History reddit: Would you consider WWII to be the primary historical event that transferred No. 1 Nation status from Britain to the U.S.?

evanspw

Do some reading! Germany and the USSR both put more men in uniform than the US did in WW2. And produced more guns and tanks. And Germany was all about taking over the European chunk of the USSR, killing most of the people in it (they planned on over 100 million) and populating it with Germans. They got interrupted.

evanspw

Don't forget, three quarters of the Japanese Army was in continental Asia, and didn't fight against the western Allies except in Burma.

But I agree, when the US turned the industrial tap on to weapons production, it was all over for everyone else. It's an unknown how long that could have been sustained, but post-Manhattan Project, it doesn't matter.

evanspw

The British Empire peaked about 1850. It was going downhill by about 1870 as other empires started to pick up the pace and domestic economic problems started to kick in that eroded their comparative advantage. WW1 put the writing on the wall, though it took another generation for the ruling class to admit it.

evanspw

I don't doubt you are right about Australian masters and phds in languages, but as an engineer who has worked in the US and Aus, in engineering an australian bachelors is equiv to a US masters (largely because high school is such a low level education in the US it takes a couple of undergrad years to come up to speed).

evanspw

bluray uses h.264

evanspw

by the stockmarket.

evanspw

Everyone forgets the Druze! They are the fourth Abrahamic faith. It's just not fair.

And also, you si,r are a tool.

evanspw

cat burglars.

evanspw

And AutoCAD's price reeks of rent seeking. And new versions every years is another sure sign of a company hell bent on gouging it's customer base BECAUSE IT CAN!

evanspw

You do realise hockey (field) is a major sport in India and Pakistan, and right there you've got a quarter the worlds population. Also played over much of the former British Empire as well as Netherlands, Germany, and Spain.

Just sayin.

evanspw

Navy, yes. Have the Japanese Army was in China, about a quarter in Burma/Thailand, and only a quarter in the South Pacific and South East Asian theaters. China did the bulk of the fighting against the Japanese Army.

evanspw

You are exactly right. The Japanese rulers hated communism far more than anything the Americans were likely to impose (and they also knew about American anti-colonial sentiment).

evanspw

There was an astonishing film about partisans in Belorussia made in 1985 by Elem Klimov, called "Come and See". Check it out - it's really a hell of a piece of film making.

evanspw

I think what you say is true, but it wasn't always the case. It's becomes that way with modern electronic media election campaigns and the rise and rise of politics as part of the celebrity industry (obviously the two go hand in hand). It's an illusion - as evidenced by the shock/outrage many felt when the ALP dumped Rudd for Gillard. People had forgotten that the leader is dependent on a party, and is not really the people's guy. I say thanks for the reminder.

evanspw

One is a fairly standard politician. The other is bat shit crazy.

By the way, not to be a hair splitter, but you're making the common fallacy of looking at this as an case of direct democracy. But Australia has a representative democratic system, where a bunch of parliamentarians are elected directly and then they decide who's in charge. Only the parliamentary members of the majority party get to vote for a prime minister.

evanspw

yeah, but don't forget, the industrial revolution was about solving the problem of 1, spinning, and 2, weaving cotton fibres, since cotton fabric was prevented from being inported into Europe (because the wool and flax manufacturers protested). steam engines were invented to power the jennies and looms thus invented. the romans did not have an equivalent problem to solve

evanspw

With a carrot, and an ax.

evanspw

Well, one thing else. A huge transfer of money from the taxpayer to the management and shareholders of a bunch of military equipment supply companies. That's working out pretty well.

evanspw

I think you're getting it. But the verb you were looking for was "has", not "is". The USN (and most of the air force) is a giant part of the social welfare system and nothing else.

evanspw

You're too harsh. The moment the Imperial Japanese Navy resurfaces the United States Navy is going to send it right back to the bottom where it belongs. So take that!

evanspw

Try zareason - http://zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16250&cat=250&page=1

Their Teo netbook is very similar, and they ship to Sweden. (I have nothing to do with Zareason, nor have I ever bought anything there.)

evanspw

See ep 6 of season 2.

evanspw

Agreed, although Season 1 was still pretty good. Ep 6 of season 2 is an absolute cracker.

evanspw

Handbrake is also available for Windows.
Handbrake won't convert to AVI (the old versions did, but this capability has been deprecated).

evanspw

Beautiful work iFixit.

evanspw

TROPHY CASE

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