#greece methodology

[natalieironside]

Not to be all "they should teach occultism in schools," but they should. I don't believe I've ever attended a history-of-science class that was more substantial than "Yeah like back in ancient Greece we thought there were only four elements and for a hot minute we thought that electrons orbited their nucleii like little planets, pretty wild huh" without ever touching on why these ideas were accepted as truth or the development of the methodology uses to discredit them. And I think this ignorance is a major contributing factor to the dismal reputation of STEM people. We have no inkling as to why we think what we think, which turns science into just another blind dogma instead of the pursuit of truth.

Before you get your engineering degree I think you should be able to explain why Medieval doctors thought the bubonic plague was caused by the negative influence of the planet Saturn as well as explain why they were wrong.

[mapsontheweb]

Total GDP Growth in Balkan Between 1990 and 2018.

by FWolf14

Methodological Notes:

The World Bank only reports data for Albania, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and North Macedonia. Data for Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Croatia was generated by using the relative share of income within Yugoslavia with the GDP of North Macedonia and Slovenia serving as inputs.

Raw Data:

Country - GDP in 1990 (Billion Constant 2010 USD) - GDP in 2018 (Billion Constant 2010 USD)

Greece - 197.552 - 252.723

Slovenia - 27.944 - 55.321

Croatia - 41.115 - 64.900

Serbia - 54.065 - 48.040

Turkey - 365.299 - 1236.994

Romania - 124.804 - 224.629

Montenegro - 3.017 - 5.120

Bosnia and Herzegovina - 20.407 - 20.131

North Macedonia - 8.590 - 11.236

Bulgaria - 36.293 - 60.767

Albania - 6.043 - 14.548

Kosovo - 3.380 - 7.739

#maps #FWolf14 #rdsourced #gdp growth #balkans

[normal-horoscopes]

In the Venn diagram whose circles are "Science" and "Magic"... what's in the intersection?

Excellent question! But also a difficult one to answer.

Imo, a good example is early chemical science. Glass blowers in ancient Greece were using magical methodologies to try and figure out why their salts and saps could be turned into pretty glass, but at the same time, their constant repetition and experimentation generated a deeper understanding of the art in a way similar to modern formalized science.

Many modern alchemists (read: Fulcanelli) trace the history of alchemy itself back to glass blowing in ancient Greece.

[trickstarbrave]

i have a methodology for morrowind clothes which is. my biggest influences on it are 1. ottoman empire 2. eastern europe (esp for ppl like the ashlanders) and 3. china, particularly the tang dynasty.

there are other influences too like w house hlaalu who is very imperial and i also like to mix in art nouveau influences with chimer clothes (art nouvaeu clothing was heavily inspired by things like the loose garments of ancient greece/rome along with some east asian influences along with light flowing fabrics and silks that remind me of the summerset isles) but i like the blend i have come up with

[houseofchimeras]

Hello! I cannot for the life of me remember if it was you who argued that Dionysius was a dog alterhuman, so my question is if that was the case?

Either way thank you for taking the time to read this. =]

*Asker sent this ask fixing a typo:

DIOGENES! I MEANT DIOGENES!

We did include Diogenes in our document, A Timeline of People with Alterhuman Experiences & Related Subjects, though I wouldn't go so far as to argue that he was alterhuman. The document's purpose is to showcase persons or beliefs that have existed outside the alterhuman communities that yet feel reminiscent to what we call alterhumanity day. The document this information is in is currently under a rework as we've been doing research into the methodology and ethics around looking back into history to find examples of people who seem to fit modern day labels that relate to identity. As far as Diogenes, we're also looking into more/better references that go into his life. As the document exists as of yet most of our sources come from the book, Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World by Luis F. Narvia. The current text we have regarding Diogenes is this:

323 BCE to 404 BCE: Diogenes was born in Sinope. Diogenes was a philosopher from Greece. He was one of the founders of Ancient Greek Cynicism and Cynic philosophy. One of Diogenes’s most famous traits that is referenced throughout the many accounts of him, is that he personally referred to himself as or described himself as a dog and there are just as many accounts of him exhibiting dog-like behaviors or thinking from the perspective of a dog. He is also on record many times likening himself to a dog or even stating for others to call him so. When introducing himself he would call himself, translated into English as, “Diogenes The Dog” but he has also become known to be called “Diogenes The Cynic” as the word “cynic” itself means “dog” or “dog-like” in Ancient Greek. Thus, his name, completely translated into English literally meant “‘a man from God who acted like a dog’” Throughout much of Diogenes’s life he was referred to as simply “The Cynic” or “The Dog.”  [1]

Many points of Diogenes’s life were written down by other phosphors and many of the most well-known accounts include Diogenes pointing out his dog-like nature or his preference toward dogs over humans. For example, it is recorded that upon Alexander the Great meeting and introducing himself to Diogenes by stating “I am Alexander the great king,” Diogenes simply stated, “I am Diogenes the Dog.” In another account, once, Polyxenus became angry upon hearing people openly refer to Diogenes as a dog; however, Diogenes simply said to him: “‘You, too, Polyxenus, can call me a dog. To me, ‘Diogenes’ is only a name that was given to me. In truth, I am really a dog, a dog of high breed, one of those that keep watch over their friends.’” There are also many accounts of him behaving in dog-like ways: he rejected and questioned customs and societal norms, he would bark (sarcastically or otherwise) at people, and so on.[2] He is also famous for living out of a tub on the streets as well as regularly eating raw meat. As a final example, Diogenes also apparently supported the idea primitivism and the idea of humans transforming into animals, especially into dogs. [3]

The philosophy of cynicism bares its name thanks to Diogenes. As the word “cynic” in Ancient Greek means “dog” Thus, Diogenes The Dog and Diogenes The Cynic are the same name. Also, in many accounts of Diogenes he was simply referred to as “The Dog” and thus he was also called “The Cynic.” Thus, the ways of thinking Diogenes helped to found, which viewed animals as being better models of life and behavior while viewing the ways of men poorly, became tied with being “a Cynic” and thus cynicism. [4]

Diogenes was not alone in his classical cynicism. There was apparently a group called the Pasupatas, who were, as described in the book, Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World, a “strange group of people who since times immemorial found themselves attracted to dogs and to a doglike life. They had become apparently so divorced from their human context that, instead of speaking like human beings, they would bark among themselves and at other people, seeking to imitate the behavior of dogs in whatever they did. […] The Pasupatas displayed in their doglike behavior the exhibitionism and primitivism associated with Diogenes.” [5]

[1] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 7-9.

[2] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 62-65.

[3] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 166.

[4] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 9-11.

[5] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 103-104.

~ Ocean Watcher (he/they)

#alterhuman history #hoc answers asks #hoc projects

[mademoiselle-red]

Hey TC (and Renault) fans! An academic decided to write about us, online fans of Mary Renault’s works, for her phd dissertation in 2018 👀👀👀 (And she does not have good things to say 😤)

You can read it here: Between Boys: Fantasy of Male Homosexuality in Boys’ Love, Mary Renault, and Marguerite Yourcenar by Jui-an Cho, Graduate Program in Literature, Duke University (2018)

And as the subject of her research, I have some thoughts 😤, which I shall be airing in a series of posts this weekend ✍️📑

Here is part 1/6 of this series. (Links to part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6)

Let’s begin with the interpretive framework and aim of her dissertation:

“Exploring narrative strategies, critical receptions, textual and extra-textual relationalities produced by the three bodies of works, this dissertation delineates a paradigm for reading cross-gender homoerotic texts that is neither gay nor queer, neither paranoid nor reparative, and instead focuses on fantasy and how it produces pleasure. Fantasy is used in two senses here: as a preoccupation with relationships in romantic fantasies and as a desire to depart from the here and now. By thinking through both forms of fantasies, I examine the misalignments between identity and identifications in Boys’ Love, Renault’s historical novels about ancient Greece, and Yourcenar’s cross-identifications with gender, temporal, and cultural otherness.”

Excuse me? It’s not gay or queer because many of the authors are (queer) women?

“Boys’ Love is as fascinating as it is perplexing: it depicts physical and emotional intimacy between men but is definitively non-gay, and its creators and consumers are mainly heterosexual women.”

Mainly heterosexual women. Where are you getting this??? Can you site a survey? When was the data collected? How large was the sample size? What was the methodology?

“More importantly, this chapter establishes BL as an interpretive lens for reading cross-writing texts especially those by Mary Renault and Marguerite Yourcenar, which I examine in subsequent chapters. What Renault, Yourcenar, and BL have in common is women’s desire for the fantasy of male homosexuality.”

