Why Do Chinese People Drink Hot Water? - "The Chinese have been drinking hot water since at least the 4th century B.C. At that time, hot beverages were seen to expel humidity from the body, while cold beverages could, naturally, cool the body down. But not everyone had access to the luxury of fuel for a stove. Thus, hot water was reserved for those who needed it the most, namely pregnant women, the elderly, and the sick. And so, gradually, there grew to be a connection between health and hot water. It wasn’t until 1862, however, that this connection was cemented as the golden rule of traditional medicine. That year, a cholera epidemic broke out in Shanghai, killing up to 3,000 people a day, many of whom were refugees from the ongoing Taiping Rebellion. From Shanghai, the disease spread northward, reaching the capital of Beijing. The south, on the other hand, remained untouched by the disease. It was well known at the time that southerners drank more hot water than northerners. And while hindsight has made it clear that the real cause of cholera’s northward travel was mail boats, the myth that hot water had spared the south spread as fast as the disease itself. By the time of the Communist takeover in 1949, drinking hot water had already become a widespread preference among people of every geographic position and party affiliation. The Nationalists even promoted it in their 1934 guidebook Essentials of the New Life Movement. In 1952, the new Communist government launched their nationwide Patriotic Health Campaign, with posters hung in schools declaring that “Children should cultivate the habit of drinking boiled water three times a day!”"
So much for blaming Mao
The History Behind China’s Obsession With Hot Water - "Since at least the fourth century B.C., traditional Chinese medicine classified both hot and cold beverages as “functional drinks.” The former was used to expel excess humidity and cold from the body, while the latter was said to cool the body down. However, in ancient China, poor living standards meant that most ordinary Chinese focused much more on keeping warm and dry than on cooling off... Poor refrigeration also made storing ice exceptionally difficult. Traditionally, only high-ranking officials and the social elite could enjoy iced drinks. During the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial family even had a special team of civil servants tasked with harvesting ice during winter. As traditional medicine became broadly accepted across society, Chinese people developed an abiding faith in the beneficial health effects of hot water. By the 1830s, people in more prosperous areas near the Yangtze River Delta had come to view it as a necessity, and hot water stores known as laohuzao, or “tiger stoves,” popped up in major cities all over the region. The hot water they sold was not just for drinking, but for washing, too... In its “Essentials of the New Life Movement,” the Kuomintang issued guidelines on proper attire, eating habits, living conditions, and traffic rules. In the section on food, it sought to educate the masses to drink boiled water. The guidelines claimed that the practice could prevent the growth of bacteria and the spread of diseases such as dysentery. Those who could responded enthusiastically, making great efforts to drink boiled water and give up uncooked food. However, the ongoing wars and the inability of the government to assert administrative control meant that, in practice, its efforts to universalize the consumption of boiled water achieved only limited success. Prior to the New Life Movement, however, the Chinese Communist Party had already begun advocating the consumption of hot water in soviets under its control. If soldiers were not provided with boiled water, they could take the matter up with their superiors, while soldiers found drinking unboiled water would be verbally chastised. During the Yan’an period, the Red Army further promoted the consumption of hot water. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and other top leaders could often be seen with a cup of hot water, leading to the widespread popularity of enamel mugs."
I’m a trad wife and other parents pay me to teach them lost skills - "Soon, I was being asked to run more cooking classes, making curries, sauces, which went on to become how to host a dinner party, how to plan weekly food menus and budget. I started making little videos and uploading them on to YouTube so people could have a reminder. I realised that most people my age just weren’t taught these skills for life that I had been – they just aren’t valued. Now, my generation is living without them. I decided to expand my videos to include all sorts of homemaking skills – sewing on a button, cleaning the home, planting spring bulbs – things that used to be common knowledge. Soon, I was inundated by messages from strangers asking for more videos – could I make one showing how to iron and fold fitted sheets? And how exactly should you clean an oven? Before long, my “Ask Charlie” videos had evolved into a full-blown business, cultivating online and in-person courses covering everything from family organisation to basic sewing – the costs vary from £43 to more than £200, and I have a steady flow of clients."
Shark filmed swimming among children at Hadera beach, Israel, before ‘deadly’ attack - "The incident is only the third recorded shark attack in Israel. One person was killed in the 1940s, but before the country was founded in 1948... Israeli media reported that the victim had gone to swim with the sharks. An eyewitness told Channel 12: “I saw the diver in the depths of the water, he shouted: ‘I’m bitten, I’m bitten’, and waved his hands in the air. After a few minutes, sharks bit him, and suddenly he disappeared.” Separate footage from the beach shows people tugging at the sharks’ fins, while others throw fish for them to eat."
Dalai Lama Quietly Cancels Scheduled Meeting With JD Vance | Babylon Bee - "After the sad news broke that Pope Francis had passed away just hours after meeting the U.S. Vice President, the Dalai Lama quietly canceled his scheduled meeting with JD Vance."
Ben Shapiro | Facebook - "The Left was very puzzled when Vice President J.D. Vance visited the pope the day before he passed away. They couldn't contain their glee that the pope seemed to give him a bit of a lecture on migration, but they never seemed to have any trouble understanding why Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden would visit the pope. They are extraordinarily pro-abortion, pro-transgenderism, and pro-same sex marriage, and yet claim to be Catholic even though they violate Catholic doctrine at every turn. But the Left had some sort of hang-up when it came to J.D. Vance."
Indian man awakes on funeral pyre - "An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday. Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday. Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital. But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites... Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment."
How My Trip to Quit Sugar Quickly Became a Journey Into Hell - The New York Times - "Quirks of genetics and taste-bud architecture impact the might of sugar’s pull on any individual. But there are species-wide patterns: Children, for example, like sugar much more than adults. Beauchamp assessed the sucrose preferences of children ages 11 to 15 across a decade. “There seemed to be a real change, probably around puberty,” Beauchamp says. Their affinity for sweetness had dropped. A popular hypothesis suggests the appetite for sugar wanes as individuals exit their period of rapid growth.
Richard Hanania on X - "Amy Wax on low IQ people going to college and its effect on society. "What's going on out there is that people who would otherwise get a high school diploma and really technically shouldn't be going to universities in the sense that...[they] aren't smart enough to get a real university education. They're being churned through these institutions and there they are getting an ideological education in lefty ideas. They're being propagandized with the most crude sort of unthought out lefty ideas and then they are going out into the world.""
Traveling in China feels… off? I want to hear your opinion : r/China - "China has thousands of years of history, yet there are very few authentic ancient monuments. I traveled around China for almost a month this year, and most of the “ancient” stuff that I saw was pretty new. For instance, I went to Xi’an, and the local guide took me to Huaqing Pool, with beautiful Tang Dynasty buildings. He said, “This is where [insert ancient historical event] happened!”… But, then, I took a better look at those old buildings and they were quite new. Aren’t Tang Dynasty buildings supposed to be wooden? Literal concrete was used there lol Everything there felt like a caricature—not a reflection of what China’s history is truly like, but what people in the modern era think ancient China is like. From pseudo-traditional music being played from the loudspeakers to the choreographed dances and colourful costumes… Truly ancient historical sites are few and far between. And, even there, reconstruction seems to be preferred to conservation. I’m not even sure some parts of the Great Wall are that ancient, especially the ones near Beijing. Compare this to traveling in Europe, where you walk in front of a 800-year-old cathedral without thinking twice. I don’t think I have ever encountered this in China. Even 2,000+ year old cities are relatively new. Even some of the natural landscapes feel artificial. I went to see some cool waterfalls and the whole area surrounding the waterfall was paved lol. And the water was clearly being redirected to create as many awe-inspiring sights in one place as possible. It’s just… not that fun to travel around China? Many sights are man-made or rebuilt + the amount of people makes it quite difficult to enjoy. Once I went for a hike and, instead, I found myself standing in one place and slowly queuing towards the exit for 2 hours…"
Traveling in China feels… off? I want to hear your opinion : r/China - "Theseus boat was replaced one board at a time, like for like. In China they replace old bricks and mortar with 3rd rate concrete all at once. It's like replacing the whole boat with a steel one and staying it's the same boat because it's a similar shape and color. As a Zen Buddhist, I visit the historically very important Guangxiao Temple whenever I'm in GuangZhou. They trashed the tower and rebuilt it in concrete. Can you imagine doing that to the Tower of Pisa?"
"I visited the Big Goose pagoda in Xian. The base was made with modern concrete bricks by the chinese communists. They were cracking and some were broken. Meanwhile farther up the orignal Tang Dynasty bricks were in much better condition. Later that day I went to see the terracotta soldiers of china's first emperor. They had an oldish looking guy sitting at a simple desk autographing books about the place who was supposedly the farmer that first rediscovered the tomb of the first emperor. Now keep in mind the farmer was already an old guy when he discovered the tombs. Now I am no mathetician but add 70 years to that old guys age he would have had to be 130-150 to be the real guy. Very amazing indeed. This was when I realized that everywhere you go you are getting the Disneyland version of chinese history and of course the requisite crowds and I mean jammed packed in their like sardines crowd which apparently is normal everywhere."
