wine
Throwback Thursday: Rome Sacked 455
Collection: Tretyakov Gallery
Image Credit: Wikipedia
One thousand, five hundred and sixty-seven years ago, today…
The Sack of 455 was the third of four ancient sacks of Rome. [It] was conducted by the Vandals, who were then at war with the usurping Western Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus.
In the 440s, the Vandal king Genseric and the Roman Emperor Valentinian III had betrothed their children, Huneric and Eudocia, to strengthen their alliance, reached in 442 with a peace treaty (the marriage was delayed as Eudocia was too young). In 455 Valentinian was killed and Petronius Maximus rose to the throne. Petronius married Valentinian’s widow, Licinia Eudoxia and had his son Palladius marry Eudocia. [In] this way, Petronius was to strengthen his bond with the Theodosian Dynasty. Unhappy, however, with her husband’s murder and the usurpation of Maximus, Eudoxia turned to aid from the Vandals to remove Maximus from his undeserved throne. The overture was favorably met because Maximus’ revolution was damaging to Genseric’s ambitions. The king of the Vandals claimed that the broken betrothal between Huneric and Eudocia invalidated his peace treaty with Valentinian and set sail to attack Rome, landing at Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber.
Wiki Summary
On this day in 455, the Vandals sacked Rome. It wasn’t too awful, as sackings go, because the Vandal king Genseric agreed to refrain from slaughtering all the inhabitants and burning down the entire city if the Romans didn’t put up any military resistance…which, they didn’t. They just threw the gates right open. So, for the next two weeks, the Vandals merely drank all the wine, stole all the treasure, enslaved an unlucky few thousand locals and generally vandalized the place. A few hundred of the impromptu wine-tastings, as it were, got out of hand and some buildings, or some people, ended up on fire but, hey…relatively speaking, the Romans got off pretty easy.
Modern Drunkard Magazine
Today’s Reason To Drink
Frank Kelly Rich
Tale Tuesday: Canadians
Yes, a new heading. Phil suggested that I try to write more so…
I lived in Virginia Beach for a year (July 2001 – July 2002) with my, then, Marine Corps husband. I don’t remember the exact date but, one evening, we happened to be wandering the streets of Norfolk, near Norfolk Harbor. We saw a neon sign in a window of a bar: O’Malley’s. The place was full of what appeared to be sailors but, they weren’t Americans. They were busy drinking and singing Irish drinking songs. The Marine and I did manage to find a couple of empty bar stools, way at the end of the bar, deep into the establishment. The Marine took the very last stool to my left and I tried to position myself into the remaining empty stool. It was a tight squeeze and I began to think to myself… “How in the hell am I going to get my big ass thru that narrow space to get onto that stool?” For the split-second pondering it took, the full-bearded gentleman to my right, turned to me and said “Do you not want to sit next to me for some reason? I know I look rough but…” I immediately jumped in to reassure him that, that was not the case and shared my “OMG, I won’t fit…” fears, out loud, right there in front of God and everybody. He threw his head back and roared. “Have a seat, my dear…and, have drink.” He turned out to be the COTB (Chief of the Boat) of the Canadian Frigate HMCS St. John’s, that was in Norfolk for degaussing. It was a fun evening and that COTB invited us to tour the ship the next day.
We arrived around 4:00pm and I noticed that a Canadian Frigate really stands out next to American Navy vessels. It’s an odd green color, next to the blue of the American ships and I was told that it doesn’t have any right angles on it. We boarded the ship and asked for the Chief. They retrieved him and he rolled out looking like he’d been on a three day drunk. He was clearly hung over. He called for a much younger seaman to give us the tour of the ship and joined us later.
One neat thing aboard a Canadian vessel is…the bar. They had a beautiful, stained wooden bar and, a full stock of beer and wine. They also had a few women on board, which I found odd, even though women were allowed on board American war ships, beginning in 1994. It was still a rare sight back then.
We were invited to stay for dinner. It was a simple meal for sailing men but, I’m pretty sure that, not many people can say that they dined with the entire crew of a Canadian Frigate…and not been a crew member. It was really cool. I wish I could remember the name of that COTB. He offered me a St. John’s sweatshirt and I declined because I didn’t have any money. I intended to return to the ship with money but, we never made it back. That would have been a cool souvenir.
HMCS St. John’s (Facebook)
HMCS St. John’s (FFH-340) (Military History Fandom)
HMCS St. John’s (Wikipedia)
Chris Thomas: Truth Is The Greatest Healer
A Magazine Article From: The Chris Thomas Files
Most of us are beginning to realise that the commodity least available to us is the truth. Politicised news now has so much spin attached to it, that it is impossible to unravel the knots. Scientific news is proven to be wrong so many times that most have stopped listening. Flu pandemics turn out not to happen and the pharmaceutical responses turn out to have more severe side effects than if we had just put up with a few days of unpleasant symptoms. The sovereignty of every European country has been swept away in Lisbon and, the Copenhagen Conference finished in shambles because the global climate has not changed for the last ten years. With all of these lies and half-truths in the “official” world, is it any wonder that so many are turning to “channelled” sources for information? [T]hen, we find that the likes of “Lord Sananda” and “Lord Metatron” are, at the least, very unreliable, with the best interests of the Earth, and humanity, not being served. Question…why would beings who claim to be at the pinnacle of soul development still have an ego that requires the title “Lord”?
Then, we are urged to take part in mass-meditation exercises which are supposed to help the planet. The first example of this was in 2007 with the cry we must “fire up the grid.” This turned out to be an exercise by those who carry out psychic attacks to see if the population was gullible enough to fall for the ploy. The “grid” in question that everyone was so keen to “fire up” was, in fact, the grid on the United Nations’ flag. Many are drawn to the story of the Annunaki and see them as humanity’s hope but, then, we discover that Lords Sananda and Metatron are Annunaki. These are not our “Gods” but, beings who claim to have built humans as a slave race to serve them. And, on top of all this, 2012 is approaching very rapidly. Is it any wonder that we are concerned and confused? So, where do we go from here? How do we obtain the answers we so desperately need? Believe it or not, the answer is very simple. We have become so used to being told what to do by others that we have forgotten our own inner voice.
Raising Our Energies
Since 1996, we have been changing our energy patterns, raising our personal energies to the point where we connect directly to our Higher Self. As we raise our energies and connect with the greater part of the soul, we begin to realise that we are not as small as we thought we were. With this knowledge also arrives the ability to recognise truth. This is how we can recognise the lies for what they are. A few years ago, we would have accepted what “authority” figures told us without question but, as we begin to fully connect to our own inner reality, our own inner “higher” voice also begins to speak. [We] have begun to recognise that there is an agenda at work which does not seem to serve our best interests.
No, this is not “another conspiracy theory.” All you have to do is to carry out some research for yourselves. What you will find is that you only need to scratch the surface. [You] do not need to dig very deeply and all sorts of half-truths come to light. If you do dig deeper, you will find all sorts of agendas at work, all designed to remove freedom of choice and to exert control over the population. All of this we can counter, if it is what we choose to do. By “we” I mean each and every individual making their own choices and acting on them. It is no good taking to the streets to demonstrate, as all that will do is increase the amount of legislation designed to curtail our freedom to demonstrate.
An Inner Revolution
What we need is a quiet revolution that takes place on an inner level. And, this is what all of these agendas are designed to disrupt…our process of reintegration. We are not “ascending” anywhere. [E]ven the term ascending was coined to deliberately mislead. [W]hat we are doing is bringing the whole of the soul back into the body. Take a deep breath and do it. Start by making a positive affirmation quietly to yourself. This needs to be a clear statement of intent to your higher self saying “I wish to reintegrate my soul without interference.” With that intent sincerely made, the next stage is to make room for the higher self to enter the body. This can only be achieved by clearing space, cleaning out all of the emotional debris we all carry around. The best, and simplest, way of doing this is to use the giveaway (see below).
We all carry emotions from our past and these need to be cleared. You will need to use the giveaway many times, not just once. [Y]ou will know you have cleared a situation when you can think back on an event, think about a relative, a sibling, a parent, ex-partner, employer, etc…and all we see is the event without any emotions attached. If you still feel angry or upset, you will need to do more giveaways. The more of these emotions you clear, the lighter and freer you will feel and, the more you progress. The more you progress, the more you will “know” and the less you will be taken in by misleading information from whatever source.
The Giveaway
Take an old newspaper and a pencil. On the newspaper, write letters to those who have caused you upsets in the past. Once you have finished writing a piece, rip it up and get rid of it, preferably by burning. And, then, start again with a new sheet of newspaper. Do not read it back, otherwise, you will take the emotions back in and have to start again.
[Addendum: Chris has also added that writing on newspaper makes it hard to read back. He suggested low light while writing and…some wine, as well. ~Vic]
© Chris Thomas 2010
Cygnus Review Magazine (Issue 2, Page 7, 2010/Issuu Website)
The Blog Post (Cygnus Review Blog…with the wrong author credited)
Download The PDF & Share
Snapshots Sunday: Volume Records
Taken: 05-03-2019
This place is a neat little find in downtown Hillsborough. It is a retro flashback to times when folks could go to a record store and buy albums & 45s. These were the years prior to CDs and, in some instances, prior to cassettes. Tony, the owner, has been in business for two years, now and is doing quite well. It’s a cozy place with a couch, chairs, stools, window seats and a charming little bar. He keeps 12 beers on tap, three ciders in bottles or cans and, provides some wine and soft drinks. All are welcome and he is closed on Mondays. He is a charming fellow and agrees that today’s music with its digital format has no soul in comparison to the tracks laid down in analog. Those days are long gone even though albums are making a comeback. I’d like to see the industry go back to analog tracks. Digital doesn’t have the texture. Put the needle on the record, put the needle on the record…
All photos are my personal collection. ~Vic
Taken: 11-10-2019
The picture is U2…Achtung Baby!
Cat’s Cradle poster…of course.
I didn’t get out of here without at least three albums…
Jefferson Starship, Little River Band and The Babys.
What can I say. The vinyls were pristine.