Random Thoughts Thread

[SeiKeo]

bury me in the shit i impulse buy

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[Strife ❤️]

bury me in the shit i impulse buy

Do you think of me while you do it?

[Zurvan]

l-lewd

[I3uster]

the album is called "witches cauldron" so that wouldnt be very flattering would it

[Neir]

Every fucking time I go to this “class” there’s train issues. I’m so sick of this shit

[Dullahan]

"Can we go now?"

"In a minute. I'm talking to Karl Marx on Discord."

[GundamFSN]

With Carthaginian politics and history, it's important to remember that, like Rome, it was a republic. Hannibal's family, the Barcids, were one of a few major political dynasties at the time, though generally considered lesser in stature compared to the Hannonids and Magonids. That changed when Hamilcar, after the first Punic War, decided to head out on an expedition and carve out some land in Spain. This territory was immensely rich, though it was technically Carthaginian territory, even though everyone knew it was sort of a Barcid client kingdom. They controlled their new Spanish territories and their riches, and it was these resources Hannibal used in his invasion of Italy. To the Carthaginian, Hannibal's war wasn't *their* war - it was just a typical dynastic power grab that, like others, they believed they could distance themselves from. Unfortunately, this meant they believed the Romans had a full understanding of Carthaginian internal politics, when they very much did not. The Romans saw the war as being Carthage vs. them, which it technically was, but not to the Carthaginian themselves. To the other political dynasties, Hannibal's war was in a way actually a perfect opportunity: if they distanced themselves as much as possible from the conflict and didn't support Hannibal they wouldn't be involved in it and couldn't be blamed, and Rome would take care of the very troublesome Barcid family. After all, at this point the Magonids and Hannonids were very much in favour of peace with Rome: war was very expensive, especially since their Mediterranean trade would be naturally disadvantaged by another maritime war. If they had their way, they would continue expanding in Africa and develop further trade there and leave Rome to her business.

By the time the Romans landed on African soil, it was too late: the war, they realized, was against them and the Romans had never had any thought they were dealing with an unwanted individual's unsanctioned campaign. The Romans and their allies had won before the Carthaginian even knew they were at truly at war.

Hannibal's hope, on the other hand, was that his victories in Italy would spur the other dynasties to support him. This sort of worked at first, especially after Cannae, but the Carthaginian were always wary of supporting him too much and were very conscious of appearing to the Romans as complicit aggressors. Maybe if they'd been more decisive with helping the Barcids, we would be speaking very different languages today.

That was an interesting read. So if I got this right Carthage basically had different objectives in mind. Coupled from my readings, it seems her objectives was to reconquer the regions that was taken by Romans in the First Punic War while turning Hannibal as a sort of an expendable pawn to stave off the Roman legions stationed in Italy. While OTOH, Hannibal thought they could actually take down Rome, which Carthage didn't believe to be achievable. It's also interesting to note that he seemed to know that he wouldn't be able to win the Battle of Zama due to that premise. The whole Romans thinking Hannibal=Carthage was intriguing as ironically Hannibal was betrayed by Carthage in a sense. I guess Carthage really let the chance slip out of her palm.

All of this really accentuates Hannibal's bravery and guts from what I had in mind.

[Mcjon01]

All right so if she says she’s exhausted from thinking so much all day and then follows it up with “thinking about you” is that some sort of subtle hint? I’m just not sure. 🤔

[Snow]

I'm sure that means she can't stand you.

[I3uster]

she wants to get in your guy jeans

[Five_X]

That was an interesting read. So if I got this right Carthage basically had different objectives in mind. Coupled from my readings, it seems her objectives was to reconquer the regions that was taken by Romans in the First Punic War while turning Hannibal as a sort of an expendable pawn to stave off the Roman legions stationed in Italy. While OTOH, Hannibal thought they could actually take down Rome, which Carthage didn't believe to be achievable. It's also interesting to note that he seemed to know that he wouldn't be able to win the Battle of Zama due to that premise. The whole Romans thinking Hannibal=Carthage was intriguing as ironically Hannibal was betrayed by Carthage in a sense. I guess Carthage really let the chance slip out of her palm.

All of this really accentuates Hannibal's bravery and guts from what I had in mind.

Yeah, there are lots of misconceptions surrounding the Second Punic War as a whole, and it was a very complex conflict overall. For a long while I've considered the idea that Zama was something of a fixed match, so to speak - the place and time determined (and, before the battle, Hannibal and Scipio even met each other) and in order to prevent further devastation to Carthage, Hannibal intentionally lost. It's an out there theory, of course. We'll probably never know since documentation of the wars is sadly scarce.

For a similar historical figure, you can look into Mithradates the Great, who had ambitions much like Hannibal. Unlike Hannibal, though, he was utterly incompetent as a strategist and couldn't win on the battlefield to save his life despite having vast resources and numerous allies at his disposal. "The Poison King" by Adrienne Mayor is a good read up on him.

[Mcjon01]

I’ll just wait for an assassin’s creed set in that period to get the real scoop

[Saiga]

All right so if she says she’s exhausted from thinking so much all day and then follows it up with “thinking about you” is that some sort of subtle hint? I’m just not sure. 🤔

Yeah you really can't tell. Best to keep your wits about you and carry on with your day.

[Sunara]

All right so if she says she’s exhausted from thinking so much all day and then follows it up with “thinking about you” is that some sort of subtle hint? I’m just not sure. 樂

I don't know the situation but you should just ask/express your concerns to the person themselves. It is counter-intuitive & can be a risk but talking things out works better than asking total strangers online. The brain has a tendency to look for problems that aren't there & you can make things worse.

It has worked much better for me to just ask/talk; talking & laughing about it works better than stressing & worrying for weeks.

And in my opinion, you are probably looking too much into it.

[Edit: Oh, you're in Japan? My advice is might not relevant because that might be too forward unless you can ask it in a way that's also culturally acceptable.]

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Hello. :-)

I don't like using headgear, myself, even when I'm out in the sun.

I was starting to wonder if the entire forum had me on ignore.... XD;
Probably was just not adding anything to the conversation......

And not knowing the conversation, I thought you were saying that not wearing headgear makes one invisible.

[Nikiri]

Yeah you really can't tell. Best to keep your wits about you and carry on with your day.

it's a very good channel

[Zurvan]

it can be

[Laserman]

I like it.

[Dullahan]

so this....is the power...of firefox quantum....

[4score7years]

How do some people stand having like 10,000 tabs open at once


Like honestly any more than 3 is infuriating

[Gl❀w]

Nobody starts with 10,000

You start with two. And then you need another two for a few days. And then you have to open some other pages but you can’t lose the exact spot you were on, so you just grab a few fresh ones. And then you’ve formed emotional attachments to the original ones so you can’t close them even when you’ve finally admitted you aren’t even using them. But you still need the new ones for a bit longer so you open even more when you have other matters to attend to. Pretty soon you’ve created a tab family and you just don’t have the heart to abandon them. And so it goes.