Formosus Viriustus

Quite so. This is just about the only computer game I have ever really liked. (I'm from the pinball machine generation). I even was addicted to it for a while. Put some tunics on those guys, replace those mines with traps with spikes and you're there : best Roman theme computer game ever. Of course, marker flags are for pussies only. They're a waste of time. ' You've got eyes and a brain, don't you, soldier ? Then use them !'

Yes, I knew a cat once, he had made the inside of a whole street block his territory. He went from backdoor to backdoor over the garden walls. Having at least twelve meals a day getting fatter and fatter and generally making a nuisance of himself, which everybody thought was SO cute ! Exploitative bastard. I live in a suburban neigbourhood with lots of small front gardens and very little traffic. A lot of people have cats around here and from the windows of my flat which is on a corner, I have an excellent view. It is endlessly fascinating to see cat politics in action. The staring matches, the territory marking and guarding, the courting. They say that cats are solitary, but they are not of course, they are just individualistic. And the characters. The nosey ones who always get into trouble and the conservative ones who seldom venture very far. Those that are immediately everybody's best friend and those that will never ever acknowledge your existence. Yes, cats are fun. PS Best to disregard that first part of you comment, I guess. We don't want you to get into more trouble than you are already.

What do you have wikipedia and youtube for if not for finding out the meaning of life ? Of course if you go to wikipedia, you'll never come home again, so here is Monty Python's view on the question.

Cats Rule ! Don't EVER mess with a cat. You WILL regret it. Cats have memories nine times better than elephants. They are nine times as vicious as hippo's, they are nine times as smart as humans and they have nine lifes. Cats never forget and cats never forgive. They will get even if you mess with them. We think we're so smart ? Yeah ? Do we have a slave race to take care of our every need without us ever doing anything in return ? Do we have a slave race that makes our meals for us, makes sure we have a warm and comfortable nest to sleep in when we get tired of having naps in the sun or chasing butterflies to drive away the boredom ? Whom we can completely ignore when we can't be bothered and who will give us a cuddle when we feel like that ? Whose face we can scratch open in return for their kindness and who wouldn't even mind ? Suckers ! And, friends, whatever you do, never, ever do this. JUST SAY NO kittenhuffing

Dear Nephele, Of course, why else ? by the way, it is a pharaoh, just thought I'd let you know. ( 95 %, kajing ! ) (just send me your CV and I'll check it out for you.) That's the key word, isn't it ? Now explain that to those morons with their 75 euro digital camera's who just 'can't get enough of it', and we'll get along just fine. No offense to people who do try to make good pictures and do so without spoiling other people's pleasure. I'm talking about the morons who think that because there is room for a 1000 pictures on their memory card, they just have to take a 1000 pictures, all equally worthless, within the shortest possible amount of time - can't be wasteful with bits and bytes, can we ? And then dump the whole lot on the net, of course. Yeah, there is a severe shortage of third and fourth rate pictures on the net. Only a couple of millions uploaded each hour. *sigh* Formosus II 'The Long-suffering'

Meanwhile on AC II Ringo Hey guys ! Look at this ! They are giving away free cows on Sol III ! Say, don't we need a cow to run that nuclear fision plant on AC/DC ? The last one we had did an excellent job for three years, but now of course she has gone into business of her own. Started up her own little plant. John Sure, we can always use a good cow ! We have a vacancy at the Hyperspace Control Center too. We need a cow urgently to fill that one. George Yeah ! And all we have to do is buy a human ! And they are dirt cheap this week ! Don't you just love human ? Paul Yeah, man ! I love human too. Call me weird, but the bit about them I like best is the tongue. Marinate for a day, then stew gently in a wine-and-garlic sauce with some Basil and Rosemary. Say guys, do we still have some of that Basil left ? Ringo Sure ! A whole leg at least. But we finished off the last of that Rosemary yesterday. Maybe order another one, while you're at it. Love that Rosemary. All #Love, love, love. Love, love, love. Love, love, love. All you need is love, all you need is love, all you need is love, love, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need !# (weren't they just simply the best songwriters ever ? )

Salvete amici, If we go into 'what if' scenario's that might be very interesting but of course then there is no end in sight. But I am more interested in the comparisons that can be made between the two, the Punic Wars and WW I & II as they actually happened. The most obvious comparisons I can see myself, but they are very general. I am sure there are many parallels that can be drawn about the reasons for the conflicts, how the one lead to the other and how the wars were actually fought, strategies, tactics and deciding moments. For every parallel that can be drawn, no doubt many differences can be pointed out. It all depends on which ones can be considered relevant and significant and which ones not. As usual, in both cases the history was written by the victors. They impose their view. But in the case of the 20

