Wednesday February 15, 2012

Xeno23's past comments

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    Xeno23

    The question isn't whether they "deserve" it, or not; it's whether for the good of the World, Japan should be a member, or not.

    In my opinion, all of the major players should be on it: basically G8 Plus 5. This is supposed to be about contributing resources to global security, so everyone who can afford it, should do. Also, the broader the membership, the less one-sided the policy; keep the rotating seats to balance things.

    It shouldn't even be considered optional. Once you get big enough to contribute at a significant level, you contribute. Period. No shirking responsibility.

    Posted in: Does Japan deserve a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council?

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    Xeno23

    Hm. Some of you don't appear to understand cosplay - when girls/women do it. No one is looking down on these young ladies, quite the opposite; they're idols of worship. And those, my friends, are power suits. They turn Japanese males into quivering jelly. Most of these young ladies are likely so independently minded, they don't have bfs, because young J-males of this age set are so lame. Dragged down by society? I don't think so; striking out on their own, more like. Cosplay girls are about as submissive as dominatrix madams...

    Article Unavailable

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    Xeno23

    They're all lefties? This picture has to be flipped. I fenced in HS and College; lefties are rare, and a challenge to fence against. If Japan is cultivating an army of left-handed fencers; watch out!

    Article Unavailable

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    Xeno23

    Even here in Silicon Valley you don't see Segways very often; most cities in the area have banned them on sidewalks, and riding along the road is a pretty sketchy proposition. It seems the most successful deployment of these things has been for tourists.

    A fair number of US city police departments are using them. I've seen them in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. Looks silly though. Most cops I know have a profound appreciation for image projection.

    I asked one in SF, and he said it was handy and visibility was good, but for beat work, walking remained best; constantly mounting and dismounting was annoying, and navigating crowds in busy areas was inefficient.

    Article Unavailable

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    Xeno23

    Sigh. Deprecating the human struggle and tragedy, the pathos and the courage, the horrors and the stark painful lessons because peace has left some of us incapable of understanding the core truths of mortal contest - regardless of statistics or political imagination; this is what leads us back to it again, and again.

    It is not about who won the war, or how, or why; it is about War itself. Miss that crucial understanding, and we miss the meaning of the human experience of war. It's unlikely we'll ever be rid of it, but we must never trivialize it, never blunt its sting.

    To suggest that any theater of operations in WW2 was less than titanic is to fail to grasp what it meant, not only with respect to forces of grand scale history, but to the individuals who faced it down, their lives in the balance. We cozy, armchair historians need to shut up for a moment, in the face of Stalingrad, or Iwo Jima, or Hurtgen Forest, and reflect respectfully, on what those who were there can tell us.

    Posted in: At 81, Japanese vet makes rare return to Iwo Jima

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    Xeno23

    She went to high school in Milwaukee? WTF? I mean, I've been to Milwaukee. I was born in Wisconsin; even I don't go there anymore.

    Folks should make a distinction between high culture and pop culture; pop culture is incredibly silly pretty much everywhere, not just Japan. How is Paris Hilton and Survivor any better than Becky and funny gaijin on TV? Or look at what Eurovision has become; at one time that event meant something - now it's dreck.

    Honne, tatemai - that was a perceptive post. High culture in Japan is readily apparent and accessible to those who know how to see it and find it; perhaps those who rant about the state of Japanese culture don't have the eyes to see it themselves? If all you do is watch TV, or hang in Akiba, well.

    Anyway, I got a newsflash: pop culture in Japan was pretty silly in 1969 too folks.

    Moderator: Stay on topic please.

    Posted in: Marie spreads a bit of cheer

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    Xeno23

    Somebody needs to redesign the equestrian unit's uniform; it looks silly - like a circus performer, or a marching band member, or even a cosplayer. I can see that whoever put it together was trying not to be threatening, or hark back to a scarier militaristic era, but sheesh, give the poor guy something respectable to wear.

    Article Unavailable

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    Xeno23

    Let's not forget that bullying in Japan is vastly different, in root cause, from bullying in the US, and likely other countries too. Sure, the in the end it's one or more ignorant kids beating up on one or more victim kids, but the bullies I recall from my school yard days in American schools were mostly about individual power, not group identity power - which is the source for a lot of Japanese bullying.

    The peg that stands out gets beaten down - this is the most common root of bullying in Japanese schools. In order to change this, you have to change the fundamental aspect of a society that supports that idea. A Japanese friend of mine, born in Tokyo, moved with family to California for his dad's work as a child, then moved back to Tokyo after a few years, had a terrible time of it on his return. He was strong, so he overcame it, but had he not been, it would've been hell.

    But you can't just change society without committed, long term strategies. Adults, in government, school administration, and PTA have to recognize the severity of the problem and enforce no bullying. Period. There have to be school policies and punishments for bullies. It has to be zero tolerance, and explained why. Kids are malleable; they'll learn those lessons if exposed to them.

    In America, we stand up to bullies by eventually punching them out (that's what I had to do too many times) - but that's a distinctly American approach, because bullies aren't backed up by society. Americans like seeing bullies get their reckoning. In any given society where bullying is tacitly approved, punching out a bully can backfire worse than submitting.

    The key thing is that adults have to clearly, through word and action, let kids know that bullying won't be tolerated.

    Posted in: What is the best way to eradicate bullying from schools?

