Who else but the Japanese would think of designing an iPhone app that replicates the sound of a toilet flushing.

Now, thanks to the “eco-oto” (”エコ音”, which is short for “ecological sound”) iPhone app, you no longer have to feel embarrassed that someone is hearing you take a whiz in a public toilet. Do I hear you saying “Why on earth would I be embarrassed fulfilling a call of nature?” Well there are a few things that you need to know about Japan.

Japanese women are very self-concious about the noise that they make in the bathroom. Maybe it is because there are so many other women hanging out in front of the mirrors doing other things that it is no longer deemed appropriate to have a whiz (or whatever..) in a public toilet anymore. Whatever reason it may be, many toilets in Japan come equipped with a “sound” button on their control panel (if you don’t know why Japanese toilets have a control panel then you have a little catching up to do but unfortunately that it out of scope of this article!). When you press the “sound button” these toilets will play a recording either of some music, or more likely, they replicate the sound of a flushing toilet. The idea is that this sound will drown out the noise of you “fulfilling your duty” on the commode, and hence quash the embarrassment factor of taking a slash.

//
The app, which has been on sale in the Apple iPhone app store since last Thursday 5th Nov (link to iTunes Appstore), is designed to be cute and pink and the buttons are large and easy to press so you can even press them if you have long nails. For people who tend to be louder than average, or perhaps for those days after a great curry you can even increase the volume of your simulated flushing sound (think Niagra falls). Better still, you can choose between “flushing water” for 30, 60, 90 and 120 seconds depending on your mood.

So why is it called eco-oto? Because apparently people who are “caught out” without a sound button on a public toilet are well known to constantly press the “flush” button on their public thrones until they are complete. Think about how much water is wasted there! Just as we’ve grown to know and love in Japan, the designers of this app actually went out and calculated that for us. Apparently each “use” of the eco-oto will save you flushing away a massive 6-8 litres of water!! (they thoughtfully mention however, that this discrepancy depends on the age and style of your toilet). The app costs 115 yen or 99 cents and is semi-bilingual (it comes with hilarious Jinglish translations). You can download the app by using this direct link to the iTunes Appstore.

It’s quite funny, and apart from some of the features mentioned above, Eco-Oto also has the following selling points:

• Very easy for girls to carry around, with a cute & stylish design (its an app for Christ’s sake, how can it not be easy to carry around if you already have the iPhone!)
• Sound level that you use is automatically saved for next time (where would be be without that?)
• The pink dotted indicators slowly flush in towards the middle, to indicate how much more flush time you have (theoretically, this should be longer than your own “steady stream time”)
• The flush button flashes 10 seconds before the sound finishes (to warn you to put the squeeze on the flow – and here I was thinking that this would be delayed until version 2.0!)
• Easy for beginners (well, there is a first time for everything I guess)

Download link from your iPhone

Found here

Merry Christmas. If you have not yet planned your Christmas, how about visit the home of Jesus.

Yes, the house where Jesus lived, has been found in Nazareth.

Israeli archaeologists on Monday unveiled what they said were the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that could date back to the time of Jesus. The finding could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy.

The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-theway hamlet of around 50 houses on a four-acre land. It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations chief at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Based on the clay and chalk shards found at the site, the dwelling appeared to house a simple Jewish family , Alexandre added, as workers carefully chipped away at mud with pickaxes to reveal stone walls.

Nazareth is the town where, Christian tradition says, Jesus grew up and where an angel told Mary she would bear the child of God. This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with, Alexandre said. A young Jesus may have played around the house with his cousins and friends. Its a logical suggestion.

The discovery so close to Christmas has pleased local Christians. They say if the people do not speak, the stones will, said Rev Jack Karam of the Basilica of the Annunciation, the site where Christian tradition says Mary received the angels word.

The team found the remains of a wall, a hideout, a courtyard and a water system that appeared to collect water from the roof and supply it to the home. Archaeologists have also found clay and chalk vessels which may have been used by Galilean Jews of the time. The scientists concluded that a Jewish family lived there because of the chalk, which was used by Jews at the time to ensure the purity of the food and water kept in the vessels.

