2812481591

In 1785, during the third year of his reign, Western Roman Emperor Vytenis IV, who was then 51 years old, renounced his Christian faith, declaring himself an atheist who believed the universe could be explained solely through the natural sciences. By unanimous historical consensus, this decision is regarded as completely bone-headed. As an intellectual era, the emperor's support for atheism did lead to accomplishments in rationalism and liberal philosophy. the strength of certain cultural artifacts created during this period has lead to some contemporary romanticism of the crisis. Normally however the historical appraisal focuses the 15 years of sporadic rebellion and civil war provoked by the emperor's decision, specifically the destruction in southern Gaul.

Vytenis' apostasy posed a particular difficulty for the Church, who recognized the emperor as the divinely anointed ruler, and was deeply entangled with the state. Although Vytenis initially toyed with the idea of entirely separating christianity from the secular state, he was eventually persuaded to retain the Church. the Church, in return, reaffirmed the absolute authority of the emperor, that he need not himself be a Christian to rule justly in a Christian manner and perform his duty to bravely defend the Christian faith. A line of argument posed that in the past, Christian kings had righteously ruled their non-christian subjects. Likewise had Saracen kings righteously defended their Christian subjects. In addition the Emperor's atheism served as a reminder man was not above sin, and, being that he might yet be redeemed by conversion, challenged Christians to act as role models, so that through compassion and pious example, the emperor may be moved once again to embrace God's infinite mercy.

The everyday life in the empire remained deeply religious. Following the 2nd Pacification of Gaul in 1792, The 1st Legion reaffirmed their devotion to Christ with a parade of icons through the streets of Marseilles and the reconsecration of the rebel Cathedral.

in 1800, the Emperor died from Apoplexy. according to his wishes, he was buried in public cemetery following a secular ceremony, rather Aachen Cathedral with the rest of his crowned Dynasty. His remains lie in a modest, neoclassical style tomb built for a cost 6,000 Scudi. His eldest son, Jogalia II, was quick to reassure the clergy he did not share his father's disbelief. He elevated the church in public life. Those public atheists who achieved renown in Vytenis' court were not directly punished, but saw their prominence greatly suppressed by anti-blasphemy laws far more strict than those preceding the late emperor. 18 years later, Vytenis' shadow Auksė would pass away, and would be interred with him. Following their death, the by then largely defunct Academy of Reason was officially closed by the emperor in 1818. Despite the efforts of Jogalia to restore the faith's trust, it was none-the-less these events which laid the groundwork for The Partriach of Cologne, Daniel I, in 1848 to propose reforms which would see various offices and functions disentangled from the state.

My Prediction is Ambassador to the UN

If you're in an noncompetitive state, and aren't invested in any local elections, having a public record of not voting in this election may be more valuable than actually voting. This election, we have precedence: Cards Against Humanity is paying non-voters who are registered and "lean blue" (Registered democrat) to make a voting plan. therefore, le heckin Game Theory says you shouldn't vote. Next, Cards of Humanity is going to offer a bounty for every dead Cobra you produce.

if you want to take advantage of this elections offer, and you vote, then they have no reason to give you an incentive next election. if you don't vote, you'll have shown bad faith and they also wont give you an incentive next time. but if they don't give incentives to people who didn't vote they last time they had an incentive, that basically makes it obvious they're buying votes, so their rules will probably say the incentives are for new applicants only.

It's shite being a parkour noob! we're the lowest of the low!"

Damn, they phones literally exploded tho

all the mainstays like "FAFO" are here. If this was during peacetime, then sure, you could think of this as an overwhelming show of force escalation after being provoked... but this was a full-scale war, the Missouri should've been destroying any enemy artillery it encountered, whether or not they shot first.

so what's going on, and why is everyone writing fanfic in the comments the kooky battleship captain itching for an excuse to cause extreme destruction? They weren't on some sleepy mission lacking for targets, according to the article, they were out blowing up tons of shit, mostly not even weapons:

"She bombarded coastal defenses, railroad tunnels, and bridges, making significant contributions to the United Nations’ efforts to push back North Korean and later Chinese forces."

