The Lost Secrets of Rome OR Great, Now We'll Have to Learn It All Over Again!

Some time around 2,500 years ago, an upstart republic started trading, negotiating, and generally bullying their way into an empire. On the way it picked up and made up an impressive array of technology the likes of which that part of the world had never seen. When that empire collapsed around 400 AD, that part of the world stopped seeing it for around 1,000 years.

In case you haven't guessed, I'm talking about Rome, yo.

Yo.

Whilst doing research on various topics for various writing assignments, I've starting to stumble across a fascinating trend with Roman advancements:

They came up with a lot of stuff that pretty much disappeared from Europe. Seriously. Most of this stuff didn't begin to show up again until the Renaissance.

Right back atcha, Caesar.

What's funny is that a lot of this stuff is still used today. Sure, we use upgraded materials, fancy techniques, and machines instead of slaves, but the basics are still very similar.

Some of these you may have already heard about:

Plumbing. Complete with poisonous lead pipes.
(Which, by the way, we used until the mid-20th century.)

Indoor Sewers/Bathrooms
Men still use troughs like that at stadiums.

Aqueducts. Sometimes stretching hundreds of miles.
Notice these are closed, unlike the aqueducts in California.

But there were some other technologies that kind of blew my mind. Not only because they had them waaaayyy earlier than I thought Europeans did, but because they all completely disappeared from Europe for hundreds of years.

Like concrete. The Romans used it to built all sorts of things, like enormous, river-spanning works that still stand to this day.

The Pont du Gard aqueduct in France.
That's right: They built a river OVER a river.

And if you've been to Rome, you've probably seen the Pantheon (and the "classy" McDonalds right across from it), or at least seen it on your guidebook maps.

This guy.
(This picture taken from right in front of the McDonalds.)

The Pantheon is STILL the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. And that title's pretty secure, since modern building codes require rebar.

You and your building codes can go to Hades!

"If they're so cool," asks Cynical Reader, "Then why is everything gray and boring?"

News flash, CR: They weren't. Turns out all of those buildings were brightly painted, the paint just wore away over thousands of years. Don't believe me? Check out the paintings from Pamplona that were protected from erosion.

Not gray.
Also, not sure what they're doing,
but there's way too much nudity for it to be boring.

Like the Renaissance, the Romans were fans of paintings with nude figures, or at least figures with diaphanous clothing. Maybe it's because they kept their houses so warm using their underfloor heating systems.

Seriously. They called them hypocausts, and they were designed to heat the houses by heating the tiles that made the floors. Modern systems are doing this using plumbing and electric wires as an efficient and green heating method.

The Romans used slaves.
The system clearly still had some bugs in it.

For those of you who like industrial machines (and honestly, who doesn't?), the Romans also had incredible advancements in construction machines. Like the pile driver.

More sophisticated than the later "Big Man with Big Hammer" system.

"Still," says Cynical Reader. "They didn't have our modern socio-economic infrastructure. You know, like shopping malls."

Firstly, CR, I'm a little sad you brought that up as your objection. Secondly, BAM:

Ladies and Gentlemen: Trajan's Forum.
The world's first shopping mall.

You read that correctly. Trajan's Forum had space for apartments up top and shops on the bottom. Various arcades allowed people to connect to different areas and go to totally different shops right next door to each other. There were also central gathering areas where food vendors set up. You know, like a food court.

So next time you go to the mall, make sure you wear a toga and sandals. If anyone asks, just tell them you're kickin' it old school Trajan style.

Make sure you don't mention me when they throw you out.

Bring the Table Full Circle OR That's Some Magically Delicious Television

A few weeks ago my wife and I were looking for a new interesting TV series. After reading a couple of reviews, a BBC show caught our eye, and Netflix obligingly gave us a method of watching it.

Soon we were watching a show about a land of myth and a time of magic, when the destiny of a great kingdom rested on the shoulders of a young boy.

His name?

Merlin.

If you watch the show, that joke was hilarious.

The Premise:

A different take on the Arthurian legends. Instead of being an old man, Merlin is the same age as Arthur, but still destined to ensure Arthur becomes a legendary king. Easy enough, since Merlin is a naturally gifted and very powerful warlock.

Not so easy, because Arthur's father, Uther, is anti-magic to the point of madness and paranoia. Any magic users are put to death instantly.

What Makes It So Darned Fascinating:

These writer guys are clever, and know their legends well. But they're not afraid to twist things a little, to make small tweaks that make the characters and story sing their complicated multi-part harmony.

I'm not exaggerating when I say this: At least every three episodes my wife and I have a conversation about how genius the writers are in terms of setting up characters dynamics that fulfill the legends and the world without breaking it.

The writers are that good.

Who Else Might Find It Fascinating:

People who like a bit of magic, a bit of mischief, a bit of drama, and a bit of banter. The Merlin and Arthur dynamic is wonderful to behold. There's banter, but also heart. And like many shows, it's learned to balance dramatic, mythos episodes with lighter, fun episodes.

Speaking of heart, it is an Arthurian telling, which means there are certain romantic legends involved. I won't spoil their telling at all, but I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Lighting It Up in Wabash OR Adding Juice to a Banking Trip

There's something you should know about me: I chose my bank before I had any reason to move to Indiana. Now that I'm here, there isn't a branch within 30 miles of me. Normally this isn't a problem. Between mobile deposit, online banking, direct deposit, and bank by mail, we're good 95% of the time. But when we need to talk to a teller that 5% of the time, it becomes a road trip.

