Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 June 18

= June 18 =

A book on History of Korea
Could you recommend a good overview book on history of Korea (in English)? I care more about ancient times to WWII period rather than the modern North-South period. Ideally something easy to read. --50.136.241.15 (talk) 03:49, 18 June 2016 (UTC)


 * A History of Korea (Palgrave Essential Histories Series) by Professor Kyung Moon Hwang or A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present by Michael Seth. Both cover the full period from pre-history to the present, both are fairly recent, and both are in English. It might be interesting to read them both - and see what difference there is when the story is told by a Korean and by a westerner. Wymspen (talk) 16:55, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

What were the Isis medals?
I came across a reference to a "Gold Isis medal" awarded by the Royal Society of Arts. After a little light googling, I am baffled. I can only see snippet views of the (few) 19th century texts that mention it. Here are a few quotes:
 * For the best copy of a portrait, the Silver Medal. For next in merit, the Silver Isis Medal.
 * For the best original painting in oil-colours of a portrait, the Gold Isis Medal. For the next in merit, the Silver Medal.

(Transactions of the Society, 1825, volume 44)

So sometimes Isis is second-best, and sometimes best. There are silver, silver Isis, and gold Isis: why no mention of a gold non-Isis medal? Is this Isis in connection with Oxford and its part of the River Thames or the student magazine? Or is it the Egyptian goddess Isis, and if so, why her? I can see elsewhere that the RSA called some of its silver and gold medals "large" (though none are small). There was something called the Silver Palette, and the Ceres medal (for growing opium and turnips). Our article describes prizes, but nothing about these. I searched the RSA archive catalogue for "Isis medal", but could only find a list of mentions of the award, not any explanation. Can anyone untangle this? Carbon Caryatid (talk) 21:38, 18 June 2016 (UTC)
 * See Thomas Wyon as a starting point. Nanonic (talk) 01:49, 19 June 2016 (UTC)
 * There is an image of one here - http://www.christophereimer.co.uk/medals/Society+of+Arts%3A+Isis+Medal,+Gold+Medal+to+Copeland+ which shows the origin of the name - the medal shows the head of the goddess Isis. She was seen as the patron of artisans - so an appropriate figure for an award for designing something new. Wymspen (talk) 11:00, 19 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Here's another data-point, from Porter, Dale H., The Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney (1998), pp.68-69. The biog speaks of Gurney approaching the Society of Arts in 1823 with a view to exhibiting his improved oxy-hydrogen blowpipe; the proposal went before a committee which "recommended that Gurney receive the gold Isis medal as a reward for his achievements, on the usual condition that he donate a working blowpipe and a description of it to the society for the use of the public, and relinquish all claims to a patent." The book goes on to suggest three reasons why Gurney would give up patent rights for a medal: 1) the field of blowpipery was rapidly developing, and Gurney's approach might quickly be superceded 2) "the monetery value of the gold Isis medal itself, was substantial enough to allow him this demonstration of public generosity", and 3) Gurney was working on something else with more potential than the blowpipe. hth --Tagishsimon (talk) 11:27, 19 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm wondering if might have a contact who might know. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:07, 19 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm travelling at present, but try the RSA library in London. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:15, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

Thank you everyone. I'd say our collective wit has disentangled less than half of the mystery. But I do love the word "blowpipery". Carbon Caryatid (talk) 18:57, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

Individual vs collective accountability in safety critical industries
Why is it that in some countries, there is collective accountability, whereby organisations take accountability as a whole, and individual accountability where individuals are expected to take accountability, in safety critical industries? Is this to do with how the legal system in that country is setup? 2A02:C7D:B90E:7E00:D946:5076:2110:3D39 (talk) 21:53, 18 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Have you got an example or two? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:21, 19 June 2016 (UTC)
 * See Vicarious liability for our article. Tevildo (talk) 09:40, 19 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Assuming that war is a safety critical industry: see our article on Superior orders.  --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 13:21, 19 June 2016 (UTC)


 * I think OP may be referring more to industry self-regulation (a rather poor article at the moment). But I think most examples of self-regulation are in non-safety-critical environments (e.g., the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system; a more consequential industry self-regulation scheme is FINRA). Perhaps in the most safety-critical environments, an outside regulatory system is viewed as essential because failure would be dangerous/catastrophic and an outside system is viewed as more likely to control harms. Neutralitytalk 22:52, 19 June 2016 (UTC)