caldrail

But the people willing to assassinate or mount coups are not inherently law abiding people, nor do law abiding people generally stop them since this people continually rise to power in spite of legal restrictions. Laws are all very well, but it also requires a population who are willing to stand by them. If the risk is too great, they don't, they duck and mind their own business whilst the new tyrant takes over.

The main difference with Crassus vs Parthia and Operation Barbarossa is of course territory. Its important to understand this. Modern armies seek to take objectives (which is essentially no different from roman methods) but they alsoneed to occupy their captured ground and suppress resistance behind the lines, somthing which generally didn't happen in ancient warfare, since most civilians were too hard pressed to feed themselves rather than attack foreign soldiers who would simply butcher them if caught. Also, I notice that the romans made a number of forays into Asia against the Parthians/Persians, and that although they achieved objectives and won battles these territorial gains were soon relinquished. The campaigns of Trajan are a case in point since he did actually reach the Caspian Sea and annexed large territories for Rome, soon to be discarded by Hadrian as of no value as provinces. During the Palmyran Revolt, troops marched back and forth across syria and mesopotamia in the same manner that armoured divisions would do in the western desert of 1941-43. Climatically however there is no comparison. The russian winter is infamous and both Napoloen and Hitler believed they could secure victory before the worst of it arrived, neglecting to appreciate the true scale of the land the were attempting to cover and that weather effects before the freeze sets in were no less difficult.

Oh no, no dream, it all happened five or six years ago. Afterward I took three months off working to just chill out and do my own thing. Did me the world of good but emptied my wallet somewhat.

Close... but no cigar. I still maintain I'm El Presidente of the Independent Peanut Republic of Rushey Platt. However, since you brought the subject up.... The Truth About Area 51 Its like this. When the Martians invaded Kent back in the 1890's or whenever it was they caught colds and died before we could we help the poor little blighters, but after at least two demolitions of the Whitehouse and innumerable attempted hostile takeovers of small towns in the american southwest, it really is time to open a dialogue with our alien visitors. Given the huge misunderstandings experienced between Americans and Aliens, Area 51 was set up to teach the tiddlywinks in an effort to provide some sort of common cultural ground. The truth About The Welsh No, I can't... Honestly....

All things considered I'm not sure that a formal succession would have made much difference to the fate of the roman empire. The essential problem is roman competitiveness. There were always men waiting behind the scenes waiting their chance to go for it and replace the current emperor whether he be good or bad. If a particular roman found that he could summon enough support to make it worth the risk, then he would have staged his coup regardless of laws to the contrary. Sejanus for instance worked tirelessly to take the reigns from Tiberius and basically rode roughshod over the law to ensure his power base increased. Granted, he came to a sticky end, but it didn't necessarily have to end that way. People willing to mount coups are rarely the sort who concern themselves with the rights and wrongs of it. Since they believe they have every right, they go ahead. The possibility of male descendants wasn't an obstacle to power struggles, since if these unfortunate persons happened to be be on the losing side, their survival is not guaranteed at all. As an example, this principle is what underlies Robert Graves I, Claudius as the heirs of Augustus are bumped off one by one to ensure Tiberius rules.

