Source: Original Site Post

  • The Origins of Numbers

    (And the two part key) To create a record that represented “two sheep”, they selected two round clay tokens each having a + sign baked into it. Each token represented one sheep. Representing a hundred sheep with a hundred tokens would be impractical, so they invented different clay tokens to represent different numbers of each specific commodity, and by 4000 BC strung the tokens like beads on a string.[7] There was a token for one sheep, a different token for ten sheep, a different token for ten goats, etc. Thirty-two sheep would be represented by three ten-sheep tokens followed on the string by two one-sheep tokens. To ensure that nobody could alter the number and type of tokens, they invented a clay envelope shaped like a hollow ball into which the tokens on a string were placed, sealed, and baked. If anybody disputed the number, they could break open the clay envelope and do a recount. To avoid unnecessary damage to the record, they pressed archaic number signs and witness seals on the outside of the envelope before it was baked, each sign similar in shape to the tokens they represented. Since there was seldom any need to break open the envelope, the signs on the outside became the first written language for writing numbers in clay. An alternative method was to seal the knot in each string of tokens with a solid oblong bulla of clay having impressed symbols, while the string of tokens dangled outside of the bulla.[8] Beginning about 3500 BC the tokens and envelopes were replaced by numerals impressed with a round stylus at different angles in flat clay tablets which were then baked.[9] A sharp stylus was used to carve pictographs representing various tokens. Each sign represented both the commodity being counted and the quantity or volume of that commodity.

  • Archaic Numbers > Cuneiform > Roman Numerals

    ARCHAIC NUMBERS > CUNEIFORM > ROMAN NUMERALS Conversion of archaic numbers to cuneiform The round stylus was gradually replaced by a reed stylus that had been used to press wedge shaped cuneiform signs in clay. To represent numbers that previously had been pressed with a round stylus, these cuneiform number signs were pressed in a circular pattern and they retained the additive sign-value notation that originated with tokens on a string. Cuneiform numerals and archaic numerals were ambiguous because they represented various numeric systems that differed depending on what was being counted. About 2100 BC in Sumer, these proto-sexagesimal sign-value systems gradually converged on a common sexagesimal number system that was a place-value system consisting of only two impressed marks, the vertical wedge and the chevron, which could also represent fractions.[14] This sexagesimal number system was fully developed at the beginning of the Old Babylonia period (about 1950 BC) and became standard in Babylonia. Sexagesimal numerals were a mixed radix system that retained the alternating base 10 and base 6 in a sequence of cuneiform vertical wedges and chevrons. Sexagesimal numerals became widely used in commerce, but were also used in astronomical and other calculations. This system was exported from Babylonia and used throughout Mesopotamia, and by every Mediterranean nation that used standard Babylonian units of measure and counting, including the Greeks, Romans and Syrians. In Arabic numerals, we still use sexagesimal to count time (minutes per hour), and angles (degrees). -Roman numerals- Roman numerals evolved from this primitive system of cutting notches.[15] It was once believed that they came from alphabetic symbols or from pictographs, but these theories have been disproved.[16][17]

  • Archaic Numbers > Cuneiform > Roman Numerals

    ARCHAIC NUMBERS > CUNEIFORM > ROMAN NUMERALS Conversion of archaic numbers to cuneiform The round stylus was gradually replaced by a reed stylus that had been used to press wedge shaped cuneiform signs in clay. To represent numbers that previously had been pressed with a round stylus, these cuneiform number signs were pressed in a circular pattern and they retained the additive sign-value notation that originated with tokens on a string. Cuneiform numerals and archaic numerals were ambiguous because they represented various numeric systems that differed depending on what was being counted. About 2100 BC in Sumer, these proto-sexagesimal sign-value systems gradually converged on a common sexagesimal number system that was a place-value system consisting of only two impressed marks, the vertical wedge and the chevron, which could also represent fractions.[14] This sexagesimal number system was fully developed at the beginning of the Old Babylonia period (about 1950 BC) and became standard in Babylonia. Sexagesimal numerals were a mixed radix system that retained the alternating base 10 and base 6 in a sequence of cuneiform vertical wedges and chevrons. Sexagesimal numerals became widely used in commerce, but were also used in astronomical and other calculations. This system was exported from Babylonia and used throughout Mesopotamia, and by every Mediterranean nation that used standard Babylonian units of measure and counting, including the Greeks, Romans and Syrians. In Arabic numerals, we still use sexagesimal to count time (minutes per hour), and angles (degrees). -Roman numerals- Roman numerals evolved from this primitive system of cutting notches.[15] It was once believed that they came from alphabetic symbols or from pictographs, but these theories have been disproved.[16][17]

