Voltaire - Abbé & Abraham

I love Voltaire's sarcasm and wit. This is the first of many entries on Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, translated by Peter Gay. Just a sample of his sarcasm comes in his Preface to the Seventh Edition: "This book will be read by enlightened persons alone, the common herd are not made for such knowledge, philosophy will never be their portion. Those who say there are truths that should be hidden from the people need not feel any alarm; the common people do not read; they work six days a week and go to the tavern on the seventh" (Voltaire, 56). I have read this volume before, though I don't know how fully so there may be some posts in other journals that will be added here duplicating these. But, that is ok for me - sorry, if it bores the readers, of which I am sure there are only a few enlightened ones.

Abbé

Voltaire notes the distinction between a father (Abbé means father) and a Father of some group of monks. A father does a work for the state; he does the best thing a man can do - causing the birth of a human being. But a Father of some Abby has become a perverse office. In the beginning they were poor men leading other poor men. Now they are corrupt and rich. Sarcastically, he encourages them to enrich themselves to the fullest at the downfall of the common man. But, he warns them to tremble, "lest the day of reason arrive" (Voltaire, 58).

Abraham

The post on Abraham is a scathing, anti-Semitic rant. But in some of the shrillness of the article he poses some difficulties for Christians to tend with. First, he brings up the age question of Abraham. The ages of the Old Testament patriarchs are definitely difficult to deal with for the believer. The second point of difficulty he brings up is the fact that Abraham passed his wife off as his sister to the king of Egypt and the king in the desert. While Voltaire attacks this from numerous angles, the angle I'm most concerned with is the moral aspect. If Abraham is the father of the Jews and through spiritual descent the father of Christians everywhere are we to absolve Abraham of this lie? What are we to do with it? I haven't answers at the moment, but it is a question to be asked.

Now his attack on why we give credit to the Jews rather than the more ancient established cultures like that of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and Phoenicia is much easier for me to understand. He claims that "The Jews, then, treat their history and ancient fables as their peddlers treat their old clothes: they turn them and sell them for new as dearly as possible" (Voltaire, 61). Firstly, that shows some of Voltaire's racist tendencies towards the Jews, earlier he speaks of the Jews as "our masters and our enemies, whom we believe in and detest" (Voltaire, 58). But, the sum of his argument is that the Israelites were relative newcomers on the scene in the Ancient Near East, surrounded by powerful and more ancient civilizations like the aforementioned societies. Why then do we give credit to the Jews and not these others? He claims that the name Abraham or Ibrahim, comes from Babylonians and that the Jews gave names to God such as Eloi, Eloa, Adonai, and Jehovah after the Phoenician usage. I'll disregard his skepticism about the historicity of Abraham at this point. Just because the journey of Abraham seems to difficult to have been done is not a valid argument for it not having been undertaken. (The age question still persists though). But, as for language it is only natural that languages adopt from their neighbors. Also, on a more fundamental level the commonality of language and religion throughout the region (and really throughout the world) often leads those skeptical of the existence of God, or of organized religion to point out that the similarities between the religions automatically show that religion is man-made, hence the similarities. But, a counter point to this is that the similarities of religious sentiment could also point to the fact that there is a truth behind all of these religions and some of the closeness of religion throughout the world is actually a testament to the existence of God, or the event of the flood, or other shared "fables" across world religions. He ends this article with an elevation of the Greeks above the Jews. "A man must be either a great ignoramus or a great rascal to say that the Jews taught the Greeks" (Voltaire, 62). Even in the Greek philosophy, which is highly sophisticated we can weave it in to this commonality theory. Not, so much a commonality theory as a divine plan theory. To some God gave a similar vein of religion to pave the way for the human understanding and eventual acceptance of Him. To some he gave Philosophy to pave the path for understanding Him. To others he gave some ineffable, mystical experience. To all he gave a general revelation. To the Jews he gave the Chosen revelation. And through the Jews he gave Christ and at that moment all the other paths were the framework for which Christ could be understood culturally. The other paths were not paths to salvation, but paths to the one way to salvation.

Smith of Wootton Major & Farmer Giles of Ham

I just finished Smith of Wootton Major & Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien and really fancied it, especially Farmer Giles of Ham.

