Haaaaaa!!

The Christmas season is over!! I'm sure we are all  leaning back  and sighing in relief glad to have it out of the way for one more year. Ducks massive wave of pans,pins sniper rounds and nuclear missiles.
Ok I really DO love Christmas but I am glad when it is over and I can get back to life so I thought as asort of symbol I would do a post just to celebrate the and of celebration  and the return to normal life. :)

Chat Window

There we go people. Lets try this chat client and see how it works. It would be better for people to make an account for chatango and then log into the chat window. I think that it will log you in automatically after you do it once but I am not sure. You also have the option to make a temp name for that session. if you have any questions please post them here and I will try to make sure I check back. I am trying to get 2pc games to work on all our computers so I might not get back to you right away but I will try.

Marry Christmas !!

Sorry for the lack of posts on here guys and galls but I've been busy with the holidays hope you all have a marry Christmas and happy new year and I promise that when the holidays are over I will get back in to the swing of things :)

Do you Believe

Do you believe that nothing can go faster then light? A few days ago someone was horrified to find that a team of scientists discovered a particle they claimed could go at FTL (faster then light)  speeds.The problem is all of modern physics is based on the assumption that nothing can exceed light speed all the way down to the theory of relativity. the first test sported the original find but the second one challenged it now new tests are being prepared we'll see what comes of it. Since then I have had several discussions with people about it and I wounder what you guys thought about it ? I've included links to the  original find the first and second test in that order.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/science/space/neutrino-finding-is-confirmed-in-second-experiment-opera-scientists-say.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502223_162-57327392/2nd-test-affirms-faster-than-light-particles/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45381655/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/study-rejects-claims-about-faster-than-light-neutrinos/

Occupy

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/18/dont-feed-the-lazy/#disqus_thread

Here is an article that well and truly sums up my thoughts on the "'Occupy' Movement".

Ten Greatest warriors

I was searching on something the other day and I came on some lists people had made of who they considered the greatest warriors and why, And being me I disagreed so  thoroughly that I had to write a post on myself. So here it goes.
Ahem.
Well first of all what  makes a warrior. I think it is a combination of ability, skill, and attitude... Good jeans help to :) . The first two are prity self explanatory but the lats is a little harder to explain. You can have the be the best fighter in the world and not be a warrior is like a WW2 General said " I do it because it's what I've been trained to do, you do it because you love it " if your heart isn't in something you can be a part of  it, but it can't be a part of you.
Disclaimer: 
This isn't a list of THE greatest warriors it is a list of some ones that I know about and there aren't in order just generally were I think they would go compared to the others.
Ten: Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen Also know as the Red Boron
He is consider  one of the best pilots of WW1 with the unprecedented 80  victors to his name more than any other ww1 pilot. At a time when war on the ground was machine gun nests, poison gas, tanks, And millions of men hashing it out, combat in the air was still mostly one on one.But he didn't attribute his success to skill he flue by several principals that would "guarantee" victory. He became leader of the Jasta11 who he taught his principals to and many of them became aces and went an to command there oun units. he later became commander of a much larger unit called Jagdgeschwader 1.
Nine: George S. Patton "Old blood and guts" is considered one of the most successful American commanders of any war.  And if I had to describe him in one word it would be intense. Patton was know for his brilliant tactics (He revolutionized tank warfare) , his passionate hatred of cowards,and his blatant outspokenness to ANYONE who disagreed with him. He was instrumental in the African campaign and in the war in Europe, and halted Germany's lats counter offensive which was there last chance at wining WW2

Ok VOTE !!

WHO LIKED and WHO DIDN'T LIKE Archy ?

Word of wisdom for the day

No mater how many times you put in your password correctly you can't get in if you wrote your email address wrong. :)

How many of you have started to wite a book ?

 I an writing one and just got curious. If you have would you mind sharing about it ?

Thanks For coming over guys we really enjoyed having you :)

The Problem With.....Well.....Stupidity!

I found this little tid-bit online, and I thought it was pretty funny. So without further ado!

Case Claus

Disclaimer: This article is written purely in jest, and any younger people that are reading behind your shoulder that would be offended by my insinuations of a "different" view of Santa Claus are advised not to read on. But if perchance you have no exact leanings on the subject of "Old Saint Nick" this article, that was cooked up in throes of my feverish cold symptoms, may merit a chuckle or two (if even that). Read on at your own risk.


Case # 12/25
People-of-the-world
vs
Santa Claus(AKA)Papa Noel(AKA)Joulupukki(AKA)Weihnnachtsmann(AKA)Noel Babba(AKA)Babbo Natale(and-other-assorted-names-by-which-the-defendant goes-by)

Scene: A large courtroom

a young lawyer comes to the front of the crowd and begins to speak.

