#1850s New Zealand

[digitalfashionmuseum]

Beige Silk Wedding Dress, 1852, New Zealand.

Worn by Sarah King.

Museum of New Zealand.

[dec0mposing]

J. J. Merrit, Group of Māori Women (1850) Watercolour, pen & ink on paper.

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Mokolaulu

Description: The Mokolaulu, also known as the Mokohuruhuru, are 4ft, hairy lizard seen in New Zealand, first seen by missionaries in the 1850s. A settler allegedly captured one of these lizards, though that same settler was known for making up fantastic yarns. 

[anarchywoofwoof]

imagine the Earth has been keeping a temperature diary since 1850, jotting down how warm or cold it feels each day.

now, fast forward to March 19th this year.

if you average out all the temperature notes from the last 365 days and compare it to what was considered "normal" between 1850 and 1900 (the pre-industrial baseline), we find that the Earth felt 1.57 degrees Celsius (about 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it used to back then.

the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) has set a "safe" warming threshold at 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. this threshold was established to avoid some of the most severe effects on ecosystems, human health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, and economic growth. the goal is to keep global temperature rise in this century well below 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees celsius.

the recent measurement of the 365-day running mean global surface temperature reaching 1.57°c above the pre-industrial baseline indicates that we have surpassed this 1.5°c threshold, albeit in the context of a running mean and not yet as a long-term average. this means we are already in the zone where the risks of more significant impacts from climate change become higher, according to IPCC guidelines.

in New Zealand, over 3,500 eels were found dead in a stream.

the gray whale dieoff on the west coast of america has been declared "over," but has been attributed to malnutrition

sea lions and dolphins have also been washing up on the west coast with increasing regularity

over 150 amazon river dolphins died in october during a drought and heatwave in south america

salmon farm dieoffs are increasing exponentially across the globe

sawfish are spinning in circles, acting bizarre and in some cases, dying, in the waters off the florida keys

scientists have declared the world is on the verge of "historic levels of coral bleaching"

climate change is causing the world's trees to struggle to breathe

but oil executives continue their hubris:

how much more do we need to see??? our natural world is not dying. it is being killed. and we know who is responsible for the murder.

[focsle]

have you written anything about tattoos? is that relevant? don't know how your niche lines up with generic "sailor" tradition, but wikipedia simply says on knuckle tats that deckhands may get "HOLD / FAST" as a charm to support their grip on rigging, and i thought that was kind of cute.

I haven't written anything myself, mostly cos if you throw a stick out in the internet you'll find any number of articles about the symbolism of sailor tattoos, like hold fast and pigs and roosters and swallows and all that!

In my narrow window (the middle decades of the 19th century), I don't see tattoos mentioned all too often, compared to late 19th and throughout the 20th century where they became more common. For instance, this register of seaman's protection certificates (which are admittedly limited in the scope of things, since they're only from a few specific ports) from 1796-1871 rarely list tattoos as distinguishing marks, beyond the odd mention of being marked with an inked anchor, eagle, or letters here or there. Here's a neat jstor article (if you have any more of your 100 free monthly articles to read with a google account) that goes into late 18th-early 19th c tattoos that has some tables and visuals. The research was also done using seaman's protection certificates, with the following stat:

"The SPC-A records start in 1796 and include tattooed men born as early as 1746. There were 979 tattooed men out of a total of 9,772 men whose records survive from 1796 through 1818.26 These men were marked with a total of about 2,354 separate designs."

So, not a large number, but also 10% isn't insignificant. The protection certificates while a reliable source, also only describe the man in one specific moment. I'm sure a few of those men who just have their moles and scars and crooked fingers listed eventually picked up a tattoo or two in their time. Most journal keepers perhaps didn't think it important to mention who had tattoos or what of, though the typical motifs of anchors, nautical stars, girls, religious & patriotic imagery, etc. were certainly a part of the visual language at this point. Whaler William Abbe who sailed in the 1850s, devoted considerable attention to describing the physical appearance of some of his shipmates. In one instance, he wrote about the tattoos of one 'Johnny Come Lately' or 'Jack Marlinspike' (Real name, John Hewes of Buffalo NY)

'from beneath this cap his face looms out - while beneath supporting his comical head is a bare neck and breast — hairy + brown —the upper timbers to a stout hull of a boat that boast a pair of arms all covered with India ink tattooings — the figure of American Liberty — Christ on the cross — an American Tar holding a star spangled banner in one hand + a coil of rope in the other — a fancy girl — + anchors, rings, crosses, knots, stars all over his wrists + hands — the memorials of different ports he has visited — for Jack has been in all kinds of vessels from a man of war to a blubber hunter — + has consequently been to many ports.'

From the logbook of another whaler who sailed in the early 1840s, James Moore Ritchie, he had a page of his drawings with prices included. This potentially may have been a tattoo flash sheet for his shipmates:

American whalers also noted the tattoos of indigenous people who had signed on to whaling vessels, particularly in the South Pacific. William B. Whitecar, whaling in the 1850s wrote: "Several New Zealanders in the respective crews of these vessels attracted my attention from the tattooing on their bodies" making mention of "figures on their face and breast".

I'm too sleepy to have a conclusion lol. Tattoos! They existed! Though perhaps not as ubiquitously as the pop culture sailor designs would imply, at least prior to the late 19th c.

[djuvlipen]

MYTH: The Nordic Model is more dangerous for sex workers than decriminalisation

There is a vocal campaign for “decriminalisation of sex work”. By “decriminalisation” campaigners don’t just mean that selling sex is decriminalised, but so is buying sex, brothel keeping, pimping, and advertising prostitution. They want prostitution to be treated just like any other job and claim that this makes “sex workers” safer – and that the Nordic Model is more dangerous for “sex workers”.

For example, the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) claims that the Nordic Model, “undermines sex workers’ safety” and is more dangerous than full decriminalisation. A number of other organisations make the same or similar claims, often quoting studies that purport to back up these claims – although many of the studies that we have looked at appear to have multiple flaws.[*]

The Nordic Model is based on the understanding that nothing can make prostitution safe and so it aims to reduce the size of the industry. It has several planks: It decriminalises selling sex and provides support, routes out and genuine alternatives to those caught up in the industry; it makes buying sex a criminal offence – with the aim of changing men’s behaviour; and it has strong laws against pimping, brothel keeping, sex trafficking, and advertising prostitution.

It is well known that male violence against women and girls (VAWG) is generally under-reported to the police, and that this is particularly true for the endemic violence that men perpetrate against women and girls involved in prostitution. Levels of reporting of these crimes are affected by changes in education and awareness, how well victims expect their complaints to be dealt with, and how prostitution is understood by the authorities. These and other issues make it difficult to compare rates of violence against women involved in prostitution between countries with any accuracy.

This is why the homicide data is of particular interest – a dead body that has met a violent end is an unarguable fact.

Therefore to test the claim that the Nordic Model is more dangerous for “sex workers” than full decriminalisation, we looked in detail at the homicide data for women involved in prostitution whose murders were related to their prostitution. This data is collected and collated by German social scientists who run the Sex Industry Kills project (the website is temporarily down for maintenance).

If the claim is true that the Nordic Model is more dangerous than decriminalisation, we would expect to see higher rates of homicide of women involved in prostitution in countries that have implemented the Nordic Model and lower rates in countries that have implemented full decriminalisation – or legalisation, which is similar.

In fact the data shows the exact opposite as we will demonstrate.

We chose Sweden, Norway and France as examples of the Nordic Model, and New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands as examples of full decriminalisation and legalisation.

Comparing the data across these countries for the years that the various legislative approaches were in force is complex. There is considerable variation in when the legislation in question was introduced. For example, the Nordic Model was introduced in Sweden in 1999, in Norway in 2010, and in France in 2016. Full decriminalisation was introduced in New Zealand in 2003. The legalised approach was introduced in 2000 in the Netherlands. Legal brothels have existed in Germany since the 14th century and its red-light districts as we know them today were established in the 1850s. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that pimping was legalised in Germany – so we have used that as the start date.

