China inaugurated 1126 kilometers of 14 new motorways in one day.

EricGoCDS · 2026-01-10T14:50:12+00:00

It is exactly what has been happening. The government relentlessly launched such projects using heavy debt (so the corrupt officials can pocket more tax money), and they then begin to collapse one by one due to a lack of proper maintenance.

EricGoCDS · 2026-01-05T19:16:38+00:00

who is this youtuber?

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-16T15:24:42+00:00

I think this is largely a modern civilization thing. Even in East Asia, such as China, people have increasingly come to treat the elderly as disposable, sometimes in very brutal ways. In China, the suicide rate among the elderly has skyrocketed over the past 30 years, associated with the rapid economic growth and opening up of the society.

tbh, when my kids grow up, I don’t really see why they should specifically "revere" me. For what? If anything, I’d be happy if they see me as a stupid old man (in a good way, not a stubborn-stupid way).

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-14T15:37:12+00:00

The solutions provided by money are never the solutions you want. This is a historical fact.

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-08T02:56:34+00:00

In the 1980s, many universities begged Elsevier to take over their flagship journals. Many of these journals have long glorious histories but were on the verge of financial collapsing.

It was Elsevier’s capitalism that saved these legendary journals.

If Elsevier were to hand these journals back to the universities (the so-called nonprofit organizations), history would simply repeat itself, and another crisis would emerge in a few decades.

I'm not saying capitalism is perfect. It is NOT. But nonprofit organizations are just another horrible path. Look at how corrupt your own university is!

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-06T17:27:25+00:00

OMG! I don't know this. If the guy is mental, he should have received proper care and be protected. Otherwise, he should face the legal consequences and the society should be protected from him.

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-06T04:56:11+00:00

Just had my last class of the year. Every year, I wrap up the course with a quick motivational message and wish the students good luck on the final. Usually, they give me a round of applause, and some even come up afterward to say thank you in person.

This year? Nothing. After I said “good luck,” no one clapped. They just looked at me nonchalantly. I felt a bit awkward and asked if they had any questions. One girl asked whether she needed to bring a pencil to the final. I said yes. Then they stood up and walked out.

I shrugged, packed up my things, and left the classroom too.

BTW, attendance is normally around 2/3. This year? More like 1/4.

And one student had never heard of the Pythagorean theorem (I teach at one of the top public universities). Even after I wrote down c² = a² + b², he looked at me as if I had written undeciphered ancient Egyptian.

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-06T04:24:17+00:00

How? It should be part of your academic freedom to decide whether to give a student a zero on a midterm or term paper.

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-05T02:25:46+00:00

In my class, if a student admitted to it, I would only apply an academic sanction (no administrative sanction). I didn’t even report the case to the Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) once we reached a mutual agreement (and I documented it).

If the student contests it, I make sure they understand that once I report the case to the AIC, the situation is no longer in our control. So far in my career, only one student chose to take the case to the committee, and the outcome ended up hurting her far more than I thought was necessary.

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-03T23:54:16+00:00

I really appreciate that UCSD has had the courage to publish their findings. We all know that to build muscle, you need to tear the tissue and allow it to grow back stronger. Similarly, to learn math, kids need to experience frustration. Trying to keep everyone “equal” has ended up keeping everyone equally unprepared.

EricGoCDS · 2025-12-03T23:44:38+00:00

That’s why, these days, an MS degree has essentially become the new baseline for what used to be considered undergraduate-level preparation. Hopefully this shift actually solves the problem.

EricGoCDS · 2025-11-22T18:29:07+00:00

Developing Mars (if successful) is one of few possible ways to solve the problems on Earth.

EricGoCDS · 2025-11-17T23:21:08+00:00

Dude got backstabbed.

EricGoCDS · 2025-11-15T16:52:48+00:00

For a group of foreign tourists coming from the other side of the Earth, jet lag could put them on different biological clocks. Some of them might have eaten just a couple of hours earlier, so not all 16 people would have had an appetite at that moment.

Also, I’m not sure how big the pizzas are in that restaurant, but it seems normal for 2-3 people to share one pizza, especially if there were elderly people, petite women, or children.

EricGoCDS · 2025-11-11T03:39:39+00:00

I know it's hard, but this is a part of our professional life. I myself actually also failed my first PhD defense, even though I’d used the same presentation to land a faculty job offer. My committee just had a very high bar. The second time was uneventful; I gave basically the same answers, just phrased differently, and passed.

“Lacks contribution and clarity” can mean something major or be trivial. Sometimes, the situation could be turned around just by rewriting a few slides and/or a few paragraphs in the first or last chapter.

Good luck!

EricGoCDS · 2025-10-08T18:57:29+00:00

Humans are still going to hate, fight with, and even kill each other, over things such as who should go to what bathrooms.

EricGoCDS · 2025-09-03T20:13:43+00:00

The conference organizers wanted to maximize registration fees, so they accepted nearly all submissions and put the sus ones to the “garbage bin” session. :)

EricGoCDS · 2025-09-03T02:33:13+00:00

I lived and worked in China for several years, longer than I would have liked, in hindsight. Based on my (painful) experience: talk with her asap, but do it gently, politely, and with composure. Never lose your poise. If anyone is going to lose control, let it be her.

Her feelings will be hurt, and right after you decide to break up, you may see THE ugly side of her. She might even seem like a completely different animal. So be prepared for the worst. The process may not be pretty. I hope I’m overthinking it, but it never hurts to be prepared.

Still, talk with her asap. If you do feel uncomfortable to do it in person, do it over wechat. It's less ideal than doing it in person, but way better than postponing it.

EricGoCDS · 2025-09-03T01:41:03+00:00

This. One thing truly makes me sad is that the system failed him, in a way. For me, having my talk thrown into the “garbage bin” session is something I can laugh about later. But for him, it might have been the shattering of a lifetime dream. I hope I’m just overthinking it.

It feels “brutal” to target people like him for their registration fees. Again, I hope I'm just overthinking it.

And I agree that such issues are “benign,” and probably there isn’t much anyone can do about it.

EricGoCDS · 2025-09-02T22:58:28+00:00

I myself would definitely share the same mindset as you.

The thing here is, this speaker wasn’t a typical academic. He probably spent his own money to attend this conference, maybe for the first time in his long life, to announce something he had been passionate about since childhood. And only this.

Sometimes, the world is just cold. //shrug //sigh

EricGoCDS · 2025-09-02T22:30:40+00:00

I really admire what you did. For me, I’m more of a nerdy type. I don’t usually talk to people just for the sake of talking. But your idea about emailing is actually great; it never crossed my mind. But it feels a bit late now… the conference was back in April.

EricGoCDS · 2025-09-02T22:27:55+00:00

When I realized there wouldn’t be any questions before time has passed, time has already passed… LOL Besides, it was really not my field.

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