Pattern Ghost

Good post, but a casual fact check doesn't support this one stat. More Filipinos did die in WW2 than in the US Civil War, but not even close to twice as many. There were 57,000 Filipino military casualties and 900,000 civilian casualties in WW II. There were 620,000 military and 50,000 civilian casualties in the American Civil War. 957k is not twice 670K. To me, though, the fact that the ratios of civilian and military deaths are flipped in each war is the most disturbing part.  WW II was truly horrifying in that respect.
 
Edit: I'd never thought of Guam's famous bat guano as an economic resource before this, though it does make sense. Thanks.

Simply having ridings distorts the popular vote.  With a multi-party structure, Canada is a bit different, but even with two parties, and 435 seats in Congress, 218 seats are a majority.  If we assume each riding has equal population, and Party A wins 218 seats with 51% of the popular vote in each riding, that accounts for 25.6% of the popular vote.  They will control Congress even if they do not get a single vote in the other 217 ridings.
 
The Senate needs 51% of 51 seats, so 26.01% of the popular vote, although the Senate is further distorted as the lower-population states need a lot less voters to elect their candidate.
 
One issue that comes up a lot in Canada is that so much of the population is in two provinces (Ontario and Quebec) that you don't often need to count the votes in the other provinces to figure out who will form the government.  They make up over 60% of the population.  That puts a lot of political power in those two provinces.  But if we had equal seats for each province and territory, about 10% of the population could theoretically elect the majority (7 provinces and territories of 13).
 
"Fair" is a really challenging concept to pin down.
 
Some countries do count popular vote.  A party that wins 5% of the popular vote in Canada would be considered a fringe element, and would not likely win a single riding.  But in a proportional representation structure, they would get 5% of the seats, and select which of their candidates would occupy them.  Those countries tend to never have one party in a majority, and coalitions need to cooperate to form a government.  We have minority governments in Canada on occasion, also requiring two or more parties to cooperate.  This can result in a party with very few seats gaining a lot of political clout when they hold the balance of power.

Good post, but a casual fact check doesn't support this one stat. More Filipinos did die in WW2 than in the US Civil War, but not even close to twice as many. There were 57,000 Filipino military casualties and 900,000 civilian casualties in WW II. There were 620,000 military and 50,000 civilian casualties in the American Civil War. 957k is not twice 670K. To me, though, the fact that the ratios of civilian and military deaths are flipped in each war is the most disturbing part.  WW II was truly horrifying in that respect.
 
Edit: I'd never thought of Guam's famous bat guano as an economic resource before this, though it does make sense. Thanks.

On other matters, te latest ep of the public radio program On The Media interviewed historian Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire, on the history of US overseas impeialism from  guano mining in the Caribbean to today's "pointillist empire" of far-flung military bases. Fascinating stuff.
 
Of particular interest to me: The debate around the turn of the 20th century about the US' sudden new colonial empire gained through the Spanish American War (among other things). Notably, until the Afghanistan campaign the war to subjugate the Philippines was the longest in US history; and twice as many Filipinos -- American nationals, though not American citizens -- died in WW2 as Americans of any sort died in the Civil War.
 
Also, the nature of the debate the US had about that empire. People did implicitly recognize the US had reached an existential choice:
* It could expand overseas;
* It could be a democratic republic;
* It could be white-dominant.
 
Pick two of three. All three were not possible.
 
The debate was between people willing to abandon democracy by having colonies of people who were not citizens, and people who wanted to abandon imperial expansion. As Immerwahr points out, nobody suggested abandoning white supremacy by extending citizenship to conquered peoples. Indeed, much of the anti-imperial rhetoric was explicitly racist.
 
EDIT: The outcome of the debate was... mixed. Alaska and Hawaii became states; The Philippines and most of the territory seized in WW2 were eventually let go, sort of, but still hosting military bases; and Puerto Rico, Guam and a few other places are still under US sovereignty without their inhabitants being full citizens. Perhaps this should be resolved.
 
Dean Shomshak

And my mockery was pointed at those people who will assume Circe the mythic figure, or Sersi the Eternal, are inspired by Cersei Lannister. Because you know there will be. Many people, particularly young people, seem to assume nothing existed before they discovered it. And the Internet gives those people a public platform to spout off. Ironic, since the Internet also usually gives them ready means to find out if they're right, if they weren't too lazy or opinionated to use it.

On the way to work last night, there was a woman standing in the middle of my lane on a busy street waving a blue plastic cooler around. I'd take her over Trump.

On the way to work last night, there was a woman standing in the middle of my lane on a busy street waving a blue plastic cooler around. I'd take her over Trump.

On the way to work last night, there was a woman standing in the middle of my lane on a busy street waving a blue plastic cooler around. I'd take her over Trump.

On the way to work last night, there was a woman standing in the middle of my lane on a busy street waving a blue plastic cooler around. I'd take her over Trump.

Well, she's never been particularly good at taking orders from Putin.

Finally saw Endgame.
While well made and I have always liked the cast, I have liked each of the Avengers movies less and less overall.
It isn't that anything in them was not well done.  The solo movies have been fantastic and the initial Avengers was a home run, It is just that for me they get less interesting with each sequel. 
 
I won't discus any specifics, but for Endgame instead of avidly waiting to see "what will happen next?", it was "can it please get to the end faster?"
 
As for the paywall shows.  The initial info had me seriously thinking of reversing myself and trying D+. 
And then they started expounding and adding info.
 
This line made me cringe.
 
I'm not really looking forward to any of it now.  Maybe after it hits rental or blu-ray I'll sample some of them.  But not too likely. 
 

I guess something rotten isn't going to Denmark.

He'd need a brain installed first.

A deeply offensive one, absolutely. Especially coming from four-deferment Cadet Bone Spurs. 

Who's talking about statehood?  The place was eradicated two years ago and barely has electricity and clean water, largely because the administration flatly refuses to send aid to brown people.
 
And it's not as though statehood is helping citizens get clean water in Michigan either.

Holy Hell! 
 
AOL is still a thing?! 
 
 

Look, it's going to take about ten seconds for the internet to turn "JIP" into a deeply derogatory pejorative.  Don't worry about it.

He needs a filter installed between his brain and his mouth.

Given the various problems with the simulation, I'd say that it's a student project.

I guess something rotten isn't going to Denmark.

I guess something rotten isn't going to Denmark.

I guess something rotten isn't going to Denmark.

I guess something rotten isn't going to Denmark.

These changes are what he's talking about. The current Spider-Man is a Sony-Marvel collaboration. He's saying they took a strong swerve away from the prior two Sony incarnations of Spider-Man. (Though in this case Ultimate universe, which influences all of the MCU versions of characters to some degree, not Elseworlds.)

These changes are what he's talking about. The current Spider-Man is a Sony-Marvel collaboration. He's saying they took a strong swerve away from the prior two Sony incarnations of Spider-Man. (Though in this case Ultimate universe, which influences all of the MCU versions of characters to some degree, not Elseworlds.)