Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us

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

PRC COVID mortality estimate: 3M - 5M

January 08, 2023

Summary PRC COVID-induced excess deaths: Absolute minimum requiring a miracle: 1 M Likely minimum: 2.5 M Likely range: 3 M - 5 M How I derived these numbers: First, if you doubt the current high COVID fatalities based on anecdotes instead of official data, let's think in this way. People are paying what is equivalent to 2 - 3 months' salary to avoid unpredictable long waits at Beijing crematoria, so long waiting lines are common. Beijing has 12 crematoria and many more in its vicinity. If people could drive 100km or more to have timely cremation, they would not spend so much money to save the 1 or 2 hours of transportation. If Beijing with the best healthcare resources has such a high fatality rate, you can imagine the fatality rates of other places. It is fair to compare the PRC with other East Asian countries. Japan, S. Korea, and TW are exemplary - high vigilance, high vax rates, and orderly opening, so they have much lower excess death rates than most other countries. If t

Thoughts on the Rashist slaughter in Ukraine

February 24, 2023

I started to write down these thoughts in February 2023 before my second trip to Ukraine, paused for many months, picked it up intermittently in the summer, and finally finished on Saturday, September 23, 2023. I will not edit this post because I want to come back to it to see how my views will change or remain in the future. It has been a long and brutal 19 months since the Moscow KGB thug launched the slaughter in Ukraine. My views on this war are simple and straightforward, not much different from freedom lovers who stand with free people fighting for their freedom. I wanted to provide some background. I have some slight differences from others that make me treat certain things slightly differently. Why I support the Ukrainians' fight for their freedom I firmly support people fighting for their freedom regardless of their political leaning (left, right, or center), race, or religion (Buddhists in Tibet, Christians in Ukraine, Muslims in Xinjiang, Iran, and Afghanistan). To me,

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