Not that you don't bring up some good points but consider this slightly re-worded sentence you wrote;

Everything I'm reading in English says they are dangerously close to bursting

Some of their other infrastructure is coming in the form of high speed rail, with many parts of it functioning already. Rail links to the rest of Europe are already planned and being built. While there may be ghost cities right now, the 'plan' is to have the infrastructure in place for the hordes coming in from the rural areas, to avoid such nasty things like 'tin shack villages' and overcrowding becoming commonplace, like many other countries have experienced when population growth far exceeded the ability of local infrastructure to be built.

I think it is hard for many westerners to really understand what is going on in many parts of China. The growth that was once limited to coastal cities, is spreading into more central locations of the country, to take advantage of the population distribution. Human rights, and pollution controls aside(and those really are BIG things to us, and rightfully so), they are absolutely doing almost a perfect job of bringing their country into a more-than-modern era.

As far as them 'busting'. The likelihood of that happening is much smaller than it was here, or in any of the problem EU countries like greece, portugal, iceland, and italy. Why? They actually have rather sane lending policies when it comes to housing. I have been hearing the line that there is a bubble in China for just about a decade now, mainly from westerners who think that their lending practices closely match ours(they don't), and just by looking at the growth similarities, a parallel is able to be drawn to our meteoric rise, and subsequent fall(it isn't) in real estate.

It has been about 5 years since I looked when I last heard this same 'rumor' of a bubble going around since I really looked at the financial requirements and legal framework, and I do imagine some of that has changed(possibly the restriction on second homes was lifted in that time, Im not sure), but there are a LOT of reasons why what appears to be a bubble in China, is only a buibble when looked at through the experience of western eyes. I won't say something stupid like 'it's different this time', but there are serious structural and behavioral differences that make a comparison between our two economies incredibly hard to do without spending a large portion of your waking hours immersing yourself in the differences between the frameworks of the two systems.

End result, learn Chinese. Worst case, you expand your knowledge. Best case, you(more likely your children) don't become a slave.

I have a well for my house, with a commercial reverse osmosis filtering system. So no, I don't realize that.

Aside from that, most of the cities around me get their drinking water directly from Lake Michigan. The 'sewage' that you mention gets treated and sold as 'soil' at the local home improvement store after being mixed with sand to prevent clumping. The fluid component also gets treated and sent off to agriculture where it is used as fertilizer. Any other reclaimed water is used mainly for irrigation or industrial uses, and not drinking water.

You only have a surface understanding of these processes, and it doesn't apply to very many actual cities, and millions of people. In actuality, there are probably only a few thousand people in the US who directly get drinking water from treated sewage like you describe.

Personally, my next position pays 8% more than the previous one that I left.

Just about the ONLY people who are taking a 'step down' like this are the real estate agents who were part of the building of the last bubble in the first place. Did you ever think they were being overpaid in the first place, and now the market has adjusted down to more correctly reflect their skill set?

This is true

OHHHH... this guy eh? Let me go look closer at his data then...

Well look at that, he decided to cherry pick his data to only a few weeks before the incident to use as his 'comparison'. Going back further, even only as far back as he then goes forwards, shows no such spike at all, and it becomes clear that the normal fluctuation of the rate of infant mortality falls within the bands being described. Suddenly, the weeks afterwards just seem to be regular background noise of the data. But, only going back a few weeks before, and cutting off the results immediately prior to that where the data doesn't fit the angle you are trying to sell, (usually called cherry-picking the data) suddenly shows this 'drastic' 35% increase.

The guy is a shill, and if you would have done the ACTUAL FUCKING MATH yourself, you would know that. Instead, you just looked around until you found someone that did the right cherry-picking of data to fit your already pre-conceived notions of what you think should be happening.

Math is hard, posting links is easy. Going forward, it will be best for you to assume that if you aren't going to do the math yourself and understand any possible flaws in the means taken to gather those numbers, it is very likely you will be lied to without knowing it.

That is rather disingenuous, and I think you know it.

'Tornadoes', here in the US, are graded on a 5 level scale, from EF0 through EF5.

An EF-0 tornado has winds between 65-85mph(105-135km/h). The strongest tornado to hit the UK in the past 200 years was the equivalent to an EF-2(93 and 130mph). A basic, run of the mill winter storm, has stronger gusts in the UK on a yearly basis. Here in the US, there are residential stick houses that could functionally survive the worst tornado the UK has seen in modern times.

To not design a nuclear reactor to even minimally survive winds that houses in the US could survive, is not a realistic problem. It would never happen. I would go so far as to say it is almost impossible, unless you plan to build your reactors out of 1x2 stick wood-frame buildings. A metal shed with aluminum supports would be enough in 99% of the cases. Moving to concrete, even non-reenforced, would bring that to 100%. To avoid any possible problems, add in some re-bar, and I would feel perfectly safe living right next door to a nuclear plant that would take a direct hit, when it comes to the strength of the tornadoes in the UK.

