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BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:How did this country colonize a quarter of the planet? An inherent thirst for blood.
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May 3, 2024 16:26
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BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:How did this country colonize a quarter of the planet? pre-nation state forms of government kind of sucked rear end at fighting. it was surprisingly common for some random colonel to take 200 dudes and, completely without orders, go topple a nation Boats helped
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May 3, 2024 16:38
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BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:How did this country colonize a quarter of the planet? It was the style at the time 
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May 3, 2024 16:40
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Eiba posted:I was reading an interesting take that US hegemony is a bit different in that in modern industrialized times war is ruinously expensive for everyone and never a source of real wealth, which is in people and infrastructure (which war destroys), not just land. Therefore most countries are going to be interested in maintaining any peaceful status quo- more so than in any earlier period of state societies. There are going to be exceptions when it comes to some valuable resources and a few cases of very strong nationalist ideals, but by and large most countries are actually going to support US hegemony as it is generally in their interest. Hmm. I can see it, if you factor in the threat of nuclear annihiliation especially, I think it's true that you're currently unlikely to see major powers directly squaring off against each other. But I believe that the actual reason we don't have a truly multipolar world (yet) is that the other contenders simply don't have what it takes. Russia has a pathetic economy for its size and is in long-term demographic decline. I'm not sure I should even bother mentioning them in this context. China actually is an economic and demographic (although also declining) juggernaut, but they still lack both the soft power and ability to project force that the US has. The CCP has been remarkably effective at suppressing internal dissent, but they have a negative reputation internationally, and a side effect of their repression has been to stifle creativity and innovation in the Chinese cultural and entertainment sectors, limiting their global appeal. The EU easily rivals the US economically and has a neutral to positive reputation in most of the world, but they lack the coherence to pursue any sort of unified foreign policy, and they're generally content to play second fiddle to the culturally and politically similar USA. If the US gets dethroned, it will probably be due to long-term internal decline, rather than a rival beating it at its own game. It probably will happen at some point, I just don't know what that would look like. One major advantage they have is that the US dollar is the world's reserve currency, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon, which shields them from certain types of economic turmoil.
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May 3, 2024 16:46
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Phlegmish posted:The American economy seems to be perpetually turbocharged and consistently outperforms nearly every other developed economy. Phlegmish posted:So no, I don't see many noticeable signs of decline yet. On the other hand, human societies are in constant flux as they are shaped and reshaped by myriad subtly interacting forces that mostly work bottom-up. These configurations never last forever. I think about that sometimes, what the world would look like with a USA in terminal decline, and what the first unmistakable indications of such a decline would be. The one thing I'm certain of is that we'll get tons of people writing Edward Gibbon-style books about the collapse of the American Empire, where they will inevitably try to interpret it according to their preconceived political convictions. Phlegmish posted:The CCP has been remarkably effective at suppressing internal dissent, but they have a negative reputation internationally
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May 3, 2024 17:04
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China initially got a lot of mileage in the global south with loans and construction projects and bribes. However then they used all that to tighten their grip in rather blatant power plays and its rather soured opinion on them. There's still a strange-bedpartners effect among nations who are opposed to American influence, but, eh.
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May 3, 2024 17:13
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Opinions are fickle. China's has taken some hits lately but things could easily reverse in 10 years, whereas it's unlikely their strength will fade so quickly. quote:I don't quite agree with this take because it sidesteps the considerable violence the US used and is currently using to enforce its empire. These countries didn't just go "oh boy, America will help us!", they got couped or blockaded or police actioned or had their opposition assassinated until everybody left in charge was acceptable to the US. The argument goes that in an agrarian, pre-industrial world where productivity growth from investment is extremely limited at best and wealth is directly proportional to land held, war is the best way to get rich. Post-industrialization this calculus changes, and investment can lead to immense productivity growth that war instead destroys, meaning war is a terrible economic idea and has been for like, 150 years. What the idea misses is human nature hasn't caught on to that yet and that wars are often started for dumb emotional reasons that don't care about economics. I don't think it's innately wrong though. America has more than its share of evils, but proportionally we live in by far the least violent period in all of human history.
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May 3, 2024 18:46
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Koramei posted:I don't think it's innately wrong though. America has more than its share of evils, but proportionally we live in by far the least violent period in all of human history. The only reason for that is because humanity finally developed a weapon that can scour us off the planet. It's not some goodness in the American Empire or some difference in the way it slaughters opposition, its just that if the great powers go to war with each other now, everything ends.
