Comments by "seneca983" (@seneca983) on "Wendover Productions" channel.

  1. Hopefully they will vote the ANC out. It seems that that's at least possible whereas in Zimbabwe they probably can't vote out the ZANU-PF.
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  2.  @QuestionsIAskMyself  What's so weird about it?
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  3. It doesn't rain much in London, it just rains often.
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  4. "no speed limits where practical" I'd think it would make sense to have some kind of speed limit, if possibly a high one, so that most vehicles would travel at roughly the same speed.
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  5.  @eldsprutandedrake  "just because the oil that is pumped in Norways isn't burned in Norway it should still be counted as an emission from their country" I personally think that ideally the country where the final consumption happens is where the emissions should count. Barring that, where the oil is burned is a better metric than where it's pumped. If consumers of oil cut down their usage enough that will affect how much it's profitable to pump in Norway and elsewhere.
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  6. "What exactly is the bank going to do with the loyalty program to turn it into $20 billion?" I suppose they can still be paid of any outstanding points that are spent (even if no one could earn any more points)?
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  7. According to CIA World Factbook, Argentina has a real GDP per capita of $21,500 and South Africa $13,300 (both for the year 2021). Thus, Argentina still seems to be about 60% richer than South Africa, at least by that metric.
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  8. "I now find the experience dehumanizing and demeaning" However, being less luxurious allows flying to be cheaper. A lot of people prefer to better afford flying over receiving a better experience at a higher price.
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  9. 1:25 In case anyone's wondering, 180 different currencies means 16,110 different currency pairs.
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  10.  @Potato_Smuggler  It probably won't vanish completely (unless major infighting erupts) but it might at least be unseated from government or have to form a coalition with other parties. This still poses at least 2 risks as a) the other parties might not have the experience of running the executive branch and b) one of the major opposition parties is Marxist-Leninist and therefore could be even worse. But one can always hope.
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  11.  @sinewave999  "why did this need a 20 minute video?" Because of the interesting technical details of airport requirements and FAA funding?
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  12.  @oovdash  "Japan has an infamously terrible court system. They coerce you into a guilty sentence." That's quite unfair. The conviction rate is quite high but that's at least partially because prosecutors are reluctant to prosecute cases that aren't airtight. I've not looked but I've not heard of similar issues for civil cases in Japan (though I have heard or a dearth of corporate lawyers there).
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  13.  @Potato_Smuggler  From what I've understood, at least so far they have won elections by actually getting people to vote for them and not e.g. by ballot stuffing.
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  14. People change.
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  15.  @savagecabbage553  One would think that a large volume of traffic would warrant a train or a subway line and it'd be easier if e.g. checking passports could be done at a train station or on the train.
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  16. "It is already one of the most expensive areas to drive." But it's still not expensive enough because the negative externality of driving there is so great.
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  17.  @chancerobinson5112  We can observe that a lot of people choose to travel in economy class even though business class and first class are available. Clearly, the extra comfort isn't worth the extra cost for many (though for some it is).
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  18. "airlines have a lot of debt" This is a fair point but the market cap figures still imply that the markets value all the assets of the airlines other than the loyalty programs billions of dollars below their liabilities. I still find that surprising.
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  19. And when large the ship isn't hampered by being partly on land.
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  20. If there were a yellow submarine, we would all have to live in it and that would make it a bit cramped.
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  21.  @KuraIthys : "1/4th the lifting power so balloon needs to be much bigger for a given payload" But that's not correct. Hydrogen has about 8% more lift for a given volume. Not a huge difference though big enough to have some importance, but still pretty far from the incorrect 2x difference that's sometimes posited (let alone 4x).
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  22. "SK is sort of a capitalist oligarchy" At first I was wondering why you describe that company specifically that way before I realized that you were talking about South Korea and not the SK Group.
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  23. Streetcar 2: Electric Boogaloo
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  24.  @mnichols1979  Electrical power is a net gain. The political power in question in this instance is the power to cause damage to another country. Actually doing that or threatening it to get what you want would be a bad thing. (I'm not making any claims on whether Ethiopia would be likely to actually stoop to such extortion.)
