The questions-not-worth-their-own-question-thread III

[RedRalph]

Weren't we just talking about what Greece went through in this time??

Yes we were, then you mentuoned the entire Balkans

 

[RedRalph]

when are the Americans going to decide whether or not to nationalise the big car firms?

 

[Mirc]

Yes we were, then you mentuoned the entire Balkans

Well that can't count for a period of little government and territorial changes for the whole Balkans since such an important part as Greece went through so many changes in such a short time.

 

[Cutlass]

Can someone explain to me briefly what "tragedy of the commons" means?

There's a very short book that's a quick and easy read that'll give you some perspective. Most libraries should have it.

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

 

[RedRalph]

There's a very short book that's a quick and easy read that'll give you some perspective. Most libraries should have it.

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

and dont miss this http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet133.html

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

There's a very short book that's a quick and easy read that'll give you some perspective. Most libraries should have it.

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

I just read that book recently. Imagine, one of the most prevalent fish in the sea, gone in a thousand years.

I'm interested in reading H. P. Lovecraft's type of horror. What should I read first? (And are his works in the public domain in North America?)

 

[Dachs]

I'm interested in reading H. P. Lovecraft's type of horror. What should I read first? (And are his works in the public domain in North America?)

Anything before 1923 is public domain. Last I heard, the other stuff might be. As to a first one - Call of Cthulhu is probably as good a place to start as any.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

What are the major weaknesses of Jared Diamond's theories in Guns, Germs, and Steel? I'm currently reading it, and I'd like to keep those weaknesses in mind as I read it. I do believe though that his words do have some merit.

In my opinion the book's biggest weakness is that it is very very redundant. All the content could have been covered in about 80 pages, but he seemed to want to include several nearly identical chapters that just happen to use examples from different regions to make the book 6 times that long. The theories have merit, but for the most part it seems like he is just pointing out the obvious. There weren't really any new concepts that I wasn't taught in elementary school, he just goes into more depth with examples than we did. He seems to be beating the reader over the head to force out racist ideas he thinks we all hold. I found the book rather condescending.



I find Charles Mann's book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus to be vastly superior. It actually discusses guns, germs, and steel more than Guns, Germs, and Steel does, and a lot more stuff too. It is much better written and not redundant at all. It has the same number of pages, but they are all packed with new info. In addition to explaining why Europe was more advanced than the Americas, he also explains why it wasn't. He doesn't seem to view technology as one dimensionally in terms of what is "advanced" or "better," but in what better suits it intended purposes. European technologies of the time weren't significantly better than American ones (although this would change quickly), and apart form the shock value they were sometimes worse. The quality of life in North America for the average person was probably the best in the world, and while historians don't like answering such questions because they don't like "presentism" he couldn't find one who would have chosen to live in Europe at the time if they could have lived in North America instead. He points out all of the same reasons for European success as Diamond does, but it much less fatalistic and explains how peoples like the Inca could have been victorious. (He largely says that the native's biggest problem was not the lack of advanced weapons but that literacy had not spread beyond bookkeeping into history telling so that the native societies could not benefit from studying the mistakes of earlier societies. Of course, In the case of the Inca ridiculous religious and political systems that caused frequent civil wars between current rulers and their dead ancestors were pretty important too.) He deals with several different of human civilizations falling because of ruining their own environment, and also cases of them thriving by making the environment better than it would naturally be. (Actually, he pretty much dismisses the notion that there even is a "natural environment," saying that humans have been an integral part of their environment for all of our species existence and that we have been a positive influence nearly often as we were a negative one. What we in America think of as the land's natural state is largely a sign of environmental damage caused by Europeans, and in some ways the environment today is in a healthier balance than it has been in centuries. This got a lot of hippies really mad at him.)

 

[Sui Generis]

Is Terry Eagleton full of it?

 

[West 36]

They had a civil war, where the communists were briefly successful but eventually driven out by the monarchists. Then came the generally successful reign of Paulos, with fun economic prosperity; his son, Konstantinos II, decided to fight against his prime minister, Giorgios Papandreou, which led to parliamentary chaos during the late 1960s. This caused a military coup in '67, leading to a rule by the military junta of the colonels. They tried liberalizing but kinda failed, and in '74 they were replaced by a Captain Ioannides, who in turn fell from power after the enosis episode. Parliamentary government was resumed, under the more conservative Nea Dhimokratia party (led by the Karamanlis family, generally). PASOK, the primary Greek socialist party, took over during the eighties and continued in charge until 2004, when ND recaptured the premiership, save for one hiccup in the early nineties.

Civil war, foriegn intervention, military junta, republic formed, referendum on monarchy fails, king told to not bother coming home, leftist democracy followed by rightist democracy. Not much really.

So a bit of an interesting time, as I thought. I think I'm a bit confused as to why and how this was, but at least I know what, thanks!

 

[GoodGame]

Do anti-bacterial soaps actually contain antibiotics that we give to people in pills?

Anti-bacterial soaps have Triclosan, which is a competent antibiotic that affects cell wall synthesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclosan

The question is if it will cause super-infection bacteria in a similar way as pill-based antibiotics do. Some professionals think that the risk exists.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

How would I go about copying songs from an iPod to iTunes without wrecking them?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Has there ever been an instance of a technologically-inferior force annihilating an equal or larger force with superior technology?

 

[Dachs]

Has there ever been an instance of a technologically-inferior force annihilating an equal or larger force with superior technology?

Annihilating, you say. Hmmm. Talas might qualify, but it wasn't really an "annihilation"...

 

[Red Door]

I would really love it if some Russians could tell me what they think of Vladimir Putin.

 

[GinandTonic]

Has there ever been an instance of a technologically-inferior force annihilating an equal or larger force with superior technology?

Any number of chaps buggering about in Africa, often involving multiple relief expiditions who go on to require their own relief.

The text book example would be the brits and the zulus. Could argue for Custer too, though a little less clear cut.

 

[Dachs]

Any number of chaps buggering about in Africa, often involving multiple relief expiditions who go on to require their own relief.

The text book example would be the brits and the zulus. Could argue for Custer too, though a little less clear cut.

That doesn't really meet the 'equal or larger' criterion, nicht wahr?

 

[philippe]

Originally Posted by SS-18 ICBM
Has there ever been an instance of a technologically-inferior force annihilating an equal or larger force with superior technology?

1302, battle of gulden spurs where militia defeated Knights could count as one, they were outnumbered and "outgunned" (lack for better term ), remember, kinghts count as 10 infantry on that battlefield and normally they weren't allowed to be killed, becuase a nice ransom is so much nicer

in the end, mud proved to be the winning factor for the Flemish rebels.

 

[Red Door]

Has there ever been an instance of a technologically-inferior force annihilating an equal or larger force with superior technology?

The First Italo-Ethiopian War and the Battle of Adowa? I guess this does not qualify because the Ethiopian side was so much larger than the Italians.

 

[GinandTonic]

1302, battle of gulden spurs where militia defeated Knights could count as one, they were outnumbered and "outgunned" (lack for better term ), remember, kinghts count as 10 infantry on that battlefield and normally they weren't allowed to be killed, becuase a nice ransom is so much nicer

in the end, mud proved to be the winning factor for the Flemish rebels.

By that logic Agincort would count, though I guess in that instance technological advance would be in the eye of the beholder.