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Azhais posted:Ok Zoidberg 
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Sep 8, 2020 03:21
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Milo and POTUS posted:Historians know this as the Schieffelin plan
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Sep 11, 2020 00:30
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Anglerfish is a very boring fish imo (as food).
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Sep 11, 2020 09:16
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The ancient egyptians used obsidian blades to cut open bodies when preparing them for mummification, but it turns out they cut better than stainless steel bladed scalpels, and doctors are switching to using them.
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Sep 27, 2020 05:05
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ChocNitty posted:The ancient egyptians used obsidian blades to cut open bodies when preparing them for mummification, but it turns out they cut better than stainless steel bladed scalpels, and doctors are switching to using them. No they aren't because they dull real fast.
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Sep 27, 2020 05:12
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ChocNitty posted:The ancient egyptians used obsidian blades to cut open bodies when preparing them for mummification, but it turns out they cut better than stainless steel bladed scalpels, and doctors are switching to using them. Surgeons have been using obsidian in limited capacities for decades. But as the previous poster said steel scalpels are generally cheaper and good enough for the job that obsidian is unnecessary.
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Sep 27, 2020 05:21
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Obsidian scalpels have some very limited use by some surgeons for transplants. The volcanic glass makes finer cuts, which helps the old and new tissue meld quicker and with less scaring. Thats the idea anyway.
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Sep 27, 2020 05:49
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They used to make "swords" with obsidian shards jammed between wooden slats, in South America. Not because that was actually better than a steel sword, it was not. You could still kill someone, unless they had a steel sword, probably.
doverhog has a new favorite as of 08:41 on Sep 27, 2020 |
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Sep 27, 2020 08:39
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doverhog posted:They used to make "swords" with obsidian shards jammed between wooden slats, in South America. Not because that was actually better than a steel sword, it was not. You could still kill someone, unless they had a steel sword, probably. From what I've heard they weren't as consistently reliable as a sword made of metal, but since obsidian is stupid sharp they could cut through anyone not wearing metal armor like a hot knife through butter if the wielder was any good at it
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Sep 27, 2020 09:06
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3D Megadoodoo posted:There was also the question of taxes. I recall reading something (one of the What If? books about historical counter-factuals), and the writer made a compelling case that Rome was generally fine with cults and different religions, because basically whatever. The minute you stopped sending your coin to Rome, though? You had a problem. (also sorry this was posted three days ago, forgive the necro for replying to it)
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Sep 27, 2020 09:32
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drrockso20 posted:From what I've heard they weren't as consistently reliable as a sword made of metal, but since obsidian is stupid sharp they could cut through anyone not wearing metal armor like a hot knife through butter if the wielder was any good at it Certainly, but if you went against someone with a steel sword and armor, it would not work at all. Outside context problem. It is interesting though that they apparently worked well enough to be used in actual warfare instead of just using spears, clubs, and axes.
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Sep 27, 2020 09:45
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doverhog posted:Certainly, but if you went against someone with a steel sword and armor, it would not work at all. It works well for loving up horses though: Bernal Díaz del Castillo posted:Pedro de Morón was a very good horseman, and as he charged with three other horsemen into the ranks of the enemy the Indians seized hold of his lance and he was not able to drag it away, and others gave him cuts with their broadswords, and wounded him badly, and then they slashed at the mare, and cut her head off at the neck so that it hung by the skin, and she fell dead.
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Sep 27, 2020 09:55
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doverhog posted:Certainly, but if you went against someone with a steel sword and armor, it would not work at all. Outside context problem. I mean, that is how obsidian was used?  It was used in cheap spearheads and arrowheads and was used to turn clubs into macahuitl, which are even worse to be hit with. And remember iron wasn't adopted because it was better than bronze, it was adopted because it was easier to work into useful poo poo. Obsidian worked fine until steel and the apocalypse happened simultaneously.
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Sep 27, 2020 09:55
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Fun part is that apparently when going for captives, they'd just take the obsidian blades out and use them as clubs.
