That's How It Happened

Japan (Part 3)

Ryoan-ji is the most famous Zen garden. It`s situated within a fantastic "wet" garden of red and yellow maples, reflected in a beautiful lake. You have to take off your shoes to visit the dry garden, which adds to the hype. However it was pretty underwhelming. Despite the many theories about what Zen gardens represent, it seemed to me to rather defy interpretation. It all looks pretty much accidental, save for the meticulous raking. Somewhat predictably there is of course an online Zen garden, ready for virtual raking.

Top tip for budget Kyoto travel: fujiyama manga cafe. You can stay all night for 1600yen. That includes unlimited internet, PS2, DVDs, soft drinks, and as much tentacle porn as you can handle.

Street Jack Magazine gives male fashionistas the inside track on adopting the Harujuku style, but there`s also a handy London version, called UK Jack.

And in a final themic link: Ronin: Spirit of the Sword, a game in which you "battle it out with other samurai, dodge bamboo traps, and get pretty cute girls."

Japan (Part 2)
Just an incredibly quick update, only because I`m at the Apple Store in Ginza. That`s the one that had the longest queue ever when it opened last year. The japanese apple nerd contingent is pretty strong, perhaps contributing to Apple`s soaring share price.
Anyway Japan is still ruling. Since the last update I have: eaten raw beef heart; seen a 500kg tuna filleted using a sword; and failed time and again to operate a Tokyo ATM. Seriously on that last issue, things are getting serious. If anyone has any advice about navigating japanese banking I need it soon, I`m down to my last few hundred yen.
PS I meant to link yesterday to Maywa Denki`s Nonsense Machines, a kind of robot orchestra that play abysmal J-pop.

Japan (Part 1)
Unfortunately in my haste to get to the airport, I failed to adequately sign up DJ Waxy for Blogger, so you`ve been update-less. I`ll invite him again soon. Instead I`m battling with the oddities of the japanese keyboard to bring you this update from gera gera manga cafe! in Shinjuku. The outside looks like Bladerunner, whereas the inside is overrun with otaku browsing tentacle porn, and playing Love Smash in private booths.
My first 48 hours in Japan have totally lived up to the hype. I feel overwhelmed and cultured shocked in exactly the way I was hoping for. I`ve only managed two out of my top ten activities. Pachinko was deeply disappointing, 2000 yen inexplicably wasted in seconds, while all around me japanese kids were filling baskets and baskets with little silver balls. On the other hand Aloha Dunks from Limited-Edt were astonishingly exciting. The sneaker shopping is jaw-dropping.
I`ve visited all seven branches of BAPE in Tokyo, using a handy (M)APE (geddit?) as a guide. I indulged in an iced latte at the Bape Cafe?! (including ape glasses, coasters, and ice), but I baulked at booking a BAPE haircut. I`ve also hit Supreme, Bounty Hunter, Death From Above, and the branch of APC used as a location for the Orange Club scene in Lost in Translation.
It hasn`t been entirely pop cultural: I`ve also enjoyed the calm of the Meiji Shrine, and the clatter of Maywa Denki`s Fish Robot Orchestra. I`ll try and update again on Friday from Kyoto. Do send any further suggestions or requests (PSP, Nintendo DS, etc) via the comments.

Who the Hell is DJ Waxy Fresh?
He's the new That's How It Happened guest blogger, that's who. Known only as Waxyfresh, even to his mother, he makes a living selling drugs, and DJs breakbeat on the side. Reputedly he is also the Future Mayor of Hoboken. You can try and make sense of this enigma, and download his excellent mixes at his site, in preparation for his guest stint.

All the U.N.K.L.E. videos handily archived (including the award winning, and banned, Rabbit In Your Headlights)(via)

Bill Gates has a problem with spam. He gets 4 million emails per day. In unrelated news you can download and print out a cool paper model of his $97 million house.