"Indeed. You have witnessed the normal operating procedure. It's cultural revolution 2.0. China's history and culture destroyed by subcontractors instead of the red guard. I spoke with some contractors at an ancient Taoist temple in Beijing who were throwing 400 year old bricks and tiles into an industrial bin. They said I could have some, but I changed my mind at the last minute. Ironically, the CCP can pay to destroy China's heritage, but if a foreigner was found preserving it by taking it out of China it would be a long jail sentence."
There're people pretending that restoring with as much original material as possible and using original techniques and materials is exactly the same as rebuilding in concrete
Traveling in China feels… off? I want to hear your opinion : r/China - "I've been to Japan, and they built mostly with wood. A lot of their historical sites were destroyed one way or another--earthquakes, fires, the small squabble called World War 2, etc. But they put a lot of care in many of those sites to not only rebuild them, but to rebuild them as close as they could in both materials and methods. It looks good, at least to a dumb foreigner like me. I've been to historic sites in China, and they feel more like an amusement park version of ancient places. Like comparing the Disney castle at Disneyland to a real medieval castle."
Traveling in China feels… off? I want to hear your opinion : r/China - "Japan was literally firebombed and they still have wooden buildings older than not just the United States, but England itself. Japan tore down most of the amusement park taff, but it was never considered anything other than amusement park taff. They didn't have to pretend it was authentic because they still had the authentic stuff. The real answer is that the vast vast majority of the authentic ancient structures in China were destroyed deliberately. And guess who did the destroying. As a student of Chinese history and religion, it genuinely breaks my heart again and again and again every time I read about some impressive temple structure or ancient complex of buildings only to read "the original structure of (so and so place) that had stood in (so and so city) since the Tang/Song/Ming dynasty, was torn down in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution. A new temple was build over the remains of the old in the 2000s but the sight holds little modern religious significance and serves mostly as a tourist destination."
"Destroying cultural heritage is part of the cultural heritage of China. Mao was far from the first emperor to engage in widespread purging and destruction of historical artifacts and architecture."
Meme - "Sweden: I want a bridge
Denmark: I want a tunnel *half tunnel half bridge, Øresund Link*
Meme - "Option #4"
"What's my name on your phone?"
"tloml"
"omg ily"
Meme - i/o @eyeslasho: "At Yale, 92% of grades in women's studies classes are either A or A-. Only 55% in mathematics are. You couldn't ask for a better metaphor for what ails American academia."
"Table 2. Percent A's and A-'s by Subject, 2022-2023
Enrollment greater than 500
Percent
52.39 Economics
55.18 Mathematics
55.82 Psychology (17.32% CR)
62.07 Chemistry
63.49 Molecular Biophysics & Boichemistry
65.43 Philosophy (14.62% CR)
66.17 Molecular, Cellular & Dev Biol
66.96 Physics
67.94 Astronomy
68.27 Statistics and Data Science
70.82 Computer Science
72.27 Biology
72.44 American Studies
73.41 Enviromnental Studies
73.66 Earth and Planetary Sciences
74.02 Political Science
74.40 Engineering #5
74.44 Anthropology
77.11 Global Affairs
79.63 History
79.71 Linguistics
80.04 Directed Studies
80.79 English
81.60 Humanities
82.21 African American Studies
82.71 Regional Studies #8
85.43 Ethnicity, Race, & Migration
85.82 Education Studies
92.37 Hist of Science, Hist of Med
Selected Others, less than 500 Enrollments
57.36 Engineering & Applied Science
61.11 Applied Physics
61.79 Neuroscience
62.25 Cognitive Scignce
73.91 Sociology
81.91 Ethics, Politics, & Economics
92.06 Women's Gender & Sexuality Studies
Denominator includes CR, Sat., W."
Meme - "Distribution of US tech execs' political leanings, inferred from their campaign contributions
2000 *somewhat biased towards conservative right*
*shift left*
2020 *very biased towards progressive left*
2024 *two peaks, with slight advantage for conservative right*"
Meme - "You have been permanently banned from participating in r/RoastMe because your comment violates this community's rules...
This comment may have fully or partially contributed to your ban:
Post Title: Your Comment: God already roasted you"
Imagine being banned from a roasting sub for roasting
Meme - "Tried on but not worn, it was too big. Pet friendly home."
$5 - LINCOLN, NE. XXL[19] Thong"
Meme - Adult dinosaur: "Son, let's play hidden. Go!!!"
