As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

The Even Cooler Stuff From [History] Thread

19495969799

Posts

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    @Big Classy I'd say to read about the Arab-Isreali Wars. Because those playing the bigger picture of the cold war and are more recent.

  • BlackDragon480BlackDragon480 Bluster Kerfuffle Master of Windy ImportRegistered User regular
    I'd say to read about the Arab-Isreali Wars. Because those playing the bigger picture of the cold war and are more recent.

    In the same time frame, I'd also consider it mandatory to read up on Operation Ajax and what Iran became like under the Shah and SAVAK till the 1979 revolution.

    No matter where you go...there you are.
    ~ Buckaroo Banzai
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    Errrr @JusticeforPluto you sure you tagged the right fella? :P :P

  • TheBigEasyTheBigEasy Registered User regular
    Start by reading about the collapse of the Ottoman Empire I think. That's probably the most recent you can start and still get enough of the backstory.

    Yep. This is where I'd start, or just a couple of decades before.

    I've read extensively on the subject of the drawing of lines in the sand in the Mid East over the last few years, but there is no one silver bullet book I can give that covers the breadth of bullshit that's gone down there in the last 140 years.

    If you're looking to get started, there was a spike in anti-semetic violence in Europe after the Franco-Prussian War that was bad enough that Zionism became a full fledged movement among European Jews and they started striking land deals with Ottoman officials for spreads in Palestine.

    Then you get into the build up and aftermath of WWI including the Balfour Declaration giving Zionist Jews a major power backing, then the allies at Versailles forced the breakup of the Ottoman state, mainly along lines that France and England set in the Sykes-Picot agreement. Then the San Remo conference handed out the mandates for control of the former Ottoman territories, in a fashion that pretty much no natives of the region liked (especially the French getting Syria).

    Then it really becomes a clusterfuck...

    Thanks to all answers.

    Any book about the Ottomans in particular? Something like SPQR for the Roman Empire?

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Big Classy wrote: »
    Errrr @JusticeforPluto you sure you tagged the right fella? :P :P

    Whoops.

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    Kana wrote: »
    Jephery wrote: »
    I've been thinking about how unique the separation between the Medieval Sovereign and the Catholic Church was in history.

    Monarchs since the beginning of agricultural states usually styled themselves as either living gods, like the Emperors of Rome, China, and Japan, or as head priests like the Pharoh of Egypt.

    When the Germanic hordes invaded the Roman Empire and styled themselves as Catholic Kings, crowned by the Pope, they created a separation between the head of state and the head of religion, and the governance structures of the feudal state and the church. Simultaneously, you can see in the Eastern Roman Empire the Roman Emperor still holding dominance over the patriarch of Constantinople and still holding significant theological sway.

    I'm not sure if I'm making an incorrect thesis though, anyone want to weigh in?

    I'm posting real late, but I wanted to explain this one a bit

    China's Emperor wasn't a god. Heck, two Chinese dynasties came from straight-up peasant stock, they'd have a hard time claiming any kind of divine heritage. What they did claim was the mandate of heaven, which is actually a pretty complex concept. On one level, it's a pretty basic, "Yo, I'm Emperor because I'm meant to be Emperor, and you're not Emperor because you're not meant to be Emperor, fuck you." But if the Emperor does a bad job and rules poorly, the Mandate of Heaven can be lost. The Emperor isn't just the head of the government, he literally acts as the center of the world - he sets the calendars, he officially marks the changing of the seasons and it's his job to prevent or manage famines and floods, etc. It's not like this was exactly religious, the Emperor didn't claim legitimacy through one particular religion... But it wasn't just a secular position either. Though he himself wasn't exactly divine, he was a conduit to the divine, and spiritual impurity could disrupt the realm. If the realm was disrupted and the Emperor lost the mandate of heaven to rule, the mandate may fall to a new family, whose success against the old emperor will conveniently prove the new mandate. (Rulers didn't even claim divine inheritance based off of their ancestor who founded the dynasty, because several Emperors adopted their heirs. Dynasties were the inheritance of a name, but they were not biologically contiguous.)

