The country claiming to have the most “freedom” of any country has the highest incarceration rate of any country.
Not so fun fact: the constitution allows for slavery as long as it’s a punishment for a crime.
Hmmm… Nah, those dots don’t connect at all.
And many plantations converted to prisons that are still in operation to this day.
And many states can’t reduce their prison populations because then they’d lose free labor.
And some states use prison labor to staff the governor’s mansion with butlers.
Here in California, prisoners are employed to fight wildfires.
Until very recently, former prisoners were not allowed to be employed as firefighters when they got out. That was corrected by Newsom in 2020.
Man, I fucking love that guy and what he’s been doing. Him and my governor, as well as the governor of Michigan have been having a pissing contest to see who can be the best governor, and we’re all winning.
Go read about the nightmare this Angola prison in Louisiana.
It’s even worse. The original US Constitution does not prohibit slavery. It wasn’t until the Thirteenth Amendment was passed seventy years later - after a Civil War tore apart the country - that slavery was abolished. With the express exception of punishment for a crime. No qualifications for the severity of the crime. And that exception gets frequent use to this day in the penal system
The original US Constitution is explicitly pro-slavery. Not only does it explicitly require non-slaveholding states to return fugitive slaves to their oppressors, but it has multiple mechanisms intended to ensure the dominance of slave states in the federal government.
The Constitution was never a unified idealist vision of liberty. It was a grungy political compromise between factions that did not agree on what the country should be. These included New England Puritans (religious cultists; but abolitionist), New York Dutch bankers (who wanted the money back they’d loaned to the states), Southern planters (patriarchal rapist tyrants), and Mid-Atlantic Quakers (pacifists willing to hold their noses and make peace with the Puritans and planters).
As a natural US citizen it took me a while to understand what I was taught about US history in grade school was not entirely accurate. US independence was about corporate interest. The land barons and industrialists did not want to pay taxes to the crown. That was the offense that led to a declaration of independence, everything else was cursory.
At most half the American population was in favor of independence. Those that spoke against independence were labeled as Tories and terrorized into submission (sometimes horribly). The people with money and influence led a campaign of terror against them. If they had actually held a vote and went with majority rule, it’s likely we’d still be a British territory.
As far as the constitution, the authors did not consider other races as equals with human rights. When they said, “Liberty and justice for all.” they were talking strictly about men of European descent. Even white women were not considered in the term “all”. This is how the genocide of native people and slavery was justified. The people suffering these horrors were considered animals same as livestock. This ideology originated in the major Christian churches of the time which were all run by, you guessed it, men of European descent.
Of course in modern times we know that human genetics are one of the least variant of any species on the planet, but back then they relied on the Church instead of science. You can thank those guys for over a millennia of dark ages and unjust human rights.
In order to explain the injustices of the early US, one has to comprehend English common law, the economics of empires bound together by wind-powered sailing ships, Protestant and Catholic Christian doctrine, and the legacies of the Spanish Reconquista that became ideological white-supremacism.
It is really easy to come up with caricatures that say “Jefferson was just a rapist” or “the Articles of Confederation were okay, but the Constitution sucked” or “the colonies would have been fine under British rule forever” or “everyone shoulda just joined the Iroquois”.
In fact, everything was worse and more fucked up and lots of people died in misery and horror.
Not only does it explicitly require non-slaveholding states to return fugitive slaves to their oppressors
The Fugitive Slave Law wasn’t part of the Constitution.
but it has multiple mechanisms intended to ensure the dominance of slave states in the federal government.
Again, not part of the Constitution. Those were the various compromises that the South kept getting pissy about foreseeing the end of Slavery, so they kept threatening rebellion.
If anyone tries to tell you the civil war was about states rights, not slavery… These are pretty obviously about slavery. But if they don’t believe that, just let them read the Southern States Declarations of Secession. They say what the civil war’s about in their own words.
The Fugitive Slave Law wasn’t part of the Constitution.
The Fugitive Slave Clause, which authorized it, certainly is though!
There’s a great documentary called 13th about this and racial inequality in America
Not even just the highest rate. The highest number of incarcerated people! Countries with over 1b people still have fewer prisoners, total.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country
The Star-spangled Banner (where the phrase “Land of the Free” comes from) was written in 1814, 51 years before slavery was abolished. The idea that America is or ever was the land of the free is a total joke.
This is actually not true any longer, El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate
Unfortunately this bonkers truth is so mundane at this point, I didn’t need to read passed “freedom”
… and built its initial wealth on slavery revenue.
It’s a shame because there are a lot of other great things to be proud about when it comes to the US. I guess when people boast about US freedom, what they mean is democracy, and starting the end of the colonial era, inspiring a tidal wave of democratic uprisings around the world, which is accurate. I wish they didn’t use the word “freedom” for that.
That’s not all that exciting. All of Europe (and basically every other are of the world) was built on slave labor as well, that’s literally what the colonial period was about. Also vikings were primarily about capturing slaves, Rome and Greece were mostly slaves, serfdom wasn’t significantly different than slavery.
