Evangelicals are an almost entirely US phenomenon. In the rest of the world, Protestant countries like Germany and the UK are more liberal than Catholic countries like Ireland and Italy. For example, Italy “legalised” abortion in 1978 but the vast majority of gynaecologists refuse to perform them on religious grounds. Ireland didn’t legalise until… 2019!

I think people in the future will look back on how we raise livestock today as barbaric.

You Oughta Know isn’t even from the 21st century.

Aviation types still hang out on Pprune.org.

The BoJ measures inflation to help it manage the economy. It’s not a political tool. As an individual, changes in your cost of living are personal to you. You don’t need the central bank or the government to tell you about it.

Obviously, the BoJ isn’t focused on individuals. It wants to see what’s happening across the whole economy. Through research that is freely available, it has determined that the index provides a more reliable signal when volatile fresh food prices are excluded (because the things that typically cause these prices to change, like the weather, don’t reflect a broad shift in the economy).

You’re wrong that energy isn’t included. That sentence is referring to a different (“core-core CPI”) index, which is higher at 4% because energy prices have gone down. Japan’s energy problems are as result of the post-Fukushima shift from nuclear, largely a result of public opinion.

Put simply, CPI isn’t a measure of “cost of living“. It’s a tool for central bank policy.

A huge amount of the pollution comes from farmers burning stubble. The solution to that isn’t complex.

Louis talks about this exact issue on his Hot Ones interview.

So is My Dad Wrote a Porno, isn’t it?

However, Reply All’s PJ Vogt has a new podcast called Search Engine which is good.

People don’t “need” to say that.

There are almost as many westerners in the UAE as there are Emiratis. They are all participants in the exploitation.

Yellowbeard. Starring Peter Cook, most of Monty Python, Cheech and Chong, Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan… what’s not to love?

The minister in charge of HSR was sentenced to death for corruption.

China is legally required to pay fair market value and rehouse displaced peoples

Lol.

Guess what? Being an authoritarian government means never having to ask permission to steal someone’s land, rip up a pristine habitat or demolish an entire village. Those types of considerations are what make infrastructure expensive in democratic countries.

It’s hard to read the Torah without understanding that Judaism emerged from a sea of competing religions.

Moses only went up a mountain for five minutes and the Israelites started worshipping a golden calf. And the first three commandments he came down the mountain with are basically a ban on polytheism.

Maybe this dude should rip up the Torah?

Part of the problem is that many government’s don’t fund infrastructure investment themselves. By privatising utilities and other vital infrastructure they can appear to “cut spending”. Of course, in reality the cost is much higher (and/or the investment is much lower) because privatised entities need to make a margin and (by definition) have higher borrowing costs than the government.

Reuters is a news wire — ie, newspapers pay to “copy” its stories. It’s not lazy. It’s why Reuters exists.

Worst rush-hour traffic in Asia is a hotly contested title, but Manila wins fairly easily. One time I was there, it took an hour for my taxi to get out of the hotel grounds. Bangkok seems efficient in comparison.

Worst rush-hour traffic in Asia is a hotly contested title, but Manila wins fairly easily. One time I was there, it took an hour for my taxi to get out of the hotel grounds. Bangkok seems efficient in comparison.

The Economist ranks it on par with Poland, which is a member of the EU.

The downgrading of India’s democracy is basically related to the rise of Hindu nationalism, especially under Modi, and the suppression of freedoms of speech and religion. These are serious and concerning issues, to be sure, but like I mentioned, India is a diverse country and the fact that these tensions have been kept in check for so long is the real surprise. Even Sweden is buckling under the pressure of a (relatively) tiny influx of racial/religious diversity.