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Fuschia tude posted:Possibly an interesting idea -- has anyone ever proposed apportioning house districts based on population alone? A lot of these districts abut fairly awkwardly against the state borders. I assume two people just on either side of a state border have more in common than with the people in their respective state capitals. The really interesting part would be redistricting. Who would draw up districts if not state legislatures? The Feds? That could make it harder to gerrymander, compared to dominated state legislatures. At the same time, removing state borders removes the greatest limit on gerrymandering capabilities.
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Oct 19, 2013 15:34
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Map of the world during WWI according to Japan.
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Oct 19, 2013 19:32
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Kurtofan posted:What money would Quebec use? The livre? The louis? They'd revert back to the original Canadian currency: beaver skins  .
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Oct 19, 2013 20:23
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Oct 19, 2013 20:25
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Oct 19, 2013 20:32
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Finland knows what the important things in life are.
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Oct 19, 2013 20:36
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 Some of those labels are brutal! edit: Also nice fully Indian Kashmir. Lawman 0 fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Oct 19, 2013 |
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Oct 19, 2013 20:39
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Civilized Fishbot posted:The really interesting part would be redistricting. Who would draw up districts if not state legislatures? The Feds? That could make it harder to gerrymander, compared to dominated state legislatures. At the same time, removing state borders removes the greatest limit on gerrymandering capabilities. Iowa has a neutral legislative committe draw up maps, which the legislature can accept or reject. It seems to work quite well. None of Iowa's districts has a Cook PVI of more than 5 points for either party, which is remarkable.
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Oct 19, 2013 20:42
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Emanuel Collective posted:Iowa has a neutral legislative committe draw up maps, which the legislature can accept or reject. It seems to work quite well. None of Iowa's districts has a Cook PVI of more than 5 points for either party, which is remarkable. I don't understand how a guy like Steve King stays in office.
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Oct 19, 2013 20:44
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Now make it all per capita. 
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Oct 19, 2013 21:00
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Some of it's per capita. Unless we are to believe that Qatar has the highest GDP in the world.
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Oct 19, 2013 21:09
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I like how Burma leads the world in "Speaking Burmese." And does it really count for Britain to lead in "Fascist Movements" if none of them really go anywhere?
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Oct 19, 2013 21:14
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Ammat The Ankh posted:
I guess that how they work, the more you have the less it works.
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Oct 19, 2013 21:23
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tractor fanatic posted:Some of it's per capita. Unless we are to believe that Qatar has the highest GDP in the world.
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Oct 19, 2013 21:24
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Edible Hat posted:I don't understand how a guy like Steve King stays in office. He was initially elected in 2002 as the representative for IA-5. This was a new district for that 2002 election, and as Emanuel Collective explained it was drawn by a non-partisan commission on geographic and population lines. The result was a vertical strip across the westernmost 1/5 of the state. This area of Iowa is overwhelmingly rural and politically hyper-conservative, so this district was R+30 from the word go, probably one of the reddest in the USA. Also, as a new district, it had no incumbent and was an open seat. A bunch of different Republicans ran in the primary and none of them was able to win enough votes to carry the primary, which forced a nominating convention that finally selected Steve King by a narrow margin. The state Republican Party organization tends towards middle-of-the-road business conservatives (like the current governor), so they weren't fully behind him, but he got through it. He obviously cruised through the general, and until 2012 he enjoyed incumbency in a totally Republican district. Iowa lost a House seat in 2010 census and the reapportionment committee changed the outline of the district as it morphed into the new IA-4. The result was basically to set the state into quarters, with IA-1 and IA-2 on the east side carrying about a D+10 advantage and IA-3 and IA-4 on the west side carrying R+10. Roughly. It's actually kind of interesting case of how even a strictly geographic process can produce noncompetitive districts. Anyway, King was able to win again in 2012, though by a much lower margin than previous. The Democratic challenger in 2012 was unusually strong so he'll probably win that seat as long as he wants to keep it. King is also one of the most right-wing politicians in the country, up there with Michelle Bachmann, so he's invulnerable to primary challenge in the current environment. The only thing I can think of that could derail his career is if he somehow hosed up the farm bill and his constituents didn't get their subsidies.
