From: ldo@nz.invalid   
      
   On Wed, 14 Jan 2026 15:51:53 -0800, Bobbie Sellers wrote:   
      
   > Empires of various sorts and durations constitute a lot of human   
   > history right back into prehistory.   
      
   Reading a book on the early history of Mesopotamia just made me sad.   
   The first city-states in the world, the beginnings of civilization,   
   and they spent centuries warring against each other. Time after time,   
   a strong king would arise who unified a bunch of them into something   
   resembling the beginnings of empire and some kind of peace within its   
   borders, only for it to fall to bits again after his death, and   
   everybody to go back to warring against each other again.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)