unconsequential

I seriously thought I was on an onion site for a second

I am sorry but the clear rain slickers are killing me

Yes. Marked by opulence and a distracted upper class, depending on foreign born nationals and the impoverished to defend them from the mob. A military class they eventually spit on and denied access to anything “Roman” which wasn’t a great incentive for you know, defending them from their own disgruntled citizens or enemies at their door. They cared more about their money and orgies and pedophelia than they did at maintaining the cogs of Empire of which their lifestyle depended. Bread and circuses and a whole lot of arrogant prejudice.

Theodora convincing her husband not to flee the Nika Riots of 532 AD. She successfully rewrote Christianity and global history forever (for better or for worse.)

I don’t know the specific battle per se, but the conquering of the Iberian peninsula and founding of Al-Andaluz and the resulting age of enlightened that pulled Europe from the Dark Ages. Ie. When Islam saved Europe from herself.

Also, Fredrick II “failed crusade” and his friendship and mutual love of falconry with Al-Kamil. Not a battle but just a specific historical nerd who loved falcons and diplomacy who probably saved countless lives in his time because “birds”.

These are my Eurocentric answers, not specific battles per se but definitely pivots in history imo that rewrote Europe and its ability to be a future global player.

I disagree with other commenters. This does feel wild to read out loud. Maybe I’m just old but “backpack laser drones” sounds like a joke to me.

You can actually do this which is the wild part about memory and cognition. It’s basically what a lot of therapy practices are.

If you lose your memories, are “you” dead?

No, because other people hold many of those memories for you. And while memories and conditioning play a role in personality they aren’t the end all on who we are. We are still us, even if a bit “different” from before.

If a close relative/friend lose their memories, are they still “your relative/friend”?

Absafuckinglootly, because I carry that friendship and _I _ owe that loyalty. Just because they can’t remember us, I don’t get to abandon them. Loyalty. People need to learn it.

What the hell even is memory? How sentimental are you about memories?

Memory to me is often jarring and annoying. I suffer from unrequested flashbacks frequently.

But, memory is kind of amazing because you can have a shared memory with someone and it be completely different from their experience. Memory is so malleable, and often a coping mechanism, both natural and taught, for dealing with traumas is literally rewriting your memory to something you can live with. Shaving off the pieces you can’t or making them more “dull”.

I had night terrors after a bad accident until my brain literally rewrote the visuals of some of it and while I could verbalize it to you, I couldn’t “relive” that piece anymore which was a huge physical and emotional relief when it finally happened. And I didn’t do it, my brain did it on its own. Memory is weird.

Memory is often deceitful anyway, so relying on it as heavily as we do is actually kind of odd. Our perceived memory is stronger than the real event. We catalog all kinds of other information on top of what is actually the “present”. Think about when you wake up and commit a dream to memory. The retelling of the dream to yourself is actually stronger than the dream itself. Our “story” is the memory not the “present”.

Neat question. I could ramble on this topic for a long time…

Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree it would seem. Just look at his dad.

I just love this for them

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Why was this downvoted? That’s pretty accurate (USA wise) and that context feels pretty obvious to any reader.

What’s the old adage? Your boss would replace you before you’re cold in the ground?

Pie feds aka “the feds”

I hear it differently. I’ve heard it as, “keep doing this thing that’s bad for you, just make sure it doesn’t inconvenience me or I’ll start judging you.”

Also, “it’s not a problem so long as it’s making me money, so don’t quit completely, but rather stay alive long enough to keep dumping cash into it.”

Anyone who’s ever tried to get serious help has been met with the “well just consume in moderation” argument and the “it’s a disease” excuses. We have agency, we can rewire neural pathways, and we don’t have to consume things that are killing us in “socially acceptable” measurements. It’s not an easy road but telling people “eww you can’t just limit yourself? you’re clearly broken beyond repair” doesn’t help people heal. Edit: fixed typo

No I shall not answer your riddle. Here is a bribe— I mean, magical ball of thread instead…

Greed hands down. Religious extremism is like psychosis or other mental illnesses. Greed is a much more dangerous beast and the absence of greed takes away a lot of religious extremism’s teeth. We also have more tools available to successfully combat religious extremism than greed. We’ve repeatedly seen collapses of religious extremists but rarely successful curbing of greed.

“Everything is made up and the points don’t matter!”

I am of no help on this topic other than, the value of money is literally made up. We just sort of agree how much it’s worth at this point. Which doesn’t seem to be decided by you or me.

Also, “it’s complicated” is usually code for: this is really straight forward but bad so let’s make it hard to understand to hide the bad part.

But, as I understand it, we all collectively hallucinate value and when we start to sober up they have to rush and hit us with another dose. We’re just perpetually rebalancing our illusion.

If you don’t have a crawl space or attic with access, and aren’t somewhere they run conduit for resi, then most probably yes.

I would say give your countrymen (and especially women) some credit. Mexico has been marching steadily forward over the past decade or so. I met a lot of very competent people working very hard to better the country as a whole in my time studying there.

The roadblocks are many and the dangers can run high at times but that’s not stopping people. As it shouldn’t. Mexico is coming into her power. Just wait.

Even your remark, even if you feel a little beat down, is a testament to the times. Solid foundations aren’t built in a night. They’re hard fought and won with consistency. And what is Mexico if not resilient?

Is that the Great White one? The horrors. I am haunted by that footage. Like Dante’s inferno brought to life in the flesh. We watched it in my apprenticeship. That and the fire in the MGM grand. Needless to say I took my fire alarm installs very seriously when most don’t. I never want any systems I touched to fail.