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In Ancient Greece there was city called Argos, and the king of the city was named Acrisius. Acrisius did not have a son, only a daughter, and therefore had no heir to take his place as king. He had a rivalry with his brother, so he did not want him to be king. In desperation he went to the oracle of Delphi to learn what to do about his lack of an heir. When he asked the oracle his question, it told him he would have a grandson who would then kill Acrisius. The king decided to do the only rational thing and imprisoned his only daughter Danae in a prison that had only one opening to let air into the cell. He didn’t kill his daughter because it would be family murder and Zeus would smite him for it. While Zeus was deciding whether or not to smite him anyway, he saw how beautiful Danae was through the roof opening and decided to visit her by turning into golden rain so as to get past the bars on the roof hole. He impregnated her while there and when she gave birth to Perseus king Acrisius was furious. Once again he didn’t kill them for the same reason as last time, but he did stuff them in a pot and sent them into the sea. Zeus asked Poseidon to calm the sea so that they would be safe from harm. Poseidon also made a current to take them to a nearby island called Seriphos. A friendly fisherman hooked the pot and dragged it to shore. It was here that Perseus grew up and trained to become a very good fisherman. One day at a feast for the new king of the island the fisherman and his family were invited to celebrate with the other people of the palace. When the king saw Danae he immediately wanted her to be his wife, despite Danae’s disagreement. The king would have married her anyway, but he was scared of Perseus, who was now a very strong man. The king decided the easiest way to get rid of perseus was to send him on an impossible journey that would get him killed, like, say, killing Medusa. Since he was a young man who wanted to prove himself he accepted the quest. Since no one knew where the Gorgons lived he decided to visit the Graeae, the sisters of the Gorgons. The three Graeae shared one eye and one tooth to share between them. Perseus took their eye hostage and said he would give it back if they gave him the location of the Gorgons. They cooperated and he gave back the eye. On his way to the gorgons he finds the island of the Hesperides, the daughters of Atlas. While there his half-brother Hermes and half-sister Athena visit him and give him winged sandals and a polished mirror shield respectfully. The Hesperides gave him a magic sword, helmet and sack, the sword being one of only a few things that could kill Medusa. The helmet was modeled off of Hades’ and could turn anyone wearing it invisible. The sack was big enough to hold the head of Medusa. Using the sandals he flies to Gorgon island and sneaks into Medusa’s cave with the helmet, chops off the head with the sword while she’s sleeping and stuffs it in the bag. While flying back to Seriphos, however, Perseus sees a beautiful woman strapped to a rock facing the sea. He lands next to her and asks her her name and why she’s tied to a rock. She tells him her name is Andromeda and that mother said she (Andromeda) was even more beautiful than the Nereids, the spirits of the sea. The Nereids were greatly offended and demanded a sacrifice. Poseidon decided it would be easier to force the queen into a sacrifice than to fight the Nereids, so he told the city to sacrifice the daughter or else a sea monster would eat the island. So the king and queen put their own daughter on the rock. As Andromeda finished the story the sea monster that was planning on eating her burst up out of the water. Perseus decided to rescue Andromeda from the sea monster, so he killed after a very long fight, in which he flew around it and made little cuts with the magic sword. He brought Andromeda with him to his home island of Seriphos. When he went to the palace he found out the king had written him off as dead and forcibly married Danae. While in the court of the king where he found this out he pulled out the Medusa head and turned the king and his whole court to stone. He set up the fisherman who had fished him out of the water so long ago as king and married Andromeda. If you were wondering how Perseus killed his grandfather even though he had no desire whatsoever to take vengeance on him then you should hear about a very special Olympics festival where Perseus threw a discus and the wind blew it into the head of king Acrisius of Argos. Despite this accidental murder of his grandfather Perseus is one of the very, very few heroes who got a happy ending and a happily ever after.

