dmfay

Supply chains in the sense of a centralized (or multi-centralized) logistics no, supply chains in the sense of mobile pastoral groups supporting armies' further extension yes. These did not stretch all the way back to central Asia. Groups like the White and Blue hordes, which later combined into the Golden Horde, were basically autonomous within the territory allotted them by the Qaghan -- they mostly owed the central authority a share of spoils, support for the postal system (örtöö or yam), and their presence when convened on matters of state. Armies would bring limited supplies with them as they campaigned, replacement horses and some small livestock, while the main group continued to focus on caring for the bulk of their herds. While not actively expanding their borders, steppe nomads usually moved between relatively well-established seasonal camps rather than continuously roaming.

de Haan & Koppelaars' _Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals_ is well worth your time, especially if you haven't studied discrete math yet.

Ask! Create an issue if there's a tracker or send a short email explaining what you want to do and see if they're open to the idea, have more questions, or aren't interested in supporting it. No need to overthink formalities (although a quick "thanks for xyz" never hurt anyone's feelings), just be polite and concise.

I can't tell you whether you'll love or hate Fyodor Sologub's The Petty Demon but you won't feel lukewarm on it. The Cioran translation is more complete but harder to find than older translations now in the public domain.

I've been meaning to get to Victor Pelevin's The Life of Insects for a while.

Lex de Haan and Toon Koppelaars, Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals -- a fairly gentle introduction to database theory starting with logic & discrete math

Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross, The Data Warehouse Toolkit -- even if you're in an OLTP context, it's useful to know about warehousing techniques

Dmitri Fontaine, The Art of PostgreSQL -- cookbook approach to modern SQL with plenty of explanations

Not a book but Heinz Klein and Kalle Lyytinen's paper "Towards a New Understanding of Data Modeling" in the Software Development and Reality Construction remains a must-read 30 years later. The organizers of that conference have published a free PDF copy of SDRC if you look around a bit.

Nothing metaphysical about tarot, but it can be useful to challenge how you naturally think. The random cards you lay out force you to reconcile them with the story you tell yourself about where you are or a specific situation, and can show you connections and angles you might otherwise have ignored. Same goes for other methods of "divination" but tarot has a richer symbolic language than most.