Humanities desk
< May 5	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 7 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 6[edit]

Under Hawaiian Skies[edit]

Can someone help me find a scholarly review of "Under Hawaiian Skies" (also exist as a second larger edition) which speaks about influences and history behind how the book was written? Thanks.--KAVEBEAR (talk) 00:45, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The author also wrote The rulers of Hawaii: the chiefs and chiefesses, their palaces, monuments, portraits and tombs, (1927) and History of Iolani palace (ca. 1920s; no publishing date given), if that helps. DOR (HK) (talk) 10:26, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Still need a scholarly review. I know who the author Albert Pierce Taylor is and know is other works too. I just want to know what other individuals thought of this book; all I can find is it listed in other books reference sections. --KAVEBEAR (talk) 05:37, 9 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Opposition to the Second Boer War[edit]

Why was the British Empire's role in the Second Boer War viewed so negatively by the contemporary public opinion of other European countries and the United States? I find such reactions strange since those nations have also been engaging in imperialism and colonialism especially in Africa in the decades leading up to the events of the conflict in addition to having waged multiple wars of aggression against each other for a long time. Might this be an example of the white supremacist or nationalist attitudes prevalent at the time period? 70.95.44.93 (talk) 09:23, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought notes that the Afrikaners had plenty of sympathy in the Netherlands, both popular and high-up (the Queen sought the German Emperor's good offices in negotiating in favor of them), but as it's been years since I read the book, I can't tell you where that's found. If I remember rightly, the reason there was the Dutch history of the ZAR and the OVS, not something that would likewise attract the sympathy of many other nations. I can offer what's probably a solid speculation for other countries, but this is a reference desk, not a speculation desk. Nyttend (talk) 10:15, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

(Those are the Zuid-Afrikaanshe Republiek and the Oranje Vrystaat, if anyone's wondering). Rojomoke (talk) 12:47, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Racism. Massacres of natives were just dandy as far as Europeans were concerned, as in the case of the Mau Mau, but treating the Dutch Boers the same way was completely unacceptable. StuRat (talk) 20:05, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This is apparently the "Nazi Troll" although his posts are usually removed so quickly I am not sure of his geolocation--revert me if I'm wrong. μηδείς (talk) 01:33, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I see no evidence of the Nazi troll. I would remove post myself if I thought it was that. StuRat (talk) 02:16, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Today regarded as a vicious Nazi propaganda, the 1941 film Ohm Krüger (Uncle Kruger) attacks the British treatment of the Boers. In the film, Krüger's son, who has pro-British sentiments due to his Oxford education, visits a concentration camp to find his wife. He is caught and hanged, with his wife watching. When the women respond in anger, they are massacred. Krüger then prophesies the destruction of Britain by major world powers, which will make the world a better place to live in. Blooteuth (talk) 12:22, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The International Impact of the Boer War by Keith M. Wilson makes some points:

1) Germany and the UK were rivals in the colonisation of Africa. The UK had effectively halted German expansion in southern Africa by confirming Portuguese claims in Mozambique.

2) It suited the hawks in the German administration to portray the UK as an aggressor, in order to get domestic arms funding approved.

3) Austria-Hungary in contrast, remained critical of the Boers in an effort to keep the UK onside in their struggles with Russia over the Balkans. Alansplodge (talk) 18:04, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but none of this means that their treatment of the Boer civilians wasn't brutal. StuRat (talk) 16:05, 8 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Are there parts of the world where land is sometimes sold in circles?[edit]

Are there any not in those circular irrigation areas? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 16:07, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Public Land Commission sold off or granted legal title to square plots of land to new settlers. Often this land was semi-dessert. Some of those land owners where fortunate enough to find that the was an aquifer of good water below them. Hence they could employ those rotary irrigation booms that you refer to. But the plots themselves are square – just as the Public Land Commission surveyor originally laid them out. P.S. Didn't you learn all this in skool ? Aspro (talk) 16:53, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

P.P.S. Didn't you learn that dessert is something you eat? :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:04, 6 May 2017 (UTC) [reply]

semi-dessert is for truckers only (if they finish their vegetables). ;) —107.15.152.93 (talk) 20:39, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Well I thought the circular irrigation areas might be too easy since all it'd take would be a legal system that allows farmers to split up their squares into the circle and the corners and sell the corners to oil companies or mineral speculators or God knows who else. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:05, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There's plenty of other things to do with those areas, like roads, grain silos, storage sheds, barns, parking areas for farm equipment, etc. StuRat (talk) 20:01, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

One cannot divide land area into contiguous circles -- hex regions, however, would work well. -107.15.152.93 (talk) 20:44, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Circles and concave diamonds would work though. Or a dude could just decide to sell a circular part of his land (if that's even allowed, I am not a lawyer) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 20:59, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Rather than sell it, it might be easier to rent it, as was done to sharecroppers. StuRat (talk) 21:11, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

One could google cicular plot for sale. μηδείς (talk) 22:26, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

But why? We are not interested in plots along Circular Road, or Circular Avenue, or circular Norte. And not even in the circular-plot method for estimating wildlife. ;-) --Stephan Schulz (talk) 05:49, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There are thousands of mini-roundabouts in domestic clusters which are located at the end of the secondary access roads. In such cases the adjacent plots (generally single family dwellings) have a curved front whilst the local council is the owner of the public roads including the circular turning area plus any pedestrian walkway. Sorry, no references. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 11:21, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Cul-de-sac is a reference (that's what round dead end turnaround areas of minor roads are called in America). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:00, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Territorial waters claimed by a coastal state are in principle demarcated by drawing circles of 12 nm radius centered on every point along the coast. Blooteuth (talk) 12:00, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

An interesting Q is whether it is legal to sell land based on anything other than points and lines (of course, a circle could be approximated by a large, regular n-gon). This would necessitate new surveying equipment and techniques, so government wouldn't like that. Also, it might be a slippery-slope leading to all sorts of complex polynomial curves being used as land boundaries. Dealing with shifting natural boundaries, like rivers, is trouble enough. StuRat (talk) 16:41, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The northern border of the state of Delaware is a semi-circle drawn from the town of New Castle. See Twelve-Mile Circle. --Xuxl (talk) 13:59, 8 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Back in the nineteenth century, engineers could not agree on the best route for the Trans - Siberian Railway. The Tsar, frustrated by the lack of progress, picked up a ruler and drew the route on a map. There is a loop in it, reputed to be the result of his pen catching on the finger holding the ruler as he drew. 195.147.104.148 (talk) 14:02, 9 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Reminds me of a Mad Magazine comic where a fly got splattered on the blueprints of a building, and the finished building had a giant splattered fly on it. :-) StuRat (talk) 16:41, 9 May 2017 (UTC) [reply]