Interesting news — June 10, 2007
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on June 10th, 2007
- Asthma case settlement likely / Discussions shift to amount as court eyes agreement this month The Yomiuri Shimbun; Asthma patients in Tokyo are suing “the central and metropolitan governments and seven automobile makers” and they are likely to get a settlement. As incredible as it is ludicrous. The car makers did not engage in illegal behavior so why should they be punished? If people want policy changed, they should elect decent politicians.
- Panel to blame discipline for fatal ‘05 derailment, The Yomiuri Shimbun; “It has been learned that driver Ryujiro Takami, who died in the accident, overshot a stop line by about 72 meters at Itami Station. He then asked the conductor to be lenient on reporting the mistake. The driver then was distracted by conversation between the conductor who reported the mistake and the control center, and failed to apply the brake in time. The train hit the sharp turn where the derailment took place at a speed about 46 kph over the limit.” 106 passengers died in the accident.
- Children’s cell phones worry airlinesThe Daily Yomiuri; Children’s cell phones in Japan have a special safety feature in which they come back on automatically after they have been turned off. However parents forget about this when they board an airplane. Uh oh.
- Otaku pack knives for defense on own turf, The Asahi Shimbun; This is another story about Akihabara’s otaku. Some of them are carrying knives to protect themselves as they’ve been targets in recent crimes. Nerds with knives, that is scary.
- 4,300 school bldgs at risk in big quake The Yomiuri Shimbun, Most schools are are officially designated as shelters during disasters in Japan. However, 34.8 percent of schools lack sufficient earthquake resistance. Hm. That can’t be good.
- Ruling coalition to outline bill allowing military use of space, The Japan Times; For now the objective is to make it officially okay to spy on North Korea using satellites. However, we can’t be sure what tomorrow will bring.
- Review: Otaku USA Magazine, issue #1, Pop Culture Shock Blogs; American otaku can rejoice now that they have a magazine especially for them.