Lesson from Gibbon: Diocletian

 

Lessons From Gibbon

Diocletian

Gibbon wrote the eight volumes from 1776 to 1830’s. Most historians refer to him, but today I don’t think many people want to read it anymore. His writing is archaic, stuffy, stilted, and dry. The audio version, the narrator drones without any inflection or emotion. Still better to listen instead of trying to read all eight volumes.

I discovered that there was actually a lot to learn from Eddie. Well from Julius Caesar up to Diocletian not much I didn’t already know. A few insights but most books on Roman history focus on the emperors at least through Commodus. Gibbon places the death of Commodus, when the Praetorian Guard put the next emperor up for auction, as the beginning of the decline.

This entered a time where any general with an army marched on Rome to name himself emperor. Some lasted for a few years others didn’t make it to a year.

The Germanic tribes on the other side of Rhine seized the weakness and invaded carving out parts of the empire. Mercenaries from tribes across the Rhine and Danube were used in the legions. Total chaos.

Here are some of the lessons I learned from Diocletian (284–305 CE):

· Diocletian pulled the empire out of chaos. Once he had total control of the empire, he realized it was too big and cumbersome for one person to rule. He divided it up into four areas and placed a handpicked man to rule each one. He took the title of Augustus and the other three had the title of Caesar. Each area was called a diocese, taken from his name. The Catholic church still uses this term for each area under the direction of a bishop.

· Eunuchs were used for the bureaucracy. Not able to sire children and have a family they were considered less likely to be corrupt. Main reason for Catholic priest being celibate. It didn’t work and still doesn’t for The Church.

· Diocletian instituted the most thorough and ruthless persecution of the Christians. He noticed that many temples throughout the empire were shuttered, and others were suffering from poor attendance and money from sacrifices.  The temples were a major source of money in time of need. They built up large treasuries and then loaned the money out acting as bankers making even more off interest. They were the dragon sitting on a pile of treasure. Whenever emperors needed money for holding off an invasion or putting down a rebellion, they would raid the temples of the hoarded gold and silver. If the temples are going out of business the monetary backup plan was gone.

· Christianity doesn’t have temples, and they don’t sacrifice animals to raise money. This was a serious hit on the temples dedicated to emperor worship. Which provided the personal income of the emperor.

· Diocletian issued an edict of Milan outlawing Christianity. Milan was where the emperor resided not in Rome. For three hundred years the Christians were persecuted sporadically, but in the chaos of the second and third centuries stayed under the radar and prospered. In the larger cities they built churches. Now was the time of empire wide intense persecution.

· Gibbon relates that the wealthy class became Christians from their slaves. Slaves flocked to the religion and then converted their masters.

· The middle class or merchants were the most opposed to Christianity as they didn’t like the idea of equality in the afterlife. They also worshipped gods that promised wealth. The military worshipped Mithras.

· This persecution nearly destroyed all the good work in restoring the empire Diocletian accomplished.

· Only the wealthy were condemned and suffered. Freemen and slaves, he didn’t care about. Domitian was after confiscating wealth.

· Gibbon added up all the lives lost to persecution from Nero to Diocletian his estimation of the total was 150,000. He compared this to the lives lost in the Netherlands during the 30 year’s war which was 100,000.

I downloaded The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon on Audio. It’s 108 hours. I also downloaded the Kindle edition for only two dollars. Comes in useful if I want to look up certain lessons. So far, I’m through the reign of Constantine to the end of paganism. That’s already 30 hours a long way to go yet.

Next edition will cover Constantine.

Patrick Prescott is a retired public-school teacher and author of: Optimus: Praetorian Guard, Stephanus, I Maury: The Life and Times of a Rebel, Human Sacrifices, The Fan Plan Tribology, Three Medieval Battles and others in e-books and paperbacks on Amazon.com.

Sunday's are the worst.

 

I'm three fifths of the way through radiation. Five weeks to go. One of the check-in clerks is a former student. I gave her a copy of Human Sacrifices. She is very friendly.

During the week I'm fine. My only problem is having enough in my bladder for treatment. Only once this week was I short and had to drink water for a few minutes before they let me in again and there was enough.

Last Sunday I had bad diabetic nerve pain when I woke up. It was up to my kneecaps. I go into church early to fix coffee and tea for our Friendship Cafe, between worship service and Sunday School. My wife had to fill in for me. I'm getting get well cards, even from good blogger buddy Berthold in Ohio. 

