The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

They should introduce tradeable mileage credits so that car companies can specialize.

[grumbler]

They should introduce tradeable mileage credits so that car companies can specialize.

Elon Musk agrees.

[Ed Anger]

I think I tracked down the cat pee. 

[Eddie Teach]

Was it in seedy's Chevy bolt?

[CountDeMoney]

My babies are a disciplined as Marines.    The Virgin Mary herself would be proud to take a dump in their boxes.

[Ed Anger]

Spook does whatever the fuck he wants.

[Jacob]

Two excellent pieces of data visualization from Slate.

One on the Slavery Trade and one on US Civil War Memorials.

[Valmy]

What is up with the slave ships going back to Africa? That seems a bit of an odd way to represent Liberian colonization.

Edit: Oh wait so they were actually taking slaves TO Africa. Why? How interesting.

[Duque de Bragança]

What is up with the slave ships going back to Africa? That seems a bit of an odd way to represent Liberian colonization.

Edit: Oh wait so they were actually taking slaves TO Africa. Why? How interesting.

Inter-African slavery may be unknown for Slate, but not for historians.   
Still missing the Oriental Slave trade as well, but that's a beginning.

Try to get this book, it's available now in a "pocket" (mass-market paperback more expensive than the regular edition) in French, and it should be compulsory reading (in French but no excuse for you Valmy). Of course, it should have been translated by now.

https://www.amazon.com/traites-négrières-dhistoire-globale-Histoire-ebook/dp/B00N09IDUW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488195444&sr=1-3-fkmr0&keywords=essai+sur+les+traites+négrières

Amazon.com also says you can buy direct from Amazon.fr in Kindle format, but since I don't know if you have it...

[Josquius]

Inter-African slavery is well known.
Americas to Africa slavery however sounds intruiging, I've not heard of this in anything but individual cases.

[Zanza]

Two people were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder for killing a third person in a crash during an illegal roadrace on the streets of Berlin.

The perpetrators sped with about 110 mph in a place where 35 mph is allowed and crossed 13 red traffic lights before one of them hit another car whose driver was killed.

There has never been a conviction for murder, only for grossly negligent manslaughter in previous cases like this. However, German law defines several criteria that can make a homicide a murder and one of those is that the deed was a danger to the general public.

This is what the prosecutor argued and the judges followed in their judgment. The case will surely be appealed to the Federal Court of Justice.

[celedhring]

Yeah, it's grossly negligent manslaughter at most in Spain too. Can get you 10-15 years in the shade under the worst circumstances.

I once wrote an episode in a lawyeering show centered around a hit and run, so I'm oddly knowledgeable about our law regarding that. 

(also, a friend of mine is doing time for this)

[CountDeMoney]

Two people were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder for killing a third person in a crash during an illegal roadrace on the streets of Berlin.

So I guess they've been: auto-bahnned?

[Syt]

 

[Barrister]

Constructive murder such as this was struck down by our supreme court.  However the offence of dangerous driving while street-racing causing death does carry a maximum of life imprisonment (dangerous driving causing death by itself only has a 14 year max).

Mind the law of constructive murder is still on the books.  In somewhat different circumstances in an extremely high-profile local case the judge found an accused guilty of murder because he killed a couple in the course of robbing them.  Both Crown (very gently) and defence (with great fury) had to tell the judge he couldn't do that - those provisions had been struck down almost 25 years ago.