Bad colds or flu can be nasty. It creeps up on you and hits you like a brick wrapped in tinfoil. Coughing, sweating, dizzy, limbs aching, totally unable to sleep. We've all been there so I guess you know what I mean. Isn't it strange that medicinal products function in direct proportion to their taste? The palatable ones don't do anything for you at all. But those ghastly horrible noxious products that make you sweat with anticipation of its vile taste work like a charm. We have a product in Britain - I don't know what the rest of the world call it - but its advertised as a miracle cure for colds and flu. Of course is isn't, it just makes you feel better for a few hours, but I'm definitely feeling a lot more like your average Caldrail. Now.... Is that because the stuff really is a miracle cure, or is it because I can't bear the thought of another dose? However, there are some substances you shouldn't really touch. I'm not into drugs. Never was. Never saw the point. If you need a pill to enjoy yourself then you're not doing so. There was one instance in my past though when I encountered such things. I don't mean the offer of cannabis from some lowlife in a club. Its inevitable that having been involved in rock bands I was going to encounter it. Funny thing is, I was very rarely offered any. Maybe I looked spaced out already so they never bothered? No. Something more insidious happened. So lets explain the background. I used to work for a large retail chain, and my responsibilities were to manage the database overnight and download the picking data for the next day onto the scanning guns. It was a lonely sort of job that. The only human contact I had was a cleaner who popped in every two or three days to scatter my papers over the floor, and the good lady who worked in the office along the way. She was a tolerant sort luckily. Not so the workforce. Comprised of the usual layabouts and ner'do'wells, I'd become somewhat unpopular with them because I'd had some of their mates hauled across the coals for misdemeanours. It wasn't pleasant, and to this day I don't think the company really appreciated what a miserable place that was to work. This wasn't the first time I'd been feeling a bit odd. I'd been phoning and emailing radio stations, getting hyperactive and stressed out, going on long drives around the west country for no apparent reason. Then there was that final night. It wasn't like feeling drunk, I just felt oddly chirpy. Feeling fed up with any grievances I'd had at work, I decided to do something about it. I scrawled 'Goodbye and thanks for all the fish' on the board, and text'd somebody on my mobile that I was on my way. Don't know who it was, but I knew they'd understand. Somebody was cheering me on. From that point forward I was utterly convinced I was on some sort of quest to reach France. I was also convinced I was supposed to take people along and that they'd arranged to meet me in town. So I wandered around for an hour feeling a little disappointed at a no-show. Well, I can't wait, must reach France. So I drove out to the motorway to go east. Then it occured to me the police would be waiting to catch me. So... I'll go by the country road. That'll fox 'em... Huh? Was that a red light?... Wow, this is getting seriously foggy... Hey wait, I was supposed to pick someone up... Turn around.... Must get there quickly to pick them up... Awww I can't be doing with this, I'm going down the motorway... Eventually my car ground to a halt with some sort of breakdown, lights flashing on the dashboard all over the place... This was a freezing cold november morning and I phoned for recovery. I think the police telephonist got the gist of what I was rambling on about. The return to Rushey Platt was a sobering experience. I froze for an hour waiting for a tow. I froze for another two hours at railway station carpark waiting for a tow back in the right direction. I lost the job. You might not be entirely suprised at that. So I suppose the idiot who spiked my drinks at work with whatever substance that was felt pleased with his handiwork. It was a miracle I wasn't picked up for driving under the influence - I daresay that would have pleased him more. How would he have felt if I'd crashed? Killed? Disabled? Or would he have been satisified with death and injury on the roads if an innocent person or two had been unlucky enough?

You are also aware I take it that Glastonbury is the UFO capital of the world even today? Hate to break it to you, but thats in downtown west country england. Actually the problem with the druids is that they got abducted. Thats why the stonehenge rest stop went out of business. Also, we now know that Cardiff in Wales is alien central station for planet earth. Sorry, but if Will Smith wants to chase aliens in sharp suits, he needs to cross the Atlantic.

After his defeat in Greece Antiochus had retired to his main army in Asia Minor, where he set up an entrenched camp protecting the approach to Sardis and his fleet base at Ephesos. Wikpedia.com The morning was wet and foggy. King Antiochus

On the contrary. Score one for USN anti-satellite technology. By the way, thanks for the advice about treatment for flu. Suggest America puts some of the money spent on anti-satellite technology and diverts it to medecine!

Well... You say that but... Stonehenge is just down the road and we all know that the druids were running a fuel station for arriving UFOnauts long before the americans made themselves available for experiments and involuntary vacations...

Oh? Is he any more erudite than anyone else?

