[conspire] Federales in Portland?

[Ruben Safir]

On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 01:28:11PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):
> 
> > Leif's "problem" is that his discovery was not well known outside of
> > Scandinavia.  And the settlements that followed his exploration didn't
> > last.
> 
> Like a lot of early settlements, the make-or-break factor was
> economics.  Which also apparently doomed the Norse colonies in
> the two settled valleys of Greenland.  Even Iceland and the Faroe
> Islands were ever only barely sustainable.
> 
> To be a settler in the boonies, in those days, was to be at the mercy
> of a very long, very slow, very tenuous supply chain.  
> 
> Also, in the Newfoundland area _and_ in Greenland, the Norse seem to
> have antagonised the native Amerindian population, which was a
> particularly stupid thing to do.  Their arrogant attitude was apparent
> in the name used for the locals, 'Skrælings', which basically means
> 'primitive ones'.
> 
> (Like, dudes, have a little respect for the people who could have taught
> you how to survive there without metalworking.  The Inuit are still
> there and you variously starved to death and had to evacuate in panic,
> so who are the primitives, now?)
> 
> [Columbus:]
> 
> > Actually IMO, he was the world' worst navigator.  He claimed he was
> > halfway around the world from where he actually was.  Can't get much
> > more wrong than that. 
> 
> I've heard claims that he knew perfectly well that his estimate of 
> the distance sailing west to China was low by about half.  The
> correct size of the planet had been known since Hellenistic times,
> courtesy of Eratosthenes of Alexandria.  (You may remember Carl Sagan
> demonstrating how he did it, using elegant logic and measurement of
> shadows.
> 
> Unlike the wanderings of Leif Erikson and the Norse, Eratosthenes's 
> achievements were common knowledge all over Europe, North Africa, the
> Middle-East, and South Asia, and were the best available (and damned
> good, considering he did it in about 240 BC) until better methods were
> found in the 1600s.
> 
> Anyway, it should be remembered that one of Columbus's key skills was as
> a salesman pitching his expensive proposals to the marks.  Today, he'd
> have been a stockbroker.  ;->
> 


Except for one thing.  Have you ever tried to take a Caravel into the
deep ocean with just sales, and no map?

These guys had balls.


> 
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