General nerd, programmer and sci-fi reader and writer. Neurodivergent, ADHD.
She/her.
Despite that, its depiction of an ignorant society unaware of the technology supporting it was incredibly prophetic. If we ignore the “dumb people reproducing” bit, we can see it as a warning about how an uneducated society is detrimental for everyone.
I mean, we have flat earthers, for fuck’s sake.
More interesting is the origins of that phrase to designate prostitution.
Fortunately, I found an article in worldhistories.net, that shows the first documented time of this phrase. The person who coined the phrase was none other than Ruyard Kipling (“The Jungle Book”):
Lalun is a member of the most ancient profession in the world. Lilith was her very-great-grandmamma, and that was before the days of Eve as every one knows. In the West, people say rude things about Lalun’s profession, and write lectures about it, and distribute the lectures to young persons in order that Morality may be preserved. In the East where the profession is hereditary, descending from mother to daughter, nobody writes lectures or takes any notice, and that is a distinct proof of the inability of the East to manage its own affairs.
- On the City Wall, in In Black and White (Allahabad: A. H. Wheeler & Co., 1889), page 78
If you want to know about actual prostitution, we should go far back to ancient Mesopotamian texts.
According to “The Epic of Gilgamesh” (the most ancient epic in the world), the gods created a savage man, Enkidu, who lived in harmony with the animals in the woods. Gilgamesh wants to tame Enkidu, and is told to bring a “harimtu” (a “sacred prostitute”) to him.
and he [Enkidu] possessed her ripeness. She was not bashful as she welcomed his ardor. She laid aside her cloth and he rested upon her. She treated him, the savage, to a woman’s task, as his love was drawn unto her.”
Later, as he regrets joining civilization, Enkidu curses the harimtu:
“I will curse you with a great curse… you shall not build a house for your debauch you shall not enter the tavern of girls…. May waste places be your couch, May the shadow of the town-wall be your stand May thorn and bramble skin your feet May drunkard and toper (ed note: someone who drinks alcohol to excess) alike slap your cheek.”
Researcher Gerda Lerner, in her article “The Origin of Prostitution in Ancient Mesoportamia” (Signs, 1986, pp. 245-6), says:
The nature of this curse tells us that the harimtu who mated with Enkidu lived an easier and better life than the harlot who has her stand at the town wall and is abused by her drunken customers.
This would confirm the distinction we made earlier between the women engaged in various forms of sacral sexual service and commercial prostitutes. Such a distinction was more likely to have existed in the earlier period than later.”
So yes, there were prostitutes in ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization.
EDIT: typo
This is the reason why IT admins usually disable the installation of automatic updates on the workplace (so THEY can decide which updates to install and which ones to skip).
Then one day Microsoft wanted to be an asshole and decided to lie and mark an anti piracy phone-home update as a SECURITY update, breaking thousands of systems in one single night. Admins were forced to block Microsoft’s own IP addresses just to prevent company’s assets from breaking unexpectedly.
No wonder Microsoft is so hated worldwide.
The dots and lines suddenly forming the ohno face was genuinely unexpected.
Well played 😁
By any chance, were the clamps filled with styrofoam or something? 😁 (Tofu-dreg joke)
Dear god, I hated that book so much. It’s like a self insert fic where self-entitled assholes can get a power high, and the student’s name was Albert Einstein.
At this point, I’d like to ask: If a foreign company threatens democracy in a country, is it legal for the executive to ban business with that company?
No? Then that doesn’t make sense. It’s a FOREIGN company, the government should have the right to do whatever it needs to protect its citizens in that regard.
Proof that neither following the law nor traditional morality are being appreciated by today’s youth.
The reason for that should be obvious.
deleted by creator
Translation: “Workers aren’t happy with their pay and we keep refusing to give them a raise despite noticing a ceiling in their productivity.”
PAY. THEM. MORE.
Labor isn’t free, you cheapskate bastards.
It’s worse because the more bored you get, the more stimming you need. You need to stand up, move around, focus on anything that is NOT the conversation because it’s driving you insane and you NEED to get out. If at least you could fidget with anything but nope! It’s bad manners. It’s even worse if you’re sandwiched between two guests and you need to SIT. STILL.
And then I end up stimming with my foot anyway until a close relative nudges me hard to stop doing whatever I’m doing because it’s “not polite”.
Fuck that shit. Since then I don’t go to family meetings anymore, let them say anything but unless I’m really getting something worth it in return, I’m not. Doing. That. Anymore. Fuck that shit, sue me.
says CEO
Since when do CEOs do things because they’re actually useful and not because they want to cut costs at the expense of the workers and even the public?
In this case I think the bullshit wasn’t his, but his parents’.
Rich people never stop telling their kids that the poor are poor out of their own fault.
This guy did a great sacrifice trying to show the world proof of his beliefs, and learned valuable lessons in the process while unlearning the bullshit he was taught.
If I ever had to choose a rich person to become a politician, I’d pick this guy. After all, he now knows what being poor really means.
Oh no, I know where this story leads…
There’s a youtube clip where a cat looked at the mirror and started touching its own ears the moment it saw them in the mirror.
The fact that at least some cats are intelligent enough to recognize themselves in a mirror is a wonderful thing.
Holy shit, Pennywise was Tim Curry? 🤯
Today:
I’m excited to announce that Beeper has been acquired by Automattic.
Tomorrow:
We’re excited to announce that Automattic has been acquired by (Insert megacorp here).
Later:
Beeper personnel laid off; project discontinued
Just you wait.
The fact that we’re reading and commenting about it on Lemmy is satisfying, despite the sadness of the situation. It’s like watching the city burn after you moved away and saying “wow, I guess I really took the right choice by leaving.”
“Let’s treat our workers like slaves or else the entire economy will suffer” is a far worse take IMHO.
Thanks!