In Smith, I really enjoyed the description of the morality of the villagers. "A fair number of folk lived in it, good, bad, and mixed, as is usual" (Tolkien, 9). I just like the simple, yet enlightening description. I like the folksy language that Tolkien uses throughout the two stories.

"Some found one, and some found two, and several found none; for that is the way luck goes, whether there is a doll with a wand on the cake or not" (Tolkien, 20). I like this description of luck. It struck me to think about the arbitrary nature of pure chance, written out in simplistic terms.

"But later in long journeys he had seen things of both beauty and terror that he could not clearly remember nor report to his friends, though he knew that they dwelt deep in his heart. But some things he did not forget, and they remained in his mind as wonders and mysteries that he often recalled" (Tolkien, 26). This is a good description of mysticism that I would like to emulate somewhere in my stories.

The interaction between Alf and Nokes on pages 55-56 is a great description of meeting someone of great religious import (Alf) and then rearranging the circumstances in one's own mind so as to be naturally skeptical (Nokes). In some people there is no chance of recognizing truth no matter how plainly it appears to them. Faith is something internal and those devoid of its capacity will reinvent their own history to intentionally misunderstand it. Tolkien's approach devastatingly shows this in the short little passage.

While most of my notes have been on Smith of Wootton Major, I enjoyed reading Farmer Giles of Ham more than the the former. I like the idea of forcing a dragon to do things against its will and the idea of a farmer and commoner overcoming the powerful king. I also like the idea of the Little Kingdom - I think it speaks volumes of what today's "non-elite" can do. Also, it speaks volumes of what the elite (the knights in the story) are unwilling or incapable of doing. In today's society of palpable class divisions in America, it is a triumphant story of the lowly being able to rise above the elite in spite of circumstances and wealth difference. Farmer Giles may have been lucky and unwilling to go his destiny, but even in his unwillingness he ended up doing it. With luck, even those who are apprehensive can overcome massive odds and rise above and thus be subversive to a system stacked against one - it is a triumphant story!

This notion of overcoming the unfair system is a stark contrast to the current situations in Baltimore, a place I nominally claim as a birthplace, though I am truly suburban in my own mind. That said, I have a great affinity for Baltimore. But, even in a place that may have the odds stacked against the lower classes, it is my strongest belief that those willing to work within the system that anyone, regardless of social status can overcome the system to rise to the top. The only difference between those who do not overcome a system stacked against them and those that rise above it is there willingness to work. Farmer Giles had no business getting his hands on the Tailbiter. But, the brute fact of the matter is that he did. With it he was able to amass his wealth and power. He got the Tailbiter because swords had fallen out of fashion with the elite and it was given to him as it might fit someone provincial as it was no longer loved in the elite. Today, there are so many chances afforded to everyone, regardless of class. If only those in the lower classes would grasp at what is afforded to them, they too can threaten and tame dragons. And in doing so, they can carve themselves their own little kingdoms.  While luck may play a part, as it did for Farmer Giles, no amount of luck would have behooved this mere provincial if he hadn't seized it. So let us seize our luck and if it fails, let us seize it again. 

Timeline of Definitive History of Texas

Here is a rough sketch and some research points for the Definitive History of Texas up to the American Civil War. (Again this is a farcical account and pseudohistorical).

1. Prehistoric Texas
1. Colvis Culture, Folsom Culture, Bison Latifrons
2. Hueco Tanks
3. Various Indian Tribes fighting for supremacy
4. When the Spanish arrived the Pueblo, Mound Builders and the remnants of the Teotihuacan Empire are there)
2. The Age of the Conquistadors (1520 - 1689)
1. Alonso Alvarez de Pineda
2. Narvaez Expedition
3.  Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
4. Estevancio - important because he fathers many children who form a city. The Chakwaina is developed after him
3. The Five Years of France
1. Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
2. Fort Saint Louis
3. Jean Gery, French deserter and god of the Coahuitecan
4. Spanish Texas
1. Founding of San Antonio
2. Robeline, Louisiana (Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes)
3. War of the Quadruple Alliance
4. Spanish settlers vs. Apache, Comanche, Tonkana, etc. The enslavement of the descendants of Estevancio
5. Louisiana Purchase
6. First Spanish-American War
1. A lot of sabre rattling, raids in both territories, no pitched battles
2. Ends in the Adams-Onis Treaty (Historical except that Louisiana west of the Mississippi River remains in Spanish hands, including New Orleans. Consequently, Baton Rouge becomes an instrumental city for the US both because of the invention of the steamboat and as a military city. Also the small city of Metairie becomes another major military city in the US as it is directly opposite New Orleans)
5. Mexican War of Independence (Mexican Texas)
1. Empresarials - Add the Stone Family to this
2. The Slave Battle of 1831, Mexican president crushes the Texans and frees all of the slaves
3. Convention of 1832, 1833
6. Texas Revolution/Republic of Texas
7. Mexican-American War
1. US Congress votes to annex the Republic of Texas (narrow majority, northern in favor and southern not as Texas no longer has slaves)
2. Mexico invades Texas and marches up to Baton Rouge crushing combined Texan/American forces
3. Battle of Baton Rouge
4. Mexican Retreat
5. Texas decides not to join the union, but is debt riddled. They cede Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma & Wyoming to the US, but not New Mexico and California as the US wanted.
6. Congress, enraged by the Texans refusal to join the union after the Mexican-American War and their side treaty with Mexico for what would have been New Mexico and Southern California passed that no Americans could emigrate to Texas. The Republic of Texas thus stretched from New Orleans to the East up through the Texas panhandle and cut a line from there to Albuquerque, NM down to Phoenix, AZ and West to San Diego and occupying Baja California. Most Americans obeyed this order, starving The Republic of Texas of vastly needed manpower to work and occupy their newly won territory.
7. The Great German/Czech Migration
8. The US Civil War

Eudaimaniacs

Eudaimonia is the Greek philosophical notion, of the highest good of human kind.

There was debate in the Ancient philosophy of Greece on what that highest good was. Socrates taught that eudaimonia was taking good care of the soul so that it is in the best possible shape (having the most virtue). In Plato the eudaimonia also rested with the soul, but rather than having the most virtue possible, it was that the soul was perfectly balanced. In Aristotle eudaimonia was using, to the fullest extent possible reason - which set man apart from the animals. Epicurus was hedonistic, but a long-term hedonist. For him, the eudaimonia was the long term best pleasure with as little bit of pain as possible. In Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, eudaimonia was an end. In Epicurus, eudaimonia was a means toward happiness.

Using these four basic stances I think a short story could come together about four persons living out these philosophies to the nth degree. Living there lives totally dedicated to the highest good of human kind, but in a post-apocalyptic setting and the characters could be crazed and delusional and thus, Eudaimaniacs.

The Beginning of The Definitive History of Texas - Draft 1

First, of all let's start with the current state of affairs in Texas. Texas is huge. Massively huge. It is the wealthiest of all the oil states in the world and is run by the Stones family. Like most of the royal families in the world, especially those from the oil rich states, the Stones family are wealthy. Massively wealthy. Also like many of the oil rich rulers, the Stones can tend toward the despotic when their power or wealth are seemingly threatened. But, despite this they are generally a benevolent bunch and hands off in their approach to governance. Keeping with this policy, for the most part, the Stones and Texas stay out of world affairs unless they are on a mission to spread democracy to less civilized parts of the world. While the Stones rarely show their ruthless tendencies, explicitly at least, in domestic or foreign policy they rarely show their benevolence in matters of finance. But, all of this will become crystal clear by the end of this chronicle.

In addition to the Stones family there are a few other families of prominence and oligarchs that have shaped the history of Texas and it's current state. There is also Tommy Santa Cruz de la Maria Cebollas, a newly rich rabble-rouser hell bent on fixing his splintering Texas back to its pristine homogenous state. But, this will become clear later as well. For now, suffice it to say that Tommy is neither a friend to the Stones, a member of a prominent family nor oil rich.

