National Geographic

I got the latest National Geographic.  It's kind of disappointing, though.  I'm not really interested in any of the articles this time, but I didn't really read anything but the titles.  There weren't any cute animal pictures in the departments, just some whale sharks that aren't all that adorable.  If any of them were worth reading, and I'm just being a magazine bigot, please tell me so I can amend my horrible ways.

Today's not going well for Halloween to tell you the truth.  We were delivering grams (little notes with candy from your friends for $.50) in the spirit of the holiday for Student Council at lunch today.  Seely (the principal) got really ticked for some reason (someone said it was because too many people who weren't on Student Council were up walking around anyway), so we probably won't be allowed to do grams for the other holidays.  That really stinks, because it's a huge moneymaker for Riley's, and it's a shame that he'd put his foot down for something as insignificant as that, assuming that rumor's true.  I would be really upset if they stopped though, because that's just stupid.

Then I was making plans with some friends for some trick-or-treating (you're never too old!), but then I was wrong in assuming that I wouldn't have Tae Kwon Do tonight.  I thought it was canceled for the festivities this evening, but I was incorrect.  Now not only do I have to miss out with my friends, I have to spend my night with Woody (if you didn't figure it out, Woody was my Tae Kwon Do teacher, Forrest (I thought that was pretty clever, but now I don't mind saying his name because he's been even more of an idiot lately)).  How enjoyable....

So all-in-all, today hasn't gone so well.

Ha, ha... I did find this in the latest magazine and it reminded me of me!  =)

Tags: Life, Holidays, Tae Kwon Do, Grams, School, Magazines, National Geographic

Magna Mater

"Even the normally tolerant Roman state found the frenzied carryings-on, including rowdy parades to the sound of cymbals and raucous horns and arm-slashing, too much."

- The Romans For Dummies

Perhaps your familiar with the term "alma mater", it was actually a Spell Bowl word this year.  That was where I was first introduced to it.  The word means a school basically, or any place where someone is educated.  The word translates in Latin to "bounteous mother" and has distinct historic ancestry.

Well, while watching "Rome", I noticed a prayer with a chant addressing "Magna Mater".  A little textbox on the screen informed me that it was a meditation to Cybele, who was known to the Romans as "Great Mother" (the literal translation of "Magna Mater" (a different source said the Romans referred to her as "Turrita Mater".  I don't know what that translates to either.)).

I knew some about Cybele, but not a whole lot.  Basically I knew that she'd been stolen for some religion in Turkey by the Romans, and added to their on Pantheon in connection with the goddess Ceres (another source said Rhea), much in the way that Isis was taken from Egypt's worship.  Ha, ha... I was in for a bit of a shock!

From what I've been reading,  the cult of Cybele was a bit of an ancient emo-punk group, to put it in layman's terms.  It had an exotic combination of slashing, revelry, and most gruesomely peculiar... self-castration.  (If you listen hard enough, you can hear all the male readers gasp!)  Yes, I found this fascinating image in Ancient Rome (which is an eyewitness book, a children's book) of a tool that was probably used for that purpose!  I couldn't post it, because I'd already uploaded the comic, which uses up my limit of one uploaded picture per entry.  It's not that bad, just kind of weird, and I was disappointed I couldn't share it....

"Cybele... her relgion was about fertility and the cycle of death and rebirth.  It was a very emotional religion [for guys, I should think so!], and sometimes priests would work themselves into a frenzy and castrate themselves for her."

- Ancient Rome

I discovered in Don't Know Much About Mythology the reason behind their most outlandish trait.  According to their myth, Cybele once had a lover named Atys (also spelled Atis), who had beenunfaithful to her.  Ashamed of himself, he castrated himself as punishment.  Thus, the most fanatical worshippers of Cybele did the same.  They were known as Corybantes.

Please don't sign me up for this one...

"...Cybele, from Asia Minor, a mother goddess (related to the Mesopotamian Inanna/Ishtar) whose cult followers indulged in ritual orgies and self-castration."

- Don't Know Much About Mythology

I hope you all feel enlightened now!  Although I don't advocate intolerance, I think it was definitely a wise decision to put a stop to it, because could seriously cut down on a population if you didn't keep it in check!  =)

Tags: Life, History, Religion, Mythology, Food, Restaurants, Cartoons, Books, Television Shows

Halloween - Past to Present

AGAIN!  I'm missing school (at least this morning, I want to go in the afternoon) today from this vile plague, whatever it is!

October 31 marked the tradition end of summer.  It marked the end of the harvest.  It marked the beginning of a cold, dark winter.  It marked a time associated with death, when the animals were brought in for slaughter.  It marked a night (as the story goes) when the barriers between the worlds of the living and the spirits were brought down, and ghosts could walk on the earth.  October 31's Halloween evolved from a Celtic festival known as Samhain to the Christianized holiday it is today.

"Like many Celtic festivals, Samhain spurred the Druids to build huge sacred bonfires, sacrifice animals, and gather people together to burn crops in honor of the Celtic gods.  During this fire festival, the Celts wore masks and costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes."

- Don't Know Much About Mythology

As usual, Christians stomped the fun out of the Pagan frivolity.  Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 as All Saints' Day  (All-hallows) in an attempt to replace Samhain with a related, but yet Church-sanctioned, holiday.  The night before it, October 31 became All Saints' Eve (All-hallows Eve (later became Halloween)).  November 2 became All Souls' Day.  Together the three celebrations were known as the Hallowmas.

I just can't stress enough that what happened in the past is still as alive today as it was then, even if we don't necessarily notice it.  This is just another example of that, and it was in season so I brought it up.

Romans For Dummies Part 3 Comic -

I need to clarify that bobbing for apples was originally a Roman tradition, but when their holiday celebrating Pomona combined with the Feralia and Samhain, it then became a Celtic tradition.

Tags: Life, History, Religion, Holidays, Illness, Books, Cartoons

Cough

Erggg!  I have a sore throat that burns like the dickens, and I can barely talk.  It really stinks.

