What would you like to read about? I'm currently reading Barbarians by Terry Jones (yes, the Python!)
From the link:
I'm seeing all kindsa parallels with the present day--
There have been diaries about France, about Sarkozy I mean, but yeah...lotsa US readers, so I thought--how about a quiz to stimulate another ripple starting from Europe. But first, Europe!
Right, here are the questions (it's very easy to find the answers--otherwise I couldn't have built the quiz! But worth guessing first--if any ideas come to mind.) I'll give answers if anyone wants them or can't find them. There's a picture clue for each question. Oh, and I knew the answer to none of 'em!
What is the name of and where is
1) Europe's highest mountain?
2) Its deepest canyon?
3) Longest river?
4) Most powerful waterfall?
5) Largest glacier?
6) Most westerly point?
Why is there a contradiction between the answers to questions 4) and 6)?
7) Northernmost point?
8) 7) Largest lake?
heh....slow day at work! Forgive me, bob and congrats on that new job situation!-- Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
and have you read his book Medieval lives? Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
I'm halfway through Medieval lives. Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1143405,00.html Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
On the main subject, maybe we could suggest topics that we'd like to see addressed in diaries, or there could be threads that begin with a question such as "how good are public services (postal, libraries, street cleaning, etc.) in your area?" Or "what do you think are popular misconceptions about Brits/French/Poles/etc.?" For instance, I'm stumped as to why the Germans I know have the idea that Americans read very little. But the books in Germany are SO expensive, and it seems harder to find bookstores. My husband was amazed at the number of bookstores he saw when he first came here.
Just an idea.
Karen in Austin Thence comes our true nobility by grace, It was not willed us with our rank and place. Chaucer
Damn Vandals. Where were the Vandals located in Europe, anyway?? Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!
Related to the Goths, apparently, who unleashed themselves on Europe ;-) You can't be me, I'm taken
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=vandal
And boy did they wand. (Follow the blue line!)
But were the vandals vandals?
The Sack of Rome
(My emphasis)
Upon the Vandal arrival, according to the chronicler Prosper, Pope Leo I implored Geiseric not to destroy the ancient city or murder its inhabitants. Geiseric agreed and the gates of Rome were thrown open to him and his men. Maximus, who fled rather than fight the Vandal warlord, was killed by a Roman mob outside the city.
It is accepted that Geiseric looted great amounts of treasure from the city, and also took the Empress Licinia Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, and her daughters hostage. One of these daughters was Eudocia, who was later to marry Geiseric's son Huneric.
There is, however, some debate over the severity of the Vandal sack. The sack of 455 is generally seen by historians as being more thorough than the Visigothic sack of 410, because the Vandals plundered Rome for fourteen days whereas the Visigoths spent only three in the city.
The cause of most controversy, however, is the claim that the sack was relatively 'clean', in that there was little murder and violence, and the Vandals did not burn the buildings of the city. This interpretation seems to stem from Prosper's claim that Leo the Great managed to persuade Geiseric to refrain from violence.
However, Victor of Vita records how many[citation needed] shiploads of captives arrived in Africa from Rome, with the purpose of being sold into slavery. Similarly, the Byzantine historian Procopius reports how at least one church was burnt down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(455)
Anyway, who decided that the word for a vandal should be "vandal"? Someone in Europe (I guess) after the Renaissance--they admired the Romans so the Huns and Vandals were given a big paint job with the pugly brush (Or so I've read--I is no historian!)
(a v e e e e e r y slow day at work):
So what happened to them?
The End of The Vandals
The eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, who had supported Hilderic, soon declared war on the Vandals, ostensibly to restore Hilderic but more likely to restore North Africa to the Roman Empire. In June 533, Justinian sent an expeditionary force commanded by Belisarius which finally reached Africa in the beginning of September. Meanwhile in Sardinia which formed part of the Vandal domain, Goddas, a Visigoth, whom Gelimer had sent to collect a tax, began to treat with Justinian as an independent sovereign. Gelimer ignorant or contemptuous of Justinian's plans sent a large army comprised of most of the available army in Africa under his brother Tzazo to crush the rebellion meaning that the landing of Belisarius was entirely unopposed.[1]
On landing Belisarius immediately marched for Carthage finally meeting resistance on the 13th of September when he was confronted by Gelimer at Ad Decimium, 10 miles from Carthage. Although outnumbered 11,000 to 17,000 the battle was evenly fought by the Vandals until Gelimer's brother Ammatas was killed at which time Gelimer lost heart and fled. On the 14th of September 533, Belisarius entered Carthage and ate the feast prepared for Gelimer's in his palace. Belisarius, however, was too late to save the life of Hilderic, who had been slain by Gelimer's orders as soon as the news came of the landing of the imperial army.
The Vandals however were not beaten and on the return of Tzazo from Sardinia, Gelimer again met Belisarius in battle this time at a place about 20 miles from Carthage, called Ticameron. (December 533). This battle was far more stubbornly contested than that of Ad Decimum, but it ended in the utter rout of the Vandals and the flight of Gelimer.
Finally in March 534, realizing he had no chance of regaining his kingdom, Gelimer surrendered to Belisarius and accepted the Romans' offer of vast estates in Galatia where he lived to be an old man. He achieved some degree of anecdotal fame, according to Byzantine chronicles, by crying out the verse from Ecclesiastes, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,' which is mentioned in the works of Gibbon and Fielding.
After Gelimer's defeat the Vandals disappear from history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelimer
Cough cough cough!
(I'm thinking: "Well, at least it's about Europe!") Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
6 That's the not the answer I have, but the answer (that I have--could be wrong!) has the word "cape" in it Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
When I was in Brig over a decade ago, in the end it didn't fit into my time. I regret it ever since -- the next time I get there, maybe global warming will have done to it what it did to the glacier under the Großglockner in Austria... *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
Re 6) vs. 4), the Wiki page you took it from has no contradiction: they say mainland Europe for 6). *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
Heh, that's Easternmost... *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
And the northernmost point, from what I've read, is....
Extreme points of Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cape Fligely, Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land, Russia (81° 48′ 24″ N)[1]
What is it?
(I assume it's the most westerly point of Iceland, but I don't know the name of such a place.) Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Westernmost point -- Monchique Islet (31º 16' 24″ W), west of Fajã Grande, Flores Island, Azores, Portugal[3] ...Europe, excluding remote islands Westernmost point -- Bjargtangar, Iceland(24° 32′ 03″ W) [5]
...Europe, excluding remote islands Westernmost point -- Bjargtangar, Iceland(24° 32′ 03″ W) [5]