The Royal Federation of Texas has a lot of wealth to be thrown around in it. There is of course, the old money, like that of the Stones and other ancient families. Then, there is the black gold men, which is virtually the same as the old money because it all started with oil. But, in large part because of the Stones' laissez faire style economy, many others have become opulently wealthy without any connection to oil whatsoever. Those who got rich without any connection to the oil aren't generally accepted into the high society with the old money or looked at as something to aspire to by the lower classes, but while some egos are deflated and feelings hurt in this hierarchical society, the newly minted rich still go home to their extravagant mansions at the end of the day so no tears are needed for these folks.

The Royal Federation of Texas has been shaped by a number of forces we will explore in this definitive history. It has been shaped by other nations interjecting themselves into their history like the French, the Spanish, the Mexicans and the United States. It has been shaped aristocratic and powerful families. The Stones Family are of course, the royal house of the RFT, but Texas has been shaped by other clans like that of the Zavalas, the Lamars, the Houstons and others. Then there are the heroes of old like those who fought at the Alamo and in subsequent wars against Mexico and the United States. And there are those who like Tommy who are looking to shape the future of the Royal Federation of Texas and secure their place in this history. But, Texas was also shaped by Dinosaurs and ancient fauna that became the oil that Texas got rich on. And oh yeah, Texas has guns. Lots of guns.

New Chronology Time Travel

I stumbled across the New Chronology in looking at models of history. It's a hoot. I'll get more into it later, but I thought I'd write it down now to put it in something. Maybe in A Cornish Mess, maybe in the Future Modern Ancient Greeks or maybe something else. But, topics to study: New Chronology, Nikolai Morozov, Jean Hardouin and Anatoly Fomenko. The idea would be these three guys are stuck in the "middle" where the timetravelers of the story go in between their destinations.
Actually, I don't think this would fit with a Cornish Mess so, it's going to be in the Future Modern Ancient Greeks storyline.

The Ales of London

(Originally written April 16, 2015)

Scotch Egg @ The Ship Tavern

British food has a bad reputation or had a bad reputation. But, I think this is unfair. There were a number of things that were outstanding. The traditional English breakfast was often good. I had four or five Fish and Chips dinners. The mushy peas that went with them were a new experience for me and quite a welcome addition. I had bangers and mash that was pretty good. The street food and ethnic foods of Borough Market and Brick Lane Market were great. And the Indian we had was excellent. But, the traditional Sunday roast at the Hereford Arms was amazing and I found that I love scotch eggs with a side of Coleman's mustard. But, while the food was good, their Ale game was excellent.

Cask Ale or Real Ale is hand-pumped because it doesn't have the co2 in it. It's also unpasteurized and it's not as cold. But, these ales were some of the best beer I've ever had. Some were dark, others weren't. Some were high on alcohol content (5%), others were very low (3.1%). I tried to drink as many of these as I could there and only had non-cask ale when nothing else was available. I also tried to drink the "House Ale" as much as possible. Here is the definitive list of the Real Ales I enjoyed in England at the pubs, (with the one exception being that I had London Pride on multiple occasions):

1. The Ship Tavern - Ship Tavern Ale
2. The Ship Tavern - Cornwall Ale
3. Hereford Arms Pub - London Pride
4. The Northumberland Arms - Wychwood's Hobgoblin
5. The Green - Old Speckled Hen
6. The Green - Sunny Republic Hop Dog
7. The Ale House - Bath's Gem
8. The Red Lion (Lacock) - Wadworth Swordfish
9. The Bell - Abbot Ale
10. The Bell - The Bell Cider
11. St. Stevens Tavern - Hopping Hare
12. St. Stevens Tavern - Tangle Foot
13. St. Stevens Tavern - First Call
14. The Garrick Inn (Stratford-upon-Avon) - Garricks Shakesbeer
15. The Rocket - Marstones Pedigree
16. The Rocket - The Reverend James
17. The Marlborough Head - Black Sheep
18. The Bridge (Heathrow) - The Bridge Ale

Day 9 of London

(Originally written April 11, 2015)

Sadly, this was our last day in London. We debated what to do and having spent 8 hours in a museum the previous day decided against any more museums. It was hard not to go to the Tate or the Tate Modern, but I think we made the right decision. We went over to Borough Market for an absolute feast. Between the two of us we downed a sausage roll, an éclair, a salt beef and pickle sandwich and some Indian cuisine. For the journey home I purchased three sausages from a vendor from the Rhone region of France. To share with friends I bought one of wild boar, one of duck and one of donkey. The boar was gamey and quite good. The duck was very fatty but excellent. The donkey had a bit of spice in it and was also gamey. Overall, I enjoyed the duck the best, but many others found the donkey to be their favorites.

