Wednesday, August 29, 2012










Pussy Riot speaks from jail, 

calls Putin’s regime ‘scared’



A jailed member of the anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot has said the guilty verdict handed to her and two other group members has strengthened her resolve to fight for the removal of Vladimir Putin.
In response to questions posed by the Guardian and handed to the band via their lawyer, Yekaterina Samutsevich described for the first time to western media the conditions the trio face and their reaction to the verdict.
The 30-year-old said she did not fear the two-year sentence handed down by a Moscow judge earlier this month for their performance of an anti-Putin song in Moscow's Orthodox cathedral.
"Of course we didn't expect a not-guilty verdict," she wrote. "To expect justice from a court that ignores all your objections is of course impossible. So we weren't shocked and, to the dismay of our enemies, didn't faint when we got the verdict."
Samutsevich, with Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, was found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their February performance, despite insisting it was a form of political protest. Their lightning-quick trial, marked by procedural violations and absurdities, has highlighted the crackdown on dissent in Russia.
"More than anything, our trial showed the dependence of the justice system, and its direct authority, on Putin's power, which clearly should not be the case in a government that calls itself democratic," Samutsevich said. Pussy Riot and their supporters have accused Putin, and the powerful Russian Orthodox church, of orchestrating the case against them.
"Our verdict shows just how scared Putin's regime is of anyone who can undermine its legitimacy," Samutsevich said.
She decried the government's increasingly conservative policies as well as a parliamentary vote in December 2011 that was marred by widespread allegations of fraud. Coming just over two months after Putin announced his plan to return to the presidency following four years as prime minister, they were the catalyst for mass protests that have rocked the capital since.
Pussy Riot, a radical feminist band, was born of those protests. Now, nearly one year after forming, three of the anonymous collective's members have become among Russia's most famous political prisoners. Two other members of the group have reportedly fled the country fearing further political reprisals.
Samutsevich, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova have been in a pre-trial detention centre in southern Moscow since their arrest in March, and will remain there while lawyers appeal against their sentence. If the appeal is declined, they will be sent to women's prison colonies to serve their two-year sentences while conducting light labour, minus the time they've already served.
"We are all held in special cells, each made for four people, and we're all in separate cells, on different floors," Samutsevich wrote in a tiny scribble. "There are three other people in my cell, here for economic crimes. They are calm, intelligent people who support me and the ideas of our group.
"This isn't surprising, because now only blind people can't see that since March 2012, Putin's regime has moved to direct repressive actions, starting with a major campaign against all dissenters, under which our group was one of the first to fall."
Government critics have spoken of an increased campaign of intimidation since Putin's re-election in the controversial March vote. Several other activists, including the opposition leader Alexey Navalny, are facing criminal charges.
"We are mentally prepared [for jail]," Samutsevich wrote. "I don't see anything super-scary in having to serve 1.5 years and work. I don't think that it'll become some sort of especially difficult test for us – we've already lived through the past five months relatively easily and the evil plan of our authorities, to jail us so as to break us and sour us, has already failed miserably.
"The problem for Putin personally now is that a lot of people no longer see his strong hand and authority, but his fear and uncertainty in the face of the progressive citizens of Russia, who grow more and more numerous with every step like our verdict," Samutsevich wrote.
The trial has driven a further wedge through Russian society, splitting mainly urban liberals from the more traditional heartland that was largely insulted by the women's performance. Yet opposition to Putin continues to grow; a recent poll by the Levada Centre found nearly half of all Russians want him to step down at the end of his term in six years.
Pussy Riot has used rough punk performances to highlight the ills it sees in Russian society, from Putin's growing authoritarianism to his close relationship with the Orthodox church.
Samutsevich said the trio had not continued writing songs in jail. "The conditions in the pre-trial detention centre aren't really creative," she wrote. "For the next one and a half years, we'll have to continue to 'take a break' from our concert creative work."
She said the women's future in the group was in question. "Right now it's hard to say what we'll do when we're free. Of course, I'd want to continue in the same form of musical performances that we started with, but will our changed conditions, because of our arrest, allow that? So far I don't know.
"What I can say for sure is that we still madly want changes in Russia – toward anti-authoritarian leftist ideas. We, along with many citizens of our country, are burning even more with the desire to finally take from Putin his monopoly on power, since his image no longer seems so total and terrible," she wrote. "In fact it is just an illusion, created by his spin doctors on government television channels."





