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Phoenix-TheRealDeal

WFG Retired
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Posts posted by Phoenix-TheRealDeal

  1. About Cobre

    Where the hummingbirds were

    The Purepecha Empire - Paradise Lost

    You don't find a whole lot about it as the history of the times eclipsed what might have been known of them due to the historical emphasis having been put onto the Azteca/Mexica and the grand stage of the Spanish conquest. Furthermore, the Purepecha didn't have a written language to leave behind. They were the 2nd largest of the Meso-American empires (yes, greater than the Maya at the time of the conquest) and a rather extraordinary people in their own right whose language and cuilture seems to have been more linked to the Inca of South America than any in the North... though there is no other direct evidence that would substantiate the claim. They were also older than the Aztec empire while being contemporary to it, and never defeated in battle by the Azteca.

    I first came to an awareness that they had metalurgical skills and copper weapons by reading what to me is probably the most awesomely powerful historical novel I've EVER read, Aztec, by gary Jennings.

    See here for more on Gary Jennings and his qualifications as an historical researcher.

  2. Lord Zorinthrox,

    Sent your suggestion along to the people who would know whether this might be something implemenable into our game. It does not matter that your post didn't flow with the conversation. This forum is here specificfally so that people can make suggestions that may have relevance to the game's development regardless of what is currently being spoken of. Thank you. :)

    • Like 1
  3. Great job, BW.

    When doing the eles, keep in mind that the Barca family's personal mounts were the large Indian 'phants that were given to them as a gift by one of the Ptolemys in Egypt.... while the War Elephant that is a Cavalry Super Unit for the Carthaginian is the smaller (shorter) North Afrcian Mountain Elephant... now gone extinct. The CSU WE may have a 'driver' but its employment and execution in battle merely served as being a trample unit.

  4. I can almost GUARANTEE you, BaKayaro, that you'll WANT to be using formations in 0ad. But they won't be as facile, speciously superficial, as those you've known in other RTS that have given you no real incentive for using them or in spending the time required to put them together when time is of the essence in an RTS.

    Yeah, no 'fireship' either... though one could make one in the ScnEd.

    And, Paul, my favorite historian, did you know that there was one native American civ that had metal weapons?

    :) *Paul is shocked to hear of this revelation* :D

    Yup, they were known as the Purepecha named Tarascanos (Tarascans) by the Spaniards, and they held sway over the region in what is nowadays the Mexican state of Michoacan with thier capitol in the vicinity of Lake Patzcuaro. This is to the west-northwest of what was then Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), and included parts of the modern neighboring states of Jalisco and Colima. They had achieved a rudimentary level of metal working technology that was good enough to be used to make jewelry for the noblesse oblige, utilitarian vessels and utinsels of various kinds... and WEAPONS. However, these things were held close to the 'kingdom' and not in the hands of ordinary people--a shame really because then tool implements would have been fashioned and the smelting progressed beyond that of a cottage industry--closely guarded and except for times of emergency kept sort of 'under lock and key', as was held the knowledge of the technology itself. It is noteworthy and probably the principal reason that the Azteca, who wanted to conquer everyone in sight gave up on trying to conquer the Purepecha having attacked them and lost badly on several occasions. Disclaimer--this paragraph has NOTHING to do with 0ad. B)

    *Everyone now exits the room proclaiming, hey I heard it from the horse's moiuth that a native American tribe is going to be in 0ad!* B)

    • Like 1
  5. BINGO! ;)

    This ancient story teaches that the sum of all fears in man is based upon what we know... or more correctly what we THINK we know. What we THINK we know ain't necessarily so.

    That sum is based upon the totality on one's life experience to-date as having been input coloroud by an individual's perceptions and because it becomes so vast as time proceeds it is manifest both conciously and unconciously by a synthesis process (note: syn + thesis = synthetic script) of the brain in making connections of data 'bits' coupled with the influence of old-brain stem derived emotions that are interwoven into the experiential and normally stored away into long-term memory 'bank'.