I'm not participating in the Merit Badge Workshop for Boy Scouts today, because I don't want to infect everyone else.  So I've been cooped up in my room watching "Rome" (season one box cover below, top) episodes and eating some (super disgusting) Halls Cough Drops.  Blagh!  They are supposed to be cherry, but I've come up with some different ideas for what this flavor's supposed to be!  (I abondoned those pretty quickly and have started sucking on caramel creams instead.  =])  We are having pizza later, so I'll be able to quickly escape for that at least!

It's so annoying, because all my friends are downstairs, and I'm stuck up here!  I'm still working at the forest tonight, because we have this one bozo in the troop who didn't show up last night, and openly said he isn't going to work tonight or tomorrow night, even though he's signed up for them!  Ya, if we had two people not show who were signed up, they'd get super-ticked at us!  If one person was gone on a cold, that'd be OK if they called ahead that they weren't coming, but because of this idiot, I'm stuck working anyway!  Oh, well... it'll be good to get away from my room!

Part Two comic from The Roman For Dummies -

Tags: Life, Illness, Candy, Pizza, Food, Television, Work, Cartoons, History

Elizabeth

"Elizabeth" was an awesome movie!  I loved it!

It was one of the few accurate and entertaining movies I've seen in awhile!  There wasn't a lot of fighting though, you only got a couple glimpses of the battle (ya, they only showed one!).  But whatever, you know, it was still great!

I loved how they changed her outfit for every scene.  That was kind of cool to see all the costumes!

Ha, ha... I've just got one thing to say concerning Raleigh... "Captain Jack did it better!"

In The Romans For Dummies, they have these cool cartoons before each Part (it's like a unit in a textbook, it contains the chapters).  Here's Part One's -

 

Tags: Life, Movies, History, Books, Outfits, Pirates, Togas, Cartoons

Farmers at Heart

With a vast empire and great cities stretching from Armenia and the Mediterranean lands of Italy, Greece, Israel and Palestine, and the North African coast around from Spain to Gaul and the British Isles at the climax of its grandeur, you've most likely never realized that this was hardly the Romans' idyllic image.  All the greatness of the Romans creates a common misconception that this bustle was their preferred way of life.  In reality, however, the truth is quite the opposite!

Before the Republic and vast empire that we know recognize as the Roman world, Romans were mundane farmers.  They believed that their discipline and hard work as farmers was the mentality that led to the majesty of their empire.  Romans fantasised about their rustic past as modern Christians dream about Eden.

The normal, wealthy Roman man would often own what they called a villae (today's "villa") run by a small army of slaves that they could escape to for a blissful retreat when the commotion of city life became too much.  In certain cases, the villas were actually more like villages (with the same "villae" root as "villa") and small towns.

There were three great textbook-writers on the country lifestyle.  They were Cato, Varro, and Columella.  If you've ever watched "The Pink Panther", perhaps you recognize the first as Clouseau's sidekick.

I recalled the scene during the twos' first encounter when Clouseau pries into Cato's heritage in the field of police work.  The seemingly exceptional past is impressive to everyone, but Clouseau, who promises to teach him everything he knows.  Maybe you remember the string of family members ended very anticlimatically with farmers.

Have you put two-and-two together yet?  It's a joke from the moviemakers on the name Cato, whose historical namesake wrote about farming, and whose modern character's ancestors were farmers.  That's kind of random, but filmakers will sometimes put a few history-related inside jokes in movies that I like to spot!  =)

Are you a farmer at heart?

Tags: Life, History, Movies, Food, Farming, Countryside

Half-Day

Well we had a half-day today at school.  It was really pointless.  We our two RAT periods and then watched a dumb movie (it was so bad, I've already forgotten the name of it!), though no one watched, just goofed off.  I got some reading done in The Romans For Dummies.  The teachers really just wanted to prepare for conferences this afternoon, and wanted to be done with us for the week.  They didn't really care that we didn't pay attention, because it was so cheesy that even Clink couldn't stand it!

I'm going to go see the "Elizabeth" movie with Picket's Army this afternoon!  That'll be fun!  I've been waiting forever to see this movie!  =)

I'm working at the Black Forest tonight too, and that's (almost) always fun!

I have no homework on an extended weekend, so I'm pretty dandy right now!

By the way, Hazel says, "Hi!" -

Tags: Life, Pets, Animals, Hazel, School, Books, Movies, Work

Spell Bowl Results

We won conference and got 3rd in Class (again!)!  Yay!  I think our total was 42/72, and our goal was 45, so we thought we did pretty well!  =)

Ha, ha... individually though, I didn't do so hot.  I missed one more than I did last year!  Ooops... Although I studied a lot more last year than I did this year so it only makes sense!  5/9.... ha, ha....  =)

I heard about Dumbledore being gay!  I was a little surprised that she'd publicly announce it, but I had some suspicions about him.

Wicca, witchcraft, and now homosexuality!  I'm sure the "Concerned Mothers of America" will have a field day over this!  "What are we teaching our children!?!?!"  Ha, ha... they're the ones who need to grow up.  It's not like Dumbledore's the last gay guy that kids are going to meet.

Now that I think of it, that is a huge promotion of gay rights!  She had clearly established Dumbledore as a "good-guy" and by having him be homosexuality there are certain implications in that statement saying that his orientation is "OK".  Pretty clever really!

...

I'm not sure how those two topics connect, but whatever!  =)

The Romans For Dummies -

Tags: Life, Spelling, Spell Bowl, Harry Potter, Books

Favorite Post #6

=)

"What?"

Tags: Favorite Article

¡Spell Bowl, Woot-Woot!

¡Woot-Woot!

