Patra Caesar
23-05-2005, 06:35
I want this toilet so clean you could eat off it because we're having guests over for dinner tonight! :D Yes, the world's toilet themed resteraunt!
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377310-13762,00.html)
Toilet-themed restaurant a hit
From correspondents in Kaohsiung
May 23, 2005
A TOILET-themed restaurant is proving a huge draw for customers in Taiwan, eager to eat food off plates and bowls shaped like western loo seats and Japanese "squat" toilets.
Marton Theme Restaurant, named after the Chinese word "Matong" for toilet, has become a hit in Taiwan's second largest city since its opening in May 2004.
Though bathroom decor seems a bizarre way to whet the appetites of diners, the idea has been so successful owner Eric Wang opened a second and bigger branch just seven months later.
"We not only sell food but also laughter. The food is just as good as any restaurant but we offer additional fun," says 26-year-old Wang, who gave up a career in banking to launch the business.
"Most customers think the more disgusting and exaggerated (the restaurant is), the funnier the dining experience is," he says.
The top orders are curry hot pot, curry chicken rice and chocolate ice cream because, well, "they look most like the real thing", Wang says.
The price ranges from 150 to 250 Taiwan dollars ($6 - $10) for a meal set including soup and ice cream.
Customers, however, flock to Marton Restaurant mainly for its quirky dining wares and interior decor.
"This is such a funny and strange restaurant," says patron Chen Bi-fang, while sitting atop a colorful toilet seat - the standard chair at the restaurant.
She sits by a table converted from a bathtub with a glass cover while looking at a wall decorated with neon-lit faucets and urinals turned into lamps.
Chen first came to the restaurant after seeing it featured on television and has brought nine co-workers along for lunch on her second visit.
"I think this is the most special restaurant I've ever been to. The menu also looks good and I'd like to try more next time," says newcomer Cheng Hung-chi, who found out the restaurant over the Internet and took her mother and brother with her.
They are exactly the kind of customers owner Wang are counting on - drawn by novelty and who return with friends in a city crowded by a wide variety of restaurants.
"Our restaurant is the first and only of its kind in Kaohsiung and that gives us an advantage in the saturated market here. Our major challenge is to lure customers back after the initial fun," he says.
Other gimmicky restaurants in Taiwan using themes such as a prison, zombies and even China's Mao Zedong achieved quick success but folded within a few years after the novelty wore off.
To make sure his investment wouldn't go down the pan, Wang first tested the water for the toilet food gimmick by peddling ice cream in toilet-shaped cones in street booths four months before opening his restaurant. It was an instant hit as he sold up to 1,000 ice-cream cones daily for $30 dollars each ($1.20) - 5 to 10 dollars higher than a regular one.
His idea came from a popular Japanese comic featuring a robot doll fond of eating excrement in ice cream cones.
"The success with 'toilet ice cream' was a leap of faith for me to quit the stable but boring banking job and start my business despite strong objections from my family," he says.
The young entrepreneur is planning to expand his business to other cities on the island though franchising after adding more items to the menu.
"After the curiosity fades, we have to hold on to customers with upgraded food and services," Wang says.
While probably a terrible abuse of human rights, I don't know if spanking men dressed up as women will be a punishment or reward...
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377304-13762,00.html)
Wig and make-up party raided
May 23, 2005
SAUDI security forces have arrested 92 men after they stormed a party and found them wearing make-up and wigs and dancing in women's clothes, an internet newspaper reported today.
Al-Wifaq (www.alwifaq.net) said some of the men at the "deviants' party" - a phrase usually used to refer to homosexuals - were drunk and had taken drugs.
Saudi forces raided the party in the Qatif district in eastern Saudi Arabia at 1 am on Friday morning, according to the web site. Most of the men detained were from the conservative Muslim kingdom but others were from Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon and Syria.
Officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Last month human rights group Amnesty International launched an urgent appeal on behalf of 35 people it said were at risk of being flogged after attending what Saudi newspapers had described as a gay wedding.
It said the men were sentenced to between six months and two years in jail, and between 200 and 2,000 lashes.
Croft to get smaller titties! Now Lara won't be 3D! :p What will geeks wank over now??? Talk about a storm in a D-Cup!
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377315-13762,00.html)
Croft bust size downsized
May 23, 2005
IN an attempt to appeal to more female players the creators of computer game icon Lara Croft have re-vamped her image to remove one of her most prominent and remarked-upon features -- her generous bust.
