I Need One of Those!

Ever sleep late after switching your alarm off while half asleep? Yup, me too.

Gauri Nanda (27) has invented an alarm clock that might just cut down on the number of times we are late for work or school. The alarm sounds, and then the clock runs away!

That's right, it's on wheels, so it takes off across the room, and you have to employ several sleepy senses, as well as catlike reflexes, to find the damned thing and turn it off.

I Need One of Those!

Tokyo Game Called Due to Typhoon

Tokyo and Hiroshima were given the night off due to the fact that it was raining sideways.

Dome games survived.

Pacific League

Softbank 8 -- 6 Rakuten
W: Yanase (3-1, 3.23 era)
L: Arime (1-8, 4.05 era)


Central League

Yomiuri 3 -- 1 Chunichi [12 innings]
W: Uehara (4-1, 27 saves, 1.45 era)
L: Hisamoto (1-1, 4.05 era)

Hanshin 1 -- 0 Yokohama
W: Fujikawa (5-2, 37 saves, 0.78 era)
L: White (0-3, 6.00 era)

Tokyo Game Called Due to Typhoon

Typhoon Number Nine

Decent-sized typhoon headed straight this way!

Update 1:

The typhoon blew through early this morning and is headed for northern Japan at a snail's pace (it's moving slower than most people ride their bicycles).

In the Kanto region (Tokyo plus a small ring of prefectures), 1 person died and at least 34 people were injured due to the heavy rain, flooding, landslides, and wind.

Typhoon Number Nine

Grab Your Board, We're Going to Wakayama!

Wakayama prefecture plans to construct a reef off its coast in order to produce bigger waves.

Bigger waves, incidentally, will lead to an influx of surfers and tourism revenue. The hope is to build a surf destination that can rival Shonan beach.

Grab Your Board, We're Going to Wakayama!

No More Coca-Cola

South Korea has made a very smart investment in its' children's long-term health by deciding to severely restrict the sale of junk food in schools.

I wonder what would have to happen in America for the government to impose a similar ban on schools. This would mostly be related to vending machines on school premises, but there are also school districts that have/had fast food (like Taco Bell) in them.

Apparently, legislation (in the United States) was penned that would allow the government to author nutritional guidelines for what food and drink could be should at a public educational facility, but that attempt was defeated by the Senate Agriculture Committee back in 2003 or 2004. I'm not sure whether anything else of significance has happened since then to get that initiative, or a similar one, back on track.

Congrats to South Korea for getting it right!

No More Coca-Cola

Greisinger and Ishii

Greisinger (14-5) pitched a gem last night! He faced only 30 batters in a complete-game-shutout that included 10 strikeouts, no walks, and only three base hits.

Tokyo 1 -- 0 Hiroshima
W: Greisinger (14-5, 2.50 era)
L: Hasegawa (1-4, 3.35 era)

This evening, Ishii (7-8) picked up his first win since July 8th by giving up only four hits and two runs. He walked one, beaned another, and struck out eight in 7 1/3 innings of work.

Miyade hit his second home run in as many nights, and catcher Kawamoto went three for four (including his fourth home run of the season). Tanaka also went three for four and raised his average to .297 which is absolutely shocking when you compare it with how he was hitting at the beginning of this season (which was probably about the same as my ability level).

Tokyo 5 -- 3 Hiroshima
W: Ishii (7-8, 4.16 era)
L: Aoki (3-10, 5.30 era)

Greisinger and Ishii

It Happened Again

Mr. Idubor has been locked up. This case sounds very similar to what happened to my friend, Josh, a couple of years ago.

It Happened Again

I told you eating dolphin was a bad idea!

This article in the Guardian talks about how school children in Taiji, Japan are being fed dolphin meat that has alarmingly high levels of Mercury.

I have complained about the practice of hunting dolphins before, and it was also discussed at length in the comments section of this post over at TPR, and now finally some people close to the hunt are breaking rank and sounding the alarm.

Not that anyone in the Japanese media is paying attention.

I told you eating dolphin was a bad idea!