Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

It's entirely possible to love one's country without thinking that it's the greatest in every way. I think the United States is home to the noblest ideals and infinite possibilities, and it still has the most vibrant private sector in the world. But our education system sucks, our health care is lacking, our crime rate is too high, our economics is in shambles and our media is too limp-spined to say anything about those one way or another for fear of being accused as too conservative or too liberal.

I love what my country stands for, but I don't necessarily love what it is.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

Thats a common myth. Our test scores suck in comparison because we compare test scores to countries with exclusive education systems. In most other nations, students are tracked and TOLD what they will study and what they will be. Low scoring secondary school students are shipped off the vocational schools, and all our test scores are compared only to the scores of the best performing students of these nations. Its like comparing two half rotten apples, but allowing one of the apples to have the rotten part cut away.

The American system promotes choice and possibility, not inevitablity. I would rather our schools keep the ideals that anyone can be anything they want, instead of having society tell them what they will be.

True, but I'd rather pay too much than get socialized healthcare. We girlfriend and I just went through government hoops for her father's heart transplant, and the red tape is maddening and counter-productive. The real change that needs to take place is a control on malpractice suits which cause the need for such rediculous healthcare costs and regulations,

True, but it has been going down over the passed 10 years, especially youth related

Nonsense, we broke records this passed quarter in growth. Inflation has been kept in check to the point that interest rates were just raised and we've seen a growth in higher paying jobs in the last 6 months. Sorry if supply side is working, I know you hate it so. ;)

The media shouldn't be saying anything. The should be reporting events, and reporting everything. Not just what they feel is news.

My problem with this countrty is that those that are trying to fix it often make problems worse. Look at depression era policies. Wellfare and other social programs were intended to be temporary, but they instead we developed such a dependence on them that removing them is considered abhorrent. The NRA (national recovery administration) Red-lining districts actually helped create more racial divides and is a huge reason why there are areas in this country that are race specific. Early wellfare policies actually stated that if there was a male living in a house, the family couldn't receive aid. There were no jobs, so the men moved out and families were split apart so that people could eat. It created a poverty culture that never had male rolemodels and many believe it is a reason why so many poor families fail and that it is a reason why divorce rates have skyrocketed in last few generations.

Now I know many believe that the policies taken during the depression were necessary, and I partly agree, but there were definite negative reprocussions. Yet we continue to want to replace parts of our society with the government. Thats backward.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

I didn't mean that all are. I have american relatives and friends, and I realize that most do not have a flag on the desk/outside of their house. I don't think Canadian patriotism is any more pure or that Americans need reminders, I was just saying that I don't believe either country is more patriotic or nationalistic (as you seem to feel ours is more nationalistic and yours is more patriotic, patriotic seen usually as a nicer thing to be than nationalistic). The fact is, there are more American flags to be seen in the states than Canadian flags to be seen in Canada, or at least that's what I've found in my experiences with the countries. I don't find it to be a bad thing in either case.

You might want to change the way you're reading what I say, because you're taking one thing and running a completely different way with it.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

Actually, I was looking at things like our literacy rate. I don't trust test scores precisely because they are too standardized and restricting. And our literacy rate, along with basic knowledge about things like the reason we have four seasons, sucks.

Why not both? I know they tell lots of horror stories about the health care system in the UK (I don't know which country your girlfriend's father was trying to get a transplant in although I'm guessing Canada), but in many countries it works quite well. Everybody I know from Sweden (and that's more people than you might think) loves their health care, for example. Like anything, there are good ways to implement a system and there are bad ways.

Besides, I think you'd be towing a different line if you were one of the millions of Americans who has no health insurance. Those people would love the opportunity to jump through hoops and cut through red tape to get a government-sponsored operation.

I wasn't talking about however well we're doing in the current quarter. Any competent economist knows that changes in quarterly growth from one year to the next is basically so much noise. It's the long term trend I'm worried about, and what with the ballooning deficit, baby boomers hitting retirement (with not nearly enough being done by society to prepare for it), trade deficits and high oil prices (yeah, they're falling now, but they're never going to go down as low as in the mid-90s), the picture doesn't look good.

The problem is in this day and age, nearly any reporting is seen with a political slant by pundits and politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, whether that is deservedly so or not.

At the end of the Kosovo War, the only thing the media was reporting was, "We won the war with 0 casualties! We won the war with 0 casualties!" Nothing about the suffering on the ground or the shattered economy or anything like that. The media back then, just like it is now, is obsessed with the death count because they know it sells papers (or brings viewers or whatever).

I'm sure you're familiar with the argument that the media is liberal because it's only talking about the worst that's happening in Iraq. Did you know that lots of liberal pundits are saying that the media's fixation on the death toll to the exclusion of anything else is a sign that the newspapers are corporate slaves? It's true. And if conservatives complaining about the liberal media are more prevalent, well, that's probably because Fox News is louder than the Daily Kos.

As a side note, my favorite news magazine is The Economist. Maybe that surprises you, but here's the thing: I'm not a conservative and I disagree with a lot of what is written in The Economist. But that particular magazine is honest about its slant and proceeds to look at the facts in depth to tell us how it arrives at the particular position it supports. After reading an article, I feel that I understand the issue it's talking about and that I have been able to think about it clearly.

