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Post by eeyoresmum on Nov 5, 2024 9:02:08 GMT
... that Roman gladiators were proper short arses.
Gladiators were usually between 20 and 35 years old. Remember the average life for a man in the Ancient Rome's times was about 40…
Even the average height was shorter than today's Romans: around 5'5”!
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Post by tetsabb on Nov 5, 2024 10:44:37 GMT
Prior to the Jodi Taylor Convention last year, I was pondering what to wear fir a fancy dress party. I threatened them with the prospect of me coming as an Ancient Greek Athlete...
This has become a recurring running joke in our circles.
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Post by celebaelin on Nov 5, 2024 10:57:40 GMT
... that Roman gladiators were proper short arses. Gladiators were usually between 20 and 35 years old. Remember the average life for a man in the Ancient Rome's times was about 40… Even the average height was shorter than today's Romans: around 5'5”! That's usually attributed to a poorer/less varied diet than would be experienced by the common folk in rural areas; I've never read any specifics on that but I've heard the suggestion several times. |
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Post by RLDavies on Nov 5, 2024 12:17:41 GMT
Remember the average life for a man in the Ancient Rome's times was about 40… Don't confuse life expectancy at birth for average age at death. For virtually all of human history, the normal infant mortality rate was staggering. This drove the expectancy-at-birth way down, since a newborn realistically was likely to die. But if you made it past five years old, you had pretty good odds of making it into your 60s or 70s. Even in medieval times, the various craft guilds had rules about allowing members to retire on a pension around the age of 60 to 65. Which implies that there were enough pensioners to make it worth setting official procedures. |
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Post by suze on Nov 5, 2024 18:22:06 GMT
There has been quite a lot of research into the demographics of Classical Roman society. The leading expert in the field is Professor Bruce Frier, an American who has written books and papers on exciting topics like Roman contract law and Roman inheritance tax (it was introduced by Augustus in ~6 AD).
There is a known annuity table for Classical Rome! Unfortunately, no one is completely sure what the numbers on it mean, and there have been suggestions that it applied only to slaves, whose life expectancy was probably lower than that of free men. One of the few perks of slavehood was that they did get to retire on pension if they lived long enough, and there was a primitive pensions industry enabling their masters to fund that retirement in advance.
Professor Frier came to the unsurprising conclusion that such demographic data as was collected in Classical Rome wasn't really very accurate, but that lifespans probably bore comparison with India of ~1900. If you got as far as the age of 10 you had about an even chance of getting to the age of 50, and there was a long tail above that. Living to be 100 was a rare thing, but by no means completely unknown.
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Post by crissdee on Nov 6, 2024 19:44:22 GMT
Three things I have learned today, two things of little significance, and one thing that has given me much perturbation... 3) Idly reminiscing about my archery career, I realised I had utterly forgotten the name of the club that was blessed by SWSOIWLTB's membership. A swift search online found me on their website, where I found myself looking at her telephone number and email address. An email has been despatched. Now all I have to do is stop my brain rushing ahead and thinking about things that may not happen..... Like i said, I'm no good at this stuff... |
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Post by tetsabb on Nov 7, 2024 9:55:04 GMT
"The course of true love never did run smooth" A Midsummer Night's Dream.
I had to check the source, and found it is said by Lysander to Hermia. Naturally, I youlgrove the second name...
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Post by eeyoresmum on Nov 7, 2024 20:58:49 GMT
TIL that there is a tiny community called 'Forrest', somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Australia. Its sole reason for existing is the maintenance of the adjacent landing strip, just in case a plane needs to execute an emergency landing. The few houses there all keep their guest rooms spic 'n span for such event, when there might be need for a spare bed (if there are survivors). I have never seen a place like that, nor people who live their lives waiting for something that will most likely not happen. It's almost religious. ;-) Spectacular panorama, mind. Reminds me of spaghetti westerns. Just watch this video. vimeo.com/1025757453 |
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Bondee
KWC
Bearer of Ye olde Arcane Dobbynge Sticke.
Posts: 384
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Post by Bondee on Nov 8, 2024 15:21:55 GMT
The shot at about 4:30 of the street with the lights and mist. I could happily live in a place like that, away from the rest of the human race.
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Post by jenny on Nov 8, 2024 19:15:06 GMT
The shot at about 4:30 of the street with the lights and mist. I could happily live in a place like that, away from the rest of the human race. It would drive me nuts in short order. I have a friend who lives on Kaua'i, so a couple of thousand miles away from the mainland. Kaua'i is about 35 miles from end to end, and has essentially one main road around its southern shore since the northern shore is the Napali coast and the plateau behind it, with the Waimea canyon between it and the rest of the island, all of which has featured in many movies as a jungle backdrop. She had a job on Honolulu for a few years so flew and stayed there during the week and went home at the weekend. I visited her and we had a lovely visit, and the island is beautiful, but I don't think I could stay there. |
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Post by celebaelin on Nov 10, 2024 1:23:13 GMT
TIL that when you Google Pale Copper Hair you get a bit shy of 3 pages FULL of flaming redheads and essentially nothing else.
How can porn searches be that much more specific (not that I know anything about them) and generate generally relevant results and yet a search term so innocuous be, on balance, entirely unrewarding in the innocuous specifics?
The Internet is for Porn
So old. So funny.
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Bondee
KWC
Bearer of Ye olde Arcane Dobbynge Sticke.
Posts: 384
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Post by Bondee on Nov 10, 2024 15:45:43 GMT
TIL that when you Google Pale Copper Hair you get a bit shy of 3 pages FULL of flaming redheads and essentially nothing else.
I'm going to google.com. I may be some time. |
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Post by crissdee on Nov 10, 2024 19:07:03 GMT
We won't wait up mate, key's under the flowerpot as usual....
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