Real Bronzed Aussie

I don't want to take anything away from the Aussies either.

It was great to watch Alisa Camplin pick up the bronze last night.

Her story is amazing. Coming back after her knee gave out, she went through an incredible rehabilition regime to come back and nail her two jumps to clinch the medal.

And she's a real Aussie too - not like the Canadian import we got to win our gold medal for us.

Onya Alisa!

The results are in!

And at last, Japan has a medal in the Winter Olympics. Shizuka Arakawa won the Gold Medal for her performance in the Women's Figure Skating. Good for her - she's worked hard for it.

Now she has to survive the media onslaught that will invade her life for the next.... goodness knows how long!

She's already hinted that she's going to retire. That'll probably save her a lot of pressure to repeat the performance - but also it'll be good to finish on top.

おめでとうございます！

Power up

Interesting news from South Africa. It looks like researchers over there have made a solar cell that can convert 100% of the sun's energy into electricity for home use.


Allow me to say a loud "Hooray!" for these people and when can I get mine?

Today's moron

Is brought to you by the U.S.A.


A woman and her daughter survive a horrific car crash which severed the woman's arm. They later found her arm - still clutching her cell phone.

She got what she deserved - thank goodness her daughter's OK.

Stop using mobile phones while driving. If one of you knocks me down, I'll kick your ass - if I'm not dead.

People are insane

This story is so insane, I can't just quote one piece of it - so here's the whole dang thing.

They already have their own designer clothes, health insurance and therapists and now more and more American pets are enjoying their own birthday parties as well .

A surprising number of pet owners host birthday parties - complete with party hats, cake and guests for their dogs, cats and birds, a survey by California-based Veterinary Pet Insurance says.

The firm reported that 58 per cent of its policy holders who responded say they hosted birthday bashes for their pets.

Veterinary Pet Insurance, which marks the occasion by sending each insured pet a birthday card every year and a coupon for free food, says other surveys have calculated that about six million American dog and cat households celebrate birthdays.

Three Dog Bakery, a specialty store in upscale Newport Beach in California gets about 20 requests a week for pet birthday cakes, owner Sandy Deem says.

- Reuters

Interesting idea....

I love coffee. Actually, I LOVE coffee! Living in Japan is actually a good way to taste really great coffee. You can buy almost anything conveniently, and there are maybe 10 decent coffee shops within a 2 km radius in any decent-sized city.

So I gravitate naturally to articles about it.

Today's find comes courtesy of FARK - a daily read - and is about how to take a Caffeine Nap. You heard it right.

From the article: "You drink a cup of coffee and immediately take a 15 minute nap. Researchers found coffee helps clear your system of adenosine, a chemical which makes you sleepy. So in testing, the combination of a cup of coffee with an immediate nap chaser provided the most alertness for the longest period of time. The recommendation was to nap only 15 minutes, no more or less and you must sleep immediately after the coffee."

Look out for more Starbucks operating along highways and interstates.

Scary pic and a good article from The Huffington Post. Read the inscription carefully - it says "2001 - ", not "2001 - 2009" which is what's mandated under the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Are we stuck with George Bush forever?

Why is Britney, Ashley, etc. so popular?

Short answer? It's the radio's fault - and yours.

Sign of the Times

From this week's Time magazine, an interesting story about one of the people arrested at the State of the Union speech this past week - and it isn't who you think it is.

From the article: "The man ... was a personal guest of Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings. He is a prominent businessman from Broward County, Florida who works with the Department of Defense-and has a security clearance." He also happens to be an American of Indian descent - and happened to trigger the FBI's list of secret suspects that interestingly includes anyone suspiciously 'foreign looking'.

The man was taken away from the auditorium after the speech was over (during which he hadn't anything vaguely suspicious at all) and was questioned by police and secret service staff for over an hour before being released.

He has been apologised to, but said afterwards that this incident was, "maybe just the price of being brown in America".

So, I guess that means that people are now resigned to having their civil liberties violated as a matter of course in the U.S.A. Goodbye, Land of the Free. Hello, something altogether darker and more dangerous.

Well.... today started out nice and warm. I was actually wondering why I was wearing a coat as I was walking to the bus stop.
By the time I grabbed something to eat at 5pm it was feeling quite nippy outside.
At 9:30 it was snowing. Not reeeeaaaally snowing..... more like God's dandruff actually, but the white flakes were definitely falling from the sky at quite a pace.

Anyway, this is what I WISHED it looked like today..... shame I live in the wrong part of Japan in some ways!

Today's feel good story

I felt something warm stir in the old, cold heart when I read this story.

It's good to do something completely unselfish and not seeking reward or recognition once in a while. I heartily cheer this fellow for doing what he's done.

I think there's a quote that goes something like "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty". Applies well to this situation.

You go, girl.

Stories like this just make me smile and feel all warm inside.