Tim Rock comments

Don't be so quick to tout the OS X and IOS systems. They are glitchy, require expensive updates to perfectly functional programs like Word for MAC and are increasingly getting away from being the best work creative platform to just being expensive gaming and retail (for Apple products) toys. I still use MACs because of so many years of wasting time with Windows has made me gun shy. I switched to MAC and everything worked for about a decade. Now, MAC is all over the board and you can't take advantage of everything MAC without constant and incessant "upgrades". Android products are starting to become attractive and they are certainly cheaper. Good luck MAC. 25% of your core users are still relying on Snow Leopard. Once you alienate those folks, you'd better have something fantastic in the offing or you will continue to shrivel.

This says it all:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/united-airlines-exploring-viability-of-stacking-th,2841/

Japan has such beautiful whale interaction venues like Ogasawara and Zamami. This small, bullheaded segment of government continues to give a black eye to a very concerned and conservation oriented whale watching industry. Sad. Get rid of the old guard.

It seems Japan has seen the light to show some restraint and actually respond to wolrd experts when it comes to the tuna fishery but still chooses to ignore all expert and world opinion and even legal ruling when it comns to whaling and dolphin slaughters like that in Taiji. When will we see some consistency from this country. All of a sudden Tekka maki may disappear so now they react? It is about the health of the oceans, NOT the health of the bluefin industry because each creature from tiny goby to giant whale plays a role in the eco-system. Not that the ocean has been repeatedly raped, safeguarding the at-risk species is important. You're deacdes too late to cure your deafness and stubborn attitude. This is a step in the right direction, but at a time when you have almost walked over the cliff.

"Whaling Research Vessel" ... very funny headline. And they don't communicate information with whale hunting ships? Please.

I still rarely answer my iPhone. It is irritating. But I do have one. But I love e-mail and the web and Facebook. One just has to watch old Seinfeld episodes to see how far we have come in 20 years. We had the first color TV in the neighborhood and my farm town grandma had a black & white thing with a 4 inch round screen. SChool must be much more interesting nowadays. But I still take trips to remote places on the globe on ships just so I don't have to have internet for 2-3 weeks. Sometimes talking is nice. But we still use the iPad to play Scrabble now on those trips.

@ lucabrasi

Yes, towns. But are they islands? I think not. Mildred Jima. Yes, I like the sound of that.

Sooner or later people have to get fed up with this old guard blowing their taxpayer money just to be stubborn and show they can still kill whales. Money is lost, no research is done, the international perception of Japan is negative. How much longer will the ignorance reign and blow precious dollars?

3 Good Bad

FightingVikingJul. 24, 2014 - 06:32PM JST

teachers said they had not been aware of any bullying

They never are...

In the grade school I went to, Carl Silvestrini, the 8th grade teacher, was the force behind bullying and did not about it but kiss a few of the favorite athlete's asses.

Not only was the teacher a space cadet about bullying, he unwittingly promoted it through his "disciplinary" antics.

1) Extinction Soup

2) Liberation 40

3) Sharkwater

The remaining lost divers are facing dehydration and hypothermia problems. Jan is right, the boat operator made a fatal error in thinking he could get petrol and return to find them in such poor conditions. Fact is, at full moon on that dive spot, they should not even have gone diving. Bad decisions add up to bad situations.