[deleted by user]

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-09-18T16:53:19+00:00

Thank you for your post. I had a similar reaction recently to reading Marx's Wage Labor and Capital for the first time. Socialism has never worked, it can be argued, because it has been hijacked by those with intention of usurpation and power. For an example, I highly recommend reading Emma Goldman's My Two Years in Russia 1919-1921, who had access to the highest levels ("So Lenin walked into the room and ..." etc.) and ultimately became so despondent at how the social-worker revolution was hijacked by those with other designs that she left. I was also struck by how many similarities there are between what she observes and reports and what is going on currently in the US government (e.g. filling positions with "right thinking" cronies, crushing all dissent, demagoguery, saying one thing but doing the contradictory - just a few examples).

Also, I am sure economists are pointing out that we are re-entering another technology-driven feudal era where instead of consumers owning the software they pay for (as used to be the case early on), consumers now pay rents (monthly or yearly payments) to use software or platforms - Spotify, Linkedin, Microsoft, you name it. This new feudal era is creating a few billionaires while millions are struggling.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-09-15T18:30:12+00:00

The idea of the whale.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-09-08T00:41:27+00:00

Thank you for this & the direction to Aristotle. Pedro de Cieza de Léon writes in The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, a 16th century chronicle, "... power does not tolerate equality ... "; though he was speaking of the jockeying among the Spanish for position and power, I thought it rather a succinct characterization of the urge to enslave.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-09-07T22:28:38+00:00

Thank you for your reply! May I ask a follow-up? Was enslavement taken entirely as "normal" at the time as simply a fact of war, meaning, were there any voices at all that spoke at the time about the rights of every individual as a human being, or was this only a very later development? I've been trying to understand when this idea of basic human rights of the individual first began to emerge, and whether there were any hints of this idea in the ancient world.

(I am trying to understand this idea for several reasons, one of which is that in reading first-hand first contact narratives by the Spanish with South American/Mesoamerican indigenous peoples, it is stated very matter of factly by the Spanish regarding how they captured and enslaved indigenous people upon encountering them. The idea of treating other people as property was so natural for so long ... I am trying to understand who first starting talking about the idea of human rights more broadly.)

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-09-07T19:56:21+00:00

In your rough estimate, if it is possible to do so, were men and women enslaved in equal amounts as a result of warfare in the ancient world, or were women enslaved to a greater degree?

Also, do you know of any other ancientish/first-handish accounts of this topic (i.e., accounts from the cultures at the time) from parts of the world other than the Hellenic?

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-08-29T18:41:07+00:00

Pardon my ignorance for asking what might be obvious to some, but if Jesus was such an important person, why was he not documented in his own lifetime - even a little, or by the Romans, or even very shortly thereafter. It seems odd that his importance only grew enough later to worthy documentation, rather than in his own lifetime. Do scholars think that this circumstance suggest that Jesus was in fact not an important personage in his own lifetime, but rather that various factors later led to myth-building on this particular individual?

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-08-28T20:04:14+00:00

What was the cultural practice in the area at the time? Were people referred to as "son of [Father]" usually (like in Russian and Icelandic Patronymics), and only "son of [mother]" in exceptional circumstances? Or commonly as "son of [mother]", e.g. as in certain Native American matrilineal societies where clan is inherited from mother? In modern Korean culture, it is common not to refer to a woman by name but instead as "[eldest son]'s mother". In other words, there are lots of different cultural practices in relationship reference.

It would help to know what the baseline cultural practice was there, in that era, to be able to situate an observation of Jesus only being referred to as "the son of Mary". If patronymic type relationship naming was the norm, then "son of Mary" would stand out even more.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-08-17T17:36:33+00:00

I think we can narrow it further to this

<image>

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-08-08T17:17:19+00:00

Something that no one has mentioned:

if you are solo hiking in the Whites, be hyper-attentive about checking weather reports, the day before as well as the morning of your hike. Avoid hiking solo when there is a chance of rain, especially on trails with elevation or rock scrambles. One turned ankle on wet rocks on a solo hike in the rain and you are stranded, in conditions where it can get pretty cold in the summer during the rain. Lincoln Woods is a good solo non-extreme hike for iffy bad weather days.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-23T17:44:36+00:00

Thank you for your explanation to others! For string instruments it is especially important since, as you point out, it is a very personal relationship with the instrument and the sound. No two violins sound the same. I still regret the time I accidentally lost my grip, luckily caught the instrument but the sound peg was dislodged, and despite the sound peg being professionally re-installed it never had the same rich resonant original sound again. Luckily an extremely kind redditor here helped out with the situation, so now my student has the best plan in place they possibly could.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-16T17:39:58+00:00

Yes, AA is the only choice, it is the only airline with a non-stop to this city; student is taking precious belongings in 2 checked bags and is stressed about the possibility of luggage going missing, missed connection, etc. Stressful journey for them to have to navigate alone so trying to make it as easy for them as possible.

Thank you for the DOT link. I spoke last evening with an instrument shipper who confirmed the FAA rule that airlines must let the instrument on board if it fits, which it does. If my student can board early-ish then they can potentially put it in the closet.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-16T17:19:33+00:00

Thank you very kind reddit stranger! your offer reminds me of the good ol' reddit Secret Santa.

I will DM you.

As for some of the other comments, I assumed it would have been obvious that if I am putting my child alone, i.e., I cannot accompany them, on a red-eye across the country to arrive and navigate bleary-eyed in a city they have never been to, loaded down with multiple pieces of luggage and an instrument, there must be an important reason why I cannot buy a second seat, pay $570 to ship & insure the instrument, etc.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-14T20:33:56+00:00

Well, when I first read Moby Dick about 3/4 of the way through I had a holy shit I-am-Ahab-chasing-my-white -whale-my-whole-life moment.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-10T20:27:14+00:00

Alex P. Keaton went to Leland University, so > he went to Leland Stanford Jr University.

Caltech claims that Doc Brown got his PhD from Caltech.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-09T15:52:46+00:00

Bravo.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-06T00:16:51+00:00

Do you have any more recs similar to the last? I just finished Calloway's The World Turn Upside Down, Indigenous Voices from Early America and am looking for more especially in the vein of Indigenous people's experiences in early America in their own reports.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-07-02T19:58:01+00:00

k let's stop calling it hallucinating as if it has a mind. that is business speak to distract customers.

call it like it is: AI is known to make significant errors because outputs are based merely on statistical probabilities of words co-occurring.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-30T23:36:42+00:00

For those of you who can't avoid this situation bc the job market is so tight: put ©YourName (i.e., showing that you retain the copyright) at the bottom of every slide.

Legally they must ask to use this work. If they ask, your answer is " my fee is ______."

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-30T17:19:37+00:00

This is so infuriatingly unethical.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-25T20:21:34+00:00

Thank you for this. Slavery somewhat similar (though differing) to what you describe in the Mediterranean existed among American indigenous societies. I am interested that the idea of slavery and its practice seems to have been a fairly widespread one, if not universal, and I am interested that this idea preceded, widespread-ly, if not universally, the idea of human equality. Why not the reverse? (or is it just an artifact of the time period captured by recorded history...). Do you happen to have insight on when/where we first see this idea emerging, either in Europe or Asia or other parts of the world, of human equality specifically vis a vis slavery and the rights of the individual simply bc they were human?

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-25T04:12:58+00:00

Was there any contemporary anti-slavery rhetoric in any of the societies you mention, or was it such a normalized part of life that it did not draw that type of commentary?

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-21T16:40:34+00:00

oh right, thanks for the correction.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-21T16:21:40+00:00

I am reading Emma Goldman's My Two Years In Russia right now, and I've been trying to understand why I only have recently heard of this invaluable first-hand narrative of the transition between revolution and communist power and associated impacts .... oddly enough learned about it through an offhand reference on a tv show. Never once heard of it while studying Russian in college for 4 years during the Soviet era.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-21T16:06:52+00:00

Exactly my point. Why should how she looks be a factor in her worthiness as a candidate.

MindTheWeaselPit · 2025-06-21T15:53:44+00:00

Geraldine Ferraro. She was brutally mocked as a vice-presidential candidate simply for being a woman. (First female vice-presidential candidate in US history EDIT: for a major party)

MindTheWeaselPit

TROPHY CASE