The discovery at this time, this period, is very interesting, especially as a Christian , Karam said. For me, it is a great gift.

(as reported in the press)

All of us are familiar with cats and fishes. But have you seen a cat faced fish? No jokes, no photoshopping. Its real. Check the video.

Tukhbeesat in Arabic means mistakes. Tukhbeesat in relationship-speak, however, means relationship faux pas’ we’ve all committed. (Who are you kidding? You too.) Whether it be someone we know damn well we shouldn’t have dated (but couldn’t help it), dating an ex when we know it was so over (followed by wallowing in self-loathing), or hooking up with a complete stranger and regretting it the next day.

It’s all part of the growing pains. I hope.

For whatever reason, I have become something of a physical therapist to the last few men with whom I have ventured on dates. I say physical therapist because they both decided to disclose terribly personal physical ailments of theirs to me without shame or tact. Should I be flattered or appalled is the question still reeling in my head. Instead of seeing viable, ravaging, male sex specimens I now see a laundry list of aches and pains. I will spare the most intimate details out of respect for these men, but here are a few:

1) Broken bones

2) Heart and lung diseases

3) Malnutrition

4) Black finger and toenails ripe to fall off

5) Bum knees, elbows or other jointed areas

6) Hernias

7) Tendency for “gasiness”

I am slightly flattered to know that these men are comfortable enough to share such personal details so early in the process but I am still shocked by the lack of social grace. We all have scars, acne, hair, internal complications, etc. That is the unfortunate pleasure of being mortal. My plea, however, is to wait until after sex to reveal your physical roster. At least then we’ll have seen each others’ ugliest areas so the news revovling other body parts won’t be as startling.

*Disclaimer: This does not apply to ailments involving reproductive parts. STDs, history of STDs, certain tricks to get the cat to purr or the soldier to stand or ailments that might prevent “adult fun” are all appropriate and often necessary to discuss before intimacy. It will make the ride smoother and safer.

The same concepts apply for women as well. TKO NO! is all about equal opportunity!

Dating isn’t a game, but it is something of an interview. Reveal the good and the bad, but save the ugly until you’ve gotten to know each other just a little better.

-K

No idea on what a typical English dark humour is like? Google ‘Prince Philip.’ Click on any links to his notorious faux-pas. And be ready to crack up.

The Duke of Edinburgh is my favourite among the British royalties, even though he’s actually Greek. I kill myself laughing every time I read about  him.

The quirky old man is notorious for his wry sense of humour. But his jokes somehow make sense. They’re just too honest that nobody dares say them out loud.

During a World Wildlife Fund meeting in 1986, Prince Philip said to a Chinese delegate “If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.”

In the same year, he said to British students in China ”If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”

When over 3.2 people lost their job to the 1980s recession, the Prince said “Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed.”

In Kenya, he asked a local woman who had given him a gift ”You are a woman, aren’t you?”

And in 1966, he gave an eyebrow-raising comment on British food by saying “British women can’t cook!”

The ugly truth

Don’t tell me that you didn’t laugh off any of his gaffes! Who wouldn’t agree that the Chinese eat everything or that British food is tasteless?

They’re nasty comments. That’s true. But we can’t refuse they also echo what we’ve got in mind. What stops us from spitting it out is the social etiquette.

Personally, that’s what English humour does. It challenges the rigid social decorum. It mocks religions, races, and genders, while oozing self-deprecation at the same time.

However, dark humour isn’t an actual crime. And while we complain about its cynical implication, heaps of real serious misdeeds are being committed.

Moreover, if we really look at English humour, it happens in every society, perhaps at a lesser degree. But people do make hard jokes and laugh at others’ misfortune. And I think it’s all right if we know when to stop.

Some of us might frown at the Duke’s impropriety. But hidden beneath our savoir-faire, we, too, agree with his straightforward comments barred by social conventions.

