Where else but in Japan? The Central Japan Railway Company announced plans last week to introduce the world’s fastest magnetically levitated passenger train, at a cost of $44.7 billion US Dollars. Planning to top speeds of 500 KMH (310 MPH), the CJRC maglev train will become the fastest in the world, beating out the current champion which tops out at snails-pace of 430 KPH in Shanghai.

Seems quite some people are still upset about Firefox users’ habit of blocking web advertising! Oh noes! A growing number of bloggers appear to be blocking users of the popular Firefox browser from accessing their content, claiming it’s theft to read a blog while blocking advertising. Though as a publisher I understand the hate, as a developer and heavy internet user, I’m torn. We had a ton of feedback to us here at BoN about our previous layout, with 4 ad display units per page, which opened our eyes, causing us to change, leaving one med-block ad unit above the fold (kinda). This we felt was a happy medium, where users wouldn’t have their experience diluted and we as publishers wouldn’t have our revenue diluted (too much). We can live with that, all we ask is that our readers live with it too.

Quote from Whyfirefoxisblocked.com:

The Mozilla Foundation and its Commercial arm, the Mozilla Corporation, has allowed and endorsed Ad Block Plus, a plug-in that blocks advertisement on web sites and also prevents site owners from blocking people using it. Software that blocks all advertisement is an infringement of the rights of web site owners and developers. Numerous web sites exist in order to provide quality content in exchange for displaying ads. Accessing the content while blocking the ads, therefore would be no less than stealing. Millions of hard working people are being robbed of their time and effort by this type of software. Many site owners therefore install scripts that prevent people using ad blocking software from accessing their site. That is their right as the site owner to insist that the use of their resources accompanies the presence of the ads.

Growing up, I couldn’t get enough of The Price Is Right game show on daytime television. Being a young design nerd, one of the things that fascinated me the most was the wonderfully presented game props with their Madison Ave layouts, their swooping curves and flashing lights of various colors, wrapped around beautiful typography from various decades. Now, thanks to some amazing fans, you can find the corresponding font to some of your favorite Price Is Right games, from Hi-Lo, to Safe Crackers and Spelling Bee!

If you’re like most people in America, you’re either not interested in any of the candidates seeking nomination for president, or you’re unable to actually determine the difference between any of them. That’s where Glassbooth comes in! Using some of web 2.0’s buzzword technologies, Glassbooth walks you through a quick and simple quiz, where you’ll also determine your key points of interest in this year’s campaign. Doing the quiz myself and having a few friends do it, we were all pretty surprised at the accuracy of the results, accurately recommending to us the candidates we were already supporting.

The makers of the Chumby, a hand-held, cuddly computer in a beanbag, are finally starting to ship out retail units to the earliest of adopters. Though still in low numbers, it’s a promising bit of news for a gadget we’ve been frothing at the mouth to get a hold of. Featuring a spiffy little touchscreen with an accelerometer built-in, the Chumby is a widget ‘toy’ with an open development environment, allowing hackers and companies to create nifty little, internet-connected (via wifi), widgets that can sit at your bedside.

There are already a handful of hot widgets available to play with, from the eBay auction to Flickr stream widgets. My Chumby (should it ever be mass-available), will be used as an internet-aware alarm clock, syncing with time servers worldwide and streaming my music of choice to gently prod me awake. Developers, get on it.

Absolute hilarity. I know it’s an oldie, but I had to finally post more Star Wars goods, because, what are nerds without Star Wars after all? From the 80s, this is apparently a statewide beauty pageant from Kansas, where Miss Douglas County, Stacy Hedger, decides she wants to play a stirring trumpet solo for a medley of Star Wars, complete with choreographed laser shots and deflection rolls.

Not safe to stick in a stereo, but safe to use when sticking other things together, the Indispensable Tape Dispenser is every mix-tape fans dream come true. Shaped like an original cassette tape and packed with two-sided sticky tape, I can see this getting added to lots of kids adding this to their wishlists this holiday season.

Hvaauu hoaaaovoaaou maiyoo gaoaoaraaoo raauooaoruuauau rouaovuoaoan ruu nauao, maoooaowuaao muouuaio hauao waouonvuu aowiaauua rraouia raaauurooa wauyuaaovoaoaa maiuaooahuoaao! Guoai rraaoa huoa? Nhaouw noauyaraaaouaa rooyuuhooio nuuuuuoa rrauauuhoyuiuuu waooaa nuouuuaauarraoa.

Fresh-cut apples, ready-made pie crust, sugar, cinnamon, oh, and lots of crispy bacon fried in butter. Sounds lovely! Some daring food pornists took it to themselves to recreate the myth of the Bacon Apple Pie and put it’s edibility to the test. Was it edible? Did it send anyone to the hospital a few hours later? Yes and no it seems!

Want to try and bake one on your own? Follow the photo diary and see if you can recreate your own Bacon Apple Pie. Godspeed and may your intestines forgive you the next morning.

A huge past-time for Japanese school children is making Dorodangos, or, shining mud balls. By packing in wet dirt or mud, forming it into a ball and re-layering the mud as it dries, kids are making hard and perfect Dorodangos on playgrounds around Japan. Now you can make your own thanks to the English translations from Fumio Kayo, which are “previously undisclosed” steps for recreating the shining Dorodango. Perfect for parents looking for new ways of spending time with their kids, who always love a chance to play in mud.