From human tetris to marshmallow-eating with your face strapped with an elastic band, here is a look at 8 of the most outrageous Japanese game show events:

Rock, Paper, Scissors

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Dodge the Bull

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This is a French game show called Interville but is so much funnier with Asian commentators. With a few more votes and some more fan mail, I definitely think this event should be entered in the next Calgary stampede.

Tug of War

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Don’t try this one at home with your mom’s pantyhose. The one they are using is made from a special material made specifically for this game show event. The contestants have to place their heads into pantyhose and pull in opposite directions. The rest is quite self-explanatory.

Door Running

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I am not quite sure what to say about this one. I just hope you have good intuition and a hard head.

Human Tetris

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Just like the video game, human Tetris is an instant classic. Even though it is just a wall pushing people dressed in spandex into a pool, it is still an amazing event. Here is a tip if you ever decide to participate: practice your fetal position.

Marshmallow Eating

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In all honesty, I thought this would be seen first on an American channel but I guess the Japanese beat them to it. In this event, each team member needs to eat a hanging marshmallow while an elastic band is attached to their face. I just hope that the elastic band is stronger than it looks.

Soccer with Binoculars

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Lotion Stair Climb

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The most physical event in Asian game shows: The Lotion Stair Climb. Get ready for the most brutal and physically straining event in years. The event tasks a team of people smothered in lotion to climb a flight of stairs, also covered in lotion, and make it to the top. Did I mention people are throwing buckets of K-Y jelly on you at the same time?

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1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

You can find a wide range of free online business courses at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Some of the classes offered include:

• Financial and Managerial Accounting: This course aids business owners in understanding and presenting financial information to investors and for decision-making processes within the management of your business.
• Applied Economics for Managers: Learn about how economists model consumer choices and market coordination. While it mostly focuses on microeconomics, you’ll learn a little bit about global markets as well.
• Taxes and Business Strategy: Plan for taxes and situate your business in the most advantageous spot within tax laws.

2) The Small Business Training Network (SBTN)

SBTN offers online courses, workshops, publications, information resources, learning tools and direct access to electronic counseling, and other forms of technical assistance. Many of the learning opportunities offered by the Network are developed by co-sponsors (academic institutions and corporations), some are developed by SBA’s resource partners and some are developed internally through agency contracts. All of the offerings are free, most are self-paced and the majority are considered “topical primers“.

3) Free Management Library (SM)

There are approximately 650 topics in the Library, spanning 5,000 links. Topics include the most important practices to start, develop, operate, evaluate and resolve problems in for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Each topic has additionally recommended books and related Library topics. FML gives you step-by-step guidelines, from how to employ calendar software for time management, to tools and techniques necessary for the most important activities in any for-profit or nonprofit organization.

4) My Own Business

MOB offers courses on how to start your own business. (Certificate options are also available on the site.) The 16 courses are presented by various successful business owners, explaining why most businesses fail and how to avoid common mistakes. Some of the topics include evaluating business potential, communication tools, accounting and cash flow and how to finance your business.

5) The Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

The Kutztown University of Pennsylvania’s Small Business Development Center offers more than 80 free business courses online. Many of the courses feature high-end graphics, interactive case studies and audio streams. Some courses offered include:

•    Accounting
•    Business Management
•    Business Planning
•    Finance
•    International Business
•    Marketing
•    Small Business Management

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Retraining and Employment

One of the most critical issues in determining whether an ex-prisoner can successfully re-enter society is their training and employment. Prisons often fail to provide any type of job training to prisoners, which means they leave prison without any way to earn a living. Recidivism rates of prisoners involved in job and vocational training during their stint in jail are generally 20-60 percent lower than those of prisoners released without the additional training. Some states, such as Illinois and Virginia, are successfully reducing recidivism rates by providing programs that help train prisoners and find them jobs after their release. Programs like these are crucial to help ensure the successful re-integration of prisoners, having their criminal record wiped clean by pardon services Canada, as well as the provision of temporary support services such as housing assistance and food stamps.

Family Networks

Prisoners who have a supportive network of family members tend to have a smoother reintegration process. By involving concerned family members in the process and helping ensure prisoners maintain strong relationships with their family while in jail, some states are improving their recidivism rates as well as ensuring adequate support for the prisoner. Family members can often help by providing prisoners with a place to stay after their release and by helping them to find employment. They also provide emotional support, which is an important part of helping prisoners avoid substance abuse and other issues that often led to their initial imprisonment.

Housing

Many studies show that up to 50 percent of recent parolees become homeless at some point after being released from prison. By lifting many of the bans that prevent individuals with drug felony convictions from being able to apply for government help with housing or food, states can help ensure that ex-prisoners have a safe place to live. Without a physical address, looking for a stable job can be impossible, which can compound the problem for many parolees. Programs that help ensure parolees have a stable place to live after leaving prison can help prisoners build a more successful life after leaving prison.

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Thanks to medical imaging technologies, physicians can do a full colon exploration while viewing the images in near real time on the screen. A virtual colonoscopy provides 3D reconstructed endoluminal views of the bowel without the use of a colonoscope. VC is a procedure used to look for signs of pre-cancerous growths, called polyps; cancer; and other diseases of the large intestine. The old system for diagnosis and treatment was discovery with a series of x-rays, or more commonly referred to as a lower GI. However, those images have proven insufficient to detect and prevent tiny polyps in their early cancerous stages. Today, with the advent of medical imaging technology, doctors are able to catch and treat colon cancer at the onset.