In the book “Around the World in 80 Days” the main characters take a trip around the world when the protagonist takes a bet that he can go around the world in 80 days or less. He sets out on the journey the very day he takes the bet. when he leaves he takes a change of clothes for himself and his servant, who also comes with him. On his way out he grabbed 20,000 pounds (British money) and set off on his journey. This book helped found all science fiction books that you read today, even though it is obviously possible to go around the world in 80 days today thanks to airplanes, because this book was written before airplanes were invented, so it was impossible to make the journey in 80 days, making the book science fiction. On Phileas Fogg’s journey he meets several people and two people join him on his journey, one chasing him because he believes the protagonist robbed a bank and the other in love with him.

In the majority of Greece family was important. Having children was a very important thing for the people to do. The main reason for this is that children could keep on the family name and extend the legacy of the family. The other reason for it was self-preservation. As the parents got older their children could take care of them and make sure they died happily, whereas the person who didn’t have kids would die alone and unhappily in the cold. The husband in the marriage would work all day, either farming olive trees and grapes, or buying the farmed plants and selling them at a higher price so as to make money. The wife in the marriage would stay home all day and take care of the house and children. The children would live at home until age seven, when they started schooling. The poor children got to learn the basic things like when to plant, when to harvest what a fair price was, how to haggle, all the basic things the would need in their lives. In Sparta and a very few cities that copied it, did not take the same veiw of family as the rest of Greece. Spartans where allowed to be married and have kids, and it was encouraged like in the rest of Greece, but not for the same reasons. The only reason Spartans had kids was to increase the size of the armies they had. In Sparta the government and army were the most important things in life. Because Sparta wanted to invade and conquer the world they did not want a strong family, because the soldiers would desert and run away to another city with their family, so Sparta weakened the family. Sparta made laws that forced all couples and married couples to never be seen together in public. They also made a law that all men had to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the military mess halls. Another law the government made was that all children had to leave home and start military training at the age of seven, and once they left they might not ever see their parents again. Those were the two main family structures in ancient Greece.

There are spoilers in this blogpost for the book “Around the world in 80 days” so if you want to read the book you should not read this post.

I am only at page 59 in the book, so I do not have all the reasons for detective fix to use to imprison Mr. Fogg but at this point if I was him and had to convince the local police to hold him, I would try to prove that it was Mr. Fogg’s servant Passpartout that insulted the Indian religion, which would not be hard seeing as there where four witnesses who tried to punish him for it. once that happened Fogg would hopefully spend a maximum of two days at the court trying to get Passpartout out of custody. if he managed to convince the police before the two days were up I would try my best to stall by coming up with lame excuses that had to be disproven before they could leave. a warrant from London would hopefully appear before they left, and if not I would follow them and repeat the process until the warrant came.

In ancient Greece there were several small city states, which means there were several independence governments and peoples in ancient Greece. Because of the different governments, and the fact that each of the cities want to rule the other cities, there were lots of wars between them, the most famous of these wars being the one between Sparta and Athens. But two things could bring all of the Greeks together, one being the threat of war by an outside force, like Persia or Troy, and the Olympics. The Olympics were started in 776 BC and were made as a tribute to the gods, and because all the Greeks shared the same religion and none of them wanted to make their gods angry, they would stop the wars long enough for the Olympics. Of course, it was not uncommon for a spartan wrestler to be particularly vicious when facing an Athenian opponent, but the only deaths during the Olympics were “accidental” and couldn’t be blamed on anyone. In tribute to their gods the Greeks would preform feats of strength in addition to the normal burning of food to the gods. Initially there was only one challenge in the Olympics, and it was a footrace between the fastest of the Greeks. But later on they started recording how far they could throw spears and discuses, which are large stone frisbees used in war. The spear and discus throwing could have been made a challenge because one of the city states wanted to see how skilled the opposition was during a war between them. After the spear throwing was added as a challenge chariot and horse racing became popular. Wrestling and boxing also became popular when the Spartans were angry and wanted to fight people during the Olympics. I like to think each of the challenges were dedicated to specific gods, like the footraces were to Hermes, god of messengers and speed, the discus throwing to Apollo, who is related to discuses in stories, the horse races to Poseidon, god of the sea and horses, and wrestling to Ares, god of war. The Olympics were ended in 394 AD by a Roman emperor named Theodosius, who was an early christen. Because he was christen he didn’t want his Greek subjects to worship their gods in the Olympics, so he ended it. The next year Olympia, which was where the Olympics where held, was destroyed by a giant earthquake, and Theodosius died of Edema, which is also known as fluid retention, and basically means he drowned in his own blood and saliva. The really creepy thing about these two things is that Poseidon is the god of water, horses, and earthquakes, so the fact that there was a giant earthquake in Olympia in the same year as the emperor who outlawed it died of internal drowning looks a lot like Poseidon got angry at Theodosius. In 1896 a Greek brought back the Olympics, and it is still going strong today with over 200 nations participating in it.

