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