I don't think the media is liberal or conservative by and large. I just think it's sensationalistic and juvenile. And my problem with it can be best summed up with its treatment of the vote to renew the Patriot Act. Whether you are a liberal or a conservative, I think we can agree that we ought to actually know what the new Patriot Act says. But about the most specific information I've been able to read about it in a mainstream source is that it expands the federal ability to search records and that some people are concerned about it infringing on civil liberties (note: I haven't read The Economist yet on that one). Your average American probably isn't even aware that the Patriot Act is being voted on.

Yeah, that's because they aren't interested. It doesn't mean, however, that the media shouldn't report it. This is an important issue. It deserves to be debated and engaged. And I shouldn't have to go searching through blogs to be informed about it. But oh, that nagging need to make profit...

Let us suppose we got rid of welfare, Medicaid, public drug rehab programs and whatever else you care to name. We will still have that poor society there. What would you propose to do about it? I guarantee that any realistic plan you come up with will involve government money being spent somewhere. It's just too naive to believe that society will take care of it on its own or that the nation's poor will just somehow pull itself up by its bootstraps.

So maybe welfare has had its problems. No program will be perfect. The way I think about it is actually, in a way, sort of like how you think about religion. It will do bad things, but the question is whether in the long run and in the aggregate it has done good.

By the way, did you know that the welfare rolls have been shrinking for a long time now?

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

Man, keep it to a novella, Xantar ;)

I won't quote you but I will answer some of you points, many of which I agree with to a degree.

1) Unfortuantely, all people seem to care about is test scores in public schools. All the attention is placed on them, and not on actual achievement.

2) I agree that the healthcare system should support both private and public support. But I think that we should try and make private healthcare more affordable because private healthcare will always be better than public. By putting pain and suffering caps on malpractice settlements you will do a lot to lower insurance rates, which are out of control, and that will significantly lower the cost of healthcare. More people will get private healthcare, and so the costs of public healthcare will fall also. Its a win-win.

As for Sweden and other nations where public healthcare systems work, try and repeat the succes in a country that is 50-75 times their size. Things change when you have thoudands more miles and millions more people to support.

3) The Economy - The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. The deficit is starting to lower, revenues are rising, don't know much about trade deficits. As for the baby boomers, if we don't revamp social security we're screwed. There are billions in unfunded debts out there because of the current system.

4) The media - I wasn't trying to paint you as a liberal who wanted to have the media just report back-slapping propoganda. I was just a little surprised that you seemed to want the media to say one thing or another about the news. I'm a traditionalist and have taken several journalism courses. The current state of journalism in America, on both sides, is sickening. Yellow journalism is the rule, and it bothers the hell out of me. I also think upside down Christmas trees are pagan blasphemy, so maybe I'm just a crotchety old man. :D

5) Social Programs - Your putting words in my mouth a little bit. My post was aimed at stating that when we make wide social laws, we tend not to examine what negative reprocussions there could be. I think we need to help out our poor and disenfranchised, but we also need to continually evaluate those programs and change them to make sure they do as little damage as possible.

Look at Social Security. Its the "third rail" of politics. Everyone is scared to death to touch it because we've become depedent on a money-losing "investment" (ponzie scheme). I think social programs should be used as a crutch, and not a fake leg. You use the crutch until the leg is better, you don't chop off the leg and replace it.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

So anyway I was reading about how the Xbox 360 didn't sell well in japan? LOL sorry guys I had to bring this thread back...

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

If that's the case then, why does everyone in Japan use either Windows, Linux, or MacOSX on their computers?

Why hasn't an all-Japanese OS surfaced to cater to their needs?

Answer: because the AMERICAN OS's cater to their needs. If Xbox and Xbox 360 did the same with games, you'd see the same acceptance.

In other words, it doesn't matter whether Sony or Nintendo were Amercian or Russian companies; the Japanese would still eat up everything they make because those games, and MARKETING OF THOSE GAMES, appeal to them.

Think about it- just think about finding a Japanese gamer that hasn't heard of Tetris.

Then ask the same Japanese gamer if they've heard of Halo, or Unreal Tournament.

Sorry, just had to get that bit off of my chest.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

If you disregard Atari, Japan has always been the major video game country...just like America brought computers into homes. People in every country around the world bitch and moan about Microsoft, but Windows still dominates. Think use of an operating system is in kind of a different catagory anyway...what OS you use determines what programs can use and your overall experience of what a computer is. If want to use a similar example to the consoles then I hightly doubt the Dell Dude has been overseas.

After all the advertising MS has been doing in Japan I think I would be annoyed enough not to want one even if I might have considered it before. They were shoving this thing down people's throats. Like those damn PSP graffittish ads here in NYC which are making me hate a system I was previously indifferent about.

But you're right on having the games they want. Thing is MS is trying to get those types of games for 360.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

I heard 'bout those on the news a short while back... But they reported it as actual illegal vandalism showing up on people's private property... Adding that Sony denied being behind it all... :confused:

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

Not neccessarily. Every major OS now has similar, if not exact copies of programs used, whether it's XP, Sun OS, OSX, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake or Unix.Agreed.

Re: Microsoft unleashes new Xbox in Japan to lukewarm reaction
 

What I find kind of funny is that Sony were the ones who went about doing this. I dunno if their following is so strong a fan would attempt. Whereas there is actually a bunch of pretty nice graffiti by Nintendo fans of DK and Mario and the like. I pass this one huge wall everyday of DK throwing a barrel at Luigi.

And then people react...