For years, Croft's gravity-defying chest, waspish waist and long legs have delighted teenage boys playing the various editions of Tomb Raider, the computer game in which she stars.
According to Saturday's edition of The Times of London, British computer game firm Eidos, which created Croft, has changed her physique to one less likely to put off female players.
In the soon-to-be-released Tomb Raider: Legend, the eighth title to feature Croft, her DD-size bust has been reduced to a more modest C-cup and some of her more revealing outfits have been ditched, the report said.
The adventurer even sports a modest round-neck sweater with full arms for part of the game, the paper added.
"Lara's been on a diet and she's definitely gone down a cup size, but she's still quite well proportioned," Toby Gard, the original creator of the character, told the paper.
Created in the mid-1990s, Croft's series of adventures have made huge profits for Eidos, and were turned into a pair of films starring US actress Angelina Jolie as the eponymous heroine.
However, the most recent Tomb Raider titles have fared less well. In March, shares in Eidos tumbled more than 30 per cent in a single day following speculation about a profit warning.
I can't think of anything to go with this story, I'm distracted because my partner is complaining about how much time I spend online and thinks I might have a cyber boy friend on NS...
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15375641-13762,00.html)
Death 'a thing of the past'
From correspondents in London
May 23, 2005
DEATH could become a thing of the past by the mid-21st century as computer technology becomes sophisticated enough for the contents of a brain to be "downloaded" on to a supercomputer, according to a leading British futurologist.
But he told London's Observer newspaper the technology might be expensive enough to remain the preserve of the rich for a decade or two more.
Among other eyebrow-raising predictions by Ian Pearson, head of the futurology unit at British telecommunications giant BT, is the prospect of computer systems being able to feel emotions.
This could eventually involve such things as planes being programmed to be even more terrified of crashing than their passengers, meaning they would do whatever possible to stay airborne.
While the predictions might sound outlandish, they were merely the product of extrapolations drawn from the existing rate at which computers are evolving, Mr Pearson said in an interview.
"If you draw the timelines, realistically by 2050 we would expect to be able to download your mind into a machine, so when you die it's not a major career problem," he said. "If you're rich enough then by 2050 it's feasible. If you're poor you'll probably have to wait until 2075 or 2080 when it's routine.
"We are very serious about it. That's how fast this technology is moving: 45 years is a hell of a long time in IT."
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377310-13762,00.html)
Toilet-themed restaurant a hit
From correspondents in Kaohsiung
May 23, 2005
A TOILET-themed restaurant is proving a huge draw for customers in Taiwan, eager to eat food off plates and bowls shaped like western loo seats and Japanese "squat" toilets.
Marton Theme Restaurant, named after the Chinese word "Matong" for toilet, has become a hit in Taiwan's second largest city since its opening in May 2004.
Though bathroom decor seems a bizarre way to whet the appetites of diners, the idea has been so successful owner Eric Wang opened a second and bigger branch just seven months later.
"We not only sell food but also laughter. The food is just as good as any restaurant but we offer additional fun," says 26-year-old Wang, who gave up a career in banking to launch the business.
"Most customers think the more disgusting and exaggerated (the restaurant is), the funnier the dining experience is," he says.
The top orders are curry hot pot, curry chicken rice and chocolate ice cream because, well, "they look most like the real thing", Wang says.
The price ranges from 150 to 250 Taiwan dollars ($6 - $10) for a meal set including soup and ice cream.
Customers, however, flock to Marton Restaurant mainly for its quirky dining wares and interior decor.
"This is such a funny and strange restaurant," says patron Chen Bi-fang, while sitting atop a colorful toilet seat - the standard chair at the restaurant.
She sits by a table converted from a bathtub with a glass cover while looking at a wall decorated with neon-lit faucets and urinals turned into lamps.
Chen first came to the restaurant after seeing it featured on television and has brought nine co-workers along for lunch on her second visit.
"I think this is the most special restaurant I've ever been to. The menu also looks good and I'd like to try more next time," says newcomer Cheng Hung-chi, who found out the restaurant over the Internet and took her mother and brother with her.
They are exactly the kind of customers owner Wang are counting on - drawn by novelty and who return with friends in a city crowded by a wide variety of restaurants.
"Our restaurant is the first and only of its kind in Kaohsiung and that gives us an advantage in the saturated market here. Our major challenge is to lure customers back after the initial fun," he says.
Other gimmicky restaurants in Taiwan using themes such as a prison, zombies and even China's Mao Zedong achieved quick success but folded within a few years after the novelty wore off.
