Japan explained

To Western eyes, many of Japan's cultural practices seem strange, even bizarre. So here's Japan for the Uninvited to explain to us, in a very clear and helpful way, just why the Japanese invented the square watermelon.

I'm not sure why Japan in particular has come to be seen as the epitome of strange cultural practices... we accept what we know, but there are aspects of every culture that would seem as odd to any other.

In the 80s, TV shows started to pick out Japan and it's extreme game shows as something to mock and wonder at. It turns out that the Japanese were just ahead of us there... with Fear Factor and Big Brother, such shows now seem (almost) normal to us.

Maybe the same will soon be true of shark fin ice cream

Image by Flickr user solution_63
Licensed under Creative Commons by 2.0

Mmmm... bacon

I love bacon as much as the next perpetually dieting woman. But a bacon-scented bacon-print tuxedo? That's just... wrong.

Although looking around, it seems there are a lot of stranger things to be done with bacon. How about the bacon bra? Shouldn't that be cooked first?

Or maybe you fancy some bacon vodka? I'm hoping to take a trip to Poland soon... I wonder if my Polish friends would like to have a try of that one?

I also came across a recipe for a bacon martini, as seen above, which somehow seems even worse than the vodka.

But for the real bacon lover, I think the best invention may be the bacon alarm clock. Waking to the smell of freshly cooked bacon every morning... mmmm....

Credit: Brian

Image by Flickr user &y
Licensed under Creative Commons by-nc-sa 2.0

Buyer beware

Craig's list has got to be one of the strangest places on the Internet. On the one hand, it's simply a mundane listings site for classified ads... and yet it's also a home for the truly weird.

Like an ad offering $350 to anyone prepared to be an arch nemisis. It seems you can buy anything now, even your enemies.

Credit: Bill

Personal crowd

I talked last year about personal space and how the social rules for keeping your distance carry over into virtual worlds.

But this image of a Japanese wave pool, and the related YouTube video, graphically show the variations in social rules in different cultures. The idea of choosing to be in a pool with that many people is highly disturbing to my English notions of necessary personal space.

With the Internet being such a cosmopolitan place, I wonder how much these cultural variations in social rules affect us. It's not something I've noticed clearly, although I have certainly noticed that online the rule tends to be "tolerate difference, or go make a niche"

Image: © kilian-nakamura.com, used with permission.

Slooow down Bob

For an unusual product that I won't be trying, how about "Drank" - the "anti-energy drink"

This is the exact opposite of all those stimulating caffeine drinks out there. Instead it's designed to calm you with melatonin, valerian root and rose hips.

I know a lot of all-night IRCers who could probably do with this, but I think the last thing I need is a soporific

Credit: Splarka

Pointless website No.291

You've got to love the Internet. Especially the way it provides a place for everyone, no matter how small and obscure their passion.

The usual reference for this is Rule 34: "If it exists, there is porn of it." But I don't think you have to reach for the Barney-the-Dinosaur-and-cranberries porn to show the wonder of the InterWeb.

Case in point: catsinsinks.com

Yes... this is a site about cats. In sinks. Seemingly endless images of felines hogging the bathroom.

"If it exists, there is a website about it."

Image by Pschemp of Wikipedia. Licenced under the GFDL