The update continues!
Yeah, ok, YA GOT ME, I'm really lazy about updating my journal lately, not that anybody reads this crap anyways. It's been a good five days since I last updated the journal. SO let's see what's gone down between then and now. Housing plans have shifted dramatically, now it seems likely that we're going to try for an eight man suite, these five guys and my old Xaverian compadre Neil MacIsaac have tagged on to the group so now we can try for the V-Slice Eight man, and if that falls through hopefully, the Edmonds four man, and if that falls through...well....then we're just plain fucked. I suppose I should focus on not flunking out of here first THEN worry about next year's housing. This semester is going alot better by comparison. The two history courses=Nice GPA boost as well as the LTL class, although I only got an 80 on the midterm (frown). I got an 86 on the American Civilization Midterm though, that was pretty nice. It would have been nicer to mize those last four points and get the A-, but I guess that just means I need to study harder for my next examination. My weekend was essentially a bust, but that was to be expected I suppose. Joanna and I have been fighting, although we did manage to make up, I feel pretty good about it this time though, so that's a plus. I basically just occupied some space in my room friday evening through Sunday morning. Watching various TV shows, sleeping, dicking around online but not updating my journal, playing computer games talking to Joanna, etc. I sort of miss playing magic every weekend, but I don't regret my decision, I think what I've established should be fine for now. Every other weekend is really an ok arrangement. It seems to be more academia/Joanna/finances friendly, and I also would rather not come home EVERY weekend or end up going on these three day magic binges with Jeff. My fingers are still crossed as far as Team Vaseline and Joanna coming to BC/Some college in Boston respectively. If all works out as I hope it does next year should kick some ass. I'd finally be able to have Joanna close by and have a reasonably close distance relationship rather than a long distance one. Joanna and I were having a discussion last night about the top ten civilizations throughout history, she was basically saying that Russia really never did too much throughout history and that they seemed to always be standing by the sidelines, I politely disagreed and pointed out that Russia has played a huge role in European politics throughout history militarily if not quite so much culturally. So after putting some thought into it I formulated my top ten civilizations of all time based on military strength, cultural contributions and endurance of the civilizations.
1)Romans: Maintaining a vast empire for hundreds of years, spreading christianity, making great advances in military tactics, engineering, literature, art and many other areas as well as latin being the base for many of the prevalent languages in the world today the romans definitely take the top spot.
2)English: Yes, the English, they managed to oppress the irish at a very early period in history, establishing a parliamentary system comparitively early, establishing a vast colonial empire, always being a dominating force on the seas(see the spanish armada for details) as well as resisting Napoleon in the Napoleonic wars and being the frontrunner of the winning side in both world wars their military abilities are superb. Culturally, every american schoolboy is forced to read shakespeare at some point, English is one of the most widespread languages in the world, and their american colony has developed into today's leading world power. I think England is a solid nod for number 2.
3) Chinese: Although definitely going through some tough times in their more recent history, China definitely could have had world domination potential if they hadn't chosen isolationism and a strong superiority complex. They also managed to independently develop a system of writing as well as a strong understanding of sciences while the Europeans were still piddling about in the dark ages. Unfortunately their military has seen some embarassing defeats at the hands of the Mongol Hordes and the small island of Japan as well as being bullied by a number of European powers at a later point. Nevertheless I'm going to go ahead and give the number 3 spot to the chinese.
4) Greeks: Pre-cursor to the number one spot romans. They've dedicated great amounts culturally that would later be channeled into today's culture via the roman empire. Militarily they seem to have always been caught up with internal strife until the Macedonian Alexander the Great managed to conquer a huge landmass stretching from the balkans to Asia, which unfortunately was not to last after his death.
5)Spanish: having established a large and sustained European empire as well as establishing a number of colonies abroad, the Spanish get a solid number five. Culturally the Spanish have produced such greats as St. Ignatius de Loyola to establish the jesuits who set up schools worldwide and had a great effect on the world under the catholic church.Militarily they were unfortunately subject to embarassing defeats at the hands of the English as well as the Americans in the Spanish American war which removed the last vestiges of Spanish rule in the Western Hemisphere.
6) French: The French also have a brief imperial empire as well as colonial possesions to thank fo their spot on the top ten list. Unfortunately they lost points for the terrible instability of their government. Napoleon would also eventually overstep his bounds and lose all that he had gained, and unfortunately his various attempts to rebuild proved to be fruitless. The French have been successful in contributing great artworks and today is reknowned as a center of cultural strength. They also lost points militarily for their embarassing performances in both World Wars as well as their defeat in the Napoleonic wars, although an impressive gambit.
7)Germans: Unfortunately the Germans early history is marked by it's division and decentralization as the Holy Roman Empire. But I cannot help but be impressed by their acheivements in only a short period of time of unification. Although outclassed in world war I and outmatched/outnumbered in World War II the germans still managed to put up an excellent effort despite terrible conditions. They still don't get quite the honors given to England as they did end up as the front runners on the losing side in both of these conflicts. I'd also like to point out that the germanic tribes were the eventual usurpers of the decaying #1 position Roman Empire. Culturally their contribution of excellent technology and efficiency as well as high quality alcohol should definitely count for something.
8) Russians: Militarily, with it's huge landmass and population Russia has always been a large player in the world stage despite it's typical backwardness. The Russians suffered greatly under the tsars, but certain leaders such as Peter and Catherine managed to pull Russia up to par and managed to successfully resist a number of aggressive attacks from such successful conquerors as Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. In World War I they contributed huge amounts of man power and withdrew shortly before the war ended as a result of the bolshevik revolution. In World War II the Russians contributed far more than any other nation in terms of manpower and suffered extremely heavy losses due to wreckless strategem and the lack of the necessary military supplies in a number of cases. The experiment of communism was Russia's large contribution on the world stage and with the establish of the comintern attempted to export their cultural beliefs much in the way the united states has. Typically Russia has always lacked the heavy industry to make the most of their wealth of raw materials.Unfortunately for them, they seem to lack in the area of artistic contribution, although they have reknownedly contributed to the theatre arts such as ballet.
9)Americans: Only around for a short time, but we've managed to do so much. Today our military is far superior to any other in the world by a wide margin, the first to develop nuclear weapons, were the turning pin in favor of the allies in BOTH World Wars, managed a colonial revolt against one of the most powerful nations of the world and won our independence. Militarily we lose some points for Vietnam, although that really wasn't a war we could reasonably win anyways, as well as Korea and an unsuccessful attempt at beating the Canadians in the war of 1812. We also managed to beat the bejesus out of a decaying Spanish Empire and bomb the crap out of Iraq on two seperate occasions and any number of marginal conflicts with places such as Somalia, Bosnia and Grenada in between. Culturally there is a McDonalds in almost every country in the world and we produce a huge majority of major non-religiously related motion pictures. America often shows it's dominance by spreading it's way of life and ideals to the rest of the world, exporting americanism. We've also made a number of shrewd investments in increasing out land mass, such as the Louisiana Purchase and the purchase of Alaska.
10) Japan is another more recent success story, although lacking in natural resources Japan has on a number of occasions managed to stand toe to toe with the best militarily. Their military history is quite brief and normally quite successful considering what they initially had to work with. The japanese managed to embarass the Russians on the world stage in the Russo-Japanese war, exposing the backwardness and inefficiency of the russian tsarist regime. They managed to conquer a huge portion of main land China During World War II and also to destroy the US pacific fleet with an excellent display of air power before such tactics were widely popular. Culturally the Japanese today are exporting more and more of their culture to such world powers as the united states and serve as a strong base of manufacturing electronics as well as a number of other industries.
Honorable mentions: Egypt, Byzantium, Portugal, Middle East, India
Feel free to post any opinions.
1)Romans: Maintaining a vast empire for hundreds of years, spreading christianity, making great advances in military tactics, engineering, literature, art and many other areas as well as latin being the base for many of the prevalent languages in the world today the romans definitely take the top spot.
2)English: Yes, the English, they managed to oppress the irish at a very early period in history, establishing a parliamentary system comparitively early, establishing a vast colonial empire, always being a dominating force on the seas(see the spanish armada for details) as well as resisting Napoleon in the Napoleonic wars and being the frontrunner of the winning side in both world wars their military abilities are superb. Culturally, every american schoolboy is forced to read shakespeare at some point, English is one of the most widespread languages in the world, and their american colony has developed into today's leading world power. I think England is a solid nod for number 2.
3) Chinese: Although definitely going through some tough times in their more recent history, China definitely could have had world domination potential if they hadn't chosen isolationism and a strong superiority complex. They also managed to independently develop a system of writing as well as a strong understanding of sciences while the Europeans were still piddling about in the dark ages. Unfortunately their military has seen some embarassing defeats at the hands of the Mongol Hordes and the small island of Japan as well as being bullied by a number of European powers at a later point. Nevertheless I'm going to go ahead and give the number 3 spot to the chinese.
