The moral equivalents of America's founding fathers.

sci101 · 2 days

When I hear the guy on the ground, with the rockets and the money from the CIA, say those basic things, I tend to believe it.

Here's the thing. When you look beyond this "arming story" and actually look for the reason he was doing what he was doing, and why, and follow his story and Al Queda's, it plays out like a normal, understandable situation of fundamentalist radicals doing their normal "blow up shit like cowards" routine trying to "wake up the masses.". There isn't a need for secret CIA weapons training for guys who can't fire a rifle worth a shit, or invent secret mountain stronghold bases, or whatever the papers, government, or neo-cons want to invent to make a big scary boogeyman. His normal radical self is enough of fundamentalist to do what he did on a shit budget from mundane locations with other plain-jane fundamentalists over a few decades without secret ops help, or government backing. There were dozens of groups in dozens of countries all doing the same crap 10 or 20 years prior with the same basic tactics, achieving similar gruesome results, but because it didn't happen to (a lot of) americans, there is no real knowledge about it, so there is no simple narrative thread that can be made in the news about it. but because we are all familiar with the scandals over the years of the government selling arms to splinter groups, it is easy to push this complicated peg into a simple hole.

I would suggest watching the 3 part documentary "The Power of Nightmares" by Adam Curtis for a basic primer. Even if you don't agree on his assertions about the Neo-cons, the documentary hits the nail on the head about the beginnings of the group that made the mentors for OBL and KSM, and their eventual rise, and completion of the 9/11 attacks. none of which required secret weapons training, military or state support, besides the middle east dumping all their radicals into Afghanistan to empty their prisons of fundamentalist troublemakers.

PS: Adam curis is a true documentary filmmaker, not some asshat like Michael Moore. give it a chance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGo1DqmfHjY

Giant__Robot · 3 days

It is used for temples everywhere is Asia. Fire up google maps and pick any town in Japan.

koconn123 · 3 days

San Diego to San Francisco. At the time I was checking, a few years back, 120 via southwest. 1.5hr flight.

Train. 200+. 1.5 days.

AND

last year I decided to take the coaster train to Los Angeles from San Diego. about 50 bucks. I was heading to Japan the next day. I had a overweight suitcase (60 LBS), which would generate a fee at the airport.

the AMTRAK assholes refused to take it because it was not under 50lbs. No fees. no options. I split the bag, putting some in another. 50.2 lbs was not good enough.

"Why would someone traveling to another continent have heavy bags?" her shitty attitude seemed to say.

I will never take them ever again. FUCK AMTRAK.

sci101 · 4 days

FYI : the afghan rebels the white house was secretly giving weapons and training to were not the Islamic holy warrior guys that alqueda came from. They didn't like non-Islamists then, and even the CIA guys in the field with the Arab freedom fighters said they were wary when the other guys are around.

Total atheist here, but just wanted to mention that blurring history, though convenient, isn't a great idea.

I think this pic does support the statement you are trying to make, either sarcastically or directly.

uniquelikeyou · 20 days

to the birthday of the person it is referencing, May 6, 1982 - probably very significant.

I guess I got downvoted to oblivion because I know an obscure, but irrelavent fact. sucks to be me.

uniquelikeyou · 21 days

In Wall•e, Eve's serial number is *05682, where the star is some square symbol.

J00nj00n · 27 days

Because there are many more incidents of culturally indoctrinated drinking that occur every year. I can think that Drinking Champagne at your wedding, or toasting at certain events would be the kind of examples. Culturally, America is all aver the place because we have a mix of everyone. Some people go binge drinking, others don't. others enjoy sipping wine at home, or drinking in bars or sports clubs, but I cannot think of so many annual events, where people are brought together just through having a common job (salary man, teacher, office worker, etc) and have a company sponsored parties with compusary attendance with drinking, where newer workers, and particually women, are expected to pour beer and you drink it. Yes there are tea and juice for the abstentions, but most people will drink because it is the tradition. Most of the situations I can think of that are close in the US are done by social group choice. Most people still have to go to a job, and many jobs in Japan have culturally ingrained parties and rituals that involve drinking for work, usually several times a year. I just returned from my work party tonight. It was awesome. My co-workers are great. My father and others are teachers in California. There is nothing remotely like that for any basic white collar workers in California.

