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I would never use a Microsoft language since they discontinued VB6. Open Source languages are the only sane option.


C# is open source.


And you are not using Typescript either, because it's a Microsoft language? Also .NET is open source over a decade already and c# was free and open from the beginning (Mono implementation).


Chinese investment in the US is inherently risky. For example TikTok. BYD would be stomping GM and Ford. The next thing you know, they would need to sell their factory.


Solar panels WERE cheap until 145% tariffs were applied


I don't know why people keep thinking that China will attack Taiwan. It took HK and Macao without a shot. I think China is following Sun Tzu.

"subduing the enemy without fighting," is the epitome of strategic thinking in his book, The Art of War. This means achieving victory through cunning, deception, and maneuvering, rather than through direct confrontation and bloodshed"

They are increasing their military knowing that US military costs 4+x as much. It might be 4x better so don't fight. Just bankrupt the US. Trump wants a $1T military budget next year.

Why would China want to conquer the West? Buying what it wants is cheaper than an uncertain military battle fought with Nukes.


What I still don't get is what could China possibly want with Taiwan?

Naval routes? Just negotiate and use money instead; it'll be cheaper than war.

Brainpower? Just offer higher salaries to come work in China.

Taiwan is a tiny island smaller than Florida with only 20m people.


1) Historical claims - the CCP views Taiwan as a breakaway province and considers unification important. After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1948, the defeated Republic of China (ROC) government fled to Taiwan while the CCP took control of China.

2) Political legitimacy - successful unification would be a nationalist victory for the CCP

3) Strategic importance - key geographic asset. It lies in the first island chain, a line of US-aligned territories that can potentially restrict China's naval access to the Pacific. Control over Taiwan gives China more leverage over sea lanes critical to global trade and security influence in East Asia

4) Economic, technology bonus points - Taiwan is a global tech powerhouse, especially in semiconductors. TSMC is the world's leading chipmaker.

5) Global power dynamics - unification would weaken US influence in the region


1-2 really just do not matter; I can't imagine anyone in the CCP views that as more important than their own internal matters.

3 as I said, they can just negotiate and throw money at the problem; it's cheaper than fighting a war.

4 they can already buy hardware from them and was doing so just fine before US stepped in. DeepSeek seemed to do fine and China may likely surpass Western AI development in the near future

5 I don't see how that's the case when the US has very little presence in TW compared to SK or JP. Taiwan is a hair on a gorilla's right knee.


1 and 2 are the biggest reasons by far and matter a lot. Dictators are people too, they are susceptible as anyone to their minds being poisoned by too much nationalism. And even if it wasn't for that they would still view it as a way to get back flagging support from a nationalistic public(even dictators need a minimal amount of support from the population).

They do see Taiwan as an internal matter, that's the problem they don't recognize this sovereignty and don't like or understand Democracy. It's like Russia with Ukraine but they'll also claim Taiwan isn't a country because even most western nations technically don't recognize them. It makes me think we made a mistake not recognizing Taiwan as it's own country back in the 90s when China was less powerful.


Just answering your question "What I still don't get is what could China possibly want with Taiwan?".

If you don't believe the rational I sketched, informed by analyses such as that by the Council of Foreign Relations[1], you can also learn more by reading directly from China's Mission in the EU about the China One principle: http://eu.china-mission.gov.cn/eng/more/20220812Taiwan/20220...

[1] https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tens...


They can say and write whatever they want, it just doesn't make any logical sense like the US getting all worked up over Cuba.


Are you trying to evaluate their intelligence or predict their actions? I for one agree that attacking Taiwan is strategic folly. That doesn't mean they won't do it. Invading Ukraine was strategic folly too. The CCP are smarter than Putin, but not immune to mistakes. And again, look at their built strategy.


Nationalism makes it very easy to make it seem like (1) and (2) matter even if they don't.

If you want a semi-serious example, check the "Taiwan #1" gaming video on YouTube for a taste of Chinese nationalism.

Read certain declarations by Chinese ambassadors in Europe for more serious nationalistic takes.


Throughout Chinese history, all invasions of China from the sea had a staging area in Taiwan.

This is the main reason.


Regardless of the reasons (mostly political rather than rational, as my sibling comment laid out), the beach invasion barges we've been seeing are IMO a dead giveaway of intent and resolve to take Taiwan. Between that and American fecklessness, if I was Taiwanese I would be shitting my pants.



I love Chromebooks. Windows is tras. Even if you buy a MacBook, Apple is able to reconfigure your machine at will.


which country?


Pretty much all of them. At least in the west, less sure about the east.

France had 70000km of rail around ww1, now it has about 30000. The main (though not only) casualty was the rural narrow gauge lines ("local interest network") which got obliterated by car and low productivity (about 20000km progressively closed from about 1930 to 1960, a handful survive as tourist attractions).


Dunno which country they are in but this has happened in a lot of places. This is a an infamous example in the UK:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts

Which this politician who owned a major road engineering company was quite involved in

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Marples


What about the people that report parents to the police for endangering their children by allowing them to walk/bike to school?


If the child is not in any actual danger, then people who call emergency services or police need to be cited for wasting resources.

Busybodies seem to call because of "what if" things. That child's actual danger is the busybody.


Apparently a child being alone constitutes being in danger. From the article [0]

[0] https://reason.com/2024/11/11/mom-jailed-for-letting-10-year...


> If the child is not in any actual danger, then people who call emergency services or police need to be cited for wasting resources.

As a mandatory reporter, my instructions are if there is any possibility report and let the experts figure it out. There is no harm to me if I report and nothing is found. However if they discover something and find that I was in contact with the kid in question they will investigate: if there is anything that I should have seen I'll be arrested for not reporting it.


I appreciate that mandatory reporting laws exist for evidence of abuse, and to an extent, suspicion of abuse; but does your training say that children left alone less than a few hours, is abuse or is suspicious by itself, and needs to be reported?

There is always the possibility for anything, so that cannot be the bar.


My training is if there is any possibility of anything report. They specifically told me not to think. Telling me a few hours is okay would mean I now have something to think about and I'm not allowed to do think.


> any possibility of anything

How do I report you for taking the time to reply here instead of reporting that Amy, Brad, Charlie, Drake, Emily, everyone, etc.. parents all have the possibility of abusing them, that their siblings all have the possibility of abusing them, that their friends all have the possibility of abusing them, that their teachers all have the possibility abusing them, that you could be a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning and not remember that you could also be abusing them, that the police have the possibility of abusing them, that secret agents could be sneaking into their house at night and abusing them.

If that was your instructions, then your full-time job should be making reports and nothing else.

See how absurd your instructions were, or what you think your instructions were?


I'm reporting what the instructions are, not what I think about them.


Unfortunately bad instructions and no one getting those instructions changed, helps lead to this nonsense that we hear about in the news, and the thousand (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) cases that are just as bad but not as newsworthy.


It's actually illegal in my area to let my kid go anywhere unattended under 12.


From the article:

> It’s not just a message to parents, it’s the broader society.[...] A mom was recently arrested for letting her 10-year-old son walk into town. These types of incidents only fuel the school car pickup culture


Came here to say the same. I have seen multiple stories of parents getting arrested for letting their kids walk home long distances.


TSMC is stalling to get more sweet US tax dollars.


Way more concerned about the US starting a new war to force China to buy some US crap.


Why would that happen when the US has been preventing its companies from selling to China?


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