I love snow because there are so many possibilities with it, and because it looks very cool when it is snowing. If you get lot’s of snow you can make a snowman out of it. You can also make snowballs out of it if you don’t have enough snow to make a snowman. You can also use a snowman as target so as to practice your accuracy with snowballs. Another thing you can do with it is eat the new snow that hasn’t gotten dirty yet. If you eat dirty snow you’ll probably bit down on some pebbles and dust. If you live in a really snowy area, you might even be able to carve an igloo out of the snow.

The Odyssey is a story written by Homer, a poet from ancient Greece who wrote about great heroes from his time. this story is where we get the word “odyssey” which means “long journey”. this story takes place after the trojan war, the story where we get the trojan horse, which is a well known symbol. Odysseus was the king of Ithaca, which is an island west of the mainland Greece, and was recruited for the war with the trojans. he had heard a prophecy that said he would be gone for 20 years after he left, so he pretended to be crazy when the recruiters came. But, Palamedes, a Greek hero, was not fooled and put the son of Odysseus in front of his plow, which he was using to destroy his garden. when he refused to kill his son, they dragged him off to war. he was very useful in the war, and was the one who came up with the trojan horse. After the war he was supposed to sail to Ithaca in two weeks, but it took him 10 years. when they left they were blown onto the island of the lotus’. the lotus’ were drugs that made you forget everything except lotus’, and two of his crew had to be dragged onto the ship. after that they landed on the isle of the cyclops, a small island that was home to Polyphemus, a cyclops who was the son of the Poseidon and Thoosa. when he came into his cave after a day of shepherding he found and ate to of the crew. during the night Odysseus stabbed the eye of Polyphemus and in the morning walked out with the sheep, and went to the ship. after this they come to the island of Æolus, who trapped the winds that would slow there journey in a bag, but sent the west wind to speed them on their way. the crew, thinking there was gold in the bag, opened it, sending them straight into Æolus, who then sent them away, thinking they were cursed. they were blown into the island of Circe who was the daughter of Helios, and a witch. she turned Odysseus’ crew into pigs, but Odysseus was helped by Hermes. after he threatened her with his sword Circe turned his men back into men. they stayed on the island for a year before setting sail. on their way was the isle of the sirens, half bird and half woman, who would sing a song that made sailors crash their ships on the rocks they sang from. to get past the crew poured wax in their ears, turning them deaf to the sirens. once they got past the sirens the ran into Charybdis and Scylla. Charybdis was a monster who pulled ships into its mouth by creating a whirlpool, and Scylla was a six headed hydra that would eat sailors standing on the deck. to get past them the crew swung away from Charybdis and toward Scylla, who ate six of the crew. getting past the monsters they landed on Sicily, the big island off of Italy, where they butchered a sacred cow of Apollo, despite the warnings of Odysseus. when they set sail they were struck down by Apollo, who did not like his sacred cows being butchered. the only one left alive was Odysseus himself, who then drifted on a piece of wood to Calypso’s island. Calypso was the daughter of Atlas, a titan, so she was imprisoned on an island, and cursed to love every heroes who came there, then left. Odysseus stayed there for seven years before he made a raft and sailed home. when he got there he was warned by Athena to go to the swineherds house before going to the palace, and while there he met his son, who he had last seen as a baby but was now a 20 year old man. his son told him many men had come to the palace, hoping to marry Odysseus’ wife and become king of Ithaca. later that day Odysseus came to the palace and proved he was the real Odysseus by shooting his old bow that none of the other men could shoot, then he shot all the other men in the palace, and lived with his son and wife happily ever after.

When he was a kid my grandpa would ride his bike a lot. He would clip baseball cards to the bottom of the spokes on his wheels so that they would make a clacking sound when he rode the bike. He would also run on races, which he still spends most of his time on to this day. Since they didn’t have TVs or videogames back then he would read books and played with his action figures.

This story is supposed to come after the end of The Cat of Bubastes.

Chebron was coming with bad news. Amuba could feel the fact from his friend. The degree of badness was a surprise to him, though. “Egypt is no longer happy with our tribute to them,” he said. “But they had decided it would be to costly to attempt a more powerful hold on our people” Amuba replied, slightly puzzled. “Yes, king Thutmose did decide that, mostly because he had done enough conquering to be remembered as a good king, but he is now dead, meaning his son, Amenhotep, is now king.”. “And he now wants to prove himself to be worthy as his fathers heir.” Jethro guessed gravely. Chebron nodded, equally gravely “That is exactly right Jethro, old friend.”. Amuba sighed heavily. They had not needed to interact with the Egyptians on unfriendly terms for quite a while. “Well, he would be satisfied with intimidating us into upping the the tribute, wouldn’t he?” Jethro considered the proposal, but shook his head. “That would work, but the problem is that we cannot raise the tribute, for we have run out of precious materials to send and have had to send clothes and tools in their stead.”. They all stood in the great hall of the Rebu capital, thinking on what they could do to prevent a war. Suddenly, Chebron smiled. “What if we could show them there was nothing more for the tribute? we could have them send an emissary to see there was nothing left here to tribute.”. Again, Jethro shook his head. “I wish to be preparing for a war in case they do decide there is things here to plunder. And men preparing for war sends the entirely wrong message to an emissary.”. It was Amuba’s turn to smile. ‘”Jethro, would a lowly prince of Egypt be the rank needed for an emissary?”. Jethro thought and said “one of the lowest princes yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”. “Jethro, don’t tell me you forgot about our friend Moses, did you?”. About 2 weeks later the Egyptian prince Moses arrive in Rebu to find the people ready for war. “Amuba! what is this war planning all about?” he asked his friend. “We need to be ready if Amenhotep decides you are lying or have been deceived.” Amuba replied. “And what makes you think I will tell him there is nothing here?” the Prince asked. “The fact that I would not lie to a man who has saved my life” Amuba said “and the fact that you wish to spend most of your time here talking to Ruth, and not checking small caves for gold.” Moses smiled at the king. “Of course, you are right on both accounts, king of the Rebu.”. And so, after long talks with the priests of the Rebu and with Ruth he set out for Egypt. After while after a message came to the king that told him Moses had appeased the Pharaoh with his message, turning his eyes from the Rebu to other peoples.

The town of Missoula is located in a valley called, very creatively, the Missoula valley. The valley was made by a glacier during the most recent Ice age when it was moving toward the west coast. As it moved through the area it shoved a lot of earth in front of it, creating the valley. A while after that Native Americans called the Nemissoolatakoo came and inhabited the area. Their name translates to “river of ambush and surprise” which probably refers to the fighting the tribe did with other tribes in the area. The name “Missoula” comes from the middle part of their name. Lewis and Clark came and made contact with the Indians in the year 1805. In the next year, 1806, the first permanent white settlement in the area was built, as well as the first trading post in the area. Between then and 1864 several sawmills and flour mills were built. After that wood became a very wanted resource and the lumber mills hired tons of lumber jacks and started sawing. It was loud enough you could here them from 2 miles away if it was a clear day. Some years later the university of Montana opened in Missoula and attracted people from all over the state. In more recent times Missoula has become a hub of hunting animals like dear. I’m in Missoula at the moment and a large buck walked right by my window during breakfast this morning.