  "Your Honor! Distinguished members of the jury! I come before you today to plead after a perennial crime that has been committed year after year. And year after year the perpetrator walks away with his victims in a blissful state of ignorance about his nefarious doings. That is correct your honor; I ask that you forever halt the illegal,harmful, and otherwise dangerous activities of THE Kris Kringle!
  No vandal in history has caused so much havoc for so many over the years. Take alone the fact that his very presence as an unauthorized flying object crossing over state lines and country borders with impunity is an offense to every air-traffic law that we hold! But even if we discount the legalities of his locomotion, (which includes numerous counts of inhumane treatment to his Reindeer no doubt!) we are still left to consider the damage done to the average homeowner, citizen, and taxpayer.
  Santa Claus has proven time and again that he respects no law, and pays heed to none of our freedoms! Every Christmas night he is guilty of breaking and entering, and of trespassing on private property. It is shameful that our race has produced a creature that laughs happily as he steals cookies and milk out of the mouths of sleeping babes. It is the truth that as the endless ages of villainy have continued that Mr Claus has grown complacent and set in his ways. He even warns us when he is coming through with the incessant jingling of his bells and his monotonous tune of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". But even these acts reveal his character; the keening of his jingle bells serve only to disturb the peace! "He can see you when your sleeping! He knows when your awake!" Dear people these are the actions of a CIA operative at best, and a stalker at worst. Think of your children! The ultimate irony is that this man has created a stereotype that rotund people are jolly!(always with the candy and sweets!always! HE is a national idol of heart attacks!)
   But my cries are not purely legalities that only restrain the current government. I speak as one who addresses the grievances of mankind! Who has not sent their heart out to the common man as one walks along the road and hears his plaintive cry of, "Woe! Woe! My ceiling leaketh, and the goodwife noticeth the disorderly state of the roof shingling!" Every year untold multitudes suffer the fate of the ruined roof, and there can only be one explanation for this nation wide, nay world wide, plague! Indeed hearers, it is the working of viscous sleigh runners and reindeer's hooves upon a man's shingled roof ! The economic woes of this tragedy are but the tip of the iceberg. The destabilization of our economy is the criminal Claus' ultimate; the flooding of markets with goods slyly disguised in the guise of presents serves to increase his share in the growing consumer market! One may still wonder on the goodwill that may or may not be behind this fearful Claus as he gives supposed presents to children; I can assure you that their is no goodwill in the cold-as-the-north-pole heart with one phrase! Would a man that relies upon incessant slave labor  to create his goods in a inaccessible environment be worthy of any of our praise? How many Elves have suffered under his hand as they toil to grind out immense numbers of products? The very fact that every little boy or girl does not get exactly whats on his or her list is proof of Santa's incessant desire to flood the markets.
  In closing, Gentleman of the jury, when we strip away the clever public relations that Mr Kringle has stealthily crafted about his generous bulk we see that he little more than a man trying to maintain his outer shine of a status symbol, while all the time he is corrupted by the power he has been given!
Please your honor! Do not let this continue! If we do not act now the consequences will not be Pie and Mistletoe, but Santa will be the one with the last "HOHOHO""

The betta

Well I just bout the a new home for it.
How do you think it looks? By the way one of the reasons this blog egsists it to share experiences that you think might help to the rest of us.
So when Buying thins on ebay espeshaly hoses for bettas double check to make sure it is in American $ not British pounds or you might end up spending two to three times as much as you thought you were! Hmmm I don't seem to be able to use the picture for some resin ho well I'll post one when it gets here.

Injections (of the Cultural/Political/Economic variety)

"Lord save us from the from the fury of the  Norsemen"

English Monastic Prayer



  This was the prayer uttered by the monks of the English isles, and true it was as during the early middle ages the Vikings terrorized all of Europe's coast. The common idea that most people hold about Vikings, that they were axe-wielding, bearded, marauders, is not inaccurate. But one thing people do not usually realize is the other attributes that these northern raiders possessed; these other attributes would in fact play an important role in shaping Europe and through that shaping our country as well.

