Wednesday February 15, 2012

gonemad's past comments

  • 0

    gonemad

    I'm afraid these guys are right. Japan will mostly benefit from the TPP except some few areas, among which agriculture is the most problematic and which is one of the areas where the US will benefit from the TPP. The problem is not the TPP or the US, it is the lack of agricultural reforms which are overdue in Japan. But for the people involved it will look like the US will benefit at their expense. And for sure there will be politicians playing the nationalistic card. We can see just the same happening in the US, where lawmakers from the states with a lot of car industry complained to Washington that Japan should not be allowed to join the TPP. They are rethorically more clever by pointing at alleged non-tariff barriers in Japan, but what really worries them is that with the TPP cars made in Japan can become 15% cheaper in the US.

    Posted in: DPJ lawmakers warn U.S. they will fight against TPP talks

  • -3

    gonemad

    I can afford a CTS-V when it is $64,515 but at 8,990,000円 ($117,022) I can't! When will Japan start playing fair?

    アメリ フセイン, why don't you ask GM to reduce the price? It's not Japan' fault.

    Posted in: GM likely to recapture global auto sales lead from Toyota

  • 0

    gonemad

    I never had any problems worth mentioning with online shopping as opposed to former experiences with orders from local shops when they didn't have what I wanted and I had to order it. That often lasted longer than promised and when they arrived they were the wrong articles.

    Posted in: Online shopping: Have you had any trouble, such as items taking an unusually long time to arrive; they did not arrive at all; they were defective when they did arrive; or they were the wrong items?

  • 1

    gonemad

    What is mildly annoying is how these "Business Savants" do not include the younger generation.

    nihoncritic, with two of them being 50 or younger, the author of the article has done as much as he could...

    Posted in: Business savants offer forecasts for coming year

  • 1

    gonemad

    This suit highlights the fact that federal laws in the US have not been updated to include suitable measurement methods for hybrid cars. Fuel efficiency is not measured on an empty track at constant speeds as someone wrote above, but in a lab under controlled conditions defined by law. Those include a speed profile, which ideally should represent a typical use case. BTW, the profiles differ between different countries, so you cannot directly compare mileages between the US and Japan. Additional electrical power consumers like heating, car entertainment etc are generally not included, while since 2008 there is at least one test cycle with air conditioning. What works reasonably well (whatever you want to call reasonable in this context...) to compare fuel-only cars, fails for hybrid cars. There is no requirement about battery charge, which allows car makers to start the test cycle with a fully charged battery. Furthermore, for fuel-only cars gas mileage hardly changes over the lifetime of the car, at least when properly serviced, while the batteries in hybrid cars loose capacity and hence the electrical motor can be used less and less. Most probably Honda, like other makers of hybrid cars, has fully used these loopholes for marketing purposes, fostering the hybrid car hype.

    Posted in: LA woman takes unique road to sue Honda over mileage

  • 0

    gonemad

    Onagawa nuclear plant was also hit by the same earthquake and same tsunami. It was not damaged

    gaijinTechie, there are hints that Onagawa had some earthquake related damage as well. Obviously they managed to keep the plant under control. Given the lack of information to the public, you should not prematurely jump to conclusions about safety standards there. And btw, Onagawa is operated by TEPCO as well.

    Posted in: TEPCO to raise electricity bills for corporate users

  • 1

    gonemad

    I have a relative who was eye witness of some of the killings and described them in his memoires. At least for the places where he had been and what he has seen there was no violence by side of the Armenians. But what is more important for us today is not the absolute historical truth (which doesn't exist anyway). It's that we are free to discuss it. Unfortunately that is not the case in Turkey, where you still cannot even mention the massacres on the Armenians without getting into jail. Turkey still has a long way to go to become a free state.

    That said, the development in France makes me worry as well. You cannot press history into laws. It is a violation of free speech. It hinders any objective research. French lawmakers do exactly what they blame the Turkish.

