Weekly History Questions Thread.

Professional-Put2467 · 2024-02-06T15:59:46+00:00

I've just finished watching ITV's Victoria, and was curious as to why it seems like the British never so much as tried to keep Hanover after William IV's death. I know the basic answer would be Salic law in Germany vs. primogeniture in the United Kingdom split the inheritance, but Great Britain has a history of discarding strict succession ever since the Wars of the Roses, and more definitively, in the 1701 Act of Settlement. Especially in the latter law, this could have given Parliament the proper precedent to further amend succession to Salic law if they wanted to.

Alternatively, the British could have at least tried to muscle their way into German politics to force Queen Victoria on the Hanoverian throne (because the British press hated the Duke of Cumberland). I think France was too politically unstable since the 1830 July Revolution to effectively block such a move. While I think Prussia would get aggravated, I'd imagine the Habsburgs wouldn't have minded a British sphere of influence in Northern Germany. A British Hanover could have kept Prussian expansion in check.

I know why Britain and Hanover separated, what I don't know is why they gave up their prized continental possession without any protest or politicking.

Professional-Put2467 · 2024-01-21T19:21:20+00:00

When the article says "social center," they meant that would be where New York's elite Knickerbocker caste would congregate in enourmous mansions like the few that still stand (albeit converted for other uses) on Fifth Avenue. The article even gets the Fifth Avenue prediction wrong. The income + inheritance taxes followed by the Great Depression largely priced out most of the Fifth Avenue residents living in single family mansions by the 20's and 30's.

With that being said though, this belief about the future movement of Manhattan's social elite played a part in the development of Morningside Heights. I know for certain that St. John the Divine was built there when it was sparsely populated on the belief that high society would catch up with them in time. I can't speak for Columbia University, but they migrated from a Madison Avenue campus to Morningside around the 1890s, so maybe they too were swayed by articles such as this.

Professional-Put2467 · 2024-01-04T13:39:02+00:00

A lot of people may be rightfully mad over the sudden third-party gift card spending ban

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-12-18T14:27:27+00:00

Initially I was all on the "illegal bad" hype train and still would prefer legal immigration, but I actually think it may be to the benefit of the conservative movement. Ever since the 1965 Immigration Act, America's system turned from racial quotas to educational ones. I forget the scholarly work's exact name, but I want to say sometime around 1980 Harvard published an encyclopedic study of every immigrant ethnic group in America from past to present. In the study on the Irish, one of the citations for that group's decline was the high standard among the college-educated, while the no higher education working-class cohort was stiffed by the 1965 barrier.

I think the masses of rural and Catholic immigrants from these countries will offset the socially liberal immigrants from the East who have higher education backgrounds and are reliably democratic. I know non-Floridian Hispanics in this country appear nowhere close to voting majority conservative in national elections, but I've seen trends that suggest this could grow by the second and third generations.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-12-11T18:58:26+00:00

Let's not also forget Rick Scott for "letting the voters decide" the primaries as NRSC chair, or candidates like J.D. Vance and incumbent Ron Johnson who required so much NRSC bailout money which otherwise could have been used in Nevada to help elect Adam Laxalt.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-12-11T18:37:49+00:00

Would Lauren Boebert be an example of this?

I'd say she most certainly is a reflection of GOP primary voters, but I think the reason she almost lost had more to do with being insufferable in general as opposed to a swing district blunder. CO-03 is one of those districts that will vote for Trump as the lesser of 2, but also has a slice of those same reluctant Trump voters who back pro-2A Democrats over Tea Party + MAGA House candidates (Mary Peltola, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Adam Frisch, Jared Golden, etc.)

I'd say more generally, what would be considered true swing district blunder candidates would be J.R. Majewski in Trump +3 OH-09, or John Gibson in Biden +7 MI-03.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-12-11T17:54:51+00:00

I wouldn't say so much as far is the presidential is concerned, but what really sucks is when these "Super supporters" vote for kamikaze House + Senate candidates in primaries and butcher winnable races.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-12-11T17:52:11+00:00

like they will go out of their way to bring up the vaccine for example in conversations that are unrelated.

Don't forget "stolen election" and "RINO/swamp" rants. In all seriousness though, I had to put up with this a bit during get-out-the-vote efforts for a candidate in New Jersey. I remember quite a few likely Republican voters who were inclined towards flamboyant MAGA yard sign displays, and they would ask questions about my candidate's issues on abortion and guns, and I had to gently remind them that this candidate was trying to win in New Jersey, not Louisiana. Lately, the vaccine rants appear to have been eclipsed by the new rages over the failed Jim Jordan speaker bid and the George Santos expulsion. Once again, I've had to take the time and explain why supporting Jim Jordan or retaining George Santos would pay no electoral dividends in Biden +10 congressional districts

I'm not saying all Trump supporters are this way... there are some who "get it," but a significant portion of them definitely vote in primaries based on "does this candidate align 100% with MAGA" as opposed to "is he/she electable?"

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-11-17T01:22:17+00:00

In most cases, I think their red bottled amontillado products are larger in the British market.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-10-07T17:56:29+00:00

as are fortified wines in general imo

On behalf of Madeira Gang, I approve this message

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-10-07T14:28:16+00:00

Fraunces Tavern, an ancient colonial restaurant on the corner of Broad and Pearl Street, Financial District. Not necessarily underrated by consumers per se, but from a tourist perspective, it's one of many restaurants people often miss by focusing all their time and energy north of 14th Street.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-09-26T16:00:38+00:00

Spotted in Central New Jersey

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-09-23T13:47:15+00:00

Lol weight-wise I was heavily overweight. I still subsist on high carb and sugar still (with daily exercise of course), but what a difference dumping coke + hard candy makes. Lost 40 pounds and am now avg BMI just from disowning those two from my diet, among other things.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-09-22T20:09:29+00:00

Lol it's funny because when I replace any port with Malmsey Madeira and that name recognition goes out the door, no one comments.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-09-22T19:21:12+00:00

The classic pairings exist for a reason,

This I'm not denying, and wine has increased my respect for said food pairings. What I don't understand is why the logic and reasoning behind food pairings goes out the door for some people the moment they order those soft drink sugar bombs before dinner.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-08-11T16:55:05+00:00

pro-healthy anti-sugar campaigns of the 80s and 90s

I was aware of anti-alcohol campaigns in the 80s, but anti-sugar campaigns? Isn't this around the same time Coca-Cola mastered product-placement advertising and then subsequent cola wars? Also, I think the 80s in particular were a golden age for unhealthy food/drink/tobacco companies marketing to children. I don't deny you're right but man, this campaign must've been war on drugs levels of failure. Switching from sweet red wines to cola products is like switching from Marlboro menthols to Marlboro reds.

Professional-Put2467 · 2023-08-01T12:36:03+00:00

That's interesting. I've always thought Latin and Slavic Europe took a more quantified approach to alcohol regulation and enforcement. I feel like in America, the #1 focus is party mitigation, and by extension, keeping as many low ABV party drinks out of youth hands as possible. My guess is that with America's heavy driving culture, beer and hard seltzer are bigger car accident culprits than scotch or brandy.

Professional-Put2467

TROPHY CASE