Salvete Omnes ! On Spartacus : from the Roman point of view, he was of course nothing like a politician. From their point of view he was a rebel slave, a criminal. But I think it is fair to say that from our point of view he very much was a political leader. His people weren't a gang of robbers. They were people with very clear and just aspirations. But I'm sure the Romans didn't take our point of view much into account. We know very little about him, but from that little I dare to conclude that he was an exceptional man. Formosus

Salvete omnes ! I have heard about 'Jesus was Caesar'. I haven't read it of course. I'm pretty sure it is mostly rubbish like almost all books with that kind of sensationalist titles are. But I do find the idea thought provoking. The more so since I pretty much lean towards the idea that Jesus Christ wasn't really a historical figure, but a composite of several messianic preachers at the time and that he only served as a figurehead around which the christian philosophy could be built in the gospels. The apostels, as far as I know are all clearly real historical people. On Caesar's attitude : I think that he was a man with a great sense of destiny. And probably by the time he was murdered he felt that he had done what he had to do so far. And if the end came, well he was resigned to that. He could only hope that those who came after him would finish the work. He was probably overconfident. He had to be, he had survived so many far more dangerous situations than a few people plotting against him. And he probably felt it beneath his dignity to give more attention to it than it deserved in his view. I think he was absolutely one of the greatest men ever. A great general, a great politician with a view I can very much endorse and, not least, a great writer. If anyone deserved to be deified, in my view it was him. Valete, Formosus

Salvete Omnes ! Bryaxis : If you say so. But I can't remember that ever having been the case. No postcards, yes of course. But no catalogue either ? True, they are often expensive so I only buy those if I think they are really worth it, which isn't al that often. But it took me no more than 15 minutes to find a good picture of that statuette Nephele photographed so poorly. And I'm fairly sure I can find one of that necklace too easily. I wasn't thinking from the works of arts point of view. I have no idea about that. I was thinking purely from my own point of view as one of the few photographically challenged people left. Flash photography should never ever be allowed, whether it damages the art works or not. It causes brain damage. That is all too obvious. I always root for the people who are daring and cunning enough to disobey the rules, if what they do isn't really harmful. Even if the pictures they make are pretty worthless. No offence . And in this case I can see little sense in it. Consider it this way : what are you doing when you are taking a photograph ? You are considering lighting, framing, angles, what it will look like in your album, when you show it to your friends. In short you are doing everything but enjoying the things you came to see. You miss the present in order to preserve it for the future. So why would you even want to ? I think that it is a good thing if in this one case 'they' protect 'us' against ourselves. Valete, Formosus

Les go

I say, absolutely ban it. I'm not allowed to shout or smoke in a museum either. Why should I have my pleasure spoiled by a bunch of idiots with camera's who seem to prefer taking pictures - as if they are any good at that - instead of looking at the art ? You can buy a good catalogue or postcards at any museum. Most certainly at those who rightly ban all photography. And it must be a very rare work of art if you can't find good pictures of it on the net these days. Formosus http://www.metmuseum.org/special/hatshepsu...lide.asp?item=2

Precisely. Nothing wrong with Romance and Tragedy. But chick flicks are just Schmalz and Chocolate Box Sentimentality. Don't you just hate that Juliette Binoche ? Which is why I haven't seen the English Patient. And I'm not planning to see it either unless someone puts a gun to my head. Formosus

Because your mother would give you a good smack if you dared. And rightly so. Phormosus

Says who ? Fromosus

94 % unliteracy rate in USA How about a doctor who manages to make three mistakes in a letter before having really started : wrong housenumber, wrong zipnumber and wrong date. This only indicative of the barely readable letter ? Or a marketing director who sends round a mail telling that she'll be away for a few days, from the 18th of June until the 15th of June, and manages to spell her own name wrong while she's at it ? (She probably got the job because she was the only candidate that made only one spelling error in her own name on her CV.) Fromosus

Alien skull and bollocks spotted on Mars alien skulll alien bollocks Formosus aka the Man from Mars