Obviously, it doesn’t stop the 88-year-old royal. And many people love him for his dark witty remarks. They show he’s not so different from the commoners.

]]> http://q8life.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/tiger-woods-a-mint/ Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:57:42 +0000 q8life http://q8life.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/tiger-woods-a-mint/

Tiger Woods is no doubt the world richest golfer and probably the richest sportman ( I’m not sure) living today. Over the span of his career, he not only achieved enviable fame but also equally enviable wealth. He was considered the man to promote products that mean success in life. So he endorsed and promote many high lifestyles products. In the process, apart from him, the advertisers, the media, the ad agencies, the PR agencies, the goods manufacturers, etc. all made tons on money alongside him.

Now that he is caught in a scandal, which is more titilating than scandalous, all of the media – press, websites, feeders, paparazzi, reporter, etc. are having a good time collecting any small nuts and bits about his life that can add spice to the already hot news item of his affairs. He is now the most searched person on the search engines such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, etc. The media and paparazzi are trying to find some more skeletons (even a small bone is a treasure now) in his cupboard. Everybody has turned into a newsperson and is expecting to make a good amount by exposing about Tiger Woods. Sometimes the dead are more valuable than the living ones.

No doubt, it is said that, once you are celebrity, you automatically become a public property, and under the scanner of a million eyes. You probably loose your old privacy. All you life becomes social and the public turns you into a demi-GOD and expects you walk the line that the society has drawn and you not expected to deviate, however little whatsoever. Or else, its a field time again for the media to show the ‘other’ of you.

We all want to become famous, but wonder how many can handle such a situation when it arises.

An increasing number of women are staying at home to receive the stork. In what is termed as do-it-yourself births, expecting mothers are delivering babies at home without medical help, according to a report. At times even without their husbands assistance.
According to recent figures by the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of unassisted home births in the US jumped by nearly 10% between 2004 and 2006, climbing from 7,607 unassisted births to 8,347 births. About 60% of the nearly 25,000 home births logged in 2006 were attended by midwives, a figure that experts expect will also rise. Unassisted as in no doctor or midwife present.
Ruth Wiley, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Texas Health Fort Worth, says shes seeing an increase in women choosing a do-it-yourself birth at home.
Jennifer Margulis of Ashland, Oregon, thinks birth should be a private party no doctors or midwives invited. So when her daughter Leone Francesca was born at home last month, only Margulis and her husband, James, were in attendance . My husband and I were the only ones there when she was conceived, MSNBC news portal quoted Jennifer as saying. I thought we should be the only ones there when she was born.
Margulis is part of a very small but growing number of women who are choosing to deliver their babies at home without the help of health professionals. Some choose to have a husband or family member help, while others opt to deliver of their babies completely on their own.
While do-it-yourself deliveries are still uncommon, many doctors and midwives consider them dangerous . Risks can range from hemorrhage in the mother to problems with the babys oxygen supply.

Faux Pas is a Melbourne fella who produces some pretty dreamy electro pop. His track, Silver Line, just sits and washes over you. Atmospheric, dreamy, chair-dance inducing, a little head nodding. You listen to it the first time and you think ah yeah, it’s a good track and it just took me away from a few minutes and now my gf won’t talk to me again because I wasn’t listening to her (Mind you, that may be a goof thing…depending on your circumstances aye? amiright? amiright?).

But, you listen a second time (and actually pay proper attention to it, mind you, probably after you’ve been dumped or some shit), and you realise that the track is broken up into about 4 different sections:

1. the long slow building intro with those great ‘kooky’ vocals

2. the guitar groove that starts at 1:15

3. the great nice piano dwindly sounding bit and the synth that comes in and the synth arpeggios that follow (2:15)

4. the outro that eventually leads back to nothing.

And then after all this, you find that it didn’t seem like there were four separate sections…and you don’t really care about your probably now ex-gf. And that’s what is so good about Mr Pas. It washes over you and just let’s you take your mind away from your current thinking.

The track is getting a fair bit of play on triple j and the man himself (Tim Shiel is Faux Pas’ real name) has just been named as a 3RRR breakfaster (a pretty alright community radio station down here in Melbourne town).

