Category: General

Picard in Sweden

A welcome little bit of France has arrived in Stockholm. I didn’t post much during our nine months in Strasbourg. I’ve now been back in Sweden as long as I was away (which seems amazing), and I should have taken…

New Amelia Peabody book coming

I greatly enjoy the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters (the pen name of Egyptologist Barbara Mertz). Starting in the 1890’s, these follow the adventures of the intrepid Amelia and her family solving mysteries while digging in Egypt, through the…

From the Sack of Troy

Objects in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum from Troy VII, most likely setting for the Troy of Homer’s Illiad. This pottery fragment is very interesting. It is identified as locally-produced Mycenaean ware. Might this have been left behind by Agamemnon and…

The Modern Inquisitors

The concept of heresy arose early in the Christian Church, as alternative approaches to dogma and worship were persecuted by the dominant orthodoxy. Ironically ths first apeared as the Church itself emerged from persecution. Intolerance of “heresy” continued through the…

American Sharia Law?

Fom CSI episode “No More Bets”, about a murdered casino cheat: Warrick: They used to tell me back in the days, the first time you got caught cheating, they’d give you a couple whacks on the hand with a ball…