Shuff's General Chat Thread ... #73 - Talk about anything and everything...  

J Geils dead at 71 as The J Geils Band founder and guitarist 'passes away at home'

The guitarist, founder of The J. Geils Band, was found dead at his home on Tuesday in Massachusetts, according to US reports.

WCVB-TV Boston reports the rocker passed away from natural causes.

John, known professionally as J. Geils, was guitarist in his namesake band.

They were best known for hits Centerfold, Freeze Frame and Love Stinks.

In the 80s, the likes of US, the Eagles and Billy Joel all opened for the band, who eventually broke up in 1985

While studying mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Geils formed the band with Danny Klein, Magic Dick Salwitz, Stephen Jo Bladd and Peter Wolf.

Before they released their debut album in 1970, Seth Justman also joined the line-up.

After giving up the guitar, John went on to focus on another passion - auto racing and restoration.

However, in 1992 he made a return to music when he produced an album for old bandmate Danny Klein and created Bluestime with Magic Dick. In 2005 he also released a jazz album.

Speaking about Bluestime and how it compared to The J. Geils Band, Magic Dick previously told the LA Times: "A lot of people, all they knew us for was Freeze Frame, Centerfold and stuff like that.

"I don't think they were aware of how blues and R&B oriented the earlier stuff was. I really feel great about (the new group) because this is the music that inspired J. and myself when we first discovered our mutual interest in Chicago-style blues and classic jazz.

"We never got to do enough of it in the J. Geils Band. We kind of went down the rock road - which was fine, we had a great time with that, too. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But this is different, to be fronting a band which is very fundamental, and to play the music that was my first love."

Japan's population to shrink by a THIRD within 50 years from 127 million to 88 million as long work hours and online porn are blamed for a drop in birth rate

Japan's population is still declining despite policies to reverse the trend
Country will dip below 'red line' of 100million people by 2053, data shows
Change in lifestyle, with women working for longer, has been blamed
Overwork, online porn, and disinterest in sex also identified as problems

Japan's population will shrink by almost a third in the next 50 years and is set to fall by half by 2115, statistics show.

In 2065 people over the age of 60 will make up 38 per cent of the population while those under 14 will make up just 10 per cent if current trends continue.

That is despite policies such as more paternity leave, support for those seeking fertility treatment, and free preschool education designed to reverse the decline.

By 2065 almost 40 per cent of Japan's population will be made up of people over the age of 60, while those under the age of 14 will constitute just 10 per cent

A change in lifestyles is largely behind the fall, with women opting to have longer careers, while men are unable to provide for a traditional family as wages have stagnated

A fall in the number of taxpayers combined with a spike in pension payouts is expected to put Japan's economy under increasing pressure in the decades ahead.

The decline was revealed in figures released by the country's Heath Ministry which publishes a report every five years.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga actually welcomed the data, as it was slightly less pessimistic than previous predictions.

Suga said: 'I am sure that the next five years will show even more of an impact.'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has tasked Suga, himself a father-of-four, with keeping Japan's population above the 100million mark until at least 2060.

Tuesday's numbers show the country will drop below that target by 2053, a slight improvement on previous predictions of 2048.

Japan's declining birth rate and ageing populace has been a concern for political leaders for years.

Overwork has also been referenced many times as a cause for the decline, with 11 per cent of companies admitting full-time workers clocked 80 hours of overtime a month last year

A report in 2016 also showed 40 per cent of Japanese singles had never had sex, leading many to conclude that a rise in internet porn and 'virtual girlfriends' was also to blame

The problem became particularly pressing last February, when it was revealed the country's population had actually shrunk for the first time since records began.

The reason for Japan's plummeting birth rate appears to be a change in women's lifestyles couple with cultural factors, according to Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.

As in many developed countries, women are marrying later and putting off having children for the sake of a career.

But Japanese culture has exacerbated the problem, as women are typically expected to give up work entirely after marriage, a prospect which no longer appeals.

Meanwhile wages have largely stagnated while living costs have increased, meaning men face a significant drop in lifestyle in order to support a wife and children.

Births outside of wedlock are also a major taboo, meaning single motherhood has not picked up the slack, as it has in other countries.

An ageing population also means more work for the generations behind, with overtime culture in Japan blamed for people having less time to spend on family.

A report out last year found 11 per cent of Japanese companies had full-time staff who clocked a staggering 80 hours of overtime a month.

Online porn, virtual reality girlfriends and a general disinterest in sex have also been blamed, with a 2016 report showing that 40 per cent of young single men and women have never had sex, and most were not looking to change that.

best keep the dragon happy or you'll have to move again.



It'll take you a while to settle in, and if you're anything like me, once you have things unpacked you'll move it three times until you're happy with the layout of everything.

I have learned that if you go into see fast and furious with an objective mind, you will be disappointed. If you enjoy it as an action movie, then it is an quite entertaining. I would also like to mentioned how expensive it is to buy food/drinks in the movies!

Australian Scientists Just Made A Huge Breakthrough That Will Lead To Smaller Devices

Researchers at Curtin University have created a diode out of a tiny, super efficient single molecule. This incredible breakthrough means we can now make phones and laptops smaller than ever.

At this rate, our devices will be soon be so small we'll lose them in our pockets.

Diodes are the the basic component of most modern electronic devices, responsible for directing electric currents. They allow currents to flow in one direction while blocking currents in the opposite direction.

Lead researcher Dr Nadim Darwish, from Curtin University's Department of Chemistry and Curtin Institute for Functional Molecules and Interfaces (CIFMI), said the physical limit of current computing power had been reached because today's conventional technology was limited to allowing only the printing of millions of diodes on silicon chips, not thousands of billions of diodes.

"If we want to continue to offer smaller and more powerful everyday electronic devices like mobiles phones and laptops, then we have to use single molecules as the basic components of the electronic circuits in those devices," Dr Darwish said. "Our method utilises a small organic molecule connected with a gold and a silicon electrode in a tiny circuit, measuring only one nanometer long – or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair."

Dr Darwish says while the team is not the first to have created single-molecule diodes, this diode is much smaller and more efficient than any previously reported. Using their technology, we can fit more than ten thousand billion diodes onto a one centimetre square area of a silicon chip.

Dr Simone Ciampi, also from Curtin University, said the team of researchers was now focused on increasing the mechanical stability of the diodes.

"We have demonstrated that this molecular-scale diode can allow currents to pass in one direction 4000 times more efficiently than in the opposite direction, which is a leap towards creating single-molecule diodes of comparable efficiency to conventional diodes while also scaling down the size significantly," Dr Ciampi said.

The research team also included scientists from from the University of Barcelona and the University of New South Wales.

Was Monkey really magic? From bankruptcy to a tragic death at a young age... where the cast of the cult series are now as Netflix plans reboot

It's the cult 1980s Japanese TV series getting the remake treatment from Netflix.

But the original cast of Monkey (known to many as Monkey Magic) will be difficult to replace for many fans, with its actors going on to become some of Asia's best loved performers.

As the series prepares for a return, Daily Mail Australia looks at where Monkey's stars are now, with one battling bankruptcy and another dying tragically young.

Somali Pirates VS Ship's Private Security Guards

Published on Apr 20, 2017
The deadly fight between Somali pirates and a Private security guard on board a cargo ship. when pirates were trying to board the ship.