Readit News logoReadit News
eschulz commented on 1910: The year the modern world lost its mind   derekthompson.org/p/1910-... · Posted by u/purgator
verbify · 14 days ago
> some ancients almost lost their minds due to this new development

Platus lived 254 – 184 BC. Sundials are from 1500BC. While it's a great quote, it certainly wasn't a new invention when he wrote it.

eschulz · 14 days ago
Being invented doesn't mean that they became commonly used. Many ancient inventions took thousands of years to rollout and be adopted by the vast majority of humans.
eschulz commented on 1910: The year the modern world lost its mind   derekthompson.org/p/1910-... · Posted by u/purgator
eschulz · 14 days ago
I'm reminded of how time pieces such as sundials changed societies, and how some ancients almost lost their minds due to this new development.

“The Gods confound the man who first found out How to distinguish the hours---confound him, too Who in this place set up a sundial To cut and hack my days so wretchedly Into small pieces ! . . . I can't (even sit down to eat) unless the sun gives leave. The town's so full of these confounded dials . . .” ― Plautus

eschulz commented on States and cities decimated SROs, Americans' lowest-cost housing option   pew.org/en/research-and-a... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin
jimbokun · 18 days ago
Maybe but that’s pure speculation.
eschulz · 18 days ago
You're right. The town has speculated it to be the case and doesn't want housing for situations like this. Real estate investors also speculate it, and they'd prefer to cater to those with more disposable income.

Single-room units would bring down the cost of housing for everyone, but those with influence and money have decided that we don't want it in our community.

eschulz commented on States and cities decimated SROs, Americans' lowest-cost housing option   pew.org/en/research-and-a... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin
eschulz · 18 days ago
In my town there used to be a lot of single-room units (there are of course none now), and my understanding is that the primary residents were migrant men working pretty much all day. They'd just crash in the rooms, all their meals and social events would be out in town or at their work place.

I feel as though there would be a different tenant in the modern era. Some would be migrant young men trying to save every dime, but many would be those suffering mental illness, and they'd fill the unit with tons of stuff. Can you imagine how much more stuff Americans have these days than they did back in say 1900? I genuinely think that the volume of stuff/garbage would be a legitimate fire or structural hazard. No landlord would want that. Back in the old days landlords had a lot more ability to force out any tenants they didn't want.

eschulz commented on Hiroshima (1946)   newyorker.com/magazine/19... · Posted by u/pseudolus
defrost · 23 days ago

  A surprising number of the people of Hiroshima remained more or less indifferent about the ethics of using the bomb. 
Unsurprising for the time given the context.

While people far from Japan made much of the uniqueness and power of a single bomb destroying a single city for those on the ground it was just another single city destroyed overnight by bombing .. the 73rd such city destroyed in a relatively short duration of time.

The destruction and death in Hiroshima was on par with the destruction and death in Tokyo when that was firebombed.

eschulz · 20 days ago
This piece made a big impact on me when I read it like five years ago, and if I recall correctly there was a young doctor there who was one of the few interviewed who stated that the bomb's use was possibly a war crime. He did like 48 hours in the hospital as thousands upon thousands of burned and dying walked from afar to the completely overrun clinic.
eschulz commented on Google in 1999: Search engines escape the portal matrix   cybercultural.com/p/googl... · Posted by u/speckx
eschulz · a month ago
What are some noteworthy books on Google and its competition in the late 1990s?
eschulz commented on The IRS Is Building a System to Share Taxpayers' Data with ICE   propublica.org/article/tr... · Posted by u/srameshc
ipv6ipv4 · a month ago
That’s one way to push generally law abiding, tax paying people into the black market where they won’t pay taxes, and have a higher likelihood of dabbling in criminal enterprise.
eschulz · a month ago
I completely agree that ICE, or anyone, having my tax info is a violation of my privacy and is of course total BS. However, as a legal worker in the US, I don't think ICE violating my privacy will push me toward the black market. Wouldn't moving from the legal workforce to the "black market" be a big risk on my part?
eschulz commented on Philadelphia Transit System Votes to Cut Service by 45%, Hike Fares   bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/petethomas
dmschulman · 2 months ago
Pennsylvania could be so much more for its residents but we're a state bogged down politically by rural districts that do everything within their power to kneecap the our two major economic hubs/cities: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Our governor backs mass transit, but state reps will not budge on funding as SEPTA only services Philadelphia and the counties immediately adjacent. One politician, Cris Dush who represents the 25th district in the upper most part of the state, released a letter to concerned citizens and characterized the issue as a preferrence for keeping tax dollars in his own district as there's no mass transit available to his constituents. In his view, he's not willing to pay for other people to be "chaffered" around on public transit: http://crossingbroad.com/news/trending/pennsylvania-state-se...

Until Pennsylvania's statehouse can overcome their misguided idea of what it means to levy and collect taxes, PA will continue to lag behind other states in the northeast in terms of basic services and economic competitiveness.

eschulz · 2 months ago
Isn't it the norm for elected officials to want to keep tax dollars in their district? This Dush guy might be misguided somehow in the larger scheme of things, but wouldn't he just be reflecting his constituents' desire to directly benefit from the taxes they pay?
eschulz commented on Munich from a Hamburger's perspective   mertbulan.com/2025/06/14/... · Posted by u/toomuchtodo
lordnacho · 2 months ago
How is it that Hamburg's football club (HSV) is not anywhere near the level of Munich's? They are from similarly large cities, and had somewhat comparable history until it diverged in recent decades.
eschulz · 2 months ago
Yes, they're in two comparably large and affluent German cities (although each of these cities has numerous clubs), but when it comes to sport club success I think city details is just one factor. Ownership wealth and dedication, current management issues, and recent luck are important factors.

For example, Boston has way more championships in US "big four" sports than every US city except NYC, but there are 24 larger cities in the country. There are just a ton of factors at play (pun intended).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_by_number_...

eschulz commented on Náhuatl and Mayan Language Renaissance Occurring in Mexico   yucatanmagazine.com/mayan... · Posted by u/bryanrasmussen
eschulz · 3 months ago
It's nice to think about how there are millions of people in Mexico who speak indigenous languages to one degree or another. Years ago I visited my grandfather who was in a nursing home in Mexico City, and there was a young girl working as an aide who must have been no more than 18 years old. My aunt told me that the girl barely spoke any Spanish. Noticing my immediate confusion, my aunt replied with one word I had never heard before: Zapotec.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapotec_languages

u/eschulz

KarmaCake day815July 24, 2013View Original