Most Useless Info of the Day!!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Human-like Japanese Fembot Performs in Hong Kong

If you have seen the movies A.I. and Bicentennial Man, this robot may remind you of those films.

An android named Geminoid F is currently going around several countries after making a big splash in Japan, where she had a brief acting career and worked as a model for a department store.

Just recently, she was spotted in Hong Kong, where she performed in front of awestruck audiences, as well as smiling at and talking with audience members.

Geminoid F creator Hiroshi Ishihguro said they purposely programmed her to mimic 65 behaviors, the most by any robot so far.

The android is also one of the cheapest robots ever built, at a cost of only US$110,000.

Ishiguro went on to say that the future of androids is limitless and that “we can’t predict all the ways people will use [them].”

He also aims to improve his creations by making them more lifelike.

Now, where can I buy one to cook breakfast for me in the morning?

weirdasianews.com

Some facts about the 1500s

Next time you're washing your hands and the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children -- last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs -- thick straw -- piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof -- hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway, hence, a "thresh hold."

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile. Hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale bread which was so old and hard that they could be used for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth. . . (who ever said that History was boring)?

source: http://www.crazynews.net/dp/1-28.htm

Teen Falconer Fights Crows in Japan

While most people are looking at innovations and technologies to fight old problems, the prefectural government of Saga in Japan has turned to 17-year-old Misato Ishibashi and her falcon to fight the hordes of crows that attack trash and farms.

The third-year student from Takeo High School has been participating in competitions to remove bird pests.

Saga prefecture governor Yasushi Furukawa had invited Japan’s only “schoolgirl falconer” to get rid of the crow problem.

Not backing down from any challenge, Misato released her falcon on the night of April 4th.

The result was immediately heard. Crows immediately burst out of trees and flew away. Misato assured, “They won’t be back for a while.”

The crows amounted to more than 10,000 a few years ago and have roosted in the area around the prefectural offices. These intelligent birds have learned to forage for food in garbage disposal areas and then release their droppings on the roads.

The poor farmers’ harvests also didn’t escape the crows’ appetites.

Saga prefectural government has spent an average of 66,000,000 yen to stop these birds, but efforts have been futile.

What makes this story amazing is that Japan rarely asks falconers for help, relying instead on modern technology to get rid of bird problems.

It was also reported that this Ishibashi was asked by her school to help get rid of pigeons in the auditorium. The bird droppings posed a danger to the students during their graduation ceremony, stated school officials.

http://www.weirdasianews.com/

Scientists to Try Cloning the Woolly Mammoth

The attempt to clone a woolly mammoth seems like something straight out of a science fiction script, but truth is often stranger than fiction.

Scientists from Russia and South Korea have signed an agreement to attempt to recreate this creature that roamed the earth some 10,000 years ago.

mammoth Scientists to Try Cloning the Woolly Mammoth picture

The project will be conducted under the auspices of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic and Woo-Suk Hwang of South Korea’s Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

The research will begin with the remains of a woolly mammoth that were recovered after global warming thawed Siberia’s permafrost.

The plan is to implant eggs from restored mammoth cells into the womb of a live elephant.

mamskeleton Scientists to Try Cloning the Woolly Mammoth picture

According to the Wall Street Journal, replacing the nuclei of an elephant cell with that of a woollymammoth cell would create a mammoth embryo.

The one flaw in this fascinating project concerns one of its leaders. Woo-suk Hwang gained notoriety back in 2004 and 2005 with his fallacious claims that his research team had made a human embryonic stem cell.

Hwang has done his best to reclaim the trust of his colleagues. In 2011, he became the first to clone a coyote, and announced his plans to do a mammoth at that time.

It has also been said that Hwang’s financial backer, Moon-soo Kim, seems more interested in headlines than scientific advances.

“Our original dream is cloning dinosaurs. It may be difficult now … but we believe we will shake the world once again by creating a live Jurassic Park that would be incomparable to Spielberg’s imaginative Jurassic Park,” Kim told the press last fall.

The scientific community is divided about the idea.

“There is no good scientific reason to bring back an extinct species,” said Hendrik Poinar, evolutionary geneticist from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. “Simply studying their evolution, which can be done from old fossil bones, seems far more satisfying.”

But who can say what this cloning project will mean to the world of tomorrow?

Maybe the shadow knows, but if he does, he isn’t telling.

Go figure.

http://www.weirdasianews.com

Chinese Firefighters Use iPhone to Help Rescue Trapped Toddler

Here is a story that would likely have made Steve Jobs proud, as a toddler’s life was recently saved completely due to an iPhone.

