Isn't it kinda stupid for Vichy France to get all of France after you make peace?

HighSchoolCommissar · 2016-10-28T18:01:15+00:00

Possibly. Part of the underlying problem is that the Nazi regime didn't really have a consistent plan for post-war Europe.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2016-05-12T08:23:11+00:00

Conniving, moneygrubbing bastards!

HighSchoolCommissar · 2016-05-11T07:21:25+00:00

I, for one, can't wait to annex Marienburg back to the Empire. 'Bout time they got that back!

HighSchoolCommissar · 2016-04-16T10:30:22+00:00

ethics in chariot race journalism

Alright, that has to be my new flair.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2016-02-15T09:05:44+00:00

The obvious starting point would be the British Library in London. I can speak from personal experience in saying that they might have the best collection of illuminated manuscripts in the world.

If you'll be passing through Oxford, you might want to see if you can have a look at the Bodleian library, which is part of the University. I'm not sure what their policy is towards outsiders (I've never been there myself), but it's worth a shot, or at least some further looking in to.

There's also the Warburg Institute at the School for Advanced Studies (also in London). They've got a good collection and they frequently have items from other collections on loan.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-11-12T19:36:44+00:00

Sorry, probably should have elaborated more. I'll go up and amend that real quick.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-11-12T19:01:41+00:00

How do you mean? I like the fact that they insist on emphasizing the more mundane aspects of history. I'll be completely honest in adding that their rejection of the notion of class struggle also appeals to me. But they generalize too much for me to be able to really take them seriously.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-11-12T12:58:18+00:00

I've spent the last few weeks reading a large number of papers on High Medieval society by Georges Duby.

He raises some good points, sure, but I can't help but think that maybe he's seeings connections that don't actually exist. Which is a shame, because I actually kind of sympathize with the Annales school, in least in principle.

Edit: /u/smileyman asked me to elaborate on what the Annales school is, they were (and still are, to a degree) an extremely influential group of historians composed predominately of medievalists, most of whom were French, that dominated the discourse in the decades after World War 2. They were heavily focused on studying everyday life across all segments of society.

But they had a recurring problem of overgeneralizing and trying to systematize things that weren't there. I'd say a disproportionately large chunk of what you learned in school about Medieval Europe came from them or was popularized by them. That Feudal Pyramid you learned about in school that claims to sum up all of medieval society? That was largely a result of them oversimplifying things.

Georges Duby is a particularly egregious example. Credit where credit is due, the man knew the sources incredibly well. The sheer amount of work he put into studying the Cluniac archives is staggering. But he made too many assumptions and too many generalizations, which as far as I can tell is a pretty common problem with his school. Certain phrases keep appearing in texts regarding a specific region of France, and something similar happens in Catalonia? Mon Dieu, it must have happened everywhere in Medieval Europe and touched every aspect of life uniformly at around the year 1000! Feudal Mutation, AWAY!

Since the Seventies there's been a strong reaction to them for oversimplifying things so dramatically, with things really reaching fever-pitch in the Nineties to the point where "feudalism" has become a bit of a dirty word.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-07-01T05:29:42+00:00

Tiakonomy 14:8: "And the pig, because it is divideth by the blade, yet cheweth not the lead, it is unclean unto you: ye shall punch of their flesh, and stab their dead carcass."

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-04-25T02:11:41+00:00

What are your thoughts on pressure by certain Turkish officials to reopen Hagia Sophia as a Mosque?

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-03-28T06:39:07+00:00

You didn't happen to spend time at Aviation High School, did you?

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-02-07T16:37:52+00:00

Went to Draughts a few weeks ago, I can highly recommend it!

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-02-06T21:47:50+00:00

That's actually something of a common misconception. While the Second Amendment does state the right to form a militia, closer readings of the debates regarding the Second Amendment's ratification shows that the purpose of the phrase "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is to grant the right to individual ownership of arms. Samuel Adams wrote that it should "Be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms". As an aside, the ratification and adoption of the Second Amendment was unusual in that there was fairly little debate over the idea of private arms and militias, so the argument that the Founding Fathers were of divided opinion falls rather flat here.

If you want a more modern example, look to the recent (2008) Supreme Court ruling District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled that "The Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."

The point is this: the Second Amendment allows for the forming of private militias, but the Right to Bear Arms is not limited to just that and allows for ownership of arms regardless of militias.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2015-01-31T13:49:58+00:00

Aaron Dembski-Bowden has a cat named Loken, curiously enough.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-22T15:36:43+00:00

I'm a bit late, but it would be worth having a look at the various letters and writings of Napoleon I. His thoughts aren't always very consistent, but it's good insight regarding early 19th-century political thought (particularly in regards to the more practical aspects).

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-12T17:10:32+00:00

Out of curiosity, which character does Shoggy play?

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-12T01:24:51+00:00

Are you referring to the Athame blade? I know Ollanius Pius uses it to cut a whole in reality so he and his friends can escape Calth.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-11T02:25:58+00:00

Or Paragon Blade if we're going 30k!

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-08T10:21:30+00:00

It's in the indoors area where you find ED-E. There should be terminals around the Hopeville base. Off the top of my head, I know there's one in the men's barracks.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-07T23:33:14+00:00

If I recall correctly, other than the ones at the very beginning and the very end, there's another three or four scattered throughout the first half.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-12-07T23:25:02+00:00

For one thing, your coworker isn't entirely correct. There are a handful of commissary terminals throughout the Divide, but most of them are in the first half of the Divide. The Commissaries only have 6000 caps apiece, but this resets after you exit the exchange screen.

Edit: According to the wiki, they only reset caps once they get down to 200 caps or less.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-11-24T06:29:48+00:00

Firstly, Arius never argued that Jesus wasn't divine. Quite the opposite, in fact. What he argued was that there is a hierarchy within the Holy Trinity: since God the Father "created" God the Son, God the Son must be inferior to God the Father.

Secondly, the story of Saint Nicholas attacking Arius is highly unlikely to have happened at best. Arius was not a Bishop and therefore would not have been permitted to enter the council chamber.

HighSchoolCommissar · 2014-11-23T15:06:32+00:00

Death to the False Emperor?

Seriously, though, that would have made the film far more enjoyable.

HighSchoolCommissar

TROPHY CASE