the_harper said...

the_harper at 01:18 PM JST - 12th August

Hopefully passive design, insulation and airflow will form part of a low emission plan. Having efficient lighting and other devices is great but poor building design can drive up costs for air-conditioning, heating and artificial lighting.

Posted in Ministry compiles policy to create low-carbon society at 01:18 PM JST - 12th August
the_harper at 11:45 AM JST - 5th August

I'm amazed that anyone would propose a two legged robot for exploration purposes. A robot with at least four legs (preferably six) would be far more stable and reliable. There's absolutely no reason for a moon exploration robot to be anthropomorphic.

Posted in Experts discuss moon exploration at 11:45 AM JST - 5th August
the_harper at 09:14 PM JST - 4th August

Apparently it was called VP (Victory in the Pacific) day in Australia from the outset.

http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/vp_day.asp

There is no current Australian public holiday on the 15th of August. It was only a holiday in 1945.

I'll have to see if I can visit Cowra in September for o'hanami.

http://www.cowraregion.com.au/japanesegarden/

Posted in Australian town remembers largest Japanese POW breakout of WWII at 09:14 PM JST - 4th August
the_harper at 08:34 PM JST - 2nd August

Since we're talking about facts; http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs198.aspx

This article from the Australian National Archives states that four Australians were killed and 231 Japanese prisoners died. No civilians are noted as killed or harmed.

Proxy - I suspect that the fear of what the enemy may do to prisoners was used by…

Posted in Australian town remembers largest Japanese POW breakout of WWII at 08:34 PM JST - 2nd August
the_harper at 08:03 PM JST - 2nd August

What does the pose mean? This is presumably some sort of otaku thing I don't get?

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the_harper at 12:42 PM JST - 2nd August

The Cowra Japanese garden in spring is lovely. They usually have o'hanami when the cherry trees are flowering. NeoJamal - plenty of Australians were killed by Japanese in WW2, and they did have a reputation for fighting mercilessly to the death. I'm not surprised that some committed suicide because as…

Posted in Australian town remembers largest Japanese POW breakout of WWII at 12:42 PM JST - 2nd August
the_harper at 08:26 AM JST - 1st August

Let's hope that nobody ever again has to suffer what the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki went through. Hopefully one day we can live in a world where the literal insanity of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is swept away.

Posted in Atomic bomb survivor dedicating life to collecting A-bomb photos at 08:26 AM JST - 1st August
the_harper at 09:51 PM JST - 30th July

I don't know about Japan, but in Australia, regular breast screening only begins after the age of 40. Unfortunately, it is hard to detect in younger women and even more unfortunately it tends to be most agressive in younger women - although much less common. Mammograms do not work well…

Posted in Rock singer Kaori Kawamura dies of cancer at 38 at 09:51 PM JST - 30th July
the_harper at 09:32 PM JST - 23rd July

Would the robot look any good in a swimsuit? I'm not especially surprised by this; the fashion industry has been using underage models for years now to avoid having to design around the figure of a mature woman. Now they don't have to design for humans at all...

Posted in Humanoid struts its stuff in wedding gown at 09:32 PM JST - 23rd July
the_harper at 06:25 PM JST - 23rd July

With a 1:1 student to instructor ratio, I wonder how something like this could happen. The instructor should have prevented the kid from surfacing suddenly, but if they were doing basic open water training, they shouldn't have been deep enough for sudden surfacing to have killed the student. As others…

Posted in High school student drowns during diving practice in Chiba at 06:25 PM JST - 23rd July