• Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The way that Mesoamerica built their civilization in isolation from the old world is intensely fascinating (example: making farm land in the middle of lakes). The uniqueness in the way they extracted resources to what was considered valuable gives insight into the way humanity develops. The Mexica Empire/Valley of Mexico Triple Alliance/The Tenochca Empire/Aztec Empire is particularly interesting due it’s success being derived from an abundance of practices already in place rather than innovation (they revved up everything to an 11). Their approach to warfare emphasizing one on one combat was dramatic. Finally their methods of human sacrifice are some of the most metal things I’ve ever heard to the point where I find violence in fiction to be banal by comparison.

          • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Some topics would be chinampas, their use of obsidian for tool making, the evolution of the teosinte plant into multiple maize varietals, farm forests, dung canoes, maguey plant cultivation, lake ecosystem for food (from axolotls to lake skum tortillas), dual canal aqueducts, three sisters agriculture, and the methods of distribution via marketplace & the royal state.

              • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Without access to large livestock the inhabitants of Lake Texcoco needed a source of fertilizer. The only available option at scale was night soil (human dung). This led to a contender for the worst job in history, dung collector. Dung was collected at designated sites (public toilets) and transported via canoe to either farms or at large dumping (pun not intended) sites to be purchased at market.

          • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I suggest “Handbook to Life in the Aztec World” Manuel Aguilar-Moreno. It has a couple of outdated facts and has some misconceptions of how some of the religion worked (Ometeotl is a mistranslation and ongoing point of contention). Other than that it’s a good textbook for getting a solid foundation of understanding on the subject.

    • Pacmanlives@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      There is some good long form documentaries on YouTube about this topic and a lot of the old History Channel content out there before it went to hell in a hand basket

  • Destide@feddit.uk
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    2 days ago

    “It’s ya boi gobbledeznutz here’s my 17 hour video essay on the first diesel battle ship and how it lead to beanie babies.” Presented in PowerPoint maybe with a bit of total war if your lucky And you watch the whole thing

  • niktemadur@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Thankfully I’m avoiding most noisy university-sophomore politics in my content, whenever it pops up I quickly prune it out of my content feed.

    Currently, the four main subjects on my watch history are particle physics, cosmology, Gobekli Tepe (and everything related to those ancient Taş Tepeler people), Sumerian cuneiform writing (courtesy of the extraordinary Professor Irving Finkle).

    But to keep things on topic, I regularly have to block suggested channels and videos that start straying towards clickbait controversy, “Is Science Dying?” and “The Image NASA Doesn’t Want You To See!”, that sort of bullshit.

    The goddamned algorithm, and those that feed it, it’s mindlessly relentless constant mechanism, and I hate it, but there is so much treasure among the brushes and poison ivy one has to keep on hacking at, with the proverbial digital machete. There is so much legit gold in there.

    • DogWater@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Check out the history of the universe on YouTube if physics and cosmos is cool to you. I shill it anywhere I can because it’s so good.

      • niktemadur@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Oh man, I LOVE that channel, written by Paul M. Sutter aka Ask A Spaceman, I’ve seen every episode, some of them twice. And that goes as well as its’ sister channel, The Entire History Of Earth.

    • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      Actively managing your algorithm and feed is essential to keeping your sanity these days. There’s so much good content out there, but there’s even more garbage.

      • SatyrSack@lemmy.one
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        2 days ago

        Depends on how “popular” of a subject it is. There are plenty of subjects on Wikipedia that are not popular enough to have ever been published about in print.

        • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I guess that’s the other side of the coin. I’m a Mesoamerican history nerd and a lot of the articles on Wiki are sparse at best on the subject or outright misinformation (repeated misinformation I see almost verbatim copied and pasted). I see your point though, without an easy way of archiving information a lot of subjects would and have fallen through the cracks in humanity’s notice.

    • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I don’t know about all the information, but I’d rather read Wikipedia about a historical event than watch a YouTube about it

      • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org
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        1 day ago

        I know that Hebrew does not have that many lone vertical lines. It’s a joke, and I was expecting someone to follow up on it by making up a funny “transcript”.

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Probably watch youtube because the mass media has been captured by Capitalism and its political forces.

    • wjrii@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Don’t forget pop podcasts hosted by “storytellers” who read one primary source and one outdated secondary source before writing 20 hours of content, mostly about how the generals and kings got ready for the battles.