Thanks to a hot tip from /u/Miles_Sine_Castrum, I got to sail and row a replica Viking ship!

History is the best, and genuine public support for historical education and experience is so phenomenal to see in action.

Maybe it's time I actually learned something about the Norse...

Here's a selection of random quotes from South Sulawesi.

Traditional oath of loyalty sworn to the ruler:

Note, my lord!

May I be greatly pardoned, my lord, in front of your magnificence, in the presence of your loftiness, beside your splendor.

You are the wind, my lord, and we are the leaves.

You are the water, my lord, and we are the floating pieces.

You are the needle, my lord, and we are the sewed thread.

If later it is not as it is in my oath before you, plant a forked stick on my grave, on my footsteps. Change my name, curse my descendants.

Tell the children, tell those yet unborn, [this is what happens to] a person who speaks so and then does not fulfil his words.

There's a remarkably different version of this oath featuring the same elements but with a twist.

Only the gods can take our [the people's] lives, and only the gods can put you [the king] to death. You order and we obey, but when our hands carry a load our shoulders will not take any, and if our shoulders are already burdened our hands will no longer carry a load.

You are the wind and we are the leaves of tree, but you can shake down only the dry and withered leaves.

You are water, and we are a floating trunk in the stream, but only a flood is able to carry it away.

Bugis aphorism:

There are four good things which are really good: giving your love to people who never gave theirs to you; giving without being asked for and without awaiting thanks; helping people in difficulty as much as possible; having your sound advice reach their heart of hearts.

Makassar poem extolling the virtues of one kingdom:

Makkaratusanga tau-mate niajina

Makkapuloanga soleng nisambayanginna

Nitaika bulaeng passidakkana.

--

Where for hundreds of dead the Qur'an is recited,

Where for scores of the dead the prayers are given,

Where gold is weighed out intended for pious gifts.

Another Makassar poem describing a powerful ruler:

Taniengkaq bulaenna,

Tanipalappaq karoaqna,

Tanibilanga taunna,

Taniangga pannyoronna.

--

Whose gold cannot be lifted,

Whose karoaq cloth cannot be folded,

Whose people are countless,

Whose payments are unlimited.

I've been wanting to ask us for a while but I was worried it was a little too Meta for the strict rules of this sub.

What are historians doing right now to record current events that will someday become history? For example are there historians going around Syria right now trying to find primary sources to document what will one day become the history of the Syrian Civil War?

The Perfumed Skull blog just took a good look at Theosophical strains and other Orientalisms in Twin Peaks .

Gets pretty deep into what "Dukpa" really means, where the Black and White Lodges come from, all that. Also plunges deep into Western Occultism, of course (everyone from Aleister Crowley to Kenneth Grant falls into the net).

Well worth a read if you want to get into some of the less obvious history informing the show.

was there a tradition in the 19th century of using an in-law's last name as your child's middle name? this happens on both sides of my family, through several generations. one side were historically quakers although by the late 1800s i don't think most of them were affiliated any more.

e.g. - johnson family - jane johnson marries tom taylor. jane's brother bob johnson has a kid and names him bill taylor johnson. jane's sister rebecca marries tom higgins. jane has a daughter and names her samantha higgins taylor.

I posted this question in r/badhistory too:

So is John Keegan a "good" historian? I've tried to read two of his books now (the first world war and intelligence in war) and I've found them rather unsatisfying. Am I just not reading the right books by him or something?

Why do we look different from eachother? (I.e europeans and asians)

I know he's technically not an actual historian, but I would encourage people to check out Churchill's six part memoir on the Second World War - intriguing work with amazing language.

Well, HBO's Rome pretty much dashed my hopes of seeing a historically accurate Ptolemaic Egypt/Cleopatra on screen but naive soul that I am, the prospect of an adaptation being produced by the creative minds behind Black Sails excites me. Will it just be more asps, drugs and absurd headdresses or is this going to at least try at getting it right(er)?

[sighs] I think it is too soon to tell, but either way I will probably wind up in /r/badhistory, laughing my through depressing levels of cringe. Again.

We're launching a new Flair Drive today, with a series of planned Floating Features over the next month. Check out this thread for more info!