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Old Spice: 
Muscle Music
 
Besides answering your fans in social media and ensure millions of views wrapped in a towel, Old Spice guy can also make music with your muscles.
It is an interactive musical you can play what you want using your keyboard, triceps and abdominals .
Even in the video embed below interactive. Just press any key "A" for sausages, for example. Then you can save and store your creation.




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Kim Dotcom offers developers early API access to the upcoming Megaupload reboot

 

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has had a bone to pick with authorities since the service was shut down and he was arrested earlier this year. It looks like he’s going to be a thorn in the side for them for some more time, as he just put out the call to developers who are interested in early API access to the upcoming relaunch.
Dotcom teased the service on Twitter earlier this month, before providing more details today. He told developers to get ready because the “Mega API will provide incredible powers” that, together with the resulting tools, will “change the world.” Developers of “up/download and file managers, email and fax tools, VOIP and video apps” were instructed to contact him to get access to the API.
The new Mega will offer one-click-encryption of ALL your data transfers, on the fly, easy to use, free of charge, TOTAL PRIVACY!
His arrest may have motivated him to work even harder at his service, as Dotcom said in a message that authorities had “abused the wrong guy” and he is going to “turn this world upside down.” According to him, the rebooted global network will allow all “non-US hosters” to connect servers and bandwidth.
Dotcom is also working on a Megabox music service that he has promised will arrive later this year.
Police raided Dotcom’s New Zealand mansion in January, but they were later found to have acted on invalid search warrants. Dotcom has since been released on bail while he awaits a US extradition hearing, which has been pushed to 2013.





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Vicious Mice Are Taking Over The London Underground


They're starting with the Farringdon station. “Please place the bottom of your trousers into your socks…” YIKES. 



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Monday, August 27, 2012










Japanese Charity 

Breast-Squeeze!

 

A charity breast squeeze took place last weekend in Shinjuku, Tokyo as part of the “Erotica will Save the World” event.
Is this a typical reward for donating to charity in Japan? We go hands on… I mean… just read on for more details.
“Erotica will Save the World” is a 24-hour live-streamed fundraising event that took place last Saturday and Sunday (August 25-26). Men and women (yes, that is right) came out to enjoy two days of erotically-charged festivities: Some of the areas had stalls selling goods and DVDs, other areas had fun events such as a “Masturbation Marathon.” We’ll leave the details of that that competition up to your imagination.
The most popular attraction was the “Breast Fundraiser”, which encouraged people to donate to charity. How did it encourage them to do that? Well, if you donate some money you are allowed to squeeze the breasts of one of ten lovely adult video actressesoppai momi in Japanese – yes, they have a phrase for it). 


Here is a quick rundown of the “Breast Fundraiser”:
1. Line up, have your ID checked (must be over 18)
2. Donate money
3. Sterilize your hands (they don’t know where they have been)
4. Squeeze breasts (up to two squeezes per hand)
The organizers have recommended that if the allocated squeeze is not enough for you, to go through processes 1 to 4 again.





All money raised will be donated to STOP!AIDS, a charity aimed at promoting the awareness, treatment, and prevention of AIDS.
Oppai momi is particularly popular in Japan, and there are plenty of Japanese style pubs where you can go have a beer and also a squeeze of the waitresses breasts after a hard day in the office.

This is the first
oppia momi fundraiser we are aware of though.






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Pussy Riot’s two escaped members ‘are recruiting foreign feminists for new actions!’

 

Two more members of Pussy Riot—the other part of the five who busted into the Christ the Savior Church in Moscow last February—have left Russia, says the group.
“In connection with the search, our two participants have successfully left the country! They are recruiting foreign feminists for new actions!” @Pussy_Riot tweeted Sunday.
Just days after three members—Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mariya Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich—were sentenced to two years in prison for agitating the Russian orthodox with their punk prayer on the eve of Putin’s election, Interior Ministry spokesperson told a Russian news outlet that police were looking for the remaining members.
“We hurry to disappoint the Kremlin rats: 2 women left the country because of danger, but in Russia there are at least 12 Pussy Riot members left,” Pussy Riot also tweeted yesterday.
The group released a new song—”Putin Lights Up the Fires“—on the day of their arrest.