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Oct 19, 2013 21:36
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Also apparently Lithuania doesn't lead in anything; which I'm sure is wrong (spent a month there this summer; really nice place that's given me a liking for Kvass...)
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Oct 19, 2013 21:40
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I'm pretty sure Lithuania leads in suicide rates, or used to.
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Oct 19, 2013 21:44
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If I was Lithuanian I'd try to end it all too.
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Oct 19, 2013 22:14
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What are the criteria used to determine Ireland's leadership in "Quality of Life"?
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Oct 19, 2013 22:16
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Why does Greece have Thrace in that map?
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Oct 19, 2013 22:18
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A whole bunch (but not all) of the former Yugoslav republics don't have anything listed either, same with chunks of Africa and almost the entire Carribean. The Ireland having the best Quality of Life doesn't sound right, either.
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Oct 19, 2013 23:08
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Kavak posted:What are the criteria used to determine Ireland's leadership in "Quality of Life"? Something tells me that's changed a lot since the Irish housing bubble burst.
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Oct 19, 2013 23:23
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HookShot posted:A whole bunch (but not all) of the former Yugoslav republics don't have anything listed either, same with chunks of Africa and almost the entire Carribean. I think it amy be slightly out of date, I think before the 08 crash Ireland did have a inflated quality of life. EFB with proof.
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Oct 19, 2013 23:29
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"Maple Syrup and Asteroid Impacts" sounds like the title of a music album I don't know the genre of.
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Oct 19, 2013 23:31
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lonelywurm posted:Looks like it was ripped straight from the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2005 Quality-of-life Index. quote:The survey uses nine quality of life factors to determine a nation's score.[1] They are listed below including the indicators used to represent these factors: haha yeah cause low divorce rates are objectively better right And what the hell does climate have to do with anything? Also seriously mystified by Greece in that map. I don't see any other odd borders unless you count a couple of territory disputes. On the site he even says he made some corrections to borders 
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Oct 19, 2013 23:35
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lonelywurm posted:Looks like it was ripped straight from the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2005 Quality-of-life Index. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_Index posted:1. Health: Life expectancy at birth (in years). Source: US Census Bureau Cultural prohibitions against divorce finally paying off.  EDIT: God dammit PrinceRandom posted:Why does Greece have Thrace in that map? There's a bunch of other little things I've noticed, Tajikistan has taken over Wakhan in Afghanistan, Armenia has Nakhchivan and the borders of Brunei and South Sudan look wonky as hell. kustomkarkommando fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Oct 19, 2013 |
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Oct 19, 2013 23:37
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Emanuel Collective posted:Iowa has a neutral legislative committe draw up maps, which the legislature can accept or reject. It seems to work quite well. None of Iowa's districts has a Cook PVI of more than 5 points for either party, which is remarkable. What stops the dominating party from just refusing to accept any map that isn't pro-dominating party? There's clearly no longer a taboo on holding up government in order to obtain a political advantage.
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Oct 19, 2013 23:51
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I highly doubt that that world map is accurate in anything at all. For instance in Portugal we have one of the highest High School drop-out rates in the whole Europe (about 50%). Also Lithuania is not a dreadful place at all.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:00
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AndreTheGiantBoned posted:For instance in Portugal we have one of the highest High School drop-out rates in the whole Europe (about 50%). Novas Oportunidades   I need feminism because way too many people are uncreative at babbynaming.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:01
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Civilized Fishbot posted:What stops the dominating party from just refusing to accept any map that isn't pro-dominating party? There's clearly no longer a taboo on holding up government in order to obtain a political advantage. Better the devil you know. If the map is rejected, then it just goes back to the same non-partisan agency using the same data, who will produce a substantially similar map, which may or may not put you in a slightly less favorable district. Plus, if the legislature simply refuses to vote for a map, then the Iowan Supreme Court is given the power to implement the map.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:01
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What exactly does it mean to be first in Gun Control (Tunisia)? Fewest weapon per capita (I doubt that)? Did they get a constitution lawyer to analyze legislative boundaries on gun ownership in all countries? Also, I'm pretty sure Moldova doesn't have the highest level of alcohol consumption. It's clearly basd on Wikipedia which changes the top ranking country every few months. Not too long ago, it was the Czech republic. Now it's Moldova. I'd bet that in reality it's one of the many African countries with rampant moonshine industry.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:03
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steinrokkan posted:What exactly does it mean to be first in Gun Control (Tunisia)? Fewest weapon per capita (I doubt that)? Did they get a constitution lawyer to analyze legislative boundaries on gun ownership in all countries? It's number of guns per capita yes. Almost all the list is taken from Wikipedia articles interpreted with varying levels of reliability so I wouldn't take it overly seriously (e.g. the British "fascist movements" one is just taken from the fact that the Wikipedia list of fascist movements happens to have the most entries in Britain).
