this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
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[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 76 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'm damn near 40, can I please talk to you about the Aztec Empire for an hour and a half?

[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What's interesting about it?

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 43 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The way that Mesoamerica built their civilization in isolation from the old world is intensely fascinating (example: making farm land in the middle of lakes). The uniqueness in the way they extracted resources to what was considered valuable gives insight into the way humanity develops. The Mexica Empire/Valley of Mexico Triple Alliance/The Tenochca Empire/Aztec Empire is particularly interesting due it's success being derived from an abundance of practices already in place rather than innovation (they revved up everything to an 11). Their approach to warfare emphasizing one on one combat was dramatic. Finally their methods of human sacrifice are some of the most metal things I've ever heard to the point where I find violence in fiction to be banal by comparison.

[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What would you recommend as intro level reading?

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

I suggest "Handbook to Life in the Aztec World" Manuel Aguilar-Moreno. It has a couple of outdated facts and has some misconceptions of how some of the religion worked (Ometeotl is a mistranslation and ongoing point of contention). Other than that it's a good textbook for getting a solid foundation of understanding on the subject.

[–] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Would you like to expand on resource extraction? This is of particular interest to me.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Some topics would be chinampas, their use of obsidian for tool making, the evolution of the teosinte plant into multiple maize varietals, farm forests, dung canoes, maguey plant cultivation, lake ecosystem for food (from axolotls to lake skum tortillas), dual canal aqueducts, three sisters agriculture, and the methods of distribution via marketplace & the royal state.

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[–] Pacmanlives@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There is some good long form documentaries on YouTube about this topic and a lot of the old History Channel content out there before it went to hell in a hand basket

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

As far as YouTubers I enjoy Ancient Americas and Aztlan Historian.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 63 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That's the oldest-looking 33 year old...

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 49 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, whoever made this was probably 20 and thinks that's what a 33-year-old looks like.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 45 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not having good sunblock back then made people look a lot older than they were.

[–] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm thinking leaded gasoline, lead paint, and asbestos had a bigger hand in it

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

The sun ages your skin. All of the things you just listed affect your brain.

[–] vonbaronhans@midwest.social 6 points 2 months ago

I dunno man. It could be a 33 yr old sharing their experiences.

So young, so precious those 33 year olds, so full of optimism.

[–] Nobody@lemmy.world 33 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don’t knock a deep dive into the Battle of Midway until you’ve tried it.

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But make it the Montemayor one, Part 1 being from the Japanese perspective, taking us along for a wild ride inside the fog of war.
The level of quality narrative is nothing short of outstanding.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

That one is amazing! The operations room also has a good overview, though it's not nearly as in depth.

https://youtu.be/6HkBW7X7LaU

[–] sirico 31 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

"It's ya boi gobbledeznutz here's my 17 hour video essay on the first diesel battle ship and how it lead to beanie babies." Presented in PowerPoint maybe with a bit of total war if your lucky And you watch the whole thing

[–] Aqarius@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

And it's somehow by far better than most TV ever was.

[–] card797@champserver.net 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yes, except all the information you seek is inside the great Wikipedia.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Depends on the subject matter. The less popular subject matters still should be read in books.

[–] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

And academic journals

[–] SatyrSack@lemmy.one 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Depends on how "popular" of a subject it is. There are plenty of subjects on Wikipedia that are not popular enough to have ever been published about in print.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I guess that's the other side of the coin. I'm a Mesoamerican history nerd and a lot of the articles on Wiki are sparse at best on the subject or outright misinformation (repeated misinformation I see almost verbatim copied and pasted). I see your point though, without an easy way of archiving information a lot of subjects would and have fallen through the cracks in humanity's notice.

[–] LesserAbe@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I don't know about all the information, but I'd rather read Wikipedia about a historical event than watch a YouTube about it

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Thankfully I'm avoiding most noisy university-sophomore politics in my content, whenever it pops up I quickly prune it out of my content feed.

Currently, the four main subjects on my watch history are particle physics, cosmology, Gobekli Tepe (and everything related to those ancient Taş Tepeler people), Sumerian cuneiform writing (courtesy of the extraordinary Professor Irving Finkle).

But to keep things on topic, I regularly have to block suggested channels and videos that start straying towards clickbait controversy, "Is Science Dying?" and "The Image NASA Doesn't Want You To See!", that sort of bullshit.

The goddamned algorithm, and those that feed it, it's mindlessly relentless constant mechanism, and I hate it, but there is so much treasure among the brushes and poison ivy one has to keep on hacking at, with the proverbial digital machete. There is so much legit gold in there.

[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Actively managing your algorithm and feed is essential to keeping your sanity these days. There's so much good content out there, but there's even more garbage.

[–] DogWater@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Check out the history of the universe on YouTube if physics and cosmos is cool to you. I shill it anywhere I can because it's so good.

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[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 18 points 2 months ago

Probably makes for a happier and more interesting person

[–] Blackmist 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Those kids have no idea whatsoever of what went on at Stalingrad.

[–] GiveOver 3 points 2 months ago

Fuck off clean shirt

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Can somebody translate the Hebrew text in the last panel?

[–] Yossarian@programming.dev 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It resembles Hebrew, but it's just random lines meant to simulate text. It's not actual text.

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[–] RandomStickman@kbin.run 11 points 2 months ago
[–] Fern@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] LordGimp@lemm.ee 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

D. K. Brown

[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My friends who are self-proclaimed history nuts essentially only read hagiographies.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Don't forget pop podcasts hosted by "storytellers" who read one primary source and one outdated secondary source before writing 20 hours of content, mostly about how the generals and kings got ready for the battles.

[–] ours@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (5 children)

The Aubrey/Maturín books are awesome. Too bad they only made a single movie from them (Master and commander) but what a movie it was!

[–] Cagi@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's the odd rumour here and there of a TV series, which is where this series would be better than films if done right. But alas, these these rumours stay rumours.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

The books are great but they're not really broken up into self-contained stories. It's more like one incredibly long adventure and the books just end when they get to a certain length and then the story picks up in the next one. A series would be perfect for that. Only problem is that it would have to be heavily CGI.

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[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Probably watch youtube because the mass media has been captured by Capitalism and its political forces.

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