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Cake day: July 8th, 2023

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  • The reason why English, French and Spanish are among the world’s most widespread languages has its roots in the imperial past of the nations where they originate

    Must be a hot day in Hong Kong for them to be throwing shade like that. It’s true of course but it’s true for all of the biggest languages that conquest played a significant part in their dispersal. Chinese, Arabic, etc are left out of the statement for some reason.




  • That but it was also just a depiction closer to reality: for instance famine and starvation were a common theme in Grimm’s collection of tales (Hänsel & Gretel, the star money, etc). But in the modern world [industrialized west] we know longer have a direct cultural experience of it.

    Similarly gone down have:

    • corporal punishment, mutilation (the girl without hands, Cinderella)
    • indentured servitude, slavery (Rumpelstilzchen)
    • cannibalism (Hänsel & Gretel); note that this in the context of a famine
    • austerity at old age (the Bremen town musicians)
    • despots abusing their power (Snow White)
    • maternal death, parental absence (Cinderella, Snow White)
    • child labor (Cinderella, Mother Hulda)


  • Y̴̥͉͕͌̀ǫ̴̗̅̕u̵̱̾̋͐̚ ̷̡͕͈͛̇h̴̳̱̘̆ä̶̼́̕ṽ̷̬͕è̷͓̰̔̌ ̸̪͋m̷͍͎͙̂́̔ͅy̷̰̘̎́̉ͅ ̷̳͒v̷̭̕o̷̢͚̟͇͒̃͐̕t̴̪̙͗̐͆́ë̶̦͗ ̵̗͌̅p̶̰̫͛̑r̷̨͛̏̈́͝e̷͇͍̋̚͜s̸̳͙̒͘î̶̞̍̍̋͜ͅd̴̰̭͚̞͗ě̶̯̖n̶̩̿̕t̶͎͉̂ ̵̦͂̍̀Z̵̧̲̦̹̾͋a̴̒̑ͅl̷͇̘̝̬͒̊͝ǵ̴̹̣͖’̷͂͜o̴̢͔̱̔ò̷̧͛!̷̦̎͑͆͘ ̵̺̼̜̃̑














  • takeheart@lemmy.worldtoxkcd@lemmy.worldxkcd #2992: UK Coal
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    4 months ago

    It’s quite relevant if you consider that coal mining is concentrated to a much smaller area really. Besides the destroyed habitat, the pollution, the dangers of sinkholes and the cost of renaturation you also have to contend with rain and ground water constantly filling in the mining pits.

    Don’t know about the UK but in West Germany’s Rhein-Ruhr area, a former coal mining hotspot, the energy used to operate the pumps that keep the water out will eventually be greater than the energy gained from burning all the coal. Can’t find a source on the quick but I think it might have happened already. Of course it’s not a simple subtraction as all that energy was used to generate more infrastructure and capital that can now pay for the pumps. According to this German source their operation costs around 300 million euros yearly which gives you a rough idea of just how expensive that is.