Recent content by sunsurf

Two other ideas about this--they'd learn to compress a lot of information into very little "space". And, I was thinking ships in the Age of Exploration could send messages about shoals and hostile natives. Pirates might warn each other about royal navy ships approaching.

Is this a dumb idea? When would this be done? If they didn't think of semaphores or smoke signals, they could use fireworks. There are many variables they could use, and they could conserve materials by compressing a lot of information. Information in fireworks can be conveyed by: size of...

The revolutionary tendencies could have started earlier. And, where can we find a map of the distribution of European populations in the New World between 1500 and 1800? Wouldn't there be a lot of unoccupied territory? They might go inland. When Greeley said, "Go West, young man", he wasn't...

Is this too unlikely? In OTL, the dissidents and revolutionaries settled the New World. What if they had stayed home, overthrowing the European governments, and the kings and nobles flee to the New World.

I read somewhere that the African slave owners were more cruel to the slaves than European/New World slave owners, if that's possible. Thoughts? I wonder what you have to say about the freed slaves sent to Liberia, being cruel to the native Africans in Liberia. Thanks.

Thanks for your help, I'd like to use your advice.

You seem to imply that Europeans did not colonize Africa, since the Africans resisted Europeans so effectively. I wonder if you could clarify. It seems to me they could not resist what happened later. I'm no expert, obviously, but...? And I was wondering specifically about bringing slaves to...

I was really thinking of the transatlantic slave trade. When the Africans resist more effectively against the Europeans, that makes it more expensive for the Europeans and the Europeans might look to other options instead to some extent. I wasn't specifying when or how much the Europeans...

Arabs supply more guns to Africa, so they later form larger power blocs to resist European encroachments a little more effectively. Vikings in N. America go further south and spread smallpox more and the native Americans develop a little more immunity earlier pandemics which occur later, are...

STAR TREK: THE VOYAGE HOME After Gene Roddenberry died in a traffic accident in the early 70s, the franchise was up for grabs. But the popularity of the novels and comic books persuaded Paramount to try a movie. After considering many candidates, they selected Stanley Kubrick to direct, based...

STAR TREK (2009) J.J. Abrams' docudrama about the making of the original Star Trek series, with Chris Pine as William Shatner, Zachary Quinto as Leonard Nimoy, and George Clooney as Gene Roddenberry. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS J.J. Abrams' followup about the early days of ST fandom, how they...

Jainism is supposed to be so non-violent, they aren't even supposed to kill insects by accident. There is a little flexibility for self-defense, but, that non-violence thing seems like something political leaders would like, to discourage insurrections. That's all I had to contribute here.

I shoulda mentioned the Hawaiians, yes, but the white colonialists were mean, greedy, etc., which *almost* goes without saying. The Republic of Delaware is a more likely name. But The United State of America seemed good for a LOL.:D I read that Lenin did offer to give up a lot of claims in...

Which of these microstates could plausibly exist to the present day? First, I want to ask about one which does exist today. San Marino claims it was an independent country in the days of the Roman Empire. I wonder what the Romans would have thought about that claim? Is there any...

Neanderthals, Flores, Denisovans. (The latter supposedly had the same brain capacity of modern humans!) Picts, Navajos, Hopi, Zuni, the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Mound Builders, whoever built Cahokia, the Anasazis. The Guaranis of S. America. Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman...