So we’ve seen many Hello Kitty vehicles, but this Bus is the best I thought because it wasn’t a small bus like the one below, it’s a complete Double Decker fully decked in Kitty Style! I love it! The Bus below is really cute too, but it’s not as grand as the Double Decker! If the world was all pink and cute it would be a lot friendlier don’t you think?

A good story on CNN to summarize it.

Relatives of September 11 victims bowed their heads in silence Tuesday to mark the moments exactly six years earlier when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. The dreary skies created a grim backdrop, and a sharp contrast to the clear blue of that morning in 2001.

"That day we felt isolated, but not for long and not from each other," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said as the ceremony began in New York. "Six years have passed, and our place is still by your side."

Construction equipment now fills the vast city block where the World Trade Center once stood. Work under way for four new towers forced the ceremony to be moved away from the twin towers’ footprints and into a nearby park for the first time.

It is astounding that a city as wealthy as Hong Kong has large percentage of people so poor, they cannot even afford the electricity or the internet charges, let alone a computer.

Needy families are being further impoverished by the fees they have to pay for computers their children use at home, say welfare workers. They want the government to pay for a "one family, one computer" scheme, because computers are now a daily necessity and indispensable learning tools.

The call followed a survey released yesterday that found 14.9 per cent of poor families could not afford a computer at home.

For those who do have computers, 73.6 per cent found the internet fees and software too expensive.
Raising this money lowered their quality of life. Among common ways to cut spending was "cutting electricity bill by washing clothes by hand", "travelling by foot whenever possible" and "cutting expenditure on meals by buying less food".

The survey, conducted in June and July by a coalition of 18 social welfare concern groups, interviewed 201 families in old districts.

A spokesman for the coalition said computers had become an important learning tool and most schoolwork required their use.

"It could affect the academic performance of a child if he does not have access to a computer at home," the spokesman said.

Free computers are available in some facilities like public libraries, but demand is great and users often face a lengthy wait.

The coalition said the government should help needy families.

A mother living on public assistance in Sham Shui Po said she could not afford to buy a computer for her daughter.

"But she needs a computer to do homework. So, when it is needed I have to call around to ask relatives to let her use their home computer for a few hours," the mother said.

On one occasion she had to take her daughter to Tuen Mun to use a computer at her sister’s home.

Chryssy has an interesting post about not simply a copyright infringement but also an abuse from a site that benefits from selling derivative Hello Kitty works in the form of destruction, crucifixtion and so on.

It brought about an interesting thought, about a site like that, that abuses and tortures Hello Kitty and sells the merchandize as such (obviously unlicensed I suspect) vs. something like Kittyhell which, although not flattering to Kitty either, is clearly satirical and in some way comical and describes an experience.

Read her blog to find out more but I think it raises an interesting debte overall. I generally support her position, I just think it is an interesting area to explore also.

This is something different, first we had the Hello Kitty Tank, and now we have firearms too! What’s the world coming too, very funny, I doubt it’s official but wanted to share it with everyone anyway.

International feline superstar Hello Kitty returned to her Japanese roots on Monday, donning a kimono and dancing like a geisha in a bid to convince young girls that traditional is cool.

Twirling and sliding in a bright red and black kimono, the cat that epitomises cuteness for legions of fans the world over performed traditional steps normally reserved for geishas and kabuki actors to a rapt audience of mainly preschoolers.

"As Hello Kitty is a Japan-born internationally loved cute character, we asked her to cooperate with us to teach children in a fun and easy to understand way Japanese culture," said Megumi Morioka of Sogetsu Bunkajigyo, the organisers of the event and one of Japan’s biggest flower arrangement companies.

After demonstrating a complex traditional "buyo" dance, Hello Kitty demonstrated simple dance moves with a fan to the children, who haltingly imitated her.

"The dance was very beautiful," said four-year-old Mana Noshida after the event. "It was so cute," added Eika Mitsui, 5.

The Hello Kitty character, owned by Sanrio Co, is 33 years old and one of Japan’s biggest cultural exports, emblazoned on goods in 60 countries.

While many Japanese women still don kimonos for New Year’s Day, graduations and other special occasions, the elaborate gowns have become less popular over the years, especially with trendy youth. Other traditional crafts and artforms are also trying to lure more young people to keep them alive.

from Reuters