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July 17, 2009

Friday Squid Blogging: Bottled Water Plus Squid

Only in Japan:

Bandai toy company from Japan has finally realized that bottles of water just aren't cute. As Japan is the cute capital of the world, this just wouldn't do. To fix the problem, they developed these adorable floating squids that can be added to any bottle of water. Thank god for Japanese innovation. Of course, they're only available in Japan, but at least they're affordable at only $6 each.

Posted on July 17, 2009 at 4:09 PM16 Comments

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Comments

Here's another squid story that's a bit less cute: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8155417.stm

Posted by: Mike Stankavich at July 17, 2009 5:58 PM


According to the official site, only the white one is a squid. The red one is an octopus, and the blue one is a jellyfish.

http://www.asovision.com/magicpet/contents.html

Also, the videos there (click on "Movie" for one, and the link next to it for the other) seem to indicate they don't just float there...

Posted by: Petréa Mitchell at July 17, 2009 9:03 PM


From the same website, the perfect tshirt for Bruce
"I Love Teuthology"
http://shop.neatorama.com/product-info.php?...

Posted by: Ronnie at July 17, 2009 9:06 PM


And would anyone but the Japanese want squid floating in their water bottles?

Posted by: David Harmon at July 18, 2009 10:02 AM


@ Bruce,

Off topic but you might want to have a look at the,

"Goldman Sachs caught with their pants down?"

Story over on Financial Cryptography,

http://www.financialcryptography.com/

If what the author is saying is true GS had a program that was stolen that GS have admitted to a court could have allowed the trading to be manipulated by observing trades before they where confirmed.

It is noticable that GS went from the number one profitable trade spot where they appeared to be able to do no wrong (trade wise) to off the bottom since the news broke...

If the program was used by GS for "insider dealing" we are talking billions of dollars...

Posted by: Clive Robinson at July 18, 2009 10:03 AM


"And would anyone but the Japanese want squid floating in their water bottles?"

Swimming around in their water bottles! From the looks of the official site, this is aimed mainly at kids. I think kids of many nationalities would find this attractive.

Posted by: Petréa Mitchell at July 18, 2009 10:59 AM


If you wish one, I can certainly arrange to get one and sent it to you ...

Posted by: dkm at July 18, 2009 2:26 PM


Offtopic: I see you commented on the NYT article on Amazon snatching back bootlegged copies of 1984 from Kindles. Seems like there is an essay eagerly waiting to be written there about DRM and what it can lead to. That is all. :)

Posted by: Randall at July 18, 2009 3:12 PM


Why in the world would you pay to put a choking hazard into your kid's drink?

Posted by: Lynn at July 18, 2009 8:18 PM


This is a toy, not a drink-aid, or flavor packet.

If the bottle is closed (as it should be), it's only as much of a choking hazard as the bottle is. I'm no child-toy-expert, but I'm guessing 4 or so years old is old enough not to take the cap off of a water bottle and choke on it.

Posted by: Scott at July 18, 2009 10:00 PM


Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...arrrrrrrrgh

Posted by: Francis Wayland Thurston at July 20, 2009 5:08 AM


@Clive: From what I've read the Goldamn story is overblown. The code that was stolen was trading analysis software, not some sort of magic prophesizing system that could read off trades before their execution. This is stuff every trader would have in some form or other; supposedly it operates in conjunction with a 32TB database, which was not stolen, and which it is useless without. As for the manipulating markets comments, I suspect that is miscommunication all round. I could abuse markets right now by lifting the telephone (remember the killings made on HBOS shorts when rumours were spread about them last September?), but that doesn't make my telephone illegal.

Posted by: Calum at July 20, 2009 6:49 AM


Under the $1=£1 rule, the UK price would be sick squid.

Posted by: Pete Austin at July 20, 2009 7:17 AM


"According to the official site, only the white one is a squid. The red one is an octopus, and the blue one is a jellyfish."

What, no cuttlefish?

Posted by: mcb at July 21, 2009 9:21 AM


A trading program seems kind of tame compared to the stunts Goldman has pulled recently. How about installing an exec as SecTreasury and through him subverting the entire political and regulatory process for evil and profit?

Posted by: Jess at July 21, 2009 8:14 PM


It is cute (: ... i can't find it in singapore though.. It was selling during events.. BUT I MISS IT! awww.

Posted by: FiM at October 10, 2009 4:36 AM


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