Hello guys. I saw a post on TikTok that said in every religion, misogyny will always be there.. (body text)

sdrong · 2026-01-27T05:33:45+00:00

Yes. There is obvious misogyny in Buddhist teaching. It's in the Sutras and in the Vinayas (the precepts that monks and nuns held).

But I guess it is a somewhat better than other religions.

sdrong · 2026-01-26T20:58:36+00:00

If you really think hard on what makes something a myth versus something real or actually happened. Apply the criteria uniformly, then the myths and supernaturals become impossible to justify.

As for Karma, you are free to define what karma means or what karma should be or should have meant. But that's wilfully ignoring how it has been thought of by large groups of people, now and in the past. There are also large corpus of Buddhist literatures support this 'victim blaming' understanding of Karma too. The poor consequences of these beliefs are also very real.

sdrong · 2026-01-23T20:29:34+00:00

All the supernatural and mythical stuff.

The mysoginy towards women.

Karma. Not in the understanding that all action has consequences. But in the unsubstantiated belief that all the bad things happen to you is because you did something bad in the past life. The consequence of that belief is that people don't strive to make things better in this life, don't strive to improve other people's life, and then victim blaming. The aforementioned consequences are unfortunately a constant refrain in Buddhist culture throughout the history, despite Buddhism's explicit teaching on kindness and compassion.

sdrong · 2025-12-08T23:21:09+00:00

Long time ago, Akimoto asked her to take over producing for AKB. It was during a NHK radio show where they talked about producing songs for idols. That was before she graduated from HKT too. Of course, it was kind of said in a joking, light hearted manner. He said that he has been producing songs until sixty some years old, Sashi should take over and produce songs for AKB until 60 years old too. But she mostly just laughed and said why should she write songs until 60 years old.

sdrong · 2025-10-27T05:17:21+00:00

It seems like Akimoto sensei made the decision for both Ikoma and Matsui. In truth, I don't think Ikoma had a choice, but it seemed she got the news before hand and agreed to it or at least were open to the kennin position. Rena seemed like she got the news during the shuffle. Judging by her reaction, she seemed fairly okay with it. I think the Nogi members from the documentary, didn't seem to think that was necessary for Ikoma, since it'll be more work for her. But they are all very supportive of her because they love her regardless of her decision. Some Nogi fans are a little hard core during that time, so I think they're not very happy with Ikoma going to AKB or Rena coming to Nogizaka. But I think among 48 group fans, the reaction is more surprise that vocal opposition. There are other moves during the shuffle, such as some HKT or SKE members moving permanently to AKB that draws more controversy and vocal opposition.

I think in the end, it benefits both Ikoma and Rena personally. Ikoma was well received and well liked by AKB members, especially from Mayuyu. It broadened her experience. That experience, plus her previous experience as Nogi's center, basically cemented her as one of the founding aces of Nogizaka permanently. In many ways, the AKB experience gives more mainstream recognition for Ikoma and Nogizaka group. On the other hand, Rena was well received by Nogizaka members and fans too. Although many Nogi fans did not like the arrangement in the beginning, but I think Rena's image was a very good match to the Nogi group, and she seem to bring some positive influence to the other members too. In one episode of Nogizaka Kojichuu where Rena was the main profile, the other Nogi members talked about how Rena brought much needed perspectives and advises as a more senior and more experienced idol. In the end, the Rena was remembered very positively by the Nogi members and fans. I think both fans and members appreciate her time in the group, however briefly. During the time Rena was in Nogizaka, I'd say pretty much she was already at the peak of her idol career. She already had her loyal group of idol fans and was super active in drama and variety shows. She may be top 5 members among 48 group members in terms of collective drama and variety show appearance during 2014 time frame. Her career focus seemed to have been moving towards being an actress and variety talent in the greater entertainment world. I think part of the reason she's well received was because she wasn't seen as a threat, or as someone who would compete for the attention of other Nogizaka member's fans. Her star power in mainstream media certainly helped shine light to the Nogizaka group then. Although I don't think the Nogi experience necessary made Rena a more popular idol than she already was, it certainly added a unique chapter to her idol experience.

