caesar novus

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n08/mary-beard/it-was-satire has Mary Beard reviewing Caligula: A Biography by Aloys Winterling . In rather complex fashion which may defy Occams razor, I guess Caligula is being depicted as a sane but unsuccessful political satirist. Maybe the time is ripe to approach Caligula (or the whole empire?) in a historiography... a history of the history of Caligula. A comparison and contrast of past interpretations can help focus on why some points are treated differently, and give at least the illusion of perspective on which sounds best. I am plowing through such a quest in The Hitler of History: Hitler's Biographers on Trial by John Lukacs http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/jan/28/politics . Incidentally he contends Hitler was the anti-Nero... strong artistic/bohemian impulses which he suppressed in the pursuit of politics. Actually wrote passable poetry in WW1, then became politically radicalized by little known red terror, then the reactionary white terror in 1919 Munich.

interesting discussion of the stunts in http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/benhur.asp even aside from the issue of deaths that they deny

Thanks; very impressive! The Empire chart displays a little more structural eyecandy that lets you focus on interest areas, whereas especially the grey areas of Republic chart are a little more intimidating as a soup of text. I wonder if a couple of new background colors or delineation lines would help. P.S. one of the great unfulfilled needs of chartology (as far as I know) is to update something like the last global map page on http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/ where all DNA-suggested paths of migrations are projected on a world map. Or on both a mitochondrial and y-type map, in case it comes out differently based on which DNA they tracked.

I sure wish the Romans or Italians established an early presence in the Americas. Besides that culture being more pleasing to me, the Spanish feudal heritage seems to be holding back central/latin America. Meanwhile isn't Italy demographically about to implode? Anyway, to account for one white individual does not require an unprecedented mid atlantic passage. Besides the albino possibility, there could have been frequent visits from Europe via occasional ice bridges. All you would need during cold climate spells are some kayaks and the ability to live off seals or whatever, and work your way along the ice edge connecting the continents. There are hints of evidence of European visits long before Vikings. Besides the clovis style points appearing in France and then in Americas, there are other clues which I forget. Some evidence is being destroyed due to political correctness - truely old skeletons with euro-caucasion features have been taken away from archeologists by courts, who say they are automatically property of Indians who then rebury them.

Hmm, just outside Sweden I took the coastal steamer up Norway's most famous fjord (Geir.) and they announced an end to electronic card payments for a while - the fjord walls were steep enough to cut off their signal. No buying boarding tix or meals onboard without cash... Thoughts on cash (in US} - Needed for emergencies which can take down electricity and communications for days at a time. Especially if you don't find yourself in a well stocked home, you may really really need access to taxi or groceries. I know from experience how law and order starts to break down by darkness in these situations, and cash is your lifeline to get help from the few who can still offer services. I rarely let my cash fall below a certain amount, and maintain a breakdown of small bills that can make most any exact change. - Needed for example at my local Gelato/Sorbetto factory, since they are geared to credit accounts by other businesses. Selling to individuals is a privilege you pay for in cash. This is my main use for cash at the moment - big wholesale tubs intended for gourmet restaurants. The mark of Italian authenticity is they make even the cantalope flavor exciting, never mind blackberry and dragonfruit. - For small purchases electronic card fees can exceed the purchase amount or at least be an painful proportion. Some machines only take coins or cash, or customers may have no cell phone. Cash gets a bad rap in Europe because they have unwise denomination breakdowns that lead to a huge sack of coins or bills (explanation on request). Thieves can take some of your cash, but identity thieves can take bigger chunks from electronic accounts (or freeze them due to fraud alerts). Thoughts on checks and electronic xfers - Normally one has a free checking account which also can do free e-xfers. I realize this is becoming less available due to recent loony populist laws that prevent penalty fees on irresponsible customer acts, so they have to spread that cost to responsible ones too. Although electronic cards may be free to the user, they invoke fees which may be boomeranged back to you by government tax collectors for example. I mainly use checks for tax entities that charge extra for electronic xfers or cards. Thoughts on credit and debit/atm cards - For decades I have mainly used no-fee credit cards that partially rebate merchandiser fees. This can add up to a lot, because that inflow isn't taxed by fed, state, and muni. I used to have 1% rebate, and now 1.5%. I am too lazy to switch to a 2% rebate card, and there are some that occasionally give 5% back. I only use it when there is no fee to me, and I pay their bills electronically before they even notify me. - I rarely use debit cards because the rules are less consumer friendly. I use (free) credit cards exactly like debit cards even though that is more costly to banks and merchants. Priorities are upside down from gov't pandering to credit (ab)users as victims where everyone else have to pay for their problems. So in terms of fees or cancelling bad transactions, ID theft or whatever it seems credit cards are best. ATM or debit cards are the way to go just for cash withdrawal - only an idiot would incur the fees for credit card cash withdrawals, especially out of your country with extortionate forex fees as well.

Reno 911 - This unpolished satire/comedy series had both sublime and ridiculous moments, unlike the movie which was awful. It's easy to satirize authority figures, but they also hit the nail on the head on satirizing some of the dummies police have to babysit everyday (their workmates, the offenders, and especially halfwitted 911 callers). I hope this was seen and could be appreciated in Europe - I saw a German promo for it, but I think it made bad news in the UK where some young folks would dial 911 for help rather than 999 or whatever is used there. The First 48 - Homicide investigation reality show with clever dual interwoven thread format, well suited to an attention span that benefits from refreshing more than once an hour. However over the years it has become a grind within just the most dysfunctional neighborhoods where the same swaggering teenage boys gun down each other. They are too-sentimentally depicted as "trying to get their life together" as a dope-dealing absentee father to numerous welfare mothers. I have visited some of these neighborhoods decades ago and found their parents and grandparents living lots more responsibly under harder economic conditions and less opportunities. For a change of pace from subcultures extolling self destruction, I sample Alaskan State Troopers where at least the tattoos and thug regalia are covered by down jackets. Drugs, alcohol, and violence (at least against wild animals) seems common there too, but overall must be the exception because statistics show violence downtrending in the US and world. Perry Mason the original 9 seasons of black and white series from 50+ years ago is back on ME and Hallmark cable channels. I watch it for the lost world of my parents it depicts - the way people strived to act as (or at least appear as) respectable with upward aspirations. It seems there was a lot of blackmail on those falling short, on issues we would laugh about today. Interesting court tactics and situations from a not altogether worse era. Series actually benefits from crude editing to allow more commercials - the chopped versions have more mystery than the full length ones which can seem hokey when you know too much. Backpack Travels This South Korean travelogue show with subtitles seems the last hurrah of conventional travel series. Alternatives seem jaded and gimmicky, such as dwelling on the novelty of eating unfamiliar animal body parts. For an hour an amateur cameraman blunders into a usually exotic locale. You may cringe to see what a polite yet assertive Asian can get away with ("I from Korea, let me film life in your harem"). Recaptures old fashioned travelers thrill of discovery, but can really garble up historical and political facts. House Hunters Intnl - on every weekday on HGTV channel so it must be popular. The good part is the couple minutes where they show settings of the move destination - tourist and lesser known sights. The bad part is these 2 minutes are broken into about 200 split second vignettes which you have to fight your recorder to freeze frame, in order to recall if you have been there or should have. Also the blather by lucky idiots making the move, which you just hope is fake for dramatic effect because of so much whining about the destination not offering what they are used to at home. Strangely addictive reality shows, maybe due to the actual cast because each of these shows have multiple clones that stink: Wheeler Dealers, Chasing Classic Cars, Pawn Stars, Auction Hunters, Storage Wars, Swamp People, Swamp Loggers. I don't sit like a potato and watch these live, but efficiently slurp new episodes into a digital recorder for viewinhg pretty quickly, usually skipping commercials. I was TV/cable free a decade ago but now watch too much, maybe to justify spiraling cable costs. I've heard cableTV is getting undercut by internet streaming alternatives, so I may be able to say goodbye this racket in time (unless they go back to providing Roman documentaries).

Oops, it appears the nice android TV streamers have abandoned BBC2 for BBC4. Maybe this does the trick on a laptop http://nowwatchtvlive.com/2011/07/watch-bbc-two-uk-live-bbc-two-online-channel/ . Or google for it yourself and practice hitting the right timezone offset before the Beard broadcast. I guess BBC2 is only relayed by grey-market sites which throw their own commercials at you... or viruses. I wonder if the below is the documentary list I was thinking of:

I don't see why they can't withhold part of the money from contractors until they show measurable results... with deductions for being late. Even if crooks get involved, you might get honest work out of them that way. I do see a loophole by declaring bankruptcy after the initial payment. I just finished reading the disturbing "King Larry: The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius" (Steve Jobs' more evil twin) where he repeatedly escapes being crushed by bully competitors by declaring (fake?) bankruptcy http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/book-review-king-larry-by-james-d-scurlock-01122012.html

There is a froyo android app that can stream that BBC two by liryc called live TV. It works very well except on newer versions of andriod. There are many other versions of euro TV streamers, but I don't know if BBC 2 is covered. Also this forum posted a huge web repository of documentaries where it might end up.

