Taiwan Number 1

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Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Yeah I haven't even gone through one set of filters for it yet.

I do enjoy when Chinese people are mocking me for using it. I don't know if that happens in other cities but in Chengdu people rarely wear masks and when they do they're mostly cheap surgical mask things that do literally nothing at all about pollution. Enjoy your lung cancer I guess? idk

# ? Oct 7, 2016 08:52

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# ? May 14, 2024 08:35

Cumslut1895: Feb 18, 2015; by FactsAreUseless

Grand Fromage posted:

Yeah I haven't even gone through one set of filters for it yet.

I do enjoy when Chinese people are mocking me for using it. I don't know if that happens in other cities but in Chengdu people rarely wear masks and when they do they're mostly cheap surgical mask things that do literally nothing at all about pollution. Enjoy your lung cancer I guess? idk

I thought that was to avoid spreading colds

# ? Oct 7, 2016 08:56

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Cumslut1895 posted:

I thought that was to avoid spreading colds

That's a whole other thing and also Japan or Korea, not China.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 08:58

fish and chips and dip: Feb 17, 2010

For some reason, in Shanghai, I noticed most people wearing masks when the AQI is 100-150 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) but a lot less when it's 150+ (unhealthy up to 200, very unhealthy 200-300 and hazardous 300+)

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:01

Jimmy Little Balls: Aug 23, 2009

Maybe people are just staying inside when it gets that bad?

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:15

Vegetable: Oct 22, 2010

Grand Fromage posted:

My apartment is as sealed up as I can get it and I have a couple air filters that run 24/7. I have never gotten a monitor but there's a noticeable difference in smell/black crud in your nose between indoors and out, so it seems to be working fine. For outside I have one of these:

Which is good but more of a couldn't hurt thing, because at work it is impossible to convince Chinese people to close the windows or to get air filters for the building so you're breathing poo poo all day there.

E: Also I live in Chengdu. Pollution here is bad by the standards of like a real country but for China it isn't that severe. It's not one of those places that pegs the meter at 999 for months. The pollution is mostly during winter and like everyone else, I'll be out of the country for a month of that so that also helps.

This mask is for workshop applications. Not sure if it does anything against the PM2.5 crap from coal burning and everything.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:26

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Vegetable posted:

This mask is for workshop applications. Not sure if it does anything against the PM2.5 crap from coal burning and everything.

The filters describe its usage. PM 2.5 and coal ash are specifically mentioned on it and why I got it.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:29

Vegetable: Oct 22, 2010

Which filter are you using? Genuinely asking, might need it later this year. I've been sticking with disposable N95 masks.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:30

LentThem: Aug 31, 2004; 90% Retractible

fish and chips and dip posted:

First of all, it really does affect my mental well-being (10 more months, 10 more months...), but to be fair, since about June the pollution has been reasonably low in Shanghai. I can't remember the last time there was this long stretch of blue skies and not having to wear my mask everywhere.

Shanghai skies have been great lately.

And then I went to Beijing a couple of weeks ago.

Bonus road safety pics

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:34

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Vegetable posted:

Which filter are you using? Genuinely asking, might need it later this year. I've been sticking with disposable N95 masks.

It's the same sort of filter as those masks I think, says it's P95, just beefier. It seals better on my face, I found the disposables left air gaps around my nose no matter what I did. Says it's the paint respirator supply kit for 6000 or 7500 series masks.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:39

Power Khan: Aug 20, 2011; by Fritz the Horse

The Great Autismo! posted:

here's a few more bonus shots of the city, from an employee who left two days ago. this was the view he had from the 50th floor of his building. some pretty nice shots of tianjin.

unbelievably, this guy hated his life here and hated china, which i don't really know how you can hate china when you have this view. look at what humans have created. amazing.

all of these pictures were taken not just of the same city, but at the same time on the same day. the second picture looks super polluted. that's southern tianjin, maybe the lack of big buildings makes the pollution more visible. i dunno.

lastly, my mom emailed me a few days ago, she was looking through an old copy of the new york times from like a month ago, and found this article and said "i think the girl looks like your ex gf, is it?" and i was like "wow it kinda does look like her" so i went to my ex's Facebook page and she had all of these behind the scenes photos tagged of her at this event, she is modelling in paris now. and i'm still in tianjin. like she's moved to paris and speaks french fluently and is now on the front page of the fashion and style section of the new york times modelling...and i'm shitposting on a comedy forum in the same city i was in six years ago. poo poo.

anyway those are my china stories from the past few days, thanks for reading, china is cool and good. that's all.

