cleo comments

It doesn't really matter whether you use metric or imperial, so long as you know which you're using, and the people you're working with are using the same system.

A bunch of very clever people at NASA who presumably learned all about weights and measures in school/university used the wrong set of units, the result of which was the loss of a very expensive piece of equipment in 1998.

https://www.simscale.com/blog/nasa-mars-climate-orbiter-metric/

It is rocket science.

I bet NASA doesn't use cups.

the thing I can't get my head around in cooking recipes is cups! What a totally inaccurate measurement!

Pretty simple: 1cup=240ml, 1/2cup=120ml, 1/4cup=60ml. Also 1tsp=5ml, 1tbsp=15ml

Good stuff to know, if you cook/bake.

I cook and bake a lot, and I have trouble with cups.

A Japanese cup = 200ml and a UK cup =250ml, not 240ml, so you need first of all to fathom where the person who wrote the recipe comes from.

If we're talking liquids, measuring in cups (once you've determined the cup size; why not just use ccs. or litres? Pints, even) is logical.

Powders are a bit more complicated; a cup of sugar (castor, granulated, demerara, icing?) is not the same as a cup of flour (plain flour? wholemeal? cornflour?) and whether the ingredient is 'packed' or 'sieved' makes a difference. Why not just use weights, whether grams or ounces? Plus you don't have the problem of having to clean out your cup to measure the next ingredient, especially if you're using liquids, powders and sticky stuff like honey or syrup in the same recipe.

The biggest problem is when Americans (and it's only Americans who do this) insist on using cups to measure solids. When a potato won't even fit into a cup, how much potato is a cup of potato? or carrot? or onion? or cabbage? It's crazy. Don't American kitchens have cooking scales?

We can work out how many grams is needed in a recipe that gives weights in ounces, it's no biggie. But those cups of solid veggies? Why??

Putting poison out to kill any animal is sadistic and dangerous. There is no knowing what other animals may take the bait and be killed, including pets and beneficial wildlife.

There used to be a plot of spare land behind our house, bordered by rice fields. Once a year someone would come and spray the spare land to 'protect' the rice from insects. For the next week or so we would find dead birds, frogs, snakes and mice on the nearby roads. Some had been directly sprayed by the poison, others had died after eating insects that had been sprayed, or by eating animals that had eaten insects that had been sprayed.

You can be pretty sure that this plonker killed more than the crows.

Let him eat (pesticide-laced) crow pie?

'Apple-on- toast'?

That is NOT an apple pie.

 examples such as a time series

Easy-to-understand, visual explanation:

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature

As you can see, temperatures before the 20th century were lower, and in the 21st century have been consistently higher, than the average temperature for the 20th century.

Note that the temperatures for the 20th century are sometimes higher and sometimes lower (that's what 'average' means, it's the central value in a set of data; it doesn't mean that every value is equal to the average)

The chart only goes up to 2022, so add in this year (2023 is higher than any year in the chart) and it's obvious the trend is decidedly upwards, despite some years being a bit cooler than others.

Scroll down, and the '2022 was the 6th warmest year on record' chart mentions that it is 46 years since we had a cooler-than average year.

Do you have a reference showing that birth rate in Okinawa is different from that in Honshu? Not holding my breath.

Breathe easy.

Figures for 2019, total fertility rate:

Tokyo 1.15 (National low)

Okinawa 1.82 (National high)

The top 9 prefectures are all on the western side of Honshu, or further west.

The bottom 9 include Hokkaido and the urban conglomerations of Kanto and Kansai.

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hw/FY2021/dl/live_births04.pdf

Stabbing deaths and injuries are more common in Europe than in the Americas. Particularly in northern Europe, where levels of knife crimes among young people have increased and made headlines. 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/stabbing-deaths-by-country

I googled knife crime by country and Mr. Google gave me your link.

The claim that stabbing deaths and injuries are more common in Europe than in the Americas is simply not backed up by the figures given on the map..

Knife-related deaths / Rate per 100K

Mexico 4,699 / 3.76

US 1964 / 0.6

Canada 177 / 0.49

Finland 30 / 0.55

Sweden 35 / 0.35

Norway 13 / 0.25

Netherlands 43 / 0.25

Germany 194 / 0.23

Denmark 13 / 0.22

UK 53 / 0.08

If you bring in Eastern Europe things are a bit different, but you did specify Northern Europe.

Russia 6,336 / 4.32

Ukraine 1477 / 3.35

Belarus 211 / 2.22

Lithuania 44 / 1.58

Latvia 48 / 2.48

coming to think of it, is such a thing on record at all?

I found this-

https://earthquake.tenki.jp/bousai/earthquake/detail/2011/03/11/2011-03-11-14-46-00.html?xlarge_image=1

ABBA earned all four of them enough lolly to do whatever they want with the rest of their lives. If she wants to sing, then she should sing.

If you don't want to listen to her, then don't.

I don't see any problem.