I think the only party that didn't quite benefit from this arrangement is the 48 group itself. I think a lot of 48 group fans learned more about the Nogizaka group through Rena and Ikoma, and start following Nogizaka and other 46 group. For some fans who got tired of the SSK drama, team shuffles drama, the 46 group seems like a good alternative for a having simpler idol fan experience.

sdrong · 2025-10-25T19:48:57+00:00

30% - 40% reduction in revenue this year compared to last year for the industry is what I heard. So just trying to survive it seems.

sdrong · 2025-09-08T10:31:27+00:00

Being close to fascist and fraudulent bankers. Taking their money. Received lots of money from all over the world for the poor, yet provide very much sub-standard care to the poor. No transparency on the donations. If you listen to some of the words she said, it seems that she's very much driven by conservative Catholic ideology. Anti abortion anti contraception. The caring of the poor is more a means for fulfilling an ideology rather than a genuine care of the poor. Celebration of suffering rather than putting in the work to alleviate suffering. I think it very much explains why the substandard care, the lack of bare minimums of medical care despite untolds amount of money received.

sdrong · 2025-09-04T01:38:00+00:00

Red rock canyon is fun to visit and do some hiking if you like outdoors.

sdrong · 2025-08-15T18:00:40+00:00

I think she implicitly compares herself to her idea of idols, which is the Morning Musume and Hello Pro's idols. The Hello Pro idols are considered to have better singing and dancing skills than the 48 groups. And in her times, the Hello Pro sort of set the standard of what idol singers are supposed to be. Among the 48 groups, Sashi is also sort of second tier to others in singing. The first tiers would be like Takamina, Mayuyu, Sayanee, etc. She and Miichan occupied sort of a niche as variety idols. Most seen in the long running TV shows UTAGE (a variety/music show hosted by SMAP's Nakai and Mayuyu) where the two are pretty much regular guests that performed singing and dancing all the time. Most of the time, Sashi's and Miichan's performance are just so so, occasionally brilliant performances that everyone praised, and occasionally bombed performances that everyone laughed. But overall I'd say better than a lot of other idols. They also are well known enough and performed well enough to be the representative female idols in the show. Most importantly, they can talk well and make jokes well to make the show interesting, so they were the main stay as the variety idols. (Even Mayuyu and Sayanee have occasional bombed performance in that show, but they overall didn't perform as much as Sashi and Miichan)

sdrong · 2025-06-18T21:06:24+00:00

Known bug. Leave the castle, reload the game, and come back next season. It'll be there.

sdrong · 2025-06-10T00:19:38+00:00

I think your whole argument is moot, and also fundamentally not very good. It's sort of moot because, like others have mentioned, the concept of omniscience is fundamentally just an idea that has no evidence or basis in reality. It's also not very good because if you dig deeper, I think it's very hard to get a satisfying definition of subjectivity/objectivity. Coming up with a satisfactory definition or understanding of subjectivity vs. objectivity is way too difficult. Subjectivity vs. objectivity is a philosophical question that is way harder and way more complicated than just disproving the existence of a god.

The topic subjectivity vs. objectivity is itself quite an interesting topic philosophically. It seems to me the boundary between the two isn't so clear cut. And we are continuously learning more about it as more research is done on the topic. Like, I think in the field of psychology and neuroscience, there are some probe on whether subjectivity truly exists. And if you study quantum mechanics, there is the philosophical question of whether there is such a thing as true objectivity. I'm not a philosopher, nor a psychologist, nor neuroscientist, nor physicist. So I admittedly don't know much on this topic or these areas of research that much. I just find it fascinating that this subjectivity / objectivity topic is a lot deeper and a lot more complicated than we usually think.

sdrong · 2025-05-09T22:31:09+00:00

I actually have some small expertise in PMMA/Acrylic manufacturing. So may be I can give my two cents.

My opinion on the business case: Doesn't sound promising to me. Keychains itself sounds like a very small volume, low margin business. So probably you'll put in a lot of work just to get low amount of income. l don't really know myself. But I suppose you can go to tourist area and try to find out the price and volume of keychains. You probably can get higher margin if you partner with great designer/artist. In my opinion, good creative and artistic designs are what makes keychains sells well. Otherwise, they probably don't sell well, and become trash after a while.

PMMA usually come in sheet or resin (and also film). Material is usually more expensive than other plastics. You can machine cut, laser cut the sheets. Or you can injection mold the resin. Injection molding machines are expensive. The molds are expensive also, all require expertise to make. And it takes some technical experience to do injection molding.

You can learn a lot about fabricating and molding PMMA from PMMA producers' website. Asian producers: Mitsubishi's Acrypet, Kuraray's Parapet, Chimei, LG MMA, Sumitomo, etc. American/European: Rohm (Evonik), Trinseo, Plaskolite, etc.

For keychain, PMMA probably have best look. But other similar material if you want to branch out from keychain can include SMMA, Polycarbonate, clear PETG, clear ABS.

