Melinda Miller comments

I'm not giving money to a company that turns around and spends it on providing false history to its customers. No more staying at APA hotels for me, or anyone travelling with me.

@drlucifer, Initial magnitude estimates are usually processed quickly based off of automatic systems. These are only estimates, typically based on just a few reporting locations. Later the event is reviewed by a seismologist taking data from a wider range of locations. Having the additional data allows for better accuracy, but takes time to gather.

Measuring the size of earthquakes is not directly related to predicting future ones.

Dan Lewis:

Grow some thick skin people.

Wouldn't it be equally valid to say you should grow thinner skin? It does you no harm to not use this icon, while other people have expressed that they do feel harm when people do use this icon. So it seems you giving way on something you don't actually care about is probably easier than someone else giving way on something that they do care about.

There are a plethora of other problems as well, what would the new era be called? If the Emperor is still living, is it Heisei, or does it change to the new Emperor, and that is huge when it comes to money as well.

The era name changes with the emperor, regardless if the emperor is living or not. There are numerous historical examples of retired emperors in the past, as well as multiple examples of the era name changing under the same emperor. This should not be a difficult problem. Changing it over in a planned, orderly way will probably cut down on the expense of changing the era name, and will certainly cut down on the stress the rank and file workers implementing the change will have to deal with as part of the switch.

There is absolutely nothing stopping any woman from starting their own animation company, JUST LIKE THESE GUYS DID, and succeeding.

Studies show that companies founded by women don't get funding. The issue is a bit more nuanced than just "if you want it bad enough go out and do it."

Republican candidates typically skip campaigning in the SF Bay Area because they know it's a waste of their time: the area is so strongly liberal-leaning that there is no way they will garner enough support to be worth the time or expense. Sounds to me like Drumpf came to a strongly liberal area with a large Hispanic population largely to troll and see if he could provoke just this kind of reaction.

Oh, Yasukuni. So much misunderstandings about its history and meaning. Anyone interested in learning more, I highly encourage reading Helen Hardacre's Shinto and the State, 1868-1988 (Studies in Church and State). From its beginnings Yasukuni has always been about supporting Japanese Imperialism tucked under a thin guise of religion. (Or, not. The book details the back and forth on discussions of whether Yasukuni counts as a religious institution. It's... fascinating, yet complex.)

Speaking of history being written by the victors, it was originally established ostensibly to honor the war dead from the Meiji Restoration -- but only the Imperialist troops. The shogunal supporters were left out in the cold. They may have died for their lords, or for their beliefs, but as far as Yasukuni is concerned, they did not die for their country. Very sad, since I'm sure from their perspective they were giving their lives for their country.

Yushukan is privately supported, I believe, by a citizen's group. If one has limited knowledge of the historical facts from WWII it's interesting as a war memorial. How it presents facts is completely inaccurate from a historical perspective, which underlines that it's sole purpose is also just political. And incenses foreigners who visit and realize that the museum's version of history and the documented version of history are not the same.

Chidorigafuchi is great. It presents a place where people who are genuinely interested in honoring war dead may do so without having to (intentionally or unintentionally) support a particular political agenda. Kudos to Abe for not turning his paying respects to the dead into a political circus this time.