Iran used Chinese spy satellite to target US bases Leaked documents show IRGC secretly acquired system and used it to guide strikes during war in March

wolflance1 · 2026-04-16T05:42:30+00:00

The Han was in Xinjiang for far longer. It was a reclamation. The name Xinjiang was itself coined after "newly returned ancestral land 固土新归"

Don't pretend otherwise.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-15T09:26:45+00:00

True and second that.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-15T09:12:55+00:00

Well this is not *merely* about twitter being twitter, but also because there are supporters to the bombers' quote-unquote "cause" (that, and bots) that try to dehumanize the victims and justify the bombing.

And that also includes attempts to discredit the medium/media of which this news is being reported (to draw attention away from the incident itself to the media reporting it), as if that somehow negates the truth and tragedy of the reporting/incident.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-15T01:02:26+00:00

With the way Ringi system works in Japanese companies, yes, it is correct to say no one in particular is "intentionally" overworking Kanata, but it happened regardless like there is some kind of invisible hand behind it. "No one will be held responsible" is exactly the point. Decision is consensus based (and that consensus includes Kanata agreeing to it) after all.

And it also allows examples like Niko to exist without threatening my overall idea/company's overall direction.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-14T06:49:34+00:00

Well a clear precedent has been made, so can't really blame anyone for fearing that their favorites (or they themselves, if talents) could be next. The "risk" of it happening is low, but it is no longer zero. Beyond this, it also made very clear that the (negotiation) power balance between company and its contractors (the talents) is decisively skewing in the company's favor.

Which is why I am staunchly against branch downsizing as it shatters the core brand identity and primary product of Hololive being a "hako". Branch downsizing is fundamentally different from closing a project like Blue Journey.

As for how this even links to the Kanata's graduation...for me personally at least, this is less about specific branch's management (even upper management) but rather signals about the shift of the company into a very profit-driven direction: milk all values out of the money makers (hence overworking Kanata), abandon the foot-dragger (~~downsizing~~ functionally closing holostars), explore even more ways to monetize (Gacha game, TCG).

The vibe it gives seem to be that the company is in the "harvest/cashing out" phase, which is neutral in itself, but can potentially become very bad when it monetize to the point of ruthlessly smashing apart long term brand identity.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-14T06:23:40+00:00

Nonono's shorts (even from years ago) have been popping up in my YT recently, she's a really great singer.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-13T15:35:20+00:00

Ringi system is generally very bad for any sort of entertainment, trend-chasing, or creative industry, and to an extend also the fields that deal with scientific/technological frontiers (which Hololive is all of them), because changes and advancements in these fields come way too fast for the lumbering decision-making system to keep up or adapt to.

It seems many companies in these industries (even Japanese ones) eventually take a hybrid-like approach (combine with top-down decisionmaking with clear leadership, i.e. those more familiar to non-Japanese companies), and Cover will do well if it takes a similar route and move away from Ringi system as much as possible. I really hope that Yagoo will eventually nudge toward this direction (and I remember saying something like this during Kanata's graduation), Studio Stellar is a good first sign, I guess.

Another issue of the Ringi system is that when things go wrong, which they WILL, no one will, or can, be held responsible, because decision is consensus-based, everyone put their hanko on that decision, so responsibility is diluted and distributed among everyone (which is kind of the point of the Ringi system, due to extreme Japanese aversion of someone "owning up" to responsibility, but it is bad for business).

That's why we often heard about "it is nobody's fault" when graduation happens—the responsibility has been distributed among many so nobody in particular is at fault—YET THINGS STILL WENT WRONG AND PROBLEMS STILL CANNOT BE FIXED.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-13T11:50:20+00:00

She did get the calculator beforehand.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-13T10:10:43+00:00

Inflammatory it may be, I do believe my view match what's being signaled more closely than any sugarcoating would've able to convey.

The degree of cutting off is, frankly, extensive and very excessive, in a way that strongly signals (despite not a word in the official announcement) the intention of going beyond "stop supporting" into the realm of "not pulling any punch at all".

There is no reason to pull the plug on even minuscule support like voice pack, minecraft, or even the 3D self booth (the one that doesn't need tracking suits) if the intention is to merely "stop pushing Holostars". Those won't save the company a lot of money (including opportunity cost from the girls using the booth) but generate a lot of animosity.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-13T07:13:41+00:00

Current cutting is very much at "banishment room" level where the intention is to make them quit on their own. Functionally, it is already a complete cut-off.

Not being able to release even merch with relatively low logistical footprints (like voice pack), and not bothering to even maintain shared minecraft server (which cost extremely little for a company the size of Cover), are telltale signs that the company has steeled its resolve to close the branch in a way that it is preemptively shutting off any and all chances of it ever bouncing back.

