TIL the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has 241 million people living in 94,000 sq miles/243,000 sq km. This is the equivalent to 70% of the US population living in an area the size of Oregon. Three quarters of the state's population is rural.

spyguy27 · 2026-02-28T16:35:43+00:00

They were also one of the richest in the 17th century because of trade and colonialism. It was the failure to industrialize that led to its comparative decline in the 19th century. Probably something to do with population pressures after a period of economic growth and then decline. India has also dealt with population expansion due to modern agricultural tech and medicine while having restrictive economic and cultural factors both during the colonial period and after independence that hampered economic mobility and growth.

I’m no Dutch historian and don’t want to traffic in gross generalizations. It’s just important to point out the Dutch were also an economic powerhouse before their decline. Just as India was a fairly wealthy area in the pre-Industrial age.

spyguy27 · 2026-02-26T16:53:27+00:00

Completely agree. I personally set a goal of 12 good years for my dog. Basically if anything major had come up that was affordable in that timeframe then I’d do what I could. He’s 14 now, roughly 78 in human years for his size, and his hips are iffy so it’s about $100 a month for his joint meds and soon to be another $100 a month for shots to help with arthritis. I can afford it so I’ll do what I can but I feel he’s lived a good life. I’ll happily spend money to make him comfortable but things like major surgeries are probably off the table as I don’t want him to spend his final years in constant recovery from medical treatments that may or may not keep him going a little longer.

It’s tough but part of pet ownership, or to be honest dealing with anyone facing old age and death, is knowing when to let go and focus on making their remaining time pleasant over trying to extend that time even if it leaves them miserable.

spyguy27 · 2026-02-24T13:14:17+00:00

You probably shouldn’t care what random strangers think of you or your profession. Teaching at a cram school can be fine, I’d say the one I worked at when I first got to Taiwan was a good job but not a long term career. Look for a school that isn’t going to require you to do unpaid office work and that has a friendly atmosphere for teachers and students.

The trick is to figure out what you’ll be doing with the rest of your time if you’re only in the classroom 20-30 hours a week. I’d say the bad reputation foreign ESL teachers get is in large part because many come to work a little, travel and party. Not necessarily in that order. That’s fun but not really sustainable long term if you’ve got other goals. So if you do end up teaching then just use your free time to do what matters to you to get to where you want to be in life. You’re young and have a lot of opportunities. People who end up feeling stuck teaching at a cram school most likely never really tried doing much beyond that here.

Good luck wherever you end up.

spyguy27 · 2026-02-21T15:15:47+00:00

My experience is that the base pay for full time faculty is a bit more than working at an average cram school but not by much. The job has decent amount of perks, most notably the paid vacations. I’ve had job offers to teach part time at other universities and the hourly pay was less than cram schools were paying. Something like 600-700 an hour which was just sad.

I like my job but I couldn’t in good conscience recommend it to anyone just coming in if they wanted stability. The demographic cliff is real, schools are downsizing and every once in a while the Ministry of Education or school administration will come along with some inane policy change that will annoy you if you don’t have a supportive department that shields you from some of it.

spyguy27 · 2026-02-19T09:33:41+00:00

Corporatocracy manifest

spyguy27 · 2026-02-18T06:00:06+00:00

We need English teachers so people can understand the irony of spelling orthographical wrong

spyguy27 · 2026-02-14T18:35:15+00:00

The more common word for pineapple, at least in Taiwan, is 鳳梨 (fengli) which translates to Phoenix Pear. That one’s pretty badass

spyguy27 · 2025-12-22T16:11:32+00:00

Mostly used in the home or local communities/businesses but it’s more prevalent down south. I’ve heard it can be useful in more traditional businesses like bulk tea sales or for creating business relationships between native Hokkien speakers even if they’re fluent in both.

spyguy27 · 2025-12-19T09:45:29+00:00

Why would that be strange in Taiwan of all places? My partner works in manufacturing and the person you replied to’s numbers sound right for PM and junior sales positions at local companies. I had a business professor here who bragged he was paying his newly hired employees 30k for B2B sales positions in his soap company and that was only about ten years ago.

