Laboratory lettuce

Let’s break off from our Pharming exploits to look at some Farming exploits.

With more evidence that the future is now, Japan is looking to set up domestic “vegetable factories” to provide clean, safe and nutritious food for all.

The boom in intensive hydroponics has been attributed to fear of tainted imported fresh foods in the wake a of a few scandals.

Some industries you wouldn’t expect are even getting in on the act (the BBC video may look irrelevant but it’s not)

[I've popped the video below the line because for some reason it is stuck on autoplay]

Kangaroo sequences, cocaininated bees and stupid robots

Here’s a rapid fire dump of some stories that remain in my “to post” box.

Yes, one’s that are trying to get away.

• The first kangaroo genome has been sequenced (it’s actually a wallaby, but technically there is no distinction). I wonder if they will try and outdo the Opossum paper with number of authors.
• FAIL: Australian scientists managed a breakthrough with DFTD. They took the one devil they had that was immune to the allograft cancer, and gave it cancer. “Professor Woods said the development was a setback“.
• Bees on cocaine have a good sense of direction, but no sense of proportion.
• RNA Biology will be making scientists contribute to wikipedia or they won’t publish their work. Blackmail, it works.
• Watch an evolution algorithm paint the mona lisa.
• Japan held a exhibition competition for the world’s stupidest robots. Again.
• Arakawa in Tokyo has banned feeding of stray animals.
• Cracked.com has a list of 7 people who tried and failed to sue science for the most stupid of reasons

Japanese fashion hits a new low

If I’m paying any attention to new sciborg assimilate Isis the Scientist, it appears that fashion is a subject of science.

Not content with breeding fertilizing salmon with trout sperm, Japan has crossed the line that shall not be crossed once more and produced a hybrid between jean pants and g-strings. The sexy and the horror astounds.

I want a giant robot that can fly… with a sword!

Bats with bombs. Remote controlled insects. Synthetic telepthy. The U.S. Department of Defense has something of a reputation for flushing funds into some crazy-shit ideas that seem inspired by Saturday Morning cartoons. The blur between fiction and reality with DARPA possibly comes from them treating Starship Troopers as a guidebook.

But if there is anyone who can give the US military a run for their crazy monopoly money on mega projects. Or should we say mecha-projects. Japan has just announced they are going to create Gundams. For Real. That’s right half-robot half-fighter jet and all-awesome.

With Japan not having any officially sanctioned military forces (just a self-defense force), I am curious as to what non-weaponized applications a giant man-shaped pilotable vehicle that also wields a giant-ass sword and/or gun actually might have. Children’s parties? Oh, hell yes!

And has anyone thought of the carbon footprint left by what is essentially an un-aerodynamic fighter jet?

Baby Japanese Jesus watches you pee

[aside: Japanese Jesus' Mom is a fox NSFW]

Morality questions abound today.

Is exploiting superstition for the environment acceptable?

In Japan torii gates are put up around the countryside to discourage people from littering and urinating outdoors. Traditional Japanese are little hung up on sacred concepts, the idea of littering or otherwise descrating something that even resembles a sacred site would be unthinkable. If movies have taught us anything it’s that Japanese ghosts do not have a habit of being friendly (The Ring, The Grudge, One Missed Call …)

I too had thought that roadside torii marked nearby shrines. Maybe in some places they do. I’m also aware that illegal dumping is a serious issue in Japan. Waste management is often costly and overly-beaurocratic, so often on wilderness and roadside mountain hikes we would find dumped televisions, broken stereo equipment, and one occassion a box of very old and disturbing porno magazines.

Would Jesus statues and/or crosses work similarly in the West?

Sorry Japan, McDonald’s just does not like you

It’s the only explanation I can see for them trying to afflict epidemic diabetes and cholestrol filled arteries upon you.

A Quarter Pounder meal with fried potato and coke is about the unhealthiest thing you can get from a fast food outlet. The drink is loaded with refined sugars, and the burger and fries filled with fat. Creating a store without any healthy options at all (salad, soup, yoghurt etc.) is just oh so socially irresponsible.

One thing I liked about overseas fast food places was the greater degree of options available. In some American fast food places I was given the option of about five different sides (fries, salad, baked beans, nuggets, a different salad) and several drinks (juice, soda, milk, water). In Australia while the healthy options are made available, Value Meals still seem to be stuck with fries and soda only options.