From the Borough Market we decided to make it a Market day. We went to the Brick Lane Market and found where all the hipsters hung out. Erin got a pretty sweet deal on a nice leather overnight bag. I picked up a couple of records. Although neither of us were hungry we did discover a vibrant street food area that had food from all over the world and I got some strange Brazilian Hot Dog sandwich that was lights out.

From there we headed over to a pop up mall where once again I ate. This time it was a cronut filled with coconut and they called it the Croconut. Outstanding. Sweet. My stomach though was beginning to be annoyed with me. Then it was on to the third market, Riverside Market. This market was a bit of a dud though as it was only 3 tables of books.

After that we went over to Oxford Circus and went shopping at Marks & Spencer to buy some things to bring home. Sadly, this was the last of our trip as we flew home the next day.

Day 8 of London

(Originally written April 10, 2015)



After waking up a bit late we went out on search for Abbey Road Studios. Found it relatively easily and then looked for the Zebra crossing to recreate the picture as best as we could. Erin's app failed us again and we walked a mile away without finding it, but we had actually already crossed over it without realizing that it was the Zebra crossing. We took the obligatory picture and then got on a tube to the British Library.

The British Library was pretty amazing. We went to the treasures section and that was about it. Unfortunately, as was the case with the churches no photography was allowed, but we did get a book chronicling some of the most interesting things. Also, the Magna Carta was on exhibit so we didn't get to see that. Some of my favorite items though were to see the Codex Sinaiticus, the Celestial globe, a notebook of Da Vinci and a early copy of Beowulf.

After a quick lunch we went to the British Museum, another incredible highlight of the trip. After six hours of exploring in the museum though I was pretty overloaded. That being said, there were an incredible amounts of highlights in this overall highlight. The Egyptian section was amazing. The Assyrian section was my favorite. There were some pretty cool stuff in the Mesoamerican section, especially the Aztec stuff. The Southeast Asia and China sections were pretty cool too and while the Elgin Marbles are often touted as one of the most popular things to see, they paled in comparison to the Egyptian/Assyrian wings in my humble opinion. Of course there is the Rosetta Stone too, but it was always so crowded it was hard to get a good look at it. This is just a taste of the journaling about the trip and the more full description is going to be in the photobook when I get around to it. But here is a taste of my favorites:

Day 7 of London

(Originally Written April 9, 2015)

Day Seven was the second and final of our excursions. Unlike when we went to Stonehenge though we went to Stratford-upon-Avon via train without a tour guide which was simple enough getting there, but almost disastrous on the way home. More to come on that later. After a couple of sandwiches, a Cornish pasty and some Cask Ale in the train station we were on our way to see the birthplace and final resting place of one William Shakespeare.

We arrived at the train station and walked into the visitor center to get the tickets I had purchased online. We were informed that the church where Shakespeare was buried was being closed in fifteen minutes for a funeral so we rushed to it as it would've reopened with very little time for us to see it and still make our return train. The church was small but still pretty magnificent and besides a few stray tourists it was fairly empty. We explored the church for as long as we could before the funeral procession arrived and were politely escorted out after snapping a couple of quick pictures by his grave.

From there we went on to Hall Croft, the house of his daughter and son-in-law. It was a very pretty

house and had a lovely garden in the back. All of this tour was rushed given the fact that everything in town closed by Five O'clock. So after a quick tour of this house it was on to the house where young Billy grew up. After viewing the house and touring through the rooms we learned a bit of its history and got to see where he had spent his formative years before traveling on down to London to become the famous man he is. The guest book was pretty neat to see as a number of presidents had signed it and some pretty famous authors in their own right as well. In fact, Charles Dickens was one of the people that helped preserve the house as it had changed hands numerous times since William had lived there and had served various purposes including one as a pub called the Swan & Maidenhead.

After that Erin spent a bit of time in the gift shop while I popped outside to look at the high street where I was tricked into trying this homemade peaty and smoky whiskey that lit my entire body on fire. Needless to say I didn't come home with any. After that we shopped a little and grabbed dinner at a pub. After eating (and more cask ale) we proceeded to get turned around and nearly missed our train home. Luckily we had a cab pick us up and drive us three blocks and boarded the train just as it was taking off.

Another cool little spot in the town was this sundial where you stood in the middle and served as the dial for the sun to cast a shadow upon.

Day 6 of London

(Originally Written April 8, 2015)


Day six of London was a feast of English history! It started out with a tour of Saint Paul's Cathedral, inside and out. The Church is incredible and would've been incredible even without the impressive dome. We toured the crypts to the top of the dome. Among the highlights were a statue that I said looked an awful lot like George Washington, only to comment that I doubt that he would be given a place of honor for wrenching the United States out from England only to find another statue that was of George Washington honoring him for his achievements in life. Also in the crypt I found the inscription, which I'll paraphrase here, on the tomb of Christopher Wren, the architect. Many of the inscriptions were lavish and had statues and other adornments, but Wren's was plain and said to the effect if you want to see the celebration of my life in my tomb, simply look around this whole church. Boom. Up top, the whispering gallery was pretty neat although I had to speak in a soft tone for Erin to hear me across the way. There were too many others in the church to actually hear a whisper. Then the views from the top (after an incredible number of stairs) were pretty breathtaking.

From there we went on to the Tower of London. Seeing the torture rooms, the impressive walls of the fortress and the ravens was pretty excellent. But, seeing the crown jewels was pretty amazing. You see them via a slow moving automated walkway like in the airports (only much, much slower paced). After Erin's second and third pass at seeing the jewels I realized that I would have to start pocketing away as much money as possible to give her something remotely close to those - or pocketing enough money away to purchase a private army to conquer some unsuspecting weak nation that is rich in jewels. Both are as likely to happen as the other though neither is likely at all. But who knows what the future may hold.

After that we went on to the Tower Bridge and gave it a walk. It's very impressive and colorful but after walking it, I felt like I had just walked a bridge. That's not to diminish it at all, but the majesty of the jewels in the Tower of London, its history and a stroll through its armory were a hard act to follow for a bridge.

Then it was on to Westminster Abbey which had me giddy. Seeing the area where Edward the Confessor was laid really reminded me of the age and majesty of the building. Unfortunately, as was the case with St. Paul's cathedral photography was forbidden. But, being the rebel I am I snapped a photo in the whispering gallery of St. Paul's and Erin and I together in the Poet's Corner in Westminster. Luckily we weren't drawn and quartered.

After this we went to Fortnum and Mason where I proceeded to beg to be able to buy a Victorian picnic basket and was mocked mercilessly. I left with a bunch of tea and a basket shaped hole in my heart. Then it was dinner time and we went to the Fryer's Delight for some ... fish and chips. These were the best Fish & Chips I had on my visit, though the mushy peas were not as good as the other pubs. Unfortunately the Fryer's Delight did not serve Cask Ales or any beer at all, but I had managed a couple of pints anyhow in the day, so that wasn't as disappointing as it might have seemed.

Of course now that I've mentioned the Taboo photographs I can't find them, but I did snap this photo near the London Bridge and while in hindsight it probably had something to do with a medical condition at the moment I just thought it was odd...

Day 5 of London

(Originally Written April 7, 2015)

This was our first of two excursions from London on our trip. We left the hotel to get to the Travel Company in route to Bath, Lacock & Stonehenge. First, off we saw this, which was utterly disappointing and an indictment of today's culture. The line on the left hand side is a line for the Harry Potter WB studios tour and is filled to capacity. Two busloads of tourists would be going to this tour in the hour and two more in the next. The line on the right (two people) would be going to Stonehenge. That said, there was only about 25-30 travelers with us on the trip so we had the place basically to ourselves which was very cool.