Freedom™
Democracy is a prerequisite for freedom, disenfranchisement, in any form, is a policy failure and should be mitigated.
That’s sounds 100% right and is 100% right
This doesn’t sound false though.
Yeah, of all the words that can follow the legaly declared prohibition of slavery, except might be one of the dumbest you can pick…
You see, the trick is to limit “freedom” to certain people. Then, it can easily be the most “free” country in the world (for those people).
Freedom means guns, and more freedom means more guns. Ur just jealous, commie
sips budlight
Many companies are making profits off of this. So many states have for profit prison systems and will get fined of they don’t have enough people in those prisons. That is above the free labor most people have talked about.
Freedom to consume is right there. They don’t specify what freedom right?
Oxford University is older than the Aztec empire.
Oxford University founded in 1326, Aztec empire ~1428-1521
Lighters were invented before matches! 1823 vs 1826
So why did anyone use matches then? Was it just more economically viable?
If you’ve ever played around with an old-style lighter (think classic Zippo) you’d get it! They’re fairly expensive, and aren’t airtight so they need to be refilled every few days/weeks. If you fill them too much they need to be kept upright or they’ll spill lighter fluid on you. Super cool and can hold flames for a while but not nearly as conventient as a matchbook for quick fire lighting
It just occurred to me that zippos are basically the same type of oil lanterns that we’ve been using for thousands of years
Although, if you use them a lot (like, a couple packs a day “a lot”), you get good at filling them the right amount, and it’s just something you do.
Zippos are pretty fantastic for cigarette smokers. They’re horrible for someone who just want to carry fire around in their pocket “just in case.”
Back when I was smoking I got a Zippo because it was cool. Refilling fuel and replacing flints got old, but the taste of gas in your mouth was just the worst.
Every weed smoker had a zippo they didn’t use because it tasted so bad. They’re fidget toys more than anything. And the “windproof” feature doesn’t work all that well compared to a bic lighter. Who cares if it keeps a tiny flame alive if it’s not going to ignite anything else. You have to shelter it anyway.
you are loved and deserve happiness
Fuck Lemmy is unexpectedly wholesome
Bullshit and lies.
No one loves me, and i deserve nothing, for I am trash.
♥️
perfect answer, everyone needs to be reminded this sometimes
Awwww <3 that’s something that should be taught at school AND home
I love this!
A broken clock is right twice a day, but a clock running backwards is right four times a day.
Oh, I have two good ones:
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Nuclear power causes less deaths (per energy unit produced) than wind (source)
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You get less radiation when living near a nuclear power plant, than if that nuclear plant hadn’t been there.
To explain the second: A major misconception is, that nuclear power plants are dangerous due to their radiation. No they aren’t. The effect of radiation from the rocks in the ground and the surroundings is on average 50x more than what you get from the nuclear power plant and it’s fuel cells. (source). Our body is very well capable of dealing with the constant background radiation all the time (e.g. DNA repairs). Near a power plant, the massive amounts of isolation and concrete will inhibit any background radiation coming from rocks from that direction to you. This means, that you’ll actually get slightly less radiation, because the nuclear plant is there.
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There are people still alive who remember a world before “splinter-free” toilet paper.
The manufacturing of this product had a long period of refinement, considering that as late as the 1930s, a selling point of the Northern Tissue company was that their toilet paper was “splinter free”.
The closest planet to Earth is Mercury.
On average that is. Mercury is actually the closest planet to every other planet in average. Because when it’s on the other side of the Sun, it’s still pretty close.
Your car keys have better range if you press them to your head, since your skull will act as an antenna. It sounds like some made up pseudoscience that would never work in practice or have a negligible effect, but it actually works.
Edit: idk if it’s actually because your skull acts as an antenna, although that’s what I’ve heard. I looked it up and it seems like it’s your head acting as a reasonance chamber. Since your body is conductive, your head can bounce and amplify the radio signal.
It works best if you hold the fob under your chin and open your mouth in the direction you’re aiming!
I swear these comments look more and more like a ploy to make me look stupid in public
For maximum effectiveness, open your mouth and make a “BONG” noise. It’s literally the same technology as a radar detector.
Also works better if you spread your arms and hold the fob with your chin
Closing your eyes and assuming an earth bending position like Toph helps too. Bonus points if you make your feet stomp the ground.
And then point your left leg towards the sky for extra spread
The best id the look on people’s faces when it works.
On one side you have people that think 5g causes cancer. On the other, you have people directly beaming shit into their skulls to open their cars from a couple extra feet away.
Wild
To be fair, radio waves have been everywhere for over a hundred years now. Plus, it’s just low-frequency light. It’s no different (probably safer even) than shining a flashlight at your head.
Supposing we could somehow bring the light into the body?! Or maybe we could inject them with disinfectant! We better look into that.
i dont believe it causes cancer necessarily, but i think 5g is worrying for the sake of big increase in location tracking precision
That is a very valid concern, to be honest.
