Paul McMahon

Halfway through writing an email, I got the feeling the original sender might have been an AI agent. I replied anyways, but their response practically confirms that it was an AI (and not a great one at that).

With the way rice prices are rising in Japan, the country is faced with a tough choice: drop the tariffs on imported rice and see domestic farmers suffer or see its people no longer able to afford to eat it at every meal.

It was my first time too. I was looking after the kids and saw that I could book a nice hotel for the three of us for just ¥9000. It felt like such a steal compared to Tokyo hotels.

Yeah you’re right. Maybe posting that sign was misleading. It’s just not uncommon for me to see people giving themselves a couple of splashes before entering and then wash themselves after.

Yeah, that’s what it says. But in practice I don’t think splashing hot water on yourself does anything to actually get yourself clean. Like if it did, why wash yourself with soap after soaking?

When visiting onsen in Japan, foreigners are told to bathe before entering. However, the stated etiquette in Japanese is "かけ湯", which amounts to a ceremony of splashing hot water on yourself before entering that does little to actually clean yourself.

Visiting Kanazawa and there are so many European tourists, mostly retirees. I haven't done so much travelling in Japan since COVID, and it really feels different now that foreign tourists seem to exceed domestic ones.

Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose and

The White House is going after the Smithsonian for “replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth” like “the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct”. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

How to grow your startup through community Investing 1000+ hours and ¥8 million in developer communities hasn’t brought much in direct returns but has still been the key to my startups' success.

Investing 1000+ hours and ¥8 million in developer communities hasn’t brought much in direct returns but has still been the key to my startups' success. www.tokyodev.com/articles/how...

Interesting. I guess I’ve never really viewed myself as part of the “white person” group which is why I had the reaction to it. Like obviously I am white, but it isn’t part of my identity to the same way being non-Japanese is.

Yes, Biden Spent Millions on Transgender Animal Experiments Last night, President Donald J. Trump highlighted many of the egregious examples of waste, fraud, and abuse funded by American taxpayers, including $8

“The Fake News losers at CNN immediately tried to fact check it, but President Trump was right (as usual).” www.whitehouse.gov/articles/202...

I just went to a restaurant where the staff were very friendly but also somewhat racist. Like one of the first things they said to me was お友達を紹介しましたか？うちは白人のお客さんが多い。
I can’t think of the last time I’ve been referred to as a 白人 and not a 外国人.

Curious that I’ve never seen any pushback against the “western idea” that you should be compensated based upon your market value and not your age as is traditional in Japan.

Called out on LinkedIn again for bringing "western ideas" to Japan by another non-Japanese person. There's a lot I respect about Japan's culture, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't point out things that could be improved.

Wondeful pecan pie but I question displaying the confederate flag in the decor. Visit any American themed restaurant in Japan and their is a decent chance you’ll encounter racist Americana. I’m not sure which country this says more about.

Serving the country In 1940, President Roosevelt tapped William S. Knudsen to run the government's production of military equipment. Knudsen had spent a pivotal decade at Ford during the mass-production revolution, and w...

> [Twitter] is twice as profitable as it was before [Musk took it over]

Doubling profit while quartering revenue isn’t hard to do. No shit you’ll profit short term if you stop investing in the future. So sad to see DHH peddling BS.

world.hey.com/dhh/serving-...

Wow the timing of that sucks. Sorry to hear about it.

A bakery’s delivery truck when zooming by me with the horn continuously blasting and the hazard lights on. 10 minutes later it returned and the horn was still going. No idea what was going on with it.

Ex 2. We're working with an agent to represent us, and noticed a property for sale that might meet our needs. We asked our agent to get in contact with the other agent, who was acting as an exclusive agent for the seller. That agent refused to let our agent represent us, which is illegal.

I felt that both the other seller's agent and buyer's agent acted unethically by pushing it through without that check, given the possibility of dementia, especially as her children had been driving the sale.

However, the seller's agent didn’t mark the property as "under negotiation," allowing another buyer to make an identical offer without the mental capacity requirement. The seller chose that offer.

Ex 1. I submitted a offer for a property including a condition on obtaining certification from a judicial scrivener confirming that the 90-year-old owner still had the mental capacity to enter into a contract. This was to prevent the sale from being reversed if she was later found to be impaired.

I'm shocked by the number of real estate agents in Japan who act unethically or even illegally. My experience trying to buy property here has been in stark contrast to doing business, where I've been fortunate to work with trustworthy clients.

State of JavaScript 2024 The 2024 edition of the annual survey about the latest trends in the JavaScript ecosystem.

The State of JS 2024 survey results are now live! 2024.stateofjs.com/en-US

A couple highlights 🧵

I’m glad that decaf coffee is often on the menu in Japan now, but it feels a bit weird that you’re charged extra for it.

It’s so frustrating that calling out any poorly reasoned opinion on social media amplifies the author’s reach.

I want the builder to make suggestions to me, rather than having something fixed in mind. But I think being able to show something concrete, especially when it differs from the Japanese norm can be helpful.

Our goal is efficient use of space. The lot that we're interested in only allows us to build something smaller than we originally wanted.

I'm looking at building at house, and so wanted a tool that would let me sketch up a quick floor-plan. It's amazing to me at how clunky the ones I could find were. Seems like it's an area where there's room for a new entrant.

Can you guess what I use ChatGPT for? Image generated from "Based on what you know about me draw me a picture of what you think my current life looks like."