1glenn comments

One of the most respected medical organizations in the world being intentionally destroyed by Trump. So depressing.

The idea of selling US made Toyotas in Japan is not a new one. I remember watching a Toyota commercial in which they said that Toyota was the largest seller of American made cars in Japan.

So many species have been hunted to extinction. I real pity. When mother nature kills off a life form, that feels different from a species being killed off for fun and profit.

Read yesterday that there used to be a form of giant tortoise native to the island of Reunion. They were hunted to extinction in the 1840s.

The giant Moa of New Zealand were hunted to extinction in the 15th century, shortly after Maori settled the islands. Unlike the famous thunderbirds, the Moa were vegetarian, and not much threat to humans.

It just feels like a better place with more types of animals around.

An aerial tramway would be convenient.

I do not understand why rice is not simply imported.

Allow rice to be imported, and the price will go down. There is no global shortage of rice. The problem is that policies enacted in Japan have helped prices to skyrocket, but only in Japan.

Will American exceptionalism survive Trump? Not if he has his way.

Sounds very practical. I was wondering why something like this was not being done.

Perhaps, instead of storing the nodules inside the machine, they could be put in a separate box and floated to the surface, there to be collected. The robot could generate air while at the seafloor, saving the necessity of taking the nodules to the surface itself. Thus it would have more time to work.

With economists predicting that a major recession is likely, due to Trump's economic incompetence, it makes sense to be careful about building a factory that might have to close down once it is built.

20 pounds of rice at Walmart goes for 3200 yen. Rice could sell for almost the same price in Japan if import taxes were relaxed. Why aren't they?

I can buy 5 pounds of rice for less than 900 yen, all day long.

If the government and consumers are really concerned about high rice prices, then start importing! The problem is so east to solve.

Trump is not doing what most Americans want him to do, in regards to NATO or Ukraine.

Putin is weaker militarily and economically today than he was in February, 2022.

While his dictatorship has become more severe, Russia's economy and military have suffered greatly from his war of aggression against Ukraine. Rather than a Peter the Great, Putin will go down in history as a murderous Bozo the Clown.

In order to promote tourism, they want to increase the tax on tourists. Is this logic from Lewis Carrol?

A brilliant engineer, and a very flawed individual.

Our Tesla solar panel system has been up and running for 7 years now, and works flawlessly. For the life of me, I still think the Tesla cars are a great achievement. Musk may have single handedly saved Ukraine in the first weeks after the invasion, by supplying his starlink systems free of charge to the Ukrainians. And yet, using his personal fortune, spending about half a billion dollars to elect Trump, and then to help destroy the country's governing bodies, is unforgivable.

A sad time in human history.

There are eucalyptus here in California, where they were imported in the 1800s. Were eucalyptus also imported to Japan, or are they native?

So, another Trump policy favors corporations over people. I am shocked, shocked I tell you!

"China is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep, for when he wakes, he will shake the world." - attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte.

"China's growing assertiveness......."

If only what is happening in China were that benign. Xi has solidified his dictatorship over the country, and like most dictators, he is increasingly militaristic and aggressive. Military aggression is part and parcel with dictatorships.

The South Korean opposition leader, by saying that what happens between Taiwan and China does not involve SK, is sealing the fate of all the countries around China. If these countries do not engage in collective security arrangements now, then Xi will be able to pick them off in the future, one by one. That is the lesson of appeasement. Hitler took over one area after another, always promising that he did not want any more than this last piece of territory.

Chinese dominance in world affairs will be inevitable, unless the countries of the world decide to unite to protect themselves. The goal is not to destroy China, but to preserve the independence of nations around the world.

We owned a couple of Nissans over the years, and were happy with them. Took our first one, a Datsun, on a five thousand mile road trip that went flawlessly. Our biggest complaint with that model was that the A/C was too weak for conditions in the American Southwest in the summer. Our second Datsun, a Nissan, did not have that problem.

I cannot imagine why Nissans are not selling well these days. Poor advertising?

Did they enhance something, or did they just raise prices?

I took both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and I prefer the Pfizer. Still, four people just on the block where I live died from the covid virus, the youngest only 56, the others in their 70s, all before any vaccines were available to them. I wish the Moderna vaccine, or any vaccine, had been available at that time. I miss my friend.

As a child suffering from nearsightedness I was lucky enough to have been taken to an eye doctor who knew more than to just prescribe stronger and stronger eye glasses. He taught me what I was doing wrong, what I could do to help myself, and it worked. I was soon able to get rid of my eyeglasses, and did not need them again until I turned 45. So, I can see how VR headsets could, designed and used properly, be beneficial in the treatment of nearsightedness.

Forty odd years ago when America decided to help China modernize its economy, the hope was that as China became richer it would become more peaceful, and democratic. One might argue that that experiment was not a complete success.

Just read an article that said that aliens within 65 light years of Earth should be able to detect our radio signals, so I wonder if anyone will be listening.

five pounds for six dollars

There are places along the central California coast where one can still see the holes in the rocks where the indigenous people used to ground acorns and wild wheat into flour. I wonder what that tasted like. Seeing the places where they ground their flour somehow made me feel closer to them, as if they were just around the corner.

Funny about the pancake/postcard!

I would love to taste ancient beer. Many places in the world did not learn to make beer until much later than the Egyptians. IMO, using good water is key.