Posted in: Skiing Afghans determined to keep sport alive See in context
Women no longer participate since the Taliban authorities effectively banned women from all sports, despite previously making up a large number of skiers in Bamiyan, according to the federation.
Nasratullah Nasrat, who learned to ski from YouTube videos, said he hopes to one day ski for Afghanistan, but voiced concern about the "very limited resources" available to skiers.
The Olympics requires federations to allow women athletes
As long as the Afghan fed bans women athletes in a sport, they can't field a team
1 ( +1 / -0 )
Posted in: Man arrested for cutting high school girl’s skirt with scissors while on bus See in context
Maybe the skirt was too tight?!
He was doing her and us a favor! No to tight skirts!
-2 ( +0 / -2 )
Posted in: Kishida questioned over scantily clad dancers at LDP party See in context
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was grilled by lawmakers on Wednesday about a gathering of ruling party members at which scantily clad female dancers were reportedly told to use their mouths to receive cash tips.
One of the organizers, Tetsuya Kawabata, later sought to defend the event by saying that the presence of the "go-go dancers" were intended to ensure "diversity".
Lol, maybe they have diverse.................... lips
If you check out the “Glamor Girls” website, they seem like a fairly innocuous group of EDM dance performers.
You’d probably see worse at a Madonna or Miley Cyrus concert.
I've never been to any concert where they sat on my lap. Tell me where ya go........... and I'll go with ya! Lol
"Footage leaked from the event in November organized by a regional chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) showed women in what appeared to be swimsuits dancing and sitting on participants' laps."
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: China demands Japan start Fukushima treated water compensation system See in context
China and the US are the top polluters of the planet - is China going to start compensating us?
-1 ( +0 / -1 )
Posted in: Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan sued for 'beautifying' wartime Japan soldiers See in context
Lol, did he hurt the other guy's thin skin?
Grow a thicker skin, man!
Are these the new herbivore Chinese now - a little thing upsets them
Murong Xuecun, a well-known Chinese writer who lives in exile in Australia, said he sees no evidence the government is backing the targeting of Mo, but it has created an environment where such patriotic attacks are encouraged.
“This trend has incited people to report, to inform on and to expose each other, targeting those who diverge from mainstream ideologies or promote universal values,” he said. “That’s what authorities have been doing.”
You reap what you sow - that's why you're getting madness like this
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: Japan's unions find surprising allies in push for higher pay See in context
Go Japan!
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: TikTok devotees say platform unfairly targeted for U.S. ban See in context
Trump is against the ban
1 ( +2 / -1 )
Posted in: Led by Musk, Silicon Valley inches to the right See in context
When Dorsey ran the company my posts as well as other conservatives posts were deleted or people got on suspensions, it was horrible, since Musk bought out the company, that is no longer the issue. So yes, it does allow for free speech.
No, it's still an issue. It's still selective speech, same as before, since Musk bans stuff he doesn't like. You just happen to be on that other selection now. But it's still not free speech
"Twitter is no free speech haven under Elon Musk - Though many hoped for an online oasis of free expression, Twitter with Elon Musk in charge has been anything but."
In December 2022, Musk suspended the accounts of multiple journalists without explanation. It was later discovered that these writers had all either reported on Musk’s suspension of Twitter accounts sharing the locations of his and others’ private planes, written critically of Musk in the past, or both. This resulted in spats between Musk and journalists like Bari Weiss, who Musk had considered an ally up until that point and who was among three he had hand-picked to report on “The Twitter Files.” Musk’s behavior betrayed his growing penchant for capriciously enforcing Twitter’s rules to suit his political or personal preferences.
In the months since, Musk has banned or throttled links to competitors like Mastodon, Instagram, and most recently, Substack — which also caused a rift between Musk and journalist Matt Taibbi, another “Twitter Files” ally. Tweets about Ukraine were downranked on the platform, and tweets including certain words such as “transgender,” “trans,” “gay,” and “bisexual” also appear to have been hidden from view, even in direct messages. Posts promoting or discussing the “Trans Day of Vengeance” were also deleted en masse due to oblique and inconsistently applied rules regarding “incitements to violence.” Meanwhile, Musk’s own tweets were boosted and prominently appeared on users’ timelines regardless of whether they followed him.
Musk’s selective application of Twitter’s rules and algorithms all but ensures that his preferences will win out on the platform whether or not they benefit a culture of free expression. As a result, what may have appeared to some as a promising new beginning back in October 2022 now can’t seem like much more than a different flavor of the same old culture war slop — though perhaps with significantly worse global free speech policies.
