#History Review

[xtruss]

Why Do the British Drive on the Left? (A History Review)

—Curated By The Collector

The majority of today’s nations today drive on the right side of the road, following the rules of right-hand traffic, or RHT, including the United States, Canada, Russia, and much of Europe. But around one-third of the world’s countries buck the trend with left-hand traffic rules, or LHT. The United Kingdom is one of these nations. In fact, the UK 🇬🇧 has a long history of following LHT that dates way back into British history, perhaps even as far as the ancient Romans. But why do the British drive on the left, rather than following the widespread trend for the opposite? Read on to find out more.

Roman Custom

Emperor Otho on Horseback, from ‘The First Twelve Roman Caesars’, Anotonio Tempesta, 1596, Met Museum

One of the most widely circulated theories about why the British drive on the left dates back to ancient Roman times, even before cars and designated roads existed. Back then, travelers riding on horseback faced the constant threat of invasion or mugging. Because the majority of Roman people were right-handed, riding horses on the left meant their right, dominant hand could be ready to draw out a sword in the event of an unexpected rival riding towards them. History suggests Roman soldiers kept up the tradition in larger groups by always marching to the left. The practice was passed on by subsequent civilizations through the ages.

The Salt Lake Cutoff, Charles Carter photo, via True West Magazine

In other nations, particularly Canada 🇨🇦 and the United States 🇺🇸, meanwhile, goods were often transported on large wagons driven by multiple horses. Drivers would sit on the left, and whip their horse with their right hand. Riding on the right side of the road meant drivers could see oncoming traffic more easily, and avoid whipping anyone who crossed their path. The practice of driving on the right thereby became common practice.

It Was Written into British Law

Portrait of Pope Boniface VIII, who first recorded official British driving rules

The first officially sanctioned rule for driving on the left was enshrined by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300 CE, when he declared that all traveling pilgrims visiting the Roman Empire must remain on the left. In 1773, as British roads became more developed and congested, the government brought in the General Highways Act, which stated that all horse riders, farmers, coachmen and lawless highwaymen must remain on the left side to avoid any nasty collisions, even before cars had been invented. Just over a century later, the 1883 Highway Act wrote British driving rules into law, making it a crime for anyone caught driving on the wrong side, even though no one was riding around with swords on the roads by now.

British Cars Were Designed with Drivers on the Right

The interior of a classic British car showing the driver’s seat on the right side

One of the trickiest aspects of adopting different driving rules from one country to the next is adjusting to driving on the other side of the car. British cars were, and are, designed with the driver’s seat to the right, so that the driver riding on the left side of the road can see the traffic coming ahead in the opposite direction. This is often referred to as right-hand driving (not to be confused with right-hand traffic). By contrast, right-driving nations sit on the left side, thereby partaking in left-hand driving.

The Tradition Has Stuck Because Britain Is an Island

The United Kingdom and Ireland as seen from the air

One of the reasons why British 🇬🇧 people still drive on the left is because they are an island nation, with no neighboring right-hand traffic countries. By contrast, various countries who are neighbors to right-hand traffic nations have adopted their rules to make traveling from one country to the next easier, there was no need for Britain to adopt any changes since it sits as an isolated island. Several of the other left-hand driving nations are also islands, including Australia 🇦🇺, Japan 🇯🇵 and Malta 🇲🇹.

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

people who don't study history will simply never understand the joy of reading historian beef. there's nothing like it

[0thello]

Undine (sculpture), 1904 - 1988.

by Isamu Noguchi.

[oldshowbiz]

December 1988.

The Vancouver Sun reviews a new program called The Kids in the Hall

[olympip]

guys will say things like "death is the mother of beauty" and then not know what tf this is

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A taxonomy of corporate bullshit

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There are six lies that corporations have told since time immemorial, and Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen's new book Corporate Bullsht: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* provides an essential taxonomy of this dirty six:

https://thenewpress.com/books/corporate-bullsht

In his review for The American Prospect, David Dayen summarizes how these six lies "offer a civic-minded, reasonable-sounding justification for positions that in fact are motivated entirely by self-interest":

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-10-27-lies-my-corporation-told-me-hanauer-walsh-cohen-review/

I. Pure denial

As far back as the slave trade, corporate apologists and mouthpieces have led by asserting that true things are false, and vice-versa. In 1837, John Calhoun asserted that "Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." George Fitzhugh called enslaved Africans in America "the freest people in the world."

This tactic never went away. Children sent to work in factories are "perfectly happy." Polluted water is "purer than the water that came from the river before we used it." Poor families "don't really exist." Pesticides don't lead to "illness or death." Climate change is "beneficial." Lead "helps guard your health."

