the incident was not in this category of risk.
Last year, however, a more potentially serious breach occurred year when Mitsubishi Electric leaked 40 megabytes of data, some of which related to a nuclear power station in Tsuruga. Again, the culprit was a single PC using a P2P program that allowed a virus to sneak through conventional data defences.
Micro Reactor System Co. is going to market this year flexible and thin (0.025mm to 0.4mm) electronic curtains.
Liquid crystal molecules are dispersed between two panels of plastic. The curtain is opaque when turned off and becomes translucent when the power is turned on. Ok...nothing new you will say but this curtain can actually be made to appear white, red, yellow or blue.
I am actually looking for something like this and have not found a solution that is affordable and reasonable to install. I want to be able to dim a large glass wall in my living room. When lowering my projection screen, I could just push a button and dim the glass wall. This would rock!
The electronic curtain will sell for 30,000 yen ($267) to 50,000 yen (~$445) per m2 later this year. This is still rather pricey for large areas. I hope the prices come down a bit. More details on Nikkei.Net (Subscription).
The US Patent and Trademark Office has taken away parts of the patent that controls the use of the JPEG standard, moving it closer to being completely free: In the reexamination proceeding initiated late last year by the Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT"), the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the broadest claims of the patent Forgent Networks (Nasdaq: FORG) is asserting against the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) international standard for the electronic sharing of photo-quality images. In its Office Action released yesterday, the Patent Office found that the prior art submitted by PUBPAT completely anticipated the broadest claims of the patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672 (the '672 Patent).
Forgent Networks acquired the '672 Patent through the purchase of Compression Labs, Inc. in 1997 and began aggressively asserting it against the JPEG standard through lawsuits and the media in 2004. The company has the opportunity to respond to the Patent Office's rejection, but third party requests for reexamination, like the one filed by PUBPAT, result in having the subject patent either modified or completely revoked roughly 70% of the time.
Legal implications of the word "fuck" The Ohio State University's Christopher M Fairman has published a scholarly paper called "Fuck":
This Article is as simple and provocative as its title suggests: it explores the legal implications of the word fuck. The intersection of the word fuck and the law is examined in four major areas: First Amendment, broadcast regulation, sexual harassment, and education. The legal implications from the use of fuck vary greatly with the context. To fully understand the legal power of fuck, the nonlegal sources of its power are tapped. Drawing upon the research of etymologists, linguists, lexicographers, psychoanalysts, and other social scientists, the visceral reaction to fuck can be explained by cultural taboo. Fuck is a taboo word. The taboo is so strong that it compels many to engage in self-censorship. This process of silence then enables small segments of the population to manipulate our rights under the guise of reflecting a greater community. Taboo is then institutionalized through law, yet at the same time is in tension with other identifiable legal rights. Understanding this relationship between law and taboo ultimately yields fuck jurisprudence. link
Originally designed for signing at night these glow gloves can be used very practically for many uses but we are sure there is some fun to be had! * Adult fit - one size fits all * White in the day & green at night * Charges easily with sunlight or any household light * Glow lasts for approx 2hrs * Glows continuously under black light * Will not ‘run out’ * Recharge again & again
* Adult fit - one size fits all * White in the day & green at night * Charges easily with sunlight or any household light * Glow lasts for approx 2hrs * Glows continuously under black light * Will not 'run out' * Recharge again & again * No batteries required * Generates no heat * Hand-washable for easy care * Comfortable, stretchy, flexible fabric for a perfect fit
Suggested uses:
* Fun! * Performance - theatre etc. * Clubbing * Safety * Signing at night * Keep hands warm - & glowing!
The Asus WL-330 Pocket Wireless Access Point. A remarkable product only insofar as it is a combination coffee maker as well as a 802.11b device. Nah, just kidding.
Small and light; inexpensive; dual access point/adapter functionality; tiny AC adapter. The Asus WL-330 is inexpensive and can create a wireless network anywhere there’s a broadband connection
hahahah this one made me chuckle... its like the "conversations" i have with mana sometimes, just in those moments when i try to concentrate on a book or work.. this one is so taken out of life (^_^)
What is this? It’s a system that will allow basically anything that can talk up to control an Xbox. Why would you want to do this? I have no idea. I have my reasons, maybe you have some too.
The Radio Controlled Drink Float. OK, so we’re definitely too fat an’ lazy to overlook this puppy. Just set the drinks on the float and guide it across the pool to your indolent guests via the remote control. Perfect for the physically challenged. $49.98.
Don’t make your guests climb out of the pool for drinks and snacks. Just grab the remote control and deliver the refreshments they need with this Remote Control Drink Float. It features holders for 5 beverages and a center bowl for snacks. Pilot the float forward, left and right, reverse and 360° turns.
Voice Buddy. Voice recognition package for games. Load it up and start issuing game commands and all sorts of groovy stuff using your mouth instead of your fingers. Sounds great, but i dont know how well it works, and how much training the program requires to understand your commands. $39.95.
There’s nothing else like it. This is the must-have add-on that every gamer needs. Only Voice Buddy gives you true, interactive voice control for games and simulations in every genre, a full set of do-it-yourself tools, exclusive interactive training plus voice command editions for more than 60 games ? all in one giant collection at a single one low price!
The Wireless Pet Doorbell Mat. So like the pet stands on the mat and the door bell goes. Simple eh? But just consider the potential for abuse by a mischevious feline or pooch? Hop on, hop off, hop on, hop off. Who me? Ringing the bell all night from 3.00 am? Naaah! $59.95.
The wireless Pet Door Bell Chime Mat is designed to look like a doormat and the chime can sit on the floor or mount on the wall. When your pet steps on the mat, the chime lets you know your pet is ready to come in or go out. Easy-to-follow directions are included. No training of your pet is required. After time your pet realizes the fastest way in or out is to step on the Pet door bell Mat — no matter where it may be.
Evoluent VerticalMouse 2. They’ve improved the original ergonomic Vertical Mouse by improving the mechanical and electrical design, upping the resolution to 1200 dpi, adding an extra button and improving the vertical grip shape. Oh and they painted it a lurid purple just to make sure you’d recognise it. Nice folks aren’t they? $75.00.
The patented shape supports your hand in a relaxed handshake position that eliminates forearm twisting. You will quickly become accustomed to the improved comfort. An ordinary horizontal mouse requires your forearm to twist away from its natural position. No Retraining Necessary The grip is the same as an ordinary mouse, just turned sideways, and the buttons are operated by the same fingers. There is virtually no retraining necessary.
The Neofree NF-4400. Need power? Lots of it? Then you might find comfort in the arms of one of these rechargeable battery packs. 4400mAh says plenty enough juice to run your iPod music library on a weekend trip.
The portable battery pack (secondary battery) can be charged by home power source (AC110-220V) and then carry it with you anytime anywhere to charge your digital devices(without external AC power) conveniently such as mobile phone, DMB phone, PDA and MP3 etc..
Bang and Olufsen has always been known for its sleek and elegant designs, and this new mobile telephone is no exception.
In collaboration with Samsung Electronics, B & O introduced Serene , a simple and pure design of a high quality mobile telephone. The phone utilizes a good sized screen and a touch wheel, sort of like an iPod. The basic idea of the Serene was to create a phone that is dedicated to one prime function: comfortable and convenient communication.
The phone doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles that most phones come with these days, namely, camera, video, mp3 player, survival kit, or a teleporter to beam you up to another planet.
Serene comes with a triangular charger/docking station made in polished anodized aluminum with a cut-out for the phone. If the phone is placed in the docking station or the phone is used in table mode, the display can turn 180 degrees for convenient use in this position as well. The docking station also enables Serene to synchronise its phonebook with other regular Bang & Olufsen telephones you may have already.
Serene is available in B & O stores at approximately 1100 Euros. That’s close to USD $1,300. (Oh, did you think it was going to be cheap?).
Some Japanese Language School near my office puts this sign and box of leaflets out on the street to attract potential students. After awhile the police come by and stick a red notice on it that says to remove it from public property. It disappears and then reappears across the street or on another corner a few days later. Then the notice appears again and the thing is relocated. This cat and mouse game has been happening for 5 years now. You'd think the police would have enough sense to just call the school and tell them to stop. Or at least dispose of the thing themselves? That pet bottle is there as a paperweight and it says not to remove it. Sometimes there's rock or a shoe instead of the bottle.
