caesar novus

Is the below item in my Ruins playlist representative of how they protect Ephesus, crown jewel Roman site? Unsupervised at opening time and selfies past the "do not pass" line; hopefully they had surveillance cameras for more serious hanky panky:

This appears to be near the key Roman city of Antioch, sadly erased in 1268. I'm trying to avoid a chore so will riff a few half baked observations. Wiki sez in 1268: "The people of Antioch fought fiercely, but the Muslims scaled the walls by the mountain near the citadel and came down into the city. The people fled to the citadel, and the Muslim troops started to plunder, kill and take prisoners. Every man in the city was put to the sword – they numbered more than a hundred thousand." Another source is cited with surrender, lower death toll, yet physical destruction. Is Turkey able to protect it's digs? There seem to be a mixed record, and Turkey appears increasingly on edge. BTW thanks for not toadying up to the recent dictatorial "rebranding" to "Turkiye" which even the CIA country factbook does. As english speakers we name things as we like, not what propagandists propose. I called Leningrad as St Petersburg even when visiting at a time there was no expectation yet of returning to that traditional name. I haven't switched to the new tinpot dictator name for Burma and am undecided about Bombay. Just anecdotally, I thought the pattern was that digs and especially underwater sites couldn't be protected against looters or development. Eg. Eurasianet said threatened “Allianoi is as significant as the Roman baths at Baden-Baden in Germany, Bath in England, and some big baths in Italy, but it was the only one that was very well preserved,” he said. “We couldn’t make the government understand this significance.” Although the Ministry of Culture designated Allianoi as a protected archaeological dig in 2000, the government’s support for the dam project never wavered." Although what protection can even a well intentioned gov't do with devastating inflation? The Guardian recently said about Turkey: "independent economists showed consumer prices had risen by 175% in June compared with a year earlier. ENAG said prices had risen by 71.4% since the start of 2022." ... "and caused the lira to plunge to a record low, pushing up costs in a country that is dependent on imported materials, especially energy." Our family fortune was wiped out by a mere 20% inflation in the 70's as a century of frugal enterprise and investment went up in smoke. CIA factbook sez "increasing poverty and unemployment; endemic corruption;" ... "three credit ratings agencies downgraded Turkey’s sovereign credit ratings, citing concerns about the rule of law and the pace of economic reforms." UNESCO sez "deeply regrets the lack of dialogue and information" on protected Roman monument "conversion of the Hagia Sophia and <> to mosques come as Erdogan tries to muster nationalist supporters in the midst of an economic crisis created by the pandemic." On the optimistic side, Turkey seems to be balancing the east/west conflict surprisingly well. While it gives refuge to targeted Russian superyachts, it provides high tech drones to Ukraine. It keeps to the letter of the treaty about who can pass their strait to Black Sea and apparently just refused passage to a Russian shipment of stolen grain, as well as warships from the west. It seems to have mixed feelings about NATO, but this affiliation led to teflon treatment from Russia who carefully avoided bombing some Turkish assets in Ukraine. And I included my longest video in a Roman museum playlist for one of Antalya Turkey. If I have this cued up right, you can navigate thru this list on a laptop with shift+N or P (something like 2 finger touch for mobile):

His last short one has an "I told you so" moment since China just announced not 4 or 6 but 5 years of supply chain disruption. If not health issues for this predicted timeframe, they have other issues. For me this has impact on a few boys toys I cherish that are only made in China. I just sold most that I could part with since buyers recognize their replacement value and scarcity is up. And soaring shipping prices for new stuff can be avoided. However my one must-have toy that wore out years ago is looking possibly not replaceable until I am too old to enjoy it. I hate selling things to skeptical tire kickers, so advertised on Craigslist then kind of criticized my items to folks who showed interest. It worked in the sense of repelling time wasters, but some told me I would have found bigger spenders on facebook marketplace.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-01-23-ancient-carthaginians-really-did-sacrifice-their-children

4) Tomato Onion Soup: This will sound strange but is super easy and tasty. There is limited choice where I shop for food, but they do sell massive boxes of egg-free frozen onion rings. Not so healthy fried or baked, but I put a giant pile in a bowl and microwave down to a greasy slime. Then add dairy free tomato soup to near top of the bowl, stirring in a way to snip off onion lengths. It quickly microwaves back to hot with a minimum of spattering, and the ring coatings release great seasonings and thickness to the soup. The onion flavor is as fine as a soup stirred for hours by French folks at a cookout I attended. So quick and only one bowl to cook, serve, and wash. Not a side dish, it seems as substantial as a casserole. Next time I will substitute even simpler diluted tomato paste.

