Teen Goes Nuclear

From The Detroit Free Press:

In the basement of his parents’ Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren’t privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build — a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.

Pointing to the steel chamber where all the magic happens, Thiago said on Friday that this piece of the puzzle serves as a vacuum. The air is sucked out and into a filter.

Then, deuterium gas — a form of hydrogen — is injected into the vacuum. About 40,000 volts of electricity are charged into the chamber from a piece of equipment taken from an old mammogram machine. As the machine runs, the atoms in the chamber are attracted to the center and soon — ta da — nuclear fusion. Thiago said when that happens, a small intense ball of energy forms.

He first achieved fusion in September and has been perfecting the machine he built in his parents’ garage ever since.

1. Dude.

A Practical Guide for Asian Men

1. I was a bit bored tonight, and did a bit of email gold panning. And gold I found:

How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men (Paperback) by Adam Quan

2. Yes, one of my friends (you know who you are, you bastard!) offered to buy this for my birthday, and I am disappointed that I have yet to receive a copy. Well, I suppose Christmas isn’t too far away…

3. The funniest part is that people have actually reviewed it — though apparently the really funny reviews were missing, according to a blog that shares my fascination. Enjoy.

No Grunting, They Said, and He Was at the Gym

1. From the NYT:

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y., Nov. 13 — Albert Argibay, a bodybuilder and a state correction officer, was at a Planet Fitness gym with 500 pounds of weight on his shoulders one afternoon this month when the club manager walked over and told him it was time to leave. Mr. Argibay, the manager explained, had violated one of the club’s most sacred and strictly enforced rules: He was grunting.

How does one distinguish between a grunt and a very deep breath? Must a grunt be “characteristic of a hog,� as one dictionary defines it? And what if there are no patrons around to take offense? What would happen if Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova, known for their noisy exertion on the tennis court, showed up wanting to work out?

2. Why, why, why is it that this shit seems to happen more in the States than elsewhere?

Working at Starbucks

1. At some stage in the past I’ve probably mentioned that Starbucks is probably the best of the cafe chains around here. (Seriously, few Japanese really understand what decent coffee is. This is, after all, a country that sells canned coffee.) I have since found another couple of cafes that serve better coffee, but at 500 and 600 yen a pop ($5.50 - $6.60 or so) they’re not exactly cheap. Not that Starbucks is terribly cheap either, but it is cheaper, and usually bigger. Quantity counts 15 minutes before a kid’s class.

2. One thing that I have come to appreciate about Starbucks is the fact that for the price of one measly coffee I can sit there for hours and hours at a time. Why would I do that, you ask? What difference is that to sitting at McDonalds for hours at a time? Well, it’s quieter than “Makudonarudo” for starters , and it’s a nicer place to work than my classroom.

3. For all their faults, it has to be said that they do try to create a nice ambiance in their cafes. It’s… homey, for want of a better term. My classroom has no windows, aircon, or soundproofing. It has nasty fluorescent lights and a tiny table that I bang my knees against every work day. The combination of searing overhead lighting and cramped, noisy surrounds almost guarantees that I am too distracted to think straight.

4. On the other hand my local Starbucks, has nice halogen lighting rather than fluorescent, has air conditioning, and the comforting quiet chatter of people talking in a language I barely understand. Which I block out with my iPod. An out of the way table by the corner and I’m away, focused, and producing good work. It is so pleasant working in that environment that I actually enjoy working that overtime, because I know that I’m getting stuff done. Finishing stuff is nice. It feels good.

5. Which is kinda sad. What sort of life do I live where the act of finishing a task provides more enjoyment than not working at all?

Outcry at stupid Stefaan’s croc shock

From SMH:

Locals are outraged that a tourist’s stupidity, which led to him being attacked, will mean a popular crocodile called Allan will be moved away by rangers.

The two-metre croc will live out its days in a farm as a breeding crocodile after biting 24-year-old Belgian tourist Stefaan Vanthournout’s leg when he tried to get its attention by wading into a creek and slapping the water with a stick.

Dear Stefaan Vanthournout — you are a fucking idiot.

Excuses, excuses, and Meeting the Parents

1. I have been really quiet the last few months, but I have been pretty busy. Work is taking up a monster chunk of my time, as it usually does, and I’ve made lots of new friends, all of whom I want to see on the weekend but there is not nearly enough time to see them all and do all those other things. Like grocery shopping (I’ve taken to freezing everything so it doesn’t go off in the fridge), paying bills, the ironing, the cleaning… but things are going tremendously well, though nothing of note to report. I have mentioned that I am enjoying this teaching business, more so that I thought I would, and I think I’ve got the hang of it now. Though I suspect it will be quite some time before I can say that I am good at teaching.

2. Actually I lied when I said there was nothing of note to report, there has been one thing. Last weekend I rather unexpectedly met The Parents. The Girlfriend and I were on a nice stroll through her part of Hiroshima, where she led me back to her house. I [hid] waited dutifully outside as she went inside to grab her mobile phone, and when she came out she announced that her mum wanted to meet me. Well! Ambushed, and having absolutely nowhere to run, I put on a brave face and went inside, (desperately trying to remember how to greet people in Japanese) and found an absolutely lovely woman who was slightly less inimidating than I’d expected. The Father, however, was not so successful.

3. This story is every bit as funny as you think it will be.

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Malcolm Fraser’s 2006 Law and Justice Foundation Address

Lucid and compassionate comments from a former Prime Minister:

It was recognised that on sensitive matters of race and religion, those in authority had to give a lead and make decisions and that it could be unwise to ask for a popular vote. If the people of Melbourne had been asked if they wanted their city to become the biggest Greek city outside Greece, they would then have voted no in the 1940s. Now that it has happened they would overwhelmingly vote in favour of it and overwhelmingly very proud of it.

Intelligence is nothing if you don’t listen

1. The furore over the incompetence of the US Intelligence services over 9/11 and the misplaced WMDs in Iraq was loud, bloodthirsty, and in the end rang somewhat hollow. While they obviously made some mistakes, it was nothing compared to the ineptitude of those using that information. Take, for example, this CNN report:

War simulation in 1999 pointed out Iraq invasion problems

WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of secret U.S. war games in 1999 showed that an invasion and post-war administration of Iraq would require 400,000 troops, nearly three times the number there now.

And even then, the games showed, the country still had a chance of dissolving into chaos.

2. Whoops.

Halloween @ Chinatown

1. Halloween is not a big deal in Australia, at least for anybody I knew back home. Here, there’s only one reason to celebrate Halloween — and that’s Nanja Events’ Halloween costume party at Club Chinatown last Saturday night.

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