A couple of funnies
2 bits of amusement for you this evening, which will hopefully raise a smile or 2. The first one you will only find funny if you like and know rap music (that’s probably just got rid of my family!). Found a great page, entitled “Rap represented in mathematical charts and graphs”. You may be wondering what the hell it’s talking about, so below is an example:
For more of these, head over to www.jamphat.com/rap/ - see how many songs you can spot!
Whaling season in Japan
The winter months are coming, and everyone outside Japan knows that that means the Japanese whaling fleet is setting sail. Having departed on Sunday, the fleet will head to the South Pacific and has instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales, this time (and for the first time in decades), 50 humpback whales will be included in the slaughter. Of course, this is only possible because of the loophole in the 1986 international moratorium which allowed whales to be hunted for “scientific purposes”. Therefore, Japan sees this as giving them permission to go hunting minke, fin and humpback whales in the mission, set to last until mid-April 2008.
Hideki Moronuki, spokesman for Japan’s fisheries, said to the BBC, “Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering… taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever”. They also state that by catching whales, they are able to study their internal organs. Quite why they need 1,000 whales every year to study their internal organs is still not answered. Surely after catching around 20,000 whales over the past 20 years, there is only so much more studying that can be done. Australian scientists have found a way to analyse the whales using the DNA from discarded tissues of whales. These scientists say they can identify lineage, age, and other factors through these tissue samples, which affect the whales in no way whatsoever. Japan has responded in its usual way by saying that Australia is “missing the point” and that they are not understanding Japanese customs and traditions. Comments from the Institute of Ceterean Research (ICR) and news stories from their point of view can be seen here. The fact is that after “research”, the whales are then being sold to the public, a large proportion to schools which will buy the low-priced, not in demand meat for their school meals. The international moratorium states that no whaling should take place for profit, but Japan appears to be very liberal in their understanding of this agreement.
All your fingerprints are belong to us
November 20th is getting closer, and with it the time when all foreigners entering Japan (with some special exceptions) will be fingerprinted and possibly photographed too, as part of the welcome to the country. Still not entirely sure what these machines will be like yet as the only video clip of it to be shown has been in Japanese, made for the Japanese people. Great work there, for a machine that will be testing foreigners!
Just wondered what everyone’s opinions on this system is. The government, of course, is using the protection from terror reasoning (if in doubt, say it’s to protect against terrorists). This is, of course, if we assume that all terrorists are non-Japanese. Errr… except Ikuo Harashi, Kenichi Hirose, Toru Toyoda, Masato Yokoyama and Yasuo Hayashi, who orchestrated the Tokyo subway sarin gas attacks, and many other events and people. Also, if anyone can forge a Japanese passport then they can get into the country without being fingerprinted at all. Is anyone seeing, as I do, a couple of flaws that might be in their plan?
The story is already starting to get negative publicity in other countries and it’s hardly going to entice people to visit Japan. Looks like the Japan National Tourist Organization are going to have their work cut out, especially as they are just embarking on a plan to get more British tourists travelling to Japan.
All your fingerprints are belong to us
November 20th is getting closer, and with it the time when all foreigners entering Japan (with some special exceptions) will be fingerprinted and possibly photographed too, as part of the welcome to the country. Still not entirely sure what these machines will be like yet as the only video clip of it to be shown has been in Japanese, made for the Japanese people. Great work there, for a machine that will be testing foreigners!
Just wondered what everyone’s opinions on this system is. The government, of course, is using the protection from terror reasoning (if in doubt, say it’s to protect against terrorists). This is, of course, if we assume that all terrorists are non-Japanese. Errr… except Ikuo Harashi, Kenichi Hirose, Toru Toyoda, Masato Yokoyama and Yasuo Hayashi, who orchestrated the Tokyo subway sarin gas attacks, and many other events and people. Also, if anyone can forge a Japanese passport then they can get into the country without being fingerprinted at all. Is anyone seeing, as I do, a couple of flaws that might be in their plan?
The story is already starting to get negative publicity in other countries and it’s hardly going to entice people to visit Japan. Looks like the Japan National Tourist Organization are going to have their work cut out, especially as they are just embarking on a plan to get more British tourists travelling to Japan.