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Sep 27, 2020 09:56
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So I stumbled across the story of Solomon Perel and it's both insane and heartbreaking. When Hitler invaded Poland he escaped to Soviet-occupied Poland, but when Hitler invaded that part he ended up in the captivity of the german army. He then lied about being german and it was accepted and the german army "adopted" him. Under the name of Josef Perjell he then became a translator for the german army. He was so well regarded that he was present during the interrogation of Stalin's son. One of the captains, von Münchow, was so impressed by "Perjell" that he offered to adopt him. Solomon thought that all in all this would be the safest option for him and he accepted the offer. "Perjell" was then sent to a hitler-jugend school in order to educate him to be a SS officer. A big part of the "education" was racial "science" and as you can imagine that hosed him up good and proper. Every day he had to learn about how jews were inferior while he was trying to hold on to his jewish identity. He became so indoctrinated that he actually began feeling pride for Germany and wrote poems about fallen soldiers. In 1944 he was asked to document that he really was Josef Perjell but of course that was impossible. Luckily the office that was asking was bombed by the allies and all of his papers burned up. He could finally stop being Josef Perjell in 1945 when american troops raided his camp.
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Sep 27, 2020 10:10
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Obsidian is great for lots of stuff like arrowheads, sure. I guess you could ask are they really swords. I was thinking about swords specifically, as I often do.Edgar Allen Ho posted:And remember iron wasn't adopted because it was better than bronze, it was adopted because it was easier to work into useful poo poo. Obsidian worked fine until steel and the apocalypse happened simultaneously. Yeah, bronze is a good material for swords. Doesn't rust, bends instead of breaking and, can be sharpened by hammering the edge.
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Sep 27, 2020 10:20
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Iron was mostly adopted because it was vastly easier to acquire, and thus was much cheaper, than bronze
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Sep 27, 2020 11:38
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Fun part is that apparently when going for captives, they'd just take the obsidian blades out and use them as clubs. Classic non-lethal gameplay
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Sep 27, 2020 12:07
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bony tony posted:Classic non-lethal gameplay I've always said that the Nazca lines could only have been created by a society that had unlocked fulton technology.
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Sep 27, 2020 13:16
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MisterBibs posted:(also sorry this was posted three days ago, forgive the necro for replying to it) I will not
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Sep 27, 2020 17:13
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Biplane posted:Sighs and affixes obsidian
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Sep 28, 2020 08:37
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MisterBibs posted:I recall reading something (one of the What If? books about historical counter-factuals), and the writer made a compelling case that Rome was generally fine with cults and different religions, because basically whatever. The minute you stopped sending your coin to Rome, though? You had a problem. This is more or less how it worked, even Jesus acknowledged it with 'Render unto Caesar' and all that, though in practice it got more complicated. Rome was explicitly a polytheistic, pluralistic society, and would openly adopt foreign gods it liked the look of, but expected people to pay homage to the imperial cult as well. (Especially since the deification of the Emperor was apparently a thing to keep the Egyptians happy) Monotheism was still a weird fringe thing, and apparently very difficult for them to get their head around, comparing it to atheism. And in practice it gets even more complicated, since apparently they tended to officially assume other cultures' gods were literally just their own familiar ones under different names and guises. And the treatment of said gods is a lot more transactional and symbolic than we'd be used to, like the statue of Mars being literally chained up and held captive to represent having his power.
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Sep 28, 2020 11:58
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Gaius Marius posted:Surgeons have been using obsidian in limited capacities for decades. But as the previous poster said steel scalpels are generally cheaper and good enough for the job that obsidian is unnecessary. ThisIsJohnWayne posted:Obsidian scalpels have some very limited use by some surgeons for transplants. The volcanic glass makes finer cuts, which helps the old and new tissue meld quicker and with less scaring. Thats the idea anyway. IIRC they're also good for extremely delicate fiddly things like eye surgery where you want to use the smallest amount of pressure possible when cutting. I don't know why I find that spookier than the already very spooky concept of cutting eyes with steel, but I do; possibly the human sacrifice associations with obsidian knives.
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Sep 28, 2020 13:29
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A reliable way to identify a poor opthomologist is if they frequently forget to remove the obsidian blades from their wooden clubs before surgery
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Sep 28, 2020 14:44
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Sulla Faex posted:A reliable way to identify a poor opthomologist is if they frequently forget to remove the obsidian blades from their wooden clubs before surgery I have some calls to make about Rand Paul.
