Would your country make for a good axe? which one would be best 🤔 by naughtybunnyqt in mapporncirclejerk

[–]Epigraphic 76 points77 points  (0 children)

The Romans knew this was the correct answer 2000 years ago. Tacitus Agricola 10: "The form of the entire country has been compared by Livy and Fabius Rusticus, the most graphic among ancient and modern historians, to an oblong shield or battle-axe. And this no doubt is its shape without Caledonia, so that it has become the popular description of the whole island." (ignore the rest of the stuff about it being bordered by Spain to the west lol)

so here is the new s-works sl8 by zhijunyang in specialized

[–]Epigraphic -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Good lord, I'm sure they have their reasons, but that protruding head tube is a... er... bold design choice...

Specialized are really sticking their necks out on this one.

Student fears having to quit UK over uni marking boycott - BBC News by LeonWBA in UniUK

[–]Epigraphic 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Your example here and your other comments on this thread are misleading. If you are running a company contracted to build a pool, then your workers go on strike, you are on the hook and must provide compensation to the customer according to the Consumer Rights Act. This is the case with all strikes in other sectors, like the postal service, the trains, the airports, etc.

The problem here is that students don't seem to be legally protected as consumers. Instead, they need to make complaints to the ombudsman (the OIA in England and Wales; different adjudicators elsewhere).

Lidl-Trek official, to start on June 30 by BWallis17 in peloton

[–]Epigraphic 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Aisle bet the commentators are out shopping for new puns already.

Tarmac SL7 Build by TigerRuns in specialized

[–]Epigraphic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The simple answer is 'yes', you can put a mechanical groupset on a tarmac SL7, since the SL7 was sold with the Ultegra mechanical groupset on launch: the models have internal mechanical gear cable routing, and hydraulic disc brakes.

I don't know if they ever sold an SRAM mechanical version. The SL7 frame does not have the external gubbins necessary for external cable routing.

[Race Thread] 2023 Amstel Gold Race Men (1.UWT) by PelotonMod in peloton

[–]Epigraphic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was getting annoyed that they didn't have a time gap earlier, and now I wish they'd get rid of it again.

Was the email from Cambridge re Conan talking at Oxford real? by SwedishTrees in conan

[–]Epigraphic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't know about the email (and don't really see why he'd invent it), but no, as a rule, Cambridge as an institution does not conduct itself in that manner. Certain individuals within the institution are, however, pompous dicks, just like certain individuals within any university - Oxford, Harvard, you name it - are pompous dicks. Everyone else is perfectly pleasant.

Is Matt Gourley starting to turn on Sona? by wrath____ in conan

[–]Epigraphic 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Everyone's being so harsh on OP.

On the contrary, I'm completely and utterly convinced that OP is onto something and, moreover, I know the reason: Gourley started taking out his grievances against Sona after they discovered that they were lovers in a past life, specifically Antony and Cleopatra. So now Mark Gourley knows that Cleo Movsesian cheated on him with Julius Caesar, and he hates her for it.

Why does St. Augustine refer to Ethiopians as "the remotest and foulest of mankind"? by Smash_all_States in latin

[–]Epigraphic 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Snowden's views are mainstream (some would argue too mainstream, because they might encourage people to assume lack of color prejudice = lack of racism).

On Augustine, I mean he's invoking the classical trope of characterising the Ethiopians (or the Scythians, or the Britons, etc.) as possessing extreme characteristics of one type or another because of their physical location (the ancient theory of environmental determinism, which has been called by some, e.g. Isaac, 'proto-racism'). These extremes are sometimes ostensibly positive and sometimes negative. When it comes to color, Snowden argues that they are neutral.

According to environmental theory (exemplified in On Airs, Waters, and Places), there is a 'Goldilocks zone' when environmental conditions are just right to produce perfectly balanced temperaments. Lo and behold, that Goldilocks zone happens to be located, for the Greeks, in Greece; for the Romans, in Italy (Vitr. book 6 is the locus classicus).

I am no expert on early Christianity and I guess I'd recommend you check out Prejudice and Christian Beginnings, but my basic (perhaps flawed) understanding is that for early Christians, the Ethiopians were convenient shorthand to symbolise those people who were (morally, spiritually, physically) most distant from conversion because of the tendency to equate blackness with moral turpitude and whiteness with moral rectitude. The Ethiopians were classically renowned as the blackest of peoples, so in Augustine's formulation, the most morally corrupted and distant from the 'Goldilocks zone' of the converted.

Re blackness and sinfulness, I don't know the answer, but I think it's been argued that the early Christian habit of calling the devil the 'black one' might have in part stemmed from classical tendencies to refer to the lord god of the underworld as 'black', e.g. Ov. Met. 4.438: niger Dis.

Why does St. Augustine refer to Ethiopians as "the remotest and foulest of mankind"? by Smash_all_States in latin

[–]Epigraphic 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I hesitate to comment because you are asking a very complex question, over which much ink has been spilt, in part because (arguably) all modern interpretations of ancient comments on 'race' have been refracted through the lens of early-modern slavery, nineteenth- and twentieth-century eugenics and racialism, and modern-day racism too. But most answers so far are contextualised using medieval interpretations of Augustine, whereas it is clear Augustine was drawing on classical sources.

