Actually I do care about the Middle East, having spent a good deal of time there and having friends that live there (and some I haven't heard from since the crackdowns during the Green Revolution).
One of my largest research efforts was tracking the complicated route of gold from the Ottomans through the Black Sea, into Scandinavia and down into France in a circuitous economic circle that led to the establishment of the Franks as the dominant power in West Europe. In theory, there's some holes there as in all history.
I hope to go someday. Though, hopefully when I'm not in danger of being exploded or stoned to death for showing my ankle. Yes, I know that's not the entire Middle East, or even the majority, but I haven't finished taking this class yet, so I can be as ignorant and American as I please.
Maybe after all the present commotions have died down in Egypt, which happens to be the one country I most want to visit. I've always been fascinated by the Ancient Egyptians, to the point of trying to teach myself hieroglyphics. Only managed to get to the double-consonant characters and a few determinatives. And the only word I can remember that isn't a name is "pr". It means "house". But someday I will finish.
I have a horrible feeling that thehut is not going to send my DVD...
thehut/zavvi are fairly inconsistent.
Sometimes, I get what I order fine, and sometimes they just don't do anything at all.
Fortunately I get refunded every time I have cancelled, and all of the stuff I have got from them has been good.
Its unfortunate that I won't be able to watch My Hime before I go on holiday...
TheHut/Zavvi ? What is this, some sort of underworld codename for blackmarket DVD dealers?
No. TheHut, own Zavvi as well.
And basically the two sites are the same.
And they aren't really dodgy, just very unreliable, and they get a lot of complaints.
Though the prices sometimes compete very well with Amazon and ShopTo.
Also, apparently my despatch estimate is sometime next month! XD
I'm going to wait on principle, just to see if I do eventually get it.
(Plus I'm not exactly in a hurry as I have got loads of DVD recently and I don't even think I could watch everything I put on my Caanoo in the two weeks)
I only have a vague and rusty overview of the Middle East from when I studied the Roman and Byzantine Empires. (For those that don't know, Byzantine is the term used for the remnant of the Eastern Roman Empire. Also, the Holy Roman Empire was actually a Germanic tribe that the Pope granted the title and has nothing to do with Romans at all.)
That last part about not having anything to do with Rome is a little more complicated. Much of the bureaucratic and government systems were inherited from Rome, and former Roman bureaucrats and their aristocratic families merged into the new empire as a result of intermarriage that became more prominent over time. Also, Charlemagne continued to seek the blessings of Byzantium in the East and had overlapping goals due to the the conversion of the Mediterranean into a "Muslim pond". While the last Roman to sit on the throne of empire did pass away in the 400s, culture, government, artistic expression and spirituality continued to have major and obvious effects on future nations.
My friend is going to be here in under four hours to leave for Nan Desu Kan. I am SO not ready. Going to catch about three hours of sleep, then finish packing.
My friend is going to be here in under four hours to leave for Nan Desu Kan. I am SO not ready. Going to catch about three hours of sleep, then finish packing.
Wait....I'm almost CERTAIN we had a conversation in which I referred to the Janissaries as history's least recognized but greatest badasses, and having you scoff at such an idea. It's weird, you'd think a bunch of dudes with their dicks chopped off before puberty would be ineligible for badassery status, but no! They more than compensate for their COMPLETE LACK OF PENIS with total badassery.
My little brother is doing a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle at the moment.
Its just fascinating how he does it.
Normally when people do these puzzles, they find all the corner and edge pieces, then sort peices into categories and that.
My little brother however, is just simply building it from the bottom-up.
Well, first he seems to work on a main segment, and form clusters of fitting pieces.
Then over time he brings them together to from the bottom third of the puzzle.
He then continues to build clusters, while adding peices to the main sections.
He can literally just look in the box, quickly pick up a piece and put it in the right place.
He's been doing this puzzle by himself with no help, and he started at about 11:30, (he's had a 1/2 hour break at 12.30), and its 3:20 now.
So in 10 minutes time, he would have been doing this puzzle for about 3 1/2 hours.
The guy who was assessing him, thinks he will do it in 5 hours, but I think it may be quicker than that.
I will make a note for him when he next visits.
EDIT: In fact he's actually at some point begun to map these segments to approximate positions to the picture.
He has most of a building done, and a bit of one on the other side.
(The bottom part with the buses and the people is already done.)
He could finish the puzzle within the hour, since the main bodies of it are done.
I'm getting married. To comrade pants. I'm sure he will insist posting all sorts of goings ons of the Comrade Pants/Mortis wedding. Can you imagine? Deathpants. It's almost as crazy as vodka pants. Or Pants Death? I dunno...meh. I am slightly loopy and out of it. pants. out of pants. bah. life kinda sucks right now.
Wait....I'm almost CERTAIN we had a conversation in which I referred to the Janissaries as history's least recognized but greatest badasses, and having you scoff at such an idea. It's weird, you'd think a bunch of dudes with their dicks chopped off before puberty would be ineligible for badassery status, but no! They more than compensate for their COMPLETE LACK OF PENIS with total badassery.
I never said Janissaries weren't cool. I only said that I had no experience of them outside of Age of Empires II, in which they are fairly effective, but only if you have a unit of about twenty to kill everything before they get in range. They were my unit of choice for whenever I played the Turks. Well, them and Hussars.
