Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:49 am

The origin isn't really that hard; there was a time when powerful nobles owed Jewish bankers a lot of money and did not feel like paying it back, so they made up a bunch of bullshit about them to get popular support for exiling them and incidentally not paying back any money owed to them. This was exacerbated by Pope Urban's cunning plan to send bored armed people off to fight dudes in Anatolia instead of Europe, as some guys didn't want to walk all that way to get in on fighting mulisms when there were jewish people across the street.

Then it stuck around as horrible racial stereotypes do.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 5:16 am

Do any file upload sites (like mediafire, rapidshit and so on) exist any more that don't make you create an account?

Very occasionally I have use of them, but not to the point where I'd ever remember my account info - case in point, apparently my email address is already registered with mediafire, and I'm not going to go through the hassle of their password reset/make a new email just to make a new account so I can upload a zip of what I've done on the pokemon d20 thing so far.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 5:28 am

@Koumei, sent you a PM.

Incidentally, whenever I need to register for anything, I just google 'temporary email' and find a bunch of useful sites that let you create disposable email addresses. Unfortunately, some registration bots recognize these addresses, but those are rare and if you keep searching more, you'll eventually find one that isn't recognized.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:27 am

name_here wrote:The origin isn't really that hard; there was a time when powerful nobles owed Jewish bankers a lot of money and did not feel like paying it back, so they made up a bunch of bullshit about them to get popular support for exiling them and incidentally not paying back any money owed to them. This was exacerbated by Pope Urban's cunning plan to send bored armed people off to fight dudes in Anatolia instead of Europe, as some guys didn't want to walk all that way to get in on fighting mulisms when there were jewish people across the street.

Then it stuck around as horrible racial stereotypes do.

Going back a little further, Christians [are supposed to] have this thing against usury. So when banking started being a thing, it was the Jews who could lend (because they are allowed to charge interest to non-Jews, just not to other Jews). So the idea of moneylenders and Jews became really strongly linked.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:48 am

radthemad: thanks
And now it's all uploaded. Yay.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:27 pm

Yeah, it's technically called "pariah capitalism" - you get an area which is morally suspect but (probably) not outright illegal, like loaning money or pornography, and people enter into it because there's a demand and money to be made, but it's not clean money (i.e. no increase in social status) and it's not secure money (since no-one likes you and the rulers can just void your loans or declare your porn illegal). But, opportunistic niches and all that.

Redshirt · Post by **Redshirt** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:51 pm

TiaC wrote:In what country?

The U.S.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 3:13 pm

Redshirt wrote:Does anyone know the statistical breakdown of suicide methods by age and gender, particularly gun deaths? I can find the overall percentage of suicides caused by gun deaths, and the rate of suicide for different demographic groups, but not a combination the two.

When I was doing my psychiatry unit, I saw those stats. As I recall, women attempt suicide more, but "succeed" at suicide less. Mainly because the preferred female methods are "soft" rather than "hard" methods. More drug overdoses, less firearms.

In general, the best place to start is the National Institute of Mental Health.

If you want to take into account other countries, cultural factors and genetics are a pretty huge piece of the puzzle. Hungarians and Finns kill themselves at a huge rate. The United States has a low suicide attempt rate, but a medium suicide success rate, pretty much entirely because firearms are used more often than in other countries.

-Username17

-Username17

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 3:16 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:If anyone has the stomach for it, can someone tell me the whole arc of the Evil Jewish Banker stereotype?

Adding to this...
In the days of the British Empire, some of the businessmen who profited from the dicking over of other folks were Jewish, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassoon_family

Singling out Jewish families for the general trend of Evil Banker Imperialists lets Anglo-Saxons distance themselves from colonial crimes.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:26 pm

Koumei wrote:Do any file upload sites (like mediafire, rapidshit and so on) exist any more that don't make you create an account?

Very occasionally I have use of them, but not to the point where I'd ever remember my account info - case in point, apparently my email address is already registered with mediafire, and I'm not going to go through the hassle of their password reset/make a new email just to make a new account so I can upload a zip of what I've done on the pokemon d20 thing so far.

Do you already have a Google account? If you do, you can use Google Drive for this purpose.

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:34 pm

Surgo wrote:
Koumei wrote:Do any file upload sites (like mediafire, rapidshit and so on) exist any more that don't make you create an account?