Our Spell Bowl competion is tomorrow!  Yay!  I'm ready for some intense spelling!  Lol... =)  Yup, I'm a nerd!  But really... a bunch of my friends are in it, so I'm really excited!  I even skipped Tae Kwon Do to study this evening!  =)

Well if your on the team (or aren't) here's David's Hard/Weird Word List to practice with if the Spirit moves you too!  They aren't all hard, some of the them are just plain odd.  =)

~  a cappela

~  A-line

~  Allegheny Mountains

~  alma mater

~  anent

~  arroyo

~  avoirdupois

~  baklava

~  barouche

~  Basque

~  beachhead

~  Beaufort scale

~  bedlam

~  bitterroot

~  black sheep

~  blow-dryer

~  bouillon

~  boutonniere

~  bronchoscope

~  calumniation

~  cancellation

~  cartel

~  casein

~  cast off

~  catechumenal

~  censer

~  chatelaine

~  chemurgy

~  Cheyenne

~  codeine

~  colonnade

~  commandant

~  compliant

~  consomme

~  coquet

~  cormorant

~  cosecant

~  coterie

~  coup de grâce

~  cowcatcher

~  crack down

~  crankcase

~  custom-made

~  defrayal

~  dependence

~  dirigible

~  distingué

~  dowdiness

~  Dutch oven

~  e pluribus unum

~  ebb tide

~  efferent

~  ennui

~  epiglottis

~  fantail

~  farmhouse

~  fibril

~  fireproof

~  flare-up

~  Formosa

~  forthright

~  fountainhead

~  framework

~  gaminess

~  garnishee

~  Gehenna

~  gerrymander

~  good-natured

~  guyot

~  haggis

~  halcyon

~  harridan

~  haystack

~  headstrong

~  heartburn

~  hemizygous

~  illegitimate

~  in medias res

~  incessant

~  indigence

~  intendant

~  isosceles

~  jerkin

~  jodphur

~  katydid

~  killdeer

~  lectern

~  letdown

~  livelong

~  Los Angeles

~  masseuse

~  Maupassant

~  meerschaum

~  merrymaking

~  Mohammed

~  Monongahela

~  nosedive

~  off-color

~  old-world

~  one-step

~  openwork

~  ophthalmologist

~  ordnance

~  orthoepical

~  Ottawa

~  overnight

~  Pandora's Box

~  paratrooper

~  pediatrist

~  penumbra

~  philatelic

~  pineal

~  Plexiglas

~  pro tempore

~  promulgate

~  ragamuffin

~  red-handed

~  remissible

~  rollicking

~  round up

~  Santa Claus

~  Saskatchewan

~  self-confidence

~  shoreline

~  slantwise

~  sleazy

~  solecism

~  soothsayer

~  stanchion

~  stationery

~  stockyard

~  Styrofoam

~  subpoenaed

~  surveillant

~  three-peat

~  tightwad

~  toss-up

~  tumbrel

~  twi-night

~  tympanum

~  tyrranize

~  vaquero

~  venetian blind

~  verve

~  watercourse

~  weatherproof

~  well-to-do

~  Xanadu

~  Youghiogheny

Oh, and I heard new about my camera!  They are going to look for it again sometime this week (Wednesday I think), and they are pretty confident they'll find it from what it sounds like, so all you picture bugs out there may yet be appeased!  Oh, they didn't promise the camera would be working still, but I know I can get the pictures if the memory chip is still protected.  It's on the inside, and it hasn't rained here yet, so it shoule be in working order!  =)

Best wishes to Spell Bowlers, from Queen Hazel Marie Hirschy, ruler of the world, lady of the all the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything else between them, et cetera, et cetera......

Tags: Life, Spell Bowl, School, Spelling

Alexander's Legacy

I finished In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great this morning, and am starting The Romans For Dummies.  The ending didn't quite fulfill the intensity of the rest of the book.  You had to draw a lot of the conclusions yourself, which is fine for me in school on a history test, but that's too much work for me if I'm reading a book for pleasure.  It left you with a couple questions at end that were pretty interesting to think about though!  The final section (besides the epilogue) was subtitled "WHAT IF HE HAD LIVED?".

There had been talk of Alexander returning to India to try and continue his journey to the ends of the Earth (sorry, but (Captain) Jack beat you to it!  =P) and the Eastern Ocean.  There was also some talk about going west, perhaps even circumnavigating the British Isles!  Well, apparently a document was uncovered, probably written by the king's secretary, Eumenes, all of which was going to be the territory of the empire Alexander had planned on epic proportions.  He probably would've succeeded too, had it not been for his U-turn in India and his bout of fever (most likely due to his excessive drinking (notice what I'm hearing)) in Babylon.

It was his mindset to lead a campaign to Carthage, North Africa, and west of the Mediterranean to Rome and beyond!  There were cities left to found!  There were six gigantic building projects to complete, one of which was a pyramid, greater than the Great Pyramid itself, to house his father Phillip, his greatest rival.  He believed his father was jealous of him, who he believed took credit for his achievements, and who he believed bore him the greatest of ill-wills.  In his final hour, it appears he'd finally realized his erroneus ways.

Alexander was an alcoholic and manic-depressant and sociology is befuddling even to the psychologists of today!  The concept of his own greatness became an obsession to him!  He wanted not only to surpass the glory of all of his predecessors, but also to leave them without a doubt that no one shall ever equal him!

"And, with the man-power and resources of Asia behind him, Alexander could well have succeeded" - In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great

If Alexander had known of the Chinese civilization, there's no doubt that he'd have intent to unite them into his empire comprised of the entirety of the Old World, stretching fromEngland to Oriental shores of the Pacific, and perhaps further!  To Alexander, there was no limit to the possibilities!

The two largest religions of the present day, Christianity followed by Islam, would blossom in the Hellenistic world, and be subject to the fusion of allthe cultures that Alexander's empire was composed of, giving them a unity that preceeding worships had lacked.  The melting-pot quality of these faiths, especially concerning Christianity, is what makes it so agreeable with society in America today.  Their diversity make them acceptable to many parties, which is undoubtably one of the key reasons they have been so successful.

So what if he had lived, and continued on with his dreams?  Would the rest of to-be-conquered world fall into place with the others, making an even greater blend of cultures?  If you think our mix today is grand, thinking about what it could've been is incredible!

If ever there was a credo for Alexander, (in my opinion) it would be this,

"If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die"

I think I'm suffering from Mad Cow Disease.  I've been forgetting things, and I can't remember whether that quote is from The Odyssey or The Iliad.  Please help!

Tags: Life, History, Culture, Books, Heroes, Religion, Mythology

Friday & Saturday

RAWRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=(

I'm sick again.

But before that, there was yesterday.

