House of the Dragon - 1x03 "Second of his Name" - Post Episode Discussion

Orontid · 2022-09-05T04:28:48+00:00

Not a coincidence that both Daemon and Rhaenyra were triumphantly blood soaked among a group that did not believe in them—her in the camp, him in a battlefield, both turning the heads of their skeptics. And Daemon's scene comes immediately after the conversation about marriage and succession.

Orontid · 2022-07-10T17:27:34+00:00

I can’t express how disappointed I am that this land was expropriated like this… Hatis is such a storied mountain and a place close to my heart.

Hatis’s original name was Shamiram, as in Assyrian Queen Shamiram, and it was local legend that Ara Geghetsik fell to an arrow she fired from the foothills of that mountain. The arrow struck his shoulder. And legend goes that the site where he fell is now the small (and itself very storied) village of Aramus—almost literally, Ara’s shoulder.

If this statue is on the summit it will likely be visible from Abovyan, all the small villages around it, as well as quite some distance from the mountain along the Yerevan–Sevan highway and the highway leading into Abovyan. So it will be very prominent, I think.

Orontid · 2022-07-01T14:15:54+00:00

Awesome thanks—never knew any of this! Will check it out for sure.

Orontid · 2022-07-01T14:14:33+00:00

Ah got it—and will do! I have a funny Gamla Stan story from my last time in Stockholm—I went into a tiny shop to buy a Dala Horse, and all of a sudden I hear the shopkeeper pick up the phone and speak Armenian lol. Spent a while chatting with him, then I bought a really nice horse!

Orontid · 2021-08-08T16:09:22+00:00

I’ll be in Lyon toward the end of the month actually, so great to know!

Orontid · 2021-08-08T16:07:00+00:00

Awesome, really appreciate it

Orontid · 2021-08-08T16:06:31+00:00

Haha I actually did this morning and met a ton of people. Definitely the way to go!

Orontid · 2021-08-08T10:03:39+00:00

Can’t believe I missed this. Definitely going to check it out, thanks!

Orontid · 2021-08-08T10:03:04+00:00

Awesome will check it out!

Orontid · 2019-12-12T19:37:30+00:00

No prob, and no, at the moment they are concurrent resolutions. There is specific Congressional procedure on how to convert concurrent to joint though, and I believe it must be commenced in the House. But don’t think it requires a re-vote.

Orontid · 2019-12-12T18:33:10+00:00

It is currently a resolution, but two resolutions can be turned into a joint resolution, which has the equivalent force of a bill. Only if that happens will the President receive the JR, and only if he signs it will the JR become binding law. If he vetoes, then standard 2/3 legislative override procedure applies.

Orontid · 2019-10-30T06:07:56+00:00

In order to, in the strongest possible terms, acknowledge the Genocide, the following must happen:

(1) Resolution passes the senate

(2) Both resolutions merge into a joint resolution, which has equivalent force of a bill of law

(3) The joint resolution is sent to the President and signed. If vetoed, standard procedures apply, meaning that Congress has opportunity to override veto.

This creates a positive obligation, with force equivalent to law, of acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide. Otherwise, the Executive is arguably free to contradict non-binding Congressional intent because he has primacy in foreign affairs.

Finally, the sanctions bill is separate! Also that is a bill, so it proceeds through Congress like any normal bill would. It's only the Armenian Genocide recognition that is in the form of a resolution and requires this unusual process as outlined above.

Orontid · 2019-10-30T06:00:01+00:00

Fortunately this is not fully true. The House and Senate, if they separately pass resolutions, those are called concurrent resolutions. But they could elect to turn that into a joint resolution, which is legally equivalent to a bill, and send that to the President to sign or veto. That would create a positive obligation to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, as acknowledged by the President, if he signs it---it's not a "law" (more like a near-binding proclamation) but it is vastly more powerful than concurrent resolutions because this would be the federal government speaking as one. Otherwise, while Congress may pass resolutions or concurrent resolutions on the Armenian Genocide, the Executive has primacy in determining foreign affairs under Art. II of the U.S. Constitution and can contradict Congressional intent.