You can check out his blog (he does write a very cool blog. funny and stuff…you know, kinda like this one but with actual humour injected into the writing…not just tryhard kinda stuff.). You can also check him out on Twitter, and starting next year, on 3RRR breakfast radio.

Anyway, you’re probably gagging at the bit now waiting to hear this track. It is good…beware. But you know…no expectations right?!

Faux Pas – Silver Line

(Purchase the single with a few remixes via his bandcamp page. Check out some older EP’s of his on iTunes)

K. That’ll do the ramble for now.

The Nuclear Football (also called the Atomic Football, President’s Emergency Satchel, The Button, The Red Button, The Black Box, or just The Football) is a black briefcase meant to be used by the President of the United States of America to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room. It functions as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States. The President is always accompanied by a military aide carrying a “football” with launch codes for nuclear weapons.

It is a metallic Zero Halliburton briefcase carried in a black leather “jacket.” The package weighs 40 pounds (18 kg). A small antenna protrudes from the bag near the handle. A black cable is employed that loops around the handle of the bag and the wrist of the aide.

There are four things in the Football. The Black Book containing the retaliatory options, a book listing classified site locations, a manila folder with eight or ten pages stapled together giving a description of procedures for the Emergency Broadcast System, and a three-by-five inch card with authentication codes. The Black Book was about 9 by 12 inches and had 75 loose-leaf pages printed in black and red. On the ‘vital’ page listing possible responses to a nuclear attack, retaliatory options appear in red” and were labeled: ‘Rare, Medium or Well Done.’ The book with classified site locations was about the same size as the Black Book, and was black. It contained information on sites around the country where the president could be taken in an emergency.

If the President, who is Commander-in-Chief, decides to order the use of nuclear weapons, he would be taken aside by the “carrier” and the briefcase opened. Once opened, a command signal or (watch) alert is issued to the Joint Chiefs. The aide and the President would review the attack options and decide upon a plan, such as a single cruise missile or a large ICBM launch. These are precoded, preset war plans, developed under the SIOP, or Single Integrated Operational Plan, which at one time represented the entire joint US/UK plan for “disassembling” the USSR by means of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if it uses SATCOM or VLFT (very low frequency transmission), or VHFT (very high frequency transmission). Next, using the SATCOM radio, the aide would make contact with the National Military Command Center or, in a post-first strike situation, an airborne command-post plane (likely a Boeing E-4B).

Before the order would be processed by the military, the President must be positively identified using a special code issued on a plastic card, nicknamed the “biscuit.” The United States has a two-man rule in place, and while only the President can order the release of nuclear weapons, the order must be confirmed by the Secretary of Defense. Once all the codes had been verified, the military would issue attack orders to the proper units. These orders are given and reverified for authenticity.

The football is carried by one of the rotating presidential military aides (one from each of the five service branches), who occasionally is physically attached to the briefcase. This person is a commissioned officer in the U.S. military, pay-grade O-4 or above, who has undergone the nation’s most rigorous background check (Yankee White). These officers, who are armed, are required to keep the football within ready access of the President at all times. Consequently, an aide, football in hand, is always either standing or walking near the President or riding in Air Force One, Marine One or the presidential motorcade with the President. There are three such ‘footballs’ in existence — the first travels with the President, a spare is kept at the White house and the third is with the Vice President.

Melbourne artist, Tim Shiel, aka Faux Pas, announced he will release a new album with  “Silver Line” as a lead single.

myspace

COUPLE ARRESTED FOR NOT TIPPING IN RESTAURANT

In PENNSYLVANIA, a couple who refused to leave a tip after receiving bad service in a restaurant were arrested by police after being accused of theft.
Leslie Pope and John Wagner claimed they waited an hour for their meal, had to repeatedly ask for drink refills while their waitress smoked outside , and even had to get their own cutlery and napkins. A $16.35 mandatory tip had been added to the bill, but when they paid, they refused to tip. Though Wagner explained why, the restaurant called police, saying the refusal qualified as theft.