Furthermore since Herc has only 3 main passageways up the slope and a minimum of cross streets you have to trudge twice up the long axis of the site without benefiting from two useful downhills. First long descent into the hole, then shuffle uphill for your sights. Then walk back down for the next set of sights, then up for last sights. Then slog back down past already seen sights so you can get the exit up the long climb out of the hole. It's not too steep, but it shouldn't be considered walk-friendlier than Pompeii, just smaller. Herc little houses are small enough so that a group of 5 can hold you up with no detour. Pompeii can manage a group of 20 in a villa with plenty room for more to see what the fuss is about. I don't know why Herc is said to be more wealthy unless it is factoring in Pompeii slums. Pomp has food stations at least good for needed upkeep and dehydration. I just about expired in Herc heat and had to find some juice in an (employee?) vending machine. Further addendum: Herc staff may be friendlier, but Pomp professionals have seen it all and can help. I dunno if this is still done, but if you arrive with modest sized luggage due to shoehorning a visit between hotel arrival or departure, they can store it free. I think that only 4 other bags were being kept, but stashing my backpack made a world of difference so that I could visit at length without some doubling back on trains. (different scales)

You might prefer the super shady, tranquil, flat, and handy-to-Rome Ostia Antica. But maybe it is tranquil for a reason, being kind of monotonous brick buildings without interior focal points. For Pomp vs Herc I may have a bias due to having low expectations blown away at the first and high expectations disappointed at the second. You can view many video tours to make your own comparison. I think a clincher experiment is the following. Overlay the boundaries of Herc onto Pomp and just tour that zone, starting at the entrance near Pompeii's public square. That area should be flatter than Herc which is in a deep hole you have to descend to, then climb a sloped townscape. Pomp public structures have great wow factor, whereas Herc is mainly little townhouses. Pomp may have a lot of closed dilapidated houses, but some huge frescoed ones filling an entire block will be in the perimeter. Herc does have a lot of interior sights even with actual carbonized wood, but they seem almost monotonous to me vs the Pomp surprise factor. Outside that perimeter, Pomp does have sloped and uneven walking and a lot of decay. It has more superstar villas etc, but you don't have to see every one to get the gist. Just postpone or skip the rest; they shouldn't be something that sabotages any visit at all. Pomp offers very late hours when the sun is low or just set and crowds are absent. I would say visit Pomp 5 times before 1 visit to Herc. Then Pomp 5 more times before Herc again EVEN if all along you have no reason to think you will have another chance to visit. I am at perhaps visit 8 in this scheme and would certainly see more of Pomp next even if under a cancer death sentence. A co-worker exasperated me by visiting a minor museum instead of Louvre on a brief once in a lifetime Paris visit, so he wouldn't miss part of a collection. Are folks so incapable of selecting highlights of a great collection? There ought to be parts that resonate to you personally, and not be just a trudge for most famous pieces. I have that minor museum slotted for after 7 Louvre partial visits, and a preview on the internet supports that ratio.

I'm so fascinated by this geo-demo framework of history fairly independent of politics. I guess he sees the past and future as involving rats in a maze and it doesn't matter if some are biased to turn left or right, but all will be explored. The context will starkly choose winners, as is imminently happening now. Oddly his just released book popped up in two parts on youtube. Is it an authorized freebie like the creator of Dilbert does? The books fascinating graphics are here (click on first map then can rapidly arrow to one that grabs you) https://zeihan.com/end-of-the-world-maps/

I think the earlier earthquake(s) are very well known beyond scholardom. Even in a quality tourist guidebook they will point out where to find earlier repairs, etc. The city has traces of it's rocky history stretching back to Samnite occupation. I forget details, but something like anti-Roman grafitti under peeling Roman plaster on a Samnite building. I love the vastness and diversity of Pompeii over the usual tourist favorite of tidy Herculaneum.