In Japan variety wasn’t too great, but I was normally able to trade my soda in for some Corn Soup. (Yes creamy corn soup – Japan was cold!)

Neil Duckett has more photos and story on the “Quarter Pounder” store. It doesn’t appear to be drawing in the kiddies as much as Krispy Creme donuts phenomenom does – so maybe it will quickly disappear.

Multi-purpose microwave

I love that the microwave in my new place doubles as a grill/oven. I swear it’s almost like I moved back to Japan.

I will be able to make enchildas! and nachos! and potato bake! yum!

On the topic of microwaves with multiple purposes:

The internet does not fail simultaneously amuse and disturb .

Anna Rexiosis

No one is going understand that. So don’t even try.

“I was never anorexic, so I was never that skinny… I was never bony-bony. But I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to be this skinny.’” – Kate Moss to Interview, emphasis not in source (celebrityfix)

While Kate Moss may not have had a weight-conscious psychological disorder, she may still have been anorexic. Anorexia is a medical term for loss of appetite, no matter the underlying cause. And its generally not any less healthy if its brought on by stress, drugs or religious motivation.

Japan considers a woman in charge

(Telegraph) The best Japanese PM, like, ever, Koizumi-san has backed leadership-hopeful Yuriko Koike to become next leader of the LDP (and by default, PM of Japan, all your base belong to LDP).

This support is thought to be a pretty big boost.

But some skeptics think Koizumi would need to do more than just words though to actually make a difference.

“Koizumi just expressing his support of Koike is not enough in the given situation, where (current leading candidate Taro) Aso has momentum” – Shujiro Kato, Tokyo Daigaku

Strongly conservative elements in Japan have moved very strongly to avoid having a female sit on the Chrysanthenum Throne. Will they care quite so much about the real power base?

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Update: Aso is new PM T_0 “a colourful nationalist with a knack for offensive gaffes“, can Japan try to avoid stereotypes as unthinking clone drones?

Killer cornflakes, nothing to laugh at

via small dead animals

Sometimes it’s unclear where the media-hype and the real dangers collide.

Serious dangers are emerging for Australia (and other parts of the world) that are well beyond what people would expect. No one was certainly planning on the Murray-Darling drying up (well no one who had any actual power to do anything about it).

A news report from earlier this year warned that arid conditions could trigger fungal outbreaks amongst food products that could lead to serious food poisoning hazards. CQU actually made the news by warning of “mass hallucinations, manic depression, gangrene, abortions, reduced fertility and painful, convulsive death”.

You might think that standard food safety standards should mandate alerts if any food source gets contaminated, right? However, these symptons aren’t caused by a single heavy dose of mycotoxin, but several small doses over an extended time period. It all adds up if you consider the amount of foodstuff you eat on a regular basis made from cereal crops (unless you’re allergic to gluten or something).

Small dead animals appears to be a right-wing climate change skeptic, and the comments certainly are full of grand ridicule of environmental health as a profession and the idea of killer cornflakes.

However I can’t help but consider the recent food poison scares emerging from China (melamine in milk) and Japan (pesticides and mycotoxins in rice/sake). Not necessarily directly caused by global warming – but definitely shows that food poisoning is a serious risk. And also consider, more fungal outbreaks will mean more reliance on (over)using chemical fungicides on crops.

Vicious cycle continues

Hooray Amity Hitachi!

Brandon is the latest victim in this ongoing saga.

It appears I may have been somewhat hasty in my claim that things may have gotten back on track there.

While they are still atempting to keep the NET level boosted to three, I think they may have less Japanese staff, and Brandon gives some independent confirmation that:

“My manager is, as Cat Power covering Gnarls Barkley would say, “That bitch is crazy / She’s fucking crazy.” Creepy.” – Brandon. Pillow Book

Sigh…

My sympathy for Brandon is mixed though. While some things appear to have maintained TEH SUCK over there – my manager accompanied me to set up my bank account, I was always accompanied by at least one of our staff members when doing official things such as ARC registration and visa extension (and I have semi-comprehensible Japanese skills) – this certainly should not have been left in Brandon’s hands alone. The rest of his complaints lie in some immaturity, selfishness and general jackassery that is all too rampant among foreigners (particularly in ESL fields).

The big clincher is that Brandon was fired for among other things, looking for employment elsewhere in his city. This breaches both his contract and possibly his visa requirements. Not a smart move. Especially when you post it online*.

