site banner
PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   1552 thread views

Transnational Thursday for June 13, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I will be visiting Japan for the first time next year to attend Expo 2025 in Osaka. I have previously attended Expo 2010 and Expo 2015. Expo 2010 was one of the largest gatherings of human beings in history. Expo 2025 might become quite crowded if Chinese tourists arrive in significant numbers.

Milan 2015 was good, so was Dubai despite the issues. It’s a shame the US doesn’t do world’s fairs anymore. The US rejoined the bureau of expositions in 2017 so maybe it will happen eventually. I really like them, if anyone reading this hasn’t visited one you should, it’s like Epcot but huge and more real (and more weird).

Curious what your background is.

In English typesetting they always used curly apostrophes. Keyboards only have one key for both single quotes and apostrophes, so straight apostrophes are more common for text on the web.

Word processors and now phones usually correct a straight apostrophe to a curly one.

I've never heard anyone say curly apostrophes are incorrect before. I've only had people get upset for not using ’ in websites.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6711892/right-single-apostrophe-vs-apostrophe

https://cmosshoptalk.com/2019/03/19/smart-apostrophes-cmos-6-117/

Welp. I stand corrected. My background is only ever using English on the internet. Where the straight apostrophe seemed to be the correct one. Now I find out the right-slanted apostrophe is the one typically used in professional publishing.

When I type in my phone's browser the apostrophes are slanted the same way as cimarafa's. Nothing to do about it.

Really? That`s very interesting.

I wonder if Asian tourists will populate the Expo. Probably some. I don't know how many. I think a lot of Chinese come over just to do shopping, and not necessarily much else. (I am making this up; I don't actually know.) Do you have tickets already? I think there will be many, many Japanese there, as it's certainly something heralded locally as a thing to go to.

Japanese tourists have high expectations, but everyone understands what those are and interactions tend to be smooth. The issue with non-Japanese is often not that they are barbaric (though some, of course, are) but it's like a game of Ice Hockey and suddenly a team shows up geared to play tennis, or rugby, or Calvinball. A lot of scrambling and confusion.

Anyway I live on the outside of Osaka, and I pass through the city regularly. Perhaps like ships we will pass in the night. Or afternoon.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats