postal scrotum: the Japanese connection

My brother David emails with a link to an ABC News article about the inhabitants of the Japanese town of Obama and a manufacturer of construction equipment-- both with reasons to cheer the two Democrat front-runners.

Covering Japan probably was not part of the campaign strategy for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. But the heat is on among some supporters in Japan who feel a somewhat unusual connection with each candidate.

The residents of Obama City in Fukui Prefecture in central Japan cannot contain their excitement about the prospect of having someone named "Obama" being the U.S. president. And the employees of a farming and construction machinery maker in southern Japan are cheering for the candidate whose first name is the same as one of the transportation machines they build and sell: the "Hillary."

Intellesting.

David also emails a tech-related link to an article about a knee brace that can power mobile devices. It's practically ready for the market.

We've seen energy-harvesting devices for the human body before, from run-of-the-mill kinetic watches to backpacks that use a bouncing 50-pound load to produce power, but a knee brace that generates electricity from walking is something entirely new. Researchers at the University of Michigan recently developed the device as a proof of concept, but in the future it could be used to charge everything from laptops to cell phones without ever needing to plug in to the grid.

Now we need odor-free knee pads...


_