MP-B200 and MP-B300 the 2 latest Mp3 player from Sharp
Sharp released the MP-B200 and the MP-B300 2 Mp3 player with a miniSD Slot and with only 8.9mm of thickness for 65g. Our players are available in either 512 or 1GB of memory and can also record the FM thanks to their FM Tuner. Both can play Mp3 and WMA files.
If you're at all like me whenever you happen to be in a 7-Eleven and have to wait in line you can't help but look at those wizened hot dogs slowly rolling over and over in the clear box next to the cash registers.
How long have some of them been in there?
Who buys them?
These are among the great mysteries of our civilization.
But I digress.
From the website:
Hot Dog Roller
The key to a perfect hot dog?
Even grilling.
But keeping tabs on a grillful of dogs is no picnic.
This professional hot dog roller keeps them turning in sync and with total precision.
And when the dogs are done to perfection and ready for their buns, it also serves as a spatula to lift the roller from the grill.
? Specially designed wood-handled tool turns roller safely and easily
? Evenly cooks up to 10 hot dogs (or five foot-longs) at a time
now this is handy. lets say i dont want to give away my email adress, but someone wants to send me info
some peoples register a freemail "spam inbox" account. but this is time consuming.
with temporaryinbox you do not need to register, you just made up a email adress. lets say lunixmonster@temporaryinbox.com, and give this addy to someone, he will send you the mail to this made up email adress. you go to temporaryinbox.com , to read the mail, you put the email you just made up into this field:
Some 300 luxury watches worth a total of 200 million yen have been stolen from Hankyu Department Store in Osaka, police said Sunday. A security guard found an eighth-floor window broken at around 9 a.m
the newspapers are calling this the: "Spider-Man heist."
Oh my god, i have a suspicion who the thief could be....
... mana was in osaka lately....and from her training she knows how to rappel
I love coffee. It's an indulgence and addiction that these days rarely allow. But when I do, I always prefer my coffee straight from a French press. My handy little Bodum Brazil, inexpensive and reliable, always does the job, but when I saw this cute Coffee for One set by For Life, Japan I knew I had found the set for those special moments when free time is plentiful and the only item on the "to do" list is comprised of finishing a favorite book.
Natural hardwood floors are all the rage now, and it's becoming much more difficult to make a room really stand out with flooring choices. A unique way to turn some heads is with a one of a kind Puzzle Floor.
Designed with just two interlocking tile shapes, the Puzzle Floor uses rotation and thirteen color variations to produce an effect of patchwork whimsy or artistic patterns. As a floating floor design the Puzzle Floor pieces can be installed over an existing hardwood floor or sub floor with no nailing or gluing, and the tiles snap together by hand. No tools are needed, and the flooring is prefinished so no painting or staining is required.
Though this flooring is beautiful it most definitely is on the expensive side for hardwood floors. A Puzzle Floor will cost $15 per square foot; but that does includes shipping and the design consultations for developing a color layout to ensure a one of a kind conversation floor. The factory is also able to laser engrave logos or designs directly on the tiles for commercial applications.
A chicken cutlet shop in Karuizawa. I found this run down shop more interesting than the other "nice" places along the Karuizawa Ginza. I guess I just like old fading peeling paint and retro style fonts.
According to the Asahi, the Tokyo Metropolitan Waterworks is stepping up its campaign to promote tap water. Back in the 70's, the city's water had a reputation for being cloudy and smelling of mould which led to the big take-up of bottled water. Since the early nineties, however, the waterworks has installed new purification equipment and now claims that independent tests show that water quality is on a par with bottled varieties. As part of the campaign, the city produced bottled tap water in 500ml bottles which they initially gave away but now have started to sell in selected sites for 100 yen.
What has 66 legs and plays soccer? -- An energetic team of 11 ants, getting ready for the Ant World Cup.
A titanic struggle ensued between two teams of ants bearing Japanese and Brazilian colors in their practice game ahead of the Ant World Cup at the Kashihara City Insectarium in Nara Prefecture on Friday.