II. Markets can solve problems, governments can't

Alan Greenspan made a career out of blithely asserting that markets self-correct. It was only after the world economy imploded in 2008 that he admitted that his doctrine had a "flaw":

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/greenspan-admits-flaw-to-congress-predicts-more-economic-problems

No matter how serious a problem is, the market will fix it. In 1973, the US Chamber of Commerce railed against safety regulations, because "safety is good business," and could be left to the market. If unsafe products persist in the market, it's because consumers choose to trade safety off "for a lower price tag" (Chamber spox Laurence Kraus). Racism can't be corrected with anti-discrimination laws. It's only when "the market" realizes that racism is bad for business that it will finally be abolished.

III. Consumers and workers are to blame

In 1946, the National Coal Association blamed rampant deaths and maimings in the country's coal-mines on "carelessness on the part of men." In 2003, the National Restaurant Association sang the same tune, condemning nutritional labels because "there are not good or bad foods. There are good and bad diets." Reagan's interior secretary Donald Hodel counseled personal responsibility to address a thinning ozone layer: "people who don’t stand out in the sun—it doesn’t affect them."

IV. Government cures are always worse than the disease

Lee Iacocca called 1970's Clean Air Act "a threat to the entire American economy and to every person in America." Every labor and consumer protection before and since has been damned as a plague on American jobs and prosperity. The incentive to work can't survive Social Security, welfare or unemployment insurance. Minimum wages kill jobs, etc etc.

V. Helping people only hurts them

Medicare will "destroy private initiative for our aged to protect themselves with insurance" (Republican Senator Milward Simpson, 1965). Covid relief is unfair to people that are currently in the workforce" (Republican Governor Brian Kemp, 2021). Welfare produces "learned helplessness."

VI. Everyone who disagrees with me is a socialist

Grover Cleveland's 2% on top incomes is "communistic warfare against rights of property" (NY Tribune, 1895). "Socialized medicine" will leave "our children and our children’s children [asking] what it once was like in America when men were free" (Reagan, 1961).

Everything is "socialism": anti-child labor laws, Social Security, minimum wages, family and medical leave. Even fascism is socialism! In 1938, the National Association of Manufacturers called labor rights "communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism."

As Dayen says, it's refreshing to see how the right hasn't had an original idea in 150 years, and simply relies on repeating the same nonsense with minor updates. Right wing ideological innovation consists of finding new ways to say, "actually, your boss is right."

The left's great curse is object permanence: the ability to remember things, like the fact that it used to be possible for a worker to support a family of five on a single income, or that the economy once experienced decades of growth with a 90%+ top rate of income tax (other things the left manages to remember: the "intelligence community" are sociopathic monsters, not Trump-slaying heroes).

When the business lobby rails against long-overdue antitrust action against Amazon and Google, object permanence puts it all in perspective. The talking points about this being job-destroying socialism are the same warmed-over nonsense used to defend rail-barons and Rockefeller. "If you don't like it, shop elsewhere," has been the corporate apologist's line since slavery times.

As Dayen says, Corporate Bullshit is a "reference book for conservative debating points, in an attempt to rob them of their rhetorical power." It will be out on Halloween:

https://bookshop.org/a/54985/9781620977514

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong

[dressed2k1ll]

Book review: Goddesses, Whores, Wives & Slaves by Sarah B Pomeroy (1975)

10/10

This was impossible to put down. A fascinating and vibrant history of Ancient Greek and Roman Women: from all walks of life, using just about every resource available within art and archaeology and anthropology.

It’s also also very very well researched and informative with a HUGE bibliography and a great index and lots of notes for the nerdy (aka me) who has already highlighted the next set of books to chew on.

Overall she argues (and does so persuasively with a great deal of thought and objectivity) that Roman women seemed to have enjoyed a higher quality of life than the Ancient Greek women because of generally (especially in upper class households) having a more public-facing life, being slightly more protected by the pater familias model of the Roman household, and having slightly more social mobility.

However a shout out goes to the Amazons and their social model for living 🏹🏹🏹

If you’re curious about the roles of women in varying Hellenistic and classical contexts, this is a must-read.

Her final words are so interesting and prescient too: “Serious intellectual thought about women continued: Stoicism, the most popular of the Hellenistic and Roman philosophies, directed women’s energies to marriage and motherhood. The argumentation is brilliant and difficult to refute. And this rationalized confinement of women to the domestic sphere, as well as the systemization of anti-female thought by poets and philosophers, are two of the most devastating creations in the classical legacy” 😢💔

Also, if you’re upset by reading about things like sexual slavery and infanticide, it might not be the book for you.

