Rough Roman Memes

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A place to meme about the glorious ROMAN EMPIRE (and Roman Republic, and Roman Kingdom)! Byzantines tolerated! The HRE is not.

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No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, etc. The past may be bigoted, but we are not.
Memes must be Rome-related, not just the title. It can be about Rome, or using Roman aesthetics, or both, but the meme itself needs to have Roman themes.
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Not sure where to start on Roman history?

A quick memetic primer on Republican Rome

A quick memetic primer on Imperial Rome

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PugJesus@lemmy.world

History repeats itself (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by PugJesus@lemmy.world to c/roughromanmemes@lemmy.world

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[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Explanation: The Romans used lead-lined cookware not in ignorance of its dangers, but wholly cognizant of them - the Romans recognized lead poisoning from various sources, and regarded lead as 'unwholesome' to human health.

They used lead widely in many applications that they could be forgiven for thinking were not dangerous - they understood how to prevent lead leaching in pipes, and used lead in writing tablets. Less forgivably, in cosmetics. But most dangerous of all was the use of lead pots in making 'defrutum' - sweet wine ~~jelly~~ syrup, which wealthy Romans loved to put on everything. The thing is, the process uses lead specifically because other materials won't do - copper and iron leave an aftertaste, while lead vessels actually make it sweeter, as lead ~~itself~~ acetate is slightly sweet.

What's a little harmless poison in your condiments, after all?

[–] rumschlumpel 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

To be fair, most microplastics come from tires and synthetic clothing, not plastic vessels used for food.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

There is still the problem that most plastics will exist with us for 100s of years. Landfill space isn't free, it blows around and pollutes the environment, and it is made from oil products.

Plastic is killing us even if it isn't just the microplaatics.

We could also reduce trie use by building better cities and more transit, we could go back to using more natural fibres for our clothing.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I love plastic. They were right in the midcentury, it's a wonder material. The fact we use it for cheap disposables (well, "disposables") is an insult to the chemists that brought us something so wonderful.

[–] rumschlumpel 2 points 3 months ago

Sure. It still helps a lot to be able to correctly quantify where the microplastic is coming from. Would YOU have guessed that most of it comes from tires? I wouldn't have.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

And most ocean plastic is straight up fishing gear.

If you're going to do anything political with your diet stop eating seafood, guys. If it's bad, that industry does it.

[–] TehBamski@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Stright up thought this was from !memes@slrpnk.net

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world -5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

There has yet to be a solid study showing negative health effects from plastic. Yes, it is EVERYWHERE now, and that's definitely not a good thing. But it's not like we have any real signs of it causing disease or cancer.

[–] Paraponera_clavata@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Not true

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Unless something has come out in the last year or two, yes it is. There are all sorts of studies showing micro plastics have gotten pretty much everywhere in our bodies, in the soil, in the rain, but no major study has yet to correlate that with any kind of health issues

[–] imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.827289/full?ref=collapsemusings.com

2022

Humans may experience oxidative stress, cytotoxicity, neurotoxicity, immune system disruption, and transfer of MPs to other tissues after being exposed to them.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Population studies would be easiest, but you can't do those because there are no populations that aren't saturated by microplastics.

There is science that shows plastics in our bodies inhibit proper function.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 months ago

I mean, there's a few hints now like the other person posted, but I think it's fair to say we can't say for sure it's comparable to other modern health hazards.

The spike in autism has me wondering, though.