There is also considerable variation in the size and populations of these countries – ranging from New Zealand with a population of only about 5 million to Germany with a population of about 84 million.

This shows a lower homicide rate in the Nordic Model countries and none at all in Sweden. (There was a murder of a prostituted woman and another of a prostituted transwoman in Sweden during this time. We have not included these murders because they were not directly tied to their prostitution.)

This leaves no doubt that the rate of homicide of women involved in prostitution is significantly higher in fully decriminalised New Zealand and legalised Germany and the Netherlands than in the Nordic Model countries of Sweden, Norway and France.

This shows that the claim that the Nordic Model is more dangerous for women involved in prostitution is false.

Rather, this is evidence that the more prostitution there is, the more women will be harmed in it – sometimes fatally. All the evidence suggests that legalising or decriminalising the entire industry leads to an increase in its size. Therefore policy and legislation should aim to reduce the size of the industry.

We do not claim that the Nordic Model is safer – because we do not believe that anything can make prostitution safe.

The Nordic Model aims to change men’s behaviour, prevent new women and girls being drawn into the industry, while providing women (and others) caught up in it with routes out and viable alternatives so that the prostitution industry reduces in size. The homicide data suggests that when well implemented, this approach does reduce the overall size of the industry and therefore the overall amount of harm to women involved.

Prostitution – the most dangerous occupation of all

We need to bear in mind that these numbers are likely to be an underestimate, because many women involved in prostitution are isolated and are not reported if they disappear and few countries keep accurate records of this data. The Sex Industry Kills team works hard to gather data from a variety of sources, including official statistics (where available) and media reports.

Many women who have been involved in prostitution – whether on the street or in brothels – for any length of time say that several women they knew disappeared suddenly and they always wondered what had happened to them and often suspected they had been murdered. Not least because they feared that they themselves would be murdered every single day that they were in prostitution.

Just as in other forms of male violence against women and girls, for each murder there are typically many other women and girls who are violently abused and attacked. The Sex Industry Kills team is aware of 64 attempted murders of prostituted women in Germany during the time frame we are looking at.

Research in the United States found that punters perpetrate a large proportion of the lethal and non-lethal violence perpetrated against women involved in prostitution and that prostitution is the most dangerous occupational environment of all in the United States.

We do not accept that any woman should be facing these odds – particularly as prostitution serves no essential role – unless you consider the subordination of women and the shoring up of male supremacy as essential.

This is why we campaign for the Nordic Model and against full decriminalisation.

Appendix: Raw data

The charts in this article are based on the data in the following table.

Source: Sex Industry Kills project and United Nations Population Division

The Female Population column shows the average total female population for the years the legislation was enforced, not the female population in 2023 alone. For example, for New Zealand, it shows the average female population for the years 2003 -2022. This is used in the bar chart that shows the average annual rate of homicide.

Further reading

Remembering the women who didn’t survive prostitution

‘Decriminalisation of the sex trade vs. the Nordic Model: What you need to know’

FACT: Prostitution is inherently violent

  [*] For example, see:

MYTH: The Nordic Model hinders the global fight against HIV

MYTH: Amnesty’s research in Norway has proved the Nordic Model is harmful to “sex workers”

Response to the Queen’s University Belfast review of the operation of Northern Ireland’s sex buyer law

Critique of the Médecins du Monde study into the Nordic Model law in France

Do prostitution laws in Europe affect the incidence of rape? – Analysis of a recent study

This page was first published on 25 August 2023.

[actual-god]

Dear God, How do I keep from killing myself. Should I just come join you? Amen or whatever.

