Pretty much the entire automotive market these days is built around the assumption that the car will end up being repoed long before the loan is paid off. They're basically just charging rent on cars and calling it a secured debt.

That's why cars have gotten so ludicrously expensive and terms of gotten so long- everyone is just choosing a rent payment and deluding themselves that they will hold out for the next 7 years and own it someday for the price of a house.

And of course they're not thinking far enough ahead to realize that unlike a lease, they will pay for all the depreciation as well when the repoed car is auctioned off.

The only thing the banks are really punished for these days is not being aggressive enough in pursuing profit. Stupid risk taking is punished with bailouts. Giving out 300% APR mortgages to hobos is pretty much inevitable with the current incentive structure.

My family is like a dozen different shades of white/black. What is the cutoff point for being considered one or the other?

I like how it uses official soviet/ccp propaganda figures for GDP- this chart is pure fantasy.

For example, the soviet union GDP was smaller than California's GDP by the late 80s but no one realized it until the collapse. It never got close to the US GDP.

Also, China's GDP has been fake for years. All the recent growth is due to China maintaining the exchange rate while printing money like Zimbabwe. If China actually let their citizens freely trade the RMB, it would collapse to nothing overnight.

In any case, there is some sort of bizarre fakery going on with the numbers behind this chart. Maybe it's using PPP with adjustments or something.

We don't get to hear the jokes?

Are you a disney princess?

Catching full blown AIDS produces antibodies against HIV too. The problem is that the virus attacks your fucking immune system. It doesn't matter that you have antibodies against it.

The people who are "immune" to HIV are immune in the same way that a dog is immune- they lack the receptors for it to enter their cells.

Yeah, you suddenly are focused on protecting your kids from everything 20 somethings think is cool and fun.

Unlimited budget, hire good writers/directors/actors and actually be run by fans of the material?

• Warhammer 40K, M39-M41 only but I'm almost certain they would manage to ruin it
• Judge Dredd
• Known Space (feel free to omit as much of the ringworld sequels as you like)
• Berserker (the books about the giant planet destroying robots)
• there was some military sci-fi series I read a while back about super advanced aliens dropping off a stargate type artifact in our solar system and then leaving. A short time after, various aliens (who are less advanced than the gate builders but more advanced than us) start coming through.