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And please, although the Chinese government is very corrupt, it is not more corrupt than US government or US corporations.

Yes, because in the US, bridges regularly collapse because they are made of garbage and corruption measurements support your view. Oh wait, that was China. And they don't.

I agree with most of your points here, the hyper-stylized sexualization trend in asian manga, games and art is pretty distasteful to western cultures. Actually, the US/western release of Tera has a lot of this stuff toned down, because they received a lot of negative feedback from the early testing over it. I also dislike the feminine stylized males, to the point of almost being androgynous (this is also common in anime/manga, and taken to extremes occasionally, like in Black Butler).

Having lived in Tokyo briefly, I sort of "get" this kind of thing a little better than I would have before that experience. Asian cultures aren't just "america, but weird". They are very alien to our way of thinking. Completely foreign, we just completely lack context.

I have always considered myself to be a fairly modern, laid-back guy, and really didn't think much could shock me. I never really considered myself to be heavily influenced by the whole western "puritan" morality thing, I like to consider myself a critical thinker and objective.

Then I went to Japan and learned how incredibly naive I was. The examples are too numerous to list here, but I happened to be there during the annual penis festival, where young girls would walk around with candy penises in their mouths: Kanamara Matsuri (NSWF!)

Suffice to say, my eyes were opened quite a bit.

As for the game Tera, I find the combat to be a refreshing change, and generally enjoyable enough to ignore the (valid) criticism of shallow questing. I don't spend nearly the amount of time playing it as I did WoW, I generally play for maybe a couple hours per week, so maybe that in itself is telling.

Or maybe I've just grown up a little.

You have the Chinese making a ship that sank. What are the odds they just copy the design without bringing it up to current standards. Though it might surpass current Chinese standards. For example:

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/02/05/shanghai-wonderbridge-trash-collapses/

What is the point of cracking open a science textbook when you are going to be competing with people in Asia who can produce the same level of genius for pennies on the dollar?

I don't care what you can learn here in America, someone in China can learn the same thing and apply that knowledge for far lower wages than you.

These people are willing to live in cages. Literally. Look.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/11/21/hong-kong-citizens-living-cages-literally/

The point is that if you have knowledge you will be way ahead of those that do not! Not all engineering jobs can or will be sent overseas. There is plenty of opportunity for intelligent engineers and techs here in the U.S.

There are fewer good choices for the uneducated.

What is the point of cracking open a science textbook when you are going to be competing with people in Asia who can produce the same level of genius for pennies on the dollar?

I don't care what you can learn here in America, someone in China can learn the same thing and apply that knowledge for far lower wages than you.

These people are willing to live in cages. Literally. Look.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/11/21/hong-kong-citizens-living-cages-literally/

There is a difference between knowning the maths and being clever enough to create something new out of them. This is the difference between Reseach & Development worker bees (who pretty much just do as they are told) and someone who says, "Hey, I could create a whole new product/service with this knowledge I've acquired!" (We'll be hearing, next, how all the innovation is leaving the US, too, because some people in Asia aren't simply content to perform repetitive analysis and form-filling. Good on them, I say.

What is the point of cracking open a science textbook when you are going to be competing with people in Asia who can produce the same level of genius for pennies on the dollar?

I don't care what you can learn here in America, someone in China can learn the same thing and apply that knowledge for far lower wages than you.

These people are willing to live in cages. Literally. Look.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/11/21/hong-kong-citizens-living-cages-literally/

Countries like Hong Kong seem to do OK with very few regulations

Welcome to libertarian utopia!

Hong Kong residents living in cages

China's One Child policy, and millions waiting for days in swamped transportation arteries for a shot at seeing their families once per year.

The downfall of multiple governments triggered by rising food prices

The German quest for lebensraum from 1939-1945.

Now, you could argue those are all matters of resource allocation, rather than shortages per se. But what I see in the world is that as resources become scarce, they are distributed less equitably, not more.

what if someone was called by a peculiar and also strange name? how would g+ handle that?

I suppose that this guy would be in trouble.

Carp were dangerous because they had the default bite and could drag the dwarfs into the water, where the dwarfs would get stunned and either get ripped a part of drown... also due to an over sight they constantly gained stat bonuses from swimming all the time and ended up stupidly strong, but that's fixed now.

Small fish are considered vermin and don't appear as creatures on the map as such...
These are the sort of carp that appear on the map
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2007/07/21/worlds-largest-260-pound-carp/

Don't forget that dwarfs are smaller than humans.

What's really frightening is undead carp that crawl onto the land... their gills having long rotted away they do not asphyxiate like living fish...

And your name?

"Batman?"

"Are you trying to be funny? What is your surname"

"Suparman."

"Guard! Arrest this man..."

I read that pretty much the above was what transpired until they checked his passport. Why the hell didn't the customs guy simply as for his passport FIRST, and THEN quiz him while pulling up the records for the p/p number/issuance/etc.?

http://gizmodo.com/tag/batman-bin-suparman/

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2008/04/03/singapore-superhero-batman-bin-suparmen/

Because they're so busy on their photography projects.