Anthology of Ideas

In the course of this article the ending of the story and many other spoilers will be revealed. This is your only warning.

I found this excellent post about free online courses before my database crashed and I thought it would be worth resharing. Taken from here Not headed back to school this fall? You could be, minus the exorbitant tuition and without even leaving your chair. The web has made it easier than ever before to get a free education, and you’d join the ranks of great thinkers in history who were also self-taught, like Joseph Conrad, Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Paul Allen, Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway.

As much as it seems that things are slowing down they aren’t. Development continues on the plugins, and new papers are being written. There have been a few specific projects being delayed, but overall everything continues. In fact, several new features to the site are being considered for implementation.

The mythopoeic religions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece all shared similar characteristics: the concept of Cyclical time, an animate universe, and large pantheons of human-like — as in flawed — gods. In contrast, the ancient Israelites believed that time was linear, the universe was inanimate, and that there was one perfect god who was omnipotent, omnipresent and all-seeing. Judaism was revolutionary because it affected all aspects of life including history, food through dietary laws, marital and and societal laws.

The world of Arathria is composed of two Pangaea like continents named Arath and Ria — imaginative huh. The two continents are far enough apart that no non technological species can cross from one to another. Because of this the two continents have vastly different species; while Ria’s intelligent species are mainly humanoid, Arath’s main intelligent species range from non humanoid to vaguely humanoid. The continents also have very different geography and weather and this contributes to the difference in species.

Charles Martel was the Mayor of the Palace in the Frankish kingdoms during the 700’s. he is best known (militarily) for winning the Battle Of Tours in 732 and halting the Muslim invasions into Europe through Spain and pushing them out of Frankish lands. Through his campaigns he became the de facto king (although the title was reserved for his son) of the Franks. However, he should be best remembered as the founder of feudalism as a way to support a large horse army.