House Cambodia

So if we restrict the issue to the present day (ie 303AC) we have the rise of the Faith Militant, imprisoning, torturing, humiliating women for perceived sexual transgressions. Tolerant?

Yes, in their guise as Andal invaders with 7-point stars etched by knives on their foreheads, burning weirwoods and slaughtering Children. Once the Andal race had settled down and started to build civilization, the religion institutionalised. But it had/has its intolerant wing, currently to the fore in the form of the Faith Militant.

I'd like to add an important detail to the R'hllor religion in Essos. In another very lively thread, there's been debate about slavery. It's worth noting that as an Essosi religion, it fully accepts slavery. 'Melony, Lot 7' was purchased as a child slave to serve the religion. They buy temple prostitutes and soldiers. It's interesting that they know Daenerys has an agenda to end slavery, an institution they depend on as much as the cities, yet they decide to co-opt her. I think Dany is going to wise up to this and be faced with this question - 'Do I accept their much-needed support for conquering and holding Westeros, or do I stand up to their pro-slavery stance?' Given the religion is excessively intolerant and sees everything is such black-and-white terms, only one side can compromise. Stannis didn't believe in the religion at first (and maybe never has) but saw the personal benefits of going along with Melissandra's agenda. Will Dany do similar? I don't think she will, but it will be a key issue in the next book. Ultimately, I think the religion is deluded and dangerous. Tyrion worked that out and led fAegon away from hooking up with them. Dany will be much more involved until she sees through it. I'm not so sure unDead Jon will wise up to Melissandra.

I was building up to give a reasoned argument, but then you finished with a gratuitous point about 'gay-bashing', which I don't see as in any way relevant. If that's your pre-emptive strike to anyone disagreeing with you, so be it. I won't return to defend myself. I was going to say that "Blackfyre" isn't one person - it's an idea. There are plenty of examples in history of a young and innocent person being used by anti-establishment nefarious actors to further their cause. So long as the symbol of their cause lives, so does the idea.

That's not how it works, astrophysically speaking. Debris could hit the Earth/Planetos and cause volcanic activity that leads to volcanic ash blocking out sunlight for years. I'm quite persuaded by David Lightbringers hypothesis that an asteroid hit the moon or maybe even shattered a second moon (far less likely in my opinion), causing debris to hit the planet leading to all sorts of devastation such as the Breaking of the Arms, the fall of Essosian kingdoms and fragments of the asteroid in the form of oily black stone falling here and there. This led to the rise of the Bloodstone Emperor's reign. I do agree that over thousands of years of oral tradition timelines and details have become hopelessly muddled, and of course each local pre-scientific society centred the myth on themselves and made assumptions such as meteorites hurtling towards the planet were 'dragons' and something something sun, since dragons breathe fire and it sort of made sense. A kind of analogy is the global spread of universal flood myths from distant prehistoric times.

Jeez, the jam United have had this season

Casemiro showing the kids the way

4-3 last min ET. United have F***ed it!!! Oh FFS. What does the Forest chairman think about that????

We have a game! (for 15 minutes)

I don't think I've ever used a washing machine.

It's taken the better part of a week, but I've just finished Duncan Hubber's Notes from the Citadel. https://www.amazon.com/Notes-Citadel-Philosophy-Psychology-Song-ebook/dp/B0CQRG5QWP The author has a YouTube channel that gets virtually no clicks, and had a podcast presence on her many years ago. I'm very pleasantly impressed by both his erudition and accessibility in presenting deeper insights into ASOIAF.

Can't say that victory was deserved, but Chelsea only have themselves to blame. Spunk a billion quid and not buy a decent striker

City shocking at the back. Chelsea gonna rue missing all those chances.

Can't help thinking how when Boehly took over and went on his big dick rampage, Saudi Arabia came along and dug them out of a HUGE hole in massively overpaying for players they couldn't otherwise get rid of. And here they are, still effing up the finances!

^ Today I learned that the city of Amsterdam has only ONE professional football club

Quite a few YouTube videos came out when they news broke Dunk & Egg TV Series: BOTH LEAD ROLES OFFICIALLY CAST!!! (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms)

Forgot about Villa. Let's get behind them!

A different flavour of 'badass' here, but at the end of the 'story so far', Cercei has defaulted on payments to the Iron Bank with dire consequences in order to divert funds into building a 'king great fleet of ships. The fleet has been built, just in time. And where is it? Aurane Waters has only gone and nicked it!

So who had West Ham as Britain's last remaining side in Europe on their bingo card? Shame to see all the clubs crash out, but at the same time, it salves that queasy feeling when seeing the Premier League with all its filthy lucre dominating every competition.

City completely dominating.... um, as they were last year.

Yes. In the book, the aliens are called 'Trisolarans', i.e. 'three-suns'. Cixin Liu does specifically say they hail from the Alpha Centauri solar system.

Us Fantasy Premier League football players love to rage about 'Peptation', but man, he has the art of resting key players at the right times fine-tuned like no other.

Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Jaime turns out to be the valonqar and kills her? Maybe it's mutual destruction or something. It would solidify Jaime's new feelings (or lack of feelings) for Cersei, but why would Sybell randomly give a prophecy to Jaime? My point is, it would be a huge plot twist. Yes, Cercei has been paranoid about the 'younger brother' killing her since childhood. Wouldn't it be tasty if Jamie were to come to believe that she planned to murder him?! It wouldn't be random if Jamie is leading a rescue team that ends up (unintentionally) killing Jayne. With Jayne being her daughter-in-law, possibly carrying her grandchild, Stoneheart might conceivably (!) send Jamie to rescue her.

I'd say the most significant example we've had so far is Lady Stoneheart. Jon won't be exactly like her as his mind wasn't filled with thoughts of hatred and vengeance at the moment of death, but he still has to be very different from pre-dead Jon. The show's depiction of resurrected Jon was farcical, with him being exactly the same pre-dead and post-dead.

Maybe, maybe not. I likened the situation to Japanese Zen and ninjas. But many religions have their non-violent and violent wings, like the Faith of the Seven and the Faith Militant -- in real-world analogies, monastic branches of the Catholic Church in conjunction with the 'monastic order' of the Knights Templar.