1glenn comments

Enjoyed the world expo in Spokane, Washington in 1974. Would love to go to Osaka.

The expo in Spokane attracted only 5 million visitors throughout the whole of its duration. Spokane is the smallest city to ever hold such an event. The focus that time was on the environment.

Just an anecdote; a neighbor worked at Space X. He told me he found another place to work because the work environment at Space X was very uncomfortable. I got the feeling that he worked there when he first came to town because they were hiring and he needed a job, but he moved on as soon as he could.

Keep me posted on how this works out.

Not a big drinker these days, but every Japanese drink I have tried, from beer to whiskey to wine, has been exceptionally tasty, so I would gladly taste Japanese gin.

Brilliant. Where there is a will, and a little common sense, there is a way.

We should also bring back the use of National Guard C-130s as fire fighting airplanes. IMO, these planes were the best fire fighters in the history of aviation. At one National Guard unit that I was assigned to I saw how these planes operated. Huge tanks would be wheeled into the C-130s, carrying an absolutely immense amount of fire retardant/fertilizer. These planes carried much more retardant than any helicopter, and much more than any other plane. There were piloted and operated by national guard volunteers, who did not get astronomical salaries, obviously. The fire retardant could be staged near wherever the fires were happening, and the planes could be refilled in just a few minutes.I was offered a chance to volunteer, but had other commitments. Watching these planes in operation was inspirational.

The whole thing with the C-130s used occasionally to fight fires changed when Reagan became president. He had the bright idea that the fire fighting role of military airplanes should be privatized. The civilian planes and helicopters used today to fight fires are no match for the C-130s that used to do the job. Reagan wanted government money to go to private contractors, even if that means that private homes burn down as a result.

I have a lot of admiration for Tesla's technological achievements. I myself have Tesla's solar panels on our roof, and am very happy with them. However, given Musk's completely unacceptable political behavior, I will not buy anything from Tesla going forward.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Both sides in this conflict have much to apologize for.

Just about everything, everywhere, is to some degree radioactive, from water in the ocean to soil on the top of Mt. Everest. The article states that the soil is slightly radioactive, without giving any figures. If the soil from Fukushima is about as radioactive as soil from anywhere else on Earth, then there is no problem. If the soil is much more radioactive, then that is something to discuss.

The article does not give specific information so that comparisons can be made.

Mr. Ohtani is a gift to those of us who love baseball.

We have had Nissans in the past, and would be willing to give them a try again, considering our past experiences with them.

Looked it up, and so far Nissan does not offer any hybrid EVs in the US. It does offer the pure electric Leaf. That car is considerably cheaper than most EVs, but also has a lighter range. One model gets about 150 miles, while the slightly more expensive model has a 50% bigger battery and has a 50% longer range. My problem with the Leaf is that Consumer Reports magazine says it is has poor quality control.

The concept of the hybrid EV is a very good one. Most people drive less than 60 km per day, so a hybrid EV will eliminate most gasoline or diesel usage, even with a limited electric range. The hybrid EV can be built more cheaply than the pure EV, unless and until the price of batteries comes down.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't rice shortages and high rice prices in Japan be prevented by importing cheap but high quality rice from places like the US, India, and Thailand? The rice problem seems to me to be entirely caused by government policies. Currently a small fraction of rice exported from the US goes to Japan, but that is due to Japanese government actions, not American policy.

The current US President is clearly out to destroy the current world order, and he is succeeding. Destroying education is just one of his steps to make it easier to become King.

Trump doesn't care what Japan wants. He just wants to destroy the American education system.

The sequoias transplanted to the UK in the 1800s are not Redwoods, though the Brits mistakenly call them so. The Brits have been calling them Redwoods for over a hundred years, but they are far different from the trees we call Redwoods. Just because they call them by the wrong name, that does not make it so.

Coastal Redwoods need a specific microclimate to thrive, and it is not the same as the mountain climate for the sequoias. 2,000 year old Redwoods can't just sprout legs and get up and move.

I have gone on some British websites and tried to explain that what they call Redwoods is a misnomer, but with no joy. They are very happy calling something by the wrong name.

Come over here to Cali, and one can buy 5 kg of rice for about 350 yen, retail.

The King is destroying higher education in America. Thanks for nothing.

California Redwoods exist no where else than along the Northern California and Southern Oregon Coasts. Amazingly beautiful, and the tallest trees in the world. They also may succumb to global warming.

Thank you to the people working to save this endangered species.

Not to sound cruel, but wouldn't it make sense to try to eliminate feral goats from the island? It would probably be prohibitively expensive for the poor country of Yemen to spend money to catch and relocate the goats, so killing or catching them may be the only options.

This is what happens when fools are put in charge.

Best of luck to Ohtani, and to the Dodgers. The NY Mets are formidable opponents.

Some Americans are indeed aware of Japan's economic importance, both to the US, and to the world. Unfortunately, Trump is not included in those Americans.

After the overthrow of the Shah, religious extremists turned to consolidating power in the country. Tens of thousands of potential competitors for power were murdered by the Islamic extremists. The world would love to see freedom come to Iran, but what is the likelihood of that?

Over the years we have had a few Nissans, and we were happy with them.

As for having a giant headquarters building, I think it is a symbol of unchecked egoism, rather than an indicator of economic success. I don't want to name names, but there is a very large multibillion dollar company that gets by very well with a relatively small headquarters building. It isn't that they can't afford a giant building, but that they made the decision not to spend their money that way.

I used to have long talks with my Dad about the failings of American corporations, and we agreed that their predilection for unneeded giant headquarters buildings was a symbol of poor decision making.

Capturing carbon through photosynthesis has been going on for billions of years. The idea that humans could significantly improve on Mother Nature is a worthy goal, but one sure way to help with the global warming problem is to stop destroying plant ecosystems, whether on land or in the ocean. Mankind's hubris knows no bounds.

I read somewhere that future missions to space have 3-D printers as part of their must-have equipment list. Don't know who first came up with the idea for this type of printer, but the first time I saw one was on the Star Trek TV series.

What did they call barbecuing during the Pleistocene, and even afterwards?

Cooking.

Iceland is one of the few places in the world where it is legal to hunt and eat Puffin. Will that be on the menu?

They also eat whale, although most of their catch is shipped to Japan!

Iceland and delicacy, two words I never expected to see in the same sentence.