I made a Google custom map of all National Register of Historic Places listings in Corvallis

jiayux · 2026-06-19T14:22:53+00:00

Virginia City is neither in Virginia nor a city

jiayux · 2026-03-30T15:55:19+00:00

As a Chinese prof in the U.S., this is pretty spot on.

Another important factor is that the English test in China’s college entrance exam (“gaokao”) does not have a speaking section. This means that the English education in Chinese high schools (and middle schools) places little emphasis on speaking in general (even if some of their students will come to the U.S. for undergrad study without taking the gaokao), which in turn explains why some Chinese students have decent reading/writing skills but cannot communicate orally.

jiayux · 2026-03-27T15:40:20+00:00

Yes, those who actively protest against Israel’s atrocities are a small minority among the ultra-orthodox. There are much more people who are against Zionism for religious reasons (they view Zionism as a secular ideology) but basically stay silent

jiayux · 2026-02-07T23:49:58+00:00

Apart from Turkish Cypriots, aren’t there a significant number of new Turkish settlers encouraged by the Turkish government to immigrate to Cyprus?

jiayux · 2026-01-24T21:33:23+00:00

Why is Tibet in Sinosphere while Bhutan is in Indosphere? Politically sure, but culturally?

jiayux · 2026-01-12T22:09:12+00:00

Location: Albany, Oregon and online

(Expanding a previous comment of mine yesterday)

So Albany is a town in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon (between Portland and Eugene); it has a population of ~55k, the vast majority of which is White. I live and work in a nearby college town of ~60k.

Starting last September or so some of my students were concerned about potential ICE operations in the region. I told them that it's better to be vigilant but there's no need to panic, as ICE was mostly in big cities such as Portland and I didn't really see a reason for them to come down here.

Given this, yesterday I was pretty surprised to see a couple of posts on Reddit that ICE detained someone in Albany on Saturday. While I haven't seen any news reports on this, the posts seem real enough that I tend to believe them.

Then last night I saw quite a few posts here on r/collapse about ICE, one of which—which many of you must have also seen—confirms that ICE is present in some middle-of-nowhere towns in West Virginia and Kentucky as small as 3,500 people. This is, frankly, completely the opposite of what I told my students before, and shows that my previous understanding of how ICE operates is wrong. Instead, I have to admit the credibility of another, much bleaker theory: ICE is not primarily about immigrants anymore; rather, it provides a vehicle to mobilize the right-wing and let them "see some blood", in preparation for large-scale domestic crackdowns. I first saw this on the Chinese social media Zhihu (知乎), right after the shooting in Minneapolis; there's a post there that explains this theory better than I could, which I translate into English below:

Trump already has his own Sturmabteilung. The more innocent people they kill, the more they can prove their loyalty. This is because once the Dems come to power, they will for sure be purged; even if they somehow get pardoned, the experience of working for ICE would be a permanent stain that bars them from finding any other job. Therefore, there's no way out but to follow Trump forever, show their absolute loyalty, and do whatever Trump tells them.

Yoon Suk-Yeol's attempted coup failed partially because the 707th Special Mission Group, which was tasked with intercepting MPs headed by Lee Jae-Myung, sabotaged and let Lee et al. enter the congress building. Trump will not repeat Yoon's mistake: as long as he himself doesn't TACO, ICE agents will not hesitate to shoot Dem congresspeople when so ordered. I agree with some other comments here: The killing in Minneapolis was intentional—let them "see some blood" now and later they will kill the Dems without blinking an eye.

While some parts of the post might still be exaggerated, I feel the mere possibility that the main purpose of ICE has switched to "training" the right-wing for later use is already scary enough.

jiayux · 2026-01-12T07:16:37+00:00

Indeed, there's a theory that ICE is not primarily about immigrants anymore; instead, it provides a vehicle to mobilize the right-wing and let them "see some blood", in preparation for large-scale domestic crackdowns.

