makx

This, and also: all the discoveries that don't immediately help solve our problems rarely make the news, or if they do we gloss over them and forget them immediately.

You're right on some, but I have to say that some of those are indeed common (instead reminding me that these things may not be common outside of Japan). Including: the calculator on ATMs (at least Mitsui-Sumitomo ATMs usually have them), the all-in-one sink with soap, braille on top of cans (just checked my fridge and all alcoholic beverages have it), the paper in bubblegum boxes (always bothers me when I'm in Germany), that most restaurants (including fast food) try to make the dish look like the ad, and reading glasses at city hall.

I'm not opposed to fasting, but many things are wrong with this. Just to point out a few:

(1) A general "naturalistic fallacy" where the author believes that people of the past must have been more healthy.

(2) I assumption that there is an increase of cancer in modern age solely because of humans change of diet - ignoring factors such as environmental pollution, ozone depletion, increase in radioactive particles from weapons testing and accidents...

(3) Assuming that a change in mean is brought about by changes in every individual to the same degree. Differences in the mean can be produced by just a subset, even a minority of outliers. Today, many people are overweight, which is known to increase all kinds of risks. So caloric restrictions applied to the whole society will always cause a rise in mean life expectancy. But that doesn't mean that it will have any benefits for the people who aren't overweight.

(4) Confuses brain size with brain function. I guess the author then must also believe that women are significantly more stupid then men. Also fails to explain that people can sometimes lose a big chunk of their brains and still perform well on tests.

Again, I'm not saying fasting is bad, but that the author just throws together some unrelated scientific studies with a bunch of common fallacies (and, it seems, bias towards his own lifestyle choices).

I think that's a pretty contrived "after-the-fact" explanation for why it's called "~punk", that reduces the whole of punk culture to just mean "rebellion". But the truth is, just like every scandal is now called "~gate", new genres are just called "~punk" because it sounds good. Not because they have anything to do with punk culture. Where is the "rebellion" in "steampunk" or "dieselpunk"?

Whether or not that's the case, they are not perceived as such. Europeans may be mistaken in believing Ukrainians just want temporary shelter and Syrians are coming to stay, but whether it's true or false doesn't matter. It's this belief that affects their attitude.

You'd think that there are even qualified people who would do it for (almost) free, just for the chance of building a resume...

I find it a bit strange that she's decrying that the laws makes people afraid to associate with her, but she's perfectly fine with the fact that her clients/customers are criminalized. It appears to mike like some cognitive dissonance of her to think that her clients are justifiably "bad" by buying her services, but her selling these services is okay. Maybe I'm naive, but if my customers would face criminal charges for buying my products, I'd speak out on behalf of my customers or (if I really feel they should not buy such stuff) I'd stop selling it to them.

That's what I thought as well. Possibly also correlated with the time of day. Temperature and other possible factors vary over the course of the day and cats tend to be active at certain hours of the day. As a stupid example: some update service is set to check for updates between 5pm and 6pm. A bug in the update check causes crashes. The cat expects dinner at 5pm.

Why not? If you'd rate your happiness or peace of mind on a scale of 1 to 10 every day, and after a donation the rating goes up, that's an empirically measurable improvement to your quality of life, much more so than a product that may make your life more convenient but you're still stressed and unhappy.

While not technically a "purchase", I also must say that this year, no single product even came close to the donations I made to those who protect the environment and fight climate change.

Now, every time I consider a purchase I ask myself: "do I really need this?" and if the answer is no, I forgo the purchase and donate the same amount of money instead.

This "negative consumption" turns my feelings of gloom and helplessness into a sense of purpose and power.

I can only imagine how awesome it must be to be able to donate almost a whole salary!

Can you please share some of the charities you've found to be trustworthy?

Thanks for sharing those links! This is so f*ed up that that's an industry. If all that money would have gone to preserving the wildlife we do still have left (but are losing rapidly)...

Electric cars are expensive, too.

No, they're actually cheaper overall[1]. And even if they were more expensive, is it too much to ask to take a temporary financial disadvantage over the future of the whole planet? Or do we wish to stand on burning ruins one day and say "it was cheaper for me this way".

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyZOLMeMYnI

Industrial and commercial emissions overshadow residential emissions by more than a factor of four.

The consumer market is but a fraction of the entire market.

The end consumer is always a person (with the exception of the military maybe, but even they claim to provide the service of protection to citizens). It's just that the emissions from the products you consume don't end at the electricity you use to charge them. "The industry" is just the hidden steps in the supply chain that create your products.

No company produces anything that isn't sold. If it's not sold to you directly, then it's sold to another company which uses it to create something to sell to you.

Nobody forced Apple into implementing planned obsolescence as part of their business strategy, or into unsustainable manufacturing practices.

I don't know about Apple but I'm using a phone that is now 7 years old, still runs fine. If Apple uses planned obsolescence then maybe you shouldn't buy Apple products in the first place.

It seems like you're already trying to change your consumption, which is all I'm hoping (and arguing) for.

(Surely, there's always ways we could all do more like reduce the use of single-use plastic, or communicate the problem to more people in our communities, or financially support those who try to combat the issue. But like I said, it seems you (and me ;-) ) are already ahead of the curve here).

They produce them for the average Joe. They don't force anyone to buy their products.

And if they would stop producing the products, what would happen? As long as people buy, someone else would produce them.

And, yes, a billionaire would have more power to change the world, if just buy giving them the ability to run a massive media campaign to change peoples minds. Yet here we are in this very article blaming them for using their financial power to try and influence the public opinion.

Most people in America who drive a car don't have a choice, because it's they're in a situation where they either have reliable transportation or starve.

