I see a lot of powder being burnt about the cultural imperialism of the West, and I'd like to make a few points ( Read more... )

I use ancient Greek terminology primarily because I did some nine years of philosphy, focusing mainly on Plato and Aristotle. So as not to appear snobbish in my live-journal, here are some definitions of words I am likely to use in the future ( Read more... )

Any one who knows me knows that I value politeness (in its real sense) as one of the virtues of civilisation. After all, it has been proposed that having to work through the complicated web of social interactions is one of the (species guided) reasons our brains got so big (and not the other way around ( Read more... )

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours... You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears ( Read more... )

"It was just a bust, but she was a pretty and intelligent-looking woman, with something of a Norstrilian look to her. She looked smart enough to know what to do if one of her sheep caught fire or if her own child came, blank and giggling, out of the traveling vans of the Garden of Death ( Read more... )

It's Palm Sunday, and although I do know a good poem about a donkey, as I passed St Brigid's my thoughts turned to the matyrs I preferred to Christ (and there are a few.) Hence:
( My three reasons for Leonidas over Christ )

The internet is generally more useful than the yellow pages--a point I was making the other day in Parramatta, where I was comparing with some other people the various utility of an unwrapped yellow pages ( Read more... )

I've been thinking about Islam a bit recently, mainly because its the only religion these days that still has its grubby little fingers stuck in government of various nations. Added to this was some re-reading I've been doing about the 300 Spartans and Thermopylae, and I think it's finally gelled.

( In which I ramble on a bit... )

Toys you may not have ( Read more... )

( Why the West wins the Civilisation Stakes )