My little bro has finished doing all the buildings in the puzzle.
But he still has arguably the hardest part to do which is the sky.
(And in this picture there is a hefty chunk of it)
Its just fascinating how he can pick up like 7 pieces, and instantly place them all.
This is a double sided puzzle as well. Which makes this part even harder arguably. Since there are pieces that will be white on both sides.
(Clouds and that)
Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox! Star Fox!
Comments
Huh? Wha-? This is certainly news to me!
By the way, who am I getting married to? I be curious.
Is she?
Or are you thinking of Comrade Mortis?
Actually my name means Great Death but at least it's in another language.
I guess I am. Though, really, I could have used a bit more warning. I don't even have a dress yet!
So...I'm not getting married. Okay, cool. Crisis averted. I can go back to memorizing maps of the Middle East.
So far, I'm loving Janissaries. They're the best.
Actually I do care about the Middle East, having spent a good deal of time there and having friends that live there (and some I haven't heard from since the crackdowns during the Green Revolution).
One of my largest research efforts was tracking the complicated route of gold from the Ottomans through the Black Sea, into Scandinavia and down into France in a circuitous economic circle that led to the establishment of the Franks as the dominant power in West Europe. In theory, there's some holes there as in all history.
thehut/zavvi are fairly inconsistent.
Sometimes, I get what I order fine, and sometimes they just don't do anything at all.
Fortunately I get refunded every time I have cancelled, and all of the stuff I have got from them has been good.
Its unfortunate that I won't be able to watch My Hime before I go on holiday...
(But at least I have Batman and Soul Eater!
No. TheHut, own Zavvi as well.
And basically the two sites are the same.
And they aren't really dodgy, just very unreliable, and they get a lot of complaints.
Though the prices sometimes compete very well with Amazon and ShopTo.
Also, apparently my despatch estimate is sometime next month! XD
I'm going to wait on principle, just to see if I do eventually get it.
(Plus I'm not exactly in a hurry as I have got loads of DVD recently and I don't even think I could watch everything I put on my Caanoo in the two weeks)
Good luck, have fun, take pictures!
Its just fascinating how he does it.
Normally when people do these puzzles, they find all the corner and edge pieces, then sort peices into categories and that.
My little brother however, is just simply building it from the bottom-up.
Well, first he seems to work on a main segment, and form clusters of fitting pieces.
Then over time he brings them together to from the bottom third of the puzzle.
He then continues to build clusters, while adding peices to the main sections.
He can literally just look in the box, quickly pick up a piece and put it in the right place.
He's been doing this puzzle by himself with no help, and he started at about 11:30, (he's had a 1/2 hour break at 12.30), and its 3:20 now.
So in 10 minutes time, he would have been doing this puzzle for about 3 1/2 hours.
The guy who was assessing him, thinks he will do it in 5 hours, but I think it may be quicker than that.
I will make a note for him when he next visits.
EDIT: In fact he's actually at some point begun to map these segments to approximate positions to the picture.
He has most of a building done, and a bit of one on the other side.
(The bottom part with the buses and the people is already done.)
He could finish the puzzle within the hour, since the main bodies of it are done.
Here and Now will come out at November 21, I can't wait!
Now I have 1 more item to put on my Christmas Wish list.
I'm getting married. To comrade pants. I'm sure he will insist posting all sorts of goings ons of the Comrade Pants/Mortis wedding. Can you imagine? Deathpants. It's almost as crazy as vodka pants. Or Pants Death? I dunno...meh. I am slightly loopy and out of it. pants. out of pants. bah. life kinda sucks right now.
I never said Janissaries weren't cool. I only said that I had no experience of them outside of Age of Empires II, in which they are fairly effective, but only if you have a unit of about twenty to kill everything before they get in range. They were my unit of choice for whenever I played the Turks. Well, them and Hussars.
But he still has arguably the hardest part to do which is the sky.
(And in this picture there is a hefty chunk of it)
Its just fascinating how he can pick up like 7 pieces, and instantly place them all.
This is a double sided puzzle as well. Which makes this part even harder arguably. Since there are pieces that will be white on both sides.
(Clouds and that)
This hurts, horrifies and saddens me. Sounds like a horrible waste
Since he was a bit stuck on the skyline, he decided to flip the remaining peices over, and started to put the matching ones together.
Then he flipped a large chunk, which filled a large section of the skyline.
If anything its even more interesting data, as its pretty damn clever tactic, that even I didn't expect from the lad.
EDIT: Still hasn't finished yet. That skyline has slowed him down considerably, but he is close.
(I mean, he has to go purely by shape and logic now)
EDIT 2: He just finished now.
6 1/2 hours taken to do a 1000 piece puzzle
(Thats taking out the breaks)
Quite impressive if you ask me.
I'm proud!
(I'm sure it would have been closer to 5 if it were not for almost a third of the puzzle being pure sky)
Picture of the puzzle (not an actual photo of our puzzle though, just one I found on the net!)
Also who watched the Republican Primaries last night?
OMG imsff sfhsifhsig o exfhefohcihxitd!
Why do you have "something." in your sig in ascii in binary notation? (I can't believe I converted to hex then googled ascii table to get that.)
STAAAAAARRRR FOOOOOOXXXXXX!!!
He's going to do the whole Beatles song, but he's only got the first word done so far.
(P.S. There are easier ways to convert between binary and text.)