We had a dance after school yesterday.  It rocked!  I got tons of pictures on my camera that I snuck in, because we aren't really supposed to have cameras at school anymore, and wasn't caught!  Mr. Seely walked right past me when I took a picture that had flash, and he still didn't see it!  I thought it was going to be lucky day!

Then after the dance I went to a bonfire party.  We played this awesome game of capture the flag!  Except that I lost my camera that had been in my sweater pouch somewhere in the forest.  It was so dark, we couldn't find it.

It was a cheap (-er as digital cameras go...) camera, since I'm pretty active, but I was more upset about losing all my pictures........ As you can imagine, that really made my evening.

This morning I went and saw the History Train in town for ten measly extra credit points for Green's class (actually it's definitely worth it, because he doesn't normally give any out at all!).  It was boring.... very.... I can't stand Civil War history, believe it or not.

But one of my friends, Soupcan, put it very well that the "weapons were sophisticated than the battle strategies".  That for me changes war from an art (in the eyes of some) to a race to get the bigger, killier (I made that word up!  =]) guns!  I think that's just stupid.

I despise any history beyond the American Revolution.  I love it all before that (well Far East isn't exactly my favorite), but I loathe it more than most of you probably loathe history in general (not that all of you do!).  Ya... that bad.  =(

What's even worse, it was INDIANA'S role in the Civil War (Gag me now!!!!).  They probably had like five artifacts in the whole place.  I swear, it was like walking through a textbook!!!

Well my afternoon got a lot better with the Mensa test.  It was actually kind of fun of you enjoy the whole logic puzzle thing!  You don't have a lot of time to do each individual test, though, so that makes it more challenging/fun!

So that was all good... until I decided to stop at the library's café (it was a nice library where we were testing!).  I got a Café Latte Raspberry.  Yummmm... right?  The milk in the Latte was sour.... which I realized after I finished it......

Then I got settled for an hour and a half drive back, with beautiful scenery that I would've greatly appreciated and enjoyed had I not been bent over double with car sickness.  So that's been my evening.  I'm doing a lot better now, but I had to skip work at the Haunted Castle/Black Forest, because I definitely wasn't feeling well when it was time to leave.  So I'm at home, missing my friends, and writing here with the aftereffects of some bad... bad... coffee.

The day wasn't a complete screw-up, because I did get bonus in one of the hardest classes to get it and did well on a Mensa test.  I think I'm pretty happy with the day, all-in-all, but I'd rather be scaring some unknowing girls right now.  I need to see "Elizabeth" this weekend too......

This is where I would have all the pictures from the Fall Dance on my camera had I not carelessly misplaced it somewhere in the forest at the house of a person I don't even know.....

.........sigh........I think their name was Swedzinski........must be Polish........sigh..........

Tags: Life, Sigh..., History, Misplaced Objects, Sigh..., Coffee, Sigh..., Friends, School, Dances, Sigh...

Greek Sub-Test

Today I went to South Bend to take my Mensa Application Test.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be!  But that's not really why I'm writing about it!  It was composed an odd booklet at the beginning of fifty questions that was completely different from the other booklet, which is the one I'll be talking about.

The second booklet was made up of seven sub-tests.  Before we started on the first, however, the proctor read us a short story that we had to remember for an until we'd take sub-test seven an hour later.  The tale was narrating the Greek rite of Dithyrambos, a prayer to the god Dionysus.  They probably chose a story like that because they figured that no one would be crazy enough to know anything about such an obscure topic.  Ha, ha...

Obviously the world hasn't met me yet!  =)

I didn't even bother to listen, because I'd read all about it in Greek Religion by Walter Burkert.  That was probably the easiest section of them all for me.  I finished in two minutes during this four minute test that is supposed to be challenging for bright people.

But the point is, I could get into the organization by having known a little background on history!  The main reasoning I want to join is for a résumé boost, so I may get to go to the college, and indirectly get the career, that I want for knowing a couple random facts on history!  Quite transcendent really...

In all fairness, I haven't gotten in yet though, but I sure hope I do!  =)

Facts of the past can change the life of the present.  Nothing's influence ever dies.

Tags: Life, History, Mensa, Culture, Books, Religion, Mythology

End of 1st Quarter!!!!

The end of the first quarter, woot-woot!  I can't wait for FACS tomorrow!  Art's good and I love Mrs. Christman, but it's not as good as FACS.  If you didn't know, apparently I have had a secretly proficiency to art that has shockingly shown itself this year!  I have an Expressionism work in the 8th Grade Wing, my independent "Statue of David" project in the Art Department Corridor, and two pieces (Cut-Paper and a Two-Point Perspective) hanging in the superintendent's office.  I usually stink at art, but I read some really enlightening "confluence of art and science" books over the summer, and came back armed with some good tips, using my more mathematical skills to my advantage.  I was pretty proud of myself!  (My dad thinks I'm going to turn into the first hippie that the family's had... =]  ...in a joking sort of way of course!  I can't imagine my hair in a ponytail...)  Christman was a really cool Art techer.  =)

I get to do Studie 94 next quarter with Mr. Etter for 2nd Quarter in Project Business.  That'll be awesome!  French was cool, but we didn't learn a ton.  Mrs. Etter is fun, but not the best teacher.

I have Gym with Hesterman.  She liked my brother, but I've never had her, so I don't know.......  WOOT WOOT, I'M RID OF PETERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm OK now.....  =)

 

Pompeian Alexander the Great Mosaic

I found this awesome looking mosaic of the Battle of Guagamela (?).  I put that question mark next to the Battle of Guagamela, because (according to Wikipedia) there's a debate whether it portrays that or the Battle of Issus (the decisive battle during the war between Alexander the Great and Darius III).  As the source says, Guagamela literally means "dead tree", and in the middle (off-set to the left) of the picture there's an outlandish dead tree.  However, the idea of the mosasic depicting the Battle of Issus is very traditional.

Ya, that whole thing was over the setting of 2200-year-old picture, but I think it's interesting, so I post for you anyway!  =)

Second-century, battle of (?) mosaic found in Pompeii -

(Alexander is easily recognizable on the left, Darius has hand outstretched (motioning to Alexander or the follow-through of having chucked a javelin at him) atop a chariot.)

