#How to survive history

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest Catastrophes" by Cody Cassidy

Guys!! I read "The Nature of Fragile Things" about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake two days ago, recommended it yesterday. I read this yesterday to recommend today and!! It teaches how to survive the 1906 earthquake! Yay book corroboration! 😊 It's so random but it made me super happy and I hope it makes you happy too!!

Thank you @readingbeagle for recommending this! It was fun! ❤️

[avaisdramatic]

Putting this comment on here because I feel like I’m actually going insane…

It seems like nobody in the comments even watched the video, complaining about how paying for content is difficult in this economy, like, that's why they are doing this! They cannot continue to make the content they want for free based on ads and sponsors alone. If you have paid attention to the "Making Watcher"s of recent years, their company is not, and has not been profitable. They are so dependent on advertisers for funding that it is becoming a restriction to the content they want to make (y'a know, like Buzzfeed was), so they had to find a solution. I don't know why you all seem to think you are entitled to free content, I understand not everyone can afford it but Watcher doesn't owe you content personally. Frankly, I doubt they wanted to put their content behind a paywall, but if it's that or not make content at all, of course they are going to try to find a solution. So no, they aren't "turning into Buzzfeed” because the massive problem with Buzzfeed was its restrictions on creative freedom and exploitation of its workers. If Watcher wants to produce fulfilling content that gives their editors, designers, producers, etc full creative freedom and a livable wage, this is the best option. If you want them to pay their workers the bare minimum and tailor their content to advertiser interests just so you can watch it for free, that's fine. Just don't pretend that they are some evil media mega-corporation and you are the anti-capitalist shining hero for saying it. You don't have to like it, and you don't have to continue to support them, but don't try to shame and demonize them for making an already difficult decision.

Many of you DO have an understanding of the difficult position our current economic system puts people in because you have experienced it, but you are so unable to extend that understanding beyond your own point of view. Look past yourself for a moment and think critically, and maybe you will understand their perspective. Much love for all of the talented people within Watcher who are doing their best.

And just to add, their format going forward is almost IDENTICAL to CollegeHumor-Dropout's streaming service format (even down to the free premieres and advocating for sharing accounts with friends), which most people praise to high heaven as "the only ethical streaming service." As a huge fan of both companies the stark difference in response here is actually astounding...

[dragonpropaganda]

The Architecture of Rain World: Layers of History

A major theme in Rain World's world design that often goes overlooked is the theme of, as James Primate, the level designer, composer and writer calls it, "Layers of History." This is about how the places in the game feel lived-in, and as though they have been built over each other. Here's what he said on the matter as far back as 2014!

The best example of this is Subterranean, the final area of the base game and a climax of the theme. Subterranean is pretty cleanly slpit vertically, there's the modern subway built over the ancient ruins, which are themselves built over the primordial ruins of the depths. Piercing through these layers is Filtration System, a high tech intrusion that cuts through the ground and visibly drills through the ceiling of the depths.

Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets, the friendly local ghost, tells the player of the "bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks," highlighting this theme of layering as one of the first impressions the player gets of Subterranean. Barely minutes later, the player enters the room SB_H02, where the modern train lines crumble away into a cavern filled with older ruins, which themselves are invaded by the head machines seen prior in outskirts and farm arrays, some of which appear to have been installed destructively into the ruins, some breaking through floors.

These layers flow into each other, highlighting each other's decrepit state.

The filtration system, most likely the latest "layer," is always set apart from the spaces around it. At its top, the train tunnels give way to a vast chasm, where filtration system stands as a tower over the trains, while at the bottom in depths, it penetrates the ceiling of the temple, a destructive presence. (it's also a parallel to the way the leg does something similar in memory crypts, subterranean is full of callbacks like that!)

Filtration system is an interesting kind of transition, in that it is much later and more advanced than both of the areas it cuts between. This is a really interesting choice from James! It would be more "natural" to transition smoothly from the caves of upper subterranean to the depths, but by putting filtration system in between, the two are clearly demarcated as separate. The difference in era becomes palpable, the player has truly found something different and strange.

Depths itself is, obviously, the oldest layer not only of subterranean but of the game itself. The architecture of Depths has little to do with the rest of the game around it, it's a clear sign of the forgotten civilisations that our friend Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets showed us, there's not actually that much to say about it itself, it's mostly about how it interacts with the other layers of subterranean.

That said, Subterranean is far from the only case of the theme of layers of history. It's present as soon as the player starts the game!