Ah yes, Renault’s gay romances are all fantasies that have nothing to do with her queerness and experiences with the queer community 🙄

As you can see, we are not off to a great start 😤

More to come in part 2

#the charioteer #tc fandom reread #fandom writes back #mary renault

[polysprachig]

I hope you haven't answered that somewhere on your blog already (if you have I do apologize for the question), but how much time do you spend learning each of your target languages?

Thanks for the question, anon!

In pre-2019 days I tried to learn multiple languages at the same time, often in a way which was stressful and wasn't suitable to my timetable. I was in love with the idea of spending 2-3 hours per day studying and allocating certain days of the week as x-language days, or establishing months where I'd only plan to read/watch series or films/listen to music in one language.

Tip: don't stress yourself out with nonsensical study checklists. They quickly become uninspiring and lose all the fun.

In 2019 I decided to go about things in a different way entirely, both shifting my focus to solidifying specific skills in my main 5 languages (English, German, French, Irish, Greek) and going from rigid/timed practice to project-based learning. Basically, I made up some silly, yet important goal (with a methodology behind it, considering I teach and assess language levels and can do the same for myself).

Ex. In 2019, I set myself the silly goal of practising my Greek in secret so that I could surprise my family when I visited them in Greece that summer. The plan: keep quiet about it and only learn while at my American grandparents' house (I was staying there overnight at the time to help them back to bed in their old age) so that my direct family wouldn't notice. The methodology: meet 2x or 3x per week for 30 minutes with my teacher, rather than 1x per week for 1 hr, as frequency is better than duration when trying to build speaking confidence at lower levels (and, I would especially argue this is true for passive bilinguals).

Given the types of projects I've worked on in my top 5 languages (and also some others which needed to join the mix to support these 5 over the past few years), I might start out intending to spend 6-8 months one main language project, but have easy access to 2 less intensive (but more long-term projects) so that I can easily go between them based on where my interests have taken me.

#long post #language learning #my polyglot projects #answered anon #asks #polyglot things #my language learning philosophy is much different than it was before and im less of a perfectionist about it now

[uwmspeccoll]

Herodotus, Father of History

“So that the deeds of man may not be forgotten in time, nor things great and wonderful.” This was the reason given by Herodotus of Halicarnassus as to why his first Western written history was created. Recording the events of the multiple Persian invasions into Greece (492-479 BCE) about 40 years after they occurred, Herodotus accumulated a knowledge of various cultures and their stories around the events of the invasions.  

Special Collections holds a few editions of the text. Shown here is Herodoti Halicarnassei Historiarum libri IX in 2 volumes with notes by the English classical scholar Thomas Gaisford, and printed in Oxford by Samuel Collingwood, printer to Oxford University, for Joseph Parker in 1830. This copy is presented in its original language and dialect of Attic Greek with notes in Latin.

Throughout the centuries, Herodotus’s title as the father of history has morphed into the father of lies given the inaccuracies and multiple retellings of the same events. While accuracy is what is sought in writing history, looking for such accuracies would overlook Herodotus’s methodology in collecting information. Less concerned with finding the exact details of the past, Herodotus instead inquired about the person's memory. Asking those he met about their culture and their society's history, Herodotus wrote down everything he heard despite his own beliefs and ideas. This methodology resulted in several different stories about the same event and legendary tales that exist outside of our reality. Despite all that, this history does give an authentic view of the type of world Herodotus lived in.  

This is edition was a gift from UW-Milwaukee Classics professor Kevin Muse.

View more of my Classics posts.

View more posts on Ancient Greece.

-- LauraJean Spear, Special Collections Undergraduate Classics Intern

#Ancient Greece #Greek history #Herodotus #Herodoti Halicarnassei Historiarum #Classics #classical history #Thomas Gaisford #Joseph Parker #Greek type #Kevin Muse

[zerogate]

The term ‘mystical’ has long been applied to a relatively narrow set of experiences characterized as ‘religious’ by Western scholars. Scholarship since Hofmann’s inadvertent discovery of the psychotropic effects of LSD-25 reveals that mystical experiences are of a piece with a wide range of exceptional experience, facilitated not only by a variety of plant materials and synthetic chemicals, but also by religious and behavioural practices.