  A ship would appear quite suddenly above the waves and would dock at a seemingly impassable beach. It would then disgorge a large cadre of fierce fighting men. Who then proceed to pillage towns and monasteries. They would then retreat back to their ships, and sail away with plenty of plunder from their attack. This scene would have been played over and over practically anywhere in coastal Europe. The sight of a longboat and these men would strike fear into any town, army, or general. But where did these voracious warriors come from? Who were they? The answer to these questions are one and the same: Norseman. The name Norseman is a broad categorization for the people that came from the northern regions of Europe(viking only refers to the tribes that raided England). No one truly knows who they are descended from, but theories point that they were a splinter off-shoot of the Germanic tribes, that separated themselves into the frozen lands long ago, and were isolated for the majority from most contact from them on.
  Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland were the frosty homes of these rugged people, and the Norse had to work hard to scrape out the meager agriculture that they did. It did not take long for these Northern dwellers to realize that a more bountiful living could be found on the waves than in tilling the ground, this would soon result into a race of extremely proficient sailors that would create perhaps the fastest most versatile ship in existence until the advent of steam power. But even with the sea, living in the Northern reaches of the world still was difficult. It is a testament to the Norse  people's determination that they multiplied and spread out in such a environment.
  No one knows for sure the reason why the Norsemen suddenly exploded out of their sphere of influence, perhaps it was just overpopulation or perhaps something else, but the first of the hordes of  the "Pagans" flooded en-masse into the medieval world around the 8th century. The Norse had raided Europe before, but never in such staggering numbers, and never with such weapons of steel. The terror of the North was ascendant and would effect all reaches  before it would stop.
  The history of these people is divided up into three "phases" , Phase one is the "era of vikings", second comes the "era of Conquest", and finally the "era of Settlement". The era of vikings is so named because of the massive raiding that took place. The Norsemen had exorbitant advantages over the defenders, the biggest of these were the longboat. The longboat was created with oars and sails so that they could have forward movement even when the sails were struck; longboats also were built with special hulls designed to allow them to float in much shallower water than any other large ship.
These ships, on top of the fact that the Norse had learned to create and use iron weapons, allowed these "Blond Giants of the North" to cause untold amounts of damage to all they faced. The fact that these northern hordes did not conquer but instead burned, plundered, and ran, frustrated all but the fortified towns and castles. The state of Europe at that time did not help either. The Carolingian Empire had recently splintered to inward divisions and outward pressures, for which the Norsemen are partially responsible. There was no authority to be found in Europe, and all organized military and government was devolving into Feudalism. In this state of lawlessness that gripped the region, it became a paradise for any raiders that had the force and a will to use it. But this situation could not last, for either of the two peoples. The terrified victims of repeated raids by the Norse marauders eventually banned together for their mutual protection, and were able to defend from most raids. On the other side of the spectrum there had begun an alarming trend of powerful warchiefs that had started  consolidating their raids, because of the fortification of towns, and in the process began forming their own mini-empires. This began the second phase, conquest.
  The leaders of the Norse people soon realized that it became more profitable to conquer empires than to destroy them. The first powerful warchief to attempt this was Canute, the king of the Danes.
He had been strengthening his forces through political marriage and bringing like-minded warriors to his banner until he launched an invasion on the Anglo-Saxon controlled England. Canute quickly took most of Middle England, but when he attempted to subject lower England he was faced with many fortified towns,and his campaign slowed considerably. These fortified towns called for the Saxon king Ethelred to help them against the Danes. Ethelred fought admirably, but could not prevail against the Danes; Canute conquered all of England with the exception of Wales. England would stay in the hands of the Danes only one generation to Canute's intermarriage with the previous royal family, which resulted in his step-grandson Edward the Confessor returning England to native rule. But England was not the only place that felt the hand of the Viking empire-building. In France, King Charles gave a very strategic strip of coast land to the Rollo, the leader of an army of Norseman that had journeyed up the river to besiege his capitol of Paris. This strip of land would become known as Normandy,and would have immense impact on the future. In Eastern Europe the Swedes were particularly active, virtually creating the state known as Rus, from which came Russia; a band of swedes known as theVariagians sailed up rivers until the got to the Black sea, and from there they conducted numerous raids on the Byzantine Empire. Until finally, the emperor hired them at an immense amount to join his army as elite troops. The islands of Vinland(greenland) and Iceland were both fully conquered as well. Through the domination of these nations we have seen the ferocity of the Norseman, their fighting ability was a central part of their culture, but now as the warchiefs of the Northerners became Kings of Europe, and the Viking raiders became lords over fiefs, we see their other attributes come to the fore.
  The third and final phase was the era of settlement. The gruff Norsemen faced a problem. How would a culture of warriors, with limited numbers, rule over all the people that had been conquered? 
There were really only two options open to them: (1)rule from afar as an empire. That had not worked for Canute and the Danes, their Empire was lost in a few generations, (2)rule with the locals and create a amalgamation of governments. This option was looked upon with favor,as the Norsemen were quite used to taking the best of people and combining it with their own, many used it. 
  Now some maybe wondering what the significance of this is. What could backward raiders offer a more "sophisticated" culture like that of France or the Slavic nations? The answer to that is everything! What most people focus on with the Norsemen is their ability to make war, their ferociousness in battle, and the huge amount of havoc they caused in an already chaotic time, but too many people stop there. Yes, they were fearsome warriors. Yes, they were a major factor in the Dark Ages. Yes, they conquered a large amount in proportion to their actual size. But the greatest feat in my opinion comes after, when they have conquered these areas and cause them to become some of the greatest areas in that region. 
   It is no coincidence that areas controlled by the raiders-turned-rulers profited by the virtues of there new overlords. The Medieval age was ruled by Feudalism, and Feudalism is inherently decentralized, this caused an amount of chaos. The Norsemen when they settled had no form of Feudalism, in fact, the Norse community had a very simple hierarchy that basically consisted of Chieftans, Freeman, and Prisoners taken from raids. Loyalty to your people was imperative, because rebellion could cause death to your entire band. Chieftans were forced to rule wisely, because the penalty for failure was loss of rank. The Tribes were very organized in their business, because waste could not be afforded in the tribe. So when the Norsemen took to administering their lands they applied to same principles to ruling that they did to most other areas of their life: Find what you need, take what will be beneficial,cut away what is unnecessary and then succeed. This technique varied in areas, but some steps were always the same. The redistribution of land by the leader to loyal generals, this on the outside seems very superficial, and does not seem like it would do much, but on the contrary it does! The redistribution of land BY the KING to his loyal generals, in most Feudal communities the king only had as much power as the land that he owned. Kings were really powerless over new territories because they were won with his nobles' troops, but when the chieftain over a Norse warband took a large tract of land HE owned it, and the nobles were just overseers that he put in place; they may have controlled it but the king owned it, and ownership was(is) nine-tenths of the law, this practice alone put the Norman fiefs decades ahead of any of their European counterparts. The Norse imposed a council like organization on the King and government that composed of Freemen/warriors that acted in a advisory capacity. This is the parent institution of what would become the parliament.   Another common theme in Norse administration was the use of the locals beneficial customs, such as when they adopted the French's cavalry tactics that were once used against them, or when they used Russian trade routes through the Black sea to expand their own impressive trade; In fact, the Normans penchant for fitting things to their needs influenced America greatly when the they conquered a newly independent Anglo-Saxon England. 
  The Anglo-Saxons had just gotten self-rule back when their king died with no appointed heir. The  Duke of Normandy William I had a claim to the throne through his mothers line, and decided to invade England to fight his opponent for the throne, Harold the Saxon. Duke William won against Harold's forces, and conquered the entirety of England. Duke William (now King William) moved in Norman fashion, as his predecessors had, and organized his newly conquered territory into perhaps the most powerful and well administered land in all of Europe. This would be the last time that England would ever be successfully invaded. No small glory should go to the Normans, who after they conquered England propelled it to be one of the premier countries in that hemisphere.
  Many more exotic lands were affected by the Normans in the crusades as the marauder traditions of the vikings played back generations later in the blood of Norman knights. The Normans were hired as mercenaries by the Papal States, who were feeling threatened by the Muslim invasion of Sicily. It took many years, but the Normans finally managed to conquer Sicily, and another nation was added to the roles of being conquered by the Norsemen. 
  But it was inevitable that such a small ethnic group of rulers would be able to retain their identity among the millions of people that they ruled. All the nations which were conquered by these uncouth, rough, sea-faring pirates profited under their rule,and although they were successively lost their identity into the people that they had ruled, they made some of the largest contributions to them.


