Great Quotes δ' : Being laconic is being philosophical

[Ajidica]

Replace portuguese with chinese

portugal and brazil cannot into relevance

#forgotaboutafrica

 

[yung.carl.jung]

"Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made".
Franz Kafka

this is a good one. I'll have to reflect on this for a bit.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

According to an actual person of letters (Fernando Pessoa) there are only three languages likely to play an international role. English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Seems quite logical (maybe the portuguese one less so, but at least there is Brazil, and a couple african countries) given that French is only spoken as first language in France and a number of african nations, and German is only a first language in Germany/Austria and some bordering stuff (eg parts of Switzerland).

Speaking at least a second language is obviously positive. For starters, you are always provided with added info if you don't identify something as a singularity. That said... it isn't like you gain much more if you can use base x, x1, x2 etc for arithmetic, despite gaining something if you are fluent in at least two different ways.

this is so dumb. what about arabic, chinese (I do realize people in china speak different languages) and russian? I love pessoa as much as you do, but he's just basking in his european superiority being shortsighted.

#forgotaboutafrica

ah, so you agree with me that chinese will grow in importance in future years?

 

[Traitorfish]

Does the growing importance of China actually imply the growing importance of Mandarin Chinese? It's not as if everyone in China even speaks Mandarin, and to the extent that it's widely spoken outside of the North, it owes as much to aggressive language policy of the central government as to the cultural aura of Beijing.

 

[Ajidica]

ah, so you agree with me that chinese will grow in importance in future years?

I was referring to Portuguese being spoken in Africa in Angola, Mozambique, and a handful of other tiny countries.

(Also, is Portuguese still spoken in Macau?)

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Does the growing importance of China actually imply the growing importance of Mandarin Chinese? It's not as if everyone in China even speaks Mandarin, and to the extent that it's widely spoken outside of the North, it owes as much to aggressive language policy of the central government as to the cultural aura of Beijing.

Maybe not too much in the western world, but as far as I could tell Mandarin is growing in importance in Japan and Korea. Many people are learning it as a third language in uni, but this is more my anecdotal evidence, I don't have this sourced.

 

[Dachs]

"Learned professors and mages outside the Chantry have proven, in many writings, that even superheated Lyrium cannot melt granite beams."

-"Tattered Tome" Codex entry in Dragon Age: Inquisition (which goes on to discuss the "Snake-Kings of the Earth")

 

[Kyriakos]

Speaking of laconic:

If.

Spoken as a reply to King Philip, when the latter threatened (in so many words) that if he reaches Sparta he will destroy it.
Iirc it is mentioned by Plutarch; not sure if sources closer to the time mention this.

 

[Dachs]

Speaking of laconic:



Spoken as a reply to King Philip, when the latter threatened (in so many words) that if he reaches Sparta he will destroy it.
Iirc it is mentioned by Plutarch; not sure if sources closer to the time mention this.

Yeah, it's in Plutarch.

Although Philip and Alexander never bothered with Sparta, Alexander left the B Team in Europe with his regent, Antipatros. The Spartans saw this as an opportunity to crush the Macedonians while Alexander was away and struck a deal with the Iranians for an alliance. As part of the deal, the Iranians shipped them the survivors of the Greek mercenaries that had fought hard - and lost - against Alexander and his Macedonians at Issos. With Iranian support, King Agis III declared war on Macedonia in 331 BC and scooped up a bunch of isolated garrisons in the Peloponnesos. Regent Antipatros mustered the rest of the B Team and marched south, and the Macedonians met the Spartans at Megalopolis. The Spartan army was completely wrecked and the king himself was killed in battle.

Over the next few centuries, Macedonian kings regularly smacked down the Spartans, most notably at the Battle of Sellasia.

The Spartans, in short, talked a big game, but they were singularly incapable of backing up their words - at least against the Macedonians.

 

[Kyriakos]

Yeah, it's in Plutarch.

Although Philip and Alexander never bothered with Sparta, Alexander left the B Team in Europe with his regent, Antipatros. The Spartans saw this as an opportunity to crush the Macedonians while Alexander was away and struck a deal with the Iranians for an alliance. As part of the deal, the Iranians shipped them the survivors of the Greek mercenaries that had fought hard - and lost - against Alexander and his Macedonians at Issos. With Iranian support, King Agis III declared war on Macedonia in 331 BC and scooped up a bunch of isolated garrisons in the Peloponnesos. Regent Antipatros mustered the rest of the B Team and marched south, and the Macedonians met the Spartans at Megalopolis. The Spartan army was completely wrecked and the king himself was killed in battle.

Over the next few centuries, Macedonian kings regularly smacked down the Spartans, most notably at the Battle of Sellasia.

The Spartans, in short, talked a big game, but they were singularly incapable of backing up their words - at least against the Macedonians.

Been that way since Leuktra, probably. Speaking of which, there was a funny exchange leading to that, between the theban negotiator and Sparta, regarding spartan will to have cities in Boeotia decide without overlordship of Thebes, and the reply that the same then must happen with the other cities in Lakonia ^_^

edit: that said, at least according to the wiki article (i cannot know if it is accurate or not) the spartans still did pretty well, given they had almost half the numbers of the mac army. Although the mac force used a lot of light infantry from northern tribes, apparently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Megalopolis

 

[Ryika]

"The New York Times hates two things: racism and white people."
- Reddit User AbsolutelyNuclear on the NYT's hiring of Sarah Jeong and their defense of her racist tweets

 

[Dachs]

"And you know what the worst part is? Jameis isn’t even GOOD. He [redacted] sucks. On any given play, he’s liable to sprint 30 yards backward and the[n] fumble the ball up his own [redacted]. The only thing consistent about Jameis is his ability to remain under investigation for sexually assaulting or harassing women."

-Drew Magary, WYTS 2018: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (caution: swears)

Reference image:

 

[Kyriakos]

 

[Samson]

I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

Douglas Adams

 

[Lexicus]

"The Common Mind considers Slugs to simply be Snails without Shells, and all the less Cool for it, but this is a shockingly Bad interpretation. Through heroic Discipline, Slugs have conquered the Self and rid themselves of the desire for such lavish ornamentation."
-some meme i just saw

 

[Dachs]

"Amazingly, out of all the battles and engagements in Star Wars, only the battle on the forest moon of Endor demonstrated engineer capabilities. The Ewoks – masters of multi-domain battle – integrated log obstacles into their engagement area and covered them with fires. Much maligned, the Ewoks would be the only force out of this entire engagement to receive a “GO” at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center. Which is perhaps the greatest tragedy in all of this."

-Angry Staff Officer, "Warfighter: Battle of Endor"

 

[Lexicus]

-Angry Staff Officer, "Warfighter: Battle of Endor"

This is not only the greatest article I've read this week, it may be the greatest thing in written history

 

[Lexicus]

It's been topped by the Hoth one though:
"General Rieekan’s opposite number was Lord Vader, who also failed to utilize mission command in his operations. Rather than provide vision, Lord Vader summarily executed his primary admiral in charge of fleet operations for making a tactical error."

 

[Dachs]

I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars-related articles all over the website. My personal favorite was the First Order AAR for Operations on Jakku.

 

[Mouthwash]

This is not only the greatest article I've read this week, it may be the greatest thing in written history

It is, however, marred by its inclusion of the Disney claptrap.

EDIT: Whoops, ninja'd again.