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Was Atari the first company to lose $1 billion in a year?
In season 2 of Halt and Catch Fire, a character refers to Atari as "the first company to lose a billion dollars in a year" during the 1984/85 video game crash. I've tried looking this claim up out of curiosity, but unsuccessfully. This LA Times article from 1985 mentions the company losing only $586 million in 1984 (in the show, the character is speaking in 1985, so he's presumably using the same dollars with respect to inflation).
Of course, there are different measures of "loss," ranging from actual dollars in a bank account to a decrease in market cap value. Is there a measure by which Atari lost $1 billion/year in the 1983-1985 period, and if so, was it the first company in history to do so?
I had a question on a test recently that said, “De facto segregation was not made illegal by the Civil Rights Act and is still legal today.” It was a true or false and I obviously answered false. Got it wrong somehow.
Can someone please explain to me how I could possibly be wrong.
I'm writing a story taking place in the 1880s US west. What word would people use to describe - politely! respectfully! - someone who is African American in that period? My suspicion is the term is either 'negro' or 'black'. 'Black' sounds less onerous to modern ears, but I also know past generations called themselves 'negroes' without considering it a slur.
Thanks!
Where does the notion that banana peels are a slippery trip hazard in popular culture come from? For example, this 1935 cartoon.
By what name did the Europeans call the Mongols? Were they called Huns too?
Why are so many treaties signed in small cities?
(e.g. Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Brest-Litovsk, etc.)
I'm a history student, reading Caesar's account on the Gallic Wars. Why did so many gallic/germanic/britannic people and places have latin-sounding names? Did the Romans "latinify" preexisting names, or use new ones? Why?
They surely couldnt have given every little river, island etc. they came across a name and Caesar speaks very matter-of-factly about the geography, no mention of "Caesar named this river 'Tamesis'" or something like that.
And they had a lot of hostages who they probably renamed, but Diviciacus for example seemingly was a respected, independent "politician"/diplomat, not a captive. The same goes for some enemies who were never taken prisoner or seen as allies, like Indutiomarus.
A common criticism of George McGovern in the 1972 election seemed to be that McGovern wrote an article in 1971 about how if a country wants to be communist and does so in a democratic manner the US should be ok with that. Does anyone know where I could find McGovern's article?
Nowadays people with paranoid delusions tend to direct their paranoia towards technology, be it information technology or medicine, for example. I am aware these people oftentimes still believe other people or entities are responsible for the imagined misuse of the technology.
What have been the go-to paranoid fantasies before modern technology, e.g. chips implanted in the brain, 5G networks, vaccines etc.?
When did salvation become a part of religious tradition? Is this just an Abrahamic thing or would the pious in greek or Mayan paganism look for salvation and redemption for sins from their gods?
Did the American or Soviet militaries consider bullpup-style service rifles during the Cold War? What were the considerations that led to "conventional" rifle designs winning out over bullpup styles in the eventual large-scale service rifles that became the M-16 and AK-47?
Hello. Using the maximum extent of currently available knowledge and fluency of ancient languages, when and where is the farthest back in time one could understand a language?
Did Jews in extended hiding during WW2 face mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, mental breakdowns?
I’ve seen a lot of people stuck at home lately talking about increased mental health troubles and I watched a story about how some Jews hid for 2 years and were not able to speak above a whisper. That is insane.
This is probably a hard question to answer but which of the efforts between Imperial Germany and Nazi Germany's Navies came closer to the goal of strangling Britain to starvation?
Partly inspired by my recent viewing of Grayhound (good movie) the Wolf Packs of Nazi Germany had the benefits of far more Atlantic ports to operate from while Britain had more advanced technology and a closer relationship with the US than the First World War.
However I've heard it said by multiple pop. Historical mediums that Imp.Germany got Britain down to an estimated 6 weeks of foodstuffs only before having to end the first round of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare;
• Is that estimate more or less correct?
• Was Britain similarly threatened in World War Two: Electric Boogaloo?
• understanding the difference between the amount and duration of shipped supplies between the Wars; What percentage of shipped materiel was lost during each war?
This question of mine might be better suited for here, as it requires a simple answer only.
In short: Is there any indication in our sources that the Publius Decius Mus, the consul of 279 fell on the field of Asculum?
Are there any exact dates for the defeat of the Qi kingdom and the unification of China under Qin Shi Huang?
Any books written about Hong Kong history from a Marxist perspective?
What is the origin/meaning of the phrase “not all beer and skillets?” I heard the phrase on an episode of MASH and googled it, but the phrase is only found in newspapers from the 1930’s and earlier. Most idioms I search for have at least several posts in the results where the origin question has been asked/answered before.
