OlympicsFan

Will be interesting to see which way the UK goes after leaving the EU. I think they could follow the american/canadian lead (concerning genetically modified food) closely. I also wouldn't call products like the one i mentioned crap. I believe that the future of animal products belongs to products produced in a lab, it would solve a lot of problems.

Not sure why you think that populous countries should have advantages in technology and research, but many countries that are doing great in those areas are rather small countries (Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Ireland, Finland, Singapore, the Netherlands). I also don't think that you can trust the official death stats in the US. I saw some stat today that in many states there have been far more pneumonia deaths than usual those last couple of months. For example in Indiana there were 2149 pneumonia deaths, while the five year average is 384. In Illinois there were 3984 pneumonia deaths, while the five year average is 782, and so on ... Either you believe that this is a coincidence unrelated to coronavirus or you have to assume that the deaths are massively undercounted in the US. I think a conservative guess for the real number of deaths would be 150 000.

I don't know what characterizes a show that is suited for a "nice late night watch" for you, but i enjoyed the first season a lot. I don't remember the last time i was so impressed by season 1 of any show. I think the actor who portrayed Shaun did a great job and i liked that Shaun wasn't depicted as some super-genius who never makes a mistake.

So hopefully not for long ... wouldn't mind if everyone would stop eating dairy + there is actually a way to produce dairy products in a laboratory. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/science/lab-grown-milk.html I think New Zealand will be find if they can keep attracting super-rich like Peter Thiel ...

So far i have only watched season 1 of "The Good Doctor" and i can definitely recommend it. The same is true for the first 6 seasons of "New Girl", although it went a bit downhill after the first 2 seasons.

I feel like we are back at the beginning. My point was that judging a countries response before the pandemic is over doesn’t make much sense. Sweden might have the highest fatality rate, but who is to say that it will stay that way? I also think you can’t just go by fatality rates and ignore the economic part. Let’s say country A goes into full lockdown, 100 people die, but the economy loses 100 billion dollars, which leads to cuts in the health care system and over the next 10 years 20000 people who could have been saved by a better health care system die. Country B (with the same population size and the same GDP) doesn’t go into lockdown, 10000 people die, but the economy only loses 10 billion dollars and therefore there aren’t any cuts in the health care system. Which country did a better job in your opinion? The problem is that humans overestimate immediate dangers while they underestimate future dangers, otherwise only few people would regularly smoke/drink alcohol/eat unhealthy food. The politicians had to react accordingly, because otherwise they would have been unelectable in the future. Sadly politicians in many countries nowadays do what is best for their chances of getting reelected and not what is best for the country in the long run, it is somewhat the same with CEO‘s. They get judged and paid based on the current performance of their company, not based on how ready for the future their company is.

Not sure if that would be the best way to go, but looking at history (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) I am pretty confident to say that if the US really wanted to help foreign countries, then their way of doing it has proven to be not very successful, so it might be time for a different strategy.

Without a doubt many African people think like that, but at the same time I think that there are many places where people would be more appreciative and I think in some cases European countries would have a better access thanks to the common language. I just hope that African countries don’t get the short end of the stick when dealing with China. Today a lot of African countries are still exploited by big companies from all over the world (for example look at what Exxon just recently did in Guyana), but it has to be mentioned that big western companies couldn’t exploit those countries if there wouldn’t be greedy local politicians who are willing to sell out their own country for their personal benefit.

I think that this isn’t true for all western countries. In 2017 the US paid 35 billion dollars of foreign aid and among the top 10 recipients were 7 African nations. GB paid 18 billion dollars in foreign aid and among the top 10 recipients there were 5 African countries. On the other hand Germany paid 25 billion dollars in foreign aid and among the 10 recipients there was only one African country (Morroco), while the top recipient was India with 1 billion dollars and China was 3rd with 700 million dollars. The EU paid more than 16 billion dollars in foreign aid and among the top 10 recipients were only 2 African countries (Morocco and Tunisia). Funnily enough the top recipient was Turkey with 2.6 billion dollars. I guess due to the colonial history some European countries are more hesitant to tell African countries what to do, China doesn’t have that Problem.

Ok, but when you judge someone‘s actions, it would maybe make sense to know what the goal is.

In Germany there are also tons of People From Poland/Romania doing those jobs. GB could decide that those jobs have to be done by unemployed people who would otherwise lose their benefits. Of course only if they are in the physical condition to do that. If you hire local people, you have to pay higher wages. I think Italy is discussing giving citizenship to illegal immigrants who are willing to do those jobs. Recently I also saw a documentary about illegal African immigrants in Almeria, Spain. They only earn 10 € or so a day. The question is what would happen to the prizes if those people would be payed minimum wage?

I think there is a difference ... I think it is safe to say that those students are far more qualified than your normal immigrant, I am also not sure how long they plan to stay.

What I find interesting is China‘s global strategy. How many wars did the US start to gain influence? China doesn’t need that, they „gained control“ over Africa without having to lead any wars.