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  25.  @busetgadapet  "it is not like chinese cant invest abroad" To a large extent, they can't. There's an annual limit on how much currency they can convert. Thus they can't easily access foreign stock markets or even the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The only stock exchange easily available to them is the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
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  26. Also, their population is 8.6 million which, while not large, is hardly tiny.
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  27. "Luanda looks like a first class city." I think it's only a part of the city. There are probably also much more humble parts and also downright shacks.
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  28.  @mortifera123  "The long wait time is intended as a deterrent." So they intentionally provide a poor service and waste people's time? What a shame.
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  29. Somehow, it has worked better in Singapore and Japan.
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  30. Next: How to Illegally Not Pay Taxes
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  31. Wouldn't it be easier to have a computer system where information (like the current residence) of citizens and residents would be stored?
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  32. The constitution is unconstitutional, duh!
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  33. That would probably be good but I still think in the case of kidneys, live donors should be paid. They could also be paid from the public purse instead of the recipient having to pay. The state would often still save money by reducing the need for dialysis.
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  34.  @Cembadyx  It's not quite all. In 2019 the share of hydro was 93.4%
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  35.  @xenomorphbiologist-xx1214  "but the population density is far more extreme than Europe" I'm from Finland, which was mentioned earlier in this thread. The population density of Finland is about half of that of the US, yet there are still trains. Of course, some parts of the US (and Finland) are too sparsely populated for trains to make sense but there should still be plenty of areas where they do make sense. Note that I'm talking about regular trains, not high-speed trains.
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  36.  @Dave_Sisson  That doesn't really change the number. It just means that certain exchange rates change very little.
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  37. "They need to be dug out of the ground at immense energy and pollution output." Probably less so than kerosene.
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  38. "just use commuter blimps" I remember from some documentary that some of the early pioneers of air travel used to make his commute by a blimp that he had constructed. Unfortunately, I don't remember who it was. I think it was some French guy (Henri Giffard?).
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  39.  @AL-lh2ht  "living on a island is expensive, no getting around that." A part of that expense is artificially created by legislation. Repealing the Jones Act wouldn't do away with all of the extra expense but it would eliminate a portion of it.
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  40. "please don’t cross borders illegally" The fact that a lot of people try despite all the negatives suggests that staying put is even worse (and trying the nigh impossible legal route essentially amounts to staying put).
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  41. "Once you get there, you could used them for short haul flights as well." Not necessarily. Batteries have a much better round-trip efficiency.
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  42.  @michaelsommers2356  "Anyone who says there are no disincentives to driving in Manhattan has never driven in Manhattan." Clearly there not enough disincentives currently. Also, consider that the current disincentives simply destroy value; the time lost to sitting in slow traffic isn't gained by anyone else. Congestion charges would at least only move value from one pocket to another instead of destroying it.
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  43.  @Batmans_Pet_Goldfish  "it's all predicated on people choosing to use public transportation instead of just paying the fee" If the fee is high enough, people will certainly avoid driving one way or another.
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  44.  @BChandl13  "No it doesn't make sense. You are taxing the recipient of the goods when they aren't receiving cash" It does make sense. There is no rule that only cash and not other benefits should be taxed. "Company cars used for business purposes are not taxed in the states." But if the employee or their family can use it for other purposes too then it is a taxable fringe benefit.
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  45.  @mzaite  A lot of people go on holidays with a plane (well, maybe not during a pandemic, but you know what I mean) so clearly they want to travel. Also, a lot of them don't want to pay for business or first class so clearly the extra comfort isn't worth the cost for them.
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  46. I don't think "highly profitable" necessarily refers to profit margins.
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  47.  @nerobernardino88 : "There's a free Risk game on Steam." But is there a risk-free game on Steam?
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  48. "Dam Wendover!" How can you dam him? Usually, only rivers are dammed.
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  49.  @jypsridic  "Yea, and the people who can fix it keep running here instead." You think a bunch of poor people can somehow solve difficult problems in the government?
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  50. No, they're not. It's quite possible for one to be true with the other not being true.
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