4) Greeks: Pre-cursor to the number one spot romans. They've dedicated great amounts culturally that would later be channeled into today's culture via the roman empire. Militarily they seem to have always been caught up with internal strife until the Macedonian Alexander the Great managed to conquer a huge landmass stretching from the balkans to Asia, which unfortunately was not to last after his death.
5)Spanish: having established a large and sustained European empire as well as establishing a number of colonies abroad, the Spanish get a solid number five. Culturally the Spanish have produced such greats as St. Ignatius de Loyola to establish the jesuits who set up schools worldwide and had a great effect on the world under the catholic church.Militarily they were unfortunately subject to embarassing defeats at the hands of the English as well as the Americans in the Spanish American war which removed the last vestiges of Spanish rule in the Western Hemisphere.
6) French: The French also have a brief imperial empire as well as colonial possesions to thank fo their spot on the top ten list. Unfortunately they lost points for the terrible instability of their government. Napoleon would also eventually overstep his bounds and lose all that he had gained, and unfortunately his various attempts to rebuild proved to be fruitless. The French have been successful in contributing great artworks and today is reknowned as a center of cultural strength. They also lost points militarily for their embarassing performances in both World Wars as well as their defeat in the Napoleonic wars, although an impressive gambit.
7)Germans: Unfortunately the Germans early history is marked by it's division and decentralization as the Holy Roman Empire. But I cannot help but be impressed by their acheivements in only a short period of time of unification. Although outclassed in world war I and outmatched/outnumbered in World War II the germans still managed to put up an excellent effort despite terrible conditions. They still don't get quite the honors given to England as they did end up as the front runners on the losing side in both of these conflicts. I'd also like to point out that the germanic tribes were the eventual usurpers of the decaying #1 position Roman Empire. Culturally their contribution of excellent technology and efficiency as well as high quality alcohol should definitely count for something.
8) Russians: Militarily, with it's huge landmass and population Russia has always been a large player in the world stage despite it's typical backwardness. The Russians suffered greatly under the tsars, but certain leaders such as Peter and Catherine managed to pull Russia up to par and managed to successfully resist a number of aggressive attacks from such successful conquerors as Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. In World War I they contributed huge amounts of man power and withdrew shortly before the war ended as a result of the bolshevik revolution. In World War II the Russians contributed far more than any other nation in terms of manpower and suffered extremely heavy losses due to wreckless strategem and the lack of the necessary military supplies in a number of cases. The experiment of communism was Russia's large contribution on the world stage and with the establish of the comintern attempted to export their cultural beliefs much in the way the united states has. Typically Russia has always lacked the heavy industry to make the most of their wealth of raw materials.Unfortunately for them, they seem to lack in the area of artistic contribution, although they have reknownedly contributed to the theatre arts such as ballet.
9)Americans: Only around for a short time, but we've managed to do so much. Today our military is far superior to any other in the world by a wide margin, the first to develop nuclear weapons, were the turning pin in favor of the allies in BOTH World Wars, managed a colonial revolt against one of the most powerful nations of the world and won our independence. Militarily we lose some points for Vietnam, although that really wasn't a war we could reasonably win anyways, as well as Korea and an unsuccessful attempt at beating the Canadians in the war of 1812. We also managed to beat the bejesus out of a decaying Spanish Empire and bomb the crap out of Iraq on two seperate occasions and any number of marginal conflicts with places such as Somalia, Bosnia and Grenada in between. Culturally there is a McDonalds in almost every country in the world and we produce a huge majority of major non-religiously related motion pictures. America often shows it's dominance by spreading it's way of life and ideals to the rest of the world, exporting americanism. We've also made a number of shrewd investments in increasing out land mass, such as the Louisiana Purchase and the purchase of Alaska.
10) Japan is another more recent success story, although lacking in natural resources Japan has on a number of occasions managed to stand toe to toe with the best militarily. Their military history is quite brief and normally quite successful considering what they initially had to work with. The japanese managed to embarass the Russians on the world stage in the Russo-Japanese war, exposing the backwardness and inefficiency of the russian tsarist regime. They managed to conquer a huge portion of main land China During World War II and also to destroy the US pacific fleet with an excellent display of air power before such tactics were widely popular. Culturally the Japanese today are exporting more and more of their culture to such world powers as the united states and serve as a strong base of manufacturing electronics as well as a number of other industries.
Honorable mentions: Egypt, Byzantium, Portugal, Middle East, India
Feel free to post any opinions.