theFu comments

So which country in the west wouldn't just love to have those figures?

China would like to have those CCP published figures.

https://www.worldeconomics.com/DataQualityRatings/China.aspx The data the CCP provides is given a "C" rating. "Use with caution" It is 66th in the order of trustworthiness.

The main current problems are that data showing unfavourable movements in economic activity has from time to time been suppressed or published later than expected, and some data is out of date or understated.

I wonder if opposite magnetic pull has on the mental health of these birds.

That's an interesting idea. I thought birds that migrate know to follow magnetic lines for their internal compass. Not many species migrate east/west.

I can say that as a native norther hemisphere human with a good sense of direction, I do get slightly confused when in the southern hemisphere and have to really concentrate to know which way I'm facing/heading.

Cape Penguins aren't cold weather penguins. Where they live is actually fairly warm much of the year, but the sea is chilly. They live about as far south as Atlanta is north, so the climate is pretty hot (tempered by cool oceans). Seeing hundreds of Cape Penguins on a hot day with sun-burnt faces as they head up a hill into some brush, looking for their on hole in the ground (or a numbered plastic house provided by conservationists) isn't what most people expect, but that's the reality of their home beach. They like some sun, but they choose to nest in the shade.

Wish I could post some photos here. It would be clear.

Most governments would very much like to have those growth stats.

If only they were the truth. Sadly, we've learned they are not truthful, but made up numbers by the CCP. Seems odd since producing factual data is in the Chinese Constitution ... er ... provided it doesn't embarrass the CCP or any party members. We all know that someone in the CCP will be embarrassed, so the numbers are all made up.

Nobody thinks that China will collapse. We only hope that regular Chinese people will get tired of Xi and the Military having complete control over their ability to live and work as they'd like. Many govts are there to make people's lives safer and better, even if it harms the govt.

Only 0.1% of the world can afford traveling to South Pole in order to see the penguins

This is a Cape Penguin, not an Antarctic Penguin. There are native Penguins all around southern African and southern Argentina and Chile.

And many more than 0.1% can certainly see penguins in South America or Africa. Heck, I've seen penguins in the wild on both continents and I'm hardly wealthy. Both in the Atlantic and Pacific sides of these continents. If you make travel a priority, then you can see amazing parts of the world. Like anything else, if it isn't a priority, then you'll never do it. For me, the cost to visit these places was actually less than going to Europe and much less than visiting SE Asia or Central Asia. Because the costs were so much less, we had really nice, high-end accommodations nightly - about 4x less than hotels in Japan for much nicer rooms.

Penguins are filthy animals. They may appear cute and will usually leave humans alone, if you leave them alone, but they will definitely bite too. In the South African Cape area, there are 10k+ breading pairs of penguins living in the wild. Their numbers have drastically reduced in the last 30 years. You can easily visit them on a trip to Cape Town.

Penguins live about 2x longer in captivity than they do living in the wild. It is tough out there in the ocean and there are lots of predators. So, is living 2x longer in captivity with other penguins and not having to risk your life to find food worth it? I can't say.

Not a lot of Americans have enough money to invest at such levels, if at all.

Funny. Everyone I know invests in the stock market, at least as part of their 401k retirement funds.

But this story is about people investing and those investments creating jobs.

In 2022, about 58% of American households owned stock, either directly or indirectly through mutual funds and other investment accounts.

About 40% of Americans have paid off their mortgages.

Around 23% of Americans are debt free, according to the most recent data (May 2024) available from the Federal Reserve. That figure factors in every type of debt, from credit card balances and student loans to mortgages, car loans and more.

Just because some people are terrible with money, that doesn't mean everyone is.

It is called hypocrisy, if anyone was confused.

How are your millennials doing?

They have jobs, unlike millennials in China.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rotten-tail-kids-chinas-rising-youth-unemployment-breeds-new-working-class-2024-08-21/

16-24 yr old unemployment rates in China are over 20%

Rising unemployment in China is pushing millions of college graduates into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents' pensions, a plight that has created a new working class of "rotten-tail kids".

The phrase has become a social media buzzword this year, drawing parallels to the catchword "rotten-tail buildings" for the tens of millions of unfinished homes that have plagued China's economy since 2021.

All the Chinese who invested in real estate BEFORE the collapse have lost 30-50% of their investment and still don't have a new property to live in because they've been paying the mortgage before building was complete. That's just crazy.

If you are unemployed, hard to buy anything but food, assuming you can sponge off your parents.

In the US, for the same age group, unemployment is 6.9%, which is still high, but 3x less than China.

Additionally, the CCP isn't exactly known for publishing truthful numbers, so the 20% is probably low.

Both are from July 2024. August numbers should be available in a few more weeks.

Example, the USA and Canada claim they don't, but in reality they do they are the social security number card and the social insurance number card respectively.

The SSN abuse is used constantly for identity theft and credit theft. The only time I remember showing my SS card is when starting a new job. After all, the govt takes their money from the paycheck before I get any of it. I might have used a photocopy of it to get a passport along with 2 other identification documents. Nobody carries their social security card with them in the USA. Nobody asks to see it. Forms just ask for your number and hope you will provide it because there's a space on the form. I haven't provided it except to banks and employers and maybe the passport office. Nobody else has a legal need to know it.

US credit reporting companies use it ...er ... abuse it, which needs to be illegal, but isn't.

20+ yrs ago, many state DL numbers were just your SSN. That lead to all sorts of identity theft and laws requiring SSN not be used on DLs were passed.

Whenever we go to get health care, they always ask for our SSN. Health care has nothing to do with SS - it is just more abuse. The more people who know my SSN, the more likely it is to be leaked and our identity stolen. Then we get to spend 18 months trying to fix our credit and fix our identity for things we didn't have anything to do with. And the company who allowed the leak? They don't get punished in any way. Hardly fair.

You've been warned. My Number will turn out to be great for crooks.

HonestDictator, how many jobs has anyone living paycheck-to-paycheck created for other Americans?

People with money aren't "hoarding it", they are investing it, which provides loans and capital for companies to buy equipment and pay salaries so more and more people have jobs. Without people providing investment money (directly or through stock markets), companies don't have the money they need to expand.

Musk is only brave when he knows he won't be kidnapped and put into a hole for 20 yrs.

That's why he isn't brave in statements about China. Xi would drop him into a hole, then cover it up.

elephant200: Russia is practicing her rights of freedom of navigation. With China as a partner working for a peaceful north east Asia

Exactly. I see nothing wrong with this exercise. Russia has been flying bombers a few times every week towards Canada and the US for decades. NATO flies bombers towards Russia all the time too.

Both sides turn around at the recognized national borders, usually being met by interceptor aircraft, but not always.

This is just part of the game. We know you are there. Russian pilots are professionals and they recognize the professionals on the other side. Be certain to wave every time, to keep up foreign relations, if you know what I mean.

I came for the comment jokes. Both pleased and a little disappointed. I'll check back later. Perhaps the pro-CCP and pro-Russian posters will have insights we lack?

Trump will ignore it. A sympathetic human wouldn't need to be told NOT to do what Trump has been doing.

Nearly all Haitians are in America legally as was this man. He followed the immigration rules.

Legal immigrants are welcome and work very hard. This was an accident that appears to have been caused by the sun being in his eyes on a 2-lane road. Accidents happen every day. People are injured and killed every day. Being an immigrant isn't the cause here either.

https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/minivan-driver-in-fatal-school-bus-crash-testifies-in-his-defense/IZPQNLTYVBEHXCFKP67ZWDCQ7M/ has more details about the man, his ID, DL, and status. Being in jail will cause a huge hardship for his family (2 kids and wife). That's obvious. But it won't bring back the killed child or remove the memories of all the other kids on the bus from this terrible accident. Seems like a fair sentence for what happened.

This is scary. Just another govt merging lists of people to make tracking what you do and don't do easier. There should be outrage over this. At least insist that the information cannot be shared between govt entities and get that included in the law. "Good intentions .... "

Why have 20,0000 non English speaking immigrants been allowed to settle in a town of 58,000 people?

In America, people legally here get to live wherever they like and can afford. Nobody shipped them there after the first few hundred who needed a place that would welcome them.

