nandakandamanda comments

Without reading this latest work I am finding it hard to comment, although I generally agree with many of the opinions posted above. Killing Commendatore will probably be placed under the Christmas tree for me, I can guess.

These deep bows have certainly absorbed some of the shock.

Re: "The rising sun flag was used by the Imperial Japanese Army..."

Uh, yes, but no, not actually the navy flag being argued over. Similar, it is true, but the army sun used to be right in the middle of the flag. The old navy and now SDF flag in question has always had the sun about one third from the flagpole.

The Russians have said repeatedly in the past that they would be willing to give the bottom four, or at least the bottom two islands back to Japan.

Of course they have said the opposite of that too.

Even listening to the 'tapes', Pompeo would be hard put to understand Arabic and know whose voice was whose. A transcript would surely have been useful, but we have already seen transcripts in the mainstream media. I guess all he could have heard 'new' is how they sourced the recordings.

The incident reminds me of Henry II in 1170 complaining about his Archbishop Thomas Becket, and four knights riding off and cutting him down in Canterbury Cathedral.

Between Etorofu and Uruppu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute#/media/File:Demis-kurils-russian_names.png

Ex_Res, Wiki has a lot to say, including this "The first Russo-Japanese agreement to deal with the status of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands was the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, which first established official relations between Russia and Japan. Article 2 of the Treaty of Shimoda, which provided for an agreement on borders, states "Henceforth the boundary between the two nations shall lie between the islands of Etorofu and Uruppu. The whole of Etorofu shall belong to Japan; and the Kuril Islands, lying to the north of and including Uruppu, shall belong to Russia." The islands of Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands, that all lie to the south of Uturup, are not explicitly mentioned in the treaty and were understood at the time to be a non-disputed part of Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute

So where is it being grown, and can grower countries export and ship legally?

Assad has used IS to his own advantage, but soon it will be no more Mr Nice Guy.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/assad-strategic-isil-victory-syria-181016124014853.html

Surely they should be ordered to test them properly this time, and to replace only the ones that do not pass the required standards?

Well, as long as he does not carry a bible when he enters the country.

Not being fond of octopus, I once ordered Tako-yaki at a small stand, 'without the octopus'. I waited for her to make it up and revolve the dumplings for me.The woman at the stand simply slapped a pack onto the counter. "Hai!" she said, expressionlessly.

"No", I explained patiently, "I would like you to make a special set of takoyaki that has no octopus in it!"

She looked at me and said, "there is no octopus in our product."

I guess the purple-dyed Shoga ginger was fooling people's eyes...?

Hey, cutting the corner there!

Quote: "Wildlife officials in the southern Australia on Wednesday announced an investigation..."

What does an 'investigation' entail, I wonder?

Not enough information here. I am still on the side of the judge.

Not just tailgating.

The Japanese term is "Aori-unten", あおり運転 which is a catch-all for road rage, malicious, dangerous, aggressive driving, tailgating etc. This is what the police have started to look at, as the article intimates in the first few paragraphs.

It literally means 'fanning' a frustrating situation, a prime example of which would be driving right up someone's bumper and swerving left and right, which is probably the origin of the 'fan' analogy.

Driving schools in Japan try to emphasize the importance of one driver at least remaining calm. Sometimes though it is difficult to know what to do when an aggressive driver becomes fixated on you and your car, as I know from experience here.

The article says this is a rare event, and I am sure it is, but I can remember it happening several times in the past.

No mention in the story of how she had felt towards her grandfather.

Some background here with an outline of the rules and a short preview.

http://crashedice.redbull.com/en_US/about

I knew that her name was now household dirt, but had forgotten why.

papigiulio, which part in two posts above is your comment?

Lady Luck will be watching too. On paper Mercedes and Hamilton do have a split-second edge, but nothing is ever guaranteed in this game, and anything, including heat and rain can skew performance. It might look boring to the casual observer, but every second, every revolution of every engine is watched anxiously and nail-bitingly by every team until that checkered flag waves.

About bloody time. This is an awful situation for the poor people trapped there. No UN aid since January!?

One human is a start. "Step by step one gets to Rome".

Personally I suspect she fell foul of the serial groper that the signs up there warn about.

Canadians arriving at Kansai be aware. Those airport dogs barking at your legs are smelling the environment you left earlier. Be prepared for temporary hassles.

“I can’t recall anything because I was drunk at the time... and don't remember.”

There, fixed it for you, Smith! ;-)

Saw parts of this on TV last night and it looked pretty exciting.

Well, they quietly escaped from the earlier concept of 'global warming' but whoever confusingly named what is happening 'climate change' surely left open a window and scored a resounding own-goal. Otherwise why would we have to endlessly define and redefine what this is supposed to mean? No wonder Trump wanted to join in and take a shot at the concept.

Surely the essence is in the perceived increasing speed, severity, and unpredictability of climactic events, and not in 'change' per se? Ought we not to be looking more at words like 'climate wobble' or 'climate unbalance' or 'runaway climate'?

Let's be realistic. There is no way that the Saudi royal family and secret services will be held accountable. Only Iran could dream up such a scenario, as leverage for revolution to reverse Saudi's Sunni-over-Shia society.

The team that messed up this 'secret' hit and publicly embarrassed the Kingdom will be quietly dealt with, and Turkey will not be popularly perceived in Saudi Arabia for causing such massive loss of face.

Kamui is a very good driver, true, and also probably a good sports ambassador for Japan as he has a warm and engaging personality. He gets my vote too, Chop Chop! :thumbs:

Sid, a single tiny drop of it is probably tasteless, ie not actually unpalatable on its own. It could go with Ramen, natto, raw egg, or whatever floats your boat.