nihonde

63 ms·

661.
by nihonde 10y ago
My view is that the people who made those difficult decisions are all dead now. Let's study their reasons in the coldest, least judgmental light and try to make some sense of their dilemma. From there, maybe we can do a better job of a
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by nihonde 10y ago
Sounds like progress. We shouldn't forget the oppressors, but we also shouldn't honor them.
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by nihonde 10y ago
I'm encouraged by that, actually. It's a morbid and uncomfortable topic, but those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
664.
by nihonde 10y ago
Very true, and a great point. There are still gaps, though. How many schools teach you the reasons that Germany turned against Jewish people after WWI? In fact, how many schools teach the history of WWI in any kind of detail at all? And wha
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by nihonde 10y ago
To be honest, I enjoyed this conversation, even though I probably project some unfair assumptions onto you. I'm an American myself, so I'm also well aware of the beautiful side of American life. I guess we're ultimately in ag
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by nihonde 10y ago
Scary indeed. Those were the same people who dragged Japan into imperialism. I guess waters in Japan run deep, and there have those small-minded people in the ruling class that you find everywhere else, too. I certainly don't see the c
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by nihonde 10y ago
I guarantee you that "Japan is ostensibly pacifist" because the people who live here right now have no interest in war. The only signals of war and conflict here are American. No normal people in Japan are interested in the territ
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by nihonde 10y ago
You have to factor in an 8% consumption tax (~4 point increase over late 1990s) on that (meager) price increase.
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by nihonde 10y ago
What a terrifying prospect: war waged in order to eliminate a creditor nation.
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by nihonde 10y ago
Please elaborate. I'd like to know which of America's wars or conflicts since WWII were fought on Japan's behalf?
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by nihonde 10y ago
For the record, this doesn't reflect my personal experience in Japan in any way whatsoever. People here are quite well aware of their history, but they don't understand some people's focus on Japan's most recent expansio
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by nihonde 10y ago
This article was written immediately after the war, and doesn't really pass any judgment. It's one of the greatest works of non-fiction of all time, in my opinion.
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by nihonde 10y ago
Yeah, it's really odd. Only Post Office and 7-11 ATMs work with my non-PIN credit card. (Mine also has a chip, though.)
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by nihonde 10y ago
Anti-competitive behavior is easier when you have fewer players to coordinate, or—put another way—few opportunities for a defector. I wouldn't venture to guess that Lyft/Uber is a good long-term state of affairs for the ride-sched
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by nihonde 10y ago
Usually, they can tap in the phone number of your destination and it will come up. That's a popular way to use in-car GPS here, and reasonably reliable.
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by nihonde 10y ago
It bothers me that those cameras aren't self-centering on the horizon line. So much of the footage is of the wearer's feet or (if they're fat) the sky.
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by nihonde 10y ago
Not to mention that competition between Uber and Lyft will benefit all passengers.
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by nihonde 10y ago
In Japan taxis are very pleasant, but expensive, and can be complicated. I say pleasant because the drivers are usually super-polite, dressed in a neat uniform, quick to get out of the car to help you, keep their cars immaculate, etc. I say
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by nihonde 10y ago
It says something about GM's due diligence skills (or their desperation to be seen as a player in self-driving cars) that they were even willing to talk to a company in this position.
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by nihonde 10y ago
In the scenario that you describe, you muddied the waters of Junicorn without properly cleaning up your mess during the breakup. That opens you up to claims like these, which is probably why this happened at Cruise. As soon as you have an a
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by nihonde 10y ago
Well, it sounds like you are part of the solution, and that's the only way it will ever get fixed. When we say that a place has been neglected, the people who live there are ultimately to blame. A civil society is a bottom-up effort, n
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by nihonde 10y ago
Another small thing that makes a big difference: in Japan there is basically no street parking anywhere. There's a ton of small automated parking lots, and lots of car-elevator parking. When you buy a car, the police visit to confirm t
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by nihonde 10y ago
Yeah, if you read Hit Men by Fredric Dannen, you can learn about how they used to skew the numbers for record sales by counting every copy that shipped, regardless of whether it was sold or returned. And today, we are told that 1,500 stream
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by nihonde 10y ago
OK, but, why do people avoid leaving the confines of Manhattan and Brooklyn? I had a car for many years in NYC, and I mostly used it to get as far away as possible. That liminal zone outside the city is beyond depressing to me. I've
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by nihonde 10y ago
I lived in lower Manhattan for 20 years. I know the region well. Perhaps you would consider places like Forest Hills, Queens or Bushwick, Brooklyn or Staten Island or Hoboken or Teaneck or Westchester to be the "most beautiful, safest,
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by nihonde 10y ago
Fascinating. Robert Moses and his car-heavy vision of the future was a seriously misguided effort. My guess is that a lot of the current squalor around the city leads back to his desk, too.
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by nihonde 10y ago
Yes, I completely agree. I have plenty of vices, and struggle with them all the time. I guess I was trying to convey my own current state of mind after thinking hard about this problem and where it leads...but you're right to character
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by nihonde 10y ago
If I find an app is pulling me in too often, I delete it. If I find a website is distracting me too much, I throw it on my hosts file (and redirect it to 127.0.0.1). If I find myself drinking too much beer, I stop. If I find myself craving
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by nihonde 10y ago
Come to Japan, and I will show you safe cities and trains that work. Even your measuring stick is broken.
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by nihonde 10y ago
You're reading a lot into my question, and it turns out that you're dead wrong: I like pop music.

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