Your skull acts as an antenna
How?
The tinfoil hat you’re wearing amplifies the signal!
Your skull is a parabolic reflector
I’ve read two takes on this before:
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The cavity of your head helps project the signal to your car
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The water molecules in your head amplify the radio waves to reach your car
I can’t imagine how water could amplify a signal. If anything, it’s the reflector like shape of your skull.
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The way I do it is holding the bottom of the key under the soft part of the lower jaw while holding the mouth open as a resonance chamber.
I’ve read two takes on this before:
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The cavity of your head helps project the signal to your car
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The water molecules in your head amplify the radio waves to reach your car
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Alright, I came across some researchers who were keen on validating this. It appears quite credible. You can view the results of their simulation here: Digital Debunking: Using Your Head to Extend Your Car Remote Range
There is absolutely no way this is true. I need to see some evidence to believe this. (I work as a wireless technician)
I’ve done it. It does work.
Hold your fob a foot to the side of your head. Back away until it stops working. Take 2 more steps back to be sure. Then put the fob to your forehead. It’ll work again.
It’s true, but not because your skull acts like an antenna. It’s because the signal is being reflected by the skull. You can actually just try it out, the range of your car keys will extend when you hold them to your chin.
I doubt enough signal reflect of off your very radio wave observing skull to make much of a difference at all, it’s most likely a placebo effect and the real reason it extends the range is because you are holding the key fob higher, so it has a better LOS with less obstructions, and it has a better chance to bounce waves off of the very reflective concrete on the ground up to the sensor of your car.
Organic materials are absolute crap at reflecting wireless signals, they are much better at absorbing and scattering them.
Let us know what you think after you try it!
Science is cool.
Alright well unfortunately I can’t really test it because the key fob for my car is hit or miss even when I’m right next to it.
I would love if someone can post some evidence, literally any evidence I will watch and take in. I have a scientific mindset, no problem being proven wrong, I’m very much open to new information but I need to see some evidence.
I found this small experiment, someone recorded on Physics StackExchange.
I also found this computer modelling, but I’m not familiar with the source (Altair.)
I have no leaning either way, and would welcome more data on the topic.
Try it out, for real! The effect is too strong for being a placebo.
It definitely works. I do it all the time.
Next time you’re in a parking lot, try to click your fob from a distance where it doesn’t work. Then hold it to your chin or skull and click it. It almost doubles the range.
Alright, I came across some researchers who were keen on validating this. It appears quite credible. You can view the results of their simulation here: Digital Debunking: Using Your Head to Extend Your Car Remote Range
It does work, and I always feel like a lunatic if I do it.
I use this trick all the time to find my car I’m parking garages.
I would love to see more info on this
The first time I heard about this was in reference to garage door remotes.
If your remote was too far away, you placed the remote under your chin pointing to your skull to amplify the signal using your head.
A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
If you start to think about how these lengths of time are defined it becomes clearer.
1 day = time to rotate on it’s axis once 1 year = time to complete a full rotation around the sun
For Earth, it takes us ~24hrs to rotate on our axis and 365.25 days to orbit the sun.
However, because Venus’ axial rotation is so slow (and another interesting fact, it rotates in the opposite direction to other planets) it actually completes a full orbit of the sun before 1 axial rotation.
Hence, a year is shorter than a day
For those interested:
1 Venus day = 243 earth days 1 Venus year = 225 earth days
Colloquially, most people use “day” to mean how long it takes the sun to get to the same place in the sky. Solar day vs sidereal day, the difference is only about 4 minutes on Earth, but can be much greater elsewhere. Venus’ solar day is about 117 Earth days, so you would see a couple sunrises/sunsets each Venusian year.
This is the most interesting one I’ve read so far.
Wow! That’s another thing I learned from QI recently. Great fact though, and nice to see it mentioned here 🙂
Really interesting.
The world is running out of sand.
It’s one of the most used materials in the world for construction but islands are disappearing because of its limited supply.
Cleopatra was born closer to the invention of cellphones than the building of the pyramids
We live closer in time to the T-Rex than the T-Rex to the stegosaurus. Which makes the land before time a fictional story not based on true events.
Also the T in T-shirt stands for tyrannosaurus because it has short arms, just like the T-Rex.
Modern birds are dinosaurs as far as I’m concerned.
Well that’s just plain science.
All Aves are Dinosauria.
Where did you get that the T stands for Tyrannosaurus? 😂
It looks like a T, that’s why it’s called T shirt, imo, no source either.
I always love this one, just it sounds so crazy
I’ve always thought this was amazing
It is not even all that close either, something like 500 years.
All the planets in the solar system can fit in the space between the Earth and the Moon
General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil, and Phillips Petroleum were convicted of an actual conspiracy related to the monopolization of transit systems, which replaced beloved streetcar (rail) systems with rubber-tired oil-burning buses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
The northern most part of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to the southern most part of Brazil.