This probably belongs in vacati section. I think grad students give tours of forum area. While waiting for answers here, you might try fodor travel forum which has mentioned guides with special permits and such. Be aware most sites are closed Mondays and the Vatican is jammed that day. You can get priority entrance to Vatican with tix and guide from Vatican web site. On a Sunday you shouldn't,t miss a walk down appian way - no guide needed. Consider Ostia antica which is only an extension from the subway and near the airport. Consider Hadrian villa excursion Pompeii, etc

Now I ran across a SECOND brain-science lecture series with a similar neurological hypothesis for such dreams. It's not an interest area of mine; I just put them on my ipod to distract me from boring walks. Both suggest we are testing out scenarios and their implications, and hardwiring brain cell connections so that we can quickly respond to real life situations to either pursue or avoid memorized results. They can wire up people learning new stuff, and find subjects sort new knowledge out with extended REM phase (dreaming) sleep. Contrast that with the oblivious expressions of a child in danger, or a new student in an extreme sport - not that instant recognition of unfolding problems. Not that this neuro explanation denies any symbolic interpretations, but it can give comfort to some of us who find our dreams weird or irrelevant. Hmm, this dialog is remarkably close to the satire video by an Italian pop star posted here in Et Cetera some months ago on what english sounds like to non-english speakers. Maybe the toddler simply understood by gestures that she was supposed to say something. IIRC the video subtitles repeatedly said: "Prisincolinensinainciusol - Oll Raight!" I found it can be interesting to read the version relating to your home country as well. It's surprising how there are conventions and rituals that not only outsiders find strange, but the native borne find annoying as well. I mean things that natives quietly endure because to defy them is such an insult. I expect such things in Japan, but not so many in Italy, or especially the US. Italians accept many obligations to family and their bureaucracy that outsiders and even some Italians may chafe under. I even found the Culture Shock USA book supporting my pet peeves about certain annoying partying conventions, which they claimed everyone silently hates as well.

A 1992 one has cleaner, less archaic phrasing than the free 1800's transations: http://www.amazon.com/The-Worldly-Wisdom-Baltasar-Gracian/dp/0385421311 . The rave customer reviews there should come with a caveat - reading this can make you feel sick about times you fell afoul from those real-world guidelines, thinking it was enough to simply be thoughtful and goodhearted in life. You may wish you read it earlier in life.

Wow, it was with frequent documentary celebrity Darius Arya, whose discoveries have been well discussed in this forum, like It seemed an unusually well done episode of House Hunters Intnl ("modern living in central Rome") and well worth watching for reruns. Not the usual whining that they demand space for their furniture and visitors. Less grandiose than in the documentaries, they give great vignettes of his kids among the ruins. Daughter: "How big is this guy?" Darius: "He wasn't a big guy per se, he just wanted to say 'I'm important'". Younger daughter when asked to say grazie (thank you) to gelato vendor: "Mineidiswatapaneeddowahad" (it was subtitled). Supportive Darius: "All right!". Younger daughter is seen hugging a plastic bag of pretty market food - I know just how she feels.

Must be the Rome archeologist one, which I recorded but first must build up courage to watch. Maybe if I wear a hernia belt or something I won't writhe with jealousy so much. They have had several episodes in Naples and lesser known Italian villages. There is a book called something like Culture Shock Italy aimed at new residents which gives a darker side of a lot of annoying complications. Another way to live second hand thru a move to Rome is to follow Klingan's old blog http://ancientandold.blogspot.com/2009/03/day-one_4668.html (keep hitting the "newer post" button).

I daydream a lot of walking or flying over the Appian way or obscure parts of the Roman wall. But you remind me of when US credit card companies started freezing accounts after your first European charge, assuming that if you hadn't warned them of your trip it must be fraudulent use. Quite embarrassing on your second Italian hotel checkout, especially after a long friendly stay and rush to make a plane. I've been listening to a lecture course on memory and it had amazing connections with dreams and that other mode of deeper sleep. I guess dreams are key to you working thru physical tasks and making them able to happen subconsiously with you just focusing on refining them while awake. Your body secretes chemicals to try to freeze your movement immediately before dreams. Histimine is involved, so anti histimine cold pills may alter this. The other mode of sleep helps integrate/store memories for nonphysical things. Somehow it all makes sense when they review how infants are always sleeping, elders not needing much sleep (no longer learning), and unusual people not needing much of one or the other kind of sleep (Napoleon, etc). But I forget...

