#Chinese Expansion

[saxafimedianetwork]

Horn of Africa: US Wants to Counter China through Somaliland

#US considers opening representative office in #Somaliland to counter #China's growing influence in the #HornOfAfrica. Strategic move aims to strengthen #USInterests & secure key trade routes, including the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. #USChina

Continue reading Horn of Africa: US Wants to Counter China through Somaliland

[liberty1776]

From the Tom Woods Letter: I didn’t watch the State of the Union last night. I knew it would be lies and impossible promises from start to finish. However, our friend Col. Douglas Macgregor did. Col. Macgregor has been a guest on the Tom Woods Show, and of course was senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense under Donald Trump. I will note, first of all, that at the link above I asked Col. Macgregor about Trump’s weird deviations from his own stated foreign-policy principles, and Macgregor replied, as politely as possible, that he respects him but that Trump is unfortunately being influenced by bad … Continue reading →

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Miraculous Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Drawings

I drew a lot of Marinette Dupain-Cheng from Miraculous Ladybug. I have the same love hate relationship with this show that most of the active fandom has. I may repurpose the time lapse from this drawing to use as visual while I rant about it and turn that into a YouTube video.

This is technically a redesign of Marinette, except I mostly like her canon design, so it’s actually just putting her in a bunch of different outfits to fit the occasion.

I started by tracing a picture of her and starting to adapt it to my style, thence freeform drawing her canon design in my style, then went from there.

Imagined context for each one:

Canonette Trace: Marinette at a regular school day.

Canonette Freeform: Marinette attempting to greet Adrien like a normal human being and mostly succeeding.

Girlboss Marinette: She had a big presentation that she wanted to look professional for.

Bakinette: It’s 2 a.m. and she’s making brownies for some reason.

Dancinette: She’s ballet dancing alone in her room, cuz she’s not confident enough to dance in any public capacity.

Grouchinette: She hasn’t slept in 3 days and someone just asked her a really dumb question.

Fashionette: Showcasing her newest design

Pridenette: It’s a pride parade and she’s having a little too much fun.

[waitineedaname]

sometimes i get worried im not in the right academic field and then i think about another form of discourse analysis to dig into and i get all excited again

[babyspacebatclone]

So! Anyone interested in the “Frog Spitting Water” tea pet!

I gots science for you!

This is a variation on one of the most common Chachong, which I am not naming for I wish you to make that discovery on your own. 😊

The principle is that the Chachong is hollow, allowing it to be filled with water, while also only allowing a single small opening.

Before preparing the tea, the chachong is immersed in cold water and allowed to fill halfway.

When the chachong has hot water poured on it, the cooled air inside of it warms up and expands. Because of the tiny opening, however, the air cannot escape until it pushes out the water that is in the way.

Resulting in the fun stream of cool water. 😊

Read up on chachong/tea pets, it’s delightful!

Edit:

The color change chachongs are all modern with thermochromic glazes (that is, they change color when heated).

Traditional chachong were specifically unglazed so they would absorb the tea poured on them. This allows the tea pet to develop the fragrance of the tea over use.

You can see what I believe is an unglazed chachong with two colors of clay in the first orange section.

茶宠chachong/tea pet (clay handicrafts for chinese tea culture)

[hanzioftheday]

April 16th

Today's Hanzi of the day is 从 (從 traditional)

In Mandarin pinyin it is pronounced "cóng" and it means to follow or comply.

The simplified was originally the to follow, but the hanzi pronounced "cóng" was simplified from a compound that included 从 in it's compound.

So in oracle bone script we see 从 representing two people walking in the same direction. i.e. someone is following the other person.

It was later combined with 辵 (which itself is a compound of 彳and 止) which means to walk for a while and be still.

Making 從 where you are following, but not necessarily physically, you may be following orders.

Then simplified it was simplified to 从, which was the original follow, but maintaining the evolved pronunciation and meaning of the traditional 從.

[insightfultake]

Lava’s Billion-Dollar Gambit: A Homegrown Contender Readies for Battle Against Foreign Giants

In the grand chessboard of India’s smartphone market, where foreign players have long dominated with deep pockets and aggressive pricing, a homegrown challenger is quietly fortifying its ramparts. Lava International, the indigenous smartphone and accessories brand, is gearing up for an audacious expansion, arming itself with a war chest of ₹500 crore ($58 million) in fresh funding. As the company inches towards a public listing, it aims to carve out a formidable presence in an industry where Chinese brands have historically held sway.

