Pertinax

good for hypochondria as well I see.You beat me to the draw on Pliny!

I know I was overstepping the true definition of "crew served" , maneuver unit is strictly correct. May I add another factor in killing power,non-dispersal of the battlefield. Radicalisation of an armies ability to kill remotley or "area deny" lead to armies getting spread over the landscape,so even if you are efficient at killing you tend not to kill in "clusters". Fighting in Roman times was not dispersed, and where it was (guerilla action ) the Legions struggled: I suggest that facing a legion in any sort of compact body was increasing your chances of suffering fatality,given the efficiency of the "usual arms".

"Rubicon" gives a ready to go version of Cicero's behaviour and speechifying-he certainly met his end with resolution .

Yes indeed the fortunate brassica!Galen says " most use this as an accompaniment to bread ,but doctors use it as a drying medicine" ."its juice contains a purgative element .. I do not cook it in water when attempting to use it as a drying medicine ..but sek to retain its special juices". It contains vitamin U -(dont snigger it does exist just like vitamins P and R ) -meaning aagainst Ulceration ,so it could be used as a wound dressing on infected and ulcerated legs where B6 deficiency is noted and in all seriousness if the breast has dense tissue build up,also on the scalp if scrofulous. So not only -make me a pan of cabbage juice -but-put a couple of leaves on my head as well!

Nice! will you be rolling back the frontiers of the state? Your policy on youth crime is excellent-if sporting activities are in short supply perhaps gladiatorial games are appropriate?

Not entirely pleasant ,but I cant help feeling a bit like Mo (as in Mo's tavern ) and sniggering a little at the heathenish behaviour in a world of smarmy consumerism,

in essence "fast and risky mutation", the concept is that the evolutionary adaptation is not slow and steady but can be fast and risky in short sharp bursts within a conservative population , if these risks "pay off" as a coping mechanism there is very rapid generational changeThe idea of general stablity is not subverted but a concept of experimental "testing" is whats suggested.This is a "fits and starts " hypothesis.Ill dig around in my recent mammalian evolution stuff for a decent source. Im just checking over Bakker's "Dinosaur heresies" as a likely ref actually if its within member's general interests id suggest they have a good look at Bakker's book ,(incredibly what was a radical thunderbolt is now almost 20 years old and my copy has gone yellow)! All the evolutionary lateral thinking and actual re-discovery work in this volume are wonderful to read,the "episodic " reference is in the section on Triceratops evolution I think.

Sour is the word-as happens everyone just wanted to try a sip-but it was too lip puckering for them On that note, Rodenbach just arrived in Atlanta. I had a 750ml of Grand Cru all to myself because I guess I'm the only one who really enjoys Flemmish Sours As Lord Melchette would say "Au contraire Blackaddder", I suggest a light Troll to start, Chimay Red to enhance learned discourse and a Sour to round off the night, or for the strong of liver a Kwak . My co-worker (as you say in the Americas) arrived at work inebriated having drunk numerous Leffe blond in his especially vast 1500ml glass, we didnt understand his behaviour at first until he was seen drinking tea and singing to passerby outside the premises, in his shirtsleeves ,in sub zero weather.

in sweden a "bad santa" has destroyed a 13 foot high straw ram built for the Xmas season by shooting fire arrows into it, also a gang of 40 drunken santas rampaged through auckland in NZ shoplifting. I therefore require the first guy as my lead archer and the others as falxe assault troopers http://uk.news.yahoo.com/20122005/80/bad-s...-worldwide.html

And we now have the additional concept of "fast episodic" adaptation in addition to steady change.

and another rejoinder to Virgil, what do you think of the concept of a century as a "crew served weapon" as opposed to individual fighting men? That has psycological implications as well I suggest. I was also interested to discuss the relative merits of the range of roman body armour-but thats another thread I think-in relation to wound reduction, impact deflection and likely common wounds.