But the the whole affair is contrived. Its fiction. It was designed to take the story of Jesus (whom Paul never met) and embellish it to the point where his divinity was made clear. The problem with Jesus is that the closer you look at his story the less you find. He was certainly a real person, he certainly did preach to the masses, and he certainly did disappear in a hurry. But notice how contrived the accounts are. On the one hand Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to cheering crowds, a sell-out success story. Within a short time, those same people condemned him to death. Why? The bible explains it all away by saying that Jesus martyred himself for our sins, but since when did God need an act of this sort? According to the Old Testament, if God thought mankind was sinning excessively he did something about it. The various miracles supposedly performed by jesus are unlikely to say the least, and there's no supporting evidence that they ever took place. In fact, had Jesus performed such miracles, he would more likely have been parceled up and sent to Rome for an interview with the emperor. No, these stories are either exaggerations of real events or simply made up for the purpose. There's no guarantee these miracles were present in Pauls original draft, or perhaps his version was even more outlandish. We don't know. Paul took two years out to create this mythology and it must be said, despite poor sales at the beginning its been a best seller ever since. What Paul wanted was a career in preaching religion which effectively makes him no different to those bible bashers who fill auditoriums and get interviewed on prime time tv. It was about money. It was his nine to five. As NN correctly states, the original works (not only those by Paul, there were others trying the same thing) were censored. Constantine, painfully aware how damaged his empire was by a civil war that brought him to power, shamelessly used religion to a unifying factor. Arguably he made a good choice. Roman religion was too loose and disorganised for that purpose, but christianity had a hierarchy and loyal worshippers seeking absolution for their sins. However, christianity at that time was not a single movement. It was a ployglot of individual churches saying similar things but with their own twist. What Constanitine insisted on was that the church leaders got together and sorted out exactly what christianity was. Even though he wasn't a christian, Constantine saw the value of this religion in holding his empire together. Christians of course would quote this as evidence of superior belief, but that simply isn't the case. This was an example of political expedience.

I think you'd be disappointed. First person games succeed by creating the illusion of personal freedom to go and do whatever you want (actually your options are always very limited, but the action makes up for that). In a roman game of this sort, as a legionary you would be constrained to act in formation and believe me, players wouldn't like that that at all. Especially since roman military doctrine dictates that a man who breaks formation is liable for execution, and your average hyperactive gamer simply isn't going to line up and wait with the rest of the troops. Also, as a programmer your idea would be an absolute nightmare to program. Complete freedom in every walk of roman life would require an enormous database and complex interaction code - I wouldn't even begin to attempt it. What you could do is isolate the character from any restriction at the start - in other words, an off duty soldier or whatever - and program a Deus Ex style first person roleplay game with the player selecting a character type (as you outlined) which accentuates certain skills. Actually, in theory I could do that now, given the SDK's available, but do I have the time to complete a roman roleplay game? Not even slightly. Even for this relatively straightforward option the work involved is daunting. 3D models need to be created and animated. The various levels need to be constructed and compiled. Entire cut scene and conversation sequences need to recorded and programmed. Its a lot of effort!

I was watching one of those cop programs last night. The usual sort of thing, car chases across america with exciting heavy metal music and a breathless commentary. There was one that stood out. It started as they all did, with a suspect making a break for it and piling down the highway without regard to safety. At one point he swerves to avoid an obstacle, and at over a hundred miles an hour, very nearly loses it completely. Thing is though, what I notice with all these chases is that the suspect runs out of enthusiasm. The police obviously don't give up, and refuse to do anything that causes collateral damage or injury if they can help it. Anyhow the suspect has been through the initial 'high' of the chase, the desperation at trying to escape it, and finally comes off the pace feeling in a hopeless situation. He actually pulls into a petrol station to fill up! At this point he's dawdling along with a multitude of police cars with whooping sirens and flashing lights dawdling after him. Then, all of a sudden, one police car rams him sideways at some speed. A somewhat frustrated police officer there I think. The suspects car smashes into a pump, ignites it, and the police audio says "Oh no, he's hit an Exxon!". No he didn't. He was rammed into it. I do understand the frustration of the police officer concerned but this was one instance where collateral damage took place! There's a part of me that views this sort of program with some concern. Its turning justice into entertainment, and to be honest it doesn't actually do anything to dissuade others from this behaviour other than the cops always get their man, but since the criminal mind always believes he won't get caught isn't there a danger that such programs encourage car chases? Illness of the Week This time its me, suffering a bout of flu or some such bug. All sympathetic replies most welcome. Sniffle. Target of the Week I do hear that the US are preparing to shoot a satellite out of the sky. The malfunctioned object has a fuel tank full of poisonous hydrazine and understandably the US don't want it plummeting to earth on a sensitive area. I guess this sort of thing is one hazard of space flight. Mind you, what happens when Virgin finally manage to get their orbital joyrides going? This is your captain speaking. We're experiencing technical difficulties at the moment so please be patient whilst our cabin crew do their best to restart the engines. Incidentially, if you look out the right side, you can see the US missile on its way to intercept us...

