151E comments

The government may have the tools of the state to enforce laws but has no moral authority to tell adult citizens what they can and cannot willingly choose to ingest within the privacy of their own home. Adults should have the right to do as they see fit, provided they are not infringing on the rights of anyone else.

What's with all the "What Aboutism" in the comments? "What about China?" I thought that was a dirty Russian rhetorical technique. We all know what kind of government China has, no need to comment. The "West", including Australia, were ostensibly democracies and supporters of free speech. Their slide into technocratic-fascism is worthy of lament.

An odd line from the article comparing mpox and COVID-19 that jumped out at me says, "And unlike COVID-19, there are vaccines and treatments available for mpox."

Yes, all we really know is that China has an oppressive government that controls the media, meaning that no Chinese media can ever be trusted to give accurate information; only the CCP spin on any information.

Such is the case with any authoritarian dictatorship like Russia and China.

Noam Chomsky would argue, and rather persuasively I'd say, that there are other nations where the media can never be trusted to give accurate/impartial information; only elite spin on any information. In countries like Russia and China the propaganda is often rather heavy handed, making it somewhat transparent, so locals often know they're being propagandized too. In certain other countries #ahem# the propaganda is more subtle and organic, and the public are often unaware of the machinations that are constantly at work manufacturing consent. However, thanks to the internet, like the Gutenberg press before it, the powers that be are losing their monopoly on the dissemination of information. But, to be sure, 'they' are fighting back and even gaining new powers through increased digital monitoring and newly developed financial choke-holds, so who knows how this will all end? A dystopian digital panopticon is my best guess, but I'm always happy to be proved wrong : )

Without knowing exactly what was posted it's impossible to have an informed opinion on this specific case. Falling back then on generalities, I support free speech (even hateful speech) over state or corporate censorship (but do draw a line at incitement to imminent violence).

If senior members of the government or media defames someone that's one thing, as their proclamations still carry much weight; whereas, if some rando with a few hundred followers post disparaging comments that's quite another matter altogether. Thus charges of defamation should have to meet a high burden of proof.

Sadly, with regards to free speech, countries like Japan, Canada, and the UK, seem to be sliding towards an authoritarian model and away from a more liberal one.

No one objects to a moderate display of emotions, but athletes should display dignity (品格) commensurate with their position as Olympians and representatives of their nations — humble in victory, gracious in defeat. Takanori Nagase is a good example, always cool as a cucumber.

These most peaceful demonstrations are not because of any one incident or misinformation spread online, but are the culmination of many years of frustration over growing illegal immigration, resources diverted to housing illegal immigrants, gaslighting from the media, two-tiered policing, increased knife crime, and the cover up of foreign grooming gangs.

One should expect occasional criticism if you chose to put yourself in the public eye. It goes with territory. But there is no reason to read it all, nor need to take to heart criticism (or indeed praise) from random strangers online. Still, no comment from any anonymous troll could ever do more damage to Abe-chan's reputation than her own childish outburst. Hopefully she'll continue to mature and learn the meaning of sportsmanship.

As for changes to the rules of judo, I'd support a return to kosen rules. Too many judoka stall when it goes to the ground waiting for the inevitable mate. Newaza is a part of judo and should not be so quickly dismissed.

Sadly, good sportsmanship does not seem to be a widely understood concept here in Japan.

What I especially loved about Diyora Keldiyorova's performance was she went straight from the throw into a setup for an arm-bar (though she didn't seem to have Abe's head properly secured). That's the kind of judo I like to see. IMHO every throw should transition into a pin, choke or joint lock.

The best way to avoid the uncanny valley problem is for robots to remain clearly robotic and not attempt to deceive people into believing they are anything else.

Well little kim, STOP firing these fireworks across Japan and S. Korae then NATO and it's Asia allies will re consider.

Everyone saw how well that worked out for Gaddafi.

Good job on the Japan Times for staying on top of this important story and always being a voice for press freedoms.

Lots of things to consider. Will there be designated take-off and landing areas? The air displaced to achieve lift will make these noisy and send any dust and debris flying about, making a hazard for any pedestrians nearby. When crossing paths, which vehicle will have right of way? How will these vehicles behave in wind shear and poor flight conditions?

Personally, I think it would be best if flying cars were limited to ambulance at first.

Wait! I'm confused. I thought we were supposed to be worried about global warming!?! Flying takes a lot more energy than rolling along on wheels. How are we to reconcile personal flying vehicles with SDGs?

Unsurprisingly there's no mention in the article of a certain investigation Mr. Fico had recently announced.

The ring at the base for stability rather defeats the purpose.

Serious question: Can Australian's see video of the Kennedy assassination or is that banned too? What about horror movies? Can anyone enlighten me what is different about the Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing?

The phrase “online violence” is itself an act of violence against the English language.

No thanks. Not interested in GM Frankenfoods. I'll be sticking with protein as nature provides.

So according to Kishida, Japan's national interest is synonymous with the military industrial complex's interests.

It can't comprehend anything. It just processes data and generates images according to its programming and the training data it's provided.

