Lost Technology

Greek Fire
Roman Cement
Flexible Glass (Roman)
Terra Pietra (Bolivian)

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Uptown

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Fascinating Welch Etymology all over English

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https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-English-called-Sassenachs-by-the-Scottish about the origin of the words “Wales” and “Welsh” (and Wallace, Welch, and others) as deriving from the Saxon “Walas” (others spell it walhaz), it may be interesting to note that this word was preceded by a glottis stop, which in Latin languages was rendered as a “g” and gave origin to the Latin name for Wales (Galles), the name of the Celtic peoples of France (Gauls) and the region now Nation of Portugal (port-of-Welsh sort of). The “Gloses of Kassel”, considered the first document in Reto-Romansch, is a collection of bilingual glosses in VIII Century Latin and Bavarian German, intended probably to help the German masters communicate with their Romansch servants. In this document, the Romans are called “Walha” (and are addressed as “tole”, fools) In modern Schweiz Deutsch and Tyrolean Deutsch, the word “welsch” stands for “uneducated person from the countryside” or simpleton. Why ...
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Story Seeds

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Story Concepts Story of a man who works in a huge sprawling office complex where [thanks to automation / politics / new administration / market forces ?] over weeks and months people are laid off or quit until there are very few people working in the building. Where he used to have friends and chat with people throughout the day, he often goes days, and later weeks without seeing anyone. The story could explore the varied senses as at first he feels empowered, having survived when so few had, and even a sense of domination, then loneliness, guilt, then paranoia. This could be exhibited in the man's reactions to seeing / hearing other people - through corridors / in the distance - at first very friendly, later more reserved, finally hostile / manic. Could attempt a reverse chronology, beginning with a madman and following it back to sanity. ============================== Mutually Assured Madness The concept that only crazy people are sane - that with how insane the world...
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