The very first room of the game, SU_C04, is seemingly a cave. It is below the surface, the shapes of it are distinctly amorphous rather than geometric. (well. kind of, it doesn't do a very good job of hiding the tile grid with its 45 degree angles.)

But let's take a closer look, shall we?

See that ground? it's made of bricks. The entire cave area of outskirts is characterised by this, the "chaotic stone" masonry asset is mixed with brickwork, unlike the surface ruins which are mostly stone. This, seemingly, is an inversion of common sense! The caves are bricks and the buildings are stone. This is not, however, a strange and unique aspect but a recurring motif.

This occurs enough in the game for it to be clearly intentional, but why would materials such as bricks be used in otherwise natural looking terrain?

The answer lies in the "Layers of History" theme. This is in fact, something that happens in real life, and it's called a tell

To be specific, a tell is a kind of mound formed by settlements building over the ruins of previous iterations of themselves. Centuries of rubble and detritus form until a hill grows from the city. Cities such as Troy and Jericho are famous examples. The connections to the layers of history theme are pretty clear here, I think. Cities growing, then dying, then becoming the bedrock of the next city. The ground, then, is made of bricks, because the ground is the rubble of past buildings. The bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks!

[megsdoodletag]

PIETA [MIDNIGHT CLAD]

...Scholars debate on the figure being held, whether it is a representation of the legion's ailing home planet, the █████████ ████████ [REDACTED] himself, or simply an unlucky neophyte. The figure in mourning dress has of course been identified as ████ ███████ [REDACTED] known for █████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ [REDACTED] - Treatise on symbolism in astartes art, circa. M31 Hey Rob, is it possible to retract some of these redactions? This collection is very interesting but half of this is unreadable. -Attached note, Yassilli Sulymanya, Rogue Trader of the Logos Historica Verita, to be delivered to the desk of The Lord Regent Primarch Robute Guilliman.  All non-emergency requests have since been rerouted to the desk of the Equerry Secondary.

@sorormaior sorry for making ur guy cry here's an extra

ok weeeee clean vers

and my favorite details

Based on William-Adolphe Bouguereau's Pieta

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

I’m just very Frodo-pilled but this part of the silmarillion makes me insane

For Frodo the Halfling, it is said, at the bidding of Mithrandir took himself the burden, and alone with his servant he passed through peril and darkness and came at last in Sauron's despite even to Mount Doom; and there into the Fire where it was wrought he cast the Great Ring of Power, and so at last it was unmade and its evil consumed.

It’s such a small mention, lacking so many details and yet that’s the way it is in history, people from the past who are now only names and we may know what they did but not anything else about them.

Sam isn’t even given a name, Gollum is not mentioned, Frodo’s fate is not mentioned, Frodo’s bitten off finger doesn’t appear. It’s completely detail-less, because in actual history we’re also missing many details.

This is such a small mention and when, after reading this, you go to lotr it’s such a whiplash. From recorded history, what history remembers, what survived time (the “most important” name (frodo) and the outcome), compared to p how it actually was (lotr), all the things forgotten than no one knows, than time ate away, than there are no records of.

Frodo’s mental state and Sam’s hope and devotion and the fellowship’s companionship and Frodo’s old life and gollum’s conflict and all the steps to Mordor and Sam seeing the star and the reunion with pippin and merry after the eagles and Frodo feeling the effects while back in the shire and even moments like sarcastic comments and genuine smiles.

It’s easy to forget that the people in history books who only get one mention were people as well, than the unnamed people (servants/the poor, mainly, and women and those than were ever discriminated against) were people too, with names and lives and stories. Frodo gets a name but we don’t get his story. Sam isn’t even named.

But we can return to lotr, what actually happen. It may have not survived in history, as most stories often don’t, but we can read it anyway, thankfully.

I just, love the contrast between that paragraph and lotr.

[hooked-on-elvis]

SHIRTLESS ELVIS?

NOT A FASHION STATEMENT... SAFETY! ...according to him.

"Quit wearing shirts," he announced. "These people, teenagers mostly, kept tearing my shirt off. Just had to quit wearing 'em. Never wear a necktie, of course. It can be dangerous - some girl grabbing at my necktie could choke me. Never wear a belt. Seems like that's what they go for next to neckties."

This newspaper is from May, 1956. The full note can be seen HERE. It reads Elvis was on his way to perform in Topeka, after a night concert in Omaha. He played on the 20th at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha, NE (8:00 PM) and on May 21 1956 he would perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Topeka, KS (7:00 PM).

And this is him shirtless in Vegas a little earlier that same month/year.