About the hours. Teaching is hard work. Many Japanese ESLs have little or no teaching background thanks to Japan’s lax (absent) TOEFL accreditation requirements. Any teaching job will require you to do (a lot!) of outside hours work in lesson planning and record keeping. The contracts with AEON clearly state payment is for teaching hours only. This was explained in all my interviews. Preparation time is certainly minimised (sometimes to a fantasy level) in such sessions. But you can get probably get by with less preparation, just teach crappy lessons – like they did at NOVA.

About the city and accommodation. Complaining that your city is not up to scratch is very poor form. This is where preliminary research comes in. Little research quite easily shows that Hitachi is quite obviously a smaller regional city by Japanese standards. Transportation costs to Tokyo are quite easily available. And small apartments with minimal kitchens are quite common. All these sorts of information should be readily discussed in interviews. A common question is “How do you feel about living in regional areas?”, “How well do you cope with isolation?” – if you can’t answer positively to these questions, perhaps pot-luck employment such as eikaiwa is not for you (where your chances are about equal at being in Osaka as much as being in Komatsu).

I guess the main thing to remember when you choose work, such as eikaiwa, as a gap year project is that is first and foremost WORK. You will be expected to put in hours, you can not expect it to be a walk in the park, and probably, most importantly, you should try and choose something you actually want to do with your life. If it’s not your bag, you probably shouldn’t put your hand up for 12 months of essentially singing shitty little kiddy chants while smiling.

Fault still lies with Amity. They need to try and do their best to actually inform and prepare their potential teachers of what to expect.  And also screen them for the correct sort of personality. And possibly they need to consider management adjustment options at Hitachi.

*I remember receiving some sort of congrats fax (birthday?, i thought it was earlier though) in which a trainer subtley made me aware that they could access my blog. Ooooh spooky veiled threat. I wonder if they can find my new blog.

Ainu pride parade

Japan Today reports about an Ainu Revival Parade in Hokkaido.

Combining modern J-Hip-Hop and traditional Ainu garb and dance, young persons troupe Ainu Rebels is hoping to instill pride in local indigenous peoples and awareness of the cultural heritage the Ainu hold.

The article details some of the mixed progress being made since the official recognition by the Japanese government of Ainu as “an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture”. Discrimination, awareness and native pride still remain large issues. The governments committee on Ainu futures only contains one self-identified Ainu member.

Positive developments have been the positive response amongst the nation’s youth about cultural awareness. Apparently ethnic is “hip”. I’m not sure if this entirely great news, but maybe it is something? I’m also unsure about the increase in ethnic minorities amongst popular entertainers, it leans towards exploitation and fad movements, rather than anything more solid. I’d be more impressed if statistics were produced detailing increased literacy levels in Japanese language amongst minorities, college acceptance rates, or numbers in fields such as science, health, politics, engineering and education.

Below the fold I’ve included a short summary of my very limited and malinformed Ainu knowledge.

For some real information please visit The Ainu Association of Hokkaido’s English website.

That’s no mouse

via katu via WAN

In Kasuya, Fukuoka, Japan, a man got a surprise when police discovered a 58-year old homeless woman had set up house inside his house, or well, more accurately closet. She’d been undetected, having showers and eating while the owner was out at work, for a year. Yes, a year.

The resident became suspicious when he noticed food was missing from his kitchen, but he had never seen any mice. So he took the natural step (?) of setting up a spy cam rig and called police when he noticed someone moving in his house.

I don’t think anything is more creepy than the idea of someone just walking in off the street and sharing your living space for a year. Eating your food. Using your amenities. Borrowing your toothbrush. *shudder*

Japanese “Turning Japanese” as poverty gaps turns into “sex gap”

Let’s play spot the masturbation reference.

From JapanToday (cache):

Sex and poverty don’t mix, says Spa! (June 10). That’s a grim fact of life for the growing ranks of the “working poor.” The spreading “income gap,” itself a relatively new phenomenon in a country that has long prided itself on rising prosperity equally shared, is producing a “sex gap.”

More than 20% of an all-male survey demographic aged 25-39 said they were still virgins, commonly pointing out they feel inadequate for the successful career women about these days. Too blame is too many guys staying unemployed, at their parents, with easy unfettered access to adult videos by the internet. That’s right, Spa! and their experts are calling the otaku/freeter generation a bunch of wankers.