Bruce Lee in Bosnia

A bronze statue of martial arts legend Bruce Lee has been erected in the Bosnian city of Mostar - a day before a second statue of him is unveiled in Hong Kong.

"We will always be Muslims, Serbs or Croats," said Veselin Gatalo of the youth group Urban Movement Mostar. "But one thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee."

Mr. Miyagi

Actor Pat Morita, best known for helping teach a boy martial-arts mastery through household chores as the wise Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid," has died. He was 73.

13 Uses for Bounce

What Granny knew... just like baking soda and lemon juice, dryer sheets seem to have more possible applications than you'd think. Although we haven't tried all of them, the few we tested did indeed work. (For the record: even though we mention Bounce, you don't have to use a brand name product--any dryer sheet will do.)

Repel mosquitoes. Tie a dryer sheet through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a used dryer sheet.

Freshen the air in your home. Place a dryer sheet in a drawer or hang one in the closet.

Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a used dryer sheet to eliminate the static cling on the thread before sewing.

Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual dryer sheet inside empty luggage before storing.

Keep the shock away. Place a sheet in your coat pocket to avoid the shock you get getting in and out of the car in the winter.

Clean baked-on food from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in the pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agents apparently weaken the bond between the food and the pan, while the fabric softening agents soften the baked-on food.

Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a used dryer sheet to prevent dust from resettling.

Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight so they smell great in the morning.

Keep flies away. Hang some sheets outside your doors to keep the flies from congregating and getting in your house every time the kids open the door. Place them in a work shed that has no air-conditioning and is wide open and you will never have a fly.

- WWNK 11/22/05

Here's snope's results (which were mixed)

Dragon Gate (the kung fu movie store)

Emily Ng, manager of Dragon Gate Bookstore, started noticing a drop-off in Chinese-language book sales about eight years ago. Rather than wait for obsolescence, she started bringing in videos and DVDs, starting with kung fu films not carried by rental operations such as Blockbuster. Since then she's managed to create a niche for fans of Chinese and Asian cinema in her small, unassuming storefront at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.

Dragon Gate Top 20

"Initial D the Movie"
"House of Fury"
"Tai Chi Master"
"Hero"
"House of Flying Daggers"
"Shaolin Soccer"
"Sword in the Moon"
"Shaolin vs. Evil Dead"
"Kung Fu Mahjong"
"Stairway to Heaven"
"Butterfly Sword"
"Dragon Inn"

Top Shaw Brothers DVDs
"Avenging Eagle"
"36th Chamber"
"Shaolin Temple"
"Five Shaolin Master"
"The Brave Archer (1, 2, 3, 4)"

Hmm. Kung Fu Mahjong? Sounds interesting.

why you sleep so late?

A new study suggests that, as children mature, the chemically driven pressure to sleep builds up more slowly. As a result, teens just don't get sleepy until later in the evening.

- starbulletin, 11/6/05

A Complete Handbook of Natural Cures

John Kapili added A Complete Handbook of Natural Cures for your reading enjoyment in PDF format for free. I added this after reading Kevin Trudeau Natural Cures Book. John Kapili also was given a book on cd: Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days . In my opinion I wouldn't buy either. Read the Complete Handbook of Natural Cures you will get just as much if not more for free. A great deal of Kevin Trudeau cures he wants you to pay for at his website by becoming a member at $ 9.95 a month or $ 499.00 for a lifetime membership. John Kapili will be asking for his money back guarantee, as soon as he digs out the garbage a gets the packing slip that is needed for returns.

-- from frwr-news 11/16/05

Apparently (from the url embedded in the file) this file originated from Health Library.com, though I wasn't able to find it there now.

odd blogs

The J-Walk Blog

- from ravi, 3/11/05

Squashed Philosophers

While the writings of great philosophers such as Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Nietzsche, Pascal and Kant are ingenious and insightful, they are also often long-winded, verbose, and difficult to interpret. Thanks to Squashed Philosophers, the average guy can quickly read a nicely condensed and easily digestible bit of Western Philosophy.

-- Cool Tricks and Trinkets #340

getting rid of stuff

[9/20/07] Getting Good Stuff Cheap (or Free)!

[11/11/05] freecycle was featured in the starbulletin a couple of weeks ago. It had 1416 members back then. It's now up to 1498. That's a fairly disappointing increase.

[12/25/05] Here's an earlier article that appeared last year. (In the print edition, that article was accompanied by this story.)

[1/14/05] WinXPNews has some suggestions on how to get rid of your unwanted computer (and other) stuff. Two in particular look intriguing: freecycle and craigslist.

fashion statement

My idea of fashion