The first stop on the tour was the Roman Baths at Bath. We toured the ruins, checked out the Abbey at Bath and sort of quick walked a little bit of the town. There were a lot of cool sites to see in the area. The statues surrounding the bath were pretty amazing, some of which were very well preserved. The main "bath" area however was a odd green color and we were instructed not to touch it for health and safety reasons. For once I suspect that this was not overkill as the greenness of the pool looked rather menacing. At the end of the tour though we were able to drink the water from the natural

Note the green water...

spring and it tasted a lot like mineral water because it was in fact, mineral water. Our tour guide was very informative and had a good delivery. She also had a dry enough sense of humor to suck all the moisture out of the room. One of the most interesting facts that I learned about why the baths seemed to have such great healing powers in them was how the minerals interacted with the Roman Britons and Medieval British drinking habits. Everyone always seemed to get sick back then and the likely cause was the fact that their drinking vessels and storing vessels for their wine were led-lined. So it's likely that they always had a mild case of led poisoning. The minerals in the hot spring seemed to suck the led out of the body when they bathed in it, so the people would feel much refreshed out of the bath. Unfortunately, they would go home and have some wine and once again give themselves minor led poisoning and have a need for another bath.

After Bath, was the village of Lacock. It was interesting, a good look at Medieval England, but we were only there for 40 minutes and I could've spent some more time exploring Bath and had another pint of Cask Ale.

The highlight of the day and probably the trip though was the trip to Stonehenge and the inner circle. Just coming up on it was incredible, though the landscape was blotted somewhat by the new Stonehenge Welcome Center and its hideous architecture. We arrived at Stonehenge close to sunset and to watch the sun go down over the horizon from the middle of Stonehenge was an incredible feeling. However, when I was asked if it was a "spiritual" experience I had to say "no". Being inside either Saint Paul's or Westminster Abbey or the Abbey at Bath was much more of a spiritual sensation than being in the middle of some rocks arranged in circular fashion, but then again I'm not much of an animist, shamanist, neo-druid or have much sympathy for reconstructed modern paganism either. In spite of the lack of spirituality at the site it was an incredible thing to behold.

Day 4 of London

(Originally Written April 6, 2015)

After another heavy breakfast at the hotel we made it up to Watford via the tube and replacement bus system for the Watford v. Middlesbrough match. With Watford winning 2-0 and the fans singing and chanting the experience was amazing. We took the bus and tube back down into London about seeing another game, but silly me I got Crystal Palace & QPR's schedules mixed up in my head. Crystal Palace was playing that night and QPR was playing the following day. We made it to Loftus Road to find the entire area abandoned. But, the prospects of us getting down all the way to Palace after my misstep and finding tickets for the game were pretty paltry and we were hungry. We grabbed some fantastic Indian food at Raj of India and grabbed some breakfast stuff and Sainsburys before the next big day. This was the first day and only day that we didn't walk more than 10 miles in our touring.

Fun day and the Naan Bread at Raj of India made Erin do this:

Day 3 of London

(Originally written April 5, 2015)

It was Easter Sunday and we had made tentative plans to get up and attend church, maybe St. Paul's or Westminster Abbey or even the local parish church. We decided on Bedside Baptist instead and rushed to make our lunch appointment at the Hereford Arms. Unfortunately the tube app let us down and we walked "TEN fast miles" (as Erin wrote in her notes with some hyperbole and a smidgen of truth) to arrive at the pub. Sunday roast was good. I had the lamb, Erin had the chicken and of course there was more cask ale to be had.

After lunch it was on to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world's first decorative arts museum. Very cool stuff. The incredible blown glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling was absolutely astonishing. From there we headed to Harrods to find it closed. Then we made our way to Buckingham Palace and saw 10 Downing Street. After taking in the sights there we went back to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament at about sunset where we were scammed by a talking Italian mime for five pounds. After dinner and a couple more pints of cask ale we went to a grocery store for wine and Cadbury chocolates - which Erin ate until she felt sick.

Day 2 of London

(Originally Written April 4, 2015)

Day two was started by a big English breakfast at the Hotel and a couple of cups of tea. After gorging ourselves we went to Old Spitalfields Market and shopped around for lots of goodies and trinkets. It was a pretty neat place. After that we headed over to Hunterian Museum, which due to a massive underground fire was closed. At a loss we popped into The Ship Tavern to recalibrate and figure out what to do next. That being said, we did stumble upon "The Old Curiosity Shop" made famous by Charles Dickens.

