abysmalpoptart

Probably meant to say "bolted"

This is an interesting discussion, because my understanding of "whiteness" suggests that it isn't limited to anglos. It's more of a bias in favor of lighter or fairer skinned individuals in any and all cultures. I believe it's due to the expectation that darker skinned individuals work outside for a living (e.g. the fields), whereas lighter skinned individuals have less sun exposure due to not needing to work outdoors (due to wealth).

This occurs in numerous societies around the globe. In areas where darker complexions are rather common (africa, india), skin lightening treatments are apparently quite popular.

There's some truth to your statement (such as white farmers in south africa having their land repossessed post apartheid), but i think it's a more complex bias than most realize.

Clearly you didn't even read anything i wrote. I'll still give you the courtesy of a thought out reply, knowing you won't do the same, though i am wondering if I'm talking to a bot

You're not providing any facts or information, just stating an uninformed opinion. It's a very disingenuous take, and is not useful in any way shape or form. It's actually somewhat dangerous, and also belittles people of other cultures. I don't know why you think you're trying to act like a white knight for people you consider to be foreigners, but they're actually better off than you think they are. I'm guessing you must think you're better than everyone else. I am curious which YouTube video you saw that made you think you know so much about global disposable income levels per capita, though at this point i think you're just making things up as you go.

I've provided you with actual information and your response is no everyone else is wrong. Clearly you prefer taking bad faith arguments with strangers for fun. I hope you find out one day why this is the wrong way to behave

You also have no idea where i live, what i do, who i am, where I've been. I promise you that all your assumptions are wrong.

As i wrote this out i realized that i am probably talking to a bot

According to some basic research, it looks like Thailand is actually in the top 10 for least expensive country to travel to.

If the claim is that vacationing anywhere is too expensive, then the argument is a little pedantic. That sounds like the perspective of someone who just saw a YouTube video comparing income by country, and now thinks they fully understand global poverty differences.

If the claim is that it really is too expensive to travel to Thailand specifically, it is simply incorrect. Thailand is one of absolute cheapest countries to travel to "globally." Anyone in any country with enough money (and freedom of movement) for a vacation can travel to Thailand. Contrary to popular belief, this is based on comparative income, not global income. This means a lot of people can actually afford to travel to Thailand if they chose to. And, again, the person in question flew from Taiwan. Very cheap travel. (As a side note, this may be shocking, but some people take vacations when they cannot afford to.)

On average, a person in the USA who is homeless earns less than 50,000 per year. While, yes, 50k is a lot of money "globally," someone earning that much money in the USA may not be able to afford a home in their own country. That's why these kinds of comparisons are not helpful. You might as well call anyone who has ever lived or died "oxygen rich" because, universally speaking, dead or alive they have good oxygen levels compared to entire planets with no oxygen. It's a useless statement.

One final thought is paid vacation days. The USA is at the bottom globally of mandatory paid vacation days. Countries that may surprise you will actually pay you your salary while you travel for vacation, and you better believe they do travel.

So, globally speaking, no you don't.

https://en.tempo.co/read/1914697/top-10-cheapest-countries-to-visit-adventure-with-less-expense

https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/spending/cheapest-countries-to-travel-to

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/mapped-which-countries-get-the-most-paid-vacation-days/

https://www.wvlt.tv/2024/06/10/more-than-third-travelers-plan-go-into-debt-fund-summer-vacation-study-finds/

While i understand and agree with the premise, i think it's lacking context. It is quite disturbing to have an obscure conversation (you know, we've never been to tahiti), and suddenly you're getting banner ads or sponsored results about trips to tahiti.

This is absolutely a thing that happens. It happens to my wife frequently (the amount of times i hear giggling, i was just talking about that! Now I've got an ad! What a coincidence!), but i disabled all my google permissions (outside of location for maps), so it doesn't seem to happen to me at all.

I don't think every company does this, but some do. I also had to uninstall WhatsApp because my microphone usage was up while i was sleeping. That was quite concerning to discover. Whatsapp claims it's a bug, but I'm not sure about that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40348711

https://www.ghacks.net/2024/09/04/report-alleges-that-microphones-on-devices-are-used-for-active-listening-to-deliver-targeted-ads/

I found a little bit more info just for your awareness. It looks like she was studying at University in Spain, and was on a student exchange program living in Taiwan. She took a holiday trip from Taiwan, which a quick google search suggests can be as cheap as $80 in off season (i.e right now).

I don't think it's fair to assume she was rich even by global standards. The average individual or family can absolutely save money for an $80 flight for a weekend vacation. According to Statista, the global average take home (net income) is equal to $8700 per year. An $80 plane ticket would be a little less than 1% of said income. That is a substantial amount of money for a vacation for some people, but still not an insurmountable amount to save up for. Considering this, it's more likely that she was enticed to take a weekend vacation by the low cost flight (but of course i don't know if that is actually what happened).

As a side note, it is completely disingenuous to classify someone who might possibly be living in poverty in one country (under 14,580 per year in the USA, or 9535 euros in Spain, for example), of being rich on a global scale. Those kinds of comparisons are not helpful, as you cannot necessarily use your 14580 in the USA in a country where that income would be considered high income (in thailand, $20,000 per year is high income. Doesn't quite overlap, but it's surprisingly close). Everything costs more in a high income country, including the cost of emigrating from that country. A comparably lower income earner in thailand might be considered a middle class earner and be able to enjoy more vacations and more leisure than most Americans.

I will agree that elephant related tourism is a huge problem, but that's a different discussion entirely.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/0/spanish-tourist-dies-after-attacked-by-elephant-thailand/

I'm not really sure what's up with the perspective that Taken is a revenge movie. It isn't. There's nothing about revenge in that movie. It's a rescue mission.

I'm so sorry that i don't, I'm not a great resource for piano. Good luck on your journey!!

In my opinion, outside of some specific songs, strumming pattern will end up being your personal touch. You'll strum in a certain way, and as long as the chord progression is right, it'll sound correct. More attention will be paid when you're playing individual notes. The rest is really up to you, and that's probably going to seem frustrating at first, but it's really liberating once you've been playing for a while.

My personal recommendation is to learn stairway to heaven by Led Zeppelin in its entirety. There are a lot of unusual chords, barre chords, techniques, etc in that one song. Additionally, you'll need to either practice hybrid picking or finger picking. When you finally learn it completely, almost any other song will seem easy to learn. I learned it in my first few months playing guitar (20 years ago) and I'm so happy that i did, i still find it pretty easy to pick up most other songs, but also find myself playing it from time to time.

I don't think it's fair to call Taken a revenge film. It's pretty clearly a rescue film. There's a ton of violence all the way through, sure, but the premise is getting his daughter home.

It's actually pretty nice, it includes all the metros, subways, light rails, buses, etc

It doesn't include any high-speed rail, only the regional and local trains.