This week I came down with a UTI. Friday morning I went into urgent care at 6AM, I was the only customer and was seen right away. I didn't get out of there with a injection of anti-biotic and prescription until 10:00. I made it through radiation, but Friday night I was going about every ten minutes, same for all day Saturday. I got some sleep last night and it's settled down some, but I was afraid to go to church if I had to run to the bathroom too often. 

Reminds me of an old book title joke: Fifty Yards to the Out House written by Willie Make It and Illustrated by Betty Wont.

Linda has to make coffee again. I'm a tea drinker connoisseur. Plain old orange, black tea gets boring. And the person getting the coffee never had hot water for tea or hot chocolate and when she couldn't do it anymore, I volunteered. 

I started something, an elderly lady decided to hold an afternoon tea last year. Ten ladies took a table and sold tickets and on a Saturday afternoon they held a tea. They had three different snacks for three different types of tea. They had an auction. I donated a fancy tea pot inherited from my mother. We raised $1,500 for the Heifer Project. This year the tea is in late April the day after my last radiation treatment. Linda and daughter will host a table and the proceeds will go to local animal rescue groups. Not sure I'll be able to make it.

My cousin messaged me on fb after I posted about my treatments. She told me that she was fine through all of her treatments, but two months later she was leaking from every orifice in her body for a month. Seems it has a delayed reaction. Oh Joy!

I put the picture of Edward Gibbon on top. I got a copy of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on audio (108 hours), also a kindle copy for two bucks. So far, I've listened to 35 hours. I'm writing a series of articles that I'm posting on Medium entitled Lessons from Gibbon. It is filling in the time without rotting my brain streaming TV and giving me something to write about. I'll post them here too.

I'm confined to the bedroom as its closest to the bathroom, but I do have my faithful companion beside me to keep me company.

This is Sammie, she helped me through the time I fell and broke my hand and wrenched my back a few years ago. A good girl.

Hanging in there.

 I've had ten of the forty radiation treatments. So far, I've had few ill effects (knock on wood). Some loose stools and one night of the runs is about it.

I've started on the regimen of Zytiga and Prednisone without any loss of energy or other side effects mentioned. I'll be on this for a year of more.

I had my first chemo injection yesterday and will have them every three months for from a year to three.

I'm hanging in there for now. 

The Road to Wellness

 First radiation treatment today. Monday, I saw the medical oncologist. He'll be overseeing my hormone therapy. I've started on two pills every day and an injection starting on the 13th every three weeks. The injections are for three years. 

The side effects of radiation treatment is tiredness.

The side effects of hormone therapy are hot flashes, high blood pressure, weight gain, fatigue, lowering muscle and adding fat add on cardiovascular disease and mood changes.

Talk about cured but dying from the cure!

I Keep thinking back over the doctor I had for five years. He managed my diabetes but didn't do a physical or prostate exam. Then the last three years was during covid, and I only contacted him by phone for year and the other was with my new doctor that did the blood test that led to this.

I'm trying to keep a positive mental attitude, but with such a gloomy forecast it's not going to be easy. 

Fight of my life.

 February 29, I have my first radiation treatment. Five days a week for eight weeks. The information packet says the main side effect is tiredness. Usual doctor sugar coating what's going to happen. Fatigue is what will happen. Barely able to get out of bed while going though it and possibly for months afterward. At my age it takes time to heal.

Then hormone treatment. Estrogen and Androgen injections to kill testosterone. It seems T is what the cancer feeds on. 

I know I'm not alone in this fight. My wife is with me and will be driving me to and from the treatments and when I get as week as a newborn puppy tend to my needs. Married 45 years we've been there and done that many times. I also know from past trauma that the Holy Spirit will be my comforter. 

Jesus didn't promise us paradise on Earth. He said He must go so the Holy Spirit could come and be a guide, advocate, and comforter. 

I went through a divorce which ended my dream of being a missionary. It was a very painful experience, but the Holy Spirit saw me through my pain and depression. I wasn't alone He was there.

I picked up the pieces, remarried and considered my classroom a mission field, no to preach, but to teach them to read and write, to understand history and to do research which, if they learned would stand them in good stead in their lives.

 I've experienced the loss of my parents and my younger sister. He gave me solace in all the pain.

I know He will be by my side through all of this. I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and I know He will comfort me through it.

NYC's Biggest Secret

 

Republicans Just Laid Bare One Of New York City’s Biggest Secrets

And you know what? It’s about damn time.

