Allow me to add further to the battle of Octavian vs Antony. Actually, it is physics that led to the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra.
You see, there is a concept called 'dead water'. If the surface layer of the ocean is shallow, and separated from the deeper layer by virtue of its lesser density, there occurs an internal wake of waves spreading outwards from behind the ship at the junction of the surface layer and the deeper layer. It has a braking effect on the ship since the backward waves have a drag-like effect.
The fleet of Antony and Cleopatra had battering rams that were supposed to catch on a speed and then hit the ships of Octavian's fleet. But since they couldn't move just as they found themselves out of the Ambracian Gulf because of the dead waters, those ships just crawled until they came very close and then deployed projectiles. But that didn't work obviously.
Thus, Cleopatra fled the scene and so followed Antony.
I did hear the Dead Waters theory! That was often the way of ancient naval battles, you were at the mercy of Poseidon, who could do with you as he willed. During the Siege of Malta in the 1500s, several attempts at sending the first tiny relief force to the island failed due to the Mediterranian's notorious freak storms, which could wipe away even the largest naval force in the blink of an eye. The worst maritime disaster in world history was also due to one of these freak storms, which devastated a large Roman fleet in 255, killing 100,000 people.
This was such an interesting read. Loved this article. Excited for reading the further ones!!
But why would be Mark Zuckerburg considered a net negative in future? I don't know much about him, except the fact that he created facebook. So, is it not a social networking site that bring people together?
Thanks so much! You would think that a social networking site like Facebook should be the kind of tool for exactly what you said - bringing people together - but it has had flow-on effects which are likely unintentional, primarily regarding their recommendation algorithms for what to show on someones "feed".
Essentially it feeds you more of what you seem to like, which is a problem in politics because if you show a higher preference toward stories with a certain leaning or partisan bent, or worse, toward the kinds of users that spew made-up nonsense (such as the remarkably commonplace Russian IRA-associated accounts), the Facebook feed will show you more and more of that stuff, eventually eliminating diverging views and opinions altogether. You end up eating nothing but sugar, which is terrible for the body politic.
Now it does makes sense. Thank you for explaining it.
Yeah, it indeed is bad for political world. Just like every other technological inventions, this one also have its pros and cons.
We as normal citizens gotta be more responsible towards the content we are watching and keep ourselves aware about all the perspectives.
The feed is helpful too I guess in other things, like connecting to like minded people, for businesses, but it's indeed a down hole if one uses it irresponsibly.
Roman Republican politics were a giant oligarchic cockfight, with an increasing number of rich and ambitious predators competing for a constantly decreasing number of offices left to compete for. Not a very stable formula for government. Wonderful article!
Thank you sir! Yes it was just nuts, remarkably full of tension, which at once made it vigorous, but that tension could just buckle the structure at any moment and when it did, blood, blood everywhere!
Me too! He's a fascinatingly broken character, who had all his own faults, but warmonger was surprisingly not one of those and it's going to take some effort to explain. But I've studied him so much, and his faults are so very human.
I don't think compensation for the birth injury is a complete explanation. I wonder if it's a family think fought out in German. Granny was a German, she was married to a German prince. The marriage was arranged by Prince Leopold, who had married George IV's daughter, Charlotte, who was only 3 generations out from another German prince. Was it a anti-Prussian matter?
Amazing article. Loved every sentence of it.
Thank you sir, that is too kind of you :)
The pleasure is all mine.
Allow me to add further to the battle of Octavian vs Antony. Actually, it is physics that led to the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra.
You see, there is a concept called 'dead water'. If the surface layer of the ocean is shallow, and separated from the deeper layer by virtue of its lesser density, there occurs an internal wake of waves spreading outwards from behind the ship at the junction of the surface layer and the deeper layer. It has a braking effect on the ship since the backward waves have a drag-like effect.
The fleet of Antony and Cleopatra had battering rams that were supposed to catch on a speed and then hit the ships of Octavian's fleet. But since they couldn't move just as they found themselves out of the Ambracian Gulf because of the dead waters, those ships just crawled until they came very close and then deployed projectiles. But that didn't work obviously.
Thus, Cleopatra fled the scene and so followed Antony.
I did hear the Dead Waters theory! That was often the way of ancient naval battles, you were at the mercy of Poseidon, who could do with you as he willed. During the Siege of Malta in the 1500s, several attempts at sending the first tiny relief force to the island failed due to the Mediterranian's notorious freak storms, which could wipe away even the largest naval force in the blink of an eye. The worst maritime disaster in world history was also due to one of these freak storms, which devastated a large Roman fleet in 255, killing 100,000 people.
The sea serves as cemetery for man's hubris.
This was such an interesting read. Loved this article. Excited for reading the further ones!!
But why would be Mark Zuckerburg considered a net negative in future? I don't know much about him, except the fact that he created facebook. So, is it not a social networking site that bring people together?
Rest it was really really intersting :))
Thanks so much! You would think that a social networking site like Facebook should be the kind of tool for exactly what you said - bringing people together - but it has had flow-on effects which are likely unintentional, primarily regarding their recommendation algorithms for what to show on someones "feed".
Essentially it feeds you more of what you seem to like, which is a problem in politics because if you show a higher preference toward stories with a certain leaning or partisan bent, or worse, toward the kinds of users that spew made-up nonsense (such as the remarkably commonplace Russian IRA-associated accounts), the Facebook feed will show you more and more of that stuff, eventually eliminating diverging views and opinions altogether. You end up eating nothing but sugar, which is terrible for the body politic.
Now it does makes sense. Thank you for explaining it.
Yeah, it indeed is bad for political world. Just like every other technological inventions, this one also have its pros and cons.
We as normal citizens gotta be more responsible towards the content we are watching and keep ourselves aware about all the perspectives.
The feed is helpful too I guess in other things, like connecting to like minded people, for businesses, but it's indeed a down hole if one uses it irresponsibly.
Roman Republican politics were a giant oligarchic cockfight, with an increasing number of rich and ambitious predators competing for a constantly decreasing number of offices left to compete for. Not a very stable formula for government. Wonderful article!
Thank you sir! Yes it was just nuts, remarkably full of tension, which at once made it vigorous, but that tension could just buckle the structure at any moment and when it did, blood, blood everywhere!
Looking forward to your article on Kaiser Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria's least trusted grandson.
Me too! He's a fascinatingly broken character, who had all his own faults, but warmonger was surprisingly not one of those and it's going to take some effort to explain. But I've studied him so much, and his faults are so very human.
I don't think compensation for the birth injury is a complete explanation. I wonder if it's a family think fought out in German. Granny was a German, she was married to a German prince. The marriage was arranged by Prince Leopold, who had married George IV's daughter, Charlotte, who was only 3 generations out from another German prince. Was it a anti-Prussian matter?
Magnificent piece of writing, loved reading this.
Thank you kindly sir!