TV on the Radio (as heard for free at Hint Mag) are incredibly good, so good in fact that they just won the Shortlist Music Prize for an album selling under 500,000 copies.

How to hack a Coke vending machine to make it say rude stuff. Just using different button combinations apparently.

If your Christmas happiness is threatened by the lard crisis try and relax by staring longingly at the lard cam.

A photo of a mouse riding a cat, riding a dog. I knew Denver was full of weirdos.

Toddlerpedes: a series of disturbing Jake'n'Dinos-esque sculptures.

Getting Awesome is a state of mind. Zine-topian.

Gonna have to alter my itinerary to visit the G-Cans in Tokyo. Explanation over at BB.

Mini-sneaker news: the list tee (every nike shoe as a t-shirt checklist); a corrugated cardboard cortez; what really happened to the zvezdochka.

I finally got round to submitting to Fuck you H2. I'm generally fairly apathetic about environmental issues, but I do hate such a stupid fake car. I am also politically opposed to groups of 16 year old girls cruising round town in stretch H2s. Anyway it's very therapeutic to flip off such a large inanimate object.

Many thanks to Brendan at Sneaker Freaker, who tipped me off to the existence of the Nike ACG Rufus.

The Apple queue was already 100 strong at 6pm last night. I've never seen such nerdiness, since perhaps attending a Warhammer conference in 1989. They were all geeking out with their iBooks, trying to stay warm; I hope the goodie bag was worth it.

The kind of stuff the internet was made for: a movie of a chimp doing karate.

Centaur is the new Segway that's not so lame.

Flash brilliance: 12 many, a highly original counting game. (via)

Since I'll be in Tokyo, there may be rather limited updating over the next two weeks. Practically everyone already has their own blog , so I can't think of an obvious guest blogger. Anyone keen to flex their blog skillz for a fortnight?

Some other blogs you might enjoy:

A Crying Shame written by Rev Dennis Listerman-Vierling. Crazy name, crazy guy.

Advisory Staff Blog, which is Hiroshi Fujiwara's genuine blog. It's all in japanese, but there's lots of photos of Hiroshi's intercontinental/celeb/DJ/designer lifestyle.

Metafilter is the best collaborative blog going, and finally after 2 years, they are signing up new users. I 100% recommend this as being worth the $5 fee.

Patient: "You remind me of that actor from the movie Ghost"

Doctor: "Who, Patrick Swayse? You've made my day saying that."

Patient: "Yes that's right, the scary ghost, that gets his head knocked off by a train."

Snap! Say hello to character actor Vincent Schiavelli.

Fish Highway is an acrylic tunnel, allowing your fish to travel between aquaria. (via)

Great live recordings of Charles Bukowski.

And the Kim Jong-Il furore (rumours of a military coup etc) turns out to have been nothing more than a revamping of the official portrait.

Roger Avary is blogging his attempts to sue Microsoft. Bonafide celeblogs rule.

Eminem's Mosh got downloaded over one million times. March of Death, Zack de la Rocha and DJ Shadow's anti-war song probably lacks such popular appeal.

Catch 27 is like friendster crossed with baseball cards, so you get to trade away your lame friends. (via)

The Slam City Nike Kickflip Challenge

Nike Dunk SBs are designed for skating. While lots of skaters are wearing them, it's obvious that plenty of shoes just get resold on eBay, or worse still lie dormant in people's closets. I certainly have reservations about wearing $600 shoes, much less going out skating in them.
Slam City have fought back this month, with an ironic contest. They are offering a £5 discount to anyone who can actually land a kickflip in their new Nike trainers:

"NIKE KICKFLIP CHALLENGE: Each purchase of Nike trainers this month will be subject to a £5 refund on performance of a kickflip. This offer applies to all Nike trainers purchased ESPECIALLY those of a limited edition shoe."

