Mainan_Tagonist

Yes, Frankopan's Silk Roads was a disappointment to say the least, I was really expecting an enlightening history of the middle east, starting from the early interrelations between the various civilisations (Egypt, Babylon, Harappan) and the progression through time (for example mentioning the Periplus of Roman adventurers into the far east). Good histories of China (Goldman/Fairbanks), and India (Keay) had whetted my appetite, and I think I'll need to read Dalrymple to be fully sated.

Tim Severin is referenced in the list, so i would suggest as an addition Tracking Marco Polo by the very same author, a fun read indeed. From Goodreads: Tim Severin took up the challenge offered from antiquity by Marco Polo. Using the great explorer's journals as a route guide, Severin followed him all the way from Venice to Afghanistan - on a motorbike. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1735662.Tracking_Marco_P...

"That’s one government though. I can’t think of any other western government funding Israel in a similar way."

My point, exactly!

western governments funding Israel?

What western governments exactly? Isn't Israel capable of funding itself through its own economy?

Don't muslim citizens and foreign residents in Switzerland enjoy more rights than in pretty much any Muslim country?

There is definitely some hostility to some aspects of Islam, aspects which seem to only recently have become central to the exercise of worship for some (the veiling of women for instance), yet this has not translated to some outright discrimination of muslims. Bosnian and Albanian immigrants for instance appear to have been integrated and/or assimilated into society.

Such dickheads the Swiss voting public, how dare they exercise a direct democracy?! So inconveniencing!

there is a time and place for everything. "Les règles de bienséance" matter more to me than the safekeeping of the exactness of English grammar, which as others have been keen to point out is hardly as strict as you seem to imply.

And no, no French person likes to receive corrections in grammar. Giving lectures on proper english grammar/pronounciation is generally a mark of (classist) pedantry since speaking proper english is generally the preserve of those lucky few that have had the opportunity of spending time in the Anglosphere, a tiny minority of the french population in fact, who are always eager to put their one upmanship on display, in a very crude, almost vulgar fashion.

I have been travelling through Japan for the past week, the grammatical and orthographical error would likely give you a nosebleed. Meanwhile, I just smile and move on, I got the meaning, it is what matters. Same for the OP.

Pedantry attracts dislike. One may be right to state something, yet wrong to call it out in public.

I shared the article with my Brother in Law (my better half is argentinean), he sent me this:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDUzqoRC1eZ/?igsh=aWpwbGJ1Znd...

Maybe because what you call "Fascism" isn´t Fascism and, as far as i know, nobody wants to gut our (varied) social programs, but we are just conscious that in some cases, said programs are failing, unsustainable due to resources misallocation and/or grossly mismanaged.

Having a slightly more dynamic entrepreneurial scene, where one is allowed to fail for instance, would be nice.

In my view, the way forward and the example to follow is Switzerland, not the US.

Chip War by Chris Miller is a good read: https://www.amazon.com/Chip-War-Worlds-Critical-Technology/d...

what are those odds looking like in the mid future? How many european governments are currently considered on the "extreme" spectrum? And what makes you think the Euro implemented in 2002 is the reason for the non-reoccurence of a war ended in 1945?

Studying the root causes of the two world war would certainly enlighten

You simply do not know if he is objectively wrong. On the basis of 25 years of Euro, what we have observed is that in the eurozone, capital follows productivity, and countries tend to specialise in line with what their factor endowment and national inclination will let them. The Euro is usually "sold" as a miracle solution when it has only really been successful for countries that had a very export oriented string industrial sector, and even then, with mixed results (see Italy). Bulgaria can hope for capital inflows and increase in productivity but should also bear in mind that these factors are highly independent on economies of scale and overall sheer size of of the existing industrial base. Capital outflows and alignment with standard european prices may well be in order. This taking the average population age may be a killer. We'll see.

Same perception here, none of what is said by GP should be downvoted. Almost 25 years after its implementation, it's high time the overall impact of the Euro was assessed objectively.

Exactly, thank you for pointing this out. The Euro has hardly been the boon promised in many of the countries that have adopted it.

While it is most likely a very fanciful pet project borne out of post-apo fantasy doomporn, there is one fatal fly in the ointment: In a post apocalyptic situation, who will have THE TIME (nevermind the resources) to dedicate to "operating" one such OS? Apocalypse is generally synonymous with population collapse. Many less humans to interact with means a greatly diminished division of labour and rebuilding civilisation will require first and foremost food production, 14 hours of daily work in the fields, scavenging, hunting, etc....

Taking one worker away from these (tedious) activities would likely be considered an investment that requires significant returns, results, be it only to justify this to other workers who would also like to be sat in front of a computer. Hard to justify having swapped a hard days work for some code on a computer screen.

For that kind of scenario, a lightweight Android rom with some ham-radio driver would probably be more appropriate.

Here in France, we were taught from fairly early on about Averroes and Avicenne (Ibn Sinna) for instance. There may geographical and societal reasons for these differences, but all in all that's besides the point i was trying to make, which is : The average person may have heard of Newton, Darwin and others, but how many could really explain the theory of gravity or that of evolution without getting at least some of it wrong?

("Gravity... ha yes, the guy with the apple","evolution... sure, we all are descended from apes, right?")

...Therefore, relying on what the average person may know to discuss whether something is publicly acknowledged and understood is perhaps the wrong way to go about this.

ps: just want to point out that i'm not being snarky, just asking a question in good faith. I heard more than once on TV (incidentally by critics of the catholic church), that Copernicus or Galileo had been burnt at the stake for proving that "the earth wasn't flat".

Knowing that TV and social media do play as large a role as history books or formal education in knowledge acquisition these days, is it really wrong to question whether "the average person" is a valid point of reference when discussing inter-civilisational exchanges of discoveries.

Are these same average person able to tell what Newton, Copernicus or da Vinci discovered/invented?

What book are you referring to exactly? "History of the world in 10 1/2 chapters" is a fiction, by Julian Barnes.

Is this the book you base your argument on?

I wonder if GP is trying to be witty or simply has an axe to grind.

The transmission of knowledge between civilizational blocks is fairly well documented (I recently read Jacques Le Goff on this particular topic), and what is owed to the Islamic civilization is no secret.

For those interested in comparable technical developments in Europe around the same time, for the middle ages were not as dark as usually portrayed, I recommend reading Jean Gimpel's The Medieval Machine (whom Ken Follett relied on extensively for "The Pillars of the Earth") and David Landes' A Revolution in Time.

I was thinking yesterday whether it would have a potential application in the field of low resources communication : you produce a QR code containing your info that you transmit over SSTV so the other party can get the message. Supposedly much more efficient than FT8 or JS8Call.

After several tries, i managed to play it, sort of, on Brave on my Samsung S9.

Very impressive compression trick, as a proof of concept, it is worthy of praise, congrats.

I imagine this approach could be used for much more practical uses.

I acquired that one in Argentina last year, will probably read it next week. I only ever read Lituma en Los Andes and El Sueño del Celta, they were nice enough.

I wonder how many of these Casios and Apple watches will be in working order, and as functional as day one.

The fact that she had batteries in those Cartier and Omega says a lot, and explains why the Apple watch had such an appeal.

Nobody asked you to care. As for co fusing soft from hard luxury... a Porsche Carrera or Bugatti Veyron will likely be worthy of consideration 150 years from now, a Hugo Boss suit, not so much..

So, 199 Apple watches Ultra in landfills 200 years from now. Congrats.

You should visit this museum : https://www.patek.com/en/company/patek-philippe-museum/the-m...

Since mechanical watches are, by design, open source, there will always be a technician interested in keeping them going.

And in a way, it is...