Ironicwarcriminal posted:Barbarossa posted:Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It was written in 1841 and is free for all of us to read, and if it contains nothing else of value it contains one of the sickest recorded burns of all time. The burner was probably being burned while he or she burned the burnee, by the way:
Page 292, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Once the devil pretended to be dead, that he might see whether his people regretted him. They instantly set up a loud wail, and wept three tears each for him, at which he was so pleased, that he jumped up among them, and hugged in his arms those who had been most obstreperous in their sorrow.
Such were the principal details given by the children, and corroborated by the confessions of the full-grown witches. Anything more absurd was never before stated in a court of justice. Many of the accused contradicted themselves most palpably; but the commissioners gave no heed to discrepancies. One of them, the parson of the district, stated, in the course of the inquiry, that on a particular night, which he mentioned, he had been afflicted with a headach so agonizing, that he could not account for it otherwise than by supposing he was bewitched. In fact, he thought a score of witches must have been dancing on the crown of his head. This announcement excited great horror among the pious dames of the auditory, who loudly expressed their wonder that the devil should have power to hurt so good a man. One poor witch, who lay in the very jaws of death, confessed that she knew too well the cause of the minister's headach. The devil had sent her with a sledge hammer and a large nail, to drive into the good man's skull. She had hammered at it for some time, but the skull was so enormously thick, that she made no impression upon it. Every hand was held up in astonishment. The pious minister blessed God that his skull was so solid, and he became renowned for his thick head all the days of his life. Whether the witch intended a joke does not appear, but she was looked upon as a criminal more than usually atrocious.
Seventy persons were condemned to death on these so awful yet so ridiculous confessions. Twenty-three of them were burned together, in one fire, in the village of Mohra, in the presence of thousands of delighted spectators. On the following day fifteen children were murdered in the same manner; offered up in
sacrifice to the bloody Moloch of superstition. The remaining thirty-two were executed at the neighbouring town of Fahluna. Besides these, fifty-six children were found guilty of witchcraft in a minor degree, and sentenced to various punishments, such as running the gauntlet, imprisonment, and public whipping once a week for a twelvemonth.ive been meaning to read this for a while, is it good?
it's apocryphal bull shit
c_man posted:http://www.medievalists.net/2013/07/31/the-viking-slave-trade-and-eunuchs-in-the-east/
my god i have got to get that book
stegosaurus posted:lifetime subscription lmao
both you and thug lessons have one
Ironicwarcriminal posted:Barbarossa posted:Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It was written in 1841 and is free for all of us to read, and if it contains nothing else of value it contains one of the sickest recorded burns of all time. The burner was probably being burned while he or she burned the burnee, by the way:
Page 292, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Once the devil pretended to be dead, that he might see whether his people regretted him. They instantly set up a loud wail, and wept three tears each for him, at which he was so pleased, that he jumped up among them, and hugged in his arms those who had been most obstreperous in their sorrow.
Such were the principal details given by the children, and corroborated by the confessions of the full-grown witches. Anything more absurd was never before stated in a court of justice. Many of the accused contradicted themselves most palpably; but the commissioners gave no heed to discrepancies. One of them, the parson of the district, stated, in the course of the inquiry, that on a particular night, which he mentioned, he had been afflicted with a headach so agonizing, that he could not account for it otherwise than by supposing he was bewitched. In fact, he thought a score of witches must have been dancing on the crown of his head. This announcement excited great horror among the pious dames of the auditory, who loudly expressed their wonder that the devil should have power to hurt so good a man. One poor witch, who lay in the very jaws of death, confessed that she knew too well the cause of the minister's headach. The devil had sent her with a sledge hammer and a large nail, to drive into the good man's skull. She had hammered at it for some time, but the skull was so enormously thick, that she made no impression upon it. Every hand was held up in astonishment. The pious minister blessed God that his skull was so solid, and he became renowned for his thick head all the days of his life. Whether the witch intended a joke does not appear, but she was looked upon as a criminal more than usually atrocious.
Seventy persons were condemned to death on these so awful yet so ridiculous confessions. Twenty-three of them were burned together, in one fire, in the village of Mohra, in the presence of thousands of delighted spectators. On the following day fifteen children were murdered in the same manner; offered up in
sacrifice to the bloody Moloch of superstition. The remaining thirty-two were executed at the neighbouring town of Fahluna. Besides these, fifty-six children were found guilty of witchcraft in a minor degree, and sentenced to various punishments, such as running the gauntlet, imprisonment, and public whipping once a week for a twelvemonth.ive been meaning to read this for a while, is it good?
