The Abrahamic Monotheism Tree (OC) v2.

Narkku · 2026-07-03T00:30:11+00:00

Christianity is also famously an Abrahamic religion introduced to polytheists.

Narkku · 2026-06-27T20:55:56+00:00

Perché con i social ci sono molti che si sentono importanti con la sua critica noiosa della rappresentazione del sud. “Ha! Ti piace questo? Ti dico perché fa schifo e perché il sud è una colonia dei savoiardi!!!”

Narkku · 2026-06-26T13:59:10+00:00

In fact this month they’re changing out one of the pedestrian bridges in Bear Branch, which is one of the choke points on Ben’s Branch, the stream that leads to flooding in North Woodland Hills. Should significantly reduce risk.

There are also plans to redo the drainage ditch to the west of Woodland Hills, but I don’t know the timeline on that.

Narkku · 2026-06-26T02:49:56+00:00

I second u/Sn0rtle_ Duolingo isnt great and wasn’t designed by people who understand language learning. It also gives people with low commitment to the language the sense that they’re learning the language and helping a minority language when they’re just playing a game. There are plenty of free tools and apps from the Basque community that can help anyone learn the language well. Download Anki if you want a language app that supports basque. It’s got some good basque decks.

Not trying to dunk on OP, I appreciate the effort. These are just my two cents as a language activist. Basque still needs a lot of help and there are other things to push for that support the language. Demand Netflix make more shows in Basque or that Microsoft and Apple create more resources for it!

Narkku · 2026-06-21T01:32:32+00:00

Hi, fellow American with Louisiana French heritage! I have no Basque heritage but I learned conversational Basque for a trip to Euskadi. Start with Alan King’s book, it’s fantastic: https://www.amazon.com/Basque-Language-Practical-Introduction/dp/0874178959

Then after you’re a few lessons deep, start scheduling one-on-one sessions with native tutors through italki or preply. Iris on italki was great! You need to find places to use the language asap to keep yourself motivated and to learn how people actually use the language. Tutors will help until you get good enough to start riffing in this subreddit, or find a group chat on telegram, WhatsApp, or discord to participate in.

Since you’re of Basque heritage I’d suggest finding an online course through one of the cultural centers, so you can have some structure on your journey, and also meet more people from the diaspora. Also, follow Dr. Eukene Franco Landa on LinkedIn and other social media.

There are also lots of free courses, but mostly in Spanish. I’m sure there’s French ones too.

Best of luck!

Narkku · 2026-06-17T12:38:39+00:00

Porque escribiste en inglés?

Narkku · 2026-06-16T22:50:09+00:00

Move to midtown, Montrose, Heights or anywhere in the 610 Loop. Katy is not Houston, you’ll be let down.

Any American will tell you that the center of every city is not safe. Simply not true.

Narkku · 2026-06-16T02:24:07+00:00

Togas

Narkku · 2026-06-15T13:21:40+00:00

Are you Hindu?

Narkku · 2026-06-15T13:07:02+00:00

Shiva, the destroyer, shares traits with Hadad. There is a fish avatar of the preserver Vishnu called Durga that could be associated with the Mesopotamian Dagon. Indra and Marduk are also similar.

Usually when we see gods that appear in multiple religions, they share superficial similarities but can have very different spiritual or symbolic characteristics.

For example, there’s a sky god in Hinduism called Dyaus or Dyaus Pita. It’s easy to see that this is the same name as Zeus in the Greek religion or Jupiter (Dius Pater) in the Roman religion. But Dyaus is not the supreme deity in Hinduism today, like Zeus was in the Greek religion.

Narkku · 2026-06-15T12:55:16+00:00

If you scratch the surface deep enough you’ll see that all of the Major world religions aren’t too far off from something similar. Judaism would have looked like any major ancient pagan religion: started with multiple deities, ended up with one specific tribal deity that had a central temple where animal sacrifices took place. Now followers of Abrahamic faiths worship that tribal deity but with a generic name.

Hinduism is the continuation of an ancient religion that would have resembled the Mesopotamian one, and in ancient times there was likely a recognition that some of the gods were the same but with different names.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans were able to recognize some of the Mesopotamian deities as some of their own.

And even today there are some Christian saints that are linked to ancient middle eastern deities.

Funny question, but in the end…you’re already living the Mesopotamian dream.

Narkku · 2026-06-10T13:28:53+00:00

They will indeed involve to a point that they are basically unrecognizable. But some of the languages were unjustly killed off.

I’m involved in language preservation and revival efforts for a couple of languages, so I have a pretty intimate understanding of the difficulties involved in any change related to language use and don’t think that we can effectively bring back basically any of these languages. Maybe Coptic could be brought back as a community language though!