So when we had to head off to the bank recently, we decided to visit the Wabash, Indiana branch, about 45 miles away. The branch itself was a nice little bank, but I was happy to find myself fascinated by Wabash!

It all started with this:

You read that correctly. Eat it, New York!

With a population around 10,000 people, Wabash is very aware that this claim to fame is going to be its biggest one, so they fully embrace it. Such as this informative plaque outside their city hall:

Informative!

But let's take a second to look at the city before getting carried away. The old city is nestled in a small river valley, with the old administrative buildings sitting on the hilltop.

Sitting grandly, might I add.

Like many Indiana towns, the town hall has various memorials to their veterans. And also like many Indiana towns, their veterans date back to the Civil War.

One of the grand administrative buildings.
Complete with grandly creepy statues.

I've got no witty comment about a war memorial.
What? I do have some class.

The peace tree blocking the view of the cannon memorial
for the first Wabash soldier to give his life for the US.
There's a metaphor here somewhere...

New administrative space had been built onto the old buildings, complete with entertaining confusing signage:

Between the harsh but fair "baby shot" judicial center,
and the tiny "Wabash County Health" building there's so many comments to make...

And on the opposite side of the city hall, local business owners decided to set up a nail salon with a title that seems to perfectly fit the class and style of government officials.

Ba-dum CHING!!

Seriously, this is right across from the county governmental center. And we weren't the only one perplexed and amused by the placement of this business.

Four score and seven...
...Does that really say "Get Nailed"...?

Heading down the hill, the citizens of Wabash are currently in the middle of a revitalization of their traditional downtown, and it shows.

This is mural is next to the public parking lot.
Note the furniture AND undertaker shop on the righthand side!

Remember that "art" thing we talked about?
It's coming! Seriously! We swear!

The downtown area...

...Complete with "bowl cuts" on the trees.
They must be old-school Beatles fans.

There were several art galleries...

A few elephants...
(No idea why they picked elephants.)

And more art!

They also wanted to remind you, once again, that Wabash was the first electrically lit town, with yet another informative plaque...

...But this time they included a prop, which is pretty cool.

Hanging from this pole is a light
that didn't ever actually hang from a pole...

...But it's still cool anyway, right?

Even through Wabash only had four arc lamps back in 1880, they outfitted replica arc lamps along every light pole in the downtown area. Overkill? I don't know. We left before it got dark, so I can only surmise that it looks pretty awesome with the arc lamps all running.

But even juxtaposed against all of the art (more is coming!), culture, and history, there was still parts that were so quintessentially small town/city Indiana.

For example, when we stopped for lunch in a local pizza joint, we saw this on the wall:

Yup. That's a framed notice to get extras for the movie Hoosiers.

And right next to the antique shoppes and art galleries stood this store:

Reminding us that geekery is also traditional.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The town is pretty, the people are nice, and next time we have to visit our friendly bank tellers we'll probably head up Wabash way.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Wabash IS known for something other than its electric lights:

Yes, during the Civil War the Indiana Regiments were camped right here...
...At the corner of Chestnut and Columbus.

Magical Book Noir OR The Maltese Wizard

We're gonna look at another book this week. Well, technically a series of books. I recently started reading them courtesy of my local library, and was quite impressed.

They are.....

The Dresden Files

Bringing you quality dramatic trench coat shots since 2000.

Genre - Urban Fantasy

Synopsis:
(From Wikipedia)

"The Dresden Files is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by Jim Butcher. He provides a first person narrative of each story from the point of view of the main character, private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden, as he recounts investigations into supernatural disturbances in modern-day Chicago."

Key Point of Fascination - The Variety

The magical and fantasy world has a LOT of aspects to it, as many as there are mythologies. There's vampires, wizards, faeries, mythical beasts, demons, angels, spirits, pagan gods, and multiple version of each of them.

Jim Butcher could have made it JUST about wizards. No one would have blamed him. After all, James Bond deals with megalomaniacal villains intent on destroying the world, why not have Harry Dresden face wizards and wizards only?

Because it would be less awesome. That's why.

Allow me to illustrate:

Vampires (the emotion kind)

Holy warriors
& vampires (the demon kind)

Werewolves (several kinds)

Ghosts

Evil wizard

Faeries (The scary kind)

And I didn't even go into the sub-plots in these.

My point it that I'm through six books, and every time am impressed by his imagination and creativity. That covers both subject and technique. There's a splendid long-running plot that he resolves in a really creative way. I knew where he was heading, but how he got there was really impressive and unexpected.

I'd say more, but that would only ruin the surprise.

Fascinating Excerpt - The "Tracer Bullet" Intro

Calvin & Hobbes had a Calvin alter ego named Tracer Bullet. He'd launch into a film noire, hardboiled detective case about minor things like solving math problems or breaking a lamp.

As a kid, this was my introduction to hardboiled detectives. When I got older I saw the old movies that introduced me to the real hardboiled detectives, but Tracer Bullet was always the go-to guy.

This is that introduction, from the first book Storm Front:

"My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I’m a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I’m the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under ‘Wizards’. Believe it or not, I’m the only one there. My ad looks like this:

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations.

Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.

No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties or Other Entertainment

You’d be surprised how many people call just to ask me if I’m serious. But then, if you’d seen the things I’d seen, if you knew half of what I knew, you’d wonder how anyone could not think I was serious."


The guy keeps up this style through six books and counting, only improving on it as he goes along.


Recommended for those Fascinated by...

Imagination. Heroes with a past of darkness, instinct for violence, and a heart of gold. People who love Chicago and fantasy, and would love to see the two mixed together.