I got a freaking free shirt today, thanks to Sports Clubs! Man, nothing like free clothing...it's a shame pants are never given away. After all, I have plenty of shirts, and it's not a huge hassle to buy more. But pants, I could always use another pair of jeans, and this article of clothing is usually more on the expensive side.
Free boxers would also rock.
And taking a cue from Jordan, here are some musical suggestions. Namely, y'all should be listening to Cake and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Stadium Arcadium" by the latter is righteous on so many levels, and I've been grooving to "Comfort Eagle" by the former (admittedly, "Fashion Nugget" is kind of disappointing) Both are satisfying on a level I haven't felt in some time, and they are perfect for both the driving and private scene. If ska is your thing (or stuff that's ska-like), you should listen to Chicken Poodle Soup (I have their CD). They're a local band--they just have that one CD with 8 songs--but I know half the group and they're refreshing to listen to.
Oh! While perusing my old emails, I came across one involing palace eunuchs and court scholars (it was from World History). Interestingly, I ran in across my TA from that class (he had answered the question) later today. Anyway, one intriguing aspect of Chinese history is the conflict between the eunuchs and the scholars.
"Why the conflict Adam, why?"
Well, you see readers:
Emperors often have large numbers of women. These women need guards, but male guards cannot be trusted to not have affairs with the women. As a result, they are castrated as boys; this way, they cannot actually have affairs with the imperial women. In China, this is especially the case (although the Byzantines and Muslims certainly did it as well). Keep in mind the effect that this has in China: The future emperor, as a child, is raised up in the harem, which means that he is surrounded by eunuchs. In turn, when he grows up and becomes emperor, the people who will be physically closest to him will be his women and the eunuchs. The court scholars are somewhat distant from him, because uncastrated men are not allowed into the emperor's private quarters. But because eunuchs do have entrance, they have access to the emperor, so they can talk to him and persuade him to
follow their ideas. So eunuchs tend to have greater access to the emperor,
which makes them powerful.
--(Farmer 2003)
I tried putting it into my own words, but got lazy, so I just copied my TA's helpful response and cited accordingly.
But the moral of the story is that I'm thinking about perhaps trying to use this as my suma thesis topic. However, my concentration is Europe, so I don't know if that'll fly or not. Perhaps something about castration in the Byzantine Empire, but that might be considered more Middle East than Europe.In sum though, I've now devoted my energies into finding a more creative topic. Not that there's anything wrong with my previous ones, but I want to do something really juicey.
