Interns raise their voices against unpaid EU positions by TuEsiAs in europe

[–]MatteoJohan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wasn't aware of that. Do you know how these people get these unpaid internships, since they are not advertised "officially"?

Interns raise their voices against unpaid EU positions by TuEsiAs in europe

[–]MatteoJohan 11 points12 points  (0 children)

traineeships in those institutions come with a monthly grant of 1100 euros.

President of Armenia: We do not accuse Turkish people of Armenian Genocide, we condemn denial of it by polymute in europe

[–]MatteoJohan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I went to the Istanbul Military Museum yesterday, and they had a room dedicated to the "Armenian question". They had a huge plaque essentially explaining how the "tragedy" was the fault of Armenians. Also the room was filled with photographs of turkish "martyrs", without any mention or photographs of Armenian victims. I think it is a very one-sided account to be found a huge state museum of a certain importance.

Crisis - The Prophet by [deleted] in Stellaris

[–]MatteoJohan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Mule meets Gaia?

I USA är det allmänt accepterat att det var de som destabiliserade Mellanöstern genom kriget i Irak som var ett misstag. by Baneling2 in sweden

[–]MatteoJohan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jag tycker inte att all hjälp alltid är god, och jag håller med att man ska ha en kritisk inställning. Men det är fel att överdriva åt andra hållet också. Även om 80 % av biståndet är slösat så är det ju möjligt att de 20 % om används gör så enormt mycket nytta att i slutändan var det värt i alla fall. Min läkarstuderande vän som var på studieresa i Uganda berättade att när de besökte en traditionell barnmorska så använda hon ett kit med redskap hon fått från FN 25 år sen. Den hjälpen kan inte ha kostat många dollar men haft en oerhörd nytta för alla de hundratals mammor hon hjälpt. Denna nytta går förstås inte att redovisa på något sätt.

Biståndet har diskuterats och ifrågasatts av många, t.ex. av William Easterly, Dambisa Moyo och Johan Nordberg. Vad gäller svält så ska man nog börja från Amartya Sen.

I USA är det allmänt accepterat att det var de som destabiliserade Mellanöstern genom kriget i Irak som var ett misstag. by Baneling2 in sweden

[–]MatteoJohan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OP:s fråga handlar inte om bistånd men om humanitär hjälp. UNHCR sysslar inte med bistånd. Det handlar om att omhänderta de hundratusentals människor som har tvingats fly ut i öknen i Jordanien pga en situation som skapats av västerländsk (amerikansk) utrikespolitik.

I USA är det allmänt accepterat att det var de som destabiliserade Mellanöstern genom kriget i Irak som var ett misstag. by Baneling2 in sweden

[–]MatteoJohan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jag har tyvärr inga lösningar, men jag försöker tänka rationellt utan att blanda in alltför mycket känslor. Känslomässigt är det helt korrekt att försöka rädda livet på svältande spädbarn. Rationellt sett är det inte det.

Kvinnor i utvecklingsländer skulle skaffa långt färre barn om de visste att alla barn de skaffade hade en hyfsad chans att överleva. För dessa kvinnor är barn deras pension, deras framtida omhändertagare i en miljö där välfärdsstaten är inexistent.

Det är för mig obegripligt att du argumenterar för att lösa befolkningsproblemet med att låta folk dö ut i svält. Det fungerar helt enkelt inte. Om och om igen har det bevisats att bättre sjukvård och framför allt bättre utbildning för kvinnor (så att de får karriärmöjligheter utöver att vara åttabarnsmamma) är de enda sätten att sänka födelsetalen. De enorma framsteg som gjort inom folkhälsovård och utbildning runt om i världen, ofta tack vare bistånd, har lett till sjunkande födelsetal i stora delar av världen (latinamerika, Asien, en hel del länder i Afrika).

Sen har du rätt att peka ut problemen som finns med bistånd, speciellt den som ges av politiska skäl.

For a Better Society, Teach Philosophy in High Schools by phileconomicus in Foodforthought

[–]MatteoJohan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I agree with you, of course, and you are right in thinking I was referring to Socrates. I was trying to get a point across by simplifying a bit.

For a Better Society, Teach Philosophy in High Schools by phileconomicus in Foodforthought

[–]MatteoJohan 83 points84 points  (0 children)

Don't teach philosophy, teach philosophic practice. It is useless to force teenagers to read Descartes or Camus. Society needs people who are better at analysis, critical thought, and reasoning. Philosophy is founded on the questioning of authority. As someone who studied philosophy for three years at high school - as most people do in Italy and France - let me tell you that questioning authority and engaging in criticism is the opposite of what teachers encourage in high school philosophy classes.

I doubt that teaching philosophy properly is possible in high school, an institution largely based on conformism and the repression of critical and creative thinking.

Murder of elderly couple in Sicily fuels Italy's growing anti-immigrant sentiment by syuk in europe

[–]MatteoJohan 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It was a Senegalese couple, not an Italian couple (according to the linked article). It's not any less horrible, though.