[aalghul]

"claiming any writer ever intended to write that jason was sexually assaulted as a child is stealing from mia" is still one of the most ridiculous takes i have ever seen. by the way

[jackattack20writes]

So having spent a couple days thinking about it and also before I get into it I do just wanna acknowledge how it’s entirely reasonable to take issue with how Lalah was presented in the latest episode of Gquuuuuux. But I do think that with the context of Gquuuuuux Lalah staying in the brothel is incredibly important for what Gquuuuuux is trying to say. So a common thread for all the OYW/Gundam 79 vets shown in Gquuuuuux is that they’re stuck in the war. They haven’t been able to move past it, Challia’s still searching for char, Gihren and Kycilia are both still in the wartime fear of assassination and weapons development emphasised by Xavier saying they haven’t even met since the OYW and Lalah has stuck herself in the brothel waiting for char to come save her.

And topping it off the assumedly char character seems to still be trying to kill the Zabi’s and they’ve all been searching for the rose of Sharon this entire time. But all of them have made this choice and I believe that Lalah in this episode, similarly to how Zeon and the brothel have been used, is intended to emphasise this point further.

Like Kycilia and Gihren have chosen to continue on researching new weapons of war and preparing for a civil war by choice, sure it’s the prisoner’s dilemma but it’s still their choice. Similarly Challia rather than trying to actually do something to kill the Zabi’s like he and char planned has spent the last decade and a half searching for Char. Same with Lalah, rather than escaping either with Machu or any time before that she’s waiting for Char to come save her. And this is important because so much of Nyaan, Shuji and Machu’s story has been about finding a place for themselves. And just like how Anqi and Xavier and Deux are the worst possibilities for them, Anqi a jaded woman who trusts no one and is willing to sell people out once they lose their usefulness, Xavier a soldier whose sold his ideals and personhood for alleged safety, and Deux a girl who sacrificied everything in the name of experiencing the Kira Kira, the veterans are similarly advisory tales.

Challia is the man who gives up everything he cares about in the fruitless search for someone he’s centred his whole life around, Gihren and Kycilia show the downfalls of plunging into the war machine for a purpose no matter how noble you think it is, and Lalah is similarly to Challia the consequence of tying your worth to someone else. All of which are possible ends at current for really only Nyaan and Machu but still relevant to my point. These are all people showing potential end points for the protagonists and yet also advisory stories about why they shouldn’t end up like that

Like last ep Xavier basically was just making a case to Nyaan about why she doesn’t want to stay with Zeon and would rather go back to her friends just like how in this ep Lalah while also being a big exposition dump was showing Machu that she was right in taking grasp of her destiny when she did with the Gundam. Because otherwise she’d be stuck suffering waiting for someone else to save her.

This sort of thing is also why I am extremely confident Nyaan and Machu aren’t being set up to be Charmuro 2.0, the show is putting so much effort into showing how badly these people have suffered because of their inability to find good places for themselves where they truly thrive I A. Don’t see the show saying that yes the place for NyaChu is the exact same place that two other adults that suffered greatly from the same generation inhabited 40 years ago and B. I think it’s far too bleak an answer for a show that I think is at its core one of positivity. Like firstly it’s kind of insane to make a show at least partially aimed at teens and say their place in life is to die in a toxic Yuri explosion but also I think that with the subtle parts of it’s portrayals for Nyaan and Machu the show is giving a lot of grace to the idea that teenagers are smart enough to figure it out if they’re given the space to figure it out. And so I doubt the ending at its core character-wise for Nyaan and Machu at the very least will be not much more complicated than the two of them finding the space to figure out who they are and moving beyond the failings of Zeon and the Federation.

Likely together and depending on Shuji’s state at the end with or without him, as a very direct contrast to Charmuro they’ll either move past the loss without blaming each other and just accepting that he’s gone and filling the space he’s left with each other. Or they’ll, like in ep 7, show that Shuji isn’t something that’ll come between them, their bond is ultimately stronger than both of them having feelings for the same boy (likely because they have the same feelings for each tier too.)

Although I do also have to say at the end of this that with only three episodes left it’s entirely possible that they just completely fail to actually deliver on tany of this and instead it devolves into some multiverse bullshit but I do think I’m at least accurate with my read on Lalah. Because while I’m only part way through Utena from what I’ve heard and read about it the victimising inherent to certain roles that’s discussed in that anime is very similar to what’s going on with Lalah in Gquuuuuux and that by seeing the visions of char and Amuro and the OYW she’s relegated herself to this role as someone to be saved and taken away her own agency and this is supposed to be a bad thing for her to do. Similarly to how Challia has lost himself in the search for the red comet and failed to achieve anything that he and char talked about doing.

