"If you don't fight back, we'll let you live" For now. Make no mistake about scorpions though.
I can't think of any other person so very antithetical to the very concept of love as Trump. I suspect that emotion is as alien to him as a smartphone is to an ant.
I specifically ask for sources to my questions and to notify me of any possible controversies or counterclaims.
Some of the capabilities of todays' AI's are incumbent on the user, not the system itself.
Before AI's existed you could also get badly sourced claims or outright misinformation. The key is to remain critical and sceptical about ALL your sources. I don't see AI as a new source of information, just as a new way to get and organize that information.
“This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years!”
Ferdinand Foch, 1921
Technically, an orbital "Rods from God" weapon would also still qualify under "sticks and stones". Just very big ones.
Conversely, there are many other people from his time that definitely did exist and verifiably so. I have a bronze coin minted in Judea by Pontius Pilatus. I can look at it, I can touch it, it's real. Even as an avowed agnostic, I see no reason why Jesus couldn't have been a real person (minus the miracles that were almost certainly later additions).
Thanks, but I'd rather simply not use W11 at all. Plenty of alternatives out there now. Once my 6-year old PC with a Win10 install croaks, that'll be the last vestige of Microsoft in my home gone.
Exactly this. In ancient Roman times, emperor Caracalla was infamous for having many of his enemies outright killed. One of these was the brother of a soldier who was assigned to his personal guard at the Rhine border regions. When Caracalla got off his horse for a piss, he got a gladius thrusted between his ribs. For all his might and power, he very much brought that on himself.
Sometimes people like that soldier are the last line of justice in the world.
I'm a Reddit refugee from when they axed 3rd party apps. I was quite active in the ancient coins subreddit, but there's simply no way I will ever grace their site with a click again.
There's an alternative on Lemmy, which I've used, but there's literally only one other active person. Two does not a community make.
I'm gonna go with "no" judging by how things have been going in the past. I hope to be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.
I agree, all the evils of yesteryear are still there and active, just either well-hidden or people simply don't care/pretend not to know (cfr football world championships in Qatar, ...).
We've made enormous progress technologically, but humans are still the exact same as 2000 or 5000 years ago. We've changed exceedingly little in that time, and the few things that have changed could be reverted very quickly if shove comes to push concerning climate collapse etc.
Best I can do is a token effort as long as it doesn't upset the shareholders.
I live with my SO and child and I'm still lonely as fuck. Not their fault, it's not their role to be my therapist or w/e. But I sure wouldn't mind being able to hang out with some people who share my interests. But ever since Covid, that reality is just... gone.
Depends on the capabilities. If i can automatically open my garage door with my mind or draw a bath, or control a cursor on a screen, then no. If it enables entire new ways of experiencing sensations or memories, or ways to share them, or fully immerse you in a virtual world indistinguishable from reality, then maybe. If it's not from a company Musk has any hand in.
Actually yes, but that has more to do with 20 years of crippling depression and chronic pain than the coming climate disasters.
Nope, there's nothing special about me or my family. We're just insignificant eurotrash. Odds we'd be among the survivors are very low.
And honestly, would that be such a bad thing? 8 freaking billion of us is at least 7.5B too many.
Did you miss the memo that current AI is already using more power than everything we've managed to save with green energy in the last decade? We ARE fucked, the only thing we're still debating is the exact timespan. Which is asinine, the result will remain the same either way.
The only way I see to a path to salvation is a huge pandemic or world war, becausing nothing else will convince people. We've been trying (and failing) for decades.
I've been playing since about a month after release and have since reached lvl 81 (just to show I put in quite a lot of game time since I started). In my first month of play I came across ONE single griefer who TK'd people on purpose. Considering I'd played hundreds of games I thought this game was a shining example of a great community.
However.
The last three(ish) weeks or so, I feel like I'm playing a whole different game. About 1/3rd to a quarter of my games involve randoms with really toxic behaviour. Training mobs on you, throwing barrages on the group for fun, destroying our own sentries in defense missions...
But there's one thing that is apparently suddenly a "fad", I guess? That is kicking someone from the game right before extraction. Seriously, I've run several full 40 minute rounds, usually on decently high difficulties (7-8), with no real communication with any players whatsoever, let alone tk's or toxic shit, and then you suddenly get kicked as soon as the Pelican is on the ground.