Being afraid of the word 'tornado' makes no more sense than being afraid of the word 'nuclear'. It arouses fear in people who do not understand it, but the mechanics and consequences can be easily comprehended and dealt with by those who do.

*I've been directly under an EF-5 tornado in my past, that obliterated everything above ground level, as well as watching a EF-0 roll right through my front yard from my living room window. It would be foolish to fear them both in the same way, just as it is foolish to fear anything with the word nuclear in it.

I have never seen so many AC posts in any thread as I do in BC threads.

Although, they all seem to think its so odd that I read things I don't agree with though. As if going outside of ones comfort zone is somehow a 'bad thing'.

Hello Anonymous COWARD.

It feels just fine to not have my ideas set in stone, and always see the possibility of things changing for the better, and being open to watching for them to occur.

Although, it does feel good that you find me important enough to not only track my comments, but to bring up past ones I have made that you have bookmarked in the hopes of a 'gotcha-moment'. I doubt anyone cares enough about your ideas enough to do the same. In fact, you haven't seemed to post any ideas, instead hitching on to the ideas of others for the contents of your own comments. A machine can think at that level.

This is life son, keeping a closed mind offers no benefits to you. Trying to find your own personal worth in the posts of others' changing ideas over time, simply shows that yours don't.

Feel free to not post anonymously next time, although I doubt you have the integrity to do that. Until you do, you are just a sad, sad little boy in the world. One that is undoubtedly taken advantage of by others on a regular basis, due to your lack of self-identification and your worth attached to nothing more than the ideas of others.

Unlike you, I have people that I communicate with here other than in the comments, and while it's frustrating to have to sort through the non-stop barrage of bitcoin advertisements to get to that point, I still would like to communicate with them. You see, this is how ideas are formed, and changed. I am willing to admit that my ideas can change, or that I made a mistake. You on the other hand, seem to see it as a sign of weakness that people can change their thought patterns... that must be a horrible life to live, always sticking to your guns no matter how much it hurts you... all for the sake of your non-existent pride, and the silly concept of ego that you must possess. Therein lies the difference between us; you are controlled by your ego, whereas I control my ego.

Please, keep following me. It seems to fit your personality nicely. The rest of us are leaders, and will lead you followers around for the entirety of your life.

That's funny, I have the same feelings about the non-stop spam of BitCoin stories on slashdot that seem to be programmed to appear no matter when I sign on in the hopes that the fad has finally passed.

To be fair, the 'pump' phase of pump-and-dump has not quite ended yet. However, the signs are starting to show that it is near. It doesn't matter if its stocks, commodities, or tulips. When the volatility begins to swing wildly like it currently is for bitcoins, the 'dump' phase is not far away.

I stopped reading slashdot for awhile, because of this blatant garbage. If I wanted to read a bunch of shills, I would read ITworld.

Low and behold, I finally come back today, and there is ANOTHER bitcoin story(non-story). Slashdot just lost a reader, and I've been here for oh... 14 years.

Not if it's the sheriffs office I don't.

Around here, that's a quick way to get charged with a felony possession of govt property. You see, authority doesn't usually like it known that they are making mistakes, and will put the blame and hardship on the kind person who points them out, instead of taking responsibility for it.

No, but it sounds like you will be.

You see, the rest of the responsible people(which you seem to not know any of based on your comments) actually only buy things they can afford, and do not get sucked into the neverending treadmill of debt.

I work one job
I have a paid for car.
I OWN my own home.
I am in my mid 30's.
Competition is not 'fierce' in my profession, because I'm not doing something for a career that anybody with a pulse can do.

Granted, I didn't pop out a bunch of kids and THEN think that I would worry about how I would support them later. I also am not under the delusion that I am somehow 'entitled' to go out to eat or run up a $200 bar tab most nights of the week.

Life is all about choices, and you have nobody to blame but yourself for the ones you have made.

'The Man' isn't keeping you down, he doesn't have to. It sounds like you are doing a fine job of it yourself.

So we can post THIS!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_(unit)

Why?

Did they also have the incorrect physical address and you were worried about them busting down your door? Seriously, your email is not tied to your physical address.

It's not your problem that other people make mistakes, and it deserves ZERO of your time.

When I went to read the article that is linked, I went down into the comments. The FIRST one, among many others along the same line, is from an online 'reputation' company basically advertising how important their services are because of this convenient incident. Included is a way to contact them for their services.

On what planet do bloggers suddenly allow ads like this in their comments... when they are not working together?