News Stories

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

I'm not a sword user, so I'm wondering why taking out an unarmed guy with one slash would require that much skill. Wouldn't a baseball bat swing be enough?

There are different styles of iaido, and some of them, if I remember correctly, concentrate on performing a killing blow at the start. There isn't much point in the hack-and-slash method in a battle or duel after all.

You don't need to be an expert to make that cut, though. Being reasonably strong enough is fine, and I suspect the student had enough adrenaline in him to do it. I don't think his sword would have too sharp an edge either, which is a plus here. The hard part of that cut is due to the bones, which for the hand area (fingers and palm plus wrist), aren't too thick and not hard to chop through. A thick bone like the humerous or the femur would be more difficult and would take more strength and/or skill.

Originally Posted by killer3000ad

USAF Splashes one Reaper

So in a nutshell, a Reaper UAV stopped responding to human control and was leaving Afghanistan air space, forcing the USAF to shoot it down.

***cking SKYNET!

Did they forget to use all metric calculations or didn't convert from English to metric again?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

Did they forget to use all metric calculations or didn't convert from English to metric again?

I'd be irritable about that remark but I'm so fed up with my fellow citizens and their recalcitrance in adopting metric... you know the schools were trying to go all metric when *I* was a kid but the parents resisted.

Meh.... I have all my thermometers and weather gadgets set to celsius, compute data, cook, etc in metric when its possible. The US loses enough money to make your head spin because of *conversion round off* in trade.

Okay.. done ranting :P

[mg1942]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Wouldn't a baseball bat swing be enough?

only to the head....

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'd be irritable about that remark but I'm so fed up with my fellow citizens and their recalcitrance in adopting metric... you know the schools were trying to go all metric when *I* was a kid but the parents resisted.

Meh.... I have all my thermometers and weather gadgets set to celsius, compute data, cook, etc in metric when its possible. The US loses enough money to make your head spin because of *conversion round off* in trade.

Okay.. done ranting :P

Actually, mine was more of a jab at the Mars Lander crash...

On my side, whether the U.S. goes metric or stays with the English measure system isn't important. If you are big and/or important enough, then you're the boss. What others do or say, if they don't involve you, do not matter; if it does involve you, then you're the Head Honcho whose opinion, in the end, matters the most and don't need to conform to everyone else.

Of course, if you're not that important, then to be honest, you have bigger problems anyway if your delusions of grandeur get in the way.

GM's 60-day guarantee is now in play

With the Clunkers program recently over, GM looks to be trying to do 2 things here: Juice up its sales and win some PR brownie points. The sceptics out there are already talking about people abusing the program by using it like a car rental.

[iLney]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

I'm not a sword user, so I'm wondering why taking out an unarmed guy with one slash would require that much skill. Wouldn't a baseball bat swing be enough?

It's very likely that that burglar use his hand trying to block the slash (the student probably attacked him screaming "Kyaaa"- no kidding). So no, a single bat swing wouldn't work. An amateurish slash would likely go astray and thus wouldn't kill the unlucky guy ( If it's a onehit, one must know exactly where to land it- most likely, it's just a reflex resulted from years of training).

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

Did they forget to use all metric calculations or didn't convert from English to metric again?

Any possibility of a wavelength hijack? Jacking the UAV through a stronger radio wave? I can't think of anyone else doing that other than the Iranians and the Taliban.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Any possibility of a wavelength hijack? Jacking the UAV through a stronger radio wave? I can't think of anyone else doing that other than the Iranians and the Taliban.

That'd require cracking whatever encryption the airforce uses for the signal or getting it from a spy. I'm not going to say it's impossible for Iran to do it, but it's far more likely that it was just a malfunction. Now the Taliban I will say it's impossible. I doubt they have the ability to plant a spy int he US to steal the codes, or the computers needed to even have a remote chance of cracking a decent encryption setup.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Japan launches anti-groping campaign on trains

Tokyo (Sept 14): Tokyo Metropolitan Police this week launched a crackdown on gropers who have long molested women on the city's busy subway network during rush hour, an official said on Tuesday.

The police have deployed teams of uniformed officers to platforms and plain-clothes officials aboard trains to catch men who fondle women or try to take revealing photographs of them.

More than 100 high school girls, wearing school uniforms with short skirts, have joined the week-long campaign, carrying a banner that reads "Groping is contemptible. We don't forgive it!"

"We want to get on trains safely!" they shouted in unison as passengers walked by on Monday at Ikebukuro, one of the busiest stations in the Japanese capital.

According to police statistics, there were roughly 1,600 reported incidents of groping in Tokyo last year. Nearly half occurred during the morning rush hours between 7am and 10am. Over 70 per cent of incidents took place on trains, with another 10 per cent taking place on platforms or within stations. Nearly 50 per cent of victims were in their 20s, and around 35 per cent were teenagers.

Police said the number of incidents is increasing, and there have already been nearly 1,000 reported cases of groping or photos being taken up skirts in the first half of this year.

A 23-year-old man arrested in Tokyo earlier this year for touching a high-school student told the police that he had chosen the Siakyo Line to carry out his attack because it had received high marks on a bulletin board dedicated to gropers.

According to the Yomiuri newspaper, the man told police that he had used a website to work out the most effective methods for molesting women and "wanted to confirm" if they were effective.

- JAPAN TODAY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Japan launches anti-groping campaign on trains

Ah, yes, and in The Daily Yomiuri for today (in English)...

Tokyo Shimbun staffer held over groping girl

A Tokyo Shimbun employee was arrested Monday on suspicion of molesting a girl on a JR Saikyo Line train at JR Shinjuku Station, police said.

Fast work!

