Help reconstruct Japan
developed by JhackAbout Skeptikai
Skeptikai defends science and exposes pseudoscience. Living in Japan also allows for an interesting opportunity to discuss fascinating stories that go unnoticed elsewhere. Psychological phenomena and intriguing cases from around the globe are also regularly highlighted.
The Psychological Science of StorytellingIt hit me about two years ago, sometime after I started this blog. Somewhere between the…
Islamic Blasphemy and the “Freedom” to Choose your Own ReligionIn the last few weeks, Muslims from Bangladesh have been going crazy trying to fight back…
Inattentional Blindness and the Invisible ViolinistIf a tree falls in the forest and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound? It…
Hamas-Israel Ceasefire Ends as Gaza Schools Drop Sports for Military TrainingI have been following the news regarding the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza that…
Are Vocal Homophobes Really Just Homosexuals in the Closet?Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who…
Why Haven’t We Found the Missing Link in the Fossil Record? Science Answers!War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. -George Orwell If evolution is…
Bollywood Zombies and The Westernization of Indian Pop CultureGo Goa Gone, the first Western-style zombie flick to be made in Bollywood, was just…
Hungary Solves Homelessness by Finding Places for All… in Jail?The brilliant move of Hungary lawmakers to criminalize the act of being a homeless person…
The 2013 Pigasus AwardsEvery year, the James Randi Educational Foundation gives awards to recognize the special…
Did Jesus ‘Want’ to be Nailed to a Cross?I'm pretty sure the answer to the question in the title is "no," but there are many things…
Tag Archives: trains
Top 4 Documentaries on the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake
If there’s one good thing we can say about nature’s merciless beating of Eastern Japan on March 11, it’s that this incident became the most studied natural disaster in the world. Aside from Japan’s extensive scientific detection instruments, ordinary people from coastguards to tourists had documented what happened. With all the information we have now, scientists are piecing together important points that help us understand, prevent, or prepare for another such devastating earthquake. Following are some fantastic documentaries that show a great deal of information in a format that’s very easy for the layperson to understand.
Posted in Aggregators/lists/rankings, Japan, Media, Science, Technology
Tagged documentaries, earthquake, natural disasters, trains, tsunami
Leave a comment
Award-Winning Homage to Trains
Japan was the first country to really have significant high-speed railway technology, when the 0 series Shinkansen (which in English was called the “bullet train” because of its speed and shape) came out in 1964. The demand to move people between cities like Tokyo and Osaka drove the engineers to connect the country via trains, and the slow-moving versions just weren’t doing it. Flash forward today, and virtually everywhere is connected by trains in Japan. They’re fast, safe, and pretty much considered the gold standard of train technology among other nations, many of which are using Japanese technology as a model. But despite the fact that most trains connect us from one end of the nation to the other, the southern region of Japan, Kyushu, has only been connected by shinkansen this year. There was even a great commercial made for its debut, but practically no one had heard of it. Why? Because it aired at the same time as the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.
Posted in Culture, Japan, Media, Technology
Tagged advertisements, earthquake, trains
Leave a comment