 

What should I name betta?

I'm thinking of getting a Betta fish and I;m one of those weird people who like to name there fish so I wondered if you had any ideas?

ps I googled for a picture of blue bettas and these are some of the things that came up.

2 All I have 2 more randum quetions for you guys

If you could do any thing with or in your life what would it be?
Please answer the first question before you read the next one !






ashfd a;sjdfh a;dsjfh jfheoiwHGF SADF !!
lllll /Why/e///aren't//adsgf/you/aaaa/doing/it/eeeee/?/

you NEED TO RESPOND TO THIS

All right Mr.Burkhard is offing to tech a class on making and using longbows the details are still in the works but I need to know who would like to come it would probley be 2 or 3 classes of a few hours each.

Do think civilization was bound to hapen ?

I mean think about it if I randomly took 15000 people and scattered them on a totally new planet what would happen, assuming some survived  with in a few years people would get to gather for muchol support if only to have and raise children, not to long after that you would get family gropes forming and that almost by definition means clan like units would start.  It wouldn't take to much more time to get some one who had a nack for " "the great game" as some have called it. And he or she would get two or three clans to gather to face some danger like anther clan or wiled animal ...or climate change and then after they took care of that problem there would be anther and another until they forget there were different and became a tribe then there neighbors would look and see how powerful they were and start making tribes of there own if only to balents power. With groups this large around villages and towns are almost guaranteed.  These would begin stimulating trade and specialized workers form there your only a hop skip and a jump from cites.once you have those even as city stats nations and empires will be sure to form. So I started with a complete leveling and ended up back with Civilization. But is it really that simple I mean why did some culture never get past the Family/clan units, or why did the Greeks stop with city states for so long or how did the Iroquois conquered an area the size of the Roman Empire but as for as I know there were just a lose confederation there was no unified authority the famous cliff dwellers of the American west were the second and lesser attempt of that grupe to advance (the first had stone sites of plateaus that were ruffly comparable to medieval Europe) or why did the Japanese perhaps the epitome of civilized living spend hundreds of years entrenching them selves in the feudal system instead of moving on?
And if Civilization is so fragile why didn't it brake down in eruip? Why did they keep porgresing when it seems all the others stagnated or fellopare. true when Rome and Bizanteum fell geat loses were made but civolisation servived why? Why didn't it colaps like so many others or do you think it will and we just haven't goten there yet ?