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    Xeno23

    They're paid what they're paid. I'm not sure what perspective, retaining it or losing it, has to do with the dynamic. Woods makes most of his money off endorsements; that's only peripherally associated with his athletic prowess. It's not even capitalism; it's consumerism. If you try to apply any rationale to it outside what it is, the self-sustaining consumer machine, it doesn't make any sense. But then, it doesn't really have to.

    Now, American baseball or football players, they pull most of their salary down from actual contract negotiations. None of these guys could become billionaires as a consequence of their athletic skills, it's unlikely they could even approach it by endorsements. In a very real way, Woods isn't a good representative example; he's an extreme case example. Very few people attain his rarified level of celebrity value.

    Still, A Rod is getting $250 million for the next 12 years, or so; that's pretty astronomical. Is it unreasonable? Sounds like it at first, but like any employee, what is the value of their revenue production? It might be astronomical compared to what you and I make, but how does what you and I make relate to the revenue our employers make off us? Is the ratio similar? If so, it's not astronomical; it's simply business.

    Posted in: Forbes magazine says that golfer Tiger Woods is on track to become the world's first billionaire athlete by 2010. What do you think of the astronomical sums of money that sports stars are paid?

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    Xeno23

    How can they be sure it was a crocodile? Did the police see it? Was a keitai shashin taken? Maybe it was an alligator...

    Omawarisan Ichiro: Hey, is that it?

    Omawarisan Jiro: No, can't be, that's an alligator.

    Omawarisan Saburo: Well, guess no crocodiles around here then.

    Posted in: 1.5-meter-long crocodile spotted in Saitama river

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    Xeno23

    Sounds like a Mickey Mouse operation to me. Sorry, had to say it.

    Posted in: Walt Disney Japan, JCB announce credit card alliance

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    Xeno23

    Health is the last thing to be naive about. Acquaintance of mine played tennis regularly, rode a bike on a weekly basis, worked out, ate healthy, didn't smoke, only drank socially - keeled over dead at 42. Not because he wasn't leading a healthy lifestyle, but because he had family risk factors for sudden heart disease he didn't know anything about - or rather, chose to ignore because he thought he was healthy.

    Look, overwork can kill you, particularly if you have risk factors you're not taking into consideration. My own cardiologist tells me this on a regular basis, and she has a lot of similar stories. Unless you intimately know your own risk factors, you'll have no idea how close you could be to stroke, heart attack, quick killing cancer like stomach cancer. A cousin of mine died of stomach cancer in five months, from diagnosis to grave. Many of these things aren't all that apparent until they blow up.

    Exercise, healthy life style is good - no question about it, but if you think that alone will protect you, you're wrong. Understand your health history, understand your family health history. Don't just assume you're healthy because you feel fine. Remember, you are NOT a doctor.

    Posted in: Labor bureau rules that Toyota engineer died from overwork

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    Xeno23

    Which environment? The urban environment where I need to get my conbeeny bento at 2 AM? The corporate environment where the ecosystem is bottom line driven? The concrete contained riverine and oceanside environment, where all the streams are dammed, and all the hillsides encased in cement? Meh.

    Posted in: Do you think curtailing convenience store hours would be good for the environment?

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    Xeno23

    Hm. They should've published a Monster Survival guide for all those attacks by 600 meter Kaiju every Saturday and Sunday in Tokyo. How to acquire Monster Insurance for your house or business. How to run screaming down the street. What to do about huge, rotting dead monster chunks in your neighborhood after Ultraman blows the darn thing up...

    Posted in: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide

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    Xeno23

    We'll be seeing at least one less celebrity western woman trying to maneuver her way into a kimono. Phew!

    Posted in: French first lady skipping G-8 summit because of upcoming album

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    Xeno23

    Nothing.

    Posted in: What do you think of beauty contests like Miss Universe?

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    Xeno23

    Did I miss something, or is it nowhere in these posts and article expressed the distinct possibility that the guy had a frickin screw loose. You know, there are quite a lot of folks running around with less than a full deck of cards in their inventory, or who have a sub-warranty gimble holding their sense together. Sometimes, they just go off. That's no excuse for bad parenting, or social safety nets with huge holes in them, but c'mon, in life there's gonna be a certain amount of stuff that's just plain broke.

    Posted in: Experts have their say on Akihabara rampage

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    Xeno23

    Last Saturday, so I could find the remote to my stupid air conditioner...

    Posted in: If you could go back in time to witness any event or events, what would you choose?

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    Xeno23

    The thing I find funny and weird is how in the past 15 years, the last 3 companies I worked for in Silicon Valley all regularly stocked Cup Noodle in their free food kitchens.

    Some back story, I lived in Japan when the first Cup Noodle vending machines hit the streets, and remember having my first one on a cruise from Tokyo to Miyakejima. I recall thinking, no way will I ever see this in America.

    The cafeteria of my current company has a freaking sushi bar, and it's hardly the only company to put one of those in. It also regularly serves ramen and various donburi. During any given lunch time, easily 10% of the diners are chowing down raw fish, unadons, or tempura-udon.

    As for Ramen in SiV, there are a handful of places that have been around easily ten years, or more. "Let's go grab some ramen." isn't an unusual thing to hear at all.

    Posted in: U.S. has 'ramen moment' as chefs, foodies embrace Japan's beloved comfort food

  • 0

    Xeno23

    Y'all never heard of roast lamb with rum raisin sauce? It's awesome good stuff - a traditional recipe. I'd eat it as an amuse-bouche gelato. Top with crispy fried brown sugared lamb fat bits; it's an Iron Chef's delight!

    Posted in: Gelato

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