Overall, it’s staying in my collection and I’ll definitely be referring to it again.

[writerthreads]

Ten must-read books for writers (or anyone, really.)

By Writerthreads on Instagram

Obviously this list is highly subjective and based on my research and personal experience. Please share your favourite books as well!!

1. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Woolf is the queen of the stream of consciousness and a master at diving into characters' inner thoughts, conveying complex emotions, themes and perspective. Her prose is breathtaking, her character memorable.

2. Beloved by Toni Morrison

Morrison tackles difficult themes with poise like no other, diving into topics like grief, trauma, and identity. Read this book to learn how to develop multi-layered narratives whilst maintaining perfect pacing and a intricate narrative structure.

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A masterpiece. Sharp social commentary, eloquent prose and vivid imagery... what more can you want from a book? Every word was chosen for a purpose, and it shows the importance of restraint in writing.

4. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien's legendary fantasy world-building makes his series a staple in fantasy literature. The geography, cultures and histories in his works are well-crafted. Anyone trying to build a complex world can learn from from this series.

5. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Our second Woolf classic in this list! Mrs. Dalloway is a masterclass of a perfect character study. Woolf weaves different viewpoints intricately, capturing the essence of human experience.

6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Austen character development is legendary, showcasing complex, evolving characters like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. The novel’s witty dialogue show insight into personality and societal norms, and her narrative voice and well-structured plot keeps readers hooked to the very end.

7. Never Let Me Go by Kazoo Ishiguro

Ishiguro’s novel presents a quietly devastating exploration of memory, identity, and humanity through a dystopian lens. The subtle, restrained prose and profound emotional impact illustrate how to weave complex themes into a seemingly simple narrative.

8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book made me cry so very hard. The author explored themes like identity and fame, while creating an engaging and multi-layered plot that had me hooked. Reid’s vivid prose showcases techniques for creating emotionally resonant and storytelling that allows readers to feel for the characters.

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Márquez’s masterpiece provides a gorgeous, profound exploration of magical realism. Its intricate narrative and richly imagined world blends fantastical elements with real-world themes into something unique and breathtaking.

10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Brontes exploration of dark themes, framed within a dark and brooding narrative, makes it the quintessential gothic read. It's emotionally intense, complex in structure, and definitely memorable, perfect for any budding writer dabbling in dark academia, modern gothic literature, horror, etc.

And here's my rather shoddy list from a non-English major who reads too much! And Sorry for the lack of accents on the required letters, I haven't figured out how to add them on my laptop. Please give me a general opinion on my book recs and whether they're good, or if you have more suggestions! Lots of love.

[thefangirlphenomenon]

Books are a special kind of poison. They soothe every ache inside of you while making you long for things that don't exist. They make you feel alive while simultaneously making life seem more and more dull with every page you read. Reading makes you feel less alone and yet it creates an ache for companionship - the likes of which you will never know outside of those pages.

Books are a poison I wish I had never drunk, but now that I have - it's the one thing keeping me alive.

[kobzars]

Album “From Ukrainian Antiquity”

Album “From Ukrainian Antiquity”, compiled by Samokish together with Vasylkivsky about the life and history of Hetman Ukraine.

Fighting for political freedom, for the Ukrainian faith, the Cossacks watered every inch of their native land with their blood and sowed with their bones. They created such heroic heroes, which caused contemporaries and cause fair amazement in posterity.

[mikunology]

I normally don't make this kinda post but this is for science. Rb and put in the tags your favorite CLASSIC classic vocaloid songs. like 2007-2012 only

[ghelgheli]

sorry if you've already answered this but i just read your post about whipping girl and found it so so so insightful!! i was wondering if you have any other recommendations for books/articles/etc. about transmisogyny and the lives of tma people. thank you in advance!!