By Ossiana Tepfenhart

 

A couple months ago, I got a phone call from my friend Eli*. Eli is extremely housing insecure and does walking deliveries for a living. After eight years of sleeping on couches and in the street, he finally got his Section 8. He lives with his brother, Jason.*

Too bad SNAP doesn’t pay enough for food on a regular basis.

“Ossiana, is it alright if me and Jason come by?” he asked. “I haven’t had much food lately. I’m really hungry and I feel like if I don’t get serious food, I’ll faint.”

The answer, of course, was a resounding yes. We cooked him and his brother a turkey dinner, had them spend the night, and then let them raid our pantry. Then, we wrapped up the rest of the turkey and sent them on their way.

That dinner was a sight most people will never see. You see, Eli, Jason, my husband, and I all were homeless at one point. And yes, all of us squatted in New York City. So, we all get it.

Lately, I’ve been watching the Migrant Crisis unfold. And it was one of the most telling things I’ve ever seen in my life.

For those not in the know, the Migrant Crisis is a GOP-fueled crisis where they bus migrants to New York City.

The Republicans do this allegedly to prove a point that we need to secure the border. In reality, the GOP recently turned down border security bills. It’s a song and dance to upset blue states and flex their power.

But, I digress.

The Migrant Crisis is a real crisis. Over 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City over the past year. This led to a multitude of emergency shelters, over $14.5 billion in spending for food and shelter, and a full overhaul of the schools.

Most of these people are trying to seek asylum, but the truth is that they don’t have much of a chance and the system is backlogged. Asylum is not for economic reasons. It’s for political persecution that has to be noticeable and proven.

Many of the working poor in New York City are livid about this — and rightfully so.

It’s not that New Yorkers don’t want migrants here. It’s that the Migrant Crisis put on a huge show about New York’s “humanitarian” side while proving that they had the means to shelter the homeless people in the city.

The hypocrisy is laid bare for all to see.

Prior to the crisis, there were 100,000 homeless people in New York City. Many of them were rejected for permanent shelter, denied food, and denied medical care that could have helped them get back on their feet. How do I know? My friends and I lived it.

We were told to “get a job,” despite no one wanting to hire a homeless person. The shelters themselves have about 100,000 homeless people sleeping in them.

Many people don’t want to sleep there because they are SO DANGEROUS. People rape you and steal your shit there. It’s happened to my late friend several times until he decided he preferred sleeping in the subways. Meanwhile, migrants often get their own individual rooms in hotels. What the fuck.

Schools have shut down to house them, hotels were converted into shelters, and many permanent buildings are now being planned for them. So, what the NYC government is telling me with this is that they could have done this all along for the homeless that desperately wanted safe shelter. They just chose not to.

Migrants are getting free daycare while New Yorkers have to pay for it. Fucking really? Even daycare?

New Yorkers who are working poor that struggle to keep a roof over their head with rising rents get to watch people who are not even from here get discounted rents, freebies, and job placement. The average rent in Manhattan is around $4,000. That’s not tenable for two people earning $50,000 each — and that’s very bad. NYCHA is backlogged and reasonable rents are done by a lottery that can take years to get.

It’s really, really bad in New York for the average person. There are tons of apartments that are sitting vacant because landlords don’t want to rent them out at a reasonable price — thousands, even.

 My friends who are in New York right now? They want to leave because they are fed up with getting slums for $3,000 a month and I can’t blame them.

Legally speaking, New York is bound to shelter migrants due to the 1981 “right to shelter” mandate, but that doesn’t explain the double standard.

New York is legally bound to shelter people who apply for shelter in the city, period. I get that. And I also get that these people are fleeing bad situations in their home countries. I also understand that.

But why is it that this city’s stupid-ass politicians are so okay with an increasingly cramped and stressed-out middle class? Why is it that people who were born here have to struggle to find SAFE shelter? Why is it so hard to find affordable healthcare?

More importantly, if New York really cared about the housing crisis, why the fuck does the city not stop developers and landlords from charging these ridiculous prices? They could. They absolutely could do that if they cared.

They don’t care. They haven’t cared for fucking decades.

As long as New Yorkers are willing to pay taxes and pay exorbitant amounts for apartment living, they will ignore the elephant in the room because these fucks profit off it.

For the longest time, New York was able to quietly ignore that double-standard. The politicians could quietly scuttle all the complaints of locals under the rug as long as they did the “we care” song and dance.

The Migrant Crisis? Yep, it’s forcing them to put their money where their mouths are. And Eric Adams is facing a world of shit because it’s time to pay the Pied Piper.

Newark is a prime example of a city that is working hard to remain affordable.