Can anyone recommend resources on the relationship between the Native and African American communities? Sorry if this doesn't belong, the book list opens as weird HTML for me.
Is there a place where I can find a basic timeline of human history? Just need it for context when doing specific research for a writing project. Thanks!
Why have the Carolingian/HRE and Byzantine Empire not been considered as the bifurcated continuation of the Roman Empire? And how did the Papacy assume enough temporal power for the coronation of Charlemagne to be meaningful?
Spin off from previous question: Why are some English monarch pictured with the royal sphere on one hand and Sceptre in another at coronation, while the Royale ball is conspicuously absent for others? I would imagine symbols of power vestment to be very contiguous, so I'm surprised to see it pop in and out of coronation portraits/pictures
Can anyone recommend books or historians whose work focuses on the history of British spies?
In the 1733 edition of Poor Richard's Almanack the solar and lunar eclipses that year were predicted down to the general time of day they would happen. How accurate was the prediction and where/from who did Ben Franklin find this information in 1732 Philadelphia? (I can transcribe the section if it helps determine accuracy of the prediction)
E to link the first edition (third run) [printing] (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.12472707&view=1up&seq=165) - my reference is to page 165
Are there any recommended books on the Mongol invasions of Japan? I’ve read James P. Delgado’s “Khubilai Khan’s Lost Fleet” but it was a little on the lighter side, and I’m more interested in a focused history that goes more in depth, preferably from the Japanese perspective if possible.
I'm currently looking to purchase a book about the period in Korean history leading up to the annexation by Japan in 1910. From my research, I am currently considering The Abacus and Sword: The Japanese penetration of Korea 1895-1910 by Peter Duus or Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power by Alexis Dudden. However, I have read a mix of positive and negative reviews on both of the aforementioned books, so I was wondering if anyone has read either text and what they think of it. I would also welcome recommendations for other texts on the period.
Hello
I'm looking for books on the Mexican Revolution (1910) but as an uneducated civilian, I have trouble figuring out who the 'respected authors' are, vs simply 'people who wrote a book' if that makes sense.
I'm hoping for both/either specifically some authors to seek out on this topic (I already have "Villa and Zapata" by Frank McLynn), or also just how to know in general which authors to look for on ANY historical subject.
Apologies if this is the wrong thread
Why do ancient Japanese noblemen have a "no" in their name (such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune or Fujiwara no Michinaga) but later noblemen dropped the "no" between the first and last names? (such as Tokugawa Ieyasu?)
Did soldiers ever mention/complain about how hot the Kar98K would get during combat?
Question inspired by two Youtube videos of "mad minutes"; I know "mad minutes" aren't exactly combat situations, but in the two videos in question (details below) the shooter more familiar with the rifle mentions "it's getting hot" after firing 15 rounds, and the shooter less familiar says "I can feel it's warm already" after 5 rounds, and "This rifle is now uncomfortably hot." after just 9 rounds! So, although I imagine German soldiers weren't doing mad minutes, I presume they could fire more than 9 to 15 rounds during the course of a protracted firefight, if not a typical one. So, was the rifle becoming hot ever a problem, or even just something soldiers noticed and commented on?
Videos:
First, with the more practiced shooter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj90zasSu0o
Mad minute begins almost immediately, ends at 1:07,
At approx. 0:44, after 15th round is fired and as he reloads, says "It's getting hot."
Second, with the less practiced shooter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRGE5z2EdI
Kar98K portion starts at 3:55, ends at 5:00
After 5 rounds, approx 4:15, "I can feel it's warm already." during first reload.
After 9 rounds, approx 4:37, "This rifle is now uncomfortably hot."
And I see how the HRE was temporally discontinuous, but the coronation by the Roman Catholic Pope is what I stick on. I know that subsequent to Charlemagne rulers were crowned by the pope, but it doesn’t seem that the Pope crowned Roman emperors. Therefore it seems that the reformulation of the Papacy’s role seems to say more about the Papacy gaining more significance. I wonder if the coronation of Charlemagne actually brought more power to the Papacy than Charlemagne; or at least it seems very symbiotic in their co-constitution of their new claims to power via that dyad
Hi, are questions about historiography ok for a normal post? I wanted to ask a question on the role of ideology in writing good history.
Thanks so much!
How many people lived in the Insula Felicles?
How common are video cameras in the 40's and the 50's
Is Wendy Doniger a reliable historian? It seems she's well regarded in the West but very controversial in India, where her field of study is.
Did Hitler have the nickname Wolf or Herr Wolf?
I found someone on the internet claiming this was household knowledge, but after almost an hour of googling, I cannot find a primary source. There are several off hand remarks about private correspondences where he is called Wolf, but these remarks are never sourced.
