Woke up and noticed my bed wasn’t moving and that I was at home.
Made myself a pot of Pouchong tea and continued with the second book I am reading on the iPad, the last of a series of novels about Edo, Japan, at the end of the 17th century. Here are a few things I bookmarked:
• Chocho means Butterfly
• Ya-ku-za means Eight-Nine-Three and that is the worst hand you can have in a card-game called hana-fuda
• That was the custom for male lovers. Marriage for either or both didn’t disrupt their relationship. (((interesting arrangement)))
• Samurai could kill commoners without punishment, but not one another; for merchants and other citizens, the penalty for any murder was death (((talk about a macho society)))
• A light rain began, marrying river and sky. Drops stipled the water, transforming it into liquid gooseflesh. (((stippling is a cool word, and I think liquid gooseflesh is a great way to describe rain of a certain quality hitting a body of water)))
• Yanagibashi means Willow Tree Bridge. Very poetic.
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BBC News – Istanbul’s tuneless muezzins get voice training
It is meant to be a beautiful, melodic and spiritual start to the day. But the morning calls to prayer by some of Istanbul’s muezzins and imams have had locals plugging their ears rather than reaching for their prayer books. The problem is such that following a flood of complaints by locals, special classes for the tuneless culprits have been set up.Imam Mehmet Tas, one of the school’s first pupils, said he was already feeling the benefits.
“I have so much more self-confidence now in my abilities to do all five calls to prayer in their correct tempos,” he said.
Well, there is that and then there is the horrible amplification through megaphone-like speakers set to 11 (((gratuitous Spinal Tap reference))). No matter how tuneful a person might sing, it’ll still sound like he’s singing through a little guitar amp with distortion cranked up.
Thanks for the link Y.
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Ultrasound As a Male Contraceptive
The BBC has an article about using ultrasound aimed at the testicles as a reversible male contraceptive. This can last for six months. With a grant of $100,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers at the University of North Carolina will push ahead with more clinical trials, fine tuning, and safety tests.
(Via Slashdot)
It’s very interesting to follow the discoveries of what ultrasound can be used for (((my father worked as a designer for Krautkraemer in Köln and I grew up hearing about it))). The above appears to be the latest idea. Ultrasound seems to be as useful as gaffer’s tape!
At this point one could have a lot of fun starting a rumor that the full-body-scanners I mentioned just a few days ago also radiate ultrasound to sterilize all men walking through the scanner… Conspiracy theorists would love that!!
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Bio computers are coming:
DNA Could Replace Silicon to Create Cheap, Abundant Logic Circuits | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World
Right now, most semiconductor chips (those tiny pieces that are crucial to computers and electrical circuits) are crafted from silicon, a relatively expensive material. But what if we told you that these teensy, crucial cogs could be made from a material that lives within the human body? Researchers at Duke University are designing logic chips from self-assembling DNA. The team hopes the process will provide a cheap, easy method of making chips, eventually eliminating the need for silicon semiconductor chips altogether
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…i can see why you are enjoying your reading! The description of the rain was so exact and vivid…gave me shivers…:-) Welcome Home…
What’s the name of that book about Edo?