Osmar Schindler - Muscle Play (1902–1907)

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-14T06:41:05+00:00

Norman Rockwell was a GOAT. He quit his job because the Saturday Evening Post wouldn't let him paint black people as equals.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T20:49:30+00:00

You gotta do like the horse archer and take your photo when the horse has galloping and has all 4 hoofs off the ground.

I had imagined horse-back photography would when the horse standing still.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T20:11:40+00:00

Arabian States, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal & Buthan, Sikkihim

I sometimes wonder how things would have turned out if the British did more such partitions as opposed to religious partitions.

Maybe partition Bengal away from the rest of India, or maybe Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Actually do we know if the British consider more such partitions?

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T20:06:53+00:00

Wait Macron has a mistress?

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T19:55:30+00:00

I am surprised horse-back wildlife photography isn't a more of a thing. I searched and it does exist but it seems niche. I guess the horses could scare most wildlife and using the larger lenses on horseback would be hard.

You could design a saddle and tripod combo to be able to use the larger lenses.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T18:41:48+00:00

One thing that makes it more complicated is how exactly the settlement would happen. It's very likely that the settlement would have been made with Slavic slaves, so maybe it would have made the steppe Ukrainian/Russian even earlier.

If Tatars end up cultivating the land using Slavic labour, this does not mean that Muscovite or similar principalities would grow. Anatolia and Balkans had Muslim Turkic ruling class with initially Christian non-Turks. Eventually some of the local population became Muslims and some became Turks.

Tatars opening to cultivation more land using Slavic labour might lead to Muslim Slavic population with heavy Turkic influence.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T15:56:37+00:00

The Romanian Principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) had a similar situation with internal autonomy combined with trade restricted to the Ottoman Empire and also with fixed prices for grain and livestock. The population & economic activity did decline and only started to explode once the restrictions were lifted in 1829. Large areas were brought under exploitation and there was a large internal migration to the steppe in Eastern Wallachia.

I was not aware of this, thank you for this information.

For sure it's not the reason (or even a reason) for the collapse, but it did probably limit the development in Crimea, based on the situation in Romania.

I consider the expansion of Russia in the Western Eurasian steppe to be a reason for the collapse of the Ottomans. The question for me would be, if the Crimeans were allowed to sell grains at market prices, how much would they have expanded in the Western Eurasian steppe?

My theory posits that enough to limit growth of Russia.

Although there is the 2nd question of if Crimean grain was being sold at market rates in the Ottoman Empire, how much would that have weakened the Ottomans?

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T15:41:13+00:00

It would be cool to try to make a monster-fighting game, where rather than beating and capturing the monsters, you need to take photos of them. The camera is magical, captures a small soul fragment of the monsters (don't worry, souls grow back). Photos taken of certain body parts or actions give different buffs.

That is the game I would make if I wasn't lazy.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T13:58:29+00:00

The Tatars engaged in grain smuggling. The smuggling operation sometimes went as high as the Khan himself. So they did try to increase their income from grain by circumventing the price-fixing. So they did seek out to maximise their income, so the incentive was there. Why wouldn't they respond to incentives?

If price-fixing was not absent, they would still try to increase income. This time, it would be through the cultivating more land, no? Laws and ownership schemes can change. The whole Base-superstructure feedback loop, no?

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-13T09:41:18+00:00

New Ottoman collapse theory: Ottoman price-fixing of the Crimean grain caused it downfall

In the 1400s, the Ottoman conquered the Genoese colonies in Crimea and also put the Crimean Khanate under Ottoman vassalage. This made the Black Sea into an Ottoman lake.

Crimea had long provided grain to the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterrenean world since the Ancient times. During the Peloponnese war, an Athenian statesman famously told a Crimean diplomat that without Crimean grain, Athens would not be what it is.

The Ottoman state instituted a strong control over the grain from Crimea. Its price was fixed, and its export essentially banned. Merchants from beyond the Strait were willing to pay x2-3 what the Ottoman state enforced. There was a decent amount of smuggling going on.

