Wednesday February 15, 2012

aedfed's past comments

  • 0

    aedfed

    It's my understanding that the reason former high school baseball team members are such popular recruits for companies is that they're used to being yelled at and doing what they're told.

    Presumably, the recruits in this story were made of different stuff.

    Posted in: Companies angry over thoughtless students amid economic downturn

  • 0

    aedfed

    I'm not saying that a non-electric bicycle is for everyone, but people in normal health who've never tried one of the new light-weight city bikes, may be pleasantly surprised by how easy to ride they are. BTW I'm not an American and I cycled year-round in Japan for more than 15 years.

    Article Unavailable

  • 0

    aedfed

    I still say a good bike with an aluminum frame and between 18 and 30 gears gives excellent performance at a price less than an electric bicycle. It's also much easier to ride if you lose the power assist.

    Article Unavailable

  • 0

    aedfed

    One could also argue that Africa "benefited" from European colonization, e.g., they built railways and roads, but that would ignore the fact that most of the "benefits" were for the colonists, not the native inhabitants.

    Besides, it's not for the colonizers to extol the benefits they bestowed, but rather for the colonized to decide whether the "benefits" were worth the cost. I don't know of any nation today who's asking to be colonized by anyone.

    Posted in: Sacked Japan air force head defends WWII actions

  • 0

    aedfed

    "and spoke in what sounded like Portuguese" You'd think that Brazilians might be a bit more certain if the thieves were speaking in their mother tongue. Or maybe it's just sloppy translation from the Japanese.

    Posted in: Armed bandits rob Nagoya couple in apartment

  • 0

    aedfed

    On the plus side, they did get rid of croquet (another possible gold medal sport for the Japanese) and Indian clubs (a sport that involves juggling something that looks like bowling pins).

    Given that the modern Olympics has nothing to do with the ancient Olympics, that precedent shouldn't be binding.

    My big issue with the modern Olympics is that it was started by rich white guys in Europe with too much money and time. There was noting praiseworthy about being amateur -- it just meant they had enough money that they didn't have to work, while the average working stiff was putting in a 10 or 12 hour day.

    Beelzebub has described the current purpose of the Olympics perfectly. It's not about which sports require athleticism, but which ones will draw an audience (preferably a rich audience -- thus we're not likely to get rid of horsey events any time soon).

    Posted in: It’s time to get rid of a few Olympic 'sports'

  • 0

    aedfed

    It's an unfortunate misstep by the Chinese Games organizers. Had they used her face and dubbed her own voice, it would have been understandable -- who knows how a child will react under that kind of pressure. That would have been the same as the Pavarotti case, which doesn't seem to have caused much controversy.

    The most bizarre comment to come out of the whole thing is by Lin's father who: “still cannot believe his daughter has become an international singing sensation.” He doesn't seem to realize that to be a singing sensation, you need to actually sing . . .

    Posted in: Olympic opening uses girl's voice, not face

  • 0

    aedfed

    Banning plastic bags is a feel-good measure for people who are looking for something that won't force them to make major changes in their lifestyle (such as not driving a huge SUV to the supermarket). By not using a plastic bag, they get to feel they're doing something for the environment, while burning huge amounts of fossil fuels roaring up and down the freeways.

    If LA banned SUVs and left plastic bags alone, you'd see a marked improvement in the environment.

    Posted in: Los Angeles bans plastic bagging in stores

  • 0

    aedfed

    Sagecat, try Hiragana Times. They send out a daily essay that has standard Japanese, hirgana, Romaji, and English.

    The Real Japanese series, by definition, won't be restricted to grade 1-3 kanji.

    Posted in: Read Real Japanese Essays

  • 0

    aedfed

    I've got a 2004 Honda Civic and a 2007 Toyota Sienna, both of which are comfortable to drive and have been reliable so far.

    Posted in: Which company or alliance makes the best cars?

Follow us

Facebook
Twitter

View all