    Considering the complexity of the organism it's a wonder that we can think rationally at all! But that's the main purpose for the mind being able to sort things out so that what is usually foremost in mind is not overly cluttered by all else that is in mind. If everything that we think we know based upon all of our life experience was instantly recallable to concious short-term memory we would be simply overwhelmed by all that information.

    So, what happens though is that a lot of what can come to the forefront, either awake or asleep, can be mixed up with old fears from childhood, incidents that took place long ago that have no real bearing on the here-and-now, causing 'problems' for people who don't know how to deal with them in the present. Placing that stuff in its proper perspectiuve usually resolves the problem.

    As Kenny said, the man was harbouring a 'ghost' in his mind, as Adam said figment of his imagination. Nothing in mind is real until realised. He went to sleep at night being unconciously fearful of the curse that his wife had lain upon him but for no good reason at all.... just something that he thoght he knew in his mind having at some time in the past experienced her harangue. When the wise man gave him the choice of a handful of beads, then the ghost in his head, his fear, disappeared in the light of reality that was shown in confrontation with the myth. He then knew something new... that was more appropriate to pursuing the remainder of his life as an eanbled and adequate person... one might say enjoying his 'newfound happiness'. His dearly departed wife could no more come back to haunt him from the grave than the man in the moon can eat cheese.... and now knowing that, was his 'salvation', or cure for the ignorance that had previously afflicted him. B)

    Note that ignorance doesn't presuppose stupidity. It simply means, not to know. A lot of people don't know that they don't know what it is that they don't know. That is simple ignorance, most usually curable by receiving adequate information about what it is that they don't know about what they don't know. That's why children are sent to school and 'suffer' through rigid curricula for years... there's a LOT to know about 'out there' in the adult world in order to become effective in it... and I still don't know what it is that I don't know except to know that there is a LOT that I don't know. Hehe, that's a bit of a play upon words but it tells a very telling tale.

    Stop bye the house when ya get a chance, Adam, and collect your reward, then be so kind as to split a percentage of it with Ken because he got so close. ;)

  6. There is an ancient Chinese Zen story that teaches the source of all fears.

    A couple had been married for fifty years. The wife was a very neurotic, possessive lady. One day she discovered she had an incurable disease and had only a few days to live. She told her husband she did not want him to marry anyone else, for she knew every thought in his head. If he did marry anyone else she said she would come back from the grave and haunt him for the rest of his life.

    Since she was dying he promised her on her deathbed that he would marry no other woman.

    She died and in due course he met another charming lady, fell in love and decided to get married. Sure enough that very night the deceased wife's ghost came back terrorizing him with her shrieking and yelling. He could not get one moments peace, sleep eluded him..... He was at his wits end.

    He heard of a wise man in the village and went to him for advice. The man of wisdom declared that he did indeed experience a very clever ghost who knew every thought in his head. He told him what he must do when he goes home and gets ready for bed.

    That night the ghost reappeared on time as usual and began her torments. He had put a bag of beads under his bed. He put his hand into the bag and pulled out a handful of beads. He held his clenched fist up to the ghost and proclaimed "How many beads do I have in my hand" Without any further-to-do the ghost disappeared and was never seen or heard again.

    from an article on an Association of Humanistic Psycholgy webpage

    Let me know if you don't "get it"?

  7. Oh, being who we are we'll probably build another 'Hubble' sometime in the future with enhanced capabilities, but expense is relative in a large part to inflation of currency over time. Meanwhile, it is the 'bean counters' that will have their say with regard to apportioning revenue toward the satisfaction of real_time expense requirements and they are saying that with respect to what has to be laid out for current commitments in the near future that Hubble has just about seen its day cost-effectively. And, if all the other nations of the world really wanted to see this Hubble 'live on', then they would band together to PAY for it rather than standing aside to let the USA carry the burden of that alone. :umm:

    So, STEP UP, STEP UP, and empty thy pockets of hoarded coin... especially those nations have have even more 'advanced' social programs supporting their people than we do... but they don't, or won't, or rarely do.... and the USA then is just the 'bad_guy' because they DO things and then don't go on to fund some of them unlimitedly. :umm:

    Sure and it's too bad that the program is coming to a close. But be of gladness and good cheer that ya got whatcha got from it, mates, because it didn't cost you a paltry centavo unless you are a citizen or legal resident paying taxes here. B)

  8. Yes, it helps to have good role models to model on as you are growing up.... and not everyone does.

    You just tell her that TheRealDeal said for her to, "Get over it and get on with it!" B)

    And, if you want to, you can also pass on to her that this guy with the high-falutin' sounding title is 'afflicted' with an aggressive incurable form cancer that presages an earlier demise for him than might otherwise be the case if he were not, but it is HIS CHOICE to not be overly concerned about that (although we'll continue to do what can be done to slow it down)... and to continue living his life to the fullest, enjoying it, while he yet may. It's just as simple as that. ;) So, time to quit complaining or whining about one's lot in life, what THINK cannot be done about it when CAN, and just 'git on with it', eh?

  9. Fear is normally a good thing. It's one of those traits that stems from the 'old brain' that has permitted us to survive and prosper over the eons of our evolution as a race... and without it we wouldn't have. We wouldn't have known when to freeze (as in hiding from an enemy), flee (as from an overwhelming force), fight (as a matter of countering a threat), or just be wary (cautiously seeking more information about the perception of a potential threat).

    So, fear IS a GOOD thing, except when out of context with reality it can be deemed to be excessive... and crippling.

    In that context then, the antidote for excessive fear is acquiring suitable information about what is feared--its attributes, pros and cons and how it fits into one's own time and place and circumstance. Done, then one may make the more appropriate choice as to how to deal with it... overcoming it in realistic context with that time, place, and circumstance.

    In terms of "now", part of the process is in achieving a clear understanding of what precipitates a fear AND that one then has a personal choice that can be made as to how it will be dealt with. Actually, that's the way it has 'always' been.

    In how timely a manner one acquires information relevent to their 'problem', I'll call it a psychological condition because it isn't pathogenic, and then acts appropriately to alleviate it depends on the individual and cannot be stated in finite terms in any case.

    Frex, some people, albeit 'knowing better', choose to continue in the manner they have been because in some way it suits them to do so... that is it provides for them some sort of a 'psychological crutch' that they use in order to deal with 'the world about them'.

    But, in my opinion, for most people once they understand 'the facts' then they become enabled of CHOOSING a better, more productive course of action for themselves.

    THEY ALSO HAVE TO understand that just because they have 'long suffered' a psychologically derived condition DOES NOT mean that they have to spend a further long time in healing themselves in order to be rid of it. Epiphanies happen... and that's O.K.

    That is, there is no sense to be made (other than from the standpoint of an internalised hidden agenda) not be just 'miraculously cured' in a relatively very short period of time (though one may yet need a bit of psychological help, reinforcement, periodically for a while in maintaining an attitude adjustment for not regressing into what had been a 'habit').

    Some people would call the miraculous cure being a 'born again' religious experience, I call it making up my mind to be done with one way having chosen another and I don't need any excuse to be made for how that came about.

    Even though choice by free will is often limited by circumstantial surroundings, even "the man in the iron mask" had choice in the manner in which he would endure his captivity in that time and that place.

    The mind is a wonderfuil thing that has been soafing up informatioon into its realm virtually from the time of your birth, thus learning. The sum of what you have learned affects you whether you understand where some element of that came from, or not. Your marvelous mind also gives YOU the capacity for making a difference in yourself... that is to make YOUR CHOICES, like about whether to be fearful of death, etceteras.

    And that's really the 'bottom line', if you understand that you have the 'permission' to make those decisions for yourself, and frankly only you can give yourself that permission and then act upon it for your own betterment and adequacy in meeting with the challenges in life that will continue to come your way. B)

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