While We Wait: Part 5

[Masada]

France lost the only men it had when it revoked Nantes

La voici la heureuse journée
Que Dieu a fait á plein désir
Par nous soit joye démenée…

 

[das]

Bulgaria, Ukraine, or Russia...

Because the former two will retain Cyrillic out of sheer southern Slavic stubbornness?

Incidentally, I am told that Bulgarian is the easiest of Slavic languages for English-speakers to study, since it is an analytic language (=no case declension). I am not a linguist, though.

Bonus: in Arabic, there is no neutral gender. What sucks: in Arabic, there are separate genders for plurals referring to two persons, and for plurals referring to more than two.

Likewise in Old Russian.

So, North King:

Well, obviously. That said, by all means feel free to point out the most urgent vacancies; I have many ideas, and I'm sure that I would be able to apply them to at least some of the countries you've got.

I guess I could just go and look there myself, but I think it still would be better if I at least tried to pick something that urgently needs picking from your point of view.

 

[Masada]

1984 was not written as an instruction manual.

 

[Disenfrancised]

1984 was not written as an instruction manual.

Whilst I do agree with most of that, especially the ID card thing, it always tiresome to see stupid people throwing out the CCTV camera statistic as a) they are not networked, it is the security guard at ye locale shoppe that is looking out of those electric eyes, not some huge big brother government department, and b) we have the same number of cameras per area as most big cities in NA or europe - the UK is just hella urbanised so the country proportion looks scary.

 

[das]

1984 was not written as an instruction manual.

It wasn't intended as such (unless there is something Comrade Orwell isn't telling us here ), but some many parts of it are definitely worth looking into. Certainly beats Machiavelli.

 

[silver 2039]

Certainly beats Machiavelli.

Machiavelli is nothing compared to Kautilya's Arthashasthra. I got it some time ago I've read about half of it. Its quite detailed and most impressive and far more varied. I really need to finish it sometime. I'm on the sovereign states section.

The Arthashastra (IAST: Arthaśāstra) is a treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya[1] and Viṣṇugupta,[2] who are traditionally identified with Chāṇakya (c. 350–-283 BCE),[3] who was a professor at Taxila University and later the prime minister of the Maurya Empire.

* I Concerning Discipline
* II The Duties of Government Superintendents
* III Concerning Law
* IV The Removal of Thorns
* V The Conduct of Courtiers
* VI The Source of Sovereign States
* VII The End of the Six-Fold Policy
* VIII Concerning Vices and Calamities
* IX The Work of an Invader
* X Relating to War
* XI The Conduct of Corporations
* XII Concerning a Powerful Enemy
* XIII Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress
* XIV Secret Means
* XV The Plan of a Treatise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthashastra

 

[Dachs]

Because the former two will retain Cyrillic out of sheer southern Slavic stubbornness?

"When is a southern Slav not a South Slav?"

Incidentally, I am told that Bulgarian is the easiest of Slavic languages for English-speakers to study, since it is an analytic language (=no case declension). I am not a linguist, though.

Vocab was always harder than grammar for me, sadly. But that does sound sexy.

Likewise in Old Russian.

Ew.

Machiavelli is nothing compared to Kautilya's Arthashasthra.

This is on Dachspmg's list of "books which are comparable to On War in terms of sheer awesomeness", and has been for the past five months. Props for Chanakya are warranted.

 

[das]

"When is a southern Slav not a South Slav?"

Ukrainians are not, technically speaking, South Slavs. Still very stubborn, though, especially in matters of language; I do not so much refer to the whole state language debate or the Russification and resistance towards it as to the fact that it is far more archaic than any other East Slavic language. Which is one of the reasons why all Russians find it simply hilarious (that and it sounds a bit like what ork-speak Cockney sounds to your average English speaker, only when spoken very, very fast as well).

Vocab was always harder than grammar for me, sadly. But that does sound sexy.

The exact opposite for me; words are not so difficult to grasp, especially when they are more or less similar/recognisable/vaguely familiar.

Machiavelli is nothing compared to Kautilya's Arthashasthra.