Your heroic deeds will be remembered!

street thug to Kremlin-financed mercenary 

'Heroic deeds' include, after starting out as a common thief and mugger, rabble-rousing in the Donbas, interfering in foreign elections, running online disinformation and propaganda campaigns on behalf of the gremlin in the kremlin, recruiting convicts to fight in the illegal invasion of Ukraine, making expletive-filled videos cursing his country's military, and finally rebelling against his Fuehrer.

Maybe heroic has a different meaning in russian.

Yes, they say blue. Yet, it is actually green. Just another example of illogic.

Or, another example of a different language.

The Japanese say neither blue nor green. They say 青 (ao) which to the English-speaking mind can be translated as either blue or green depending on the context. Aozora is a blue sky: aogusa is green grass.

There are other words for blue (紺、藍、水色、even ブルー) and green (緑). Needing a different translation for the same word is not illogical, it’s just a different language.

we beat the whole world in 4 years basically by ourselves.

Didn't even show up for the first two years.

And the sulky fat bloke in your avatar never showed up at all, for anything.

Blacklabel - your link says that Zelensky is fighting the corruption?

Time for a ceasefire and some negotiations

If russia stops firing missiles on residential arwas and takes its criminal conscripts home, that's a ceasefire.

The only thing left to negotiate is how many lowlifes will join Putin in the Hague.

I love summer, look forward to it every year, it's my favourite season.

But cumon, this is getting to be beyond a joke.

A midsummer high of 30 degrees, 32 if you want to swelter occasionally, is fine. In autumn, we want /need autumn temperatures. 30 degrees in October is beyond the pale.

If this is Putin,s doing , then it confirms he is one ruthless , fearless ex KGB thug

Whether it was Putin's doing or not, I don't think any further confirmation of his character was needed, was it? Quite apart from the multiple wars he has started causing untold deaths, he has a history of eliminating his enemies/surplus henchmen ruthlessly and with little regard for collateral damage. The destruction of his enemy's plane seems to have his hallmark on it.

As for fearless ... I don't think so. The famed long table was to prevent normal folk, even his inner circle, coming too close to him with covid cooties/hidden daggers/spray bottles filled with novichok. And what's his reason for not attending the BRICS summit in person? Fear of being sent to the Hague.

Same reason he stays away from windows, avoids the front line, and, I imagine, brews his own tea.

They do lots of good work around the world and give jobs to scary guys who would just be mafia.

Then after six months of being traumatised in the trenches and practicing killing civilians, those scary guys go back to muzza ruzzia and continue killing innocent people.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/22/alcohol-and-prostitutes-wagner-convicts-pardoned-by-putin-return-to-terrorise-home-towns

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66364272

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-wagner-fighter-prison-accused-six-dead/32532474.html

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-convict-wagner-crime-108e410835e4bf27ac3192cd7f945b39

Does it affect my work, no; I work at home, with the air con on, no problem (till the 'lectrik bill comes in next month).

What really irks me about the heat is having to get up extra early to take the dog out before the tarmac gets too hot for his paws, and not being able to work in the allotment during the day. I go in the morning to water everything and collect in the harvest (big glut of aubergines, edamame and bitter gourds this year) but it's too hot to do anything else and the weeds are taking over. I need it to cool down soon so that I can get ready for the autumn planting.

This is NOT 'normal heat'. When I first came to Japan the mean daily maximum temperature in August was mid to high twenties, the occasional low thirties. It's only in the couple of decades or so that it's regularly been over thirty, with the frequency gradually rising; this year so far it's 34℃. (That's mean daily max for the month, not absolute daily max.)

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/monthly_s3_en.php?block_no=47615&view=2

Still fixating over the 'English' meaning of Japanese katakana words? Whether it's ハーフ、スマート、トイレ、マンション, ファイト！or whatever, the word means what it means in Japanese culture, not what so-called native-speaker purists think it means in their own language.

There is nothing wrong with the word ハーフ. It does not mean 'half-human', 'less than pure' or any of the other silly meanings some people think it must have from its resemblance to 'half'.

The very idea of racial 'purity' is silly; the more we humans mix our genes, the better-looking, healthier and more vigorous we become as a species. So-called 'purity' - inbreeding - taken to extremes leads to physical deformity, mental weakness, reduced fertility, higher infant mortality and shorter lifespans.

Inbreeding across the royal families of Europe (to keep the royal blood 'pure') led to widespread haemophilia, facial abnormalities (the 'Hapsburg jaw') and the eventual extinction of the 'pure' lines due to infertility and short lives of those children that did manage to be born.

ハーフ is good. So is クワーター, and best of all is genes so mixed up the fractions become meaningless.

These seniors who have experience in life/raising families....can also be trained to become nursery/day-care center assistants. That way, the burden of working fathers & mothers can be eased.

No way!

Just sent the grandkids back after a week and a bit. Lots of fun, they’re great kids, and I love them to bits. But today Mr Cleo and I are recuperating…. It was very hard work!

It’s possible, and something we look forward to (every school holidays) because they’re family and we’re emotionally invested in them as people, we want what’s best for them; but looking after someone else’s kids just for the money?? I don’t think you could pay me enough to do that.