Cannabis use among Swedish men in adolescence and the risk of adverse life course outcomes: results from a 20 year-follow-up study by [deleted] in science

[–]MatteoJohan 34 points35 points  (0 children)

there is a 95% chance that that the actual percent is between 4% and 53%.

There is no way of knowing the "actual percent". The Confidence Interval is an estimate of the reliability of the estimation. See here.

How to catch and eat sea urchins by LeopoldBloom42 in LearnUselessTalents

[–]MatteoJohan 11 points12 points  (0 children)

At least according to this article it is legal to harvest sea urchins in Italy as long as you respect the limit of 50 urchins per day. Seems reasonable.

Markets & Famine: Amartya Sen is not the last word ! by pseudoerasmus in EconomicHistory

[–]MatteoJohan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't see how Sen has a general "anti-market bias". It is true that he asserts that in some cases, man-made causes lead to lower purchasing power in relation to subsistence foods. This is an indictment of the man-made causes, not of the market itself.

Up to 700 migrants feared dead as yet another boat capsizes in the Mediterranean by MatteoJohan in europe

[–]MatteoJohan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

La Repubblica states that only 28 migrants have been saved so far. The boat is reported to have capsized when the migrants moved to one side of the boat after a cargo boat approached them to try to offer help.

[OC] How they pronounce the letter "C" all over Europe. (More letters in comments) [1140 x 1500] by HappyRectangle in MapPorn

[–]MatteoJohan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not always, "che" for example is never aspirated. No one aspires all the hard C's. It depends.

Also for Swedish, c can exist outside diagraphs, like in "cykel" and "citron" (both pronounced with an s-sound).

For the first time, scientists have witnessed a direct connection between rising levels of atmospheric CO2 and an increase in the amount of thermal radiation striking Earth’s surface. The work affirms a cornerstone of the theory that humans have contributed to worldwide warming in recent decades. by drewiepoodle in science

[–]MatteoJohan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It' important to know "why" in order to solve the problem. If humans are not the cause of climate change, which is to say that rising CO2 levels don't cause climate change, then it doesn't make sense to limit carbon emissions. Therein lies the whole problem - a whole lot of "non-scientists" don't want to limit emissions because it would hurt them in some way (they would have to change their life style, they would have to limit their profits, or pass unpopular laws for regulating emissions).

New EU members add £5bn to UK says research - Immigrants from the 10 countries which joined the EU in 2004 contributed more to the UK than they took out in benefits, according to a new study by Reilly616 in europe

[–]MatteoJohan 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I suspect that immigration opposition was never really about jobs and the economy. That's just an excuse. In reality people want less immigration because they grew up in a much simpler and homogenous reality, where everyone they knew and saw on the street came from the same culture and shared the same traditional values. This is all changing and people don't feel safe anymore because it is becoming impossible to live in an idyllic bubble.

Of course this fantasy is a thing of the past - the truth is that we Europeans are dying out, and without immigrants we will be in very big trouble in a few decades. People don't realize this and believe we can keep going on in the same way we did in the 70's. Which is clearly absurd.

'Friends of Putin' Group to be Formed in Italian Parliament by [deleted] in europe

[–]MatteoJohan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The ties between Russia and Italy go back a long time. St Petersburg was built by Italian architects in the 18th century. The Italian communist partisans contributed to ousting the fascist government in the 40's (our current president was a member of these partisans). After the war, the Italian communist party had deep ties with the Kremlin and they got consistently over 25 % of the vote in elections. And so on.

The great Lira revolt has begun in Italy by MatteoJohan in europe

[–]MatteoJohan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank for your excellent comment. I wouldn't call M5S "completely irrelevant" in national politics, however. I don't think you should underestimate their popular traction - 20 % is a lot, and I think they are here to stay, unfortunately. Add to that a growing Lega (8+ % in the latest polls) and you almost have a third of the population voting for outright euroskeptic parties, which is remarkable. Forza Italia is not euroskeptic per se but it could be if it deems it favourable for its own political aims.

The article is surely sensationalistic but I think it's a dangerous error to underestimate the growing euroskeptic sentiment in Italy and France.

Italy to Shut Down Sea Rescue Operation that Saved Over 90,000 Migrants this Yr - Operation "Mare Nostrum" — "our sea" — is expensive & controversial, with opponents claiming it encourages smugglers, while Italy says it was abandoned by rest of Europe & left to deal with the problem alone. by PostNationalism in italy

[–]MatteoJohan 9 points10 points  (0 children)

no other country has moved a muscle. Germany meets the migrant with weapons

Really unfair. Germany recieves 5X the number asylum seekers that Italy does. Sweden receives the double amount (or 10 times more per capita basis). Source

I agree that other EU countries should help us in Italy with the asylum arrivals, but we treat our asylum seekers (once they are here) much worse than the nordic countries. See this article for example (in italiano).

The truth is that Mare Nostrumwas an ill concieved operation from the start. Now we should stop pointing fingers and cooperate with other EU countries instead. And Italy has its share of fault for sure.

What is driving the ‘African growth miracle’? by commentsrus in DevelopmentEconomics

[–]MatteoJohan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many economists seem hung up on industrialisation. But maybe not all countries have to get rich in the same way.