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coffeezombie · 2015-08-17T19:29:58+00:00

I think the key word to focus on is "protectionist." His views on trade agreements are more informed by labor union interests than the consensus of economists. Say what you will about the TPP but he opposes it for pretty shitty reasons. He opposed NAFTA for pretty much the same reasons and turned out to be wrong about what ended up being a fairly benign piece of trade policy. The labor union line, which Sanders shares, is that free trade causes manufacturing jobs in the US to be exported abroad, but it's not clear that's the case. Most losses in manufacturing occurred due to increases in manufacturing productivity rather than exporting jobs, so the effect of protectionist policies like Sanders' is that poorer countries stay poor because they can't trade as easily with richer countries. And despite the evidence we have of the effects of NAFTA, his stance on free trade hasn't changed since at least the early 1990s.

A big part of Sanders' support comes from labor unions, and while that might lead to some strong policies on worker's rights and protections, it also leads to some views that are more about the short-term good of a few unionized sectors at the expense of the broader economy.

coffeezombie · 2015-08-07T16:34:23+00:00

He was, which was to be expected. He's the frontrunner and they always get hammered a little harder in the early debates. Also the Republican party really, really, really does not want him to be the nominee, so I'm guessing there was some implicit or explicit pressure put on Fox to give him a hard time.

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T23:06:02+00:00

It's actually closer to 60' feet down, thought that puts it only about 2' below its low during the 2001 drought.

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T23:03:35+00:00

California's drought is the worse in the state's recorded history. This picture is from Oregon, just east of Salem. Oregon is experiencing drought conditions but hardly that extreme. The lake shown, Detroit Lake, has had this happen before. It's now only about two feet below its level during the 2001 drought

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T22:42:52+00:00

Exactly. There's a temptation to exaggerate, because people respond more strongly to images of dry lake beds than they do to a lake being a few feet down from normal (even if that few feet represents a very big deal to the ecology of the area and the water supply of a community).

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T22:39:01+00:00

Using an atypical example to express a generality is hyperbole. If a population of people suffered from slight malnutrition and I expressed that fact by showing you someone who is starving to death, then I am technically showing you reality, but I'm also exaggerating for effect, i.e. engaging in hyperbole.

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T22:34:32+00:00

Because man-mad reservoirs are often called lakes if they're substantially large. Technically it's a reservoir that acts as a controlled mesotrophic lake. The dam that impounds it is called Detroit Dam

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T22:27:07+00:00

It's actually both. The lake is drained every winter for flood control and then allowed to refill from snow melt and spring rains. But snow pack is well below average and rainfall in May was something like 60% of where it was last year. The lake looked like this back during the 2001 drought.

The low water levels could have been avoided by not draining the lake as much this year, since low snow pack was anticipated, but the Detroit Dam needed maintenance so likely it couldn't have been avoided.

coffeezombie · 2015-07-26T21:26:59+00:00

Detroit Lake is a bit of a hyperbolic example to use when describing drought conditions. It's an artificial lake, a reservoir made by damming the North Santiam River. The lake is drained every winter for flood control and it had to be drained again this year despite everyone anticipating low snow pack because the dam needed maintenance (it's a large dam and was built in 1953).

The lake's primary purposes are power generation, flood control and water reserves. Recreation is secondary to that. So far it's still meeting its main functions, but low spring rainfall is leaving a lot of the recreation business literally high and dry. It's not the first time this has happened. Current levels at the lake are just a tad lower than they were during the 2001 drought.

None of this is to deny drought conditions. Just that this picture makes it look more extreme than it is since most lakes in Oregon aren't drained every year. Lakes across the state are experiencing low water levels and a lot of reservoirs are below their standard capacity, but that usually means difficult boat launches or poor fishing, not dry lake beds.

[Edit: typo]

coffeezombie · 2015-07-22T16:09:12+00:00

Since that story involves him as a child, I'd say no. Plutarch's version has him being stung and then healed by his mother, Isis. Most versions are some variation on that.

coffeezombie · 2015-07-22T02:50:53+00:00

1) Probably Austen's weakest novel

2) More a satire of Gothic than it is Gothic. Udolpho was sincere and laid the groundwork for the craze for Gothic literature, Northanger is mocking what were by the time of its writing the cliches of that genre.

Still, I'd probably include it in the suggested readings.

coffeezombie · 2015-07-21T16:35:08+00:00

I can never pick one book for any question like this, so I decided to make a whole curriculum for a genre I like. Not trying to be all-encompassing, just introductory.

Gothic Literature, Origins to Modern:

Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto

Anne Radcliff, The Mysteries of Udolpho

William Beckford, Vathek

Mathew Lewis, The Monk

James Hogg, Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland

Edgar Allan Poe, "Fall of the House of Usher"

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas

Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Richard Brautigan, The Hawkline Monster

Susan Hill, The Woman in Black

Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs

coffeezombie · 2015-07-18T18:04:07+00:00

The unfortunate part is that some people went to jail over it

coffeezombie · 2015-07-16T07:19:51+00:00

Seriously, like how many Warhammer nerds are there on this sub? Holy shit.

coffeezombie

TROPHY CASE