Call this number, dependent on where you live:

United States

Canada

Argentina 23-930-430 Armenia 2-538-194 or 2-538-197

Australia 1-800-198-313 Kids Help Line: 1-800-55-1800 Lifeline: 13-1114 Perth: (08) 9381 5555 Perth Youthline: (08) 9388 2500 Sydney: (02) 9833 2133 Launceston: (03) 6331 3355 Tasmanian callers outside Launceston: 1300 364 566

Austria 01-713-3374 Barbados 429-9999 Brazil 21-233-9191 China 852-2382-0000 Costa Rica 506-253-5439 Cyprus 0-777-267 Denmark 70-201-201 Egypt 762-1602 Estonia 6-558-088 Finland 040-5032199 France 01-45-39-4000 Germany 0800-1110-111 Guatemala 502-254-1259 Holland 0900-0767 Honduras 504-237-3623 Hong Kong 2896-0000 Hungary 62-420-111 India 91-22-307-3451 Israel 1201 (from inside the country) 972-9-889-1333(from outside the country) Italy 06-7045-4444 Ireland 1850-60-90-90 Japan 3-5286-9090 Lithuania 8-800-2-8888 Malaysia 03-756-8144 Mauritius 46-48-889 or 800-93-93 Mexico 525-510-2550 New Zealand 4-47-9739 Nicaragua 505-268-6171 Norway 815-33-300 Poland 52-70-000 Portugal 239-72-10-10 Russia 8-20-222-82-10 Singapore 1-800-221-4444 South Africa 0800-567-567 051-448-3000 South Korea 2-715-8600 Spain 91-459-00-50 Sri Lanka 1-692-909 St. Vincent 809-456-1044 Sweden 031-711-2400 Switzerland 143 Thailand 02-249-9977 Trinidad & Tobago 868-645-2800 Ukraine 0487-327715 / 0482 226565 United Kingdom 08457-90-90-0 ChildLine -- for children and teens 0800-1111

Yugoslavia 021-623-393

Zimbawe 9-650-00 (Bulawayo) 4-726-468 0r 722-000 (Harare) 20-635-59 (Mutare)

I'll be happy to see you, when it's your time to get here. But right now you have so much more to do. Don't rush it.

[scotianostra]

January 26th marks Australia Day.

Scots played many key parts in the story of Australia, we were convicts, soldiers and governors; orphans, free settlers and gold hunters; bushrangers, merchants and immigrants.

Although it is sometimes said of nineteenth-century Sydney that it was an English city, in contrast with the more Scottish city of Melbourne, people of Scottish origin have played important roles in the development and life of Sydney. They have been there from the very beginning.

For hundreds of years Scots have packed up their families and their belongings and sailed to Australia to start a new life.

When Australia needed workers between 1832 and 1850 about 16,000 Scots became ‘assisted immigrants’. They boarded chartered ships, like the 50-ton ship Stirling Castle, chartered from Alan Kerr and Company, Greenock, alongside skilled stonemasons, engineers, carpenters, blacksmiths and even professors. In the same period more than 20,000 Scots travelled to Australia as unassisted immigrants.

The majority of Scottish emigrants were from the Lowlands but around 10,000 Highlanders boarded chartered ships to Australia between 1837 and 1852.

The 20th century continued to see Scots migrate to Australia. In the 1920s Scots stonemasons helped to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Scots miners from Lanarkshire, Fife and Ayrshire worked in coal mines in New South Wales in the '20s and '30s. In 1929 Alexander MacRae, originally from Loch Kishorn in the Highlands, first produced the famous Australian swimming ‘cossie’ - Speedos.

In 1930 MacRobertson Chocolates created Freddo Frog. Macpherson Robertson, the founder of ‘Mac Robertson Steam Confectionery Works’ that later became simply MacRobertson Chocolates, was the son of a Scottish carpenter. He spent many of his early years in Leith and became an apprentice at a confectionery company. When his family moved back to Melbourne he started making sweets in his mother’s bathroom.

Robertson became a great philanthropist as well as a hugely successful chocolate maker. He sponsored the MacRobertson Air Race from London to Melbourne, and financed a combined British, Australian and New Zealand expedition to the Antarctic. A part of the Antarctic was named ‘Mac Robertson Land’ in his honour.

Today Freddo Frog is the most popular children’s chocolate in Australia.

After the Second World War thousands of Britons set sail for Australia. Between 1947 and 1981 more than a million Britons took advantage of an assisted passage scheme introduced by the Australian Government. Around 170,000 Scots left the country of their birth to become ‘Ten Pound Poms’ and start a new life Down Under.

