New Scientist has put up an amazing interview with a man who survived the Chernobyl disaster, despite being at ground zero: Cheating Chernobyl His description of the reactor room is forever imprinted in my mind.

If you are interested in finding more blogs with Japan-related content, be sure to stop by the JapanBloggers Webring and browse the members list. You’re more than welcome to join us if you maintain a blog that suits the application criteria. After joining (or even if you aren’t into the “webring” thing), you’ll probably want to join the JapanBloggers Mailing List (Yahoo.com account required – Register today! It’s free! Non-fattening! And all that other good shit!). A complete list of members in the webring: Aberrations on a Picture Book Achikochi AdamGraunke.com Adrift in Japan Adventurasia :: The Lounge alive in kyoto andrea’s photo blog Antipixel Aranami art and japanese culture…

A long list of games that can be downloaded for free over at the anandtech forums: CLICK ME HARD, BABY A lot of these are older commercial games that the developers have released for free since they are no longer really profitable and it’s good publicity. It’s a cool thing for them to do.

This one’s for Michiko, who works at a patent office in Osaka: Lawyers Unearth Early Patents (registration required; get login and password at BugMeNot) Two patent history nerds found the holy grail of the patent world, get ready for this now, the X-patents (forgive me for clowning you; I’m tired of always being the only geek in the room). One of them is for the internal combustion engine! Possibly signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson! Hilarity ensues!

For some time now I’ve received questions from a few of you about blogging software/platforms. I tried my best to reply semi-coherently, but… Unfortunately, I am almost always busy or catching up on sleep (please contact me if you need a better excuse), so I know I’ve not been much help. I did point out helpful links where I could and I stumbled upon a very good one today: An Overview of the Weblog Tools Market It’s a good place to start exploring from as the author has included pertinent links and presents a clear assessment of the weblogging tools market. Update: If you were intimidated by the link above,…

You think C-rations and MREs are bad news? Welcome to better dining through osmosis. When I was growing up, I had an uncle who was in the National Guard. He lived in Connecticut with his lovely wife on a wide spread where they had horses (horses!) and an electrified wire that ran under the corral’s top railing to prevent said horses from brushing up against it. This is where I learned, at an early age, that a long stalk of wild grass will indeed conduct electricity and make you pee your pants. Anyway, my uncle would sometimes bring back C-rats for us kids to munch on and gave us little…

All hail the Chinese butt book pirates: Clinton is the latest victim of Chinese publishing pirates, who counterfeit entire books and rewrite the contents. Acting on the orders of their employers, translators regularly add invented content to make foreign books more appealing, such as Clinton’s memories of his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. “She was very fat. I can never trust my own judgment,” the Mandarin version said. In the knock-off version, Clinton quotes Chairman Mao frequently. MWAHAHAHA! Go read the whole column here: http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040721-073739-2407r.htm

I read this article this morning and can’t stop thinking about it: Terror in the Skies, Again? If you were the author, would you have gotten up and done something? If there really were air marshals on that flight, what the fuck were they waiting for? Perhaps they didn’t have “probable cause,” i.e., one of the “musicians” to emerge from the lav and ask another if they had more matches, “cuz the fuse is damp with ketchup.” I have this sinking feeling there were no air marshals on that flight, and the crew was simply going by the handbook to placate the passengers. If so, that’s just a horrible mindfuck.…

19. Is it round? Yes. 18. Is it made of metal? No. 17. Is it multicolored? No. 16. Is it straight? No. 15. Do you clean it regularly? Yes. 14. Does it use electricity? Sometimes. 13. Can you use it at school? Yes. 12. Does it get really hot? No. 11. Does it have writing on it? Sometimes. 10. Is it a common household object? Yes. 9. Does it move? No. 8. Can it be used for recreation? No. 7. Do you open and close it? Yes. 6. Does it come in different colors? Yes. 5. Can you lift it? No. 4. Can you control it? Yes. 3. Is it…

Happy belated BV to the Ho. I’m in the middle of his book. It’s sitting in my throne room, bookmarked with toilet paper. Damn fitting, I must say.