Video: Helicopter Flights Over Fukushima Daiichi to Measure Radiation
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have released footage showing how they have been measuring radiation levels above the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant:
The readings are taken from about 900 meters above the plant. Soldiers wear heavy duty protective gear. As their helicopters do not have built-in measuring equipment, it looks like they have rigged together a system that uses handheld equipment, duct tape, and notebook computers for radiation measurements and infrared thermography.
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Categories: General Japan
Gopan Turns Rice into Bread
Back in November 2010, Sanyo had to stop taking orders for its Gopan rice-to-bread machine because demand for the product far outstripped their factory’s manufacturing capabilities.
They’ve now upgraded their production facilities to a point where they can start delivering new Gopan machines to stores:
The Gopan takes rice, sugar, and yeast and turns it into bread through an automated process that takes about 4 hours.
In the above TV clip, a famous chef shows their reporter some creative ways to eat the rice bread. Since it’s made from rice, it is apparently goes well with natto, soy sauce, and other Japanese food. You can even make bread sushi:
At the end of the report, they show us an alternative to the Gopan. The Kome-Pan is a cooking kit that lets children turn leftover rice into dough, which can be put into an oven and turned into bread. It may not be automated, but it is many times cheaper than the Gopan.
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Categories: Japanese Food, Technology
Kiss Transmission Device
Diginfo shows us a “kiss transmission device” that is being developed by the Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications:
“This device is for communications within the mouth, in other words, the goal is to obtain the feeling of kissing.”
“If you take one device in your mouth and turn it with your tongue, the other device turns in the same way. If you turn it back the other way, then your partner’s turns back the same way, so your partner’s device turns whichever way your own device turns.”
[...]
“For example, if you have a popular entertainer use this device and record it, that could be hugely popular if you offer it to fans.”
“The elements of a kiss include the sense of taste, the manner of breathing, and the moistness of the tongue. If we can recreate all of those I think it will be a really powerful device.”
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Categories: Technology
Chilean Dock Workers Refuse to Unload Radioactive Korean Cars
Low levels of radiation have been detected on a few cars that were sent to Chile in a South Korean cargo ship. The discovery prompted protests by dock workers:
“In the morning when we came in for our shift, customs officials came to give us an information session and that is when we found out that there were cars that were suspected of having radioactivity.”
Authorities say the levels of radioactivity were so low there was no risk to human health, but operations at the dock were momentarily held up.
Dock operations did get back to normal on Monday, but some workers still refused to return to the job.
The cars were part of a delivery of more than two thousand used vehicles aboard the Hyundai No.106 cargo ship. The ship began its journey in the South Korean port of Ulsan before making stopovers in the Japanese ports of Osaka and Yokohama.
According to the Sankei Shimbun, its cargo consisted of about 2,5000 used cars from South Korea. The cars were scanned for radiation, and 21 of them had low levels of contamination.
I have not found information about the exact amount of radiation, but an AFP article notes that it was within Chilean safety standards:
The report in the daily El Mercurio quoted Iquique customs director Raul Barria as saying the radioactivity did not appear to pose a danger.
He said the vehicles were showing a level of one to five on a radioactive index, below the level of nine needed for an alert.
[...]
The 83 workers who had contact with the vehicles “were tested by customs at their request,” Barria said, adding that none of them showed any ill effects.
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Categories: General Japan
Photoshopped: Prime Minister Kan Laden
A silly image that appeared in one of the 2channel discussion threads about the death of Osama Bin Laden:
The text above the image reads: Kan Laden, 63-years-old / NEET Virgin
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Fukushima Nuclear Accident Caused Increase Demand For Fallout Shelters in the United States
TV Tokyo recently reported on the fallout shelter market in the United States:
In the first part of the report, they check out Cold War era fallout shelters. In the second part, they visit a factory where components of an underground shelter.
They interview Brian Camden of Hardened Structures, who says that his company has seen an increase in demand in fallout shelters after the Fukushima accident. Most of the new inquiries are from people in California and other areas of America’s west coast. They’ve also apparently received an inquiry from the Japanese government.
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Categories: Odd / Strange