J00nj00n · 29 days

I thought I would be "forever alone" for a long time when I was in my 20s, I was really depressed over it. that changed when I actually got a girlfriend, and later, after learning some lessons on relationships, met my wife in Japan. It is difficult to understand my mindset at the time, but I connected things together that I shouldn't have.

I drink maybe 10 drinks a year - I drink very very rarely. I also don't like the taste, in general, and it makes me sleepy. So I understand that aspect of your dislike of alcohol. Here in Japan, drinking is a cultural thing (not just a social thing), so in some situations you just have a drink. like Communion wine, it just happens to be sake or Asahi Super Dry.

It seems you have connected things that don't really go together. Alcohol, when misused, is horrible. having a strawberry margarita or some sake with dinner is quite different (and different tasting!) than buying 4l of sake or a big bottle of J&B to get sloshed on, or going clubbing and drinking and all that bullshit connected to the club scene. People have been drinking alcohol before there was a club scene, before there was the US, or any modern religion. It's just a food/drink. All of the connections to those negative things you have put there. The time and place you were born (you were born at a time in a country) with a club scene and Christianity both happened by chance to exist, so you you are a christian and can experience clubbing just because you happened to be born here and now - so that helped, but as an educated person with access to all the worlds knowledge, you can at least infer Drinking Alcohol ≠ Getting sloshed and drinking in bars to chat up other sloshed people.

Similarly, Sex and marriage quite different and connected together just by your world view - "saving yourself" for marriage isn't a totally horrible idea, but it may limit your decisions on "what you are willing to do," in a relationship, which will sabotage it, usually - or worse, may make you judgemental on someone who would otherwise be a better match for your personality or habits than merely that you are both saving yourselves. That's just extra meaning and unneeded importance put onto a natural part of human relationships, and it could hurt you more than it helps you.

Looking back on my crappy outlook on life, I can see where I connected things together and added meaning and importance to things which were ultimately unconnected and unimportant. Throwing that crap away let me be a better person and get on with living - which is when I found my wife.

Clubbing and drinking until you're smashed is merely alcohol abuse. It's just somewhat socially acceptable in some places. But Alcoholic drinks are just drinks. they go in your tummy, and that's that. if you drink a lot of them, then something else can happen, but a single beer, sake, or my favorite, shochu mixed with green tea, isn't gonna do anything to you, or make you any different then before you drank it. Having sex with another person is exactly the same. Now, if you go out and try to screw everything with two legs, you have issues. Having a drink or getting frisky with the person you are in love with, is just fine.

Protip - getting married changes nothing. That's just paperwork for taxes and life insurance - or a ceremony that people (again) put meaning and connections on that vary from place to place, time to time, culture to culture. They are still the same person you woke up next to the morning before you got married. "Marriage" is simply a pledge to be with each other through life's challenges, and no one or nothing else is really involved in that. So just don't worry about the paperwork or some crufty old ceremony so much - tell them you love them, and make each other happy, in every way you can. Even if that means a glass of red wine and some fun between the sheets. You can have the ceremony, with just grape juice for the toast - but don't let worrying about that little stuff overshadow the real reason you should want to be with another person.

blp88 · 1 month

I didn't see any blood in your info-graphic. Maybe it's not so GRAPHIC after all.

nomdeweb · 1 month

"Lumpy" in Lumpy Tang has to be an auto-correct failure.

reddit-lovers · 1 month

Or, you know, turn off the fucking flash.

