cleo comments

Posted in: U.S. drops anti-whaling wording opposed by Japan in Indo-Pacific pact See in context

Whaling is crucial to Japans food supply.

Rubbish. I've lived in Japan longer probably than most JY posters have been on this earth, and I could count on one hand the number of times I've seen whalemeat on sale in the local supermarket or even fishmongers. And have enough fingers left over to hold a cup of coffee without spilling any.

A few specialist restaurants catering to old men with a nostalgia for the immediate post-war era do not make dead whales crucial to the food supply.

Remove all whalemeat from Japanese sales outlets and probably 98% of the population wouldn't even notice - till the maudlin old men started pouting.

2 ( +10 / -8 )

Posted in: Gourmet omelets in five minutes See in context

Mixed chopped veggies (potato, sweet pepper, onion, mushroom, corn, broccoli, asparagus, whatever takes your fancy or whatever's in the fridge) fried in olive oil till almost done, pour in the egg, let the base just set. Sprinkle on cheese and finish in the oven like a pizza.

Yum.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Gourmet omelets in five minutes See in context

Some kitchen gadgets that at first sight seem totally unnecessary are actually very useful.

This isn't one of those.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Posted in: Man arrested for abusing 4-year-old daughter See in context

So parents cannot discipline their children spanking?

There is no need ever to spank a child.

Corporal punishment does not teach a child not to misbehave: it teaches him/her that physical abuse of someone unable to retaliate is a useful means of getting your own way. A child raised on slaps and spankings learns that it’s OK to ‘punish’ people smaller and weaker than themselves, regardless of whether those weaker people are in the wrong.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Posted in: Japan to accept 2 more wounded soldiers from Ukraine for treatment See in context

Ukraine would not even be in this mess if they 1) rebuked America's invitation to NATO, which only keeps Russia as an enemy for manufacturing consent, and also let Donbas and Crimea separate as their people clearly wanted.

There was never any ‘invitation to NATO’ from the US: quite the opposite. Ukraine asked again and again to be allowed to join, and the OK never came. If it had there would have been no invasion.

As for the Donbas and Crimea, at the breakup of the USSR both regions voted in favor of independence from Russia: Crimea by 54.19%, Donetsk by 83.9%, Luhansk by 83.83%.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan to accept 2 more wounded soldiers from Ukraine for treatment See in context

Watch the video.

I did. Seems to be a few newly-recruited ‘recruiters’ with a flawed understanding of what their job entailed. Investigated by the authorities.

Besides, if "everything was cool" there would be no need to clamp the men down and prevent them leaving would there?

Who said ‘everything was cool’? The country is being attacked by superior numbers of officially recruited conscripts (themselves dragged off the streets, subways and prisons), homes, schools, hospitals and markets being bombed, children being abducted, infrastructure being destroyed and huge swathes of land being seeded with mines. It’s about as far from cool as it’s possible to be.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan to accept 2 more wounded soldiers from Ukraine for treatment See in context

We are talking 2 million people or more! They can't just move! Obviously. Russia can't just take in 2 million people! Obviously.

It’s estimated that between early 2014 and early 2022, some 3 million people fled the Donbas. More have left since.

The population of the Donbas in 2014 was around 6.5 million. You think around 2 million of those claiming to identify as ‘Russian’ means the other 4.5 million should just fall in line? Or do you want them to move/be moved to other parts of Ukraine?

Explain again about the ‘right of self-determination’. It applies to some but not to the majority?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: What is USB-C, the charging socket that replaced Apple's Lightning cable? See in context

if you haven't heard of USB-C Apple has done effective marketing on you

I’m genuinely confused. Apple has kept USB-C a secret from Apple users? Really?

When Mr Cleo upgraded his iPhone a couple of months ago the new device - obviously not the 15 - came with a ‘USB-C-Lightning cable’, so obviously the attempt to keep Apple users away from USB-C is decidedly not a thing.

And when I got a new Watch 8 two weeks ago, the charger that came with it is also USB-C. (Yeah, if I’d waited just a bit I could have had a 9. Couldn’t wait.)

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Centenarians in Japan hit record 92,139; women account for 88% See in context

Women didn't work their entire lives. Just spent it hanging up washing and talking trivia with their neighbours.

Total hogwash and poppycock.

Raising kids, keeping house , running a family, IS work. And it never ends. There is no retirement, no day after which everything is done for you. And it’s keeping active, having stuff to do, that keeps women healthy well into old age.

