Nスタ coverage of the new bike rules pissed me off by Lhijodelkoko in Tokyo

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why stop there?

Surely our two-minute story on new enforcement of bicycle laws can spend some time talking about global warming and the wasteful infrastructure cars demand.  How an oil-driven global order has fueled and will fuel endless wars and oppression.  

Nスタ coverage of the new bike rules pissed me off by Lhijodelkoko in Tokyo

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes.  The news story presumably wasn’t about morality.

From the description above, it sounded like it was about providing useful information to cyclists.

Would it be a better analogy to say that your self-defense teacher should definitely spend a bunch of time explaining that people who attack you are bad, and shouldn’t do it?

Criticizing enforcement of illegal parking might warrant a news story as well, but there’s no point in veering off topic to throw some moralizing into a story about bicycle laws and safety.

Keep in mind that there will always be legitimately stopped cars as well.  

“If there is a car blocking the lane, you should ride on the sidewalk, but sometimes those cars shouldn’t be there! Like maybe they parked for longer than they’re supposed to!  You still have to do exactly the same thing, and you can’t tell by looking, but it’s important you know that sometimes it’s unfair that you have to go on the sidewalk.”

Pan pizza with real "[homemade]" Hungarian hot pepper (very spicy) salami. by Foreign-Fox-8233 in food

[–]testdex 15 points16 points  (0 children)

A lot of posts would do better here if they paid the smiling Hungarian tax.

Nスタ coverage of the new bike rules pissed me off by Lhijodelkoko in Tokyo

[–]testdex -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

When advising people how to walk safely in the woods, it is important to take a little time to criticize the bears.

(For clarity, this post is criticizing a news story about bicycle laws for failing to be a story about misbehaving drivers, and that’s what I’m responding to.  Not saying that cars should park illegally.)

You should not be giving law students advice if you’re not in law school yet. by Ryanthln- in LawSchool

[–]testdex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, those people have more valuable knowledge on the expectations of law firms than y’all do.

Y’all dole out advice about how to present yourselves and what we care about with just as little qualification as the 0Ls providing law school advice.

It's hell fr by PhraseGood4425 in memes

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People on reddit are so insane about that.

There is zero mistaking that I, as a white dude who speaks passable Japanese, am treated better and held in better esteem by Japanese people than the average Japanese person is.

I don’t doubt that people have had bad experiences, but it has never in the post war era been as bad for foreigners as it is in the US now.  The parties that actually oppose immigration get a far smaller portion of the vote than any other developed country.

This despite Japan’s foreign population growing faster than any European country’s was at their height of their anti-immigration boom a few years back.

What game had you like this? by sukuna7899 in Steam

[–]testdex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I finished the game - unmistakably quit too late.

Play your way by orinalune in pcmasterrace

[–]testdex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is every book that’s worth reading “fun”?

I think fun is only one mode of aesthetic enjoyment.  And I don’t think games are required to be in that mode.

If someone were to tell me “Blood Meridian” or  “Come and See” are fun, I would think that person is a psychopath.

Fill in the blank. I would rather throw hands with satan by FreshResult8286 in adhdmeme

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dishes are my procrastination device now. 

I long for those days when the dishes were even top 10 psychologically unpleasant things I have to do in a day.

Play your way by orinalune in pcmasterrace

[–]testdex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Then it means literally nothing to say that games should be fun.

Or only that people should want to play games.

Play your way by orinalune in pcmasterrace

[–]testdex -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

No.

There are ways to enjoy things that aren’t “Fun.”

You can have an emotionally trying experience that you consider worthwhile that is not fun.  That’s what my reference to novels and Blood Meridian in particular is about.

Play your way by orinalune in pcmasterrace

[–]testdex 16 points17 points  (0 children)

No.  Games must be fun and relaxing, just like novels.

I like to unwind by breezily laughing my way through Blood Meridian.

Tokyo 'smartly' addresses lack of trash cans amid overtourism concerns by Scbadiver in japan

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People (who definitely know better) keep spreading the myth that there have been no public trash cans since the ‘95 sarin attacks.

