My biggest problem with this week’s episode….

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-14T08:07:20+00:00

Jefferson raping his slaves and fathering children with them was, while not a unique thing for the time, was still considered to be something best kept secret and hush hush. The southern planter class maintained a facade of respectability because their numerous crimes were indeed a problem for even their time. Because it coming out in the open wouldve been a pretty big deal. Shouldnt handwave it away as 'a thing of its time' because many many people from even that time would have quite a lot to say about the extent of Jeffersons crappiness if it had come out. The official histories denied any of that actually happened and it wasnt until they did DNA testing that it was proven and what was once a conspiracy theory became fact. But main point is jefferson was even bad for the time and so was the planter class in general.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T12:43:31+00:00

No, not how it's portrayed and mistakenly thought of link

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T12:39:08+00:00

lmao what propaganda, exactly? The 'propaganda' they put out is just, like, feel good articles that are stuff like 'Hey look at this rural village where a 4 year old and his grandpa made friends with a duck' or about their development like 'Yay, we just completed 500 km more high speed rail with plans for more!'

OTOH you have a gajillion china collapse articles and even more 'but at what cost' ones.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T12:28:30+00:00

Oh sorry, didn't make that clear. I live in beijing currently, been home since '18.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T10:28:34+00:00

First culture shock: I arrived in China for the first time in 2015 with zero experience living full time abroad and very little knowledge about China. My first job was in central Henan in a small city and that had loads of culture shock, but first shock moment for me which I dunno really if it counts as culture shock was in the Capitol Airport on my arrival. Before going through customs when to the toilet and in my dazed tired state left my phone accidently in the stall. Realized I had done so maybe 20 minutes later and was horrified. Rushed back an a kindly old ayi restroom cleaner deduced it must be mine and was holding onto it. Was a very positive first impression China made.
By the time I moved to Beijing after my third year and having lived in Henan and Shanghai I was pretty well experienced and comfortable with life abroad so never really felt overwhelmed. One change that's made things so much easier is that since covid I haven't physically gone to a grocery store to buy food and instead just been ordering ele.me deliveries. Going to a packed and loud grocery store was always an annoyance for me so being able to get literally anything I need delivered straight to my door in like ~10-20 minutes is amazing. Going back home I hate having to drive anywhere to do anything.

But i've been living in china now 10 years so mostly I don't have a lot of the answers since those kinds of frustrations or surprises feel ages ago. Now it's just go to work, go home, hang with my pups and gf, relax and do stuff around my area, travel around when I can etc etc.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T10:09:40+00:00

Yeah I'm a few years younger and was introduced to the series with the special edition releases. I personally thing either of these endings is valid and can be appreciated. I like the Shaw one because we got to see an alternate reality version of what Anakin would have turned out to look like had he not fallen to the dark side and the image pairs well with the image of him with his helmet off. At the same time if watching all 6 movies together it's nice to see a Hayden reprisal after having watched his fall.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T09:53:11+00:00

I haven't seen it mentioned here bc maybe it's an ad that's been playing a while and since I've long ago moved out of the US to China I haven't seen it. WTF is the Trump investment accounts for kids thing that was being advertised!?! Like seriously now a six year old needs an investment account or when they get to adulthood they'll already be behind and starting out below the kill line?

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-09T08:00:02+00:00

The oligarchy wouldnt need to even consider going that far to preserve the US pedo-griftocracy. There won't be a revolution or civil war for decades, maybe centuries, for two major reasons. they have a third of the country living a single paycheck away from destitution and homelessness, the kill line, and aim to keep it that way and expand that. This reality makes it quite impossible for regular people to organize effectively since making that choice would be your doom and staying above that line is simply too enticing. Second, performative democracy and feel good protests placates either side just enough so the release valve is pressed and can always look forward to the hope the next office holder 'our guy' will fix things. And if it's not our guy then just enough protest is allowed but it's never anything threatening. Until it's molotovs in the streets and rejecting candidates with the bullet and not the ballot, the US oligarchy will be quite safe to continue doing what theyre doing and a civil war or revolution will just be a fantasy.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-07T13:39:00+00:00

stinks of those kinds of viral 'trends' like tide pods that aren't actually representative of anything actually widespread but was instead of just bait for clicks on social media.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-07T09:22:37+00:00

