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The Cloning Doll Craze In Japan

May 20, 2013 —  Comments

Danny Choo and Choo Two

Danny Choo and Choo Two

Phillip K. Dick , the Sci-Fiction Prophet of  the 20th century , who lived on dog food at the end of his life, wrote extensively about cloning. In his novel, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? which became the movie,  Blade Runner, he writes of a universe dominated by silicon bipeds (robotics). Folks, here comes the slow entering wedge of the future!

Welcome to the new and expensive craze in japan. Here  is the 3D printed doll, cloned from a real human’s head. Once you see it, you probably will never be able to un-see it..

This clone has a few friends that may or may not haunt you in your dreams later on. Imagine when they are all grown up and life-size.

The mini-me cloning service is popular among some Japanese women looking to preserve that special moment in life such as their wedding day, cloning hair & makeup and even the dress they wore.

Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact !

Oh you already did?

Because this is what happens to you if you do!

Just kidding! These are just some recently printed 3D heads on a stick drying off or something to that effect  -

Welcome to the Clone Factory in Akihabara, Japan. This is Danny Choo, again,who made me aware of  this from his blog, Culture Japan .

A bunch of digital SLR cameras all around him took photos of his head -

Then a big @ss printer made layers of ink which harden in a tray of plaster. The head is hiding inside that white pile of plaster dust -

Then, the clone is born … (and stuck on the body of a plastic Star Wars doll). You now owe them around $1,300. Surprise!!!

But hey, they clone pets too!

Oh no, he made eye contact!

Okay that’s all folks, wave goodbye now…  and you’ll be seeing her later on tonight, crawling out from underneath somewhere!

And remember, Blade Runner! In the future, be careful who you kiss! It might just be a droid who dreams of electric sheep!

Man and Droid, Harrison Ford and Sean Young, Blade Runner

Man and Droid, Harrison Ford and Sean Young, Blade Runner

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Free Long Distance and Free Texting for your iPhone or Android

July 14, 2012 —  Comments

Free_Long Distance

 

“Free” is a good word. Free is good in this economy.  Free is especially good when it applies to long distance phonecalls whether it’s your iPhone or your Android. If you’re traveling to the Olympics this month, or anywhere around this world, you need the new “secret sauce” for smartphones.

If you have been like me, I could never work out my relationship with my iphone when I traveled abroad. I would spend a lot of time with SIM cards and alternative phones and with at&t, and in the end I would still wind up with an exorbitant bill! We are talking hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.

So take a break from at&t, Sprint, Verizon or whatever carrier you have and sign up for two free apps, Viber for Long Distance  calls and Whatsapp for overseas texting.

You can get these free apps through the Apple’s App store (actually, Whatsapp costs less than a buck), and install them on your Android, iphone, or Blackberry (I don;t want to leave any devices out!)  You must make sure that the people who you most commonly call also have Viber and Whatsapp as well otherwise , you won’t be able to have these cool free services.

I knew I had hit the mother lode on cool because when I installed the apps (I laughingly say that, they install themselves), I could find on the contact list for both Viber and Whatsapp, all my techie-advanced friends who had already signed up. Interestingly enough, most of these techies who are dialing long distance for free, do a lot of traveling, have dual citizenship, speak multi-languages, and are pretty up on traveling light and free.

The downside is that you do need, internationally to be near some kind of wi-fi or broadband signal for it to work. Of course, there is a millisecond lag time in Viber because the signal is traveling a great distance, but, you quickly get into the staccato of the rhythm of conversation. It is  amazingly good voice quality.

There is of course, Skype, which is great, but if you want  other choices  for free long distance for your smart phone, whether iphone or Android or Blackberry then Viber is definitely an arrow to put into your quiver. If you’ve got teenagers who you need to stay in touch with, then WhatsApp is a great free tool for you, as well as them to keep their monthly texting allotment down with the standard carriers.

BTW, you can use this free service here in the states as well.

Anyways, safe and free travels around this world!

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