Photoman333 comments

smithinjapan issa1: Samsung clearly makes the better product, and consumers agree. Hence, the company is outselling all Japanese electronics companies (much as some posters will deny it)

No. Panasonic plasma TVs, particularly the VTs, are regarded as the best by true video afficionados and by the most respected home theater equipment reviewers. But they are more expensive than Samy's.

TheDevilsAssistant: Just wondering if a bus driver/captain would need a bus license AND a boat license to operate this thing.

I can't imagine why not - the driver would certainly need to know the nautical rules of the road.

JoiceRojo: turns out that zen student was right... 71 years and from South America.... (which is the same as to say Latin American)

Zen Student wanted someone both not so conservative and from Latin or South America. Unfortunately that didn't happen - as I predicted he's very conservative (and he's 76 not 71). He's conservative enough to have been the runner-up in the previous papal election.

That is not to say he doesn't have good qualities. His humility is a very welcome attribute, and the Jesuits seek to accomplish something Buddhists strive for - renouncing attachments to material things.

Zen student: I hope they choose someone young who will be more open-minded about the modern world and the Church's place in it. It would make sense to give it to a cardinal from South and Latin America as that is where most of the world's catholics hail from.

I know many people feel that way, but your two wishes are probably mutually exclusive. Latin and South American Catholics have the reputation of being the most conservative of all.

malfupete If you come into my house to do business, you follow my rules

OK but it seems that the complain is that Facebook keeps changing the rules.

When I read the headline I thought thet were talking about a soccer match.

Wakarimasen: Hmmmm. GM went bankrupt. Are they sure they are buying the right guy?

After Mark Hogan worked with Toyota at NUMMI, he tried to carry the Toyota philosophy back then, of worker responsibility for quality, into GM but ended up being a voice in the wilderness, so he left GM and wasn't around when GM went bankrupt. I'm guessing Toyoda wants his help in bringing back that philosophy at Toyota.

BYW, Toyota's so-called reliability problems seem to be viewed by Americans as relatively small probelms. The Camry is still the largest-selling automobile here.

borax: "appointments for injectable fillers" ...the hell?

Yeah, I started thinking about that and decided I really didn't want to know....

Good to hear this!!! Ozawa is well loved here in the US. He's 78, I think, and to conduct at that age is remarkable.

Patric Spohn: Who uses a BlackBerry these days anyways?

Large companies, the US government, and other organizations more concerned about cyber-security than flashy-ness.

aedfed Of course we should always listen to the environmental advice of Hollywood actors because they are such models of lifestyles that have a small environmental footprint - sensibly-sized, low-energy use housing, small eco-friendly cars, and above all, lifestyles that emphatically reject conspicuous consumption.

Well said!!!!!!

flammenwerfer> A photo perhaps? or a link to a video?

http://news.yahoo.com/telepresence-robots-let-employees-beam-143529632--finance.html

One of many if you google on telepreasence robots

As is often the case, be careful what you wish for. In the US traditionally we have automatically imprisoned parents for shaken baby syndrome whenever a baby died for no apparent reason. Now we're learning that there are a number of things that can cause apparent brain damage besides shaking a baby, and a lot of imprisoned parents are being freed. Now, prosecutors are starting to require real evidence that an adult shook a baby, specifically that someone actually saw it happen.

I don't know anyone who would call Die Hard a Christmas movie. I like that movie but calling it a Christmas movie is just weird.

So the photographer claims he was firing his flash at the train engineer to warn him? Are you sh*tting me? Have you ever had a flash go off in your eyes? How long does it take to get your vision back? I can't believe he thought anyone would believe that story.

Madverts: Please forgive me for intervening in one of your anti-American rants

Yep - it's folks like him here, that motivate me to lean on my Representatives to push DOD to get us out of Japan. It's becoming clear that it's a huge waste of my tax money.

taro67: Clinton, because he did such a great job of resolving Israel/Palestine issues while he was president.

Um, your comment would have more credibility if you at least pick the correct Clinton. Which is Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, not the former President.

I hope they can turn around. Panasonic makes some very good products - their plasma TVs are first class and their BD players are excellent value for the money, as are their µ43 cameras. In fact, their BD players were the first to show people that CPU speed really matters when loading a BD - theirs load disks much faster than most other players.

nandakandamanda: Even so, to think that other people are reading your e-mails is disturbing.

You're joking, right? The head of the CIA - the top spy in the US - signed away email privacy when he took the job. The most dangerous person involved with any organization is a malicious insider, and intel agencies have to watch email as one way to find such people.

Serrano: So Obama is a poor judge of character?

No, he's doing what he should be doing - withholding judgement until all the facts are in. Try it. You might just feel a little better about yourself.

Dunno about Japan, but in the US apparenly a law was passed that interrupting a customer while he or she is speaking, is not rude if you're a waiter/waitress. I'd like to get that law repealed but no one seems to know when it was passed...

Regarding the squabbling about the Black and Hispanic vote, the issue is really not too complex. After Romney's concession speach, two intelligent Republican observers made some astute observations. They were Steve Schmidt (who took over running John McCain's already failed campaign) and Michael Steele (the former RNC chairman). They both said that the Republican Party is doomed if they don't get beyond being the party of white people, and start addressing the concerns of all Americans. This was obvious if you looked at the people at the campaign headquarters gatherings of Romney and Obama. No people of color at Romney's.

Sadly, the Republican Party this morning is sounding like they don't get it. They're saying that there was nothing wrong with their message, but Romney didn't deliver it well. Clueless. (I'm not a fan of Romney but I really want a 2-party system in my country.)

As a Vietnam vet, the most satisfying outcome for me was that the Koch brothers' attempt to buy this election was stopped. And I would say that if the direction was the opposite (i.e. if the Koch brothers were Democrats).

On a related note, on the news this morning they said there are 6 billion cell phone subscriptions in place on this planet right now, which equivalent to 85% of the world's population. For the reasons noted by others above, I'm happy with my PCs and laptop, but it's very clear that even in the business world, mobile is the future. At least until lots of folks start experiencing identity theft by keeping their personal info in the cloud...

Serrano: Hey, it was Obama's anniversary, he didn't want to be there, he wanted to be home with his Michelle My Bell, his mind wasn't on the dumb ol' debate, give the man a break!

It's worth keeping in mind what some commentators have said here - the person without a day job had a lot more time to practice.

Thunderbird: How many in America and Japan have suffered the same fate?

According to the University of Vermont, in the US as of 2010, 139 people have been released from death row with new-found evidence of their innocence since 1973. And if you thumbs-down this it means you don't believe the numbers so produce better ones.

ds: all governments are desperate for money. unreasonable confiscations like this, penalties for minor infractions, etc. will on increase as governments squeeze people for money to pay for their debt...

Yep. Do you have photoradar in Japan? If not, hang on to your wallets when it arrives.

CrazyJoe: If judges can't uphold the law, who's going to?

Well the guy that detained him, is one. (But I do understand your point.)

Am I the only one who wonders how you throw mayonnaise? Does it take a lot of practice?

warnerbro: Give him a break. The man went to war when he could have just as easily stayed home with his pick of female companionship. He needs better mates, is all.

Amen! Also, he was qualified as a tank commander, then later an Apache helicopter pilot (no easy feat). I respect the guy and the real problem here was that his "friends" let him down by violating his privacy.

This is why commercial aircraft don't have a single engine. Navy aircraft also ("one if by land, two if by sea"). So I wonder how well the single engine F-35 will be accepted by Navy pilots.

Zichi

LOL!