editor's blog

Ok, just when you thought Burger King couldn’t go any further than it’s new menu addition - the new double whopper with cheese, which weighs in at 923 calories of beefy glory and carries the slogan ‘are you man enough?' – comes this story of what can happen when a burger flipper goes bad and decides to “share” their wacky tobaccy wealth.

As most geeks know, Japan has more than their fair share of cool gadgets... so it should come as no surprise they’re also home to some of the latest and greatest advances in toilet technology. Our first potty story is about the latest in high-tech pay toilets, Oasis@akiba, recently built in the Akihabara district in Tokyo, aka geek (or “otaku”) central.

Going bald from tearing out your hair? Denting your desk from repeated head banging? If so, today’s the day for you. Yes, from the same people that brought you all those other wacky ‘special’ days, it’s International Stress Awareness Day.

1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women are fond of sucking in smoke from a fire built of small bits of dried tobacco leaves rolled in a paper chimney. Now if you’re a non-smoker, you probably have your own views on this ‘expression of personal freedom’. But both groups can agree it’s akin to lighting up your wallet … for tobacco enthusiasts the cost of smokes commands a small fortune - $1,600 a year for a pack-a-day smoker. Add to this the extra health insurance fees - an extra $25/month if you’re even an occasional smoker. For companies and business owners, the numbers smell equally bad.

It used to be only young whippersnappers that dressed up for Halloween and ran around the neighborhood scaring up candy… or, in our ‘hood, sharing their love of egg throwing and creative toilet paper decorating. But while all those little ghosts and goblins have grown up, they’ve kept their costumes - over two-thirds of us plan to celebrate Halloween, and we’ll spend almost $60 each – that’s a lot of fake teeth and scary lawn ornaments.

Tired of an overload of errands, crappy chores, severe overwork and the other ‘evils’ of our crazily hectic modern lives? Maybe it’s time for a new one… for the uninitiated, ‘Second Life’ is a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) where citizens chat, play games, be mall rats, go dancing, and even lounge around on their own island paradise… basically, where you can avoid the things that drive you nuts about real life. Recently Second Life hit the millionth resident milestone… that’s a lot of people enjoying fake lives.

After work many of us scurry home to be with Man’s (and Woman’s) “best friends” - no, not the four legged furry ones, but our wide screen TVs, DVD players, and super duper stereo systems - which wait patiently for us to come home and push their buttons. But did you know that even when your electronic gadgets are turned off, they’re still sucking power from your electrical socket and draining dollar bills from your pocket?