in other important news...

the other day i watched a, like, 3 hour program on the history channel about the plague. let me tell you all about it. educate yourself. (for those unaware, that's a line from Lilo and Stitch) So, when we say plague, we're talking about the black death of 1347-1350, during which time approximately one-half on the entire population of europe died. in only three years. (the previous estimate was 34 million, 1/3 of the popluation, but has since been increased to 50%) the name black death is derived from the bubonic plague, as the skin would blacken from hemmoraging. the bubonic plague was the result of the living conditions of the time, which were very inviting for rats. the fleas on the rats carried the disease, and the rats were everywhere. The plague spread from the middle east across the meditterean, up through europe to england, over to scandinavian, and finally russia. (there is evidence of asian outbreaks as well at this time) however, because the plague spread so extremely quickly, it is also thought there was pneumonic plague, which could be spread on the air by coughing. it described how it was an extremely terrifying time, becuase you knew it was coming and there was no avoiding it. people would here how 70% of the people in the next village over had just died, and they were next.

the plague had a unique effect on history. some things of note. during the time in germany, a group emerged called the flagellants, a deeply religious group who thought they could stop the plague by appeasing god through atonement. they travelled the countryside whipping themsleves in reenactments of the passion of the christ. this group, however, decided jews were to blame, and began persecuting and killing any they came across. jews fled from germany. interestingly, the polish king was in love with a jewish girl, and he welcomed and invited the jewish people to poland. - - go ahead, make the historical leap, i'll wait..... good!

the plague also essentially brought about the renaissance. people had a massive dose of mortality-reality check, and it brought about a "live for the moment" philosophy and the greatest outburst of intellectual, artistic, and scientific discovery the world has ever seen... its kind of amazing to see the perseverance of the human race... and just how we can recover from such a thing. let's hope history doesn't repeat itself....

when i was in vienna in high school, we went to the large cathedral in town. my dad and i went into the catacombs under the church- creepy! where they had plague victims. whole rooms of body parts, a room of arm bones, a room of skulls... etc.

(my dad and i were joking, why did they seperate them? to count the victims and compare? i'd hate to be the guy that got the finger bone room - that's ten time more work!) : )