Salvete ! Well, you started it, Caldrail. I should have put a few smillies in my last comment. I do agree with Kosmo, but there are some good artists around today as well. Many of those however can barely make a living with what they do. If there is one business where who you know is far more important than what you know or what you can, it is the art business. Art doesn't neccessarily have to be original, convey or challenge ideas, although it often does. But calling something art just because 'nobody had thought of it before', because it 'challenges' or even better 'provokes' is absurd in my view. The Germans have an excellent word for that : 'Publikumsbeschimpfung' (insulting the public). There is, very occasionally, some real art that is ahead of its time and therefore doesn't get the appreciation it deserves. (It took me quite a while for example to start appreciating Picasso's work for what it is.) But those are very rare. But a crack in the floor, a hole in the ground, your unmade bed. Is that art ? Sure it is, why else is worth millions of pounds and eternal fame ? Does the Emperor wear clothes ? Sure he does. How about covering the facade of a university building in slices of bacon and leaving it to rot for a couple of weeks, fouling the air and attracting vermin ? That's what Belgium's most celebrated modern artist did a couple of years ago (I won't give you his name, he doesn't deserve mentioning). Of course the gullible art lovers flocked from far and wide to admire this piece of work. Yes, very original indeed. I'm sure I would never be able to come up with a 'brilliant idea' like that. And thought provoking. My thoughts : 'Does that man really hasn't a grain of decency left that he is willing to make money that way ?' and 'Is there no limit to people's stupidity ?' And let's not forget, if they make a lot of money, it is almost all from public funds. You and I are paying for it. The private art collectors only come in after the 'artist' has made a name for himself by 'selling' his work for megabucks to prestigious musea and galleries, that are of course almost all in on the scam. Without them it wouldn't work. There is a big difference between some things being fun or worth doing just for the heck of it - I'm all for that - and them being art or being worth any real money. How about a 'shit-making installation' ? Yes, someone came up with that. I think that was a great idea, and lots of fun. But is it art ? And selling artificially produced shit for thousands of pounds (euros if you will) a portion ? If you spend your money on that kind of crap you have far too much of it in the first place and you really should have your head examined. Trouble is, your psychiatrist most probably has a heap of it sitting on the mantlepiece himself. But let's put things also in perspective here : the art we are talking about is but a tiny fraction of all what we usually call art. And it is by it's nature elitist. Most art is literature, music, movies, architecture. That art is freely, or as good as, available to everybody and there you can seldom get away with that kind of nonsense. Formosus

And am I not a dead ringer for Titus Pullo ? Formosus

You're wrong about that. The idea is to be 'original', 'thought provoking', 'shocking'; to 'question social conventions' and 'challenge established ideas' . Not to mention 'spewing a lot of BS and making loads of money that way.' If you think that art should be 'esthetically pleasing' (that is 'beautiful' for you, the uninformed) you are at least a hundred years behind the times and you should have your head examined.

Me too. Call that a Latin test! It was pure general knowledge, by all the gods! However, general knowledge is another subject that is falling by the wayside these days. Easy. Does that mean I know any Latin ? Hardly. Formosus

All right then, since you insist. One of the best bands ever, featuring my favourite girl ever. Talented & beautiful. It wouldn't be fair if Debbie wasn't also one of the nicest people ever. Here they are, twenty years earlier, when Blondie ruled the world (yes, they did) and Debbie was still a skinny thirty-something kid. blondie - 'heart of glass' And you must see this one. Two great bands and two great songs. Counterpoint they used to call that. blondie & the doors - 'rapture riders' Atomic, Union City Blue, The Tide is High, ..... give me Blondie over the Beatles, any day. Formosus

Oh my God ! No ! The hippies are back. Lord save us ! 'Ach, cheer up, worse things happen at sea, you know !'

Salvete amici et amicae musicae, Another one I must recommend to you if you don't know it yet : Michael Hoffman's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. (1999) A must anyway, even without the music. An excellent rendition of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The cast includes Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci, Sophie Marceau et al. The stage is set in the little town of Monte Athena in Italy at the beginning of the 20

Salvete Omnes ! I can only partially agree. It's true that there are a lot of silly comparisons being made between ancient history and present day politics. They are usually made with a partisan agenda in mind. Like the Cicero quote from a (budget)speech of his from 55 BCE that was taken out of context and distorted beyond recognition and that circulated during the last electoral campaign. It was misused by the Republicans to suit their fiscal policies. But I guess that is just one of numberless examples and the other side is no doubt just as bad. To be fair, we seldom hear them here in Europe. The Americans clearly are much more interested in that kind of thing and I'm beginning to suspect they know their ancient history better than the Europeans do. But the reason is obvious. There is only one thing around today that is remotely comparable to the Roman Empire and that is the US of A of course. But all the silly stuff aside, I do think that a lot of interesting and enlightening comparisons can be made on a macropolitical and ( geo)strategical plane. There, most if not all things are of all times and it would be very foolish to disregard the lessons of history as has been done all too often. My favourite historian is Thucydides, and it is precisely for this reason. To me, the parallels between the Peloponnesian wars as he describes them and, certainly WW II but many other major conflicts as well, are all too obvious to me. Formosus