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.

Internet’s 40th anniversary, a brief history from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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.

Sony Walkman celebrates 30th birthday from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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.

Japanese planted 60,000 peace tree in Nanjing from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The 1968 wooden mouse (Image from Bootstrap Institute)

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.

Computer mouse celebrates 40th birthday from YeinJee's Asian Journal

More pictures available on Flickr [via Japanprobe]

Old Japan era’s bathing beauties from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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.

How long can a person live without food? from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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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Ngoc Son Temple, Hanoi, Vietnam from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The Ly Thai To statue above is located at Indira Gandhi Park, nearby Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi to commemorate the Vietnamese emperor.

Statue of Ly Thai To, Hanoi, Vietnam from YeinJee's Asian Journal

Vietnamese Dong (đồng), if not mistaken, is the second least valued currency behind Zimbabwean dollars. The face value of Dongs started rising since late 80s because of inflation; in 1985 the largest banknote was 500, but now 500,000.

Despite the high inflation rate, Vietnam’s economic growth is quite decent over the time span… most Vietnamese are probably living better now as compared to a decade or two ago.

Who wants to be a millionaire? from YeinJee's Asian Journal

Japan is generally credited as the origin of cosplay, but there are no actual facts of when the cosplay culture started. The credit for coining the word ‘cosplay’ seems more apparent though… although there are a few versions on how it was created, the credit goes to Nobuyuki Takahashi when he first used the word in some Japanese magazines in 1983/1984.

Akibanana has some scanned image of the My Anime magazine released in June 1983, which is said to be where the word first appeared, written in Japanese – コスプレ (kosupure)…

Origin of the word cosplay from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The festival is celebrated to commemorate ancient poet Qu Yuan, who jumped into a river and killed himself after his country was conquered by the other.

Locals who admired his patriotism fed rice dumplings to the fishes in the river which he committed suicide so that the fish would not disturb his body… some others also rode on boats and beating on drums to scare away the fishes for the same purpose.

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Dragon Boat Festival, zongzi, bakchang from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The McDonald museum in Des Plaines (Image by Sgt Fun)

The first McDonald’s was actually opened by Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California in 1948… the Des Plaines restaurant was the ninth outlet but is often regarded to be the beginning of the modern McDonald’s franchise that exist today [more McDonald's history on Wiki]

McDonald’s #1 Store from YeinJee's Asian Journal

The first recorded sighting of Nessie could date back to 565AD… but the whole monster-fever probably started in 1934 when the infamous Surgeon’s Photo (right) was published and shocked the world.

(The photo was however discovered to be a hoax in 1993, more details at the end of this article)

Since then, numerous sightings have been reported; some with pictures or videos but none of the images captured could clearly prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster.

Some of the ‘evidences’ are proven hoax; while some others are genuine but inconclusive. Critics believe that lots of those genuine images were actually objects like flock of water-birds, wood logs, boats and natural phenomena etc.

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The Loch Ness Monster from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal

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Buckingham Palace, London, UK from YeinJee's Asian Journal