Of course Tecs thinks Russian cooking is #1

Proselytizing Gringo Shitheads

USA go home.

Happy Easter

Resurgo the post for this.

Da President Commode

"We look back at the Roman epoch with a sense of relief. We've learned so much since then. No longer do we consider our leaders to be gods among men. No longer do we hand them unearned and meretricious awards and prizes. We don't turn on and destroy members of previous administrations. We don't tolerate incompetent and corrupt sycophants in high office. We've learned to recognize disorders such as pathological narcissism and assure that the victims do not gain high office. Any president who placed his prestige on the line with an athletic contest would be laughed to scorn.

And as for political bloodshed, that kind of savagery has no place in a modern democracy. Any party that called for the assassination of an opposing leader -- say, George W. Bush -- would simply be run out of the public sphere. Unlike the Romans, we all understand the concept of consequences, that what goes around comes around. Don't we?"

Wish these were just rhetorical questions.

08/13/07: the Ides of August are upon us...

Roman Calendar refresher taken from my in-box this morning, from "Wordsmith" (wsmith@wordsmith.org):

"Beware the Ides of March," the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar. Caesar didn't heed the warning and we all know his fate. At least that is what history tells us. I've a feeling Caesar did mind the date but he simply got lost in the hopelessly complex Roman calendar and confused the D-day. Ides are only one of the ingredients of the Roman calendar. The other two are calends (or kalends) and nones. The calends are straightforward -- they always fall on the first of every month. Nones on the fifth or the seventh, and ides on the thirteenth or the fifteenth. All dates are counted backwards from the nearest nones, calends, or ides.

Here's a little rhyme to help you remember the dates:

March, July, October, and May
The nones are on the seventh day.
And ides fall eight days after the Nones.

The word calendar derives from Latin calendarium (account book) since it was used to keep track of the date when debts were due.

ides (eyedz) noun: The 15th day of March, May, July, or October, and the 13th day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.

[From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin idus.]

Note: I'm guessing the Ides were made popular by our English friend, William Shakespeare, rather than being made popular by any history book. And then by the public school system that had us commit "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears..." in the 10th grade. At least in my neck of the woods.