    Obviously that's all a bit self-fulfilling, but it does create an interesting philosophy that the legitimacy of your rule comes through good stewardship, and that there is at some level a social contract between the ruler and the ruled. Through the Mandate of Heaven the people have a right to overthrow a bad leader (though obviously this is only ever officially acknowledged after a successful revolution). But it does also create a sense of continuity throughout very distinct dynasties and varying governmental structures - even if the geography and the rulers change, the mandate of heaven is still the same mandate, and China is still China, and if it's disunited now, it'll be reunited eventually. Anyway point being, the Emperor was not a god, though he was still a bit more than merely mortal.

    In Japan being Emperor was... Actually mostly kind of a dull job. It had the ceremonial aspects of the Chinese Emperor x2, but most of the time it lacked the secular power. The Japanese Emperor was more specifically linked to a particular religion - Shinto - and claimed to be descended from the gods, but actually being Emperor was often not that desired of a job. There was a period there where being Emperor was basically just something you had to serve some time on, while your father the retired Emperor actually held real power - and freed of ceremonial duties enough free time to actually use it. Emperors were eager to retire themselves so that they could move on to real power! Then as the samurai gained power the Emperor lost even that, and the position became almost entirely religious - Sure, the Shogun and daimyo claimed ultimate loyalty to the Emperor, but they would also cut off his imperial budget if he didn't fall in line, and would load the office down with even more ceremonial duties to keep the sucker too busy to actually have a hand in policymaking! In a weird way it was actually kind of a separation of church and state - The Emperor was divorced from actual ruling of the state, and while the state claimed legitimacy because of their service to the Emperor, it was a very nominal sort of service. If you want to know, "Why were the Japanese Emperors never overthrown and replaced with a new dynasty?" the answer is because there's no point in overthrowing a dynasty that usually has no power anyway.

    Also the "living god" thing wasn't a thing in the Roman Empire until roughly AD284. (And even then, it's debatable) The early emperors all styled themselves as the "princeps", which translates to "first citizen".

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    a5ehren wrote: »
    Kana wrote: »
    Jephery wrote: »
    I've been thinking about how unique the separation between the Medieval Sovereign and the Catholic Church was in history.

    Monarchs since the beginning of agricultural states usually styled themselves as either living gods, like the Emperors of Rome, China, and Japan, or as head priests like the Pharoh of Egypt.

    When the Germanic hordes invaded the Roman Empire and styled themselves as Catholic Kings, crowned by the Pope, they created a separation between the head of state and the head of religion, and the governance structures of the feudal state and the church. Simultaneously, you can see in the Eastern Roman Empire the Roman Emperor still holding dominance over the patriarch of Constantinople and still holding significant theological sway.

    I'm not sure if I'm making an incorrect thesis though, anyone want to weigh in?

    I'm posting real late, but I wanted to explain this one a bit

    China's Emperor wasn't a god. Heck, two Chinese dynasties came from straight-up peasant stock, they'd have a hard time claiming any kind of divine heritage. What they did claim was the mandate of heaven, which is actually a pretty complex concept. On one level, it's a pretty basic, "Yo, I'm Emperor because I'm meant to be Emperor, and you're not Emperor because you're not meant to be Emperor, fuck you." But if the Emperor does a bad job and rules poorly, the Mandate of Heaven can be lost. The Emperor isn't just the head of the government, he literally acts as the center of the world - he sets the calendars, he officially marks the changing of the seasons and it's his job to prevent or manage famines and floods, etc. It's not like this was exactly religious, the Emperor didn't claim legitimacy through one particular religion... But it wasn't just a secular position either. Though he himself wasn't exactly divine, he was a conduit to the divine, and spiritual impurity could disrupt the realm. If the realm was disrupted and the Emperor lost the mandate of heaven to rule, the mandate may fall to a new family, whose success against the old emperor will conveniently prove the new mandate. (Rulers didn't even claim divine inheritance based off of their ancestor who founded the dynasty, because several Emperors adopted their heirs. Dynasties were the inheritance of a name, but they were not biologically contiguous.)

