IIRC, there were regular groups of Norse coming to Canada for logging well before Columbus.

IIRC, there were regular groups of Norse coming to Canada for logging well before Columbus.

 

They have found camps in Newfoundland.

Let's not forget that he was a dumbass. Everyone was rejecting his plans to sail west to India because they knew (based on the circumference of the Earth) that going west would take way longer. Columbus was all "nu uh, the Earth is much smaller, we'll get to India easily".

 

Dumb luck that he happened to run into North America.

Let's not forget that he was a dumbass. Everyone was rejecting his plans to sail west to India because they knew (based on the circumference of the Earth) that going west would take way longer. Columbus was all "nu uh, the Earth is much smaller, we'll get to India easily".

 

Dumb luck that he happened to run into North America.

 

I tend to believe he was using existing maps from other cultures. The India thing just makes it easier to justify the trip to the crown.

IIRC, there were regular groups of Norse coming to Canada for logging well before Columbus.

Vikings were definitely around, not just a little, but a lot as far south as Newfoundland, and possibly adventured as far south as Massachussets.

 

There is evidence that the Chinese, the Russians, and even the Irish visited and possibly set up camps before Columbus.

 

Another Spaniard, Corte-Real, even made landfall in North America about a decade before Columbus.

 

Columbus was important, but not as important as he is made out to be.

 

It blows my mind that it still gets taught in schools.

 

Charles C. Mann's 1491 was an excellent book sparked by the erroneous information on indigenous peoples still taught in schools.

I like that you had a geography discussion without me.

I wish I could laugh

I wish I could laugh

 

Why can't you? It's funny. But it's also a nonsense discussion/argument, and always has been. You could easily draw up a map like that for any country out there...as every country has more than it's fair share of uneducated people and/or people that don't care that know nothing about the rest of the world aside from what they heard on TV or third hand over the years (since some don't have tv's).

 

The rest of the world just tends to keep people like that off their TV cameras/radio waves, whereas we tend to find them amusing so we put them on the air.

Edited October 12, 201114 yr by Y2HH

Why can't you? It's funny. But it's also a nonsense discussion/argument, and always has been. You could easily draw up a map like that for any country out there...as every country has more than it's fair share of uneducated people and/or people that don't care that know nothing about the rest of the world aside from what they heard on TV or third hand over the years (since some don't have tv's).

 

The rest of the world just tends to keep people like that off their TV cameras/radio waves, whereas we tend to find them amusing so we put them on the air.

 

They actually have a whole bunch of these from the viewpoint of different European countries. They are also funny.

They actually have a whole bunch of these from the viewpoint of different European countries. They are also funny.

 

I agree their funny, I just fear that a lot of people that read these American ones actually believe them. Which, in a paradoxical way, makes them true for that person.

I ordered 1491 and 1493 together, and received 1493 first, and the 1491 still hasn't even shipped. So I switched distributors, and this one still hasn't shipped. It's a conspiracy.

Government austerity is now leading to the decriminalization of domestic violence in Kansas. For serious.

 

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/10/12/...udget_cuts.html

 

The Topeka City Council on Tuesday repealed a local law against domestic battery to avoid the cost of prosecuting offenders. The move came after the district attorney for the county announced last month that his office would stop enforcing state domestic battery laws, citing budget cuts.

 

The city council’s 7-3 vote was designed to force the county to resume such prosecutions, since beating one’s spouse is still illegal under state law, the Kansas City Star points out.

 

The game of chicken between the city and county is already having consequences, the paper reports. About 30 abuse suspects have been freed, and one has been arrested and released twice since the prosecutions stopped on Sept. 8.

Government austerity is now leading to the decriminalization of domestic violence in Kansas. For serious.

 

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/10/12/...udget_cuts.html

Well that's just idiotic. Understatement.

 

One of the last things you cut is basic public safety and law enforcement. And even if you cut back, you don't just decide to not prosecute an entire class of violent crime. Seriously, anyone suggesting that is a good idea needs to be removed from the gene pool. Put them on an island or something.

 

Georgia wants to replace firefighters with prisoners

Well that's just idiotic. Understatement.

 

One of the last things you cut is basic public safety and law enforcement. And even if you cut back, you don't just decide to not prosecute an entire class of violent crime. Seriously, anyone suggesting that is a good idea needs to be removed from the gene pool. Put them on an island or something.

 

In Kansas in 2009, there was a homicide related directly to Domestic Violence, roughly every 10 days.

 

http://www.accesskansas.org/kbi/stats/docs...009_DV_Rape.pdf

Georgia wants to replace firefighters with prisoners

 

The best part about this, is the benefit for prisoners is that they would only have to wait five years instead of ten to be a firefighter after they were released from prison.

WSJ increases circulation numbers by buying itself

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/1...andrew-langhoff

WSJ increases circulation numbers by buying itself

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/1...andrew-langhoff

If the people buying ads in the WSJ don't care about the actual effectiveness of the ad in terms of purchase response, and also don't do any quality control on their purchases, why not inflate your numbers? All you're doing is ripping off the ad buyers.

By the way, I didn't get to note this while I was gone, but we're now up to 2 separate Bush-administration era programs which involved the government smuggling U.S. guns across the mexican border in order to track the gun-smuggling pathways.

 

Apparently this has been standard operating procedure for >5 years.

October 12, 2011

 

Early Polls Indicate 44% of Respondents Saying "It's about damn time" and 32% Wishing For A Kick Instead of Punch

 

NEW YORK, NY (October 12, 2011) - Apparently seeking to ride the wave of popular anger being expressed by the growing "Occupy Wall Street" movement, today President Obama punched an investment banker in the face.

 

The punch occurred during a White House meet-and-greet around noon. After a brief speech on tax reform, President Obama called investment banker Ron Milner to the podium and then, without provocation or warning, delivered what witnesses describe as a "haymaker" punch to Mr. Milner's jaw. "That's for ruining the economy, asshole," Mr. Obama remarked, then spit at Mr. Milner's feet and walked away.

 

Early polls indicate the President's punch is receiving widespread voter approval, with 44% of respondents telling survey-takers "It's about damn time one of those rich pricks got their teeth knocked in" and another 32% saying they wished Obama had kicked Mr. Milner in addition to punching him.

Pew research

Pew research

Which pretty much makes sense - the guy currently in office will always get the most gruff. No shocker there.

 

Things that probably could have been phrased better in the press release. (emphasis ours)

With protesters in New York and other major cities railing against the widening gap between the nation’s rich and poor, an unlikely political figure will tackle the issue in a major speech Friday: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

 

The Virginia congressman, the most recent and prominent Republican whipping boy for Democrats, is heading to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to talk about income disparity and how Republicans believe the government could help fix it, an aide said. The speech will zero in on how Washington could help a “a single working mom…a small business owner…and how we make sure the people at the top stay there,” the aide said.

 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/...l#ixzz1b52UPxKd