Modern anthropology has discovered psychedelic substance use by stone age tribes. It has also revealed that such cultures used other practices such as drumming, dancing and chanting to facilitate exceptional experiences. Practices less compatible with modern sensibilities are Mayan bloodletting and the American indigenous peoples’ Plains Culture Sun Dance. It involves young men painfully dancing around a pole to which they are fastened by ‘rawhide thongs pegged through the skin of their chests’. Self-flagellation is still practiced by some Shiite Muslims on Ashura. Living burial is practiced in the initiation of the Dagara of Burkina Faso and Ghan.

Practices and exceptional experience have been thoroughly interwoven throughout history. Mystical experiences also occur spontaneously, however, without any identifiable physiological or behavioural antecedent. But the recently enabled ready availability of manufactured psychedelics has made possible the more methodological, experimental investigation of exceptional experience. This possibility has been furthered by William James’s identification of certain drug-induced states as mystical.

Although spontaneous exceptional experience cannot be prevented, the development of powerful psychiatric medications in the twentieth century can act as powerful suppressants for the sort of exceptional experience that Stanislav Grof has characterized as ‘spiritual emergency’. For mainstream modern psychiatry, spiritual emergency is rarely differentiated from mental illness. Grof calls this into question:

From ecstatic trances of shamans, or medicine men and women, to revelations of the founders of the great religions, prophets, saints, and spiritual teachers, such experiences have been sources of religious enthusiasm, remarkable healing, and artistic inspiration. All ancient and preindustrial cultures placed high value on nonordinary states of consciousness as an important means of learning about the hidden aspects of the world and of connecting with the spiritual dimensions of existence.

The disconnection of Western people from their own past cultures of mystical practice pointedly began with the conversion of Roman culture to Christianity in the fourth century. It was complicated by the conflict of Hebraic monotheism with the pluralistic polytheism of ancient Greece and Rome. Philosophy began in ancient Greece as a quest for the meaning of life. The Christian Church replaced the quest with the single goal of salvation. Mysticism was relegated to hermits on the margin of the Church or held in check by the regulated life of monasteries; the Mystery religions were ostracized and their temples destroyed. Access to transcendence was available to lay persons only through the mediation of the priests, governed by the bishops. The plural opportunities for ecstatic practice available to the ancient Greeks and Romans became progressively attenuated by medieval Christianity.

Rationality became the ultimate measure of all things, rapidly replacing spirituality and religious beliefs. In the course of the Scientific revolution in the West, everything even remotely related to mysticism was disqualified as left over from the Dark Ages. Visionary states were no longer seen as important complements of ordinary states of consciousness that can provide valuable information about the self and reality, but as pathological distortions of mental activity. This judgement has been reflected in the fact that modern psychiatry tries to suppress these conditions instead of supporting them and allowing them to take their natural course.

-- Christine Hauskeller (ed.), Philosophy and Psychedelics 

#quotes

[studies-version]

wednesday, august 2nd

today's record will be a little different. I'll start by writing about the care I took with myself early in the morning and then I'll talk about my studies.

waking up in the morning I came across a post here in the community that talked about the BREAKS WE MUST have in our routine.

this content is available at @princesswony 🩷 — thank you for those kind words.

so i got up! I washed my hair with this wonderful coconut shampoo and conditioner kit! 🥥

and to top it all off, I moisturized my hair with this divine passion fruit pot from Skala (a very well known brand here in Brazil) 🍋

my hair smelled sweet all day, and I confess it still does 🤍🥥🍋🥰

after that I made a point of having a hearty breakfast, trying not to rush with the time to study.

so... I took it to study a light content today: scientific methodology. the first chapter talks about philosophy in ancient Greece, I already saw this subject in my first period of college, so it's a very simple review.

I did a total of 110 minutes of total focus today 💚

I didn't pick up any heavy reading, despite reading "The Prince" on the bus on the way to work .

on any other day I would strive to finish the chapter, to hit more cycles without breaks, but today I took some time to watch my favorite series and relax.

obviously it's Gilmore girls 🤍

🌷 ››thank you for accompanying me here. hope you take a break too 🤍

good studies and breaks for all of us! see you tomorrow 🥰

#study notes #studyblr #studyspiration #studystudystudy #studywithme #study tips #studygram #psicologia #psychology #study blog #mental health #health #breaks #studies version

[mariacallous]

Kosovo has taken a necessary step to ensuring membership of an important international organisation and the benefits will be manyfold – from joining multiple conventions to taking part in Eurovision.

