Twitterpated

• 12:29 As much as I hate lobbyists (and believe me, I do), wouldn't they lose most of their power if politicians weren't so greedy? #
• 12:54 When Leno takes back the Late Show, will he have a desk again? I haven't seen any comments on this important issue. #
• 13:22 As I'm sure you all realize, I meant the Tonight Show, not the Late Show. #
• 14:16 Has there been any Leno/Conan slash yet? (Not that I want to see it, mind you.) #
• 14:28 @TarynAria Maybe they actually wanted Sean John "Diddy" Combs. #
• 14:28 Had another
  Sims-related dream, this time involving the characters sorting through letters. #
• 14:29 It's kind of disappointing that the only mail you get in the actual game is bills. But then, I guess that makes it more realistic. #
• 14:30 Animal Crossing was big on sending letters, but there were too many words the system couldn't understand. #
• 14:30 I wonder if the DS and Wii versions of Animal Crossing recognize more words, which would make letter-writing much less tedious. #
• 16:40 @poisonyoulove I'm sure the producers encourage that kind of behavior. #
• 16:40
  @oz_diggs Got my copy of "Three-Headed Elvis Clone" today. Thanks! #
• 18:41 Our society takes stupid people way too seriously. #
• 19:26 @MarzGurlProd Maybe you should reflect upon the non-events of the past few days. #
• 20:50 @gick7 Yeah, when you put it that way, I wish I could get $45 million for NOT hosting a TV show. {g} #
• 20:51 @eehouls He may be homeless, but he knows what's really important in life! :P #
• 20:53 @CGCassimus You're going to listen to someone whose screen name is "JTits83"? #
• 21:45 @NowIsStrange If you win, be sure to ask him if the stuff in Dustin Diamond's book is true! #

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The God of Miles

When I was a lad, even younger than I am now, I used to occasionally look through my mom's old Book of Knowledge. This encyclopedia is still published, but the modern editions are in alphabetical order like you'd expect, while this old edition seemed to have the articles arranged more or less haphazardly. Anyway, the article that particularly interested me was the one on Greco-Roman mythology, which listed not only the famous gods but some of the more obscure ones as well. And of these obscure ones, one that stuck out for me was Terminus, the Roman god of boundaries, who was personified as a head on a milestone. Yes, apparently the Romans worshipped a deity who couldn't even move on his own.


Terminus was an old Roman god, predating the Roman adoption of the Greek gods, but later incorporated into that pantheon rather than abandoned. He represented the power of boundary stones themselves, on which the Romans placed great importance. Seriously, you could get the death penalty for removing one. Terminus also had his own holiday, celebrated on 23 February, during which the boundary markers were drenched in sacrificial blood and crowned with wreaths. I can really only find one actual story about Terminus himself, the gist of which is that Terminus refused to move out of the way for Jupiter when he took over a new temple. There are other references to Terminus actually being an aspect of Jupiter himself.


Terminus actually came to mind at one point while reading the Frank Black Forum, and learning that the online CD database refers to the song "End of Miles" as "God of Miles." I figure that Terminus could be the "god of miles," even though he's really more concerned with boundaries than distances.
End of Miles

Also, I think Terminus might be a good deity for the Minutemen and other people obsessed with the Mexican-American border. Most of these people probably claim to be Christians, but I don't recall Jesus ever saying anything in support of national boundaries. Well, I guess he DID have a preference for his own countrymen, but Paul did all he could to downplay that.