Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social), page 26

"Proposal could net up to $250bn a year in extra revenue, says report commissioned by Brazil for G20"
"...billionaires were currently paying an average of 0.3% tax on their wealth"
[The plan would be] "a top-up to income tax so that billionaires paid an annual tax bill worth at least 2% of their wealth"
https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/jun/25/international-scheme-to-tax-billionaires-wealth-technically-feasible-study-finds

🔸$250bn is about a third of Japan's 2024 budget (¥112.57T = $744 bn)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2024/03/06/economy/government-budget-fiscal-challenges/

@Professor_Stevens

Thank you very much! I do some of the cooking but only under close supervision (but I try to do the odious chores to make up for it.)

We're well provisioned with canned soups and I'm heading off to the store today for more (fully masked just in case I have the cooties) We do have an Instant Pot so any links would be appreciated. Mrs. Miasma's mother (MMM?) lives with us and she's down with acute bronchitis so I'm feeling a bit outnumbered at the moment.

"It appears that the intent to ”reclaim” Ukraine is a major objective of Putin's war"
"The idea of exchanging land for a cease-fire is unlikely to exist in Putin's calculations"
"It is in Japan's interest to prevent Russia from successfully invading Ukraine [which] would either put Japan in a very vulnerable position or force it to fundamentally rethink its security policy, including nuclear armament"
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2024/04/03/japan/ukraine-putin-goals-japan-role/
#Ukraine #Japan #geopolitics

@Vittoria 🍿

"Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has described in explicit terms his active effort to annex the West Bank to Israel"

"Annexation and the acquisition of territory by military conquest is forbidden as one of the founding principles of international law"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/24/israeli-far-right-minister-bezalel-smotrich-annex-west-bank
🔸Sad that 弱肉強食 (jyaku-niku-kyō-shoku: the weak are meat on which the mighty feast, i.e. "law of jungle") increasingly replaces laws, international or otherwise

"...the vast majority of the churches on Apache land teach families who participate in traditional ceremonies that they’re damning themselves by worshiping the devil"

"Only two Christian denominations operating on the reservation...do not include anti-traditional-Apache rhetoric in their sermons and ideology: the Catholic church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jun/24/apache-students-school-reservation
#Indigenous #colonialism

Usually find local supermarkets stock Kameda Seika's kaki-no-tane rice crackers, but was told in a hotel's souvenir shop on a trip to Niigata that another company, Naniwaya Seika, had created the original kaki-no-tane.
Seems Kameda Seika was more aggressive promoting & selling its wares.
https://japanese-products.blog/2019/06/15/i-enjoyed-naniwaya-seika-original-canned-kaki-no-tane-rice-cracker/
#Japan #kakinotane

"...Juneja has been in Japan for almost 40 years, he brings a global perspective and ambition to a venerable snack firm [kaki-no-tane maker Kameda Seika]..."
"..he believes global success will come when they integrate the best of Indian and Japanese working styles"
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/2659/

"Lekh is originally an expert in microorganisms and fermentation. He came to Japan in 1984, and earned a PhD from Nagoya University"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211224/p2a/00m/0bu/047000c
#Japan #India #innovation

Hanashōbu (ハナショウブ, Iris ensata) flowers seen in a local park. Perhaps due to high temperatures accompanying the delayed onset of the rainy season in Tokyo, there seemed to be less blooms compared to same time last year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_ensata

Always have trouble telling hanashōbu, ayame (アヤメ, Iris sanguinea),and kakitsubata (カキツバタ, Iris laevigata) apart
https://www.city.itako.lg.jp/data/doc/1591848699_doc_320_0.pdf
#Tokyo #Japan

Japanese researchers have found more than 200 million tons of manganese nodules rich in rare metals on the seabed near Minamitorishima, a remote Tokyo island. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/06/22/japan/science-health/tokyo-island-rare-metals-find/ #japan #sciencehealth #rareearths #oceans #universityoftokyo #nipponfoundation #batteries

"A Japan Airlines [Embraer jet] plane [bound for Osaka] returned to Aomori Airport Saturday (22 Jun 2024) after a system message signaled one of its engines had caught fire midair"
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/06/22/japan/jal-emergency-landing-aomori/
#Aomori #Japan #Embraer

"In his closing address, the prosecutor accused the family of abusing the “asymmetrical situation” between powerful employer and vulnerable employee to save money"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/21/british-billionaire-hindujas-sentenced-to-jail-in-swiss-exploitation-case

@AmiW
"Alice Through the Looking-Glass" vibes to Aussie version of "Un bar aux Folies Bergère"👀👍
https://courtauld.ac.uk/highlights/a-bar-at-the-folies-bergere/

@Aubrieta Ja, jeder hat sie darauf angesprochen, aber sie meinte für die Wand ginge es so besser beim Malen. 😂

Had a half-yearly check-up appointment scheduled for next week, but dental clinic phoned me today to say the dentist had come down with COVID and would have to reschedule.
Hoping dentist makes swift recovery.
#CovidIsNotOver

Infection status
Released June 21, 2024.
- As of period from June 10, 2024 - June 16, 2024 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 4.16
Change from prev. week +0.17
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001266001.pdf
🔸Sixth week of increases. Saga at 7.26, Tokyo at 4.48, Akita at 2.48, Hokkaido at 6.25. Okinawa at 18.11!!
#Influenza monitoring paused by Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry until Sept.
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

"...to achieve ASI, (artificial superintelligence) [Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son] said he plans to set up AI data centers all over the world and develop robots powered by AI..."

"During last year's annual shareholders' meeting, Son said he will ”mount a counteroffensive” after posting a massive net loss for the second straight year in FY2022"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240621/p2g/00m/0bu/069000c

🔸But:
"[#Softbank] booked net loss of 227.65 billion yen ($1.46 billion) for [FY2023]"
https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202405131744/softbank-group-posts-narrowed-annual-loss-on-tech-funds-recovery
#Japan

"Argentina has decided to withdraw its participation in the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka...Japan's minister in charge of the global event [Hanako Jimi] said Friday (21 Jun 2024)"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240621/p2g/00m/0na/049000c
#Argentina #NoMoreExpos #Osaka #Japan

CBS News - Video obtained by 60 Minutes raises new questions about Saudi Arabia’s connection to the 9/11 terror attacks.

What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Collapse? I just published a long piece proposing that collapse will pass thru 4 waves: environmental, economic, political, and population descent. We're at the start of the 2nd wave. Friend link: https://medium.com/@sjgenco/what-are-we-talking-about-when-we-talk-about-collapse-94f4e617e2e0?sk=b17ac39747718ceca1cb9c96342d3d35
#climatechange #collapse #survival