No city has been involuntarily dissolved in California. But there have been examples elsewhere.

The tiny town of New Rome, Ohio, was involuntarily disincorporated six years ago, amid accusations that it was just a money-making speed trap masquerading as a city.

The ‘Old’ Rome in Italy originally started as some guys extracting tolls from ships travelling on the Tiber. I hope the ‘New Rome’ bandits were thinking of this when they incorporated their little speed-trap fief. But I’m not too optimistic.

For those baby picture junkies out there, check out my flickr site for all the latest photos.

I thoroughly enjoyed Norwich’s ‘A Short History of Byzantium’, so I thought I’d pick this one up for a little light reading. I will, unfortunately, not be travelling down to the Mediterranean this year due to having a new baby, so reading about the bloody history of Mare Nostrum seemed like an enjoyable way to compensate.

The book touches on all the big players – Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Normans, Turks, Ventians, and the English. What I found fascinating was the changing importance of the sea – it started as a perfect place for civilization to flourish, was the pivot of the world for a good bit of history, became a bloody battleground between East and West, turned backwater as the Atlantic and the Americas were opened, and is now a place were germans and english get amazing sunburns. Although that last part was left out of the book.

I was especially fascinated by the history of Venice – I must admit that I was ignorant of the importance that the most Serene Republic had on world events for the last Millenium, due to Venice turning into a soggy, smelly Disneyland in the latter half of the 20th century. Luckily Norwich appears to have written an entire book on just this subject, which I will pick up before I (finally) visit the city.

The Med is actually the perfect place for me to vacation. I can get up in the morning, enjoy a warm (but not stinking, texas style humid) breeze, have an espresso (which gets better the closer you get to the sea) and go see an ancient church or medieval walled city or a leathered, Italian victim of extreme plastic surgery. In the afternoon I can join the aforementioned sunburned brits at the beach, where I can drink a beer and then swim in the clear blue water. I can then enjoy a good seafood dinner while staring in frank astonishment at the british and their sunburns. It’s like they figure ‘Well I only get sun once a year, so might as well live it up, yeah?”.

After the record heat wave this summer, Russia’s weather seems to have acquired a taste for the extreme.

Forecasters say this winter could be the coldest Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years.

The change is reportedly connected with the speed of the Gulf Stream, which has shrunk in half in just the last couple of years. Polish scientists say that it means the stream will not be able to compensate for the cold from the Arctic winds. According to them, when the stream is completely stopped, a new Ice Age will begin in Europe.

This story just depresses me. I need to move somewhere warm.

- Oktoberfest 2010: very similar to Oktoberfest 2005. Too much beer. Chicken. Pictures on my camera, featuring busty women, that I don’t remember. I like change, but sometimes I like when things stay the same.

- Baby: healthy. Growing. Eye color is mysterious. General mood is happy, accentuated by bouts of fussiness.

- Car: Mysteriously endowed with a chrome Bevo symbol. And i’m not the only car in my Prague neighborhood sporting Bevo! I love that. Texas rocks.

Lost was probably the best show ever. The end of the third season, when they introduced the flashforward, was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen on television. Yes, even better than the Conan O’Brien Simpsons episodes (yes, yes, Heresy! I know.)

I’m a little annoyed the ending wasn’t more sci-fi-y. But ultimately I think the show was about the characters and their relationships to one another. And the creators ended that beautifully. Fully revealing everything would have left most of the viewers annoyed that their pet theory wasn’t right. Resolving the characters themselves is something that the viewer can’t argue with, and can only enjoy.

So it was sappy. And it left me confused and annoyed. But happy. What a badass show.

This post should be more accurately titled ‘What I Read Last Week’. Andyway, I didn’t realize this was the second part in a trilogy until the rather abrupt ending. But this is a badass book – not quite as good as Imperium (part 1) in my opinion, but still strong stuff.

Lustrum covers the life of Marcus Tullis Cicero from the start of his Consulship through his exile from Rome. The great thing about Rome is that the folks left so much primary source material laying around. The author managers to weave Cicero’s famous historical speeches throughout the narritive and giving them context that is lost in a boring Classics class.

And that’s ultimately why I enjoy European history, especially the classical variety. The people and their machiavellian schemes and personalities are instantly recognizable in a way that leaves, for example, Chinese, Persian, or Arab histories severely lacking. I think Indian history might have some of it, but I haven’t made enough effort there.

I also like to visit places that I read about, and my digestive system quivers in fear at the thought of eating street food in Calcutta.

So Nick has a car, which significantly cuts down on the amount of time he spends on trams, metros, and other public transport environments. This means less reading of books, magazines, and the emotional state of street hobos. So Nick has been listening to music!

Specifically I’ve been listening to old music. My new car doesn’t like my old iPod; I have to wait for a special cable to make the modern wonder cough up some tunes. On the CD front, I don’t think i’ve legally purchased an album since 2001. This leaves me with a bunch of Aerosmith, Santana, and Foo Fighters songs to rock along with during my traffic-addled journey home.

And guess what? Foo Fighters are a bit boring. Santana is old hat. Even the original Weezer felt a bit too much like a pale rehash of ninth grade. But in the battle between Czech talk radio and Third Eye Blind, paleo-Emo wins every time.

Except I found an album that rocks! Yes, Weezer’s Pinkerton is shockingly great. And it’s one that I hated when I was a kid, mostly because it wasn’t the Blue Album. I don’t think that i’ve changed very much since I was 15 – maybe some additional body hair and fat deposits. But how could I actually change my mind about a specific album? I have no idea.

Needless to say, the Green Album is still a dopey, disappointing follow up to Pinkerton. I’m pretty sure I won’t be enjoying that one until I’m spending most of my day in a nursing home and inhaling horse tranquilizers.