There is a line of thought that considers English in essence not a western Germanic based language, but a northern Germanic one, which is to say Norse. This is when you look at deeper structure rather than superficial word borrowings. English uses 95% non Norse words, but what is resistant to change is the structure. When Vikings, Anglo Saxons, and maybe Celts were co-existing, use of simpler but effective Norse rather than intricate alternatives was easier to bridge the gap. You know how many Euro languages have embellishments that don't seem to help, like giving objects gender. English borrows 41% French/Norman words, 33% Anglo Saxon, and 15% Latin (not from Romans), 5% Norse, and 1% Dutch. But words could be 100% borrowed from Bantu click languages and still use grammar ordering from Norse. So English isn't some multicultural rainbow at heart, but has a powerful foundation of simplicity to support orderly growth. And by orderly I mean not falling into the patronizing trap of always referring to places by their foreign rather than English names. Try Bantu-like languages which not only have clicks, but 4 kinds which you may not be able to distinguish unless learned super young. This idea was presented less stridently in the following video. He, like me and probably you may find it hard to actually judge due to non fluency in Danish + Norwegian + German + English.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul 20m from toldinstone I have made a "Visiting Roman Ruins" youtube playlist of all these below, and will probably do most future updates there. Also find my "Ancient Rome Museums" playlist.

Here is a quirky replacement for Naples Archeo Museum that hopefully won't disappear as fast as others. It's probably the "adult" content that makes vids vanish; something that was not part of the default museum display when I visited. I have put all these in an "Ancient Rome Museums" youtube playlist below and will probably do most future updates there. Also see my "Visiting Roman Ruins" playlist.

I've been impressed by recent authors using geography and demography to explain past, present, and future events. Like the brief cogent videos in https://www.youtube.com/c/ZeihanonGeopolitics/videos . Supposedly the pax Americana allowed globalized trade and prosperity, but this altruistic policing of oceans to be pirate-free for instance may recede and leave deglobalized nations to face cruel realities of geography, demography, and war. One of the more zany spokesmen for this (new world econ) extended it to relate to pax Romana, and I thought it could be an entertaining introduction for here. I guess he is the face of millennial scholardom: smart, wise, informed, but with a style that sounds like puffin da weed in his underwear: "Like, like, y'know, um, [explicative], like y'know". The Roman angle can be found if you drop in late here, bookended with a few scraps of Argentina and China that hopefully tempts you to restart full video https://youtu.be/5ZGnE4ZpUkM?t=1575 . China is particularly considered fragile in geography and demographics, and has only held together due to recent trade-friendly bubble they say. Drop in here for how it can collapse in a matter of weeks if the US navy switches from protecting it's trade lifelines to sanctioning them https://youtu.be/KSa8096YBXw?t=1076 . For demographic trajectories threatening most developed countries soon, drop in https://youtu.be/jVYvx67lOJA?t=1861 (US) or https://youtu.be/KSa8096YBXw?t=354 (China). I have a little trouble with assumption that ocean/river/canal trade determines all. What about railroads, and so much is moving by air cargo now like even the 150 pound a/c I just replaced. North America comes out charmed in both war-preventing geography and good demographics IF you consider Mexico part of same economy with youthful, inexpensive workers and consumers. Britain is charmed, at least if the Scots and their oil don't depart. France is a close-run case with it's Belgium border open for invasions, and Portugal being a fortress that can prevent the French Navy consolidating Med and Atlantic halves in a crises. Forgot to mention assumption that prosperity thrives in fertile lands with navigable waterways for internal trade, unchallenged by invaders due to formidable borders. Over time, wars still statistically arise where opportune.

Some of y'all may want to go back and substitute music videos for ones youtube has withdrawn. About 1% per month seem to vanish with a blacked out thumbnail here, but additional versions become available. It took me forever to find the name of a Reich video that vanished, but I have now revived "Six Pianos" in my playlist. By the way, the "Gypsy Queen" video that is probably a couple posts above deserves mention. It is not a Latino composition, but came from a Hungarian jazz guy that Carlos S. admires. Best known as the song always faded out on radio plays of "Black Magic Woman" which it was attached to, I think those were crimes against musicalia as it was a transcendentally superior song. Carlos is a little sloppy in this live version, but beats looking at an album cover. I will include a couple favorite songs I now play even tho they are avail in my "catchy" playlist. The first is odd to be framed as a hippie anthem because the instrument playing and recording style seems a wonder of exquisite precision. Listen to live or casual versions and it all falls apart. Lastly is a repeat of Ella F's "Imagine My Frustration" in a shorter form that I posted long ago. I can sympathize with a comment there proposing it's maybe the greatest live recording ever made:

It seems reasonable for a society to incentivize population growth or at least maintain, if that is what they really want and not just what their elites want. Societies who greatly under utilize the ag/industrial potential of their lands fall victim over the centuries to more densely populated neighbors. However, voters shouldn't be hoodwinked into consenting to higher taxes for the childless simply by it being framed as disconnected subsidies for parents. There are a few negative growth examples that seem worth thinking about. Japan, Russia, and even China seem on the cusp of an unrecoverable population cliff, and may need to further turbocharge existing growth policies to avoid partial collapse. They really should address their sometimes weird root problems rather than only throw money at it though. Barbuda is an interesting example after a hurricane dislocated the tiny population from this paradise. Now they want to return without rebuilding their tiny tourism economy. But that means associated Antigua taxpayers will evermore be burdened with bailing them out for hurricanes and defending against intrusions, etc just so a handful of anti-growth residents and rich yachts at anchor can freeload in eden. Spain has been shamed for some of the lowest fertility and parent subsidies in Europe. It's humongous interior is empty except for 2 cities. The interior was partly emptied by fleeing Franco for abroad, and when lured back by Franco's later pro-growth policies the folks resettled near the alluring coast. So what do the smartypants critics expect? Must the coastals increase childless taxes to further overcrowd the coast? Maybe leaving the interior and it's vacant villages empty will come in useful, like in a massive dislocation from war. Neighboring Morocco once had a war, and umpteen million might find a familiar ecosystem to temporarily live and farm in Spain's empty hills vs being unemployed in the fringes of Spain's urbanized coast. On the other hand the interior could be a rare suitable place for normally space wasting and unreliable green energy to flourish, overcoming concerns below:

Someone here once regretted not having their youtube music organized. Now I see you can somewhat do that with playlists, and here will show the six I made. Two kind of fringe ones are posted here for the first time. None of them offer a particularly good flow yet; more like pick and choose lists. Misc. catchy songs Rhythms from Steve Reich Classics from India Indian devotionals Relaxing sounds Small boat promo music So maybe I needn't post here again, if I can instead slip new songs into these playlists. I have tried to feature worthwhile songs that are lesser known today and not in my offline collections of music.

Here goes 3 more youtube mix lists that I maintain and each offer a set of songs I mostly already posted. You can navigate to next songs with arrow or whatever. Mix near the top above was entitled "Devotionals with Anuradha Paudwal", and here is "Classics from India": Just below is "Misc. Catchy Songs": And finally "Rhythms from Steve Reich":

New Space Music by Brian Eno has vanished from youtube except for pretenders. It was the world's best lullaby music for non-distracting environments, and for some reason the full hour has migrated to archive.org: https://archive.org/download/BrianEnoNewSpaceMusic/Brian Eno - New Space Music.mp4

I wonder how other scholars are accepting her sometimes provocative or assumption-busting conclusions. I mean beyond the generic praise for her efforts. I got the sense in her articles and documentaries on youtube that she has immense mental firepower but maybe only ordinary aim. She seemingly likes to prick the experts for sport, but in some cases they stand firm rather than being persuaded. I think it is an Ox-Bridge tradition to admire cleverness of debate over actual truth-finding, so I don't know what to accept

Rome odds, ends, and mythbusting 94m from Olga Rome

The secret to sleep isn't lulling white noise, but something continuously a bit alertful to wear down distractions.

