Ah_so comments

Another nail in the coffin of X. As it's advertising revenues don't up, it's value is collapsing. Musk is doubling down, hoping to lure the far right away from places like Telegram. But a small increase in followers of accounts like Jones' will not steady the sinking ship.

That’s chump change, if he gets fined, please start up your business in Texas or Florida

He's worth an estimated $2.6bn. But, so over 10% of his net worth. But as it is all tied up in real estate and mortgages, he's going to have sell something.

8 think it can only be controversial because of how horrible the type of cheese they use is.

In Japan there is a theme that it is better that 99 people are unable to to enjoy themselves rather than 1 person be be inconvenienced.

Yes, there might be a bit of mess and drunkenness, but that's just part of life.

I'm tired of hearing the usual sentimental arguments from Koreans about the Japanese military being cruel and intolerable.

I'm so sorry if the stories of Japanese cruelty are tiring for you. Perhaps the surviving victims could make their stories more entertaining for you - add a few jokes, or taste some oishi Japanese food.

I didn't know about this - a fascinating read. Although a relatively minor part of WW2, these stories bring the individual horrors of war to life.

Because each member country gets a vote.

But given the size of the EU, it will be paralyzed if it required consensus on every decision. As a result, countries give up a degree of sovereignty in order to receive the wider benefits of membership - that's how democracy works.

If Hungary doesn't want to pay contributions to Ukraine, I'm sure there is a workaround. But just because Hungary is trying to follow Russia down the path to fascism, doesn't mean it can drag the rest of Europe down the drain with it.

There seems to be some confusion about what a Christmas Carol is.

A Christmas Carol is an explicitly religious song regarding Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

The others are Christmas songs regarding 5h3 celebrations around Christmas.

So living in the countryside, I have to pay for this?

It depends on where exactly you live, surely.

There is still plenty to pay for, from July to school uniforms. These still pose real challenges for the very poorest.

I meant juku, not July. For many, academic advancement beyond high school requires additional tuition.

Here in England he is more commonly called Father Christmas although Santa is becoming more common, mostly because of the influence of Hollywood.

Father Christmas, or Pere Noel as known in France, is actually a different figure, and pagan in origin. Over time,Father Christmas and St. Nicholas have become interchangeable, but Father Christmas is a pagan figure, who represented the midwinter festivities. He was eventually merged into the Christmas tradition and then St. Nicholas was merged with him.

In Japan there is NOTHING FREE not even the air you breath, they will find a way to squeeze few yens here and there JUST WATCH AND SEE.

There is still plenty to pay for, from July to school uniforms. These still pose real challenges for the very poorest.

can assure you the coffers are not full and someone will be paying for others kids to get educated.

I'm happy to pay for others' children 5ongwt educated. Without an educated workforce, the country will be poorer and lead to a worse society in the future.

This is a good use of taxes.

Anti-trans stuff has become as a big an article of faith on the American right as gun ownership, climate change denial, anti-abortion, death sentence approval, book banning, election denial and the threat of Jewish space lasers.

I wonder how many under 25 females physically converted to male in the US in 2022. Probably fewer than there are pages in this book.

British citizens who want to bring their foreign spouse to Britain will have to earn the same amount – almost double the current threshold.

This will effect quite a lot of Brits who meet their spouse in Japan and return with her (or him) to the UK, perhaps initially in a fairly low paying job. Even starting as a school teacher would not get you to this salary for some years.

I can appreciate that he was stressed, but this is still de facto murder.

Was he negligent just because he just didn't look and see them? Sounds overly harsh

That's not harsh at all. If you are in control of a motorized lump of metal in an area where you know, it should know, that there are likely to be pedestrians, it is your responsibility to take care and avoid them. To not do so is by definition negligent.

He also parked with the nose facing in - most Japanese reverse into parking spaces because that make exciting safer.

For those who say the woman potentially shares some of the fault, yes, it is possible she could have taken more care, but she wasn't the one at the steering wheel.

If you are a driver a you hit a pedestrian who isn't doing anything particularly unusual, it is your fault.

Just hand them back. No one in Britain cares about them and there is so much else to see at the British museum.

Abuse depends on the person not talking out because of fear. This is particularly so for children. It will take them enormous courage to talk out.

To have it rejected or played back to the parents must be soul destroying, as well as the physical consequences.

It seems that like workers in the U.S, Japanese people love working and are very loyal to their company, not wanting to leave too much pressure for their coworkers. In many other countries, people use 100% of their entitlement every year.

The legal question of "qui bene?" (who benefits?) should be asked here.

Not really the co-workers at a fundamental level, but they will attack those perceived as using too much leave, but the business owners.

If there is so much work that the employees can't take their contractual annual leave, then there aren't enough employees. But this state of affairs means that the employer doesn't need to employ the right number of workers - the cost saving goes straight into the owners' pocket as profit.

In 'many other countries' the workers would say, "that's your problem", but in Japan, the workers haven't figured this out. They think that this is a positive trait. The owners think so too, and are laughing all the way to the bank.

The best scam victim is one who doesn't know he's been conned and refuses to accept it when pointed out to him.

It's that cliche of children hiding behind the sofa

It was a cliché for the upper middle classes. Most families wouldn't have enough room in their houses to get behind a sofa.

But I do know plenty of folks in Tohoku who leave them on 24/7 and sleep under them every night for 5 months a year.

I can assure you that no one sleeps under a kotatsu. Those who do (normally in a drunken state), don't do it again.

Justy insulate the houses when you build them.

Insulate houses? But that would destroy the kotatsu industry and kill tradition.

No, Japanese houses must be unpleasantly hot or cold for ten months of the year.

Also, I am looking forward to an article about how wind-chimes in summer will make us feel cooler.

Milei purports to be a libertarian, though whether he is in the traditional John Stuart Mill sense or not or just misapplying the label and he is just another populist loose cannon will soon be seen.

John Stuart -Mill was a liberal, rather than an anarcho capitalist libertarian - there is a huge difference, even if there are elements in common.

A crazy and cumbersome idea. Why not adjust the room temperature to a comfortable level? Or put a blanket over your lap if you're feeling cold?

If you look at the picture carefully, you'll see that it does have a blanket to put over your lap.

The target group for the TB tests is Asian temp workers.

Which is where TB is endemic.

Several countries in Europe are about to go the way of Russia, with their own versions of Chechenya. There will be intermittent civil wars and conflicts, and the Islamified areas of these countries will be run by local warlords. That is probably the best case scenario.

One could argue that Sweden was naively welcoming in having such a liberal immigration policy. However, your doomsday vision of the future is absurd, as is your comparison to Chechnya - it was an Islamic majority area before Russia conquered it and incorporated it into the country.

I stayed at a Ryokan once by necessity, stuck in a snow storm. Horrible experience. Place and food was cold, futon uncomfortable, shared bathrooms. Never again.

Sounds to me like you were staying in a minshuku. They can be really nice, but not the full ryokan experience. Every ryokan I've ever stayed in has an en suite bathroom as well as the communal baths/ onsen.

Ryokan are an experience in themselves, and you have to go with the experience. If someone is visiting Japan, I always recommend at least one night in a ryokan, but it wouldn't be practical for a whole holiday. However, a Hilton is just a hotel, nothing more.

That will make people from developed nations easily fail to get into Japan. Especially people who want to try their luck using dating app in Japan.

So it's ok for screening from developing nations but not developed nations.

None of this makes any sense.

Well, except when unemployment or gas or inflation temporarily goes down, then it’s all Joe all day.

Apparently it's his fault when inflation goes up, so it seems logical that he should be able to claim credit for it dropping.