albaleo comments

Why would anyone with small children live in a sky box?

We don't all have much of a choice. We lived on the 10th floor of a 12-story apartment for about three years before our daughter was five years old. There was no way we could afford a house at the time.

Like most of our neighbors, we took care to make sure there was no easy way for our daughter to get over the balcony railing. But I guess that possibility was always around.

It's a horrible story, but sadly, accidents happen. A child falling from a balcony or a child running out of the house into the road and getting struck by a car - which is more likely?

If "digital networking" means less face-to-face contact then the number of cards used may fall. But I think people will still use them when they meet in person. After all, they can have a phone number and e-mail address on them to support future online contact. Here in Scotland, I seem to be getting more cards from tradespeople such as joiners, electricians, and even my local barber.

What element is missing for it to be considered entrapment?

I think the general meaning of entrapment is "causing someone to do something they would not usually do by tricking them". In this case, similar thefts had taken place before. If the arrested woman was responsible for the previous thefts, I don't think it can be called entrapment.

I’m sure the NHS could do without it.

That's not so clear. An increasing burden on the NHS is people living longer and developing more late life health problems. Smoking levels have dropped significantly over the last 30 years or so, but the NHS still struggles.

Can you say something is terrorism without mentioning the cause?

My own view of terrorism is that it is intended to cause fear among a wider population, and the targets of the attack can be fairly random - e.g. a car bomb in a crowded street. In this case, it seems there was a specific target. Not that it makes it any better - deliberate killing is wrong.

The harsh reality of religious belief is soul deep, unrelenting, and does [not] compromise on any level.

Perhaps for some, but I'm not sure it is religion alone that causes this mess. If all those religious followers had some wealth or at least the prospect of a better life for themselves or their families, would they conduct violent actions? Is it the believers that are the problem or those willing to follow the believers because they have few options for a better life? Whatever, it's an ugly mess. And I'm still waiting for a leader of a wealthy state to declare that religious belief is nonsense and the way forward is to improve hope and opportunities for the poor.

(We may meet up in Hell one day. :-) )

the glove didn’t fit because his lawyer had a doctor prescribe a medicine that swells extremities

I've read almost the exact opposite - that he was taking anti-inflammatory medicine for arthritis, and that he stopped taking it, which allowed his hand to swell. However, apparently the Los Angeles County Jail doctor confirmed that Simpson had taken his medication every day.

What to believe, eh? I have no idea, but am willing to accept the jury's verdict. I suspect they heard far more than me about the matter.

Who made this compelling case?

I understand it was a private investigator named William Dear.

https://www.distractify.com/p/oj-simpson-son-murder-theory

His name has been around for ages, his thoughts inspired so much research, he got his PhD before I was born, and yet I don't fully understand the Higgs boson concept. I should probably do some reading.

Thank you, Peter Higgs.

So why doesn't the 2nd amendment say that?

Technically it does.

Under the Second Amendment, law-abiding citizens who are not restricted from owning firearms, like convicted felons or people with certain mental health issues, have the right to own guns.

I accept that the 2nd amendment can be interpreted to allow possession of firearms. But it doesn't specifically refer to firearms - just "arms". The meaning of "arms" can be debated, but I think it is generally understood to mean weapons, and some say it more specifically means military weapons. It seems that legislation is allowed to restrict certain types of weapons - hand grenades, bladed weapons, chemical weapons, certain types of machine gun, etc. So if some types of "arms" can be restricted, why not firearms? Why do I think it's not because of the 2nd amendment, but because a lot of people simply like guns?

No, it means, I can own a firearm

So why doesn't the 2nd amendment say that?

If you've got a globe of any sort, you're in good company.

Doesn't everyone have a globe in their house? They're great for reminding us of the difference between a flat map and reality.

They run from about 1,290 British pounds

You can buy a globe on Amazon for 10 pounds.

No, it in layman’s terms it does allow me the right to bear arms,

And what does "bear arms" mean - carry a catapult, carry a machine gun, carry a hand grenade? It seems US law has no problem making certain types of "arms" illegal.

and every other 2nd amendment hating liberal is not going to change that.

I don't think "liberal" applies to placing restrictions on things.

prescribed medications can also pose such side effects, and many more--some even deadly

That's why they need to be prescribed.

It seems the current world's oldest man is now from Liverpool (111 years and 223 days old). Liverpool - some of us may be scratching our heads about that. He puts his longevity down to eating fish and chips every Friday - amongst other things.

One reason may be the overall drop in the number of younger people in the population. I understand that in 1971 there were 19.7 million people aged 15-24. In 2020, the number was 11.7 million.

I've just read that the Scottish police have said that what JK Rowling had written is not being treated as criminal. No surprise, I think. She referred to a "transwoman" as a "man". Fine, I generally have the same opinion. It's just an opinion, no malice involved. My complaint with JK Rowling is her stance against the current law.

Scotland should have thought about that before letting Japan copy their whiskies.