Very occasionally I have use of them, but not to the point where I'd ever remember my account info - case in point, apparently my email address is already registered with mediafire, and I'm not going to go through the hassle of their password reset/make a new email just to make a new account so I can upload a zip of what I've done on the pokemon d20 thing so far.
Do you already have a Google account? If you do, you can use Google Drive for this purpose.

Microsoft also has Skydrive for this purpose, which is similarly tied to all of their free email accounts. Or you can do sharing with dropbox, if you already have an account with them for the file-syncing stuff.

It sounds like you already got it sorted, just throwing out additional options.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:11 am

If the landmass that makes up mainland China was below sea level, how would it affect the climate of surrounding countries? Basically the coast line looks like this:

Would the Gobi desert not exist? How would the climate of the existing himelayas change? Would Mongolia still be open steppes? What happens to Korea?

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:20 am

How far below sea level? If it's shallow, it's going to make things a lot warmer, because the sun will warm it and not having cold water involved will help it stay warm, constantly. Warm water, yes, puts out a lot of water vapor which would make rain pretty common in the region. Or ensure that when it -does- rain, it rains torrentially.

Orca · Post by **Orca** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:52 am

You'll get vast landslips and earthquakes along the new cliffs. Possibly new volcanoes if you've sliced the top off some magma reservoirs under the himalayas too. With more moisture you will probably get big glaciers forming/expanding on what is left of the himalayas, and maybe also to the north; a few extra metres of snow in winter might not vanish once summer comes round again.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 9:51 am

Normally the Himalayas block off all rain to the north, meaning that Kazakhstan and Mongolia are deserts. This would obviously change that. It's not in the tropical band, but its water would be about the same temperature as the Mediterranean. The surrounding countries would become much nicer places to live.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:08 pm

Jews were essentially today's Bear-Stearns (or large bank of your choice). You notice how much hate bankers get today? Now imagine if they all were the same minority.

Redshirt · Post by **Redshirt** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:52 pm

Would the Gobi desert not exist?

Almost definitely not. It's well north of the high pressure zones that turn other coastal areas into deserts, and the prevailing winds would be blowing in from the southwest. Mongolia would be significantly less dry.

How would the climate of the existing himelayas change?

They might be a bit warmer and wetter, but I don't know. Once you're up that high the altitude changes the rules.

More interesting is the effect it'd have on South Asia. The monsoon winds are driven by seasonal changes in temperature in the continental interior. If you turn a huge chunk of that into water, the fluctuations even out a lot more. That means that the dry season is less dry, and the wet season is less wet. I think overall India would probably be a lot drier, at least in the North--the monsoons wouldn't bring as much rain from the Indian Ocean anymore, and the Himalayas would keep India from benefiting from the huge ocean to its north.

Would Mongolia still be open steppes?

Maybe. Temperate regions with enough water tend to become forested over time, but a critical mass of gazing animals and regular fires can stop that. If I had to guess, probably no. Huge grasslands are mostly features of drier continental interiors. In this situation Mongolia is basically a fat peninsula.

What happens to Korea?

Not much. It's probably a bit wetter, but it's already a peninsuala. If India/Southeast Asia is moving towards Northern Asia, Korea might be more geologically active. If they're moving apart, Korea probably isn't any more active and instead there's a ridge in the middle of where china is now. That ridge might be high enough in places to have some highly active landmasses, similar to Iceland.

Mistborn · Post by **Mistborn** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:04 pm

I'm curious what you guys thing is going to happen to the Republicans in the long term, every time the GOP loses an election all the pundits go on about how they're going to broaden their appeal/be less crazy/ect. and it never happens. The GOP keeps doubling down on the crazy because the inmates are running the asylum. So where does this end? do cooler heads somehow prevail? Does the party stupid itself out of existence by actually nominating on of the Michelle Bachmann? Do the armed wingnuts actually make good on their threat of armed revolt and get gunned down by the Army?

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:34 pm

Lord Mistborn, could you repost that in the Redeeming the Republicans thread, pretty please?

nockermensch · Post by **nockermensch** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:18 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:If anyone has the stomach for it, can someone tell me the whole arc of the Evil Jewish Banker stereotype?

Rationalwiki only gives broad strokes and Google searches for things like debt slavery and Rothschild Family quickly end up turning my stomach. Just on the front page of Google I get some really questionable link summaries. Anyone feel like shining some light on this issue?

Medieval Christians to Jews: "SINCE YOU CRUCIFIED OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, you'll be cast to the impure and disgraceful trades! You're forbidden to toil the land like honest people do. Instead, you'll work as gravediggers, tanners, pig-herders or money lenders!"

Jews: "Uh... sure. We'll somehow struggle through that."

Redshirt · Post by **Redshirt** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:44 pm

@nocker

I originally thought that too, but apparently it's a lot less historically valid than is generally thought. Basically, that was a rule in England, so English speakers treat it as generally true throughout the medieval world. In Spain, Italy, Germany and France, Jews were generally unrestricted in their commerce, at least early on, when they were establishing themselves as moneylenders. Even in England, the rules changed from regime to regime.

I think the economic niche theory is more likely, especially combined with a higher overall literacy rate.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:10 pm

I'm pretty sure that the Jewish moneylender sterotype had to do with Catholic rules against usury.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15235c.htm

Nevertheless, the 12th canon of the First Council of Carthage (345) and the 36th canon of the Council of Aix (789) have declared it to be reprehensible even for laymen to make money by lending at interest. The canonical laws of the Middle Ages absolutely forbade the practice. This prohibition is contained in the Decree of Gratian, q. 3, C. IV, at the beginning, and c. 4, q. 4, C. IV; and in 1. 5, t. 19 of the Decretals, for example in chapters 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 13. These chapters order the profit so obtained to be restored; and Alexander III (c. 4, "Super eo", eodem) declares that he has no power to dispense from the obligation. Chapters 1, 2, and 6, eodem, condemns the strategems to which even clerics resorted to evade the law of the general councils, and the Third of the Lateran (1179) and the Second of Lyons (1274) condemn usurers. In the Council of Vienne (1311) it was declared that if any person obstinately maintained that there was no sin in the practice of demanding interest, he should be punished as a heretic (see c. "Ex gravi", unic. Clem., "De usuris", V, 5).

It is a curious fact that for a long time impunity in such matters was granted to Jews. The Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215), c. 27, only forbids them to exact excessive interest. Urban III, c. 12, "De usuris" (V. 19) and St. Louis in twenty-three of his regulations extended the prohibition to the Jews. With the exception of c. 27 of the Fourth Council of the Lateran, we know of no canon law which takes into consideration the question of moderate interest; and canon law nowhere states distinctly that interest is, under any circumstances whatsoever, contrary to justice.

Theologians and canonists of the Middle Ages constructed a rational theory of the loan for consumption, which contains this fundamental statement: The mutuum, or loan of things meant for immediate consumption, does not legalize, as such, any stipulation to pay interest; and interest exacted on such a loan must be returned, as having been unjustly claimed. This was the doctrine of St. Thomas and Scotus; of Molina, Lessius, and de Lugo. Canonists adopted it as well as the theologians; and Benedict XIV made it his own in his famous Encyclical "Vix pervenit" of 1 November, 1745, which was promulgated after thorough examination, but addressed only to the bishops of Italy, and therefore not an infallible Decree. On 29, July, 1836, the Holy Office incidentally declared that this Encyclical applied to the whole Church; but such a declaration could not give to a document an infallible character which it did not otherwise possess. The schismatic Greeks, at least since the sixteenth century, do not consider the taking of interest on loans as intrinsically bad.

In other words, Catholics couldn't charge interest for loans without violating Churvch doctrine. So by and large they didn't lend anything at all. Which, as everyone should know, fucks the economy in all sorts of ways. And as a result Jews ended up with an effective monopoly on banking.

Parthenon · Post by **Parthenon** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 11:23 pm

Similar to the Catholic rules against usury, in Islam it is specifically noted that a variety of deals involving anything other than physically trading something you own for something someone else owns at one point in time is worse than fucking your own mother.

As in if person A sells something to person B but person B deliberately delays handing over the money. Or interest, futures trading, trading debts without all three people being involved, etc.

Seriously, if you view fiat money as a form of debt it is forbidden to trade with it- you are only supposed to trade debt with the specific involvement of all three parties- the person owing, the person being owed and the person taking on the debt.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 11:28 pm

Which is why most modern Islamic banking relies on the medieval Christian contractum trinius to basically emulate an interest-bearing loan with collateral. It's also why some Muslims have a hard-on for the gold dinar as a form of physical wealth.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:24 am

Similar to Prak, I was thinking of making some shovelware to put on the Paizo site*. Would that be selling out, or do you actually need accomplishments/respect/whatever first in order to sell out?

*Expansion books for the Witch, Inquisitor and Ninja.