8/30/08 The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore. This continues the story of Mithral Hall and the Kingdom of Many Arrows as they try to learn to live together in peace, orc and dwarf.
Archive for August, 2008
One of the most amazing experiences I had this summer was being able to attend the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit that came to Raleigh, and will still be here a couple of months. I learned many things during the tour. I had always heard that the dead sea scrolls had been definitively identified with the Essenes that made their communes around the Dead Sea, particularly Qumran. I never realized the amount of debate about the origins of the scrolls. The exhibit emphasized three sides in the debate. The most compelling and the one many believe is the Essenes brought the scrolls to the commune at Qumran, made copies and hid them in the caves when the Romans invaded the area. Another theory that I find interesting is the idea the scrolls are actually the lost library of the temple in Jerusalem. The theory is this was the hiding place after the temple was destroyed, again by the Romans. Another theory, though less plausible, in my opinion, were the scrolls were hidden here over time, and not at one period. Interesting but not widely held. I personally find the Lost Library theory the most compelling.
Even more debate concerns the actual use of Qumran. The most widely held belief is that the place was a commune of Essenes. Many people point out that there is evidence of families living at Qumran. The Essenes tended to live in single sex communes therefore if there were women and children at Qumran then it could not be an Essene community. The community may have been the people sent to protect the Jerusalem scrolls from being destroyed by the Romans. The most interesting theory is that Qumran was not a commune of any type, but a pottery factory. The evidence some people use to show large numbers of people living at the location also lends itself to this interpretation. In one room they found large groups of clay bowls and cups. Many saw this as the kitchen area of the commune, but in the factory theory, these clay vessels were just the products of the factory waiting to be shipped. It is interesting.
Personally I believe we will never fully understand why the scrolls were hidden there, but it is fun to speculate. I think I can believe the lost library theory. It is compelling and cool to think these are temple artifacts.
Over the summer I spent the time rereading the whole Drizzt saga, I skipped Homeland, Sojourn and Exile because I have read them more than any other books in the series. I even read the Sellswords series about Entreri and Jaraxle though I think it is cheap that Salvatore made an existing book from one series the first book in the Sellswords series. I read all these so I can be prepared for The Orc King the first book in the new Transitions series. The second book The Pirate King is coming soon in hardback.
A new movie is coming soon called Stealing America: Vote By Vote. The general premise seems to be because of irregularities of the exit polling compared to the actual vote count, the elections of 2000 and 2004 were stolen not won by George W. Bush. I’m sorry, it seems that people are upset that they nominated ineffectual candidates so they have to devise a way to blame others than look at themselves. If you look at everything leading up to the elections, the two Democratic candidates Al Gore, who was riding the coattails of a popular president, and John Kerry just did not campaign well and were brought down by inefficiency in their campaigns, not a conspiracy by big business and Republicans. This is a blatant rewrite of history. I hope people are not suckered into thinking the elections were stolen. I do agree with one premise of the movie as presented in the trailer, we do need hard copies of ballots as well as computer copies. This is why I like NC’s scan-tron type machine. There is a hard copy as well as an easy tally.
The summer is always hectic for me. I will probably begin posting again soon. Until then enjoy this.
