RowanM comments

Posted in: Vogue Singapore penalised for promoting 'non-traditional' families See in context

Nudity -- including "depictions of semi-nude models with breasts and/or genitals covered by hands, materials and objects" -- is also prohibited.

What are clothes if not "materials and objects"?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Ghibli theme park prepares for visitors See in context

costing between 1,000 to 2,500 yen per area for adults.

wait, per area? So this means visiting the full park will cost at least 6500?

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Posted in: Japan to scrap current non-digital health insurance cards in 2024 See in context

This seems to work in theory, but until they make getting a MN card as easy as getting a health insurance card (basically show up having paid the bills they send you every year and have a registered address, two legal requirements anyway) what is actually going to happen is that in two years, about 30-40% of the population just won't have a health insurance card.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: U.S. accuses China, Russia of enabling North Korea's Kim Jong Un See in context

US accuses China, Russia of enabling North Korea's Kim:

What is wrong with China-Russia blanketing Kim when US has done likewise for NATO for years?

Now Washington is even enabling Japan, Australia, UK & even India to encapsulate China.

Anything more left to say..?

Have any of those countries shot ACTUAL MISSILES over other countries recently?

Are any of these countries threatening to use nuclear weapons? Actively threatening war?

Oh wait, that's just Russia. I meant on the other side of your "encapsulate China" idea.

What a ridiculous comparison.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Musk and Zelenskiy in Twitter showdown over billionaire's peace plan See in context

that millions of people may die needlessly for an essentially identical outcome

This is a huge, childish oversimplification. There is a vast difference between "Russia won anyway" (which may or may not happen) and "We let Russia have whatever they wanted as long as it was a smaller country and everyone agreed that people shouldn't fight back".

Calling them "essentially identical outcomes" is implying that there are no greater ramifications to this war other than "Russia gets parts of Ukraine". There are tons of other things happening here. People around the world (including Putin and other world leaders) are seeing what happens in this situation. It has huge meaning to keep fighting back now even if you lose (there is such a thing as a Pyrrhic victory), such as whether they will decide to blithely invade other countries in the future. The more people fight back here, the less likely other similar things are because people will see how much they cost and how little they gain for it.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Native American actress who refused Oscar for Brando dies at 75 See in context

And this is the irony of progressivism: she will be remembered for being her race more so than for her accomplishments.

No, she is remembered for having been discriminated against for being her race. That's the important part that you're actively trying to erase by reframing this as if nothing actually happened here.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: 62 and 700: Judge, Pujols closing in on home run milestones See in context

Pujols, meanwhile, is somewhat improbably closing in on the 700-homer mark after hitting 12 since the start of August.

For the record, since the article doesn't mention it, Pujols is sitting at 698 at the time of commenting, and thus 2 away from that 700 mark.

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Posted in: Police clash with right-wing protesters at LGBTQ march in Serbia See in context

There's no need to flaunt it on public streets.

When straight people stop wearing wedding rings and holding hands down the street, I'll start listening to that kind of argument.

Pride is important because lgbtq people spend so much time being oppressed in all sorts of ways. It's exhausting having to exist in a world that doesn't have room for you. Having to take stock of where you are, who is around you, and if it's safe before you do something as innocuous as reach over to take a hand or ANYTHING that could identify you as possibly being more than just friends.

The photo in this article has nothing in it that would be noticed for a second on the street if it was a straight couple. There's nothing that needs be "kept in the bedroom" in this photo. The fact that you're reducing it to "bedroom" talk just shows that you haven't actually considered the issues of living while lgbtq because it doesn't just exist in the bedroom. People are still gay when they go to the grocery store. People are still gay when they go to the movies. People are still gay when they go to a restaurant.

I totally get why someone might want to take the sexy stuff out of gay pride, but there's so much more than that happening at a pride march. It's the freedom to be yourself and be seen and to be allowed to take up space in a world that constantly minimizes you and makes it dangerous to be seen.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Success for party of 'Sweden first' energizes global right See in context

Ironic that commenters have to preemptively invoke the boogeyman spirit of "the left" and what they "will do" rather than actually engaging in reality and trying to respond to anything that is actually happening, because reality doesn't fit the narrative.

> While lefties will undoubtedly be upset and claim Sweden has been hijacked by "extremists" or some such hokum, they've been in power for years and allowed or actively caused the problems that have seen them turfed from office. So they only have themselves to blame for losing.

Maybe some time in opposition will enable them to get a bit of perspective.

literally not one comment along these lines in the 22 hours since posting

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Posted in: '2024 bug' to wreak havoc on Japan's logistics See in context

I've had my last five deliveries left for me to find even though I was home because they didn't have time to ring the doorbell to let me know my package had arrived. Two of them didn't even put it in my delivery box and a third one didn't manage to lock it. 2/5 is really terrible for box delivery and 0/5 is inexcusable for not ringing a bell... but they're overworked and underpaid because capitalism is exploitative.

