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Brian Z

 Discussion on question by Haridasa: H…

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Brian Z
Nov 15, 2024 00:09
Skimming through the citations in the Wikipedia article, there are certainly some books by authors with Indian-seeming names.
 

 Discussion on answer by sds: Did Pale…

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Brian Z
Jan 31, 2024 13:55
@RogerV the map in your question shows that at a high level there wasn't. But if you zoom in there are significant cultural differences between Arab communities inside each area (Muslim vs. Christian for instance). All borders are arbitrary when it comes to culture. You're imagining a form of objectivity that doesn't exist.
Brian Z
Jan 31, 2024 13:55
At least Wikipedia cites sources... And if Wikipedia is wrong you can fix it.
 

 Discussion on question by Roger V.: D…

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Brian Z
Oct 26, 2023 10:20
Have you heard of the Comintern and doesn't that count as a yes?
 

 Discussion between Brian Z and Ertai87

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Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 21:49
@Ertai87 Southern/Confederate pride is not that different from all the other regional sub-nationalisms that exist all over Europe and the rest of the world. Name a country and I'm sure we can come up with at least one example of a flag that means a whole lot to some group of people but not others (enough to kill for in many cases, like the Basque flag for instance). The only thing that complicates the Confederacy is its link to slavery and white supremacy. I see no other difference.
Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 20:09
@Ertai87 Why must there must be some other reason besides white supremacy and Southern pride? Why do you doubt that large numbers of people are deeply committed to those things?
Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 19:08
So it's still no clear what are you asking for... A rational defense of racism and southern nationalism? Of course there is none.
Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 19:03
@Ertai87 There are neo-Nazi parades in the US quite frequently. Any particular town could theoretically vote to put up a Nazi flag in front of City Hall, and I guarantee you there would be an explosive disagreement about whether or not this is OK, both from dissenters within the town and especially from people all around the country. That's not so different from the reality with the Confederate flag.
Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 18:50
@Ertai87 And finally, if your question is actually about why the flag is socially acceptable, I'd day that's a valid and interesting question but off topic here.
Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 18:50
@Ertai87 Also not so clear to me is the part about the Nazi Swastika. Do you mean the way it is treated in the United States, where it is not part of our history in the same way? Except for that major consideration, I would say the two symbols are in fact treated in similar ways. Or do you mean the way it is treated in Germany, where the laws and history are quite different?
Brian Z
Jul 21, 2020 18:50
@Ertai87 The question recognizes that "What each person does in their own home... is their own responsibility." Is the same somehow not true of cities and states? Can you explain what's different about a city or state deciding this is how it wants to represent itself versus an individual?
 

 Discussion on question by SSight3: Do…

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Brian Z
Jul 11, 2020 17:12
@oddthinking I could be wrong, but doubt any such expert has wasted their time on such a rediculous claim, so, I would probably upvote good answers based on other evidence.
 

 Discussion on question by Obie 2.0: D…

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Brian Z
Jul 8, 2020 08:49
@Kevin For the specific question being asked, dollars is the logical currency. Venezuela only produces something like 30% of the food it needs, and it is highly dependent on imports, paid for basically with oil exports which are denominated in dollars. To your point though, if the question were about the practical capacity for individuals to afford food, we would need to talk about wages and prices in bolívares rather than dollars.
Brian Z
Jul 8, 2020 08:49
Here's another relevant data point: "the United States has provided more than $195 million", including more than $152 million in humanitarian assistance and approximately $43 million in development and economic assistance, since Fiscal Year 2017". Pretty small, compared to $38 billion, but that larger figure is also for a longer period of time.
Brian Z
Jul 8, 2020 08:49
Personally what I would really like to see is a) an independent assessment of the impact of sections (the Maduro regime estimates $38 billion in total) and b) a corresponding estimate of the the impact that price controls, nationalizations, or other domestic policies have had on the price and availability of consumer products.
 

 Discussion on question by OperatingCh…

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Brian Z
Jul 8, 2020 08:48
All of the articles you link to clearly state that, according to the findings of the study net effect of the protests was to increase social distancing by keeping more people at home.
Brian Z
Jul 8, 2020 08:48
Saying that the results of a study are "counter-intuitive" isn't much of a critique. The study is clear about its methodology and limitations. Maybe you could explain a bit more about why you doubt it and edit the question to specify what kind of further evidence or counter-evidence you are hoping to find.
 

 Discussion on question by Lerner Zhan…

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Brian Z
Jun 23, 2020 01:00
@LernerZhang If you strip away all the extraneous opinions and irrelevant information here, there might a question about China's ability to innovate which would be more appropriate for Economics SE. There are multiple different questions posed here and I'm not sure which if any of them are actually about history.
 

 Discussion on answer by Allure: A fre…

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Brian Z
Jun 14, 2020 17:52
It may be worth mentioning that SciHub no longer functions as a "search engine" per se. It gives accessto articles based on a DOI or URL, but it's not much use without a functional search engine that will allow you to find the articles you want. If you try to enter search terms directly, you will not get results.
 

 Discussion on question by creative-us…

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Brian Z
May 20, 2020 00:18
Exact parameters of the question aren''t clear to me at all. Pope Damasus I denounced various heresies, does that count?