Every year in Japan, sumo wrestlers are paired off with infants in a ring.  The amateur wrestlers hold up the infants into the air and the infant who cries first is the winner.  If the infants cry at the same time then the loudest infant wins. 

The purpose of the contest is to pray for children's healthy growth.

Link, Link to photo gallery [via]

This is a Chachapoyas mummy that was found in the Amazon rainforest of nothern Peru.  Link.

We are multicolored is a site where you can express your uniqueness by designing your own flag.

we are multicolored is a collaboration between Matthew Brown, Jeremy Hutchison and Joe Marianek.

The project was made for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s Digital Artists in Residence Program. It aims to promote awareness around the contemporary immigrant experience. In keeping with its mission, the museum takes no position on the definitions of flags, but rather encourages the expression of multiple perspectives.

Our own Kelly left the country a few weeks ago and is now teaching English in Guangzhou, China. I'm not sure if there is a more disorienting experience for a Minnesotan than to be dropped in the middle of China with no communication skills, so when I received my first email from her today, chock-full of culture-shock nuggets, I couldn't help but laugh.

Here are some fun facts, courtesy of our first foreign correspondent in China. She writes:

• chinese people peel grapes
• i learned to NEVER tell anyone how much i love coffee. i think it is
  viewed kind of like smoking!!!! some type of drug that all americans need to get through the day.
• as a white girl, i have an incredible power. within 5 minutes of
  walking into any establishment---be it a grocery store, a noodle shop, or even china mobile!(the national cell phone company)---backstreet boys will start playing.
• everyone in china will tell you they LOVE jazz music. and by jazz, they mean kenny g. and by kenny g, they mean the kenny g christmas album...in the middle of septmber.

...and you thought you only had to worry about lead paint in Elmo toys...

We probably need to consider drafting Kenny G. and Backstreet Boys non-proliferation treaties... before it's too late.

I was searching Google Video today and came across some funny Filipino home videos.

What can I say...  Filipinos love to line dance--Thriller style.  Okay, here are some real Filipino dancers--Tinikling style.

I just feel bad for this guy, the Filipino Humps Dancer.

Ah, karaoke is another Filipino downtime activity.  To be honest, I was hoping to hear "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" or "My Way". 

Toast already!

Ladies, I really don't want to see what you've eaten at the Filipino store.