Interesting. Fire discipline is a huge issue even today, poor discipline can ruin a carefully planned mission. What struck me is your casualty evac comment. I was the company 1st Sergeant in Iraq and I was a stickler on assigning and training a cas-evac team for combat operations to get wounded out of the line of fire and into a medic's hands or to the rear for treatment. It's not just to keep veteran's recycled, it's so the legionarre or today's soldier knows that if they're wounded they won't be left to die--they'll be taken care of. Studies were done after Vietnam that the knowledge that wounded would be a priority was a great consolation to the average soldier. Again, the Romans intuitively knew their stuff long before everyone else. Although it can be overstated, some aspects of soldiering just never change. Actually I should have emphasised the very thing you have said -it was knowing your ass was off the floor that was much more important than anything else-the Romans were unsurpassed in casevac (it is suggested ) until the Korean conflict-personally I bet it was later.Augustus made casualty retrieval and treatment main priorities-not that they wernt before but he beefed up the infrastructure and put doctoring into fully pro hands and divorced it from its "slaves only do hands on stuff" role.The "personal target space" that the Legionnaires occupied also made casevac a drillable and logical process, a less disciplined trooper would have been a bit apprehensive about operating in a small personal killing zone in a sort of target acquisition/elimination role but it was discipline first ,last and in between. well spoken

Now FVC I have found a link which tells how Linnaeus (1707-1778) systemised the naming of plants. The basic method is via the reproductive characteristics of the plant. Prior to his time although much sytematic work was done endless confusion could arise if similar plants were mistaken for each other-this as you know from Yarrow and Hemlock can get you into difficulties. So genus and specific names were laid down-the binomial classification-just as well because plants from various continents were turning up all the time and getting confused with related species http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html look here to see a brief life and idea of nomenclature

I'm a Carnegie Mellon alum--you from near Pittsburgh Ursus? I'm in the very southwest of the Commonwealh, along the Maryland border. Pittsburgh is the closest big town, I suppose. I was a Dickinson Alum near Harrisburg, not that I'm especially proud of the fact (they call it "Drinkinson" for a reason). may I ask a Briton who has not visited the States -how large are your counties of "york" and "Lancaster" in physical size and population?

totally correct and I add -each man had an allotted personal fighting space (depending on the formation appropriate to the situation)in which to acquire and confront a target, the short sword used with direct minimal thrust had an impact rate of over twice that of a long sword (in the same time frame) used to slash ( and thereby expose a vulnerable armpit). So the result-a killing potential not matched till the machine gun was invented.Tie this to unmatched "fire discipline" for pilum discharge, ballistae and offensive use of the scutum and you are walking into a meat grinder.Also careful casualty evacuation and medical care kept seasoned troops "recycled" with minimal waste in the field. Not only did Romans kill more effectivley they also didnt waste manpower. note: pompey looks like the guy who has the stationery shop in our town centre! I know this sort of thing has happened before when Rowan Atkinson was identified as Scipio Africanus re-incarnate.

This will need a blog to itself-so I will oblige but will have to ask you to be patient.I regret I have no orchids though I do have photographs of wild pyramidal orchids from open woodland habitats. My brother in law is waiting to see if a type of moss will be named after him ( ) as he is a specialist in mosses and lichens, and is due to publish a book very shortly! Im happy enough learning more medicinal usesfor the existing plants.

critical question-how many priests required to ensure smooth operation of what size of temple?Do we know the physical resources neede to keep the operation going? Priesthood surely is a lifetime vocation-can we assume this? It certainly is in many other instances. End of tenure-death or disgrace? I suggest a lifetime vocation till death-ok,early societies are far more sophisticated than moderns assume but I suggest that the required agricultural/technological resources needed to support a priestly caste would have to chanelled carefully to get maximun "return" from a highly trained and commited individual ( and ready replacements/assistants), these societies would have to be wary of food production and storage as totally vital to their continuity.I always think the Japanese attitude of "10 years to achieve any reasonable competency " in a job/vocation/art is quite reasonable, so that would be my suggestion for a minimun period. what does everyone think?

thats right ,and that is some good record keeping! My only concern was -well ,with Emperors someone lasts a lifetime then four turn up in one year! But with that substantial number of persons again the averages will even out over the generations. also let us assume a generally similar lifespan because of elite status( perhaps shorter in earlier history? )(maybe not ,my early training in Demography always makes me very wary of age/sex mortality averages-morbidity of a population I think is the key?). and as you say a "cohort" staged training programme? all questions again.

do you mean the Linnaean name classification of individual plant types or the toxicological catergories?

firstly-any prescribed length for a period of priesthood? secondly-if answer to (1) is no , then what was likely longevity and age at accession to full preisthood? In a priveliged college a mans life expectancy might be greatly above the average ,but perhaps not too far above the expectancy of other "priveliged" full citizens. the equation might include overlapping incumbencies as you hint,so the 345 could be overlapping "cohorts".