Opener of Doors

"That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem, "Thou shalt be built", and to the temple, "Thy foundation shall be laid."
Isaiah 44:28

Anyone who gets an endorsement like that from the Prophet Isaiah is definitely destined to achieve new heights, and reach new heights this Persian emperor did. This man is called "The Great Father" by the Persian nation, and his name translates into "Like the Sun" or "He who will humiliate others. " He would cause the fate of three countries to change drastically.

ahem (clears throat dramatically)

Cyrus the Great, even when he was first born, was an anomaly. He was the son of a Persian prince and a Median women. The dual virtues of the Medians (politics and charisma) and the Persians (war and strategy) combined in Cyrus as he quickly worked to strengthen his position as King of the Persians. At that time Persia was a tributary of the mighty Median Empire, and Cyrus knew that any move he would make would have to be against his erstwhile overlords. Cyrus used his relation to a Median General to great effect when he persuaded him to defect from the Medes to Cyrus' army at the height of the battle of Pasargadae. With the defection of an entire army and one of his best generals, the Median King lost ground steadily and was soon destroyed by Cyrus. The taking of Media displays Cyrus' brilliance, as he did not upset the Medians by treating them as conquered subjects. He shrewdly claimed that this was simply the unification of the Medo-Persian Alliance, thereby creating an air of normalcy during the transition, and shifting the prestige and loyalties of Median Empire to the new Persian controlled nation. Persia had become a very dangerous power very quickly. To fully understand the scope of the coup that Cyrus had pulled off, we need to look at the political climate of the Middle East at that time.
The state of the Middle East could be summed-up as a slow boil. Egypt was allied with the Kingdom of Lydia against the Babylonian Empire and the Medes, while minor states and territories flocked to one or the other of the large alliances. Persia had usually stayed out of these struggles, only joining when the Median crown ordered them to, but now, with the quick conquest of Media, Cyrus had created a third independent power that threatened to destabilize the entire status quo. The Babylonians quickly allied themselves with their old enemies to ward off this monster that had arisen from the East. Although it may seem that the Persians were doomed in facing such a massive force, Cyrus knew that their new alliance lacked real unity and could not be depended upon to act in the best interests of all the member states. One of the members would undoubtedly break their pact.
Cyrus was correct in his assumption that an alliance member would prove unscrupulous. The Kingdom of Lydia was the unfortunate aggressor that attacked first in order to gain more spoils. The Kingdom of Lydia occupied a large part of Asia-Minor, and it was a highly dangerous country that utilized a prize, Calvary force with such destruction, that they were considered the best of the ancient world.
Lydia's campaign was flawed from the beginning in the fact that it lacked sufficient forces to occupy what it conquered, but visions of spoils compelled the King of Lydia to send his army in.
Cyrus, knowing that the allies of Lydia were gathering at his southern border, left the majority of his armies to deal with the coalescing forces and took an army of levies and mercenaries to deal with the Lydians. The ensuing battle, although inconclusive, forced the Lydians back into their own territory. It looked like Cyrus had extended himself too far, but when he pursued the Lydian Armies, they sent out their feared cavalry. Cyrus showed his military acumen by using camels, which scared the Lydian Horses and allowed them to be swept pathetically from the field by the Persian forces. The conquest of Lydia would prove as a defining moment of Cyrus the Great. Would the young conqueror be satisfied with his gains?
The king of Babylon, Nabonidus, and his son, Belshazzar, having lost the pivotal ally of Lydia, inquired this same thing of the Persians. Cyrus' answer was the epitome of eloquence -- the Persian army marched on Babylon. In the conquest of Lydia, we can see Cyrus' military ability, but in the conquest of the Babylonian Empire, we see Cyrus' political genius. Babylon may have been the first great world empire, but it was riddled with deep flaws in it's structure. Cyrus used these flaws with deadly ability. He preyed upon the Babylonian's heavy-handedness in bureaucratic matters, and issued a claim that the client-states join him in a revolt against their masters. Many did, thereby depriving Nabonidus of vitally needed troops and supplies for his upcoming battle with the advancing Persian forces. The Persian army easily swept away the derelict Babylonian army and continued to subdue the countryside on their march to the city of Babylon. The prince of Babylon was not afraid though. In fact, he was so confident of the strategy he had devised with his generals, that he declared a feast to the gods on the day of his father's battle. It was at this feast that the writing on the wall appeared, and Daniel translated Belshazzar's doom. It was that night that the Babylonian generals would be bribed by the Persians. It was on that night that Belshazzar was killed and Babylon fell to the Medo-Persians.
The subjugation of Babylon was something new to history. Tradition dictated that the conqueror would decimate the capitol of the enemy, making sure that it could not be used as a center for rebellion. Cyrus did the opposite. He caused as little damage to the city as possible, payed homage to the Babylonian gods, and kept the native governors working at their posts (with a watchful Persian to supervise, of course). Cyrus did not even force the people to accept him as a foreign overlord, but instead, installed himself as the choice King of Babylon by Marduk (the patron god of Babylon), leaving the day-to-day running of the city to his uncle Darius the Mede. These strange, new techniques that Cyrus utilized worked wonders in his newly, conquered territory, and actually net him tremendous good-will from his new subjects.
The largest empire to that date, the Persian Empire, now spanned from the border of India, to Asia Minor, concluding at the Sinai Peninsula. This empire was the first to institute a freedom of religion, and it laid the foundation for administration that was used years after it's demise. The Persian Empire can well be considered 'the second World Empire', and much, if not all, of this success can be attributed to Cyrus the Great.