[saxafimedianetwork]

A New State on the Gulf? Why Somaliland’s Recognition Could Reshape Geopolitics

#US recognition of #Somaliland could reshape #HornOfAfrica's geopolitics, intensify #US-#China rivalry & validate SL's democratic aspirations. A new state on the Gulf could have far-reaching implications for global power dynamics. @SeifudeinAdem

Continue reading A New State on the Gulf? Why Somaliland’s Recognition Could Reshape Geopolitics

[aidanchaser]

when i'm comparing 5 different 16th century maps and reading about in depth histories detailing reconstruction during different eras of the louvre palace all for 1 detail in chapter thirty fucking six of this fic, it's time to evaluate if i'm really interested in figuring out the exact configuration of gardens to ballroom or if I'm just trying to avoid actually writing

[knowchinese]

Come and learn Chinese words!!(1)

[reasonsforhope]

"China’s carbon emissions have flatlined over the past six months and there’s now an opportunity for substantial declines over the next decade, analysts say.

The rapid growth in clean energy generation has been sufficient to offset a recent surge in power demand caused by higher air conditioning use amid late-summer heatwaves, and the government’s manufacturing push, according to an analysis by Lauri Myllyvirta of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

China’s carbon emissions fell by 1% in the second quarter of 2024 and were flat in the third quarter, providing another indication that emissions may have already peaked.

This is largely because solar power output was up 44% in the three months to end-September, compared to a year before, while wind power generation grew 24%. In the first nine months of 2024, China installed 161GW of new solar capacity and 39GW of wind, per CREA data.

For emissions to post a decline in 2024 as a whole, there will need to be a 2% reduction in the fourth quarter, Myllyvirta’s calculations show. That’s probable if power demand growth cools as expected and hydro plants perform in line with historical averages, he wrote in a post on X, adding that over the entire summer period, clean energy expansion covered all electricity demand growth.

“If the current downturn in China’s emissions is sustained — with emissions falling in the second quarter and stable in the third quarter — that would open the door to the country beginning to reduce emissions much faster than its current commitments require.

“This would have enormous significance for the global effort to avoid catastrophic climate change, as China’s emissions growth has been the dominant factor pushing global emissions up for the past eight years since the signing of the Paris climate agreement.”

Based on current trends and targets, CREA expects China’s emissions will decline 30% by 2035. The International Energy Agency says emissions will fall 24% by then based only on stated policies, but that could be raised to 45% if the country follows a pathway that’s consistent with its long-term carbon neutrality target.

For the time being, Chinese policymakers are setting relatively unambitious targets, and “it’s vital that future targets reflect ongoing clean energy trends to avoid locking in lower ambitions,” Myllyvirta said."

-via The Progress Playbook, October 29, 2024

[fatehbaz]

was thinking about this

To be in "public", you must be a consumer or a laborer.

About control of peoples' movement in space/place. Since the beginning.

"Vagrancy" of 1830s-onward Britain, people criminalized for being outside without being a laborer.

Breaking laws resulted in being sentenced to coerced debtor/convict labor. Coinciding with the 1830-ish climax of the Industrial Revolution and the land enclosure acts (factory labor, poverty, etc., increase), the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 establishes full-time police institution(s) in London. The "Workhouse Act" aka "Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834" forced poor people to work for a minimum number of hours every day. The Irish Constabulary of 1837 sets up a national policing force and the County Police Act of 1839 allows justices of the peace across England to establish policing institutions in their counties (New York City gets a police department in 1844). The major expansion of the "Vagrancy Act" of 1838 made "joblessness" a crime and enhanced its punishment. (Coincidentally, the law's date of royal assent was 27 July 1838, just 5 days before the British government was scheduled to allow fuller emancipation of its technical legal abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean on 1 August 1838.)

---

"Vagrancy" of 1860s-onward United States, people criminalized for being outside while Black.

Widespread emancipation after slavery abolition in 1865 rapidly followed by the outlawing of loitering which de facto outlawed existing as Black in public. Inability to afford fines results in being sentenced to forced labor by working on chain gangs or prisons farms, some built atop plantations.

---

"Vagrancy" of 1870s-onward across empires, people criminalized for being outside while being "foreign" and also being poor generally.

Especially from 1880-ish to 1918-ish, this was an age of widespread mass movement of peoples due to the land dispossession, poverty, and famine induced by global colonial extraction and "market expansion" (Scramble for Africa, US "American West", nation-building, conquering "frontiers"), as agricultural "revolutions" of imperial monoculture cash crop extraction resulted in ecological degradation, and as major imperial infrastructure building projects required a lot of vulnerable "mobile" labor. This coincides with and is facilitated by new railroad networks and telegraphs, leading to imperial implementation or expansion of identity documents, strict work contracts, passports, immigration surveillance, and border checkpoints.

