The Boswell crest: a hooded hawk, with the motto Vraye Foy

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Posts by boz

Benjamin Banneker of Ellicott Mills

·Books, History

I read an entry on Benjamin Banneker from the book, “The Freedmen’s Book” (1865). This entry is about a man born in Ellicott City (then Ellicott Mills), MD in 1732. He built the first clock in America, after only having seen a watch. Then taught himself astronomy and developed an Almanac (again, first in the country):

“When he was fifty-nine years old, he made an Almanac. It is a very difficult job to calculate all about the changes of the moon, and the rising and ebbing of the tides, and at what time the sun will rise and set every day, all the year round; and it was a much more difficult task then than it is now; because now there is a great improvement in astronomical books and instruments.”

I so would have liked to meet him!

Many other passages in the above book are great; I just started reading it…

I found the above after reading a letter sent by a former slave, on the Letters of Note blog. These interWebs are just great for finding information you didn’t even know you were interested in!

All you ever wanted to know about Roman Toilets

·Archaeology, Books, General


I have to admit that from an engineering standpoint I have been interested in finding out how toilets worked in ancient Rome. However, not so interested that I actually did any research past a quick search on google.

Then I received an email from the American Journal of Archaeology, and took a look at the online book reviews. This one stood out:

Roman Toilets: Their Archaeology and Cultural History
Gemma C.M. Jansen, Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, and Eric M. Moormann, eds.
Reviewed by Eric Poehler

…What emerges from a full reading of Roman Toilets is the clearest and most detailed picture to date of the Roman experience of urinating and defecating in both public and private contexts. First, as objects of archaeological and architectural interest, the individual toilet (latrina) and multiseat latrine (forica) are described in exhaustive (and sometimes exquisite) detail…

The book (Roman Toilets: Their Archaeology and Cultural History) is a steal at $98.00 and is available on Amazon.com. I put it on my wishlist. :)

Preston’s first Riding Lesson

·Family, Kids

We recently went to a local charity event (horse show) and Preston rode a pony (many times; “Again!”). So, we took him to the local stable (they had been at the event) to check things out. This weekend he had his first real lesson, on a nice, big horse! He loved it; steered the horse himself, trotted, used proper hand position on the reins, etc. Initially the horse was on a lead (held by instructor), but later during the lesson the instructor let the horse free, so Preston navigated cones, etc. himself. The instructor was always right nearby, pointing out the direction Preston should go. It was wonderful to see him so happy, and to take to riding so quickly (I think I was 11 when I had my first lesson; Preston is just shy of 6). He kept asking the instructor when they could gallop. Great instructor, horse, venue. Wonderful afternoon. :)

Hugh Laurie at Ram’s Head

·Entertainment, Food and Wine, Music

Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band played at Ram’s Head On Stage in Annapolis tonight. Fantastic blues show. Hugh Laurie is quite the showman, and an accomplished pianist and singer! I enjoyed the intros he gave to most of the songs, and the great rapport he had with the audience. Had a great time. Started the night off at Lemongrass restaurant (up the street) with a delicious chicken Red Curry. Genius Stout and Copperhead ale at Ram’s Head rounded it off. Delicious food and then wonderful music; great evening.

Board Game: Eclipse full game

·Board Games, Entertainment, Games

[Update 7/19/2012]
Another full game of Eclipse last night, this time 4 players (Steve[Planta], Dave[Hydran], George[Orion] and me[Mechanema].

I did the opposite of last game, and cut a path right across the board, bisecting it in two. I was able to get some alien tech (ion missiles) by battling an ancient hex. I upgraded my cruisers and attacked the center hex. I was able to conquer the center hex with my upgraded cruisers. That gave me another tile with something like +9 mineral resource.

Alliances were made with Hydra and Planta, so I attacked Orion. But Orion upgraded ships bigtime, and came back at me. Even with my battles, I failed to get good VP tiles (lots of “1”s!). I even had enough resources to build a monolith. As I was now exposed to everyone, Planta and Hydra (in that order) broke alliances with me and attacked (that hex with monolith and 3VP was tempting).

By turn 8 I think I was just on 3 little isolated hexes with no ships built, and no way to get resources to build them. I think I had previously brought Orion down to just a few hexes via battles, but he was wise enough to keep resources to rebuild. In the end I had only 13 victory points, and most of those were the chips won via battles (9 pts). I had researched almost nothing, so no VP from those. I think Hydra had researched ALL rows of tech so got like 15 VP just for those.

Turns out I pretty much played a similar strategy as Dave had done last game (with the yellow alien) in that I expanded (for me it was via battles mostly) but then lost all the territory. I will eventually learn. I’m having fun in the meantime. :)

I spent too much time/resources building (deploying) my upgraded ships vs. researching more tech for better weapons. Orion upgraded to a point where he was rolling something like 12 dice to attack with missiles before the regular battles even started! I’ve figured out: don’t let yourself get spread out, and rely on alliances to protect you. Alliances WILL be broken, especially at end game when a nice, juicy monolith is on a 3VP hex. If you build a monolith(s), be sure to be able to protect them, as they will be very attractive points.

I’d like to play Mechanema again, and change my strategy. Then play some different aliens! :) Great time last night, even though by round 8 I was out of the running. Total game time was like 5.5 hours (8p -1:30a). I think the scores were something like Planta: 45, Hydra: 41, Orion 36, and Mechanema: 13.

[Orig post]
We managed to get a full game of Eclipse in last night! 5 players: 2 humans and 3 aliens. Game lasted about 4 hours, and made for a great game night. I ended up “turtling” (blocking myself off from the rest of the galaxy; playing defensively). This is not a good strategy for this game, as many of the victory points are won by participating in battles. I came in (next to) last – I was only in 2 battles, and although I won them, I ended up with the fewest victory points at the end. The yellow alien (Dave) was eliminated in ~round 8 (expanded too a lot, but then lost all the territory). Next time, I will play more aggressively!