The Dumplings of Terror
Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:27:56 JST
This is an old Japanese story. I know it's true because I heard it from someone who knew the man it happened to.
Once a salaryman bought some dumplings on his way home from work.
When he got home he opened the lid on the box and saw ten dumplings. When he went to start tea he put the lid back, so he had to open the box again, but when he opened it, one of the dumplings was missing!
Surprised, he let the box close again. When he raised the lid up again to check... Another dumpling was missing! There were only eight dumplings left in the box.
In his surprise he began closing and opening the lid. Every time he did, one by one the dumplings disappeared.
When he slowly opened the lid and saw only one dumpling left, he was so scared his heart stopped and he died.
In fact, all the dumplings were just stuck to the lid of the box.
A few days later, his body was put into a coffin to be buried. However, when the moritician opened the coffin to check on the corpse, it had disappeared!
Actually, his corpse had stuck to the lid of the coffin.
Source for the story is here, with substantial liberties taken. Picture is courtesy of Tomo Yun. Whatever use you intend to put this story to, I think it works better with a very drunk audience. Ψ
Ramenburger
Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:43:38 JST
Last week was the Furusato Matsuri at Tokyo Dome, an annual celebration bringing vendors from all over the country to one place to sell regional specialties. While many standard, traditional treats are on exhibit, modern smaller companies come as well, bringing treats new to Japan and the world, like sweet beers for Valentine's Day. However, nothing commands the awe and respect due to the Ramen Burger.
The bun is made of noodles. The contents are traditionally associated with ramen - a smattering of greens, some nori seaweed, a star of naruto kamaboko fish sausage, and thin-sliced pork.
Rice-bun burgers have been around at omnipresent chain Mos Burger for a while now, but it's not entirely clear where the ramen burger comes from. Its obscure origins suggest it was the invention of a small shop rather than a publicity stunt by a large chain, like this Windows 7 burger:
This blog entry is a somewhat incredulous account of a trip to the possible home of the ramen burger in 2006, with an interesting video of the burger being made. It also claims the proper name of the burger is the "seven-ring burger" - it's unclear whether this is some kind of joke, a reference to something traditional about ramen, or entirely serious. This English-language tourism site suggests the burger is unique to Kitakawa, a place completely unmentioned in the other article. No explanation is given for the burger's invention or its association with the particular place (other than the use of quality local ingredients).
If you're feeling really brave, the supposed Kitakawa home of the ramen burger also has details on something called a ramen pizza, but the less said about that the better. Ψ
Piranesi
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:00:21 JST
Giovanni Battista Piranesi was an Italian etcher who paid the bills with prints and architectural ventures, including on one occasion a papal commission (never carried out). What he's best remembered for, though, is a series of engravings that will look very familiar to anyone familiar with the works of M. C. Escher. Carcieri d'invenzione, Imaginary Prisons, published in 1750 and significantly improved in 1761, consists of sixteen places that while not geometrically impossible are certainly odd:
Compare Escher's famous Relativity:
Prisons and other works are hosted in many places online, but unfortunately a commonly-linked resource at Tokyo University appears to be gone. This site seems to have most of Piranesi's work, as well as work by Dore and Durer, though all the text is in Japanese.
Do enjoy. Ψ
Chocolate Planets
Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:35:57 JST
The stars have aligned and they look delicious.
This set of differently-flavored chocolates is part of the Osaka-based Leclat (レクラ) line. First issued in 2007, they'll be producing it again this year.
The Earth is cocoa flavored, Mercury is coconut mango, Venus is lemon creme, Mars is praline orange, Jupiter is vanilla, Saturn is rum raisin, Uranus is milk tea, and Neptune is cappuccino. The special Sun chocolate, only available in a set, is dark-chocolate pineapple. The set is ￥3200 without the sun, or ￥3800 with.
Pluto is not included.
Via nemurism. Ψ
Anglo Saxon Linguistic Purism
Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:07:45 +0900
Anglo-Saxon Linguistic Purism is the attempt to avoid the use of foreign terms, primarily of Greek, Latin, and French origin, in English. According to Wikipedia, this first began (and failed) after the Norman Conquest. It rose again as an organized movement in Early Modern English, roughly the time of Shakespeare, as a response to perceived pretentiousness, and again in the nineteenth century and intermittently since then, attracting the support of figures like Dickens and Orwell.
More recently it has enjoyed use by fiction writers and Internet People. There is an Anglish Wiki which has purified versions of famous texts, including Darwin's Origin of Species (or Inlead to The Wellspring of Breedstocks):
When on board H.T.S. Beagle, as wildloreman, I was much struck with sundry truths in the fordealing of the lifefast beings bewoning Southamericksland, and in the earthkithy kinships of the andward to the beleeringly onerdands of that earthdeal. These deedsakes, as will be seen in the latter headstutches of this book, seemed to throw some light on the frumshaft of kins - that unknown of unknowns, as it has been called by one of our greatest outhwiten. On my edwhirft home, it came to me, in 1837, that something might well be made out on this frain by longmoodly heaping and bethinking on all kinds of deedsakes which could eath have any bearing on it. After five years' work I let myself huy on the underwarp, and drew up some short ontokenings; these I greatened in 1844 into an outline of the upshots, which then seemed to me likely: from that timestretch to the andward day have I steadily forfollowed the same goal. I hope that I may be forgiven for inputting on these my own selfly indelves, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a bychoice.
Further translations include portions of Hamlet, The Bible, and the works of HP Lovecraft. Ψ