Yet, they would have the choice to buy a small electric car and ride-share, but prefer to buy a huge gasoline SUV and ride alone.

And it's not just about the cars (sorry if my comment gave that impression). It's about consumption in general. Yes, industrial emissions are higher that communal emissions, but for whom are the products that the industry consumes? Do we really need a new iPhone every year? Apple wouldn't produce them if people wouldn't prefer a slightly better phone over sustainable living, then they watch "Planet of the Humans" and complain that Apple's attempts to "sustainable production" isn't as green as it seems.

People who have money and a stake in green energy have the motivation and means to actively fight against the movie, while part-time volunteer activists don't.

That doesn't make the content of the film any more accurate [1], nor does it mean that the technologies put forward by profiteers of green energy less valid. This article too seems to cherry-pick problems without comparing the size to alternatives (which it doesn't offer).

It's ironic that the solution would lie in the hands of common people (change their consumption, become active), but prefer to blame rich people, left and right. Billionaires don't drive billions of cars or eat billions of beef steaks, the "average Joe's" do.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmNjLHRAP2U

I'd even go so far as to say that the me from 10 minutes ago isn't the same me as now. Consciousness isn't continuous, it arises and ceases. It's our memory that gives us the illusion of continuity. And this is what makes me absolutely unconcerned about dying. From what I read, this is what the Gautama Buddha meant with Anatta[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta

Thanks for sharing this! I just donated a week ago after receiving yet another email that made it sound like they're barely making ends meet. Now I feel cheated.

I can't speak for everyone, but among my foreigner friends almost nobody has a definitive plan to stay forever (though they may be open to the idea).

Permanent residency is mostly thought of as a relief from the stress of having to re-apply for visa extensions and not relying on having a job.

Until you get PR, you could be forced to leave Japan if you lose your job and don't find a new one right away.

I can understand that people are personally upset when they are affected by travel restrictions, but this whole outrage about "foreigners are second class citizens" (often even: "this shows Japans racism") is just just silly.

1- The restrictions are not about race, but about which countries have mismanaged the pandemic. People from Taiwan and some other south east asian countries are allowed to enter. (Ironically, exactly those people are / have been much more commonly the target of Japanese racism).

2- They most likely would prefer to also ban Japanese citizens (whatever race) from returning from hot-spots like Florida or Brazil. They just can't because of legal reasons. Citizenship gives you certain rights.

3- You can call PR and other visas "second class citizenship" if you want, but the fact is: you're just not a citizen. You also can't vote. You also can't become prime minister. You're not a citizen and don't have the rights of a citizen. That's the same in every country, including yours. Why didn't people with PR complain about being "second class citizens" for years about those other rights?

The feed is grown with fertilizers, which are fossil fuel:

https://www.darrinqualman.com/historic-nitrogen-fertilizer-c...

In 2015, farmers applied more than 110 million tonnes. We managed to increase grain output fourfold largely by increasing nitrogen inputs 23-fold. Nitrogen fertilizer is a fossil fuel product, made primarily from natural gas.

we’re doing ~nothing

A lot of people are doing something.

Some do a lot by actively working on solutions, many do a little by preserving energy and reducing their personal consumption (especially meat and transportation/travel).

If you feel dread you should do more.

https://www.marui-plugin.com/blender-xr/

https://github.com/MARUI-PlugIn/BlenderXR

They obviously showed a lot of meticulously mated actual 3D components but those were all prepared in a CAD program.

Do you have any reference for that?

If so, they wouldn't need gravity sketch at all. The most popular CAD programs already have VR support:

Rhino -> https://www.mindeskvr.com/

Maya -> https://www.marui-plugin.com

3dsMax -> 3dsMax Interactive (Autodesk)

Blender -> https://github.com/MARUI-PlugIn/BlenderXR

Shotcut Video Editor: https://shotcut.org/

- and -

Natron video compositing software: https://natron.fr/

Both are great tools with a steady stream of updates.

As long as you have your current position (employment in my friends case or university enrollment in my case) you can extend the visa on those grounds, basically making you business a "side-business". After you quit your job or leave university, your visa stays valid until the end of the term. When the visa expires, you will have to apply for a Business Manager (経営者) visa, because you are not an employee (授業員) at your company, but an executive (役員).

You can't start a side business on a regular work visa.

This is incorrect.

A friend of mine started a businesses on a work visa and I myself have even started a business on a student visa [1]. No legal problems. I just recently switched from "Student" to "Manager" visa, and immigration had no problems with the fact that the business was already running for over a year before I applied for my residence status to be changed.

[1] http://marui-plugin.blogspot.jp/2016/11/starting-company-as-...

Not necessarily a scam, but Sixense raised money for a tracking device, which they then used to develop MakeVR instead. Now they make profits of selling MakeVR, backers get nothing.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/07/vive-studios-releases-make...

"Sixense is still be best known for stringing along Kickstarter supporters of its STEM controllers, a project which raised more than $600k and has yet to ship to backers more than three years after its targeted ship date. Failed Kickstarter projects aren’t all that rare but Sixense has continued to post updates discussing supposed improvements or production issues while backers beg for refunds. All of this has been done while continuing to transition its efforts into software projects like MakeVR."

It's much more simple than professional modeling tools. You can make some simple objects, but you don't have the tools required for more complex work. If you want something something like Blender in VR, your best option is to actually get a VR user interface for whatever software you're using, like MARUI [1] is for Maya.

[1] https://www.marui-plugin.com

Something similar, with focus on exchange students:

http://marui-plugin.blogspot.jp/2016/11/starting-company-as-...