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Forums > Study > Topics of Discussion

@Peter: How would that apply to deciding about the idea of sticking to the point of a discussion on gokunming?

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Forums > Study > Topics of Discussion

@Peter: No, other than normal visa applications and Immigration controls at entry points, and address etc. registration at the local PBS. Same as you and everybody else on here, I'd guess.

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Forums > Study > Trump VS. The Resistance

I don't know about this guy, but I'll agree, for what it's worth, that labels get shifted around and acquire new meanings. One example might be the way in which Left and Right have different meanings in Europe and the US, where people who consider themselves on the Right tend to think that the Democratic Party is the Left. All right - but then what do, or can, they do when they try to get their heads around what the Left might mean almost anywhere else? Globally, I think, in most areas, the opinion might be that both the US Democrats and the US Republicans are both right-wing, but no they're not Nazis - with a few exceptions.
Simple bipolar distinctions are useful in some contexts and are destructive to clear thought in others - categories are never universally perfect, but you can't think without them - computers can do 0/1, but then they can't go beyond it without human intervention.

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Forums > Study > Topics of Discussion

No attempt to control, but an plea for a consensus that allows everyone to have the kind of discussion he/she wants to have. My use of -1 almost always simply means "I can't figure out the relevance of what you're saying" - if I agree or disagree with it, I'll say so, and usually say why. So I rarely use +1.
I appreciate gokunming's attitude concerning all this.

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Forums > Study > Topics of Discussion

If you only want a moan from lousy expats you can have it, but I don't think I'm the only one who has other interests as well. Why not start a Lousy Expat Moan thread? I'll moan, and complain about other people's personalities there too. Seems to me that's why there are different topics in the first place. These forums can be virtually anything we want them to be, and it's unsurprising that different people have different interests and attitudes.

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Problem comes from systemic, actively-promoted reliance on air travel, which by any reasonable standard is neither necessary (except for real emergencies (e.g., Philippine relief), not just speeded-up business relations) nor sustainable for the atmosphere, natural-resource usage, etc.

In short, get a horse.

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Blobbles, I agree - but largest/best effect in past performance needs to be examined carefully, that's all - on a $ for $-value basis, and also on the appropriateness of the aid delivered, who gets it, etc. There is also sometimes the question of hidden agendas, such as certain types of 'assistance' offered by the US Agency for International Development, which has been involved in warmaking and promoting economic exploitation - but this is a bit off track and leads to the whole question of 'development', which is often a misleading term. I also think the combination 'criminal/revolutionary' might be separated out a bit.

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There really is a problem with having the chengguan do the regulation, since they are sometimes a bit brutal. The main problem with the interference with vehicle traffic, however, is that there is too much vehicle traffic, not too many street sellers. As for the audio speakers, I find them annoying, and I think it's absurd to imagine that they actually enable anybody to sell more items and make more money, especially in areas where everybody's got one. But I don't really think the idea of Noise Pollution has hit home here, and probably won't for quite awhile.

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mmkunmingteacher, I sympathize about street marketing in general, though I don't call it 'lovely charm', and am happy to accept the minor inconveniences that it sometimes causes. However, anything can get out of hand, as Wenhuaxiang has (with potentialities for, and realities of, actual violence), and there is nothing 'un-Asian' about the idea of regulation (I take it you are not from an Asian culture, all of which are different from each other).

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Suggestion for Americans: skip the Thanksgiving dinners, send the cash to the Philippines. Suggestion to retail restaurants serving such dinners: send you profits to the Philippines. Suggestion to everybody: watch how people really behave, given the choice. Suggested thought experiment: why is it like this, really (obvious answers to be reconsidered)?

Reviews

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Not quite what you'd call a jumping place, but not bad at all for rather standard US-type meals, not overly expensive, and with a really good salad bar that's cheap, or free with most dinner dishes after 5:30PM. You can get a bottle of beer or even wine if you really want to, but I've never seen anybody do it - maybe that's just to take out. Chinese Christian run, and they hire people with physical disadvantages, who are pleasant and helpful. Frequented by foreign (mostly North American) Christians and Chinese Christians - was started by a Canadian couple associated with Bless China (previously, Project Grace), who are no longer here, but no religious pressure or any of that. Steaks are nothing special, and I avoid the Korean dishes, which I've had a few times but which did not impress me.

As a shop and bakery, it's very good bread at reasonable prices, of various kinds (Y18 for a good multigrain loaf that certainly weighs well over a pound. Other stuff too, like granola and oatmeal that is local, as well as imported things, including American cornflakes and so forth, which some people seem to require.

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Large portions, seriously so with the pizza, which is Brooklyn/American style, I guess. Convivial, conversational, good place to drink with good folks on both sides of the bar, especially after about 9PM.

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Really good pizza and steaks. The wine machine fuddles me when I'm a bit fuddled, & seems unnecessary. Good folks on both sides of the bar.