IBM Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards –Nanotechnology advancement could lead to smaller, faster, more energy efficient computer chips– IBM Press room San Jose, CA – 17 Aug 2009—
…could be a major breakthrough in enabling the semiconductor industry to pack more power and speed into tiny computer chips, while making them more energy efficient and less expensive to manufacture.
IBM researchers… have made an advancement in combining lithographic patterning with self assembly — a method to arrange DNA origami structures on surfaces compatible with today’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment….more…
Student drowns while testing concrete canoe Mainichi – August 17, 2009 OSAKA – A university student here died after a test on a concrete canoe in the Yodogawa River went disastrously awry on Sunday afternoon...more…
Ok, ok, if you stop giggling so will I. Creating concrete canoes are common engineering competition throughout the world—the idea being to make the seemingly unfloatable float—It’s considered integral part of a civil engineer’s education (Wiki).
Ok, you may go back to giggling about drowning during a concrete canoe test (because I certainly am).
Well, I just discovered the exact time the earthquake hit Tokyo (and killed my wall clock).
This morning’s earthquake was “only” 6.4M on the Richter scale, but it felt stronger than the so-called 7.1M earthquake we had yesterday. The epicenter of today’s 6.4M quake was only 170 km (105 miles) SW of Tokyo, whereas Sunday’s 7.1M quake was 320 km (200 miles) SSW of Tokyo very deep under the ocean.
My friends down in Izu sent me this cellphone photo timestamped 2009-08-11-05:27:04. embiggen
Long-time contributor to the 3Yen, “Kuang_Grade,” just quipped about: “love how Jessica Simpson is currently the second topic heading under a Google news search for Tokyo earthquake.
Jessica Simpson, Beyonce In Japan During 6.6 Earthquake AccessHollywood.com Beyonce and sister Solange Knowles were in Japan on Monday to promote the Samantha Thavasa & Disney handbag collection kickoff at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.
“wtf! wtf! wtf! my sister said she was scared out of her mind and calling my mom and i was snoring. 6.6????? omg! omg! omg! tsunami watch???” Solange posted on her Twitter page.
With two major earthquakes recorded in Tokyo in the past 48 hours and a typhoon is on its way from in the south of Japan that has already killed 12 with more missing, it’s time to round up the usual suspects….
The Forces of Darkness—evil Hello Kitties are gathering over Japan….
The first warning came last night with an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 rattled Tokyo and eastern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Then, this morning we were hit with the edge of Typhoon Etau, which killed at least 12 people and many others missing, with a second typhoon also on its way by Wednesday.
Then I saw the Devilish Duo, evil Hello Kitties wandering the streets of Tokyo beneath the gathering storm clouds as you can see in the photo.
Oh Buddha, I sound like a broken record (WOTS a record?) about the never-ending procession of “new” Japanese robots that don’t do anything. However, NEDO, Japan’s quasi-governmental thinktank for robots is now admitting that a Stalinesque 5-Year Plan is needed for “practical” applications of robots with goals for a fake Roomba the size of a small refrigerator and a faux-Segway that’s much slower.
Japan Promotes Practical Application of Home-use Aug. 5, 2009 –Tech-On Nikkei
NEDO, an independent administrative institution in Japan, announced Aug 3, 2009, the outlines of the “Home-use Robot Practical Application Project,” which will be carried out for five years from fiscal 2009.
The goals of this project are to promote the commercialization of home-use robots, whose market is smaller than that for industrial robots, and to develop safety technologies and standards, which have been major issues…more…
Cyberdyne’s cyborg employees are out strutting their stuff on the streets in Tokyo wearing the latest version of the robotics company’s mecha suit, the “HAL” (Hybrid Assistive Limb). Cyberdyne is now starting mass production the robot suit, which can sense the user’s intended motion and amplify their strength from 50 to 70%. According to its inventor, Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai of Tsukuba University, the suit will, “assist disorder persons (sic) or aged people.”
The 3Yen has reported on these powered exoskeletons several times before, but none of those devices had such infamous rogue robot names as Cyberdyne’s HAL.
(That is, Cyberdyne, was the company the created the Terminators, and HAL was the villain of 2001: A Space Odyssey).
One of Japan’s pervasive social problems is their culture of ijime/bullying. Check out this Toyota girl pushing around her robot “coworker” and how Mr. Roboto remains balanced even after pushed by the bully and is able to run away at 7 km/h (4.4 MPH, which is a 13 minute, 40 second mile).
The video above, “….demonstrates the running capabilities of the new humanoid robot. The robot takes a step every 340ms and has no contact with the ground for 100ms of that…more info at smart-machines.blogspot.com...
I wish the Japanese would work on more practical robots like this four-legged robot mule, which also gets bullied a lot.
GIANT JELLYFISH PICTURES: Japan’s Nomura Invasion National Geographic July 29, 2009–Eat your heart out, Godzilla. A massive menace from the sea seems poised to invade Japan anew this summer, experts predict.
In 2005 Japanese waters were inundated with swarms of Nomura's jellyfish–like the pair seen above cruising off the coast of Fukui Prefecture in November 2007. The giants clogged fishing nets and poisoned potential catches with their toxic stings, costing coastal fishers billions of yen…more….
It’s that time of year again* for the GIANT JAPANESE JELLYFISH ATTACK!!
Oh nooos!
It’s not like the Japanese coast every year are covered so thick with jellyfish that you can walk on the water (like in the photo on the right I took in Tokyo). I especially love reading about the “plight” of the Japanese fishermen whose livelihood is threatened by the jellyfish plague when it was their greedy overfishing the mostly caused the problem to begin with, sheesh.
Japan needs a moratorium on ALL fishing within Japan’s coastal economic zone just to repair the damage of their ridiculous overfishing (on Japan’s coast it’s hard to find any fish larger than one’s hand).
*Here’s the list of 3Yen reports over the years of this “news”:
—PANIC! Killer jellyfish invading Japan!2008-02-09
—INVASION OF THE NUCLEAR JELLYFISH!2006-07-20
—The Attack of the Killer Jellyfish!2007-02-20
—Attack of the giant jellyfish! 2005-12-08
Recently the price of yummy sea squirts–called “Hoya” in Japanese—has dropped four-fold thanks to an over-abundance caused in part by global warming. Japanese love these hoya, which are more aptly described by the Lonely Planet guide as tasting like, “rubber dipped in ammonia” in sushi.
The national tree of Japan, the sacred Utility Pole is home to the true national bird* of Japan is the crow–BIG CROWS with attitudes like the Darth-Vader-on-a-bad-hair-day.
In Tokyo, Hitchcock Isn’t Around, but He Seems to Have Sent the Birds Washington Post – Sunday, July 26, 2009
….“Yes, they have returned,” admitted Naoki Satou, the chagrined point man for the city’s eight-year-old war on crows.
The conflict had gone Tokyo’s way until 2006, when the formidably beaked carrion-eaters launched a counterattack. The crow count has since risen about 30 percent…more...
Of course, Tokyo city government has not yet learned about these new inventions called “trash cans” and “dumpsters” that might solve the city’s problem crows breaking the curb-side plastic garbage bags full of gourmet crow cuisine
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in Japanese—has dropped four-fold thanks to an over-abundance caused in part by global warming. Japanese love these hoya, which are more aptly described by the Lonely Planet guide as tasting like, “
