The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

I'm sure you can find a metric to construct an argument. But to take those, I can't think of an imperial project that had a great record of poverty and literacy

[Josquius]

Imperialism looked at independently was of course shit. But it's naiive to assume Europe would have just sat back and not tried to make money out of the increasingly less developed parts of the world.
We have a clear historic case study of what happens when an area doesn't get subjected to imperialism. The Congo Free State was not pretty to say the least.
So generally imperialism served as the lesser evil. It forced at least some attention to human rights and doing good by the locals in the incoming foreigners rather than leaving them free to do whatever it took to extract profit.

[The Brain]

We have a clear historic case study of what happens when an area doesn't get subjected to imperialism.

Ethiopia is indeed an interesting case when you try to disentangle the effects of imperialism on countries.

[Duque de Bragança]

We have a clear historic case study of what happens when an area doesn't get subjected to imperialism.

Ethiopia is indeed an interesting case when you try to disentangle the effects of imperialism on countries.

Now that's a cheap shot at Mussolini. Somewhat funny though. 

[The Brain]

We have a clear historic case study of what happens when an area doesn't get subjected to imperialism.

Ethiopia is indeed an interesting case when you try to disentangle the effects of imperialism on countries.

Now that's a cheap shot at Mussolini. Somewhat funny though. 

Ethiopia wasn't subject to colonialism in any way that meaningfully resembles the experience of other African countries. It was occuiped by an authoritarian European power briefly in the late 30s/early 40s, just like many European countries. Lumping Ethiopia in with the rest of Africa when it comes to colonialism is at best very misleading.

[Duque de Bragança]

We have a clear historic case study of what happens when an area doesn't get subjected to imperialism.

Ethiopia is indeed an interesting case when you try to disentangle the effects of imperialism on countries.

Now that's a cheap shot at Mussolini. Somewhat funny though. 

Ethiopia wasn't subject to colonialism in any way that meaningfully resembles the experience of other African countries. It was occuiped by an authoritarian European power briefly in the late 30s/early 40s, just like many European countries. Lumping Ethiopia in with the rest of Africa when it comes to colonialism is at best very misleading.

I know, but the comment was meant in jest. 
Not to mention an European colonial power did help decisively Ethiopia to resist islamic colonialism. Of course, that's not the colonialism mentioned in that Polish document though the slavery part fits better actually because there was no abolitionism in Islamic empires. It had to be imposed from abroad.

[The Brain]

[Maladict]

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52810220

A device costing more than £300 promises to protect your family from the supposed dangers of 5G, using ground-breaking quantum technology - but does it work? Of course not.

The rollout of the new 5G mobile networks began in the UK only last summer and has not yet reached outside urban areas.

Yet across the country there is already a cottage industry offering protection against the supposed negative health effects, even though they have been dismissed by regulators and mainstream scientists.

The 5GBioShield was recommended by a member of Glastonbury Town Council's 5G Advisory Committee, which has called for an inquiry into 5G.

One of nine external members, Toby Hall, said: "We use this device and find it helpful," and provided a link to its website, which describes it as a USB key that "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device".

"Through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera," it adds.

Each of these USB keys costs £339.60 including VAT, though there is a special offer of three for £958.80.

But, at first sight, it seems to be just that - a USB key, with just 128MB of storage.

"So what's different between it and a virtually identical 'crystal' USB key available from various suppliers in Shenzhen, China, for around £5 per key?" asks Ken Munro, whose company, Pen Test Partners, specialises in taking apart consumer electronic products to spot security vulnerabilities.

And the answer appears to be a circular sticker.

"Now, we're not 5G quantum experts but said sticker looks remarkably like one available in sheets from stationery suppliers for less than a penny each," he says.

Mr Munro and his colleague Phil Eveleigh proceeded to dismantle the USB key to find out if there were any whizz-bang electronics inside.

But all they found was an LED light on the circuit board, similar to those on any other USB key.

They concluded that trading standards bodies should now carry out their own investigations. London Trading Standards has since told the BBC it has launched a probe.

A search in Companies House shows the two directors of BioShield Distribution are Anna Grochowalska and Valerio Laghezza.

Both of them appear to have been involved previously in a business called Immortalis, which sells a dietary supplement called Klotho Formula.

