War Theory

This guy in my class has a ...uhh... unique theory about the military.
"If the food in the country tastes bad, then their military is strong."
He says that when the soldiers get back from war, the food served there will not be good. So, if they are used to eating disgusting food, they will not be unhappy about it and will be able to fight in the war better than the soldiers who eat delicious food all the time.
In my opinion, that theory is a pile of bullshit. The definition "delicious" is completely vague and he said "delicious for Japanese people." ...Japanese people aren't in the military of other countries' are they??
He likes to talk about war and foreign countries. Everyday at lunch time, he says "Let's talk about war." He really says that. I'm not kidding! I'm like (here we go again...). It's always the same topic. "What if a war starts between China and America?", "I think Bulgarian soldiers are strong," "Which country do you like?" etc.
When he asked the last question to me, I said, "I can't say which country I like because I don't know every single country in the world and even if I do know, I know just a part of the country. If I actually go there, I may get a completely different impression about the place. I can't decide whether I like the country based on just one aspect." That shut him up. I said," So, which country do you like?" and he said, "I can't decide because...." and he repeated what I said! :-p

DVDs

Yesterday, we rented these DVDs from the rental shop.

My mum and I watched Sicko last night. I did know that not many people in the US had insurance but didn't know that things are this bad. I can't believe so many people get rejected by insurance companies and politicians getting money from them. Some even die because they don't have enough money to pay for operation and/or medication. I wonder if the system changed after this movie was out... I used to think Michael Moore was just a fat ass guy who makes vids about Bush. Now I know he's not. I don't know any Japanese filmmakers who make films that actually has a real message. I look up to people who take action in order to change something. I want to be like that. (Maybe the speech contest is the first step. Hint hint! (Only I haven't finished the script yet!!))

I watched Johnny English today. I thought it was funny like all the other movies with Rowan Atkinson but I wouldn't watch it again. It's the kind of movie that you know the ending. It was nice to have a good laugh, though!
I used to love Mr. Bean and watched every time I caught a cold and had to stay in bed. Rowan Atkinson's hilarious!He was funny in Love Actually even though he appeared just a few minutes!
You can watch all Mr. Bean shows here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrBean

Books

I watched the movie "Creation" the other day. My mum got the DVD from Amazon because she got so excited when she watched it in the air plane to England and found a scene filmed at a place we know in Bradford-on-Avon. The movie is about Darwin when he wrote The Origin of Species. There was drama involved because (according to the movie) Darwin was suffering from hallucination of his dead first daughter. Also his wife (he married his COUSIN!!!???) was so religious that she was disapproving of his theory at the beginning. (she let him publish the book in the end obviously.) This movie made me want try reading the Origin of Species. The book is in my dad's room. Well, he's (kind of) a biologist so it's natural that the book is there.
There's also a famous book by Stephen Hawking. I want to try this book too. I have so many books I want to read and I don't have the time. I will try to read before I go to bed everyday but I get so tired.
I tried reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves which is about punctuation but the vocab was difficult and gave up.

So I started reading this Roald Dahl book yesterday. Filled with short creepy stories... I read a really nice little book by him when I was little. This one is quite different. The stories are really creepy, grotesque, and realistic. Not suitable for small children haha!

Emperors Report: Deocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (244-311) was a Roman Emperor from 20th November 284 to 1st May 305. He was born to a Illryan family of low status (his father and himself are even said to have been a freedman!) but gradually became powerful.

He succeeded in organizing the tax system with a high tax rate, enlarging the army and establishing a well-organized bureaucratic government. However, some of his plans didn't work out well-- his attempt to take care of inflation by controlling prices was ignored and the tetrarchic system (four people governing) was successful only while Diocletianus ruled. He also tried to get rid of Christians which is said to have been bloody did not succeed in destroying the Christian community. (Christianity became the most popular religion from 324.)

He is significant for stabilizing the economy and the military of the huge Roman empire which made the empire to survive for another 100 years.

He decided to step aside from the imperial office because of illness. He was the first person to abdicate from his position voluntarily. It is said that his despair and illness made him commit suicide.