I suppose it depends on one’s definition of ‘comprehend’. Certainly transformer neural networks, such as Gemini and Sora, have come to develop ‘neurons’ (i.e. a specific node or set of nodes that capture specific information) that recognize such disparate things as sentiment, entities, and fluid dynamics without ever receiving explicit programing in such. If you want to fault TNNs for not 'comprehending' things, then I'd argue that most people do not really 'comprehend' things most of the time so much as 'recognize' them.

@starpunk - How can Zionism be an *anti*semitic term when modern Arabs in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria are also semites? I think it's more accurate to parse Zionism as a political movement concerned with reestablishing a homeland for the Jewish diaspora in response to European pogroms and later the Holocaust, as distinct from the religious practices of Judaism. Criticizing Zionism then is more akin to criticizing any other ~ism - communism, socialism, fascism, vegetarianism, effective altruism etc.

@PTownsend - Are you familiar with Victoria Nuland's March 8th, 2022 appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee? If not I suggest you visit C-SPAN.org and scrub forward to 41 minute mark. When asked if Ukraine has chemical or biological weapons, her careful response was, "Uh, Ukraine has, uh, biological research facilities which, in fact, we quite concerned that Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to, uh, gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of, uh, Russian forces should they approach."

Nuland essentially confirmed the existence of bio-labs. Now, whether they are for pharmaceutical research, biological weapons, or dual-use is unknown (to us plebs). But your insistence that it can be safely disregarded as Russian propaganda suggests to me that you have uncritically internalized US propaganda. However, in this instance, the only epistemological honest position is to admit that one doesn't know.

Both the pelvis and femoral neck angle are different in males and females. As a result, the natural resting state for men’s legs is open, not closed. It takes active muscle engagement for men to sit with their legs parallel. Of course, some men take this to an extreme; but, generally speaking, it is due to anatomy rather than a lack of manners that most men sit with with their legs slightly splayed open.

The problem is many conspiracies are real.

Corporations are routinely fined for collusion (Forex Scandal) and/or falsifying data (Hino emissions scandal).

Media giants selectively amplify some information (Kuwaiti Incubator Hoax) while suppressing other (Hunter Biden laptop controversy).

Governments have been caught in false-flag operations (Gulf of Tonkin Incident), experimenting on unwitting citizens (MKUltra), and propagandizing their own populations (Operation Mockingbird).

Of course not all conspiracy theories are credible (flat-earth), but the elites use the label of ‘conspiracy theorist’ to dismiss anyone asking uncomfortable questions (COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis).

However, thanks to social media, the elites are losing narrative control.

But, of course, they’re fighting back with tools such as the Trusted News Initiative and the UK’s Online Safety Act.

If the government and media truly want to regain public trust, they need to increase transparency and accountability, and promote dialogue and debate rather than muzzle it.

This explanation is as much of a surprise to locals as well as foreigners, given that the English word “homogenise”, known as “kinshitsuka” in Japanese, is far from common knowledge. 

I don't know what kind of foreigners the author is referring to but, in North America at least, milk used to be sold in grocery stores as either 2% or homogenized, so even most children would be familiar with this meaning. Furthermore the prefix 'homo' -- from the Greek 'homos' meaning 'one and the same' -- is used by most European languages, so again should be common knowledge for most Europeans as well.

This reads like Sokal 3.0.

Hey there Roy. Thanks for the links to the blog posts. I always enjoy food for thought!

( 1. ) With regards to the frameshift error, the paper that first identified the problem was published December 6th, 2023. I would argue that there simply hasn’t been time to extensively research whether incorrect proteins resulting from frameshift errors are linked to adverse outcomes in those who got the mRNA vaccines or not.

In the blog you linked to the author dismisses such a possibility saying, “we do know what such adverse outcomes would probably look like. It would likely look the same as any other errant immune reaction or autoimmune condition.”

Oddly enough there just happen to have been reports of new-onset autoimmune diseases after vaccination. In the interest of patient safety, this at least warrants further investigation, no?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10108562/

( 2. ) In the very blog post you post in response to my concern about a lack of cell targeting it acknowledges that Pfizer’s own LNP pharmacokinetic study for PMDA showed, albeit in a rodent model, that only 53% of LNP stayed within the intramuscular injection site. 

More recent studies, performed on newly deceased patients, provide more evidence of widespread biodistribution, including uptake by cells in the myocardium. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-023-00742-7

Personally, given that the average age of death 'either due' to or 'involving' COVID-19 is roughly 80yo, the risk from LNP + mRNA platform are currently one I’m not willing to take. But don’t let my misgivings influence you. By all means, please go get your bi-annual boosters!  I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/singleyearofageandaverageageofdeathofpeoplewhosedeathwasduetoorinvolvedcovid19

Until the issues of ( 1. ) biodistribution and ( 2. ) frameshiftings errors (a consequence of the inclusion of pseudouridine) are properly addressed, I'll be sticking with traditional vaccines.

Wearing a wide brimmed hat, as well as long, loose fitting clothing, and retiring periodically under the shade is a far healthier strategy to minimize the risk of sunburn rather than slathering yourself with some chemical sunscreen that can cross the blood brain barrier.