It is unfair – but Kosovo’s citizens lack one fundamental tool to protect their own human rights from their own unfair, unwilling or uncareful institutions.

This useful tool is used by Europeans from the Balearic Islands to Baku, providing a final legal remedy when everything else fails for various reasons of a nefarious or negligent nature.

I speak of the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, the final court instance available for European citizens whose countries are members of the Council of Europe.

Kosovo is not a member of the Council of Europe, CoE, and has no access to the ECHR, so its citizens are fundamentally “second class” compared to their peers in the Balkans and the wider continent.

Kosovo is also not party to a number of conventions regulated through membership of the CoE and cannot participate or vote in discussions concerning Kosovo in the CoE Parliamentary Assembly.

A popular Latin saying in Central and Eastern Europe, Nihil de nobis, sine nobis – “Nothing about us, without us” – has been Kosovo’s objective for decades when it pertains to discussions, resolutions and decisions made on Kosovo in key multilateral organisations, including the Council of Europe.

Consecutive Kosovo governments since the Declaration of Independence in 2008 have proclaimed the aim of joining the Council of Europe as a full and sovereign member.

In some respects, it is one of the “easier” organisations to join, as its bylaws require a two-thirds majority on all decisions, with no veto powers allowed for any existing members.

As more than two-thirds of its member states do recognise Kosovo as independent, and even some non-recognizers like Greece have in the past voiced support for Kosovo’s accession to multilateral bodies, Kosovo’s potential membership was a subject of serious deliberations for over 15 years, both internally as well in Kosovo’s diplomatic interactions with its allies.

Kosovo is already a member of the IMF, the World Bank, the EBRD, the International Olympic Committee and several regional initiatives.

Back in 2011, I led the efforts for Kosovo’s accession process to the CoE from the position of Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of coordinating membership processes to multilaterals. A number of position papers researched by eminent international and foreign affairs experts provided a clear mapping of benefits and the methodology of accession.

It was clear at that time, however, that Kosovo’s accession was not supported by key allies in these early days of Kosovo’s existence as an independent state.

One reason was that while consensus is not a requirement, it was still desirable and had always been used when the CoE agreed to accept new members.

Russia, Serbia and many other countries would have none of it. Some skeptical political parties even within recognizing countries also made a potential vote in the CoE Parliamentary Assembly not quite assured.

The second reason was to give some time to the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which was focused on a “legally binding agreement of full normalization centered on mutual recognition”, which would unlock Kosovo’s memberships in a less polarized atmosphere.

This being said, Kosovo didn’t sit idly waiting for good omens from the dialogue. From 2011 to 2015, a plan was developed and agreed with allied countries to start a step-by-step process of increasing Kosovo’s interaction with the CoE: applying successfully for membership of specialized independent bodies within the CoE ecosystem such as the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe Development Bank; starting to incorporate unilaterally some of the key conventions on human rights, such as the Istanbul Convention; even opening a Consulate General in Strasbourg to facilitate better and quicker communication between Prishtina and the CoE.

Successful lobbying for Kosovo to become a member of two partial agreements with the CoE, the Venice Commission and CoE Development Bank, in 2014, tested the waters of support and enabled Kosovo to genuinely profit from these bodies.

Kosovo has since benefited from having the Venice Commission as a independent arbiter of the constitutionality of a number of important laws, while some important projects have been financed by the CoE Development Bank, such as a recent credit line dedicated to improving living conditions for vulnerable, marginalised, and low- to middle-income households across the country.

Kosovo’s accession to big international organisations is conditioned on full support by the recognising countries, led by the so-called Quint of the US, France, Germany, UK and Italy.

This support, on the other hand, is conditioned with Kosovo’s active participation in the dialogue with Serbia. Kosovo’s membership chances increased dramatically after the signing of Ohrid agreement in 2023. A key article in this agreement called for Kosovo to have unfettered ability to join international organisations. Russia’s departure from the CoE also improved Kosovo’s numbers in the voting process both at the Parliamentary Assembly and at Committee of Ministers.

Immediately after the Ohrid agreement was reached (though crucially – not signed), Kosovo’s membership got a boost when the CoE Committee of Ministers endorsed Kosovo’s application and processed it to the next formal step, consideration by the CoE Parliamentary Assembly.

The CoE Parliamentary Assembly appointed the former Greek minister Dora Bakoyanis as Rapporteur on Kosovo’s rule of law and other preconditions for its application to pass the final hurdle and a full vote at the PA.