To make sure his investment wouldn't go down the pan, Wang first tested the water for the toilet food gimmick by peddling ice cream in toilet-shaped cones in street booths four months before opening his restaurant. It was an instant hit as he sold up to 1,000 ice-cream cones daily for $30 dollars each ($1.20) - 5 to 10 dollars higher than a regular one.
His idea came from a popular Japanese comic featuring a robot doll fond of eating excrement in ice cream cones.
"The success with 'toilet ice cream' was a leap of faith for me to quit the stable but boring banking job and start my business despite strong objections from my family," he says.
The young entrepreneur is planning to expand his business to other cities on the island though franchising after adding more items to the menu.
"After the curiosity fades, we have to hold on to customers with upgraded food and services," Wang says.
While probably a terrible abuse of human rights, I don't know if spanking men dressed up as women will be a punishment or reward...
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377304-13762,00.html)
Wig and make-up party raided
May 23, 2005
SAUDI security forces have arrested 92 men after they stormed a party and found them wearing make-up and wigs and dancing in women's clothes, an internet newspaper reported today.
Al-Wifaq (www.alwifaq.net) said some of the men at the "deviants' party" - a phrase usually used to refer to homosexuals - were drunk and had taken drugs.
Saudi forces raided the party in the Qatif district in eastern Saudi Arabia at 1 am on Friday morning, according to the web site. Most of the men detained were from the conservative Muslim kingdom but others were from Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon and Syria.
Officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Last month human rights group Amnesty International launched an urgent appeal on behalf of 35 people it said were at risk of being flogged after attending what Saudi newspapers had described as a gay wedding.
It said the men were sentenced to between six months and two years in jail, and between 200 and 2,000 lashes.
Croft to get smaller titties! Now Lara won't be 3D! :p What will geeks wank over now??? Talk about a storm in a D-Cup!
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377315-13762,00.html)
Croft bust size downsized
May 23, 2005
IN an attempt to appeal to more female players the creators of computer game icon Lara Croft have re-vamped her image to remove one of her most prominent and remarked-upon features -- her generous bust.
For years, Croft's gravity-defying chest, waspish waist and long legs have delighted teenage boys playing the various editions of Tomb Raider, the computer game in which she stars.
According to Saturday's edition of The Times of London, British computer game firm Eidos, which created Croft, has changed her physique to one less likely to put off female players.
In the soon-to-be-released Tomb Raider: Legend, the eighth title to feature Croft, her DD-size bust has been reduced to a more modest C-cup and some of her more revealing outfits have been ditched, the report said.
The adventurer even sports a modest round-neck sweater with full arms for part of the game, the paper added.
"Lara's been on a diet and she's definitely gone down a cup size, but she's still quite well proportioned," Toby Gard, the original creator of the character, told the paper.
Created in the mid-1990s, Croft's series of adventures have made huge profits for Eidos, and were turned into a pair of films starring US actress Angelina Jolie as the eponymous heroine.
However, the most recent Tomb Raider titles have fared less well. In March, shares in Eidos tumbled more than 30 per cent in a single day following speculation about a profit warning.
I can't think of anything to go with this story, I'm distracted because my partner is complaining about how much time I spend online and thinks I might have a cyber boy friend on NS...
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15375641-13762,00.html)
Death 'a thing of the past'
From correspondents in London
May 23, 2005
DEATH could become a thing of the past by the mid-21st century as computer technology becomes sophisticated enough for the contents of a brain to be "downloaded" on to a supercomputer, according to a leading British futurologist.
But he told London's Observer newspaper the technology might be expensive enough to remain the preserve of the rich for a decade or two more.
Among other eyebrow-raising predictions by Ian Pearson, head of the futurology unit at British telecommunications giant BT, is the prospect of computer systems being able to feel emotions.
This could eventually involve such things as planes being programmed to be even more terrified of crashing than their passengers, meaning they would do whatever possible to stay airborne.
While the predictions might sound outlandish, they were merely the product of extrapolations drawn from the existing rate at which computers are evolving, Mr Pearson said in an interview.
"If you draw the timelines, realistically by 2050 we would expect to be able to download your mind into a machine, so when you die it's not a major career problem," he said. "If you're rich enough then by 2050 it's feasible. If you're poor you'll probably have to wait until 2075 or 2080 when it's routine.
"We are very serious about it. That's how fast this technology is moving: 45 years is a hell of a long time in IT."