Your shots of farming in Japan are nice and beautiful. That panorama here is an urban hellscape.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:52

The Great Autismo!: Mar 3, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

JaucheCharly posted:

Your shots of farming in Japan are nice and beautiful. That panorama here is an urban hellscape.

to steal a bad quote, there are two sides to every coin.

look, farming communities in japan absolutely own, i don't think anyone would ever say otherwise. however, there are some drawbacks. i never get to speak english to anyone...ever. everything is really far away, and i can't drive in japan. so i have to like like kms at a time if i want anything. it's incredibly peaceful and quiet, but that means you need to figure out ways to keep yourself busy. i try to climb a mountain every day, or do a 5k, one of the two, and that only takes like an hour, far less if i'm doing a 5k, so you gotta get in a routine so you don't start going numb.

living in the city, like the ones pictured that you quoted, is awesome for numerous reasons. there is always something going on. within a 1km radius there must be hundreds, literally hundreds, of awesome places to get food. its easy to meet people. better facilities, the gyms, pools, everything are so centrally located and convenient. transportation. etc.

yes in terms of natural beauty living in the countryside is better than living in the city center, but there are plusses and minuses to both. i'm lucky enough that i have both lives readily available. my parents live on a lake in maine, which isn't too different from where my wife is from in japan, and when i'm back there i'm super happy and content for like a week and then i'm gearing up to get ready to come back to living and working in china. but then after a few months in china, i'm totally burned out and i want to go to some small place in a tiny town and be away from everything and everyone for like a month.

the pollution looks p bad in that second pic, but it's usually not. it's a fascinating place to live because of how quickly everything has changed and gone up. as my coworker said yesterday "our life here is just so loving insane". and he's right. if you have that attitude, you can do just fine living in a changing city center in china.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 09:59

webmeister: Jan 31, 2007; The answer is, mate, because I want to do you slowly. There has to be a bit of sport in this for all of us. In the psychological battle stakes, we are stripped down and ready to go. I want to see those ashen-faced performances; I want more of them. I want to be encouraged. I want to see you squirm.

Nucken Futz posted:

So I'm reading through PYF Fun Historical Fact thread when I come upon this gem,

Desenrascanco = Chabuduo

Now I'n wondering how many cultures have one word for " Let's fix the "insurmountable problem" with a skeezy ghetto half-assed solution"

More a phrase rather than a word, but in Australia it's "yeah nah she'll be right mate". Though it's usually code for "this skeezy ghetto half-assed solution isn't going to work, and we both know it, but let's not worry about that".

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:00

The Great Autismo!: Mar 3, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

LentThem posted:

Shanghai skies have been great lately.

And then I went to Beijing a couple of weeks ago.

Bonus road safety pics

thx for posting m8, looks awesome

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:10

Ailumao: Nov 4, 2004

Vegetable posted:

Which filter are you using? Genuinely asking, might need it later this year. I've been sticking with disposable N95 masks.

Those disposable N95 masks from 3M they sell at 7-11 are p much all you really need. A few western doctors on Beijing ran actual measured tests with them and they get like 95-98% of pollutants out. You can get more heavy duty ones that go above that, but at that point it's more about fit than anything. If you need to do anything more strenuous than walking they might lose effectiveness, though.

Chengdu is weird cuz no one wears masks. When I lived elsewhere (in the northeast and Shanghai) people did, I guess everyone here is way too laid back to care. Lol when I lived in Shanghai in like 2013 the AQI for the entire month of December was close to 500 and I was wearing a mask literally everywhere except in my apartment which had a purifier in it. A few bars even advertised "we have purifiers!" around that time.

