"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." - Thomas Jefferson

***

Japanese Government Banning Used School Girl Pantie Vending Machines - "The Japanese Government is trying to outlaw the sale of Japanese used school girl panties"
I'd be surprised if even half were genuine.

Religion, medicine and evading death | But not yet, Lord - "Religious people seem curiously reluctant to meet their maker"

rearranging words - "I guess it is not rare to come across those "rearranging words" exercises during language lesson... The so-called correct answer should be: Kucing saya suka minum susu (my cat likes to drink milk). [Try] Saya suka minum susu kucing (I like to drink cat milk) or Kucing suka minum susu saya (Cat likes to drink my milk)"

Pandemonium breaks out at Taipei Zoo - "Taiwan-China relations were dealt a severe setback yesterday when it was found that Taipei Zoo’s “pandas” are not what they seem. Zookeepers discovered at feeding time yesterday that the two pandas are in fact Wenzhou brown forest bears that had been dyed... “Let’s just say Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan would tuan yuan at every chance,” said Liu, referring to the combination of the panda’s names, which means “to reunite” in Mandarin. “They would do it doggy-style and every armchair zoologist knows that pandas favor the missionary position — when they do it at all. Their behavior caused chaos. Children screamed and parents became irate.”... “Whenever the moaning from the panda enclosure gets too loud we gotta go in there and hose ’em down with cold water,” he said. “After a while, parts of the animals’ black-and-white patches started to turn brown.”... “They told me pandas at the zoo in Washington, DC, get lethargic and sometimes lie in their own feces because they can’t tolerate hot weather, so it didn’t surprise them at all that their fur was turning brown since Taipei’s hotter on average than Washington,” he said... critics continue to decry what they see as an attempt by Beijing to bribe Taiwanese with cute, cuddly furballs in lieu of a more meaningful gesture of goodwill such as removing some of the 1,500 missiles China has pointed at Taiwan"
I like this one

Top 10 Worst Space Foods - "1. Brussels Sprouts. Children and future astronauts, have hope: If there's one food that's not worth the trouble of flying into space, it's Brussels sprouts. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think we'll ever fly them," Kloeris said. "We try to pick products that have high demand, and Brussels sprouts aren't the most popular vegetable in the world.""

"The Little Nyonya" stars charm international photographers - Notice it didn't charm the critics.

Easy economics through the eyes of nurse Helga - ""Sister Helga. You maximise my happiness" is German author Thomas Hoenscheid's latest novel and an eccentric attempt at teaching struggling students the basics of supply and demand... the surgeon of her dreams is not the moral and humane doctor he appears to be. Instead he is a money-driven businessman, only interested in maximizing his profits and minimizing costs. Devastated, Helga plunges into the world of microeconomics in a desperate attempt to learn what goes on inside his head... Abandoning her former bubble-headed self, the nurse becomes a die-hard fan of the free market. A family outing turns into an "afternoon of Pareto optimality," sending her into a simplified state of perfect well-being... despite the kitschy style, the theories are indeed all rather complex, consisting of difficult mathematical explanations and technical passages."

Women's shopping habits linked to periods - "In the ten days before their periods begin women are more likely to make extravagant impulse buys, according to researchers. Psychologists believe that shopping sprees could be a way for premenstrual women to deal with the negative emotions created by their hormonal changes... "If women are worried about their spending behaviour then they should avoid going shopping at the end of their menstrual cycle.""

Eco-friendly bra doubles as shopping bag - "Lingerie manufacturer Triumph International Japan has unveiled a new type of brassiere that can be converted into a shopping bag. Called the “No! Shopping Bag Bra” (NO! reji-bukuro bra), the environmentally-friendly lingerie is designed to promote the reduction of plastic bag consumption, a key objective of the revised Containers and Packaging Recycling Law hammered out by Japanese lawmakers in June."
Damn Japs. Who also have a bra you can slot chopsticks in - “the chopsticks on the sides help add a little extra volume to your bust.”

Lingerie firm offers women "liberating" loincloths - "Loincloths, called "fundoshi" in Japanese, were worn by adult men in the past, but they are now a rarity. Kyoto-based lingerie firm Wacoal, however, has brought them back into fashion, this time for women seeking "emancipation" from the tightness of conventional underwear."