The Camponotus obscuripes ants, known as Muneaka-oari in Japanese, measured between 7 and 12 mm long. They played using a 1 cm ball on a pitch 20 by 30 cm.
In the wild, the ants recognize enemies by their pheromones. The organizers of the game used this natural ability to make the ants "ant-agonize" each other, by feeding the Japanese team with Kagoshima pork and the Brazilian team with spare ribs in order to alter the ants' pheromones.
Unfortunately, the game ended in an anticlimax, with a draw.
…at least,that is, in otaku-terms. The latest mecca for Manga/Anmie-geeks seem to be Ikebukuro. The special thing about it though, is that it has grown in popularity as sort of an opposite to Akihabara, in that it tailors mostly to girl fans. There’s especially one street, labelled “Otome Road” （乙女ロード） which means something like “Virgin Street” （on the west side of the station, close to the Sunshine Bldg area) which is the main place to go in Ikebukuro with lots of manga-shops and costume stores.
Further, it seems that the latest “hot” thing in this area of town is women-only lesbian-themed restaurant/bars. These places have only women staff, and they only allow women as guests. Then they talk dirty to the guests to cater to any inner lesbian fantasies they might harbor. Yes, I found it sort of strange when I saw a show about this places on TV, but it is the latest rage within the female otaku community.
Samsung unveiled the SVP-56K3HDB, the first 56" PDP TV that is ACAP bidirectional data broadcasting compatible. ACAP stands for Advanced Common Application Platform and it's a standard used in the US and Korea. It allows you to send data in 2 directions, so for example you can look at additional photos of a football match that you're watching, and you can interact with this information by asking detailed information about a certain player for example.
Michael Jackson in Japan to receive MTV award Fri, 26 May 2006 —MTV Japan will honour Michael Jackson with its Legend Award this weekend, with the pop star scheduled to make his first major public appearance in nearly a year. .. Jackson’s weekend plans also include visiting an orphanage on Sunday, touring Tokyo…
David Hasselhoff has Germany. Now Michael Jackson has Japan.
The above photo was taken in 1987 during Michael Jackson’s “BAD Tour” in Japan.
American troops have complained that a new armoured body suit designed to be worn in Iraq makes them look "goofy". The water-cooled "alien spacesuits" are being handed out to turret gunners in their notoriously vulnerable Humvee vehicles.
The protective suit, based on those worn by bomb disposal officers, was intended to cut spiralling casualties for one of the most dangerous jobs in modern warfare.
But some troops have complained that the armour and headgear is inelegant. Others say the water-cooling system, designed for the soaring temperatures of an Iraqi summer, regularly breaks down.
Nonetheless, the suits being tested in combat by US military police units in northern Iraq have produced good results.
Capt Larry Bergeron told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes that the armour was credited with saving the lives of three men sprayed with shrapnel from roadside bombs.
"One soldier's visor stopped a piece of shrapnel that hit dead centre," he said. "If he had not had that suit on, the effects could have been catastrophic."
Gunners on Humvees have high casualty rates. While newly-installed armour protects those inside, the gunner stands with the upper half of his body exposed, making him far more vulnerable to roadside bombs and gunfire. Others have been crushed as vehicles overturn.
But Specialist Michael Floyd, 19, said: "I am not a big fan of this thing. It is really hot and hard to move around in. I do feel safer, but only in an explosion. I would not feel safer in a rollover or in small-arms fire."
Critics say the heavy suits also restrict movement during combat.
Researchers have finally found a way to create storage devices that are capable of storing millions of gigabytes of data. With the use of ferroelectric, the researchers from Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania are able to squeeze 12.8 million gigabytes of information into a cubic centimeter. Very amazing indeed.
Until recently, researchers were not able to find a method of stabilizing ferroelectricity on the nano-scale. It was this group of talented researchers that found out that water is in fact the answer to their problem. It has to do with the hydroxyl (OH) ions molecules found in water, which are capable of screening the charges.
Imagine the possibility of million-gigabyte hard drives. The amount of disk space might seem excessively generous, but I trust that when these drives become a reality, applications that truly leverage the obscene amount of space will start to sprout.
However, several researchers have suggested that significant challenges still lie ahead, such as methods of assembling the nanowires densely and efficiently reading and writing data to and from the nanowires.