Though to be fair, unlike a lot of stuff, the pollution is gradually getting better. If you look at monthly and yearly trends in most major cities the pollution gets less bad every year. Between like 2010 and 2013 things seemed to peak but 2014 was lower in most places, and 2015 even lower. I don't even think Chengdu broke 300 AQI one day last year.

Of course that could be less government actually doing anything and more production is moving from China to SEA.

I have air purifiers in my house and after hearing Xiaomi's have issues I took my boss's monitor and tested my house, and the AQI said it was like 8 in my living room compared to like 180 outside that day so I guess it works alright. The Phillips I have in my bedroom (admittedly a much smaller space) keeps the AQI about 2, though.

Our office leases these crazy air purifiers and you can smell the difference the second you leave the office just into the hallway on bad days.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:15

Fauxtool: Oct 21, 2008; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

You should import some ozone producing air purifiers like they used to clean up the pentagon after 9-11
The air gets super clean once the burning particulate smell goes away from the first use.

Ecoquest makes really good ones. My dad brought 2 over to China last visit and his visitors were raving at how clean the air inside the apartment smelled.

Those visitors went and bought lovely chinese ozone generators that did almost nothing. They pretended they were just as good to save face.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:25

Haier: Aug 10, 2007; by Lowtax

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:30

dZPnJOm8QwUAseApNj: Apr 15, 2002; arf bark woof

Haier posted:

odds of those friend requests being students and random chinese people?

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:35

ladron: Sep 15, 2007; eso es lo que es

Mein Eyes! posted:

odds of those friend requests being students and random chinese people?

I don't think he's using at&t in china

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:37

big time bisexual: Oct 16, 2002; Cool Party

Fauxtool posted:

You should import some ozone producing air purifiers like they used to clean up the pentagon after 9-11
The air gets super clean once the burning particulate smell goes away from the first use.

Ecoquest makes really good ones. My dad brought 2 over to China last visit and his visitors were raving at how clean the air inside the apartment smelled.

Those visitors went and bought lovely chinese ozone generators that did almost nothing. They pretended they were just as good to save face.

Don't do this. Ozone is really bad for you indoors.

https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-are-sold-air-cleaners

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:51

champagne posting: Apr 5, 2006; YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER

Grand Fromage posted:

My apartment is as sealed up as I can get it and I have a couple air filters that run 24/7. I have never gotten a monitor but there's a noticeable difference in smell/black crud in your nose between indoors and out, so it seems to be working fine. For outside I have one of these:

Which is good but more of a couldn't hurt thing, because at work it is impossible to convince Chinese people to close the windows or to get air filters for the building so you're breathing poo poo all day there.

E: Also I live in Chengdu. Pollution here is bad by the standards of like a real country but for China it isn't that severe. It's not one of those places that pegs the meter at 999 for months. The pollution is mostly during winter and like everyone else, I'll be out of the country for a month of that so that also helps.

KomodoWagon posted:

I would wear this thing constantly if I had to go to China for some reason, even as I slept

These masks are only rated for 3-4 hours of continual use (in scandi country) so you may wanna consider this.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:52

KomodoWagon: May 10, 2013; by R. Guyovich

I didn't mean "that exact mask, the one right there in the photo," but rather "masks similar to that one, consecutively." I'm a huge prick

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:56

Haier: Aug 10, 2007; by Lowtax

ladron posted:

I don't think he's using at&t in china

Saw it on Reddit.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 10:57

Fauxtool: Oct 21, 2008; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

big time bisexual posted:

Don't do this. Ozone is really bad for you indoors.

https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-are-sold-air-cleaners

too much anything is bad. Ozone is a proven solution to certain pollutants. The link is all over the place sourcing 20 year old barely relevant studies. Yes if you turn it on full power and close the door you will be very uncomfortable. That is not the intended use.

Not all air purifiers are created equal, the ones we used in china has measurable results far in excess to other namebrand air purifiers.

