Faustus

Tacitus states that the fire was driven by a southeasterly wind. He describes the fire as moving both south up the Aventine Hill and north up the Palatine, implying that this apparently unnatural pattern was due to arson. Today we know that the larger a fire becomes the more updraft it creates -- breezes that interfere with prevailing winds and allow the fire to spread out in search of oxygen, especially up a hill like the Palatine.

The late 1950

13 points; Is Mercury ever found in other than liquid state? But it is easy to see why you would choose Mercury, with the automobile influence operating.

Take the Asimov Super Test And the Answers and Ratings: Phd, Honor Graduate, Others

Around these parts, as I'm sure many others, leaves are a problem. Many, in city like environments, unable to dispose of them conveniently erect a 4 or 5 foot diameter circular fenced enclosure of light wire (chicken wire) into which they add yard wastes. As the leaves (and other stuff like small limbs, and even other less interesting stuff already mentioned here) rot, at the bottom humus builds up in just a few years which can be accessed at any time for potting, planting, garden, and landscaping purposes because it is a very rich new dirt with many uses. As a last resort it can simply be spread over the lawn to enrich it. That is humus with only one m.

Thanks much BH. These are views some of us would never ever get a chance to see. I have a friend from Beirut I will be sending this link to.

That's one way of looking at it. But another way is that, while party labels usually mean something in Europe and the Commonwealth, in America they can be essentially meaningless. To capture the presidency you need the broadest coalitions possible, which means in practice a two party system, one vaguely center-right and one vaguely center-left. But within those two respective camps there is so much variation as to be laughable at times. Just in the Republican party alone you get eveything from hardcore theocrats to pseudo-libertarians. The only thing Republicans can usually agree on (in theory) is tax cuts, and the only thing Democrats can usually agree on (in theory) are vague anti-establishment grumblings. I'd much prefer a multi-party democracy where the party chairman does whip people in line in conformacy with a specific party agenda. At least there is truth in advertising. IMO it comes down to the differences between parliamentary systems and presidential systems. Ursus the ideas you define which the parties speak to are the top issues the president as chief executive ONLY can deal with. Your description of what party members can agree on is a little skewed (as no doubt my own would be too). Members of the Democrat party are mainly anti establishment to the degree the establishment becomes controlled by Republicans. But even then they are strongly of the "party of government" (That is they say "we need the government [establishment] to solve most problems"). You describe the Republicans well except for one main stratum: It is mainly the party of business. A major division within the stratum is the one between small individually owned business, and corporate business. However, most captains of corporations (vote Democrat and) lean towards government involvement as long as everyone (including small businesses) is forced into equal compliance. They can afford the regulations and therefore the lawyers, where small businesses (individuals) find the cost of regulations and lawyers onerous. The laughable variations you mention which the parties include make the party situation always volatile. That might be a good thing. Kosmo, your understanding, coming from outside our system, is very well thought out. I think you see it so clearly because you see it without filter.

I thought hummus was a spread made from chick peas (speaking of which, I should make some. Yum!) How clever of you! You've taken us full CIRCLE (see etymology). The word hummus (humus) is a Romanization of an Arabic word which means chickpeas with tahini. It seems Rome always takes a shortcut in the fabled six-degrees of seperation, to but one or two.

Most trees (in Italy) were turned into wood products, Lombardy Poplar don't have leaves, just needles(?) Leaves can just be swept up when they become a nuisance, even used as valued humus.

In close order formations that works well, at greater distances confusion reigns except for a few possible orders like "retreat", possibly. (but in the USMC we didn't have a signal for retreat!) Faustus

In cities like Rome (and others) where buildings are crowded to the street there could hardly have been

I take it you mean at sea? At any rate that is a quick system, but needs a response like a RGR probably. I think the communications specialist, and there likely were those, had their hands full. These things are not handled "casually". Someone has be be able to be held responsible, just in case! Faustus

You nailed it G.O. I too thought of Roman villas, but not necessarily sea side. They no doubt did some special above ground plantings of blooming flowers and other special plantings, but those can't be everywhere. People do need places to walk around about. The villa environment is much different from the City of Rome. Even the rural towns had some of the openness of the Roman villa. BTW goat "poo" consists of little elongated turds with a fibrous texture which is easy to dispose of and disintegrates quickly in rain, but really has no odor to speak of if there is not a huge amount, and it's not "disturbed". (But don

Roman communications. In Harris' POMPEII. he tells of Pliny ordering a Flash message being sent to notify Rome as regards the actions he was taking on the Augusta Aqueduct and the water supply into Misenium. That was interesting and dramatic, but I had some personal doubts as to the efficacy of the action. It was interesting that he chose the word "Flash" which is the highest precedence given to all military communications by todays standard nomenclature.* The first line of Roman communications was the roads. Private individuals could use them only by rare and special permission through a government diploma. Provinces were always in touch with Rome and one another. The average citizen sent letters and messages to friends across the sea through slaves and traveling associates. Most news reached its destination eventually. But the roads were built for official communications. Travel by public stage coach averaged some 60 miles per day. Caesar once rode by carriage 800 miles in eight days. Messengers carrying news of Nero

If grass crowns were all the rage. however rats, mice, vermin, snakes, and other varmints like the "grassy environment" as well. Maybe it grew very little if it were a special variety we don't know of today. "Formal lawns covered with short and tended to grass first appeared in France around the 1700s, and the idea soon spread to England and the rest of the world. Lawns were first kept clean and tidy by having animals graze on the grass, or scythe, sickle, or shears were used to hand cut the grass lawns. " Now we can imagine the cultured manicured environment these French lawns were adapted to, but tall grass is a nuissance as is mud. A very sandy soil tightly packed would serve as a "pavement".