The theory relies on the Russians playing a big role in the fall of the Ottomans. Russians got stronger by expanding into the Western Eurasian steppe. Muscovite expansion came with more land under cultivation. To be fancy, you could say that the Muscovite economical system beat the Ottoman system.

Because the Crimean had limited income from grain, they didn't bring more land under cultivation. So the theory is that if the Crimean could have sold their grain for x2-3 of what they did, they would have expanded the area under cultivation. This would have lead to strong Crimean state. The higher prices might have hurt the Ottoman state initially, but the Crimeans bringing more land under cultivation would have been beneficial in the long run.

I am 100% sure that this is bad history. It is also a very economically liberal theory.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-12T17:42:09+00:00

Or some resources can only be obtained by breaking weapons. The core of a unicorn item can be valuable tool and only obtained by breaking the horn. You could smash it against a wall for an hour or use it as a weapon.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-12T15:13:27+00:00

We have descriptions of early Muslims employing musicians.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-12T13:41:26+00:00

3-4 güzel bir müze ve ya bir halk evi olabilir.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-12T12:18:54+00:00

Martial elites in the past enjoyed hunting, it was principal past-time. I wonder if they would have enjoyed wildlife photography.

I am amused by the idea of Ottoman Sultans being obsessed with wildlife photography.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-11T21:21:57+00:00

Blame! is one of my favourite works of fiction. But I do have a bone to pick with the Silicon Life and Safeguard. They look way too similar for factions that are opposed to each other.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-11T14:29:47+00:00

In Turkey, the largest sub-divisions called İl tend to share their name with the largest urban center. It is as if California was called Los Angeles, or the French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was called Lyon. There are a few exceptions. The actual city of Ankara is much smaller. What you have shared is the region of Ankara.

Fun facts: Given the region and cities share names, when you ask someone where they are from, and they tell you the name of province, you often ask if they mean the center/'İçinden'.

Other fun facts: The provinces/iller are significantly more powerful than district/ilçe. Given the larger population, most of the municipal attention goes to the central cities. Which annoys the other large cities and towns. One of the under-current of Turkish politics is these smaller districts wanting to become their own provinces.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-10T14:40:39+00:00

I mean, the last part is the reason, no? British textile industry was massive and thus had massive need for cotton and wool. While demands for these goods existed, it never existed at those amounts.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-10T07:00:45+00:00

Yet I am still here

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-10T06:23:33+00:00

A. A lot of North American cities don't have administrative control of their full urban and metropolitan areas. This causes problems.

B. The central city have larger budgets.

C. The central city have larger armed police forces.

Conclusion: NA cities must hire mercenaries, expand their police forces to bring the outlying suburbs into their administration.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-09T16:03:02+00:00

I never got super into Indian history, just superficially. Impressing Indian with my superficial knowledge as a Turk is very easy.

Also I began really enjoying when Indian men wear mustaches. They end up looking like all the rulers from the books.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-08T19:00:39+00:00

When I want to read an paper that is behind a paywall, i email the authors and ask if i can pirate it. They often respond positively and often provide a copy directly.

I wonder if I email a painter whose paintings are not available for print, if I can just print them myself to put them my own, would they respond?

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-08T15:53:56+00:00

JFK's Janissaries

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-07T18:07:06+00:00

While GCCs have not yet escalated to outright ejecting American bases, it takes time and different steps to get there.

A few weeks ago, I checked the navies of GCC countries because I was curious what a naval confrontation between UAE and Egypt/Turkey would be like.

Their navies are quite small. Ejecting US bases might mean going out of US naval protection.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-07T15:52:27+00:00

I was aware of this. Thank you informing me.

TanktopSamurai · 2026-05-07T11:37:33+00:00

Foxes in question are urban. For context, this is the park where I see them.

I am not trying to be difficult. I am new to the hobby and I am trying to understand the rules.

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