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Japan launches anti-groping campaign on trains

A great victory for women. A massive defeat of men.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Cipher

A massive defeat of men.

I 'm not sure than I, as a man, want to be associated with those ''gropers''.

[Narona]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Japan launches anti-groping campaign on trains

Good Work. They took their time though. Should have been done age ago.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

I 'm not sure than I, as a man, want to be associated with those ''gropers''.

All men are gropers....they just have to be in the right situations.

[LynnieS]

Discarded factory chemicals kills 3 in East China

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Three people have died and an additional 17 required medical treatment after they were exposed to bags of a toxic chemical illegally dumped by a factory in eastern China, the local government said Wednesday.

Fiat-Chrysler can reach 6 million vehicles a year in production

FRANKFURT — Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Wednesday that the new auto alliance can reach a production of 5.5 million to 6 million cars a year on its own once the economy and car markets stabilze.

One question. Why? Producing 6 million cars in one year is not something to be proud of if you cannot sell those 6 million cars. Is there actually demand, and if not, contrary to accounting, that is really a liability - if not on yourself now (because you have transferred the trouble onto the dealers perhaps) then in the future when the demand drops.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Japan launches anti-groping campaign on trains

If they followed the Sierra Leone's FARC methods, it would be much more deterring.

But seriously, I think it is up to the person's conscience. IMO, when I see cute girls I do feel like groping them when they are not looking, but I keep telling myself that it isn't fair to the girl. What if someone else (referring to males, girls are fine with me) gropes my girlfriend or wife?

Honestly, it isn't fair to the girl unless she offers herself to me.

Originally Posted by LynnieS

Discarded factory chemicals kills 3 in East China

I am against environmental neglect like this unless they produce catgirls. Why don't these fools learn from the Minamata disaster next door?

Originally Posted by LynnieS

Fiat-Chrysler can reach 6 million vehicles a year in production
One question. Why? Producing 6 million cars in one year is not something to be proud of if you cannot sell those 6 million cars. Is there actually demand, and if not, contrary to accounting, that is really a liability - if not on yourself now (because you have transferred the trouble onto the dealers perhaps) then in the future when the demand drops.

If all that metal can be used to make cyclotrons, it would be a greater benefit to mankind.

[Narona]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

What if someone else (referring to males, girls are fine with me) gropes my girlfriend or wife?

You could use this:

Spoiler for .:

on said male =D

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Cipher

All men are gropers....they just have to be in the right situations.

Yeah.... like the girl has to actually *want* it. General use of the term "groper" in news doesn't include that segment of men who choose to treat women like human beings instead of things.

[Shadow Kira01]

IN THE NEWS / 18-year-old youngest ever to earn Chicago Univ. PhD

Sho Yano wanted to study genetic engineering to fight incurable diseases. That is what he said when he entered university nine years ago--at the age of 9.

Still only 18 years old, Yano now has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Chicago, awarded for his thesis on a viral protein that prevents the duplication of bacterial DNA.

Although he is the youngest person ever to receive a PhD from the University of Chicago, founded in 1890, Yano refused to boast about his achievement.

"There must be people in the world who've obtained a doctorate at a younger age," he said. Yano said his research can be applied to the development of new antibiotics.

Yano's Japanese father was stationed in Oregon as a company employee, while his mother is from South Korea.

New Japanese PM Wants to Build Trust with President Obama

Speaking at his first press conference Wednesday, Yukio Hatoyama said he wants a relationship with Washington in which Japan can act more proactively and share its opinions more frankly.

Mr. Hatoyama says he also has no intention to back down on plans to push for a review of the U.S. military presence in Japan or change the basic positions of his Democratic Party of Japan.

India says Reported Chinese Border Incursions No Cause for Alarm

For weeks, India's cable-TV news channels and leading newspapers have been reporting about provocative moves by Chinese troops into India-controlled territory.

The two countries share a 3,500-kilometer frontier. Much of the border is disputed and not marked.

Indian government officials have sought to deny or play down recent reported incidents. Some analysts here accuse their own Foreign Ministry of being apologists for repeated Chinese incursions and say the Indian side of the border needs to be better protected.

UN Panel Finds Israel, Palestinians Committed Gaza War Crimes

"We came to a conclusion on the basis of the facts we found that there was strong evidence to establish that there were numerous serious violations of international law - both humanitarian law and human rights law - were committed by Israel during its military operations in Gaza," he said. "The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly in some respects, crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defense Force."

----

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

I'm not a sword user, so I'm wondering why taking out an unarmed guy with one slash would require that much skill. Wouldn't a baseball bat swing be enough?

Considering that the guy took the life of the burglar in one slash, I assumed his stance as iaido as that it is most likely he killed the guy upon unsheathing the blade as opposed to slashing randomly as that it wouldn't be an one-hit kill. More over, the burglar showed up unexpectedly meaning the guy was most likely unprepared yet it still turned out as an one-hit kill. Generally, if the guy wasn't skilled at iaido, it would be extremely difficult to perform an one-hit kill under those circumstances. Also, wielding a katana cannot be compared to wielding a baseball bat as that the weapon was originally made for the usage of sports while the latter is supposedly a symbol of the samurai spirit as opposed to being a weapon for murder. Speaking of which, it is also because of these kinds of incidents, blades are always best to be kept inside sheathes and never to be used. Nonetheless, I hope nothing bad happens to the Hopkins guy.

[Anh_Minh]

I don't see why you insist on Iaido. All he had to do was get one lucky slash on a major blood vessel.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Narona

You could use this:

Spoiler for .:

on said male =D

Not really a very pratical option, no ? You should be able to carry it around... without being looked as a weirdo.