And her new phone number is 40-24-32

From Mainichi Daily News:

Hideto Tomabechi -- who first made headlines in Japan almost a decade ago after he cured brainwashed members of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult that unleashed deadly sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system -- claims to have developed a tune for ring tones that promises to increase the breast measurements of those who listen to it.

And Tomabechi's brainchild for better busts has boomed, with chest challenged chicks swarming to transfer data to their own phones.

'I listened to the tune for a week expecting all the time that I was being duped,' says Chieri Nakayama, a 19-year-old pin-up model, tells Shukan Gendai. 'But, incredibly, my 87-centimeter bust grew to 89 centimeters! It was awesome!'

Since we don't want to, erm, change our shirt size, we're waiting for Tomabechi's next ring tone.

...he's already got plans on the drawing board for ring tones aimed at improving memory, increasing attractiveness for the opposite sex, making hair sprout and quitting cigarettes.

We still can't make up our mind which one we'll download first.

[Via the newest addition to our blogroll, Improbable Research, the blog run by the people behind the Ig Nobel prizes.]

Dr Zig?

Anyone care to give us an honorary doctorate? Or at least suggest a nice easy subject for a thesis? Then we can join the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists.

All you'res

Just came across Paul Brians's page of Common Errors in English. Great stuff even if it's an American behind the page. *grin* The irritating bit is having to go from the list page to pages that contain all of one line then come back again. Or right click and close pages. Methinks he's trying to pump up his sitemeter. Thanks be to Time Berners-Lee, his page of non-errors is easier to use.. One must however, tell you that Brians does not like people linking to either page directly. He prefers that you go here first. [Sorry, just discovered a page that contains the whole site in ascii text. But we won't delete our rant. So there.]

Oh yes, do also see Patrick Nethercot's page on The Dreaded Apostrophe. Or visit the Apostrophe Protection Society. Bookmark either to send to the idiot's in you're life who alway's misuse apostrophe's.

Now all we want is a page that is scathing about people who set our teeth on edge by using "you'll" when they mean "y'all." Suggestions? Write it ourself you say? Damne, this is a blog, fercryinoutloud. We don't do original writing.

P.S. What are the common errors in English usage that piss you off most?

You can do this shit

Watch out, NGMA... [Tip o' the hat to DD]

Lawrence of Cyberia

Want to write a book with Lawrence Lessig? He's put his 1999 book, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, on a Wiki, where you can help update it. [Via Weblogs in Higher Education]

Irony...

...or what happens when you do research online for an article on whether blogs get in the way of Real Writing.

Oh well. Might as well give you links to these blogs: Neil Gaiman, Dianne Duann [" I write for a living. That being the case, sometimes I want to talk about anything but writing (at least, writing per se). This is where that happens. "], and of course, William Gibson ["I’ve found blogging to be a low-impact activity, mildly narcotic and mostly quite convivial, but the thing I’ve most enjoyed about it is how it never fails to underline the fact that if I’m doing this I’m definitely not writing a novel – that is, if I’m still blogging, I’m definitely still on vacation."].

there are only 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary, and those who don't

Therefore, the Binary Watch at from I Want One Of Those. (And that site brings home to us the fact that we can't afford any of the lust-provoking goodies they have. And if we get so distracted with it that we let our deadlines whizz past, we never will.)

Sullivan the Seer?

Excerpt from a 2002 article in Wired by Andrew Sullivan

Blogs do two things that Web magazines like Slate and Salon simply cannot. First off, blogs are personal. Almost all of them are imbued with the temper of their writer. [...] Readers increasingly doubt the authority of The Washington Post or National Review, despite their grand-sounding titles and large staffs. They know that behind the curtain are fallible writers and editors who are no more inherently trustworthy than a lone blogger who has earned a reader's respect.

The second thing blogs do is - to invoke Marx - seize the means of production. It's hard to underestimate what a huge deal this is. For as long as journalism has existed, writers of whatever kind have had one route to readers: They needed an editor and a publisher. Even in the most benign scenario, this process subtly distorts journalism. [...] Blogging simply bypasses this ancient ritual.

[...]

Why not build an online presence with your daily musings and then sell your first book through print-on-demand technology direct from your Web site? Why should established writers go to newspapers and magazines to get an essay published, when they can simply write it themselves, convert it into a .pdf file, and charge a few bucks per download? Just as magazine and newspaper editors are slinking off into the sunset, so too might all the agents and editors and publishers in the book market.

This, at least, is the idea: a publishing revolution more profound than anything since the printing press. Blogger could be to words what Napster was to music - except this time, it'll really work. Check back in a couple of years to see whether this is yet another concept that online reality has had the temerity to destroy.

Well, do you think he was right?

You have two cows...

You blog about them. The cows wander off to greener pastures.

Another deadline whooshes by

And it's all Amardeep Singh's fault.

You go see Uncyclopedia, "the free encyclopedia of politically incorrect non-information." We have to make apologetic call to an editor and tell him that the article isn't done yet.