Global Warming Strikes Toyama Japan!

Photographic proof! We're doomed! Doomed, I tell ya! Global Warming is here to stay! Don't believe me... They say that a photograph speaks a 1000 words. Let these photos tell the story.

These photos were published on Dec. 29, 2010:

Sweltering heat...

I knew I should have gotten that AC fixed! Roll down the windows!

On an interesting side note... 

Did you know that Fahrenheit was invented by a guy named Fahrenheit?

Celsius was invented by a guy named Celsius? 

No. Really! I'm not making that up!

A smart enterprising businessman might want to open up a Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors somewhere around here! 

Don't forget the words of famous "Climate Scientist" that was reported in the March 2000 issue of the Independent:

According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said... "Snow is starting to disappear from our lives."

These scary words were written almost ten years ago.... Just before the coldest winter in Britain in 140 years.... Oh, yeah, I forgot: Global Warming makes the earth warmer and cooler too!

PS: Oh, yeah and today, the weather forecast for Tokyo is the coldest winter day so far! The high will be a blistering 7 degrees celsius with a low tonight of - 3!!! And it's only January 7th, 2011!!! Stay warm!

More on Man Made Global Warming Nonsense.

Photos thanks to Buzzhunt

Study Confirms: Internet Surpasses TV for News Among Young People

Just an update on an earlier post about the sooner-than-you-think demise of major TV station. The final sentence says it all: "Now, it's just a matter of time before spending catches up with the audience."

This time from Business Insider:


According to a new Pew study, the Internet surpassed TV as the number one news source for 18-to-29 year olds in the U.S. last year.

The trend isn't new--the Internet has been gradually replacing other sources of news for the last decade, with a particularly sharp rise in 2007. But 2010 is the first time that the Internet surpassed all other sources of news for young users. The trend will only accelerate as those younger users age and move into other demographic groups.

The Internet is also closing in on newspapers as the number-two news source among 50-to-64 year olds, and finally surpassed radio in the over-64 demographic.

Now, it's just a matter of time before advertising spending catches up with the audience.

Why spend tens of thousands on TV or radio advertising when you cannot measure your results? Why not buy internet advertising that you pay for each person who views or clicks?

Japan Has Lowest Elevator Button in the World!

Sometimes this country really knows how to do things right and consider the feelings of the people. Hooray for privately run businesses!

The news is out. Japan has the lowest elevator button in the world.

From Topless Robot:

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you what may end up the most important invention of the 24th century: The Really Low Elevator Button. 



elevator button
アップロード者 vietjapans. - 動画ブログや動画ブロガーをもっとみる。 


As you can see in the video, it's designed for folks who have their hands full, so they can call the elevator with their feet instead of fumbling with packages and the like. THIS IS BRILLIANT. I want them installed on every elevator in the world. And you'll notice that the regularly placed elevator call button is still there, so people whose hands are free -- and/or are missing feet -- can still call the elevator normally.

That said, besides the invention itself, I can't decide what my favorite part of this video is:
• The audience's confusion when they first see the button
• the audience's moan of comprehension when tey see the button used
• That they show the lady pressing the button twice, just to make sure everyone gets it


 Banzai! Japan has done it again! Or.... Does this mean that Japan has sunk even lower? 


Thanks to Japan Probe and Topless Robot

$390,000 for One Tuna Fish!? You Could Buy a Car With That!

Update from James B. Allen below

Yep. You read the headlines correctly. Well, it is actually $396,340 (USD) at today's rate. The first tuna auctioned off at Tokyo's famous fish market at Tsukiji sold for nearly $400,000; a new record!

This one is selling for 1/3 the price of the new record....

Jeez! How big is that fish?!

The AP reports:

A bluefin tuna from Hokkaido fetched a record-high 32.49 million yen on Wednesday in the first auction of the year on the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, commonly known as Tsukiji market, market officials said. The price for the 342-kilogram tuna, caught off Toi in Japan's northernmost prefecture, is the highest since 1999 when comparable data became available. It was well above the previous record of 20.2 million yen marked in 2001.





Maybe 2011 is going to be a big spender year after all.... Or, is that just because the government keeps printing so much money that our cash is getting nearly worthless!


So Like I wrote: $390,000 for one tuna fish? You could buy a car with that... OR, "How many cans of tuna would that make?"


Update from James B. Allen:


"Mike - check the exchange rate - you're off one decimal point :). 32.49 million yen is around $400,000 USD. Just shy of half a million dollars." 


Thanks to News on Japan

TV News Viewership Sinks...

More proof that major station TV - with their 1000's of employees - is heading to the end of the road...

I've written (again!) repeatedly about the demise of TV in Japan. Some people think that I mean that TV is going to disappear off the face of the earth forever. That is not the case. TV will be around for many more decades to come, I'm sure.

What won't be around for many more decades to come are these over-sized bloated TV networks that employ thousands of people.

Think about it: A TV station like TV Tokyo targets a very wide audience of ages from 6 ~ 86. TV Tokyo employs well over 1,000 people.