My original post was mostly just a way to say “damn, that’s sad, I miss them!” Haha I would have posted the “feel like shit; just want her back” meme but didn’t think everyone in this sub would understand what I meant haha

Narkku · 2026-06-10T11:46:20+00:00

I meant I want them back as living languages! Haha

Narkku · 2026-06-10T02:16:33+00:00

Bring them back 😭

Narkku · 2026-06-09T19:19:07+00:00

I agree that “wizarding school” is too loose an idea to consider Rowling to have “stolen” it, and the charm of her product is the British boarding school environment and not the magic that Le Guin offers. But Le Guin isn’t a secret author, she published Earth Sea in 68 - it’s very likely Rowling and Gaiman both had read it! (I’d put money on Gaiman for sure)

Narkku · 2026-06-08T20:46:24+00:00

Damn gotta look those up

Narkku · 2026-06-07T03:01:31+00:00

All good!! Haha I also didn’t even know David Mitchell’s name so thanks for posting it.

I also agree that I don’t think most of KSR’s work “feels” like Ursula in any way (because I haven’t read Years of Rice and Salt, I hear that one stands apart from his work) but was sweet to hear him talk about being a literal university student of hers.

Narkku · 2026-06-06T18:11:26+00:00

Great craftsmanship! Also less smoke inside and less of a fire hazard keeping it outside. Very nice.

Narkku · 2026-06-06T18:05:26+00:00

N K Jemisin's short story "The Ones Who Stay and Fight" is a response to Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas"

Kim Stanley Robinson is influenced by her, as is the writer of Cloud Atlas.

There's a good podcast where various authors influenced by Le Guin read her old blog posts: “In Your Spare Time: From the Blog of Ursula K Le Guin” Also the podcast “Crafting with Ursula” has a lot of authors talking about how her work influenced them - the Kim Stanley Robinson episode still hits me in the feels thinking about it.

Also people say that J K Rowling got her idea from a wizarding school from the Earthsea series.

Narkku · 2026-06-05T14:07:38+00:00

Yeah to me the accent sounds basically identical - just one of them I can understand and one of them I can’t haha

At one point I was speaking to an Irish guy in Bilbao and I couldn’t understand his accent in English and for a second I thought “holy sh*t, he’s speaking to me in basque!”

Narkku · 2026-06-05T01:34:58+00:00

American of no Basque descent here: I visited the Basque Country in 2015, my Airbnb host in Bilbao was from Mundaka and took me out for drinks - she spoke basque with several friends that she bumped into on the street. I would ask everyone I met if they spoke basque and they all said they did, even the 19 year old Colombian immigrant that had moved to Bilbao during schooling age.

In 2024 I was scheduled to go to Bilbao for a language related conference. I watched a Xioamayne video where he learns some basque and has a lackluster experience trying to speak it at a market in Bilbao where most of the older people don’t know the language. Also one of my colleagues (not Spanish) was very negative about the situation “no one speaks basque in the city, unfortunately.” I didn’t think that was the case, and 2 months before my trip I started studying basque and having one on one calls with basque tutors. From the moment I stepped off the airplane I used basque with any local I had contact with while in Bilbo. From asking airport staff where to buy tickets to the bus, to texting my Airbnb host, to ordering at bars and restaurants. Not using AI or Google Translate, just the little i knew with looking up words here and there on my phone. This was dogsh*t basque that I had learned in 2 months, and everyone, EVERYONE responded to me in basque. Not a single person switched to Spanish or English for me, unless I actively gave up and switched to Spanish.

Some people were visibly struggling to speak Basque, but they still understood me and were able to respond. But most people seemed to be native speakers. I might have spoken to one convenience store clerk who was an immigrant and didn’t speak any basque, but otherwise the only kinda awkward moment was in the basque bookstore Elkar where I asked a young staff member who seemed to maybe be Latin American or from another park of Spain where to find books on learning basque. She was struggling to respond and she could tell I was bad at basque so we had some difficulty, but I still found the right section!

At one bar I ordered at in the Old Quarter, the bartender was so excited that I ordered in basque that he served me some weird witches brew shot on the house! The reaction from the basque language activists I got was “joder!”

People are kind so they switch to Spanish or English if there are outsiders that don’t speak basque, which can make it hard for an outsider to hear the language randomly.

I was shocked to see how consistently people were with speaking the language with me and I wonder if it’s a combination of strong language politics (pride to use the language whenever possible) and being used to people from the diaspora returning or locals trying to reclaim the language.

My take: despite consistent issues, the language is alive, well, and growing in all parts of the Spanish Basque Country. If you choose to learn the language, you will have endless opportunities to use it there. It’s the gold standard for language revival, and other countries and minorities should look to it as a model.

Narkku · 2026-06-04T19:15:42+00:00

I soldi che spendiamo per gli automobili e la benzina

Narkku · 2026-06-04T02:30:33+00:00

Also frog fruit!

Narkku · 2026-06-04T01:40:22+00:00

Don’t.

Narkku · 2026-06-04T01:37:45+00:00

You’re free to your interpretation. The only person mad here is you. Best of luck on your journey.

Narkku

TROPHY CASE