So when you are abroad, think before you get into a restaurant.

BTW, what is the normal tip % that you pay in Kuwait?

via Blushing Ambition

via The Stylish Wanderer

My laced skort.

I met this stylist a few months back. He had some cute clothes on racks for sale. Me and my bestfriend scoured through them taking the potentials out and weighing the pieces of clothing against our bodies and looking for each others apporval. I’m crazy for skorts and there was this cute skort (skirt+shorts=skort) I had my eye on, but the price was pretty hefty and the waist 2 sizes too large. I closed in on the stylist and asked if he had a smaller one and he replied no, but the one I was holding could fit me. Hmmm, I thought. I told him that I did not like it hanging 0.5 inches above my crotch and that it would be better if I wore it as a highwaisted skort. He told me, “If you want to be in style, you have to dress up to date, and low-waisted is up to date.” That bold statement totally caught us of guard, but then fashion is subjective, still, got me and my bestfriend steering clear from him. The skort? Left it on the rack for another girl to buy.I’ll come back 2 seasons later … maybe.

The TARSHEED program has cost a whopping 35 million dollars.

The Ministry of Energy launched, inAug 2007,  an all-encompassing conservation campaign at the start of the summer season in Kuwait. The campaign is called ‘Tarsheed’ which is the Arabic word for “guidance”.  residents in Kuwait were been bombarded with SMS messages, TV & Radio ads, fliers taped to car windshields and stuffed into mailboxes as well as giant placards scattered all over the roads pleading with residents to conserve energy. The Ministry has even ensured that all the languages in Kuwait, from Urdu to Hindi, are included in the campaign. And there is even a hotline that residents can call to report abuses of energy in the country. This was a perfect example of the famous saying ‘ There is darkness below the lamp that glows”. What nobody saw, noticed or reported, is the blatant abuse of power in the government and bank offices, where you can see for yourself, that the lights for all the rooms in the whole building are on 24 x 7. It does not mean that the staff is working round the clock (to raise the productivity index of Kuwait, which is abysmally low). Let the chairman of the Tarsheed campaign take on this education campaign to educate the staff in those government offices to put of the lights & other electrical equipment, when not needed.

Kuwait is the richest country in the World due to its’ mass oil reserves. So, why would a country like this have a problem with energy? Over consumption is the answer. Electricity is cheap in Kuwait. As a result, the public wastes energy because they are not in dire want of it. They take it for granted.

The Tarsheed campaign has been successful in getting the word out and scaring the public silly. No one wants a power shortage. Life comes to a halt in Kuwait when there is no electricity to turn on the AC or even a fan. All you can do is ‘bake’ and pray for the electric to come back on! The public has been very receptive and so far my electricity has not gone off once this summer. And the campaign rolls on. They even installed a few Tarsheed meters around the country. It shows, in real time, the current amount of electricity being used by the country as a whole. The meter has 3 colors…green, orange and red. Motorists passing by the meters can visualize the rate of consumption and (if the meter is in the red area) when they go home they can take appropriate measures to conserve energy and avoid a debilitating power cut.

The newest installment in the rigorous Tarsheed campaign is, what some are calling, the ‘Tarsheed Police’. The Ministry had hired 100 inspectors to ensure that energy is being conserved in Kuwait.

Unfortunately, only recently has Kuwait explored alternatives to deal with the demand for energy for its’ populous. According to the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), a recent study conducted by German scientific research centers have found that if Kuwait utilizes only 10% of its’ total area to generate solar energy from the sun it would be the equivalent of 500,000 barrels of oil per day. The Kuwaiti government is vigorously investing in the renewable energies sector. KISR predicts that Kuwait will be a mass exporter of electricity generated by the Sun by 2050 and will export renewable energy to countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Somebody please remind them that ‘Money can’t buy everything’.

If you think having a medium popcorn and soft drink while watching a movie won’t add much to your weight, then it’s time to get a reality check, suggests a new study.

