A depressing thread

[regexcellent]

kentonio, you said you're an atheist, right?

Usually people who self-describe as atheists say it's because there's no scientific basis for believing in God. That there's no evidence, and nothing points to the existence of a Supreme Being at all, let alone the one described by any particular holy book of your choosing.

If you consider yourself so scientifically minded, and I know this is making an assumption so I apologize in advance if it's wrong, care to explain why you believe in two diseases which no scientific study has ever been able to conclusively determine exist?

Do you also believe in Santa Claus?

At least you've given up on the point about cross-border operations.

[DaShi]

Taiwan is 4-5x times richer than China.

per capita.

[DaShi]

By DaShi's logic of small vs. large countries, tiny pacific islands should be rolling in benjamins.

More of you limited thinking. Since so much needs to be explained to you, I'd suggest that you not make assumptions. I was clearly referring to your retarded comment that living on an island somehow made Taiwan an unlikely economic success story.

[Krill]

kentonio, you said you're an atheist, right?

Usually people who self-describe as atheists say it's because there's no scientific basis for believing in God. That there's no evidence, and nothing points to the existence of a Supreme Being at all, let alone the one described by any particular holy book of your choosing.

If you consider yourself so scientifically minded, and I know this is making an assumption so I apologize in advance if it's wrong, care to explain why you believe in two diseases which no scientific study has ever been able to conclusively determine exist?

Do you also believe in Santa Claus?

At least you've given up on the point about cross-border operations.

You really think that agent orange, and all of the containments, have no negative effect on humans?

[DaShi]

DaShi's Mao apologism is equal parts hilarious and hideous.

I merely pointed out how wrong you are on U.S. policy. I said nothing that could remotely be considered apologism for Mao. But I guess it's easy to make imaginary arguments that face the reality of your own ideas. I guess the next step is to accuse me of being a pedophile.

[DaShi]

What sort of superiority? Be specific.

Are you taking the piss?

[giblets]

He had a better track record than Mao.

Aside from failing to defend the country from invasion leading to as many as 20 million deaths and ruining China's economy?

[regexcellent]

Failing to hold off an invasion is a different kind of incompetence from the "Great Leap Forward" and Cultural Revolution.

[regexcellent]

You really think that agent orange, and all of the containments, have no negative effect on humans?

I assume you mean contaminants, and I'm saying that it didn't cause widespread health problems. Lots of our airmen as part of a hazing ritual drank up to a gallon of the stuff and were fine. Basically, it's an herbicide, and people aren't herbs. That's a simplistic way of looking at it of course.

per capita.

Is there another measure of wealth that matters, or, more importantly, another measure of wealth where mainland China is wealthier than Taiwan?

Total GDP is irrelevant when the population difference is something like a factor of 50.

[DaShi]

"Say what you want about Hitler, at least he killed Hitler."

Guy

[DaShi]

Total GDP is irrelevant when the population difference is something like a factor of 50.

So is per capita. Shanghai may have a higher per capita than Taiwan but Chengdu a lower. What that really say about China and Taiwan?

As for straight wealth, China could likely buy Taiwan several times over, if that were possible.

[regexcellent]

So is per capita.

Um, no. Per capita GDP is a direct measure of the actual wealth of individual people. I would rather live in a country by myself with a GDP of $1bn than in the US with a GDP of something like, what, $12-14 trillion along with 300 million other people.

[giblets]

Failing to hold off an invasion is a different kind of incompetence from the "Great Leap Forward" and Cultural Revolution.

It speaks volumes about Chiang's ability to achieve his goals. If he couldn't defend his capital I seriously doubt he could have made significant headway in things that would facilitate development.

[giblets]

2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), a synthetic auxin, is a chlorophenoxy acetic acid herbicide used to defoliate broad-leafed plants. It was developed in the late 1940s and was widely used in the agricultural industry until being phased out, starting in the late 1970s due to toxicity concerns. Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the U.S. in the Vietnam War, was equal parts 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid). "The U.S. military had tested Agent Orange in Thailand between April 1964 and June 1965 with the full knowledge of the Thai authorities."

2,4,5-T itself has low toxicity, with oral LD50 of 389 mg/kg in mice and 500 mg/kg in rats. However, the manufacturing process for 2,4,5-T contaminates this chemical with trace amounts of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). TCDD is a carcinogenic persistent organic pollutant with long-term effects on the environment. With proper temperature control during production of 2,4,5-T, TCDD levels can be held to about .005 ppm. Before the TCDD risk was well-understood, early production facilities lacked proper temperature controls and individual batches tested later were found to have as much as 60 ppm of TCDD.

In 1970, the United States Department of Agriculture halted the use of 2,4,5-T on all food crops except rice, and in 1985, the EPA terminated all remaining uses in the US of this herbicide. The international trade of 2,4,5-T is restricted by the Rotterdam Convention. 2,4,5-T has since largely been replaced by dicamba and triclopyr.

Apart from agricultural uses, 2,4,5-T was also a major ingredient in Agent Orange, a herbicide blend used by the U.S. military in Vietnam between January 1965 and April 1970 as a defoliant. Because of TCDD contamination in the 2,4,5-T component, it has been blamed for serious illnesses in many US veterans and Vietnamese civilians who were exposed to it. Agent Orange often had much higher levels of TCDD than 2,4,5-T used in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4,5-T

Sounds like a scientific basis for thinking agent orange is harmful to humans.

[DaShi]

Um, no. Per capita GDP is a direct measure of the actual wealth of individual people. I would rather live in a country by myself with a GDP of $1bn than in the US with a GDP of something like, what, $12-14 trillion along with 300 million other people.