When Empires Fall

Finished reading Kagan's account of the Sicilian Expedition.

What a bloody mess. Ten thousand hoplites gone! I agree with Kagan that Athens' resistance after such a setback is pretty amazing.

The account itself is now a bit clearer in my head - I admit Thucydides just confuses me on the details. I think the wall/counter-wall concept is a bit strange and I have difficulty actually visualising it, but again the use of maps by Kagan has helped a lot. I'm flabbergasted at Nicias' utter inability to do anything, especially his delay in leaving when all was clearly lost. If half the army had got away it would have been a very different story.

I've been having problems imagining exactly how to game this - Athens seems to have exhausted itself providing the money and troops for Sicily but a few years later they sent thousands of men and eighty ships to retake Miletus from the rebels. Just what resources did these cities have access to? This question is even harder if you try to apply it to Argos or Corinth.

It is critical to note that not one single strong city fell in the course of the war, except through treachery. Even Athens surrendered rather than fight to the end. I suppose only Athens could realistically endure a long siege, thanks to its fleet and the Piraean walls. Argos and other 'second rank' powers probably had to quit a lot sooner - hence the frequency of negotiated settlements. But both Thucydides and Kagan seem to think Syracuse came close to falling - again this would have changed things pretty convincingly.

I'm thinking that I would have to limit the scope of any game, at least at the start. Some options would be the east - Cocyra etc, the Sicilian campaign itself, or perhaps Argos v Sparta. This might be more manageable. Might.

The key to the game would be a oligarch v democrat game, with peace/war factions in each (major) city. The two big problems are the details of the battles and the communication issues.

Fight!

Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Hampton

Today I continue my glorious quest in ancient history. I am now reading Kagan's 'The Peloponnesian War: Athens and Sparta in savage conflict 434-401 BC'. This is because I need something to tie up all the reading I've been doing - Thucydides is just too detailed to keep a handle on all the issues.

Kagan looks pretty good. He seems to be following Thucydides' narrative structure so far, but putting the actions into a wider perspective, which the original is not strong on. I suppose if you knew who all the individuals were and where all the places are then it might be easier. I even drew a huge map so I could look up stuff easily. Kagan's maps are brilliant and frequent.

But I seem to be getting further away from my original objective rather than closer. I had originally picked up Thucydides on Wez's recommendation so I could get the Greek angle on the Carthaginians. But there is very little. There has been some discussion of the Carthaginian attacks on the Greek colonies in Sicily, and of Alcibiades' desire to conquer Carthage as well as Sicily.

However I have now got a much better hold on what was going on at the other end of the Med, which means I can sort out my trading model much more effectively. I can also start thinking (as usual) about expanding the whole game and doing the Med in the C5th. But that would be suicide. Still, I haven't shelled out for any life insurance yet, so what the hell?


Sadly, despite the academic tone of both book and blog, all I can think about is:
"is this the savage beating? has it started yet?"
Which, as any fule kno, is a taunt from Martin to Matthew in Game On. (http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/gameon/index.html)

Ein Starker Wille

Oof.

Catch up:

Thursday
dinner with Dad at 'Just the Bridge' and then St. Bride's Tavern for Jon's birthday

Friday
leaving drinks in Ye Olde England and then Punch and then St. Bride's Tavern, then returned to watch DVDs with Alex, Nick, Dunc and Alex's sister. Spaced-tastic - "You lucky people"

Saturday
Miraculously got up and went to meet Nick at South Ken for the Natural History Museum. Blue Whale, Earthquake, Gems, Arachnids, Mammals, Giant Ground Sloths. all pretty cool. Then went to an amazing Lebanese restaurant up towards Knightsbridge called Maroush. Then went home and monged thoroughly until it was time to go out.

Before the Wandering

The weekend came before the week. I remember now. But only vaguely.

Pub for leaving drinks on friday - actually felt pretty messed up after a few. Probably the sambuca.

Lay in the sun in a glorious Regent's Park on saturday with the Camden crew. And then went to the Church for an 80s night. Too knackered to enjoy it, I reckon.

Drum jam on Sunday was very cool, though. We had an Afro-Cuban guy and he was wicked. Cheeky, as well. Then walked around in the sun for ages and bought Anabasis. Will be fun, I think.

The end.

Wandering the Conference

Well,
I'm back in the office after a tough few days in the sun in Brighton. Sweaty city. I fear some of my shirts may never recover.

Mainly went to the panel debates on Tuesday which had John Humphries chairing. Some excellent stuff even if all the policy fireworks didn't go off. Helped out at some of our presentations and then on the stand as well. All good solid stuff. Charging around as well.

Spent Mon and Tue evenings in the Cricketers, which is oddly one of only three pubs that I can remember in Brighton. We went there when I was down in the Marina at the Jubilee. Which is actually quite a while ago now. Decent Thai dinner on Tuesday. But came back Wednesday with all my rubbish goodies. The worst was the multiple (5 copies! Who needs 5 copies?) of someone's guidance to business. Pointless.

Slightly disappointed with myself for not going clubbing on the beach. Must do the Buddha Lounge next time. And try Tuaca, which our waiter recommended (an Italian shot, apparently). But I blame the heat. It certainly wasn't the lameness. Oh no.

Back in work today. And the madness of concurrent leaving drinks doth begin. Rats leaving a sinking ship and all that...

"The Heavens themselves blaze forth the Death of Princes"

Ah gentlemen...

He is dangerous!

Look Caiaphas, they're right outside our yard.
Quick Caiaphas, go call the Roman guard.

No, wait!
We need a more permanent solution to our problem.

