Asian governments roll out 4-day weeks, WFH to solve fuel crisis caused by war

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #74

andrewflnr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling Eurasia a continent would make more sense. "Asia" doesn't have a really sensical physical boundary. May as well say Mexico is a different continent from the US just because there's a big cultural and ethnic difference across the border.

The term "North America" almost always means US or US and Canada, hardly ever the technically correct "US, Canada, Mexico" except in things like NAFTA. And "Central America" often means "Mexico and countries south that speak Spanish" even though LATAM might be a bit closer.

Post by sixo » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

bluescrn wrote: post #87

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #11

I've long said that WFH is an easy win climate change solution that costs nothing, is well loved by everyone who participates (except management). Turns out in times like this, it's also an energy security measure.

WFH was great to begin with, but as somebody living alone, the isolation starts to have an effect after a while when you're 'working alone' too And for many people WFH has other problems - if you're a dual-WFH couple in a small home, lack of home office space is a very real problem. (Although if WFH was a permanent thing, many people could choose less expensive places to live, and have more space) Still, anything to…

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 5:19 PM UTC

fakedang wrote: post #71

alephnerd wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also Vietnam, Thailand, and unofficially Pakistan. The reality is the bigger Asian nations like China, India, SK, and Japan that worked on building resilient alternatives after the 2022-23 ONG shock due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine aren't as dramatically impacted. The others didn't or were hit by other crises at the same time. For example, in Pakistan's case, their government raised fuel taxes by around 33…

There's currently a gas crisis in India. A country that had a $10 billion investment in an Iranian port to trade oil and gas directly with them, except they decided to become America's bitch and halted the project after American sanctions. Anyways, everyone's affected - gas cylinder booking requests which usually take a couple of days to fulfill currently have a 30 day period to fulfill in some major cities. Roadside…

Post by speefers » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #72

neaden wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I feel like is really important to remember whenever thinking about the world and demographics is that most people are Asian. As in more people live in Asia then outside of it. Conversely when a headline or something mentions Asia, it is rare they actually mean the majority of the continent or people living there.

It's too broad a term - it covers too many disparate countries and ends up being like using Americas to refer to Canada and the USA or similar. I read the headline and assumed it was "Japan and China" but it wasn't.

Post by 0x457 » Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 5:23 PM UTC

jghn wrote: post #84

neaden wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I feel like is really important to remember whenever thinking about the world and demographics is that most people are Asian. As in more people live in Asia then outside of it. Conversely when a headline or something mentions Asia, it is rare they actually mean the majority of the continent or people living there.

My favorite is when people say they like "asian cuisine" or "asian food". China alone has several distinct cuisines. Why do we act like this is a monolithic concept?