1. Put the can in a freezer ( time : 20 -25 minutes )

2. Put the can in a bucket of ice ( time to freeze: 10 – 15 minutes)

3. Put the can in a bucket of ice filled with water ( time to freeze: 4- 6 minutes)

4. Put the can in a bucket of ice. Fill it with water. Pour salt in that water. (Chill time : 1-2 minutes)

5. Put the can in a bucket of ice. Fill it with water. Pour salt in that water. Agitate the can in the water, roll it around, stir the bucket. ( Chill time :< 1 minute)

So there you go…  

The fastest possible way is to grab a CO2 fire extinguisher and unload that sucker on the can. However, we would recommend that you don’t do it this way but go through the salt way.

Whatever you do, do NOT bury the can in sand, pour gasoline on the sand and set the sand on fire. That won’t do anything.

This is all empirically gained evidence, not third party.” [via] – Link.

Image source: moon.ouhsc.edu

we love foreigners, oh yes we do

Let me first point out that I am not the original source for this picture.  If you would like to see more of the original sources pictures or read the story please go here. 

Well, others may have experienced this but it’s a first for me.   I have never participated in the annual Yamanote line Halloween party and after what happened this year I am pretty glad that I haven’t. 

Remember when you were younger and you used to do all sorts of wild and crazy shit?  Perhaps I’ve been hit by a wave of nostalgia, but I suddenly miss the good ol’ days when up was down, down was up and I didn’t know in which direction my ass was headed.

Last night I went to a sayonara party for my mate, Stef, who is leaving Japan to go spend the next few months touring New Zealand by bicycle.  He was telling me and my other mate that in his group of friends we were among the only few that actually supported his journey as being worthy and not a sign of his impending insanity.

What happened to us all?  Since when did an exciting trip around New Zealand and an opportunity to find yourself become something that others would look at skeptically and speak about in hushed tones as soon as your back was turned?  When did we get old?  When did we stop living, or in some of our cases stop creating all out carnage?

Shite, I remember the time when a group of us got together and jumped off a 70 foot train trestle into the river below without batting an eyelid.  Or, that one time at band camp when … you get the point.

Props out to my mate Stef.  I applaud him for the journey he is about to go on and for also hopefully reminding the rest of us cheeky bastards that life is meant to be lived not just sloughed through day by day.  So here’s my open challenge to all – get out there and start tearin some shit up like you did when you were younger.  Cut loose and don’t worry about the improprieties for at least a few hours.  Have a few too many beers and find yourself in a Japanese fish packing plant at 1 in the morning.

Supertyphoons to Strike Japan Due to Global Warming

Increasingly powerful “supertyphoons” will strike Japan if [because] global warming continues to affect [completely mess-up] weather patterns in the western Pacific Ocean, scientists say.

Supercomputer simulations show there will be more typhoons with winds of 179 miles (288 kilometers) per hour—considered an F3 on the five-level Fujita Scale—by 2074.  By definition, supertyphoons carry winds of at least 150 miles (241 kilometers) per hour.

Such storms would be more destructive than Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into U.S. states along the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005.

[However, the supertyphoons] will pack a far higher concentration of energy, wind speed, and overall destructive power.  The tempests would cause a great deal of damage across Japan, which is unprepared for such violent weather systems.

Ferocious winds would level homes and damage infrastructure such as bridges and power lines. Severe floods would also inundate low-lying areas.

The most destructive typhoon to strike Japan to date was Typhoon Vera, which barreled across the country in September 1959.

Known in Japan as the Isewan Typhoon, the storm came ashore in Ise Bay near Nagoya and killed 5,238 people.

- I say we punish this teacher "old school" style -

Junior high school teacher arrested for molesting student during Hokkaido getaway

On the one-hand, you have DPJ’s Ozawa making a statement that he intends to take a bill to the Diet that would grant limited voting rights to non-Japanese residents of Japan.  Great, way to go, absolutely!

However, do not get too happy yet, because on the other hand you have the new Japanese Prime Minister (DPJ’s Hatoyama) making some pretty contradictory and silly statements. 

In his DPJ Manifesto (see here  or here for an English copy) Hatoyama promised to eliminate highway tolls.  On its face eliminating these tolls sounds like a great idea.  But look further.  By eliminating the tolls  more and more people would be driving on the highways because they don’t have to pay a toll.  Now, hold that thought, because just the other day in New York Hatoyama promised that Japan would reduce CO2 emissions by 25%.  Umm, excuse me Mr. Pigeon Mountain man (unnecessary jab at his name .. sorry, couldn’t resist)  but how is Japan going to reduce CO2 by 25% when more and more people are driving cars, thanks to the highway tolls being eliminated?

Let’s face it, the news has been full of stories about the incredible traffic jams that have been happening almost every weekend since April when the government lowered the cost of highway tolls on weekends (see picture above).  Now, just imagine if the Tomei expressway was like that everyday … yeah 25% reduction in CO2 emissions RIGGHHT.

reducing CO2 emissions by 25% is a fantastic idea, let’s do it.  And eliminating the highway tolls isn’t an overtly bad idea, but it’s the simple fact that Hatoyama is already walking around at this early stage making such blatantly contradictory statements that worries me.  I’m getting a bad feeling about this guy’s level of intelligence already.

Ozawa positive about granting local voting rights to non-Japanese.

see original article here .

I’d say that, if true, this would certainly be a move in the right direction.  However, the article goes on to state that 

“bringing [the proposal] to the Diet may not be easy because Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party), one of two junior ruling coalition partners of the DPJ, has expressed its opposition, saying granting suffrage to non-Japanese could destabilize the nation.”

I’m sorry but in a country where the non-Japanese represent what only about 1 to 1.5% of the total population how is it even remotely possible that giving them the right to vote in LOCAL eletions could  ”destabilize” the nation.  I certainly hope that this type of borderline xenophobic comment does not go unquestioned.  In my typical over-reactionary style I would say that whichever politician said this should immediately lose his/her job and be subject to 40 lashes across the backside with a bamboo rod (said punishment to be meted out prefereably by a non-Japanese person).  In fact you know what … I volunteer for the job. 

It seems that this example of borderline xenophobia is unfortunately not limited to this one case.  In fact, a quick Google search brought up a Japan Probe article from last year that covered this same issue. 

I’m now going to say something that will show exactly how dumb I can be.  Politicians, people everywhere please wake up.  There is no reason that we can’t all get along with each other.  Japanese people you don’t need to fear that “foreigners” are going to overthrow your governement and your country.  Honestly, it’s that line of thinking that directly led to WWII.  And “foreigners living in Japan”, quit complaining about discrimination and racism, most Japanese people are really really wonderful people… don’t let a few rotten xenophobic apples sour you on living in Japan.