During the past 24 hours there have been protests in Australia as part of a campaign to move Australia day to a date more fitting to the indigenous people of the country, names they give to January 26th include Survival Day, Invasion Day, Day of Mourning.

Gammeya Dharawal man, Jacob Morris, said there isn’t one emotion that fully captures the day.

"It's a day of teaching. It's a day of celebrating as well. We're not up there celebrating the Union Jack, we're celebrating us," he says.

But the day also reminds Jacob of the treatment of First Nations people throughout history.

"Anger … that is still what is felt today and that comes from the sadness, trauma and the hurt," he said.

[mareislandfoundation]

A Legacy

It is in the heart of the first United States naval base on the Pacific Ocean and it stands on the same foundation as the original commandant’s mansion. The first mansion was the home of one of the most famous naval officers in US history, Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, and it was destroyed in the Mare Island earthquake of 1898. Today’s mansion still stands on that original foundation, but much has changed from the days when that first mansion was constructed in the 1850’s. The mansion has transitioned from outdoor to indoor plumbing, oil lamps to electric lighting, carriage houses to garages etc. Of course, most of those changes were the result of the labors of public works employees or contractors, but the 10,340 bricks that constitute the walkways that meander through the spacious gardens were the work of one man who happened to command the naval base.

Vice Admiral Lowry was a man of small stature, but he was also a highly decorated naval officer who saw service in both World Wars. He was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service as Commanding Officer of the Heavy Cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36), during operations at the battle of the Coral Sea only 5 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Following that attack Japanese forces had been rolling nearly unopposed across the Pacific. Then on 7 and 8 May 1942 his ship inflicted considerable damage on the Japanese and rendered vital protection to the US aircraft carrier USS Lexington to which it was assigned. The Battle of the Coral Sea was important as it was the first pure carrier-versus-carrier battle in history as neither surface fleet sighted the other. Though a draw, it was an important turning point in the war in the Pacific because, for the first time, the Allies had stopped the Japanese advance and lines of communication to Australia and New Zealand were kept open.

Admiral Lowry later commanded the invasions on the other side of the world at Salerno and Anzio (Italy). Lowry's Task Force 81 contained over 250 combat-loaded vessels and amphibious assault craft of all sizes and descriptions. Admiral Lowry also commanded the 74 vessels of Task Force X-Ray, assigned to see American forces safely ashore and to support their beachhead operations at Anzio. With the war ended, Admiral Lowry was soon put in command of Mare Island Naval Shipyard where he indulged one of his great passions, gardening. Admiral Lowry commanded Mare Island for 2 ½ years from 1947 to 1950 and during that time he constructed all the brick pathways that interlace the gardens behind the mansion.

Dennis Kelly

[drhoz]

#2301 - Orocrambus vittellus - Common Grass Moth

A Crambid endemic to most of New Zealand, first described by English entomologist and ornithologist Henry Doubleday in 1843. He was also the author of the first catalogue of British butterflies and moths, Synonymic List of the British Lepidoptera (1847–1850), and other species named by him include the pigmy footman, Ashworth's rustic and the marsh oblique-barred.

There's roughly 50 other Orocrambus species, all native to New Zealand. This one is most common in grasslands, where the larvae feed on Agrostis tenuis and probably other grasses.

Horopito, North Island Volcanic Plateau, New Zealand

[honeydewcorporation]

Fun facts!

There are just over 6,000 species of hummingbirds!

Because of some obscure case law from the 1850s, in Washington state, you can go to jail for up to 20 years if you lose your house to a forest fire.

The color that most wall to wall carpeting averages out to is called "Scrantham Blue."

Scientists believe they've found two halves of a dinosaur fossil on the eastern coast of South America and the west coast of Africa separated by continental drift.

Initial designs for the microwave oven were top-loaded and included a spring-based ejection mechanism much like that of a toaster. For obvious reasons, this was later discarded.

Our solar system is being flung out of the Milky Way galaxy and will officially leave in 350 billion years.

As of 2018, Mt Everest is considered the third tallest mountain on Earth, with second place being Mt Taliann in New Zealand and first place being Mt Iconogua in Chile.