I think I just fould out what is rong with Amarica

I just searched for a synonym for Order and the first hit was request. ?? "Whats with that?"  The problem that this causes can be seen in this film but the solution that is presented is unavailable to most of us the result is that the families slowly brake down and with them the rest of our culture goes with it. Of cores this is based on the Idea that  a culture is based on the family and I believe this to be true but the family is based on the individuals ration with God which is completely ignored in most discourses on the subject but  in the physical this is the (I think) the best solution to civilizations seaming  endless urge to decay.

Now after watching the film what do you think the solution I am referring to is and do you agree if so why and if not why :)

WOW

HAY you guys I was doing a little blog clean up and I noted that we have 140 "spam" posts so I looked at them and there all you guys posting about stuff I don't no why it did that but I not going to look thro them all so I guess I'll just try and tack care of it but when you wright a comment about some thing try and make sure it went up properly :) Thanks

Ps. Gryphon please notes that I fixed the UEF symbol :)

Birthday poem

Josh Snell's birthday is today,and I was asked to write one of my "Gryphon-Brand" poems.
I do not claim that this will ever be part of the 101 greatest poems,but I have a fascination with writing "interesting" rhymes.

Josh Snell is a young man with deep reserves
Such he needs to keep his jangled nerves.
He is the Patron saint of calm personality.
I can say that none act so placidly.
This calm demeanor he requires
When his seven sisters gather to conspire .
How this beacon of mental wealth
manages among his sisters to keep his health
You need not look very far for the reason
It is his exuberant exercise in every season.

One legend of his greatness goes like so
When he went to the Reed house he found a foe.
This enemy was Gryphon who was larger.
But not afraid,Josh dashed like a charger
He took a few hits with a lightsaber in his side
But he pulled out the nerf gun which he properly applied
to the target located on Gryphon’s chest.
After that day,against him I dare not contest.
That other guys he continues to easily fell
It seems that living with his sisters has taught him well.

BACKLOG!!!!!!

I no longer have all the time I did to do all the online stuff I like to do..............
Anyway, here are some download links of the fire works in London for everyone that has YouTube blocked on a router. The first one is from Google docs, and the 2nd one is from OpenDrive.com. Try the top one first and then try the next link if the first one fails. and let me know if it works or not :)


London Fireworks



‪London_Fireworks_on_New_Year_s_Day_2011‬‏.flv

Sliped therow my fingers....

I was going to write a post on a book I had just read about loyalty and some deep emotions  but I couldn’t get to it until now and it and the feeling of it is gone  Its kind of weird  I can remember the book fine and what I was going to write about it but the “passion” for lack of a better word isn’t there.

Has anything like that ever happened t any of you ?

3rd shift makes you tired and unable to come up with a good title

So, Gryphon wanted me to post fireworks to celebrate The 1000 comments mark for The Battle Arena.
the next video is from YouTube. I thought the screenshot looked cool. And it was.........until they started playing music in the video. So I clicked on my little friend called mute because the songs where not appealing to me very much. Just be warned that any sounds past the first little bit is unknown territory so "listen" at your own risk.  ┐(￣ー￣)┌

Presidents Past

What is your favorite president?
What President would you want to be in office today?

My favorite president is James Polk our most dedicated president. He awoke everyday at 5:00 A.M to do some morning paperwork. after that he had a continental breakfast with his staff,and then he started the official workday.After the work day ended it was usual for Polk to continue on through the night working. it was said that he did the work of ten men in one day. I think that he is my favorite because he threw himself completely into his position,and became perhaps the best servant that this state has ever had.

The Defeated Victors

"Though Conquered,We Conquer."
Titus Maccius Plautus

Although I highly doubt the good poet,Plautus,knew of the kingdom of China, His quote perfectly illustrates one of it's greatest qualities. The ability to absorb and assimilate conquers after being conquered.What makes China so culturally prevalent? What makes it so independent in it's political identity? It is my belief that there are five reasons for the Chinese's ability to conquer via defeat.