You are right, but the bad news is that he gets injured very badly and paralized soldiers are of no use... So the end of his service is a little earlier. I was wondering what Rome did for those men. No social security, I guess. No, but a soldier in that circumstance would receive whatever pension he had accrued as a lump sum. If he was a member of a burial club, perhaps they would help? His mates might try to set up in some measure of protection & comfort locally, or perhaps arrange for him to be sent home.

Yesterday I heard news that an illegal rave had been stopped by police at disused farm buildings near where I live. For those unacquainted with the term, a 'rave' is an impromptu 'night club' style party lasting until people fall over or get arrested. These people use any empty building they deem suitable, in this case the farm buildings left on the site of a new housing development. They do this to avoid noise, fire, public performance, and health & safety regulations. Some might think that because of my benign anarchastic leanings I might approve of such entertainment - I don't - its not that I agree with all that legislation, its the selfishness of the rave that I cannot agree with. Years ago a mate of mine asked me for some help with a project. He knew I was into bands and gigging etc, and wanted to put on a charity event at a local sports hall. We had discussions, met with community officials and such, and the event went ahead as planned. Thing is, the sports hall in question is right on the edge of a quiet residential area, and I was concious that the noise associated with rock gigs wasn't going to go down well. So I suggested to him that a leaflet should go through everybodies postbox beforehand explaining what was going on, why it was happening, and apologising for any convenience. We got no complaints. On the other hand I turned up to a friends band practice at a school hall on one occaision (I had in fact once been a founder member of this band and I was keen to see them do well). Unfortunately on that particular day there also a school fete. No-one had bothered to tell the school we were booked, or tell the band the fete was on. So, a very upset headmistress burst in through the doors demanding we stop immediately. I pointed out that communication was lacking and that we were no more happy with the situation either. The local council agreed with us, and although I'm not aware of any further complications, I really doubt that woman was keen to let bands practice there again. Its understandable up to a point. Rock music ain't quiet, and there's a tendency for the noise to creep up as each band member decides he can't hear himself and raises the volume accordingly. I remember a council official turning up to a practice session to measure the noise. He was astounded and attempted to convince us that my drumming was louder than concorde taking off (compliments, compliments...). I attempted to convince him he was talking rubbish, pointing out that concorde taking off in close proximity has a tendency to make someone a little deaf and I could hear his complaints perfectly. He never took any action. As for the rave, I have no sympathy. They never asked permission to use the property, and the behaviour of some people there was going to be a little dubious without any authority present. Its not that I don't want people to enjoy themselves, its just bad manners and illegal substances. End of an Era We got a visit from UT at last. He took away a load of old stock as scrap, and introduced his new sidekick, a young lad who will in the fullness of time take the reigns from UT. What about Lord H? Where is he? Retired. Well Lord H, enjoy your ferrets and regale your neighbours with Tales From The Gippoes. You will be missed. But please take a bath this year, ok?

Once he takes on his adult toga and shaves, the young man can make his own decisions. Nonetheless, his father is the boss by roman custom, or rather head of the household and as such his son must pay him respect and observe his wishes or be regarded as a bad son. Most businessmen were freedmen, and many of those operated under the patronage of their social betters. It worked both ways. The patron got someone under his wing who could do him favours and inform him of goings-on, whilst the client got protection and contracts. Some very wealthy people did dabble as a diversion - emperors were often doing odd things like that because it was entertaining for them and lets face it, when you're top dog, who's going to stop you? I can't think of any emperor businessman as such, but I'm thinking of something like Caligula becoming an auctioneer. Not because he made money out of it, but because he found it fun to sell other peoples belongings. There was of course Crassus, who made money out of letting property (like so many others) but in his case he accumulated property by taking advantage of fires and collapses, buying land for cash in hand and then redeveloping it as rented property which was no doubt none too cheap. He used agents for this purpose, he did not make contracts in person. That said, we know from Pompeii that some people did well out of businesses. There was a widow for instance who ran one in her own name. She had to marry for the sake of appearances but the business was definitely in her name after her husband died. I'm not entirely sure of her social status. She certainly wasn't from a working class family.