Far too many men see retirement as the cue to do nothing, to be waited on hand and foot - they’ve done their bit. The change in lifestyle is abrupt; suddenly there is no need to do anything, no purpose in life. They stagnate.

I see this with a lot of my neighbours; for the husband every day is Sunday, while the wife continues washing the clothes, cooking the meals, running the house as well as enjoying chat time with friends, continuing hobbies, etc. Not every retired couple is like this of course, but far too many are.

Add in Laguna’s very salient point, that grannies looking after grandkids and otherwise making themselves useful, have in evolutionary terms been of greater value to society than grandads no longer able to bring the bacon home and cluttering up the cave, and it’s only natural that females tend to live longer.

The same phenomenon can be observed in killer whales. Female whales live longer, and a pod with a matriarch thrives better than one without.

Men, if you want to live long and meaningful lives, help out with the grandkids, wash the dishes and put them away, get a hobby that gets you out into the community. Don’t take retirement as the cue to stagnate.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Patients need doctors who look like them. Can medicine diversify without affirmative action? See in context

Another example of American exceptionalism.

Measures that clearly work in every other developed country in the world cannot even be tried in the US because…… just because.

Whether it’s race relations, universal health care, gun laws, sensible politics…..making things better is just Too Difficult, can’t possibly work.

Because.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: Patients need doctors who look like them. Can medicine diversify without affirmative action? See in context

Patients need doctors who know their stuff, listen to them and provide optimum, appropriate care.

In my time I’ve been treated by doctors of all hues. Some were good, some maybe not so good, but I never felt the quality of care I received was dependent on the doctor’s skin colour or mine.

America needs to get its act together and treat all its citizens as people, not as members of this or that group.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Posted in: Ukraine claims to recapture Black Sea oil platforms seized during Crimea's annexation See in context

Ukraine will pay a price for their stupid wars

Ukraine hasn't started any stupid wars. The whole stupid thing was started by stupid Putin.

The West is very angry. 

They expected a breakthrough by Ukraine 

expected? I don't think so.

Though I know I certainly hoped for the invaders to be squelched quickly and decisively.

We should have express-delivered the arms Ukraine needed; the delays gave the invaders time to build defences that they should never have been allowed to build.

There are no winners in any war, but this is one that Putin had lost by April of last year.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you prefer using self-serve checkouts at retail stores or regular check-outs where you can talk with the cashier? See in context

Only one of my local supermarkets has a self-checkout. It's not the closest to my house so I don't shop there that often, but when I do, I use the DIY. There's a (very small) discount, and every little helps.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: 2-year-old boy dies after being left in car for 9 1/2 hours; grandmother arrested See in context

She needs to be punished for this awful incident.

I doubt there is any punishment on earth that would be worse than the punishment she inflicts on herself daily, knowing that she is directly responsible for the death of her grandchild. I cannot begin to imagine what the poor woman - and the rest of the family - are going through.

Kids do fall asleep readily when strapped into a car. We had the kids to stay over the summer and whenever we went out in the car - whether to the pool, or shopping, or some other excursion - they would promptly fall asleep as soon as the car started moving. The older kids would wake up when we stopped, but the youngest nearly always had to be woken up.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Posted in: Rakuten CEO touts Viber's ability to counter Russian 'fake news' during Kyiv visit See in context

why is Zelensky insecure to hold his own election in Ukraine

The country is fighting an existential war. A large part of the population has evacuated out of the country, another large part is internally displaced, another large part is busy trying to kill conscripts who are being forced against their will to attack their neighbors and not get killed in the process.

If Zelensky has the organisational power in that situation to hold free and fair elections, he should be using it to drive the conscripts who are being forced against their will to attack their neighbors from his country.

...which is in fact what he is doing.

There will be time for free and fair elections when Ukraine - all of Ukraine - is once more free.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Posted in: Millet trilogy: India serves G20 leaders a vegetarian dinner See in context

What will you do with the millions of cows, pigs, and sheep? 

Stop force-breeding them?

There are only millions of them because the meat-eaters factory-farm them.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Posted in: Russia sticks to demands on Black Sea grain deal, rejects UN bank proposal See in context

Putin is a very stubborn man you see

Yes, stubborn as in stubbornly poisoning and/or imprisoning his opponents, stubbornly defenestrating his rivals, stubbornly blowing up the homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure of people who don’t want to be russians, stubbornly stealing their kids and dressing them in Russian military uniforms and making them speak Russian, stubbornly claiming bits of other countries are actually Russia when they’re patently not, stubbornly ignoring any signed and sealed international agreements that he finds inconvenient….