In an unprecedented move, Twitter withheld access to two tweets by Indian journalist Saurav Das in response to “legal demand” from the Indian government — not just in India, as Twitter’s prior policy would dictate, but globally. This means that no one, whether they lived in a country with free speech protections or not, could see what Das had to say. Musk’s relationship to, and understanding of, the complexities of local censorship laws was already questionable. But for someone who fancies himself a free speech absolutist, it’s a disconcerting about-face to allow a country to impose its own speech restrictions to others around the world.
2 ( +2 / -0 )
Posted in: Hiroshima grapples with 'Oppenheimer' Oscars success See in context
Not every story about the bomb automatically means about Hiroshima or Nagasaki
Just like not every story about the Nazis automatically means about Hitler
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: Japanese high court rules same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional See in context
Go Japan!
-3 ( +2 / -5 )
Posted in: Japan's Space One Kairos rocket explodes right after lift-off See in context
Turns out it's like rocket science
Goes to show how incredible the other private companies (mostly Western) have now achieved with their launch vehicles
1 ( +1 / -0 )
Posted in: U.N. nuclear chief tells Japan transparency 'very important' in Fukushima nuclear plant's water discharges See in context
Fukushima should and will be more transparent than China will ever be (see Covid)
0 ( +1 / -1 )
Posted in: North Korean leader Kim 'drives' new tank during mock battle See in context
That tank looks old and blocky
2 ( +2 / -0 )
Posted in: New TV anime series of 'Dragon Ball' to be aired in fall See in context
The original Dragon Ball is hugely popular and it did not need to involve battles that decided the destiny of the universe nor endless transformations to reach god-like levels of power.
No, it wasn't hugely popular. From Akira Toriyama's interview:
https://twitter.com/Herms98/status/956775933242822656/photo/1
DB didn't do too well in the Jump popularity polls when it first strated, and its popularity didn't pick up until that first tournament arc
"Up until that point I wasn't interested in drawing battles, but I was happy to have pleased the readers, and that good reaction gave me strength."
1 ( +1 / -0 )
Posted in: Oscars international broadcast cuts '20 Days in Mariupol' win, sparking criticism in Ukraine See in context
Maruipol is now a bustling city that is almost completely rebuilt and the port is active.
Actually, that is just facade - like what China did to make Beijing look good for the Olympics
"Inside Mariupol: Russia’s new Potemkin village"
https://ig.ft.com/mariupol/
Locals live in perilous conditions while Russian companies profit from contracts worth millions
As a construction worker, Maksim knows what good repair work looks like. Standing in his apartment in a flood of human faeces, he knew this wasn’t it.
R-Stroy, the company contracted to work on Maksim’s damaged building, started in October 2022. The weather was bad in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol that autumn, with wind and heavy rain. One chilly day, a team of R-Stroy labourers arrived and removed two thirds of the apartment blocks’ windows, leaving residents exposed to the elements.
When the new windows finally arrived in November, they were the wrong size. The builders installed them upside down, or protruding from walls. Front doors were removed. Water leaked in and froze. There was no heating until late February. “Most of the furniture people had was ruined, the floors all swelled and buckled,” says Maksim.
Two weeks before the last Ukrainian fighters had surrendered, Russia announced a master plan for the city, produced by the Russian Ministry of Construction and the Moscow-based Unified Research and Design Institute.
The document was a sham.
The Russian model was based on outdated Ukrainian plans produced prior to 2016 and taking into account none of the changes that had taken place since.
The reconstruction work was loudly celebrated in Russian state media and by Russian YouTubers. They spoke proudly of a restored tram system and a fleet of new buses that had arrived from St Petersburg. Soon, swiftly-built apartment complexes were being shown off to the public.
In March 2023, Putin visited Mariupol. Widely reported in Russian and western media, the trip attempted to normalise Russian control of the region. He toured rebuilt sites, as well as the newly constructed Nevsky neighbourhood on the city’s western edge. A video published by the Kremlin showed Russia’s president meeting happy residents.
In the background, a woman can be heard shouting: “It’s not real! It’s all for show!” The shouting was quickly edited out.
In its rush to show off a new Russian Mariupol to the world, Moscow funnelled billions of roubles towards reconstruction, often in the form of contracts awarded to private construction companies. This included R-Stroy, the firm charged with renovating Maksim’s apartment block. The company was established in May 2022, just as Russia took control of the city.
The speed of construction contributed to its shoddiness. Good building work takes longer than the two or three months the Russians took to finish some of the new apartment blocks, according to Mykola Tryfonov, who had been head of Mariupol’s Capital Construction Authority. The concrete was only given a week to cure, Tryfonov says, not the three weeks usually required. He estimates that there will be structural problems within two to three years.