It is one of the best books on human nature that I have ever read, and I read books like homer simpson drinks beer. According to Wikipedia Charles sometimes embellishes but it is totally worth it, it's an interesting read to say the least. Here is an excerpt from the chapter covering bubble stocks:
But the most absurd and preposterous of all, and which showed, more completely than any other, the utter madness of the people, was one, started by an unknown adventurer, entitled "company for carrying on an undertaking of great
advantage, but nobody to know what it is." Were not the fact stated by scores of credible witnesses, it would be impossible to believe that any person could have been duped by such a project. The man of genius who essayed this bold and successful inroad upon public credulity, merely stated in his prospectus that the required capital was half a million, in five thousand shares of 100 pounds each, deposit 2 pounds per share. Each subscriber, paying his deposit, would be entitled to 100 pounds per annum per share. How this immense profit was to be obtained, he did not condescend to inform them at that time, but promised, that in a month full particulars should be duly announced, and a call made for the remaining 98 pounds of the subscription. Next morning, at nine o'clock, this great man opened an office in Cornhill. Crowds of people beset his door, and when he shut up at three o'clock, he found that no less than one thousand shares had been subscribed for, and the deposits paid. He was thus, in five hours, the winner of 2,000 pounds. He was philosopher enough to be contented with his venture, and set off the same evening for the Continent. He was never heard of again.
cleanhands posted:stegosaurus posted:lifetime subscription lmao
both you and thug lessons have one
not true. i dont
NoFreeWill posted:one of my many never-started project ideas was a final fantasy tactics style rpg where you play as vikings or aztecs and sail across the world fighting christians until you get to the council of nicea and kill everyone to stop christianity from succeeding.
this is a great idea
daddyholes posted:every book written in the 19th century by someone other than marx engels or a marxist is apocryphal bull shit because marx invented social science
this is literally true
roseweird posted:first_council_of_nicea posted:
1. If anyone in sickness has undergone surgery at the hands of physicians or has been castrated by barbarians, let him remain among the clergy. But if anyone in good health has castrated himself, if he is enrolled among the clergy he should be suspended, and in future no such man should be promoted. But, as it is evident that this refers to those who are responsible for the condition and presume to castrate themselves, so too if any have been made eunuchs by barbarians or by their masters, but have been found worthy, the canon admits such men to the clergy.
pretty messed up.
i've been developing an interest lately in the suppression of eunuchs under the influence of early christianity. it's hard to come to terms with, because the facts are pretty confusing... first, we have the fact of widespread knowledge of eunuchs and intersex people in greek and semitic culture over thousands of years prior to the christian era. second, we have in the bible two clear positive affirmations of the place of eunuchs, self-made or otherwise, in the kingdom of heaven (matthew 12, and i forget where it is just now but a passage where one of the apostles talks to a eunuch who is reading the book of isaiah). third, we have the near total ignorance of intersexuality and eunuch-hood by the early middle ages, to the extent that much of our knowledge of intersex people in the medieval period comes from books that describe literal monsters. how and why did this happen..? christ's message about eunuchs was very positive, but the spread of christianity appears to have perpetuated the judaic hatred of eunuchs that his words opposed.
oh well anyway just posting this to go over my own thoughts, would be grateful if anyone can think of any relevant resources though
BuzzFeed quoted Salinger scholar Kenneth Slawenski as saying the works posted online in a collection called "Three Stories" are from the author, best known for his 1951 novel "Catcher in the Rye."
Social media site Reddit said scans of the stories taken from the unauthorized book first appeared on an invitation-only file-sharing site.
But they later were available on a handful of sites.
a shameful breach, shut the pdf forum down
daddyholes posted:every book written in the 19th century by someone other than marx engels or a marxist is apocryphal bull shit because marx invented social science
you have straw-manned me to a ridiculous degree again...
corn posted:marx was basically just some guy
i dont think you understand that i will fight you irl
Edited by wasted ()
babyhueypnewton posted:not book but I watched the first episode of Sherlock and there were at least 4 gay jokes. also the characters are awkward and ashamed of talking to women who emasculate them. homosexuality is the new victorian morality, our sexuality is just as repressed but instead of dignity we feel shame and instead of religious self-hatred we use self-deprication. this show got the post-modern sherlock holmes right.
babyhueypnewton posted:not book but I watched the first episode of Sherlock and there were at least 4 gay jokes. also the characters are awkward and ashamed of talking to women who emasculate them. homosexuality is the new victorian morality, our sexuality is just as repressed but instead of dignity we feel shame and instead of religious self-hatred we use self-deprication. this show got the post-modern sherlock holmes right.
Interesting, considering the sheer amount of slash fiction and art that show has inspired among 20 something women.
swampman posted:
this is incredibly good especially because how off key the singing is before it rips
swampman posted:
OohMaMa