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Chinese McDonald’s Reported to the Police for Burger Being too Spicy

 

According to  recent Chinese market reports, a patron of a McDonald’s in the city of Guangzhou of the Canton Province, took his grievances over his overly spicy burger to the police, causing quite a commotion.


The disturbance took place in mid-August when a man went into McDonald’s for his dinner, ordering a Spicy Chicken Burger.  On finding it much more spicy than the previous one he’d had, he reported it to the police!
The spicy chicken burger is supposed to be spicy, but its spiciness must have been so very unbearably distressful—a breach of his civil rights, even—that he felt he had to make a police report.
The incident was taken up on Chinese twitter, spreading rapidly and getting quite a bit of attention.
A local paper reporting the episode interviewed the manager of this McDonald’s who admitted to the matter, confirming that there had indeed been such a scene.  The customer explained to the police that the last spicy chicken burger had not been so hot and spicy, but this one was not right.
What is behind this extreme measure over such a seemingly trivial thing as an overly spicy meal?  The precedent being that fast food like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken are supposed to be reliably uniform in their taste, serving size, and quality all around the world.  This incident very well may be the result of China’s sub standard processing methods, something that has been called into question on many occasions, time and time again.   It could be that in China it is necessary to appeal to the police when your fast food is not up to par.
When the problem of the different tasting burger was pointed out, the McDonald’s in question offered to replace it with another of the same kind.  Something which was immediately rejected by the customer.  As Internet users became aware of the incident the reactions on Chinese twitter and other information sites came pouring in:
“If he didn’t like the taste he could have gone home.” 
“Why make such a big deal over a cheap meal!”
“Who does he think the police are?  They don’t have time for such trivia!”    
Many people criticized the man for his over reaction to the taste of his burger.
But then there were some people who grabbed the opportunity to take a stand against this McDonald’s questionable quality control of their products, defending the man’s means of getting attention.  The comments here varied:
“The french fries are certainly too salty to eat at times.”
“The texture of the meat is unreliable, sometimes it is really tough!”
One commenter on the situation wrapped it up with:
“As long as you are in China, expecting good quality of Chinese-made foreign brands is laughable!”
That, made by one Chinese citizen, may be one of the most realistic observations ever!




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Police right to charge South Australian couple Jessica Angel and Colin MacKenzie over noisy sex, 
poll says 
 
Colin MacKenzie and Jessica Angel may be the first in South Australia to be charged with offences under the Environmental Protection Act as a direct result of their noisy sex. 

NEARLY 10,000 people have voted, and two-thirds say police were right to intervene after Colin MacKenzie and Jessica Angel's overly passionate love-making drove a whole neighbourhood wild. 


An adelaidenow poll taken yesterday found that about two-thirds of 9686 people believed the police did the right thing in clamping down.
By 4pm today, 67.61 per cent, or 6549 votes, said police had the right to intervene if a couple is too noisy during sex, while 32.39 per cent, or 3137 votes, batted for the other side.
You can still have your say in the poll to the right.
Meanwhile, the story make a splash across the country - and the world, with websites from India, the UK and the US reporting the tale of the very much in-love couple.
After repeated complaints about their passionate but noisy love-making, police were forced to step in to give their neighbours some peace and quiet.
The SA couple may be the first to be charged with offences under the Environmental Protection Act - as a direct result of their noisy sex.
The couple from Adelaide's Black Forest suburb are believed to be the first in South Australia to be charged with offences under the Environmental Protection Act - as a direct result of their noisy sex and could face up to a $4000 fine.
Police patrols have been to the couple's unit 20 times since April. The latest callouts - last Sunday night and twice early Tuesday morning - resulted in the couple being charged with disturbing the public peace and hindering an environmental protection officer.
"We exceeded the noise pollution to the point we were arrested and taken out of our own house and told we couldn't have sex," a stunned Ms Angel said.
Mr MacKenzie said: "It is completely over the top. I have been fined for having sex in my own house."
On Sunday night, Ms Angel, 34, allegedly the loudest, was issued with an emergency Environment Protection Order by police.