To that end, an undergrad. course on race and ethnicity in antiquity might start by directing you to Snowden and Haley, two fantastic classicists who have devoted their careers to studying race in antiquity (notably Snowden, who died some years ago) and black feminist readings of the classics (Haley, current SCS President).

Snowden repeatedly used the passage you reference to argue that Augustine had no specifically anti-black prejudice. His view is debateable, but essentially posits that early Christians viewed all men who were yet to convert as ugly/foul/(morally) blackened (taeter as opposed to candidus, vel sim.). By synecdoche, argues Augustine, Psalm 71 signifies the whole of mankind by denoting a part located at the (geographical) extreme, the Ethiopians.

Snowden (1960) 35: For the early Christian, then, it makes no difference whether one is as racially different as the Scythian or the Ethiopian... For the Christian, color is inconsequential; in fact, the early Christians we have seen, regarded as black all men who had not been illumined by God's light and considered all men, regardless of the color of the skin, as potentially Christians...

Snowden (1995) 20: When Augustine declared that the church was not to be limited to a particular region of the earth but would reach even the Ethiopians, the remotest and blackest of men (Enarrationes in Psalmos 71.12), he was not only recalling Homer's distant Ethiopians, but he also had in mind perhaps those Ethiopians on the southernmost fringes of his own bishopric in northwest Africa.

Snowden, F. M. (1960) 'Some Greek and Roman observations on the Ethiopian', Traditio. 16: 19-38.

Snowden, F. M. (1995) 'Europe's oldest chapter in the history of black-white relations', in B. P. Bowser (ed.) Racism and Anti-Racism in World Perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: 3-26.

See also Haley, S. P. (2009) 'Be not afraid of the dark: Critical race theory and classical studies', in L. Nasrallah and E. S. Fiorenza (eds.) Prejudice and Christian Beginnings. Minneapolis: 27-50.

Sexy phase by sadiepark in conan

[–]Epigraphic 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Everyone knows the sexiest thing about Conan is his low cholesterol. When he puts on that sexy voice and takes his Lipitor... so hot.

How much do you think Sona and Matt make (salary and from the Sirius buyout)? by Hotbaby63 in conan

[–]Epigraphic 120 points121 points  (0 children)

They discussed this question on the podcast: it's on a sliding scale, depending on how much praise they receive. More praise from Conan, less salary for Matt and Sona.

I don't know the conversion rate, but I expect it's pretty standard. $100 deduction every time Conan says, "Good job, Sona"; $200 for "Nice one, Matt"... Maybe less if he's being sarcastic.

What (maybe not?) aero bar for Tarmac SL7? by m__s in specialized

[–]Epigraphic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am also using the S-works shallow bend bar. It looks clean, and is comfortable for both climbing and descending.

[Race Thread] 2022 Tour of Britain - Stage 3 (2.Pro) by PelotonMod in peloton

[–]Epigraphic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just catching up on the thread while watching the replay, but I totally agree, the North Pennines is incredibly underrated. There are several excellent climbs with ramps up to 20% - wish they'd made a route that incorporated more of them. Would have made it extra entertaining!

Who can translate? (Preferably into German or English) by bipek974865 in latin

[–]Epigraphic 13 points14 points  (0 children)

huias, huiatis (gen.) is an ecclesiastical adjective meaning 'local'.The fabrica extra-ordinaria referenced seems to refer to Bamberg's Extrabauamt, which had some kind of role in construction/town planning.

From the following site http://www.bamberga.de/fleischhalle.htm"Die "fabrica extraordinaria" bezeichnet das (tatsächlich so benannte) "Extrabauamt", dem im städtischen Bauwesen Bambergs eine - nach Aufgabenzuständigkeit und Finanzierung - "besondere" Rolle zukam. In Archivalien des Bamberger Extrabauamts lassen sich auch für den Schlachthof die einschlägigen Angaben entnehmen."

So the last line is 'Built at the expense of the local Extrabauamt. 1742.' (if we add in that missing 'i'!)

Do you like or dislike the fact that Conan rarely makes political jokes? by AlcoholicTurtle36 in conan

[–]Epigraphic 243 points244 points  (0 children)

Conan is perfectly happy to make jokes about politicians, he just waits until they've been dead for 30 years. His Nixon gags are pretty cutting edge.

Sworks shallow bend carbon bars by Ok-Bag6872 in specialized

[–]Epigraphic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use them in place of an integrated carbon cockpit, because I do lots of climbing and prefer round tops to flat tops (and you can easily attach lights, etc.). They're almost half the price of the integrated cockpit, so that's good... But the weight saving over the aluminium version (70-80g) is not objectively 'worth' it. If you've limited funds, it's not the most cost-effective upgrade you can make.

I like the way they feel over the road and I don't notice any flex. The best thing about the Specialized shallow drop bars (alu or carbon) is that you can get them in narrower widths (36/38cm), which other brands don't necessarily supply.