The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Known (GISHWHES) has kept me mostly silent this past week as I have run around town being generally insane. The contest has now ended, although it will be at least a month before winners are announced. The contest was a weekContinue Reading
Dominion on SyFy is based on the premise that God has vanished, and most of the lower angels tried to wipe out humanity as they blamed humans for offending God. Michael, the one angel to side with humanity, believed God’s disappearance was a test for the angels, which they failed.Continue Reading
All this week I am participating in GISHWSHES, a worldwide charity scavenger hunt. One of my tasks is to come up with a phrase to be abbreviated IDGHP. Bonus points if it catches on. So: how come House Ravenclaw’s mascot is an eagle? IDGHP (I Don’t Get Harry Potter) CreateContinue Reading
I’ve quite taken to the BBC program The Musketeers, based on The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I particularly appreciate: Dropping the “three” from the title, since it’s really about a group of four. One’s just a Musketeer sidekick. The musketeers actually have muskets, which you never see in screenContinue Reading
100 years ago today, Austria declared war of Serbia, sparking the First World War, which would be the deadliest war to that point and arguably the most deadly in history. (It depends how you count the war dead for WWII.) The first time I taught WWI, I asked how manyContinue Reading
St. Margaret of Antioch, also known as St. Margaret the Virgin and St. Margaret the Martyr, is purported to have lived at the end of the 3rd century during the great persecution of Christians under the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Disowned for converting to Christianity, Margaret moved to the countrysideContinue Reading
We have no idea who painted this beyond it was someone in the Netherlands around 1586. Queen Elizabeth I of England was a longtime supporter of the Dutch. They were connected religiously, with both countries being Protestant, and also economically: the Dutch had the most lucrative trading markets in northernContinue Reading
This post spiraled off from my last post, as frequently happens. You know you’re looking at a pharaoh in ancient Egyptian artwork by looking at his hat. There’s several different hats, but all of them are only worn by pharaohs. Moreover, there’s a square beard also only worn by pharaohs. Continue Reading
Today’s post started with a joke. The first few amuse me. By the end it doesn’t even make sense: just putting hieroglyphs around Ghostbusters doesn’t exactly give the impression of ancient Egyptian Ghostbusters. I do, however, get a giggle from the Vulture posing as Isis. We’re going to stick withContinue Reading
July 14 marks French National Day, or what English speakers call Bastille Day. It’s based on a celebration first held a year after the storming of the Bastille, but it can’t get away from the fact that the date traces back to an event of uprising and murder. My LeastContinue Reading