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May 3, 2024 19:01
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Nah, that's part of it, but the fact that increasing your territory has marginal benefit is also a huge game changer. Look at USA in Iraq: they basically controlled the territory (in the same way that Rome controlled Judea in 30ad), but that wasn't actually interesting or valuable to them, even with the oil. Or, from an economic perspective, what Russia is doing in Ukraine has set them way further back than any benefit they will reap in the next 20 years.
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May 3, 2024 19:07
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May 3, 2024 19:58
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Finally. A map which realizes the danger of permitting Belgium and Switzerland to grow
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May 3, 2024 20:05
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Why would you remove only one Germany and allow the other to expand?
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May 3, 2024 20:08
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Today I learned that the Italians call Munich "Bavarian Monaco".
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May 3, 2024 20:14
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I, for one, call Monaco 'Monegasque München'. Unfortunately this rarely comes up in casual conversation
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May 3, 2024 20:16
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BonHair posted:Why would you remove only one Germany and allow the other to expand? Because Dusseldorp is a funny word
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May 3, 2024 21:19
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TheDeadlyShoe posted:China initially got a lot of mileage in the global south with loans and construction projects and bribes. However then they used all that to tighten their grip in rather blatant power plays and its rather soured opinion on them. I think that fell through for the same reason that all those governments had poor credit internationally in the first place. There was a lot of corruption and not a whole lot of economic base, so a lot of money went into projects that didn't improve things all that dramatically and a number of countries couldn't pay back the money so the Chinese banks just had to eat a lot of losses.
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May 3, 2024 21:24
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BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:How did this country colonize a quarter of the planet? They were driven by spice.
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May 3, 2024 21:30
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Platystemon posted:They were driven by spice. Had to try them all to make sure they didn't like any of them.
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May 3, 2024 21:48
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Eiba posted:An inhuman dedication to exploitation that extends even to their own people. I think this article by Bret Devereaux; The Status Quo Coalition, is the one your referring to.
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May 3, 2024 21:49
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This is thread related because I realized I could make a funny transit map where I connected the neighbourhoods that spent the most on weed in my city but that's probably not a good idea on software and data I only have access to because of my job and I'd prefer not to get fired. I've advanced my career by being "good at computers" in an old school industry and I'm finally at a level where I have to do some "career development". What I use at work is Alteryx (sort of a combo geo spatial and data analysis software) but it seems from googling that it's a pretty niche enterprise software with nothing really comparable for personal use. Is there a similar software that's more widespread and that I could use for funny maps or maybe volunteering? It does seem like a lot of the data I use is available from public sources, although maybe not as detailed, so that's cool.
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May 4, 2024 03:24
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Phlegmish posted:I guess it would depend on what you consider to be extreme temperatures. my memory of regular temperatures are -10 in the winter and +25 in the summer but now its 0-35 and i think thats extreme
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May 4, 2024 03:32
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 Found in the wild, apologies about the low resolution
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May 4, 2024 03:50
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SlothfulCobra posted:That's something California has going for it as well, a lot of the parasites and vermin can't get past both the mountains and the desert to make trouble for the west coast settlers. There isn't even poison ivy. Yeah but it’s got poison oak. Same poo poo. Different rear end in a top hat.  Shoutout to this map for godawful way to present data: 
Platystemon fucked around with this message at 07:58 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 07:56
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What’s up with poison oak studiously avoiding the Mississippi?
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May 4, 2024 10:07
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Private Speech posted:The double glazing thing is news to me, living in a brick house refurbished about ten years ago.  which are a lot better for insulation and security than the old sash windows, but useless for fitting window ac units, which are mostly designed around 
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May 4, 2024 14:05
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Guavanaut posted:Wait so why are window unit ACs so rare in the UK then? The whole point of them is that you can put them in a sash window with little to no construction or electrical skills, and I always thought that the reason the UK went for free standing ACs (which are terrible and inefficient) is because all the sash windows that aren't in listed heritage properties got replaced with things like My guess is that if you're renting you're not allowed to put it in and if you're not renting you either can afford to switch out the windows or can't afford AC. But I don't know to be honest. e: Even then, if you're well-off enough you might keep the sash windows even if the building isn't listed since you might not care about heating costs. This is around where I lived in Bristol:  Lots of sash windows still, albeit they are older buildings, so some might be listed. But the one I live in Cambridge right now definitely is not and has sash windows. It is an older building as well though and the sash windows do look nicer from the outside for what it's worth. Maybe in suburban areas it's better since it's mostly recent-ish builds. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 15:15 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 15:00
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Private Speech posted:My guess is that if you're renting you're not allowed to put it in and if you're not renting you either can afford to switch out the windows or can't afford AC. Sash windows are garbage, but possibly people just don't know that there is a better way of doing things? Americans - and probably other nationalities - are always incredulous at European window and door design, like how they open "up" as well as "in". I certainly don't remember ever seeing a home growing up in the US that had anything other than sash windows, even though they are the absolute worst way to design a window unless you live in those rare cities with a year-round perfect climate like Addis Ababa, Medellin, or many of those British hill stations.
