SuperApples

After 25 years of writing Japanese and trying many cheap and expensive options...

「Zebra Clip-on multi」

is my forever pencil (+pens).

💯. I also got Discworld vibes!

Ah, the best game I got for free from work.

My company's giant publishing overlord handled distribution (in our region) for the giant publishing overlord that handled distribution for the giant publishing overlord that owned Monolith. (THQ, Sega, Warner)

Ah, what a shitshow of an industry. Happy days.

I find usually when I can't articulate something clearly, it's because I haven't thought about it/researched it well enough, and I should stop trying to contribute on that topic until I have a better understanding.

That's why I often end up writing long comments, but don't hit post. Not a waste of time though, as it helps me identify areas in which I'm more ignorant than I thought I was.

In the Saigon women's museum I read about a older lady who would create mines from unexploded US ordinance and blow up US tanks with them. That's pretty badass.

My point is, by looking at one of the replies, that people might just be misunderstanding the argument being presented, as they have a different understanding of what 'inherent' means, and if you look up a dictionary definition, you can understand why.

For example: in "existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute.", the first two clauses are immutable, but third is mutable.

As last names are a social construct, their characteristics and usage can change over time. Just because they started as, or are predominately used as a tool of patriarchy, doesn't mean that's what they will be in the future. If you believe that something 'inherent' is an immutable trait, that you would disagree with the premise of the argument, but if you think it's just a characteristic trait, then you would generally agree - if I change my last name to 'Orange' to signify my love of the fruit/colour, it is still a last name, but has nothing to do with patriarchy, proving that patriarchy is not an immutable trait of last names.

Personally, I think that both marriage and last names are predominately used as tools to enforce patriarchy historically and currently, but can imagine that changing in the future. But when I initially looked at the OP's statement, I disagreed, because I understood 'inherent' to be an immutable trait.

I think the downvotes come from a semantic disagreement, based on a strong or weak definition of the word 'inherent'.

For English sources probably the best book is Tokyo Noir by Jake Adelstein

If they are built and maintained correctly. And meltdown isn't the only problem that could occur.

I don't have much faith in a corrupt, self-regulated industry, with strong yakuza ties, to do things 100% the correct way, especially given everything we know about the industry post 2011. Knowing how much local political power the company has, I know they could literally get away with murder, as no politician or police would want to be on their bad side.

Don't get me wrong, the missile was still the biggest threat, but I do believe the power plant isn't necessarily safe. An engineering and/or scientific understanding of a modern power plant doesn't mean shit if you don't consider the political and capitalist systems the that underpin their construction and maintenance.

We were in this scenario last year, when NK launched a missile towards Hokkaido, and we were on the west coast, just next to a nuclear reactor.

After getting the altert, we put on clothes, went downstairs to the sturdiest room, stuck on the TV to the NHK news, and waited. The missle plopped into the ocean off the coast, and we had tempura for lunch.

There's really nothing you can do in these situations but stay calm and do the small, sensible things.

Do you spend money to improve your life, or just to get through the week? Earning more money is hard, but money makes money - the less you spend, the less you'll need in the future, and the more you'll have to invest. It's a snowball. Once you internalise this, tracking your finances, reducing your spending, increasing your wealth, and reducing your workload becomes a fun game.

Once my wife and I realised this is what we wanted to do, it took us 7 years to quit work completely. Frugality is the most important part - not earning, not investing - lifestyle creep is a big part of why.

See:

• your money or your life
• early retirement extreme
• Mr money moustache

Last time I was in Bangalore there was an 80% completed, multi-story downtown building that 'didn't exist'.

It's not the laws that matter, it's who you know.