Wednesday February 15, 2012

JeffLee's past comments

  • 0

    JeffLee

    Maybe best not to encourage "beer-fueled road trips," unless you're willing to spend time in a Japanese jail on drunk driving charges, not to mention putting the lives of your fellow motorists at risk.

    This is worst time of year to run such an article. Most campsites have just shut down, while water activities ended a couple of months ago! Save it for March or April.

    Posted in: Outdoors on the cheap

  • 0

    JeffLee

    I wonder how the layoffs will be implemented? If it's the usual Japanese method, early retirement, etc., then the young unproductive workers will still be there, while the talented among the middle aged ones will be gone.

    Posted in: Mizuho to merge units, cut 3,000 jobs

  • -2

    JeffLee

    Be interested to know how many Japanese use their Keen shoes for their intended purpose. At Mt. Takao, I saw girls wearing high heels and when trekking in the Golden Triangle, some Japanese people in the group were struggling up the hills in their flip-flops.

    When I do spot hi-tech sports footwear in Japan, it's usually on the concrete roads of Shibuya.

    Posted in: KEEN Footwear

  • -1

    JeffLee

    You could can stick a jet engine on to a handset, but it doesn't make it more "advanced." "Electric money"? My Visa Card is way more advanced - highly compact, can be used worldwide and over the internet, no fees -- and the battery never wears out.

    10 mega HD camera-video is really a gimmick. To get the right performance out of that resolution, it needs to be supported by a proper platform, such as a lens system.

    Posted in: Fujitsu introduces docomo STYLE series F-02D

  • -2

    JeffLee

    advanced functionality that surpasses that of smartphones.

    Huh? That makes no sense. Smartphones have thousands of apps, with nearly every kind of "functionality" imaginable. When I last had a Japanese handset, I couldn't even get my email!!!

    It seems like it's back not to the future, but back to the past, for Japanese handsets.

    Posted in: Fujitsu introduces docomo STYLE series F-02D

  • 0

    JeffLee

    "During the first week of the accident, I thought several times that we were all going to die.-- Plant chief Masao Yoshida.

    Seems like the "hysterical" foreign media got the story right from the start. Same can't be said of the Japanese media, which parroted Tepco's line that "everything is under control."

    Posted in: Japanese, foreign media allowed into Fukushima nuclear plant

  • 0

    JeffLee

    not all of Japan is suffering from the stupidity of Tepco

    Yes it is. 44 of the nation's 54 reactors are offline for stress tests, etc. prompted by Tepco's stupdity.

    Posted in: Spectacular

  • 0

    JeffLee

    Strange time of year for an article like this to appear, when such outdoor activities, apart from the skiing, are winding down. You're "kids" will need to be at least 18 to endure the challenges suggested by the author.

    Posted in: Kanto with kids: The Tokyo area's best family outdoor adventures

  • -5

    JeffLee

    I love Japan's commitment to energy conservation. I can think of more sustainable ways of appreciating the four seasons.

    Posted in: Spectacular

  • 0

    JeffLee

    Without exports this country has no economy to speak of.

    That's an extremely vulnerable situation, and is the reason why Japan needs to address its structural problems at home.

    Posted in: Toyota's net profit plunges 71.8% in first half

  • 0

    JeffLee

    @minello7 I imagine head office needs the money to cover the Group operating costs, pay its shareholders and make further capital investments in Japan.

    Posted in: Toyota's net profit plunges 71.8% in first half

  • 3

    JeffLee

    I’m amazed that in a country like Japan, the role of low-cost carriers is so small.

    That's due to the Shinkansen. More than a trillion dollars of public and private money has been spent on it. Low-cost carriers would quickly undercut Shinkansen business, and so much of the massive investment in Shinkansen would go to waste. No wonder the regulators have been so slow in approving competitive discount carriers.

    In the meantime, Japan's consumers have to put up with high prices and less choice. TIJ (this is Japan).

    Posted in: Finnair

  • 0

    JeffLee

    @LFRAgain

    the computer revolution...all thanks to state-funded vanity projects

    You're absolutely wrong. The first personal computer (Apple) computer was made in a suburban garage. The first Dell computers were sold out of the trunk of Michael Dell's car. Microsoft/Apple were private startups that were launched with zero government funding. Silicon Valley became into being not because bureaucrats instructed it to exist, but through the innovation and energy of individuals with private capital.

    By contrast, RIKEN is 100% government funded, and it's a government that's sinking in the world's highest level of debt. Japan faces the prospect of not being able to properly fund health care and social security in the future, in part because so much of our money is funneled to large (wealthy) corporations like Fujitsu.

    Ameri Fusein; That's certainly good news, and is proof that RIKEN's supercomputer project is a waste of resources and time.

    Posted in: 'K Computer' smashes speed record

  • 1

    JeffLee

    How, exactly, do you come to this conclusion?

    Japan doesn't have a large aeronautics industry, like Europe or the US. And an incremental improvement in weather forecasting isn't worth the trillions of yen of OUR money the heavily indebted government is willing to throw at these vanity projects.

    If Fujitsu wants a more powerful computer, then let its stakeholders fund it. Not us. If Japanese researchers want more computing power, then they can buy the computers from overseas. Japan runs huge balance of trade surpluses, but huge fiscal deficits. Given these circumstances, taxpayer funding makes no sense.

    Posted in: 'K Computer' smashes speed record

  • -1

    JeffLee

    Kabukilover, yes, but that's a Rolex. I have to wonder whether the movement of such a low priced watch is up to that standard, or the standard of Valjoux movements. A cheap movement could prove to be a major headache a few years down the line.

    Posted in: Seiko Presage watch

  • -1

    JeffLee

    RIKEN is entirely funded by us taxpayers. These one-off feats are a national vanity project, in other words a waste of money. As pointed out, supercomputers are mainly used for nuclear explosions, weather forecasting and aeronautics. Japan has little use for them. If the private sector wants to development then, fine.

    Posted in: 'K Computer' smashes speed record

  • -1

    JeffLee

    Nice, but I have to wonder whether color saturation was added during the editing.

    Posted in: Autumn in Nikko

  • 0

    JeffLee

    @smithinjapan: Just Google "iphone" and "virus," and a stream of details will present itself. Here' just one example:

    "Apple, a company that prides itself on how secure their operating system and devices are, has a severely vulnerable device which millions and millions of customers own - The Apple iPhone. Charlie Miller, an iPhone cracker, today announced the first iPhone virus which affects all generations of the iPhone. Miller found the vulnerability several weeks ago and reported the issue to Apple and Apple plans on patching the vulnerability in the iPhone 3.1 firmware update but that isn't due out until September. Therefore, between now and September millions of users will be left vulnerable to the security hole."

    And I love your comment on how Apple "get on it" when there's a defect. I believe the official "fix" for the antenna fiasco was "hold the phone differently." Hahaha!!!

    Info here: http://techfragments.com/news/982/Software/AppleiPhoneVirusSpreadsBySMSMessages.html

    Posted in: Apple fixing iPhone 4S battery drain

  • -1

    JeffLee

    If it were a Windows-based phone there'd be complaints about hacking and viruses,

    But it's NOT a Windows phone. The phones with problems are the Apple ones. That's the point. Iphones have been attacked by viruses, in addition to being plagued by faulty antennas and other problems.

    Posted in: Apple fixing iPhone 4S battery drain

  • 0

    JeffLee

    The catch? Maybe expensive and frequent overhauls?

    Posted in: Seiko Presage watch

Follow us

Facebook
Twitter

View all