Ezorisu

I've got a recent Casio "ProTrek" or something with all the bells and whistles. The altitude reading is heavily weighted by transient ambient atmospheric conditions - last time I was at Kansai International Airport, I was -35m below sea level (which is maybe 30m too low)! One of the reasons I got it was for the thermometer, but unless you wear it on your B/C pack strap or somewhere else it could get lost, you get toasty warm "wrist temperature" readings... I saw an advert for a small GPS, I think it was a Garmin, in a cycling magazine. A GPS unit will give considerably more ac

To answer your salt question, Rigor Mortis, I think the salt is counterproductive. It may create an environment that prevents infection, but by the same action, it tends to kill the new skin cells that are trying to grow.

"Helicopter Man"?

Soba, Ramen, Somen, Okinawa-soba For some reason I don't really like udon - I think it's because of the thickness.

That's interesting... I wonder if there was any "scientific" research done on stinkyness.

Everybody has a smell... I don't think there is any ethnic distinction for this. I've encountered stinky ethnically Japanese people in Japan as well as stinky Westerners. Same goes for back in the USA where the ability to smell bad trancends all racial or ethnic bounds. A hot, crowded gondola in spring stinks as much in Japan as it does back in the 'States, regardless of the filling.

I wouldn't be so sure about that "outsourcing labour" part... I'm pretty sure when I looked at a Patagucci fleece a couple of seasons back it was "made in (insert developing Central/South American country here)". I recall wondering to myself how they could charge such a high retail price when the labour was probably peanuts.

Born and raised on PC's (the only Mac relative I used was an Apple IIE). I don't dislike Mac's, but the menus and pull-downs are all different, so I can't find stuff...

Aren't tiny Japanese apato (or hotel room) bathrooms great?! I always smack my elbows into the shower/bath walls when I am washing my hair. Also, I can't get far enough away from the shower curtain to prevent "cling".

I don't know about anyone else other than my immediate circle of cohorts and myself, but I've never had any issues with the Boa lacing over-tightening or under-tightening any part of the boot. That of course may be brand-related too. I've had 2 different pairs of Boa-laced DC's since they first introduced them and have liked them a lot. As with anything, SB boots are fit and usage dependent.

If it wasn't bad enough to deal with that everyday "industrial" dust, there's also that yellow/tan summertime dust from the Gobi desert... at least up North anyways. And in the summer with no A/C, I just can't keep the windows closed all the time.

DC Shoe USA My "posse" all ride DC. The model names change yearly, but we all have the ones with Boa lacing and a removable "pump" liner. Awesome boots. One seemingly odd but much-appreciated feature is a gel pad on TOP of the toes, to help prevent the infamous "black toenail of death" from landing hard on the icy stuff off of jumps and jibs.

I seem to recall seeing some very arcane photos from the early days of snowboarding (from the days when bindings had no highbacks) where dudes in the Colorado (???), USA area were using ski poles. I think part of the reason they were using them was as camouflage so they wouldn't be immediately recognized as "different" and get booted off the mountain...

Winds are sort-of "hit or miss" up there. When I did it, it was really evil, but the next day it was nearly dead calm. You just have to take your chances. If it's too windy, cut your losses and turn back. You can always try the next time you visit - the mountain will still be there!

That's hard core! I have to save this link for the next time I hear someone around me whining about something trivial!

Sorry - away from the desk all day... Yikes! I didn't think there would be that much interest in a passing comment! Thanks! Such curious people... Anyway, most of my stuff that has made it over there has been underground doujinshi (limited-run, self-published manga) sold at comikets and now probably residing in various otaku collections. It is generally "adult" stuff. I've been meaning to put some work up on the web, but thusfar have been derelict in doing so... I'll let y'all know if I ever manage to crack a major contract with a legit publishing house!

Quote: Originally posted by C/B: ...next time youre here pick up a few of the manga and see what you see... FYI, I write some of that shit! The problem is much deeper than what people read and what they watch on TV. If there weren't preexisting societal problems, incidents like the one in the original post wouldn't happen. It isn't like "Japan's morals are f@*ked up", because I don't think that Japanese society on the whole considers acts such as these acceptable. The problem is more along the lines of pervs knowing that they will probably not be sanctioned for their acts, so th

CD's at home or in the car, but selected favorite MP3's when travelling - I'd dump whole albums in my MP3 player, but it's really ghetto and doesn't have a lot of memory...

Hey tactic, If you aren't planning on seeing the sunrise or sunset, reaching the summit and retuning from the 5th station parking lot are achievable in a day, no problem. The problem may lie in getting to the 5th station early enough from Tokyo, then getting a bus back when you get down. I think there are buses that leave Shinjuku at night and get you to the 5th station when the gate opens around 07:00. Try doing some websearching and I'm sure you will find the information. Maybe try the JNTO Engrish website, or just search on "climbing Mt. Fuji". I had a pile of links saved from whe

Sorry, blaming "the manga" for this is about as valid as blaming Rammstein music for the Columbine incident...

I didn't have the time to check if this was an urban legend or not, but I was told by a fellow mechanic back in my wrenching days that someone in some industrial setting was using a high-pressure air hose to blow some sort of dust of shavings off of his hand. This unlucky fellow forgot about a fairly deep cut on his hand, and the jet of air entered the cut, delaminated the skin from his palm and burst it like a balloon!

Supposedly the new RHCP "Dani California" has already been tapped by Warner Japan to be a theme song for the in-production action/horror film "Death Note", based on the manga of the same name.

It's all fun and games until you wake up from a horroble flashback nightmare in a pool of cold sweat many years later! "Can't fall asleep - bears are going to eat me... Can't go off-piste - bears are going to eat me..."

Here's an English article from the Mainichi: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060412p2a00m0na004000c.html The info is about a day old. There were some other articles on local news services, but the only other English one I found wasn't linkable. The problem extends South to Sapporo and Muroran.

Wouldn't it be advantageous to have South-facing slopes in the fall and spring? That way although the "snow" would re-freeze every night, it would tend to soften during the day and become somewhat more ridable. I remember the North-facing side of the Lake Louise back bowl staying concrete-hard all day last fall, but the south-facing resort front-end being fairly nice by 10-ish.