Heh heh heh...

I want one.

Quote of the Day

Aaargh! My eyes!

"Years ago I asked my dad for a boob job and he said it would cheapen my image. So I decided not to do it." - Paris Hilton

Things that make me smile

It's Saturday - for a start. Actually I'm smiling because after today I'll have the next four days off. On the way home from work I walked past queues of cars jamming the roads out of town on the way to their Obon holidays. Aaaah, sweet memories of being stuck in traffic... distant memories fading fast.

Smiling.

I'm also smiling because today I found another reason why Coldplay sucks.

I'm happy because I have proof that cycling is better than taking public transport or driving - and it's nothing to do with the environment.

I'm happy because there is at least one part of Iraq that's safe enough for tourists to visit.

I'm pleased at the prospect of enjoying a meteor shower - if only I can find a place dark enough... sweet cosmos-enhanced bliss...

And I'm amused because someone received a phone bill totalling more than the entire global GDP and the telephone company seriously expects the poor guy to pay it.

" "If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I'm ready to face it," .... "In fact, I can't wait to face it," he said. "

Good for him.

More heroes

What is it about today?

So many heroes - and they all happen to be women as well. Today should declared Heroine Day ...

1) A elderly pensioner in England tends a flower bed in her town - except it happens to be on public land - so she's been told she has to wear a fluorescent jacket, use traffic cones and have a supervisor or else she will risk going to jail. She tells them to stuff it up their collective jumper. And good for her.

2) An Australian tourist is told she can't have pretzels on an American flight, mutters "Fair Dinkum" ("Oh really?" in Aussie-ben) and gets arrested for 'swearing at the flight attendant'. Linguistic Terrorist.... sounds like what I do for a living.

Heroes

Are sometimes those who go against the grain.

As troop levels in Iraq reach an all time high, we should reflect on these words...

"Some of us must say, Let’s step back for a moment, let’s just pause just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control.”

“As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.”

The woman who said these words on September 14 2001, Barbara Lee, a US congresswoman, was certainly a light in the upcoming darkness...

"After speaking those words, Rep. Barbara Lee voted no. And the fevered slanders began immediately. She was called a traitor. Pundits went crazy. Death threats came."

Heroes are also those who stand up against a system that fails them, like this US soldier, who now stands accused of her own rape. The story is as unbelievable, terrifying and ridiculous as it sounds.

Heroes are also those who stand up for their rights in the midst of repression and bullying. This journalist did that, and was treated like a suspected terrorist. Her story is important reading for those who want to go to the US - for any reason - as well as for those who really need to know how their rights are being eroded slowly but surely.



And if you want a long, healthy life; never work in France.

And the No.1 foreign dude in Japan for 2007 is....

...this guy.

Billy Blanks! Who? Remember Tae-Bo? Well, anyway, its creator, Billy Blanks is really hot in Japan and has been a staple of late night tele-shopping for the past year or so, hawking his Billy's Boot Camp DVDs. They have been funny to watch, that's for sure. They got some big tough-sounding Japanese guy to do his dubbing but he sounds like a radio announcer speaking down a cardboard tube...

Billy visited Tokyo last month (and appeared on many of the top TV shows) and since then sales have been rocketing - now surpassing 1 million units. In a way, good for him. He's found something that has hit a nerve with the Japanese consumer that isn't based on 'kawaii' and is raking in the cash.

Maybe Mr. Abe could take a leaf out of his book instead of spending millions of yen on building rooftop gardens for his pet dog and perhaps spend some time focussing on his job, which is.... errrrmmmmm.... running the country? Or perhaps passing some legislation that could actually help Japan meet its own Kyoto targets?

...but which?

It seems like Australia is becoming more and more like the US every day.

Like the US, Australians will soon be able to have their telecommunications tapped by the secret services for any reason, any time, without any kind of permission or notification. Like the US, this is being forced through the parliament without much time or opportunity for the lawmakers to peruse the legislation, or consult or raise questions about how or when or why this is happening. Even this website could become evidence. Big Brother is most definitely watching...

At least the Europeans are starting to put some pressure on the draconian measures imposed on them by the US immigration stupidity. It's a case of petty tit for tat, but I guess once US businesses start losing out on opportunities in Europe, then they'll put pressure on their government to do something about it.

That is if there's a US left. News today about how the Chinese are threatening to unleash the power of their holdings of US currency if the US forces them to appreciate the value of the yuan. That could cause a crash in the value of the US dollar - and could jeopardize my holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia at the end of the year (not to mention the work reunion in Las Vegas next year!). Bastards!

Mr. Bush is getting more and more unpopular day by day, as we know. This was an amusing footnote to the recent bridge tragedy in the US. "Nope" to a photo opportunity for the president? Good on ya, son!

So which is better, Australia or the US? Possibly Australia, but I only think so because of the way the US economy looks likely to have big troubles over the next few years. Australia's 'haves' are likely to weather the storm better than most Americans for now. A US collapse will be bad for all of us though.

Japan also has vast holdings of US currency, and would also (unwillingly and regretfully) dump it in the wake of a China-triggered collapse. Perhaps they are already diversifying their reserves in case...

Maybe we'll see more American teachers arrive over the next year or so - looking for a safe haven to ride out the storm!

Been a while

... since I cooked something different. I hot the road on my bike today and picked up some nice spicy stuff from America-mura here in Himeji. Tonight's feast was made using some Indonesian Sambal Fried Rice paste. The funny thing about it was that one of the ingredients listed was 'flavour enhancer' and underneath it said that it was actually 'yeast extract'. Now if you're an Aussie, that can only mean one thing - Vegemite! Sure enough, there was a familiar flavour to the Indonesian fare tonight... my wife didn't complain at all! (She hates the black stuff) In fact she wants it again! (Score!)



It's also been a while since I did some Bush bashing. For all his trumpeting about freedom and progress in Iraq, he's doing a great job of making things worse.

I enjoyed reading the story of the Iraq soccer team's victory in the recent Asia Cup. It's a terrible shame that the players can't go back home, since they'll likely be killed as part of the sectarian violence. But good on the captain of the team for explicitly placing the blame at the feet of the US forces and calling for them to leave.

There's also this lovely story of how Filipino construction workers were kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to work on constructing the new US embassy in Baghdad. Nice one Bush! America! F**k Yeah!

Just don't mention the missing AK-47s...

What's going on?

Yes ma'am!

Now, you know I'm a big fan of coffee, and actively seek out news stories that can demonstrate clearly and unequivocally that everyone (by that I mean YOU!) should partake in at least one or two fine cups of java on a daily basis. Today is no exception. Today we learn that coffee (and caffeine in general) can help memory - in women.

Huh??? Not fair! But that would explain why my wife can remember things much better than I can.


ALSO!

Today we have more semi-religious wingnuts to laugh at. Say hello to the Sungazers.

How staring at the sun directly can lead to greater well-being is beyond me. Their optometrists must be rubbing their hands with glee as I type...


AND

A well thought out piece on the sheer lack of good female superhero rolemodels for girls. I *would* recommend Æon Flux (not that Æon Flux - THIS Æon Flux!) however I think if I ever had a daughter I'd wait until she hit her teens before I introduced her to the wily ways of one of the 90s greatest cartoon characters. That and Buffy - maybe Xena too... I think I would be influencing her to become quite an interesting character!

"I have a daughter who kicks ass!"

Not such a bad idea, actually!

Aaah Adelaide...

... you've done it again!

At least there aren't any serial killers involved!






In other news, I'm two down, eight to go!

Everyone needs a hobby!

Affordable???

From today's Australian:

Chew on these stats for a moment:

* The national median household income is $874 a week, or almost $45,500 a year.

* The national median income for a household with a mortgage is $1569 a week, or just over $81,500 a year.

Translation: If you are paying off a home loan your household income is typically 80 per cent higher than the median income for all households.

Aaaah FORGET IT!

I think I'll have my big American car with the whale skin hubcaps, baby seal fur skin steering wheel, blood-diamond encrusted gear shift and shark fins on the back, thank YOU very much!

— Traditional nappies are as bad as disposables, a study by the Environment Agency found. While throwaway nappies make up 0.1 per cent of landfill waste, the cloth variety are a waste of energy, clean water and detergent

— Paper bags cause more global warming than plastic. They need much more space to store so require extra energy to transport them from manufacturers to shops

— Diesel trains in rural Britain are more polluting than 4x4 vehicles. Douglas Alexander, when Transport Secretary, said: “If ten or fewer people travel in a Sprinter [train], it would be less environmentally damaging to give them each a Land Rover Freelander and tell them to drive”

— Burning wood for fuel is better for the environment than recycling it, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs discovered

— Organic dairy cows are worse for the climate. They produce less milk so their methane emissions per litre are higher

— Someone who installs a “green” lightbulb undoes a year’s worth of energy-saving by buying two bags of imported veg, as so much carbon is wasted flying the food to Britain

— Trees, regarded as shields against global warming because they absorb carbon, were found by German scientists to be major producers of methane, a much more harmful greenhouse gas

Today's scary quote of the day

"More than 70,000 bridges across the country are rated structurally deficient like the I-35W bridge, and engineers estimate repairing them all would take at least a generation and cost more than $188 billion."

- TIME magazine

Stuff and nonsense

Dateline: Himeji
32 degrees - feels like 40
Looks like the typhoon's going to pass west of here - ah well.... another fizzer!

Looks like coffee is good for you today - especially if you're a woman! It won't stop me from trying though.

An oldie, but a goodie. What happens when people get married an hyphenate their names? Hilarity, I tells ya. Don't these people check?!?

Today's moron is this guy who got the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) tattooed on his arm. Now, while I may have a new-found appreciation of tatts (I really do, you know) this is just stupid. You won't find me down the tattoo parlour anytime soon...

In fifty years Australia will be inhabited by sociopathic heathens, but at least they'll be able to read and write nicely...

But, some good news on the solar cells front. The efficiency rate keeps going up and up. This lot won't be commercially available until 2010 (*WHY* not now!?) but at least we have progress!

And to finish - one of the most sarcastic analyses of the gneration gap(s) in business I've come across for a long time!

Nah nah nah...

The Japanese are an interesting bunch. Most will take you at your word, which makes a lot of fun for us Australians, My wife couldn't understand a thing my grandfather said, even though she was fond of him. That's because a) he spoke fluent Ozzi-ben (Australian English) and b) everything he said was a joke. I've learned to my detriment (several bruises) that Japanese wives can't take a joke - or understand when you're telling a blatant lie for fun!

One of my co-workers today let me in on telling some porkies to some of our students to the effect that Australia was a really dangerous place. Our reputation has been suffering enough as it is, without someone telling lies and not explaining to the victims that they were joking and it's not really like that. Sure, Australia is no picnic, but this guy made it sound like the country was full of serial killers and Mother Nature stalking the countryside just looking for some innocent Japanese tourists to obliterate!

Anyway...

/end rant



Today's greenie enviromentally friendly bit of info.

If I could build a house, I'd get a couple of these hooked up for sure - free wind-powered electricity (after a few years)?? Sign me up!