Protectionism is also a huge factor, China constantly decries other countries as being "protectionist", meanwhile they are one of the most protectionist countries on the planet. The spying just gives them another excuse to claim that they aren't *REALLY* violating WTO rules, they are just protecting themselves(if the spying thing hadn't come up, some other excuse would have)

One of the artifacts that I've held on to, is my granddad's slide rule. He was an engineer, and I've treasured the slide rule.

As a programmer, I can't think of many artifacts I would be able to give to my daughter, or that she would give to her children. I have kept the old Compaq BASICA reference book that I used as a kid, but without moving parts like a sliderule, it doesn't strike me as cool. It seems like everything is virtual and ephemeral in this time of glass touch screens and constantly upgrading software.

None-the-less -- something tangible that doesn't take up too much space, -- that could be really important to her.

This doubles as birth control device as well.

... call centre.

I keep thinking that the NSA should just open up it's own free public Dropbox/Drive/SkyDrive, so that we can eliminate redundancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

"You mean, there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies, or hot fudge?"
"Those were thought to be unhealthy, precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true."

Here's my website. I invite anybody to look at the source code, and compare it against your run-of-the-mill WordPress website.

Here are the 249 lines of Python code that I use to render it. In addition to the source code, there are x6 template files (each less than 1KB large), and x1 CSS file (less than 2KB).

What the parent post says, rings true to me.

No need for Django, no need for frameworks, no need for deployment systems beyond DropBox.

"The long term savings in terms of enabling staff to go in and edit stuff live has saved a fortune." -- This especially rings true to me.

"I tried Django and the sheer volume of stuff I needed to do to get the same functionality up was huge and then the staff couldn't edit it because for all that's claimed for Django, there's a big model you have to get in you head before you can start meddling with it, and that means web professionals who cost a lot of money." -- And this too. (And I'm a professional Django developer, by day.)

I heard recently that there are people working on an "Indie Web" concept; I'm all in favor.

...and write a generator, to your own specification.

I put my daughter in front of StarCraft 2 when she was about 5 or 6 years old, and the first thing she did was have the Marines hold a birthday party.

Um, I was speaking economically. While certainly there is a connection between economics and culture, it's nowhere near as strong as you seem to think it is(nor are the cultures all that different, both are at their core confucian societies). I never said that the Japanese would start selling their bonds, but it's doubtful with a savings rate that hovers around 1%(and with the current stagflation may even fall to below 0) that the Japanese can actually afford to buy new ones. Thats why the bonds may increasingly end up in foreign hands. You simply cannot buy bonds if you have no savings.

The really huge gender skew will also likely limit population growth, because among the younger generations there simply are less females, meaning that even if the current birth rate is maintained, you still will end up with fewer people.

Huh? The bubble burst in 1989, the earthquakes were in 2011, they aren't related.

Because China is on track to end up like Japan, an incredibly moribund economy with a shrinking working-age demographic(the population is barely growing and set to peak within a decade), an allergy to any sort of unemployment, even if temporary, and lots and lots of bad debt. I've been saying this for years, China copied the Japanese model right down to the bad debts. Japan has been creating "roads to nowhere" for decades and it has essentially netted them very little besides more debt(Japan has the highest debt to gdp ratio in the G7, something like 250%, though unlike the US debt most of it is still held domestically...for the moment anyway). China today is Japan circa 1988, lots and lots of exuberance, but the writing is on the wall. It will be interesting to see if China can learn from Japan's mistakes. My guess is no since the CCP knows that their biggest weakness is unemployment, but I guess we will see.

Eating the sun seems like the ultimate "fire challenge"