4 ms·

The Cleopatra’s Nose of 1914

18 points by benbreen 6y ago

082349872349872 6y ago
For 3'000 years, the role of women in producing armed conflict has been measured in Helens[1]. (For instance, Silvercorp's filibuster, had it had any involvement of someone without a Y chromosome, would have been rated at 2 milliHelens.) More seriously, Lewis Fry Richardson argued that statistically[2] speaking, "deadly quarrels" over the period he studied followed a Poisson distribution, suggesting that even if we believe God doesn't play dice, a null hypothesis might be that Ares does. [1] "Argive Helen, lovely-haired / May I inquire discreetly / When are you free to take some hemp with me?" [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Fry_Richardson#Mathematical_analysis_of_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Fry_Richardson#Mathemati...
- cafard 6y ago
  And here I thought it was Samuel Butler who came up with the millihelen as a measure of beauty. And as Herodotus says, Nobody ever went to war over a kidnapped girl.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    I have no etymology, I'd thought the Helen was folklore, along with furlongs/fortnight. (or, in common use, the acre-foot, an aggresively non-cubical volume measure.) Thanks for the Herodotus! I wonder if that was part of Plato's beef with Homer, for taking the artistic line (as Romeo, or Shakespeare's Antony does) of "hos before bros" when everyone knows the conservative ideal is the opposite?
    - cafard 6y ago
      Homer a) does not hide the bitterness and brutality of life and death, b) takes a very earthy view of the gods, and this is what Plato/Socrates chiefly complains of in The Republic. If Achilles's shade tells Odysseus that he'd rather be alive as a hired hand that dead as a star among the shades, it does not contribute to troop morale. If Zeus and Hera are stepping out for a quickie, that just isn't dignified. I think Butler invented the "milliherm" for male appearance.
      - 082349872349872 6y ago
        The milliherm, evoking the mutilation of the herms? Would a millicybele then be the measure of trans pulchritude? Zeus and Hera stepping out together for a quickie at least sounds more dignified than Zeus' usual attempts to pull. Having been a god before the pill, no wonder they call him the "sky father." κανόνας ΛʹΔʹ: if it exists, Zeus has used it as a disguise to smash mortals. "Holding the line" has (outside of protest contexts?) become far less important since the invention of rifling. We have a national hero, Winkelried, who famously sacrificed himself to open a hole in the opposing polearm line. This leads to the schooltime question: "What were Winkelried's last words?" The answer the teacher is looking for is "take care of my wife and children." Among students, the answer is "Melonfarmer! Who the flip pushed m--aaaarrrrrggghhhh--" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_von_Winkelried#/media/File:Winkelried_at_Sempach.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_von_Winkelried#/media/F...

18 points by benbreen 6y ago

For 3'000 years, the role of women in producing armed conflict has been measured in Helens[1]. (For instance, Silvercorp's filibuster, had it had any involvement of someone without a Y chromosome, would have been rated at 2 milliHelens.) More seriously, Lewis Fry Richardson argued that statistically[2] speaking, "deadly quarrels" over the period he studied followed a Poisson distribution, suggesting that even if we believe God doesn't play dice, a null hypothesis might be that Ares does. [1] "Argive Helen, lovely-haired / May I inquire discreetly / When are you free to take some hemp with me?" [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Fry_Richardson#Mathematical_analysis_of_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Fry_Richardson#Mathemati...

cafard 6y ago
And here I thought it was Samuel Butler who came up with the millihelen as a measure of beauty. And as Herodotus says, Nobody ever went to war over a kidnapped girl.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  I have no etymology, I'd thought the Helen was folklore, along with furlongs/fortnight. (or, in common use, the acre-foot, an aggresively non-cubical volume measure.) Thanks for the Herodotus! I wonder if that was part of Plato's beef with Homer, for taking the artistic line (as Romeo, or Shakespeare's Antony does) of "hos before bros" when everyone knows the conservative ideal is the opposite?
  - cafard 6y ago
    Homer a) does not hide the bitterness and brutality of life and death, b) takes a very earthy view of the gods, and this is what Plato/Socrates chiefly complains of in The Republic. If Achilles's shade tells Odysseus that he'd rather be alive as a hired hand that dead as a star among the shades, it does not contribute to troop morale. If Zeus and Hera are stepping out for a quickie, that just isn't dignified. I think Butler invented the "milliherm" for male appearance.
    - 082349872349872 6y ago
      The milliherm, evoking the mutilation of the herms? Would a millicybele then be the measure of trans pulchritude? Zeus and Hera stepping out together for a quickie at least sounds more dignified than Zeus' usual attempts to pull. Having been a god before the pill, no wonder they call him the "sky father." κανόνας ΛʹΔʹ: if it exists, Zeus has used it as a disguise to smash mortals. "Holding the line" has (outside of protest contexts?) become far less important since the invention of rifling. We have a national hero, Winkelried, who famously sacrificed himself to open a hole in the opposing polearm line. This leads to the schooltime question: "What were Winkelried's last words?" The answer the teacher is looking for is "take care of my wife and children." Among students, the answer is "Melonfarmer! Who the flip pushed m--aaaarrrrrggghhhh--" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_von_Winkelried#/media/File:Winkelried_at_Sempach.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_von_Winkelried#/media/F...