This is where an old legal dispute between the Serbian Orthodox Church monastery in Deçan and the local authorities became extraordinarily important, a sine qua non for Kosovo’s membership perspective.

Since 2016, successive Kosovo governments refused to implement decisions by the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court awarding the monastery the right over 24 hectares of land. Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party was adamant they will not relent on “giving the land to the monastery” and called the judges of the Constitutional Court as “enablers of [Slobodan] Milosevic‘s decisions”.

As late as 2022, both the Speaker of Parliament, Glauk Konjufca, as well as Minister of Environment, Liburn Aliu, rejected any notion of accepting the rulings of the courts.

Yet, enormous Western pressure combined with the realities of the working agenda of Council of Europe have made PM Kurti bite the bullet.

He has now basically ordered the Cadastral Agency of Kosovo to transfer the disputed land to the Monastery of Deçan. This happened on the margins of the three-day visit by US Envoy Gabriel Escobar. The issue of respecting the property rights of the Decani monks has been high on agenda of the US administration, even entering talking points of President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Blinken throughout the last eight years.

What happens next?

Special Rapporteur Bakoyannis will report to the Committee on Equality of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe in coming days. A positive reaction may be expected. Another Committee on legal affairs already had a note that there are no legal hindrances for Kosovo to become a member of CoE.

If Committees don’t block the process, a full vote may be expected in the Parliamentary Assembly by mid-April. If two-thirds of the MPs represented there vote positively, the issue goes the highest executive body, the Committee of Ministers, who can vote on Kosovo’s accession already in mid-May at their annual meeting in Strasbourg. If there’s good will, Kosovo could become the newest member of CoE by this spring.

The only dilemma is whether two other notable elements in the Bakkoyanis report of February 2024 become hard conditions, namely the issue of the Association of Serbian Majority Municipalities as well as the issue of land expropriation in Serbian-populated municipalities. Neither are really legal criteria, but both have been points of contention between Western supporters of Kosovo and Kurti’s government.

Kosovo citizens will benefit enormously from CoE membership. Kosovo’s diplomacy is currently at its nadir due to a host of misunderstandings and miscommunications, and Kosovo’s government is currently under EU sanctions due to its perceived negative role in escalating the crisis in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s membership of the CoE will bring multiple benefits, from access to the top human rights court to joining dozens of international conventions. There will be one added benefit: the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes Eurovision, is only open to members of Council of Europe. Kosovo’s accession to the CoE will open a path to membership of the EBU and potential participation by Kosovo musicians in the 2025 competition.

Considering the global reach of some of Kosovo-born music stars like Dua Lipa and Rita Ora, it is not far-fetched that Kosovo’s path to Eurivision glory may have been unlocked by the agricultural needs of some isolated monks in a medieval monastery of western Kosovo.

[mapsontheweb]

Years since the latest bearded country head.

by u/ampanmdagaba 

I noticed that some countries seem to be very friendly towards bearded politicians (say, Germany), while some seem to be very reluctant to have anyone bearded (the UK, Turkey). So I decided to try to make a map :)

Methodology: go to Wikipedia, learn the government form (say, presidential or parliamentary republic), figure who's the boss, click on their title, get to a full list of leaders in this position. Find the latest beard. If no beard, figure out the previous state that can "count" as a predecessor, repeat. With some countries (Moldova, former Yugoslavia) the question of "predecessor" is sometimes quite tricky, so I'm sure I made some mistakes. ex-Soviet states are also tricky, as they had these formal heads-of-communists, often without a photo, or sometimes even without a wiki page. Some countries (e.g. ex-Soviet states) also went through brief periods of turmoil, first having 20 presidents in one year, then one president for 20 years. Say Greece apparently had an Archbishop as a head of State for 15 days in 1945! It increases "noise" of course, as the chances of one of these short-term-leaders having a beard are much higher, but that's the best I could do.

In terms of what counts as a beard, if a person is always unshaved on all of their photos, I counted it as a beard, even though in some cases it was rather generous (think Austria or Bulgaria). But if it's a stable feature on several official portraits, it's a pro-beard stance, so probably should be counted as a beard.

A link to the zoomable map with the data (please copy and edit if you find any mistakes!): https://www.datawrapper.de/_/3QWZn/

EDIT: and I just realized that it simply doesn't show zeroes! Zeroes (currently bearded country leaders) are the darkest bluest color.

