If the house is a rockin'...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_re_as/taiwan_earthquake

This 6.2 is probably the second-biggest earthquake I've had the "pleasure" of experiencing. I was in LA for the Northridge quake back in the mid-90's, and that one was much scarier; however for that shaker, I was on the bottom floor of a 2 story building.

This time around, I was on the 7th floor of a 10 story building in Taipei. On top of that, the office is built near recently reclaimed land, which tends to move and shake a whole lot more than nice solid rock. Good times...

Still, it really wasn't all that bad. While the pucker factor briefly spiked when I realized that it probably wasn't just the caffeine, I found myself settling down to merely nervous as it progressed. Overall, it felt more like a windy train ride than a hardcore earthquake.

I am quite thankful that nobody appears to have been hurt, and I sincerely hope that I never get to experience a big one.

Silly math comic that fascinates me for some reason...

I can't really say why I like this comic, but it cracks me up somehow.

http://www.xkcd.com/c135.html

Maybe it's because, on some level, I'm convinced that I can solve the problems pretty easily.

Besides, you never know when you'll encounter a raptor.

Another Cheap Knock-Off

I don't even know what to say about this, except to maybe provide a little background.

So - I presume that everybody knows who Larry King is so I won't bother 'splainin' this part.

What I will point out is that there are certain trademarks to Mr. King's appearance: the suspenders, the rolled-up sleeves the tie. He also has a pretty characteristic set, and certain mannerisms that are readily identifiable as his own.

Given his popularity, credibility, and broad success as a newscaster and interviewer, it is only natural that an aspiring "newsman" would want to emulate him. Rather than imitate his easy manner or non-confrontational interview style, some supplicants at the alter of Mr. Zeiger chose to follow a different route.

I have no idea who this guy is, but he pops up regularly on our TV set here in Taiwan.

He is surly, aggressive, rude to his guests, and talks down to them at every opportunity. What he lacks in wit and charm, he makes up for with his gloriously pink suspenders.

As far as I can tell, this guy is basically a Taiwanese Rush Limbaugh who chose to model his look, mannerisms, and set on the King. Go figure.

More Fun Stuff From Asia

As previously mentioned, Taipei has a very good bus system. Aside from the homicidal tendencies of their drivers, the Taipei Metro system has excellent coverage, clean cabins, and frequent service.

Also, in what I am guessing is an attempt to improve the connection between the transported masses and the people serving them, all of the buses have the name of the person driving them attached on a placard to the back of the bus.

_______________Begin Digression_______________

In case you had not already guessed, folks like Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow and the like weren't born with their English names on their birth certificates. Instead, they have the luxury of choosing their sobriquets by employing a few common methods. In no particular order, they typically are chosen based upon:

• Direct Romanization (DR)
  i.e. Ang Lee, Zhang Zi Yi, Chow Yun Fat




• Phonetic Approximation (PA)
  i.e. Kong Fu Zi = Confucius, Chow Sing Chi = Stephen Chow, Li Lianjie = Jet Li



• Whatever Frickin' English Word They Happen to See (WTF)
  i.e. Battery Su, Pony Lin, Singer Huang, Asahi Lin

There are, of course, more common western names, such as Michael or Andy or Kevin or Vincent, but having lived in Taiwan for the past 15 months or so, I can't help but notice the more unusual ones, typically falling in the latter category.

_______________End Digression_______________

Getting back to the buses...

What you are looking at here is one of my favorite recent examples from the "WTF" category of names.

That's it.

Yes, that was a lot of set up for a relatively minor payoff. What's your point?

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This one should go a little faster...

Melanie and I ran across this shower gel at Watson's the other day. At first, I thought it was just another example of not consulting an English speaker before coming up with the product name; however, while combining Man and IQ might seem like clever branding to some and an oxymoron to others, it is certainly not the most unusual thing about this product.

The most bizarre thing has to be the active ingredient - 10W40.

That's right - 10W40.

Where I come from, that's called motor oil, so I am still not sure what they were thinking.

Maybe they had a fortuitous mishap while changing their oil and discovered its miraculous moisturizing properties.

Maybe they felt that Penzoil and Quaker State had left too many markets untapped.

Maybe they felt the best way to appeal to the manly metrosexual was by combining cars and skin care...

Whatever their reasons, the coup de grâce has to be the fact that the back of the bottle explains that this shower gel is produced by a company based out of San Jose, California.

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This one is definitely quicker - I promise...

If the Mummy ever decided that the reason his victims always get away is because he simply doesn't have the right footwear, this is what he would buy.

This can't be right...

China heralds year of the fluorescent green pig

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - Chinese scientists have successfully bred partially green fluorescent pigs which they hope will boost stem cell research, Xinhua news agency said.

A research team at the Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin managed to breed three transgenic pigs by injecting fluorescent green protein into embryonic pigs, Xinhua quoted Professor Liu Zhonghua as saying.

"The mouth, trotters and tongue of the pigs are green under ultraviolet light," said Liu.
Genetic material from jellyfish was injected into the womb of a sow which gave birth to the three pigs 114 days later in Harbin, he said.

China celebrates the start of the Year of the Pig in February.


...I really don't know how to react to this...

Good times grocery shopping

This one takes a little bit of explaining...

1. The Mandarin word for the number three is pronounced "San".

2. In Taiwan, there is an adjective used to describe a food that is pleasantly chewy (i.e. a gummy candy). This word is pronounced and written as "Q".

3. Many Mandarin speakers, particularly in Taiwan, have trouble pronouncing the "TH" sound. Instead, it usually comes out as "S".

Put it all together, and "3Q" magically becomes "Thank You". Given the relative ease in typing these two characters vs. the complete words in either language and you have the shorthand that nearly all Taiwanese use when sending instant/short messages to each other.

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Here, you can see our lovely model is holding a flattened dried squid. This is in our local grocery store - similar to Albertson's in some ways and VERY different in others...