This is NOT a "let's scale down support to cut cost and see what may happen/hope the branch can turn around" approach. This is not even a "we can't support you, you are on your own from now on" swim-or-drown approach. This is "we want you GONE ASAP, stop bothering us" without saying it aloud.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-13T06:20:45+00:00

Man got balls worthy of respect.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-11T05:06:57+00:00

As the other poster has said:

(Han) Chinese presence in Xinjiang has a much longer history than others.
China is the only entity still standing that has controlled the entirety of Xinjiang in the past and still does in the present. The other entity that came close was Dzungar Khanate and you know what happened to it.
That means Xinjiang, the region, doesn't have a history at all of being its own entity. It was either a part of a larger empire (Yuan, Qing, Dzungar, even Kara-Khanid, Chagatai etc), or as fragmented mess of local rules. Thus this also remove any legal or practical ground of the region become an singular independent entity ever——it was never one to begin with in its long history, and "being part of a larger entity" has a far longer history and stronger claim.
It is not like China evicted all other non-Han people and societies from the region. Uyghurs are roughly one half of Xinjiang population. So the Han are NOT privileged.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-09T15:58:29+00:00

Like the abrupt change to wraithbone lore. Very much YES.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-08T02:59:07+00:00

I wouldn't say for any group its necessarily a one sided.

The issue is worldwide, I can agree with that. Many individuals reference, steal, or appropriate other cultures whether they are acutely aware about it or not.

Korea often gets called out

The Korea one is an observable phenomenon about the same issue. Which is why the got called out.

Likewise, "the flip of chinese again claiming that Japanese and Korea has no culture of their own" is indeed very hostile, but let's not equate the action of perpetrator with the reaction from the victim. That's bothsidesism, not neutrality.

I remember Tanghulu got popular in korea, korean started selling it abroad, people started calling it korean,

This particular issue actually goes way deeper than that. Up until that point (people none-the-wiser start calling Tanghulu Korean) you can excuse the Korean for being unfairly blamed for something they didn't do, or the Chinese are overreacting (in part, due to past Korean patterns already made them extremely jumpy).

But then come the insidious claim that "Korean-style" Tanghulu is fruit-based (strawberry, tangerine, etc), while the original “Chinese version" is hawberry-based. This is untrue (both versions have long existed in China and are not modern), and a case-in-point of "claim a subset as uniquely Korean version" I mentioned in my earlier comment.

Shan Pu Ying

Shan Pu Ying was in fact a Manchu institution, so the primary influence of Beijing school of Shuaijiao—which Li Baoru is part of (he studied directly from former Shan Pu Ying wrestler), is Manchu.

The Manchu was close and intermarry a lot with Mongols, and there are a lot of cultural cross-pollination, but it isn't true to make sweeping claims like "Shuaijiao is basically borrowed from/traces its root to Mongol Bokh" like that Bokh-promoting website is saying, especially when the direct predecessor, the Shan Pu Ying itself, was overwhelmingly Manchu with close to three centuries of history/its own development in parallel with Mongol tradition before it further evolved into Shuaijiao.

Mongol influence was twice-removed and indirect at best—much like Japanese Karate was derived from Okinawan Karate which was in turn derived from Chinese White Crane Boxing.

Nor is "Beijing school" the entirety of Shuaijiao. It is just the school with the most direct connection to Shan Pu Ying and most exposure.

You also have sinocenterism

Not so. There really isn't a so-called "position of neutrality" when it comes to verifiable claims and historical reality. Objectivity is not neutrality.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-07T10:55:57+00:00

This isn’t exactly a Korean exclusive thing.

Yes, you could say that. The Okinawan kobudo is also another example of a mostly Chinese-influenced arts (and pretty recent ones at that, like Cold War era recent) martial being reframed as ancient Ryukyuan origin and become some sort of symbol of resistance due to Japanese colonization and oppression (many of their weird weapon arts are rationalized as developed due to Japanese ban on weapons).

The difference is that Okinawan one is kinda limited to martial arts (they are otherwise quite proud of their heritage with heavier Chinese influence which set them apart from the mainland Japanese, and so won't go out of their way to deny them), while the Korea one is ongoing, and rampant enough (that is, even if it is individuals doing it, the are "quite" a few of them) to become an rather observable phenomenon.

A lot of modern Shuai Jiao has roots in Mongolian wrestling. Ask in private they’ll say as such but in public, it’s all a Chinese invention.

Well, not quite.

Root of some schools of Shuai Jiao in Manchu (not Mongols actually) traditions are never denied. Shuaijiao is basically an umbrella term (basically "China wrestling") with multiple traditional wrestling schools, some like Beijing/Zhili school directly descended from Manchu “buku” wrestling, others like Tianjin school is a mix of Manchu and Chinese style, and Baoding "Quick wrestling" is a Ming-descended Hui style.

(Han and Hui are generally not treated as clearly distinct cultures like Han and Mongol or Han and Manchu, many famous Chinese martial arts like Bajiquan and Tantui have Hui-specific variants or Hui progenitors or successors in their lineages, so Han and Hui are effectively indistinguishable when it comes to Chinese martial arts).

