"Synfulle Wrecche"

But while Central America absolutely had conquering empires, particularly the Aztecs, North American tribes almost universally vehemently reject any notion that they have anything in common with Western imperialism, so seeing all sorts of "Empires" and "Supremacies" on this map ain't great.

Also a lot of the names on here were given by Europeans - "Iroquois" is a French name. The peoples who actually lived there called themselves Haudenosaunee. There's actually a really cool historical map showing how then modern New York would have been subdivided:

On top of that, the stark borders on the map are also a Western invention. Not only should there be more tribes represented, but there should be more blurring and fuzziness between them. Here's an example:

Fuck that first map. Have this one instead.

to “are you sure that’s a cat”

el wiwi

in this same thread, olewheat asked about another silver piece; uncle_vic explained that blades were not made from silver, because it'd be too soft - often carbon steel would be silver plated, and eventually get pitted.

after a volley of questions, several users asked if they could contact uncle_vic directly. vic responded, very kindly:

I am always, always charmed by a clearly veteran hobbyist helping out new people on a forum, and i wanted to see what else uncle_vic posted, what other nuggets about his life i could learn, and it turns out he was a pillar of the community:

He joined in 2006, when the website was only 2 months old, and throughout the next 6 years, he helped many identify their silver pieces, and welcomed them all with: "Hi there and thanks for joining us", and always ended with a "Regards, Uncle Vic"

He helped so often, he'd post on the social thread to let people know he'd be gone without internet access for an extended period of time!

These often didn't get many interactions, but he did so anyway, like a journal made public: one about how a hurricane was reaching him in Baton Rouge; several about his fishing trips, like this one in 2011:

A year later, he wrote a similar vacation post, which became his final topic on the forum, titled: "Gone fishin'".

In May 2012, 3 months later, a newer user asked Vic what type of fishing he liked.

Vic replied: (content warning for cancer)

This was Uncle Vic's last post on the silver-collecter.com forums. Unflinchingly honest, and this time, instead of his usual "Regards", he ended with "Keep the Faith".

According to the obituary posted in the same thread, he passed away the next day, at his camp on the Tickfaw river -- well known for fishing.

--

This isn't the first time I've come across kind, dedicated forum users, usually knowledgeable retirees, who suddenly stop posting; it certainly won't be the last. But everytime I fall in love with them, and in turn, with humanity even more, to see what we leave behind.

A retired Cajun lawyer from Baton Rouge found a silver collecting forum from a hobbyist magazine in 2006, and decided to spend the next 6 years, up to his dying day, sharing his life, his love, and his knowledge with strangers.

Thank you, Uncle Vic, for the forum users you helped; thank you for the countless, anonymous users who found your posts through search engines like me.

This was one of only 5 fertile eggs laid on the Whenua Hou island population in the 2014 breeding season and it got crushed by its mother on accident. It was mended with glue and tape and incubated by the rangers until hatching.

At 150 days old kakapo chicks are officially added to the population total and given a unique name, until then they are given their mother’s name and a number for birth order laid in the clutch. This chick was known as Lisa-one before officially being given the name Ruapuke by local indigenous Ngai Tahu people.Here he is grown up: