vinnyfav's past comments

  • 1

    vinnyfav

    Not so easy to pigeonhole this scandal. It's easy to just say the athletes had it coming, and boo and jeer them. However, the picture isn't as black and white. Just like this article says, the reality is often very different from the ideal we should be aiming for.

    Do I think these disqualifications are deserved? Yes. These players should be disqualified, not to show off the toughness of the rules or whatever but because they genuinely disrespected their place in the Olympics.

    But it is no less factual that these players were trying to get the most out of what their years of training and their place in the Olympics gave them a chance at. The Olympics were made to celebrate sportsmanship and be a friendly, bloodless competition between varied and diverse cultures and countries. Yet the reality of the competition today is that of money and a paper chase (or medal in this case).

    How do we resolve this? Is it even possible to resolve this disconnect? Well, that's what debates and commentary articles are for: the explore the problem. Just coming up with a simple, cut and dry conclusion, that these players "deserve it" and end the story here isn't going to help solve the underlying problem plaguing the Olympics.

    Posted in: Ideals, reality clash at Olympic badminton

  • 2

    vinnyfav

    smithinjapan: I like how you accuse KariHaruka for being biased against China's claims (when Japan is doing the same) when your posts state Japan's claims are "nationalistic drivel". Why don't you apply that same rhetoric to China, and the Phillipines, and Vietnam, and all the other countries stated in this article... and involved in every territorial dispute ever?

    Well, let's take this slippery slope a step further shall we? If the territorial claims of all countries involved in a dispute similar to this China/Japan drama are all "nationalistic drivel", then maybe all these countries should just give up all their claims, huh?

    Stop accusing others of being biased when your own posts absolutely reek of unsupported opinions as well. It's what we call hypocritical. Pot, kettle et all.

    Now, biased commenting aside, this military posturing by China is pretty much something the J-gov have seen coming from the moment Noda opened his big mouth to suggest buying the Senkaku islands. If they didn't expect this, then they're pretty much idiots. (Not that they aren't idiots, from their actions on other matters at the moment anyway).

    Political posturing, fake military responses, more political posturing... this is East and South East Asian politics from since 3 decades ago. I'm not sure where all the comments about "WWIII" is coming from. If WWIII happens out of this, I promise I will eat my words. In fact, I'll probably die in the conflict, since I live here. However, I assure you that chances of such a conflict breaking out is absolutely remote, as anyone remotely intelligent who has been following asian politics will tell you.

    Posted in: China begins naval war games amid tensions over territorial disputes

  • 1

    vinnyfav

    The rhetoric in the comments are hilarious. Not sure if any posters actually studied economics themselves, or if they only read online news and take all their ideas from there. Haha.

    Posted in: Obama challenges Republicans to keep tax cuts for middle class

  • 0

    vinnyfav

    One word: Durarara!!

    Posted in: Japan Anonymous pick up litter to protest download laws

  • -1

    vinnyfav

    For once, I agree almost entirely with smithinjapan. Ambulances drive at speeds they need to drive at: a speed that ensures the highest chances of survival for whoever they are trying to rescue. They are not going to save any lives by barrelling through a red light into another car. In metropolitan cities like Tokyo, New York etc, driving fast can almost be as deadly for the person in the ambulance as driving slowly. If the person is in a stable condition, there is zero reason to drive at anything beyond "cautious" speeds.

    As for sirens, they are meant for warning. Specifically, warning pedestrians and other drivers who CANNOT SEE the ambulance. That means cars that are driving toward a cross junction from another direction from the ambulance. This means cars that are way ahead of the ambulance. The siren needs to be loud. The siren needs to be in your face. The siren needs to be on all the time when the ambulance is on its way to or from fetching an injured person. You don't say "Oh, it's a road where there are no cars I can see, let me just switch off the siren and turn into a normal truck for a sec." If you're carrying a passenger that needs to get to a hospital, you take out the neon signs and fireworks and you let everyone know.