The study by the Center for Science and Public Interest (CSPI) found that consuming popcorn and a drink means taking in three days worth of an adult’s recommended allowance of fat.

The researchers said that a medium popcorn and drink had 1,160 calories.

Even sharing a small portion of cinema popcorn between two would mean each person consumes a day’s worth of saturated fat.

“It’s hard enough for Americans to maintain a healthy weight even when limiting their eating to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Who realises that they might be taking in a meal’s worth of calories during a movie? The healthiest snack to buy at the movies is no snack at all,” the Telegraph quoted Jayne Hurley, a CSPI senior nutritionist, as saying.

The study also found that a bag of Reese’s Pieces sold at US cinemas contained 1,160 calories and 35 grams of saturated fat, the equivalent of eating a 16-ounce T-bone steak and a buttered baked potato.

The study has been published in Nutrition Action Healthletter.

I have neglected updating due to my workload lately. I took a design job with the Ayurvedic Health Center here in Bellingham, and I am pleased to say I have been busy busy busy because of it. I feel as though this blog will become something else, as Bellingham is not the style capital of the world, but I have much to commentate on just for that reason.

I’ve been seeing the good and bad in fall/winter fashion. A few DONT’s I want to rant about. Or one in particular.

I was in Starbucks getting my venti caramel machiatto to fuel me up for a photo shoot I was about to go co-direct (it turned out fabulously by the way), and I was standing there waiting when the “Billboard” walks in. Billboard is head to toe in signature brand attire, from the check Burberry scarf, to the bright pink Coach wristlet, with the patent brown Coach bag, with the light tan Classic Tall Uggs. brandbrandbrandbrandbrand. PLEASE ladies, even men, don’t deck yourself out in head to toe signature attire, be it one brand or 5 different brands, the bright pink wristlet does not match the tan, black, and red Burberry scarf, and whatever other attire you have on.

Choose your pieces with care and that go with your outfit. Pick a piece and build around it, like I have said in my previous Style post. The world does not need to know you own every label out there, and it makes you look tacky, like you need to show the world you can afford all those labels. Don’t be like Daniella Westbrook…

If in doubt and it seems over the top, just say no.

In other news, Bellingham has been hit by rain and wind in mad amounts recently. Tonight I drove 3 blocks just to park closer to campus and was still being blown away with 45-65 MPH gusts. The power in our apartment complex when out when a huge tree fell on a power line. Conveniently, it was only our complex and everyone else around has power.

But the next morning I got up and went to the Chrysalis Inn and Spa for a little Pre-Maui treatment….meaning a bikini wax, but nonetheless, it is a lovely spa, and I would highly recommend it. The girl who did my wax was so sweet and made my first spa/waxing experience extremely comfortable and relaxing (I was nervous for the pain so I was a little tense…). But, you go behind the curtain and it is a small spa but the atmosphere is amazing. I was shown to my own locker, given a robe and shown where to go. I steamed in the steam room for about 10 minutes, all stone interior, really lovely.

Then you go out and sit in the waiting area, where there is tea, water, magazine, soothing sounds, birds, water falling, etc, and comfy chairs all facing a small garden with many little waterfalls. You sit and relax and then you get picked up by whomever will be giving you your treatment. I can’t wait to go back.

Journalism in Kuwait is pity shameful at time, especially the events (of all sorts – incidental, planned or others) reports.
Many a times the English language is also pathetic. What I have observed, is that they do a literal translation from the Arabic content, without any creative or grammatic touchup to the content.
Kuwait is a small country and not much of it happens here. Hence there is nothing of substance you can find in terms of local news (except for Internet calling and vice dens) in the Kuwait newspapers.
Have you seen the size of the newspapers? Well, they are never less than 50 pages. It seems newsprint is pretty cheap here, that’s why you find over a dozen of newspapers and over 2 dozens of advertising tabloids (of course Free of not only cost, but also free of content of substance – thats why they are 90% of the time found in garbage bins unopened).
Having tons of money, does not give you the liberty to  waste, but instead should give the consciousness to utilize resources judiciously.