#maps #beard #leaders #europe

[sageglobalresponse]

The Rise Of Casinos: From the Streets of Venice to Online Giants

Casinos are an aspect of human culture by now. They have become a popular form of entertainment for many people, offering a variety of games and experiences. Many lives were made and lost at a casino table. As the industry continues to evolve with advancements in technology and changing consumer preferences, ever-growing in the online world. Nowadays, you can even find a great provider who offers sportsbooks, betting exchanges, and casinos in a single account. But where did it all start?

The History

The precise origin of gambling is unknown, but it has been present in various societies throughout history, including Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, the Romans, Napoleon’s France, and Elizabethan England. The first known European gambling house was the Ridotto in Venice, established in 1638 by the Great Council of Venice. The establishment was closed in 1774 due to perceived impoverishment.

In American history, early gambling establishments were known as saloons, influenced by major cities like New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, and San Francisco. Gambling was outlawed in the early 20th century, but in 1931, Nevada legalized gambling, leading to the establishment of the first legalized casinos. In 1976, New Jersey allowed gambling in Atlantic City, becoming the US’s second-largest gambling city.

The Design

Design is an important part of a casino. It plays a crucial role in creating an atmosphere that is inviting and exciting for guests. A well-designed casino can enhance the overall experience and keep customers coming back for more. But there is a somber side to it as well.

Gambling tendencies are influenced by factors such as sound, odor, and lighting. Anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll highlights Silicon Gaming’s decision to create slot machines with a universally pleasant tone. While Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, discovered a pleasant odor released by Las Vegas slot machines that generated 50% more daily revenue to the casinos, suggesting it acted as something similar to an aphrodisiac, leading to a more aggressive form of gambling.

A History of Crime

Casinos have been linked to organized crime, with early casinos in Las Vegas and Macau dominated by the American Mafia and Triad syndicates. In fact, studies have showed that crime incidence at a local level often doubles or triples within three years of a casino’s opening.

A 2004 US Department of Justice report found that the percentage of problem gamblers among arrested individuals was three to five times higher than in the general population. Economic studies showing a positive relationship between casinos and crime often fail to consider the visiting population, overstating the crime rate. This methodology is used due to the lack of reliable data on tourist count.

The Rise of Online Casinos

The online gambling industry began with the launch of “The Gaming Club” in 1994, powered by Microgaming, and the first online poker room, “Planet Poker,” in 1996. The early years were marked by controversy due to unregulated practices, leading to issues like lack of fair play and money laundering. In the late 1990s, Antigua and Barbuda passed the first online gambling legislation, allowing for casino licensing and paving the way for industry growth.

The industry continued to grow in the early 2000s, with more countries passing legislation to regulate and legalize it. However, the US faced setbacks with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, making it illegal for banks to process transactions for online gambling sites. By the 2010s, the industry had become a multibillion-dollar industry.

Nowadays, online casinos are a staple of every bettors life. The convenience and accessibility of online gambling have made it a popular form of entertainment for people around the world. And if you are looking for a nice new casino option for your portfolio, we recommend checking out Game2Bet. There you will find great online casino options, along with traditional sportsbook offers. So, go ahead and open a Game2bet account, good luck and good betting.

#casino #new york #sage response #likesforlike #youtube #sports

[thelibraryiscool]

What is the name of the Greek veiling book you read?

It's called Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece! I'm not a hellenist so you can take my assessment with a grain of salt, but I really enjoyed it - the methodological grounding is compelling and there's some really lovely close readings of the art and texts.

#it basically uses an anthropological approach where instead of turning to modern Greek peasants to think about ancient Greece #it turns to modern veiling societies #i found it persuasive #ask #allie talks

[geometrymatters]

In a 2019 paper, Mateusz Hohol and Marcin Miłkowski argue that current explanations of geometric cognition should move beyond methodological individualism and take into account the influence of broader cognitive factors, such as cultural and societal influences, in the development of this area of mathematics. They suggest that the abstract geometry developed in ancient Greece cannot be fully understood by solely looking at the actions of individual minds.

The authors have conducted extensive research on cognitive geometry and have not only provided an introduction to the subject but have also highlighted the need for further exploration. They demonstrate that the development of Greek mathematics, as represented in Euclid’s Elements, was propelled by the utilization of two closely related cognitive artifacts: the use of lettered diagrams and the creation of linguistic formulae. Together, these artifacts formed the professional language of geometry.