#1 Population: The country of China had a astoundingly profuse people,Who multiplied the population through the roof. The Population of China during the Han dynasty was 60 million, roughly one-fourth of the worlds population,during the Yuan 100 million,during the Qing 350 million, and in modern times comprises 1.336 Billion of the world's 6 billion. It is needless to say that it would be extremely difficult to control such a mass of humanity,especially when one is an invader with limited people. Eventually all of the occupiers of China came to the same conclusion. They attempted to control by creating an upper-class comprised of their own people, and they ruled as the previous rulers did because it was the only instituted form of control over this enormous country. The end result of this naturalized occupation was that the rulers themselves could not separate from the Chinese system,and their people were assimilated into China.
#2 Religion: Many countries had unique religion,and one of the main causes of wars during antiquity was to prove one's god greater than the other persons.It was also one of the sources of the most strife in a newly conquered territory was the victor instituting his religion and gods. China's core religion was Ancestral-polytheism, this in itself is not very noteworthy,but the results of this religious affiliation are. One such result was that when they were conquered and had new gods imposed on them, the Chinese could just add this new god to their Pantheon of ancestors,and continue worshiping the same way they had been for years. This same idea was done in Cyrus the Great's empire. Another religious salve that helped the Chinese was the state sponsored Confucianism,Which emphasized everyone talking the 'proper position of oneself',and might be considered the first agnostic religion created.(as it also regulated gods to their proper position) Confucianism was very helpful to conquers as it unified the people into their proper position under him,but when a conqueror begins to promote a foreign religion himself,he is already beginning to slip down into assimilation.
#3 Government efficiency: As was mentioned in the population section,the conquers used the services of the Chinese government in order to control the vast territory and amount of people; Which was the natural choice due to the efficiency of the Chinese civil service,but the WRONG choice! Because although the head of the government might have changed the people never saw a change in the power structure because all the provisional power remained the same,and this resulted in the insulation of the conquer from what could have been a new power base.
#4 Opulence and Prosperity: There were very few times when the Chinese nation was economically or technologically behind(although the great mass of peasants never saw any of these).The combination of wealth and knowledge combined to create a sort of spell of superiority that held many countries under it's sway. Japan,South-East Asia, and Korea are some of the countries that were greatly influenced by the Chinese facade. The other countries tried their hardest to emulate China, some superficially and others quite deeply,but all envied that power. There lay the largest reason for the invasions of China,the envious chased the superior Chinese dream,but in the process of taking it lost all the benefits of their own and became prey for the next.
#5 The Conquerors Themselves: The people that attacked the conquered the Chinese had to be militarily superior to the numerous Chinese if they were to win. The invaders had to be disciplined,tough, and powerful warriors. The Chinese culture does not tend to lend itself to these virtues. For the Chinese exemplified the scholar,the wise governor,and the prosperous merchant; warriors had there place of course,but a time known as the time of strife made the people wary of the generals who had promised peace,but had replaced the stable rule of the Emperor with upheaval. So too much reliance on military might alone was frowned upon,and as the invaders tried to adjust themselves onto the people they threw away the military might of their people,the only thing which could have allowed them to reorganize the society in which they had.

I realize that some may take a different view on China,but I have found that this is the only one that makes the most sense to me. These facts do not only lend themselves to ancient China,but also to the current regime.I ask though how could one conquer China? How can (in modern time) we find a weakness in China's aggressive policy?

The story of China is one of a civilization that becomes so pervasive in their land that one cannot look at that area without noticing that the history of Asia can also be a history of China.

What do you guys think of the "land tax cap " that thay just made ?

Well that sound good its not I ALL for lower taxes and smaller government but  this doesn't give ether.
 The "cap stats that land tax can't increase more then 2% every year that sound good, a little. but they managed to completely anal it with one povishen they made. the 2% does not include pensions!! which is one of the largest expenses the government has so in short what they did was spend all that time himing and haing over a cap that has all these hols in it  that will let them keep right on taxing you just as bad and worse. All they did was set a limit to how fats they can tax you worse. But that was to limiting so  they even left a loophole  so if they really what to they can still raise the taxes just as fast as they want. But don't get TO mad at them they did accomplish something with this bill.They took power from the more local  guvs and reassign  it to the state.

Universal Ruler

"The Mongols were marching once again-and they were marching toward Kracow. The news made even the strongest weep, for the Poles knew the Golden Horde to be a fierce and unfeeling people. It was never difficult to follow their path. You knew the direction they were heading by the hordes of refugees fleeing from them. And the charred earth and desolate houses always signified where they had been."1

"As Pax Romano was the height of peace and prosperity for the Ancient World, Pax Mongolia was an age of wealth and peace for the Medieval World."2

The two views expressed in the above quotes demonstrate the duality of the Mongolian Horde.
On one hand, the Mongols were the masters of war,utilizing systematic dread tactics to further their occupation. On the other hand, the Mongols ushered in a state that used freedom of religion(until the ascension of Timur the Lame),encouraged economies,and was extremely efficient in all administration functions. The truth of the matter is that you can not study the Mongolian Empire without both acknowledging their use of exorbitant(and deplorable)
tactics, and their mastery of the administration in peace.

