A suit that washes in the shower? And it looks pressed the next morning? A the first software company where I worked we had something like this that we named 'the developers suit' and would get pulled out of the closet any time an unexpected visitor arrived and a developer had to dress up. In between uses it was used for tug-of-war games and could be tied into knots and then spring back into action without a wrinkle. Back then we just called it polyester.
The suit, made under licence in Japan, is the first to pull off a long-sought coup that could spell the end of dry-cleaning bills for white-collar workers.
It is billed as the first two-piece that can be washed in the shower each evening and be ready to wear again in the morning – with no ironing required. And amazingly, after a rigorous road test, it appears to fulfill that pledge.
At least the Australian government is documenting the whale hunt this year to prove once and for all, this has nothing to do with science. This is all about the ego of a small group of backwards thinking people in Japan who don't care how much they embarrass the rest of the country. Last year the whale meat was so unpopular they tried giving it away to schools. Even then, nobody wanted it.
It's time to put this hunt in the past and move on. Why is Australia the only country to get serious? What was disappointing this year was that Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd could not even agree on working together in harassing the Japanese whaling fleet. Both used too much fuel so they had to turn back to refuel. Not long after their departure, the Japanese hunters successfully killed a number of whales including the mother and calf. The environmental groups are going to need to do much better in the future, but so are governments from the US and Europe.
The US and Australian diplomatic (and public) pressure was effective. The entire hunt made no sense because the Japanese, especially the younger Japanese, simply aren't interested in this battle. They hardly eat whale any more and have come to view the whale hunts as a bad thing. It was just a small group who led this hunt to promote their own strange brand of nationalism.
Now if we could get Norway to catch up, we'd be in pretty good shape.
If the whale populations were more secure and if the Japanese themselves actually ate the whale meat I might - might - tolerate the hunt. It's becoming less and less popular and last year the whale meat ended up in school lunches because it failed to ignite popular support in the markets. Unfortunately this is all about the ego of a few political extremists who are very vocal. What an absolute waste. What cowards.
