Read this. Oh my!
>TOKYO (AP) The recent craze for hydrogen beer is at the heart
> >>of a three way lawsuit between unemployed stockbroker Toshira
> >>Otoma, the Tike-Take karaoke bar and the Asaka Beer Corporation.
> >>Mr Otoma is suing the bar and the brewery for selling toxic
> >>substances and is claiming damages for grievous bodily harm
> >>leading to the loss of his job. The bar is countersuing for
> >>defamation and loss of customers.
> >>
> >>The Asaka Beer corporation brews "Suiso" brand beer, where the
> >>carbon dioxide normally used to add fizz has been replaced by the
> >>more environmentally friendly hydrogen gas. A side effect of this
> >>has made the beer extremely popular at karaoke sing-along bars
> >>and discotheques.
> >>
> >>Hydrogen, like helium, is a gas lighter than air. Because
> >>hydrogen molecules are lighter than air, sound waves are
> >>transmitted more rapidly; individuals whose lungs are filled with
> >>the nontoxic gas can speak with an uncharacteristically high
> >>voice. Exploiting this quirk of physics, chic urbanites can now
> >>sing soprano parts on karaoke sing-along machines after consuming
> >>a big gulp of Suiso beer.
> >>
> >>The flammable nature of hydrogen has also become another selling
> >>point even though Asaka has not acknowledged that this was a
> >>deliberate marketing ploy.
> >>
> >>It has inspired a new fashion of blowing flames from one's mouth
> >>using a cigarette as an ignition source. Many new karaoke videos
> >>feature singers shooting blue flames in slow motion, while flame
> >>contests take place in pubs everywhere. "Mr Otoma has no-one to
> >>blame but himself. If he had not become drunk and disorderly,
> >>none of this would have happened. Our security guards undergo
> >>the most careful screening and training before they are allowed
> >>to deal with customers" said Mr Takashi Nomura, Manager of the
> >>Tike-Take bar.
> >>
> >>"Mr Otoma drank fifteen bottles of hydrogen beer in order to
> >>maximise the size of the flames he could belch during the
> >>contest. He catapulted balls of fire across the room that Gojira
> >>would be proud of, but this was not enough to win him first prize
> >>since the judgement is made on the quality of the flames and that
> >>of the singing, and after fifteen bottles of lager he was badly
> >>out of tune."
> >>
> >>"He took exception to the result and hurled blue fireballs at the
> >>judge, singeing the front of Mrs Mifune's hair, entirely removing
> >>her eyebrows and lashes, and ruining the clothes of two nearby
> >>customers. None of these people have returned to my bar. When our
> >>security staff approached he turned his attentions to them, making
> >>it almost impossible to approach him. Our head bouncer had no
> >>choice but to hurl himself at Mr Otoma's knees, knocking his legs
> >>from under him."
> >>
> >>"The laws of physics are not to be disobeyed, and the force that
> >>propelled Mr Otoma's legs backwards also pivoted around his
> >>centre of gravity and moved his upper body forward with equal
> >>velocity. It was his own fault he had his mouth open for the next
> >>belch, his own fault he held a lighted cigarette in front of it
> >>and it is own fault he swallowed that cigarette."
> >>
> >>"The Tike-Take bar takes no responsibility for the subsequent
> >>internal combustion, rupture of his stomach lining, nor the third
> >>degree burns to his oesophagus, larynx and sinuses as the
> >>exploding gases forced their way out of his body. His
> >>consequential muteness and loss of employment are his own fault."
> >>
> >>Mr Otoma was unavailable for comment.
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