These weapons come from NATO countries, so they should be sent to the ICC.

The weapons should be sent to the ICC? Pardon?

I take it you mean the people making/providing/using the weapons.

Targeting a military target in wartime is not a war crime.

a factory that makes optical equipment for Russia's security forces

It's just a book, a collection of paper and ink.

If the protestors want to burn books that are the property of other people, then that's a problem, but if they are burning books that they legally own, it's no one's business but their own.

They're doing it to protest; reacting to their actions simply gives their protest power. Ignore them, and they will go away. Surely they have better things to spend their money on than books to burn to no effect at all.

Same goes for flags, pictures and effigies.

cheerleading for more death is not going to change the reality on the ground

You've lost me. How is asking russia to go home and stop killing people 'cheerleading for more death'?

 Europe needs peace, Germany needs peace, NATO needs peace, Ukraine needs peace AND Russia needs peace.

And the easiest, simplest, fastest, most common-sense path to that peace?

Russia Go Home.

Stop invading neighbours, stop abducting children, stop destroying homes, hospitals and schools, stop trying to steal land.

And to make things nice and tidy, make sure there are no misunderstandings - sent Vlad to the Hague.

Yeah, a 6k Shiba is either a young pup or badly emaciated. My boy is a touch over 15k, granted on the larger side but the vet tells me he's just big for his breed, not overweight.

The jerk should be charged with irresponsible animal husbandry (letting the dog wander outside alone, at least twice), animal cruelty and assaulting a police officer.

And banned from ever owning an animal again.

I used to read the reviews, but the last couple of items I ordered from Amazon came with a 'gift card'; give the product a glowing 5-star review, and they send you an amazon gift card worth ¥2,000.

In each case I gave the product 2 stars and explained in the review that the 'gift' made it impossible for me to give a better review, though the product itself was quite satisfactory.

Neither review has been posted.

the people here are suffering

I must have missed the news reports of Japanese citizens being bombed out of their homes, of Japanese children being abducted by the bus load to be brainwashed into little Russians, of Japanese being threatened with massive flooding, chemical attacks and nuclear bombs/exploding nuclear power plants. I can’t find on the map the 20% of Japanese sovereign land being overrun by criminal conscripts and turned into minefields, no mention of Japanese ports being blown up with missiles, of prosthetic limbs being the new must-have.

Yes, the cost of living is going up in Japan, some people are having trouble making ends meet, the daily circumstances of ordinary people can and should be improved.

But let’s just keep things in perspective.

More than happy to have a portion of my taxes go to helping people who really need help, and putting down the thugs who are trying to destroy them.

If Vlad is allowed to have his way in Ukraine, he won’t stop there.

I got rammed by a white-banded triggerfish (15 cm in length) twice on a recent trip to Okinawa. (Seems I intruded on its breeding space) Hurt like hell. Would not like to be rammed by a dolphin!

It's just a book. Bits of paper covered in ink.

The ones doing the burning are doing it expressly to upset the faithful.

If the faithful have faith in their faith, can assert that it's much more than mere words on a page, then there is no need to get upset and they can just look on in distain and pity at the burners, who are now wasting their time, money and energy in a meaningless act.

Take the lead out of their pencil, as it were.

There are much more pressing matters to get all upset about, surely.

an official at the ministry said the test had been "difficult" and explained that it "cannot be concluded that students' English ability has fallen."

Then what on earth was the point of the test???

stop the "make English FUN" thinking! Unless of course you do the EXACT same for Japanese, Science, Math and Social Studies too! (Try telling a math teacher to "make your classes fun and entertaining" Play more "games" and sing and dance in math class! )

Yes and No.

All study should ideally be fun, ie interesting and stimulating, making the child want to know more.

That doesn't mean games and singing and dancing, in any subject; it means making the lesson satisfying.

I did it myself, and my kids speak English.

It's not hard. Just don't speak Japanese with them, and read them lots of books. Show them western media.

Yup, same here (except back in the day before the Internet and streaming, videos and English books costing a mint and having to be ordered from the UK, it was expensive!) I never spoke (still never speak) anything but English to my kids and by the time they entered kindergarten their English was as good as if not better than their Japanese, which was par for a Japanese kid of the same age.

Most monolingual Japanese parents aren't able to do that, of course.

Both my kids found school English lessons boring in the extreme.

The ‘Crimean bridges’ are not civilian targets. Moscow uses them for transporting troops, equipment and ammo. They are legitimate military targets.

As for ‘killing the parents in front of their child’, what was a civilian family doing in a war zone in the middle of the night? Note that the attack on the Kersh Bridge was at three in the morning , to minimize casualties.

wasnt saying who is right or wrong

No need to be coy; why not state clearly that it is WRONG to invade a neighbour, wreck his land and steal his kids; and it is RIGHT to do everything possible to push the invader back where he came from.

what Zelensky was boasting he was about to do to Russian speaking Ukrainians

What was Zelensky boasting he was about to do to Russian-speaking Ukrainians? You do know that Zelensky himself is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian?