Considering that Alzheimer can sometimes be staved off by practicing the brain, it makes sense.

After all, we all know what men really think with 😂

Many regions won’t need that of course :)

Came here to say this but you beat me to it. I bet some of it is because people were skimping on heating last winter. Now that the prices are back to normal I think people will heat (and cool) more again. I know I have not watched my heating as scrupulously as last winter (even though I use very little energy 😇)

The reason the stockpile was there was it being classified as a strategic resource during the time around WW1 and 2 when airships were a big thing. It’s just not really something the government thinks they need to be involved in anymore. Though you could argue its use is becoming more strategic again.

But anyway I’m not defending the sale, I just believe this was the reason they wanted to sell it.

We could recover a lot more helium from natural gas production (some fields contain a lot) but right now it’s vented because it doesn’t have enough value for the operators. Only a few places worldwide bother recovering it during refinement.

But as it gets scarcer the price will go up. Unfortunately the already vented helium is gone forever 😔

Is it possible that you could genetically-engineer a virus to both have a long incubation period AND incredibly high mortality rate? I’m sure it is

Case in point: HIV. We’re lucky that was not airborne. The whole world would have been infected by the time people started dying.

Satanic now. Wow. That escalated quickly. They will run out of superlatives soon.

I don’t really see the connection with the Ukraine war though. But apparently this makes sense to Putin.

It’s kinda good for humanity to shrink a bit though. We can’t keep expanding as we will eventually run out of space and natural resources. Most western countries aren’t really growing in population anymore either and I think that’s a good thing. We’re already suffering the consequences of too high growth in the past. Not enough housing, resource constraints, pollution.

Also, why spend your life raising babies if you can enjoy yourself. Yes, for some people that constitutes enjoyment, but not for everyone. Certainly not for me. Let them have at it. Humanity absolutely isn’t going to become extinct, plenty of people will want to have them. Not families of 6-10 anymore but that’s all good. It would actually be amazing if the world population declined a bit and stabilised at say 2 billion. Sustainability is not infinite growth but stability.

The problem is the inverse demography pyramid, less young people to take care of the old. The boomers have this issue and China will now too. But at least this problem is temporary and the world will be much more sustainable with a lower birth rate. Reducing economic issues, less risk of conflict as resources aren’t quite as scarce per person, less CO2 emitted etc.

Well she is in freedom, she was released. She’s just not free to publish. So she is well but not able to do what she loved.

Yes and she was not overly critical at all. Instead she focused mainly on her tech.

I really miss her great content 😢 And her personality.

The same applies to Russia.

Not really. Russia has a strong orthodox influence. They suppressed it during the soviet times but it is back in full force.

You can say something similar about ultra conservative Catholics, since the Pope has called for tolerance. Yet, they would rather denounce the Pope than tolerate LGBTQ+.

That’s a small splinter group though. Most catholics are pretty open. Even Ireland allowed gay marriage now by popular vote.

The key idea is that bigotry is not driven by religious affiliation, but rather by authoritarian attitudes. That’s what’s common between China, Russia and the ultra conservatives in the US. Tolerance of LGBTQ indicates freedom and liberalism in some sense. And both are challenges to the stakeholders of authoritarianism. They want a world where people live within the framework they dictate - and thus the bigotry.

Aha that does make sense. The LGBTQ movement is indeed very progressive and liberal. I do think there is often a religous component as well (though that seems to be missing in China) but this sounds like a good explanation.

Yeah Naomi Wu was also arrested and “silcenced” last year (she’s no longer allowed to publish anything even stuff not critical of the CCP). https://skepchick.org/2023/08/maker-naomi-wu-is-silenced-by-chinese-authorities-and-why-i-blame-elon-musk/

She is also feminist and lesbian and has an Uyghur girlfriend, which was blatantly published by Vice after promises not to do so, which suddenly put her on the radar 😭 It’s a shame because I have big respect for her and her content.

I don’t really understand why China is so against LGBTQ+, I don’t think they have any religious basis for this. But I assume it has a lot to do with their demography crisis (rapidly falling birth numbers). Even though it seems counterproductive to me, them being against LGBTQ+ does not really make it disappear, I think facilitating IVF for happy LGBT couples to raise loved children would be more productive. But anyway…

Thanks for your insights, it’s very interesting hearing the perspective from someone who is actually living there. I can imagine you feel used in this conflict.

Well, Chinese cities will seem western and modern to you as well.

True, I know, but I don’t think they did as much when I was in Taiwan 20+ years ago.

Yes I get it totally. I was there myself and it is indeed a wonderful place to visit. My friend lived there at the time and showed me around. I particularly loved the markets with all the wonderful electronic components. Though I believe most of that has moved to Shenzen these days, I was there two decades ago when Taiwan was a huge manufacturing hub. As far as I know it’s now more of a high-end semiconductor specialist.

What also suprised me is how Western Taipei felt. If everything weren’t in Chinese it could have been a western city (albeit with a lot more motorscooters :P ). And the whole situation with China doesn’t really seem to be a big ‘thing’ there. They are already deciding their own future and that’s not really up for discussion. This issue seems to be playing more in the global media than on the ground.

I don’t think a war will happen either. China is way too calculated for that. The CCP thinks in decade-long plans with subtle entanglement and exploitative loans, that’s also their MO in Africa. Not a shooting war.

Note: The following is what I heard from a friend who lived there for decades. I have visited Taiwan but I don’t have roots there, as such this is all I have to go on.

But as far as I’m told the drive for Status Quo is mainly because the Taiwanese people don’t want to pull out the red flag. They’d love to have independence and be recognised as a state but the status quo is good enough (because it de facto offers them independence in all but name) and less likely to lead to a major war. So basically right now they already have what they want and trying to formalise it will only put more pressure on the situation.

Perhaps China will offer them “One Country, Two Systems”. Because they respected this so amazingly well with Hong Kong.

Maybe because it makes global warming much worse, shipping refridgerated ice through the air to the desert?

Well Iraq, the first time, yes. They invaded Kuwait which in my opinion did legitimise the first gulf war (though opinions may vary). Though IMO it should have happened under UN flag but of course the security council is forever locked into a stalemate.

The second war, no. Whatever it was… Made-up WMD’s, funding of military industrial complex, Dubya’s desire to finish daddy’s pet project, whatever. A real reason there was not.

IMO the only “good guys” fighting there are the civilians “fighting” to survive. Not Hamas and not the IDF. Neither care about the innocent.

And accomplished nothing for the people there, within 2 months it was as bad as it ever was before the US came.