9 Answers2025-08-01
It’s also been identified by fans of the book and TV show as an affectionate label to describe themselves as ‘slow horses’ when they feel they’re an underdog, struggling against the odds, in everyday life. The label has become an identity for them.
And ‘slow horse’ now denotes a type of underdog or relatively powerless people struggling in difficult circumstances but nonetheless fundamentally capable and, in some measure, irrepressible. Much of this manifestation is to be found online. A person having a terrible time with their terrible employer or their miserable life could declare themselves a ‘slow horse’. There’s even a pride to be found in such description. The term has seeped from the pages of Mark Billingham’s novels into general usage and it’s a highly effective one.
3 Answers2025-07-01
When I read ‘Why Nations Fail’ by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, what first grabbed me was how unexpected examples were chosen to support their theory against conventional wisdom that has been imbued in us for so long. South Korea did not fail after the war due to the circumstances of the war, but because of certain institutional choices that were made at the time. Similarly, in Africa, they choose to discuss Botswana’s success instead of that of Nigeria or even Zimbabwe with its failed land reform.
While there is plenty here about all sorts of modern countries, the historical sections are just as valuable, and they range far and wide: from the surprising collapse of once-great Venice, to the step-by-step erosion of Rome’s republican government and its transformation into an empire. Connecting all of this to modern developing countries, the authors make clear just how the long-ago extractive practices of a very few in powerful positions in places like ancient Rome or the colonies of Spain (notably the silver mines in South America) can have a profound and lasting impact on the politics of Latin America today.
6 Answers2025-11-05
It’s unlikely we’ll ever have a definitive answer, because language is generally indeterminate. From the available evidence, however, it seems reasonable to conclude that yes, it does. If you’re writing a paper on pragmatics, this site is not going to help you much. On the other hand, if you’re trying to be polite to a friend telling you that he’s leaving for a trip, you can simply say “drive safely” (or, more naturally, its direct translation).
9 Answers2025-07-02
The advice to 'deregister and re-register' your Kobo keeps popping up in various places online. A warning: Such an operation will remove any sideloaded documents not backed up on your hard disk from your device, as well as all reading settings (e.g. font size, screen brightness etc.). However, all purchased eBooks will be safely stored in the Kobo Cloud and automatically re-downloaded on your device after syncing. Please make sure to back up any personal documents or notes via USB before you start such an operation, though – it's not a completely lossless procedure for all content on your device.
3 Answers2026-07-06
The term 'sissy test' isn't something you'd find in modern psychology textbooks—it’s more of a historical curiosity that pops up when digging into outdated gender studies. Back in the early 20th century, some psychologists tried to measure 'feminine' traits in boys through bizarre experiments, like observing their toy preferences or reactions to 'girly' activities. It was part of a misguided attempt to pathologize gender nonconformity, which today we recognize as harmful and reductive.
I stumbled across this while researching the history of gender norms in psychology, and it’s wild how far we’ve come. Contemporary research focuses on understanding gender diversity rather than testing 'deviance.' It’s a reminder that even science can carry cultural biases, and it makes me appreciate how much more inclusive modern psychology strives to be.
13 Answers2025-07-14
I've encountered this issue more than a few times. The main culprit is usually file format compatibility. Kindle supports MOBI, AZW, and PDF, but newer versions of Kindle don't support MOBI anymore, which Calibre defaults to sometimes. Another reason could be the email address you're using to send the ebook isn't registered to your Kindle account. Amazon has strict policies about which email addresses can send content to your device, and if it's not on the approved list, the transfer fails silently.
DRM protection is another common roadblock. If the ebook has DRM, Calibre can't send it directly unless you use plugins to remove the DRM first, which is a gray area legally. File size can also be an issue—Amazon imposes a 50MB limit for email transfers. Lastly, network issues or temporary Amazon server problems can interrupt the transfer process. It's frustrating when it happens, but checking these factors usually solves the problem.
11 Answers2026-03-29
If you're constantly forgetting and so need items to automatically renew for further loan periods (until someone with higher priority places a hold on them), check if your library offers this facility (it’s now pretty standard on modern library management systems). Also, set up your library account to email or text you a few days before any items are due for return. While the late process is all rather bureaucratic (i.e. a flag is put on your account and a late charge calculated on the overdue item(s)) your library card will be remotely deactivated for new transactions until you pay the late charge(s) due on the item(s) in question. However, as long as you return the items and pay any late charge(s) due, your account will be up to date and there will be no permanent record of your late return(s).
3 Answers2026-07-06
This thing is one of those really annoying but sort of fascinating internet things. It’s clearly a joke, meant to satirize stereotypes, but I have no idea who made it or why they’d do such a thing. My bet is that it was some cartoonish poster on a really obscure online forum posing as a quiz. The questions are so goofy that they sort of collapse under their own weight and become funny. (This thing would make a lot of people very angry, no doubt. The internet is full of such in-jokes that get loose from their origin and take on a life of their own.)
7 Answers2026-01-08
I'm automatically skeptical of any story with a title this obviously negative. It's a marketing ploy to get readers hooked while promised miserable circumstances, only to be delivered a usual and predictable ‘happy ending’. But “The Broken Ring” did surprise me.
This is one of those stories where the ending is satisfying for the adults in the room, in that it doesn't abandon the gritty, realistic tone established at the beginning and turn into a saccharine confection. Instead, the remnants of their past and their personalities are there, but they've learned to deal with them as a team. Instead of a beam of bright sunlight lighting the way to their future, they have a reliable, shared lantern to light their way. A genuinely happy ending for adults. Relationships are work, not magic.
7 Answers2025-07-05
Consider the hardware as well as the the physical design. The flush screen of the Kindle Paperwhite and the page-turn buttons on the Oasis and Scribe versions of Kindle reduce the potential for minor interruptions such as waiting for a slow touchscreen to register a tap or for a swipe action to complete. Smooth page turns allow for continued focus in reading and thus enable reading to continue in a natural reading rhythm for longer periods of time.
Each stutter, mis-tap, and new grip position to reach the “next page” zone to turn the page is a tiny amount of cognitive load. But by good design of the hardware, this load is taken away from your brain to process the material that you’re reading. Therefore, investing in a higher-end Kindle model with the best buttons, to make sure they are responsive enough, is a tool to improve your reading efficiency. But in a way totally different from typical software feature announcements.