A station like Fashion TV in Tokyo targets 20 ~ 45 year old women.  Fashion TV employs about 40 people so their overhead is nowhere near as high as TV Tokyo.

Let's say you are a women's shoes manufacturer. Fashion TV targets your main audience. Yet their advertising rates are less than 1/20th the price of TV Tokyo. As a sponsor who wants a prime audience, do you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV Tokyo advertising, or do you specialize and only go for your core audience?

Of course, you go for the core audience.

Today, again, more data has come out on the quick collapse of TV. Specifically TV News.

Mashable reports:

In 2010, 65% of people younger than 30 cited the Internet as their go-to source for news, nearly doubling from 34% in 2007. The number who consider television as their main news source dropped from 68% to 52% during that time.

Of all 1,500 American adults surveyed, 41% say they get their national and international news from the Internet, up 17% from 2007. Sixty-six percent cite television — down from 74% — indicating the trend is spreading among other age groups.

Forty-eight percent of those 30-59 cite the Internet as their main news source, up from 32% in 2007, while television went down from 71% to 63%. Though the number of those in the 51-64 age group who consider television their main news source (71%) is about the same, those who turn to the Internet (34%) is nearly equal to the number who cite newspapers (38%). The amount of people 65 and older who get their news from the Internet has risen from 5% to 14%, but television remains the chief source for 79% of respondents. 

News is the bread and butter of television.  So, to extrapolate on the figures above... If 65% of all people younger than 30 cite the Internet as their main news source - and TV is losing money now - what's going to happen in 10 years?

Like I said, there will always be TV stations... But the day of the hugely staffed stations is soon coming to an end.

Goldman Sachs in Illegal Bid to Buy Facebook

If you've thought about quitting Facebook before due to privacy concerns... Well, another concern has just arisen.


Salon Reports:


The “great vampire squid” of finance, Goldman Sachs, has invested $450 million in the emerging great vampire squid of cyberspace, Facebook…. The Goldman deal may be an end-run around the rule, with Goldman not selling Facebook shares to its clients, but rather selling shares in something it (Goldman) owns. If this is the game, and if the SEC lets it happen, the 500-shareholder rule has become meaningless — and markets are all the more opaque at a time when transparency is more needed than ever. Opacity is a growing issue. A thriving shadow marketplace has emerged for big startups that haven’t done IPOs, so big that the Securities and Exchange Commission is, at least in that space, looking into the wheeling and dealing. For good reason: Many if not most of the investors in these markets have no idea what the true financial picture may be of the shares they’re buying.


Not only that, but it looks like this is an illegal deal with Goldman (we-took-your-tax-dollars-and-gave-ourselves-record-breaking-bonuses) Sachs! !


Zero Hedge reports:


Well, the capital injection that so duly empowers Facebook is basically an uncapitalized bonus pool for Goldman Sachs. You see, it is highly unlikely that Goldman is actually materially investing in Facebook, particularly at these valuations (is facebook really worth more than Time Warner and eBay, after the private market liquidity discount?). What Goldman is doing is employing its financial engineers to allow its HNW investors to sidestep and circumvent the laws of the land as feebly enforced by the SEC. Its not as if this is a secret, it was published in the NY Times!!! Basically, Goldman has created a spit in the face of the SEC, Facebook hedge fund. 


But then again, Zero Hedge goes on to explain it all in one simple sentence:


You see, this is not about Goldman’s attempt to create capital gains through investment, its about their attempt to create income through commissions, fees and spreads. 


Read more.

More on Ayumi Hamasaki Getting Married to the Big Lebowski

Now, I figured it out. It makes sense! Ayumi Hamasaki has actually married the Dude from the Big Lebowski!

The humorous article about Ayumi Hamasaki getting married to that guy Manny Schwartz, who is described as an "actor" in his bio got me many funny comments.

Thanks.

Manny & Ayu

See? I told you she married the Dude!

I did some more research, and thanks to friends, I have found out more about Manny Schwartz's illustrious career as an "actor."

First of all, the only thing Manny has acted in was a music video by Ayumi Hamasaki - funny that -whereby Manny plays the part of her husband.

He has also appeared in a jeans advertisement twice over the last three years.

Not a very storied career!

What a loser! Look at what his FB name is: Manny69!

My source is a very-well connected Japanese writer who wishes to remain anonymous... She added that, "Getting married to Mr. Schwartz is just something that Ayumi Hamasaki is doing now as it interests her. Once she loses interest, she'll toss him away.... It's what narcissist Japanese actresses do.... Don't you remember Jeff and Seiko Matsuda?"

That's right! I remember that now.... So, in all actuality, this was a shrewd career move by Manny! Er, I mean, the Dude!



Expect to see him on extend his career on Japanese TV... That is, if he can learn the language better than Arnold Schwartzneggar can speak English! Or is this really a publicity stunt?

Damn! I knew I should have stuck with my acting career!