A lot of roman humour seems to be play on words or witty observations of others. I think there's much of it that goes right over our heads these days when back then it had people rolling on the floor clutching their ribs.

But if Hannibal was getting supplied from sources beyond local foraging the romans would know about it. Hannibal could not spare forces to protect wagon/mule trains who would have been very vulnerable in enemy territory, and I suspect that although Hannibal may have welcomed such supply he would have steered clear of relying on it in order to preserve mobility and to avoid stretching his forces. Further, you might remember that Hannibals army had already marched across the alps and suffered terrible privation because of it. These were hardened men well used to grabbing whatever they could get.

In some circumstances the family origin will decide whether these men are acceptable in whichever social situation they find themselves, but in real terms, money talks and and the poor man walks, and since wealth bought influence and status in roman circles, in most circumstances they can carry on in pretty much the same way. Why not? People still do that even today. Arius is rebellious, fed up with paternal control (and lets face it, in roman culture the elder male is in control) and wants to make his own way in the world, yet in your story he is prepared to lower himself in status and possibly lose an inheritance simply to do his own thing and stick a finger in his fathers face. Nothing wrong in this story at all. He would be a rariety of course, and his fellow legionaries would cotton on to his superior breeding very quickly and poor Arius may find himself the butt of some very poor behaviour from his legionary brethren until he earns respect and friends. By the age of 15 young Lucius is considered old enough to make his own decisions and to be of marriageable age. At 16-18, he's a young businessman according to your story. The fact he gets his fingers dirty with trade and finance lowers his social level - men of good families didn't involve themselves in such grubby details (at least not publicly anyway, and there were plenty of knowledeable slaves to do the nitty gritty stuff anyway)

The dramatic film I would make would be something on a smaller scale than many roman epics. I would portray a group of roman soldiers, along with an officer or two, wives, slaves, valuables, and follow their efforts to survive the germans and each other as they escape dire treatment in the Tuetoberg Forest. Plenty of scope for character interplay. Cowardice, courage, sacrifice, theft, honesty, lust, perhaps even a hint of very un-roman proclivities, and the ever present threat of discovery by german tribesmen, not to mention very dramatic fighting withdrawals. A group of concerned and frightened superstitious people having to make real decisions about their motives and survival. I would want edge of the seat stuff, some fights, scheming, dastrdly behaviour. If the audience isn't gripping the seat with white knuckles, Ridley is getting sacked.

I might be wrong, but I seem to remember that one young lady was treated badly by her father for refusal to consider marriage?