Fauxtool fucked around with this message at 11:10 on Oct 7, 2016

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:05

oohhboy: Jun 8, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Finished the Opium War by Julia Lovell. It is depressing how little China had changed. Whether it is Communists, Nationalist, Emperors, it's all the same.

The British and the French didn't gently caress around with the second Opium War but this time took a lot more casualties due to an improved Qing military and some very questionable tactics. The Chinese being master negotiators as they are decided to torture to death some of the negotiators sent to conclude the War which lead directly to the sacking and destruction of the Summer palace along with other unprofessional behaviours. At this point virtually every western power carve out concessions from the Qing demanding free trade, extra territoriality and missionaries.

This fatally wounds the Qing Empire leading to it's dissolution in 1912. The Warlord period follows as China becomes a failed state for a while. The Opium trade grows as Warlords, Nationalist and communists alike trade in to to fund their private wars. Culturally almost nothing has changed as Face persist to this day even though it does nothing but hold them back.

I am now reading Flying Upside down by Captain Duke Nukem nd ex-pat pilot. It is this thread but with Air planes and it is as horrifying as you can imagine it is. Flying planes is the last priority these people have. "Good enough", maintaining Face and looking good for the CCP override all safety concerns. Finding competence is like finding a Unicorn. I am only on page 21 and it is :allbuttons:

When people here say don't fly Chinese airlines they are serious. Your safety is by the grace of God and your hopefully foreign Captain who is trying their best not to get killed.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:09

The Great Autismo!: Mar 3, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

oohhboy posted:

I am now reading Flying Upside down by Captain Duke Nukem nd ex-pat pilot. It is this thread but with Air planes and it is as horrifying as you can imagine it is. Flying planes is the last priority these people have. "Good enough", maintaining Face and looking good for the CCP override all safety concerns. Finding competence is like finding a Unicorn. I am only on page 21 and it is

When people here say don't fly Chinese airlines they are serious. Your safety is by the grace of God and your hopefully foreign Captain who is trying their best not to get killed.

this is actually the last thing i want to read while living in china or traveling in china or doing anything in china. i downloaded it, read two pages, said "....poo poo, not a chance" and will wait until i leave before i even give it an attempt. I'm afraid it may actually push me straight out the door and never to look back. I'm not kidding. i think it could actually make me leave china forever.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:13

Haier: Aug 10, 2007; by Lowtax

oohhboy posted:

I am now reading Flying Upside down by Captain Duke Nukem nd ex-pat pilot. It is this thread but with Air planes and it is as horrifying as you can imagine it is. Flying planes is the last priority these people have. "Good enough", maintaining Face and looking good for the CCP override all safety concerns. Finding competence is like finding a Unicorn. I am only on page 21 and it is

When people here say don't fly Chinese airlines they are serious. Your safety is by the grace of God and your hopefully foreign Captain who is trying their best not to get killed.

My friend's dad has been a commercial (and previously military) airplane mechanic (and hobby pilot) for around 40+ years now and the stuff he told me about problems with even US-based domestic airplanes was scary poo poo and made me rethink flying after he told it to me. I can't imagine how bad it is in China, or SEA or other countries where nobody gives a gently caress. I have flown only two Chinese airlines in my life and decided last year not to do it again, because the passengers are dangerous and awful enough.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:22

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Fortunately, a lot of airlines are outsourcing their repair and maintenance to China so all the planes are equally chabuduo.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:24

oohhboy: Jun 8, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Air New Zealand has outsourced their Engineering to Singapore and it is dumb for different non-Chinese like reason. It's bad because they work very strictly to contract which means if one part of the aircraft is being worked on and another part has a defect it doesn't get noted down or fixed and if you insist it costs"Extra". At least the work contarcted is being done.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:31

Captain Postal: Sep 16, 2007

oohhboy posted:

"Good enough", maintaining Face and looking good for the CCP override all safety concerns.

I feel at this point I should remind the thread that the chinese regional jet, the ARJ21, is being produced in two versions. One that meets FARs and can operate in the rest of the world, and one that doesn't and can't and is strictly China domestic use only.

