commanteer comments

The problem is two-fold. One is the lack of education in critical reasoning skills.

The other is more difficult: people make decisions and have beliefs based on emotions rather than reason. They just use reason to justify their emotional positions. Anyone in marketing, day-trading, poker or any field that requires an awareness of psychology knows this. Smarter people don't necessarily believe in smarter things - they are just better at rationalizing their beliefs.

Maybe an education that at least teaches people to be aware of this would counter actual disinformation. Maybe not. But without free speech we are all lost.

Japan struggling? How about "Japan showing wisdom?" Every time Japan doesn't fall in line with the latest poorly-thought-out trend, they are called out for being behind. Maybe they are being smart.

It's a security risk not to allow it. The whole sham is being driven by populist politics and a corrupt steel company (and their paid politicians) called Cleveland-Cliffs that is offering less than half what Nippon Steel is offering so they can have a US monopoly - one that will be uncompetitive in the global market.

Japan is one of the USA's staunchest allies. A security risk? What a joke. Another sign of the declining US.

Next in the news, a man stole thousands of items after pocketing one box of beads at a fabric shop, and then went on to eat a hundred fish or more for dinner when he ordered ikura...

Clearly trying to eggs-terminate her.

Any country involved in the bombing of civilians currently should not be invited.

If that were the case, America would never be invited. Bombing civilians around the world is how they protect their "freedom."

Not denying that the number of crime pales in comparison to other places, but a woman was stabbed at Hakata Station a year ago too:

> Not to mention a schoolboy stabbed a woman to death in the women's restroom at a new shopping mall last year. Fukuoka is no better or worse that other cities in Japan with regard to these sorts of cases.

These stories are why smarmy guys who look at others and dismissively say, "Well, they made bad choices" annoy the heck out of me.

With parents like these, it's almost impossible to make good choices, or even to have choices to make.

Like @kohakuebisu said above, love and support from family is everything - and it matters little whether that family is wealthy or living humbly.

Iran had to do something, but didnt want an all out escalation.

And why do you think that is, given their military superiority and all?

So you are OK if Iran now assassinate Netanyahu?

Why not? Why is it OK to kill some 19-year-old kid sent to the front but not the leader who sent him there? In the past, it was expected that kings and emperors would lead their troops into important battles. They often got killed or captured. Nowadays, they sit in luxury in DC, Tehran, Qatar, or wherever while young men and women die for them. If they were at as much at risk as their troops, they might make better decisions.

The guy was leading his people from 2000km behind enemy lines. Not exactly a hero.

And I don't see anything wrong with targeting national leaders during a war. Why should they be immune, especially since they are usually responsible for the war? If more leaders were targeted during wars we might have fewer wars.

First thought was that the guy had a view of their flat and they should have closed the curtains if they wanted privacy. But, no, he was next door. He would have had to lean out over his balcony and poke his face into theirs. So, yeah, I can see calling the police in that case.

@Sven Asai Exactly what you said. It's like having peace talks but refusing to invite the people you are fighting. That's the opposite of seeking peace. It's just showboating.

The law depends on citizens to be

willing to follow it.

No, the law depends on having a healthy society of shared values. The only places in the world where citizens are constrained by law are dictatorships where "the law" is enforced by draconian measures. UK society has always had some bad elements, but at least it was a society. Now it's not even that.

But, hey, let's all watch the Olympics and think everything is fine.

I thought this might be fun. But then I quickly realized that any decent hiding place would be crawling with the worst kinds of insects. Still interesting, the island is being promoted as a place to experience surviving on a deserted island, like a castaway. Of course, it's so close to a port town on Iki island that most people could swim there.

Biting used to be a way to determine if something was pure gold, as Olympic medals once were (until 1912). Now it's just tradition, as gold medals are less than 2% actual gold.

Anyone excusing this would be the worst father in the world. Can you imagine? A man brings his teenage daughter out. She is accosted by a middle-age drunk who kisses her. In front of the father. And these guys would tell their daughter, "Don't worry, little darling. That's just an acceptable greeting in many countries."