    It is unfortunate that Japan doesn't have the space to build anything but dense residential areas with barely enough elbow space between apartments or houses. But that doesn't excuse any kind of behavior or condescension toward well established practices that are meant to save lives.

    There is zero reason to throw anything at an ambulance, unless it is a magical device that will teleport it to the nearest hospital. There is zero reason to sympathize with anyone who has it in their head to try anything to stop or delay an ambulance running its siren. This is one of the few moral issues that have zero gray areas.

    Posted in: Rocks thrown at ambulances in Tokyo

  • 1

    vinnyfav

    I doubt there will be power shortage, nuclear plant or no nuclear plant. But if there is, so be it. A couple of hours of blackout a day isn't going to kill anyone who knows how to read. And if it kills those who don't... my condolences. The world will still be turning.

    Power shortage issues entirely aside, the government is going to continue to push for restarting of nuclear power plants. This isn't a moral issue. It doesn't matter if the plants are safe or not. This is pretty much inevitable, until the next generation of renewable resource energy generators are built. The alternative is full reliance on coal and oil power until renewable resource plants are built... which is just mathematically unsustainable for Japan's economy. If no earthquake happens for however long it takes to transition into less nuclear reliance, well and good. If another happens and a repeat of the Fukushima disaster happens, then well, Japan'll just go down again, maybe forever this time.

    The best Japan can do now is to restart as little nuclear power plants as is needed to tide the rebuilding over, and to ensure the strict adherence to and improvement of safety standards at all of the nuclear power plants that are to be restarted. Not quarrel over whose fault it is rolling blackouts are going to happen, not finger pointing at each other for Toshiba's factory problems (no idea wtf relevance that has to the article, anyway.) and not starting another political PM hot-seat roulette.

    It's been a year since Fukushima, Japan. High time to stop being stupid and start doing what needs to be done until you can say goodbye to nuclear energy for good. The longer you sit here and quibble around thinking you sound like lawyers, the longer it is going to take to remove the threat of a Fukushima repeat, and the more at risk you are putting yourself and your offspring.

    Posted in: Japan begins power saving despite nuclear restart

  • 2

    vinnyfav

    Western democracy is democracy with conditions, basically. This is true, and this is the right way. Unfortunately for all the idealists out there, true democracy would probably destroy the world, simply because humans in general are too stupid to rule over themselves. As much as elitism is reviled, for good reason too, it is pretty much inarguable fact that the average person has nowhere near the required intelligence and wisdom to plan and make policies for a group of people larger than a small community.

    Whether or not the Egyptians' choice is the right one can only be concluded after seeing what the new President does in his term. For now, optimists will hope he is the right one, while pessimists will brace for the worst, that's just the way it is.

    I will personally hope for the best.

    Posted in: Islamist Morsi says he will be leader for all Egyptians

  • 0

    vinnyfav

    New prime minister incoming, I guess.

    Posted in: Noda tries to avert intraparty revolt over tax hike

  • 1

    vinnyfav

    It is true that all countries employ propaganda to some extent. But it is too easy to point at this and say it is "evil" or "evil-er" and go around proudly puffing out your chest.

    The situation in N Korea is an interesting read, but never lose sight of the fact that it is just the other side of the same coin. Every day, we are inundated by propaganda of a different kind, and all of us hold some viewpoints and opinions that are wildly biased.

    I hold on to the hope that one day, N Korean leadership will either be ousted peacefully or change their policies from within, and the threat of war will be defused. And while I have zero wish to see the current status quo remain, I reject empathically the idea that N Korea is evil or that these practices are anything beyond plain pragmatism. It does not matter what kind of propaganda it is, communist, nationalist, nazi or capitalist, it is still propaganda. That is all.

    Posted in: In N Korea, learning to hate U.S., Japan starts early

  • -1

    vinnyfav

    Posters in JToday certainly like to blow things out of proportion. (Pun intended)

    In the spring storm a couple of months ago, there was an article featured on JToday where an elderly man fell to his death, along with the news of a couple other pointless tragedies of people dying due to walking their dog etc. Certainly these actions are pretty stupid, and it's pretty reasonable for people to be exasperated at such news. It was a storm, well covered and warned of in the media, television and radio, and even if a person were deaf to all such information, going out to the roof at that age while there it was raining with very strong winds is almost inexcusably stupid.