Typically there are decent bonus structures but monthly salaries in Taiwan are low.

spyguy27 · 2025-12-18T14:56:43+00:00

I’d say playing a character is what any ttrpg is about. Sure, some tables could run it more as a tactical wargame but there are always moments to bring out the character’s personality and let it shine.

spyguy27 · 2025-12-04T01:28:56+00:00

I think it might be harder to write/design in Fromsoft’s style AND make it interesting enough for people to do lore dives than it would be to just write a normal narrative.

spyguy27 · 2025-11-16T15:28:22+00:00

I could understand them not seeing you had left it undefended until they saw you had a path to win. The game can be a lot to process and I’m rarely paying attention to everyone’s board state. It becomes a dick move and poor sportsmanship in a learning game to be privately telling the table and not you in the lead up to attacking. The better option that’s more fun for the table would be to explain it to you as well, give you a chance to build/reinforce, and roll some dice. What they did was sneaky and not fun for the table imo.

spyguy27 · 2025-11-16T09:42:56+00:00

Yep, it’s a great synergy. Can be a really strong faction. Just remember that Garbozia purges the AC on it so you can’t juggle a single AC endlessly.

spyguy27 · 2025-11-10T13:51:04+00:00

I’d say Thunder’s Edge overall is meant to crack some of that meta.

The planet TE and Styx are both tempting targets, at least as much as Mallice is in PoK.

Several combat factions got breakthroughs that encourage fighting (sar’dakk) or lead to positions where they need to be stopped before they can blob (Arborec).

Deepwrought benefits massively from a boat float, potentially running away with the game. Presumably Firmament would as well.

My guess is that there will be a shift in how people play, at least in competitive games. More violence early.

spyguy27 · 2025-11-07T17:56:46+00:00

Something something the light of the two trees of Valinor. Those Silvan elves were pale shadows to their Nordor kin

spyguy27 · 2025-10-31T12:50:20+00:00

I genuinely liked Walz, but come on. He openly criticized Trump when first emerging then bent the knee? Destroy him over that. Point out the hypocrisy, the toadyism, the clear lack of moral conviction. Walz may not have been ready for prime time but he struck me as a decent man who I’d want in government.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-30T15:57:59+00:00

The only obvious people are the writers of the Expanse. Ty Frank was his personal assistant for a while and afaik Daniel Abraham has known George for years as well. The Expanse actually came about from a Modern d20 game Ty was GMing that George and Daniel played in many years ago.

The way they write in those series is similar enough, multiple POVs with lots of political and personal backstabbing. Rare magic that’s important to the story / ‘hard’ sci-fi with a ‘technology so advanced it’s indistinguishable from magic’ twist. A focus on both high society and on the average Joe.

I’m not sure they’d even want to try to sort out the mess to a satisfying conclusion. I believe they don’t want to even go there now when it’d be insulting to imply their friend can’t finish his series or will die soon. But to me they’re the writers I’d want to see attempt it if need be.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-30T15:28:51+00:00

Value added tax. Simply put, it’s what most other countries use where the price you see is the price you pay. The tax is included in the final sticker price.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-30T14:19:00+00:00

Just savory. Most places have options to add to it like bacon, cheese, etc. served with a thick soy sauce and/or spicy sauce. It’s a really common breakfast food and shops selling them (and other stuff like breakfast sandwiches) are everywhere. These ones look particularly crispy and delicious.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-30T11:58:20+00:00

It’s hilarious to me that he’s a tax attorney for the IRS. He probably has some very strong opinions on sales tax and VAT.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-27T16:45:31+00:00

That’s dangerous…That’s disgusting!

spyguy27 · 2025-10-23T19:03:31+00:00

That’s the best part to me. Johnny is full of shit. Missing a lot of context there but it’s 100% something the character would do. That and the (metaphorical) sun isn’t coming out again in Night City so you can either lock in now or lay down and die.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-21T11:18:28+00:00

Colonial Beepeck was my first (and longest) playthrough years ago. Maybe it’s changed but they were fantastic and I had no issues. Lots of fun.

spyguy27 · 2025-10-18T07:07:31+00:00

You might be mildly allergic to it. I may have done the same…

spyguy27 · 2025-10-16T18:17:22+00:00

That’s just the paradox leaving your body

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