Which makes me wonder, are there literally no alternatives in South America itself? I know Argentina has gone to shit, but what of the other countries?

A reason that everyone should get behind:

AI = increased carbon emissions for a product that won’t even be useful because AI is really unreliable.

I think all mowers except non-motorized push mowers should be illegal for home use. You want a big, manicured lawn? Well then you gotta work for it, buddy.

Most properties where I live have huge grass lawns, but I almost never see anyone actually using them. The only time anyone is out on their lawn is to mow it, and they all use these low-effort riding mowers. Every single nice day (and I live in the maritime Pacific Northwest, so warm and sunny days are precious things) is always filled with the din of mowers, leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, and other gas-powered tools of ornamental landscaping. And for what? An ecologically-devoid patch of land that even the landowner isn’t utilizing.

The difference is if the primary (sometimes only) admin of your instance loses interest, goes to jail, or gets hit by a truck, your entire instance could be dead in the water, whereas there are way more safeguards to “established” social media like Reddit and Twitter. Plus the issue of “well shit my instance got defederated from most of the fediverse because it turns out the admin is an asshat” is completely nonsensical on platforms without instances. Example: before I knew that Lemmy had a tankie problem, I almost signed up on lemmygrad because I thought it was just a witty pun…

Plus when you say “point them to lem.ee” what scenario are you imagining? Because “you should join reddit” or “our business is on Facebook” or “Twitter is a great resource for artists” are all straightforward and easy pieces of information to convey and pick up. “Join Lemmy, a subset of the fediverse, I signed up via lemmy.world although I hear lem.ee is also good, but don’t let that stop you from picking another instance” is like… Dude, people just want to go to [site].com, click on “sign up”, enter a username and password (and maybe email) and that’s it. Just having to explain to people that “lemmy.com” isn’t a thing is already too complicated for most folks.

Lemmy (or at least lemmy.world) was bonkers levels of buggy last summer during the reddit blackout. Like, literally unusable levels of buggy. Getting the word out that it’s (mostly) bug-free now would probably be good, because I’m sure there were many redditors who tried it and quickly swore it off as a pile of shit.

Otherwise I’m in agreement that the instance-selection part of sign-up is a huge barrier, because what instance you choose is actually really important but it’s overwhelming when you’re just getting started. Plus not being able to migrate your account/communities/posts to another instance if yours goes to shit/shuts down/turns out to not fit your needs makes the fediverse feel really unstable.

Why sex bias in labs means women are the losers in research into ageing virtually all medical issues

FTFY

Apparently menstrual cycles (and the resulting fluctuating hormones) make the female body tOo CoMpLiCaTeD for researchers and they’d rather stick to the “default human model.” Bitch study some fetal developmental science: female is the default model!

The alternatives for tortillas would be purchase from a bakery (made fresh so no preservatives), purchase frozen (so no need for added preservatives), or make at home (surprisingly easy to do).

You’re completely correct on the exposed demand issue. I would also add that in most cities (in the United States anyway) hotels can only exist in very specific corners of the city due to zoning, often in just three places: downtown (expensive!), the suburbs (so not even in city limits), and “motel alley” (which is usually an old highway in askeevy part of town lined with mid-20th century fleabag accommodations that are slowly being abandoned/bulldozed). For some cities this isn’t an issue, but in others it’s a problem for accessing the tourist attractions, especially if the tourists in question don’t have a rental car. Then there are the non-tourist visitors to consider: if you’re in a city to visit family, you’re probably going to want to stay as close to them as possible. Same with a lot of business travelers. This is a bit of a conundrum when the nearest hotel (or affordable/decent hotel) is a 30 minute drive away.

Wow that map of the wiggly London-Singapore flight route really drives home how many airspaces these Europe-SE Asia flights have to skirt around.

The peak of the cost-of-living crisis may have passed

Has it?

deleted by creator

deleted by creator

“With very high competition in the workforce and expensive housing prices, you need more time to get ready to settle down and start a family,”

JFC are there any countries left in the world where this isn’t the case?

Meanwhile, I bet with the right branding “Jesus” socks could be a major hit with the Christian crowd.

Potential marketing slogans:

I walk with Jesus™, do you?

Born too late to have my feet washed by Jesus; born just in time to have my feet swaddled by Jesus™

WWJW: What Would Jesus™ Wear?

[Paired with the Jesus hat line] I’m a devoted believer in Jesus™ from head to toe!

With 38 square meters on average per person, London homes are even more cramped than those in New York City

Maybe Londoners have more roommates/family members living with them? Given the “per person” part of this statistic.

It could actually go either way, based on the title:

Only half of South Koreans willing to marry; even less [than half] want kids

Or

Only half of South Koreans willing to marry; even fewer [South Koreans] want kids

I’m inclined to lean toward the second. “Even less than half” sounds a lot clunkier than “even fewer South Koreans,” so it’s not surprising other readers assumed the latter.

Are you exaggerating when you say a few months? Because based on my personal experience as a native English speaker who’s spent a combined ~14 years to study two languages (only one of which even stuck), I cannot imagine becoming more than “hooray I can occasionally pick out a word or two when watching the news!”-level of proficient in a new language after a few months, even with intense study.

Where did you get that idea? The Soviet Union didn’t even lose one dozen-million in all of WWII. Ya know, the war famously won with “British intelligence, American steel, and Russian blood.” The Ukraine war has been devastating, but it’s nowhere near the scope of the largest war of the twentieth century.

Edit: to be crystal clear because for some reason my fact-based post (see: Wikipedia’s WWII fatality records) is getting down voted, Russia bad, slava Ukraini.

I’ve been told that if you can get a transfer there you need to understand that you’ll only ever hang out with other westerners because the culture is impenetrable.

I’ve lived in Japan and that’s completely untrue. Sure lots of westerners have this experience, but it’s usually for one of three reasons:

1. Language barrier: if you don’t speak Japanese, obviously you’re not going to fully integrate. However English is a required subject in schools, and while many Japanese are hesitant to speak it (mostly out of embarrassment over mistakes) there are plenty who are eager to utilize what they’ve learned. And this doesn’t even include Japanese who’ve lived abroad and are properly fluent and comfortable in the language (there aren’t many, but they certainly exist). Learning even a little Japanese and appearing to make an effort will also open a lot of doors.

2. Self-segregation: It’s easy to fall into this one, especially because of point 1. But if you make an effort to make friends with people who are Japanese, they’ll introduce you to their friend group. This works best if your co-workers are mixed westerners and English-speaking Japanese, but with some searching you should be able to find mixed socialization opportunities outside of work too. Plus there are non-Western communities in Japan too: folks from other Asian or Latin American countries who also feel like outsiders. Of the foreigner friends I had in Japan, almost none were American (and almost none were native English speakers, although they were all fluent or close to it). Taking Japanese language classes is a great way to meet these folks, but each school is going to be very different in their demographic populations so be choosey and avoid any that seem too homogenous (eg all Chinese students).

3. Expectations: Japanese social culture is very different. It’s easy to make acquaintances and hard to make friends. And yes, even if you speak Japanese fluently as a foreigner you will find it more difficult to make friends with the average Japanese person. However you have two strengths you need to utilize: curiosity and otherness. As long as you appear approachable, strangers will sporadically come up to you and talk with you out of curiosity. Sometimes the socialization ends there, and that’s fine. But look for the outsiders: Japanese people who don’t feel like they fit into Japanese society. I found that there were a good number of English-speaking Japanese who wanted to be my friend because they struggled to make friends with other Japanese. Some of them were socially awkward or autistic, some had lived abroad, and some seemed totally normal. The good news is you probably have a lot in common, even if it’s superficial like enjoying the same Western culture (TV shows, etc; think reverse-weeabo), but it’s enough for the foundation of a friendship. However you’ll need to accept that you’re now a member of a misfits social group, because you’re yourself a stranger in a strange land!

So in conclusion, it’s very easy to fall into the only-socializing-with-Westerners trap, but it’s certainly not inevitable. It takes conscious effort to avoid, but is completely feasible, especially for someone who has interest in Japan/Japanese culture/Japanese language.

I’ve been to Singapore. You would have to pave every square inch of the island just store all the vehicles if everyone owned a car. The problem isn’t that cars are too expensive: it’s that the government pussy-footed around the issue and soft-banned vehicles through high fees rather than the more equitable approach of outright banning them for most private use. It’s like the saying: if the only punishment for breaking a law is a fine, then that law only applies to the poor.

Being a dense city and tiny island, life would be much improved for everyone if vehicle ownership and use were limited to businesses/workers that can demonstrate a work-related need for a vehicle, taxis, and people with disabilities that prevent them from utilizing public transit and/or taxis.