Wandering Adventure Party

@tuban_muzuru @billiglarper @mekkaokereke Here's a piece of history many people in the West aren't particularly familiar with, but most people in China know deeply.

The Pearl River Delta flows into the South China Sea.

Around the Pearl River Delta is a cluster of critical Chinese trading ports. Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Dongguan, Shenzhen, and Macau.

Chances are most of the people reading this are doing so on a phone built in the Pearl River Delta region.

A key battle during the First Opium War was a British attack on the Pearl River Delta:

"The Second Battle of Chuenpi[a] (Chinese: 第二次穿鼻之戰) was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 7 January 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait (Bogue), capturing the forts on the islands of Chuenpi and Taikoktow. Subsequent negotiations between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan resulted in the Convention of Chuenpi on 20 January. As one of the terms of the agreement, Elliot announced the cession of Hong Kong Island to the British Empire, after which the British took formal possession of the island on 26 January."

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

That battle led to China ceding Hong Kong to the British, beginning the "Century of Humiliation". (That's the century before Mao seized control of China.)

China wants to avoid the Pearl River Delta cities being attacked by a hostile naval power, and the Pearl River being blockaded, and the South Chins Sea being blockaded.

That's by the British again, or the Americans, or any other hostile foreign power.

Thus the critical importance to China in controlling the South China Sea.

Truth be told, were there a mononuclear armed conflict between the US and China, the US would almost certainly at least attempt to blockade the Pearl River Delta or the South China Sea, if it were in a position to do so.

And I don't think you can understand China's determination to control the South China Sea without understanding the Opium Wars.

@mekkaokereke I've mentioned this before, but China's playing a long game to be the world's dominant superpower by 2049.

As in, they've openly said that's what they want to do: https://www.dw.com/en/xi-jinping-china-model-putin-united-states-trump/a-73866651

Right now, China's building its alliances across Latin America, Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East with that goal.

It's building parallel institutions like SCO ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation ) and the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Infrastructure_Investment_Bank ).

Its pitch to formerly colonised country is that it's the superpower of the global south, counterbalancing the imperialist Western powers.

Join China, and China will help make your country rich like China.

And with Belt & Road, it's building freight infrastructure that will make it easier for countries to trade with China than the US.

While China is methodically and patiently building its global influence over the next decades, America is doing the opposite.

Short-term thinking. Walking away from institutions like NATO. Tariff taxes. Doubling down on white supremacy.

I'm sure Americans will wake up one morning in 2049 and wonder how China came to be the world's dominant superpower.

Hey @dansup, I'm curious as to whether political candidates or political party branches are allowed to have official accounts on Pixelfed.Social?

I had a chat earlier today with a former Greens candidate about setting up an official Pixelfed account, which would be bridged to BlueSky.

She seemed keen on the idea of this local branch of The Greens in inner-west Sydney having an official account.

I'm not sure it's ever come up before, but would it be okay at your end?

#auspol

@atomicpoet @rjbasitali Great initiative!

Wondering if you're planning to add GtS in the future?

Also, will you offer hosting for non-profits or just individual users?

@atomicpoet A co-operatively owned alternative to YouTube using Fediverse-based software is a fantastic idea.

Very keen to keep an eye on this one, and am genuinely wishing you guys the best

@LanguageMan1 @atomicpoet Just out of curiousity, how much do general admission CFL tickets cost?

In Melbourne, you can get regular season adult general admission tickets to AFL games for A$27 and U14 kids tix for A$5. (Although you'll probably be at the back of the MCG at that price.)

"The AFL is pleased to announce, for the seventh straight season, a price freeze on general admission tickets for all matches at the MCG and Marvel Stadium across the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

"General admission tickets will remain at $27 for adults, $18 for concession and $5 for juniors aged 14 and under, while children aged four and under continue to be free.

"A general admission ‘Family ticket' consisting of two adults and two children will also be frozen at $54 for all home and away season games at both the MCG and Marvel Stadium."

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1266505/price-freeze-on-general-admission-tickets-at-mcg-and-marvel-stadium

It's A$35 for adults in Sydney for Sydney Swans games, but climbs steeply after that (as high as $96): https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1419166/ticket-pricing

A lot of people, possibly most, who regularly go to games tend to get a club membership. That gets access to a set number of games, plus because most clubs are member-owned, you become a part-owner of your favourite club for a year.

How does that compare to CFL?

#AFL #CFL #sport

@atomicpoet It's counterintuitive, but having multiple teams in the most populous city has a lot of benefits over having just one.

Down here, the AFL has nine of its teams in Melbourne, plus two each in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Southeast Queensland.

And the National Rugby League has 8.5 of its teams based in Sydney.

It's a different setup for European football with promotion and relegation. But again you have multiple teams in the EPL based in London (Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, etc).

Having cross-town rivalries helps to build interest, because you're likely to regularly come across people who barrack for your city's other teams.

You often get people who'll watch games to barrack against the crosstown rivals. ("My two favourite teams are the Adelaide Crows, and whoever is playing against Port Adelaide".)

You get multiple games each week involving teams from your biggest TV market.

You can have multiple teams sharing a stadium, which brings down the cost per game.

The costs of running the league go down in terms of travel and accommodation.

And you get the big matches where all the regular supporters of two of the city's teams pile into the same stadium.

Given the GTA has 7 million people, so it /should/ be able to support more than one team.

Presumably there'd be people who'd support a Mississauga or Brampton or Durham Region CFL team who don't currently follow the Argonauts.

Each of those clubs would be competing against each other for supporters.

It's a model that works very well elsewhere, why not in Canada?

@atomicpoet Okay, with over a million an Atlantic team admittedly makes a bit more sense.

I'm curious why there's only one team each in the Vancouver and Greater Toronto metro areas? Surely you could have multiple teams in each city?

@atomicpoet In defence of the Canadian Football League suggesting it could do a team in the Maritimes but never actually delivering...

After decades of our AFL (Australian Football League) doing the same thing to Tasmania, it did actually offer them a licence.

The condition was that Tasmania, which has a population of ~500,000 people, had to build a new stadium with a roof.

Well, it's been a bit of a debacle. The cost of just the stadium blown out to over $1 billion, even before it's officially approved.

The legislation to get the stadium led to a no confidence motion against the state government passing, leading to an early state election.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-23/macquarie-stadium-debate-tasmanian-parliament/105806814

Maybe the CFL is wise to not actually go ahead with a team in the Maritimes?

I've got a quick favour to ask. If you're reading this post on Mastodon (or the Fediverse), please click boost.

How come?

I recently moved across to my own self-hosted single-user server (using GoToSocial.org). For a bunch of reasons, including visibility across the Fedi, it would really help out.

#Fediverse #FediHelp #gotosocial #mastohelp