We propose that cognitive artifacts, i.e., diagrams and well-structured language, scaffolded visuospatial capacities of our brains, and contributed to building a unique cognitive niche within Euclidean geometry, originated as a result of collective thinking and problem-solving.— Mateusz Hohol

Continue Reading

#geometry #geometrymatters #geometriccognition #cognitivegeometry #cognition #information #knowledge #theory #mathematics #science #language #academia

[mademoiselle-red]

Reading the Renault fandom dissertation, part 5: more Renault fandom analysis

An academic, Jui-an Chou, wrote about us, online fans of Mary Renault’s works, as part of her phd dissertation in 2018 at Duke University. As the subject of her research, I have a few thoughts.

(Here is part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 6 of my series of posts on this TC fandom study)

In part 5, we continue with Chou’s analysis of the online Renault fandom, with the focus now shifted to tumblr fan art. The dissertation does not credit the artist of the piece below, but the tumblr source link takes us to @februeruri, a popular fan artist for both TC and Renault’s Greek novels.

Here is what Chou has to say about the artwork above:

“In contrast to the previous artwork, this piece strips away the Greek setting, leaving two young male bodies at the center of the work, again engaging in suggestive gestures and looks. Both artworks incorporate Renault’s novel but strip away its references to Greek life, politics, and the historical specificity of Greek pederasty, extracting only the young male couple that embodies the ideal of romance and erotic tension in slash/BL aesthetics.”

I think Chou’s argument that the artwork strips away historical specificity in order to focus on idealized romance are unreasonable and slightly absurd. The art work above faithfully depicts a scene from The Last of the Wine where the two protagonists are on an isolated beach where they share an erotically charged moment. Since the scene takes place outside their familiar urban environment and away from the presence of other people, an artistic adaptation of it cannot be reasonably expected to depict Greek life, politics, and institutions. Just as no one would reasonably expect an artist drawing a modern greek couple skinny dipping on an isolated beach in 2023 to also portray contemporary Greek life, politics, and institutions in the same image.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Chou’s decision to focus on fan art for Renault’s works is not only flawed but also conveniently serves her argument that Renault’s online fans fail to engage with the “reality” of queer life. Unlike Japanese BL manga, which uses text alongside illustrations to convey its messages & storytelling, online fan art does not, as a genre, usually use text to flesh out the context of its subject matter and explore its ties to historical and present reality. Instead, historical specificity and analysis is more likely to be found in fan fiction and meta (fan analysis posts & discussions), where the primary medium is text.

“These fan artworks suggest a new way to read Renault’s male homoerotic historical novels. For slash/BL fans, history is but an excuse to indulge in a homoerotic narrative that is disengaged from modern gay politics due to its distance from the contemporary world.”

By choosing to focus her close analysis only on illustration (and completely ignoring fan fiction and fan essays), Chou sets up the online Renault fandom to fail her test of “historical specificity” and intellectual engagement with modern gay politics (not to mention that literature & fiction does not have an obligation to engage in politics. Why make art or write fiction in the first place when you can write a treatise?).

This flawed methodology enables her to then come to the to conclusion that:

“History, both of ancient Greece and Renault’s mid-twentieth century, serve as fantasy material for 21st-century fans. History promises a world in which beautiful boys are free to fall in love with each other without social persecution and without the need to “congregate” and to wave banners in the streets. In this sense, Renault’s relationship to politics is surprisingly closer to her 21st-century fans than to her gay readers in the 1950s to the 1970s.”

Chou once again makes a baseless assumption that we (the online fans of Renault’s works) all agree with Renault’s political views and don’t care about LGBTQ+ political rights. First of all, fandom spaces are not primarily spaces for political activism & organizing. I do care about my political rights, but fandom is a place for fun & socializing! I don’t want to devote every aspect of my life to politics. That’s exhausting! Besides, there are plenty of online spaces devoted to queer political work. Furthermore, because Chou chose to ignore the fan fiction and analysis produced by the online communities she studied, she was unable to see all the ways that many fan writers did engage with “real issues” such as internalized homophobia, trauma, persecution, conflicts within the queer community, the desire and struggle to find belonging and love.

As Ralph Lanyon would say, she’s working up queerness into a religion, rather than just something that one simply is.

Continued in part 6

#the charioteer #fandom writes back #mary renault