The local city and probably religious organizations helped get the first Haitians settled. For the most part, legal immigrants who work hard are welcome everywhere in America - provided they stay away from white supremacists. Everyone's family has an immigration story, so that binds us all together, even though they are all different.

We love legal immigrants. It is only those people who skipped the line and came in illegally that I have any issue with.

I worked in a small company that had about 50% Americans and 50% immigrants from the nearly everywhere else. At lunch, there were some, let's call it, interesting smells, coming from the company break room. Most of the time, the smells were really good, but there were a few dishes that just smelled terrible and I couldn't believe that someone would eat them.

I do feel bad when someone with an engineering degree from their home country finds that it doesn't translate to a US degree at all and they can't get employed in a job that will lead to being an engineer, so they become an extremely over-qualified tradesman, earning even more than most engineers earn here. Met an engineer from Liberia (Liberia is where former slaves from the US were returned to Africa) who was working as a plumber. He was a 1st generation immigrant, I suppose. The guy was brilliant - no idea if he was properly licensed or not, just that he charged a fair price for the work performed and it was done efficiently and well. It was normal replacement work, not anything major.

Xi's efforts to demonize all outsiders has worked. No use in staying there. Saw that Honda is firing lots of Chinese workers in their facilities there due to lack of sales. China's economy is faltering thanks to Xi's poor economic planning. Rather than getting the Chinese economy steaming post-COVID, he decided that managers needed to read some new drivel he'd written and was selling in a book. https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Guangxi:-the-%27little-red-books%27-are-back,-but-with-Xi-Jinping%27s-words-55683.html

Polio is a terrible disease and we have a vaccine that works. You'd think that parents of every child would want their child protected at any cost. Guess life is cheap in those regions.

Singapore is an odd place. There is both great wealth and terrible poverty all in a very tiny area.

No more than Iran and China and Belarus are directly fighting with NATO.

The Russian economy is hurting and social program spending is higher than before to keep the Russians happy, for now. That cannot continue as fewer buyers for Russian oil remain.

Russia is now dependent on the war to maintain it's economy. They can't afford to win or lose, so it becomes a question of manpower to keep fighting.

He lost, so he wants to take his toys and go pout somewhere. Can someone check his diaper and put him down for a nap too, please? Mr. Trump is mentally unprepared and needs some medical tests before he stroke's out.

I don't like the majority of the Dem's policies, but won't have a petty, man-child in office again. Trump as President would be worse than losing 30% of our wealth for all the terrible things he might try to do.

So, AI comes into play by optimizing on 3 fronts. Break as much equipment as possible with as few ordinances as possible. Maim/kill the enemy as cheaply as possible, hopefully, without causing too much world outrage, and use economics by hurting the enemies ability to earn/make money to buy things.

Everyone wants to prevent the death of their people, including their military and kill the enemies military until the enemy decides it is too costly to keep fighting.

Destroying the enemy's equipment is another way to end a war. If they don't have any equipment and can't buy or build more, then they are left with hand-knives and pikes to fight with.

Computers are good at optimizing the most or the least of things that can be predicted. AI is good at trying millions of possible inputs to find the optimal mix of destruction. The more networked AI is, the more these decisions can happen closer to the places where equipment is being broken and people killed. If a bullet can kill 3 enemies, instead of just 1, that's more optimal. If AI can accurately choose what "the enemy" is and target them, even better.

Why directly risk your own military if you don't need to? Fighting a war "fairly" isn't how it is done. That would be stupid. Use every advantage you have over the enemy. I find it very frustrating when politicians prevent their military from ending a conflict quickly and instead let those conflicts drag on for many years instead. Which is more humane? Having a brutal war for 1 yr that kills 50K of the enemy or having a "limited war" for 10 yrs that kills 250K of the enemy and prevents the civilian population from living their lives the entire 10 yrs?

Go in. Do it hard, fast, get it done, force a peace and a plan for shared ruling with a reasonable timeline so power is slowly handed over with built-in checks for the new political system that helps normal citizens of the country and prevent authoritarian rule.

Why do not US military recruit good persons? Bad ones usually have some kinda troubles in the past. Those idiots don't understand or don't care about the law.