Many have debated how a tribal sprawl of horseman could conquer an empire that has never been exceeded in size. There a many factors that contributed to the rise of the Mongols, but their is perhaps one in particular that aided them the most in their conquests, their cohesive unity. This unity allowed the tribes to participate in massive hunts known as "Great Hunts", and work in unison over vast amounts of territory. The unity also made it easier for a commanding person to use the reigns of power if they could rise to that height.
The 'commanding person' that accomplished the task of rising to the pinnacle of the Mongol's hierarchical power structure was a virtually unknown man named Temujin. This man,Temujin, was a rather obscure figure in Mongolian politics. He attempted to take command of his tribe when his father was murdered by poisoned food by a neighboring tribe,but the tribe refused to be led by someone so young. Temujin first showed his amazing reserves for patience during this time as he waited for the right opportunity to regain his tribe. The time came,after years of coalescing a small party of warriors,when his fathers old ally Togrhul gave the young Temujin his full patronage,allowing him to retake control of his tribe and begin his ascent to the leadership. Temujin was able to sway the support of another Khan to his and Togrhul's cause, thereby creating a three-way confederation that he used to conquer an imposing number of tribes. Although the alliance of three tribes had benefited Temujin in his consolidation of the Mongolian tribes, the other two khans,namely Togrhul, were beginning to become an impediment to the ambitious Temujin's aims of supreme control. Torgrhul knew that his erstwhile allies were awaiting any weakness on his part to attack his tribe,with that in mind he drew the Mongol confederation into a war with the rival power of that area the Naimans. This strategy would have been fruitful,but it was flawed in the fact that Togrhul's tribe was not readily prepared for the war,and began to splinter under the burden of the war. Knowing his days were numbered,Togrhul fled to the Naimans,but was killed before he could get asylum.
Temujin now reigned supreme in the Mongol tribes,as he had added the late Togrhul's tribe to his own resulting in the creation of a massive tribe that dwarfed all others. It was at this time that Temujin led the Mongols in the subjugation of their nomadic neighbors,and after the Mongols victory over all the other tribes Temujin renamed himself Genghis Khan(Universal Ruler).
Genghis Khan reformed many of the Mongols defunct practices and expanded their good ones.
He created a codified set of laws known as the Great Yasa, which although draconian in nature (every infraction was punished by death) was fair and kept discipline. The great Khan came very close to creating a meritocracy(but I say he did not because his own sons were given parts of his empire even though they had none of his ability.)Loyalty was extolled. But perhaps the most valuable reform he created was the institution of ranks and an organized army.

Armed with such an army,the Mongols began their string of conquests in the northern Chinese

Dynasty of Xia. Genghis Khan used his talent for superior strategic thinking when he stole and assimilated the use of Chinese gunpowder from a Chinese caravan, and used it to defeat all fortifications that they came against. In fact, the Mongols might have conquered all of East Asia at that time if it had not been for an old enemy taking control of a rebel tribe to the western side of the Mongol control.(The exact opposite side of the Mongol's current invasion course.)In essence we can thank a rebellious tribe for turning Genghis Khan's sights toward Europe.
Thus after the destruction of the rebel tribe, The Mongolian horde was sent to deal with the Islamic empire of the Khwarezm,who had greatly offended Genghis Khan by rebuffing even the slightest recognition of the Great Khan. Russia was soon overrun by the Mongols, and when the Mongol leadership heard of green fields to be conquered in Hungary and Poland(by the Russian princes who were only to eager for the Mongol's attentions to be elsewhere.)they prepared to ride into Poland. The hordes descended like a plague and conquered far into the Polish interior.
But suddenly the unthinkable occurred;The Great Khan was dead! There are many vague details not known about the Khan's death,one of the reasons for this was that the Generals of the Army kept his death a secret until his body could be shipped from his camp in south China to his home in Mongolia.All the generals and leaders were recalled to the Mongol camp of Karakoum (or the Black camp) for the coronation of the new Khan of the Mongols.But for all his great reforms, Genghis Khan did not apply them to his family.He divided the empire into Khanates each to be ruled by a son of Genghis Khan,and to be in submission to the Great Khan who would rule the The Great Khanate(most of China and Mongolia).The truth of the matter was that none of Genghis Khans sons had the vision or ability of their father,and the Empire soon began to show cracks in both their leadership and organization. It was not long before all of the glory of the original Empire had been either dissolved,destroyed,or assimilated.Despite any failings that it showed under his heirs,the empire of Temujin has never been surpassed in size or military reputation.

(sorry it has taken me so long to write this everyone.4th of July complicates blogs:)

1.excerpt from The Trumpeter of Krakow

2.excerpt from BJU World History