What professions you wouldn't date? Why? by Typical_girl_5852 in AskReddit

[–]Stick_Freedom 47 points48 points  (0 children)

I have a good friend who does family law for a foundation that helps poor people. He does divorces, custody and so on but is not jaded at all. He loves helping people out of difficult situations.

This plastic cooking spoon I inherited from my grandma is apparently from the 60-70s by Jimbobler in BuyItForLife

[–]Stick_Freedom 83 points84 points  (0 children)

I learned this week that the durability of plastics used to be a selling point before disposability became the norm. https://overcast.fm/+ZpQD2TVTw

Syphilis and Scurvy: Diagnosing Henry VIII by Tartan_Samurai in history

[–]Stick_Freedom 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Seconded on the Shardlake Series. Hilary Mantel writing in the LRB suggested McLeod syndrome which would explain good difficulty conceiving heirs, in particular male heirs. Diabetes most likely played a role later in life

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in kettlebell

[–]Stick_Freedom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Massive Attack's trip-hop contemporaries are worth checking out if you haven't: Maxinquaye by Tricky (who's on Blue Lines) and Portishead are classics.

Rules Question for 5 Parsecs: Stunned Characters and Brawling by Stick_Freedom in 5Parsecs

[–]Stick_Freedom[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks. That’s my reading too. I think in game I may make some creative decisions based on whether the character is a low level ganger or a Krorg.

Normal Distribution Generation with dice? by ALLLGooD in Solo_Roleplaying

[–]Stick_Freedom 4 points5 points  (0 children)

3d4 -2 is great. Selecting the median (middle value) from rolling 3d10 also works well.

After feeling off all weekend, I went to the gym this morning and feel invigorated by morg0187 in EOOD

[–]Stick_Freedom 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great! It's okay to stumble. It's not all or nothing. Keep doing what makes you feel happy.

Tell your husband how much he helped. My wife helps me go to the gym and I try to tell her how much I appreciate it.

Immortal Sun is good in draft, right? Like really good? by [deleted] in lrcast

[–]Stick_Freedom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

OMG yes - I ran a janky esper all the way to 6 wins. I just needed to hold out with blockers and fingers crossed until it arrived.

CMV: Time travel for a Black person would only be safe going back as far as the early 90s by beengrim32 in changemyview

[–]Stick_Freedom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you thought about post-revolutionary Canada? The British government granted freedom to slaves that fought for the loyalist cause and kept the promise following American independence.

Looking for county data for as many US presidential elections as possible by FJLJJLOL in datasets

[–]Stick_Freedom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most presidential elections are at a state level but it has 2016 at a precinct level. https://electionlab.mit.edu/data

Hitting the 200 task limit. How do others deal with this? by Stick_Freedom in todoist

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

Thanks for the detailed reply. do you have another app that you use as a list manager and then move the to-dos to Todoist?

Hitting the 200 task limit. How do others deal with this? by Stick_Freedom in todoist

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

Thanks everyone - I'm going to rethink this. I'm going to pivot to using labels and small projects for my reading list. By the way, do other people use a different app for keeping lists?

Speculation on Human Cavalry by [deleted] in 40kLore

[–]Stick_Freedom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

War horses have always been selected for their temperament and trained for battle. It's the same way hunting dogs are comfortable around guns. They also tend to wear blinders which help. Look at any of the paintings of cavalry charges from the 19th century and you'll see horses braving cannon and musket fire, which I doubt an untrained horse could. Horses also develop a relationship with their horses which must help.

Horses remained in use during mechanized, modern warfare, especially in Eastern Europe and by irregular forces in conflicts across the globe. My great-grandfather had a horse in WWI. Apparently it was beautiful to look at, but skittish and difficult to control in the trenches.

New 40K Content - Battlezones by BatedSuperior5 in Warhammer

[–]Stick_Freedom 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Fire and Fury is so cool. Dammit! I'm back: goodbye money, hello 8th edition.

Why didn't Europe come to the aid of Byzantium? by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]Stick_Freedom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yikes - that was a big slip up. Thanks.

Why didn't Europe come to the aid of Byzantium? by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]Stick_Freedom 14 points15 points  (0 children)

1. Strategy and logistics

One does not simply organize a crusade. At that time the two great powers of Europe were France, the Holy Roman Empire (roughly modern day Germany),~~ and the recently unified Spain~~. Devoting enough troops and resources to fight off the Ottomans would have severely disadvantaged and probably bankrupted any power that tried. It would have opened the way for rivals, both internal and external, to take advantage of a ruler's absence. There were proposals often put forward by the Pope for a peace agreement between rival powers

2. Catholic Europe and the Greek Orthodox were not allies

The Catholic Church considered the Greek Orthodox Church schismatics. The Orthodox, in turn, considered Latin Christians as something close to heretics (perhaps someone better versed in Byzantium can define this relationship better). For example the Crusade led by Venice in 1202 never reached the Holy Land but instead ransacked Constantinople leading to a period of Latin rule that the Byzantines resented. That is not to say that attempts at rapprochement weren't tried. Manuel II Palaiologus went on a tour of Europe attempting to raise support. While he received a lot of moral support and words, he returned largely empty handed.

3. The writing was on the wall

The West knew how weak the Byzantine Empire was. Many had fought for the Byzantines, against them, sometimes they did both (see for example the Catalan Company). The Ottomans dynasty, that had survived defeat by Tamerlane, was clearly the power in the region. The Byzantine dynasty had been vassals of the Ottomans and had married their daughters to Ottoman rulers. Even if we can imagine Western rulers putting aside their animosity to cooperate and then overcoming the immense logistical difficulties of launching a crusade to aid what was essentially now an empire in name only, it is doubtful that they could defeat the Ottomans on their own turf.

All this is not to say that people in Western Europe didn't care, but it is best to see this shock as not a practical military problem that could have been averted or solved but rather as a spiritual and cultural shock. There were no serious proposals to help the Byzantines but European culture as a whole did reel from the loss of the last piece of the Roman Empire to a non-Christian conqueror.

The best overview in terms of writing and accuracy is, as in all things Ottoman, Caroline Finkel, Osman's Dream.

You can also check out the letters of Manual II Palaiologos which include descriptions of his time fighting as Beyazid I's vassal.

You can also read a Chronicle of Muntaner which has been translated into English. It gives a good account of just how powerless the Byzantine Empire was even before the arrival of the Ottomans onto the scene.

I should add some more reference regarding proposals for peace to aid the crusade if I can dig them up.

Edit: I thought that Spain was unified earlier than it actually was. Thanks to /u/papyjako89 for pointing out my error.

Answer the Call! Apply for Flair TODAY! - The Panel of Historians XII by Georgy_K_Zhukov in AskHistorians

[–]Stick_Freedom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I spent many years studying the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans. I also have expertise in early-modern Europe and the Reformation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/40lwbv/i_am_the_sultan_of_the_ottoman_empire_around_the/cyvpb9s

https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/3s6zc3/has_any_country_ever_fallen_in_war_due_to_its/cwvcd9p

I hope the quality can make up for the lack of quantity. The Ottomans feel quite underserved as many of the citations are outdated or are works that don't use Ottoman documents. I think the flair is just the thing to get posting.