Detail on Alexander (Visual Dictionary of the World)-

"...perhaps no work of art has better captured the frenzy and confusion of battle." - In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great... a look of terror on the face of a Persian soldier -

Tags: Life, History, Art, Characteristics

Legacy of Alexander on Middle-Easterners

Although we don't like to admit it to ourselves history does impact our lives today, whether or not we even know it.  Under the conservative rule of the Ayatollahs, you might have thought that remnants of the Greeks no longer exist in the area, however there is no doubt Alexander left a variety of impressions on the people of the modern Middle East.  Their different outlooks are all dependent on their perspective.

It's not uncommon for Shiite folk-plays for Alexander to appear.  He walks on a floar in Ashura sipping whiskey along with other tyrants, such as the last shah, other wicked caliphs, and the Great Satan (to the Iranians)... Uncle Sam.  His tale is taught in Muslim primary schools, and Zoroastrians still remember him as "Alexander the Accursed" (Oh, did you know that the Zoroastrians have kept the same sacred fire worshipped by the Persian kings from Alexander's time alive today?  That's so cool that they could get it to last this long...).  He makes a show in Firdowsi as a great Iranian ruler, the true successor to the great shahs and heroes of the past.  And mothers will scold their children at bedtime with the threat that if they are not good, Alexander will get them.  Some modern-day Persians even have a saying about greedy people, "He's just like Iskander [Persian name for Alexander], he wants the whole world!"

Obviously he's left a couple different ideas in their heads.  It all depends on which side you were on; whether he was creating a vast new empire that would open cultural diffustion across the Hellenistic world, or destroying your homeland for a selfish desire to immortalize his own image.

In history class you don't really learn the "Dark-Side" of Alexander, but if you do a few background checks on him, you'll learn some other stuff about him.  If you read the previous post, you saw that it was rumored he killed his own friend!  He killed thousands of people after he'd already avenged his country from when Darius the Great (I) invaded Greece and the area surrounding it, because he had a satanic obsession with reaching the ends of the earth, and making himself sole sovereign of that world!  He wasn't always playing the role of "great uniter of the lands".

Below is an image I scanned onto my computer and uploaded onto the journal of a Susian frieze depicting the immortals.  I thought I looked nifty, even though Assyrian isn't necessaryily my favorite style.

The ruins of Persepolis, Persian capital founded by Darius the Great, burned by Alexander, and captial to the largest empire the world had ever seen during that time period -

Alexander the Great's royal cartouches as Pharaoh of Egypt -

Tags: Life, History, Exploration, Perspective, Culture, Art

¡Sweet Map!

I had a lot of time to read In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great today, and I found this awesome map of his conquest (below)!  It isn't "old" looking, but still, it's really practical!  That book has awesome pictures.  Michael Wood needed to put less of himself hiking, though, and more of the sites, because he takes up too much space!  =)  He's lot "large" in that way, he just puts too many pictures of himself in it, when he could've had more of the concepts and places from the book in those spots.

Alexander the Great Cocktail Party Facts

~  Alexander is believed to have killed his friend Clitus in a drunken rage.

~  Alexander as a child was tutored by Aristotle.

~  Alexander was inspired by the feats of the heroes in The Iliad, and always slept with a copy of the epic beneath his pillow.

~  When Alexander attacked Thebes, he ordered all the structures destroyed except for the temples and the home of the poet Pindar.

~  Alexander founded over 70 cities within his empire, over thirty of which were named "Alexandria".

Tags: Life, History, Books

Stupid Test, The Book of General Ignorance Edition

Stupid Test, The Book of General Ignorance Edition

Prepare yourself for ultimate self-humiliation.  If you have a poor self-image, or are otherwise mentally unprepared, stop now and don't take this test!

Questions:

1.  What do we use to write on a blackboard?

2.  What Edison invention do English speakers use every day?

3.  What is the most likely survivor of a nuclear war?

4.  Where do tulips come from?

5.  How many nostrils have you got?

6.  What kind of music charms snakes most?

7.  Where do gorillas sleep?

8.  What's the most common bird in the world?

9.  What animal are the Canary Islands named after?

10.  How high is cloud nine?

Answers:

1.  Not chalk, gypsum

2.  Hello

3.  The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans

4.  Holland was a good guess... but originally tulips are native to Istanbul, Turkey.

5.  Four, two of which are inside your head as remnants of the human evolution from fish.

6.  They don't care, it's the site of the flute, not the music played.

7.  In nests that they build on the ground or in the lower boughs of trees.

8.  The chicken.

9.  Dogs, Canary birds are named after the island, not the other way around.

10.  According to the Internatonal Cloud Atlas, cloud zero is the highest type of cloud, cloud nine is as low as a few hundred feet to the very edge of the stratosphere.

Ouch.  I only got #6.

Tags: Life, Books, Test, Stupidity

Sick... =(

Erggg.... I'm sick today, so I'm not at school.  I'd had some plans for today, so now I'm all frustrated because there were things I needed to get done.  Rawrggg...

Oh, well... I'm getting a lot of reading done at least, but other than that, this is pretty crappy.

I put a picture of Orpheus below, because I forgot to attach it to the "Orpheus" post.  He's cute, but this isn't the best picture of him, it was just the only one that I could find.

We're having Subway for lunch, so that'll be good.  That place is addictive.  That and Panera.  =)

"Some people eat to live, I live to eat!" - Starraegazer  =)

Wow, I can't even think of one topic to write about, I'm just babbling - sorry.  This is not my day...  =(

If I think of something later I'll post it!

Tags: Life, School, Books, Illness, Animals, Pets, Restaurants, Food

Favorite Post #5

Yup...

Hazel in her box next to my bed ~

=)

Tags: Favorite Article

Orpheus

This is my English narrative.  If you have any suggestions, please comment!

Orpheus

 

            “REEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!” sounded a shrill groundhog whistle.  I jumped to feet, dropping the deer bones I’d been bleaching for my collection.  A curious, black-grey creature was crawling up the hill toward me.  I’d seen animals come from the forest before, but none like this one!  It’s faced peeked up as it crested the hill up to the corner of the concrete pad where I’d been working with a face that radiated cuteness.  It was too late; I’d been adopted.