"In addition to her bombardment duties, the Wisconsin served as a potent anti-aircraft platform, protecting carrier groups and other ships within the fleet from aerial attack. "

So, yeah, there is a disconnect in the narrative between the physical reality; a minor tactical engagement by an overwhelmingly superior force, and the perverse interpretation centered on punishment

and that's because the institution of orientalism deals with the orient through narratives about the orient, conditioning knowledge of the orient through a birds-eye view which places the knowing western observer as superior in every respect (more rational, logical, scientific, realistic, and objective) to the object of contemplation. This cannot be an Asian gun crew trying ineffectively to defend their homes from belligerant power. this has to be a barbarous ambush by upstart locals, daring to provoke those they should know are their betters while expecting the restraint of our superior culture to save them, only to be shown a righteous and firm hand by our captain who still maintains the correct attitude we need for dealing with the orient.

anyway, if I could stomach delving more of this, I should curate a list of most offensive comments, but luckily sort-by-score already brings out some of the worst, so I can simply copy those:

You know that captain had gone to bed saying “I wish a mfer would.” Then all of a sudden, a very faint tink was heard.

Imagine the guy with binoculars seeing not one, not three, but NINE guns tracking him

reminds me of a few middle eastern videos. One where (I think) a Houti shoot an rpg at an Saudi Abrams and the Abrams facetanks it then turns its turret to the shooter. ↵ Another one in Syria where camera guy sees the tank stopping, elevating its canon and then shooting at his relative position. ↵ Got another, funnier one

Military equivalent of "listen here, you little shit"

Don't ↵Touch ↵The Boats!

comment that finally seems to grasp people shoot each other in war, but still includes a weird fixation on self-defense, makes analogy with a boxer where the "aggressor" is at "Fault"

If a song doesn't have *sproing* I don't want to hear it. - Dante

Forget marvel shit, I need to know what's going on in the Zutomayo Cinematic Universe.

Love the pixel art + lens distortions, This video gives such strong nostalgia for point and click games. probably my favorite song from this artist yet.

I see this hypothetical sometimes asked in a way that holds no appeal: sure, you live pretty well for a few centuries most likely, but at some point of statistical inevitability, you'd end up in a fate as bad as spending billions of torturous years drowning under the ocean, conscious of every minute as your ocean plate is slowly subducted hundreds of miles underground. Is this hypothetical just supposed to be for people who want to feel clever by pointing that out, or is it meant to mark out the people with asymptotically severe time preference?

Let's say you still have to live forever, but you can do or have done to you things that can plausibly end your consciousness. It's not a switch you can will to happen by thinking about it, you have no guarantee you can perform the procedure before your yacht capsizes or your jealous heir buries you alive to claim your inheritance. I'm talking it has to be a mundane method that causes brain death. You check out, while your entropy reversing body continues as a non conscious living organism like a sponge or coral, until the heat death of the universe and beyond. does that image alone cause enough existential dread to reject the deal?

But you can't know the efficacy. Are there drugs that cause brain death? you should study them carefully to make sure they don't just leave you catatonic and unable to advocate for yourself. might your undying body, over billions of years, possibly heal itself enough to restore consciousness, even just slightly? or even a highly advanced civilization could decide to revive you. It might not even be your ego that's revived, but does that matter?

you can't count on physical damage either. A shotgun lobotomy could still just fracture your consciousness into a hundreds of incoherent fragments looping in confused terror on immortal chunks of grey matter.

If you're diligent enough, yeah, you could probably come up with a procedure that has a great degree of confidence in terminating all thought, but there is always a risk of it not executing properly or the people you entrust on performing it not following through. Try and enjoy your money and youth when every day you decide to not take the procedure is a day when something catastrophic could happen to you that would prevent you from ever doing it.

still. It's failsafe to some extent. say something sneaks up on you and you're not able to end your consciousness on your own terms: Your Boeing disintegrates over the ocean on your way back from the Maldives. one expects that over some time period less than eternity, an extreme amount of trauma, boredom, or sensory deprivation would cause insanity that has to eventually resolve into the brain just shutting down, like a computer locking up. though if you're still alive, it's conceivable that your body would try to heal and reboot, and you might intermittently come back to consciousness for a few hours every hundred years.

also, here is a fun CYOA if you like thinking about stuff like this.