Across the city, residents have shared major problems with their homes on social media. Their accounts are likely to be just the “tip of the iceberg,” Shumanov says, as Russia controls the newly-occupied territories with an iron grip and most people fear speaking out. The videos portray the dereliction in which people live, but also the ways in which the so-called reconstruction has made a difficult situation worse.
Not far from the fake Crimean villages built to impress Catherine the Great, cracks were starting to show in Russia’s Potemkin facade.
2 ( +2 / -0 )
Posted in: Oscars get audience bump from 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer,' but ratings aren't quite a blockbuster See in context
After the drop during the pandemic, the ratings have risen 3 years in a row
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: 'Oppenheimer' wins best picture; Murphy, Stone take acing honors at Academy Awards as protests for Gaza rage outside See in context
I remember when I was in school, military, college, work when my cohorts would say 'Hey, didya see the Oscars/Grammys/Emmys/American Music Awards and there was Michael Jackson/Men at Work/Eddie Murphy/Robin Williams/Susan Anton/etc.'?
When Titanic won the Awards, 55 million watched the show
1 ( +1 / -0 )
Posted in: Atom bomb survivor hopes Japan debut of 'Oppenheimer' will stoke nuclear debate See in context
they [nuclear weapons] were the least-worst outcome to the war that the United States was resolved to winning decisively.
Nah. They could have done a seige of Japan. They could basically do what ever they wanted.
Including killing a lot of Japanese - who would kamikaze their way into their firepower
Due to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor before there's a declaration of war, the US at the time had a special hatred for the Japanese (that they didn't against even Hitler and Mussolini)
1 ( +1 / -0 )
Posted in: It's not just Elon Musk: ChatGPT-maker OpenAI confronting a mountain of legal challenges See in context
abruptly fire its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman
Wasn't this guy already in prison for something to do with cryptocurrency?
That's Sam Bankman-Fried
https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/cryptocurrency/jury-begins-deliberating-fate-of-ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried
'King of crypto' Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: New York will send National Guard to subways after string of violent crimes See in context
This is over-reacting. As the article states:
Overall, crime has dropped in New York City since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and killings are down on the subway system. But rare fatal shootings and shovings on the subway can put residents on edge.
NYC only seems like it has a high crime rate because it has a very high population. But when you take those absolute numbers and level them out per 100k population, it actually has one of the lower crime rates among major US cities:
"Which U.S. Cities Are the Most Dangerous?" (Last Updated Feb 02, 2024)
https://www.security.org/resources/most-dangerous-cities/
Our analysis finds the single most dangerous American city is East St. Louis, Illinois, just on the other side of the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, which is No. 5 on our list. All 25 have appeared on at least one of the lists of the population-adjusted crime rates, and most have appeared multiple times.
Detroit is the largest city in the top 25, and you may be wondering how safe America’s largest cities are. Among the 35 or so cities on our list with populations that exceed 500,000, Baltimore is by far the most dangerous, according to the city’s violent crime rates as a percentage of corresponding rates for the entire U.S.
To be sure, total population plays a role, though when compared to overall U.S. crime rates, the largest city in the country, New York City, has one of the lowest incidents of crime relative to the nation.
Per 100k people, NYC is not even in the Top 25 in any of (A) violent crimes, (B) murder, (C) rape, (D) robbery, and (E) Aggravated Assault
On the contrary, the least dangerous big cities in the US per 100k people are: (1) Honolulu - 68.20%, (2) San Diego - 83.10%, (3) El Paso - 86.70%, (4) San Jose - 102.80%, and (5) NYC - 108.60%, and (6) Austin - 112.10%
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: U.S. power company admits it might have started huge Texas fire See in context
Mismanagement by states
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: Haiti extends state of emergency as PM absent See in context
The UN needs to send in troops to take over from the gangs.
The UN doesn't have troops. Those "UN troops" are made by nations volunteering their troops.
Which nations do you think should volunteer their troops?
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: Japan team using James Webb telescope to unlock secrets of the cosmos See in context
Marvel of engineering - best space agency
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: Joy, envy in Japan as baseball star Ohtani speaks more about marriage See in context
It's sad when ya can't even take your spouse (and in the future, your kids) to the ballpark
0 ( +1 / -1 )
Posted in: Woman returns home from work to find man hiding under her bed See in context
we never lock our cars or house, pretty common in the countryside.
