tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905503693666332642012-02-16T02:27:44.652-05:00Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.comBlogger391100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-50639446892249374612008-11-20T22:00:00.004-05:002008-11-20T22:06:48.998-05:00

Ok, here is the second part of that zombie business I was writing about. Hmm, maybe I should publish a book on zombie culture...lol.Necroman and his friends arguably make one of the best cases in support of my previous assertion that a zombie's greatest weakness is excellent choreography. This they do through a first-hand account of stumbling into a zombie neighbourhood at night and joining in

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-83114613219152227172008-11-19T20:09:00.002-05:002008-11-19T20:15:47.696-05:00

So I haven’t updated this thing since Mayday. A lot has happened in the world around me since then. The fascists, I mean, Conservatives, won the election here in Canada. Obama won down south. And most importantly, the global capitalist market economy is collapsing under its own weight. The Soviet Union fell less than twenty years ago, its system over-strained by war and struggle on a global scale

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-15019762126958274942008-05-01T17:10:00.003-05:002008-12-09T08:46:33.920-05:00

Happy May Day everybody!! May 1st is celebrated worldwide by labour movements, workers' unions, socialists, and anybody dedicated to the improvement of labour conditions and workers' rights. Unfortunately, Canada and America do not celebrate, likely due to the stigma attached to labour agitation during the Cold War. In any case, today is a day for both joy and outrage. We must always be thankful

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-87603420280870192432008-04-15T23:51:00.003-05:002008-12-09T08:46:34.098-05:00

I have an intellectual axe to grind today. Well, actually I have two, but I’m going to avoid one of them and rant about the other. What I’d like to discuss is a skill that the majority of the population is completely lacking: critical thinking. Yes, I’ve spoken about this a very many times, but today I’m going to illustrate the pitfalls of going through life without thinking critically about

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-48099107703380270452008-04-09T23:37:00.004-05:002008-12-09T08:46:34.235-05:00

These last few months have drained me immensely. Between the hardest semester ever and all sorts of moving things and throwing parties, I'm totally spent. If I was just tired it wouldn't be so bad, but I've become mentally exhausted as well. I can't sit down for long enough to think about anything stimulating, and when people ask me things along the lines of "what's new?" I end up drawing a blank

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-52014206304487940812008-02-24T22:51:00.004-05:002008-12-09T08:46:34.389-05:00

I just spent an hour typing out a long entry about Castro, Communism, and Socialism. When I went to post it, Blogger told me that I had to type in my password again to do anything. Then it didn't recognize my password, and somehow I lost the entire entry. Words cannot describe my rage and frustration, not even all the best profanities. Go to hell Blogger; I'm wishing the Malocchio on you an

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-53504106404044781132008-02-10T23:03:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:34.511-05:00

The machine crushes us again;Capital is triumphant;The machine gun restores orderCutting down women and children.Usury, wild with rage,Atop our incinerated corpsesWelds to the workers' strike.The strike of those assassinated.On his death it 1887 Eugene Pottier's famous song the Internationale was published. It quickly became the anthem of socialists, communists, and left-wing democrats wordlwide

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-51442891340052079662008-01-04T00:36:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:34.664-05:00

With the recent death of populist leader Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, a friend and I were discussing politics, dictatorships, and Democracy. It really got me thinking about what Democracy is, and what place it has in our modern world. The following are a few of the ideas I have. None are very well-thought out arguments, so bear with me.-The word Democracy is Greek for "people power" or something

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-39061774072847130672007-12-21T15:46:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:34.934-05:00

So what exactly does Christmas time mean to me? I've been wracking my brain for about an hour as I try to fall asleep, but the confusion is getting to me. I realized that unlike most things, I don't have a very strong opinion concerning Christmas, except that I want to smack people who spell it X-Mas for a few reasons. Christ and X are pronounced rather differently...so the religious aspect aside

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-11610482228613648162007-12-09T18:38:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:35.046-05:00

How about a bunch of really quick comments for this cold December Sunday? Wait, that's not a question...and even if I did ask it, I wasn't planning on listening to your answer anyways.- I met Jean Chretien yesterday. He was very nice and shook my hand when I held the elevator door open for him. He is now officially the coolest/only head of state I have ever met. If only he were a socialist then

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-90321151165453091762007-11-22T01:47:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:36.075-05:00

Wow, a month since I last posted, school seems to be killing me in more ways that one. Ok, so today it's time to go through the Euro-Cup predictions that I made (not here, but to my friends), and see how right I was. I will list the teams I thought would make it, then the teams that did, then talk a bit about each qualifying group, with a special section at the end for the hosts, and whatever

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-47605103084033848592007-10-22T22:24:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:36.258-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thing, and it's time for some explanations. This last month has been crazy. School is absolutely killing me. I'm taking 5 history courses, and the workload is ungodly. Just to give you a picture of what I mean, between now and December 19th I have 4 tests, 5 essays, and 4 exams...God help me. But school isn't all that exciting compared to my big

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-56341246446445426342007-08-31T18:26:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:38.289-05:00

Every year when soccer starts up again I can't help but make loads of predictions. Nobody ever listens to them, but last year I got them all right. This has prompted me to start recording my predictions so I can prove it to people who don't believe me 6 months down the line. Today I'm going to start with the Champions League group stage, since the draw was just the other day. I'm going to list

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-86598335754114056112007-08-25T22:40:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:38.848-05:00

"In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So says John in the opening line of his Gospel. Since the earliest days of humanity, a mysterious, almost magical, power has been attributed to words. Complex linguistic abilities are more responsible for human civilization than any other factor; without the faculty for precise and instant communication, it

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-3017088321312236542007-08-19T10:45:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:39.046-05:00

School is starting up again in less than a month, and I am none too pleased about it. Though I thoroughly enjoy the learning aspect of it, and despite actually being good at school (we all have to be good at something right?), I am totally not looking forward to it. This year will be my most challenging yet, and possibly my most challenging ever, unless, that is, I end up continuing past my

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-73057846809713556272007-08-07T22:28:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:39.059-05:00

The other day someone asked me very seriously why I am still Catholic, despite my intellect and education. My first response was to take offense. Obviously this person is incapable of believing that an intelligent person can be religious, which is completely ridiculous; most of mankind's most brilliant minds have been religious, so clearly this is a misguided view. It's funny, people always say

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-74254606019525837072007-07-29T23:35:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:39.288-05:00

Today the footballing world was stunned by what can be achieved by 22 men full of pride and determination. By "the footballing world" I mean the 95% of the globe that is obsessed with soccer, and the 22 men I'm referring to are the players on the Iraqi national team. Today Iraq pulled off on of the biggest upsets in soccer history, and achieved an incredible and historic victory by overcoming

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-42180446793828662972007-07-20T22:22:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:39.530-05:00

Today I've decided to cannibalize one of my favourite webpages for some cheap laughs. The page is bash.org, and all it is is quotes from MSN, ICQ IRC etc., that people have sent in and get voted on. The ones I'm going to post here are just my favourites. For more, visit the page, I've got a link to it on the left somewhere.-Real life should have a search function, or something. I need my socks.-

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-64307256622778348822007-07-16T20:38:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:39.689-05:00

How is it that crazy things all happen at the same time? This is a quick entry, but one that makes me think. Alot of crazy stuff happened within the same 24 hour period, and it just seems strange to me.Ok, so my grandmother has had cancer for a few years now, but being a tough old Italian lady, she's been beating the snot out of it. That doesn't mean, however, that it's not taking its toll on her

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-50687624061309410202007-07-09T23:38:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:39.808-05:00

Ok, I spoke to a bunch of idiots at work over the past week, and I need to vent. So please, bear with me. I'll try to make it fast.When I talk to people about our world, and particularly about how our society came into being, I am often struck dumb by two things. First, most people seem to be wholly unable to think clearly or critically about anything. They tend to make blanket statements that

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-46401919200072561182007-07-09T00:15:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:40.940-05:00

I was asking myself the other day why these idiots in North America fawn over celebrities so much. Why are dozens of magazines devoted to revealing the most intimate details of people we will never meet? Why do we even care? Why are these people worshipped like living gods? None of the answers I came up with made any sense to me, so if you have an opinion here, I would love to hear it. Anyways, I

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-74884550100359355122007-07-05T00:44:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:41.229-05:00

I have returned with news both good and bad. Well, let's start with the good: My new computer is up and running. It's fast, shiny, and has everything except the one program I actually need...I mean, how can I use a computer for homework without some sort of word-processing program? It makes no sense. Oh well, maybe I'll type my essays on wordpad...Ok, now the bad news. I went to the hospital to

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-60533368026066476872007-06-21T21:22:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:41.514-05:00

So my computer is down. It's telling me that it has a "disk boot error" and that I need to put some sort of a "system disk" into it in order to make it work again. Unfortunately, I don't speak technologese, so I have no idea what that means. Oh computers...just one damned problem after another. I figured the whole Y2K thing would have taught our society that running our world on computers opens

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-28636409330991844482007-06-18T15:02:00.001-05:002008-12-09T08:46:41.752-05:00

So I have bronchitis again. This is maybe the seventh time I've had it since last spring. Add that to the fact that I have only 1.5 lungs, and a severe case of chronic asthma, and that I live in a city with almost daily smog alerts, and you see the dilemma I face: I cannot breathe, ever. Coming home from the doctor's office I started thinking abstractly about my problem. Breath is roughly

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-45150976004909046292007-06-15T01:18:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:42.048-05:00

One of the reasons I study history is to try and correct all the ridiculous misconceptions people have about various things, and it can be a wholly frustrating task. Not only do I have to deal with outright ignorance ("The Earl of Sandwich? That's not a person, you're a liar"), and terrible mistakes made by the education system ("Christopher Columbus set out to prove the world was round because

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-77066527863069310482007-06-08T22:20:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:42.324-05:00

I just did this amazing internet test called the Political Compass, and I think that all of you should do it too. The guys who designed it realized the inherent ridiculousness of the simple right/left wing political analysis and added a second axis; one that runs from Authoritarian to Libertarian tendencies. This provides a far more accurate depiction of where one stands politically, as well as

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-48265667010627624722007-06-03T18:05:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:42.876-05:00

Maybe by now you might be wondering who this Athelred guy in this site's address is... or, maybe it never crossed your mind. In either case, I've decided to write a short piece about the dangers of bad history, and I'm going to use poor old Aethelred as an example.Aethelred was the king of England from about 978-1016. During his reign he had to deal with treacherous advisors, troublesome nobles,

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-88591221733613393932007-05-24T23:40:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:48.249-05:00

A few months ago I was appalled at the violence that followed a soccer game in Catania, Sicily. That night in February, a police officer was killed by a teen with a homemade explosive for no good reason. Afterwards, I got to thinking about soccer violence in general, and I came to the conclusion that most of it actually has nothing to do with soccer at all. Instead, the most common causes are

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-48643926579554739892007-05-19T23:07:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:48.443-05:00

The Ottawa Senators are in the Stanley Cup finals, and I am angry about it. "Why would a Canadian be mad that a Canadian team made it to the finals?" you may ask. At first I thought that the answer was very simple: I hate Ottawa and everything they stand for. I hate the city, I hate the people, and I especially hate their hockey team. Furthermore, I feel that it is actually my sworn duty as a

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-58337497873573769992007-05-14T23:52:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:48.626-05:00

The other day at work I got into an interesting discussion about the nature of time, and how we perceive it. As of right now, I'm still not exactly sure what to think about this subject...of course, at the time I was arguing that time can move any way it damn well wants to, and that our trouble is that we can only conceive of time as moving in a straight line. Then it was time to go back to work,

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-49011673749769589702007-05-03T22:40:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:48.876-05:00

Today I wanted to spout off about something that has been making me insanely angry over the past few months. Here in good old Ontario, our idiot Premier, Mr. Dalton "I hate poor people" McGuinty decided it would be a good idea to raise tuition fees.Ok, so on the surface it doesn't seem to be such a big deal. So higher education costs a little bit more, so what? Maybe a few students will have to

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-61675365172917425542007-05-01T23:46:00.000-05:002007-06-06T00:58:00.498-05:00

Blood coated my knife as I made the first cut. It splashed off my hand and stained my shirt crimson. I stopped to stare at the deep red sky as the sun crested the mountains to the east. In my mind, I began to contemplate the nature of revenge, retracing the painful events that led me to embrace its bloody path.“End it,” said Currado, lying prone on the rust coloured ground. “It’s the only way to

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-27592670079027254952007-04-27T20:37:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:49.205-05:00

I'm taking a break from studying for this insufferable Canadian History exam...why can't my country have an interesting past? Anyways, I figure writing a blog entry would get my mind off of Confederation and Habitants and the British Monarchy for a few minutes before I jump right back into it.What I wanted to talk about (again) is our ability to think critically about ideas and events. The man I

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-35254949635498217512007-04-24T17:20:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:49.383-05:00

I notice I've been ranting for a little about some seemingly obscure topics without any real context involved. I study Mediaeval History. NOT "Medieval", NOT "Midevel", NOT "Medivel", nor any other ridiculous spelling someone might tell you is right. This is actually one of my most pointless pet-peeves, but if you're going to dedicate your life to the study of a particular subject, it should go

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-61123968973465536922007-04-20T00:29:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:49.556-05:00

In the 530s (or so) the Emperor Caesar Flavius Justinian released one of the most important legal texts in Western history. With his Institutes, Justinian sought to train future generations of scholars and lawyers ("young enthusiasts for the law" are his exact words) the important aspects and distinctions of Law, its study, and its application. Though many people now would question the pertinence

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-34419138652200772007-04-18T11:15:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:49.703-05:00

I'd like to warn you, this is a long one. In February I was stunned by some things that happened in Catania, a city in Sicily that is very close to where my family is from. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have relatives living in Catania right now. So I wrote this 2500 word essay about soccer violence, which I am now posting here...so good luck, it's a long one:The recent death of an Italian police

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-34879739647630441802007-04-16T23:55:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:49.905-05:00

Ok, here is another of those Facebook notes I wrote a little while ago...one that made some people mad at me:So a few months ago I managed to get into a discussion on religion with a Jew and a Protestant, both of whom asked me to explain the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation. If you don't know, that's the belief that when the priest blesses the bread and wine at mass they cease to be bread

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-73513712242193519352007-04-15T13:04:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:46:50.325-05:00

So for the next few posts what I'm going to be doing is re-posting some of the notes I wrote on Facebook, mainly just toget them out into the open internet and see if anyone wants to comment on them further. With that in mind, here are my musings on military power as the guarantee of political sovereignty:Many of Machiavelli's ideas have alot of significance in the modern world, making me

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890550369366633264.post-5798047027050710172007-04-14T00:08:00.000-05:002007-04-17T00:02:57.172-05:00

This is my very first blog-like thing ever. That may sound like a stark disclaimer, but I wanted to get it out there just so that any mistakes I make will be explained by my inexperience rather than my idiocy. Computers just aren't my thing. I would rather be writing on freshly scraped parchment with a good quill and some blue-black ink, but that's not likely to happen any time soon. So here we

Boethiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04449789303869457263noreply@blogger.com1