Yes, mark it down as “criminal income” so they don’t ask questions

This is uh…

Yea it’s been exactly about 4 years since I put down my book to go to sleep and never picked it back up. Yes I have ADHD too.

And it was an interesting book! It was a Discworld book and I’ve heard it’s one of the funniest ones.

I’ve got rhubarbs in the garden, been there as long as I can remember, in the same spot even. Still consistently getting rhubarbs every year, more than I can eat.

Rhubarb based alcoholic beverages tend to be a bit too dry for me personally, but you do you. I know a bunch of people like them.

And China will also have to cut costs when having an aging society really hits them. Rampant capitalism won’t save them there.

lol

Yes, they industrialized. Same thing happened more or less everywhere else, just earlier, because China stayed an agrarian society for longer than many other countries.

The reason other countries can’t say the same though, is that they don’t have 800,000,000 people in the first place. Well India does, but then they’ve also lifted a few hundred million people out of extreme poverty in the last decade or so. We’ll see what the numbers are like for 2015-2055 in… 29 years I guess.

We have working healthcare in most of the west, with fewer billionaires. I’d in fact say much of the west has even better healthcare than China.

The US doesn’t, but then both the US and China are ultracapitalist nightmares.

How exactly are the billionaires good for China’s healthcare?

lol

It’s also probably mostly BlackRock index funds. Which means tons of retail investors are part of this ownership.

All that work has paid off for China.

True, they’re minting new billionaires faster than any other country in the world.

Interesting, and I thought it was the workers who generated the wealth. Perhaps it should not belong to them after all then. Why tax the billionaires at all if they’re the ones generating the wealth?

They side with the weak to obtain power, but as CGP Grey said, the keys for keeping power aren’t the same as the keys for obtaining power. You usually turn your back on whoever helped you win once you’re in power, particularly if you’re a dictator (and let’s be honest, “dictatorship of the proletariat” is still dictatorship of the vanguard over the proletariat)

Yes, exactly like the working class in the US controls the government and holds the reins of the economy.

embracing some limited capitalism

They were embracing some limited capitalism last century. They’re fully capitalist now, minting more brand new billionaires every year than any other country. Per capita the US still has more, but not for long. China’s working with some pretty bad inequality.

It’s actually good for your drainage system to flush more often than strictly necessary. And the public sewer system actually.

It’s the metabolism one.

I could consume 4000 kcal most days as a teenager without putting on weight. That is no longer the case and adjusting has been difficult. I’d need to go near 2000 to lose weight.

In my youth (look, this was like a decade ago, I don’t speed much these days), I had a nice car with superb high-speed stability and a big engine (by my standards at the time anyway). It was a super beautiful spring evening, I’d just put on my grippy summer tires and the road was damn near empty. So I was cruising at 120 km/h and decided to overtake a bus going 90. Well it wasn’t very difficult to go from 120 to 180 in just a few seconds and then I coasted back to a more sane speed fairly quickly.

So when I got pulled over and the cop asked me if I knew how fast I was going, I said “I don’t know the exact number, I was looking at the road not the speedometer, could you tell me?” and was told they caught me at 120 km/h. Nearly sighed out in relief at that point.

Most German cars of the 00s have been limited to 155 mph or 250 km/h since about the 90s or 00s. Assuming they’ve got power to go faster, that is.

They’re not super difficult to unlock I hear. Never needed it myself so I’ve never done it, but if I was the kind to need to run away from police cars limited to 155, well… An unlimited 3 liter diesel without any mods to increase power can do a bit over 155. One with a few supporting mods and a remap can likely do near or over 200 on a budget. If gearing allows. In a car that still look and sounds like your ol’ family tractorwagon. You don’t need to get an RS6 or an M5.

Of course if your car chase is going to last several hours or something, you probably don’t want to do it in a 20 year old wagon you’ve modded in your own garage. But for a highway getaway car that’s also stealthy, that’s what I’d recommend. 5 series, A6, or E-Class wagon, 3 liter diesel (okay, the OM642 is not great - recommend an older 3.2 OM648 instead if you want to push big power).

The French know exactly how to make a car last 10 years and start breaking down after that unfortunately.

I honestly don’t know what would be a good replacement if you do need to get rid of it though. That type of van is a market dominated by the French to the point that “Berlingo” is almost a universal term for them IMO.

Oh it has significantly more sensors than that, trust me.

As for the seatbelt sensor, honestly depends on the cost and how long you plan on keeping it. Without knowing your car, I can’t say for sure, but I suspect it’s a simple switch. The issue may very well also be in the wiring, or the switch could’ve broken loose or something (in which case you’d likely need the belt buckle receptacle thingy).

Personally I’m so annoyed by things like that, I’d fix it. It probably annoys you, and if you do end up selling it rather than keeping it, it’ll annoy the buyer.