If ya don't lock your car in the countryside, bears or other animals can open it and ruin your car
3 ( +3 / -0 )
Posted in: U.S. to receive gold medals in wake of Russian figure skater Valieva's Olympic DQ See in context
This is more a political decision rather than anything based on fact. We all know the Swiss are no longer neutral. Change the nationality and it would all be different.
Fact: she tested positive on Performance-Enhancing Drug IN RUSSIA
Go ahead and argue against that fact. Let's see your side of the story
If anybody thinks she deserves a medal, then argue that she's CLEAN
If nobody can't argue that she's clean, then you're essentially saying that a NON-CLEAN athlete deserves a medal
What's comical is that every argument here that thinks she deserves a medal is arguing only about her nationality as Russian
NONE of them are even arguing that she's CLEAN
How stupid is that?!
If anybody wants to argue that she deserves a medal, then argue that she's CLEAN!
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: U.S. to receive gold medals in wake of Russian figure skater Valieva's Olympic DQ See in context
If she were Ukrainian, she would not have been sanctioned..
Clown world...
If she were Ukrainian, she would have been sanctioned a long time ago
Her sanction was only delayed because Russia kept employing delaying tactics (Ukraine would not have been able to do that)
Yes, it is a clown world where Russia could keep employing delaying tactics - and thus kept denying the rightful CLEAN winners Gold-Silver-Bronze medal teams their deserved Olympic moment
Those who keep whining about her being Russian do not even have an argument against her positive test for Performance-Enhancing Drug. All they keep whining about is her being Russian
Unless and until you have an argument against her positive PED test, then your argument has no foundation. Unless you can argue that she is CLEAN, then you're essentially arguing that a NON-CLEAN athlete deserves a medal
4 ( +4 / -0 )
Posted in: U.S. to receive gold medals in wake of Russian figure skater Valieva's Olympic DQ See in context
Valieva is guilty of performance-enhancing drug. That fact is not in dispute - it was detected in Russia (unless you want to blame Russia of being Russo-phobic who hates itself) prior to the Beijing Winter Olympics
Russia should not had entered her into the Olympics - that was a mistake of their own doing
Here's the updated Medals Table:
Country -- Gold -- Silver -- Bronze == Total
1.) Norway -- 16 -- 8 -- 13 == 37
2.) Germany -- 12 -- 10 -- 5 == 27
3.) United States -- 9 -- 9 -- 7 == 25
4.) China -- 9 -- 4 -- 2 == 15
5.) Sweden -- 8 -- 5 -- 5 == 18
6.) Netherlands -- 8 -- 5 -- 4 == 17
7.) Austria -- 7 -- 7 -- 4 == 18
8.) Switzerland -- 7 -- 2 -- 6 == 15
4 ( +4 / -0 )
Posted in: Las Vegas' first Super Bowl is driving record prices on the secondary ticket market See in context
This NFL playoffs have been bonkers (as well as the rest of the season)
Even the Peacock streaming-exclusive Dolphins vs. Chiefs game averaged 23 million viewers
Oh yeah, the Swifties weren't half-bad neither
"NFL Ratings: How Tough Games, Non-Traditional Telecasts & Taylor Swift Helped Score League’s Best Regular Season Audience In Years"
https://deadline.com/2024/01/nfl-ratings-regular-season-2023-explained-1235728337/
"NFL Playoff TV Ratings Defy Gravity and Demographic Shifts"
https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2024/nfl-playoff-ratings-defy-gravity-digital-shift-1234763375/
This year’s NFL Divisional Round averaged 40.0 million viewers (TV+Digital) – the highest on record dating back to 1988.
The Saturday primetime game on FOX between the Packers and 49ers averaged 37.5 million viewers, the most-watched Saturday NFL playoff game on record.
The Sunday primetime game on CBS between the Chiefs and Bills averaged 50.4 million viewers, the most-watched Divisional or Wild Card game on record.
More and more people are tuning in the game
-1 ( +0 / -1 )
Posted in: Japanese rail company lets teens ride for free on entrance exam days See in context
How much does anyone want to bet that the female in the picture never studied for nor took any exam for entrance to college or university here.
Not to mention the guy behind her looks like he is probably old enough to be her dad!
That photo above is a stock photo - it's been used in many things of various subjects
(The people are adult actors/models)
4 ( +4 / -0 )
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine both Austria and Switzerland are discussing joining NATO.
Posted in: An expanding NATO uses its diversity as strength
David Brent - One of the few good things about being poor is that news like this means nothing to…
Posted in: Bank of Japan ends negative interest rate policy, opting for its first hike in 17 years
Posted in: Dollar tops 150 yen as BOJ ends negative rates