    It's also probably true (I say probably because I have no sources, but it's almost certain that such things have happened before) that such incidents have happened before in the past, where an elderly person would do such inconceivable things in the middle of heavy storms and typhoons that led to their deaths.

    But saying such happenings are "regular" and "famous" without citing sources is pretty much compounding and spreading baseless conjecture and hyperbole - something that JToday commenters are (in)famous and regularly known for doing. (See what I just did?)

    For now, though things are quiet in Nishinomiya. Maybe the typhoon went eastwards, or maybe it just hasn't reached me yet. It's not raining here and there's not much wind at the moment, though. We'll just have to see later tonight, I guess.

    Posted in: One dead, 52 injured in 15 prefectures after typhoon cuts across Honshu

  • 1

    vinnyfav

    It's summertime, why climb a mountain when it's melting. Due to the ice is melting avalanches are very common.

    Climb at your own stupidity !!!!

    ... Hahaha, so clearly mountain climbers should climb in winter when ice isn't melting and snow is actually falling and temperatures are below sub-zero.

    Right. Hahaha.

    Mountain climbing is in itself a sport that requires proper knowledge and training. For some, milder mountains, the risks are less and it may be possible to climb it without special training regimes beforehand, but for others, it can be an endurance sport that requires months of preparation and countless medical checks beforehand.

    But in all cases, the risks exist.

    The best time to climb mountains are almost invariably in the summer, when temperatures are not as low - but for the big ones that take months to climb, challengers might start in the winter in order to tackle the hardest portions during the mildest weather. Freak accidents like unexpected avalanches do happen however, and kill perfectly trained mountaineers on occasion. It is tragic, but it is the risk that comes with this kind of sport. Of course, most of the time it is a lack of proper knowledge and training or experience that leads to pointless deaths.

    At any rate, condolences to the families of the climbers.

    Posted in: Search ends for 4 Japanese climbers on Mount McKinley

  • -4

    vinnyfav

    I like CoCos, but I like all curry in general and on principle, so it's highly likely my endorsement is biased.

    Posted in: Man robs restaurant in Ibaraki

  • 0

    vinnyfav

    I've never been a fan of soda, so I will admit I am likely to be very biased against this. But carbonated coffee is going to taste awful. I shudder to imagine it.

    Posted in: Suntory tries carbonated coffee drink - Espressoda

  • 3

    vinnyfav

    Anybody who was outraged at the news certainly would have had these thoughts. I'm sure most, if not all, of the people who read the previous news article felt that the man could have done something else, anything else than kill two people if he wanted to die.

    Saying such things in a fit of anger is probably an unwise thing for a politician to say. He was probably just giving air to his own grief at such an exceptional case of tragedy, but he certainly should have known better than to do it in his official capacity as the Governor.

    My opinion resonates with his message, at any rate. Condolences to the families involved, and let's hope the Governor doesn't drop any more of such verbal bombs in the future.

    Posted in: Stabbing suspect should have killed himself, Osaka governor says

  • 2

    vinnyfav

    I personally am against the idea of corporal punishment. I am a person who advocates speaking and reasoning. And when the child is too young to understand reason, a fist is even less appropriate. When they don't know why they are doing something wrong, they won't know why they are being beaten either.

    However, to equate all corporal punishment as child abuse is fallacious. To say that all cases of corporal punishment is only to satisfy the urges of the punisher is also fallacious.

    Before corporal punishment was viewed with such negative light, and (possibly) commonly used in the upbringing of children, most although not all cases were well intentioned. The reason corporal punishment was largely rejected by society is not because it is always an avenue for sadists to torture their children, but rather because there were some cases where sadists used it as an avenue to torture their children. Please note the difference. Being one of the generation who was brought up while corporal punishment was still the norm, I am grateful to my parents for their love and attention in correcting my flaws. Certainly they could have done so in a non-violent way, and I certainly do wish they had, but I'm not going to point at them and call them sadists when they were just doing what they taught was right, for my own good. They punished me with good intentions, and I understood, and learnt, from that.

