“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I thought Asians were supposed to be smarter than everybody else


Sometimes the headline says all that needs to be said.....

"Student drowns while testing concrete canoe"

No kidding!

OSAKA -- A university student here died after a test on a concrete canoe in the Yodogawa River went disastrously awry on Sunday afternoon.

This story has all the elements of exquisite comedy....a preposterously preposterous engineering idea, supposedly brilliant Asians attempting it, and an unintentionally hilarious headline describing it. But my favorite part was the phrase "disastrously awry".....dumb kid refuses a life-jacket and then proceeds to drown.....yeah, I'd say things went awry.

7 comments:

BelchSpeak said...

Actually...
Concrete canoe races are a primary staple of American Engineering schools. Wikipedia has a good article on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_canoe

The Japanese students were just following suit. Now if they guy had himself strapped in with a seatbelt, that would be a different story.

Bad Japanese inventions are also a cultural phenomena there. Check out these items:
http://www.methodshop.com/picts/chingdogu/index.shtml

ed said...

Yeah, I know about the amazing, engineering principle of water displacement and how steel, and even concrete, ships stay afloat but, still, Asians are supposed to be smarter than the rest of us. I'm only 1/4 Asian and 1/2 dumb American and even I know not to climb into an experimental boat without a life jacket. Perhaps it's the other 1/4 of me that's German that accounts for my engineering instincts.

Anonymous said...

Actually, being smart is an Asian stereotype. Just like the fact that all Americans are 'stupid' It's not true.

Anonymous said...

Gooԁ post. I leаrn sοmething tоtally new and
chаllenging on blogs I stumbleuρon eveгy daу.
It's always interesting to read articles from other authors and practice something from their sites.

Take a look at my webpage ... tens therapy
my web page > tens machine

Anonymous said...

fantаѕtіc issuеs altogether,
you just gained a logo new readеr. What would you
suggest іn гegards to your рut up
that yοu just made some dаys іn the ρast?
Any certain?

Feel free to visit my ѕitе: pain relief for athletes
My web page :: pain relief for athletes

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog that's both equally educаtive and engaging,
and wіthout a doubt, yοu've hit the nail on the head. The issue is something which too few people are speaking intelligently about. Now i'm very happy that I found thіs ԁuring mу search for something relatіng tο this.


Feеl fгee to surf tо my webpage: taxicab coppell

Anonymous said...

electronic cigarette, electronic cigarettes, e cig reviews, e cigarette, e cigarette health, ecigarette