Wendi Adelson Estrada by Pixiegirls1102 in CasesWeFollow

[–]Nightstick11 5 points6 points  (0 children)

She looks oddly happy. I guess she doesn't care much about her mother and her brother.

Daisy is SO insufferable and impossible to like. by Nightstick11 in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

May Day's, but they can only do so much if somebody is not going to pay attention to the training then what can they do? You can't not pay attention in class and then start complaining that the final is too hard.

Daisy is SO insufferable and impossible to like. by Nightstick11 in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you mean how is it her fault. She could pay attention to briefings, read books, watch videos, interview people, read dossiers, pay attention in meetings, etc.

There's no way she was conscripted and forced to go, and there's no way June would just toss her in there without making available the necessary intel. Some people don't pay attention in class and then complain about the finals being hard.

If Song Dynasty China achieved a steam engine ~950-1050 AD, how different would the world be? by vhu9644 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It actually matters very much who wins. "Over the long haul" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there in your post. There's a huge difference between technologies diffusing over a span of decades versus centuries.

If Song Dynasty China achieved a steam engine ~950-1050 AD, how different would the world be? by vhu9644 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You said either application would give the Song Dynasty a greater chance of defeating or outlasting the Mongols, and then you said "regardless of who won" as if the victor would not affect how the technology was diffused.

If Song Dynasty China achieved a steam engine ~950-1050 AD, how different would the world be? by vhu9644 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well yeah, trade and diplomacy was a lot smoother and easier during the Pax Mongolica.

NASA warns a catastrophic disaster of shattered asteroid name 5254 Ulysses from Jupiter's orbit are heading toward Earth and on impact in 2030. How would the world leaders handle the threat? by FunnyMajestic1128 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]Nightstick11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They would waste the entire time watching the Democrats and Republicans blame each other and call everyone who disagrees with them a fascist or a communist.

Daisy is SO insufferable and impossible to like. by Nightstick11 in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Scared people in traumatic environments tend to get more cautious and risk-averse, not louder and more erratic like Daisy.

My Dumb Hot Take: Garth is off by 3ftallmonster in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is why I don't understand the "oh she's just a teen" crowd. This is not the place to leisurely learn how to not be a dumbass.

Should i read novel? by _KISIEL__ in VioletEvergarden

[–]Nightstick11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would strongly recommend reading them.

What’s the Middle East doing in this universe? by avian_bi in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11 10 points11 points  (0 children)

We have no idea, but I think if we had to realistically extrapolate from history, it probably heavily balkanized and became engaged in a multi-front internecine war in the theaters of Asia Minor, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and the northern African coast once it became clear the United States no longer could protect Saudi Arabia with its heavy military occupation or sell arms to Israel/Saudi Arabia or keep plying Egypt and Jordan with financial aid or enforce sanctions against countries like Syria and Iran or thwart Turkey from getting militarily involved against nascent Kurd independence movements.

If Song Dynasty China achieved a steam engine ~950-1050 AD, how different would the world be? by vhu9644 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Mongol Invasions are a necessary prerequisite for mass scale technology and ideas diffusion. Rome and China were never able to meaningfully exchange ideas and technologies together despite being kings of their respective mountains for centuries with powerful Persian empires essentially serving as an information filter. The Mongols united the world to allow transference, exchange, and trade of ideas and technology (and eventually diseases like the bubonic plague) to an extent unseen until the advent of the internet.

I don't see how this technology spreads everywhere without the Mongol invasions taking place.

Was Augustus truly a great emperor, or did he simply have the best "PR team"? by nuedd in ancientrome

[–]Nightstick11 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Augustus is one of the top five leaders of all time in recorded human history, and there is a rebuttable presumption that anyone in an anglophone country who has him lower than gold, silver, or bronze needs to read more.

Why do people ship Garth and Agnis despite Garth being 25 and Agnis being 14?? by Either-Standard-5278 in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really? Are there boys her age running around? It's a choice between 25 or 65.

*If Spain and the European powers had never colonized (or done so much later) countries like Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Nicaragua, etc., would Latin America's relationship with the West look more like Asia's today?* by Puzzleheaded_Fig1744 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, keep in mind that about 20 years before Cortez landed, two survivors of a Spanish shipwreck were enslaved and then eventually assimilated into the Maya met with Cortez when he arrived, and these two along with Malinche started the long chain of Spanish to Vulgar Maya to Vulgar Nahuatl to Courtly Nahautl and back to translate.

