Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
I am given to understand it is a popular day for weddings. Make sure no one gets the anniversary date wrong, by making it easy to remember…ten ten ten.
Professor Mondo says it is Binary Day.
To me, it is Tours Day…
Ninth-century chroniclers, who interpreted the outcome of the battle as divine judgment in his favour, gave Charles [Martel] the nickname Martellus (“The Hammer”), possibly recalling Judas Maccabeus of the Maccabean revolt. Details of the battle, including its exact location and the exact number of combatants, cannot be determined from accounts that have survived. Notably, the Frankish troops won the battle without cavalry.
Later Christian chroniclers and pre-20th century historians praised Charles Martel as the champion of Christianity, characterizing the battle as the decisive turning point in the struggle against Islam, a struggle which preserved Christianity as the religion of Europe; according to modern military historian Victor Davis Hanson, “most of the 18th and 19th century historians, like Gibbon, saw Poitiers (Tours), as a landmark battle that marked the high tide of the Muslim advance into Europe.” Leopold von Ranke felt that “Poitiers was the turning point of one of the most important epochs in the history of the world.”
From the latter days of the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammed, who had shucked his mortal coil exactly a century earlier, the Muslim invasion proceeded throughout Europe. This is where the religion deviated most significantly from the “Religion of Peace” bumper sticker slogan; it was being spread by force, at swordpoint, convert-or-die stuff. Around all the Mediterranean it swirled, clockwise, threatening to engulf all the known world. Tours was where the irresistible force met the immovable object.
If we were to have a festival beginning with dark dirges on September 11, erupting with a festive celebration on Tours Day, it would be exactly thirty days long. Hmmm…sort of an extended Good-Friday/Easter thing. Interesting idea.
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I like the idea. Though it was really the defense of Constantinople in the sieges of 674-678 and 717 that stopped the Muslim flow into Europe. If Constantinople had fallen the Muslims would have quickly conquered the Balkans and perhaps Italy.
- David Hoffman | 10/11/2010 @ 07:52[…] the Battle of Tours in 732, when their champion stopped the Muslim hoard that was sweeping over the entire known […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 02/12/2011 @ 07:07