Posts by kochiekoch

Something that impressed me when I looked up Cicero on the Wikipedia page, to get some background on the man so frequently mentioned here on the forum, was how calmly he took his own impending death. He must have really believed he was going to a better place. The last few episodes here explain his thinking.

Cicero - Wikipedia

>>As reported by Seneca the Elder, according to the historian Aufidius Bassus, Cicero's last words are said to have been:

Quote

Ego vero consisto. Accede, veterane, et, si hoc saltim potes recte facere, incide cervicem.
I go no further: approach, veteran soldier, and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck.^[121]

He bowed to his captors, leaning his head out of the litter in a gladiatorial gesture to ease the task. By baring his neck and throat to the soldiers, he was indicating that he would not resist. According to Plutarch, Herennius first slew him, then cut off his head.<<

It's kind of interesting, in the top note article, that the pleasure centers are stimulated by the highly processed foods, dense in fats, sugars, sodium and carbs that our ancestors found scarce. So, we'd eat more of them. (And we do)!

It demonstrates that pleasure is a regulatory mechanism for the health of the person, even if it's gone a little awry in modern times.

Best of luck to the Clipper. There could be life on Europa too. All over the universe as Epicurus suggested.

This is all tentative, but heck, it's intriguing!

Scientists find promising hints of life on distant planet K2-18b

Hi Rolf and welcome!

'Bittersweet' memories of past romances are rough. I know.

Epicurus, I believe would have counseled to have gratitude for the pleasure of the experience and the skills acquired for the next romance. This way the pleasure outweighs the pain.

Sounds trite and true but valid in my opinion: 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'.

5 Famous Literary Quotes Explained: “‘Tis Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” — History Through Fiction

You probably know, and perhaps can relate to the line, “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Find out where the line originates…

www.historythroughfiction.com

A quick check via AI says that the oscillating universe could fit either worldview. The Stoic idea is that the universe runs in cycles, all decided by benevolent providence, 😁, and the Epicurean worldview is that the universe is infinite and eternal with no controlling will. Cycles notwithstanding.

All this stuff is hypothetical right now anyway. The science can change fast.

The news is dark energy is weakening. Eventually, it may be that the universe will collapse on itself. Something it may have done an infinite number of times in the past. Eternal expansion and contraction.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/20/nx-s1-5333843/dark-energy-weakening-universe-collapse-desi

Gorgeous thank you!

Thank you!

Just a thought, if the dodecahedrons really did have some sort of practical use, wouldn't we have seen artworks of everyday life with them in use?

Beautiful collection of Platonic solids there.

Here's a short Pompeii video DEFINATELY made by AI!

Something I hadn't thought of before, but Pompeii was once a populated thriving town. You see videos of it and its ruins, and of course they always show the preserved corpses, you get the impression of a cemetery.

This video gives you a different perspective of the living city it once was and its tragic end:

The End of Pompeii: An Immersive Journey into the Past with AI / AI Short Film

Quote from Cassius

Wow yes great video! I didn't see the scene you're referring to where the top of the mountain was reconstructed but I gather there is at least one fresco showing the top of the mountain to be MUCH taller!

Right at 44 seconds into the video. It shows a street scene then and now with Vesuvius in the background.

They don't say specifically that they use AI, although a little research praises the incredible vivid videos and speculates that they use advanced technologies.

The video was so sharp I thought they had to use AI to create something like that. No doubt there is considerable artistry also involved.

Stuff you can do with AI.

In one of the scenes, you can see Vesuvius as it was with its top still on in the background. The eruption blew the top of the mountain right off.

Pompei Then and now

Quote from Al-Hakiim von Grof

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”

I never gave it a thought, but that's an intriguing find. I wonder if the dogs and swine really do represent Stoics and Epicureans, who, if you argue with them, will take your ideas and crush them and tear them to pieces? It must have been a pretty common thing for a Christian, very confident of this faith, to go to philosophers and challenge them.

There might have been a lot of deconversions that way.

Happy Birthday!

He's a wise man, they probably figured he was bald. 😉

Quote from Eikadistes

My guide is the guy who figured out quantum indeterminism, and doesn't scold me for beating-off.

Werner Heisenburg?

I was a pescetarian, (vegetarian but with fish), when I was 18 for about a year. (A hippie kind of diet with lots of brown rice).

I did lose a lot of weight, and strangely enough I became much paler, but I can't remember any other changes. I aced a blood test for iron when donating blood though and I still eat brown rice and whole grains when I can.

Hmmm..., the bread and water diet wouldn't be the best one. Not only would you run into nutrional problems, but you'd also get really tired of it! I suspect that would be true of other things in a person's lifestyle.

How to survive on a bread and water diet

>>But even sourdough might not be enough to survive. Eventually, just like the potato scenario, you would probably run into nutritional deficiencies. Even sourdough bread made with wild yeast, bacteria, and whole grains likely will not provide enough nutrients like vitamin C, B12, and D, as well as calcium. Without these key players, humans would run into some serious problems. With no vitamin C source, a person could develop scurvy, which results in weakness of the muscles and fatigue. Calcium is necessary to prevent osteoporosis, which results in weakened bone mass. Plus, humans need fat to survive as well, which sourdough bread doesn’t have.

If you did attempt to eat one food for an extended period of time, you would probably get sick of eating the item far before you gave yourself any severe nutritional deficiencies. That’s due to a psychological phenomenon called sensory specific satiety. Scientists have found that the more you eat something, there’s a corresponding decline in pleasantness. But some foods are more prone to this than others (like high protein foods), and some researchers have found that bread might be in fact fairly resistant to this phenomenon.<<