Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
In 458 BC, Rome was on the brink of collapse.
An invading army had trapped the Roman consul and his legion in a mountain pass. Panic spread through the city. The Senate did the only thing they could think of:
They sent messengers to find a 60-year-old farmer plowing his field.
inctius Cincinnatus. He had once been a senator, then lost his fortune paying his son's bail. Now he worked his own four-acre plot just to feed his family.
When the Senate's envoys arrived, they found him sweating behind a plow. They asked him to put on his toga so they could deliver an official message.
The message: Rome was making him dictator. Absolute power. Total command of the army. No checks. No oversight. No term limit.
He accepted.
Within 16 days, Cincinnatus had raised an army, marched out, surrounded the enemy, and forced their surrender. The republic was saved.
He had legal authority to rule for six months. He could have stayed. He could have expanded his power. He could have done what every other ruler in human history did when handed unlimited control.
Instead, he resigned on day 16.
He took off the toga, walked back to his farm, and finished plowing the field he'd left half-done.
Twenty years later, when Rome faced another crisis, they called him back. He was 80 years old. He took command, crushed the conspiracy, and resigned again, this time after just 21 days.
He died poor. On his farm.
2,200 years later, when George Washington was offered a kingship after winning the American Revolution, he refused and went home to Mount Vernon. The reason he was hailed as "the American Cincinnatus" is because Europeans literally could not believe a man who had won would willingly give up power.
King George III, on hearing Washington would resign rather than rule, said: "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
The lesson isn't that Cincinnatus was humble.
The lesson is that for most of human history, the people most qualified to lead were the ones who didn't want to. And the moment a society starts rewarding those who chase power instead of those who flee from it is the moment the republic begins to die.
Cincinnati, Ohio is named after him.
Most people who live there have no idea why.
An invading army had trapped the Roman consul and his legion in a mountain pass. Panic spread through the city. The Senate did the only thing they could think of:
They sent messengers to find a 60-year-old farmer plowing his field.
inctius Cincinnatus. He had once been a senator, then lost his fortune paying his son's bail. Now he worked his own four-acre plot just to feed his family.
When the Senate's envoys arrived, they found him sweating behind a plow. They asked him to put on his toga so they could deliver an official message.
The message: Rome was making him dictator. Absolute power. Total command of the army. No checks. No oversight. No term limit.
He accepted.
Within 16 days, Cincinnatus had raised an army, marched out, surrounded the enemy, and forced their surrender. The republic was saved.
He had legal authority to rule for six months. He could have stayed. He could have expanded his power. He could have done what every other ruler in human history did when handed unlimited control.
Instead, he resigned on day 16.
He took off the toga, walked back to his farm, and finished plowing the field he'd left half-done.
Twenty years later, when Rome faced another crisis, they called him back. He was 80 years old. He took command, crushed the conspiracy, and resigned again, this time after just 21 days.
He died poor. On his farm.
2,200 years later, when George Washington was offered a kingship after winning the American Revolution, he refused and went home to Mount Vernon. The reason he was hailed as "the American Cincinnatus" is because Europeans literally could not believe a man who had won would willingly give up power.
King George III, on hearing Washington would resign rather than rule, said: "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
The lesson isn't that Cincinnatus was humble.
The lesson is that for most of human history, the people most qualified to lead were the ones who didn't want to. And the moment a society starts rewarding those who chase power instead of those who flee from it is the moment the republic begins to die.
Cincinnati, Ohio is named after him.
Most people who live there have no idea why.
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Growing up is realizing Loni Anderson wasn’t the hot one on WKRP
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
21 years later, and it remains one of the greatest fight scenes in cinema history.
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Me showing off my Seahawks action figures:
Thats Richard Sherman, that’s Bobby Wagner, he’s Earl Thomas, he’s a little weird but he’s my favorite!
Social worker: do you like living alone with mom?
Me: *through gritted teeth* mom says i cant play with brandon browner anymore
Thats Richard Sherman, that’s Bobby Wagner, he’s Earl Thomas, he’s a little weird but he’s my favorite!
Social worker: do you like living alone with mom?
Me: *through gritted teeth* mom says i cant play with brandon browner anymore
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Turning in my #Mariners Fandom. I'm done pouring my heart and soul into this diaper fire of an organization. I've lived, bled and died with this team since 1982 and I'm not taking their crap anymore
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One of the funniest women alive and an all time class act
Lots of my famous friends won’t agree, but being a celebrity gives me neither the credibility nor any special authority to tell anybody else how to vote.
My job for over half a century was to entertain you to the very best of my ability — and I tried my hardest to do that.
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Lots of my famous friends won’t agree, but being a celebrity gives me neither the credibility nor any special authority to tell anybody else how to vote.
My job for over half a century was to entertain you to the very best of my ability — and I tried my hardest to do that.
My job for over half a century was to entertain you to the very best of my ability — and I tried my hardest to do that.
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Hot take...
Pearl jam is one of the most over rated bands ever.
*and Stone Temple Pilots were a better grunge band*
Pearl jam is one of the most over rated bands ever.
*and Stone Temple Pilots were a better grunge band*
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Being a Seattle Mariners fan is tough
Not only are the Mariners the only team to never make a World Series
They are also the first MLB team to receive a NFL penalty
#Seahawks
Not only are the Mariners the only team to never make a World Series
They are also the first MLB team to receive a NFL penalty
#Seahawks
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Replay of my M’s thoughts:
- Ray’s pitching, we’re gonna lose
- He looks great! Maybe we’ll be ok
- Nope. Pull him now.
- PULL HIM
- Game over, leave him in to save the bullpen
- Ugh. Blowout
- Showing backbone. Nice.
- But it’s over
- Holy shit!!
- HOLY SHIT!!!
- WE WON!!???!!
- Ray’s pitching, we’re gonna lose
- He looks great! Maybe we’ll be ok
- Nope. Pull him now.
- PULL HIM
- Game over, leave him in to save the bullpen
- Ugh. Blowout
- Showing backbone. Nice.
- But it’s over
- Holy shit!!
- HOLY SHIT!!!
- WE WON!!???!!
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As a #Reacher fanatic who owns and has read every novel, #ReacherOnPrime is just so good. Fricking spot on
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Come and take it: Here’s video of another working chainsaw bayonet buff.ly/2oe1KvB
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
The new #VeronicaMars season dips into noir more than ever before, but its heart isn't entirely hard-boiled. ops.fyi/VeronicaNoirs
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Oliver Clozoff 🇮🇱🇺🇲 retweeted
Lift up your hands. With ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch,’ John Cameron Mitchell expresses ideas about love and sexuality that go beyond words. ops.fyi/Hedwig
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Did you cancel your #moviepass before your year subscription is done? You are shit out of luck if you ask for the rest of your money back. #Suckers #poorservice
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I cancelled my service on Wednesday. I paid for a year upfront in Feb. Responding to my email request to be refunded the prorated amount, @MoviePass tells me my service was month to month and no refund is possible. I don't know how to respond to this. #Moviepass @MoviePass_CS
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