If my kids got to choose a sib's name, there would be some variation on "butt."

The last time we had this conversation he suggested "pbskids.org" so I do feel we're making progress!

When is Scrapadoodle due, by the way?

Timelies all!

Taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi at the airport as we wait for our flight home. Ate too much, watched too much tv, went to a movie. In other words, a typical visit to my folks.

Really colts? Really!?

I cleaned mac's room, half a grocery bag of broken toys an/or crap, not badm some random toys of his are missing, I have no idea where they are. Best guess is that they got packed away in something this summer and are in storage.

So, I spent the afternoon reading Wikipedia about the formation of the Han Dynasty. Talk about your intrigue! From this I have learned that the Empress Dowager Lu is officially the historical personage I would least want to have as an enemy as evidenced by her treatment of the rival Concubine Qi. (I won't even link to it. It's too horrible.)

Anyway, the Han Dynasty is super fascinating and makes Shakespearean intrigue seem like internal faculty in-fighting at a small state univesity. There are actual emperors raised in prison as commoners with prisoner wet nurses, and saved by kindly wardens. There are benevolent gay emperors and paranoid, superstitious conquering emperors who are tricked into betraying their loyal prince consorts on charges of witchcraft. There are followers of the loyal prince consort who are castrated as punishment who later ascend to power as court eunuchs. There's complicated court intrigue pitting the Taoist Empress Dowager Dou against her Confucian rivals, and deposed empresses forced to work as seamstress.

Empress Dou herself is fascinating (and quite benign compared to Evil Empress Lu). She came from a poor family, became a lady in waiting, was sent off in concubinage to a minor prince, who later ascended the throne through a problematic succession. The Empress spent years tracking down her brothers who had been separated from her in childhood and found one of them who had been enslaved his entire life, but who still remembered being separated from her at age five.

The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang (aka, Emperor Gao) was a peasant who rose to warlord and defeated the brilliant and charismatic military leader Xing Yu. (Xing Yu figures in the Firefly story "War Stories" btw.) Liu Bang succeeded by the power of delegation. Which doesn't sound that exciting, but he found the greatest military strategist, the greatest political strategist and the greatest administrator of his age to help him defeat Xing Yu.

It's interesting because you can see the figure of Avatar's Iroh in accounts of these ancient Chinese generals.

For reference, the Han Dynasty runs from about 200 BC to 200 AD, so roughly coeval with parts of the Roman Republic/Empire.

Looks like the constant predictions of a Colts loss might come to pass, finally. WTF?

For reference, the Han Dynasty runs from about 200 BC to 200 AD, so roughly coeval with parts of the Roman Republic/Empire.

This is true, and the (majority group) Chinese people still call themselves Han, after this dynasty. (Chinese characters are known as Hanzi.)

David, I studied ancient Chinese history (before going on to get a degree in Soviet Dissident Literature...only good for about 5 minutes after I graduated, but hey) and found everything about the culture and evolution fascinating.

Then got stumped on how one of (if not THE) most intelligent peoples on the planet could have indulged in the brutality of foot binding for 1,000 years. Not a couple of generations, but an eon. It still boggles my mind.

Anywhoo. Thanks for the reminder of how much fun that study was for me!

After a couple months of glue on nails, a few nails are long enough to be left alone. Now they are weak and ridged. I need product recs for helping them grow and get strong.