 
The 72-hour order required her to cease "emanating any and all environmental nuisance" including "screaming, loud moaning, swearing and raised voices".
Despite  the order - issued at 7.30 Sunday night - police were called back early Tuesday morning. Ms Angel and Mr MacKenzie were fined $315 for breaching Sunday's police order and again warned to be quiet.
At 3.30am, police were called again, after a further complaint about their noisy sex.
This time the couple was arrested after being woken by  officers and taken to Sturt police station, formally charged and given police bail to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court next month.
Ms Angel said police told them Sunday night's callout was in response to a report of a domestic dispute and "screaming", but that was wrong.
"We were just having sex. No way were we fighting. We were being intimate Sunday and into Sunday night," she said.
She said she was shocked to receive the order, but when fined for breaching that order, then formally charged early Tuesday this turned to disbelief.
An unrepentant Mr MacKenzie, 45, conceded they were noisy during sex, but said their neighbours could easily have knocked on the door themselves instead of calling police.
"It is mostly Jessie," he said. "Our average sex goes anywhere from four, six, seven hours, basically five nights a week.
"That's pretty much why I am asleep at six o'clock in the afternoon. I will probably die of a heart attack, she is almost killing me as it is."
Mr MacKenzie said he felt many complaints were malicious, and on some occasions they were not even at home. "We can't even have sex. It's ridiculous and has gone beyond a joke," he said.
"And to be charged for being too loud, what did they bring a decimetre or something with them in the middle of it? This is all going on someone's hearsay. It is bizarre. What are people doing, just sitting in their flat listening to me and then they say, 'I don't like the sound of that so I will ring up and complain.'?
"How can you live in a place where you can't have sex? It's  ridiculous."
Sturt Police Detective Chief Inspector Trevor Lovegrove said the incident was "certainly one of the more interesting matters police have had to deal with".
"Generally complaints to police about noisy neighbours related to parties or music being played too loudly," he said.
"We don't want to be seen as the killjoy police because we're certainly not. People have a right to privacy within their own home, but when their actions impact others police need to step in before a situation escalates.
"In the past, police have been called to the property and warnings issued. On this occasion police had been called earlier in the night, so when called back they took steps to ensure neighbours got a good night's sleep."
One neighbour said he was woken by the couple early Tuesday when he "heard screams".
"It was quite loud and they sounded very obscene," he said.
"I didn't call the police but they were here after I heard it. They were quiet after that for a while and then the police were back later, but I didn't hear anything after the first time."






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Vaginas Protest At The Republican Convention

In Tampa, a bunch of ladies dressed up as vaginas to combat Republican “war on women.”











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Great love pinball

 

Dolphins like to play with people. Some have even true love. Exaggerates these marine species are however a little with his expressions of sympathy ...











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Wednesday, August 8, 2012










Huge Line For Free Vibrators In NYC Broken Up By Cops



Trojan's 10,000-vibrator giveaway was a major letdown for dozens of New Yorkers in the Flatiron district.

This is the Pleasure Cart. On Wednesday and Thursday, Trojan aims to use the cart to give out 10,000 vibrators across New York City. Wednesday, it was temporarily stationed in the Flatiron district, people said the line was 50 or 60 people deep when the stunt was broken up by police and the mayor's office. Apparently, the Pleasure Cart didn't have a permit. Of course, the saga also unfolded on Twitter.






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Hanging-man billboard spooks Vegas commuters this morning


There’s scant information about who pulled this stunt – a mannequin in a noose hanging from a billboard saying “Dying For Work” – during early morning rush hour in Las Vegas earlier today. It is, though, one hell of a picture.
911 was hit around 6:30am after calls started coming in describing what looked like a dead body hanging from a billboard. It turned out to be a mannequin in a suit, yet this still spooked motorists. The AP reports:
The graphic display along the interstate was one of at least two unauthorized signs spotted Wednesday morning in the Las Vegas area. Another found on Highland Avenue and Desert Inn Road was white with black lettering that read, “Hope You’re Happy Wall St.,” and a similar mannequin hanging off the edge.
Nobody has taken ownership yet, but the Occupy Las Vegas website claims that Nevada lawmakers have slashed social aid programs including much of the aid allocated for suicidal adults.