All of this in just a few short years: In 1877, British administrators in India develop what would become the Henry Classification System of taking and keeping fingerprints for use in binding colonial Indians to legal contracts. That same year during the 1877 Great Railroad Strike, and in response to white anxiety about Black residents coming to the city during Great Migration, Chicago's policing institutions exponentially expand surveillance and pioneer "intelligence card" registers for tracking labor union organizing and Black movement, as Chicago's experiments become adopted by US military and expanded nationwide, later used by US forces monitoring dissent in colonial Philippines and Cuba. Japan based its 1880 Penal Code anti-vagrancy statutes on French models, and introduced "koseki" register to track poor/vagrant domestic citizens as Tokyo's Governor Matsuda segregates classes, and the nation introduces "modern police forces". In 1882, the United States passes the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1884, the Ottoman government enacts major "Passport Nizamnamesi" legislation requiring passports. In 1885, the racist expulsion of the "Tacoma riot".

Punished for being Algerian in France. Punished for being Chinese in San Francisco. Punished for being Korean in Japan. Punished for crossing Ottoman borders without correct paperwork. Arrested for whatever, then sent to do convict labor. A poor person in the Punjab, starving during a catastrophic famine, might be coerced into a work contract by British authorities. They will have to travel, shipped off to build a railroad. But now they have to work. Now they are bound. They will be punished for being Punjabi and trying to walk away from Britain's tea plantations in Assam or Britain's rubber plantations in Malaya.

Mobility and confinement, the empire manipulates each.

---

"Vagrancy" amidst all of this, people also criminalized for being outside while "unsightly" and merely even superficially appearing to be poor. San Francisco introduced the notorious "ugly law" in 1867, making it illegal for "any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view". Today, if you walk into a building looking a little "weird" (poor, Black, ill, disabled, etc.), you are given seething spiteful glares and asked to leave. De facto criminalized for simply going for a stroll without downloading the coffee shop's exclusive menu app.

Too ill, too poor, too exhausted, too indebted to move, you are trapped. Physical barriers (borders), legal barriers (identity documents), financial barriers (debt). "Vagrancy" everywhere in the United States, a combination of all of the above. "Vagrancy" since at least early nineteenth century Europe. About the control of movement through and access to space/place. Concretizing and weaponizing caste, corralling people, anchoring them in place, extracting their wealth and labor.

You are permitted to exist only as a paying customer or an employee.

[orteil42]

Age of Empires 2 should have a fantasy dlc. just a bunch of ahistorical scenarios adding fantastic medieval units. some existing historic campaigns already feature limited supernatural elements so it's not that much of a stretch, plus mapmakers would love it. i know Age of Mythology is a thing i just want to see little prerendered unicorns. arthurian legends cmon. mesoamerican myths. just put whatever in there. werewolves. pixies. chinese hopping vampires. "my liege, a tarasque is threatening our crops!" kickass. kickass. i am speaking directly into your ear now. one expansion. no holds barred. AoE2: Wizards & Mermaids please and thank you

[niveditaabaidya]

Chinese embassy in Japan Opposes To NATO's Expansion In Asia Pacific. #c...

[elbiotipo]

I'm not a linguist and I find the whole excercise of conlanging, while I love it and respect it, beyond my abilities, but I do have one thing or two to say about linguistic diversity and how boring is to have a "common" or "basic" language in fantasy or science fiction without exploring the implications.

Being a bilingual speaker of Spanish and English, and someone that because of work reasons and entertaiment tastes interacts a lot with English, I tend to see English as the equivalent of those "common" or "basic" languages of speculative fantasy. As a useful tool for communication, science technology and commerce. In real life, however, as you are aware, the expansion of English tends to undermine local languages, it's considered more valuable to know English that to know the language of your grandparents, or learn any other language you just feel curious about.

The experiences of every multilingual person are different, but in mine I know English, I write and read and listen to English a lot. But I don't consider myself an English *speaker*, I speak Spanish and more to the point Argentine Spanish, that's the culture I identify with, and it's the language I use to express my feelings and inner thoughts. I can't imagine saying "I love you" to anyone in English, to me it's just a tool I use to access to knowledge or communicate through language barriers ("basic", "common"). But interestingly, by both writing and participating in the wider English-speaker internet culture, isn't it part of my own culture, as an individual, too?

The fact is that English also has a culture(s) and a history and a corpus of literature. So when we write about "Common" or "Basic" languages in fiction we need to ask ourselves: where did they come from? How did they become the standard? Is there a literature, a canon, a culture of "Common" in your fantasy world? What about other languages, other cultures that aren't raised learning it and see it just as a tool? Because no matter the strenght of Anglophone cultural imperialism and the social value of learning English, I don't see Argentines, or for that matter Chinese, Italians or Russians abandoning their first language. And yet even in English and in all other languages (ESPECIALLY other languages, English is remarkably uniform) there is a variety of dialects. And we need to remember, once Latin was spoken only in a village in central Italy, and English in a rather remote rainy island. They weren't destined to have their future roles, history drives language.

So, when an author goes for the "universal language" explanation to avoid linguistic misunderstandings, for me, it raises more questions that I believe are worth exploring.