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Sep 28, 2020 14:48
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Ghost Leviathan posted:And in practice it gets even more complicated, since apparently they tended to officially assume other cultures' gods were literally just their own familiar ones under different names and guises. You can see this substitution in the names of tuesday-saturday in Greek and Germanic languages, and some of the days in Albanian.
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Sep 28, 2020 15:00
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Ghost Leviathan posted:And in practice it gets even more complicated, since apparently they tended to officially assume other cultures' gods were literally just their own familiar ones under different names and guises. Basically everybody did that though. Especially with how the gods were literally natural forces; absolutely nobody believed that Ra rode the Sun Barge over Egypt, but if you hop a ship and sail to Rhodes he's replaced with Helios in the Sun Chariot somewhere partway across the Mediterranean.
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Sep 29, 2020 02:12
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Ghost Leviathan posted:This is more or less how it worked, even Jesus acknowledged it with 'Render unto Caesar' and all that, though in practice it got more complicated. Rome was explicitly a polytheistic, pluralistic society, and would openly adopt foreign gods it liked the look of, but expected people to pay homage to the imperial cult as well. (Especially since the deification of the Emperor was apparently a thing to keep the Egyptians happy) Monotheism was still a weird fringe thing, and apparently very difficult for them to get their head around, comparing it to atheism. It’s also not exactly true as some emperors thought moving towards other gods was an erosion of their culture. Decius was basically make Rome great again type but died before his policies really did anything
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Sep 29, 2020 02:47
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There was also a lot more gods than just the big shots in the pantheon. Basically every town had a god as did each specific neighborhood, and every household* and the fields and the roads etc. etc. Romans couldn't get enough of gods. They were god crazy. Gagging for gods if you will. *though that was more like ancestor worship since it was more of a family god than specifically bound to a particular building.
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Sep 29, 2020 03:10
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“Dear me, I think I am becoming a god.”
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Sep 29, 2020 03:46
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FreudianSlippers posted:There was also a lot more gods than just the big shots in the pantheon. Basically every town had a god as did each specific neighborhood, and every household* and the fields and the roads etc. etc. I've always wondered that what is the god of the most insignificant thing. Like is there a god of buttonholes or god of pocket lint?
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Sep 29, 2020 12:04
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Fish of hemp posted:I've always wondered that what is the god of the most insignificant thing. Like is there a god of buttonholes or god of pocket lint? Probably not in ancient Rome, on account of not having buttons or pockets. 
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Sep 29, 2020 12:06
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I figure the penis charms all over the empire would protect all different kinds of holes
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Sep 29, 2020 12:11
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500excf type r posted:I figure the penis charms all over the empire would protect all different kinds of holes I may have some unsettling news for you vis-à-vis penises and buttonholes. e: I just learned the ancient Greeks had no less than five different gods whose only purpose was to gently caress up your pottery. 3D Megadoodoo has a new favorite as of 12:15 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 12:12
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Fish of hemp posted:I've always wondered that what is the god of the most insignificant thing. Like is there a god of buttonholes or god of pocket lint? Well there was that one god who's whole thing was about unimportant information and is where the word Trivia comes from(if I remember correctly an episode of the TV show for Disney's Hercules featured him)
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Sep 29, 2020 12:28
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drrockso20 posted:Well there was that one god who's whole thing was about unimportant information and is where the word Trivia comes from(if I remember correctly an episode of the TV show for Disney's Hercules featured him) I think that one was the god of three-way intersections, hence the 'tri', weirdly enough.
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Sep 29, 2020 12:30
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The Discworld novel series always make fun of this. It has a Goddess of Things That Get Stuck In Drawers.
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Sep 29, 2020 13:36
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Platystemon posted:“Dear me, I think I am becoming a god.” Carbon dioxide posted:The Discworld novel series always make fun of this. It has a Goddess of Things That Get Stuck In Drawers.
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Sep 29, 2020 13:38
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There is the god of trash, Jani. He is still worshipped.
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Sep 29, 2020 13:46
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doverhog posted:There is the god of trash, Jani. He is still worshipped. Finally. A god that represents me. (Also, huh, that's where wow got that name from)
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