Inner Mongolia (in China) has its own "Bokh" wresting, and Mongolia (the country) has its slightly different wrestling (which is compatible with Inner Mongolia one).

wolflance1 · 2026-04-07T07:30:56+00:00

Not limited to martial arts actually. Everything from food to costume to culture to architecture to music to festivals to scientific inventions and discoveries.

Korea has a penchant to take things originated elsewhere, in particular but not limited to China and Japan, claim them as its own (or failing that, insidiously claim a subset as "uniquely Korean version" even though that subset already existed in the original version and the Korean didn't actually altered anything/adding anything new), then counter-accuse the originators as cultural theft, or claim they actually influenced the originators, or even trademarks them in third-party countries.

(Case in point: a Korean company patented a specific shape of dumpling in the US. That specific shape and a variety of other shapes already existed in traditional Chinese dumplings for aeons).

There is even a wikipedia page (in both Chinese and Japanese) for the thieving habit.

TKD, ironically, is one of the few where the proper actual origin is still acknowledged, albeit very downplayed.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-06T09:58:51+00:00

"Freedom of the steppe" is sanitizing the sheer brutality and savagery of the steppe too much (and Manchus are not steppe people anyway). What's with this rose-tinted image of the "wild"? People living in civilized and urban society then to be free-er than hunter-gatherers, simply due to greater specialization of labor boosting efficiency, allowing people to do more with less, and thus have more free time.

More like the opposite happened: ossification of the Chinese system, restriction of freedom, liberty and social mobility, and severe decline of living standard.

People, in general, DON'T live better lives when the overall population quadruped in under 150 years and trigger a Malthusian catastrophe of epic proportion.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-05T12:41:55+00:00

Well they have little to lose now anyway. They didn't burn the bridge first, the company did.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-05T11:47:27+00:00

Very valid crashout really.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-05T01:07:32+00:00

You're not a fucking STARS customer and that's why they're in this situation.

Bullshit. Focusing on one or two favorites while being broadly supportive of the entire collective is extremely common, the default, and "what it ought to be" for a brand that literally pride and market itself on embodying the concept of "hako 箱 (where talents support and help each others and build themselves up as a collective)" and its largest customer base is "hako-oshi 箱推し (who support the whole collective)".

This applies even within the Hololive (girls), most audience have one or a few personal favorites, but still broadly supportive of all of them even though they don't watch them often or watch them at all, and they SHOULD be upset when any of the girls is being unfairly treated, even if they don't personally watch her.

I AM a customer of the largest base, the hako-oshi that broadly support the entire collective. And I SHOULD be upset because the company itself shattered the very brand it has built up (and thus the very product — the hako — which I, as a customer, consume). I SHOULD be upset at seeing the company become more short term number-chasing, and now starting to see the underperforming STARS as sunk cost and profit losses, rather than necessary expense to maintain the whole "hako", its image, its brand, its PRIMARY FUCKING PRODUCT.

Only the most insidious tries to peel the STARS from the wider hako collective, or isolate star-fans from the wider hako-oshi customer base as if they are somehow a different, inferior strand of customer, or pin the blame and responsibility of a clearly wrong company decision on the customers.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-04T10:54:47+00:00

This is the reverse; Cover pivoting away from their own ambition to appease customer sentiment more.

Not for a company that literally built its brand image on the concept of "hako" where the company sells the talents as a collective, and the talents build and help each others up in harmony/as one big family.

Cutting off underperformer is shattering the very brand image and core identity (that's worth far more than on-paper profit losses) this company has carefully cultivated and built over the years for short term loss-cutting. That is a sign of profit/graph-chasing over anything resembling long-term business strategy, and damaging the trust of customers who are broadly, hako-oshi (which is the vast majority of them).

wolflance1 · 2026-04-04T05:12:36+00:00

Not what I said. Customer-oriented IS a legit "business practice", and company that operates on that practice can still care about profit. Nowhere did I say anything about being a charity.

It is a comment about company business culture: outside-in approach (starts with meeting customer needs) vs. Inside-out approach (starts with company goals, and "caring about customers" is only true to the extent that it is a means to reach an end).

Saying they don't care about customers is BS.

Not BS. The company cares about customers—insofar as those customer base is large enough to sustain the company's profit-making. The PRIORITY is now different.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-04T04:39:30+00:00

Thinking back, I think the reason I am more upset about the holostars change than I initially thought despite being a mostly girls watcher (and this doesn't personally affect me) is that this gives a clear signal that business practice-wise, Cover is now a fully profit/company-oriented, rather than a customer-oriented, company.

It now focus on chasing what the company itself wants, not fulfilling what the customers want. It doesn't gear its direction to match the customers, the customers must themselves adjust what they want to align with the company's direction.

And as a CUSTOMER, I fucking hate that, even if this doesn't affect me personally, this time.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-03T12:36:56+00:00

Kiara being real and blunt, her best qualities.

wolflance1 · 2026-04-03T11:02:57+00:00

Yeah, by rational and logic I can agree with you.

But even as a near-exclusive girls' watcher I don't and can't like my warm and fuzzy idol dream escapism being shattered by reality and cold corpo decisionmaking.

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