The US military is made up of volunteers. People with lots of options are much less likely to enlist, so the pool of possible recruits is shifted towards people, who for many reasons, have been disappointed with their lives and the available choices.

Of course, if you mix young, aggressive, men with alcohol and women, something is going to happen. We hope it is love and a great relationship that makes both of them happy, but it can be 1-sided and frustrating, especially when the cultural differences change from very attractive to frustrating. Young military people aren't trained in every culture. They are told to stay out of trouble and sent on their way. Bad choices get made.

Anyway, prosecute him to the fullest extent of Japanese law, jail him if found guilty, and deport him, with a lifetime ban after his time is served. The conviction should get him thrown out of the US Miltary which will make it difficult to get a job for the rest of his life back in the US. Every job application asks about convictions and dishonorable discharges from the military. Checking either box is almost always a "do not hire" thing for companies.

Young men with a boner and high emotion seldom think about their actions impacting the rest of their lives.

Expect these charges to be dropped quietly in a year or so because of lack of evidence. Wash, rinse, repeat 3-Letter-Agency Land.

There is a money trail. If she is guilty, she will spend a few years in jail and hopefully, choose to leave the US. Her husband's businesses will all suffer too, so they will need to be silent owners or move to the country and start farming for a quiet life. Of course, the USGovt will seize their ill-gotten property and us it to trap other hopeful Chinese agents.

When they were approached by the CCP, they should have immediately contacted the FBI to help setup a sting so that other Chinese agents were captured, or if they were diplomats, deported forever.

The test of CCP-ness isn't hard. Just force them to work with anyone from Taiwan and see how well they get along.

The guy who actually said the lies on radio needed to be fired. That should have been the end of that. He'll never work in radio for a Japanese company again. Perhaps he can be a waiter somewhere?

The leaders above him should have put in place procedures to prevent this from happening again, which it seems like they did, so that's handled.

Google needs to be broken up into at least 5 different companies.

I'd also like some privacy laws enacted which end "opt-out", but require "opt-in" for any tracking. If I'm not logged into any google account, then I didn't opt-into their tracking.

Same for all companies and not just on the internet, but in meat-space too.

They shouldn't be allowed to track phones because someone left BT or wifi on their phone - not without explicit permission.

When google was driving their google-map-GPS vehicles around, they were capturing wifi access points too and creating GPS points for every one they found. I didn't mind that they were listening, but as soon as they saved the data, that's a very different violation. That part of google needs to be separated from search and their advanced projects subsidiary. gmail needs to be separated from all the google-document stuff. Advertising/tracking needs to be separated from everything else. All of them need massive privacy regulations.

Around here, the fast food workers tend to have wild colors in their hair, lots of tattoos and often a nose piercing similar to what humans do to bulls and water buffaloes to help with control.

The nose rings aren't really very appetizing to me.

There is a McDs walking distance from our house. I've been there 3 times in the last 25 yrs. Just for a tall coffee if we ran out of coffee or tea at home. They do have excellent coffee and it is easier to get there than the Donut place on the other side of a busy street which also has excellent coffee too. Once, used it as a place to perform a private sale of some computer parts to an acquaintance. It was convenient and public for both of us, but we aren't friends enough to meet at our homes.

Hair color is not important at all to me from almost any worker in any industry. But the nose rings are just making a statement that I find unsettling.

A350 vs CRJ. CRJ loses. Sorta like semi-truck vs VW-bug.

I'd hate to be the pilot for either aircraft or the ground controller.

Of course, for me, the big news is that there's a Delta direct flight to Tokyo from Atlanta! When I was flying there all the time, I had to stop over in Portland or SFO.

This is simple.

A spoiled man-child who can't stop lying that wants to win to use the power to go after his personal enemies, not actually do good things for the country and will try to stay in power until death, stacking the laws against every other political party while he is in office.

Or

an adult woman with good sense who happens have have 60% bad policies, but is actually trying to be a patriot and make the best decisions she can.

I see the deny, deflect and delay team is out in force today. This is about Iran and Russia, not anywhere else.

Some countries have "NIH" syndrome. Not Invented Here. If you want to be a world leader, you need to lead and have fair deals for everyone involved, not 1-sided contracts.