Our Labor Day...

Has Just Begun

Is Your Kung Fu Strong Enough?

BEIJING — China's Shaolin Temple, the cradle of Chinese kung fu, is demanding an apology from an Internet user who said its monks had once been beaten in unarmed combat by a Japanese ninja, Chinese media reported on Friday.

Was the aforementioned internet user Urkobold?

Gay Marraige In Medieval Europe?

Civil unions between male couples existed around 600 years ago in medieval Europe, a historian now says.

What Am I Reading?

Paul Theroux's Riding The Iron Rooster. I've read it many times before. One of the best travel narratives I have ever come across.

Kouchner In Iraq

PARIS: After years of shunning involvement in a war it said was wrong, France now believes it may hold the key to peace in Iraq, proposing itself as an "honest broker" between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.

I wonder how this will play in the world of bloggery.

Katrina

The following is fairly sobering:

Independent Levee Investigation Team Final Report

The general conclusions of the report can be found here. They fault the hurricane (of course), the performance of the levees (everything from design to operation) and finally how the government functioned at all levels.

At the dinner table and such the eventual fate of New Orleans was something that would from time to time come up for discussion. There was always the inevitable comment that "If a big one comes, New Orleans is history." Of course right now that doesn't seem to be the case as NOLA has returned to roughly 2/3rds of its pre-Katrina size.

The Politics...

Of Dancing

I've always thought that the Re-Flex were better than one hit wonder status. However, it appears that they broke up before they could produce any more music. Unfortunate.

Chomsky v. Foucualt

This debate demonstrates just how divergent Chomsky's and Foucault's notions regarding an appropriate human society were. Personally I throw in with Foucault. While his "histories" of the asylum, the prison, etc. may not have been the most accurate historical accounts ever written, they've provided a fertile manure from which has grown a better understanding of what were at one time considered unproblematic Enlightenment institutions.

Why Four Gospels?

The Gospels could not possibly be either more or less in number than they are. Since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is spread over all the earth, and the pillar and foundation of the Church is the gospel, and the Spirit of life, it fittingly has four pillars, everywhere breathing out incorruption and revivifying men. - Irenaeus, Against Heresies

Rock n' Roll...

And Cola Wars, I Can't Take It Anymore!

South Sister

Some more stunning shots of South Sister. The mountain is surrounded by several lakes located in areas with great views of the mountain. Now that comment might seem strange, but note that peaks like Mt. Adams (in Washington state) are hard to see until you are quite close. Indeed, Adams has a notorious "false peak" which can be quite depressing to crest. Anyway, enjoy.

The Early 80s

Is anybody out there?

Testing Ice Screws

Cool video comparing ice screws and ice threads.

Climbing

In the coming weeks I'll be climbing the mountain in the foreground, South Sister. As far as peaks that I've climbed are concerned, it is a very easy mountain to climb, but as it has been a while since I've done any climbing it will be a nice reintroduction to rock, ice and sweat. Finally, this won't be my first ascent of this peak. I climbed it back in ~1994.

Hellenistic Colony In Kuwait

ATHENS -- Greek archaeologists plan to excavate an ancient colony founded by Alexanderthe Great in the Gulf of Kuwait in the fourth century BC, officials said Wednesday.

Alexander and the various "Greek" rulers who suceeded him founded numerous Hellenistic cities in the areas that they ruled over in Asia. Generally speaking these cities were sealed off from the local population and one had to become like the Greeks in order to become a citizen of, etc. such cities. In most places the local population did not do so. These Hellenistic cities built some fantastic architectural structures, Pergamum being perhaps the most famous. As a rule this period of Hellenistic history seems to have been treated like a bastard child by many historians, but that attitude has changed over the past several decades as the achievements (and faults) of the various post-Alexander Greek kingdoms have come under greater scholarly scrutiny.