So, stubborn, in that sense, yes. A man, in the sense of a decent specimen of humanity …. nah.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Russia sticks to demands on Black Sea grain deal, rejects UN bank proposal See in context

so it said no more deal until we get what was agreed upon

Because russia is so well known for sticking faithfully to the deals it has agreed to.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Posted in: 5 ways to discover traditional Okinawa culture See in context

I love Okinawa. Apart from the sea, which is the absolute best bit, the culture is also attractive and constantly developing.

In addition to traditional ryukyu music, the work of such bands as Begin add a new, pop flavour.

Kokusaidori, as the article suggests, is lots of fun without being too heavy. All on the same street are traditional restaurants, bars, music, dancing, jewellery shops and souvenir shops of every kind. Well worth a visit. also try popping down some of th little aleyways leading off the main street, there are some real gems to be found.

Ryukyu glass has developed in several different directions in recent years. It used to be all chunky, coloured glass with lots of bubbles in it; today it's possible to recognise a number of different styles, each with the individual touch of the glassblower. The quality has rocketed. Prices have also gone up, but I think finding that one glass that is you is well worth it. It's also fun to have a bash blowing your own.

There are also a number of pottery kilns around the islands, producing both traditional and modern pottery. We found a nice little place in Yomitanson.

Agu pork, soki soba, spam, rafute, tempt me not at all, being vegetarian, but if you're a meat-eater you might like to try them (Not the spam, of course). Chinsuko biscuits are made with lard, so they're out, too.

But sata andagi, dense little doughnuts, are typically Okinawa, as are beni-imo and shikwasa used to flavour anything from ice cream to sweets to cocktails.

And I always bring back with me at least a couple of kilos of kokuto unrefined sugar. Great for adding extra depth to the taste of all kinds of sauces and condiments.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Russian missile strike on Ukrainian market kills 17 as Blinken announces new $1 bil aid package See in context

The people in the photos sure look like Military Age Males

Who do you expect to be manning the rescue teams? Schoolkids?

At least one of the rescuers seems to be female. Second pic.

17 people killed but no reports of women or children among them.

*At least 17 people, including a child, were killed in the blast*

...

*she described seeing soldiers carrying a woman afterwards who "had an open fracture and her bone was sticking out from her leg".*

...

Kostyantynivka sits close to the battlefield and has been hit on various occasions this year

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66731927

Considering how many times the town has been attacked in the past, I wouldn't expect many children to be still there, they will surely have been evacuated.

In the video a US-supplied AGM-88 HARM is visible .....Now they are conveniently taking down the footage, but it's out there.

...

The video says it all. Watch it.

The video is out there? Great. Link, please.

The video of the explosion and aftermath is easily found, but I see no signs of any fins?

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Posted in: Pet-friendly apartments: Honesty is the best policy in Japan See in context

You 3 not the majority,

Me 3? Pardon?

always going to the far off exception doesn't change the fact most do do what you say to do!

Erm, toilet-training a dog is not the 'far off exception'. It's basic. As is providing litter boxes for kitties.

most do do what you say to do!

Yes I know most do do what I say to do, but I think you pressed POST before you took the time to read what you wrote. I imagine you meant to write *most don't do what you say to do.*

I don't agree, of course. But then I spend my time associating with responsible dog- and cat-owners who take training seriously and don't let their pets ruin their homes, while it seems you spend your time tearing up floorboards in homes where the animals were not trained/the owners were not responsible.

It's what's called confirmation bias, or something. You see what you see, and ignore the rest. You and me both?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Pet-friendly apartments: Honesty is the best policy in Japan See in context

If you own an indoor cat, everyone going into you place knows it

Not necessarily.

Keep the litter boxes (plural, one per cat + 1, at least) clean, check that the cat(s) are using them, and there should be no smell.

Better still, teach the cat to use the youman toilet, and just flush it all away. (My little girl used to use the toilet until she had a period of ill health and had to wear an elizabethan collar for a couple of weeks, which made negotiating the toilet difficult).

Dogs tend to wonder around the place peeing and letting off anywhere and everywhere and messing a place up in no time.

No they do not, not if you take the time to toilet-train them right at the start. It isn't difficult. Pet ownership 101.

Some people on JT could clearly use many, many pets.