At The Ship Tavern, I had my first Scotch Egg and my first Cask Ale - delish! After that we headed to Twinings Tea parlor, saw some really cool old buildings and I managed to break Erin's phone while we were searching for Temple Church. After a bit of mourning and bickering we headed over to Saint Paul's Cathedral, which was closed for some private event. From there we headed over the Thames and saw The Globe Theater and went into the gift shop. On the walking bridge we got our first glimpse of the London Bridge and Erin was attacked by a bird.

From there hoofed it over to the George Inn for fish & chips and more cask ale. After dinner, it was time to see Big Ben and the London Eye at night time, which was gorgeous. There was a desire to continue touring, but our feet wouldn't let us considering the 10-12 miles they had carried us, so we hopped on our first double decker bus and proceeded to get lost. Finally we found a tube station and made it back to our hotel.

Day 1 of London

(Originally Written April 3, 2015)

Day 1 of our London trip.

We arrived in London to find that one of luggage had lost its wheel on the flight. So we dragged it from Heathrow through the tube to our hotel. On that voyage we passed an Islamic center right at the time for Friday prayers. To make the street even more crowded some Londoners had stationed a protest of the Islamic center bringing throngs of journalists and policemen to the area. Not, the most pleasant of experiences.

After a quick check in we went out for the day, heading to Piccadilly Square, randomly finding the first ever red phone booth and putzed around the city a bit. We headed to the Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue before getting caught in the rain. We decided that it was dinner time and went to Islington to hit up this vegetarian Indian restaurant. Very good food, very strange décor. Before we got to the restaurant though Erin discovered a fruit shop where we got passion fruit, figs, green coconut, blood oranges, fresh dates, guavas and something called snake fruit.

Being jetlagged and a bit tired, we headed home for the evening and found that we could see the London Eye from our hotel room. Pretty good day overall.

The reincarnation model of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks

Plato describes the reincarnation futures for the types of people in this world and what their destiny is to be. For the impure souls they are destined to wander or be reincarnated in a humiliating way. What if an impure soul had been reincarnated as a closet light switch with a load of frustrations that he sits and thinks about in darkness and when the mechanic comes in and switches on the light switch he espouses his theories on why he is suffering this injustice but all of his words are heard only as annoying buzz that the mechanic will someday investigate when he has less work to do. The law-abiding souls are reincarnated as either social animals or humans. The philosopher however escapes the reincarnation and enters into a new realm of wisdom and the next life. It is for this reason that the mechanics of the Planet of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks has been suffering eons of brain drain and has been left to the slightly better than the impure but incredibly inept. "This could explain why I've been marooned on this odd planet four weeks when I only needed an oil change and a tune up. What is that incessant buzzing noise?"

The Travels of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks

I think it would be great to do a "Travel Chronicler" of a poor lost space/time traveler that happens upon a bunch of worlds that have interesting and comic outcomes. He could at one point find himself in a world, looking for a tune-up for his spaceship when he happens upon a planet full of used spaceship salesmen, astrophysics-mechanics and snake-oil salesmen that are eternally reincarnated Greeks.

It's there that he finds a new fuel to make his travels easier and essentially a lot less expensive - the apieron, "it's boundless after all, plus it will transform into anything and everything you like (and its opposite all at once). While mulling over switching to this latest and greatest theory on travel fuel he could stumble upon the workshop of Zeno and check out his latest models of starcrafts:

1. The Bisection (where you get halfway by going halfway and halfway by going halfway of the halfway until you don't get anywhere and are so frustrated by the situation that you buy the upgrade that gets you halfway there halfway faster but never quite gets you home)

2. The Achilles and The Tortoise Models A & T (twin engined spacecraft that has one engine that gets a head start and the other one never quite catches up. It'll get you where you're going, but you'll do it in circles. Very comfortable, but persistent dizziness is a noted side effect)

3. The Arrow (Such smooth space flight it'll feel like you never move. Given that movement is illusionary only anyway you won't feel the motion because there is none).

4. The Place Paradox concept craft (Tagline: since any particular place would imply an infinite number of places, which is absurd, there is no place so you're already where you were trying to go.)