Comments on: What killed Alexander the Great?

By: IGotBupkis, Legally Defined Cyberbully in All 57 States

IGotBupkis, Legally Defined Cyberbully in All 57 States — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:44:49 +0000

If you want to really appreciate Burton, I recommend Equus. A dark, anti-Christian movie of sort, I grant (though, its issues aren’t unfair — being about repression associated with some followers of Christianity), but an incredible performance by him.

The lead of the young boy got recent attention when Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) played the part on stage (it requires full frontal nudity… and note that for the movie, too…)

But Burton puts in one of the best performances of his career as the psychologist tasked with “curing” the boy of his problems, and his own self-doubts about the repercussions of doing that.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 23:46:51 +0000

I have a theory about the Templars. It’s really cool.
Phillip the Fair–meaning good looking, not a good guy–persecuted the Templars to get their riches.
The Templars at the time were a financial house as well as their other activities, but lending at interest–usury–was a sin/crime for Christians.
So their paperwork may have been, “Owe the Screwloose of Toulose 5000 ducats May 1, 1333,”without mentioning S of T had given them 4000.
“Earl of Loamshire owes us 3000 ducats” without mentioning they’d given the E of L 2500.
If you think about it, “ninety days same as cash” is a loan without interest but the diff is built into the price. But not an interest-bearing note which would be a sin/crime.
And Phillip the Fair and his croneys were too dumb to think the Templars’ treasure was pieces of parchment, looking instead for gold.
Well, it’s fun to speculate without facts.

By: Don Carlos

Don Carlos — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:11:28 +0000

Knowing the unknowable is a tougher.

By: Trebuchet

Trebuchet — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:52:29 +0000

It has been speculated that there were Scribes at the Library sent from Rome to copy the text when it was learned the Muslim were entering the city. The Scribes gathered as much of the books and scrolls as they could, which was reportedly a most of the writings and fled. Some of the books were hidden in Jerusalem and some were taken to Rome. During the Occupation of the Temple Mount by the Knights Templar the portion of the library hidden there was rediscovered and taken back to France. This led to the technology that made the building of the 7 Great Cathedrals possible and possible led to the creation of the Free Masons. The collection that made it back to Rome was hidden by the Church and leaked slowly to the College of Science in Rome, which Galileo was a member of, and led to the Renaissance. The Muslims did destroy the building but the Library was gone. Europe flourished and the Muslims slowly fell back into tribal existence. If I was to guess I would say a majority of the writings are now housed in the Vatican Library. The portion that was found by the Templars; there is a very, very private bank in Geneva led by a family with a very shadowy past that showed up around the time of the French persecution of the Templars in 1307. But that’s another story

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:04:09 +0000

sergey
You’re probably right, but recall that A was Macedonian. Not a proper, civilized Greek. Might have been a barbarian in his cups.

By: sergey

sergey — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 09:57:39 +0000

There is a need to understand what Greeks have seen as “heavy drinking”. For starter, all their vines were products of natural fermentation, because distillation was not discovered until 16 century. They also did not added sugar to them, because they had no sugar. And honey was banned to add to vines. So, they drunk only dry vines with 11% of alcohol maximum. Second, they always diluted vines with water by half. To do otherwise was rendered vulgar and barbaric. (Drinking undiluted vines was called “drink Scythian”.) Nobody can get liver cirrhosis from drinking 5.5% alcohol even in abundant quantities. And clinical picture of his disease has nothing to do with cirrhosis, it is of acute poisoning and hepatic coma. Hepatic cancer is also a probability. See “Death of Ivan Il’ich” by Leo Tolstoy.

By: CharlieSays

CharlieSays — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:58:32 +0000

I’ve seen “Agora,” Bob. I agree. It is a very good movie. If I recall, the filmmakers tried to balance the anti-Christian slant with some heavy Christian persecution by the Pagans.

I read an article that argued that Hypathia did not make the technological discoveries as shown in the film, but was rather a theoretical mathematician. I wish I could point to the article. I read too dang much good stuff on the internet, and forget too much to notate where I found it.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:16:43 +0000

Why does the an anti-Christian attitude mean the move never found an audience? What Hollywood movie doesn’t have an anti-Christian message?

And really, given the diluted meaning of what is Christian, the term anti-Christian makes as little sense as Christian. But still, we all know what it means, really, don’t we. Christian, as that which offends modernity, is heterosexuality and property.

Love Rachel Weicz. She is superb.

By: Bob from Virginia

Bob from Virginia — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:00:16 +0000

There is a really great but virtually unknown movie that deals with the destruction of the library in Alexandria, “Agora”. The main protagonist is the pagan philosopher and mathematician Hypathia, played by Rachel Weicz. Since it could be interpreted as anti-Christian and deals with science and math it never found much of an audience. Nonetheless the camera work and story are among the best I’ve seen.

Five stars, strongly recommend.

By: vanderleun

vanderleun — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:04:46 +0000

I say “Neener.” I say Styx not stones may float my bones but calicheamicin can never hurt me!