The reason I am doubtfull, is that I have found 4 different places for how the name came to be, but no proof of the existence of the name, nor which of these 4 holds the truth.
One site claimed the name came from his fort in Poland called the Wolfs Den, and he was thus codenamed Wolf when in regards to this fort. Another said it had something to do with Operation Werwolf. Two sources said it was an alias he used to get himself on the ballots, but one of the sources said early twenties, while the other source said early thirties. So now I have 4 sources claiming the name to have sprung in 3 different decades.
Where was the very first Triumphal Arch built?
Many sources I've found say that the Roman Empire invented them and that they were first built in/near Rome as early as the 2nd century BCE, while other sources say that Hadran's Gate in Turkey is the oldest arch. There is also the Triumphal Arch built by Alexander the Great when he conquered the city of Sour/Tyre in Lebanon, in 332 BCE, predating the oldest Roman Arch I found. Could somebody please provide me with some clarification?
I have become fascinated with Gilded Age America. I'm currently reading American Eve by Paula Uruburu, a biography of the model/actress Evelyn Nesbit. I'm looking for other good biographies or general histories of the time period.
People throughout history you feel everyone (or most people) should study?
Some examples MAY be
I once watched a video from the infographic show or something. I cant remember what it was about but it was alternative history and russia stayed russia. They said russia would have industrialized faster than the soviet union and be more ready for a war against germany. I always thought if russia stayed russia it would have stayed unindustrialized much longer and the soviet union was the reason for a quick industrialization. So what is true? Of course it is alternative history and you cant give a 100% correct answer.
When Harriet Tubman freed slaves did she "just have them work for other white people"?
Can anyone guide me to a source for how a tintype photograph was made in the 19th Century, preferably from a street or traveling photographer?
I have found descriptions and videos on making tintypes today, with modern distribution methods, supplies, etc. I want to know is how it was done c.1880 in the American west. What chemicals did they use? Did they make them? How did they get their supplies? Did street tintype photographers set up a tent nearby? Did traveling photographers have a 'darkroom' on their wagons?
Thanks for any help.
How large was the Kievan Rus’ army during the reign of Vladimir the Great?
Trying to remember the name of a place/event. I believe this happened in 18th or 19th century United States. People came upon a huge reserve of energy, I’m not sure if it was natural gas, oil or what, but they thought it looked cool to set it on fire when it came out of the ground. Ultimately they ended up burning through a massive amount of energy in a really short amount of time and it kind of served as a lesson on wastefulness. Thanks for reading.
Info or source request - Quality sources or information on the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862 that resulted in the congressional medal of honor being created. Looking for info on the chase itself. Any help is appreciated!
Hopefully this is history connected enough and hopefully it's understandable - I'm looking for book/article recommendations analysing mythologies (of any culture, but right now I'm interested in Norse myth if you want a specific) in something somewhat akin to how the field of biblical criticism analyses things. Something very vaguely like How To Read The Bible by Kugel would be ideal although stuff aimed at an academic audience is fine too. Hopefully this sort of makes sense.
Chris Wallace questioning President Trump would he accept the election results for 2020?
Has any other incumbent President been ask whether or not they will accept the results of an election for President?
What was the Chinese pow death rate in WW2?
I'm...not even gonna pretend here, I'm a fan of the total war games seeking pertinent info and that is the primary reason I am here asking this question. I know pretty confidently that significant quantities of thracian peltasts were employed by the Spartokid dynasty, who were themselves Thracian, but some cursory searches don't indicate the usage of rhompaias by the spartokids, or archaeological finds of them in their regions of influence, and it seems odd that they wouldn't, given that they already had numerous thracians fighting for them.
When it comes to East India Company, is 'servant' a technical word or does it just mean a person who works for the company?
Did some of the Huns wear their hair in buns?
Why is Queen Victoria so often pictured with a veil? I'm assuming that was just the fashion at the time, but curious if there was another reason.
Did some of Atilla’s Huns wear their hair in buns?
I was reading about the history of northern Mexico, and one researcher says that Luis Carvajal made a painting/map of his travel between Tampico and Mazapil, and that said painting should be in General Archive of the Indies (Archivo de las Indias) but that it hasn't been found yet.
How could someone search for that painting? What would that process be like?
Are there any good historians who focus on sports history that is less focused on the sports themselves, and more on how sports culture has evolved over time?
It seems every true crime show I watch claims to be “the first time cameras were allowed in the courtroom”. So, which trial was actually the first time?
Mongol history online is usually generally surface level and other steppe cultures are a footnote. What are good (preferably audio) resources to study this more in depth?
