opps. it helps if I refresh. nevermind.

pretty weird for a 16yo to have a Down's baby,

I think it's just the law of averages, erika. My next door neighbor got pregnant at 15 and her baby had Down's syndrome. While the risk increases after age 35, there's still a 95 in 10,000 chance overall that a baby is going to have Down's.

It sounds like it's a group of descendants who are suing. Considering that there's evidence that the Knights Templar were tortured and killed and their goods stripped from them for reasons of politics and greed, I can see wanting to clear an ancestor's name. I don't think there were many relatives of the Templars who were not harmed, but that's a lot of g'g'g'grandfathers ago.

Considering that there's evidence that the Knights Templar were tortured and killed and their goods stripped from them for reasons of politics and greed, I can see wanting to clear an ancestor's name. I don't think there were many relatives of the Templars who were not harmed, but that's a lot of g'g'g'grandfathers ago.

Yeah. I can't imagine them being able to prove that.

The Sound of Music is making me want to visit Salzburg. I'm still planning on a trip through Europe after I graduate. I need to see whether I'm graduating in May or August, though, and where I get a job.

Also the phrasing is ambiguous. Are they claiming to be literal heirs and descendants? Or are they claiming their organization is heir and descendant? Apparently their are lots of groups who make that claim. So the first thing they would have to establish is either that they really are descended from someone who was harmed, or else that their group as a group is truly one of the successor organizations.

Wouldn't the descendants thing be dependent on the assets being tied to individuals in the first place? I'd be very surprised if that was the case. And the "organizational descendant" seems like it would be way more complex to prove.

The Sound of Music is making me want to visit Salzburg.

I was watching Globe Trekker on PBS last night, and now I want to go to Sweden. I have a distant cousin I met once when I was 16 who I think is still living there in Stockholm, and I'd also love to head north to Lulea, which is where my grandpa and great-uncles came from back in the early '20s.

Given that the Templars were supposed to be a chaste, monastic order, having no physical contact with any woman, proving that one is a direct descendant of any individual one of them seems difficult. And the assets weren't supposed to be held by any individual Templar, but by the Order.

oh dear lord the great waste of time to delay bathtime will eventually be the death of me. I need another person in the house just for this.

JZ-- I don't know if you saw my post in Music, but Hec was really wonderful yesterday. The bus tour was not only fascinating, it was way wicked fun. It was a perfect combination of cool rock and LA history, intriguing and funny personal anecdotes, well-chosen video (we got to listen to "On the Nickel" while actually cruising up 5th--it was magical!) cool scenery and enthusiastic geekitude. And thank you so much for the bath oil--it should make my winter baths quite luxurious!

Awww, thank you Scrappy. It was fantastic having you and Corwood there. Also, your friend was very cool and interesting.

Kim picked me up from the Bonaventure this morning and drove me to Union Station to catch the shuttle and she gave such an awesome impromptu tour of downtown LA. We saw the classic old post office building where Bukowski worked, the hotel where Richard Ramirez (the Night Stalker) stayed in, the Eastern Columbia Building (where Johnny Depp has a penthouse) and stuff like that.

Union Station is, of course, amazing, but Kim knew to show me the old Harvey Girls restaurant that's still intact and rented out for weddings and parties. Her tours are so fascinating.

Anyway, I had a blast seeing you and Cor and Sean and the tour was really fun for me to do.