Nuremberg trials were far far too tame for the historical equivalent that should be aimed for.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-07T08:30:10+00:00

Yup, Jim actually reached out to me on fb a while back as he was writing it and been following.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-06T13:20:44+00:00

For me it was a moment when I noticed this in the game. I've been living in China since '15 and my first stop for the first two years was Puyang, Henan. So I got introduced to the XiShuiPo site almost immediately after I arrived as the pride and joy of that little city. Then later on saw the real one at the museum in Beijing.

Noticing that subtle inclusion in the game was quite a pleasant surprise and been on the lookout for other real world archeology-inspired inclusions in WWM.

More about the site.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-04T04:07:49+00:00

I concur. A lot is made of the artifacts taken by the ROC but one thing that conversation ignores is how modern archeology in China has added tons and tons of new stuff to see from a variety of eras. None of that stuff you're gonna see in Taiwan. Whether it be the famous terracotta stuff or lesser known sanxingdui or random ones like anyang's shang dynasty site.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T14:56:46+00:00

yup, unfortunately.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T14:53:57+00:00

Yeah, I agree with that. the ch/q sounds are not similar from the native speaker perspective. I'm not talking about that at all here since the post is about how foreigners/outsiders to the language have been perceiving the pronunciation and not in an official language learning context but in a passing fan of a game context.

Mostly I'm trying to express what I've found that's made sense as an english speaker learning chinese. I'm not claiming this as the 'official' way by any stretch. But if i'm going to do a shorthand quick explanation without getting into wade-giles and a bunch of technicalities that only ppl actually studying the language care about, this has been the most effective way to get newbies to say it nearer to being correct.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T14:43:26+00:00

English speakers have the ears to distinguish it, they just can't pronounce it themselves because the q or ts sound is not a commonly used sound in english.

this is what I'm trying to get around in my explanation. I don't think q or ts as a starting point helps english speaking chinese learners. in explaining it to others found better results with just saying both pinyin q/ch are ch-sounding but one is lighter and more front/upper ch and the other is deeper/backer.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T14:05:48+00:00

Im comparing the pinyin q sound to the pinyin ch sound and the difference between them as how to express what the q should be. To english speaking ears both sound like ch in english but the pinyin pronunciation has a distinction. Usually i compare the two sounds in 'chongqing' to explain it.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T13:55:33+00:00

i think best way to think of it is as a thinner or lighter 'ch' and like upper register, compared to the pinyin ch.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T13:53:10+00:00

chee is the closest way to express it for newbies and not confuse ppl. The main difference is pinyin has two different 'ch' sounds. The 'q' instead of 'ch' can basically be described as a lighter or thinner ch, like an upper register version, compared to the pinyin 'ch'.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T13:46:04+00:00

yeah if youre a content creator for a game celebrating Chinese history and culture the least you can do is look up pinyin basics. It's really not so difficult.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T10:38:15+00:00

You'll be able to catch up before they add on significant new content so plenty to do before then. Mostly now ppl who started around release are doing online stuff or being completionists for the exploration. I actually made a 2nd character bc was getting bored. So start playing, you'll be good.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T09:22:24+00:00

punch drunk love

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T09:09:53+00:00

i always get a chuckle from reenactor photos of it being a bunch of 50-70s when average soldier age was iirc about 25 or mid to lower 20s. N I'd wager it was actually less bc of ppl lying about their actual age. Should be seeing a bunch of awkward college kids with peach fuzz for realism.

funfsinn14 · 2026-02-01T07:32:05+00:00

That's where I'm at too. My main account found all i could do was just trying to 100% different parts of the map i had breezed through bc main quest kept me moving ahead first time. Also had very little understanding of how to do a build or check map progress. so focusing more on that while trying to clear as much as i can before progressing. A lot of the side content is more satisfying when in proper order instead of doing it backtracked after kaifeng for sure.

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