10) eSysman SuperYachts: Here is another seemingly niche channel, but really has universal appeal. Not only do his undercover informants advise on life of the superwealthy and their ingenious toys, but very newsworthy issues come to light: https://www.youtube.com/c/eSysmanSuperYachts/videos Worthwhile to play even older videos for surprising issues, like the fear of letting long time girlfriends linger aboard. One apparently used this practice to have a common-law (default) marriage declared, then divorced and took possession of the umpteen million yacht. So instead owners may hire escorts with very detailed social contracts. For any of you planning to greet an arriving superyacht with pitchforks and torches, he informs us that for interesting legal reasons yachts often arrive empty except for a U.K. crew. A more effective protest may be to block them from refueling. They need to power parties at port with generators since they draw too much power to plug in shoreside. Both kinds of protests have occurred recently. One issue got me involved. Some superYachts are now running stealthy with collision avoidance broadcast turned off. The channel has informants that sometimes locate them, and I have relayed warning to some night sailors in the area. Either they may be sailing alone, asleep ,and cheaped out by using a collision receiver but not transmitter, or they run with unobservant teen children taking night shifts at the wheel while playing games.

The astounding, almost unknown, possibly over-restored Torlonia Museum deserves 2 videos. One mainly with the astonishing story and another only with lush visuals. If there is the slightest chance you won't thoroughly review both of them, then I honestly urge you to play both at once (!) with eyes on the goat but ears on the other:

I think I failed to intro myself here and instead did it on a now defunct forum that arose when this one was having maintenance problems. This probably will be a life assessment exercise which will indulge only me. My enduring interests are 1) creative food prep (influenced from Italy, Thailand, India), 2) sailing small boats, and 3) Roman (mostly) architecture and sculpture. I might be still chasing the false allure of aviation if not for my discovery of a small sunken boat. My father noted it appeared to have once had a mast, and with naive refurbishment according to library books it became a lively yet comfy dream machine. It never occurred to young me that there must be a distressed ex-owner somewhere, or that for wood structure to sunk it must be waterlogged and fragile. Anyway not all of us can simply waltz thru clouds of self indulgent interests, and that is where occupational tension comes in. After all, it was only recently I was able to early retire on a daylight-savings disability, getting taxpayer handouts for me and my 24hr massage team to retreat to a region that doesn't harsh my burned out mellow by adjusting clocks twice a year . At some point I actually had to make myself plausibly educated and useful to others... My early career was in potatoes. Our schools had long breaks for us to pick in freezing dust or mud. There were a few migrant workers from Canada that were insanely productive, and I wonder why I didn't emulate their style of picking 5-6 potatoes at each machine gun grab of both hands and reap the payout. We kids just endured with one tater per hand and altruistically skipped the rotten ones. Well our low incomes paid off later in life where we held back spending hard won $ except for things that truly counted. Later I was introduced to the sleepwalking corporate world in the form of a potato processing plant. For instance I hosed off a slurry of peels and acid overflow from machines above in rubber boots constantly filling up with stinging acid. They insisted that for safety I couldn't wear fabric shoes despite ease of repeatedly hosing them clean in a second. Back at school I switched from anthropology to computer science. I had little idea that anthro could lead to archeo could lead to Roman stuff, so decided to get in to electronic design. Fat chance of funding many visits to Roman sites; it was a pressure cooker working thru evenings and holidays for no extra pay. It seemed glamorous to optimize elegant designs, but they went obsolete fast enough to end in a landfill every 18 months. Also I still didn't escape corporate dumbth; there was a coworker who cultivated a dazzling appearance but radiated a no-trespassing vibe with a huge engagement ring. At some point the ring vanished and meddling idle spouses of my co-workers decided we belonged together. But I always avoided pitfalls of office romance, not wanting to revert to a potato career. I didn't notice the vanished ring, but even management decided the only explanation for my restraint must be racism. Quite later they tried to undo damage to my career, but the lesson was to not just do your job but manage idiot perceptions.

Retro and grainy, but the satire remains fresh in TV reruns for Married with Children. All sorts of memorable song lyrics like for psycho dad or psycho mom, but try this blues snippet: Coca Cola jingle: In India I tried a local lemon soda and remarked how it was far better than Coke. Apparently overheard by our proud guide, every 30 minutes a runner would materialize out of the crowds and hand me a bottle of lemon and take my empty back into the crowd - no charge. Anyway this clip also reminds me of visits to the Bombay movie theater in NYC. Next I will insulate you from growing interest in Indian devotional vocal music. In India our group always complained that they only got Indian music on their hotel room radio. I loved it but my radio was often broken, so here I make up for that. My link below should point to a mix list that I maintain and can add to without posting updates here. Now it contains about 7 hour-long albums of songs, sometimes mapped into chapters so you can skip thru albums and maybe songs using various navigation controls: