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A book-keeping / back-end type of notification: There won’t be any more automated tweets for new posts.
We decided to disconnect the Co-Geeking Twitter account from WordPress. (To be specific, WordPress had to remove the automatic-posts-to-Twitter functionality due to Twitter changing their API on short notice.)
You can keep checking manually, or subscribe to be notified of new posts.
Image: Computer Technician, detail of a Scandinavia and the World comic by Humon
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Ukraine has been at war for 105 days now. That’s 15 long, grueling weeks. (Also the length of Finland’s Winter War with the USSR, which is why the number is significant to me.)
Russia’s craven attack (despite the incompetence it seems to have been implemented with) did change the world, albeit a bit differently than intended. Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia have submitted their applications to join the EU.* There’s an unprecedented feeling and showing of solidarity towards Ukraine in Europe. Russia—and especially their petty, piddling thing of a presidential figure—is becoming something of a pariah at least in the Euro-American world. Furthermore, Finland and Sweden are joining NATO, ditching their long-cherished military independence.**
That’s in the first three months. Much like the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, it’s felt three times as long. Unfortunately, I’m afraid this conflict will be a matter of years. Sigh.
World, any time you want to return to duller times is okay by me.
*) Getting even a membership candidate status isn’t simple, though, so this isn’t happening soon.
**) And thanks to Turkey’s pretentions of power-playing, this isn’t going to be as much of an open-and-shut case as we thought, either. Ohwell. I do believe Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership will happen eventually.
Image: Helsinki City Hall lit in blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine by the city of Helsinki on Twitter
When the suckage just sucks too much.
Russia has attacked Ukraine, and I’m not okay.
Russia’s unprovoked attack is not okay. The Russian president’s mumbo jumbo about annexation of historical areas is exactly that. Neither the Russian Empire nor Soviet Union exist anymore. If we go down that path, we might as well cry out for the restoration of the Roman Empire, other empires, or basically any polities for “historical” “reasons”.
As a Finn, I am not intellectually okay with this.
Nor do I feel okay.
My age group has grown up in peace, but we have grandparents who lived through our two modern wars with Russia, and you can bet your pants some of our parents carry some inherited wounds. I have a friend, in fact, who grew up in the east near the Russian border. People there had a habit of saying “When the Russians come, [blah blah blah]”. Not if—when.
We remember.
The responsibility for this heinous act lies with Russia, and Russia alone.
Ukraine may be a lot bigger than Finland, but I wish them every ounce of dedication, not to mention willfulness and obstinancy I can muster.
I’m not okay. But I will be better. In the meanwhile, I’ve made donations, and I’m following the situation.
Images: Map of the Mongol empire by Arienne King via World History Encyclopedia (CC BY-NC -SA 4.0). Map of not Russia via Jon Cooper on Twitter.
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It’s been a tough two years, and even now no-one can say with certainty that we’ve seen the end of the pandemic. I do hope it’s close, though.
Erik and I have settled into our new home. However, as we are still wrangling some fairly laborious paperwork, we’re scaling back our writing here at Co-Geeking after the new year. (We’ll see how many braincells are going to lose their will to live after dealing with international taxes, urgh…)
In the meanwhile: Merry Everything! We hope your end-of-the-year celebrations bring you joy, whichever shape it may take. See you again in 2022!
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This is our thousand-and-first post on Co-Geeking! Goodness, did any of us expect to get here?
We started off six years ago in the summer of 2015 with some ideas of what we wanted to write about. The blog has grown and developed since then as we sometimes dig into big projects together and other times just share whatever comes to mind.
Here are the most popular posts we’ve done in all that time:
Thanks for being with us, everyone. More to come!
Eppu and Erik
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You may have noticed that we’ve been posting less often recently. Also, usually in the beginning of June we write a blog anniversary post, but this obviously isn’t one. This year, we just don’t have the requisite spoons, because we’re moving. Not just houses. Not just states. Not just countries. Continents.
Gosh, even saying that out loud wearies me out. A trans-Atlantic move is challenging at the best of times, never mind during a pandemic.
If you have well-wishes to spare, we’d appreciate it if you sent one our way. Please and thank you.
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I am pleased to announce that my second book, The Greco-Persian Wars: A Short History with Documents, is coming out in just a few days. This book tells the story of the wars between Greeks and the Persian Empire in the early fifth century BCE through translations of ancient documents.
While the wars of the early fifth century in Greece dominate modern histories of Greco-Persian interaction, they were only part of a larger history in which the main actors were not Greeks but Persians, and whose events played out not simply in Greece but across the eastern Mediterranean. Looking at a broader history allows us to put the Greco-Persian Wars into a more meaningful context. The story of Persia’s engagement in Greece is not one of East-West cultural clashes or Greek ascendancy, but of Persia’s success in adapting to the challenges of an unstable, frequently violent frontier region, and that is the history my book explores.
This book features over eighty-five separate selections translated from Greek, Old Persian, Elamite, Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian, and Lycian, each with contextual notes. They are accompanied by a short historical introduction, a glossary, a chronology, maps, and a select bibliography.
Here is a selection from one of the documents. In this text, set some hundred years after the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea, we see how complicated relations between Greeks and Persians remained. This text is a useful reminder that we have to think not of relations between Greece and Persia but between Greeks and Persians. On both sides, individuals had their own motivations and interests that could lead to unexpected alliances and tricky rivalries.
* * *
Friendship and its complications
Xenophon, Hellenica 4.1.31-39
Relationships of xenia, or guest-friendship were a traditional way in which Greek aristocrats formed personal relationships across the boundaries of the polis. Similar relationships were also extended to Persians who dealt with the Greek frontier. While these relationships could be channels for diplomacy and political negotiation, they could also create conflicting loyalties. The exchange between the Spartan king Agesilaus—at that time ravaging the Persian-held territories in Ionia—and the satrap Pharnabazus in 395 or 394 BCE shows both the potentials of xenia and its dangers.
First they greeted each other and Pharnabazus held out his right hand. Agesilaus clasped it. Then Pharnabazus spoke first, since he was the elder.
“Aegsilaus, and you other Spartans here,” he said, “I became your friend and ally when you were fighting the Athenians. Not only did I support your fleet with money, but I myself fought alongside you on horseback and we drove your enemies into the sea together. You cannot accuse me of ever having played you false, like Tissaphernes. Yet despite this, you have now left my land in such a state that I cannot even feed myself, unless I gather up the scraps you leave behind like an animal. All the beautiful houses and woods full of trees and beasts that my father left me, which I used to enjoy so much, I now see either cut down or burned up. Well, if I don’t know what is righteous and just, you tell me how these are the acts of men who know how to repay favors.”
The thirty Spartans were ashamed and said nothing, but then after a time Agesilaus spoke up.
“Pharanbazus,” he said, “I think you understand that in the Greek cities, people also become guest-friends to one another. But when their cities go to war, such people fight on behalf of their homelands against their friends, and even kill them, if it should so happen. In the same way, since we are now at war with your king, we are compelled to treat everything of his as enemy territory. However, we would think it the best thing in the world to become your friends. Now, if it were a matter of throwing off the king to be ruled by us instead, I certainly would not advise it, but if you side with us now you will have the chance to flourish without having any master or humbling yourself to anyone. I think freedom is, after all, worth any amount of money. Even so, we are not urging that you should be free and poor. Rather, by taking us as your allies, you will increase your own power, not the king’s, and by subduing those who are now your fellow slaves you will make them your own subjects. You will become both free and rich—what else could you need to have perfect happiness?”
“In that case,” said Pharnabazus, “shall I tell you plainly what I will do?”
“That would be a good idea,” said Agesilaus.
“Well then,” he said, “if the king sends another general here and makes me subordinate to him, I will gladly become your friend and ally. On the other hand, if he gives the command to me, ambition is such a powerful force that I will fight you to the best of my ability.”
When he heard these words, Agesilaus grasped Pharnabazus’ hand and said:
“My dear friend, I hope you will be our ally! But know this: I will leave your territory now as quickly as I can, and in the future, even if the war continues, we will leave you and your land alone as long as we have other foes to fight.”
That was the end of the meeting, and Pharnabazus mounted up and rode away, but his son Parapita, a fine young man, stayed behind. He ran up to Agesilaus and said:
“Agesilaus, I make you my guest-friend.”
“For my part, I accept,” Agesilaus replied.
“Remember it,” said Parapita. He at once gave the beautiful javelin he was carrying to Agesilaus. In return, Agesilaus took a splendid decoration from the horse his secretary Idaeus was riding and gave it to Parapita. Then the young man leapt upon his horse and followed after his father.