            His name is Orpheus.  He was a baby groundhog, who was by some freakish scenario of nature removed from his mother.  She could have been hit on the road, he may have just wandered off, or he may have even been booted out of the den, perhaps because he may have been a runt or for some other reason had become unwanted.  Every day through that August week, Orpheus would have about five meals a day from his baby bottle, which was meant for nursing kittens, but a groundhog shouldn’t be any different.  He lived in an old guinea pig cage, and his favorite shelter was his pink towel that he liked to nestle into.  He required a lot of attention, and if he wasn’t happy, would whistle louder and higher than Mr. Ginder.  Many times I remember waking up well past midnight to feed him.

            My dad had been making some calls about Orpheus to find out what he could.  One call was to a woman working for the DNR, and she told him it was illegal to possess wild groundhogs in Indiana.  He broke the news to me that I had to let Orpheus go.  I wasn’t too happy, but agreed it was probably best.  We had found a den of groundhogs beneath our shed that had babies.  We were sure, because they were often out playing in the yard and would scatter to den openings across the lawn at our sight.

             So on Tuesday night, nine days from when he found me on the concrete flat I released him into the burrow.  Time passed, but we fate was going to allow us to see each other again.  Today, a year a two months later after letting him out, he lives beneath our wood deck in a retreat of his own.  He still loves to eat dandelion weeds, and has developed a taste for Cheetos.   A year may have passed, but he’s still the adorable groundhog I knew that August long ago.

 

If you liked it (or didn't), please say so!  =)

 

Tags: Life, School, Animals, Pets

A Different World

Every day is a festival in Uruk,

with people singing and dancing in the streets,

musicians playing their lyres and drums,

the lovely priestesses standing before

the temple of Istar, chatting and laughing,

flushed with sexual joy, and ready,

to serve men's pleasure, in honor of the goddess,

so that even old men are aroused from their beds.

- Gilgamesh

Ha, ha... wow... a completely different kind of people.  It's hard to imagine that we are (at least distantly) related to them.

"It wasn't all-work-no-play back then.  Mesopotamians, we know, were party people."

- Don't Know Much About Mythology

If you don't recognize "Uruk", it's identified as the same city as "Erech" in the Bible, if that's of any use.  If my memory serves me, the Christians didn't like it too well.  They didn't exactly have a lot of morals, especially about sex, back in that culture.

If I remember correctly, in the Enuma Elish there's one verse that says, "No girl is a woman until she has gone to the temple and slept with a stranger".  Or something like that in its own Mesopotamian style.

Girls will like this though; in many cultures, such as this one, the women were worshipped for their creative powers.  But then came the Catholic Church (they had to squash the fun out of everything, didn't they?  =]  Jk...) and because of Eve's original sin and since Christ was male brought along the extremely patriarchal religion like none the world had seen before.  Men kind of turned the tables on women, because now the modern world's two largest religions (Christianity and Islam) are very masculine-oriented.  Who knows, in a few thousand years, the women might get the upside again!  =)

I can assure you, all the sexual puns in the latter paragraph were completely unintentional!  =)

Mesopotamian "Ram in a Thicket" -

Ishtar Gate in Babylon -

Gold, Persian armlet -

A random picture of Queen Hazel Marie - =)

Tags: Life, History, Animals, Books, Religion, Art, Architecture

Migration

When you live near a forest, one of the greatest thing you'll ever see is a migration.  In a matter of ten minutes and appearing in a scene worthy of Alfred Hitchcock, thousands of birds of all shape, size, and color can be seen magnificently taking off.  In that short time, literally all but the year-round birds can be seen emptying out of the trees.

In the picture below, top, you can see my yard full of cowbirds (below, bottom) about to take off.  I really wish I could load a video of the birds ascending, but I can't, so this'll have to do.  The trees are just brimming with them, just clouds of color on a stick.

In the video, you could also hear the birds before they take off!  The sound of all their cries is deafening!

Then BAM! all at the same time the birds swoop out of the trees and fly away.  The process of them all taking off is only about 10 minutes, but then after that, everything is eerily silent again.

Tags: Life, Animals

700th

There is no rest for the wicked.

700 years ago on October 13, 1307 Pope Clement V ordered the arrest in coordinated raids all across Europe of the Poor Knights of Christ (A.K.A. - The Knights Templar).

By 1306 the Templars were happily camped on Cyprus where they could continue to fullfill their promise to protect the pilgrims to Palestine, but far enough away to enjoy the benefits of their wealth.  Pope Clement V, recently elected to the papal throne decided to address rumors of Templar Knights engaging in "unspeakable apostasy against God, detestable idolatry, execrable vice, and many heresies."  He summoned to room the charismatic Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay.

With him, he brought gold and silver  (150,000 gold florins and a substantial amount of silver!  =]) from their treasury as gifts to the newly instated leader of the Catholic Church.  He left several days later with the apologies of Clement, but had left the treasure with him.

Sensing a bribe, King Phillip IV of France grew outraged, whereas appalled by their flagrant behavior, power, and wealth, and covetted the latter two.  Along came a former Templar named Squin de Flexian, imprisoned and facing certain death, he came to learn of Phillip's dislike toward the Templars.  In a typical jail-house snitch, Flexian informed the king of vile, dark secrets pertaining to the Templars that would be most misfortunate to the order if they were to go public.  He babbled on about the knights having secret alliances with the Muslims, initiation rites that involved spitting on the cross, impregnating women, and murdering their newborn babies, and ceremonies involving barious acts of debauchery and blasphemy.

Pope Clement and King Phillip planned an operation to take out the Templar Order and claim the riches between the two.  The pope claimed that God had come to him in a dream and told him of all the heresies of the knights, which was supported by the "proof" from Flexian.

And so on October 13, 1307 the Templars were taken prisoner in the nations all across Europe.  This fell on a Friday, giving rise to the superstition of unfortunate events occurring on Friday the 13.  For years the Templars attempted to defend themselves against the charges undere torture including de Molay until in 1313 Clement ordered for the society to be abolished.