High-key, I love Newark’s politics. When I lived there, Newark was a lot more dangerous. Today, the city has turned around and despite that, the area still remains one of the most affordable in New Jersey.

Newark is currently giving working-class families homes for $1 as long as they agree to fix up the homes and live in them. The city also has one of the best-run social services net I’ve personally seen in a city that size.

This is one of the only cities where my friends can afford to live and still do their artwork. It’s also one of the only cities that seems to welcome working-class people and immigrants with open arms.

Newark is an example of what New York City used to be. Is it perfect? Nope, but I can tell you from personal experience that Newark is a lot more poverty-friendly and a lot more capable of upward mobility than the Big Apple ever will be again.

It used to be possible to go to New York with $20 and a dream, and somehow make it into an apartment. You can’t do that anymore. People are furious at New York’s housing crisis and the double standards they’re seeing.

This will reach a breaking point soon and I’m not beat for it.

There. I said it. New York City earned the veritable shitstorm it’s dealing with because it gave into every fucking whim of end-stage capitalism. There will be a point where you won’t find people willing to work minimum wage jobs in the city because it will make no sense to do so.

I mean, why work if you can’t pay the bills that way? Why work if the chance at having a roof over your head is a big fat zero? You might as well enjoy the permanent vacation or go to a place that’s not as fucking awful to you.

While I would still never vote for the party that took women’s rights away, I absolutely know of people in the Big Apple who switched political parties over this shit. And you know what? The political machine of New York has no one to blame but themselves.

 

Treatment

 Met with oncologist today. I have a PET scan on Wednesday, the following Monday I start radiation. Five days a week for eight weeks.

Then hormone treatment. Prognosis is good that the cancer has not spread, and this will take care of it. 

Bad News

 Well, the MRI said I had cancer. The biopsy said I had cancer in all 13 spots taken. I'm now going to have a PET scan, then to an oncologist for radiation, hormone treatment and chemo.

My father had prostate cancer and they did surgery. Today they have better treatments and that won't be necessary.

On a good note, I got my tax W-whatever and I earned $23.12 last year. Almost all of it from the UK for:

So far sold one of them to the UK this month.

Vintage Science Fiction Month

 Berthold Gambrel reminded me that this is Vintage Science-Fiction month. He chose Childhoods End by Arthur C. Clark. 

I thought about it and came up with Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy.

They were originally written as a series of short stories in science fiction magazines from 1940-52.

What Asimov created in these stories was what he called Psychohistory. The combination of psychology, mathematics and history to predict the future.

It is from these stories I truly understood the purpose of history. It's not just stories about people who died centuries or millennia earlier. History is our Chrystal ball to understand the future. Think of your credit history, life insurance actuarial tables and driving history. How empires rise and fall, political systems change from monarchy to dictatorships to democracy to republics. You can predict the cycles. It's not that history is forgotten it's that each generation thinks they are coming up with something new and better than what their parents and grandparents had. Hegel's Dialectic.

In Foundation Hari Seldon predicts the collapse of the Galactic Empire resulting in a dark age that will last 30,000 years. Then a second empire will emerge. The first four short stories were compiled and put in book form in 1951. 

Foundation and Empire was released in 1952 and Second Foundation came out in 1953. Later Asimov would write prequels and sequels to the series.

Selden proposes a plan that will shorten the dark age from 30 thousand to just one thousand.

A foundation is created, and plans are put in place to follow the teaching of Seldon.

The first foundation is set up on a small solar system far from the center of the Galactic Empire. This solar system would then start reconquering what was lost. 

 Seldon predicts certain phases of the collapse and how to mitigate the damage. He makes videos that at certain times of crises he tells his followers how to handle the crisis.

 In Foundation and Empire, all is going as planned until something strange happens. A man conquers the galaxy by psychic powers that makes everyone like him.  

When the foundation meets to see Seldon's prediction his video mentions a possible civil war. The man referred to as "The Mule," is an aberration. There is no further planned future for them from Seldon anymore.

When the Mule dies things go crazy, but the First Foundation clings to the hope that Seldon prophesied there was a second foundation on the other side of the galaxy.

The third book is about the search for this mysterious second foundation and it has an ironic ending.

The whole trilogy is a retelling of the fall of Rome, and the dark ages that followed. The foundation solar system is good old England. I liked the Mule as he inserts Charlemagne into the story. 

While the Galactic Empire is slowly falling apart it encounters the first foundation and the general in command of the forces of the Empire can't understand how this pimple of a solar system keeps beating his forces. He's referring to the Byzantine Empire and Belisarius, but when I was reading it and then gave it to my father, we both likened it to Vietnam.