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Oct 20, 2013 00:06
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It is an arbitrary map mostly created for entertainment value.KoldPT posted:
This is a good map. I like the sharp contrast between the Jennifer and the Jessica era.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:08
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Civilized Fishbot posted:What stops the dominating party from just refusing to accept any map that isn't pro-dominating party? There's clearly no longer a taboo on holding up government in order to obtain a political advantage. That's the case at the federal level but not at the state level. As an Iowan, my sense is that the party that refused to accept the non-partisan reapportionment system would be punished by the electorate. In any case, Iowa might be home to some firebrands like Steve King but it's very close to 50-50 D:R, and the state-level parties are tend to be moderate. The main leader of the reactionary movement in Iowa is a guy named Bob Vander Plaats, and he's tried to run for governor three different times, each time getting stuffed in the primary by a more moderate candidate with better ties to the business establishment.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:10
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KoldPT posted:Novas Oportunidades I'm actually shocked that Ava made a minor comeback recently.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:39
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Phlegmish posted:This is a good map. I like the sharp contrast between the Jennifer and the Jessica era.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:41
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KoldPT posted:Novas Oportunidades This is a super interesting map, and for some reason it's really surprising to me that naming trends actually follow patterns like this. I particularly like how Jessica and Ashley fought a desperate struggle for dominance after Jennifer's 1970s reign of terror, only to be stabbed in the back by Emily once the late 90s rolled around.
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Oct 20, 2013 01:07
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Alsace post here if anyone's still curious. For reference, I'm an american and my grandad left the place in 1946 (guess why), but I have family there and am familiar with it. So take what I says as parroting my grandpa's and dad's views, basically, since I wasn't there fifty or a hundred years ago. Modern alsatians, for their part, are mostly normal frenchmen, not all that different than any other save for the idiosyncracies you'd expect, just like in Toulouse or Brittany. German/alsatian fare is offered at restaurants and such and for obvious reasons, german is the biggest foreign language after english, but the days of Alsace as a germanically-cultured place are gone. The most you'll get are jokes about how they'd probably better off in the Bundesrepublik or what-have-you, like how New Englanders will joke about leaving the south behind and joining Canada. Politically, alsatians to me seem a lot like southerners, more likely than average to be fiercely patriotic to France, and it votes very right-wing. Anyway, I don't know exactly how Schleswig-Holstein or Poland were administered but Alsace-Lorraine was the Kaiserreich's one-and-only (I think) Reichsland. While the rest of Germany proper was a sort of convoluted federation, retaining the old monarchs and whatnot, Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen was administered directly from Berlin. Bismarck, wise man that he was, had not even wanted to annex the province, knowing the trouble it would cause with France, but to appease germans who wanted territorial expansion and generals who wanted a buffer zone west of the Rhine, he acquiesced. This was not something that had any popular demand in Alsace itself-by this point it was, if not culturally, established politically as french. The conquest really hadn't been all that bad on Alsace. It started in the Thirty Years' War and was consolidated, more or less, by 1700. But things weren't bad-alsatian protestants were not persecuted, for example, while those in other parts of France were, and there was free trade with neighboring Baden. Many alsatians were even allowed to leave and, ironically, became german colonists in the east.The people of Strasbourg stormed the local garrison following the Bastille and La Marseillaise was even composed there, and it wasn't until the 19th century that the french language started to be officially enforced. So in 1871, despite being "german", Alsace had to be governed differently. The french language, which by that point had been the language of instruction in schools for almost a lifetime, was banned in favor of german, and