This blog is moving to a new home!
I've been totally silent over the last couple of months for a few reasons, one of which was that we were traveling around Greece and Italy. (Yes, it really was book research. Honestly!)
I'll be writing more about that soon.
Another reason is that I've been intermittently working on a new home for my web site.
Some time ago my elder daughter looked at this site and said, "Dad, your blog looks so 2010."
Well, I certainly wouldn't want to look so old-fashioned.
The new site is a bit different, though it's hard to make a basic blog look much like anything other than a basic blog. I got the blog posts migrated over the weekend, which was lots of fun since there are 500+, believe it or not. There are still more broken links than I would like, but I think it's good enough to move.
The new site should be a lot more phone-friendly, which is a bonus.
At some point in the next couple of days I will redirect GaryCorby.com to the new home. Everything else will happen auto-magically.
As Nico would say, "Of course it will work. What could possibly go wrong?"
Showing posts with label Uh oh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uh oh. Show all posts
Don't let the bedbugs bite!
In addition to deep and profound philosophy, classical Athens also scores in a slightly more prosaic subject: the earliest documented mention of bedbugs comes from them. It's in a play called The Clouds, written by Aristophanes.
In it, no less than Socrates is instructing a young man named Strepsiades. Socrates asks his student what deep thoughts he is thinking. Strespiades replies, "Whether there'll be anything left of me after the bedbugs have finished chewing."
In it, no less than Socrates is instructing a young man named Strepsiades. Socrates asks his student what deep thoughts he is thinking. Strespiades replies, "Whether there'll be anything left of me after the bedbugs have finished chewing."
Public service announcement: how to kill someone by anal impalement
A few years ago I achieved minor internet infamy by writing about how to kill someone by anal impalement. It was an ancient form of execution used by the Hittites and Persians.
Soho Press have picked up the original post as part of their own blog. So if you missed it the first time, then here is the step-by-step guide.
Soho Press have picked up the original post as part of their own blog. So if you missed it the first time, then here is the step-by-step guide.
Book bag FAIL: that was a close call.
I am returned from a fan convention in Washington, a trip to my dear publisher Soho in New York, and a stock signing at the ever-friendly Mysterious Bookshop. Many wonderful and exciting things happened in the last two weeks, but here I'll mention something that happened at the very end.
I acquired a few books while I traveled, as you might imagine. Here is the state of my book bag when I picked it off the carousel at Sydney airport.
If that last little piece of fabric had failed, all the books would have been scattered across three airports and two continents.
The Push-Me-Pull-You Conundrum
I've faced some tough questions in my time, but none tougher than this one from my younger daughter...
How does a Push-Me-Pull-You go to the toilet?
Ancient Greek toilets
There was no such thing as a flushing toilet in Ancient Greece. Remarkably, there was a flushing toilet 1,200 years before that, at the Palace of Knossos, in Minoan times, and it's the oldest known flushing toilet in Europe. It probably worked by having a slave pour buckets of water into the drain.
But in Classical times, when Nico and Diotima are at work, they had no plumbing into the home. All water was carried in from public fountains, and that was intended for drinking and washing. If you needed to go to the toilet, well, that was what the chamber pot was for.
If you lived in the city, then the bad news was that there was no garbage collection service. There was however a drain that ran down the middle of every street. That's where the contents of the chamber pot went. I've made use of this fun fact without any mercy for Nico. Whenever he gets knocked down in a street fight, he invariably goes straight into that drain.
In fact we can be quite certain that's where the waste went, because eventually the Athenians passed a law forbidding citizens to dump their waste in the street. The same law created the world's first public landfill site outside the city walls (another first for Athens!) and required all rubbish to be dumped no closer than that. However this all happened in 400BC, sixty years too late to save Nico from going into the poo.
Now as to the delicate problem of a world without toilet paper...you won't be surprised to hear that this is not a well-documented subject. The Romans famously used a sponge tied to the end of a stick. The Greeks might have used a sponge too, when one came to hand. But there's evidence to suggest that a handful of clay was more common. An interesting alternative was the leaves of vegetables such as leeks.
I must mention in passing that in the absence of washing powder, the next best thing to keep your clothes clean is urine. (It's acidic.) They actually had collection jars to store it in.
But in Classical times, when Nico and Diotima are at work, they had no plumbing into the home. All water was carried in from public fountains, and that was intended for drinking and washing. If you needed to go to the toilet, well, that was what the chamber pot was for.
If you lived in the city, then the bad news was that there was no garbage collection service. There was however a drain that ran down the middle of every street. That's where the contents of the chamber pot went. I've made use of this fun fact without any mercy for Nico. Whenever he gets knocked down in a street fight, he invariably goes straight into that drain.
In fact we can be quite certain that's where the waste went, because eventually the Athenians passed a law forbidding citizens to dump their waste in the street. The same law created the world's first public landfill site outside the city walls (another first for Athens!) and required all rubbish to be dumped no closer than that. However this all happened in 400BC, sixty years too late to save Nico from going into the poo.
Now as to the delicate problem of a world without toilet paper...you won't be surprised to hear that this is not a well-documented subject. The Romans famously used a sponge tied to the end of a stick. The Greeks might have used a sponge too, when one came to hand. But there's evidence to suggest that a handful of clay was more common. An interesting alternative was the leaves of vegetables such as leeks.
I must mention in passing that in the absence of washing powder, the next best thing to keep your clothes clean is urine. (It's acidic.) They actually had collection jars to store it in.
A change is as good as a holiday
I've given the blog its first makeover in more than a year, in honour of The Ionia Sanction releasing tomorrow. (Tomorrow! OMG!)
If you'd been watching, you'd have seen the background texture, colour, intensity, and brightness, and the header text and the picture of Nico and Diotima change about every 30 seconds for the last four hours as I struggled to get everything bedded in. Sorry about that.
I think we're more or less stable now, but do please let me know if anything isn't working for you.
Next up, Ionia Sanction gets its very own page tab, and I remember when it was only a few lines of text on my PC. How the time flies.
If you'd been watching, you'd have seen the background texture, colour, intensity, and brightness, and the header text and the picture of Nico and Diotima change about every 30 seconds for the last four hours as I struggled to get everything bedded in. Sorry about that.
I think we're more or less stable now, but do please let me know if anything isn't working for you.
Next up, Ionia Sanction gets its very own page tab, and I remember when it was only a few lines of text on my PC. How the time flies.
Dead mice
If stoneware containers full of dead mice are your thing, head on over to Kari Dell's Montana For Real. Kari is an agent-sister of mine and writes about life on a ranch.
I think I'll consider that a companion post to go with my previous effort on mouse cuisine.
I think I'll consider that a companion post to go with my previous effort on mouse cuisine.
When archaeology and art collide
Okay, how's this for weird...the erudite and always interesting RogueClassicist has just posted on his blog that archaeologists this month have made a new discovery at the sanctuary at Vravrona. They've uncovered -- at an unexpected spot -- wooden votive statues, a pair of fine sandals, and other bibs and bobs.
Not such a big deal, you might think.
But Vravrona is the modern name for ancient Brauron. And the sanctuary at Brauron is the setting for my fourth book.
These guys are digging up my murder scene.
OMG. If they find anything that destroys my plot, I'll have to insist they bury it again.
Not such a big deal, you might think.
But Vravrona is the modern name for ancient Brauron. And the sanctuary at Brauron is the setting for my fourth book.
These guys are digging up my murder scene.
OMG. If they find anything that destroys my plot, I'll have to insist they bury it again.
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