The many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XX

[hobbsyoyo]

Nothing as long as it isn't severly deep flooding >2~3 feet, in which case they won't be sending trains down the tracks.

Less than that, well the trains too massive and dense to notice I suspect.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Is the world on its way to being a world with nothing but fascist, police state, and dictatorship governments, and no democracy or freedom or liberty *anywhere*?

Sure seems like it.

 

[Cutlass]

Probably not.

 

[_random_]

Does coffee with sugar but no dairy product count as "black?"

 

[shadowplay]

Yes. The 'black' part refers solely to the absense of dairy.

 

[_random_]

Bit of a confession: I suck at guessing the ages of people who aren't white. I feel like this is probably a problem. Any tips on overcoming it?

 

[cardgame]

Practice.

But to be fair asian women look the same from 20s until menopause.

 

[cybrxkhan]

But to be fair asian women look the same from 20s until menopause.

Not if they're really attractive.

(Although my standards of attractive Asian women is more aligned with... erm... Asian standards. I think. Probably has an effect, right?)

 

[_random_]

I ramble when I'm tired and don't feel like doing homework. So you probably ought to ignore this, which will likely seem kind of racist by the time I wake up. Sorry about that.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I'm presently involved in a slightly drunken argument with my Dad who is claiming that Lyndon Johnson's quote referencing "The dignity of man" refers to black Americans being given the right to vote in presidential elections in the 1960's. He claims this was not the case in all states up to this point.

Garbage says I.

Any help? Sources would be great. Not so much with the quote but with the suffrage issue.

 

[shadowplay]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_act

They technically had the right to vote but procedures were in place in some states to disenfranchise a majority of African Americans, such as literacy tests and poll taxes.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Cheers. I'll chalk that up as a victory for me.

 

[bhsup]

Also the 15th amendment passed in 1870.

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

But as shadowplay points out, there were attempts to deny blacks the vote through poll taxes and so forth. Read about the Jim Crow laws.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I found it interesting that when the new laws were enacted in the 1960's, over 90% of Republicans and only 70% of Democrats voted in favor of the legislation.

But yeah, I do enjoy winning arguments against people who spout incorrect facts about the alleged nutty Americans. Of course there is an element of truth to what my Dad is saying when some of the difficulties in voting for blacks are revealed.

 

[sophie]

I found it interesting that when the new laws were enacted in the 1960's, over 90% of Republicans and only 70% of Democrats voted in favor of the legislation.

But yeah, I do enjoy winning arguments against people who spout incorrect facts about the alleged nutty Americans. Of course there is an element of truth to what my Dad is saying when some of the difficulties in voting for blacks are revealed.

The southern states were a large democratic voting block for much of the history of the democratic party, particularly after the civil war. If I recall correctly the Democrats' mascot of a donkey was created in reference to the Southern Democrats' dogged stubbornness to change or entertain other political options. A popular term for southern democrats is "dixiecrats". Several democratic presidents (Wilson and Johnson come to mind) were themselves dixiecrats. Moreover the relatively instantaneous shift of southern voters from Democrat to Republican is perhaps one of the most bizarre and fascinating topics of american political history of the last 50 years.

But I mean I'm not really very up on US history, this is just what I vaguely remember from my High School history classes. I could be totally wrong.

 

[bhsup]

Dixiecrats were actually there own party briefly. Strom Thurmond IIRC ran for President on the ticket in the late 40s or early 50s. Yes, the same guy that was still a Senator in 2000...

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I thought it was a conscious tactic by the Republicans known as the Southern Strategy, at least I thought that's what it referred to.

 

[Cutlass]

The southern states were a large democratic voting block for much of the history of the democratic party, particularly after the civil war. If I recall correctly the Democrats' mascot of a donkey was created in reference to the Southern Democrats' dogged stubbornness to change or entertain other political options. A popular term for southern democrats is "dixiecrats". Several democratic presidents (Wilson and Johnson come to mind) were themselves dixiecrats. Moreover the relatively instantaneous shift of southern voters from Democrat to Republican is perhaps one of the most bizarre and fascinating topics of american political history of the last 50 years.

But I mean I'm not really very up on US history, this is just what I vaguely remember from my High School history classes. I could be totally wrong.

Instantaneous? It got started before Prohibition and wasn't finished until GW Bush was president.

 

[sophie]

Instantaneous? It got started before Prohibition and wasn't finished until GW Bush was president.

I said relatively didn't I? I never said relative to what

 

[salty mud]

Does anyone here have any experience in archery? I signed up for a club today at university. Is it hard to learn the techniques, is it 'easy to learn, hard to master?'