    Posted in: Turkey warns of sanctions against France over genocide bill

  • -3

    gonemad

    This is the right move, although only half. Not only corporate users, but everybody should pay higher prices. The ultimate cause of the Fukushima disaster has been supposedly cheap nuclear energy. After decades of discussions, it should have been clear to everybody that nuclear energy can only be cheap when you cut corners. Now those who have supported it politically, haven't cared to control it and enjoyed the low cost should also shoulder the damages they caused. It's easy to blame TEPCO when our own personal greed is just as much responsible.

    Posted in: TEPCO to raise electricity bills for corporate users

  • 0

    gonemad

    The report also touched upon male rape, finding that one in 71 men—nearly five percent of all American men—had been raped in their lifetime

    Am I the only one who doesn't understand the maths behind this statement?

    Posted in: 18.3% of American women have been victims of rape or attempted rape at some time: study

  • 0

    gonemad

    So what did she say?

    Posted in: Thai activist jailed for 15 years for royal slur

  • 0

    gonemad

    And where is the team on agricultural reforms?

    Posted in: Gov't launches 50-member team to prepare for TPP talks

  • 1

    gonemad

    North Korea, also known as the DPRK, is NOTHING with out big brother CHINA, the USA needs to call up Beijing and tell them what they want, simple as that!

    Elbuda, that is a complete misjudgement. China still supports the Kim regime to some extent because they are wary of large amounts of refugees crossing the border. And certainly they like it when the little dog barks at the US and Japan. But apart from that, relations have become increasingly frosty between the two countries in recent years. You can be sure the Chinese don't like nuclear weapons in the hands of an erratic regime in their backyard.

    Posted in: U.S. envoy says North Korea 'must change behavior'

  • 1

    gonemad

    Wow, a truck with 100 pigs makes the top national news headline. Shouldn't this be in the crime section...? "7 porks killed, 40 on the run after violent prison break" :-)

    Posted in: Truck carrying 100 pigs collides with car in Tochigi

  • 1

    gonemad

    I didn't vote because there is no simple yes or no. Parents can't control their children under all conditions and trying to do so would cause more harm than benefit. But in cases of gross negligence I agree that parents should be held responsible. This is for criminal liability. As for the damages caused by their children, parents of course must take full liability.

    Posted in: Should parents be held responsible if their children commit crimes?

  • 0

    gonemad

    Me too, I will opt for the environmentally friendlier way and stay with NeverSubmit's scenario A, keeping my old gas guzzler. Meanwhile I'm supporting the economy by spending lots of money for other things than a car. The tax breaks are ok when they are used to guide people to buy "eco" cars instead of other cars, but when they are abused to make people just replace their cars they are an unfair subsidy at the expense of other industries.

    Posted in: Japan extends tax breaks on low-polluting vehicles

  • 0

    gonemad

    NetNinja, please read again who this guy is and what his job is.

    Posted in: U.S. envoy on North Korea arrives in Japan

  • -1

    gonemad

    It's sad that so many commenters here have nothing else to say than finger-pointing. This is a film about the Nanjing Massacre and not about world history. And just because it comes from China and fits to the official propaganda doesn't automatically make it a bad film. Although the background is a historical event, the film is fiction after all and as such will never present a balanced view. I hope Japanese cinemas will have the courage to show the film.

    Posted in: Christian Bale denies Nanjing Massacre film is propaganda

  • 0

    gonemad

    If I write what I think about a person which needs a minimum of 2.5 years of jail time as a means to protect his reputation, then I will not be able to visit Thailand any more...

    Posted in: Thai court jails U.S. citizen for royal insult

  • 0

    gonemad

    According to NRC estimations, the average risk of a seismic core damage with radiation release is about 1 in 115.000 per year. Assuming an average lifetime of 40 years, the total risk of core damage is 1 in 28 for all 104 reactors. This is the seismic risk only, no other risk factors included such as tsunami, floods, terrorism, human error, plane crashes etc.

    Data from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42103936/ and further links from that article.

    Posted in: U.S. nuclear industry must heed lesson of Fukushima, says NRC chief

  • 0

    gonemad

    Rumors arise when official information does not exist, is not sufficient or unreliable. The problem is not the rumors, but the latter. If you want to sell your fish, do certified testing for all your products.

    Posted in: If consumers are misled by harmful rumors, none of us will be able to make a living.

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