1glenn comments

Posted in: New Dodger Ohtani says Seoul MLB games will be 'great memories' for him and wife See in context

Loved watching Ohtani at Angel Stadium, wish I could see him in Seoul!

And by the way, what a GREAT idea to have the opener, or any games, in Seoul. When will they have a game in Japan?

How much are tickets going for?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Canada can increase role in Indo-Pacific through IPEF: Japan envoy See in context

Whenever I see an article about Canada or Australia on the international stage, I can't help reflect on how they compare to my own state of California. We have a larger population than either country, and a larger GDP as well. Still, let's hear it for the little guys.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Posted in: Blue Impulse See in context

Beautiful picture! I would never have imagined using the aerobatic team to make such an amazing display. Also a big fan of the bullet train idea. I wish we had it over here in the States.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan completes 4th round of Fukushima treated water discharge See in context

No one, including yours truly, wants a radioactive ocean. However, if the government is telling the truth, this water is not radioactive. We should use facts and logic, not fear alone, to make our decisions.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Posted in: Solar power occupies a lot of space – here’s how to make it more ecologically beneficial to the land it sits on See in context

Solar panels on rooftops, in carparks, on and over waterways, and in dual use areas for crops and husbandry.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Putin has no successor, no living rivals and no retirement plan – why his eventual death will set off a vicious power struggle See in context

Nevalney illustrated that Putin had stolen billions of dollars from the Russian people, so he doesn't need a pension plan.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Kate's been the reliable face of a modern monarchy; now she's at the center of a media backlash See in context

Saw some rumormongering on TV a few nights ago.......the theory put forth was that she has avoided the limelight because her partner is cheating on her, and she's not having it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Biden opposes plan to sell U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, citing need for 'American steel workers' See in context

As long as the steel factories remain on US soil, and employ US workers, and remain open, what's the harm in changing ownership? It's not as if American corporate ownership has shown that they are especially competent.

17 ( +21 / -4 )

Posted in: Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan sued for 'beautifying' wartime Japan soldiers See in context

So, how about an example of "beautifying" Japanese soldiers? There were good and bad in all armies. Was he pointing out a few examples of "beauty," or saying that all soldiers were beautiful? The devil is in the details, and the details are lacking.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: The noise problem in conflict averse Japan See in context

After watching films and dramas from Japan and Korea, one thing I have noticed is the elevated noise level inside homes and offices. Many homes over here have double pane windows, which cuts down on the interior noise.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan’s craziest ramen? Famous noodle chain in Tokyo takes things to extreme levels See in context

Looks delicious!

The best Ramen and pork place I have so far found is called "Kitakata," transplanted here from Japan. They do a wonderful job.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Putin warns again Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty threatened See in context

If Putin wants to commit suicide, no one is going to stop him, but there will be retaliation.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan's Space One Kairos rocket explodes right after lift-off See in context

Most of the rockets I used to help launch at Vandenberg AFB were liquid fueled, but we also launched solid fuel rockets. I will never forget standing less than 50 feet away from an augmented Scout solid fuel rocket as it put a small, 5 pound European satellite into space. In hindsight, I should have been further away, but it was a lot of fun standing near a rocket as it takes off. It always amazed me that so many people would choose to be in bunkers during a launch, instead above ground, but then I was filled with the foolishness of youth.

For those who don't know, solid fuel rockets have a lower specific impulse than liquid fuel rockets, but they are generally cheaper. They are often used as strap-on boosters to liquid fueled rockets, to help them get off the ground.

The field of rocket science is fascinating. Ion drive motors are very efficient, but do not have sufficient force to lift anything off of Earth. So, one way of doing unmanned space travel is as follows. First, get off the ground with liquid fueled rockets, assisted by solid fuel rocket boosters if necessary. Once in space, and destined for interstellar travel, an ion drive engine is the most practical, but not for maneuvering, for obvious reasons.

So anyway, it is exciting to watch Japan conduct its space program, much of which has already been very successful. The program to return asteroid material to Earth was magnificently done. I have no doubt that great things will be done in the future.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Led by Musk, Silicon Valley inches to the right See in context

I can't help but have a lot of admiration for Mr. Musk, but he is more than a little odd in his personal life. He has probably done more than any other single person to fight global warming, and he almost singlehandedly saved Ukraine in the early days of the war when he donated thousands of starlink internet systems, and yet, he can't help but express out loud every weird conspiracy theory that crosses his mind.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Posted in: How to enjoy living alone – it's the coming thing for many of us See in context

Been married for many decades, and not looking forward to living alone. I guess it beats the alternative, but when one is as co-dependent as are my wife and I, it is not unusual for both partners to pass away within a month of each other. Of course I will take things as they come, but for now I prefer living with my partner, rather than without her.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: COVID lowered life expectancy by 1.6 years worldwide: study See in context

If I may repeat myself..........

Growing up, my mother told me repeatedly about the terrible things she witnessed while a young woman growing up in an apartment in New York City during the "Spanish" flu of 1918-1920. It was very scary to hear those stories. I could visualize the things she told me about, like a horse drawn wagon coming down the street every day to pick up the bodies, shrouded in sheets, left on the side of the street by their families and neighbors. Or of every child in the next door neighbor's being killed by the virus. She told me the stories often, and they left an impression in me. The one good thing, I told myself, was that we would never see such a pandemic again.

Boy, was I wrong.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

Posted in: Boeing promises changes after getting poor grades in government audit of manufacturing quality See in context

Boeing has for decades successfully fought to reduce and in many cases eliminate middle manager and employee pension benefits. If I were an employee of theirs, I imagine my morale would be at rock bottom, which might reflect on the company's safety issues.

Boeing upper management has been running the company for their own personal benefit, without consideration for the overall health of the company. It pains me to see one of the last major American companies go down the tubes, but that is what has happened. There is no easy fix for this company. As long as the current upper management is in place, the company is doomed.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Posted in: Good manners See in context

Most people are cool, but a few percentage are not. Unfortunately for everyone else.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: Book review: World War Two on trial and the making of modern Asia See in context

My Dad got medals for fighting the fascists, before he came to America. Today, Trump would call him a traitor, an Antifa. There was a time when almost everyone in the West was anti-fascist, but today Trump and the Republicans he controls are pro-fascists. The truth is way stranger than fiction.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Posted in: Book review: World War Two on trial and the making of modern Asia See in context

"...nobody wanted to go through with another endless, exhausting trial."

In Europe, the worst of the worst, gestapo and SS, were sometimes summarily executed, without trials. I talked with a partisan who privately admitted to killing over 50 of the worst of the worst, with his compatriots. They knew who was guilty of torturing and killing civilians, and they did not want to take the chance that they would escape punishment for their horrendous crimes. To this day no one knows where the killed Germans were buried, except those who did it, and they have all passed away. They did not kill Germans wantonly. Hundreds of thousands of German occupiers were told to go home, although without assistance.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Posted in: S Korea starts procedures to suspend licenses of 4,900 striking doctors See in context

Not enough info here to make an educated guess as to what the motivations are for the SK doctors. Isn't there a shortage of doctors everywhere? Why would anyone be against encouraging the appropriate schools from enrolling more students? For that matter, why is it that medical schools in all countries are not increasing the capacity to teach more doctors?

Our family has been treated by wonderful doctors from China and Iran, which indicates to me that they immigrated here due to a shortage of doctors in the US. I asked the Iranian doctor about his background and motivations. He spent several years in Europe, Norway specifically, before coming here. His words to me were, "Can you imagine being told how to do your job by some mullah?" He was our physician for more than 20 years, and we loved him. From his stories, I gathered that he worked in the Iran-Iraq war. Yes, he is old now.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: How global warming is reshaping winter life in Canada See in context

Also in the news.....

the Arctic ice was first 3D mapped in the 1950s by US atomic powered submarines. At that time the multi year ice, about 12 feet thick, extended over a large area of the Arctic Ocean. More lately, the multi year 12 foot thick ice has been measured as covering only about 1/4th of the area that it did 70 years ago. While there is a lot of relatively thin ice visible in satellite photos of the Arctic, most of the multi year ice has already melted.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Posted in: How global warming is reshaping winter life in Canada See in context

Elsewhere in the news, whales {who cannot travel large distances under the ice} are now using the Northwest Passage to travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and the Arctic region is forecast to be largely ice free by the end of the century.

