I have wanted to share my thoughts on Ukraine's manpower issue for a long time mainly because I keep hearing the lie of Ukraine running out of men. Since I am not a genius like Musk or Sacks who get indisputable truth from pro-Kremlin sources, I can only share my observations and speculation. Let's first acknowledge that manpower has been an issue from the very beginning of the Rashist invasion. No one disputes it. Otherwise, Ukraine would not have issued the order to ban men 8 to 60 from leaving the country as soon as the Rashist invasion started. It is true that some Ukrainians do not want to serve for various reasons. Ukraine's current population is 35M-40M with about 10M military-age men. If 10% fo them do not want to serve, and your narrative is Ukrainians do not want to fight, you could theoretically find 1M cases to support your argument. You could compile a book of Ukrainians evading or resisting conscription. I remember at least 2 of my 3 exits from Ukraine saw a l

These are my long-held thoughts or speculations about post-CCP China. Generally speaking, the longer the rule of the CCP, the more disintegration of China. My preferred analogy is a pressure cooker that China resembles and the CCP is its lid.  The cooker would remain intact if the steam were released constantly. The CCP wants a tight seal (e.g., riding free speech completely), so eventually the cooker will explode.  The longer the seal, the higher the pressure, hence the more fragmented the post-explosion cooker. It was possible for China to maintain its current territory or even expand (by recovering Outer Manchuria from Russia) until 1989.  Yes, the CCP committed a lot of crimes against minorities such as Tibetans and Uyghurs, but it did against Hans too. It harmed Hans even more than minorities in some cases. For example, the great famine that killed 40 million Chinese had less impact in minority regions. In the 1980s, people felt the CCP made a lot of mistakes and it started to ack

I was excited by  the video How Aurora Got Self-Driving Trucks On The Road  a few months ago. I thought the concept of highway-only autonomous driving might have a significant positive impact on many people in not very far future. The consensus is that true autonomous driving under all conditions will not happen until at least 2035.   Aurora has started this hub-to-hub autonomous driving . This eliminates the most unpleasant part of a trucker's job - long hours on highways.  I can see this technology ported to passenger cars relatively easily. When it happens, it will enhance the quality of life for tens of millions in the US alone by allowing them to be productive and stress-free during daily commutes on highways. Even for those without daily highway commutes, it can be highly beneficial. Two examples: Many in MA enjoy hiking and skiing in the NH mountains. For me, the 3-hour driving (one-way) kills the interest most of the time. If the 2.5 hours on highways are done autonomously,

The free world has paid and will continue to pay heavy prices for the current US administration's illusion about the PRC. Two of many examples: 1. The current Rashist slaughter in UA would have had a good chance to be prevented if the US had not acted based on the illusion. The administration begged the PRC for months with US intel about Putin's planned invasion. The PRC passed the information to Moscow to confirm the weakness and fear of the US to affirm Putin's confidence in the victory of the invasion.  The US could have prevented the slaughter by rapidly ramping up lethal weapon aid to Ukraine. The slaughter will cost the free world at least hundreds of billions of dollars in the end. 2. The pledge to ban AI weapons could cost the US astronomically, or even threaten its existence. There is ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance for the CCP to abide by it. Marines and the relatively small Space Force are the only two out of the five military branches that meet their recruiting goals . I

I support whatever Ukrainians want to do with their territories on their own land. If I am allowed to have personal wishes regarding Ukraine, they will be: Never concede any territories.  Pause all high casualty ground offensives regardless of the outcome. If Rashists have offensives, set up optimal meat grinders to induce their human wave assaults to incur maximum casualties on them. Beef up SOF activities and drone/missile attacks in the occupied territories to maintain constant maximum pain on occupiers. Work with international communities constantly to impose maximum sanctions on PRC's Russia province. Rejuvenate Ukraine's legendary defense industry to provide the bulk of the weapons to sustain the fight and churn out high-performance and highly cost-effective weapons. Start reconstruction now and integrate the economy with the EU as much as possible to bring back high single-digit or even double-digit growth. Ukraine has both the brains and resources to make it with intern

I regarded the US News World Report's college ranking as the gold standard when I was applying to US schools. My faith in it faded slightly over time for various reasons. It is their ranking of a bunch of PRC colleges in the top 1% that made me realize the deep flaws of the ranking. The primary function of a college is education of which critical independent thinking is the most important part. How can a college with little academic freedom and a lot of mandatory indoctrination be ranked among the world's top 1% ? The ranking is largely about research.  I fully appreciate the high correlation between research and education, but there are two issues for this method: 1. The correlation is not a simple linear relationship. 2. Their way of research assessment is flawed - the PRC is not a normal free country. You cannot apply the same method used for a normal country to the PRC. Academic fraud in the PRC is rampant . For example, with their method, the Chinese middle school dropout

I entered Ukraine for the first time on October 25, 2022, and reached Kyiv on October 27. I though it was a good idea to write about about various ways to enter Ukraine on my myUkraine visit anniversary based on my own two trips because I have seen people including Ukrainians offering wrong directions. Two important points first: 1. The USG is against its citizens traveling to Ukraine understandably. I went to bring donated items requested by people on the frontline. 2. Train usually is the best choice for quick and comfortable border crossing (minutes instead of hours). Routes from four different countries based on my own experience. 1. Poland. The direct train from Warsaw to Kyiv is probably the most convenient. I have not taken this 18-hour overnight(17:00CET to 12:00EET). The train had its gauge change (standard to wide) at Rymachi. I exited Ukraine to Warsaw by taking the Kyive- Przemyśl Express(no gauge change), then a 6-hour overnight bus (taking a train would require waiting ti

Google's Local Guides program's policy enforcement is unbelievably bad. It is despicable. Here is what it does things sometimes: Publishes a review initially, then rejects it later without notifying the reviewer. Suspends the reviewer's Local Guides account because of the above rejected reviews without notifying the reviewer. They do this to users who have made thousands of contributions over the years benefiting millions of Google Maps users. Continues to allow a suspended account  The review rejections are done by their flawed AI. Reposting the review without any changes will get approved often.  Notifies a reviewer of a rejection without giving a specific reason. This is the worst part.  It seems that one may get these punishments by posting multiple reviews quickly. I have not seen any online policy enforcement nearly as bad as Google Local Guides'. Bing Maps is worth trying. For reviews, Tripadvisor may be a better place. My journey of  Local Guides: I have made ov

I am starting to feel that some galaxy brains believe that the PRC is gaining an upper hand in its assault on the free world after the middle school dropout's visit to Moscow.  No, the CCP has to be increasingly nervous about the situation in Ukraine which can be an existential threat. The Russian invasion does wear the free world standing with Ukraine and may incur further internal divisions.  All good for the PRC. The problem for the PRC is the risk of Russian disintegration, or even worse, becoming a free country after deposing the dictator. Let's see the worst scenario for the free world first: Russia temporarily defeats Ukraine and takes Kyiv to put up a puppet gov as a result of dwindling international support for Ukraine. The chance for this worst scenario is close to zero. Even if it happens, Ukraine will just becomes the 2nd Afghanistan for Russia. Bloody insurgent fights will drive out Russia eventually but incur far greater damage to Russia than Afghanistan did to th