Esp when you are in a stadium and your subject is way beyond the 6 feet / 2m away your little battery sucker is made to work on.

fireside- · 1 month

Couldn't be that small, they have a Yamada denki. =D

thedrivingcat · 2 months

45 second grumble in Kiryu. The kids didn't stop playing Naruto. The length made me take notice.

One end of the megathrust rupture and now the other end. Interesting. Not saying it means something is happening, just interesting data points.

nigel45 · 2 months

maybe this guy can be of service to you http://www.aiconversions.com/

nigel45 · 2 months

my first question would be if you have had photography as a hobby before? you are in an odd time, as learning requires a) lots of practice and b) feedback, preferably instant. two things that a film camera will not give you. I know you can learn film, and I know you can enjoy film, do consider the camera the starting off point, and something that you might put on the shelf and come back to later once you have some more experience.

Please go shoot, have fun, and look at your photos critically. If you have a good time, get a DSLR rig and put 20-30 thousand shots through it, and keep retaking similar spots in different conditions and settings to learn how to make your buddy take the pictures you want, and to keep practicing framing. the cost of the DSLR rig, for that many pictures is WAY LESS than all the film, and much more manageable - getting the composition and exposure practice you need is much more practical on a digital camera.

Then, when you feel confident, bring the camera back in, and have fun following he rigors of film. or Purchase a body that can work with that awesome lens and learn your manual focus.

I already was shooting, and my wife gave me her fathers old Nikon, which had a 1.4 manual lens on it. I sent it off to a camera repair expert and he made it (more) compatible with my D300, for like 35 bucks.

http://www.aiconversions.com/

If your lens needs conversion to AI (I dunno at all) it is money well spent.

TL;DR : Have fun, and if you scratch that itch, know you may have to put on the shelf and practice with digital gear and return to it later.

welle · 2 months

Or:

Q: Why is my mac so slow?

A: Usually people reach this point: Directory is fucked.

or you hear the magic words "I let it try ___ for 2 hours"

A: Fucked HD. New HD time. Diskwarrior, directory repair, bla bla bla can work, yes, but I'll usually see you again in 2 months with the same issue, because the controller chip on the HD is busy eating itself for breakfast and corrupts the data over time. Let's just solve it now with a new HD.

Q: Why is my fan so loud?

A: your computer is literally full of dusty shit. it needs to be removed. Or Flash is pissing CPU cycles everywhere.

There is always a time when there is a software issue you can fix. But people tend to think it is always solvable with software. usually when people are complaining about sped or a noise, it is way beyond a software fix, because they have accepted the minor speed and noise issues because it is "old" and only the most egregious errors will point them to some kind of problem (won't turn on, smoke, no display, pinwheel for 2 hours, etc.) Kind of like the people you occasionally see at the tire shop with half an alloy rim missing because they decided to drive it with a flat tire on the freeway to the tire shop.

Most people wait for the machine to figuratively and sometimes literally catch fire before they think they should have a technician look at it.

atgm · 2 months

whoh woah woah.. there was an earthquake last night? Totally slept through that one.

This morning's was a pretty good one though.

Edit: I see, it was off the coast. http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/20120229233754391-292332.html

barely anything here in Kiryu.

evandamastah · 2 months

The Picture for Maebashi in the English Wikipedia page is my pic from the top of Kencho, looking east towards Akagi and Kiryu. I would say the clearness of the air is most important. If you can see Asama (the large volcano to the west, behind Takasaki) from Ota it is a particularly great time to visit Kencho. During the summer, that will usually be only the day after a large storm blows through.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maebashi20080227.jpg

Kiryu is surrounded by mountains, and Like Ota, You can see many mountains off int eh distance. In the winter. When I first visited Kiryu for 6 weeks in the summer, there was one afternoon where I could actually see the mountains. you end up feeling like you are in a lumpy plain, even though you are surrounded, thanks to the dense humidity in the air. The little hills stick out, the iconic mountains are missing.

Summer: http://www.javbw.com/oddphotos/firelookoutpanalg.jpg (behind the tan and teal apartment building should be Akagi)

Winter: http://web.mac.com/johnw/Javbw/Japan_Winter_2008_Albums/Pages/Photos_By_Date%3A_2_5_-_2_20.html#21 - The view from that tan and teal Apartment building.

evandamastah · 2 months

I ADORE Joyful Honda. But I don't think people Visit Japan, or even bother to ask a favor from their host family to visit a store a 1/2 hr bike ride away.

if you are there for over 2 weeks, give them two man and ask them to buy you a bike (the cheap shitty steel bikes). if you are there for longer, or want to really bike around a lot, bring a (good mountain) bike with you. when you arrive at Narita, ship it (really cheap) to Ota via airport delivery when you arrive.

Having a bike makes a huge difference in what you can see, and what you can do by yourself. have them buy it so it is registered to them, and you can give it to them when you are done as a gift.

Speaking of "wonderful natural spots" - here is pics from last weekend of waterfalls and the like, about 20m north of Omama. http://www.flickr.com/photos/javbw/sets/72157629397147071/

pantsoff · 2 months

Sarah Palin. Santorm is fucking crazy, but he is truly crazy. Sarah is a disingenuous, deceitful, two-faced liar who will say and do anything to help herself. kind of like Michael Moore. Can we tie them both together and throw them in a commercial rock crusher?

evandamastah · 2 months

There also is good hiking in the little hills to the north, and visiting the surrounding mountains - Akagi, Haruna, Kusatsu-Shirane, and maybe minikami or or similar. The Onsens at Haruna and Kusatsu are famous, the fireworks for Maebashi's matsuri are supossedly huge, andtaking the diesel Watarase train from Omama staion up to ashio on a weekend is georgous in the summer. There is also the giant Kannon Buddha in Takasaki. Plus there is always going over to Nikko or similar. If you pack a bike (it is considered a single piece in the piece system) you can go biking in the mountains.

Ota has the JR and Tobu lines, so you can move around Gunma really damn easy, probably only second to Takasaki, or Isesaki, so you can travel around to all the matsuris and other summer events. Gunma has some great domestic tourist spots, and all of them are day trips away from Ota.

I would say for family things... That's a toughie. Ota is a working town. Most attractions (besides the Aeon mall and the old castle remains on the hill ) are away from Ota. Unless you really like the idea of visiting Joyful Honda and Nico Mall. I live in Kiryu, and most of the tourist spots I would show people are away from eastern Gunma entirely, unless the Sano outlet mall sounds enticing. That said, The small hills (Chausuyama on the north end, near Kiryu) have some beautiful scenery and the are many little spots and wonderful rural scenes (along the tobu line) but nothing big enough to request to go to. All the major things require an hour or two in a car.

DoesntAgree · 2 months

Ding ding ding.

Plus, the costs of computing are going down, so most people would balk at spending 1k on a monitor, whereas 1K for a 1080p display was at one point "cheap".

I bet the yield of the panels for those monitors is not high either, and they probably don't sell as many to cut down the costs.

As soon as monitors intersected with the high yield manufacture of HdTVs, and 24" was a good enough size for most desktop applications... Here we will sit until high PPI displays start to become all the rage. Or maybe when 4K HDTVs start to enter the mainstream.

tckearns · 3 months

Singapore Air into Narita, then take a local flight to Nagoya? maybe even a night bus?

rupeshjoy852 · 3 months

Mint Chocolate Chip

whidzee · 3 months

There are no ashtrays in Japan, because there are (virtually) no public trash cans.

People carry small pocket ashtrays. They seal shut to remove oxygen, so they do not catch on fire, and safe for your pocket.

They don't have a used needle disposal slot either. Gonna leave needles everywhere too? Or is your addiction merely an excuse for your action? I put my cheeseburger and candy wrappers in the bin.

It is plain unacceptable to dump your garbage. Get a fucking pocket ashtray and stop being a dick.

Javbw

TROPHY CASE

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