For Some in Japan, Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk

I found this article very interesting. Click on either of the pictures to read the full NY Times article.

For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo’s decrepit “capsule” hotels.

“It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep,” he said, rolling his neck and stroking his black suit — one of just two he owns after discarding the rest of his wardrobe for lack of space. “You get used to it.”

When Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 opened nearly two decades ago, Japan was just beginning to pull back from its bubble economy, and the hotel’s tiny plastic cubicles offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home.

Now, Hotel Shinjuku 510’s capsules, no larger than 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in, have become an affordable option for some people with nowhere else to go as Japan endures its worst recession since World War II.

Thanks to Unclutterer

How Is Wind Chill Calculated? (Plus 9 More Wind Chill FAQs)

Now that it’s January, it’s time to prepare for two things: the NFL playoffs and terrifyingly low wind chill reports. What does it really mean when my weatherman is telling me that it feels like minus-20 in Chicago, though? Is there a wind chill thermometer somewhere, or is he just using a mathematical formula? Let’s answer these and some of the other pressing questions about the ubiquitous winter statistic.

Click the image above to read the MentalFloss blog post.

The Dog Is Hilarious And The People Are Cruel

A vet friend put this on his facebook. It is hilarious so I thought I would share.



Thanks To Kenneth Head

10 Questions to Ask Your Mother Now

Better understand the woman who kept you in clean underwear (among many other things).

I found this list of questions very interesting. Granted, it is meant more for a daughter to ask her mother, but it is thought provoking for anyone.

1. What’s the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?
2. Why did you choose to be with my father?
3. In what ways do you think I’m like you? And not like you?
4. Which one of us kids did you like the best?
5. Is there anything you have always wanted to tell me but never have?
6. Do you think it’s easier or harder to be a mother now than when you were raising our family?
7. Is there anything you regret not having asked your parents?
8. What’s the best thing I can do for you right now?
9. Is there anything that you wish had been different between us? or that you would still like to change?
10. When did you realize you were no longer a child?

Click on the image to read the thought behind each question.

Thanks to many folks for sharing this on facebook