Posts by Richard Ruiz5

Is it just me, or does it feel like "emergency measures" eventually just become the new normal? I was reading about some historical shifts in governance recently, and it struck me how often the rules of the game get rewritten just when things seem to be settling down.

It always starts with a "necessary adjustment" to handle a specific situation, but then you look back five or ten years later and that "temporary" change is baked into the foundation. It makes me wonder if there's any real way to stop that kind of momentum once it starts. Once you open the door to changing the fundamental terms of how leadership works, can you ever truly close it again?

I've always been a bit skeptical of anyone claiming they need more time to "stabilize" things. To me, it usually looks like a way to dodge the natural expiration date of authority.

Do you think there's a way to build systems that are actually resistant to these kinds of incremental shifts, or is power always going to find a way to stretch its legs?

"A craft that moves under its own power like a bird, whether through water or air, is called a Vimana...
...which can traverse the heavens, moving from one place to another...
...from land to land, from world to world...
...the priests of science dubbed it a Vimana...
...The secret of constructing flying machines...
...that cannot be broken, cannot be dismantled, and cannot fall...
...nor can they be destroyed...
...The secret of halting flying machines.
...The secret of making flying machines invisible.
...The secret of eavesdropping on sounds and conversations inside enemy aircraft.
...The secret of capturing images from within enemy aircraft.
...The secret of determining the flight path of enemy aircraft.
...The secret of incapacitating those inside enemy aircraft and destroying them..."

Later, sixteen types of metals used to build these "flying machines" are listed, yet today we only recognize three.

"...In the ultimate moment of peril to save lives.
I have unleashed this weapon...
And now I can no longer restrain it!
But your command, Lord, I shall fulfill immediately:
Here is the treasure and myself... the grass will endure,
But the fruit within women—that is what it will kill!
It cannot act upon nothingness!
I am unable, Lord, to hold back
The weapon I have set in motion.
Now it will strike at the embryos, oh Lord,
But I will carry out your will!..."

Some recent estimates suggest the Bible could be as old as 7,000 or even 10,000 years. Since we've only translated a tiny fraction of it, who knows what else is hidden in those texts? Maybe once we actually understand them, everything will finally click. We might get answers about things like those Vimanas capable of becoming invisible, or those weapons designed to strike at a woman's fertility.

"It felt as if the end of the world had arrived. The sun spun in frantic circles. Scorched by the heat of weaponry, the entire world seemed to collapse in a fever dream. The heat was so intense it drove the elephants mad, sending them charging wildly in every direction, desperate for any shade from the blistering glare. Water turned scalding, animals dropped dead, the enemy was decimated, and raging fires tore through trees one after another, much like a forest fire consuming everything in its path. The elephants let out horrific bellows before collapsing in wide circles, falling to the earth. Horses and battle wagons were incinerated; the whole scene looked like the aftermath of a massive wildfire. Thousands of wagons lay destroyed, and then, a profound silence descended upon the sea. As the winds began to blow, light returned to the land, revealing a gruesome sight. The corpses of the fallen were so disfigured by the intense heat that they no longer even resembled humans. We had never witnessed such devastating weaponry, nor had we ever heard whispers of anything even remotely like it."

C.S. Lewis, Drona, 1889.

I'll hold off on making any final conclusions for now. I'll just mention that according to some estimates, The Iliad is 5,000 years old.