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Sure, I like to complain about the squat toilets in Taiwan, but at least the expectation is that you use toilet paper. (But don’t flush it, heavens no!)

This photo of a squatter in Bali really makes you think: How do you use that scoop to clean yourself? Do you fill it with water, bend over and attempt to power splash yourself with it?

I’ll stick with my electronic Japanese-style toilet seats, thank you.

On a seperate note, this photo is from Alidarbac’s Flickr Page. I don’t know the guy, but he’s (usually) located in Taiwan, and he takes a lot of really nice photos. His is one of the very few Flickr photostreams that I subscribe to.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Toilet, Travel

Just when I think the Japanese cannot surprise me any more, they go and do something like:

They make an aerobics video that teaches you how to be properly mugged, in English. (And for dads, there’s the gratuitous breast zooms during the exercise sequences – although sometimes they miss and zoom on the shoulder.)

Technorati Tags: Blog, Japan, Japanese, Video, YouTube

So sad, so sad.

My Macbook was dropped off at the Apple store on the 7th, apparently arrived at the repair center on the 9th… and there it sits, awaiting a new logic board.

What sort of repair center is that? They should have major parts at the repair center, that’s just common sense. I’ve negotiated enough computer maintenance contracts to know that you always have a specified “parts depth” – that is, you’ve got certain inventory levels, and they you have reliable access with timely guarantees for the other components, based on criticality and frequency of repair need.

2 days for any part being delivered to a “repair center” is too long.

Gripe, gripe, gripe… I want my Macbook back. Using the iBook just isn’t the same.

Of course… the iBook works…

Technorati Tags: Apple, Applecare, Blog, Computer, Mac, MacBook, OSX, Technology

“Doctor Who – The Key to Time – The Complete Adventure” (BBC Video)

It’s not often that, when it comes to Doctor Who, people in the US get something the British don’t, but such is the case with the Key to Time.

For whatever reason, the Key to Time season, released as a single boxed set, was issued in the US, and I’m not complaining, because it represents Tom Baker’s Doctor at some of his finest. Far superior to the season the preceded it and the season that followed it, the Key to Time is one of those rare seasons that follows a single theme.

The Doctor, having just saved Gallifrey and leaving companion Leela behind, is intercepted by the White Guardian of Time and given the quest of locating the six segments to the Key of Time. He’s also given a new companion in the form of the beautiful young Time Lord, Lady Romandvoratralundar. (Romana for short.) Not surprisingly, the season was 6 stories long, each corresponding to one segment of the Key.

The stories

• The Ribos Operation by Robert Holmes
  A Bob Holmes story almost always stands out because it will have two characters who have a banter going between them, and this story is no exception. Two con men attempt to sell a planet to a mad tyrant. The Doctor and Romana land right in the middle of the mayhem.

• The Pirate Planet by Douglas Adams
  This is Douglas Adams’ first story for Doctor Who. It’s an interesting story, undermined by a little too much comedy and some really unconvincing sets and costumes.

• The Stones of Blood by David Fisher
  My favorite of the Key to Time series and, in fact, one of my all time favorite Who episodes. The bulk of the story is set on modern day earth where a stone circle and those who worship it and its goddess cause some good old-fashioned mischief. Very atmospheric. My main complaint is the conclusion and the ridiculous subplot of the Justice Machines.

• The Androids of Tara by David Fisher
  Possibly the most blantant rip off episode of Doctor Who, ever. Clearly a retelling of the Prisoner of Zenda, but still quite enjoyable. Swashbucklers are always fun.

• The Power of Kroll by Robert Holmes
  This often-maligned episode is actually my second favorite of the season. The story involves gun-runners, mistreated native “savages”, “progress” and a gigantic squid. Why do I like it? Probably because it pokes holes in both sides of the issue, it creates one of the few “alien” looking planets ever presented on Doctor Who and probably just because of all the crap my ancestors took at the hands of the white man.

• The Armageddon Factor by Bab Baker and Dave Martin
  The overlong finale about two planets at war, all being manipulated by the mysterious “Shadow”.