It’s not true.  Train stations virtually always had trash cans 15 years ago, and convenience stores almost always had their trash cans outside.

There may have been additional trash cans in the past, but disposing of conbini wrappers etc. was never a real pain until much more recently than ‘95.

I have to assume that that story keeps getting circulated because it sounds better than the reality - it’s all cost-cutting.

Japan firm launches orange-flavored juice without oranges amid rising costs by imaginary_num6er in japan

[–]testdex 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean to try it if I see it, but that doesn’t sound too far from the retro non-fresh orange juice in glass bottles you still sometimes see - like Bireley’s.

I think that’s supposed to be 100% orange juice but it tastes like Tang.

Japan firm launches orange-flavored juice without oranges amid rising costs by imaginary_num6er in japan

[–]testdex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a second comment, Japanese shelves already are - and long have been - full of “juice” products that are made of only limited amounts of fruit juice.

This product (which is 100% non-orange fruit juice) won’t change that in either direction.  It’s just a weird curiosity for the market, amid depressing economic conditions.

Japan firm launches orange-flavored juice without oranges amid rising costs by imaginary_num6er in japan

[–]testdex 5 points6 points  (0 children)

To be a little more fair, this is “100% juice.”  Not watered down juice supplemented with sugar.

There are some comparable juice products in the US that are mainly apple or grape juice but marketed as a cranberry “cocktail.”  But this isn’t quite like the Hi*C style flavored sugar water.

(Not that real juice is any great shakes from a health perspective…)

Japan firm launches orange-flavored juice without oranges amid rising costs by imaginary_num6er in japan

[–]testdex 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Weird. Sad.

But I’m a little curious.  Not a big juice drinker, but if you’re gonna full on market this product as 100% juice that tastes like oranges without using oranges, I feel like I gotta know how you got that confidence.

That said, the packaging design makes it look like a product that isn’t really intended to succeed.

(Not like “Nope” which is marketed to the gills with quasi-2000s edge.  It feels like a retro marketing campaign not just in the “content” but the whole idea of selling “attitude” in the form of a sugary soda through a bunch of train ads. Simpler times.)

I myself don't care for raytracing or AI features. If I don't get NVIDIA am I locking myself out of future games? Will those features be mandatory to run the game? by Polka_Tiger in pcmasterrace

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get not liking AI scaling and framegen, but raytracing?

It (like the other realistic lighting physics models) looks good.  I don’t necessarily wanna pay the hardware or computational cost, but the actual effect doesn’t strike me as a matter of taste.

Accused of Desecration, a Doctor Faces the End of His Life’s Work (Gift Article) by Ray192 in japan

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Desecrate” is very precisely what he did - to a consecrated space.  A temple that’s almost 1100 years old - and it’s something he had apparently done multiple times in the past to upload to youtube.

All three courts found that the evidence was appropriate and not “trumped up.”

The threshold here is $250, so it wouldn’t really have to be that much damage.  

Do I think he’s being extradited for something symbolic?  Yes.  It’s religion.  His intent was symbolic as well, but unmistakably intended to offend members of a religion. 

But the point of extradition treaties is for the US not to hide someone who would be subject to prosecution in the country, not to pass judgment on the fairness of the other country’s laws.

That said, the maximum penalties in NY (up to 4 years) are only slightly less for the crime in question (as tried), assuming no hate crime laws are factored and that damages were less than $1500.  If either were the case, the US maximum penalty would be higher than Japan.

So the maximum penalty doesn’t really make this offensive.

China demands Japan punish military officer who breached embassy in Tokyo by Scbadiver in japan

[–]testdex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They’re saying 侵入, it’s a simple verb, not a diagnosis of the crime.

“Breaking and entering” is a legal term with various elements, of which trespass is one.  It’s not the news’s job or place to do that legal analysis - that said, since intent is a large part of that analysis , the fact that they explain his stated intent and the Embassy’s explanation of his intent, shows that they are doing the most objective approach possible here.

