Jellyfish 6ft wide and 450lb (200kg) are disrupting fishing in the sea of Japan.

In the meantime locals are making the best of it — rather than just complaining about jellyfish they are eating them.

Jellyfish are an unusual ingredient of Japanese cuisine but are much more prized in China. Coastal communities are doing their best to promote jellyfish as a novelty food, sold dried and salted. 

You've probably already seen engrish.com, dedicated to manglings of the English language on shirts, signs, and products.  There's now a site dedicated to the manglings of chinese characters which happens on tattoos.  Probably most humorous to those that know what the characters were supposed to look like.

 http://www.hanzismatter.com/

How you going to spend your Christmas this year?

Just thinking about my own personal transportation convenience, a railway from Kunming all the way to Singapore sure would be nice.

link

this CNN story and this Guardian story both report a Taiwanese scientist bringing up questions about whether the Taipei 101 building is causing more earthquakes due to its weight putting pressure on the soft rocks beneath it.  It would be mighty ironic if the building one day caused the earthquake that caused it to collapse.

The "oily liquid" in these no flush urinals that prevents smells from coming from the sewers back into the restroom would sure make a welcome addition in a lot of Chinese bathrooms, if there were some way to incorporate it.

 http://www.waterless.com/

A pretty cool take on the fold-out sofa: 

Bird flu, what is it? Avian flu (H5N1) aka bird flu is a type of influenza A that mainly infects birds but occasionally affects humans. Avian flu can be transmitted from live birds to people, although transmission between humans is very inefficient. The initial symptoms of avian flu are similar to those of other influenza viruses, including fever, generalised muscle pain, cough and sore throat. However, it is more likely to result in high fever, chest infection, respiratory failure, multi-organ failure, and death. For more information: [url=http://www.info.gov.hk/info/flu/eng/files/checklist-e

stipped form the BBC

A blast at a Chinese plant 12 days ago sent the equivalent of 10 tanker-loads of toxic chemicals into the Songhua river, Chinese state media report.

About 100 tonnes of lethal substances entered the Songhua as a result of the blast in Jilin, and the leak is now passing through the city of Harbin.

All taps are off in Harbin but the water supply may be restored on Sunday after being shut down for three days.

The company behind the blast has apologised for the accident.

Harbin's 3.8m residents are undergoing their third day without water.