    Obviously that's all a bit self-fulfilling, but it does create an interesting philosophy that the legitimacy of your rule comes through good stewardship, and that there is at some level a social contract between the ruler and the ruled. Through the Mandate of Heaven the people have a right to overthrow a bad leader (though obviously this is only ever officially acknowledged after a successful revolution). But it does also create a sense of continuity throughout very distinct dynasties and varying governmental structures - even if the geography and the rulers change, the mandate of heaven is still the same mandate, and China is still China, and if it's disunited now, it'll be reunited eventually. Anyway point being, the Emperor was not a god, though he was still a bit more than merely mortal.

    In Japan being Emperor was... Actually mostly kind of a dull job. It had the ceremonial aspects of the Chinese Emperor x2, but most of the time it lacked the secular power. The Japanese Emperor was more specifically linked to a particular religion - Shinto - and claimed to be descended from the gods, but actually being Emperor was often not that desired of a job. There was a period there where being Emperor was basically just something you had to serve some time on, while your father the retired Emperor actually held real power - and freed of ceremonial duties enough free time to actually use it. Emperors were eager to retire themselves so that they could move on to real power! Then as the samurai gained power the Emperor lost even that, and the position became almost entirely religious - Sure, the Shogun and daimyo claimed ultimate loyalty to the Emperor, but they would also cut off his imperial budget if he didn't fall in line, and would load the office down with even more ceremonial duties to keep the sucker too busy to actually have a hand in policymaking! In a weird way it was actually kind of a separation of church and state - The Emperor was divorced from actual ruling of the state, and while the state claimed legitimacy because of their service to the Emperor, it was a very nominal sort of service. If you want to know, "Why were the Japanese Emperors never overthrown and replaced with a new dynasty?" the answer is because there's no point in overthrowing a dynasty that usually has no power anyway.

    Also the "living god" thing wasn't a thing in the Roman Empire until roughly AD284. (And even then, it's debatable) The early emperors all styled themselves as the "princeps", which translates to "first citizen".

    Eeeeh. Fine line. The Imperial cult was established as early as Augustus, and while Augustus official line was that he claimed nothing (except all ze titles) at least his successors claimed divine sanction. In the eastern provinces (where kings were typicly God-kings, Egypt in particular) Augustus was worshipped as a god even before his death. Upon death the imperial family was typicly deified, Augustus in 14AD and Livia in 42AD.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • RMS OceanicRMS Oceanic Registered User regular
    Most of the Principate Emperors were of the mind that "If you wanna worship me fine but really I'm just the first citizen guys for real", and any deification was posthumous. It was considered super gauche that Caligula and Commodus (and I think Elagabalus) claimed divinity while they were still alive. I think the Dominate shift to more direct divine favour was a side effect of the legitimacy of the senate being trampled during the Crisis of the Third Century with all the soldiering going on.

  • BlackDragon480BlackDragon480 Bluster Kerfuffle Master of Windy ImportRegistered User regular
    TheBigEasy wrote: »
    Start by reading about the collapse of the Ottoman Empire I think. That's probably the most recent you can start and still get enough of the backstory.

    Yep. This is where I'd start, or just a couple of decades before.

    I've read extensively on the subject of the drawing of lines in the sand in the Mid East over the last few years, but there is no one silver bullet book I can give that covers the breadth of bullshit that's gone down there in the last 140 years.

    If you're looking to get started, there was a spike in anti-semetic violence in Europe after the Franco-Prussian War that was bad enough that Zionism became a full fledged movement among European Jews and they started striking land deals with Ottoman officials for spreads in Palestine.

    Then you get into the build up and aftermath of WWI including the Balfour Declaration giving Zionist Jews a major power backing, then the allies at Versailles forced the breakup of the Ottoman state, mainly along lines that France and England set in the Sykes-Picot agreement. Then the San Remo conference handed out the mandates for control of the former Ottoman territories, in a fashion that pretty much no natives of the region liked (especially the French getting Syria).