They continue with a series of stringent rules: 1. No insoles to be inserted. 2. Maximum of two attempts only. 3. No minimum height, but ground must be cleared. 4. Good technique, no toe dragging. 5. Over 25s excepted from rule 4. 6. All kickflips must be witnessed by the manager. 7. No switch kickflips.
I did pick up a pair of Tweed Lows this month, and I confess I would have failed the contest. Luckily they didn't offer me a chance to take part, perhaps because I was wearing a suit and tie.

I'm usually not a freeform kind of traveller. If I'm hitting a new place, I'm not inclined to just roam, I'd rather follow the Lonely Planet herd to all the must-see destinations. In the case of Japan though, I might as well throw out the guidebooks. I'm flying out to Tokyo next Monday, and I have a stack of pre-planned activities:
1. Stay in the Park Hyatt, Bob and Charlotte style.
2. Buy trainers. This is a no-brainer.
3. Play pachinko (though sadly not Hitler Pachinko).
4. Eat fugu, live to tell about it.
5. Visit the fish market.
6. Bathe with snow monkeys. (Does Japan have rabies?)
7. Smuggle home a breeding pair of giant stag beetles.
8. Check out some Edo era bonsai, maybe in a zen garden.
9. See sumo live, either human or robotic.
10. Ride the shinkansen.
On reviewing the list, I realised that I may be trying to confirm all my gaijin misconceptions about Japanese culture. I know plenty of readers must have been to Japan. So this is a call for suggestions for more authentic Japanese experiences.

Things To Make And Do is a how-to of various dangerous projects from a pro-SFX electrician. My favourite is the exploding Smarties: "Only Smarties have the answer?...well answer this you bastards".

ODB remains (no pun intended) controversial as ever: 13 children, or merely 7. (Though one child is called "God Ason Jones".)

Pop culture overload as David Hasslehoff, Scarlett Johansson, and SpongeBob all sighted in same photo.

Text on things, is pure parsimonious pleasure.

InsBot looks a bit sucky, but actually he's a laser wielding cockroach spy, who'll save humanity from roach domination. (via Rise of the Machines™)

Hammered is a flash hammer sim, complete with bruised thumbs and comedic Scottish accents. Top score for me is £75.13.

I'd like to see "the greatest eater ever to live upon planet earth" tackle the new Hardees Monster Thickburger. (Actually I'd also like to see the appropriately named Shawna Getzinger, from Playboy's Women of McD's feature.)

iEatBrainz deserves an award for the best named, most useful bit of freeware ever.

And finally a rare picture of the lost legendary Gatherer Dunk, from Sneaker Freaker.

Ant Kendo, insectoid martial arts have never seemed so essential.

At first when you see The Superior Semen Works you might guess that it's some kind of perverse sex site; then you realise that they're really all about goat semen, and you breathe a sigh of relief; finally you check out the fruity pictures of people with their oddly named goats and realise they are a bunch of sickos after all.

Swearing in Spectrum text adventures,the definitive guide.

$99 make-your-own hologram kit. They made a tiny holo-Princess Leia, obvious but cool.

And as a point of housekeeping, for those who like to arrive here via EarthCallingRufus, that URL will shortly be defunct. I'm saving a whole $7.95 to invest in even more excellent content here at howithappened.

RIP ODB. I didn't actually know you, but through your constant "hysterical" brushes with the law I came to view you almost as a friend. Although much of your career has been spent incarcerated, now finally though your untimely (and undoubtedly cocaine related) death you are free.

Things I discovered today.
1. Kids are delusional. Every child I meet claims to have finished Grand Theft. Little liars; I am still struggling with the first island.
2. I suck at roofing. My brother and I tried to help out waterproofing a rotten roof. We both stuck our feet through it instead. A job best left to professionals.
3. London life rules. Almost by chance I saw Princess Superstar DJing, and a live gig by the Church of the Subgenius. That kind of stuff doesn't happen in the Home Counties.

I don't usually delete posts, but today I've had to. The GF and I had the single worst night out in history, last night. We got involved in a gigantic row with some irate plastic surgeons. In the interests of tact, I've now deleted what I originally wrote about them. Instead I thought I'd present my most exciting sneaker release schedule:
Already out: P-Rod Delta Force and Shimizu Dunks, and Ice Creams at BAPE.
Monday 15th: Huf Dunk drops at Slam City, expect overnight queues.
Wednesday 17th: Hunter Dunk comes back, 60 pairs for Slam.
Friday 19th: Shanghai Dunk drops, and there may or may not be queuing.
End of November: Supreme Delta Force, only at Supreme, but fortunately I'll be in Tokyo.
December: Kicks Hawaii x Leilow Aloha Dunk at Foot Patrol.
I can't be bothered to dig around for photos, but you could scout Nike Talk or Crooked Tongues or eBay if you really care.

Bid for a night out getting destroyed on booze. Fast Eddy promises the high bidder:

"..to get you absolutely nailed on booze...at some of North London's finest drinking establishments (even though you won't be able to remember them afterwards)."

Conversations with truckers at the Days Inn:

Trucker: Fucking Indians drugged me, stole my fucking truck and left me in the desert.
Me: There's a desert in Oklahoma? I mean, that sucks.

The Things I Want a weddinglist/amazon wish list service for all online shopping. Total voyeur fun trawling other peoples odd desires...

...as is Dirty Found Magazine, which is Found Magazine's new filthy big sister.

Being Hunted have been keeping up with news on the Newson x Nike Zvezdochka: 20 pairs for Northern Europe, and 140 pairs for the US. As they say on NikeTalk: Heeaatt!!

Frozen Critters, the only site for freshly dead taxidermy specimens, including badgers. So enthusiastic they even have a Taxidermy Kid's Corner, I do hope that punctuation is correct.

Could "going commando" be losing cultural currency? The Freeballers of America, are proud commandos for the no-pants cause.

Chasm: a point 'n' click distraction.

The Dolphin Stress Test.

Fun With Lighters: all you need to know to modify ordinary cigarette lighters into "giant balls of molten flaming death".

In Brief: 1337 Jeopardy (via), Mr T and Me (via), Hamsters in Hats (via)

You leave your blog unattended for two days, and all hell breaks loose:

Item of Evidence 1: Someone impersonates you in your own comments section.

Item of Evidence 2: Someone, very possibly the same someone, photoshops your face onto goatse, posts same in comments section.

Well I'm back to take charge. Expect my vengeance to be furious. For no particular reason today's links are all to actual media, rather than websites. Perhaps that's my vengeance upon 56k fools.

A collection of whale songs. I was finding it restful at first, then I noticed that it's all hosted in Japan, which makes me suspicious that it is actually whale death screams.

The Ramones cover Spiderman. (Clearly this is from sometime back, seeing as they are all deceased.)

A completely disturbing Japanese McDonald's ad featuring a sexy "Ms Ronald McDonald". (If that doesn't put you off your McGrand, there's a money off downloadable coupon).

Wendy's Grill Skill, is the most incredible rapping and rhyming 80s Wendy's grilling instructional video you'll ever see. (If that's your idea of fun, the entire 80 minute classic is available to own on DVD now.)

Spray is an autonomous tiny submarine. It made it from Wood's Hole to Bermuda, on its own. Plucky little chap.

Rotation isn't a terribly original game, but it's still mildly addictive.

I feel exactly the same way about Road Blocks.

Make your own hovercraft using some plastic, a circle of plywood, and a leafblower.

Finally an original and addictive game. Blob Wars is a sweet strategy game combining elements of reversi and fungus.

I'm being shipped off to Somerset tonight for educational purposes, posting will be at best erratic.