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Stiletto Racing 

Try Not To Laugh! 

 

While most hit the ground running, some just hit the ground.

Dozens of women ran a 50 meter stiletto race in Russia’s capital Moscow perched on nine centimeters heels. The event was won by Marina Tuktamusheva who was rewarded with 100,000 roubles (2,450 euros) worth of shopping vouchers.











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U.S. National Texting Competition: America's Fastest Face Off

 

The fastest texters in the United Sates are facing off in the annual LG U.S. National Texting Competition.
Eleven contestants are coming to Times Square for the annual competition Wednesday afternoon. The winner gets $50,000 (€40,000). Competitors range from 16 to 24 years old. Last year's champion Austin Weirschke is coming back to defend his title.
The competition tests three skills: speed, accuracy and dexterity. There are three rounds to the competition: texting while blind-folded, texting with hands behind their backs and Text Blitz, where phrases are shown to the contestants for a length of time and they have to copy them as fast as they can.
The competition is sponsored by LG Electronics.

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Tuesday, August 7, 2012










NYC hands out 10,000 dildos today from hot dog carts

 

It's common in New York to see teams of college-age students handing out samples of goods like fruit juice and dog food. Even seen-everything New Yorkers may do a double-take this week, however, when they encounter street teams with hot dog carts stocked with vibrators.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Trojan Vibrations, a line of sexual enhancement devices, will hand out 10,000 free vibrators from two hot dog carts identified as pleasure carts. Along with the brand’s logo, the carts will feature sayings like “Getcha vibes here!” and “Relish the moment.”
Trojan plans to distribute 5,000 each of the Tri-Phoria device, which retails for $40, and the Pulse, which retails for $30, for a total retail value of $350,000. It goes without saying, surely, but Trojan asserts this is the biggest handout of vibrators ever.
The promotion begins Wednesday morning with a live commercial by Howard Stern on his show on Sirius XM Radio. The carts will roam Manhattan for two days, with their locations updated on the Trojan Vibrations Facebook page.
In what Bruce Weiss, vice president for marketing at Trojan, called “almost like a gateway product,” Trojan introduced a vibrating ring in 2005 that was included in some packages of condoms for an “improved condom experience.”
The brand began selling a small vibrator, the Mini, in 2009, and the larger Tri-Phoria in 2010. The strategy throughout for Trojan, a Church & Dwight brand, has been to challenge the stigmas associated with the products.
The company has advertised aggressively, even during prime time on some cable networks. In 2011, Trojan spent $10.5 million advertising its Vibrations line, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP.
Today, the Trojan devices are carried in retailers that were not on the radar for sex-toy shoppers a decade ago, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid.
So new are the devices to mainstream retailers that growth in that channel has been phenomenal. In the 52 weeks that ended July 8, revenue for sexual enhancement devices sold in drugstores and mass retailers grew 23.2 percent over the year before, to $16.1 million, according to the Symphony IRI Group, whose totals do not include Walmart. Trojan, which accounts for 66.2 percent of the category at such retailers, grew even more over the year, by 40.2 percent.
According to studies financed by Trojan and published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 52.5 percent of women and 44.8 percent of men have used vibrators. Contrary to perceptions that they are used nearly exclusively by the unaccompanied, 40.9 percent of women and 40.5 percent of men report having used them with sexual partners.
“What we’re doing is taking something like a hot dog cart that is so everyday and so mainstream,” Mr. Weiss said, “and we’re showing people that vibrators are mainstream.”
Two commercials for the newest Trojan Vibrations product, Twister, which retails for $60, promote it as a spark for couples. One begins with a woman on the telephone with a friend.
“All I did was mention it might be a Trojan Twister night and things totally changed,” she says, as her husband passes by first with a load of folded laundry, and then with an iron and ironing board.
“Come on, lazybones, shoe sale today,” he says at one point. Later, he pats the couch beside him with one hand, the remote in the other. “Big game?” he says. “Heck no, let’s watch ‘Desperate Bride Makeovers.’ ”
The campaign is by Colangelo Synergy Marketing in Darien, Conn., part of the Omnicom Group.
Carol Queen, curator of the Antique Vibrator Museum and a staff sexologist for Good Vibrations, a sexual products retailer founded in 1977, credits the new Trojan ads with “pretty seamlessly integrating men into the campaign.”
As both a sales strategy and to more accurately reflect how the devices are used, “a company needs to overcome this notion that vibrators are problematic for couples because men don’t like women to use them,” Ms. Queen said.
Rather than seeing the growing availability of the devices at mass retailers as a threat to specialty retailers like Good Vibrations, Ms. Queen said, “what’s fabulous about the way that Trojan has entered the marketplace is that a rising tide lifts all boats.”
Some consumers who buy their first device as an impulse buy at a mass retailer are apt to eventually be drawn to boutiques like Good Vibrations, which along with Trojan devices has a wide selection of other brands — and knowledgeable staff members.
“Going to a sexuality store like Good Vibrations or many others, you have trained people who can answer your questions and help you choose,” Ms. Queen said. “What most customers are probably not doing is getting the greeter at Walmart to come with them to the vibrator aisle and asking them, ‘Which one should I get?’ ”
Claire Cavanah, co-owner of Babeland, a sexual products shop with locations in Seattle and New York, lauded the plan by Trojan to distribute free devices.
“It sounds fantastic and I’m just delighted that there is a company that has the resources and the sex-positivity to do it,” Ms. Cavanah said.
At the annual BlogHer conference that began Aug. 2, Trojan Vibrations gave out 4,000 devices, meaning that the brand is on pace to give away more than 14,000 of the products in August, with a total retail value of $540,000. Mr. Weiss, of Trojan, said the brand gave out a few hundred of the devices from trucks around New York last summer, and wanted to have more impact this year.
“People were clamoring for the vibrators, and we thought that by giving out more vibrators, it would have more buzz, so to speak,” Mr. Weiss said. 












