Category: Knowledge

“Seven things you might not know about slavery”

Scoop, ... 8 comments.

Example from the list:

Slavery is now illegal in every country in the world. Such bans also extend to forced labor and human trafficking. The problem is that there are today more slaves in the world than ever before. An estimated 30 million people are trapped in slavery. Of those, the largest number of slaves are in India, with up to 14 million slaves.

Scoop’s note:

Er … not quite

Not only is slavery still legal in the United States, but it is specifically allowed in the constitution. The 13th Amendment allows slavery “as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” As the result of this constitutional loophole, there are still states that require able-bodied inmates to work without any compensation. Three examples are Arkansas, Georgia and Texas.

As noted in the comments, there is also a very fine line between military conscription and slavery. Under some reasonable definitions, there is no line at all. Slavery can be defined as “forced labor without compensation,” but many would argue that any forced labor is slavery, irrespective of compensation. By that definition, military conscription is not only a system of slavery, but a system that places those slaves in life-threatening conditions. Mandatory military service is still in effect in many countries and was not abolished in the USA until 1973.

20 Fascinating Photos Collected From History

Scoop, ... 5 comments.

There are some great memories here, but as usual with these lists, there’s also sloppy labeling and misinformation.

For example, that Marilyn Monroe pic is not from 1941, when she was in high school. She could not have been taking a break from filming because her first film role was in 1947. Moreover, she did not have blonde hair until 1946, possibly later. This pic is probably from around 1950.

Betting on the next pope

Scoop, ... 8 comments.

You can bet on individuals, nationalities, number of ballots, and which Papal name he will take upon consecration.

The favorite in “nationalities” is “the field,” which consists of “countries that have never had a pope.” That is considered marginally more likely than “Italy.”

Which countries are in “the field”? For starters, there has never been a pope from North America. The article also states that no Asian or African pope has ever been elected. Is that true?

Yes and no.

Yes, if you consider only the modern election process. There have been several Asian popes and at least three Africans, but they reigned before the modern election process was created. The College of Cardinals wasn’t established until 1059, more than a full millennium after the death of Jesus, while the last non-European Pope (before Francis) died two centuries earlier.

No, if you consider other forms of election. The article does not specify “elected by the College of Cardinals.” It just says “elected.” The early popes were chosen through a different election process. Linus, the first successor to Peter on the traditional list, is sometimes considered the first elected pope. Alternatively, Pope Pius I, around 140 or 150 CE, is considered by other historians to be the first elected pope. Whichever of those you accept, Asian and African Popes have been elected.

There were many in the early church.

  • Besides the famous St. Peter, two others were born in what is now Israel. (Pope Evaristus, and Pope Theodore I).
  • Popes Anicetus, John V, Sisinnius, Constantine and Gregory III (the last non-European before Francis) were Syrians.
  • Popes John VI and Conon came from what is now Turkey.
  • Popes Victor I and Gelasius I were from an area now part of either Libya or Tunisia.
  • Pope Miltiades also came from North Africa, was possibly of Berber descent, and may have had very dark skin.

I’m sure you know that St. Peter, the first Pope, was Judean. His exact birthplace is debated because the town of his birth no longer exists, but scholars agree that it was somewhere on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, so he was Asian. Peter, however, is not within the purview of this commentary because there is a universal consensus that he was not chosen by election.

But there are still more nuances. If you want to be persnickety, Peter was the leader of the church, but was not called a pope. Later, among his successors in the early church, all bishops were called “pope.” The official use of the title “Pope” as it is currently understood – the Bishop of Rome in a position of absolute primacy over church doctrine – did not come into effect until the reign of Pope Gregory VII (1073-85). The line of succession was traced back to Peter.

So the answer to “Have there ever been Asian and African Popes?” is “It depends on your definition of ‘Pope.'” If Peter and the others before 1073 are considered Popes, then yes. The Catholic Church considers Peter and a long list of successors to have been Popes, so there have been Asian and African popes by their definition, and almost all of them were elected, albeit not by the modern process. But be aware that Peter’s papacy is retroactive, not contemporaneous. There is no indication that he was ever called Pope Peter in his time. You could make an argument that the Papacy, as we understand it today, representing the undisputed head of the Church, as chosen by the College of Cardinals, started in the 11th century. By that definition, the chair was occupied exclusively by Europeans until Francis came along. Therefore, if we narrow the question to “Has an Asian or African Pope ever been elected by the College of Cardinals?” we can give a definitive answer.

No.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World might not have existed.

Scoop, ... 2 comments.

There is no conclusive evidence among the ruins of Babylon that such a garden ever existed, nor the irrigation system needed to maintain it amid the desert landscape. Also, the breathtaking accounts of the foliage were all composed well after the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE; there are no contemporary descriptions of the Hanging Gardens, even though other achievements of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign were recorded at the time.

The current theory is that there was such a hanging garden in Nineveh, and the correct info got lost, and possibly exaggerated, in the historical shuffle.

Tesla reports a 71% decline in quarterly profits

Scoop, ... 36 comments.

… compared to the same quarter last year.

Musk promised investors he would refocus on Tesla. I have a feeling it will do no good to lock the barn door now, because the horses have escaped. After all, Elon’s neglect of Tesla is not the major source of the company’s problems. He has two bigger problems:

1. Marketing. He has alienated his primary target audience (liberals who see electric cars as climate-friendly). That won’t change, and will probably get worse, since he resolved to keep his hand in DOGE. My daughter recently rented an EV and loved it. She also loves the idea of electric cars, and is thinking of buying “anything but a Tesla.”

2. Costs and efficiency. He has to face the fact that our current relations with China will disrupt his supply chain.

Elon is supposed to be smart. It’s surprising that he didn’t foresee the impact from pissing off liberals, the only people who are truly passionate about electric cars. This lack of awareness may have something to do with his autism. A study by Caltech researchers of highly intelligent autistic people concluded that some of them may not be “normally” sensitive to social reputation – the ability to understand the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others.

But that’s just me babbling. I don’t really know jack straws.

Musk’s strategic plan is to shift the company’s focus away from selling consumer vehicles, thus compensating for any decline in retail sales. He maintained that gains in the company’s long-term profitability will hinge on robotaxis and autonomous robots — not on selling cars.

Medical cannabis shows potential to fight cancer, largest-ever study finds

Scoop, ... no comments.

The largest ever study investigating medical cannabis as a treatment for cancer, published this week in Frontiers in Oncology, found overwhelming scientific support for cannabis’s potential to treat cancer symptoms and potentially fight the course of the disease itself.

The consensus of the studies used in the meta-analysis was that cannabis can do more than merely relieve symptoms. It has the potential to fight cancer cells themselves, by killing them and stopping their spread.

As the lead author of the article said, “Whoa – we glommed on some totally righteous results, dudes.”