What is the most expensive individual animal, weight for weight?
Reviving a feature that hasn't run for perhaps nine months, in which I attempt to answer an ungooglable question single-handed: Research Day.
I was keen to know what was the most ever paid, by weight, for an individual animal specimen, either living or dead. I have discounted amounts paid in conservation efforts. (Though in that field, the 18 pygmy owls of Tucson, probably win.) My initial shortlist was composed of six strong contenders: thoroughbred racehorse; koi carp; Dorcus Hopei (Japanese Giant Stag Beetle); beluga sturgeon; musk deer; Methuselah mouse.

Racehorse
Guinness come up trumps here, citing Seattle Dancer as the most expensive animal ever sold at $13.1 million. I couldn't find an exact weight for Seattle Dancer, but assuming roughly 600kg, that's $21800 per kilo.

Beluga
Caviar prices are skyrocketing thanks to CITES cuts in the quotas. A beluga can weigh in at up to 500kg, but for our quest this is irrelevant. A female sturgeon is approximately one fifth caviar. Thus the per animal weight answer is actually one fifth of the value of the most expensive caviar. Almas Caviar retails at $23000 per kilo, and that includes the cost of the 24k gold tin. Obviously racehorses can cost more than beluga.

Koi Carp
This was really tough to research, but in the Aquarium Hobbyist Forums, I saw confirmation of $125,000 per fish, and speculation of up to $500,000. A big koi could weigh 9 kg, so this works out as $55000 per kilo, if our top estimate of price is correct.

Dorcus Hopei
I've covered this topic before, and found confirmation of high prices here. Japanese Beetle-maniacs can pay upwards of $40000 for a good sized wild beetle. Weighing no more than about 30 grams, we have a new record of $1.3 million per kilo.

Musk Deer
This turned out to be a red herring. Musk is the most expensive mammal product. However an article from National Geographic, points out that each musk stag only yields 23 grams of musk, for about $70. That's way off the pace.

Methuselah Mouse
Now that the Ansari X-Prize has been won, the next best thing is the Methuselah Mouse Prize. The prize is awarded to the oldest living mouse in existence. GHR-KO 11C (nickname "Mouse") was the inaugural champ, surviving to almost 5 years. Sadly for his owner Andrzej Bartke, as the benchmark geriatric mouse, he didn't actually win any of the prize. The next competitor was called Yoda, but he too sadly passed away just after his fourth birthday, in April this year. The oldest currently living (eligible) mice belong to Dr Christian Sell. If any of them beat GHR-KO 11C, they stand to win a fortune. The prize fund has apparently recently swelled to over $500,000 dollars. The formula for calculating a win depends on how longlived the mouse is. Assuming the mouse exceeds the record by 10%, he would win 1/11th of the prize, or $45000. A normal mouse weighs in at 20 grams, but we can tell from this photo that an insulin deprived dwarf mouse weighs no more than 5 grams. This makes the putative Methuselah mouse the most expensive animal specimen ever at $9.1 million per kilo.

I welcome suggestions for other expensive animals, or of course corrections to my calculations or analysis. (Incidentally, in the course of all this research, this was the single awesomest thing I found.)

"him name is hopkin green frog...P.S. I'll find my frog." I deliberately didn't post this meme, because frankly I thought I was behind the meme-curve. Now though I've noticed it hasn't hit either daypop or blogdex. Read it, weep, repost it. It has my vote for meme-o-the-month.

Further to a post earlier in the week, I found a decent Team America torrent, via the excellent Don Vito Torrent.

Ten By Ten is like Google News, for people who can't read, or who can only manage at most one word at a time.

Sigur Ros have a palindromic song (6.5Mb MP3) that almost plays the same forward and backwards. No hidden satanic messages in either direction.

"Straight male seeks Bush supporter for fair, physical fight - m4m" Craigslist rules.

The Trebuchet Simulation Game probably doesn't sound much fun, but you'll learn a lot about flinging rocks.

Get in shape for the Google Puzzle Championship 2005, by practising last year's test. Even the instructions for downloading the test were enough to confuse me, so I don't expect I'll win.

