the_harper said...

the_harper at 06:11 PM JST - 23rd July

Lovely girl, terrible makeup and an absolutely horrendous "dress". I didn't think this was the sort of image Miss Universe would want to be associated with? Maybe fine for a Japanese audience familiar with this kind of thing, but is it really appropriate for a world stage? What impression does…

Posted in Reach for the Universe at 06:11 PM JST - 23rd July
the_harper at 11:28 PM JST - 18th July

I tried Japanese honey when I was there and it was truly awful. Maybe there were better brands, but generic honey here in Australia is FAR better than the honey I bought in the supermarket in Japan. Those who say there's no difference between one honey and another either have…

Posted in 100% pure Australian honey at 11:28 PM JST - 18th July
the_harper at 11:21 PM JST - 18th July

Bringing out a new memory format also means you'll need to buy a new camera or phone. I seriously doubt that the OS in the device will deal with a 2TB address space without upgrade, even if the card is the same shape, size and pin compatible. But I'd be…

Posted in Bigger, faster, stronger at 11:21 PM JST - 18th July
the_harper at 12:04 PM JST - 14th July

I wish there were barriers of some sort between the walking area and the road.

I don't know about other parts of Japan, but where I worked in Ibaraki most of the "major" roads had a concrete kerb at the edges of the road, broken only by driveways. This was…

Posted in Ibaraki man arrested for dangerous driving after hitting 4 people, including 2 kids at 12:04 PM JST - 14th July
the_harper at 12:20 PM JST - 13th July

The lack of footpaths in country areas in Japan makes it difficult for pedestrians and drivers - but people should slow down in such streets. It's hard to correct this issue when the buildings are right on the edge of the road. FWIW I've seen places in the US, Australia…

Posted in Ibaraki man arrested for dangerous driving after hitting 4 people, including 2 kids at 12:20 PM JST - 13th July
the_harper at 02:30 PM JST - 11th July

I don't know about Tokyo but in country areas of Japan most of the tap water is ground water, and I'm not sure how much treatement it receives before arriving at your tap. The tap water at one of the schools where I taught tasted so foul I hated using…

Posted in Do you prefer tap water or bottled water for drinking? at 02:30 PM JST - 11th July
the_harper at 01:15 PM JST - 3rd July

Interesting - I wrote an article in 2002 based on a trip to an ultralight flying club in Mito but it was a different one to that mentioned above. From my observation in Ibaraki the main dangers were high winds, high trees and high power lines. The costs to operate…

Posted in Super-lightweight planes enjoy popularity despite accidents at 01:15 PM JST - 3rd July
the_harper at 12:18 PM JST - 30th June

All cultures are "speciesist": we favour some animals over others. Australians decry Japanese whaling, yet shark meat can be found on many a dinner plate, despite the fact that many species of shark are endangered

Zarusoba - your statement appears to claim that Australians fish for and kill endangered sharks,…

Posted in One zoo to avoid at 12:18 PM JST - 30th June
the_harper at 12:58 PM JST - 25th June

I saw a recent documentary about robotics which showed a robot specifically designed to express emotions by facial movement. It looked a lot like one of the creatures from "Gremlins". As I recall, it was programmed to recognise emotions in speech and react accordingly. That would make it considerably more…

Posted in Robot expresses human emotions at 12:58 PM JST - 25th June
the_harper at 12:50 PM JST - 12th June

Does anyone measure fuel economy in kilometres per litre instead of litres per 100Km? And is the spelling of "liter" and "kilometer" a US English thing?

Posted in Mazda launches all-new Axela at 12:50 PM JST - 12th June