Crying adult dinosaur: "Close your eyes and count up to 10"
Kid dinosaur: "Ok, mom"
"1, 2, 3..."
Crying adult dinosaur: "I love you, my baby"
*meteroid about to hit them*
Meme - "How to fix a broken zipper...."
Kemi Badenoch: Kneecap should be prosecuted for ‘kill your MP’ video - "Kemi Badenoch has demanded the rap trio Kneecap be prosecuted for allegedly calling for the death of Tory MPs. A video emerged of the group at a gig in November 2023 that appeared to show one member saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” The Conservative leader said Kneecap’s “anti-British hatred has no place in our society” as she called for the group to face action. Scotland Yard is looking into the incident, along with another concert from November last year in which a member of the band appeared to shout, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – groups banned as terrorist organisations in the UK... Mrs Badenoch blocked a government grant to Kneecap while she was business secretary. But in November last year, the Belfast group won a discrimination challenge over the decision to refuse £14,250 funding award after the Government conceded it was “unlawful”. Downing Street described Kneecap’s alleged comments as “completely unacceptable” and suggested they should not be able to receive Government funding."
Damn censorship of pro-Palestinian speech!
If the government doesn't fund left wingers spouting violent rhetoric, that is dangerous censorship and has a chilling effect on freedom of speech and is unacceptable in a democratic society
Meme - Paul Weller @paulwellerHQ: "These artists, including Paul, stand for Freedom of Expression. If you're an artist and would like your name added, please get in touch with Heavenly Recordings."
Winston Marshall @MrWinMarshall: "None of these artists stand for freedom of expression. None of them have shown support for Morrissey, JK Rowling, MIA or anyone who has spoken out against progressive orthodoxy None of them expressed concern for brits being sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for social media posts after the Southport murders They only care for freedom of expression when it is an expression they themselves agree with. In this case the murder of Tory MPs, and the support of Hamas and Hezbollah."
Meme - "There has never been another nation ever that has existed much beyond 250 years. Not a single one. America's 280th year is 2025. The next 4 years are gonna be pretty interesting considering everything that's already been said."
"My local pub is older than your country"
Rachel Reeves has revealed her art of the deal: total capitulation - "Fresh from gifting the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, handing trades unions powers they wouldn’t have dared put on their Christmas list, and mulling over the idea of slavery reparations, the Government is apparently about to offer major concessions on EU access to our fishing waters. This latest capitulation is self-evidently incoherent: sacrificing our fishing industry in order to have the chance of selling our arms to countries on the continent isn’t a win-win, it’s self-flagellation. For all the performative fuss over the new, €150 billion EU loans programme – in which more weapons will be bought in the bloc and from allied countries, rather than from the US – several European countries have militaries in an even shabbier state than our own. Italy and Spain lack remotely plausible plans to ramp up defence spending, and probably don’t care: they’re a long way from Kyiv. Our depleted RAF defends Irish airspace. France – which currently spends just 2.1 per cent of GDP on defence against the inadequate 2.3 per cent here in Britain – is desperately attempting to slash its debt burden. Not that you’d detect this from Emmanuel Macron’s latest showboating. The French President has made a pitch for European allies to “buy French” air missile defence systems and fighter jets instead of American weapons. A cynic might question whether the French are exploiting the need to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, not least given accusations Macron was “blocking” a €30 billion weapons programme for Ukraine earlier this year. The French are never slow to seize an opportunity, but many will wonder why it is that our own politicians consistently fail to act in Britain’s national interest. Sure, it would be nice to sell more munitions to Lithuania, but let’s not promote Remainer delusions over the livelihoods of fishermen in Peterhead and Fraserburgh... has anyone asked what Japan and South Korea gave to gain access to this loan fund? They’re not European, the last time I looked. “The British are making concessions they need to,” sniffed one EU diplomat this week. “That is positive and shows a maturity that was not there in the Brexit negotiations”. Too many starry-eyed pro-European MPs are likely to ignore this Continental condescension, because they think our interests lie in moving ever-closer to a Brussels elite which disdains us. Fishermen in Grimsby are not on their mental map. Now is really not the time to be snuggling up to Europe. Britain entered the Trump maelstrom earlier this year in a stronger position than most. By leaving the EU, whose trade policies the US President has repeatedly derided, we escaped his initial 20 per cent tariff... In 2023 our exports to America came to £187 billion – nearly a quarter of the total and far more than everything we sold to the entire continent of Asia. The IMF has just downgraded Britain’s growth to a paltry 1.1 per cent this year. We need to exploit our Brexit freedoms, not heedlessly undermine them in the hope of picking up crumbs from the Brussels dining table."
