sir_richard_francis_burton
Atticus Sic transit gloria mundi 050217
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Atticus Consensu Omnium es Optimo Maximo 050219
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Atticus 29 Languages and 40 dialects in the course of a single lifetime... none are worthy. 050220
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Cicero Some say he was racist.

But, truly, he despised each race in its own special way.

Including his own. 		050221
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cappy he was on zoloft in the early 80's 050221
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Mister Brightside not the actor...

the author/explorer of the late 19th Century and early 20th 		050222
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Worshipper of Bill Bryson Born: March 19, 1821
Died: October 19, 1890

He travelled alone and in disguise to Mecca, translated The Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, journeyed with John Hanning Speke to discover the great lakes of Africa and the sources of the Nile, visited with Brigham Young in Salt Lake City, Utah, travelled far and wide, and wrote much. He later served as British Consul in Trieste, Damascus, and Fernando Po. He was knighted in 1886. 		050223
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stork daddy just leave him alone. what does it do you to keep pestering him? 050223
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Atticus The world must appreciate the brilliance that was his existence. 050223
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stork daddy the world only appreciates anything by its continued existence. 050223
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Atticus His abilities and his memory live on forever in those that strive for similiar goals. 050223
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stork daddy his great achievment, like shakespeare, like milton - was only a noisy death. what language was his last thought in? it cannot be known. that record has returned to dull dust. 050223
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Atticus His greatest achievement was a life lived in pursuit of purpose. A life spent constantly working while never ceasing to contemplate the truths of this world. Aristotle’s Renaissance man. For all his struggles he was poorly rewarded and hardly remembered. Of the few men in history worthy of the title Great, most would have bled purple to receive 1/4th of his abilities. 050224
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stork daddy i wonder if you understand him. 050224
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Atticus Who could? 050224
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stork daddy that is my point, and it speaks to greatness as a whole.

blessed are they that seek fame above all else for they forsake truth. 		050224
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stork daddy was it buddha or jesus who said "seek not me, seek what i sought" i suppose the point is that it doesn't matter which said it. 050225
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Atticus It is not Burton I seek but the lessons of his life. I push his biography that others may become aware and strive for similiar things. Would you have the Great men of the past forgotten? 050225
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Em yes! great men of the past are forgotten! 050225
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stork daddy they are forgotten every moment we live beyond them. 050225
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neff so... all the more reason to preserve their memories, no?

never heard of this guy, by the way 		050225
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Atticus And people wonder why the only thing we learn from the past is that nobody learns from the past.

"Those that do not remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them" But I add, those that forget the acheivments of the past cannot advance beyond them. 		050225
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stork daddy sometimes forgetting a past achievment is the exact way to move beyond it. especially where that past achievment was in the wrong direction. accepting the theory of evolution involves a great forgetting of the past achievment of a creation myth. 050225
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stork daddy this isn't to say modern achievments do not build on past ones, but rather that the past ones do not always NEED to be remembered. i actually don't know why i'm giving you so much trouble about this. just for shits and giggles i guess. of course instructive lives should be remembered. for their instruction. 050225
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Ft LoT A better example would be Aristotle, who was such an imposing figure in science, that no one would elaborate or contradict any of his discoveries for 1800 years. 050225
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stork daddy that does speak to the point clearly. 050225
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Atticus But it doesn't mean Burton (or similiar/greater men) shouldn't be remembered and discussed for the things which they strived for/acheived... or failed at as the case may be.

Also, remember that Aristotle was eventually contradicted and eleborated upon but that doesn't and didn't take away from his greatness. 		050226
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realistic optimist sage_francis 050226
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stork daddy no, but it does involve a degree of not deferring to it. 050226
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Atticus Yes, but in what way am I using Burton as an end-all-beat-all of deferment? The point behind using Burton on this page was to bring attention to a mostly forgotten man from history. He possesed skills and ambitions that all would/should have or at least desire towards. 050226
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stork daddy being decidedly anti-skill, talent and ambition, i feel he is only worth remembering as an instruction in how not to live. 050227
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