germans from other provinces were encouraged to settle there. Some 100 to 150 thousand alsatians left for France and Algeria. Note that there was a difference between the german and french language policies-the french government in the 19th century had tried to spread french, but it did not overtly oppress german in the way that the Reichsland did french. Some estimates are that by 1914, a mere fifty years past, only 5-10% of alsatians were french-speakers. In 1911 it was finally granted a local government, but this was still an imperial governor-style arrangement rather than the local rule of the average german province. When the war happened, alsatians were drafted, but only ever sent to the navy or to the east. In 1917 when german troops were being shuffled westward, alsatians were separated from their units and cordoned off together in train stations, barred from fighting the Entente in the west. Apparently at some places these groups, frustrated at being separated from their comrades, even broke out into spontaneous pro-french protests. (At this point Germany was pretty unstable everywhere but the western front line). Alsatians in the navy and the east engaged happily in the revolution, and of course, the Kaiser fell. From what I gather, independence was the most popular path for Alsace, followed by annexation by France. Germany was mostly supported by the aforementioned post-1871 colonists. My grandpa, a teenager at the time, wasn't affected by the soviet councils at all. He lived in a small northern town (the hometown of Guy Sajer, author of "The Forgotten Soldier", incidentally). My personal view is that an independent Alsace would've been nice but at the time it wasn't viable. Had things gone differently I imagine it would be successful today, right next to the lovely Benelux countries and all. But ultimately, there wasn't a viable independence government. There was the soviet councils (which I personally think were alright but obviously these were looked at with caution by a lot of people) and the german local government. Neither was a great option. The social democrats sent a letter to France asking them to occupy Alsace, and, unsurprisingly, France did so. French troops were usually greeted warmly. Picture the scene of Easy Company walking through Eindhoven in Band of Brothers. People in general were not fans of the german rule even if annexation wasn't what they wanted, and France was perceived as a free and liberal state. After the war, of course, things weren't all peachy. All the families who had immigrated between 1871 and 1918 from other parts of Germany were expelled (even those who married locals-they had to choose whether to split the family or take the locals with them) and the german language, over the next 50 years, was suppressed. My grandpa and his brother, born in the 20s, went into the Wehrmacht speaking broken german. But it wasn't the same sort of heavy-handed rule. Laws passed between 1871 and 1914 were often not applied to Alsace, which I think contributes to its modern conservatism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_law_in_Alsace-Moselle The point I make, which I've had to make often to a lot of folks on less educated forums, is that despite its culture Alsace is very much a french region and was even in 1871. There's a lot of people in the anglophone world who fetishize pre-war Germany as some glorious, united nation of honor and blah blah blah, and coming from a family quite literally torn apart by that sort of imperialism and militarism, it bothers me. EDIT: writing this reminded me, I'm going to post my family's World War stories in the GBS thread, if anyone wants to hear about them. EDIT2: A fun side-effect of my grandad's immigrating, and the fact that from birth to age 13 the only french or german speaking I ever did was to my dad, grandpa, and alsatian-german speaking grandma is that whe I travel I sound a lot more like an alsatian country bumpkin than most of the actual modern alsatians. I also have an extremely hard time understanding the québécois I interact with living in Canada. thecolorpurple fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Oct 20, 2013 |
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Oct 20, 2013 01:17
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KoldPT posted:Novas Oportunidades I like that you can tell exactly when Twilight got popular.
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Oct 20, 2013 01:45
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computer parts posted:I like that you can tell exactly when Twilight got popular. Also that I can finally blame the overwhelming number of Jennifers I have to deal with on Utah. That's where it all began, it seems.
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Oct 20, 2013 02:26
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