We

A direct link to PDF HERE (Davidovits)

But would it? Converting all that limestone to lime to make concrete by burning after crushing (per Davidot), or some other process, then transporting it to the site and "forming" the blocks in locations ever more limited in accessibility, means a variety of materials and skills have to flow to the operation rather than being individually fabricated offsite. Forming concrete is no easy task, even with modern forming materials like plywood. It takes extremely well braced forms with good support in four lateral directions to hold the amount of concrete being either poured or mixed within the forms. If no bulk aggregates were included then the Roman method of compacting the concrete in place to strengthen and remove excess water would not seem to reduce the lateral forces in the forms either. The Roman construction sites were well managed in that regard: always building up the wooden forms as concrete was added and compacted into the mix below. And they added foreign material (rubble) as aggregate fill to their concrete allowing for less actual concrete mix in the forms. This aggregate material would act as a stabilizer to the lateral forces. If forming was used and then the outside faces were

I was informed late yesterday HRC would be in our long neglected town (and state) today, and was asked: did I support her, and would I like to go see her? WJClinton was here two weeks back, and Obama came through for a quick surprise appearance at the local college (Nick's English Hut - where young students gather, and aging ones still hang around. I.E. I have been in the next booth to Evan Bayh and his dad "Birch" when Evan was Gov. and Birch was a former US Sen. having lunch together) hang-out. To the callers question, I support her (all the way to the nomination), and I would like to see her (as a historical figure), but I stay away from "throngs" as a personal choice. Still, Obama, when he was here, unlike HRC, didn't take time with the "adults" except as they hung out in younger venues. Indiana's primary is May 6th. Any registered voter can walk in and will be asked which they want, democrat or republican ballot. They are only limited in choice by the ballot they request. I don't know for sure about other states, but this system being so simple, would seem to apply broadly across the spectrum. Come the "general", there is a general ballot and your earlier primary vote in no way limits choices at that time. Asking the opinion of one stalwart D. of late middle age, I was told she had already "voted early" for HRC, being put off by some of the lately publicized problems of Obama's. But, also believing HRC hasn't been truthful (BUT what politician is? she asks), she HOPES for a white knight (Edwards or Gore) to come in at the last moment, and save the day in the general election from HRC her primary choice. Would she vote for McCain , if she hadn

It looks a lot like rough faced marble, but it could also be a granitic eratic either of them dropped by a glacier . . . . and note the ice exclusion area across south England . . . . We have eratics like the one our altar "object" was possibly fashioned from in lawns as landscape art objects. However England/British Isles is so rich in geological features, . . . . Marble is quarried in Ireland. Faustus Thank you for the answer Faustus. The natural colours are beautiful. The purpose of showing the oddities and the direction of flow of the ice sheets is to illustrate the possibility that pieces of stone like the one here did not necessarily need to be imported from the continent, nor even to be quarried locally. With naturally occurring deposits existing and being flaked off

This is twice up for me. I have a Latin dictionary published/printed in 1918 from an earlier edition dated 1890. This dicitionary I find, is much more complete than others, and includes passages with references and their sources. First look HERE, and if I can add to this for you feel free to PM me. A list of abbreviations: L. = Livius S. = Sullustius Crispus Ta. = Cornelius Tacitus V. = Vergilius Maro also Fig. = figuratively(?) Faustus

Two favorite moments, both in GLADIATOR: I understand the complaints about authenticity, and accuracy. Still the public wants drama, action, and the love element whether or not it fits in with historical accuracy. I've recommended GLADIATOR to friends, and when they

There would've been a great deal of water flowing in the cloaca at all times, fire or not. The accesses into the sewer at ordinary street locations, if they were the same as those in Pompeii, were very restricted in size, as mere gutter openings. No doubt there were maintenance "manhole" type accesses but their locations were probably not well known by the general public. Fires like the great fire mentioned spread from a source and are not all encompassing all at once so it would be a natural thing to flee, always from the edges of the fire. It is true that the flow in a sanitary sewer, even in modern times, with a relatively high proportion of human waste, is not all that "crappy" in its mix. But there is the problem of sewer gasses in modern systems. Since the lines are long, gas (methane?) is emitted and begins moving back up the lines. It is quite dangerous and is kept from acumulating upstream in homes by inverted water traps, diverting it to rooftop pipe vents. I have wondered about that problem in the cloaca, but concluded that the minimal amount of waste in the mix may have reduced the problem to a bare minimum. Access may have been limited into the manholes, as they are somewhat today, by weight and design of a casting to make the access not a simple task. Still, HERE can be seen a round drain opening, this one on grade, is also a gravity inlet, which shows the modern equivalent in very similar circumstances. It suggests easy access. The cloaca would have followed the original drainage channels through the city, and other than the main cloaca and perhaps the other main valley channel tributaries, most tributaries would've been quite small. I for one would've taken my chances in flight on foot, unless optionless. Faustus

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