History Adventuring

Since I've always been interested in history, going back to when I was a little kid, I've always been interested in politics. And while "politics" mostly means some cigar-chomping politician backing down on his promises, it really just has to do with how people govern themselves in groups. And no, it's not always fair, particularly since people tend to pick political leaders based on things like height (George Washington was very tall!). Whenever someone comes up to me and grabs my lapels talking about politics, I will ask if they're interested in politics, and most people just aren't, they let go of my lapels and wander off. And maybe it's because people remember having to memorize stuff in school, and really don't want to think about that after they grow up. But I don't remember memorizing anything in school, not really, I just remember being a curious, nerdy, little kid. I wanted to know everything - did George Washington really have wooden ...

Let's time-travel back to the six century (500s) in Medieval Britain. And if you're wondering why I'm not calling it England, it wasn't called England yet, because the group of Germanic people who settled there, called the Angles, hadn't really arrived yet. Yes, Angle-land in the future, but Britain where we're going. It was named by the Romans, who called it Brittany. And yes, that's how it works with tribes of people, to themselves they're just "the people", and it's outsiders who give them names. Let's go visit the Britons in the days of King Arthur. At this point I'm really not clear what language was being spoken there at the time so we'll need to bring along our "automatic translators". No, it's not Old English, which was Germanic, and came over with the Angles, Jutes and Saxons, and since there are no written records in Britain at the time right after the Romans left, I'd say that it's a mix of Celti...

One of the things that I remember distinctly from living in LA in the 1980s is that I was a nobody, and I'm inclined to think that it's still the same for people like me, and has been since the 1920s, when movies started to become very popular, along with movie stars, or "celebrities". Whenever there was a gathering, or a party, in Los Angeles, people were always on the lookout for famous people, and if you walked into the room and weren't a celebrity, the eyes looked away in disappointment because you were a nobody. Personally, I never went to too many Hollywood parties, but I know people who did, and it really annoyed them. You don't have to be a "Hollywood Insider" to know that even people who aren't "nobodys" are divided into categories, like "A-listers", "B-listers", "Has-beens", etc. so even if you were in a blockbuster movie, if it was several years ago, people would be disappointed when you walked i...

I just saw a commercial on YouTube aimed at people who are preparing for the next disaster. And yes, they used the term "the next disaster", and it caught my attention both as an old Marketing guy and as a time traveler about preparing for disasters. Of course, how anyone defines a disaster is a matter of personal opinion, all of which are correct. Opinions are always correct, you know! In my opinion the Rolling Stones are the greatest band of all time, and while you may disagree with that as a fact, you can't disagree that it's my opinion - that's how opinions work. And this is where it gets kinda tricky if you're selling things, and want to be doing so with a clear conscience, which has always been my goal. In my opinion it's a good idea to have spare light bulbs around your house, and in the event of a power outage, a flashlight. I lived in Los Angeles for many years and I was one of those people who always kept a spare gallon of water sitting around, i...