Viewing BLOCKED VIDEOS -- yes you can !!

Once again proving that Firefox is far more superior than IE...

Watch all the deleted videos on DailyMotion Hassle free!

OK, here's how you do it.....

First of all this is only an option for Firefox users. If you haven't got Firefox then click on one of the download boxes to the right. It's easy to install and it incorporates all your favourites from IE into Firefox.

Plus, you can easily change your mind after since you don't have to uninstall IE ; you're not "converting" to anything. You can just revert back to IE whenever you want. I run both FIrefox and IE on my computer with no problems (not that I use IE much anymore. ~.^ )

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Download the Firefox addon "Noscript" which stops the script that stops you from watching episodes that have been deleted from Daily motion.

You can Download it here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/722/

Once downloaded (a few minutes at the most), Follow this path:
Go to the top of the firefox toolbar and go into TOOLS ->EXTENSIONS.
A small window will pop up and the recently downloaded NOSCRIPT will be there.
Highlight it (single click), then choose the "options" button.
In the GENERAL tab, make sure youtube.com is not in the ALLOW list.
If it is, single click it on and choose REMOVE SELECTED SITES.
Treat other sites like dailymotion.com, etc. individually, hitting REMOVE SELECTED SITES everytime.
Click OK at the bottom.
Restart Firefox (to make sure it took effect.)


OTHER:
To make the video go fullscreen simply, right-click on on the video itself. Depending on the viewer, it will say either "GO FULL SCREEN" or just give you a "SETTINGS" option. Going through settings will allow you to go full screen.

WARNINGS:
1. These settings are permanent and if you want to turn them on/off, must be changed manually through the above steps.
2. This works perfectly but not on the customised URLs that have been resized.
3. You'll find there are some good scripts it blocks, like those from google, blogger, and meebo. HOWEVER, NOSCRIPT will tell you when it's doing this and you can again easily set those scripts to be "allowed". ^.^

Once everything is setup, and the intial sites are choosen to be allowed/disallowed, it's smooth sailing!!

Long live freespeech and creativity on the Internet!!!

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Chocolate ER

Between, the oppresive heat, the typhoons, and the snow, one is often reluctant to venture outside. (Or maybe just smart enough to not want to.)

However, the chocolate-yin has no regard for the rest of the body's comfort; it is inexorable...unquenchable.

So, to that end, I have devised what I call my "ER Brownie Fix" recipe for that quick choco fix:

1 mashed banana (small)
1/4 cp sugar
1 cp flour (For those that need wheat/gluten free use 1/4 cup tapioca flour and 3/4 cp "white" sorghum flour plus 1-2tspn baking powder)
1/4 cp of oil
1/2 cp of honey
1+1/2 tspn baking powder or soda
1+1/2 tspn vanilla
4 TB powdered coco
1/2 cp mini choco chips (optional. But is it really an option???)

mix in microwaveable bowl then sprinkle with choco chips and microwave for 4-6 minutes on low than another 4 minutes on high!!! (If you don't have that option on your micro, cook while watching for 5-8 on high/regular setting.)

**if the brownies gets hard after cooling down, a simple 10-20 second reheat will do the trick. I also find it very nice if you splash some Bailey's or Chocolate liqeur on top of those puppies before you reheat them. ;>

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Movie Links - part 1 (legality)

Before I put up all the best links, ie all the free movies and videos you can watch online, the issue of legality should be addressed since FOX has recently starting making a fuss.

As copied directly from one of the forums:
Linking is not illegal, and I work in the legal profession, albeit it, as a legal exec and copyright is not my field.

Sure, depending on the content of what is uploaded, both the uploader and video hosts may be guilty of copy write infringement.

Even with the above in mind, we can see that the laws are a bit unclear and taking action is very hard.

This of course can be seen in the fact that the host sites such as google vid and youtube etc carry on with NO problems.

The internet is an 'open access resource' and linking to these sites is not illegal. How does the linker know the material is copywrite?

They don't! We can't be aware of these things. We don't know if any of these hosts have arrangements or rights to the material.

The buck stops with the hosts.

This is just scaremongering. Fox of course can't do anything about these hosts and have now turned their attention to people linking to them. How pitiful.

