Archive for the 'Weird & Wonderful' Category
Inspiring Chinese woman
Today’s post is somewhat inspirational and a change of the usual posts we see on tba. Today’s post is about a Chinese woman who resides in Shan Dong Province, China. Not ruining the video for you folks, I will explain the rest after you watch it below. (The video is in Cantonese/Mandarin, but the main point of the video can be understood beyond the language barrier)
Here’s the video:
Translating the main points, the armless woman is named Ren Ji Mei. She was born armless and her mother wanted to dump her into the sea, but her father decided to keep her as a ‘pet dog’ (I’m not sure what to say about this part). But as you can see, her disability has not stopped her from enjoying life. She is able to use her feet so well for so many things that some people with arms can not do. Quite a remarkable and inspiring woman indeed.
Judging from the video’s quality, it would seem that it happened quite some time ago. If anyone knows the exact date, please do tell!
Chinese Farmer Builds Home-Made Glider
Here’s a video that’s been circulating the internet which shows a Chinese farmer (I’m not sure how they know he’s a farmer since we can’t even see his face in the video) taking off, flying and landing his home-made glider (or plane, if you want to make it sound awesome).
Whoever this farmer is, he is damn resourceful, plus takes a lot of guts to fly a glider you built yourself, not knowing if it can fly or not. From the video, you can see, he only has a seatbelt for safety which is not much when you’re that high up in the air.
Nonetheless, you need to give him credit for his piloting skills, he landed pretty well and I’m not sure if he even learnt how to fly before!
Here’s the video:
Amazing stuff right?
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Source:
IfGoGo via Asianoffbeat
Japan’s Space Wedding Service
For 240 Million yen ($2.2 million) you can have your wedding in space.
Rocketplane Kistler (Space transporation provider) and First advantage (Wedding planner) are working together to provide space wedding to the masses. Your $2.2 million will buy you an out-of-this-word experience on a 1-hour trip aboard the Rocketplane XP suborbital spaceship where you will reach altitudes higher than 100 km. Not only that, the service will also provide you with:
“Photo and video album, original dress, wedding certificate and other ceremonial items.”
“Cost of transportation to and from the launch site, accommodations, a live broadcast of the ceremony to friends and family at a reception hall on the ground, and 4 days of rehearsal.” - Pink Tentacle
For those that have pockets deep enough and are looking for a thrill on their wedding day, you’ll have to wait to till 2011 which is when the space wedding service is planned for. However, not to worry, they will start accepting applications next month. You can visit their official site here (if you can read Japanese).
This remind me of Moonlight Mile for some reason. Nonetheless, it’ll be fun being the priest for that company, you’ll get to go into space more times than astronauts.
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Source:
Pink Tentacle
Picture courtesy of spacewedding.jp
Goldfish Keychain Shocks RSPCA
Not the best day for the Beijing Olympics’ image. Someone in China, Qingdao (where the Olympic sailing event will take place) has made a heart-shaped novelty plastic keychain with a living goldfish inside and Huan Huan (one of the 5 official Beijing Olympics’ mascots) printed on it.
This marketing gimmick to earn a quick buck has struck many people as cruel and appalling as the goldfish has little room to swim in and with oxygen that will run out in the matter of hours. Also to note, this will most probably damage the Beijing Olympics’ image.
The RSPCA only had the following to say on it:
“The fish would survive just a few hours, and would be lucky to make it from the manufacturers to the point of sale. This product shows a shocking lack of respect for a living thing and should be withdrawn from sale. We are shocked and appalled. It is a gimmick and shows no respect for the animals at all. We can’t understand why anyone would want to buy such a thing.” - telegraph.uk
Just think of every one of those little goldfish suffocating and dying a slow painful death! I do hope the Beijing Olympic Committee or the local officials do something about it and do it quick! I’m sure no tourist going to China for the Beijing Olympics will be picking one of these up…
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Source:
Telegraph.uk via WeirdAsiaNews
Picture courtesy of telegraph.uk and picasa web
Shouting vase relieves stress
Another whimsical item from Japan, the ‘Shouting Vase (Sakebi no Tsufu)’ will help you release and relief stress. How? Well, the manufacturer of this special vase says all you have to do is let out all that bottled up anger and stress, and shout, yell and even scream into the vase.
The vase is made of thermoplastic plus the inner structure will turn all that shouting into a mere whisper. For those that need some stress-relieving, sadly, the vase is currently only available in Japan for USD$48.
Source:
CrunchGear via Gizmodo
Picture courtesy of Gizmodo
Japan’s 21-Leaf Clover
Happiness lies in a 4-leaf clover; a 5-leaf is wealth and luck, the 6-leaf is said to be — fame. (Shigeo) Ohara’s dream is a 30-leaf clover.
(四つ葉は幸せ、五つ葉は金運、六つ葉は名声──といわれるクローバー。小原さんの夢は、３０枚葉という。) - Yomiuri
Today, Shigeo Ohara, dream has come ever so closer to being a reality with his world record breaking finding of a 21-leaf clover. As a formal government food crop researcher now at age 83, Mr.Ohara spends his time researching clovers in the Iwate Prefecture.
The 21-leaf clover is described to have leaves with about “1cm long that overlap each other like rose petals on a 3-centimeter stem” (From Yomiuri, translated by Pink Tentacle).
Some of us might not and may never even set eyes upon a clover with more than 3 leaf, but astonishing enough, Mr.Ohara is also the current official record holder for a 18-leaf clover which he found in his garden in May of 2002!
That’s not all! Mr.Ohara stated that just last month, one of his family member found a 27-leaf clover which has yet to be confirmed!
I guess Mr. Ohara’s research on the genes of clover’s leaf count, colour, pattern and size will be a retirement hobby that will bring him plenty of luck.
Source:
Yomiuri
Pink Tentacle
Robotic Japan?
Is Japan taking a step closer to make those sci-fi movies come true? By 2025, robots could fill 3.5 million jobs for the aging Japanese workforce.
By 2030, Japan’s workforce is expected to experience a 16% drop. The ‘ThinkTank‘, the Machine Industry Memorial Foundation believe solutions lies in their Japanese robots as a country that does not enjoy the idea of a large-scale immigration.
These robots are expected to reduce strains on the workforce by taking care of children, old people and housework. This will also save Japan an approximate 2.1 trillion yen ($21 billion) in elderly insurance!
However before thinking too far ahead Takao Kobayashi, who works on the Japanese workforce shortage problem state that there’s still much to be done:
“There’s the expensive price tag, the functions of the robots still need to improve, and then there are the mindsets of people.
People need to have the will to use the robots.” - Reuters
To convince you that Japan has what it takes, the picture above in one of the secretary robots invented by the Japanese. Oddly enough, this piece of news remind me of Ghost in the Shell…
Source:
Reuters
Pictures also courtesy of reuters