05-09-2003, 02:58 PM | #1 | |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ilha Formosa
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Medieval Studies are Useless
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Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them? "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals."- Winston Churchill |
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05-09-2003, 03:14 PM | #2 | |
The Buddy Rabbit
Join Date: Oct 2002
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Re: Medieval Studies are Useless
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05-09-2003, 03:28 PM | #3 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Oxford, MS
Posts: 274
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And this guy is your education secretary? uggghhhh, my brain is exploding.
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05-09-2003, 03:36 PM | #4 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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I doubt it's his, as according to GrayMouser's location, he lives in Portugal, whereas Charles Clarke is not a very Portuguese name. Where is he from?
Oh, and by the way - Boo, down with Clarke! I'm gonna stand with Tolkien: "Stick to number crunching!" On a somewhat related topic: I've been considering writing a novel set in the Medieval days, probably c. 1000 A. D. Does anyone know where I could find resources for this? By the way, hoping you'll read this, GrayMouser: I think I sent you a PM a while back, but never got a reply. When you mentioned Charles William's being involved in the occult, what definition were you using? Devil-worship? High magic? "Christian mysticism"?
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle Last edited by Gwaimir Windgem : 05-09-2003 at 03:38 PM. |
05-09-2003, 03:49 PM | #5 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Oxford, MS
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Gwaimir, there are huge numbers of resources you could find on that time period. Your local library should be full of books on the subject. Specifically, though, you might want to check out a book by Lacey Robert called The Year 1000: What Life was Like at the End of the Last Millennium. It was written to compare and contrast the turn of the last millennium with the Y2K craziness. I haven't read it myself, but I remember it being in the news at the time.
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05-09-2003, 03:54 PM | #6 |
Sapling
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Posts: 10
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Quite an outrage. I'm a lover of the medieval period. Period.
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Wir Deutschen fuertschen Gott und sonst nicht auf der Welt We Germans fear God and nothing else in the whole World. |
05-09-2003, 04:04 PM | #7 |
Banned
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*stands on soap box, clears voice*
I'd like to mention that research for the laser was almost not approved because there were no practical uses for it at the time it was proposed, nor could it be marketable to the public for any reasonable price or purpose. However, it was finally funded. Research for the Bose-Einstein Condensate is currently ongoing. There are no practical uses for it as of yet, and the cost of this research is very expensive. None of this has to do with the study of history. But I do have a point. Knowledge for the sake of knowing should never be dismissed as impractical or frivolous. Just because it can not be shown to have an immediate practical use or value, doesn't mean that it does not or will not benefit mankind in some way. Pursuing knowledge for the sake of knowledge is the only true education that a person can obtain. It can not be quantified or qualified by state standardized achievement tests nor by the misguided misconceptions of ignorant politicians. Politicians like to valuate things they have no experience with or knowledge of. I doubt that Charles Clarke was ever an educator or researcher before he put his hand to education as the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for parliament. He is most likely looking to cut costs by cutting educational spending, much like what goes on in the United States. He'll think it's scoring him a few Brownie points with the voters so he can get reelected. That's what happens here. And it pains me to listen to the pretensions of politicians who claim to be "working in the best interests of the voters."Unfortunately, those that suffer most are the students. ooh... work day is nearly done... goin' for beer soon. *does arm pull movement* Yessssss. |
05-09-2003, 04:47 PM | #8 |
Elf Lord
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*claps hands loudly, notices that i am the only one doing so* very well said!
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The only thing active about me is my imagination! |
05-09-2003, 07:09 PM | #9 |
The Fleet-Footed
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: British Columbia
Posts: 913
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What a ridiculous thing to say about history! Where does he get off saying any time in history is useless and ornamental? I happen to love the Middle Ages, and there is so much important stuff that happened then (ie Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England in 1066, etc.). I think that's also a very insensitive and ignorant thing to say.
To him I would say, look at the quotation in my sig. (by Cicero)!!!
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Jesus saved me "To remain ignorant of things that happened before you were born is to remain a child" (Cicero, 106-43 B.C.) "Art is a lie which makes us realize the truth" (Picasso) Last edited by Shadowfax : 05-09-2003 at 07:10 PM. |
05-09-2003, 09:58 PM | #10 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Here, here, Ru!
You know, I was just thinking of the line in your sig in regards to this question, Shadowfax. VERY fitting.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
05-09-2003, 09:59 PM | #11 |
Alasailon
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: college
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People just shouldn't talk about what they don't understand. He can be excused because of his ignorance . . . Wait no he can't . . .
KILL KILL KILL
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05-09-2003, 10:22 PM | #12 |
Banned
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*rereads post and wonders if I should have explained what the Bose-Einstein Condensate project is*
................nah. |
05-09-2003, 10:36 PM | #13 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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I wondered a bit about that....but I figured it didn't matter.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
05-09-2003, 10:37 PM | #14 | |
Banned
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Quote:
Last edited by Ruinel : 05-09-2003 at 10:41 PM. |
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05-09-2003, 11:36 PM | #15 |
Long lost mooter
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Florida
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Great post, Ruinel! (You know, the one up there ^ .)
"Useless" knowledge is the best kind, IMO! Look where all of that applicable stuff has gotten us! (Okay, I'll admit I like having a dishwasher, but you get my main point! ) I took Medieval history in college as an elective. I loved that class but it was challenging in that there was so much info to remember. We took a field trip to a working monastary, which was cool. I also got to learn all about different kinds of swords and weaponry (the prof's friend was an expert of sorts who came and spoke to the class). |
05-09-2003, 11:43 PM | #16 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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One of my dreams has been to visit a monastery. Do the inhabitants still call themselves "monks"? I would think so, but I've never heard the term "monk" used to refer to the European type in a post-medieval setting, which generates my uncertainty.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
05-10-2003, 05:27 AM | #17 |
Sapling
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Yes- in Europe the terms 'Monk' and 'Canon', 'Nun' etc are all still used.
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Wir Deutschen fuertschen Gott und sonst nicht auf der Welt We Germans fear God and nothing else in the whole World. |
05-10-2003, 11:28 AM | #18 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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I knew Canon and Nun, just wasn't sure about Monk. Thanks.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
05-11-2003, 02:11 AM | #19 | |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Quote:
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
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05-11-2003, 02:47 AM | #20 | |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ilha Formosa
Posts: 2,068
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Quote:
And, sorry, I should have indicated that that was the British Secretary of Education. Of all countries... you'd think he'd appreciate the tourism value alone, nevermind that the birth of modern economics and statistics would hardly have happened without the study of parish records and other evidence from British history back to the Conquest. BTW, while "Ilha Formosa" is Portuguese language, it was the name the early Portuguese navigators gave to Taiwan, which is my adopted home (I'm originally Canadian.) It means "the Beautiful Isle", and while most of it is over-populated, grossly polluted, and currently menaced by SARS, the bit where I live still lives up to that name. Sunday afternoon here, which means time to take the kids to the beach. Bye for now
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Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them? "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals."- Winston Churchill |
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