This is a first for me, a link that comes via instapundit: Guns designed and marketed for kids. My favourite is The Rogue Rifle Company Chipmunk, "a good choice for the novice varminter". Sadly you can't apply for a Federal Firearms License over the internet.

Sneaker choice of the day is the Nike x SOPHNET Internationalist. The new snazzy ostrich skin version is at Foot Patrol, while retro-maniacs might be able to pick up a 1989 pair (in day-glo, with spikes!) from Arkamix.

Happy "Assassinate Your National Premier In A Gigantic Explosion" Day. Just an idea for y'all.

Possibly the rarest Nike shoe ever: The Gatherer Dunk. There may only be one left shoe in existence. In other odd sneaker news: The DQM AirMax styled on a rasher of bacon.

A couple of esoteric contests: dress yourself in toilet paper (win nothing except internet shame),and remix Romero (win a candy filled zombie pinata).

Very Easy Job. I could do with a guy like this. He or she could keep me awake in seminars, urge me to put more thought into my blog entries, and play through the dull bits of GTA: San Andreas for me.

Apparently this is the homepage of the NY Times newsroom. It's a clever list of links that enable efficient journalism.

Gareth Morris is "gwEM" an "Atari ST Old Skool Rave DJ and Heavy Metal dude (The E stands for E)". For one night only he had somehow co-opted Charlie Beez into playing drums at his gig at 93 ft east. They were celebrating the launch of a new compilation DVD on German Disco-Atari-Punk label Shit Katapult. Nothing in my cosseted middle class upbringing could have prepared me for the rigors of the Deutsch Atari Punk scene. Gareth Morris commands the stage like an enraged mastodon. His vocals match the intensity and tone of John Lydon, to the inspired mundanity of Mike Skinner. Meanwhile he plays crazed power-fuzz guitar on a Gibson Flying V. You couldn't hope to recreate the magic of the gwEm live experience at home, but I do recommend a perusal of his hilarious website, and possibly downloading his meister-werk "The Small Hours" (probably not available from the iTunes music store).

A flash interactive (naked?) spider, and a flash interactive naked guy (the latter promoting Philipe Starck's ugly PUMAs.)

The GF insists on Radio 4 of a morning. In contrast to my usual disinterest, today's Today program was utterly engrossing and frankly shocking. The chief climate adviser to Bush argued that global warming is a myth fabricated by EU scientists in the pay of EU government, as part of a conspiracy designed to reduce the competitiveness of US industry. Real Media (good until 11/11/04). It reminds me mostly of Thabo Mbeki's impassioned claims that HIV was unrelated to AIDS, and was merely a western conspiracy designed to suppress South African industrialization.

On a lighter note: Cat Bat, the extremely bloody cat whacking game. My top score so far is 11k, using a combination of two cat juggling, and swift single cat flicks.

I've previously linked Sasha Frere-Jones' excellent personal blog, and his excellent book of hip-hop lists, but he also has a new collaborative MP3 blog which is certain to be equally excellent.

404 Error: The country you are looking for is currently unavailable. The country might be experiencing electoral difficulties, or you may need to adjust your expectations of the next four years. (I also like the two USanada maps I've seen here and here.) (And also I liked: A homophobe, a racist and an idiot walk into a bar, the bartender says "What can I get you to drink Mr. President?")

Way better than lame Yeti Stagediving is Dewey Stagediving from School of Rock. (via).

The internet has sucked today. You'd think people were concentrating on other matters or something. If you are feeling anything like I'm feeling, then I can recommend the therapeutic value of sending an email voodoo curse to president@whitehouse.gov. These are some pretty scant gleanings from the non-presidential portion of the internet.

If you had defected to North Korea as a disaffected G.I. in 1965, would you expect "a starring role as an evil US spy, in a propaganda film", and a Japanese teenage bride? Unlike almost every other North Korean citizen, Private Charlie Jenkins has a lot to thank Kim Jong-Il for.

Good guide to non-suprnova torrenting for when the internet is really dull. PS Has anyone found a torrent for Team America?

Naughty temple monkeys bite 300 kids, suck their blood, monkey jailarity ensues.

The definitive guide to international postal addresses. Yeah, I know that's a niche link, but like I said it's been a slow day on the web.

Meet Jay J Armes, the world's only no-handed P.I., who cameoed in Hawaii 5-O, has his own action figure, and keeps big cats as pets.

Oh, maybe one little bit of election news is acceptable. Perhaps thanks to the Guardian, those independent-minded types (read stubborn redneck fuckwads) in Clark County, voted for Bush.

In the last six years I've attended the Bailey Pub Quiz over 200 times. It has been a staple of my Monday nights. During all this time my team and I have won a startling, zero times. That's correct, zero times, despite the fact that we're all university educated young professionals. However in an astonishing change of fortune we finally won last night. There were some premonitions of this momentous event: a win (eight bottles of wine) at the Wexham Park Pub Quiz on the 22nd, and second place (£30) at the Bailey on the 25th. However finally last night we avenged years of pain and humiliation with a glorious £70 win. (Actually we're still smarting from the time The Guardian "Dream Team" of quiz champions destroyed us.) To celebrate I thought I'd challenge you with some of last night's more inventive questions:
Which word can follow mid, fort, and over to make three new words?
What was Casanova's first name?
How many one-way streets were there in London in 1827?
What was Horatio Nelson's illegitimate daughter called?
In which US state is Brownsville?
Which Cluedo weapon begins and ends with the same letter?
Answers in the comments as ever.

According to the Blogging Hierarchy one ought to look down on people who blog about their cats; however any girl who finds distraction "googling for naked pictures of Kirsty Allsopp", is worthy of your attentions.

Coca-cola, first spermicide, now pesticide. Who knew that globalisation might provide the cure for third world problems?

J-Walk claims that this is a guide to dressing like a sumo, but I have my suspicions that it's just a fetish site for nappy fans.

Five Finger Fillet, a flash game of diabolical digit daggering.

The Eskimold, an ingenious mould for shaping igloo ice blocks. The mould creates appropriately curved interlocking blocks. For $22 Canadian dollars, it's going straight on my christmas list.

Unbelievably cute Brazilian drinking straw sculptures. (via)

The Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists are some very lovable rogues. They do mutilate dead animals into obscene chimeras and nauseating dioramas, but in a cheeky adorable way.

Giles has kindly hosted a clever set of scripts that let you check your gMail from any browser, even on an antediluvian NHS PC. Hooray for Giles and the good old altruistic interweb.

Green cards are apparently actually green. That kind of thing wouldn't do in Europe, where we enjoy Oktoberfest, May Week, and a socialist Labour Party.

How to build your own batphone.

Too many cocktail books? Try the Mixilator, which auto-magically chooses a cocktail for you.

Geek flash fun, with Nucleus, in which you play an electron, needing to escape its orbit.(via)

Pages and pages of customised LEGO mini-figs, mostly comic book heroes, though Alex from Clockwork Orange is sweet.

"Googlewashing" has already been googlewashed according to the Scotsman. This does not appear to have affected Google's ridiculously buoyant share price.

The duvet that treats SAD, and is an alarm clock, and looks uber-cool: The Lightsleeper. Combine this duvet with a wave pillow and you'd really be sleeping in style.

"It is time to wrest tissue culture from the privileged hegemony of the lab and relocate it to your kitchen. The recipe for cultivating tissue culture is simple, but just like a Tamagotchi it takes a bit of tending." Biotech Hobbyist Magazine.

GTA: San Andreas has a neat "Dance Dance Revolution" subgame in which you bounce lowriders in time to music. Flash Flash Revolution has no lowriders; it's merely a DDR clone online.

Pachinko is in my top ten must-do things in Japan. Sadly Friendster Pachinko won't run on the antiquated work PCs, but I suspect it's awesome. (also via)