“On September 2nd 1969, in a lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, two computers passed test data through a 15-foot gray cable.” [more on NatGeo]
It’s a disputable date of birth, depending on how we interpret the term internet. One thing for sure, the internet has come a long way to become what it is today. Sharing an enlightening video, a brief history of the internet…
[video by Melih Bilgil, more history of the internet on Wiki]
As convenient as it is, I always wonder if our lives would be a bit more interesting without internet… it took away some excitement of learning and discovery, as information becomes a bit too accessible imo, almost effortless.
Sony is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Walkman. The first model of the personal stereo-audio cassette player, TPS-L2 (pic), was introduced in Japan on July 1, 1979.
The Walkman brand was synonymous with portable personal audio devices until the emergence of iPod in 2001.
People who grew up in the 80s (like me) would have fond memories with the Walkman… most of you here are probably not from that era though.
Delegates from a Japanese association has made their 24th annual visit (on Mar 31) to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall for their tree planting project as an apologetic gesture for the Nanking Massacre.
The Chinese claims that 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers were brutally killed by the Imperial Japanese Army during the confrontation in 1937.
The association started planting trees around the memorial in 1986; and over 1000 delegates (including some ex-soldiers) have visited the place since then, with some 60,000 trees being planted in the area [image from NJ1937 (Cn)]
Besides being apologetic, the association also hopes to spread their anti-war message and to teach younger Japanese generations about the part of war history that are often neglected (sometime twisted) in Japanese text book.
Nanking Massacre will always be a pain for the Chinese; I am not suggesting that they should forget or forgive the Japanese for what they did, it’s out of my business. I hope that the Chinese could be reminded though, that there are at least some Japanese people that are working to amend the damages from their past.
Computer mouse celebrates its 40th birthday this week. The device was invented by Douglas Engelbart and his team at Stanford Research Institute; it was introduced to the public in a demonstration on December 9, 1968 in San Francisco.
The basic fundamentals of the mouse we use today are about the same as the 1968 invention, but the usage of the mouse wasn’t popularised until more than a decade later since its first introduction. It seems like nobody is really sure though… on who came out with the nickname Mouse.
Personal thanks to Mr Engelbart and his team; computing experience wouldn’t be the same without these technology pioneers.
Photo of Japanese Geisha posing in swimsuits (or bath-suits) during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) or Taisho Era (1912-1926) of old Japan…
More pictures available on Flickr [via Japanprobe]
Back in my school days I was taught that a person could live for 3-4 weeks without food but with water; the teaching is still applicable… but there are other factors that dictates the surviving period.
Mental strength, health condition, body weight, climates and some other factors play their part in determining the survival length; under optimal circumstances a person could live without food for 6-8 weeks or even longer in extreme cases.
I am not sure if there’s any official record for the longest survival without food; the longest record that I managed to find is 73 days during the 1981 Irish hunger strike. A total of 10 prisoners had died after 46 to 73 days of starvation in the strike.
Laurence McKeown survived the strike for 70 days, which could be the record for the longest period for a person to live without food and still surviving.
Ngoc Son Temple (Đền Ngọc Sơn), or Temple of the Jade Mound, is located on a small islet at Hoan Kiem Lake in the City of Hanoi. The temple was founded in the 14th century but most of its current structures were built in the 18th century.
Ngoc Son Temple was built to commemorate a few Chinese and Vietnamese legends, including famous Vietnamese General Trần Hưng Đạo who twice led the Vietnamese troops to fence off the mighty Yuan invaders in the 13th century.
Sharing a few photos of the temple below, taken during my Hanoi trip in July 2008. It’s a small temple, but pretty nostalgic with a serene environment…
Ngoc Son Temple as viewed from across the Hoan Kiem Lake
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Hoan Kiem Lake (Hồ Hoàn Kiếm), or Lake of Returned/Restored Sword, is located at the historical centre of Hanoi and is a popular hangout place for locals. The lake is not so much of a tourist spot itself, but there’s plenty of other sites around the area, thus making it an important landmark of the city.
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