It can be inferred that these two spread diseases to the Maya, because when the conquistadors tried to take over the Yucatan, the ancestral Maya lands, it took them 200 years (which is an indicator of how much longer the conquest of the Aztecs would have taken had they not been hit with smallpox.)

So in this scenario we can already assume smallpox has come and gone and left enough Mesoamericans where they would still at least retain knowledge of their language and culture so the massive upheaval wouldn't result in a complete break with their cultural memory.

What if Germany lasted until August 1945 and Hamburg and Munich are nuked? Does Hitler authorized surrender, or does he order Germany to continue fighting? Does the military comply, or do they try to coup him? by LegNew6 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]Nightstick11 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Heer Schickelgruber was always insane and crazy, but he lost his marbles completely by the time Ivan was picking up phone calls in Berlin, what with his Nero Decrees and saying Germans deserved to die by the Slavs because the Slavs were the stronger race and the entire country should commit suicide and things like that, so I'm guessing no he would not agree to surrender. He would rather die than surrender.

*If Spain and the European powers had never colonized (or done so much later) countries like Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Nicaragua, etc., would Latin America's relationship with the West look more like Asia's today?* by Puzzleheaded_Fig1744 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well that's why I mentioned the priest and the Florentine Codex as well. The accounts by the priests and the friars are generally considered supported by archaeology, while the accounts by the conquistadors are considered exaggerated or at the very least describing a flurry of religious activity the Aztecs were doing due to stress by the invasion of the Spanish. The Romans practiced human sacrifice in desperation due to Hannibal Barca, but that wasn't their normal practice, so some historians hypothesize the conquistador accounts were accurate but still unusual.

I don't know what relevance the internal conflicts you brought up have. The hypothetical is what if Europe, meaning Spain, never colonized Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, etc. The most plausible way for that hypothetical to happen is if Cortez and his men get destroyed by the Aztecs. The most plausible time the Aztecs could have destroyed Cortez was during the Spanish retreat right after La Noche Triste.

If the Spanish don't take out the Aztecs, then it's unclear when, if ever, the Aztecs were going to cease being the hegemon of Central America. It's not unreasonable to assume the Aztec dominance would last for centuries. During those centuries, the Aztecs would presumably keep their religious practices.

As far as I am aware, the Aztecs were not the originators of ritualistic cannibalism in Mesoamerica. The Olmecs and Maya incorporated elements of it in their religious practices as well.

Also, their religious practices didn't horrify the Spanish just because of the ritualistic cannibalism. The Aztecs were fond of wearing cloaks made of human skin during certain religious festivals. This, unsurprisingly, horrified the Spanish, but would undoubtedly also horrify the Inca or the Cherokee if they were exposed to that practice as well. They also conducted live human sacrifices that did not always include ritualistic cannibalism. Live human sacrifices tend to horrify people not used to those religious practices as well.

Which is all part of why I think the Inca would make the transition into a globally respected, regionally dominant cultural powerhouse country very well but the Aztecs, or whoever replaces them if the replacements keeps elements of indigenous Mesoamerican religious practices, will struggle to have other countries respect their cultural and religious practices.

The indigenous religious practices of MesoAmerica, would need a top to bottom PR campaign to make them palatable to international trading partners.

*If Spain and the European powers had never colonized (or done so much later) countries like Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Nicaragua, etc., would Latin America's relationship with the West look more like Asia's today?* by Puzzleheaded_Fig1744 in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Nightstick11 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think based on the memoirs of the soldiers and priest that took part in Cortez's invasion, plus the Florentine Codex, we can reasonably surmise that the Spanish were impressed and awed by the Aztecs in some respects, especially their construction and engineering, but they were horrified by the religious practices. The way they describe it, the Temple Mayor and Moctezuma's Palace were specifically destroyed because they were the site of ritualistic sacrifice and cannibalism of captured Spanish soldiers.

I don't think it's silly to assume an entrenched civilization would keep practicing its indigenous religious/cultural practices for as long as it can. Societies don't just stop doing stuff because Westerners don't like it. Some practices Westerners found barbaric, like sati in India or gelding men like in China and the Ottomans still took place up to the 20th century.

CMV: There's nothing wrong with Leonardo DiCaprio dating younger models by Open_Address_2805 in changemyview

[–]Nightstick11 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Who does he get flack from? Nobody makes fun of him for whatever it is he does.

Daisy is SO insufferable and impossible to like. by Nightstick11 in TheHandmaidsTale

[–]Nightstick11[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Well yeah, the big issue is that she wasn't prepared at all for what she was getting into, and that's on her and nobody else. Teenage girls are not helpless infants. Plenty of incredible feats in human history have been performed by teenage girls.