Those look very similar to me. I would say Japan is now where Poland will be in 10 years. Why it’s a problem for Japan but not Poland?

That’s the thing about population pyramids - they don’t just move up evenly. They’re adjusted by the ongoing mortality of each age group and the size of the next age group down. Poland and Japan are on the same trajectory, but Japan is, effectively, much further along. More ~30-40 years than ~10. The emphasis is less on the largest ‘boom’ generation, and much more on the general trend of the ‘youngest’ generations shrinking, growing, or being stable. In Poland, it’s uneven - closer to shrinking than stable, but more stable than Japan, which is only shrinking.

Even relatively small differences can have an outsized effect in making the older generations an ever-larger proportion of the population despite their lifetime mortality going up with each age bracket. Compare the percentages here. “Boom” generation aside, Japan’s retiree cohort is roughly 150% the youth cohort. That’s not a good sign. For Poland to end up with those numbers in a decade, it would have to have effectively no mortality in the elder cohorts - extremely unlikely.

That being said, it is a problem for Poland going forward - as well as many other developed countries.

It is, but not as bad. The EU’s birth rate is higher than Japan’s, and the EU is much more immigrant-friendly - and if that makes you suck in air through your teeth, let me clarify - that’s a relative estimation. SK and Japan are… infamously hostile towards immigration.

I don’t go in for sports ball, but I do enjoy the memes

I mean, South Korea and Japan’s birth rate is a serious problem.

The issue is less that they’re going ‘extinct’, and more that the population pyramid is gonna look real fucky going forward, and that comes with… economic issues. And potentially cultural issues.

Me, at 80 degrees: “A little chilly in here.”

Yep! Funny enough, the only recorded Roman emissaries who made it to Han China claimed to be representatives of either Antoninus Pius, or his adoptive son (the dual issues of uncreative Roman naming conventions and translation issues makes it unclear).

Explanation: Antoninus Pius is one of the longer-reigning Emperors of the Roman Empire. Why does no one remember him? Because he did nothing.

Not literally nothing, but his reign contained little in the way of excitement. No great invasions or defenses, no fundamental reforms in yet another misguided attempt at adulation or military glory, no crisis that was allowed to blossom to such a stage. Just a quiet, diligent man who was noted to enjoy fishing in his down time, keeping a steady hand on the tiller of state. When his ~23 year reign was over, letting the gears of government turn with nothing more than addressing problems and clarifying legal issues as they arose, the Empire looked much as it had when he had inherited it - just with a bit more of everything - charitable organizations, completed infrastructure projects, legal protections, slave rights (but still slavery, because the past is a shitty place), money in the treasury…

Antoninus Pius did nothing, actively. By inaction, he chose the best possible course of action in his reign. o7

Wu wei is a Taoist concept Romans were unlikely to have been aware of.

Mobile cactus

Hey! My day’s always brightened when I see your posts!

As long as people enjoy my reposts, I count my time well-spent!

Fire the Senator, replace him with his dog.

Wiki sez:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessie_Reynolds

Women’s clothes at the time included long dresses and tight corsets, impractical for cycling;[9] so Reynolds instead wore a “rational” outfit of pantaloons “cropped and cinched below the knee”, with a shirt and long coat.[11][13][6] It is likely that the outfit was made specifically for Reynolds by her sister, Ada, who was a dress maker.[7] The outfit caused outrage,[7] with suggestions that it was inappropriately masculine and that she was cycling in her knickerbockers. The publicity traveled as far as America,[7] and the outfit was promoted by proponents of Victorian dress reform,[9] as Reynolds clearly intended.[7] She was active in promoting dress reform five years prior to the foundation of the local cycling dress reform club and continued to wear the outfit regularly.[7]

Cycling magazine wrote a scathing report on the “scantiness” of the outfit, complaining of loss of modesty and calling the feat a “lamentable incident”.[6] Similarly, the Yorkshire Evening Post pointed out that cycling was not a pleasant sight for a man, but that a woman’s “abnormal hips” made it worse.[5] The publicity, despite being negative, helped improve women’s rights[9] with the suffragette movement in particular noting it was a big milestone.[11] Further, it helped show that women need not be tied to the street that they grew up in and had a means to travel.[10] Another effect of the publicity was that Reynolds received love letters, including a marriage proposal from a stranger who was apparently significantly older than her.[7] Reynolds and her family took advantage of the celebrity status, with Reynolds promoting a number of female bicycles over the following years, always in rational cycling attire.[7]

I thought I’d be less suicidal at this age tbqh

An amazing shot!

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Generally, high-quality pieces would have been made by artisans (and thus usually custom), not factory-made. The high demand meant that the skills to make these pieces were more commonly pursued by woodworkers, thus making a larger labor pool (and so, cheaper labor), but the technology available and higher price of resources means that it would have required more expense in the form of materials and more man-hours to create the product.

A friend of mine once had me pose with two of these when on a roadtrip (we had never seen them before).

So he could say I had “azburgers”

do people know you can pay for custom pieces

Like, if a door knocker is that important to you, like an upper-middle class 19th century homeowner, you can just… pay 500$ or so for a nice one. I promise you that the 19th century homeowner paid much more for their’s, adjusted for inflation.

I’d double-check your local traffic regulations; there are places where you can get written a ticket for running a yellow light.

Holy shit, then what’s the difference in those places between a red light and a yellow light?

Apex scavenger

Professional writing has always been about throwing as many ideas out there until something catches on.

Jesus fucking Christ.