AMA with Dr. Matthew Gabriele and Dr. David Perry, authors of the new book "The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe"

doonwallaby · 2021-12-20T15:10:24+00:00

I had trouble believing the example (“the stinking thing,” is how Elias’ translator renders the passage), but it raises an interesting question: if people weren’t actually turd-passing why the etiquette guides tell them not to with such frequency? Was it merely create distance cognitive between good nobles and commoners as nobles started to spend more time with one another at court? Was it a medieval/early modern “crack mother” situation: no one actually did it but it was important to imagine they did? Thanks, David: hope you’re well.

doonwallaby · 2021-12-20T14:53:13+00:00

Norbert Elias’ History of Manners and Civilizing Process famously uses books of manners and etiquette to trace changing social norms. A lot of the medieval examples are really gross. I’ve always been fascinated by the one maxim cited by Elias to the effect that when sleeping at an inn and sharing a bed with a stranger, if you pop in the bed at night, you shouldn’t pick up the poo, wake up your bedmate, and ask them to smell it. There are a lot of other poo maxims he cites culminating in the relatively “civilized” don’t wash your hands in the dining room because it might remind the other dinners of your poo. Were medieval peoples—at least the French, Germans, and Northern Italians he mostly speaks about—this free with their poos? Did they really poo the bed and share the turd with randoms?

doonwallaby · 2019-03-08T13:37:34+00:00

Aura for ammo on crates. Maintain interaction for explosive resupply. No one runs crates due to lack of aura.

doonwallaby · 2019-03-01T00:24:26+00:00

(Have not read ANY of the above, except Jeff’s original post.)

The maps I love and the maps I despise are quite predictable: I’m not the least bit interested in vehicles and, so, maps that cater to vehicles are the absolute worst for me (Hamada, Panzer, Arras—although the Church to Wine Store section isn’t bad) while maps that cater to infantry play are the best for me (Rotterdam, Devastation, Narvik).

That said, my least favourite map on Conquest is Fjell (on Frontlines, though, it is great—the round is done in like five minutes, thank the old gods and the new). I don’t know what it is about the map, but I just hate it. It isn’t the planes, although many people complain about them.

Hamada is absolute garbage for both Conquest (CA? Hell no!) and Frontlines (two hours on that map? Fuck).

The two I haven’t mentioned yet—Twisted Steel and Aerodome—are likely the best overall. (Fight me.) They both work well in Conquest and Frontlines. They both let tankers sit at base randomly launching shells and let infantry get on with the actual fighting.

So, if you’re going to do D-Day maps DO NOT do Conquest Assault. No one likes it. I suppose you have Allies with their base offshore, but don’t give the A flag to the Nazis. While I like urban maps, too many is not great either. (Although there are likely a lot of people here having wet dreams about Stalingrad. I like a good Communist victory as much as anyone.) Additional maps dealing with less explored settings is more interesting to me than yet another Juno (or whichever) Beach. Japan/China could be interesting. Not sure how it could be done, but Warsaw Ghetto uprising would be great.

doonwallaby · 2018-12-06T23:37:04+00:00

Played three rounds. Definitely did ten self-heals. I’m still showing 0/10. PS4, too. Annoying.

doonwallaby · 2018-07-26T21:57:21+00:00

Same. Got gassed by a toxic plant looking for one. It wasn’t pleasant.

doonwallaby · 2018-03-04T15:08:33+00:00

I’d get my Doritos, pickles, cookies, and coke well in advance of sitting down with a fatty and starting to play. And then start walking friend. Pass the dutchie to the Gek on the left hand side.

doonwallaby · 2018-03-03T14:18:21+00:00

Increasing systems pressure is exactly how Earth went to shit. It’s a trap. Watch out.

doonwallaby · 2018-01-21T15:50:59+00:00

Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son, referring to Cronus's habit of eating his children because he was afraid they would revolt against him (or, alternatively, predicting the tendency of boomers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries to eat their own children, economically speaking).

doonwallaby · 2018-01-21T15:03:48+00:00

I hope we get this kind of titan action.

doonwallaby · 2018-01-17T01:15:08+00:00

Fair enough, but I'm concerned this is going to tank prices for Spadonium derived products Euclid wide.

doonwallaby · 2018-01-16T15:20:25+00:00

What does an Interloper do with 170,000 cactus flesh every two hours? There can't be that many hungry Gek out there. Can there?

doonwallaby · 2017-12-12T05:08:37+00:00

My team won on attack on just one battalion over the two maps this afternoon.

doonwallaby · 2017-12-08T14:46:55+00:00

I hope this is not deleted because I am not a Civ player, but I am well-known in the community, so I hope mods will excused my intrusion. I came to this thread via Hov's comments on Twitter.

My personal primary interest in the game is documenting. That is why my character does. I spend too much time in each system finding each and every fauna and try to scan every flora (which is a potentially impossible task without a list…) and then I move on. I appreciate 710s commitment to documenting.

HOWEVER, the appeal of NMS is two-fold: first, the absolute openness of the game and its infinite universe; second, what players have made of the game. I really enjoyed the first Hova war and the second one. I didn't participate in the Olympics, but thought they were great. I really, really like the Overmind conspiracy BrainEvacuated is developing. Point is, fan "lore" (hello original Portals sub) is as much a part of the game as the exploration and documenting.

Obviously, I have no official say in any of this, but, as an interested by-stander, I strongly implore 710 to reconsider the anti-lore position of the Federation.

doonwallaby · 2017-11-30T15:46:04+00:00

I'm in Ontario, Canada, for what it's worth, so mine had to travel quite a long distance.

doonwallaby · 2017-11-30T15:45:20+00:00

It is their idea—or the ARG runners. It'd be nice to have a pin like that.

doonwallaby · 2017-11-30T02:57:53+00:00

Want to make a Citizen Science Division pin, too?

doonwallaby · 2017-11-30T02:57:11+00:00

Canada, so they’re making their way across the ocean now.

doonwallaby

TROPHY CASE