This fierce-looking arachnid is about the size of an eight year-old’s hand. I’d love to see a face-off between a hand spider and a house centipede…

Just in case you happen to have a chunk of Nutria meat in the fridge and don’t know what to do with it, here are some recipes from The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. I wonder if capybaras are good eating too…

Taro is headed to Uzbekistan tomorrow for two months. The CIA World Factbook states that “Current concerns include terrorism by Islamic militants, economic stagnation, and the curtailment of human rights and democratization.”. Hmmm. Sounds kind of unpleasant and dangerous, but I hope he has a good time.
His mission amid the turmoil: to start up a tile exporting operation. Check out his blog to hear all about his experiences in this distant country. Stay safe, and see you in the Fall…

One more day in the office, and then it’s vacation!

This hybridized spatula/fork (I guess it would still be a spork) was used to dispatch some okonomiyaki at a restaraunt in Umeda. The rounded tines proved utterly useless. This is a design that is unfit among sporks and spatulas, thus is destined be selected out of the gene pool. However, the existance of this freak utensil will be preserved here, as a random image in the footnotes of obscure culinary history.

Mark Fingerhut, the last of our group to stay on the JET Program, is leaving Japan. He’ll be off for two months, vagabonding around SE Asia, and I expect he will have some interesting posts to come over at Champon Adventures. Mark, It’s been a blast- hopefully we can meet up in the States sometime for a special edition hash…

The color schemes used in Japanese propaganda work really well to romanticise the image of war, in all venues. The men pushing artillery through the jungle (not pictured), the arctic soldier, and the pilot all look so cool depicted as monochrome prints with the color imposed like a wood block print.

In winter fatigues.

An aviator.

Herman proves that a black man can indeed ski (though I am yet to see this in person). Stay tuned in to The Gunn Nihon Chronicles to see if he can snowboard as well…

Who knew that Excel spreadsheets could be such fun? I’ve been waging a naval war against Huw for four days, and the score is now 2/2. Today will result in glorious victory for one of us, and crushing defeat for the other.
Is Battleship really that fun? It is when you play with special weapons. Here’s a list of the ships in our armada and the firepower that they’re packing:

Aircraft carrier– 2 airstrikes. An airstrike takes out 9 blocks in a solid 3×3 chunk.
Battleship– 2 shotguns. A shotgun blast takes out 9 squares in a spread pattern.
Destroyer– 2 depth charges. A depth charge covers a 6×6 chunk, and if it touches the submarine, the submarine’s location is revealed.
Submarine– 2 torpedoes. A torpedo can be shot across the length (from right to left, or from left to right) of the grid, or vertically along a column (from top to bottom, or from the bottom to the top). The torpedo will continue across the grid until it hits something, otherwise it will continue to the end of the grid.
PT Boat– 1 teleport. A boat can be teleported anywhere on the grid that hasn’t been fired upon previously.

The special weapons are only viable as long as the ships to which they belong are still afloat.
By the way, Battleship: Special Weapons is only played during break time in case you were wondering. During working hours, we are diligently working to produce the best quality lesson plans in the greater Kansai area.