  • The Answer to Christianity: Choosing Godhood as Our Own

    . There is good Christianity and bad. There are good christians and bad. This [set of statements] is very good christianity, and I’m not going to criticize good Christians – at least unless good Christians (a) violate natural law (unlikely), or (b) seek to use faith in argument rather than faith in self confirmation (too commonly). Faith is for the faithful, literature for those without faith. Aristotle for those who have no need for, and science and law for those of us who rule and cannot afford it. Render under each, that which is needed by each, and natural law of men, and physical law of science to decide the conflicts between them. My objective is to institutionalize the insights (habits) of christianity in scientific prose, and provide means of ritual mindfulness for those that cannot or will not tolerate ‘magic’. And a set of festivals that all of us chan participate in. Those insights are (a) the daily discipline of personal humility, (b) the elimination of hatred from the human heart, (c) the extension of kinship love to non kin, (d) the exhaustion of personal forgiveness as a means of training the most misguided, and (e) the empiricism of direct, personal charity as a means of achieving, and testing both, and (f) the political intolerance of those who do otherwise, (g) the limiting of government to the natural law of reciprocity leaving only market harmony and charity for the achievement of goods, and (h) surrender of defense and rule to the aristocracy who master in violence what we master in love and charity. And I know that this is the ultimate strategy for optimum human cooperation because science and logic tell me so. There is an ever declining percentage of educated people that find value in the parables of underclass semitic pastoralists, depending on magic and an after life to escape lack of agency in this one, and an ever increasing percentage of people that find value in scientific exposition of the same virtues, and historical and mythical ideas of OUR PEOPLE, for whom their ‘book’ was that of homer (the trials of achilles), the great greek and roman heroes, the carolingian, germanic, arthurian, scandinavian pagan myths, and the REAL accomplishments of OUR people, which begins with the cult of non-submission of those with agency. Just as the cult of submission is the retreat of those lacking it in islam and christianity. There is nothing in the world of faith that is not available to those who practice natural science, natural law, the histories, rituals of self authoring, and the festivals of the heroes and seasons – except a greater need to negotiate between different wants, and greater demand for mindfulness against the saddening, and a greater demand for agency and reason in taking actions in the world. Among the poor, feeble, and lacking agency in the world, christianity is the compromise position between barbarism and science that Augustine intended to make it. And among those who are increasingly joining the prosperous, the able, and those with agency, it is increasingly unnecessary. Among the prosperous, the able, and those with agency, that compromise is harmful. And this is what we have seen. Morality is fully contained in individual sovereignty, physical and law natural law and the markets for cooperation, and exhaustive forgiveness in bringing the immoral into both. The only people that need comforting lies are those that cannot look the only ultimate truth in the face without fear: the universe is a hostile place, we are an nothing but a deterministic accident, and it is we who shall be the gods who transform it into the edent we desire. We must only choose godhood as our own.

  • The Answer to Christianity: Choosing Godhood as Our Own

    . There is good Christianity and bad. There are good christians and bad. This [set of statements] is very good christianity, and I’m not going to criticize good Christians – at least unless good Christians (a) violate natural law (unlikely), or (b) seek to use faith in argument rather than faith in self confirmation (too commonly). Faith is for the faithful, literature for those without faith. Aristotle for those who have no need for, and science and law for those of us who rule and cannot afford it. Render under each, that which is needed by each, and natural law of men, and physical law of science to decide the conflicts between them. My objective is to institutionalize the insights (habits) of christianity in scientific prose, and provide means of ritual mindfulness for those that cannot or will not tolerate ‘magic’. And a set of festivals that all of us chan participate in. Those insights are (a) the daily discipline of personal humility, (b) the elimination of hatred from the human heart, (c) the extension of kinship love to non kin, (d) the exhaustion of personal forgiveness as a means of training the most misguided, and (e) the empiricism of direct, personal charity as a means of achieving, and testing both, and (f) the political intolerance of those who do otherwise, (g) the limiting of government to the natural law of reciprocity leaving only market harmony and charity for the achievement of goods, and (h) surrender of defense and rule to the aristocracy who master in violence what we master in love and charity. And I know that this is the ultimate strategy for optimum human cooperation because science and logic tell me so. There is an ever declining percentage of educated people that find value in the parables of underclass semitic pastoralists, depending on magic and an after life to escape lack of agency in this one, and an ever increasing percentage of people that find value in scientific exposition of the same virtues, and historical and mythical ideas of OUR PEOPLE, for whom their ‘book’ was that of homer (the trials of achilles), the great greek and roman heroes, the carolingian, germanic, arthurian, scandinavian pagan myths, and the REAL accomplishments of OUR people, which begins with the cult of non-submission of those with agency. Just as the cult of submission is the retreat of those lacking it in islam and christianity. There is nothing in the world of faith that is not available to those who practice natural science, natural law, the histories, rituals of self authoring, and the festivals of the heroes and seasons – except a greater need to negotiate between different wants, and greater demand for mindfulness against the saddening, and a greater demand for agency and reason in taking actions in the world. Among the poor, feeble, and lacking agency in the world, christianity is the compromise position between barbarism and science that Augustine intended to make it. And among those who are increasingly joining the prosperous, the able, and those with agency, it is increasingly unnecessary. Among the prosperous, the able, and those with agency, that compromise is harmful. And this is what we have seen. Morality is fully contained in individual sovereignty, physical and law natural law and the markets for cooperation, and exhaustive forgiveness in bringing the immoral into both. The only people that need comforting lies are those that cannot look the only ultimate truth in the face without fear: the universe is a hostile place, we are an nothing but a deterministic accident, and it is we who shall be the gods who transform it into the edent we desire. We must only choose godhood as our own.

  • A Note for Revolutionaries on Ammo

    —“Basic combat load is 7, 30 round magazines. It has been for a very long time. “— But when you state it as “200 rounds” people get a better idea of how few rounds that is. And Americans still too frequently run down on ammunition in a defensive firefight. —“Ignoring the basic correct answer is 210 rounds for the M4, here is a real combat load after 18 months before, during and after the surge in Iraq. I was a combat medic in an infantry unit deployed to a high tempo battlezone. We rolled outside the wire at least 5 days a week and often multiple times a day. About 1/4 of those would see some degree of combat. I carried a 30lb lite aid bag in addition to 10 magazines on my rack and drop pouches. Additionally my hot mag was a double and my main aid bag stayed on our vehicle with another 4 mags along with 65 lbs of medical gear. Long range patrols and extended ops were a bitch for me but after running out of ammo in one fight everything changed. I started dropping other gear from my load and replacing everything I could with composite material. I carried more than anyone but the squad gunner but it came in handy for others as well.I can function for 2 days without water. I can survive almost a week without food. My life expectancy in a firefight while out of ammo isn’t shit. In combat every bullet is a chance to save a life.”— Anon. In other words, he carried, 60 round hot mag, 10 30 round mags and 4 spare 30 round mags. 60 + 300 + 120 = 480. (My estimate of defensive ammo reserve from everything I’ve read is 600 rounds per man), and also from what I’ve read, no less than double that for a light machine gunner. Patrol is very dangerous. It’s searching for the enemy by presenting yourself as a target (bullet magnet). I prefer the Russian method: saturate the ground with artillery, roll in with equipment, destroy anything standing, kill everything that moves, and mop up the remainder on foot. The best way to hold territory is when everything other than you is pebbles, soot, splinters, or dead. –“Seven (7) mags was your “naked walking around load” and at no time was I more than a short distance away from an additional 10 mags. Point being, historically, I’m sure there was a prescribed basic load for the Italian military of the time but nobody ever says they had too much ammo in a firefight.”– Will Harm

