Not really. It depends on what it is. There are entire games and items that aren’t available in the US, but make a killing in Asia.

Like, here’s Genshin Impact numbers from 2023.

On that game, the US comes in at 7th, is less than half of the top country (Japan) and is notably behind Switzerland.

For Tik Tok specifically, we can look at their annual reports.

Let’s look at average annual users per region. 682M in Asia Pacific, which does not include China. 192M in North America.

China’s numbers are 750M daily.

I don’t think most of their money comes from the US.

I was so happy I could get my cat off of Purina.

The GI Joe movie was fantastic though and the height of the show. Not a jump the shark moment.

Both my and my husband’s US cars already have all of the items listed as physical buttons. I don’t know that it’ll really change much.

We all played a game called Drug Wars. It was text based.

Even worse, the men who figure things out tend to find a good partner and pair up, taking them out of the pool.

Why does this get an ‘even worse’ qualifier?

I once saw a self-proclaimed ‘cat expert’ YouTuber say that a cat loafing was a bad sign. Like a sign they were being abused and scared or some other crock of shit.

I turned off their video when it got to that piece.

Honestly, I think it’s an impossible question. Like, how do you pick a favorite book that isn’t an absolute arbitrary answer to begin with? I don’t even think I could narrow it down if you asked by author. Like, which Piers Anthony book is my favorite? Damned if I know.

That’s why people go for classics. Because it isn’t answerable.

Interesting. I read these as a kid and remember nothing but them being ripping good yarns.

Outdoor festivals are likely treated a little differently than indoor ones.

I’ve been to several concerts that pour all drinks into a plastic solo cup.

I’ve only ever bought their peach tea. It was pretty tasty, but not something I would get all of the time. It was a nice alternative to other teas you find in the gas station.

I didn’t even know they sold water. I’ve only ever seen tea.

I think this is more attributed to how the people around you spoke rather than strictly reading.

My college roommate and I both grew up reading. My family also read books and one parent was college educated. Her family only read the local paper (6th grade reading level). She was the only reader in her family.

So we both grew up reading, but I could pronounce words she couldn’t simply because the people around me also knew and used them.

Well, they ruled that he had no history of being a conscientious objector and did not put any previous effort into spreading his claimed ideology that would point to a history of it. One of the findings was that he didn’t want to join the military because the ‘orders were unfair.’ PUBG was a small part of the argument that he was not as against war and violence as he claimed to be, but the article is on Kotaku, so they know their audience to get clicks.

To my knowledge, the current law is that if you say you’re a conscientious objector, the alternative to military conscription is to work in a prison or correctional facility for 36 months. Getting the previous punishment of 18 months in prison is at least a shorter amount of time.

I wonder if he went to court to get the previous alternative of 18 months in jail over the 36 months of work. At least it’s a shorter amount of your life.

You act like ‘children should be seen and not heard’ was in the distant past.

While education helped sure, the real killer was changing smoking from being cool to being a stigma and laws stopping smoking from most public places.

Smoking was changed from being cool to being gross. It makes you smell, it makes kissing you gross, etc etc. Vapes seem to have taken away some of those issues that really pushed the social stigma.

Add to it that nicotine free vapes exist and people use those, so it’s not the same singular target as tobacco. What you don’t want is something that can be easily debunked making it seem like it’s not that bad. (See the many stories of folks trying harder drugs because the DARE programs told them marijuana would be the same as LSD, only it’s not).

Those are the wellness initiatives at my work. Taking vacation and stepping away is encouraged, so is using your sick time to go to the doctor. I’ve never taken part in the third party therapy stuff, but it’s offered and free to employees & their families

But I realize that isn’t the norm.

Why weren’t you getting an eye exam every year as a standard?

I’m in the US and once a year is pretty standard. Why would you only go to the eye doctor twice in 15 years? Do you not have regular eye exams as the norm?

Reminds me of the parents who left their baby with the grandparents and the grandparents gave the baby ivermectin to ‘protect’ them from COVID.

Hospital couldn’t save the poor kid.

I figured that came through in the “I’ve been following kpop for the better part of a decade” comment that you originally replied to, but since it wasn’t clear enough, yes, I’m a fan of kpop and know many fans of kpop who aren’t 4chan people at all, and many who don’t care about idol lives or the papparazzi pictures. (Yes, obviously there are 4chan folks who like kpop, like you can find 4chan folks who like any genre of music).

Kpop, like the majority of pop, is typically marketed to young women because women spend money on products or tend to have more decision making power over where money is spent (obviously varies by person or household). 4chan is usually not a haven for young women, or any women for that matter.

Like the majority of music genres, the fans are diverse and are interested in it for a variety of different reasons. If the only people that you’re finding who listen to kpop are 4chan folks, I think that says more about the folks that you associate with or the places that you frequent than it does about kpop fans.

Yeah, as I said, you have a very limited view on that genre of music and you’re really proving that now. Like any type of music, people are into it for a number of reasons.