Why? Honest question. Here in Scotland we can be quite nationalistic about many things, but not so much about whisky. I'm not sure why, but at any booze shop or supermarket even, along with the Scotch whisky, there is generally a selection of other whiskies - American, Irish, Japanese, and even Canadian. But beer and wine seem to take up most of the shelf space. And don't forget the gin, vodka, cider, and weird cocktails.

I guess our national motto is along the lines of, "If it gets you drunk, give it a try."

Both Nicola Sturgeon, Alex Salmond came so close.

This law was actually introduced by Nicola Sturgeon and passed in 2021.

the legal complexity of defining hate speech is a rabbit hole

Perhaps, but such laws already exist. This new law is not so different from existing laws - it consolidates a few things and adds "age" as another item. (No malicious hate towards we oldies.)

J.K. Rowling's comments are a little strange. She says "but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act". But I'm pretty sure what she has written doesn't qualify as an offence. The law specifically states that actions have to demonstrate malice and ill-will towards the victim. Expressing a biological opinion of whether someone is a man or a woman is not malice. Some take the view that she is pursuing an anti-SNP position rather than a "free speech" position.

The ultimate defence plea in Japan: “Sorry, don’t remember!”.

I don't think it can be considered a defense plea. It's what he said to the police during questioning. The equivalent in other places might be, "No comment".

Before I was a teenager, there was a switch to smokeless coal in Glasgow. I remember the big change when walking to school in winter - clear blue skies. Later, there was a big concern about pollution from vehicles, especially from leaded petrol. But as Hello Kitty said above, the global warming concern was unknown to most people at the time.

Why putting wind and sun together in the same sack? Producing clean energy from the sun is much preferable.

Genuine question, why is solar energy preferable? They both have their limitations - the sun doesn't shine at night and wind can fall and rise. Hopefully we will soon have better methods of storing the surplus energy for both sources. Here in Scotland, wind energy provides far more electricity than solar energy. There are probably good reasons.

This is leftist "economics" summarised perfectly. Just up the prices to collect more money!

You've got me scratching my head on that. Whether you have left or right political views, there are certain things that generally require a monopoly on supply. Roads, railways, water supply, conventional electricity supply, gas supply, etc. Generally they involve land usage.

Leftish governments may tend to make such supply companies public; rightish ones may sell off the supply to a large company. Either way, it's a monopoly on delivery.

and shorten the travel time between the capital and Osaka to just 67 minutes

Maybe it's because I'm old, but I have no desire to make that trip so quickly. I used to travel a lot between Osaka and Tokyo. It took about three hours when I started doing it. (It's now about two and a half hours. ) That seemed perfect. I could relax, have a beer or coffee, watch the scenery, see the top of Mount Fuji on about one out of three trips, and have a nap.

How is pressing a hair iron against someone's forehead not malicious?

We don't have all the information. But what if one person was doing some ironing and another person attacked her. So she raised her hand holding the iron as a form of defense and it burned the attacker's forehead. But let's face it, we don't fully know what happened.

I once knew a senior Takarazuka member through the leader of her fan club. She was in the second top tier of her troupe. This was back in the early 1980s. She once visited my apartment with a group of more junior members of her troupe. They all seemed very happy and friendly, but perhaps because they had escaped the organization for a few hours.

Well done Sweden, not only for standing up to bullying from the media and pro lockdown zealots, but also for taking care of your citizens, children and society.

Yet its death rate from Covid was higher than in many other European countries.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1111779/coronavirus-death-rate-europe-by-country/

I'm not criticizing Sweden. They were very open about their approach and admitted they had various problems. Hopefully we can learn something from the various approaches taken in different countries. My biggest concern has not been so much the deaths from Covid but the delays in hospital treatment for more common problems that resulted.

And he only got a three-month SUSPENSION from his job? Huh? What am I missing here?

The article is a little unclear. But he hasn't yet been found guilty of anything (although apparently he has admitted to the allegation). I'm guessing there are some basic rules that are applied until the person is found guilty in a court. An immediate temporary suspension would seem to make sense. Let's keep our bonfires unlit until he's been through the process.

Good sleuthing, Alba - it's very hard to find anywhere else in the world, isn't it?!

Specifically involving "public servants", yes. But it's not so difficult to find lots of cases of people stealing underwear.

I also recall a time you could buy ysed girls underwear in downtown Tokyo not that long ago.

They may have been my nieces'. Back in the 90s maybe (memory hazy), my sister-in-law was thinking of selling her three daughters' used underwear. Her attitude was basically, "no harm done, take the money".

You know you're in Japan when a public servant is arrested for stealing women's underwear.

Seriously, does this fetish exist anywhere else in the world?

The link below is the case of a New York judge. Albeit from a few years ago.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/03/panty-stealing-long-island-judge-stripped-of-license-steps-down-from-bench/

This is where the youth of Japan have it right. The misinformed older generations need to learn from the younger one

The younger ones could perhaps learn a thing or two from the older generation such as how not to get caught.