Punishment varied among their rank, but for de Molay and his three closest confederates in the Order, they were to be sentenced to life in prison.  In an inspirational oratory the disgraced Grand Master rose up in front of Notre Dame, a frail man over 70, whose toll of torture had obviously taken its effects on his aged body, and protested his innocence to the world and denounced his confessions under torture. 

"I think it only tigh that at so solemn a moment, when my life has so little time to run, I should reveal the deception which has been practiced and speak up for the truth.  Before Heaven and Earth and all of you here as my witnesses, I admit that I am guilty of the grossest iniquity.  But the iniquity is that I have lied in admitting the disgusting charges laid against the order.  I declare, and I must declare, that the order is innocent.  Its purity and saintliness are beyond  question.  I have indeed confessed that the order is guilty, but I have done so only to save myself from terrible tortures by saying what my enemies wished me to.  Other knights who have retracted their confessions have been led to the stake, yet the thought of dying is not so awful that I shall confess to foul crimes, which have never been committed.  Life is offered to me, but at the price of infany.  At such a price, life is not worth living.  I do not grieve that I must die if life can be bought only by piling one lie upon another."

His adamant refusal to admit wrongdoing through the tribunal into dumbfoundedness where they expected the knights to plead guilty and accept their fate gratefully.

The king, however, was not impressed.  When he learned of the shock he ordered that the valiant knight should be burned that very evening.

Sometimes executioners can be bribed to stoke the flames so that they'd consume the body more quickly, other times green boughs could be added so that the victim would die by inhalation of smoke rather than the slow death by flames, and even others a potion could be administered to render the punished senseless by the time their execution came around.

But for de Molay, Phillip ensured he'd be properly burned... slowly... with a combination of charcoal and dry wood, so that he was roasted, the pain being as much as any one man had ever experienced.

And so it's been 700 years since the original arrest of the Templar Knights, and to this day, we haven't let them rest.  Surrounded by a litany of false accusations, the knights gained wealth through banking with royals and through missions to the Middle East.  In a gross atrocity unworthy of the Vatican's holy name, Clement, who gained the throne in the first place through manipulation by Phillip, was working in concert with the French king to suppress the Templars.  Clement surrendered his honor in full the day he accepted that.  And now, seven centuries later, can we not let them sleep without pathetic conspiracy theories that have no historical basis?

A Templar seal symbolizing brotherhood, but later by some as evidence of homosexuality.

Tags: Life, History, Religion, Conspiracy Theory

Pilgrimage for History Nerds

Well I finished 1776, so don't worry; you won't be viciously attacked with random Revolutionary War, cocktail facts.  I'm starting In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great...

Oh, and before I forget, Alwaysbored, I saw commercials for a show called the "Women's Murder Club" or something like that, but it's based off the James Paterson books.  If my memory serves me well, then that's that mystery author you like.  Sorry that's so random, but I wanted to make note of that.  =)

... and it looks really cool, because the author (Michael Wood) actually goes a pilgrimage along the same route Alexander (statue of him below, top (and you better appreciate it, because it took me forever to find one of him clothed on Google!)) marched with his armies.  That's like... unbelievable for a history-worshipper.  I would be completely psyched if I could ever do that.  =)

That also brings me to my career interests, because I've really come to consider going into international banking, because you can get big bucks right out of college and you get to travel to a lot of different places when your young and without family responsibilities.  It looks pretty well-suited for me.  My cousin was earning $300,000 just out of Princeton!  Only I just learned tonight at dinner at the Outback that he's also gay (he's Catholic too, go figure?). I've had my fair share of surprises this week.  He's still a really cool guy though, and it shouldn't really be any blemish on his character!

Anyway (sorry that got really off track), the book is really cool so far and all.  It has great pictures too (one of a map below, bottom, Alexander's empire (from Google, not the book)), which I must have in my history books.

Tags: Life, History, Television

¿Disturbing?

1776 has some really good pictures in it, and I was browsing through them when I came across something a little odd.

A soldier named John Trumbull did some studies on the image of General Hugh Mercer being bayoneted to death in the fury of the Battle of Princeton (one of which is pictured below) - pretty disturbing.  I'm not sure that it's my kind of art, but I did think it was just so weird that I'd share it.

Oh, and they are making another "Mummy" movie (preview picture below) with the same cast as "The Mummy Returns".  I'm so excited!  It comes out sometime next year, but that'll make four!  There good, but obviously  not historically accurate.  They never are, but they are meant for entertainment and not education, right?  =)

This time its setting is China, so I don't know if I'll like it as well, because the Far East hasn't ever really interested me.  Maybe it'll kick off a new interest, though, I don't know...

Duh, I didn't even tell you what it's called (silly me) - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

I think that poster is really clever (if you didn't get it, the signature "M" is turned into a "3").  =)

Tags: Life, History, Movies, Books

What Are Guinea Pigs Used For?

"Lunch."

- The Book of General Ignornace

"...Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million of them each year."

According to the book the guinea pigs (montage of guinea pigs below) taste like rabbits.  Also, the best part are the cheeks (on the face, don't freak!), but I've never had the honor of eating guinea pig before, so I can't give any testimony to that.

Oh, and get this...

"In Peru, the animals are kept in the kitchen because of the ancient Andean belief that they need smoke, and folk doctors in the Andes use guinea pigs to detect illness in people - they believe that when the rodent is pressed against a sick person, it will squeak when near the source of disease.  In the cathedral of the city of Cuzco, Peru, there's a painting of the Last Supper in which Jesus and the disciples are shown abou to eat roast guinea pig [below, bottom]."

That's fascinating!

 

Ha, ha... and I tied it into history... =P

Tags: Life, Animals, History, Food, Pets, Culture

T.V. Shows

I have to apologize for my lame posting this week.  I've been a lot busier than I normally am, but I think it should all be regular now.

I don't know if any of you watch "Dancing With the Stars", but I like that show.  My parents used to teach ballroom dance, and I know some, so I enjoy watching it.  I cannot stand the judges however.  They don't know anything!  The score the good ones too low and the bad ones too high!  Erggg... and Wayne Newton this season... I cannot stand that man!  I'm so glad he's gone, but he should've been the first.

