Today I Learned:
1) Punic Wars update: Turns out the Fabian strategy didn't last particularly long, at least not initially. Relatively early in the war, Fabius Maximus voluntarily stepped down from Dictatorship (part of the honor of receiving the post was that it meant the government trusted you to hand back your power after some term), and pretty quickly after that one of the Consuls* in charge of the military decided to attack Hannibal with an army twice the size of Hannibal's. That battle was the Battle of Cannae, and it was a disaster. Something like 70,000 Roman soldiers were captured or killed (mostly killed). For a time after that battle, it looked very likely that Rome would fall, but Hannibal couldn't close out the war. After that, the Romans went back to the Fabian strategy, which over the course of the next decade would wear Hannibal down and lead to a Roman victory.
*The Romans had this interesting system where if two Consuls were present in the same army, they would alternate leadership day-by-day. So actually, one Consul elected to *not* attack Hannibal, and the next day the other one attacked. The first Consul died in the ensuing battle.
2) ...about the artist Simon Stalenhag. I absolutely love this art -- I would not mind living in that future. Check him out at http://tinyurl.com/ouglymn.
3) Dill weed, rice seasoning (nori komi furikake, to be exact), and rice wine vinegar is an exceptionally efficient way to make rice tasty.
No comments:
Post a Comment