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America Flexes Its Marketing Muscles by Turning a Bland Japanese Condiment into the Hippest New Diet Food

 

A common addition to many Japanese dishes is a substance called Konjac (Konnyaku in Japanese which may sound confusingly like Cognac). It’s a peculiar, virtually tasteless gelatinous mass that admittedly has an excellent texture to it.
What may come as a shock to millions of Japanese people is that America is beginning to embrace this garnish not as the Japanese have, but as a replacement for conventional pasta.
Thanks to the West’s keen marketing sense, Japan’s often underappreciated purplish-grey slab gelatin has been reborn there as Miracle Noodles!
First a little background on Konjac.  It’s produced in warm subtropical regions of Asia made from a plant that goes by many names and kind of resembles a yam. The plant is then ground into a powder and made into a gelatin like substance.  Naturally this gelatin is white colored but because hijiki is added it gains a rather unappealing grey hue.
Although the healthy nature of Konjac is well known in Japan, its general lack of taste relegates it to simply adding texture to dishes like sukiyaki.  It’s hardly considered a food that stands on its own.  Depending on the dish it’s either added in its slab form or in a thin noodle form called Ito Konnyaku (Thread Konjac) or Shirataki.
Leave to the US to take this food stuff and sexify it to the nth degree.  Goodbye Shirataki, and hello “Miracle Noodles!”
Some enterprising Americans had the idea to sell this foodstuff to a nation full of would-be dieters – and it’s working.  With appearances in popular magazines like Men’s Health and television appearances on Rachael Ray, the massive masses are really getting behind it.
The Konjac used in miracle noodles don’t have hijiki leaving it a white color more appealing and similar to pasta.  They are also cut into noodle shapes resembling familiar pastas like spaghetti and fettuccini. On top of that, because it’s already gelatinous, there’s no need to actually cook it.  Just heat it to your preference and add whatever sauce or topping you like.
It’s a marketing department’s dream since it covers all the diet fad buzz words in one product. It’s fat free, calorie free, sugar free, starch free, and best of all gluten free. What is does have is fiber, so let’s say you’re a little backed up after eating a Whopper with 1000 slices of cheese, Miracle Noodles may just live up to their name.
To further show that this trend is just starting to take off, we see the emergence of Tofu Shirataki which combines Asia’s two blandest food items (Tofu and Konjac) into one – as a pasta.  There’s a fine line between genius and madness.
Having lived in Japan for a long time I really enjoy Konjac, especially in Oden, and I think it’s cool that western countries are getting in on it too.  And yet, I couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow and chuckle when I saw a video of a man pouring tomato sauce over an entire plate of shirataki. Just imagine the amazement Japanese people get from it.