Well, some top German aces called the P-51 the best of all. But I think we just missed having a good fly off test in a recent hour documentary on the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine where Spifire owner Alain de Cadenet (also race car celebrity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_de_Cadenet ) had a P-51 ride in his "Renaissance Man" series. I noticed such pain and regret in his normally teflon aristocratic face, and I believe he had just lost the chance to take over the controls for a bit. A microphone glitch during a brief break in the weather seemed to force him into just riding it like a sack of potatoes rather than back-seat piloting under supervision of the museum rep. The Merlin was portrayed as the engine that won the (European) war, with it being used by Spitfire, P-51, British bombers, etc. They said what made that engine great was an excellant supercharger, although it couldn't reach potential until America supplied high octane fuel. Germany used lower octane fuel due to being often synthesized from coal. They gave a subtle jab at Henry Ford who reneged on building Merlins when he found some would be used by Britain (IIRC he had some Nazi sympathies early on, which might have had real consequences). P.S. I think the US made fine superchargers and turbos, but they rationed them mostly to radial engines for some reason.

Sounds like all is forgiven, and probes into a wall may have found the "best Leonardo" painting? http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/03/12/world/europe/AP-EU-Italy-Da-Vinci.html?_r=1&ref=news

Oops, if I had waited I could have added the interesting angle to "Berlin Diary" where Nazis tour correspondents thru recently occupied benelux and french territories. Interesting to see tension of German troops torn between befriending at least gentile populations vs looting and scaring them from resistance. Only Belgium (and Dunkirk) showed signs of organized defensive battles. And I am guessing bomber Harris read his diary accounts of how early British bombing of Berlin etc shocked the population and cracked morale that had been based on false propaganda. Later I guess they got hardened to it just when the allies turned up the heat. The Emperor's Handbook by Marcus Aurelius http://alumni.eecs.berkeley.edu/~rayning/Marcus-Aurelius-Hicks-excerpts.html I don't know if it is my Hicks's translation but I see this as not strictly stoic but kind of wimpy/passive stoic. The perfect guide to letting your son grow up to be a monster emperor, as did happen. Isn't there a tough minded stoicism, like the amazing way Rome fought Hannibal when all appeared lost? Interesting to hear an emperors voice though. The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Balthasar Gracian 1637 http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/ I have much better more recent translation than that link, and it is a great collection of maxims on how to thrive in a world of mischief that tries to grind down the good and the smart. More readable than Machiavelli. Funny, pithy, and timeless.

Well, on the individual level I think that movie at least shows how you might use Gandhi's bag of "shaming" tricks to your advantage in a Machiavellian way once in a while. Especially with a bad neighbor - you tend to shy away from direct confrontation anyway because it can turn into a poisonous feud, and now you are stuck in each others face all the time. At the mass historical level, Gandhi is taken as the inspiration to Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and various democracy protests like China 1989. I suspect that MLK did engender restraint and genuine shame to defuse a LOT of potential violence in bringing on US civil rights. Not sure about the South African/Zimbabwe changeover - there were some distasteful flavors of substituting one gang of overlords to another abusive one. China case didn't actually accomplish shame I think, but I heard the perception of shame from world spectators actually affected the rulers to do certain economic if not democratic reforms.

I was just knocked out by the interweaving of Gandhi principles into a Bollywood romantic/comedy/musical/crime film, and wondered how much "Gandhi-ing" (their phrase) lives on in India or abroad, or was he just a passing eccentric put into prominence from the backdrop of events? We have probably all seen pious films about his stoic goodness, and maybe even some reality checks like hypocrisy in his family life. But this entertaining movie seemed a moving and inspiring presentation of certain Gandhi ideals, and introspection rather than usual demonizing of Britain: Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) reviewed at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456144/ It's playing free at my nearby university; but can we assume the poor quality but free free version on video.google.com is pirated? Favorite scenes: Speech at 40 minute mark declaring India is wasting it's independence and freedom by allowing corruption and inefficiency that Gandhi would abhor (although not sure he disliked bureaucracy and it's consequences). Around 1:53 in a great Gandhi inspired agony-aunt sequence some chronic vandalism by a neighbor is stopped by a kindness offensive. The wonderful thing was seeing a (sometimes violent) gangster start to use Gandhi principles to clash with (sometimes violent) rivals and win. Not because he melted into sentimental mush, but because it could work. Inflict the rival with kindness, show you suffer their acts with stoicism, and they break down in shame. Note this works when the rival knows he is morally in the wrong, so I would deny that the recent "occupy" protests or older "globalization" protests use these principles since they confront false populist scapegoats. Also I don't see kindness to victims (very Christian focus upon Gandhi) as a key principle - it's the difficult process of repeated kindness towards a brazen wrongdoer and restraint from violence against them. This is what characters of the film are pushed to attempt, and I would like to see a sequel working thru more of this applied-philosophy. Of course the goal is to get results from the offenders, so I personally see no need to forego a plan B as prison or execution! Actually this movie is a sequel and has another planned, but not Gandhi-related I believe.