Firefighters in Mengzi used the iPhone to help them figure out the best way to get the young boy into the harness they were using after the boy got stuck at the bottom of a 40-foot well.

iPhone used to save boys life Chinese Firefighters Use iPhone to Help Rescue Trapped Toddler picture

Based on the reports, the rescuers were having a hard time slipping the harness onto the boy since it was made for adults. To add to the difficulty, the well was very narrow.

Using the iPhone’s camera function, the rescuers were able to see up close how they would need to get the boy into the harness and eventually to safety.

In the end, the successfully pulled the toddler from the well.

The boy is said to be recovering well and had not sustained any injuries.

http://www.weirdasianews.com

Scientists Perfecting the First-Ever Nontoxic Chili Grenade

Have you ever bit into a jalapeno? I imagine your reaction might have been something like this: “AHHHH! THAT’S HOT!” That’s because a jalapeno is a chili pepper, a spicy fruit that originated in America but is now grown worldwide, including in India, where defense officials are planning to soon unleash the first ever chili grenade.

Chili peppers are rated on the Scoville scale, which measures their hotness or piquancy. The jalapeno is rated between 2,500 and 8,000 units, which is why it’s capable of easily stinging an unseasoned chili eater’s mouth. On the other hand, India’s bhut jolokia pepper—found primarily in India’s northeastern states— is rated at a whopping 1,040,000 Scoville units, making it the spiciest chili on Earth. (Guinness World Records, 2007)

Bhutjolokia Scientists Perfecting the First Ever Nontoxic Chili Grenade picture

Bhut jolokia, also known as ‘ghost chili,’ is in fact so spicy that scientists in India have decided to use it to craft the first-ever, nontoxic chili pepper grenade.

R.B. Srivastava, the director of the Life Sciences Department at the New Delhi headquarters of the DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization) explained the thought-process behind the invention to the Associated Press: “This is definitely going to be an effective non-toxic weapon because its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hide-outs.”

He added, “Its pungent smell will force the target victim to throw up and the eyes will burn like hell, but all without any long-term damage.” The goal is to basically immobilize or stun an enemy without killing him or her.

Plus there is much potential for the chili-grenade technology to be used for other applications, or what Srivastava calls “women power.” For instance, women could use chili powder “to keep away anti-socials.” Or a chili aerospray might be developed as a tool for crowd-control. And don’t forget chili paste, which “could also act as a major repellent against wild elephants.”

Unfortunately, the technology has not yet been perfected. Although an initial chili grenade prototype has purportedly already been produced, it may yet be several years before ‘chili technology’ becomes commonplace in India.

Until then bad boys beware, because you never know when a scorned woman with chili powder might come after you!

http://www.weirdasianews.com

Free Sex for Chinese Students in Japan!?

Japanese adult film star Anri Suzuki, 24, is offering free sex to Chinese students in Japan as a form of reparation for Japan’s World War II sins.

Suzuki recently took a break from porn to earn her doctorate in Japanese history. Achieving such a prestigious honor required that she write a graduate paper. The one she wrote, entitled “The History of the Japanese Invasion into China,” focused on two 20^th century wars fought between China and Japan.

One such war was the second Sino-Japanese War, which occurred between 1937 and 1945. In particular, this war led to the Nanjing Massacre in which up to 300,000 Chinese civilians were raped and/or murdered by the Imperial Japanese Army.

Upon learning about the Nanjing Massacre, Suzuki was so overcome with grief that she announced plans to repay China for her country’s sins, one man (or boy) at a time.

She told the Korean Times, “We have to respect history and cannot obliterate it. I want to cure the wounds of Chinese with my body, and I am practicing this by having sex with Chinese students in Japan.”

She added, “I think it is psychological compensation to them. Actually, Chinese students treat me more friendly and comfortably than Japanese.”

So if you’re a young Chinese student looking to enroll in a foreign college, then I suggest you apply to a Japanese school. If not for your loins, then at least do it for your country!

http://www.weirdasianews.com

A single share of Coca-Cola stock, purchased in 1919, when the company went public, would have been worth $92,500 in 1997.

Americans consume 42 tons of Aspirin per day.

Americans spend more than $5 billion a year on cosmetics, toiletries, beauty parlors and barber shops.

Bayer was advertising cough medicine containing Heroin in 1898.

Carbonated soda water was invented in 1767 by Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.