[sausage-rolll]

thinking long and hard about Godwyn and Fortissax's friendship like

>the dragons begin a war with the golden order

>Godwyn and Fortissax become “good friends” which brings an era of peace between the golden order and the dragons

>Godwyn goes on to begin the golden lineage with a completely unmentioned partner

>dragons are known to take the form of humans and even have relations with them, as seen with Vyke and Fortissax's sister Lanssax

>One of Godwyn’s many descendants is Godrick, who refers to the dragon in his arena as “kindred one”

>While Godwyn was the first demigod to fall during the night of the black knives, it’s implied that many others followed at the hands of the assassins. Due to the rest of the known descendants of Marika being alive, and no one else having a child pre-shattering it can be inferred that Godwyn's bloodline was specifically targeted for some reason. Since those are the only other demigods that existed at the time.

>Godwyn is assassinated and because him and Fortissax are such “Good friends” Fortissax proceeds to enter godwyns mind and spends decades, possibly centuries attempting to fight off the deathblight from within him, eventually succumbing to it themselves but still unwilling to abandon their “good friend” regardless.

[thoughtportal]

The Ashes Action 1992

[vee-more-afraid]

copper tools/armor are just like. Why

like im glad they Exist just on the grounds of like. more items but who'd ever use this

it feels like Mojang just playing right into the crowd of Minecraft fans who are so focused on "Progression" (AKA Anything that you don't use to speedrun beating the ender dragon is a waste of game design resources) that they cant just enjoy things.

Copper's primary use is for Building, it's an easy to get Metallic building block with 4 different possible color schemes and a lot of different options. But since building is "decorative", copper was going to be called a "useless"/"gimmicky" ore until it GOT a tool/armor set. Which, ironically enough, is the MOST USELESS THING TO MAKE OUT OF COPPER!!

Let's compare with Iron, shall we? Iron is, without a doubt, the single most useful crafting resource in the game. Iron farms are indispensable for a reason. How much of the average player's Iron goes into... more iron tools/armor? After you made the one set in the midgame and moved onto diamond, I find most of my iron goes to. Well, stuff like Hoppers or Crafters or even Minecarts. Buckets and Shears. Which makes sense, Iron's main use is Utility. Copper's is Construction

idk. People cheering Copper Armor saying that it "finally makes Copper no longer useless" are really missing the point. I'll continue to be spending all the copper I get on Copper Blocks, Lightning Rods, Brushes (the entire gateway to archaeology locked behind copper, hm), and the new Copper Golems & Chests, before I ever even consider making Copper Tools or Armor in an average playthrough

[taniatas]

[lordcastaway]

obsessed with the line-up

[mariemariemaria]

'Following partition in 1921/22, the situation in the six counties of Northern Ireland was markedly different. The Unionist-dominated government was hostile to the [Irish] language and actively restricted its use in the public domain and within the education system. Vestiges of the historical Gaeltacht remained in the early years of the state, in Tyrone, Armagh, Antrim and Derry, but by 1991, when the first question on the Irish language was included in the Census of Northern Ireland, these language communities had died out. The census revealed that the majority of Irish speakers were located in urban rather than rural areas, and that Irish had, apart from a small number of children in the neo-Gaeltacht of the Shaws Road, in west Belfast, become the language of learners.'

— Ulster Gaelic Voices: Bailiúchán Wilhelm Doegen (ed. Róise Ní Bhaoill), p. 11.

[crispycreambacon]

Sometimes a fandom can just be you and your best friend that you are dragging down the hellhole with you <3

(ft. @madamegemknight who I am dragging down the hellhole with me. I love you bestie <3)

[sir-adamus]

having some thoughts on the "all myths and fairytales have some element of truth to them" angle RWBY operates on in regards to Faunus origins, because where they factor in to the re-emergence of humanity is incredibly vague

i had a thought though, that we know that somewhere in Vacuo, two children accidentally stumbled into the Ever After, and that was relatively recently compared to the mass of history that's gone relatively unexplored

so what if Faunus originate from some early Humans 2.0 stumbling into the Ever After (presumably at an early enough point that the Cat hadn't quite gotten to obsessing over why the Brothers left them), ascending and gaining animal features (so the Blacksmith is that God of Animals we saw in both Faunus origin tales) and returning to Remnant, and then things spiraling from there