I could only stand about 2 seconds of the promo for the Smithsonian show just on entertainment value alone, so expect that will just run a few shows and die a natural death. Reality shows are spreading like cancer due to ratings, but that one looked like one of the frequent reject experiments. And almost nobody watches the over-the-top Spike network. There isn't much of monetary value buried in US except for Spanish treasure ships sunken off Florida, and for reasons I don't understand the silver and gold seems to all get reclaimed by Spain without even paying a removal fee. Oh, confederate artifacts from the Civil war can be valuable, but not without provenance. A digger can't provide provenance to distinguish his item from the vast majority of faked confederate items (even the originals often crudely made so cannot be distinguished by inspection). The Naked Archeologist did a show claiming the great majority of important archeo finds in Israel were done illegally by amateurs. They tried to show the loss of context info was overridden by the benefits. The approved diggers were way too slow and didn't know where to look except when following the amateurs. They acknowledged the highly professional theft rings were a problem, and even that their whole thesis was debatable. I think the worst part is diggers targeting just outside the boundary of historical parks. Recent finds have shown history taking place a bit offset from the preserved park, and the periphery is open to digging up stuff that is of great historical but not monetary value. Maybe American archeologists need a kick like this into a preservaton mindset. In my region, a museum was berated into returning artifacts to supposed native descendants who then secretly reburied it. The museum director who tried to sue for return was fired. Not an isolated case.

Ancient China was famous for it's tough civil service exams and they are still in use today. The author of http://www.booktv.org/Watch/13167/What+the+US+Can+Learn+from+China+An+OpenMinded+Guide+to+Treating+Our+Greatest+Competitor+as+Our+Greatest+Teacher.aspx further states that high national officials not only have to be the 1 in 5 that could pass that test, but additionally have to first prove merit in real world administration in terms of measurable results. This is proposed as a successful model, in contrast with corrupt and incompetant government at the LOCAL Chinese level. So how do other governments thru history match up? For instance ancient Rome - was the most preparation you could expect was to have a Greek tutor, or sort of apprenticeship from your father? Besides many obviously unprepared emperors, was there a more organized tier below that?

44 Arrested in Greece for Antiquities Trafficking http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/03/04/world/europe/AP-EU-Greece-Stolen-Antiquities.html?_r=1&ref=news Police said they confiscated 9,200 silver and bronze coins dating from the 6th century B.C. to Byzantine times

Can anyone vouch for the quality of this, like by choosing a bit of history you are familiar with and see how true his story is? Probably this is fine, but I remember downloading all kinds of Roman history in the early days of podcasts and gradually realized they were often questionable accounts by enthusiasts just skimming thru a book and stereotyping at will. Sure, that is what I do in this very forum, but at least here it is exposed for people to dispute and correct.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but it is a reference I return to from time to time: Rome and Environs, an archeological guide, by Fillipo Coarelli http://moreintelligentlife.com/node/450 Notable by being a translation from the Italian so you can tap in to that knowledge base, or at least a spin that english readers may have been missing. What I really like is the disclosure of what is known vs guesswork. Not the usual omnicient pronouncements that "this is the house of Titus" but rather this is thought to be x or possibly y, only due to a pot shard marking of z. Also I like the way the coverage isn't ruthlessly cut off at Rome city boundaries, but fuzzed out to include notable outlying sites. Do I have to have finished these books - my enthusiasm gets numbed when dashing to the finish line, esp to meet a library deadline: Berlin diary: the journal of a foreign correspondent, 1934-1941 William Shirer http://books.google.com/books/about/Berlin_diary.html?id=ExOVUEzmCo8C Wow, an almost lmost un-put-downable memoir that anticipates everything from Hitler but was published quite early - a couple days before the invasion of Russia. I was hesitating to read his tome of rise and fall of 3rd reich, and tried this more personal story of him scrambling around Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London to cover events as they were interpreted at the time. I wondered what the allies knew and when they knew it, but the problem was the correspondents knew all and Britain and France wouldn't listen. He meets German generals that are appalled by Hitler, and crowds of women in hysterical excitement over him. He is quick to assess various figures as dupes, clowns, and so on... but seems to marvel at Hitlers ability to seduce both western diplomats and non-nazi Germans.