What He Did Wrong

Freemasonry had its critics in America, just as it did in Britain.  The strictest Lutheran sects did not like the tolerant ideas of deism at all.  They criticized the Freemasons for their secrecy.  Soon after the Philadelphia lodge was founded, it was involved in a very unfortunate scandal, concerning a foolish apothecary, burning alcohol, and a big mistake made by one of the greatest thinkers and Founding Fathers recognized internationally.

An apothecary in Philadelphia, Evan Jones, had an apprentice, Daniel Rees, who was eager to learn the secrets of the mason craft.  One night he and his other apprentices decided to play a joke on Rees.  They dressed up in elaborate devil costumes and told him he had to swear allegiance to the devil to join the Freemasons, which in reality wasn't anything like the true initiation ceremony.  It was meant to be just a joke.  Jones then dropped some burning brandy on him, was caused severe infections that Rees died of some days later.  Ooops.

The well known Freemason and thinker, Ben Franklin, had some terrible connections to the crime.  When Jones told him of the trick, he actually thought it would be a good joke.  He later regretted this of course.  Franklin frantically attempted to contact Rees when he decided that the joke was in bad taste, but he obviously failed in doing so.  Franklin would give evidence at Jones’ trial against him on charges of manslaughter.  He then published a statement denying that Jones and the others were actually Freemasons and was a strong critic of their horrible behavior.

Freemasonry survived and by the 1940s was founded firmly in Philadelphia. He would be a very active and enthusiastic mason.  In 1747 he was Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania (he was in charge of all the lodges in the colony and reported only to the English Grand Lodge).  For sixteen years he was in charge of Philadelphia’s post office from 1737-1753.  Through all those years there is no doubt the unlucky incident weighed on Franklin’s mind. 

 

Tags: Life, Freemasonry, Scandal, Seasons, Law

Lost and Found

Well my camera was found and returned to me!  I put new batteries in it, and it went screwy.  The lens kept going out and then back in, and the pictures had a heavy purple tinge to them.  However, the memory card was in perfect order.  I moved it over to my new camera and was able to download the pictures from the Fall Dance to my computer with a problem.  Those pictures are from over a month ago, so must of the "couples" are out of date.  I just uploaded a cool picture of Groblette, Mina, and Norbert's Mother instead.

I have a hilarious book called The Worst Case Scenario Almanac: History that I've had for a while, but haven't shared anything from it yet.  One section I found interesting was "HOW TO ESCAPE IF YOU ARE SEALED INSIDE A PYRAMID".

"1.  Find the King's sarcophagus.  The sarcophagus may be unadorned and simply appear to be a large stone box or coffin.  As you search, pick up useful items left behind by workers, such as additional torches, metal or stone objects that can be used as tools, and any such food or drink.”

“2.  Stand facing the sarcophagus.  The exit from the burial chamber will be on the north wall, which will be on your right.  The doorway will be blocked with a huge, unmovable slab of granite.”

“3.  Make a pick or ax.  Break some of the stone vases in the room and, using a sharp pointed section, fashion an ax by grinding it against the granite.”

“4.  Carve around the slab.  Do not attempt to carve the slab itself.  The passage surrounding the door slab is made of limestone, a rock much softer than granite.  Use the ax to carve an escape hole around the slab.  This is likely to take several days, so ration your food accordingly.”

“5.  Crawl through the hole to access the passageway behind the door.  Continue to follow the corridors as they slope up toward the north.  Determine the proper direction by using additional granite slabs blocking the way as your guide.  Carve around them as necessary.”

“6.  Feel the pyramid blocks as you make your way.  External blocks may be slightly warmer to the touch than those inside.”

“7.  Look for outside light.  As your approach the entrance to the pyramid, light may begin to penetrate into the darkness through cracks in the blocks.”

“8.  Carve around the final slab of rock.  The main entrance will be in the north face of the pyramid about 55 feet above the ground.  Carve around the final slab to reach the outside, taking care not to tumble down the sloped side of the pyramid.”

“9.  Slide or climb down the face of the pyramid.  Flatten your body against the outer wall of the pyramid and inch your way down to the ground.”

All that carving sounds a little tedious to me.  Sliding down a pyramid would be sweet though!  I think I’ll add that to my list next to “bungee jumping”.  =)

Oh, and I forgot my traditional poll for the National Geographic posts last entry.

Tags: Life, Digital Camera, History, Books, Magazines, Friends, Dances

National Geographic December 2007 Edition

I got my new edition of National Geographic today.  I read some of the articles, but just skimmed most and looked at the pictures.  Pictures are definitely the best part of these magazines.  “Extreme Dinosaurs” was too much science for me.  “Bethlehem 2007 A.D.” was just depressing.  “Wings of the Albatross” actually had some pretty cool photos, and so did “Frozen Ground”.  I didn’t really like “Enduring Cowboys” though, which wasn’t really that interesting for me.

 

However, in the departments they had two stories on archaeology that were pretty interesting.  A CT scan done by the Egyptian Mummy Project thinks they’ve come closer to uncovering the identity of the mysterious KV55 tomb.  If you don’t know what KV55 is, it’s gold-plated coffin with royal titles, but the names had been chiseled off and part of the face was torn off.  The dead’s identity has been debated upon since its discovery in 1907.

 

The scan discovered that the bones belonged to someone around the age of 60, which fits the description of a lesser-known pharaoh, Smenkhkare.  Smenkhakre also fits the time period of other pharaohs around him, although another king also fits the criteria of that interval in Egyptian history known as Amenhotep IV or better remembered as Akhenaten.

 

Akhenaten is the pharaoh discussed in earlier entries as being known for establishing a monotheistic cult.  Egyptians would’ve had motive for trying to damage the king’s grave, because he was generally considered radical and heretic by the people for trying to establish monotheism in a long-time polytheistic nation.  As an example, imagine President Bush made it law that all Americans had to be Hindu (the first polytheistic religion that came to mind).  The people would have to comply or suffer the consequences until he died (president for life =]).  At that point the new president would bring back freedom of religion and we’d all go back to normal.  I would bet a lot of people would like to get some revenge on President Bush, and desecrating his grave would be a likely response.

 

The second archaeology article was a little bit on the odd side, but none-the-less interesting, about an ancient prosthesis.  Apparently an Egyptian woman had wooden big toe.  It wasn’t only for looks as scuffing on the bottom of the replacement indicates.  The artificial toe was found with the mummy’s body.

An awesome hybrid baboon in the wildlife department -

Tags: Life, National Geographic, History, Archaeology, Animals

Rearrangement

I reorganized my room again.  I have this thing for rearranging it.  It makes everything seem so... fresh I guess for lack of better words.  I like the feeling.  But anyway, I attached pictures of it.  Two pictures actually, because I found a way around the one-picture-uploaded-from-your-computer-to-the-Internet-per-entry rule.  I start writing an entry, but just upload a picture to my shoebox.  Then I close out and start a new entry without posting, so I can just transfer from my shoebox to the entry and upload another one without breaking the rule.

It was kind of sad cleaning it up though.  I decided it was time to banish the fantasy books that I used to like so much.  I exiled them all to the attic, so that I would have room on my bookshelf.  That way I have room on my desk shelves for office things.

All that's left (concerning books) on my desk are my fiction thrillers.  They are The Da Vinci Code, Il Codice Da Vinci (The Da Vinci Code in Italian), The Last Templar, The Rule of Four, The Footsteps of God, Angels and Demons, and Deception Point.

Oh!  This is really random, but today is Bill Nye's birthday.  He's either 51 or 52.  I don't remember.

Tags: Life, Cleaning, Electronics

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We Asked for an Emperor, and You Give Us a Loon

The presidents of today definitely have their quirks, but they can't really compare the antics of the Roman emperors.  Somehow they always found a way to choose the worst person possible for the job, or some of the time.  There were definitely good emperors too.

Tiberius, the second emperor and stepson of Augustus, was extremely paranoid, and his family relationships were destroyed because of it.  He once had his neice banished and his great-nephews murdered because he was suspicious that they planned to usurp his power.  If a citizen informed the emperor that someone spoke against him, and the accused was convicted successfully of treason, he would receive 25% of the convict's wealth.  This encouraged people to fib about anyone, the richer the better, because they knew Tiberius was so paranoid that he would find almost anyone guilty.

Caligula can claim a few nut cases to his name.  He declared himself a god while serving as emperor (Caesar and Augustus both received this honor posthumous in a way of acknowledging their achievements).  He had decided early he already was a god.

Caligula (or so a tale is told) was obsessed with the circus (not with clowns, but the older kind with horses and chariot races).  He once had the city silenced so that his favorite horse, Incitatus, wouldn't be bothered before the race began.  Caligula also deliberated on actually making Incitatus a consul (a top seat in the hierarchy with the power of veto) of Rome, though it's unknown if that actually happened.

Ptolemy was a client king (a sort of vassal who ran a province) of Caligula in Egypt.  Ptolemy once showed up in Rome wearing a purple cloak, a color usually symbolizing imperial power.  Caligula had him murdered for showing up that way.

Nero is often remembered for playing the fiddle as Rome burned, but you might've read in a different entry that fiddles weren't even around during that time period.  The Great Fire of Rome was a great opportunity for Nero to get public support as he helped rebuild some of the lost structures.  However, he took a huge chunk of the lost land (120 acres to be exact) to build himself a nice, new palace, complete with an artificial lake, parks, and forests.  Although some of it was later destroyed, most of it survived, but was buried for Trajan's new bathing complex.

Commodus is not forgotten mostly for ending the Age of the Five Good Emperors.  It all went wrong when he handed the imperial powers over to a bunch of corrupt officials.  His death heralded a period of civil war and a succession of soldier emperors.  His name can boast hitting one of the lowest points that the Roman Empire ever endured.

Julianus (ha, ha... his first name was Didius, how cool is that?) was only out for the ambitions of himself and his family.  He didn't even have an army of supporters.  He just offered soldiers some money if they'd make him emperor.  Not surprisingly, everyone got ticked and called for revenge.  He was murdered after two months of civil war.  He never even paid the soldiers anyway!

The short reign of Caracalla was one the oddest and most extreme.  Septimius Severus made he and his brother Geta joint emperors wanting to establish a new imperial dynasty.  Well once Severus died, Caracalla murdered his wife, brother, and all his brother's supporters.  He soon became obsessed that he was a reincarnation of Alexander the Great.  No wonder he was murdered.

Augustus probably wouldn't have bothered establishing the empire if he'd known that 200 years later an idiot like Elagabalus would rule.  A huge sexual pervert, he went as far as to marry a Vestal Virgin (GASP)!  He tried to recreate the Sun-God cult, which only served to horrify the people.  Elagabalus had no idea of the sense of honor that went with the job and was completely indifferent to the dignity of the position.  The people of Rome made sure he suffered a violent death.

Great Fire of Rome -

Tags: Life, History, Emperors

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