Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 December 30

= December 30 =

Had something like this ever happened?
A significant megaproject or resource discovery significantly raises GDP, the rulers don't spend it all on themselves but also use a significant fraction for benefits X, Y, Z to all with only reasonable(ish) exceptions like no felons or non-citizens. Maybe X is starting programs similar to U.S. Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid/food stamps, free college if you pass a test that only weeds out those who'd take too long to graduate, being able to buy the cheaper hydroelectricity from the megadam at or below market price instead of exporting it all, cheap gas stations, whatever. There's no very unfair disqualifier like wrong tribe, wrong caste, no Jews.

Then the government tries to stop population growth, makes it harder to become a citizen, greatly increases felony catching effort, raises fines or sin taxes, makes new things illegal (especially ones people are ashamed to admit to but do anyway from human nature like gay sex and porn) and tries to make any excuse to make the majority happier by offering them more benefits from the same sized pie by disqualifying the least popular (i.e. in some places weed smokers and adulterers. Oops, those are now felonies..) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 04:37, 30 December 2017 (UTC)
 * No.-- Jayron 32 11:39, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * If I squinted I could maybe see some partial correspondences with some recently oil-rich states such as Qatar, Bahrain or Venezuala, but I wouldn't like to build a political argument on them. SMW might like to read through the 2017 back numbers of The Economist magazine and see what emerges. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.208.241 (talk) 12:11, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * The question is vague to the point that you can make it have any answer you want, likely in relation to quite a few countries, depending on how you want to interpret it. "The government" is a ill-defined&mdash;one president, one monarch, one absolute dictator, or two, or many?  Does it include members of a House (of Representatives or Parliament) or Senate?  One term of office, consecutive terms, in succession or spaced out? (The U.S. Government is still the U.S. Government whether it is Clinton, Bush, Obama, or Trump at the top.) One level of government only, or two or more?  (In the U.S. there is a long history of state and local governments attempting – with varying degrees of success – to suppress, circumvent, or ignore federal programs, laws, and regulations.)  Changing the laws on the books, or just changing enforcement priorities (or fiddling with regulations and employing executive instructions)?  (Again, plenty of examples in U.S. history.)
 * The basic pattern of three events
 * Tax revenue increases;
 * A social program is established or expands;
 * Attempts are made to restrict access or benefits, to the detriment of a subset of the population (generally as a political ploy);
 * happening in succession isn't particularly hard to find. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:55, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

German Interwar Period Military acronyms
Hi, I wonder if anybody can tell me, what these are? They are regarding Signals, Wireless telegraphy

C.S.D of General Kdo 9 in Kassel. Kassel is the place. I can't find the acronym C.S.D. And Kdo. Thanks. scope_creep (talk) 10:51, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Kdo is "Kommando", something like an Area Command or Group, Kdo 9 was the "Corps Area" controlled from Kassel. MilborneOne (talk) 11:15, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Reading the source document which you didnt mention https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7sNVKDp-yiJWTNxS0FIcV95S3M/edit it would seem C.S.D is a British acronym and I suspect an error for C.S.O which is Chief Signals Officer which is used later in the document. MilborneOne (talk) 11:32, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Hi MilborneOne, thanks. It's seems plausable. The CSDIC which was a british outfit, undertook the interrogation on Rndewig, so they would write the I-89 document from their perspective anyway. Cool. Thanks. scope_creep (talk) 11:52, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Fake visiting dignitary
I'm trying to find more information about a situation I've read with different variations. It concerns the supposed emissary of some far-flung but important dignitary (a sultan maybe, or emperor) who is going to visit some kingdom and has sent this emissary in advance to ensure he receives the proper welcome. The emissary presents the local ruler with fancy credentials and apparently lavish gifts and then spends the next several weeks laying plans for this dignitary who will be along shortly. Of course there is no dignitary and at some point the emissary takes off with a lot of loot and it turns out that the lavish gifts were just cheap fakes or forgeries. I've seen variations of this in various unsourced collections of "weird history" I read as a child (not written by Charles Fort perhaps, but of that kind). I have no doubt that the story itself is fake - or at least wildly exaggerated - but I'd like to find the source, if any. The closest I've come is the story of Princess Caraboo, but this is very distinctly different: the king/shah/etc. never actually appears; the conman never presents himself to be anything more than a servant. Rings any bells? I don't recall a lot of details, but I think that's because very few were ever given (as would be typical for forteana). Matt Deres (talk) 14:39, 30 December 2017 (UTC)
 * See Prester John. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.208.241 (talk) 16:29, 30 December 2017 (UTC)
 * That's a rather long article; skimming it seems to mention no apparent scam by a fake emissary. Can yo be more specific? μηδείς (talk) 17:39, 30 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Perhaps relating to: Then in 1306, 30 Ethiopian ambassadors from Emperor Wedem Arad came to Europe, and Prester John was mentioned as the patriarch of their church in a record of their visit. Whereas the identity or even existence of Prester John is/was questionable, the Emperor was legitimate. —2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E814:317E:7D5A:EEE5 (talk) 22:05, 30 December 2017 (UTC)
 * I linked Prester John because I remember reading, many years ago, a story – presented as true but quite possibly not – that sometime in the Middle Ages or Early Renaissance an "emissary" turned up at an important Court, perhaps Venice or Rome, claiming to represent Prester John and bearing a letter supposedly from said worthy asking for monetary aid in his struggle against the Saracens (or a comparable non-Christian foe). In the story the "emissary" departed with a tidy sum and the donators waited in vain for any further word from the legendary ruler. The story was presumably based on the actual visit to Pope Eugene III by Hugh of Jabala in 1144-5, during which Hugh told Otto of Freising about the supposedly real Prester John. The episode is mentioned in the 4th para of Section 1 of the Prester John article, so I thought you'd have no trouble spotting it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.208.241 (talk) 13:59, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
 * But we are not psychics. You now tell us you vaguely remember a story about Hugh of Jabala, and Hugh of Jabala is mentioned in that article, but no mention is made of a scam, or his absconding with huge sums and not reporting back as promised.  How were we to jump from a mention of Hugh of Jabala to your vague memory form your original post, "See Prester John"? μηδείς (talk) 17:38, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
 * I have to assume numerous people have run Prestor John emissary scams. It would be far too good of a setup to resist. ...But I have never actually read an account of such a scam. Have I just not read the right books, or do no such stories survive? That'd be a pity. ApLundell (talk) 21:19, 2 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Not really matching your scenario, but I thought of the Dreadnought hoax when I saw the title of your question. Alansplodge (talk) 20:27, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Never having heard of the "Dreadnought hoax", my first thought was that it was an allusion to this. 2A00:23C0:79B9:9100:C902:53EB:7D93:D534 (talk) 09:45, 31 December 2017 (UTC)


 * In the 17th century it was quite common at the Chinese imperial court for foreign devils to turn up claiming to be ambassadors, presenting gifts from non-existent princes and receiving in return higher-value gifts, hospitality and trading rights. --Antiquary (talk) 12:49, 1 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Ha ha! Very good - thank you! I'm sure the stories I read were meant to be Europe-based, but it was interesting to see such a similar scene at work in China. That's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. I recall one of the stories I'd read had a character named "Riza Bey" (not sure if he was the emissary or the supposed visitor), but it's apparently a common enough name. Ahmet Rıza (Bey is a kind of title) has tantalizing similarities, but is missing the deception, etc. Maybe the stories I read were half-baked slander about him and the Young Turks. Matt Deres (talk) 16:44, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

The Captain of Köpenick (play) is a varation of this, apparently based on a true event in 1906. Thuresson (talk) 03:08, 5 January 2018 (UTC)