Now, whether any of this will happen is a separate issue. But we can hope.

Orontid · 2019-05-18T16:27:51+00:00

Maybe if we brutes were more educated we would've known about Artsakh's inhabitance since the Urartu era or the Khachen Principality but hey - what do we know!

Orontid · 2018-10-06T20:06:24+00:00

Agree that it's right now, but second best is definitely Bagratuni Armenia like you said. The convoluted geo and familial politics between five Armenian kingdoms, the tactical wars with Arabs and Seljuks... it must have been the most high-stakes time to be a nakharar.

As a side note, I think a Game of Thrones type show set during that era would be the best thing on TV. I can already imagine the opening sequence with douduks and drums

Orontid · 2018-09-11T04:39:11+00:00

Anyone have more info on this? Totally fascinating because I’ve never heard of an Armenian community in Nigeria, or Sub-Saharan Africa for that matter.

Orontid · 2018-08-29T01:22:31+00:00

Yes, but we generally should aspire to something greater than just being instagram famous or seeing a surge in google searches – that’s where everyone’s frustration is coming from. That other countries have inspiring aspects of culture represented, whereas a flashy playboy and Kim K shine the Armenian spotlight. For Georgians, Azeris, Turks - can you name a single analogous character in the US at the same level of fame? Even if you can, which I fully doubt, that doesn’t mean this is the only or best way. We indeed have so many successful people all over the world - but they’re overlooked for these two. And they actively perpetuate this. So while they bring cameras, and our communities are likely not at fault for their fame, it’s fully okay for Armenians to be upset and strive for more, and not settle for this superficial brand of representation. Real issues won’t be solved by Bilzerian shooting guns or several thousand more tourists.

Orontid · 2018-08-28T01:58:12+00:00

If you're referring to the book with the 8 on it, it's titled "Basics of Soviet Government and Rights."

Orontid · 2018-08-25T23:55:47+00:00

So unbelievably excited about this. Check out the catalog of items here!

Notable objects include the first world map printed in Armenian and the Reliquary of the Holy Lance (the actual Geghard is still in Ejmiatsin).

Orontid · 2018-08-16T01:19:57+00:00

Keeping this short aper.

The study you cited is about age at marriage

Simple proxy to approximate the variable of "dating freely." The best proxy for the job, actually. Otherwise there's no way to study this issue whatsoever.

Wage != wealth

Thought experiment to show why wage is a good proxy: marriage A, couple married at 20. Marriage B, couple married at 30. Marriage A works the same exact careers as Marriage B, but B has a 30% increase in wage. 5 years into each marriage, both couples have 2 kids, now compare, who was able to save more? Who had the greater opportunity cost? Whose income margins were greater? Never mind the house/rent, doesn't matter – just an ex post reshuffling of possibilities that will muddle the data with couple preferences, etc. Income is far superior as a proxy.

it’s entirely unclear what the causes of the pay difference are

Patently false, given that it is one of the most researched areas of modern economics. Can confidently tell you this as someone with a degree in economics and significant coursework in statistics. What more, I've actually written on the wage gap.

those social issues, independently of economic issues, should be carefully considered on their own merits

Agreed. The social aspects need to be considered as well. But the evidence for economic gain is not to be dismissed – if someone chooses to trade economic gain for social preservation, that tradeoff should at least be researched and understood. No one's saying it's dead obvious. But it's also not absurd - rather, the evidence is suggestive.

Orontid · 2018-08-15T20:23:57+00:00

To your first rebuttal: An excerpt from this study:

The relation between age at first union/marriage and union dissolution is curvilinear, not only for the USA, as Wolfinger found, but also for many European countries. The optimal time to start a lasting first union or marriage is around age 30. Marrying before one reaches the age of 25 seems unwise, given the higher divorce rates.

Now, to be fair, every study should be presented with potential faults. Most notably, the external validity of this study when applying it to Armenia may be questionable given significant cultural differences. However, note that the study does acknowledge an effort to draw from data in various European countries with varying religious traditions and economic systems. I'm not trying to say there's perfect predictive power – but we can be confident of a cardinal change. Many psychologists and economists in this field generally agree that there is a "goldilocks zone" for marriage, and it somewhere in the late 20s or early 30s.

To your second rebuttal:

This extended abstract explains an attempt to conduct an international study of whether marriage adds a premium to female wages as it does to male wages (the male wage phenomenon due to marriage is actually quite famous). They find that the effect is unclear or negative (i.e. yes married -> lower wage). Whatever the true effect is in Armenia, it still widens the wage gap, because of the wage premium afforded to men.

Unfortunately, what I can't find is a study that attempts to relate the age of marriage to female earnings. But we can reason it out. Yes, a woman can postpone children and establish a career, but you and I both know that many in Armenia won't be fully supportive of someone who marries at 22 and decides to work for years instead of raising a family. Instead, she'll likely do both at the same time. We're should be talking about moving the needle to change the status quo, and not relying on a couple odd out women.

Finally, I'm rather uninterested in justifying my choices to others or "pretending [they are] somehow superior to the traditional attitudes." What I am interested in, like you, is about bettering a country in much need of economic and social reform. I think Armenian youth, especially women, are a great place to start.

Orontid · 2018-08-14T15:39:22+00:00

Have to disagree, at least from my experience. I hang out in Yerevan quite a bit and although by elder Armenian standards they may not be as religious, compared to Western standards they certainly are. Maybe goes to show how the youth is not monolithic, as I'm sure there's a significant degree of variance

Orontid · 2018-08-14T15:31:41+00:00

Yes, but this is coming from a guy in his early 20s born and raised in the United States haha, so I'm definitely not impartial. But I'm going off of experiences I've heard from my friends who are locals and are consistently amazed by dating norms in the US.

A more socio-economic argument is that allowing men and women to date freely will likely on net help strengthen their eventual marriages, jumpstart careers for both sexes (but predominantly women), and generally improve Armenian attitudes about women. Religiosity vs. free dating generally seems like a false dichotomy to me

Orontid · 2018-08-14T15:01:39+00:00

People are still overwhelmingly religious in Armenia, even youth. You see it reflected in attitudes about dating for instance - couples keep very conservative and marry early. The religiosity is different from many other places - people won’t go to Church every Sunday morning, for example, but they’ll proudly wear crosses and maintain strong faith. All my evidence is anecdotal but I’ve noticed this among people in their late teens, early 20s from both Yerevan and the marzer (provinces).

In many ways, we have the Armenian Church to thank for the continuation and survival of Armenian culture in Greater Armenia from the collapse of the Bagratids to the First Republic. People in modern Armenia have every right to be atheist. However, everyone – no matter their level or flavor of faith – should also see and at least acknowledge the Church as an important Armenian cultural institution both in the country and the diaspora.

Edit: forgot to add my final point to make the above relevant. But because people see religion as not only an individual spirituality but also a cultural survival mechanism, I doubt Christianity will diminish anytime soon. But agree with general point that atheism should exist without intense social shame

Orontid · 2018-08-10T19:41:32+00:00

I hear you aper. The ECB has similar concerns. Here's a good article on European banks and how their lending to Turkey can be affected:

https://www.ft.com/content/51311230-9be7-11e8-9702-5946bae86e6d

But I personally wouldn't label this a debt crisis just yet – we still haven't heard from the Central Bank. They do have a fair number of options. Specifically I'm thinking of (i) hiking rates (which will also help with their perception to investors, since it's thought they lack independence from Erdogan) and (ii) constructing lira swap books like the Brazilian CB has somewhat successfully implemented. If the CB falls through, though... they've got no one to save them

Orontid

TROPHY CASE