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Mantis42 posted:It depends on how much you believe the negative histories written about him. One story has him beating dwarfs and amputees to death while pretending to be a giant. yeah, sounds like something Vince would do
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Jul 7, 2017 01:31
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Mantis42 posted:It depends on how much you believe the negative histories written about him. One story has him beating dwarfs and amputees to death while pretending to be a giant. Hmmm That does not own . I think .
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Jul 7, 2017 01:34
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Tunicate posted:Yeah it's a lot like the 'well family legend says I have a cherokee princess grandgrandmamma or something so I'm totally native american' white women My Mom does this on occasion and its incredibly face palm worthy.
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Jul 7, 2017 02:17
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What we post in life... echoes in eternity!
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Jul 7, 2017 02:44
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Mantis42 posted:It depends on how much you believe the negative histories written about him. One story has him beating dwarfs and amputees to death while pretending to be a giant. Who wouldn't though. Geez it's good to be the king.
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Jul 7, 2017 02:49
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Mantis42 posted:It depends on how much you believe the negative histories written about him. One story has him beating dwarfs and amputees to death while pretending to be a giant. I want to believe
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Jul 7, 2017 02:50
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Is he also the one who murders a bunch of giraffes and thats the one that made people go "Dude what the gently caress"?
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Jul 7, 2017 04:52
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Telsa Cola posted:Is he also the one who murders a bunch of giraffes and thats the one that made people go "Dude what the gently caress"? My favorite commentary on that is actually from Gibbon in a footnote, where he describes the giraffe as "the tallest, the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadrupeds". I have no idea what a giraffe did to earn such scorn from Gibbon.
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Jul 7, 2017 05:27
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nothing it just hung around eating high-up things like an rear end in a top hat
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Jul 7, 2017 05:32
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:nothing it just hung around eating high-up things like an rear end in a top hat Yeah, I hid all the good stuff up on the top shelves. loving giraffes. 
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Jul 7, 2017 05:36
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Jul 7, 2017 05:39
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now that we're on the subject, any good writeups on the transportation of exotic animals into rome proper?
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Jul 7, 2017 05:39
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Epicurius posted:My favorite commentary on that is actually from Gibbon in a footnote, where he describes the giraffe as "the tallest, the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadrupeds". I have no idea what a giraffe did to earn such scorn from Gibbon. People being irrationally angry at entire species is funny for some reason.
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Jul 7, 2017 05:40
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Lord Hydronium posted:In one of Richard Dawkins' books (yeah, yeah, his biology stuff at least used to be good), he quotes an old bird book that says about the cormorant: "There is nothing to be said for this deplorable bird." http://www.futilitycloset.com/2011/12/31/cold-shoulder/
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Jul 7, 2017 05:44
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FL Lucas once described Aristotle as being like '‘a very large and sagacious elephant picking up very small pins.’'
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Jul 7, 2017 05:44
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Lord Hydronium posted:In one of Richard Dawkins' books (yeah, yeah, his biology stuff at least used to be good), he quotes an old bird book that says about the cormorant: "There is nothing to be said for this deplorable bird." My favorite is Marco Polo's description of rhinos, which is basically "These are the worst unicorns ever."
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Jul 7, 2017 05:58
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:the finno-korean hyperwar Wait what? I thought this was an SA meme and not a thing anyone anywhere actually believes Waci fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Jul 7, 2017 |
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Jul 7, 2017 06:34
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Waci posted:Wait what? I thought this was an SA meme and not a thing anyone anywhere actually believes someone believes every ridiculous historical conspiracy theory we discuss here, generally the hwan empire is not a popular one but true believers exist
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Jul 7, 2017 07:05
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The Hyperwar is a SA or 4chan joke, I don't remember where it originated. The Hwan Empire has true believers.
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Jul 7, 2017 07:49
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Mantis42 posted:It depends on how much you believe the negative histories written about him. One story has him beating dwarfs and amputees to death while pretending to be a giant. While the show itself does have a lot of factual errors, Netflix's "Roman Empire: Reign of Blood" does a pretty good job at humanizing Commodus and show that he probably wasnt as much of a monster as he was made out to be. It was nice for a change.
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Jul 7, 2017 13:23
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Waci posted:Wait what? I thought this was an SA meme and not a thing anyone anywhere actually believes The giant Finn and Korea empires are memes because wacky people already believed in them, and arguments between their supporters have certainly alleged a war before SA did.
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Jul 7, 2017 14:45
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Lord Hydronium posted:In one of Richard Dawkins' books (yeah, yeah, his biology stuff at least used to be good), he quotes an old bird book that says about the cormorant: "There is nothing to be said for this deplorable bird." Meeeh there's a mythological basis for being pissed off at coromorants - Ovid has them symbolize rapacious greed and self-destructive behaviours. They're known for being total dicks to fishermen. It's the same kind of hostility as fukken crows always stealin' my corn It's still funny, but that doesn't really come out of nowhere.
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Jul 7, 2017 14:54
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fishmech posted:The giant Finn and Korea empires are memes because wacky people already believed in them, and arguments between their supporters have certainly alleged a war before SA did. The hyperwar is 100% a /his/ meme. The world spanning Hwan Empire is an actual conspiracy theory apparently. I'm pretty sure the Finno-Mongolic Khaganate half of the joke is just an extension of the joke about Finns being some kind of non-Germanic weirdoes from the Urals that leads them to be portrayed as racist caricatures of chinamen in internet art.
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Jul 7, 2017 14:57
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Yes, there are insane people in Korea who believe in the global Korean empire.
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Jul 7, 2017 15:01
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skasion posted:The hyperwar is 100% a /his/ meme. You're welcome. Greetings from the swamps. 