    Then it really becomes a clusterfuck...

    Thanks to all answers.

    Any book about the Ottomans in particular? Something like SPQR for the Roman Empire?

    Nothing that's as comprehensive or as easy to read as SPQR,

    Just looking at the Ottoman situations and the Western Mid-East (Iran and points east are a whole other bag of cats) from 1900 - WWII I can suggest some decent starting points:

    A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, this is a birds-eye political/social overview of how encroaching modernity started pressuring major changes to their approach during the 19th century, and helped set the stage for some of the post WWI stuff, although it does focus a lot on Anatolia/Turkey and the Levant than more outlying areas.

    A Peace to End All Peace, one of the fairest breakdowns of how the Treaty of Versailles, San Remo, Sykes-Picot, etc...set the dominoes up for all that's happened since the French and British started breaking up their mandates after WWII. Some newer scholarship since the fall of the USSR (mainly gleaned from ex-Soviet archives) has this showing a bit of age in a few places, but it's still a great primer.

    Fall of the Ottomans: Great War in the Middle East, for something more focused on the war's events in the region and it's effect on it's people at the ground level. Still hits a lot of the political points, but is more humanizing than the previous suggestion.

    A Line in the Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for the Middle East 1914-1948, the title sums it up. This is the most detailed coverage I've read of all the back-biting and bullshit that went down with the Mid-East mandates between Versailles and the creation of Israel and the start of most of the major 20th century conflicts. You will be tempted to reach back in time and punch some of these people in the face, in every faction.

    No matter where you go...there you are.
    ~ Buckaroo Banzai
  • MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    edited December 2018
    So we all known about Prof. J.R.R. Tolkien and his massive legendarium of Middle Earth, with a history spanning several thousand years and maps and family trees of the important characters and so forth. The reason he did it all is because, apparently, that's just how he rolled. For instance, for over twenty years, he would pen letters from Father Christmas to his children. At first it was just a little card with a handdrawn illustration and a note:

    774.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d5b7db02d67bb28d16ee9a8756df08cc

    And then he went Tolkien on this world too and made a bunch of characters with backstories and histories and a special calligraphy style (spoiled for "it's large enough to read"):
    image.jpg
    image.jpg
    image.jpg

    The man just loved worldbuilding.

    Mayabird on
  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Tolkien was the best

    Thanks for all the stories professor!

  • MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    A little note - I was doing a search before posting to check if anyone had done a big elaborate post on this before, and someone was talking about Father Christmas showing up in Narnia with no rhyme, reason, or logic. CS Lewis didn't give a damn about actual worldbuilding so long as he got his Christian propaganda-ing in, so Narnia is just a big hodgepodge, but if it had been his friend Tolkien writing it, he would've given Santa an epic backstory to make him fit.

    And I couldn't tell if the poster knew about this, or just knew how Tolkien worked. Because the good professor did make an epic backstory for Santa just to entertain his kids.

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    man... jrr tolkien was a dude of many parts, but he sure seemed like a good dad

  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    Part of the problem the prosecutors had with it is that they didn't draw lots but instead just murdered the person when he fell unconscious.

  • MuzzmuzzMuzzmuzz Registered User regular
    Heads up, Dan Carlin has put out part two his Japan History podcast, specifically about the rise of the expansion era pre WWII (and probably during)

    Four hours of content, holy shit.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Echo wrote: »

    I lived in Falmouth for four years



    I don't want to impugn the residents by saying this all sounds very normal, but frankly it all sounds very normal.

  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    tynic wrote: »
    Echo wrote: »

    I lived in Falmouth for four years



    I don't want to impugn the residents by saying this all sounds very normal, but frankly it all sounds very normal.

    Well you say that, but there's nothing about a screeching fight outside a pub aftwards

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    I assumed that went without saying.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    And then off to Greggs for a pastry afterwards?

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    And then off to Greggs for a pastry afterwards?