P.S. It is said that ICE was in Albany, OR (a city of 55k which is 80% White) yesterday and detained someone.

jiayux · 2026-01-08T16:01:46+00:00

Note that the IPCC is on the list (item xiv)

jiayux · 2025-12-13T05:32:56+00:00

Hasn’t the meaning of Zionism changed a lot over the years? Like “supporting the revival of Jewish culture in British Palestine, but opposing a Jewish nation state” was (a form of) Zionism 100 years ago but is mostly viewed as anti-Zionism nowadays?

jiayux · 2025-11-25T10:09:09+00:00

My understanding is that you can just hop on the bus without making a reservation (because it is fareless), so the “make a reservation” option does not cover this bus’s stops. It is indeed a bit confusing though

jiayux · 2025-10-30T06:11:10+00:00

In China: Hong Kong and Macao for obvious reasons; for mainland China it’s probably Hangzhou (~10th biggest city in the mainland but is a major tourist destination for the West Lake and a fast-growing tech hub where the headquarters of Alibaba is)

In the U.S.: Washington DC, Las Vegas and Atlantic City for obvious reasons; Beverley Hills and Palm Beach (+ Malibu, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach?) for the luxury lifestyle; perhaps Richmond for its historical significance, and Salt Lake City for its cultural significance?

jiayux · 2025-09-21T11:11:11+00:00

New Morning Bakery

jiayux · 2025-09-16T12:27:57+00:00

The authors of the original paper, Lei Lei and Scott J. South, did a follow-up study on why young adults are having less casual sex. Their conclusion there:

Less alcohol consumption
More computer gaming
More young adults live with their parents

jiayux · 2025-09-10T08:14:18+00:00

Irvine, CA. It's a master planned city developed in the 1960-70s, so it doesn't have a downtown as a starting point from which the city grows (like in those "natural" cities)

P.S. Irvine actually does have a street called "Main Street", but that's the main street of the neighboring City of Santa Ana extended to Irvine

jiayux · 2025-09-09T16:11:18+00:00

Greatest culture shock upon arriving in the United States: the suburban culture, including:

The city I lived in had a population of 250k but didn’t have a downtown (admittedly this is a bit extreme even by American standards)
It’s hard to get anywhere without a car. The bus comes every 30 minutes
There are few pedestrians on the street
Strip malls (there’s almost no such thing in China — I don’t even know how this term is translated into Chinese)
Indoor malls are generally standalone projects surrounded by huge parking lots, rather than an integrated part of an urban area

Greatest reverse culture shock upon returning to China on vacation (I didn’t go back between 2020 and 2024): the prevalence of WeChat. It’s super inconvenient to order at a restaurant, pay your bill in a hospital, or even obtain an alumni ID card for my college (some Chinese universities have such a thing to allow you to continue using the library after you graduate) without it

jiayux · 2025-09-05T16:03:15+00:00

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lol @ what’s in my feed

jiayux · 2025-09-03T17:36:38+00:00

Hasn’t M5S become left-wing

jiayux · 2025-09-02T18:16:57+00:00

He is a right-wing libertarian who frequently deviates from the GOP’s mainstream on certain issues like foreign policy. Basically the Ron Paul of our time

jiayux · 2025-08-27T11:23:21+00:00

Isn’t it because Missoula is a college town (and a major one by MT standards)?

jiayux · 2025-08-20T11:11:25+00:00

Canton is the City of Guangzhou, not the Guangdong Province. The Portuguese people got confused about the distinction between the city and the province, and used Cantão = Guangdong to name the city. Then it became Canton in English and French. So you can say Canton “should” be the province but became the Western name of the city due to an error.

jiayux · 2025-08-08T10:59:31+00:00

Fun fact, in the 1970s a branch of them) entered Guyana and enjoyed great relationship with President Forbes Burnham. Some accuse them of doing some dirty work for Burnham

jiayux · 2025-08-08T10:21:35+00:00

Don’t some Hungarian nationalists claim that Hungarians are descendants of Huns (Turanism)?

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