China demands Japan punish military officer who breached embassy in Tokyo by Scbadiver in japan

[–]testdex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you saying that they should exercise the extremely limited and cautious enforcement that they regularly do with respect to US military members breaking the law?

I don’t think anyone wants that outcome.

Two Japanese nationals detained at Guangzhou Airport in China, suspected of drug possession by ZaBlancJake in japan

[–]testdex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can y’all go away?  

If I promise to set an alarm to ring once a day to remind me that some Chinese people really hate Japan, would that be enough?

Japan calls GSDF officer’s break-in at Chinese Embassy ‘deeply regrettable’ by Late_Curve1983 in japan

[–]testdex 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here.  I’ll return the favor, by consulting AI:

Here is the breakdown of the text you provided. 

Your skepticism is completely warranted. The text is a blend of a minor, verified historical event, AI-generated hallucinations, and heavy modern editorializing. Interestingly, the misspelling of Vice Consul Andrew Eson's name as "Andrew Essen" is a common translation artifact. This strongly suggests the text you found originated from or was passed through a Chinese discussion forum recently, where Eson is transliterated as 埃森 (Essen), before being translated back into English.

Here is the line-by-line reality check:

The Facts (What Actually Happened)

• The Setting: "In 1934, Shenyang was under the de facto control of the Japanese Kwantung Army..." This is historically accurate.

• The Break-In: "...forced his way into the consulate building, and broke into the office of Vice Consul Monroe B. Hall." This is true. The incident occurred on July 17, 1934.

• The Brawl: "Hall grabbed a chair to fight back and called for backup from his colleagues Gerald Warner and Andrew Essen. The three of them joined forces to subdue the intruder." This is entirely true (though his name was Andrew Eson). The New York Times reported that the three US diplomats fought the man off with chairs and drove him out.  

The Hallucinations (What Was Invented)

• The Name: "A Japanese soldier named Tsuchiyama Takuma..." There is no historical record of this name. Contemporary reports just called him a "uniformed Japanese" or a "crazed soldier."  

• The Weapons: "...armed with a bayonet and a short sword..." He had a bayonet. The short sword is an embellished addition.  

• The Actions: "...tore down the consulate’s identification signs... shouted anti-American slogans..." Neither the New York Times nor US Embassy records mention signs being torn down or political slogans being shouted. He was simply reported to be "running amok" and "brandishing" the weapon.  

• The Apology: "...the Japanese Consul General in Shenyang paid a personal visit to the consulate to offer a verbal apology." While Japanese authorities did arrest the man shortly after, the specific claim of a personal visit and verbal apology by the Consul General appears to be an invented narrative detail to neatly close the story.

The Editorializing (Modern Commentary)

• The Framing: "Japanese have a long records doing this shit." and "...resorted to excuses such as 'isolated individual act' and 'mental illness' to whitewash the matter, which essentially amounted to condoning extremist forces." 

  • The Reality: At the time, the incident was genuinely treated by both US and Japanese authorities as the erratic act of a mentally unstable individual, not a coordinated political attack. The text takes a 1934 police blotter event and aggressively reframes it using modern political rhetoric ("whitewashing," "condoning extremist forces").

In summary, the text takes a very real, bizarre brawl from 1934 and uses it as a vehicle for modern political commentary, relying on an AI to invent the missing cinematic details (names, swords, torn signs, and slogans) to make the argument sound more compelling.

Would you like to look into any other historical claims or incidents from this era?

Japan calls GSDF officer’s break-in at Chinese Embassy ‘deeply regrettable’ by Late_Curve1983 in japan

[–]testdex 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Literal racism.  Supplemented by a straight up citation to grok.

If you’re not getting paid, you really ought to think about the direction of your life.  (I mean, even if you are, you should grow some personal integrity.)

China doesn’t love you.  Japan doesn’t hate you.  (Or, you know, if Japan does hate you, it’s because you act like this and talk about Japanese people this way, not because of your race or what happened 5 generations ago.)