Saeculum

joined 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Old fashioned pens need to be held at a downwards angle or they might not write. A lot of modern pens as well. Plus it looks nice and it's basically just a block of wood with a hole and some polish.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

That's the one projectile he's proven he can dodge

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

3-5 years for the first language to a general level of fluency. The impressive part is that they can generally pick up fluency in a second language in a year with minimal instruction, and they can learn multiple at the same time.

Unless it's the only thing you're doing, you're not going to be fluent in a second language as an adult after a year of study.

On a chemical level, children's brains work differently to adults when they're learning, it's not a question of effort.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (8 children)

Babies have special brain shit going on the helps them learn super fast. My ancient and decaying brain matter is no match.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Surely slate and tile have to balance out in price at some point? The slate on my home's roof is ~120 years old and only needs a little bit of maintenance every 5-10 years.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Imagine having the nerve to pretend you're the Roman empire when you directly border the real Roman empire.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

There was also a huge plague that killed a quarter of the population and a mini-ice age which decreased agricultural yields enormously and forced migration from the Eurasian steppe.

I'd make a case for environmental factors being the biggest cause of collapse rather than economic contradictions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I can get behind partying forever.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

They'd almost certainly lose the referendum. The SNP is not a very popular party at the moment with the recent corruption scandals, and Brexit and the collapsing price of oil seems to have cooled opinions on how favourable independence would be as well.

Plus, Scotland is seeing huge immigration from England at the moment as living there is slightly less unaffordable, and the English transplants aren't going to vote very much for independence. (There's also no mechanism for determining if someone is actually Scottish, and that was never a requirement for any referenda.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Polling doesn't matter when you have such a large majority. Labour could lose a Theresa May level of seats every year through by-elections and still not have to call an election until 2029.

Without Brexit as a dividing issue or an organisation like the ERG, we're not going to see a mirror of the Tory's leadership contests, and the mechanism for changing party leader is completely different as well.

A lot can happen in five years, but I'll buy a hat and subsequently eat it if Kier isn't PM in 2029.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

There's not enough uranium at the ideal enrichment levels that's profitable to extract. If we aren't concerned with getting the most profit possible mining the stuff, we have a few hundred years of supply without needing to recycle (which is easy).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What would be the consequences of just banning air travel? Do people really need to do it?

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