10.14.2005
excitement
"Look at what the Spartans can do with ravaging! They are masters of this type of warfare: they use it like torture. Does this hurt? Does this hurt a little bit more. Are you going to surrender now? What if we burn your crops, what if we destroy your lives, are you going to surrender now? It took extraordinary skill!"
I went to a lecture yesterday by my old professor from Princeton, Dr. John T. Ma. He's no longer called "professor", since that designation at Oxford goes only to those with university-wide appointments. Anyway, it was a great lecture he gave and I really enjoyed it. The quotation above is a bit of his talk on the Spartan way of war and how useful ravaging could be. He got a bit excited when describing this type of torture, with a gleeful look in his eye. Very entertaining.
He said something interesting when I went to talk to him after the lecture. "I'm a little surprised to see you doing graduate work, Joseph. I always thought you were making money." I don't really know if this is a good or a bad thing. Whatever happens, I'd like to make money, but I have no idea how. For goodness sake, my only stable employment has been teaching for three years. Certainly one does not go into teaching for the money. Perhaps it is a sign of my getting older (hint, hint!) that I begin to think about the future and what to do with it.
I went to a lecture yesterday by my old professor from Princeton, Dr. John T. Ma. He's no longer called "professor", since that designation at Oxford goes only to those with university-wide appointments. Anyway, it was a great lecture he gave and I really enjoyed it. The quotation above is a bit of his talk on the Spartan way of war and how useful ravaging could be. He got a bit excited when describing this type of torture, with a gleeful look in his eye. Very entertaining.
He said something interesting when I went to talk to him after the lecture. "I'm a little surprised to see you doing graduate work, Joseph. I always thought you were making money." I don't really know if this is a good or a bad thing. Whatever happens, I'd like to make money, but I have no idea how. For goodness sake, my only stable employment has been teaching for three years. Certainly one does not go into teaching for the money. Perhaps it is a sign of my getting older (hint, hint!) that I begin to think about the future and what to do with it.