    The turn away from corporal punishment is a good thing for society. Children can be properly taught and brought up without the use of force. However, this does not mean that children cannot be properly taught and brought up with the use of force. They can, but sometimes people simply cannot see where the limits should be. So, in order to reduce all cases of child abuse (intended or not) via corporal punishment, it was rejected by society.

    Personally, I am against the idea that is presented in the article, that the ills of today's youth is caused by this rejection of corporal punishment. A return to the usage of the cane will not help solve most of the problems of lack of motivation and initiative. As many astute posters have pointed out, this is caused by other factors of the society that we live in today - an education system for the masses can only promote rote learning, and a capitalist economy inculcates the wrong values in children. Most of all, of course, busy parents who are just as lost themselves are failing to teach their children the right values.

    None of these will be solved by bringing back corporal punishment. Perhaps the general is reliving days of nostalgia, when he was punished and learned from it to become a better person, but while he may have been right in pointing out some of the society's problems, his suggestion can only fail to solve those very problems he identified.

    Posted in: Wayward general wants to whip Japan's wimpy civilians into winners

  • 1

    vinnyfav

    Comparing a marriage to the union and the civil war politics is a logically unsound at best, and a hyperbole at worst. Of course, I personally disagree with any war and death, but that doesn't make such sentimental statements any more true. Whether or not the Union should have been preserved is up to debate, but using violence in marriage as a reason why not would fall under fallacy.

    Posted in: Notes recounting doctor's bid to save dying Lincoln found after 150 years

  • 5

    vinnyfav

    Not only fans of boy bands are interested in boy band news. Sociologists, psychologists, literary critics and other academics researching pop culture phenomenon and their impact on society will have a definite interest in keeping up to the rise and fall (and merges) of pop culture groups.

    Also, just because you don't care doesn't make this a non-news.

    Posted in: K-pop boy groups 2PM and 2AM merge

  • -2

    vinnyfav

    The AKB elections are always a farce. As the article says, anyone can vote as long as they bought a copy of the latest single, but at the same time, no regulations are in place to prevent the same person voting more than once.

    This means, a fan can buy multiple copies to get multiple votes. This has been making the news on twitter, where people are posting photos of their local garbage dumping areas that are filled with AKB singles - hundreds of them at times.

    There is nothing "democratic" about this. I literally laughed out loud when I read the part where the music critic compared making the AKB franchise have an election to the Arab Spring.

    I respect the AKB franchise as a monument to the social impact of pop culture, though I am inherently opposed to their marketing tactics and their talentless songs. But really, this takes the cake. The idea that anyone believes this is anything more than a marketing ploy is ridiculous.

    Posted in: Oshima's win in AKB48 election big news in Japan

  • -3

    vinnyfav

    That's the most sensible position to take. The gov't mishandled the information following the 3/11 disaster, which caused fear and panic.

    By the way, I fully agree that the J-Gov was inept in their disaster handling after 3/11, and that they have proven time and again that they cannot be trusted. However, I'd like to point out that there were more mis-information spread from baseless rumours than from the government, which caused the fear and panic, mostly. Of course, if the government had actually been truthful, the rumours would never have been empowered to cause fear and panic.

    If everyone had believed the government's misinformation during 3/11, they would all be smiling and happy, believing that everything was fine - the fear and panic came from rumour mongers, not the government's information.

    Posted in: Radioactivity: Japan's invisible enemy within

  • 2

    vinnyfav

    Hahaha, Justin Bieber, whatever his detractors might say, is a force to be reckoned with in his own right. He came close to having a country's capital put in a state of emergency.

    P.S. I don't listen to Bieber nor like his songs.

    Posted in: Justin Bieber suffers concussion in Paris

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