Probably my favorite show is "Boston Legal".  Not a lot of people watch it, but once you do you get hooked.  I have the first season on DVD (box depicted below, from left to right: Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen), Alan Shoore (James Spader), and Denny Crane (William Shatner)) and am looking for the others.  If you don't know about it, it's concerning this law firm only everyone there has there... well... quirks... sort of speak.  Like one of them has Asperger's and when he's upset he'll pur... yes... like a cat.  One's a cross-dressing, African man named Clarence, who sometimes comes to work as his multiple personality, Claire.  Denny Crane (William Shatner), one of the name partners, is very anti-Democrat, but has never lost a case (his record is 6,429 to 0).  The main character, Alan Shoore (James Spader) is very smug, insubordinate, and sexually harrasses pretty much the entire female population of the firm, but is probably only second to Denny in lawyering.  There's an ex-marine who is so homophobic that he has to get Alan to say "lesbian" him if the situation ever comes up.  It's just so crazy, and the cases are really weird.  This one guy was sueing for wrongful termination, because he got fired from his Santa Claus job at Gordon's when they found out he was a transvestite.  It's hilarious.  What's really cool about it though is that they talk about a lot of current political topics, so you learn something too!  =)

There is one show I like that I am constantly ridiculed for, but... you don't love "Desperate Housewives" until you try it!  You have to see it to believe it!  If you haven't seen it, don't judge it, because at the end the narrator voice comes on and it always has this mushy moral to the episode, but still... it's great.

"Brothers & Sisters" is an awesome show.  It's about a family that redefines dysfunctional.  There's a gay lawyer, a Democrat (in a family of Republicans) running with her boss who she recently became engaged to for President of the United States, a brother working in a business wither their dead father's mistress, a brother in Iraq (ironic with a Democratic sister), and a sister whose husband had an affair with the dead father's daughter by the mistress without knowing it.  It's pretty wild.

I like "Criminal Minds" and "Survivor", but not as well as the others.  They aren't funny enough for me though.

I can't wait for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" to come out!  It looks so good!  =)

Tags: Life, Television, Movies

Columbus Day

"Some people celebreat Columbus [Day] while others villify him..."

- World History for Dummies

Sponsored by some of the biggest idiots that ever ruled Spain, Columbus himself was an even bigger one.  He made four trips to the "Indies" (map below, top), died during the last one, and according to World History for Dummies, he committed three major errors:

~ Thinking that Asia was a lot larger than it was in reality.

~ Finding the Earth's radius to be three-fourths of what it truly is.

~ Being stubborn enough not to reevaluate his position.

Not to mention that he didn't really discover America, Leif Erikson was there about 500 years before him.  The only two good things he has to his name is discovering hammocks and pineapples, but someone would've done that later anyway.

Did you know that he actually kept two logs, one with true distances, and another was a false one to give the crew the impression they'd gone farther than they had in order to keep them sated.

The stories of him torturing Native Americans is also well known (to him they were Indians, and that was another thing he refused to accept, that they could be from a whole different continent).  Not that that was semi-provoked, the natives weren't exactly nice to him either, but it was their land.

Did you know that there are no surviving paintings of Christopher Columbus?  All the paintings you'll see of him were done after his death (below, middle).  No one knows what he really looks like

Oh, and my mom just picked up this awesome looking book called The Book of General Ignorance (depicted below, bottom).  It has a bunch of random stuff like "Do Marmots [Groundhogs] Kill People?" and "How Do Lemmings Die".  It's hilarious!  =)

We were bored and came up with this -

Tags: Life, History, Holidays, Exploration

Snap

Life can change... fast.  I experienced that more than any other day of my life.

School was normal, but when I got in the car today, my mom and my brother were in obvious distress.  As soon as I got in I remember my mom saying, "Bad day..."

Queen Hazel Marie, sovereign over all the world had been hit by a car.  It was imconceivable to me.  I had lost pets before - cats all the time.  No other cat besides Hazel had lived two years.  That's how it is with barn cats who could die from a diseased mouse, coyote attack, or even kitten-birth.  I had no idea that it would even be possible for Hazel to be killed on the road, because she never hunted down by the road, which is a quarter mile away from the house.

My mom claimed to had seen her on the side and recognized the colors.  She couldn't go look, so she called dad who came down and put her into a box, which we would later take care of.

I was in denial.  There was no way she could be dead.  She had disappeared for days at a time when she was younger, only to return a week or so later.  That's how it was with barn cats.  But now she had settled down, and it was different.  She's five-years-old - ancient for our cats.

We drove home - all of us very upset.  The car ride was pretty silent.  We got home finally, and I was going to go outside to the barn, where I had figured they would've put the box.  On my way out my mom confirmed what I had guessed.  She and my brother followed far behind, because although we all had connections with her all these years, it was with me that she was most in touch with.  I swear sometimes I can understand her, and her understand me.

I got to the barn and found the box for what it obviously had to be.  It wasn't there the night before and it was cat-sized.  I almost didn't make it to the box.  I couldn't bear to see what was inside, but convinced myself to check, because I knew I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't.

I looked inside, but to my bewilderment was surprised by all the black markings on the shoulder.  I figured it must be matted blood, and proceeded to stroke the spot just as I had so many times before for so many years.  To my further shock, it wasn't wet or matted as the fur should be at all!

Upon further frantic inspection I quickly realized it wasn't her at all!

The legs were too wide; the tail too long.  I quickly rushed outside the barn door and my mom and brother must've seen a maniacal look in my eyes as I shouted out, "IT'S NOT HER!  IT'S NOT HER!"

They assumed that I was just in denial over the loss of my closest pet.  I showed them what I'd found and they came to the same conclusion.  It wasn't her.

I ran outside once more and called for her into the woods, also ringing the bell on my deck that she always responds to.  Right on que, she bolted out from the path along the hill the barn's on.

The whole day's been a bit dreamlike.  I'd gone from being the saddest person on earth to elated in a manner of minutes.

Don't take what you love for granted, keep your friends close, and get an extra scoop of ice cream.  You may find that you that your life can change just like that... snap.

=)

Tags: Life, Animals, Change