It's still a great read.

WC010924: Celebrity I'd like to meet.

 

Today's challenge is the celebrity I'd like to meet.

Hands down Linda Ronstadt.

Halloween 1979, first year of marriage and didn't have two nickels to rub together. 

Linda came to town for a concert, and I was ready to sell blood or rob a bank to buy a ticket. Wife had more sense and kept me in check.

Newspaper had pictures of her performance and she came out in a skeleton suit singing Heat Wave. 

Sweet Linda, I have her rock albums and CD's, her Trio albums with Dolly Parton and Emily Lou Harris, and her big band CD's. On Spotify I can listen to her to my heart's content. Read her book Simple Dreams.

WC010324: Hobbies I used to enjoy.

 

Starting the new year off for the Wednesday Challenge. Hobbies I used to enjoy.

1. Model airplanes and cars. It was fun gluing the pieces together and painting them. The last one I did, was in high school, 1971. AFJROTC we all brought an airplane, and they were hung from the drop ceiling of the room. I did the Concorde SST. 

2. Collecting and reading comic books. Mom would give my brother and me two quarters and we would go to the Rexall drug store a few blocks away and that would buy us 4 comic books. Good for a couple of weeks until the new ones came out. We had original Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Hulk, Spider Man, Silver Surfer and others. Our closet was crammed full of them. We were millionaires until Mom threw them all away.

3. Paint by numbers. Something Mom got us to keep us busy during the cold months. 

4. Writing poetry. I was rather moody growing up and I would write poetry. I never showed them to anyone as they were more my way of journaling my feelings. The last serious poem I wrote was going through my first wife's near fatal illness and then divorce. I've been sneaking that poem into a science fiction story for the last thirty years. It's still a work in progress, but it's getting there. This is the poem; the story is about a planet invaded by space travelers and in a hundred years totally destroyed. This was one of my ways of dealing with a deep depression.

BTW I am looking for some beta readers on this story in any are interested.

Buzi

I shiver huddled in a lonely cave.

I shout, I rant, I rave.

The game of life has been played.

Though I don’t know how I strayed.

The ache within my chest

Will give me no peaceful rest.

Oh Buzi

 Oh Buzi

 OHHHH BBUUUUUUZZZZZIII!

(silence)

 I hurt.

I am Niqmiepu of the tiller Grails.

We tilled the soil with the ivory in our tails.

We sowed the ground in a single pass.

Now all around me is not a single blade of grass.

Hunters from the sky came to kill,

and we didn’t know why.

They traded with the Prails.

And allied with the Drails.

They slaughtered us, Grails.

 

It was the ivory they sought,

Too late we vainly fought.

With all the farmers killed

None of the land was tilled.

As fallow our soil does lie.

The Prails and Drails now die.

 Finally, there was only Ishme.

and me.

We hurriedly fled.

Our feet sorely bled.

We rested by a tree.

There was no one we could see.

Ishme, my wife was hurt.

And her face was covered in dirt.

We holed up in this cave.

Where for water we began to crave.

She grew thin as a rail.

And as white as her tail.

While in a fever I perspired

Ishme’s breath gradually expired.

Panting on her side she did lie.

Slowly I watched her die.

 

I buried her with dust and tears.

She was the last of my peers.

 Come sweet death.

Take my lonely breath.

My race is lost.

At tremendous cost

My tail I kept.

My eyes have wept.

For those who died

And for those who tried

To save my race

Now there is no place.

For us to live

And no love for me to give.

Come sweet death.

Take my lonely breath.

O Holy Night

 

Picture of Michael Crawford singing O Holy Night in The Lost Christmas Eve with Trans-Siberian Orchestra 1993.

My all-time favorite Christmas Carol is O Holy Night.

I grew up listening to Christmas songs on a console stereo the size of a small piano. It had turntable, record changer so you could stack five or six albums at a time and AM/FM radio. 

Dad would load it up and during the evenings or on Sunday morning we'd listen to Christian Music before leaving for church. During the holidays we'd listen to Christmas Carols. With grandparents who owned a record store, and for a time after he mustered out of the marines, Dad worked there. Mom grew up working in the store. We had lots of records 45's and LP's.

Of all the Christmas songs, not all are Carols, Frosty the Snowman is a winter song, O Holy Night is by far my favorite. What Child is This comes a close second.  

George Beverly Shay and Tennessee Earnie Ford were my favorite singers for a long long time. A lot of women like Karen Carpenter, Anne Murray, Kathy Lee Gifford, Barbra Streisand and others sing it on albums we listen to, but they don't have the deep resonance that the male voice lends to the song, in my not so humble opinion.

That is until we watched on PBS a Christmas presentation of The Lost Christmas Eve. Ozzie Davis narrated the story, and a number of performers sang songs. then Michale Crawford sang O Holy Night.

Bear with me here, my wife is a huge Barbra Streisand fan. We got her duets album where she sang Music of the Night with Michael Crawford. When he hit the highest note in that song I was totally amazed at how pure and effortless it was. Wow! So, I'd heard him sing before and knew just how good he was.

That didn't prepare me for his performance on O Holy Night. I preferred it sung by a base voice, he's a tenor. He left me in slack jaw amazement. 

For twenty years I tried to see that show again, and it never came back on, or I missed it. I tried with I-tunes and Amazon music, nada.

I'm now on Spotify and he has an amazing Christmas album with O Holy Night. I tried the U-tube videos of his performance online and they are unavailable, best I could do was a picture.

I also tried to sing along with him. He starts at a low base and rises to the rafters. I just finished a cantata with fairly high notes for bases so I thought I might stay up with him. I did until he went for the rafters on the last few notes. I had to cheat and go falsetto. Somehow sounding like a chipmunk doesn't do the song credit. He is amazing.

Father of Oceanography

 

Statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Those holding up the globe represent all those who perished on the seas before the Sailing charts were produced under Maury's command of the National Observatory. Maury is seated in civilian dress, his right hand on the Bible, his left hand on sailing charts he produced. The inscription underneath reads: Pathfinder of the Seas.

Article by Patrick Prescott

Anne the Vegan posted an article about why the Confederate statues were taken down in Richmond, Va. She mentioned that they all looked alike glorifying Generals like Lee, Jackson and others. All on horses in full uniform. She has good arguments for why this was necessary, and I don't disagree up to a point. 

 I responded that the Mayor of Richmond removed a statue of former confederate, who was not a General, was not erected in the 1950's by the daughters of the Confederacy, not on a horse and though a Naval Commander his statue was not in uniform. The statue was erected in 1929 funded by his grandchildren.

In her reply, Anne the Vegan agreed with my concerns.

On July 2, 2020, the mayor of Richmond ordered the removal of a statue of Maury erected in 1929 on Richmond's Monument Avenue. The mayor used his emergency powers to bypass a state-mandated review process, calling the statue a "severe, immediate and growing threat to public safety."

(Wikipedia)

Matthew Fontain Maury was a scientist. He never owned a slave. He was given command of the National Observatory in District of Columbia where he started compiling over a hundred years of ships logs from all Naval ships that were molding and gathering dust using them to start compiling all the data, they contained to create sailing charts. In 1848 when the first charts were released not to just U.S. Naval ships, but all sailing ships for free, if those ships merchant and military if they would fill out the forms that came with them and return them to the Observatory to keep the charts current.

These are the accomplishments of Matthew Fontaine Maury. 

 1. Father of Oceanography.

2. Father of Meteorology.

3. Father of Physical Geography.

4. Compiled the first comprehensive study of the ocean currents, wind, weather, temperature, animal and plant life, depths; the Gulf Stream; the effects of currents on weather.

5. Created the first scientifically detailed charts of all the world’s oceans and wind currents used by all military and merchant shipping from their introduction in 1848.

6. His study of the Atlantic Ocean’s depth made the telegraph cable connecting the United States with Europe possible.

7. In the 1830’s his articles in magazines criticizing certain problems in the Navy led to Congress to create the Naval Academy.

8. He published the Physical Geography of the Sea (1855). A textbook translated into numerous languages and used by most navies of the world in the 19th century. It was used at Annapolis until the 1920’s.

9. By 1858 Maury had anywhere from 137,500 to 186,000 (the numbers varied by source) vessels from most maritime countries gathering data to record weather. This created the largest fleet to act in concert in history. It was the first time the United States led in a branch of science.

10. He revolutionized naval defenses by perfecting floating mines and electric torpedo still in use today.

Why would a statue of a man with these accomplishments be a "severe, immediate and growing threat to public safety?"

This prompted me to write a fictionalized novel, there are plenty of biographies one more is not needed.

Patrick Prescott is a retired public-school teacher and author of: Optimus: Praetorian Guard, I Maury: The Life and Times of a Rebel, Human Sacrifices, The Fan Plan Tribology, Three Medieval Battles and others in e-books and paperbacks on Amazon.com.

