"How do you like it here?" asked the grandson. "It's wonderful! Everyone here is so courteous and respectful," answered grandpa. "We're so happy for you," said the Grandson. "We were worried that this was the wrong place for you, since you're a little different from everyone."
"Oh, no! Let me tell you about how wonderfully they treat the residents here," Abdullah said, with a big smile on his face. "There's a musician here--he's 85 years old. He hasn't played the violin in 20 years, and everyone still calls him Maestro! There is a judge in here--he's 90 years old. He hasn't been on the bench in 25 years, and everyone still calls him Your Honor! There's a dentist here too--95 years old. He hasn't fixed a tooth for 30 years, and everyone still calls him Doctor!"
"And Me--I haven't had sex for 35 years, and they still call me The Fucking Arab."
[apologies for the racism; if it's any consolation, am partly arab, so, yeah--just trying to laugh at myself whenever I can... cheers.]
The concepts and strategies of sieges and defences has always been of interest to me since I can remember. I mean what kid wouldn’t think that large siege works, trebuchets, and brave men scaling great walls is pretty darn interesting. However, following the remarkable technological shifts that came with gun powder weapons, there seems to have been a rather inverse relation with the defence technology. With in a few generations the large and complex stone fortress defences that had been in favour since the late Roman period seemed to have fallen out of fashion for simplistic mounds of dirt and wood.
As much as I have read about these defence systems, I always come up short with how to imagine them in my head. Are there any living examples of these defence lines? Perhaps historically accurate reproductions? I would love to fill this mental gap with something accurate.
Thanks in advance!