Another great thing about this series: It features Mary Tamm as the far superior first incarnation of
Romana. (Lalla Ward would take over as Romana in the next series.)

The DVDs match the rest of the US Doctor Who releases perfectly, except that each case has one of the pieces of the Key to Time on the spine. The quality is good, but the DVD re-mastering has clearly not been done as painstakingly as on the British releases of the other episodes.
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There’s also a scarcity of bonus materials, although each and every episode has a commentary track and a informational subtitles. Several of the episodes have commentary from either Tom Baker and/or Mary Tamm. Other commentators include John Leeson, John Woodvine and episode directors.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who, Review

“Ultraman: Series One, Vol. 1” (Brentwood Home Video)

My daughter loves Ultraman Tiga. At least once a week, she asks to watch the Tiga DVDs, and she listens to the Tiga soundtrack each and every night when she goes to bed.

I’ve got not problem with that because Ultraman Tiga is one of the best Ultraman series ever, and rightly deserves the credit for reviving the Ultraman franchise after it had run its course. But even I am sick of watching them over and over again.

So think how pleased I was when the original Ultraman series was recently released on DVD? What quality would they be? Would they be subtitled or dubbed? Would my daughter like them?

I’m happy to report that volume 1 is great! The quality of the re-master is outstanding. It’s still obviously shot on cheap Japanese film stock in the 60’s, but the colors and have been restored and it looks like no other copy I’ve ever seen of the early Ultraman series.

The audio is available in English dubbed or Japanese with English Subtitles. My only complaint there is that the default seems to be dubbed, which just isn’t right. Even my daughter insists on watching them in Japanese. (I suspect that she understands more Japanese than I do.)

And does my daughter like them? Yes, she does. That’s my girl. too bad the other kids in her pre-school haven’t got a clue what she’d going on about.

I can only hope that, after they release the rest of this series, they have the rights to move on to Ultraseven.

If you’re a fan of the Ultraman series, don’t miss this treat, and don’t miss Ultraman Tiga, either.

Ultraman Tiga Series DVDs

Technorati Tags: Blog, Japanese, Japan, Review, Ultraman

BBC Press Office => Filming under way for Doctor Who series three

Finally some “confirmed” facts about the new series.

• Martha is a med student
• Captain Jack will return
• Mark Gatiss isn’t listed as a writer

Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who

HealthDay => Older and Cranky May Mean Smarter

New research suggests just that, revealing that older people with above-average intelligence tend to be disagreeable.

Great. Earlier this week I learned I was anti-social because I have desert landscaping instead of a grass lawn.

Now, apparently I’m rapidly on my way to being a cranky old coot because my IQ is in the top 1%.

I should write a letter and complain about this!

Technorati Tags: Blog, Science

theage.com.au => Murderous marsupial in mystery cave

FOR the giant animals of ancient Australia – and sometimes the people – it meant sudden, bone-crunching death. A silent stalker with the most powerful jaws of any mammal in the world, it could remain invisible until the second it dropped from a tree or leapt from behind a log to deal death with a single, spine-severing bite.

Meet thylacoleo, the “marsupial lion” that terrorised Australia for millions of years and moved the 19th-century British paleontologist Sir Richard Owen to describe it as “the fellest of predatory beasts”.

Found intact in a cave in Australia, a complete Thylacoleo skeleton! How cool is that? Australia had the really nifty Pleistocene killers.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Natural Sciences, Paleontology, Science

Scientific American => Landscape Influences Human Social Interaction

I’ve lived in Arizona all my life, and for most of my life I’ve lived in homes built in the 1940’s. In that era, and well into the 70’s, we (the state in general) lived a fantasy world where people could bring the midwest or east to Arizona, and so all the homes of that era have non-native trees and lawns.

Considering that we have no actual water here, those things are really parasites.

Since I purchased my current home in 1990, I’ve made a darned good effort at killing the lawn – although I refuse to kill the big trees.

Now, according to this article, it turns out that my “native” front yard is why I don’t socialize with my neighbors. Who’d have thought? I just thought I was anti-social.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Natural Sciences