WC:121423 A day late

 Sorry, this is a day late. The question is: Gifts for people who are hard to shop for.

With my grandchildren, they live in another city, and we don't see them very often and don't have a clue. We give gift cards. Same for my son. About all we know of our eldest grandson is that he's in the Marines and stationed in Japan.

My daughter lives with us and it's giving her a spending limit as we go to Hobby Lobby. She is a crafty person that makes jewelry, crochets, knits, and does plastic canvas.

For my wife we set a spending limit and then go to the mall, and she buys what she wants, and I do the same.

Three Good Things....

 

Three Good Things That Came from The Reign of Bad King John

 Patrick Prescott

 History has a tendency to focus on the positive results of rulers. Usually conquests, peace and prosperity, founding a dynasty and so on. In some instances, history is made by failure.

In English history one of the most ruinous monarchs was King John. No need to affix a numeral, there’s only been one and as far as the English are concerned that was one too many. For centuries they’ve wished that Eleanor of Aquitaine had a headache that night.

There is not much positive that can be said for this king.

1.    He abducted his wife, who was on her way to be married to a powerful noble.

2.    He killed his nephew, Arthur, son of his deceased older brother (the rightful heir). Crowning himself king.

3.    In response most of the nobles of Normandy, Brittany, and other parts of the Angevine Empire turned their allegiance to the King of France and in lightning speed all but the Aquitaine was lost.

4.    The Pope excommunicated John for the murder of Arthur placing all his lands under an interdict so they could not take the Holy Sacrament or give confession.

5.    By becoming king, his moniker was changed from Lackland to Soft sword.

 John naturally wanted to reclaim what he lost and that would take money. With most of his tax base gone John was forced to raise taxes on the island.

1.    After much abuse the nobles revolted.

2.    He died with a French army ravaging his lands aided by his rebellious nobles.

3.    He left an infant son which would cause future civil wars.

4.    His son, Henry III was known as the Weathercock King. Whoever had him in possession ruled in his name.

5.    John was a rather pathetic ruler. He failed at everything he tried.

 Let’s look now at the positives that came from the reign Bad King John.

 1.    He unified the crown with the Island. John is the first Norman king to be buried in England. From William I to Richard I, even his mother Eleanor all are buried in France. From this time on the monarch is truly the king of England.

2.    John created the English Navy. He wanted to retake the land he lost and started building a navy needed to transport troops across the channel.  Rule Britania, Britania rules the waves was started by John Soft Sword.

3.    The Magna Charta. The nobles made John sign a document placing the king under the rule of law. It specified what rights the nobles had under feudal law the most important being trial by a jury of peers.

The Magna Charta didn’t have much impact on English law until Charles I was executed, and the English Bill of Rights was enacted, but both were based on the Magna Charta’s premise that the monarch was under the law not is the law.

It was the Magna Charta and the English Bill of Rights that gave the justification for the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

 Patrick Prescott is a retired public-school teacher and author of: Optimus: Praetorian Guard, I Maury: The Life and Times of a Rebel, Human Sacrifices, The Fan Plan Tribology, Three Medieval Battles and others in e-books and paperbacks on Amazon.com.

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare

 

Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare

Patrick Prescott

 

Since brevity is the sole of wit, therefore I will be brief. From the play Hamlet.

I am a huge Shakespeare buff and a huge Isaac Asimov fan. If I went any further, I’d be writing a dissertation.

I asked the librarian at the library I frequent if they had any books by Isaac Asimov. The library branch didn’t have any, but the kind lady said she could order some and have it delivered in a couple of days. She read me a list. What caught my attention was Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. I could kill two birds with one stone.

It came in and I had three weeks before it had to be turned in. I checked it out on Nov. 17 this year and had to renew the check out twice. I just finished it. Not due back till Dec. 26.

Combined It’s 1,460 pages, with maps and genealogy tables. I’m a voracious reader, but my eyesight lends itself better to an e-reader where I can set the font. A book with a font of around 8 requires I use strong reading glasses and my eyes tire quickly. If I’m reading fiction I tend to skim and scan over descriptions of flora and fauna, internal debates, etc. and cut to the chase. You don’t do that with non-fiction Isaac Asimov. Every word has meaning.

The book covers all 38 plays and two narrative poems. It was published in 1970 as two volumes. Volume one comprised the Greek, Roman and Italian plays. Volume Two the English plays. The book that came in was both volumes in one book.