  • A Note for Revolutionaries on Ammo

    —“Basic combat load is 7, 30 round magazines. It has been for a very long time. “— But when you state it as “200 rounds” people get a better idea of how few rounds that is. And Americans still too frequently run down on ammunition in a defensive firefight. —“Ignoring the basic correct answer is 210 rounds for the M4, here is a real combat load after 18 months before, during and after the surge in Iraq. I was a combat medic in an infantry unit deployed to a high tempo battlezone. We rolled outside the wire at least 5 days a week and often multiple times a day. About 1/4 of those would see some degree of combat. I carried a 30lb lite aid bag in addition to 10 magazines on my rack and drop pouches. Additionally my hot mag was a double and my main aid bag stayed on our vehicle with another 4 mags along with 65 lbs of medical gear. Long range patrols and extended ops were a bitch for me but after running out of ammo in one fight everything changed. I started dropping other gear from my load and replacing everything I could with composite material. I carried more than anyone but the squad gunner but it came in handy for others as well.I can function for 2 days without water. I can survive almost a week without food. My life expectancy in a firefight while out of ammo isn’t shit. In combat every bullet is a chance to save a life.”— Anon. In other words, he carried, 60 round hot mag, 10 30 round mags and 4 spare 30 round mags. 60 + 300 + 120 = 480. (My estimate of defensive ammo reserve from everything I’ve read is 600 rounds per man), and also from what I’ve read, no less than double that for a light machine gunner. Patrol is very dangerous. It’s searching for the enemy by presenting yourself as a target (bullet magnet). I prefer the Russian method: saturate the ground with artillery, roll in with equipment, destroy anything standing, kill everything that moves, and mop up the remainder on foot. The best way to hold territory is when everything other than you is pebbles, soot, splinters, or dead. –“Seven (7) mags was your “naked walking around load” and at no time was I more than a short distance away from an additional 10 mags. Point being, historically, I’m sure there was a prescribed basic load for the Italian military of the time but nobody ever says they had too much ammo in a firefight.”– Will Harm

  • The Ambitions of Cattle

    —“Curt, what are your thoughts on metamodernism?”— No matter how you slice it, activists on the left are nothing more than human cattle seeking the monopoly of a cattle herd, the indifference (equality) of cattle in a herd, and the safety of cattle in the herd, in order to obtain a sense of ‘not being left behind’, and ‘a sense of control over a world” in which the continuous production of differences and hierarchies is constantly equilibrated by markets that are by definition out of our control, but entirely in our service. People who obtain their direction from the movement of the herd, their information from the herd, and color their decisions from the herd, display the cognitive biases of the herd: the sentiments of women. Meanwhile the conservative says “if we simply raise good families, and produce good commons the markets will provide by externality all that we can want or imagine”. These are the cognitive biases of the pack. The sentiments of men. It was men who made markets, property, families, marriage, continuous innovation, and the worship of the sun and stars, against the will of women, who at all times and all places seek to return us to the primitivism that is not in their interest but ours. The left are to be sated, comforted, and disciplined, but like women, never permitted to fulfill their ambitions and return us to primitivism.

  • The Ambitions of Cattle

    —“Curt, what are your thoughts on metamodernism?”— No matter how you slice it, activists on the left are nothing more than human cattle seeking the monopoly of a cattle herd, the indifference (equality) of cattle in a herd, and the safety of cattle in the herd, in order to obtain a sense of ‘not being left behind’, and ‘a sense of control over a world” in which the continuous production of differences and hierarchies is constantly equilibrated by markets that are by definition out of our control, but entirely in our service. People who obtain their direction from the movement of the herd, their information from the herd, and color their decisions from the herd, display the cognitive biases of the herd: the sentiments of women. Meanwhile the conservative says “if we simply raise good families, and produce good commons the markets will provide by externality all that we can want or imagine”. These are the cognitive biases of the pack. The sentiments of men. It was men who made markets, property, families, marriage, continuous innovation, and the worship of the sun and stars, against the will of women, who at all times and all places seek to return us to the primitivism that is not in their interest but ours. The left are to be sated, comforted, and disciplined, but like women, never permitted to fulfill their ambitions and return us to primitivism.

  • It All Begins with The Militia

    by Igor Rogov (brilliant) The “English” success is more easily attributable to one or two social inventions of Saxons – the free man on his own land, also known as churl and an armed militia or fyrd, which were quite distinct from greek or early roman examples because they persisted as something very essential and spiritual entities which resulted in Magna Carta which was then revitalised in American constitution.