99% of the data stored on the internet is located in one server room.

The Atlantic ocean is deep enough to completely submerge Pluto

Female seahorses are the fastest aquatic animal in the world. In a life or death situation, they can expel all of the fluid in their body from their mouth, propelling themselves backwards at over half the speed of sound for a few milliseconds.

If you printed out the longest possible word document, it would be able to wrap around the sun twice.

The FDA officially classifies Cheez-it crackers as cookies because of their sugar content.

The Wright Brothers patented a kite-propelled plow design that never really took off.

[clove-pinks]

Prince Alfred in his Royal Navy midshipman's uniform, c. 1860. He joined the navy at the age of 12 in 1856 (RCT).

After their initial training, Royal Navy cadets of the 1850s and 1860s transferred to the Fleet for at least four years before being able to sit for the exam for lieutenant. Although many would serve on large ships close to home (which were more likely to have a naval instructor aboard), imperialism and global ambitions of the metropole meant that midshipmen could see action:

The China and Far East station, even after the ending of the Second China War in 1860, was a major employer of manpower absorbing over 40 vessels and in excess of 6,000 men over the following decade. The Civil War diverted ships and men on the North American station and trade protection and anti slavery patrols kept at least 15 ships and about 2,000 men employed off the coast of West Africa. Most vessels here were relatively small, shallow draft gun boats under junior command and unlikely to carry cadets or midshipmen by scheme of complement, but they frequently employed them on loan from larger vessels. Thus in the late 1850s and 1860s many 15- and 16-year-old boys received a baptism of fire in small craft up rivers and inside reefs, with expeditionary brigades ashore in China, India, New Zealand or off the coast of Japan. Admiral Sir John Fisher, a future First Sea Lord, saw action as a youngster in 1859, witnessing the death of Midshipman Herbert and the wounding of Midshipman Powlett and Armytage in the failed attack on the Peilo [sic] forts. ... The small wars and policing duties of the era provided early active service for very young officers, many of whom demonstrated considerable devotion to the navy they had so recently joined.

— Harry W. Dickinson, Educating the Royal Navy: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Education for Officers

Attack and capture of the Forts at the Entrance of the River Pei-ho, China, on the 20th May 1858. By the Allied British and French Gun Boats and Boats of the Squadron in the Gulf of Pechili, print made 1858 (NMM collection).

[miniaturetalecrown]

Hetalia Character Profiles - Germany

Character’s Name: Germany. Friedrich Ludwig Heinrich von Beilschmidt (1815-1918), Friedrich Ludwig Heinrich Beilschmidt (1918-1945), Ludwig Beilschmidt (1945-present). Lutz (by Gilbert, Alfred, and Jake), Lud (also by Alfred and Jake), Luddie (by Rachel and Feliciano), and Luddie-Bear (also by Rachel).

Age: Human - Baby, toddler, and child (1815-1880), Teenager (1880-1918), Appears as 18 by 1919. Nation - 209.

Height: 6”3 (190cm).

Physical Description: Tall, Ludwig also towers above both his parents, Gilbert (Prussia) and Marijana (Slovenia), his Uncle Roderich (Austria), his Uncle Sebastian (Switzerland), his Aunt Erzsébet (Hungary), and his older cousin Elise (Liechtenstein). Ludwig is well-built and has superhuman strength.

Eye Colour: Bright blue.

Hair Colour/Style: Short blond straight hair, which is slicked back during the day. At night and when swimming, Ludwig has his hair down.

Other Physical Traits: As Ludwig is short-sighted, he needs to wear glasses/contact lenses. Ludwig wears his silver-framed glasses when he’s in meetings and at formal events. The rest of the time, Ludwig wears contacts.

Personal Appearance/Style: Ludwig wears mostly black, reds, blues, greens, and white. Ludwig’s wardrobe is full of t-shirts, tank tops, blue jeans, business suits, and workout clothes.

Verbal Style: Ludwig mostly speaks Standard German but can also speak Bavarian German. Ludwig is also fluent in English, and his German accent isn’t noticeable.

Education: Ludwig was educated with Elise by Marijana and Erzsébet, who would take turns to teach Ludwig and Elise. Ludwig was given military training by Gilbert as a young teenager. Ludwig gained his degree in Philosophy, which he earned in 1924.

Occupation: Diplomat. Ludwig also helps out at dog kennels in his spare time.

Past Occupations: A military officer during both world wars and a fighter pilot during the Second World War.

Skills, Abilities or Talents: Ludwig is a talented athlete, especially when it comes to football. Ludwig was taught to play piano, violin, and the flute as a child by Roderich (piano and violin) and Gilbert (flute). Ludwig still plays piano and taught himself to play the guitar in the 1950s.

Positive Personality Treats: Intelligent, an animal lover, helpful, and athletic.

Negative Personality Traits: Stubborn like Gilbert, serious, and grumpy.

Sense of Humour: Witty and sarcastic.

Physical/Mental Illnesses or Afflictions: Ludwig experienced PTSD after the First World War and was later made worse after the Second World War. Ludwig has an emotional support dog, Aster, to help calm him down after his PTSD is triggered. Ludwig is also supported by Rachel (New Zealand), and she makes sure that he won’t get triggered.

Hobbies/Interests: Playing football, playing piano, playing guitar, skiing, jogging, and walking his three dogs - Aster, Berlitz, and Blackie.

Favourite Foods: Chocolate cake, wurst, and potatoes.

Most Important Personal Items: His silver wedding band, his collection of books, and his and Rachel’s wedding pictures.

Person/Friend Close to Character: Ludwig is closest to his wife and best friend, Rachel. They’ve been together since 1895 and have known each other since the 1850s when they met as toddlers. In 1987, after Rachel’s independence from the British Empire, Ludwig proposed to Rachel on a beach in New Zealand, and in 1990 the couple would get married with both their families and friends present. Rachel often has to force Ludwig to stop working and to come to bed.

Background: Ludwig was born on the 8th of June 1815 and was raised by Gilbert and Marijana. Ludwig is an only child, but Elise is like an older sister. Roderich and Erzsébet used to help with Ludwig. Ludwig and Elise grew up together thanks to Gilbert and Roderich both being in the German Confederation together until the 1860s. In the 1890s, Ludwig came out as bisexual to Gilbert and Marijana, who were both supportive.

[ausetkmt]

The Spectator: The fact that collapses the case for slavery reparations

The case for slavery reparations seems to be growing louder every day. This week, indigenous representatives from 12 Commonwealth countries called on King Charles to begin the process of paying reparations. The King has personally expressed sorrow for the suffering of slaves and Buckingham Palace has said that it is taking the issue of reparations ‘profoundly seriously’. Earlier this year, a former BBC journalist committed to sending £100,000 in aid to the Caribbean to atone for her own family’s historical links to the slave trade.  

The voluntary role that many Africans played in the transatlantic slave trade is ignored

The central thesis of slavery reparations is that white majority countries owe money to ethnic minorities as their ancestors may have enslaved others or benefited from a slave-system economy. 

There is a problem with this though: ultimately, the great evil of slavery was practised by all inhabited continents and all races. And there will be almost no one alive today in the world who doesn’t have an ancestral link to the slave trade. This fact collapses the modern-day reparations argument.  

Take the Afro-Omani slave trader Tippu Tip, who in 1895 was reported to have seven plantations and own 10,000 slaves. He was one of the largest slavers in all of East Africa.  

Most popular

The sad truth about Phillip Schofield

Long before the transatlantic slave trade began, slavery was commonplace in many parts of the globe. As Al-Tabari, the Muslim scholar, showed in the mid-ninth century, the Basra port at al-Ahwaz alone had about 15,000 enslaved workers. Even in New Zealand, Maori chiefs enslaved prisoners of war – occasionally going as far as eating them in tribal feasts. The further you go back in history the longer the list of slavers grows, including everyone from the Ancient Egyptians to the Shang dynasty in China.  

Given that many of the nations now calling for reparations also enslaved and sold others, the reparations argument when brought to its logical conclusion would have to demand that descendants of African slavers owe reparations to those who may have been the victims of slavery.  

This argument could even be applied to the white descendants of the victims of the Barbary slave trade. Though undoubtedly far smaller than the transatlantic slave trade, the Barbary trade still saw over one million Europeans captured by North African pirates in slave raids between the 16th and 18th centuries.  

So why is this devastating blow to the reparations argument often ignored? Politically, it seems that although we generally accept that slavery was universal in ancient history, we often pretend that only European powers practised slavery from the 16th century onwards, when this is clearly not the case. Meanwhile, the voluntary role that many Africans played in the transatlantic slave trade is also ignored.  

Generally the European powers, with the exception of Portugal, lacked the resources to delve deep into the African continent for slaves. They were instead met at the coast by willing traders looking to make a profit by selling their fellow man. Though it is undoubtedly true that the rise of the transatlantic trade encouraged the growth of African slavers, this does not excuse those who took part in the trade.  

Nor did slavery end in Africa when European colonialists were removed from the continent. When the Portuguese were forced off the East African Coast in 1699 by the Imam of the Omani Empire, he himself owned about 1,700 slaves.  

The same is true for colonies outside Africa. In the early 1820s, Brazil broke away from the Portuguese Empire. Despite its later anti-slavery treaties with the UK, Brazil would continue importing about 750,000 slaves between 1831-1850. In 1844 it refused to renew the Anglo-Brazilian anti-slave trade agreement. Brazil’s slave trade only effectively stopped after 1850 when the UK formed a naval blockade in its coastal waters. 

During the age of abolition led by Britain, the King of Dahomey (a West African Kingdom in modern day Benin) reportedly protested to a British officer that:  

‘The slave trade has been the ruling principle of my people. It is the source of their glory and wealth. Their songs celebrate their victories and the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery.’ 

Some independent African nations and empires continued to allow slavery well after abolitionism in Europe. This was especially true in the eastern side of Africa where it was more difficult for the British to influence local politics and for the Royal Navy to enforce abolition.  

From the 1860s onwards, Bemba chiefs in North-Eastern Zambia traded ivory and slaves for guns. As the supply of elephants for ivory depleted, the chiefs moved to selling even more slaves. In Barotseland, the monarch Lewanika was considered king of the Barotses, a South African ethnic group. From the beginning of his reign in 1878 until the region became a British protectorate, oral sources claim that up to a third of his subjects were slaves.  

There is no question that the Euro-American trade in slaves – which began with Portugal and later included other colonial powers like France and Britain – was huge in size. This evil should never be forgotten.  

But neither should we forget that people from all parts of the world, races and religions took part in what was one of the most horrid systems in human history.  

In many parts of the world today, slavery is still rife. Rather than trying to create division by blaming people for the sins of their ancestors, we should instead come together to try and solve the problems we face today. 

[marilynlennon]

Simon Winchester

From the bestselling author Simon Winchester, a human history of land around the world: who mapped it, owned it, stole it, cared for it, fought for it and gave it back.

In 1889, thousands of hopeful people raced southward from the Kansas state line and westward from the Arkansas boundary to stake claims on the thousands of acres of unclaimed pastures and meadows. Across the twentieth century, water was dammed and drained in Holland so that a new province, Flevoland, rose up, unchartered and requiring new thinking. In 1850, California legislated the theft of land from Native Americans. An apology came in 2019 from the governor, but what of the call for reparations or return? What of government confiscation of land in India, or questions of fairness when it comes to New Zealand’s Maori population and the legacy of settlers?

The ownership of land has always been complicated, opaque, and more than a little anarchic when viewed from the outside. In this book, Simon Winchester explores the the stewardship of land, the ways it is delineated and changes hands, the great disputes, and the questions of restoration – particularly in the light of climate change and colonialist reparation.

A global study, this is an exquisite exploration of what the ownership of land might really mean – not in dry-as-dust legal terms, but for the people who live on it.

[deargodsno]

New Zealand is facing a demographic crisis. Gods know how this is going to affect the upcoming elections.