So, not only no ice skating in Southern Canada, but not in Northern Canada as well.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Posted in: More Chinese women choosing to stay single as economy stutters See in context

There was another article in Japan Times a few years ago detailing how some Chinese men were looking for wives in other Asian countries. Just saying, it is a complicated issue.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: More Chinese women choosing to stay single as economy stutters See in context

"People had children for millennia without causing climate change." Not true. An article in Scientific American pointed out the link between the Black Death pandemic in Eurasia in the 14th century, and the Little Ice Age in the following century. The rationale goes that with 1/3rd of the population having died in agrarian societies, many farms reverted. back to forest or plains. Many fewer people were burning wood for fuel to cook their meals and heat their homes, which resulted in lots of CO2 being drawn out of the atmosphere by plant life, and less CO2 being put into the atmosphere by humans.

Global warming, aka climate change, has greatly accelerated since the start of the Industrial Revolution at about 1750, but humans were changing the atmosphere for thousands of years before that, at a slower rate.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: China nuclear plants released tritium above Fukushima level in 2022, document shows See in context

Uranium and plutonium have half-lives in the tens of thousands of years. The nuclear melt-down material inside Fukushima will be deadly many tens of thousands of years from now.

Tritium, an isotope of Hydrogen, is, I imagine, a byproduct of the energy production inside nuclear power plants, as water is used to cool down and slow down the nuclear reactions. At Fukushima, the water is used to prevent further meltdown of the nuclear cores. The water is bombarded with radiation, and one of the results is tritium.

With a half life of 12 days, if the water in the nuclear facility is stored for a long time before being released, it should have a much reduced amount of tritium and the associated radiation. So, my question is, is the amount of tritium present measured at the time the water gets released into the ocean? If so, and if the amount is still very, very high, then that is significant, and should be taken into consideration. The amount of radiation still present inside Fukushima power plant must be extremely high and dangerous.

However, my understanding is that the tritium level in the water released into the ocean is not dangerous. If true, then that should end the discussion. It is not radioactive, enriched uranium being released into the environment, but much less dangerous tritium.

Seems to me that if those in charge of the decision to release the Fukushima water into the ocean believe that what they are doing is safe, then they should hold press conferences where they freely drink the water. That is, if they believe what they are doing is safe.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: 'Moshi-Tora' speculates on how Trump's election might impact Japan's economy See in context

Another Trump presidency would be disastrous not only for Japan, but for the whole human species. Remember, he thinks global warming is a left wing hoax.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Rocket launch by private Japanese firm Space One postponed See in context

I have no doubt that Japan has the technological capability to go to space. The question is whether it has the motivation to do so.

Having worked in a supporting role at Vandenberg AFB, I can say that launching rockets into space is a lot of fun. I recommend it. As kids we most of us loved to launch fireworks into the sky. Watching rockets light up into the sky is way more fun.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Ceremony held to mark 79th anniversary of U.S. firebombings of Tokyo See in context

Both Germany and Japan used terror as a weapon.

250,000 Chinese civilians intentionally killed as retribution for the perception that China was complicit in the Doolittle raid against Japan in 1942.

40,000 Dutch civilians intentionally starved to death in Sumatra, for no reason other than the Japanese leadership wanted them out of the way.

The Allies felt that using terror against both Germany and Japan was justified, under the circumstances.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Posted in: China nuclear plants released tritium above Fukushima level in 2022, document shows See in context

Tritium has a half life of 12 days. As sources of radiation go, it is one of the least dangerous. Not all sources of radiation are equal.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

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