No no, I’m pretty sure that’s a Bienenstich.

Taking a page from the Singapore HDB, housing can be sold/bought by the state, and prices are set by what the applicant can afford, rather than what the market is willing to pay. This allows residents to move to different locations, or change dwelling size to fit their currents needs (marriage, children, empty nesters, divorce, etc.).

I imagine this can work in a multi-city state, too… just need to make sure there is ample supply to allow for migrations without waiting lists.

Unlike rent control on rentals from a private market, price control for a majority public housing system can work, as a black market is hard to establish.

16 might break it… 四四 makes no sense as 十十 makes no sense… you’d write 百 (100) instead.

And you get the same problem each time you go higher.

You’d need base 4 equivalents of 100 = 百, 1,000 = 千, 10,000 = 万, 100,000,000 = 億,.

Hmm, on the other hand you can have 十万 (100,000), so why not 四四 (16)? What’s 20, though…

In Arabic numerals base 2 has 0 and 1, and base 10 has 0 to 9, which is also 10 numeric symbols. Chinese has 10 numeric symbols for base 10, too, just a “10” symbol instead of a 0.

Spot on. Good example! And 十 is indeed just X on it’s side :D

In Chinese/Japanese, there’s 四 rocks in both base 10, and base 4. (8 rocks would be 二四 in base 4).

I think the concept of “base” is easier to understand when you include a numeral for the highest base (10 = 十, 20 =二十).

Of course, arabic numerals are more concise, using position to imply meaning (21 = 二十一).

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Pre-home internet I remember running a line-in to my soundblaster card from a clock radio and recording Tool’s Sober to my HDD.

The wav file took up a good chunk of the HDD. After a good amount of funking around with encoding it was barely comprehensible and still took up too much room. Was exciting and felt like a glimpse of the future.

This is Piaget’s conservation of volume test. I did this experiment at school (we went to the elementary school next door and ran tests on the kids). Most of the kids said the higher one held more liquid because it was ‘taller’, though some said the short one had more because it was ‘fatter’.

A further complication is that the aluminium is considerably thicker on the base and the top… so there’s more thin metal, and less thick metal.

I find usually when I can’t articulate something clearly, it’s because I haven’t thought about it/researched it well enough, and I should stop trying to contribute on that topic until I have a better understanding.

That’s why I often end up writing long comments, but don’t hit post. Not a waste of time though, as it helps me identify areas in which I’m more ignorant than I thought I was.

It’s mostly supply and demand. In Tokyo and Osaka / satellite cities, prices are going up, everywhere else they are dirt cheap.

However, in urban areas prices still aren’t as crazy unaffordable as you may think, because Japan has a very narrow wage gap (everyone in Japan thinks they are middle class, and their not wrong compared to other countries).

Another thing that makes Japan different to other housing markets, and is affected by the laws, is earthquake concerns. What other countries would call ‘established’ dwellings, they call ‘second hand’. Laws are updated every ten years or so that mean newer dwellings are much safer than older ones. Knockdown/rebuild is so common that there is competitive prices, as there’s plenty of builders to choose from. The builders are also very efficient, and apart from safety law, regulations are low (you can build whatever you like, so long as it’s robust), so labour costs are much lower compared to other countries.

If you go on Suumo.jp you’ll find plenty of very affordable houses, even in good areas/good rail links, but it’s because they don’t expect anyone will live in the house as-is - the buyer will most likely “reform” it (massive rennovation) or replace.

The state of the Japanese housing market is due mostly to cultural/economic/low immigration. If you want a policy solution other high-income countries can use to solve housing issues, the state-capitalism solution of the Singapore HDB is the best model I’ve come across. Second would probably be Vienna’s focus on social housing.

Worked on Top 12 hours, 6 hours in! I crave pickle! Comment on this post too, for balance.

Worked on Top 12 hours, 6 hours in! I crave pickle! Will comment on other post too, for balance.

We dont know how much power they have, it’s illegal to know:

| Due to secrecy laws, it is extremely hard to find documentary evidence of the queen’s exercise of influence. In the United Kingdom, government documents that “relate to” communications with the sovereign or the next two persons in line to the throne, as well as palace officials acting on their behalf, are subject to an absolute exemption from release under freedom of information or by government archives.

• “relate to” is so broad and it means we have no idea what is going on.

| But The Guardian has managed to expose a chink in this armour of secrecy. In the UK’s National Archives, it discovered documents from 1973 showing the queen’s personal solicitor lobbied public servants to change a proposed law so that it would not allow companies, or the public, to learn of the queen’s shareholdings in Britain. The gambit succeeded, and the draft bill was changed to suit the queen’s wishes. Perhaps these documents escaped the secrecy embargo because they involved communications with a private solicitor, rather than palace officials

https://theconversation.com/the-queens-gambit-new-evidence-shows-how-her-majesty-wields-influence-on-legislation-154818

Australia already spends time and money maintaining the English monarch as the head of state. And it’s not a ceremonial position; the governor-general has reserve powers, such as the ability to remove office holders, like in 1975. It is only convention, not law that appoints and makes the GG act on the PMs ‘recommendations’ rather than the Monarch; the description of the office has not been rewritten. We can’t rely on convention to govern a country and need to have explicit laws that match our ideals of how a democracy should behave. It’s unexploded ordinance that should be cleaned up… let’s do that rather than spending our time and money changing all the pictures on the money, and the pronouns on all the legal documents each time a monarch croaks.

Cadbury’s Marvellous Creations range has been doing it for about 10 years, but I’ve only seen them in Australia and SE Asia (assumigly sold in UK, too).

Good use of Keanu meme, as he recently fell for and is promoting a conspiracy theory (ancient civilizations).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgh_by_Sands

Just want to make sure everyone know about naproxen (Aleve, Naprogesic, etc), because I’m met several people in their 40’s who still didn’t know it exists. Over the counter, not a pain killer, targets the cause and stops cramps/nausea etc.