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Posted in: Serena Williams advances at U.S. Open, beating No. 2 seed Kontaveit See in context

Except she wasn't a sore loser at that tournament. She had a problem with the umpire and the call about coaching, but she was nothing less than gracious to Osaka. She admonished the crowd for not cheering for Osaka when she was announced as the winner and her interview afterward said "She played really well today" and "Honestly, there's a lot I could learn a lot from her" as well as "She deserved the credit and she deserved to win."

She was definitely angry and upset in the moment, but it wasn't about Osaka and it wasn't about losing.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Posted in: Former AKB48 idol Minami Minegishi who famously shaved her head announces marriage See in context

Wait she gets to keep her Maiden name? Have they changed the rule or is Tetsuya-san taking her surname? or is there a different rule for famous people?

No, I'm pretty sure they'll have to follow the same rules. It's more likely that she will take his name for official legal purposes and just use her maiden name as a stage name for the recognition.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Venus Williams, Osaka exit Cincinnati in first round See in context

Not having won a match since 2019

It looks like you made the same mistake I did at first. 2019 was the last time Venus won a match at this event. The sentence is ambiguous, but you can infer that she has won matches at other events from the rest of the story, where it says that she won her first-round match at Wimbledon this year.

Playing isn't just about winning. There are lots of reasons to keep yourself in the mix other than just winning. I mean, her name is in the title of this article when she's on a five-match losing streak. Maybe she just likes being at the events. Not my place to judge if she's still ranked and still making it into tournaments. I don't disagree that if she doesn't retire she might be forced out sooner rather than later, though, but just because someone's not where they once were doesn't mean I get to decide she's done.

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Posted in: Amnesty regrets 'distress' caused by report rebuking Ukraine See in context

why do they regret publishing the TRUTH?

Nowhere does is say that they regret publishing. They regret "the distress and anger" it caused. It's a non-apology that's actually vacuous but sounds good if you're not paying attention. They're not sorry for what they said or saying it's in any way untrue. It's just placating.

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Posted in: Videos in English depict last 6 months of Anne Frank's life See in context

There is no "twisting" of history.... William is just stating facts.

No, they're not stating facts. They asked a hypothetical "Would Anne have died..." so that's incorrect.

Furthermore, it's a hypothetical asked specifically to imply that the Allies and the US are responsible for Anne Frank's death. It implies that maybe fewer people might have died if Germany hadn't been losing.

I can't argue about what might have happened in the US Japanese internment camps (which were also awful), but comparing "what might have happened" to "what actually happened" as if they're in any way equivalent is exactly what I would consider to be "twisting" of history.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: 2.5 seconds: The security lapses that sealed Shinzo Abe's fate See in context

"Abe's person", what are you on about mate?

one's "person" is used to refer to one's physical self. We'd normally say "body" but in the context of someone who died in the aftermath, saying "the first officers reached Abe's body" might be a bit confusing, since he was still alive then. Maybe "the first officers reached Abe himself" would be another way to put it.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Posted in: Wheelchair tennis champ See in context

It’s amazing this was his first Wimbledon men’s singles title considering how many other grand slams he has won

In his defense, he had won 20 titles before Wimbledon even started having a wheelchair tournament in 2016. There have only been six chances for him to get it (it was cancelled in 2020) and since he missed the 2016 tournament, he got it in 5.

It wasn't that he just couldn't get Wimbledon down so much as it didn't exist for most of his career.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Nadal and Swiatek survive scares to progress at Wimbledon See in context

I agree that I think it's alarmist to call being up 2 sets to 1 "a scare". Swiatek going to a decider is definitely closer to scary for her, I'm sure, though.

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Posted in: Lawsuit says Google discriminates against Black workers See in context

@concerned_citizen

Hiring/not hiring based on skin color is racist. How about sticking to simply hiring on merit?

But there are a lot of things evaluated at the interview or even reading a resume that aren't "merit". At an interview for a position, you're evaluated on how you dress, your attitude, and your personality. These are the kinds of things that people are biased against people who look or act differently than what you expect, and that's the systemic part of racism.

Unless you're advocating that people hire without ever seeing a potential employee or talking to them, then people have biases in who they like better, and diversity hires are not only a partial solution to those biases by resolving who gets hired, but also makes people learn more about those other groups and in the future will make them less biased.

Biases aren't all overt and conscious, but that doesn't make their effects disappear. Even AI have been shown to take on biases when they learn from a corpus. It's not a problem that just goes away by "hiring on merit" unless you're going to literally get a table with certificates and scores- no photos, no essays, no names (yes, writing styles and word choice and names can all effect how you perceive a candidate and can be colored by biases). Do you really think that's the best way to make all hiring decisions?

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Posted in: China denies asking Russia not to invade until post-Olympics See in context

China on Thursday denounced a report that it asked Russia to delay invading Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics as “fake news” and a “very despicable" attempt to divert attention and shift blame over the conflict.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also repeated China’s accusations that Washington provoked the war by not ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine. 

The extreme irony of saying it's "very despicable" to try to shift blame and also saying that it's the US's fault that Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Posted in: Boston hospital patient without COVID shot denied heart transplant See in context

@bronco Transplants are based on medicine, where organs are distributed on an axis comparing how urgently a person needs an organ and how likely they are to survive to use it.

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Posted in: McConnell: Black people vote at similar rates to 'Americans' See in context

As much as I hold no love for McConnell or the Republican stance on voting rights, this is an unnecessarily sensational, misleading headline. There's a huge difference between contrasting "black" voters vs "Americans" (which is NOT what happened) and contrasting "African American voters" vs. "Americans".

I'd agree that if he said "black" vs American it would imply that black voters aren't American, but that implication is strongly undercut when he actually said "African American" and therefore explicitly called them American.

This was a dumb thing to say and could have been worded better, but I don't think this is half as bad as people seem to be implying.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: Revolutionary Alliance of Unpopular Men protest against Christmas on streets of Tokyo See in context

It's really unfortunate that it's wrapped up in such a ridiculous framing, but I actually agree with a lot of their stated goals. I'm also anti love capitalism (and most kinds of unregulated and/or materialistic capitalism). I really wish it wasn't a whiny group of sad, entitled people being the face.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Posted in: Glass object thrown from high-rise building hits car on expressway See in context

I agree with @ligger2 that there's no almost way this goes for attempted murder. Unless the way they interpret the law is completely different, it'll be really hard to prove that whoever threw the glass piece was actively wanting for someone to die from it. I mean, the chances of hitting a car are low in general, let alone hitting a person to kill them.

Not defending this at all, because it's really terrible either way, but I'd be really surprised if they could prove this person was deliberately trying to end a life instead of just being a stupid person wanting to do a stupid thing.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Pop group Arashi members Sakurai, Aiba marry their partners See in context

You may have had a point @shogun 10:09am but the article reads their “partners” are “not entertainers”.

- **@shogun36 10:09am**: “Which name will they take as a couple? Aiba or Sakurai?” -

I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to label Sakurai and Aiba as "not entertaining".

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Posted in: Alanis Morissette blasts documentary 'Jagged' as 'salacious' See in context

@starpunk

How many videos of hers have you watched? Because she has far more positive and optimistic videos than angry ones. Or are you conflating one or two songs with her entire 25 year career?

Also how much control do you think a 20ish year old "debuting*" musician has over the music videos or music direction that she can afford to pick and choose?

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Posted in: China table tennis boss says Olympic COVID rules 'extremely difficult' See in context

https://japantoday.com/category/tokyo-2020-olympics/chinese-athletes-complain-about-lax-virus-measures-at-olympics-hotel

So which one is it? Too lax or too difficult?

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Posted in: One year after Washington change, Native American sports imagery evolving See in context

If overly sensitive liberals grew a thicker skin, we wouldn't have to worry about any of this.

I kind of think this is hilarious, because in my eyes, the ones with the thin skin are the people whining about being asked to change a name of a sports team that caricatures an entire race...

If overly-sensitive conservatives grew a thicker skin, we wouldn't have to worry about any of this because it would be over.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Posted in: One year after Washington change, Native American sports imagery evolving See in context

If Native Americans are against any of this, why do I only hear from white liberals?

There are two issues at play here. One is a problem in media coverage. Media often defaults to white voices on issues, whether intentional or not.

But the second issue-- how many Native Americans have you talked to about this issue? How many do you talk to on a regular basis at all? I think the circle of people you talk to and the types of media you choose to consume also play a huge role in why you only hear certain sides of stories.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Posted in: Bach corrects Chinese slip-up in Olympic talks; calls Tokyo best-ever prepared host city See in context

 Its main impact is to push bars and restaurants to close early and stop selling alcohol, a move aimed at cutting down circulation on crowed trains.

If you want to cut down circulation on crowded trains, give businesses incentives to let people work from home more so they don't have to get on the trains at all. Most people who go out to drink are ALREADY OUT from a day at work, so there's not much reduction in trains when they have to ride one home anyway-- they're just earlier.

But instead we're going to just make people miserable but not do anything to actually make things better.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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