| Poison Sonata (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 06:30 pm 
Just wanted to let you guys know that if a natural disaster hits, send a message to The Stormholdian Thalassocracy, and we'll send Relief Resources with haste, no strings attached. Because Stormholdians care. |
| Border C | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 06:45 pm
I got a boo boo on my finger today. I would love some relief but prefer if I could get it WITH strings attached. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 06:49 pm
Good job! Curious: I know about a lot of different "ocracies", what exactly is a "Thalass"ocracy?
I might learn something new today. Scary thought. :P |
| James the fair (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 08:26 pm
No strings attached hey? are you a girl? can I go out with you? lol |
| Poison Sonata (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 08:38 pm
Rep: A Thalassocracy means "Rule of the Sea". Think countries like Carthage, Athenian Empire, etc. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 09:35 pm
Lol My countries are communist, comrade. |
| The Walking Glitch (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 10:20 pm
Hey Vlad, you have a country I had a looong time ago. Just thought to let you know. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 10:48 pm
I do? |
| SuperSoldierRCP (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 10:57 pm
<---- king of relief aid |
| The Walking Glitch (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 11:07 pm
Yes, you do. Pretty strategic war location actually. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 11:18 pm
Thats why I chose it. I have a big buffer zone on all sides. |
| The Walking Glitch (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 11:26 pm
And close Ocean, that an important part IMO. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 20, 2011 - 11:30 pm
Yeah. I've already got nuclear subs. |
| Open Sesame (Little Upsilon) | Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 03:16 am
I made it onto the relief suppliers' list, but then it was taken down.
meh. |
| rep | Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 04:42 pm
Poison Sonata,
Thanks for the edification. I DID learn something! Couple more examples would be the Phoenicians and Vikings.
You have to admire the courage of those ancient countries, building seafaring empires with the tech knowledge they had available, and the lack of navigational aids we take for granted. |
| Poison Sonata (Little Upsilon) | Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - 03:03 am
Indeed. Are you a fellow history buff? |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - 07:12 pm
I am indeed. My collegiate career was spent pursuing a Hitory/Political Science curriculum. In the "real" world not the most financially rewarding choices to make! :D
Being American, my knowledge naturally is greater in American history (but not limited to U.S. history, pretty familiar with the native cultures' history also).
But my interest in history knows no limitations. Unless we understand where we've been, and how we got here, we'll never be capable of moving forward.
To quote a famous person: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Did you ever wonder how our basic tech advances came about? Example, what was going through the mind of the first guy to look at iron ore and what made him say "if I throw this into a really hot fire I bet I could make a sword out of it?"
I'd probably never make the connection. A rock's a rock, right? |
| Crafty | Thursday, June 23, 2011 - 11:10 am
Most discoveries/advances are made by accident aren't they? |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 23, 2011 - 06:16 pm
Yes, they are. Many times an inventor/scientist is looking for something quite different when they make a breakthrough discovery.
It's also strange how often these accidental discoveries are made at relatively the same time in different parts of the globe.
My ponderings are more of the way back, stone age, bronze age type. How do you accidentally smelt iron ore to turn it into useful tools/weapons? For that matter, how did anyone think "hmm, if I take coal and iron together, I can make steel"? |
| Crafty (Fearless Blue) | Thursday, June 23, 2011 - 09:47 pm
Alchemy was the birth of many an example of the things you mention Rep. Ancient chemists seeking the elusive power to create gold and other mysterious wonders from natures building blocks. We're still at it now, though a bit more technically, with experiments such as the large hadron collider. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 01:23 am
Aye, Crafty, alchemy was really the forerunner of modern chemistry. Just as astrology was the forerunner of modern astronomy.
Both of those areas of study are held in disdain today, but they advanced man's knowledge of his surroundings.
And who is to say that, on some molecular level, one couldn't tweak a proton or neutron and actually convert one substance to another?
And with astrology I saw an article a few years back that presented an interesting theory. To my mind not enogh data to support it, but interesting nonetheless.
It held that the universe is filled with "pockets" of various gases, which the Solar system moves through,causing unusual effects on Earth. It also held that comets also bring these rare gases on their regular trips.
The thing that intrigued me was the theory showed how the visitations by a specific comet (forget which one) was always accompanied by extreme social upheaval on Earth. So the thought that our destiny lies in the stars may not be so far off the mark.
Rambling. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 01:40 am
You CAN convert certain metals into pure gold if you use nuclear fusion. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 05:01 am
See? The alchemists weren't so dumb after all!
How did your latest war turn out? |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 05:06 am
Almost finished. Killed his entire defense, including supply units, land defense divisions, and most garrisons. Now, its not even a war anymore; its a slaughter. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 10:17 am
BTW, newest to join the USSR, is Latvian SSR. It's open for business. |
| Poison Sonata (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 07:39 pm
To rep: I remember reading the the first attempts at metallurgy was an accident; someone put metal over a fire, the metal either melted or became malleable, then that person banged on it for a while until it suddenly became stronger.
I wish I could be more precise or offer up a link to where I got that from, but I don't remember the details or the link. But its true I tell ya. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 09:47 pm
Yeah most types of metal alloys were discovered accidentally. Steel is another good example. They were heating iron over a coal fire and left it sitting there and when they came back and hammered it into a spearhead, they found that it was stronger for some reason and they had no idea why. The smith was baffled, so he tried it again. He left another piece of iron on the coal fire and then came back and found that it, too, was stronger than usual. What actually happened was that the carbon contained in the coal was forming an alloy with the iron, and it gained some of carbon's properties, such as hardness. Afterwards, that smith made all of his things on a coal fire, and steel weapons were born. Interesting, huh? |
| Open Sesame (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 11:11 pm
Vlad, I think someone set up a 'Russian Republic' in Scorfu. You should demand a name change or have them expelled to Siberia. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 24, 2011 - 11:54 pm
Lol |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 25, 2011 - 12:08 am
Poison and Vlad,
Interesting info. In some ways the ancients were up to par with us. The Greeks used steam power; the Egyptians had a chemical form of electricity.
Archaeologists discovered a battery in one of the tombs which after charging still functioned. |
