Hier soir

Yesterday evening was quite fun. I got to the Harp & Thistle at 6:15, and spent the next two hours writing (2400AD), eating and drinking (a Greek salad and a Canadian draft, respectively), and reading (about the Galileo mission to the Jovian system, the search for planets, and the history of the Roman Empire). There was a funny quote I read, about the execution of the 1st century CE Emperor Claudius' wife Messalina's execution for adultery, to the effect of sexual promiscuity being an unlikely way to cement political relationships.

Trivia was fun. Tara and Jeremy were there, as was Joni and Jeremy's friend Brian from New Brunswick. We did quite well--we came third, with 22 out of 25 points (Go Magnificent Bastards!) and the two frontrunners needing to be separated by a final deciding question (of which the annswer was the Sikhote-Alin impact in Siberia's Maritime Territory in 1947). And then, karaoke at Breaker's--Jeremy has an excellent singing voice, as was demonstrated when he and Joni sang "Summer Nights" from the Grease soundtrack. Joni had fun, which was quite good given how tense she looked when I'd seen her earlier at the library.

(no subject)

An interesting article, surprisingly enough from the New York Post:

ISLAM & WAR

By AMIR TAHERI

February 16, 2003 -- ALMOST all religions regard war as, at best, a failure of men's will, or, at worst a punishment for their sins. Nevertheless, all religions accept war as a fact of existence.

In Christianity, war was initially regarded as part of the Caesar's realm, and thus as indefensible on religious grounds. But that was before Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great.

To get out of a theological tight corner, Christians developed the concept of "the just war" which, in practice, meant any war that they supported. An entire edifice was built on a slender conceptual structure left by Saint Augustine: A just war is one that is willed by God.

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