Asimov limits himself to explaining to the modern reader what the Elizabethan and Jacobin audiences would already know. At least the well-educated aristocracy and royalty would know them. The groundlings or common people might not understand all of it, but he put in comedy and action to keep them satisfied.

Today classical education (humanities) has been vilified. Today’s high school graduates don’t have a clue about who Jimmy Clanton was singing about in his song, Venus in Blue Jeans in the 1950’s.

 In the Greek, Roman and Italian plays both Greek and Roman gods and goddesses were characters like the play Venus and Adonis.

Here I’d like to do a sample of how Asimov enlightens the reader,

 

“Adonis is the Greek version of a Semitic vegetation god… the type of myth of which Venus and Adonis is representative…reflects the birth of agriculture.

“The Sumerians, about 2000B.C. represented the agricultural cycle with a god, Dumu-zi, who died and was resurrected; a life-and-death…celebrated each year.

“The Semitic Babylonian’s name for the vegetation god was Tammuz…

“As the Greeks and Semites gained more and more in the way of cultural interchange, the Tammuz version entered Greek mythology directly. Tammus became Adonis.

“The name shift is no mystery… The semitic term for ‘Lord” is ‘Adonai’ it was “Adonai” that was adopted by the Greeks. They added a final s… making it ‘Adonis.”

 

Asimov goes to great length to explain the Classical gods. They were more or less the same gods, but different names and nicknames. Zeus (Greek) Jupiter (Roman) Jove (nickname).

A complete primer in not only Greek and Roman mythology, but eastern and German as well.

Asimov also references the sources Shakespeare used. It might be another play he borrowed the plot from and improved on it or wrote it on demand by a wealthy patron. The historical plays Asimov cited the Bard’s source, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (story of the British Kings), Plutarch’s Lives for Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus for his History of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in AD1200. For English history he refers to William Camden’s History of the British Isles, 1586 and Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland 1577.

 Macbeth, he wrote to please King James IV of Scotland and James I of England. It celebrated the King’s Scottish ancestry, and his fascination with witches.

In the plays Henry IV part one and Henry IV part two, Shakespeare inserted a fictitious character named Falstaff. He was the comic relief and carousing buddy of young Prince Hal. Before he could write Henry V, legend has it that Queen Elizabeth enjoyed the character and wanted Shakespeare to write another play on him. He wrote the Merry Wives of Windsor before Henry V.

One of Shakespeare’s benefactor and close friend was Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter. The man led a rebellion against Elizabeth and was executed. This had a direct impact on Shakespeare’s opinion on war and palace intrigue. He walked a fine line of keeping both Elizabeth and James happy, but still sneaking in his thoughts. Falstaff’s soliloquy in Henry IV part one is an example:

Falstaff feigns death during the battle. After Prince Hal kills Hot Spur and the fighting leaves. He stabs the dead body so he can claim the prize and then says to the audience. “What is valor? It is air. Tis discretion the better part of valor be.”

Shakespeare covers the Hundred Years War from Richard II to Richard III nine plays. We have the same problem today with historical movies in that that people and time don’t match reality. Asimov fills in the gaps when the play has people on stage who haven’t been born yet or are dead or in another country. He gives a graduate level course on all that’s happening in France and England for the whole 15^th century. It was heaven to read it.

I don’t expect anyone to rush to the nearest library and ask to borrow a copy, alas that’s the only place you may or may not find it. Amazon does have a copy for $164.

For me I gained insight and appreciation for Shakespeare that I didn’t have before, no matter how much I love watching the movies and going to a play if one is available. Isaac Asimov in you’re one of those thousands of witnesses that surround us I want to thank you for this endeavor on your part.

I'm finished on Asimov so you can stop reading if you want. 

The one thing that made me able to understand Shakespeare and enjoy his plays in 9th grade is I was raised in church when the King James Version of the Bible was about the only one available for protestants. Later the Revised Standard and American Standard came out, and in the 60's, 70's up to today all kinds of different interpretations are available.

Thee, thou, ye and other anachronisms I grew up understanding. Some preachers even preached using them. I prefer the New American Standard Version as it's the closest to a pure translation, for easy reading I enjoy The Message, but it's not for serious study.

I discovered while at Seminary in one class we had a list for the semester of all the scripture verses we would be tested on, and they were to be memorized. There was no way I could memorize out of NASV. KJV was purposely written in pre-printing press language or poetically. By the time of King James the common language became more prose than poetry. People actually used to talk like that so they could remember what was said, especially when the town crier read the latest laws or taxes, which they only read aloud once, and the people were required to obey them.