If anyone is wondering what the difference between the two is, its the paperwork. FARs require everything to be documented and logged, whereas the domestic version will get by on "Good Enough" and luck

oohhboy posted:

When people here say don't fly Chinese airlines they are serious. Your safety is by the grace of God and your hopefully foreign Captain who is trying their best not to get killed.

Also need to point out: as far as aviation is concerned, Hong Kong isn't China. Cathay is perfectly safe as its still run as if it were British.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:43

fish and chips and dip: Feb 17, 2010

oohhboy posted:

Air New Zealand has outsourced their Engineering to Singapore and it is dumb for different non-Chinese like reason. It's bad because they work very strictly to contract which means if one part of the aircraft is being worked on and another part has a defect it doesn't get noted down or fixed and if you insist it costs"Extra". At least the work contarcted is being done.

I don't know which company ANZ uses or the contract terms, but on a general basis I've heard good things about aircraft maintenance in Singapore from people in the know.

Xiamen has a huge aircraft maintenance center as part of HAECO (Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company) I haven't heard anything good or bad about the Xiamen branch, but HAECO seems to have a good reputation so I'm just gonna tell my self that things will be just fine.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:46

fish and chips and dip: Feb 17, 2010

Captain Postal posted:

I feel at this point I should remind the thread that the chinese regional jet, the ARJ21, is being produced in two versions. One that meets FARs and can operate in the rest of the world, and one that doesn't and can't and is strictly China domestic use only.

If anyone is wondering what the difference between the two is, its the paperwork. FARs require everything to be documented and logged, whereas the domestic version will get by on "Good Enough" and luck

No, there won't be any FAR certified version of the ARJ21 at all.

quote:

The plane will fly without U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification despite a five-year effort to have the FAA endorse CAAC's certification procedures, the people said.

An FAA type certificate would have boosted the reputation of the airplane's developer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac) and cleared the way for the plane to be sold and operated globally - though expectations for foreign sales had been low. Without it, the aircraft can operate only in China and some Asian, African and South American countries that recognize the CAAC's certificate.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-aircraft-arj21-exclusive-idUSKCN0SF2XN20151021

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:50

Bro Dad: Mar 26, 2010

xiamen is practically taiwan so they might actually have inspections

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:50

oohhboy: Jun 8, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Yeah Cathay has a near perfect record. iirc one crashed into a river because of hijackers and one other got shot down by China.

The maintenance in Singapore is probably fine but it is naturally causing massive lay-off locally and the guy I talk to about it is rightly a little salty. So far noting Qantas like has happened so they must be doing something right.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:53

Private Speech: Mar 30, 2011; I HAVE EVEN MORE WORTHLESS BEANIE BABIES IN MY COLLECTION THAN I HAVE WORTHLESS POSTS IN THE BEANIE BABY THREAD YET I STILL HAVE THE TEMERITY TO CRITICIZE OTHERS' COLLECTIONS

IF YOU SEE ME TALKING ABOUT BEANIE BABIES, PLEASE TELL ME TO

EAT. SHIT.

fish and chips and dip posted:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-aircraft-arj21-exclusive-idUSKCN0SF2XN20151021

That article has a choice quote:

quote:

"While the CAAC wanted to learn from the FAA, they felt the Americans were too rigid and unnecessarily delaying things. And the longer the delay, the greater the embarrassment to the Chinese," said one of those [close to COMAC] individuals.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 11:59

Stringent: Dec 22, 2004; image text goes here

oohhboy posted:

Air New Zealand has outsourced their Engineering to Singapore and it is dumb for different non-Chinese like reason. It's bad because they work very strictly to contract which means if one part of the aircraft is being worked on and another part has a defect it doesn't get noted down or fixed and if you insist it costs"Extra". At least the work contarcted is being done.

isn't that how a contract works?

# ? Oct 7, 2016 12:02

Fauxtool: Oct 21, 2008; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

nothing is too big or important to not cut corners on. High speed rail and baby formula were previously though too important to mess up on. Several derailed trains with massive fatalities and hundreds of thousands of poisoned babies later...

# ? Oct 7, 2016 12:12