Cheerios cereal was originally called Cheerioats.

Chewing gum was patented in 1869 by William Semple.

Coca-Cola was so named back in 1885 for its two medicinal ingredients: extract of coca leaves and kola nuts. As for how much cocaine was originally in the formula, it's hard to know.

Cocaine used to be sold to cure sore throat, neuralgia, nervousness, headache, colds and sleeplessness in the 1880s.

During the Prohibition, at least 1565 Americans died from drinking bad liquor, hundreds were blinded, and many were killed in bootlegger wars. Federal agents and the Coast Guard made 75,000 arrests per year.

False eyelashes were invented by film director D.W. Griffith while he was making the 1916 epic, "Intolerance." He wanted actress Seena Owen to have lashes that brushed her cheeks.

For two years, during the 1970s, Mattel marketed a doll called "Growing Up Skipper". Her breasts grew when her arm was turned.

Gatorade was named for the University of Florida Gators, where it was first developed.

Hershey's Kisses are called that, because the machine that makes them looks like its kissing the conveyor belt.

The ball-point pen was invented by two hungarian brothers: Georgo and Lazlo Biro.

If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom, over and over again.

In 1965, LBJ enacted a law requiring cigarette manufacturers to put health warnings on their packages.

In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting out advertising space on his cows.

In 4000 BC Egypt, men and women wore glitter eye shadow made from the crushed shells of beetles. Men and women walked around topless, and marriages between brothers and sisters were not uncommon in the Royal families. Cleopatra was married to her older brother, until he drowned in the Nile. Then she married her 11-year-old younger brother.

In the 1700s, European women achieved a pale complexion by eating "Arsenic Complexion Wafers", which contained the actual poison.

source: http://www.crazynews.net/dp/1-29.htm

Buford, Wyo., population 1, sold for $900,000 to two Vietnamese businessmen

Buford, Wyo., population 1, was sold Thursday for $900,000, The Associated Press reported. The buyers were two businessmen from Vietnam who flew in for the auction and whose identities have been so far kept secret.

Until recently, the town's one resident was Don Sammons, 61, who managed the town's liquor sales, hardware sales, gas pump and hot dog warmer. Sammons moved months ago, and the phone to the Buford Trading Post has been disconnected.

Buford, featured on "Nightly News" last weekend, is on Highway 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie in southeast Wyoming. The town was originally listed at $100,000. The auction house, Williams and Williams, told NBC News that buyers from more than 70 countries expressed interest

On the Buford Trading Post website, Sammons explained that he moved to Buford from California with his wife and son in 1980. Several years ago, his wife died, and his son grew up and moved away. Sammons describes himself: "He's a man with his own zip code, his own town, his own gas station and trading post." He encouraged travelers to stop by and say hello.

Buford, Wyoming's second-oldest town, was established in 1866. Years ago, it was a railway town of 2,000 that hosted both the famous and infamous -- Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt and outlaw Butch Cassidy. But when the railroad faded away, so did the residents.

Sold on Thursday were five buildings, U.S. Post Office boxes, a leased Union Wireless cellular tower, 10 acres of land and "a parking area previously used by an overnight shipping company for nighttime trailer switches." In its listing, the auction house noted that up to 1,000 customers drive through the tiny town during peak summer months.

NBC News' Kristen Dahlgren contributed to this report.

One-hole Golf Course in Korean DMZ Is World’s Most Dangerous

Stuck in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea? Have a hankering to play some golf and possibly blow yourself up? Why not play a round or two at Camp Bonifas’ golf course in Panmunjom?

Featuring only one hole — a 192-yard par 3 — this course was designed to give some of the 50 soldiers stationed there a bit of entertainment.

Oh, did we mention it has live landmines scattered throughout the rough?

“Danger! Do not retrieve balls from the rough; live mine fields” greets visitors before they step onto the course, which contains an AstroTurf putting green and, for some reason, a gun tower.

The minefields surround the hole, and at least one mine is said to have exploded due to an errant slice.

The course was named after U.S. Army Captain Arthur Bonifas, who was one of the few American soldiers killed during the ax murder incident of 1978.

This course is definitely not one on which to play a drunken game of golf, lest you inadvertently, you know, explode.

http://www.weirdasianews.com/

Taiwanese Woman Commits Suicide While Chatting on Facebook

What would you do when you find out the Facebook friend you are chatting with is trying to kill herself?

Most people would call the police for help in stopping the suicide, but the Facebook friends of Claire Lin tried to talk her out of it instead.