WTF gives? I don't know if it's a reportable thing, I doubt it, but I sincerely hope it's just players getting somewhat bored while waiting for more content and that it'll pass, because if this is going to be my regular experience from here on out, I'm going to look for something else to play. Not the devs' fault in any way.
Even IF you somehow manage to navigate today's maze of failures, rejections and heartbreak, what is your reward? To live yet another day in misery? To wait until climate change, war or disease does away with us?
A reward would be to be able to rest. I don't mean death per sé, but it seems like that's the only real-life thing left available to people like us.
Yes, yes, I know very well that "if nothing has meaning, YOU get to choose the meaning". Except I don't. Maybe if I was rich or powerful. But I'm poor, in poor health and powerless.
I read Camus' Sisiphus, and I, for one, cannot possibly imagine him happy.
It took ~5 minutes and there was ZERO pain.
I even anticipated this. There was no reason to think it would be hard in any kind of way.
Why am I like this?? Why is my brain such mush when it comes to my executive functioning while several other parts of my mental being are more than fine or even slightly supercharged (when I'm not depressed or out of mania)
The kicker? The appointment isn't for a doctor or a dentist or something else that would be "normal" to dread.
It's an appointment to pick up a brand new company car. A 2023 Mercedes EQA to the tune of 50K€. Most people would JUMP at that kind of opportunity, but not me. No, I sit there contemplating whether I even deserve a car that costs twice my annual salary, and that I'm just deluding myself into thinking I'm a valued part of society, that someone will realize they made a mistake and such a car was never meant for me (or "anyone like me").
This after a double dose of 15mg ritalin, by the way. Without it I would never have been able to push myself over that limit to begin with.
Fuckin' a...
Roman coinage from the punic wars is interesting, but quite a bit rarer is coinage from Carthage before it was razed. They minted quite exquisite coins in gold, silver and copper. Below is an example of such a copper coin!
30mm, 17.4g Obverse: Head of Tanit left, wearing wreath of grain ears and single-pendant earring.
Reverse: Horse standing right, palm tree in background to left, ligate Punic T and S below.
AI inflicted this upon my retina, so you shall suffer the same fate.
Obv: L AELIVS CAESAR. Bare head right.
Rev: TR POT COS II / CONCORD. Concordia seated left on throne, holding patera and resting elbow upon cornucopia.
RIC 436 (Hadrian).
Weight: 3.23 g. Diameter: 18 mm. !
Lucius Aelius Caesar (13 January 101 – 1 January 138) was the father of Emperor Lucius Verus. In 136, he was adopted by the reigning emperor Hadrian and named heir to the throne. He died before Hadrian and thus never became emperor. After Lucius' death, he was replaced by Antoninus Pius, who succeeded Hadrian the same year.
CAESAR-DICT • PERPETVO, veiled and laureate head of Julius Caesar right / P • SEPVLLIVS downward on right, MACER downward on left, Venus standing left, Victory in right hand, scepter in left; shield at feet behind. P. Sepullius Macer, moneyer. Crawford 480/13. Sydenham 1074. RSC 39. Good fine ex CNG 482/352
Issued from February up to the assassination of Caesar on March 15, 44. This coin represents one of the late lifetime portraits of Julius Caesar, with the title of a 'Dictator for life'. These portrait series were issued in large quantities to pay the troops gathered for Caesar's intended Parthian campaign. His assassination on the Ides of March prevented these plans. P. Sepullius Macer was the most prolific moneyer of 44 BC, striking the widest variety of Caesar portrait issues. Caesar is shown wreathed, sometimes also veiled, and his titles given as CAESAR IMP and CAESAR DICT PERPETVO, as seen on this specimen. The reverse image of Venus includes a number of minor design variants. The varying quality of portraiture and strike likewise indicate great haste of manufacture, perhaps in preparation for Caesar's projected Parthian war.
Notice the weight, which is not abnormal for denarii from this age. They slimmed down considerably after Augustus' reforms.
This particular specimen isn't in the greatest shape, nor in the worst. It retains all its core identifying features, like the veiled portrait of Caesar (one of the most important and iconic in ancient history, given its context and lead-up to his assassination), his controversial title(s), name, and origination of his gens in the depiction of Venus of which he claimed to be a direct descendant.
All in all, a coin worthy of addition to any serious collector's hoard in my opinion.
Apologies for the title, but that's exactly what this coin depicts.
L. TITURIUS L.F. SABINUS. Denarius (89 BC). Rome.
Obv: SABIN. Bareheaded and bearded head of King Tatius right; monogram to right.
Rev: L TITVRI. Two soldiers, facing each other, each carrying off a Sabine woman in his arms.
Crawford 344/1a.
Condition: good-very fine.
Weight: 3,7 g.
Diameter: 19 mm.
======
The "Rape of the Sabine Women" is a legendary event in the early history of Rome, where the first generation of Roman men, lacking wives to establish families, organized a festival and invited neighboring Sabine people. During the festivities, the Romans abducted the Sabine women and forced them into marriage. The act led to a war between the Romans and Sabines, which eventually ended when the Sabine women, now wives and mothers of Roman children, intervened to broker peace, effectively merging the two communities. This narrative, albeit fraught with violence and patriarchal dynamics, was traditionally interpreted as a foundational myth explaining the growth and consolidation of Roman society.
PTOLEMAIC KINGS OF EGYPT. Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC). Ae Tetrobol. Alexandreia.
Obv: Diademed head of Zeus right, with horn of Ammon.
Rev: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ.
Eagle, with closed wings and head right, standing left on thunderbolt; filleted cornucopia to right; EP monogram between legs. Lorber B371; Svoronos 974; SNG Copenhagen 227-9.
Condition: Near very fine. Weight: 42.91 g. Diameter: 38 mm.. avF
This wasn't even the biggest or heaviest coin the Alexandria mint produced, if you can believe it.
======================
Zeus-Ammon is a fascinating result of religious syncretism between the Greek and Egyptian cultures. The deity represents a blend of the Greek god Zeus and the Egyptian god Amun (or Ammon). This syncretic deity emerged during the period following Alexander the Great's conquests, which facilitated cultural exchanges between Greece and Egypt.
Obv: D N VETRANIO P F AVG. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: CONCORDIA MILITVM / A - Δ / •TSA•. Vetranio standing facing, head left, holding labarum decorated with christogram in each hand; star above
RIC 135. Condition: Very fine. Weight: 6.43 g. Diameter: 23 mm.
Vetranio was a brief actor in the complex theatre of the Constantinian dynasty around 350 AD. Thrust into power by his troops amidst a period of political turmoil, he was a placeholder more than a ruler, swiftly yielding his title to Constantius II. His reign, though short-lived, reflects the tumultuous politics of the time and the military's significant role therein. Vetranio's peaceful cession of power helped to avert potential military conflict, aiding in a smoother transition of authority during a delicate period in the Roman Empire's history. !
I'm a 40-year old dude with... let's say, plenty of issues. Most of them stemming from childhood but adulthood has been equally painful so far.
I've been looking into self-help a lot lately and notice that many techniques tell you to focus on a person whom you consider an example, a role model you want to emulate.
The problem is, I don't have any. None. My own father was an abusive alcoholic who offed himself when I was 15. My mother did her best but was a neurotic wreck with many untreated mental health issues of her own. She eventually found a new partner whom I looked up to for many years since he was finally that role model I thought I needed.
But a few years ago he tried to seduce my own partner (which luckily didn't succeed), resulting in my esteem for him immediately imploding completely.
In the greater world, outside of my own little atmosphere, there aren't really any actors or business people or coworkers, bosses, teachers... that I've looked up to or ever had any kind of relationship with. Sure, there are many people I admire for whatever they may have contributed to humanity, but that doesn't mean they're some kind of shining example in every area of their lives.
I guess I'm just trying to communicate that I'm a 40-year old dude with daddy issues and I have no idea how to healthily cope with it or even fix it.
Before anyone asks, I'm on a waiting list for professional treatment. Been a month, 5 more to go (in a best case scenario).
How did others cope with this specifically? Did you have any insights in what ideas to emulate or how to handle certain difficulties in life through the lens of a mentor? Is it even desirable or is it just another crutch for the weak-minded to cope with, well, being weak-minded?