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May 4, 2024 15:15
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Yeah everywhere I've seen sash windows and window unit ACs usually go hand in hand with either American buildings that haven't had new windows or colonial era buildings in Africa that were built to old British spec and then people went with the cheapest option. The sash windows around where I live were all replaced under energy efficiency schemes so long ago that most of them are either old uPVC that's itself in need of a replacement or new Euro style windows that replaced the last lot (although most of them still open outwards, making them bad for shutters compared to most Euro windows), and this is an old mill town with a lot of Victorian era housing so I automatically assumed that everywhere more on the ball would have done the same, but I guess not. There's like maybe one old church hall that has sash windows and still keeps them maintained, I guess because it's either listed or just went for Private Speech posted:the sash windows do look nicer from the outside for what it's worth. The selling point of the window units was supposed to be both that they're a lot cheaper than a fitted AC unit, a lot more efficient than the free standing units, and (unless you're getting a giant 70s US one that needs support brackets) fits fine with a sash window without needing to do anything that would need the approval of a landlord, or maybe an hour job at most, so I'm still confused at the complete absence of them as a thing in the UK. I guess there could be a self-fulfilling factor where places don't sell them so people don't buy them so places assume there's no demand. Or there's no lower floor to the laziness and pettiness of some landlords, the ones who put lock boxes on the thermostat are probably anti wall unit for similarly petty reasons.
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May 4, 2024 15:36
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May 4, 2024 16:36
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Top one is raccoons, native and feral range. What species are the other two?
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May 4, 2024 16:39
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Saladman posted:What’s up with poison oak studiously avoiding the Mississippi? see if you can spot the area under cultivation vs native(ish) forest 
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May 4, 2024 16:59
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Guavanaut posted:I guess there could be a self-fulfilling factor where places don't sell them so people don't buy them so places assume there's no demand. Or there's no lower floor to the laziness and pettiness of some landlords, the ones who put lock boxes on the thermostat are probably anti wall unit for similarly petty reasons. You can still find them on like Currys or B&Q or Wilkos (whoever owns them now). In fact I'm probably going to go ahead and buy one now, summer last year was absolutely unbearable.
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May 4, 2024 17:23
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Guavanaut posted:Top one is raccoons, native and feral range. What species are the other two? Bottom one is white supremacists. I think we already touched on it, but climate affects window design a lot. The reason Denmark has triple glazing and proper insulation and heat retention is that half the year is too cold to go without heating and that is not cheap if your house is made of metal sheets and single layer glass. Also we kinda lucked into bricks being the obvious building material. On the flipside, we only have a few weeks of unbearable heat per year, so that's not really worth getting AC for, especially since it's a crapshoot if we're in Thailand those weeks. At least that's how we think, it may not line up to reality any more.
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May 4, 2024 18:19
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I have never lived in a house in britain with a sash window or seen one outside of an historic building. And I have lived in a old victorian townhouse that got so cold in winter that the locks froze shut.
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May 4, 2024 18:28
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 e: apparently Russia and the Philippines are supposed to be in red as well Phlegmish fucked around with this message at 18:48 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 18:45
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Phlegmish posted:The serious answer: incredible bloodthirst and the belief that only inbred English people are human beings.
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May 4, 2024 18:54
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Phlegmish posted:
Is there a reason French Guyana can't but France proper can?
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May 4, 2024 18:54
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Phlegmish posted:
Apparently while China has PSN accounts, they are different and if you connect them for Helldivers, the accounts get banned.
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May 4, 2024 18:55
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JosefStalinator posted:Is there a reason French Guyana can't but France proper can? I'm...starting to think it's not a very accurate map 3rdEyeDeuteranopia posted:Apparently while China has PSN accounts, they are different and if you connect them for Helldivers, the accounts get banned. lol e: this map is more accurate I think: 
Phlegmish fucked around with this message at 19:17 on May 4, 2024 |
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May 4, 2024 18:56
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BonHair posted:Bottom one is white supremacists.  areas then.
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May 4, 2024 19:17
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