Meaningless Experiments, Useless Results

Sometimes I do really feel that Japanese have too much time on their hands by performing large scale experiments that do not yield any useful, constructive results. I wonder how much time and money/resources were spent on such meaningless stuff. But then, I also applaud their determination and perseverance in trying their very best to present things fully to the audiences. Though useless, these experiments can be quite interesting to watch haha.

These clips are from a Japanese variety show 'Trivia no Izumi', which seeks to discover and provide interesting knowledge and trivia. Astonishing facts may be uncovered through the process.

Observation: We can shoot a rubber band to a distance many times greater than its own length.

Question: How about shooting a giant rubber band of 10m diameter? Can it travel much much further?

Hmm, let's see...



The clip is entirely in Japanese, but the images and subtitles should be easy to comprehend.


Observation: A fire extinguisher can generate a strong surge when the pressurized gas is released.

Question: Can this surge of gas propel or lift a person off the ground? How many fire extinguishers will it take for sufficient energy required to lift?




Observation: Releasing pressurized gas dissolved in a bottle of water produces enough energy to propel the bottle.

Question: How many bottles are needed to propel a person?




Observation: A skier is projected into the air upon skiing up a ramp at high speed.

Question: How far will a tyre land after rolling up a ramp? How will the size and weight of tyre affect the results?




Observation: When you release an object from a moving vehicle, the object will travel at the same speed as the vehicle.

Question: What happens when a ball on a lorry, moving at 100km/h, is launched in the opposite direction at 100km/h?




Observation: A bullet has strong penetrating power.

Question: How many sheets of tissue paper does it take to stop a bullet?




Observation: When you stand in between 2 mirrors, countless images of yourself can be seen.

Question: What do you see if you are put inside a spherical mirror (equivalent to infinite mirrors in all directions)?




Other non-scientific experiments includes:

- Out of 50 single female newscasters, how many will agree to date a guy whom they meet for the first time, when being confessed by him?
- Same as above, except that the gender is switched. (the difference in results is actually quite huge!)
- Does a dog feel jealous upon seeing its owner fondling with another dog?
- How heavy a fish can a cat carry with its jaws? (don't underestimate cats)
and many more.

A final food for thought: When you mix salt and sugar in equal proportions in water, how will it taste like?

Is this how the world is going to end?

An exclusive scene from the upcoming '2012'. The fateful day.



Wow...isn't that a little too catastrophic?

It would probably be a good movie for those who enjoy watching ships sinking, meteorites crashing onto Earth, raging floods in the city and turning into ice, alien invasion...

Here's a HD trailer on what to expect this coming November:

The Huge Family Tree

Saw the obituary notice of my grandpa and was surprised by the long list of names present. All along I knew that my maternal-side extended family is huge, but it's only this time when I realised the sheer size, and exactly how big it is. The list contains a whopping 104 names! My little name is hidden somewhere around the middle.

My grandpa had lived till a ripe old age of 93. He was labelled as 五代大父 in the obituary though I could only count up to four generations. My grandpa has:
- 13 children (6 sons, 6 daughters, 1 adopted)
- 29 grandchildren (one of them is deceased but I've totally no idea who is he...)
- 24 great-grandchildren

Counting in all the sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandsons-in-law, granddaughters-in-law, whatever-in-laws, the entire family tree easily amounts to almost 100 members.

That means, from my perspective, I have (maternal side only):
- 22 uncles/aunts (叔，舅，姨，婶，丈)
- 26 cousins (out of which 15 are already married)
- 24 second-cousins once removed (aka my cousins' kids)
(in other words I'm an uncle to 24 kids...I feel so old)

The funny thing arises when I try to look from my 6-year old sis's perspective. She's an aunt to 24 kids, who have around the same age as her and some many years older than her. No matter how I think it just doesn't feel very right haha. It's like having a nephew or niece much older than you. And that older person has to call you uncle or aunt...

My oldest once-removed (one generation down) cousin is of the same age as me. (thankfully) If they are older than me, or even married, or even have kids already, then the relationship will indeed become extremely skewed...

Btw one of my cousins is almost the same age as my mum...go figure.

It can be rather a spectacle when this whole big group of family come together. In the first major ritual, everyone was told to line up according to their 'rank' (son comes before daughter, internal comes before external). The person-in-charge was calling out the numerous positions in order: 孝男，孝媳，孝女，女婿，内孙男(+媳)，内孙女(+婿)，外孙男(+媳)，外孙女(+婿)，内曾孙男，内曾孙女，外曾孙男，etc and the list goes on.

*Through mathematical thinking, you would know that the number of 内 will drop by a degree, while 外 will increase by another degree, as you move down from 孙 to 曾孙 level (and to 玄孙). I've learnt a lesson regarding heredity...*

And thus the line became really really long. Stretching until the extent that I couldn't see what was going on at the altar clearly. It seemed like I was 'out of action' though I was supposed to be part of the prayer. As for the group of kids, trailing right to the back of the long line, they were playing among themselves within their own world, not knowing what was exactly going on at the front. Oh ya, they looked like some bunch of kindergarten kids lining up for class...lol. But very cute lah haha.

I belong to 外孙男, and so my 'queue number' was somewhere near the median. Then we began to walk in circles around the altar. A huge circle had to be formed to ensure that the line doesn't entangle itself.

This is when I started to observe who belongs to which side, and had a better understanding of the entire family structure. Before this, most of them seemed like strangers to me. Of course with such huge extended family I can't possibly identify each and every one of them, especially my cousins, most of which already have their own family. We rarely talk to each other too. I don't know their names, neither do they know mine.

Thanks to my hardworking mum, who is the planner for this funeral, I hope my grandpa can rest in peace, and feel blessed with having such a huge family. And hope my grandma can live long enough to see her great-great-grandchildren (though it's not very likely).

The Time of the Year

I know it has been a week or so already, but thanks to everyone again for all your wishes, either by person, by SMS or by Facebook. With so many things happening recently, I regret to say that it's not a very enjoyable one this year.

There are 365 days a year and there will be many other days when I could be much happier. Maybe I should stop putting my stakes onto this time of the year and thinking that 'I must be nothing but happy', 'I've the right and deserved to be happy', 'It's unfair because it's supposed to be an happy occasion and yet I'm not'. After all there are only 24 hours in a day, and phew..., everything will be over in an instant. It's just another normal day, except that people will send more messages to you than normal.

Like 2 years ago, I'm once again surrounded by grief and sorrow. Before you start being curious and bugging me about what has happened, check my archives around this period 2 years ago and you'll know why.

I'm not particularly sad or anything, so need not console me or whatsoever. I just dislike being engulfed in such an atmosphere and existing in the state where being cheerful is deemed to be wrong and inappropriate. When everyone is upset, I've to follow suit. When everyone is feeling down, I've to make myself feel down too. No choice of emotions.

Apologies for any inconveniences caused. Stay at your normal style and tone please. I hope you get what I mean...