News Report on the Wonders of Shirataki











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Bitcoins 

Are Back, 

at Least for Porn and Poker 

 

If last November you had pressed an economist on the life expectancy of the bitcoin, you would have likely heard a variation of the doctor’s worst words: “It’s not looking good.” The bitcoin, a digital currency that operates free from central authority, was furiously shedding value, having lost nearly 95 percent of its spending power in the five months prior. By the time its freefall thudded to a halt around the two-dollar-a-coin mark, many of bitcoins’ biggest supporters had turned their back on the cryptocurrency.
Yet for the past three months, bitcoin has been making a quiet resurgence. As of today, the bitcoin is enjoying its highest value in nearly a year. What happened?
In short, it seems that people are finally learning what the bitcoin is good for. When the virtual currency was released in 2009, there was a good degree of speculation as to how exactly the bitcoin would work as a medium of exchange. What could you purchase with it? Who would accept it? Born from a code designed by an unknown programmer, bitcoins drew the notice of the Internet-savvy who were intrigued by the possibility of the secure, cheap, and—most importantly—anonymous transactions that the digital currency made possible. The problem lay in the fact that there was at first almost nothing people could buy with their bitcoins.
But the much more damaging speculation came in the form of investors, who hoarded the currency in the hope that it would boom amid a surging network of users and fawning from the media. “The bitcoin shot up a year ago because of blog posts and attention, and then there was a bubble,” said Paul Steinbart, a professor of information systems at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University who is co-authoring an upcoming paper on bitcoins. “People treated it as an investment.”
Of course, the popping of the bitcoin bubble on June 8, 2011, didn’t put a stop to the speculation. With values so low, almost any change in price had to be in the upward direction, meaning you could follow the mantra and sell high. (Here I will offer a mea culpa: In November, I made a small purchase of bitcoins with no intent on using them as a substitute for the dollar, though as a casual numismatist, I also saw the bitcoin as a natural addition to my modest collection.)
Then, around May of this year, a strange thing happened: The number of daily bitcoin transactions, according to blockchain.info, suddenly doubled, tripled, then quadrupled. Finally, it seemed that denizens of the Internet had begun to appreciate the benefits of bitcoin not only as a get-rich-quick scheme but as a means of transaction. 
And some of the primary virtues of the bitcoin turned out to be vice. Indeed, the anonymity that the bitcoin affords its users has been a competitive advantage in the online black market. For many, bitcoins have become a reliable way to pay for porn and gambling without using a credit card, Timothy B. Lee wrote on Ars Technica in June. And for those who want to get their hands on illegal drugs or even weapons, bitcoins have become the way to do so anonymously online.
As the number of bitcoin transactions has steadily increased, so has the currency’s value. In July, the price of a bitcoin crept above nine dollars for the first time since the midpoint of the crash. Is the bitcoin finally showing the feasibility of a digital currency? 
It may be too soon to tell. “The big question is whether or not bitcoin is going to stay used only in the dark net or if it’s going to become an alternative to PayPal,” Steinbart said. As the bitcoin makes its comeback, it may also provoke renewed attention from law enforcement as an illegal competitor to the U.S. dollar or as a vehicle for money laundering, especially if it continues to be used predominantly on the Internet’s fringes. Still, Steinbart said, “This is the first time there has been a product that apparently seems to possess the qualities people want.”





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