[Decky]

Not as fast and not to nearly the same extent as other nations did Frollein. Obviously the Soviet Union had already totally eliminate sexism and made women perfectly equal to men in 1917 and even the British empire were far quicker to get women taking over jobs to get the men into the fight than the dastardly hun were.

[mikema63]

I'm reading a book on gamification.

I've off and in been interested in the idea of creating an RPG system that translates your real life work into immediately recognizable stats and skills. Some achievements, a cash analogue that can be spent on real life rewards for yourself, etc.

There are a few apps that try to do it but I find them insufficient. I think if I could design a really good system it could be popular.

[Decky]

We already have that in the UK mike. If you work enough you can afford to eat and buy booze and you don't need to watch your elderly relatives freeze to death as you can give them money.

[Frollein]

Not as fast and not to nearly the same extent as other nations did Frollein. Obviously the Soviet Union had already totally eliminate sexism and made women perfectly equal to men in 1917 and even the British empire were far quicker to get women taking over jobs to get the men into the fight than the dastardly hun were.

I notice you haven't commented on my cake baking prowess. I can make an almond cheescake with spun caramel that'd have you on your knees, weeping and swearing to learn German.

[mikema63]

I generally don't like sweet stuff.

If you soak your cakes in alcohol though...

[Oxymoron]

Just read Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock, really interesting stuff about Near Extinction level event in the younger dryas period. That fits perfectly in the time frame of Plato's Atlantis.... Some parts of the book really interesting, others just a bit dry but overall good read.

[Decky]

I notice you haven't commented on my cake baking prowess. I can make an almond cheescake with spun caramel that'd have you on your knees, weeping and swearing to learn German.

I can't even spell my mother tongue correctly and my Irish is mostly limited to what is needed for sending Christmas cards. I doubt I well ever expand my German from its current level of being able to order food, booze, ask what things cost, make a tiny level of conversation and ask directions etc.

As for your baking we will need proof! I am sure Noeman will pay the postage if you send us all something nice.

[Frollein]

*g* I'll make that cake if you really get noemon to pay for it...

[Drlee]

Cheesecake is what the gods eat.

[MistyTiger]

Cheesecake is good but chocolate cake is even better especially with mousse on top or whip cream. Yummy.

[Pants-of-dog]

I am reading The Dark Forest, the second book in the Three Body trilogy.

Very noice.

[ThirdTerm]

How accurate is our popular image of life in the past? Many misconceptions have passed into popular consciousness, from which it can be surprisingly difficult to dislodge them. For example, it is widely believed that, because Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is fourteen, this must have been a common age for young women, at least in the upper echelons of society, to leave home and marry. Many people believe that, except if they went off to fight in wars, our ancestors mostly stayed in the same villages all their lives. It is widely believed that people lived in extended families, with grandparents living under the same roof and uncles and aunts in neighbouring houses. It is also often assumed that people in pre-industrial times lived in a more or less permanent state of malnutrition.

Peter Laslett was a Cambridge historian who decided to look into the truth of these assumptions, making systematic use of statistical analysis. Laslett had made his name as a historian of political thought, but he turned to this new field with great enthusiasm, eventually helping to found the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. His approach to statistical work was not to use it simply for quantifiable economic enquiries but to answer general and genuine historical questions. In 1965 he published The World We Have Lost, which was made up of a series of essays questioning particular assumptions about life in pre-industrial England. His findings overturned much conventional wisdom. He found, for example, that girls did not generally marry in their early teens, but rather they went out into service before marrying at much the same ages that young people marry today. Most people did not live in extended families; people by no means lived their whole lives in the same villages – and so on.

http://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/prospective-u ... le/laslett

"The World we have Lost" by Peter Laslett. As expected from a Cambridge historian, he is very defensive about the English aristocracy and he claims that England was a one-class society before the Industrial Revolution. In another chapter, he even denies that the peasantry suffered periodic bouts of mass starvation.

[Political Interest]

The English are so conservative about the worst parts of their society but ultra-liberal about really important things where you need to be conservative.

[Potemkin]

The English are so conservative about the worst parts of their society but ultra-liberal about really important things where you need to be conservative.

I agree with you, PI. You may also have noticed that the middle classes tend to be conservative concerning matters which directly affect their material interests, no matter how appalling those things may be, and ultra-liberal concerning matters which do not materially or socially affect them. Funny how that works, isn't it?

[MB.]

I bought the world we have lost from a used book sale more than a decade ago and have not yet read it. From my understanding, it is a socioeconomic introduction to 18th century Britain.

There, my post was formulated in literally 30 seconds and was still more informative than anything Decky has ever typed.



Edit:

Furthermore, I'm reading Fernand Braudel's second volume of his social history of mercantilism, The Wheels Of Commerce, which is truly a masterpiece introduction to the history of the market and its socioeconomic impact. Highly recommended.

Just read Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock, really interesting stuff about Near Extinction level event in the younger dryas period.

Could you go into more detail here? I'm a follower of Hancock's work, and although he makes some outrageous claims, some of his theories are actually very convincing, such as the iceage comet impact theory. What I'm wondering is, does he provide anymore solid evidence for his proto civilization thesis?

[Potemkin]

Could you go into more detail here? I'm a follower of Hancock's work, and although he makes some outrageous claims

You got that right.

some of his theories are actually very convincing, such as the iceage comet impact theory.

It's not even his theory, and it's actually not very convincing. Wikipedia has a page on it.

What I'm wondering is, does he provide anymore solid evidence for his proto civilization thesis?

The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis is not "solid evidence". And to my knowledge, he has not presented any serious physical or archaeological evidence to support his hypothesis. He's the Erik von Daniken of our time.

[Drlee]

4000 Years if Uppity Women by Vicki León .

[Thunderhawk]

I just finished the Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton.
I liked it, but not as much as his other work.

[MB.]

LMAO I still haven't finished the Neutronium Alchemist. That was what? six years ago?

[Thunderhawk]

I had the Great North Road sitting at home for 2-3 years, and imagining the Balkans (Stipe's recommendation) for almost a decade. I need an extra 4 hours a day.