I'm glad it was helpful! this is the second ask on the subject I've let pile up, because I want to do my best with it but I'm also far from an expert. I think half the work of answering "transmisogyny syllabus" questions is explaining why it's so hard to do so in the first place.

one of the tools of hegemony is the epistemic violence it works against its subjects; this is essential to transmisogyny, thru which we have historically been rendered unable to so much as record our existence, let alone theorize from it. it is incredibly difficult for a tma person to access the institutional devices of knowledge-making, most of all the university. even when we do it is typically for the institutions we work under to shoehorn our work into the hegemonic model, stymieing actual progress. so theories and histories of transmisogyny have had to progress in a patchwork, often informal fashion, upstream and at personal risk. I am not going to be able to give you books that I would recommend without criticism, because the epistemic violence of transmisogyny has made it virtually impossible to write such a book. but with that said, here are some recommendations:

- this post multiplied my understanding of transmisogyny manifold, and was one of the most clarifying things I've read on the subject

- hands off our lives, our stories, and our bodies, is imo essential to anyone interested in a theory of transmisogyny that actually engages with its manifestations in the global south

- I enjoyed My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage by Susan Stryker for the vibes

- two historical excavations of transmisogyny: Trans Misogyny in the Colonial Archive: Re-Membering Trans Feminine Life and Death in New Spain, 1604–1821 by Jamey Jesperson and ‘Selective Historians’: The Construction of Cisness in Byzantine and Byzantinist Texts by Ilya Maude

- Romancing the Transgender Native is good for learning the trappings of ahistorical and idealist "third gender" attributions

- especially (but not exclusively) if you are yourself a trans woman/transfem/tma, consider reading fiction by trans women/tma people, like Serious Weakness by Porpentine Charity Heartscape (check tws) or LOTE by Shola von Reinhold

- Jules Gill-Peterson's A Short History of Trans Misogyny is great for some case studies in global transmisogyny, and a decent materialist approach. but I think she makes the same mistake serano made re: equivocation of transmisogyny with the oppression of femininity, and she would have done well to read the second article on this list. her histories of the transgender child is also good, though not especially focussed on transmisogyny

- follow @ bloomfilters on twitter

if this looks like a hodgepodge that's because it is on account of what I said in the first two paragraphs. I am really not an expert and I am sure there are others who could give you much more. but to echo a friend, you may be just as likely to get something out of a game or a song written by a tma person as you are an essay. every medium can be an opportunity to plunge the roots of our theorizing deeper.

[0thello]

The Birth of Venus (painting), 1863.

by Alexander Cabanel.

[samwisethewitch]

Book Review: Freya: Meeting the Norse Goddess of Magic by Morgan Daimler

I just finished a reread of this book and realized I've never talked about it on this blog, even though it ties into a lot of my content.

I've talked about my relationship with Freyja here before. She is the deity I have worked with most consistently in my personal practice, and she's been a strong presence in my life since I was a child. Even before I was interested in witchcraft or paganism, I was drawn to stories and images of Freyja.

Unfortunately, quality books about Freyja are hard to find in English. A lot of the wonderful work being done by Scandinavian scholars and heathens is only available in their native languages. A lot of English-language resources are either very academic and prohibitively expensive, or they are books about goddess worship more generally that only mention Freyja on a few pages. Freyja, Lady, Vanadis: An Introduction to the Goddess by Patricia M. Lafayllve is a pretty good beginner's resource, but it's only available in paperback, which can be a barrier for some readers.

All of this is to say, I was very excited when Morgan Daimler put out this book. I've talked about how much I love Daimler's work before on this blog -- I think they do really great research AND do a really good job of making all that information accessible for a beginner. I have several of Daimler's books on Norse and Irish deities, and all of them are resources I reference often in my practice.

This book follows a similar formula to Daimler's other books on deities, like Odin or the Morrigan. Daimler presents Freyja's mythology, folklore, associations, and relationships. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to Freyja's connection to seiðr, which explains what seiðr is and why it is important in a very straightforward way. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to connecting with Freyja as a modern worshiper.

I like that Daimler includes a section at the end of each chapter about their own experiences with Freyja. I also like that they talk about the importance of actually experiencing the gods and trusting our experiences. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that anything that doesn't match up with primary sources is wrong, and I like that Daimler takes time to shoot down that idea.

I also really like that Daimler does not tell you how to interpret the lore. Daimler presents a story, explains the different ways it could be interpreted, and leaves readers to make their own conclusions. This is a style of teaching I try to use in my own work, and I love seeing it done well here.

If you know next to nothing about Freyja, I think this book is an excellent place to start. Everything you need to make that initial connection is here.

Even as someone who has worked with Freyja for years and done lots of my own research, I found a few things I didn't know here. This book also gave me a new perspective on certain aspects of Freyja's lore. This is why it's always great to compare notes with other people.

If you're interested in connecting with Freyja or just learning more about her, I highly, highly recommend this book!

[mimicofmodes]

I dropped in on the de Young's fashion exhibition a few weeks ago, and finally wrote up my thoughts. Tl;dr: mixed feelings.

[snaileer]

Behold!🤲🏼

The wildest fic I have ever come across.