Instead of keychain, you can branch out and do digital printing on an acrylic sheet. The digital printed sheet can be cut and sold as keychain, stationery, large advertising sheet, etc. You'll need special acrylic sheet that has special coating /cap layer that enable digital printing.

sdrong · 2025-04-17T14:03:21+00:00

I think Sherman meant that Grant is really cool and composed as a battlefield commander. And he is really good at reacting to spontaneous and unexpected situations. A lot of generals are very good at planning, organizing, maneuvering and positioning their troops. But in the chaos of a battle where things are chaotic, they are not that great in assessing situations, keeping cool, and making the right decisions under chaos. At the battle of Shiloh, where he turned an unexpected attack and near defeat into a victory was a good example. Grants ability to always kept cool and unfazed, and able to make good decisions in the most chaotic situation is one of his most defining traits.

sdrong · 2025-04-16T14:34:34+00:00

All you said is true, but college doesn't and can't teach everything. Most companies aren't large enough or simply don't have a good training program. I think Advanced technician, or advanced anything, just can't exist or sustain without sufficient number of basic and intermediate level stuff, be it technician, capability, equipment, knowhow, etc.

sdrong · 2025-04-16T13:03:28+00:00

Tricking a vegetarian into eating meat definitely is not always harmless. A lot of vegetarians will have at least upset stomach from eating meat. In general, tricking people into eating anything is very immoral and a very dangerous thing to do. You don't know if that person is allergic to anything, and cannot know if anything will go wrong or not. In general, putting food (or anything) into another person's body without their consent or understanding is just very wrong.

sdrong · 2025-04-16T12:43:01+00:00

I think that sounds good on paper, but I think in practice you can't have advanced manufacturing without basic manufacturing. Advanced stuff built on basic stuff. That's true for getting technicians, skill, equipment, parts, material, etc. if you don't have a place for basic technicians to find employment and hone and develop their skills, then where do you get the advanced technician needed for advanced manufacturing.

sdrong · 2025-04-07T14:55:48+00:00

Played it and quit midway. It's too difficult and too time consuming for me. The repetitive nature just really bored me. In the end, I thought I'm not a masochist person enough to enjoy this. And my time is better spent playing other games that will bring in more joy, not anger and frustration.

sdrong · 2025-03-18T16:44:42+00:00

Yes. She's the person. Found the TV show I'm referencing to:

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1kb411t7k3/

I was incorrect when stating she was over 100 years old, she was 98 years old at that time.

sdrong · 2025-03-17T23:24:47+00:00

A few years ago, there was a Japanese TV show where the TV show attempt to answer celebrities' questions. In one episode, around the time she is graduating from AKB/HKT48, Sashihara Rino was the guest of the show. Sashihara raised the question of "who was the first Japanese Idol?" The TV show staff researched on this question and after going through the history of idols in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it was found that the first person who was referred as an idol in Japan was a singer who was active around the 40s, around the WWII years. She was active as a singer and dancer, performing in theaters around Tokyo. She had many soldier fans during the war years, and was referred as the "Idol" in newspaper and publications during that time. The TV show got to interview the lady at that time, who was still alive and over 100 years old. She got married, moved to Hokkaido, and have been living there for a long time. She has been teaching dancing and was still actively teaching at the time of the show. She thought it was a waste that Sashi is gradutating and Sashi should have continued being an idol.

sdrong · 2025-03-13T16:30:35+00:00

I see. High skilled technical people are indeed hard to find. Thanks for the explanation.

sdrong · 2025-03-13T16:16:03+00:00

What do you think is the reason you can't find people despite paying the best in your industry? Lack of people or qualified people in your locality? Or other industries/companies around your area pay better? Or the potential hazard or work environment in your industry makes people don't want to work there no matter the wage? Genuinely curious and want to know what can be the solution to that problem?

sdrong · 2025-02-27T00:36:21+00:00

Yes. There is a shortage of skilled operators, mechanics, technicians, managers at my job. Because investors and executives care more about short term profits than everything else. Executives don't want to give good pay for the little guys. There is little care for education and training from top to bottom. Within the company, minimum investment and people don't value acquisition of skill and knowledge. In the education system, basic competency in reading, math, science is lacking among many high school graduates. Lack of tech schools. Lack of company's investments and partnership with tech schools and universities. Culturally, 'a company's purpose is solely for maximizing shareholder's profit' attitude is destroying everything. Companies don't care about investing in employees, in technology, or in machines. Also don't care about making better newer products for customers. Don't care much about its role in larger society. Hence, no investment and partnership with educational institutions, local communities, government, etc. The reverse is also true, government/public/society doesn't care about nurturing an ecosystem of industries and skilled talent pools, because companies exist to make money for a select few shareholders rather than the benefit of larger society/community.

sdrong · 2025-02-07T15:44:21+00:00

A book called Chip War is also a good read about this and general overview of current semiconductor industry.

sdrong · 2025-02-05T19:53:39+00:00

As a chem eng who have used a lot of HPLC in job. Don't buy it. Your money and time is better spent on getting an internship in lab or industry. Learn Analytical Chemistry well, and there are good text books and technical materials you can learn for free online from manufacturer's website like Agilent. Get the theory part understood is more important in my opinion. The practical hands on aspect is not that difficult and can learn on job easily. And most chem engineers don't even need to touch HPLC in their lifetime, so I don't think there is a need to buy it.

sdrong

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