What then to do about Jesus of Nazareth?
Miracle wonderman, hero of fools.
No riots, no army, no fighting, no slogans.
One thing I'll say for him -- Jesus is cool.

We dare not leave him to his own devices.
His half-witted fans will get out of control.
But how can we stop him?
His glamour increases
By leaps every moment; he's top of the poll.

I see bad things arising.
The crowd crown him king; which the Romans would ban.
I see blood and destruction,
Our elimination because of one man.
Blood and destruction because of one man.

Because, because, because of one man.
Our elimination because of one man.
Because, because, because of one, 'cause of one, 'cause of one man.

What then to do about this Jesus-mania?
Now how to we deal with a carpenter king?
Where do we start with a man who is bigger
Than John was when John did his baptism thing?

Fools, you have no perception!
The stake we are gambling are frighteningly high!
We must crush him completely,
So like John before him, this Jesus must die.
For the sake of the nation, this Jesus must die.

Must die, must die, this Jesus must die.
So like John before him, this Jesus must die.
Must die, must die, this Jesus must, Jesus must, Jesus must die!

Better the devil you know

Well, I can't avoid the sneaking suspicion that I had quite a lame weekend.

Had friday off and was so tired that I went to bed about 6:30 and then got up and stayed up. Doing pretty much nothing. Failed to go to Sarah's birthday, meet Alex ("Che cazzo fai?") or go to Planet Angel with Dunc and Nick.

Saturday lamed it again - got up at 9 but went back to bed and didn't emerge properly until about 4, by which time it was far too late to go to Jim's birthday. Stayed in and finished Halo 2 with Dunc. Amazing but still sad.

Sunday got up just in time for drumming but walked up to the Factory and found it was cancelled. B*stards. My chance of achieving anything over the weekend had truly gone. Just about made it to League of Gentlemen's Apocalyse (pretty good but nothing special) in the cinema in the evening.

Thus endeth yet another step on the road to decrepitude.

I guess it's true, what they say...

In discord and rhyme

After the carnage (wouldn't it be nice if this rhymed with French visage?) of friday, had to sleep most of saturdayday but roused for the party in the evening. Which sadly lacked the guest of honour. But there were loads of us there and we all danced like goons, for lo! it was an Eighties party.

Not dressed for the event I think Dunc and I rose manfully to the occasion. Elbows out, knees bent and let the cheesy dancing commence. Best sight of all was Dave really going for it. Or maybe the worst. I'm still not sure... Met some mad Swedish guy who showed me how he takes snuff. Bit odd if you ask me. Still, Jonas came from there.

Dunc managed to persuade me to go back to Camden where I passed out in Mat's toilet at about 5am, only to get up 30 mins later and walk back most of the way with Dunc. Ruff in the jungle, in the jungle, in the bungle. With the fungal.

Sunday I actually felt really good. Must have just been p*ssed still. There's no other way. There's no other way. Went to the Arts Factory for drumming - really good! Can feel my arms getting stronger and otherwise I would have lain in bed so wil try to keep it up. Saw Sin City on Sunday night which was all t*ts and guns but pretty good none the less. White blood. Everyone comes back.

Good weekend only slightly spoilt by Dunc's victory last week in War of the Ring. Bast*rd Umbar. I'll burn it next time.

Not so much drum and bass, more like just bass

Wow

Fabric on Friday - so very much bass. Oh wow. Eargasm indeed. Went with Dunc and Tom. We were large. Or I was at least. Super size. Dunc tried to go off and get money and then the bouncers wouldn't let him back into the queue so he had an extra half an hour outside while Tom and I got in and danced our as*es off. Well, not actually off.

Plump DJs, Hybrid, all kinds of bad boy bass bin bump and grind.

Boom

Mad 4 it

I was in Manchester over the weekend visiting my cousin.

Saturday was fairly chilled - pub, curry, the Anchorman. I fell asleep several times even before we all crashed at about 1am. Pretty lame, actually.

However Sunday more than made up for it. Huge breakfast and then pub (with the Manchester Uni blues water-polo team) in the baking sun. Mmm-hmm.

Went to Sankey's Soap (again - went this time last year) http://www.tribalgathering.co.uk/ to see 2 Many DJs http://www.2manydjs.org/v2/frameset.htm and got very very sweaty indeed. Sankey's is so hot that the sweat literally drips off the ceiling. Despite it being someone else's sweat you're grateful to get it. Urgh. at least this year they opened the doors so you could go outside to cool down.

It was absolutely wax-tastic. Chest-to-back dancing. Gurning mancs. Pie-eyed space cadettes. Professional mentalists. Tiny girls with implausibly deep voices. My cousin's cute friend. Explosions of bass. Crowd cheering and shrieking like utter nutters. "Push it real good". Gasping outside like some drowning sea bass. Finding some space upstairs to leap about it. Mosh. Dosh. Osh Kosh B Gosh. Don't forget to wash.

On the way there I had one of the strangest few minutes of my life. I thought I was going to die on the bus to Manchester central from my cousin's house. My sight started to fade to black and I couldn't breathe. I barely got off the bus and had to sit down at the bus stop feeling like it would be my last sitting. But then I felt fine and actually damn amazing a minute later. Very strange indeed.

Perhaps I ought to keep out of the sun next time.

Have it!

The new policy tool

There are two main measures, each comprising three sub-measures. The two measures can be used to assess whether a project should be implemented or not, or to choose between several options:

Desirability
Stakeholder perception
Advantages
Disadvantages

Achievability
Resources
Obstacles
Timescale

These can each be rated on a 'traditional' traffic light system or by a scoring method, with weighting assigned to different factors depending on the needs of the project. For example, critical priority could be assigned to the 'timescale' sub-measure if the need is to act quickly.