Its website - rather similar in design to that of the BioShield - says Klotho Formula uses a "proprietary procedure that leads to relativistic time dilation and biological quantum entanglement at the DNA level".

'Sensitive information'


"We are in possession of a great deal of technical information, with plenty of back-up historical research," she said.

"As you can understand, we are not authorised to fully disclose all this sensitive information to third parties, for obvious reasons."

And she rejected the suggestion selling a £5 product for more than £300 was unreasonable.

"In regard to the costs analysis your research has produced, I believe that the lack of in-depth information will not drive you to the exact computation of our expenses and production costs, including the cost of IP [intellectual property rights], and so on," she said.

"It is therefore hard to take your evaluation seriously, since you have evidently not researched the background facts in any meaningful way."


'More dreams'

Mr Hall said his remarks in Glastonbury Town Council's 5G Advisory Committee report should not be seen as a recommendation to buy the product.


But he had no regrets about buying it and since plugging it in had felt beneficial effects, including being able to sleep through the night and having more dreams.

"I also felt a 'calmer' feel to the home," he told BBC News.

And he had thought the company might be able to develop a system that could offer protection to the whole town of Glastonbury against the effects of radiation from electromagnetic fields.

It's worth noting though that the regulator Ofcom has published the results of EMF measurements at 16 sites, which were taken following the launch of 5G.

It said that in each case, emissions were "a small fraction" of the levels deemed safe under international guidelines.

[The Brain]

Surely it's both. And whatever works, if it makes the Glastonbury Nut sleep better then great.

[Josquius]

How difficult would it be to make a working machine to jam 5g signals?
Of course I imagine the way to do this will be with more 5g signals.... But shhh

[Agelastus]

We have a clear historic case study of what happens when an area doesn't get subjected to imperialism.

Ethiopia is indeed an interesting case when you try to disentangle the effects of imperialism on countries.

Now that's a cheap shot at Mussolini. Somewhat funny though. 

Ethiopia wasn't subject to colonialism in any way that meaningfully resembles the experience of other African countries. It was occuiped by an authoritarian European power briefly in the late 30s/early 40s, just like many European countries. Lumping Ethiopia in with the rest of Africa when it comes to colonialism is at best very misleading.

Especially as Ethiopia roughly quadrupled in size during the "scramble for Africa" under Johannes IV and Menelik.

[Maximus]

Is the Dragon vehicle large enough to mantain social distancing? 

NASA / SpaceX are an essential service and have continued working throughout.

Only for mission-critical or safety-critical jobs. Even then it requires a detailed plan including justifying everyone who is going to be on site, listing the rooms they are going to be using and showing those rooms have sufficient space and ventilation for the specified number of people to be safe. etc.

At least that's for NASA. SpaceX seem to be playing cowboy.

[Sheilbh]

So this is fascinating:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sKqn3q6RgOOEBHB2qJeWJmL2-4atRURR/view

Basically, in the US factory built homes were the majority of homes built in the US during the 1960s and they were mostly regulated out of existence to protect the home building industry

[Valmy]

Emphasis aside, I doubt imperialism was a 100% bad, things seldom are.

For example, communism in Hungary was a very clear net negative, yet it lifted countless people out of the most abject poverty and illiteracy in a pretty short timeframe. Sure, it then proceeded to prevent most of them from ever progressing past that, but still.

Well it happened and most everything in the modern world is a product of it. Would things have been better without European Colonialism? I mean we will never know, they certainly would be very different.

That doesn't mean it wasn't wrong and we try to learn from it to avoid that kind of exploitation in the future (and maybe even do less of it now), you know something beyond "Euros between 1492 and 1960: bad".

[Valmy]

So this is fascinating:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sKqn3q6RgOOEBHB2qJeWJmL2-4atRURR/view

Basically, in the US factory built homes were the majority of homes built in the US during the 1960s and they were mostly regulated out of existence to protect the home building industry

Is this about those old kit homes you could order from companies like Sears? Those were pretty cool, all the parts would arrive by train and would be delivered right to your lot. You just needed to assemble it or hire a crew to do it. It was pretty cheap and efficient for the middle classes. I was wondering why those stopped being a thing.