Useless: 1761

Q. What is electricity?

A. It is that property certain bodies, heated by friction, have of attracting and repelling, alternatively, other thin and light bodies, such as straw, bits of paper, gold-leaf, etc.

--From The Universal Magazine--

Can you believe people spent time and money researching this? On "electricity", what a waste!

Baby Geniuses: 1761

If they painted something like this today, they'd have the babies swearing and trying to get laid.

Human nature: 1761

As to Government in general, it is no wonder, that it is so productive of evil, since its very nature consists of power trusted in the hands of such imperfect and vicious creatures as men, and exercised over others as imperfect and vicious as themselves; in which there must be pride, avarice, and cruelty on one side; envy ignorance, and obstinancy on the other; and injustice and self-interest on both. Its origin also arises from the same impure source of human imperfection; that is, men, being neither wise nor honest enough to pursue their common or mutual interests without compulsion, are obliged to submit to some, in order to secure their lives and properties from the depredations of all...

--From The Universal Magazine--

The only reason politicians talk about how "good" they think people are, or worry aloud about the "tone" of society, is because they want us to forget that they, like us, are jerks and shouldn't be trusted with any power whatsoever, let alone be trusted to solve problems.

Aliens

Let's contact species which have spread all over the universe, because species which spread really quickly are great to have around.

Aliens: 1761

Two Frenchmen and four negroes having set out in a canoe towards the coast of a little dessert isle situated south of Martinico, and separated from the island by a strait of about a league in breadth, they stopped at an advanced point of ten or twelve paces into the sea, and eight or ten feet high above the water. There, within eight paces of them, they saw a Triton, or sea-man, the half of whose body appeared above water.

--From The Universal Magazine--

Well, a bunch of people saw it, so it must be real (they got a picture and everything!).

Bathe in light

Torture porn: 1350

Cao ordered him beaten, but his body had no skin left to flay....

...Cao called for a knife and cut off the other nine [fingers]....

...Ji Ping dashed his [own] head against the stair and died.

--From the Romance of the Three Kingdoms--

Inventing stories about people being tortured shows an advancement of culture, because in the past when people wrote about horrific torture it was taken from the historical record, and was an account of events which had actually happened.

Cold War: circa 400 BC

If you were really able to establish a reputation for righteousness in the world and attract the other rulers by your virtue, then it would be no time before the whole world had submitted to you...

...If one is merciful and generous, substituting affluence for want, then the people will surely be won over. If one substitutes good government in one's state for offensive warfare, then one will achieve manifold success.

--From The Mozi--

Winning a war by focusing on improving your citizen's standard of living and eschewing offensive warfare, when has that worked?

A meal in pictures

INGREDIENTS: lentils, onions, ginger, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, white sugar, fenugreek, cumin, salt, turmeric, cayenne pepper, butter, asafoetida powder, cabbage, green chiles, mustard seeds, brown sugar, tamarind extract, water, tomatoes, fennel seeds, okra, mango powder, rice, yogurt, cilantro.

Genocide: 1350

"...If there is any way I can help, even if it means clan-wide extermination, I shall do it without regret."

--From the Romance of the Three Kingdoms--

This line is spoken by a "good person". Grateful poems are written about him when he dies!

Today

I watched the sun set over the ocean for the first time, and it was lovely.