In the end, they failed to save her life.

Even more bizarrely, the Taiwanese woman was posting updates about the situation and what she was experiencing as she was doing herself in.

facebook isolation Taiwanese Woman Commits Suicide While Chatting on Facebook picture

One of the chilling photos uploaded by Lin showed her room filled with smoke from a charcoal barbeque burning next to two stuffed animals.

The terrifying event lasted more than an hour, with Lin continually chatting with friends and posting updates about her ongoing asphyxiation.

Her last sad entry read, “Too late. My room is filled with smoke. I just posted another picture. Even while I’m dying, I still want FB (Facebook). Must be FB poison. Haha.”

Apparently, Lin was in unhappy with her boyfriend for ignoring her and not coming home to be with her on her birthday.

I bet the boyfriend was filled with remorse when he found her body the following day and had to explain the situation to her family.

http://www.weirdasianews.com

Real-life Chinese Superhero Comes to the Rescue

Superheroes do exist, and one has recently been caught on cam!

While the heroes in the Western hemisphere are mostly male and buff, Asians are quite lucky to have this Chinese Redbud Woman, who dresses in a tight, low-cut black leather outfit, with a blue mask to cover her face.

Since Christmas Eve, the heroine has already gained popularity for helping the elderly and the homeless in Beijing, China. Chinese RedBud Woman has given food and clothes to people on the streets.

chinese redbud 1 Real life Chinese Superhero Comes to the Rescue picture

Since her first sighting, she has caused quite a stir, and a lot of people have been talking about her. Pictures showing her acts of kindness have circulated online.

Some of her fans have tried to get her name and have asked for more information about her, but this real-life heroine refuses to give any information about herself; instead, she says that she wants only to help people who genuinely need it.

chinese redbud 2 Real life Chinese Superhero Comes to the Rescue picture

http://www.weirdasianews.com

Boys’ Hands Dipped in Boiling Water to Prove Innocence?

On the 13th of June 2011, some kids were accused of stealing the mobile phone of a person they were bathing with near a village well.

Three boys and the accuser all lived in the Girol Village, a backward Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh in India. Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh is oftentimes referred to as the “heart of India.”

The boys needed to prove their innocence by supposedly dipping their hands in boiling oil in the house of the alleged victim’s uncle.

The oil-dipping was followed by an oath at the Hanuman Temple, where the boys proclaimed their innocence.

boiling oil 2 Boys Hands Dipped in Boiling Water to Prove Innocence? picture

When the boys’ families reported the incident to the police hoping to get some sort of justice, the staff at the Agasod Police treated them badly.

The police superintendent meanwhile said that the uncle of the person who lost the mobile phone had been booked under Sections 323 and 324 of the IPC.

He also assured them that the boys’ hands were not dipped in boiling oil–-rather, it was boiling water!

As if this makes us feel any better!

http://www.weirdasianews.com/

Forced Evictions in China and a Bucket of Scorpions

Straight out of a Grade B horror flick, residents of an apartment complex in Shenzen, China, which borders Hong Kong, woke to find hundreds of scorpions invading their homes and covering their floors.

In the case of one frightened tenant, a scorpion crawling over his body awakened him. When he turned on the light, he found many more, creeping and crawling all over his bedroom.

It is believed that a real estate developer, in an attempt to force evictions, is behind the horrible horde of 110 pounds of living, stinging scorpions!

scorpion Forced Evictions in China and a Bucket of Scorpions picture

Residents told the press that a man carrying a large bucket was seen walking from the apartment’s development office and dumping the contents into open windows. Currently, the company is trying to evict the residents in favor of a more profitable construction project.

The company denies these allegations on the grounds that their deal was sealed with the construction company and that there would be no need to force evictions.

The apartments in question are slated for demolition, but homeowners have not yet signed anything as they are awaiting compensation settlements.

Police and residents spent 24 hours hunting down the scorpions and removing them from homes.

Forced evictions and the denial of full compensation by greedy developers happen often in China, and it is a major source of social discontent.

Check out this video below depicting the dynamic nature of this terrible trend…and watch where you walk! You never know what might be underfoot.

http://www.weirdasianews.com

Top 10 Horniest Countries

Think you get it on as much as a porn star? It may depend on where you live. According to a 2008 Durex sex survey, only 53% of Americans have sex once a week, while 55% of British and 59% of Canadians admit the same. Ouch. So, who is rocking the most beds in the world? Check out our top 10 list of the horniest countries to find out.

NUMBER 10: MEXICO