Military sservice gave a a roman of good family credibility for his future political career. Now granted that not every young roman male was so competitive - many were - and we know there were men who did try their best to avoid military service. Although the romans generally were very macho and aggressive, there must have been some for whom the risk of real harm was too much. Notice however the numbers of young men of good families who signed up as gladiators - Augustus had to pass a law to restrict this behaviour. These men were keen to earn money or fame (both if possible) and weren't afraid to go toe to toe for real in order to achieve it, or at least they weren't afraid until the actual event. The reason I say this is to underline the combativeness of roman character. So Denia, your young man has the following options.... 1 - Flat refusal Wow, this is going to make him popular.... Although there may be some who have some sympathy for his decision, perhaps even admire his courage to say no, most won't. 2 - Hide Potential recruits were known to make themselves scarce, and one dodge was to hide in a rural slave barracks pretending to be an inmate. Tiberius was tasked by Augustus to uncover the extent of this practice and reform the barracks. 3 - Bribe Perhaps a few sestercii might change your mind Sir? Or perhaps a small service of benefit to you and your missus? I notice your clothes aren't new. Lets do something about that, and perhaps you could turn a blind eye.... 4 - Servitude Desperate? Then really go the whole hog and sell yoursef into slavery. As mentioned above, adventurous romans might volunteer for the arena, whilst the more fearful would prefer something more mundane. It was rare but not unknown for romans to sell themselves to a slave trader, usually in order to secure a prestigious post as a servant and thus get around social obstacles. The disadvantages of this route are obvious, and would have been obvious to young romans. 5 - Stay Away Self imposed exile might be an answer and one to carry on life as usual without the hasle of recruitment. So, get aboard the first galley to the orient, and make your way to Syria perhaps, where trade is booming. or perhaps voyage far into the distance... Exploration is unusual for romans who were very inwardly focused as a culture despite their penchant for military conquest, but there were romans who did venture far. 6 - Rebel This would be going too far for many romans, but its certainly adventurous and in at least one case a rebellion occured because someone did not want to fight. 7 - Thumb Removal As mentioned above, a common practice was to cut off a thumb and thus render yourself useless as a soldier. Augustus was concerned at this sort of thing, but it became a real issue in the late empire when an emperor stated that from this moment forward, two thumbless soldiers are worth one ordinary soldier and no longer have an excuse to serve. 8 - READ THIS IF ALL ELSE FAILS! Disaster has struck. Military service is all but unavoidable. What option has a man left but to fall on his sword? This sort of thing was also rare, but did happen. With regard to combat, there are two examples from gladiatorial combat. In one instance, a man thrust his head into a wheel of a cart in order to break his neck whilst on the way to an event, on the other hand there was the case of a man who chose to suffocate himself in the latrine with a sponge-stick rather than fight. Granted these were slaves (and not of good family either) but there was also the case of a line of saxons who throttled each other in a secret pact to avoid fighting in the arena. PS - I just thought of another... 9 - Ruse Obviously falling on a sword is abit self-defeating, so perhaps a ruse might be in order? Pretend to be unfit for for service.

The universe is not infinite (though it is pretty big and apparently growing in size). The universe has built in limits, physical properties that cannot be exceeded. There is a limit on how fast you can travel, how hot something can be, how small it can be etc etc. Infinity is a concept to use instead of an impossibly large value. Its easier to comprehend that concept that trying to visualise just how big something is. I'm stunned that someone would use maths to 'prove' the existence of god. Thats ridiculous. God is a human concept, not an absolute truth. He's an invented figurehead as a social focus, a human face on the mysterious unknown. How can maths prove he exists? You could just as easily use maths to prove that Grubbo, Lord of the Fleas (Bow down unbeliever!) created the universe. Science has opened up much of the universe to us, but I suspect there's an element that it can't. Does that mean God is out there waiting for the inevitable discovery? Wishful thinking. Christianity (and other religions too) thrives on providing convenient answers to mysteries, even if some of those answers are bizarre or completely stupid. I guess you can prove anything with statistics. Intelligent design? No, it seems nature is an experimental system that tries different mutations until one species with the right characteristics dominates its enviroment.

'All roads lead to Rome' - An old saying which in their day meant that people were attracted to the big city to find gainful employment. Perhaps this was less true of the empire, as Augustus has begun the franchise system of colonies to extend his tax base and consolidate roman power (in his name of course). Rome had a considerable number of itinerant labourers, but there's also an attitude you find amongst romans that if they can get something for nothing, why not? I'm reminded of a story that Hadrian visited the baths one day. He spotted one man rubbing his back on a marble pillar. "What are you doing?" He asked. The man replied that he had no slave to scrape his back. Hadrian apparently rolled his eyes, clicked his fingers at his minions, and handed the man a few gold coins. "Here, go and buy yourself a slave...". The next day Hadrian returned to the baths only to find a multitude of 'slaveless' men rubbing their backs on any free surface. You could argue the same thing would happen today, and given human nature, it probably would. But the point is that the romans did not have the work ethic we do today. They worked out of necessity, not because because it was manly or expected. The labour market in Rome was organised up to a point but since it was all very entrepeneurial and often dependent on patronage, the labour market was also factional. As for being colonists, it depended on who you were. A retired legionary may well jump at the chance to remain in the area he knew well, with a woman he also knew well, with an opportunity to acquire some land and settle down. For him, the chances of finding employment in Rome were no better than anyone else.