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What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

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141–150 of 159 posts

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#141
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "what have the Romans done for us" sketch is partly about Rome, but largely a disguised defense of the British Empire.

Indians have a love/hate relationship with the British because it really is an apt comparison. India (as in the country) literally would not exist without the British. They were right assholes (to put it mildly), but compared to the other colonial powers, actually did leave a somewhat useful legacy. And weren’t that rapacious compared to many others ( cough Belgium, Spain). As to how much, if any, that justifies anyt…

Also people who emigrated from India to other British colonies benefited - that includes my ancestors.

British rule also got better over time. It also depended on your point of view. For low castes it probably did not make much difference who ruled - and the British may have been better for many of them. Another feature of British rule in India (and elsewhere) is that it was only possible because of Indian support. The same was true in Sri Lanka - Leonard Woolf's account of his time there is fascinating and British rule was not maintained by force of arms - he comments there were hardly any soldiers outside the capital, and the police he relied on were "native".

Its not whether it was right or wrong - I do not think conquering other people is can be justified. It is that it just is and its consequences are inescapable. Its like the Roman conquest of Britain and most of the rest of Europe. Bad things, can have good consequences.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> slavery or something similar (serfdom etc.) Serfdom is very different from slavery. Even slavery is not always as bad as Roman slavery. Roman slaves could be legally killed, tortured and raped (even children). Serfs might not have fair access to the law but at least in theory they had recourse and society recognised mistreating them was immoral. Serfs could (meaningfully) marry. They were tied to the land so could…

"Serfdom is very different from slavery." And Mac is very different from a PC, but they are still personal computers that pack some computing power... My wider point was about unfree labor in pre-industrial conditions. There were many serf uprisings in Central Europe, which indicates that being a serf was sometimes very hard to bear. We are so used to free labor nowadays that we can't really imagine a world where the…

My point is that Roman slavery was a lot more brutal than what was required by the lack of technology.

I beeeive (I cannot find hard data, although things like the Doomsday book should have recorded some snapshots of it) while there was a large serf population, it was not the "vast majority" as there were also lots of free peasants.

Yes, it was a hard life, but far better than their equivalents would have suffered under Roman rule.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am feeling the humor behind this sentence if only I knew what BM is.

Bachelor of Memes naturally.

Haha. I guess you already graduated in it.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#144
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would say I prefer comedy/satire, since you don't run into the danger zone of historical dramas, where you mistake artistic story alterations for dramatic effect for some historically factual narrative. Those are hard to rectify once internalized, and have a tendency to even overshadow historical research for the general public.

> Those are hard to rectify once internalized, and have a tendency to even overshadow historical research for the general public The "people told Columbus the earth is flat" is one that is still repeated by people who should know better.

I can’t believe that crap was drummed into us in grade school. I was taught that that was literally the reason for the voyage, that he was out to prove the world was round to the doubt and consternation of his contemporaries.

That shit was fabricated from whole cloth, and why? So.much.absolute.bullocks in my grade school curriculum. It’s like as if the whole point was to make up The most outrageous lies and see if you could trick kids into believing them.

OTOH I’m thankful for a healthy skepticism of institutions and authority.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#145
post #34

Since Know Your Meme doesn't give the reference for why it's a lake , maybe not everybody is familiar with british lore: The mythical Lady of the Lake : Probably best known via Monthy Python: Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. In short: She teaches Lancelot art…

This reminds me that Monty Python and the Holy Grail contributed actual historical knowledge about Arthurian legends to my knowledge base while growing up. Other examples of Python unintentional education include knowing the names of a myriad of obscure cheeses (the cheese shop skit), a shocking number of anachronistic synonyms for death (the parrot skit) and notable contributions of the Roman Empire (Life of Brian '…

See also: witches, and how to detect them. Bonus points for recognizing Australians.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#146
post #22
post #9

> The photo was taken about coordinates 50.29092467073664, 4.893099128823844 near modern Wallonia, Belgium on the Meuse River. Great writeup, but I did have a little chuckle reading "it was taken about near here", followed by coordinates precise enough to identify a single atom. https://xkcd.com/2170/

Going to be a different atom once you walk near. Or temperature changes, the wind blows, and so on. We’ll need to give each atom a unique ID. That would solve the problem.

You're going to run into problems with quantum mechanics and the non zero amplitude that two identical hydrogens swap place.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#147
post #9

> The photo was taken about coordinates 50.29092467073664, 4.893099128823844 near modern Wallonia, Belgium on the Meuse River. Great writeup, but I did have a little chuckle reading "it was taken about near here", followed by coordinates precise enough to identify a single atom. https://xkcd.com/2170/

I'm not sure it's quite enough. By my calculation a change of one in the last digit corresponds to a move of about 1 nm. A water molecule is about 0.27nm across. I think you'd need at least one more digit.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, now I need the answer to that question, what will the resistance...

Answered on explain xkcd ((4/π − 1/2) ohms, or roughly 0.773 ohms): https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/356:_Nerd_Sniping

  (4/pi − 1/2) ohms that is. HN does funny things to the pi symbol.

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#149
post #129
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Did they improve sanitation, irrigation, medicine etc.? They built a network of aqueducts that was the largest in the world for a thousand years. The plumbing and sewage systems they installed in their cities were so effective that some are not just intact, but in use, right now . There are plenty of negative points you can raise about the Roman Empire, but water systems aren't one of them.

>some are not just intact, but in use, right now. Thanks for giving me something to research at work. What query do you recommend I put into a search engine? "intact aqueducts italy" doesn't seem to help much

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

Re: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021)

#150
post #34

Since Know Your Meme doesn't give the reference for why it's a lake , maybe not everybody is familiar with british lore: The mythical Lady of the Lake : Probably best known via Monthy Python: Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. In short: She teaches Lancelot art…

What a funny time when Monty Python and not the various stories of Ming Arthur is how people might be most familiar with “the lady of the lake.”
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