No wonder so many daughters grow up to hate their fathers. Guys, do yourself (and your potential daughters) a favor. Don't have kids.

In many countries, the acceptable response would be for the father to punch the man in the face a few times. Since this would get the father arrested in Japan, the only option is to have the drunk arrested.

> Criminal is supposed to be a serious smear, the point when society thinks it's impossible to "balance" the act out against the whole of his behavior, when he deserves a black mark that would basically ruin his chance to be a great asset to society

He's a government employee, so not likely a great asset to society. More like an expense, since the taxpayers keep him employed. I imagine he will lose his job, because there's no getting around the arrest, which he deserved. Depending on the details, that might be it. But I certainly don't want my hard-earned taxes supporting this guy.

Mismanagement of the forests by elected leaders is bound to catch up to you sooner or later. All forests burn at some point to regenerate. Conveniently, they can avoid taking responsibility by screeching that it was all climate change. Maybe the Prime Minister can take a break from surfing for a moment to address this issue?

It's absurd to believe that populations can just rise forever. A decline is a good thing.

The problem is that the government (with the people's permission) has been running a giant Ponzi scheme, which by definition requires increasingly more investors to avoid collapse. In this case the "investors" are taxpayers.

No rational person would argue that a Ponzi scheme, once exposed, should be continued by force, by heavily taxing people to support it. Yet, that's what's happening. "Have more babies so they can be taxed to death as soon as they are old enough!"

So money that could go to support the future for young people, and could be invested in healthy projects that will allow Japan to grow, will instead be poured into a dying Ponzi scheme to keep it alive a little longer. At the cost of Japan's future.

The government is hopelessly in debt. Admit it, let the cards fall as they may, and quickly reform the bloated and corrupted government. The economy will be booming within a year or two and people will have more babies again.

Bird sanctuaries are great for birds and ornithologists. For most other people, too much guano.

Security would be a big reason. Smartphones are goldmines for spies, hackers, thieves, and other criminals. A second reason would be the lack of distractions - too easy to get addicted to scrolling on the phone.

"Seeing X as a credible source is the equivalent of always believing the first thing you see on the internet. Imaging using an X post as a reference for college paperwork"

I read academic papers all the time and they are filled with sources from the internet. I can find theories of lizard people running the world on the internet and I can find serious research papers. Same thing with X. Intelligent people are able to discern sources - they know that X and the internet are not sources but platforms. Deriding a link that goes through X with "X is not a reliable source" is simply feigning ignorance. At least, I hope it's feigning.

According to an Azerbaijani news site, it was in Kanda - which is between Kitakyushu City and Beppu.

Mff dude, ntadall. Sall gd.

And this is the golden dream of conservatives in US, turn US in a madieval teocracy..

Yes, all those conservative families you see are just dying to swap their MAGA hats for turbans. You must quiver in terror every time you venture outside your urban bubble and see real people.

He knew he had a major heart problem but refused to treat it because he’d have had to quit climbing.

Sounds like an impressive guy with a passion. “I thought that giving up climbing would be a choice I would regret later on,” he told a Japanese magazine in 2022. “Even if I lived to be 70 or 80 without climbing, would that really be a happy life for me?”

There isn’t any reason for a stronger yen to emerge…

It could become relatively stronger as other currencies also collapse. Most developed countries are in trouble. Korea and Canada are ones to watch, though there are many others.

I know there are cases where this works out, but it has also caused a ton of divorces. Proceed with caution.

Japan needs to offer the same 3-5% 6-month treasury notes as the USD

The national debt to GDP is already among the highest in the world. Higher interest rates would crush them - the only way they could pay would be by printing currency all day long. (Which it looks like the US is doing.) Also, as mentioned, that would immediately collapse the yen carry trade, which is financing a massive amount of investments worldwide. If those carry trades were ended suddenly, we would see a global stock market crash.

Other news sources mention that volcanic gas might have been a culprit, probably from a fumarole

That was my first thought. Fumaroles are interesting to be around but an unexpected burst of gas can kill everyone around it instantly. Better to give them wide berth. Every couple of years I hear about climbers and hikers being killed this way.