Nessie comments

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

It's not like flights from New Chitose to cities other than Tokyo are cheap.

Unmixed Partial Arts

I may be wrong but The Police and The Clash were more influenced by ska.

The Clash were more influenced by Reggae. ("Bankrobber Dub" is a dead giveaway.) Reggae was influenced by ska. Ska is associated with the punk movement because of neo-Ska bands like The Specials, but ska dates way earlier.

Depressing in every way. Makes me appreciate my family and friends.

Looks like the concerted efforts by the Japanese business community, who will profit from imported labor, are paying off.

UMMA

Why is everything always done on a volunteer basis in Japan?

To drum up local support. They do this for the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri as well.

Kleptocrats of a feather baccarat together.

One of the finest songwriters of his generation, and articulate in interviews as well.

Hmm...real kola berries. Might be worth a try.

Didn't feel like much in Sapporo, where we've been having several tremors a week, but the keitai alarm was going nuts.

Are you kidding me? Just a few months back there was an article on JT because of the hot summer people are buying more drinks, fans, aircons.... The government is grasping at straws here.

"Spending on straws up 50%"

インバウンド is a good example of what I hate about loan words - they often change the function,in this case from an adjective to a noun

Don't all foreign words enter Japanese as nouns?

Any landing you can swim away from is a good landing.

Anthony Rapp was talentless and forgotten

"Was"? He's a main character in Star Trek Discovery, which is still a going concern.

As my first post stated, if you want to live with the consequences, you don't have to follow the law. There is also the fact that non-Muslims are not bound by Islamic law, as the article states.

Apostates are subject to legal penalties in her state, so it's ridiculous to bring this up, Chip Star.

From wiki: "In five states (Perak, Pahang, Malacca, Sabah, and Terengganu) conversion is a crime punishable by a fine or imprisonment. In Pahang, conversion can also be punished with up to six strokes of the cane."

Flogging a dead something. Thinking...thinking...

The point is simple, I watched California being a prosperous State with a vibrant middle class to a now impoverished State with money primarily coming in from Hollywood and Silicone Valley. 

California has the 9th highest median household income of any US state. That's the middle value, and not the average. It's 35 out of 51 in terms of poverty rate for US States (including DC but excluding US territories).

How many for the johns?

Again, you have no borders, you have no country. 

Okay. But there is literally no country on earth with open borders.

From pudding pops to gen pop.

About time.

How is it that geothermal plants are not common in Japan when Japan is sitting on a bunch of massive boiling kettles? If mother nature is gonna take a couple of punches at you, why not swing back with class instead of cheap sucker-punches like fossil fuels and nuclear reactors?

They're not particularly efficient and the most active geothermal spots are in national parks (Lake Shikotsu, Lake Toya, the Shiretoko Peninsula...).

The only consolation is that his poor judgment didn't cause anyone else to lose their life.

Lost his temper?

Possibly the stress of having to support a kid. Not a valid excuse, obviously.

I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for drivers who park illegally, especially smack in the middle of downtown.

He's just trolling us now.

320 hours per month!?!?! In a 30 day month that is more than 10 hours a day with no day off!!! Holy cow...Find a different job!!!

For bus drivers, some of this time is just lounging in the parked bus with the motor running.

Huh? Why specify "Japanese" actor? Or is the guy just ACTING Japanese?

I don’t believe HK has said why, but since the novel is not more “adult” than his others, the implication is that this is political retaliation for Murakami’s support for the democracy protestors.

In China it doesn't get more "indecent" than that. (The Dali Lama must be a complete degenerate.)