Crazy turtle ladies and the interests meme again

[matgb]

Guess what? Yup, it's that interests meme, round 3. I suspect this one will run and run, but hey, I'm enjoying writing the posts so we're good. OK, two batches, both from innerbrat at hers:

ancient civiliasations, black, thirty years war

And also in a comment on my last post on this subject:

Evolutionary theory, flimsy moral standards, jaded old goths

So, once more unto the breach dear Friends...

Ancient Civilisations

Or, alternately, why you should go play Ur for a bit. Basically, as I mentioned a few times in the previous post, I'm a history buff. And while I tend to make my cut off at about 1600 (I like the early modern period most), the precursor civilisations, with their sometimes weirdly advanced technologies like electro-plating, fascinate me. This may, or may not, be linked to me being a huge Battlestar Galactica fan when I was a kid, and might be why I don't file Aliens Vs Predator into the 'worst film ever' category (close, but not quite there). Besides, the Egyptions built pyramids, and pyramids are cool.

Black

Um, yeah, what is there to say. Black is not a colour, black is the complete absence of colour. I'm a goth. Yup, I know this comes as a shock to some people, but I really am. I may not be an archetypal goth, and some people more gother than me on my friends list deny that I am a goth, but I came to terms with my gothness while I was still in my 20s. Black goes with everything, and it makes deciding on colour schemes (for both clothes and websites) a lot easier. frightened put it better than me though:

Well, it's the only colour for clothes, really, isn't it? I don't wear as much as I used to, but if you see me predominantly wearing one colour, it's gonna be black. Neil Gaiman: "It goes with anything, as long as it's black". Terry Pratchett's Vetinari: black robes because he just couldn't be bothered wasting time on deciding what to wear. Terry Pratchett's Death: "It went with anything. It went with everything, sooner or later." I can't explain my attraction to the Dark Side, given I can never be bothered with the makeup and jewellery and whatnot. But I do like wearing too much black. And hell, it makes life a lot easier when separating out the laundry.

So there y'go. Henry Ford may have been a git, but he was right on one point...

Thirty Years War

Ah, yeah. I studied this as part of my A level in history at school, and despite the fact the teacher was awful, I became hooked on the whole subject. I don't own many history books, because they're expensive and you can borrow them from any good library, but I do own twoentitled 'thirty years war', my only two Osprey books are on the armies of Gustavus Adolphus, my favourite "What If..." remains what if he hadn't died at the battle of Luetzen, it starts with a defenestration and ended at Muenster. My politics geekery can point to the Westphalian system of state sovereignty that it created. My military history buff can point to one of the very few battles of annihilation ever fought (Breitenfeld) - normally an army surrenders or can retreat in good order, but at Breitenfeld the Austrian army was destroyed and the Swedes picked up and recruited most of the (mercenary) stragglers. Plus, it represented a high-point in Swedish history; did you know that Sweden was once one of the pre-eminent European powers. SRSLY, they don't like tot alk about it much. Then of course there's Queen Christina. Rereading a book on Swedish history one Christmas was what me to quit GW and go back to college, going University made me pretty much all of my current friends and introduced me to the internet. So yeah, I like the Thirty Years War a lot.

Evolutionary Theory

Right, this one got added because of LJ. Someone (and I thought it was IB herself but I can't find the post) put up another one of those idiot fundies are being stupid posts, and suggested that everyone add Evolutionary Theory and Evolutionary Biology to their interests. While I know little about the actual science, I know enough scientists,a nd enough about the science, to know it's pretty established as The Way Things Work. So, no idea who did post it, but as one of the top results for people that have it listed is ms_ntropy (waves hi at new friend, I got the email as I was looking at that page, freaky, much?), I reckon it was IB and she's just forgotten...

Flimsy Moral Standards

Well, I picked this up from snapesbabe, but it's always actually been true. It's also a basic tenet of Pastafarianism (venganza_fsm). I basically live by the least harm principle, and if it's not hurting anyone, why should it bother people what I do? There's a link here to the earlier reference to categories and the fairly open status of our relationship - I don't want to hurt her at all, but as she's actively trying to set me up with some of her friends, I don't think that's going to happen. But if she aid it bothered her? If she wanted to put limits on people, put certain people off limits? Fine; my standards are flimsy, yes, but hurting her breaks them. Of course, my main problem with pastafarianism is the pirate obsession; everyone knows ninjas are better than pirates.

Jaded Old Goths

Ah, yeah. This brings me back to my first few days on LJ. I set up my journal, posted to say "I'll not be using this much", and started my journey home from London. nadriel posted saying I'd finally succumbed, and by the time I'd got home I'd been added by many friends. You know how when you first start, the best thing to do is copy how your friends do stuff? Well, I saw this in a friends profile, and added it. He's since unfriended me in a fit of pique, but I've kept the interest, because it suite me anyway. There are now 4 people on LJ with this interest, him, me, Jennie and a friend of hers who may have come up with it independently. And I know that, compared to many on my friends list, 32 isn't that old, but when you go to university as a fresher aged 25, and most of oyur friends are 5+ years younger than you, it can feel like it at times. And I'm definitely a bit jaded. On the other hand, one of the people I met last Wednesday at a meet up thing thought I was younger than him. He's 22. I credit my youthful good looks on my absolute dread of getting skin cancer gothness. Honest.

Ah beejezus. I have something like 6 icons that would suit this post. Hmm...