In most cases, a colonoscopy procedure takes no more than 30 minutes, but the VC will take only about 10, and the examination does not require sedatives. (Whether or not that’s a good thing is debatable.)

Here’s a quick breakdown of how the procedure would go:

• The patient is placed in a supine position on the examination table
• A thin tube is inserted into the rectum (sorry, can’t avoid it completely), so that air can be pumped through the tube in order to inflate the colon for better viewing.
• The table moves through the scanner to produce a series of two-dimensional cross-sections along the length of the colon. A computer program puts these images together to create a three-dimensional picture that can be viewed on the video screen.
• The patient remains conscious throughout the session, and may be asked to participate with the steadying of the images by taking in a deep breath and holding for a few seconds.
• The scan is then repeated with the patient lying in a prone position.

After the procedure the patient may resume normal activity, but if abnormalities are found and the patient needs conventional colonoscopy.

Be warned though, that just because the colonoscope isn’t going in, doesn’t mean you get to avoid what’s got to come out beforehand. While preparations for VC can vary, you will usually be asked to take some laxatives or suppositories one day before the procedure to clear stool from the colon.

Colonscopy patients have reported that the preparation time is the worst of the ordeal, but that the actual procedure is performed quite quickly and comfortably. Finally, the American Cancer Society recommends the test at age 50 and again at age 60.

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Several factors have contributed to Montreal’s ability to produce award-winning bands, singers and musicians alike. For starters Montreal has some of the lowest rent for apartments and rehearsal spaces in North America. Combine this with thousands of coffee shops, restaurants, bars and clubs, and suddenly you have a hotbed where musicians can work and afford to live in the city, while honing their talents and evolving as artists. Also, with several internationally renowned colleges and universities in the downtown area alone, students from all over the world can develop fanatical loyalty to up and coming musicians, as they spill into the smaller venues and bars for cheap beer and live music.

Bars

Bars like Brewtopia and Grumpey’s are often filled with local musicians, and offer the new and experienced alike the chance to showcase their skills during open mic nights, all leading up to headlining bands on the weekends. You could also squeeze into Barfly on St-Laurent, where The Dears and The Wolf Parade have rocked out to 65 people cheering as if they were 650. I was recently watching the Ladies of the Canyon at The Green Room, a cozy artist’s bar up in Mile End. The room was packed, the beer was cold, and the singing was extraordinary. There are plenty of small shows like this all over the city, all you have to do is look.

Larger Venues

In my humble opinion the best venues are the slightly larger ones like Metropolis, La Tulip, and Club Soda where I’ve had the pleasure of watching the homegrown talents of Sam Roberts, The Arcade Fire, The Unsettlers, and The United Steel Workers of Montreal. Due to the city’s size, the Montreal music scene has a very community feeling to it. Most of the bands already know each other and many are friends, which offers fans a richer experience during shows, as musical guests will often jump on stage, strap on an extra guitar and sing along. I once hosted a show at Metropolis for Dawson Students Against Violence in 2006, where six bands, headlined by The Stills, put on incredible performances, all to raise money for the Anastasia De Sousa Foundation, in memory of the girl who lost her life during the Dawson shootings. Hanging out with all these young up and comers in the basement greenroom, you certainly felt proud to be part of a show where so many came together to give their time and share their music for a noble cause.

Big Names

Of course, just about every musical superstar from all over the world who passes through Canada has Montreal booked on their calendars. U2, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, and Pearl Jam, to name a tiny few, have all stopped by to sing hello at Montreal’s Bell Centre on a regular basis, with names like Elton John, Billy Joel, No Doubt, Kiss and Metallica printed on upcoming Montreal concert tickets stubs. These huge shows are generally spectacular with incredible sound and dazzling lights, and it’s always a treat to see these larger than life celebrities live, but due to the sheer size of the space I find the Bell Centre lacks a certain intimacy that the smaller venues offer. And with arranged seating and fairly strict security, these shows are a bit tougher to really go nuts and let the music take you. You’ll never see a crowd surfer at the Bell Centre.

Festivals

Which brings me to Montreal’s outdoor music scene. Every Sunday, thousands of Montrealers gather on Mount Royal to listen to the rhythmic poundings of the “Tam tams.” Perfect atmosphere for chilling out, tossing the frisbee, or having a picnic. And for those at the opposite end of the grassroots, hacky-sack spectrum, there’s Piknik Electronik, where DJs spin their Sunday beats, encouraging an entirely different but equally liberating style of outdoor dancing at Parc Jean Drapeau.

Osheaga

This park is actually my favourite concert location. With the Montreal skyline as a backdrop, the sun setting between the skyscrapers and the Molson brewery, you are free to go elbow to elbow with thousands of partying Montrealers in the mosh pit, or you can relax way back on the hill, with beer vendors bringing delicious beer right to you. This park is where 18,000 and I sang along to Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, the greatest show I’ve ever been to. It is also here where the Osheaga Music Festival takes place every summer. Six stages offering Montrealers some of the best music from local artists, alongside some of the world’s biggest names over the course of a weekend. This year none other than The Beastie Boys, The Roots, Rufus Wainwright, and Coldplay will fill the night air with their beloved songs, making music under the stars in one of the world’s greatest cities.

With too many names to mention in this article, here’s a list (even this list isn’t complete) of Montreal musicians who’ve gone on to make a name for themselves on the international circuit. Here are two interviews and one article which give great summaries of the music scene in Montreal.

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