Obviously! I've read him a while ago, have been re-reading some parts recently as research for the Iron Age NES project, since it will have to get to India eventually.

And, once again, it's a shame that the Achaemenids left nothing like that whatsoever.

 

[Sheep]

Iron Age NES project?

 

[das]

Don't hold your breath, I'm afraid it won't be ready any time soon, though I still try and work on it when I can.

 

[Dachs]

Ukrainians are not, technically speaking, South Slavs.

That was the point.

Which is one of the reasons why all Russians find it simply hilarious (that and it sounds a bit like what ork-speak Cockney sounds to your average English speaker, only when spoken very, very fast as well).

Question: when transliterating Ukrainian names, I tend to see lots of Ys where, in Russian, there tends to be an I. (Case in point: Yulia Tymoshenko.) What pronunciation difference does this imply?

And, once again, it's a shame that the Achaemenids left nothing like that whatsoever.

By comparison with the dearth of material on most of their era, my complaints about Diodorus, Arrian, Publius Herennius Dexippus (how bout those historians and their repulse of Gothic invasions...dude had a dream job), Trogus (by way of Justin), and Plutarch being inadequate for a study of the decidedly awesome period between 323 BC(E) and 281 BC(E)...well, the complaints are unwarranted, in any event.

 

[das]

Question: when transliterating Ukrainian names, I tend to see lots of Ys where, in Russian, there tends to be an I. (Case in point: Yulia Tymoshenko.) What pronunciation difference does this imply?

Y in Yulia is the same as in Russian. Y in Tymoshenko is the exact same thing as the I in Timoshenko as in the Soviet Marshall (then again, he also was an Ukrainian; the -enko ending is Cuman in origin, so it's much more widespread in Ukraine and amongst Cossacks); there is absolutely no difference whatsoever. Funnily enough, Ukrainians use the Latin-like letter "I" rather than "И", at least on some occasions - I think it's interchangeable, if not then I all I could say is that I am at loss at to the difference (this is a leftover of Old Russian, ofcourse).

EDIT:

By comparison with the dearth of material on most of their era, my complaints about Diodorus, Arrian, Publius Herennius Dexippus (how bout those historians and their repulse of Gothic invasions...dude had a dream job), Trogus (by way of Justin), and Plutarch being inadequate for a study of the decidedly awesome period between 323 BC(E) and 281 BC(E)...well, the complaints are unwarranted, in any event.

That too, but I was mostly talking about their political thought and such. Though there are many moments in their history (especially in the east and the south, since the west is relatively well-covered, not to mention the various important processes going on in those regions with the rise of great trade routes and the like) that I would really love to know more about.

 

[Dachs]

Thanks. Way to go, weirdo Ukrainians?

 

[Oruc]

Why do Ukrainians think they are different to Russians anyway? wasn't Kiev the capital of the Kingdom of Rus? what happened.

 

[Supermath]

Same logic with French and Spanish, I'd expect.

 

[Oruc]

Same logic with French and Spanish, I'd expect.

Is this the same logic that involves a tin of beans and a tin opener?

 

[das]

More like Portuguese and Spanish, scale-wise. Or maybe Andalusian and Galician.

 

[sp1023]

You guys might want to start reserving nations in my NES, if you like it.

 

[Dachs]

More like Portuguese and Spanish, scale-wise. Or maybe Andalusian and Galician.

That first one.

 

[North King]

So, North King:

I guess I could just go and look there myself, but I think it still would be better if I at least tried to pick something that urgently needs picking from your point of view.

That may change with the next update, but the most urgent vacancies at this exact moment in time are Hu'ut (assuming lord_joakim doesn't spontaneously resurface), Bisria, and less so Nahar or Ferman (in my opinion, Nahar is the most interesting). There is also the possibility of starting a culture from scratch if you're interested in that; I will eventually need someone to do it.

Machiavelli is nothing compared to Kautilya's Arthashasthra. I got it some time ago I've read about half of it. Its quite detailed and most impressive and far more varied. I really need to finish it sometime. I'm on the sovereign states section.

My library has this. This should really cease to surprise me, but I'm really really really liking college libraries.