* * *
If you’ve found some of my previous posts about Persians, life in the Persian Empire, and the complicated relationships between Persians and Greeks interesting, you may enjoy The Greco-Persian Wars.
The Greco-Persian Wars: A Short History with Documents comes out February 24th from Hackett Publishing.
Hardcover: $49 / Paperback: $18 / e-book versions available
You can pre-order directly from Hackett or on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or from your local bookseller.
Image: Greco-Persian Wars paperback cover by Hackett Publishing
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Back in the 1990s, in my high school and college days, I used to be into Magic: The Gathering, the granddaddy of trading card games. I’ve dabbled a little since then, but it’s twenty years since I played the game with any seriousness. I really enjoyed the game, especially the challenge of coming up with interesting decks (I was what they used to call a “Johnny” player), but it isn’t part of my life any more, so I’ve decided its time to get rid of my collection.
After doing a little research on ways of selling Magic cards (and thinking about which ones are viable in the midst of a pandemic), I decided to list my cards on Cardsphere, a website created by and for Magic fans.
So far, I’ve only sold a handful of cards, but I keep my eye on the offers and little by little I’m working the collection down. I was never much into the collecting aspect of the game, so I don’t have many of the high-value cards (although I do have a couple of old dual lands that I’m hoping to sell for a few hundred dollars apiece). Most of what I’ve sold so far has gone for pocket change, and I know I’m losing money on postage on some transactions. Still, it is a pleasure to know that these cards I no longer have any use for are going to make someone else happy.
The process of sorting, organizing, listing, and sending off my cards has meant I’ve spent more time looking at my collection in the past few months than I did in the previous couple of decades, and in a way that has been good for me. It’s nice to be reminded of happy days long ago and to say a proper goodbye to the old dears.
My card inventory is visible here, if anyone wants to check out what I have to offer.
Image by Erik Jensen
Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.
With this awesome geeky Perler bead wreath, I wish our U.S. readers as restful and relaxing a Thanksgiving as possible under the circumstances.
May the writers’ room have an exceedingly boring 2020 season ender in store for all of us. The world sure could use a respite from the coronavirus.
Stay safe!
Image and tutorial by Aki at Minted Strawberry
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It’s been five years since we started blogging together here at Co-Geeking, and it’s safe to say those are five years we’ll never forget. Join us for a little look back at our highlights from the past year.
Our favorite posts
Erik:
The post I have most enjoyed writing in the past year is The Past is Haunted, a Halloween rumination from last October about how we often connect the sense of hauntedness and the supernatural with the traces of earlier people’s lives, even to the point of sometimes deliberately invoking that sense in artificial ways. It was fun to take the spookiness of the season and think historically about it.
Eppu:
Aah, a tough one, but I’d have to say the post on the reconstructed Staffordshire Helmet. That (plus the March 2020 post on the Essex burial chamber) were little trips to the past for me, since they reminded me of my master’s studies in Finland. Plus, the helmet and the model wearing it make such an amazing photo!
Our favorite geeky thing that happened in the past year
Eppu:
The release of the Captain Marvel movie! Obviously, I’m not superpowered in any way (well, perhaps, if I’m very, very, VERY lucky I may be) but the tenacity and persistence that Carol Danvers displays speaks to me a lot. (In Finland, we call the quality sisu, and it’s highly appreciated.) It was a great screen adaptation of a supe origin story. Plus, every scene between Danvers and Fury keeps getting better and better with every viewing; Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson play together so well it’s a joy to watch.
Erik:
This is a hard one for me to answer. A lot of the interesting things happening in geekdom right now are on tv (and even more so now that the novel coronavirus is keeping so many of us at home), but the two of us are always late to those parties because we don’t have cable or any streaming services, so we mostly have to wait to buy things on dvd or get them from the library. We’re old-fashioned like that. So, while we are aware of the existence of things like young Yoda and old Picard, we haven’t actually seen them yet.
So my answer is a little different this year. Not long ago I dug out my old collection of Magic: The Gathering cards. I haven’t played in years, and I decided it was finally time to get rid of them. Going through them all brought back so many memories of playing with my friends. I loved to build decks around weird cards or bizarre ideas and see if I could make them work. Often they just flopped in play, but I still had so much fun tinkering around with mechanics and combinations. Those days are behind me now, but I cherish the memories.
On another note, is anyone in the market for an old collection of nothing-special Magic cards?
We look forward to another year with you all.
Image: Holy hand grenade from Monty Python and the Holy Grail via tenor.com
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