    Falmouth is in Cornwall, a benighted land which knew not the grace of Greggs

  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    tynic wrote: »
    Echo wrote: »

    I lived in Falmouth for four years



    I don't want to impugn the residents by saying this all sounds very normal, but frankly it all sounds very normal.

    I like to imagine Daniel saying something about how his brother was definitely delicious looking and he couldn't blame anyone for taking the chance to eat his brother.

  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    Couscous wrote: »
    Part of the problem the prosecutors had with it is that they didn't draw lots but instead just murdered the person when he fell unconscious.

    So their problem was that only one person ended up dying, rather than likely two? I'm kind of seeing the Victorian public's side of this.

  • VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    jothki wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Part of the problem the prosecutors had with it is that they didn't draw lots but instead just murdered the person when he fell unconscious.

    So their problem was that only one person ended up dying, rather than likely two? I'm kind of seeing the Victorian public's side of this.

    No, drawing lots means that the person killed is done so because of random chance. You could argue that it was Gods will that the man be killed and eaten to save the rest of the crew. By choosing someone instead they removed all that and became murderers and cannibals instead of sailors trying to live.

  • PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    Veevee wrote: »
    jothki wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Part of the problem the prosecutors had with it is that they didn't draw lots but instead just murdered the person when he fell unconscious.

    So their problem was that only one person ended up dying, rather than likely two? I'm kind of seeing the Victorian public's side of this.

    No, drawing lots means that the person killed is done so because of random chance. You could argue that it was Gods will that the man be killed and eaten to save the rest of the crew. By choosing someone instead they removed all that and became murderers and cannibals instead of sailors trying to live.

    Alternatively, if they waited until said person died anyways they'd have probably skated - similar reasoning.

    Steam: Polaritie
    3DS: 0473-8507-2652
    Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
    PSN: AbEntropy
  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    The wikipedia page says they skated anyway because they were sentenced with recommendation of mercy. Six months instead of hanging.

    Seems like the courts kind of wanted to have the record straight but understood the situation. That's a pretty rough spot to be in and it seems likely they'd all have died if they hadn't done what they did.

    PSN: Honkalot
  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    One of the most powerful political moments in modern history. Wolfgang Mischnick, leader of the FDP opposition party in West Germany has just finished a speech where he urges talks about the people of east germany, if they at the fall of the wall should run to west germany or stay at home. He urges them to stay at home, because freedom is coming to them.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvNHafpeSvE

    Fiendishrabbit on
    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    Echo wrote: »

    That led me to the wiki article on the Essex. The crew cannibalized 7 people after the ship got sunk by a whale. It involves this amazing little fact:
    Examining the charts, the officers deduced that the closest known islands, the Marquesas, were more than 1,200 mi (1,900 km) to the west, and Captain Pollard intended to make for them, but the crew, led by Chase, voiced their fears that the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to sail east instead, for South America. Unable to sail against the trade winds, however, the boats would first need to sail south for 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before they could take advantage of the Westerlies to turn towards South America, which then would still lie another 3,000 mi (4,800 km) to the east. Even with the knowledge that this route would require them to travel twice as far as the route to the Marquesas, Pollard conceded to the crew's decision and the boats set their course due south.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)#Survivors

  • daveNYCdaveNYC Why universe hate Waspinator? Registered User regular
    honovere wrote: »
    Echo wrote: »

    That led me to the wiki article on the Essex. The crew cannibalized 7 people after the ship got sunk by a whale. It involves this amazing little fact:
    Examining the charts, the officers deduced that the closest known islands, the Marquesas, were more than 1,200 mi (1,900 km) to the west, and Captain Pollard intended to make for them, but the crew, led by Chase, voiced their fears that the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to sail east instead, for South America. Unable to sail against the trade winds, however, the boats would first need to sail south for 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before they could take advantage of the Westerlies to turn towards South America, which then would still lie another 3,000 mi (4,800 km) to the east. Even with the knowledge that this route would require them to travel twice as far as the route to the Marquesas, Pollard conceded to the crew's decision and the boats set their course due south.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)#Survivors

    The Heart of the Sea is a good book.

    Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    Speaking of deranged desperation on the high seas read about the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitians kidnap victims who wound up on Pitcairn island which is now populated by their descendants and nearly the entire male population was recently embroiled in bizarre disgusting child pornography scandal including the mayor, obviously, a political office which is bitterly bitterly contested on this rock in the middle of the ocean with fifty people on it

    Hobnail on
    Broke as fuck in the style of the times. Gratitude is all that can return on your generosity.

    https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Pitcairn is a fucking bizarre place

  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    Like outlandishly bizarre, like hard to credit, like what is this

    Broke as fuck in the style of the times. Gratitude is all that can return on your generosity.

    https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
  • LoisLaneLoisLane Registered User regular
    Hobnail wrote: »
    Speaking of deranged desperation on the high seas read about the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitians kidnap victims who wound up on Pitcairn island which is now populated by their descendants and nearly the entire male population was recently embroiled in bizarre disgusting child pornography scandal including the mayor, obviously, a political office which is bitterly bitterly contested on this rock in the middle of the ocean with fifty people on it

    Wasn't it child sexual assault and abuse, not pornography?

  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Googling Pitcairn, first there was child sex assault in which a third of the male population seems to have been involved in some way. Then later there was the mayor collecting child pornography. Two separate child sex things within a few years on an island with 50 people. It seems like a bad place to live.

    PSN: Honkalot
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    I am not a law scientist I do not feel qualified to answer that

    Broke as fuck in the style of the times. Gratitude is all that can return on your generosity.

    https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    So, in something a bit more lighthearted, I found out over the holidays about one of the more unique Civil War museums out there - Civil War Tails.

    The museum is built around several dioramas of major battles of the war, rendered in a way to show the detail of the battle, based on research. There's just one small bit of whimsy - all of the soldiers are rendered as, well, cats.

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    So, in something a bit more lighthearted, I found out over the holidays about one of the more unique Civil War museums out there - Civil War Tails.

    The museum is built around several dioramas of major battles of the war, rendered in a way to show the detail of the battle, based on research. There's just one small bit of whimsy - all of the soldiers are rendered as, well, cats.

    omg o:

  • CelestialBadgerCelestialBadger Registered User regular
    So, in something a bit more lighthearted, I found out over the holidays about one of the more unique Civil War museums out there - Civil War Tails.

    The museum is built around several dioramas of major battles of the war, rendered in a way to show the detail of the battle, based on research. There's just one small bit of whimsy - all of the soldiers are rendered as, well, cats.

    That sounds like it would be an amazing anime.

  • MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    honovere wrote: »
    Echo wrote: »

    That led me to the wiki article on the Essex. The crew cannibalized 7 people after the ship got sunk by a whale. It involves this amazing little fact:
    Examining the charts, the officers deduced that the closest known islands, the Marquesas, were more than 1,200 mi (1,900 km) to the west, and Captain Pollard intended to make for them, but the crew, led by Chase, voiced their fears that the islands might be inhabited by cannibals and voted to sail east instead, for South America. Unable to sail against the trade winds, however, the boats would first need to sail south for 1,000 mi (1,600 km) before they could take advantage of the Westerlies to turn towards South America, which then would still lie another 3,000 mi (4,800 km) to the east. Even with the knowledge that this route would require them to travel twice as far as the route to the Marquesas, Pollard conceded to the crew's decision and the boats set their course due south.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)#Survivors

    If you read the rest of the article it talks about how the Essex and her crew were traveling ecological disasters.

  • GvzbgulGvzbgul Registered User regular
    So, in something a bit more lighthearted, I found out over the holidays about one of the more unique Civil War museums out there - Civil War Tails.

    The museum is built around several dioramas of major battles of the war, rendered in a way to show the detail of the battle, based on research. There's just one small bit of whimsy - all of the soldiers are rendered as, well, cats.

    That sounds like it would be an amazing anime.
    Have you heard of Cat Shit One?

This discussion has been closed.