Out of concern for the animals, I don't think that's a very good idea.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: Pet-friendly apartments: Honesty is the best policy in Japan See in context

People are incredibly attached to their pets,

What's incredible about it?

We moved to our current house and took out a 30-year loan in order to be able to have a dog. It was the one thing missing from our happy family.

If you're single and mobile you probably don't have the time or energy to commit to a cat or a dog, and no room for one in a tiny singles flat anyway. I know I didn't.

But a family - a family needs a dog. At least one. In my opinion.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Posted in: Ukraine war brings surge in global use of cluster bombs See in context

This is how gentlemen come to agreements and stop the slaughter.

And there is the gaping hole in your argument.

It takes two to come to an agreement, and one side doesn't have a gentleman in charge.

Dunno about you but in my world a gentlemen doesn't send lackeys abroad to kill opposition members, doesn't send troops into a country under cover to stoke rebellion, doesn't renege on signed agreements, doesn't invade his neighbour in a land grab (multiple times), doesn't steal children to brainwash, doesn't conduct illegal 'referenda' at gunpoint and with a large part of the legitimate population in exile, doesn't kil civilians out of sheer spite, and doesn't blow his fellow terrorist out of the sky after pretending to forgive him (see above, 'reneging on agreements).

Find a gentleman with the authority to act on russia's behalf, and you might have a chance of stopping the slaughter, at least temporarily. Might.

Personally I would put more faith in the prospect of finding a very small needle in a country-sized haystack.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Posted in: Why doesn’t the U.S. adopt the metric system? See in context

more selections of roads to cross,

You mean a greater selection of roads to get booked for jaywalking. A ‘crime’ that other countries don’t even have on the books.

abortion? I would think if you're going that route you should contemplate thoroughly before making that kind of decision.

As with any medical decision. Assuming the laws of the country allow the individual to make decisions about their own body, which is not the case in the US.

As for the former President, "a lot" of odd things happened that shouldn't have.

Never mentioned ‘the former President’. The electoral college overturned the choice of the voting public in 2016, 2000 and three times in the 1800s.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Kim to meet Putin as Russia seeks closer military ties with North Korea See in context

*"Why not, these are our neighbors. There's an old Russian saying: you don't choose your neighbors and it's better to live with your neighbors in peace and harmony," Interfax news agency quoted Russia's Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, as saying on Monday.*

Quite right, Sergei. So, remind us again..... what the hell are you doing in Ukraine?

There are a few other 'old sayings' Sergei, Vlad and Kimmy-Boy might like to ponder:

Birds of a feather flock together.

They that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas.

A man is known by the company he keeps.

Show me your friends and I'll show you your future.

(That last one could be a bit ominous...)

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Why doesn’t the U.S. adopt the metric system? See in context

We have a choice, the rest of the world doesn’t. That is the great thing about the US, freedom of choice.

That would be funny if you weren't being serious.

You realise the rest of the world does have a choice, and they mostly choose metric?

Meanwhile Americans are stuck unable to make choices for themselves about where to cross the road, whether or not to have an abortion, even your choice of president can be arbitrarily overturned by a group of 'electors'.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Japanese convenience store apologizes for putting meatballs in meatball packages, issues recall See in context

In other words, the chinese-style sweet'n'sour niku-dango packets actually contained meatballs in tomato sauce? (That's the explanation given on the FM website)

https://www.family.co.jp/info/info_20230828.html

Yeah, I'd want a refund too, if I bought sweet'n'sour to go with my Chinese lunch and when I tipped it over my rice it was tomato sauce. Could be traumatic.

Well done Family Mart for taking responsibility and offering refunds. But I'm sure it isn't an 'only in Japan' thing.

For those arguing 'It's still a meatball, they're all the same'; suppose you bought a riceball with tuna filling for your lunch, and when you bit into it, the filling was natto, or mentaiko, or whatever? It's still a riceball, but it's not what you paid for.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Why doesn’t the U.S. adopt the metric system? See in context

I have never seen that. It is usually stated as x number of s/m/l potatoes/carrots/eggs etc.

You’d be surprised how many recipes on the Internet give so many cups of potatoes/carrots/onions. Usually self-proclaimed homesteaders. As you note, it would be much simpler and easier to understand if they used x number of whatever. And weight would be even better.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Posted in: Why doesn’t the U.S. adopt the metric system? See in context

What is the benefit of using both?

If you scrap imperial altogether you make all those old cookery books obsolete.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

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