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Jul 7, 2017 15:02
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CommonShore posted:Meeeh there's a mythological basis for being pissed off at coromorants - Ovid has them symbolize rapacious greed and self-destructive behaviours. They're known for being total dicks to fishermen. It's the same kind of hostility as fukken crows always stealin' my corn Cormorants are still actively hunted by the shitheads who run fish farms.
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Jul 7, 2017 15:07
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skasion posted:The hyperwar is 100% a /his/ meme. It started when Americans wanted to keep the Finns out (because, you know, Finns), but didn't have any immigration laws on the books except the Chinese Exclusion Act.
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Jul 7, 2017 16:02
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Cyrano4747 posted:I remember reading somewhere that "cherokee princess" was polite early 20th C speak for "we've got a black person in the family tree," which makes those even funnier. It's also historically a thing for black people to say they've got a native American ancestor, apparently, because internalised racism and/or a desire to be different I guess.
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Jul 7, 2017 17:47
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fantastic in plastic posted:What we post in life... echoes in eternity! A bit cliche, but wouldn't be a bad thread title.
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Jul 7, 2017 17:49
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I've been reading about how in olden times you were expected to not save money and instead spend it the nanosecond you got it. And people you'd think were rich like Julius Caesar and Thomas Jefferson spent most of their lives in debt. Was this also true in classical China?
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Jul 7, 2017 17:52
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Baron Porkface posted:I've been reading about how in olden times you were expected to not save money and instead spend it the nanosecond you got it. And people you'd think were rich like Julius Caesar and Thomas Jefferson spent most of their lives in debt. In olden times? Buddy, you're living in olden times!
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Jul 7, 2017 18:37
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Caesar was in debt for the beginning of his career but earned enough money in his wars to leave a sizable inheritance to Octavian. As for why he was in debt, it's because winning a Roman election was similarly expensive to winning an American election, except instead of voters giving you money, you gave them money Jefferson was just really bad at money management, and I believe his contemporaries noted it
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Jul 7, 2017 19:18
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cheetah7071 posted:As for why he was in debt, it's because winning a Roman election was similarly expensive to winning an American election, except instead of voters giving you money, you gave them money Sort of, but not really. Winning a Roman election would be like if Bill Gates used all his own money, sold Microsoft, and borrowed money from everyone he knew in order to finance a run for office in the hopes that he could then use the US army to invade and plunder every country in South America. Every weekend he would finance a concert with the biggest musical acts in the world, for free, with an open bar, for all voting citizens to attend.
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Jul 7, 2017 19:37
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Mantis42 posted:It depends on how much you believe the negative histories written about him. One story has him beating dwarfs and amputees to death while pretending to be a giant. Classic Commodus
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Jul 7, 2017 19:54
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Jamwad Hilder posted:Sort of, but not really. Winning a Roman election would be like if Bill Gates used all his own money, sold Microsoft, and borrowed money from everyone he knew in order to finance a run for office in the hopes that he could then use the US army to invade and plunder every country in South America. Every weekend he would finance a concert with the biggest musical acts in the world, for free, with an open bar, for all voting citizens to attend. I always assumed actual cash giveaways were part of the festivities (though not necessarily the largest or most expensive part), though I'm not sure why. The fact that your supporters don't donate to your run is a huge difference either way.
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Jul 7, 2017 19:59
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Jamwad Hilder posted:Sort of, but not really. Winning a Roman election would be like if Bill Gates used all his own money, sold Microsoft, and borrowed money from everyone he knew in order to finance a run for office in the hopes that he could then use the US army to invade and plunder every country in South America. Every weekend he would finance a concert with the biggest musical acts in the world, for free, with an open bar, for all voting citizens to attend. gently caress it, he's got my vote.
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Jul 7, 2017 20:17
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cheetah7071 posted:I always assumed actual cash giveaways were part of the festivities (though not necessarily the largest or most expensive part), though I'm not sure why. The fact that your supporters don't donate to your run is a huge difference either way. The Romans were against outright cash bribery in elections. That's not to say it didn't happen, in fact it happened quite a lot. However, if you were running for office and wanted to bribe someone it would mean giving a bunch of cash to someone and in return he would tell as his clients to vote for you. You wouldn't actually be distributing money to every eligible voter. Your average voter "only" got to enjoy things like free festivals and games that you generously paid for. I've never read anything that suggests there was a cash giveaway at things like that but I could be wrong.
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Jul 7, 2017 20:20
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Bribes were also a way to stop your political enemies from successfully prosecuting you during election season, which was a common tactic.
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Jul 7, 2017 21:22
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This discussion reminds me of the scene in Rome when Marc Antony is bribing some senator, who claims his wife has expensive tastes and loves oysters. "Careful senator. People often choke on oysters." That whole episode was a good education on
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Jul 7, 2017 21:34
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Baron Porkface posted:I've been reading about how in olden times you were expected to not save money and instead spend it the nanosecond you got it. And people you'd think were rich like Julius Caesar and Thomas Jefferson spent most of their lives in debt. Well I mean, most of your wealth would be tied up in things that weren't particularly liquid, like huge estates and slaves. So even if you spent all the hard cash you had, you still had tons of wealth, and your debts could be reasonably easily repaid by selling off fractions of your illiquid wealth if really necessary. And on top of that, most didn't really spend every tiny coin they had as soon as possible, they just spent a lot and that was good enough. Very wealthy people even today run up a bunch of debts, but their massive holdings mean people give them loans with terms that don't really make it a problem, and they can always take care of them if necessary.
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Jul 8, 2017 02:16
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