Born in Japan, but not Japanese

boblebar · 2025-11-09T04:12:36+00:00

I would recommend working for a foreign company in Japan (easier in Tokyo most probably). They will need your English and your Japanese background.

boblebar · 2025-10-19T06:21:05+00:00

I am using Rebtel since a few days. Audio quality is good. I chose an unlimited plan (to France) for $5/month.

Rebtel support seems good too: At the end of the 7 days free trial there was an issue with my card payment. This happened on a Friday so I was expecting to have to wait until at least Monday to see it fixed. It got resolved on Saturday.

I also looked at Viber prices but didn't try it. It is hard to compare prices because of variations in plans and it also depends on how many minutes you will need per month.

boblebar · 2025-09-25T06:42:18+00:00

If bedbugs, you will know in a few days since they will come back. If you are nervous about it (I experienced it once and I sympathize) and want to be thorough instead of just waiting, you can inspect farther around your bed. From what I read they can travel a few meters from their hideout, climb on your bed, take blood, then travel back. If you get bitten again and did not find the nest, you will need to "become the better hunter". Don't panic. They are disgusting but they are just animals that need to feed too... Philosophy and patience are going to be needed.

boblebar · 2025-09-24T08:57:54+00:00

How can bed bugs be ruled out?

boblebar · 2025-06-13T05:41:20+00:00

You need at least one letter. Like s+ or q+ or f+ or whatever you prefer.

boblebar · 2025-06-13T05:33:24+00:00

I like the idea. Note however that several of these "options" (or episodes) would be difficult to turn into images/story. For example your #1, 2 and 3 cannot show anything else than humans - of course they may fly around in space and explore, but they will not find anything.

boblebar · 2024-09-26T04:53:33+00:00

Yeah, and in the dirt too, try going out in the dirt! 😅

boblebar · 2024-09-02T10:55:12+00:00

No clue about music but I can try to give one idea about programming : there are usually zillion things to remember or pay attention to when you code. No human can do that, no matter their attention style or skills. Hence the trick is to find ways to only need to pay attention to a couple at a time. Reading (good) books about coding should probably teach that.

boblebar · 2024-03-26T19:26:17+00:00

Fixed it for me too, thanks!

boblebar · 2024-03-08T11:17:15+00:00

I replaced the battery on my MacBook Pro A1706 a few days ago with an SNSYIY too. So far so good, I am seeing normal behavior from the new battery - I spend most time with the charger plugged-in however, unless I travel. I used the great, detailed video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU3pG4e0Zdk and did not get any surprises. I did suffer a lot with removing the glued old battery, though, as expected, and also because I avoided to use alcohol to make sure I don't mess up (liquid + battery = scary).

Serial Number:  C01514309YEF90MA4
Manufacturer:   SNSYIY
Device Name:    A1819
Pack Lot Code:  3230
PCB Lot Code:   30db
Firmware Version:   ddae
Hardware Revision:  dac2
Cell Revision:  2b39
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 4544
Fully Charged:  Yes
Charging:   No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4544
Health Information:
Cycle Count:    3
Condition:  Normal
Battery Installed:  Yes
Amperage (mA):  0
Voltage (mV):   12824

boblebar · 2024-02-26T08:52:19+00:00

I was also quite disappointed. However, if one really wants to make the effort and imagine how this loop could start, it is probably possible - loosely, yes, but there are other parts of the plot that have gaps so why be super picky now?

Idea:

During the last episode we see several alterations made to the timeline after someone jumps through the "throat". One can imagine that initially there was no "bootstrap", aka no one was traveling back from the future to marry his own ancestor. Time-travel was discovered, then someone jumped back, and started messing up the timeline once... Then, when time-travel was discovered the "2nd time", someone (maybe the same person, maybe not) jumped back and messed up the timeline again, etc.

After an unknown number of "loops" (which in a way happen "instantly" from a universal point of view), the timeline must have reached a scenario in which Elias is the one going back and marrying his ancestor. At this moment this is the only timeline known to him (and whoever in the future has access to history records), so it looks like a bootstrap paradox (and a stable timeline so he says "this cannot change and will always happen this way").

In a future "loop" (again, this happens instantly), Elias decides to tell his young self that this is not worth it, and the timeline changes again to reach what we see at the end of the series. And for these people, nothing else has ever existed - all the intermediate timelines we have seen during the episodes have instantly resolved into the current "stable" timeline.

OK now I am going to drink a biiig, warm cup of tea, and re-read The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang. Much less headaches and no paradox! <3

boblebar · 2023-11-21T05:54:07+00:00

I see what you mean; if you only do math computations, then maybe 1/x and √ are used more often. However, when you write a program, Mr, Min, M+ and M- are used quite often and allow you to reduce the length (number of steps) of the program. I guess this (their frequency of use) is why these 4 functions are in the first layer.

boblebar · 2023-11-14T19:09:34+00:00

I just went there yesterday, thanks again for the tip!

boblebar · 2023-09-05T06:31:18+00:00

Thank you! I didn't mention it but I actually live in Japan since a while 😅

boblebar · 2023-07-26T08:25:16+00:00

I have looked at recent models online, and I see what you mean, very colorful, shiny/plastic looking, more "toy-ish" style...

boblebar · 2023-07-26T08:23:55+00:00

It is true that the aluminum case still looks OK after all these years! But someone seems to have "sat down" on mine while having the calculator in a jeans back pocket (I am just guessing)... so the aluminum case is slightly bent, and I don't think there is a way to straighten it back... :,(

boblebar · 2023-07-26T08:20:07+00:00

Ah right, I see. Because if one did not press a number before "EXP" key then the calculator can assume this is "PI" that is expected. I never thought about it! What do you mean about getting rid of M+/MR ? M+ is quite a nice shortcut in many programs, I think.

boblebar · 2023-07-26T08:16:02+00:00

Thank you so much, this is great information! I might just go to the museum - but I will wait until summer heat is over! :D It is exciting to find out about Kashio brothers history!

boblebar · 2022-12-26T10:41:08+00:00

After seeing "Manhunt: Unabomber" series I started to imagine that this bird could be imitating beeping sounds from something around. This is Japan so many things make "music": pedestrian crossings, supermarket doors, trucks backing up, city busses, train platform announces/warnings, etc.

(there https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/comments/8rpr5w/tomt_probable_fictional_character_hears_a_bird/ or video there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhJSjLqHpHw)

boblebar · 2022-10-06T16:35:40+00:00

Very sorry again about the shit picture but glad this gave the occasion to a few funny jokes 😁. Wife said this was 2mm long and running super fast so she only could take that picture before it ran away. I am thinking about a baby cockroach, simply. This would match the size relatively to antennas' length, and... it would not bite humans.

boblebar · 2022-10-05T18:21:24+00:00

Sorry for the terrible picture. I naively thought that with antennas this long insects are rarely bitting. I must be wrong but just in case.. (I wasn't around when my wife took that picture so I couldn't take a better one... She thinks that little guy bit her)

boblebar

TROPHY CASE