This should be a clear indication of what powers they have, surely people linking to these sites are by the by and the issue lies with the hosts, yet they complain here. This in itself should be a clear indication of things.

I PM'd videocentral about this and their comments are in agreement, with the added comment that Fox can kiss their ass.

Moviefan (username)

---

So rest easy, and browse happy. :) You can cruise the Internet freely...
For now at least.

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Laundry - the neverending battle

Let's start off with something rather blaise, but necessary--laundry.

If you're lucky you will at least have a mini washing machine in you apartment. Mini in that it can wash about 1/2 the amount of an American washer so you will be forced to wash laundry4-5 times a week.

Even the smallest dryers will cost you a minimum of 300 US dollars or 3o,000 yen, so unless you both have the room and plan on staying at least 2 years, it's not worth it. Every single apartment I've ever seen has a small balcony or patio or something that allows you to hang your clothes out doors.

Bike Grease STAIN REMOVAL: As 99% of the foreigners here will be forced to only have their bikes for local transportation, you will at some point get bike grease on your clothes. This happened recently and after searching the web (my stain book didn't cover that type of clothing disaster.), I found a rather curious "cure" and it WORKS!!
--> Let that one piece of clothing run through the whole washing cycle by itself, but instead of using any stain remover or detergent, add a can of COKE. After it goes through one whole wash and rinse cycle, you can wash it normally with other clothes. ^.^
I used this trick on my favorite light beige pair of pants and they came out perfectly.
I couldn't believe it.

WARNING FOR WOMEN: Do NOT hang your underwear outdoors! Japanese men have a weird fetish about women's underwear (hence the used underwear vending machines in the seedier areas of metropolitan cities), and it may be stolen. If you have to hang it outside, make sure you only do it while you are at home. This applies to people living on the uppen floors, too. There's nothing more exotic than a foreign women's underwear (apparently).

"Brief" Introduction

I have lived in Japan going on 3 years now and have taught in both the private school (juku) and the public school systems.
Fortunately for me, I speak both Japanese and English, but even so, I had to find out everything myself when I got here. There is no ONE, encompassing resource for people either trying to live in Japan now or trying to prepare before they go. So, I figured, all my hard work, blood-sweat-and-tears (and many, many, MANY hours) searching should not go to waste.

Depending on popularity/public-demand, I may offer a full website with more resources, but for right now, I want to get a feel for public reception with a BLOG only.

UPDATES: At this point in time, I expect to update on a weekly basis.

FIREFOX: I strongly, highly recommend you download Firefox from any of the links on this page. Windows has limited features, is not standards-compliant, and regularly crashes. Case in Point: Although I rarely use the Windows XP portion of my laptop, lately I have been. Previously, I kept up-to-date on American news by watching cbs and msnbc online. I upgraded to IE 7 and now, instead of the news, I get a giant GREEN screen. Comparatively, with FIREFOX, there have been no online video issues/problems. Runs smooth as a whistle. ;>

If you are interested in watching any of the free movies or TV shows on the many sites I will be listing, you will want a stable web browser because many of the sites are hosted "overseas" where the bandwidth isn't so good and having to reload a show FROM SCRATCH you just spent 20 minutes waiting for is .....*deleted for content* ;)

Besides, with Firefox you can do all this and more:

• Block ads with adblock and filterset G.


• Download the videos to watch later with VideoDownloader extension.


• Use the most sophisticated tabbed browsing system available. Once you learn to use tabs, you’ll never go back to having tons of open windows.

I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian who did SysAdmin work for over 6 years and currently runs three OS systems on her laptop. I know a thing or 2 about computers. ;> Do yourself a favor and download Firefox.

UPCOMING POSTINGS:

Where and How to watch LOTS of free online movies and TV

Public vs. Private Schools-the reality of the system

Public vs. Private Schools-handling Japanese students

Where to find food - regular and vegen

What do those characters on my home appliances mean?

Battling the 3 Extremes - heat, humidity, cold

Straight Facts @ NOVA & AEON - compiled reports

various ESL resources

SUGGESTIONS:
As this site is run by popular demand, please leave any requests for answers/advice on certain topics on any post with the "comments" link. (simply leave the comment anonymously.) Or leave a note on the "messages" board to the right. Comments there are not publicly displayed, but go straight to the private account.