1) Is the pandemic already over? If not, then maybe it would make sense to wait with judgement until it is over. 2) I think saving as many lives as possible is important for most governments, but I think you can‘t just look at the fatality rates, you also have to look at the economy.

The situation in Brazil (and South America in general) is looking pretty bad. Also the UK, the US and Russia are not doing a very Good Job. You have to wonder whether that has anything to do with the „mindset“ of their political leaders. Brazil is a great country with amazing potential, but I am not sure that the way they are currently on is the right way for them.

Why is it safe to say that?

Don’t know which clubs you are talking about, but in Germany that certainly isn’t a problem. There are far more than enough test in Germany for everyone who needs them. Some laboratories even had to close because there wasn’t enough tests to conduct anymore. Germany currently can conduct more than 800k test per week, only seems logical that not all of them are needed when there are less than 1000 new cases every day. The Bundesliga even said that if the tests will be need elsewhere, they will without a doubt immediately stop the league again and not ask for any more tests. On topic: The league will start on May 15th or May 22th according to Merkel, it is up to the league to choose the date. Before every matchday all players and staff will be tested. The league already conducted their first round of testing and apparently out of the more than 1700 tests „only“ 10 were positive.

I am not a fan of her and dutch sports (espcially cycling) in general.

Or 2018 Russia ...

I think the Netherlands and especially India would be super happy. India would probably declare a national holiday ... Not so sure about France, Japan and GB though ... For Germany it would be a decent result. On the one hand "we" should do much better in swimming and athletics than in 2016, on the other hand it would be a miracle if "we" could repeat our great performances in shooting and canoeing sprint. Germany hasn't won a swimming (gold) medal since 2008, so it would be great if Wellbrock could make it happen. Swimming, athletics and track cycling are the sports i care most about at the olympics, so i hope that Germany will do good there. From a german perspective i also hope that ... a) At least one german team (handball/hockey) will reach a final b) At least one german athlete will fight for gold in the individual jumping event till the last round c) At least one german athlete/team will fight for a medal in fencing d) At least one german woman will reach the balance beam final e) At least one german athlete/double will reach a tennis final

Sadly i think that Wild win at least medal in women's omnium.

Great insight ... so the predictions we make 1 week before the games will matter how? Of course a lot can happen, but you can say the same about any sport. What if the NBA will boycott the games? Would the US still be favorites for gold? By that logic we shouldn't make any predictions before the games.

1) Ok ... so if Mali wins the next Africa Cup, you will predict that they reach the top 3 of the next world cup ... ? All 4 european teams that qualified will 99 % field teams that will be clearly stronger than Egypt. Salah is a great player, but ... a) One player like him isn't enough b) Other nations could also nominate world-class players who are older than 23 2) How do you know the draw already? 3) France won't even make the semifinal despite having clearly the best talent pool of all teams? 4) I didn't say anything about womens canoeing sprint, because i don't follow women's canoeing sprint, so i have no idea who will be the medal contenders. Edit: I just looked up the market values of the 3 most valuable egyptian U23 players. 1) Ramadan Sobhi (3.2 million) 2) Mostafa Mohamed (950 k) 3) Salah Mohsen (525 k) For reference there are almost 90 french U23 players who have a market value of more than 3.2 million ...

A lot of predictions I can’t agree to: 1) I would take any bet that Germany will win at least one medal in men’s javelin throw. I would say Germany has at least a 50 % chance to win gold and/or 2 medals. 2) Brendel not winning a medal in men’s C1 1000 m is also highly unlikely. 3) Your football predictions are very strange. Even if France wouldn’t be allowed to nominate their 10 best players, they still would have a better team than all those teams you predicted to win a medal. I think France and Brazil easily will have the two most talented teams and should be considered favorites, followed by Spain and maybe Argentina/Germany. Brazil could for example nominate Jesus/Richarlison/Militao/Neres/Vinicius/Rodryo/Martinelli/Lodi/Malcolm. France could for example nominate Dembele/Mbappe/Upamecano/Guendouzi/Konate/Aouar/Camavinga/Kamara/Diaby/Nkunku/Zagadou/Ikone. The only nation that is anywhere close talent-wise is England, but they aren’t qualified.

1) I am not saying that Coutinho or Hernandez were definitely world-class when they joined Bayern, it is up for debate. Hernandez always played for Atlético and France, Coutinho is a world-class player for me, but he isn‘t playing world-class football the last couple of years. 2) Süle is the best german central defender when he isn’t injured, maybe apart from Rüdiger. He will play for the German national team for a long time, he wasn‘t great under Kovac, but who was (apart from Lewandowski) ...? He seems slow because he is so tall and bulky, but once he gets rolling he is pretty fast. 3) Boateng has been great recently under Flick, I would say at the moment (with Süle injured) he definitely is a top 2 central defender in Germany. 4) Apparently you haven’t watched many Bayern games recently? Alaba has been phenomenal recently, he easily has been a top 5 central defender in the world this year. Bayern completely dominated Chelsea with him, so I don’t know which world class teams you are talking about? He is perfect for the Bayern game because he is very fast and his build-up game is superb for a central defender.