Lucretia Borgia

     Long ago, in a far away land called Italy there lived a countess. Lucretia Borgia was a countess best known for poisoning the people around her.
     Her family was from Spain, and contained Popes, a saint, and the model for Machiavelli's Prince. Lucretia was the illegitimate daughter of a Pope. She was well-educated and twice-engaged by the time she was eleven. She eventually married an illegitimate prince in a massive ceremony.
     After a few years the family no longer supported Giovanni (her husband) and forced an annulment. She next married Alfonso of Aragon who is attacked and killed a few years later. Lucretia is devastated and marries for a third time to Alfonso of Ferrara, her final husband. They manage to make a partnership of it and she becomes more respectable.
     When her family fell from grace, Lucretia survived the scandal and became even more respected. All around her, people were falling like flies, but Lucretia made it through everything safely. While she is supposed to be the heartless murderer, it is her brother and father who poisoned the men around Lucretia.
     But why does everyone remember Lucretia Borgia as an evil poisoner? I hadn't ever heard of her brother or father until I decided to look further into her life, instead I'd heard that she was a princess of an Italian principality and a black widow. I recently learned from my brother that she's featured in the Assassin's Creed video game (and follows the stereotype of femme fatale). Where did all the mystery come from? and why doesn't someone debunk the perception?

Just a thought....
Stephie

Gettysburg--A Battle Over Shoes?

     So, in addition to the "Stuff Mom Never Told You" podcast I listen to, I listen to "Stuff You Missed in History Class" and I ran across their Civil War Series. The first episode is about the Battle of Gettysburg.
     Now for anyone who doesn't know, Gettysburg is considered the turning point of the American Civil War. Confederate General Lee had been moving further and further into the North when he came upon the Union Major General Meade near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It is also the battle with the greatest number of casualties in the war. The battle took place July 1-3 in 1863.
     It's kind of funny how it all started; Lee needed shoes for his men and heard there was a stockpile to be had in Gettysburg. The two generals of the Union and Confederacy didn't know where the other was so the entire battle was a coincidence and started because of shoes.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Glasses...

     Lately I've been getting headaches when I read (not fun for someone who loves their books as much as I do), so I decided to make an appointment with the eye doctor. It went well; they've decided that I've got good vision, the only problem is that my eyes work too well together.
     A normal person's eyes sit angled slightly away from each other when they gaze into the distance. Mine don't, they angle slightly toward each other. That'd be okay, but when things get closer your eyes point closer together to meet in the middle on the object. To compensate the lens within the eye tightens or loosens up to focus on the object. Where I start having trouble is that the lens in my eye wants to focus at the same rate as everyone else's eye (over-focusing) while turning in further. This causes eye strain and then headaches the longer I read.
     To help out with this, I have to wear glasses. The glasses help the lenses in my eyes relax to focus at the same point as someone who doesn't have the same "over-cooperation" problem my eyes have. The optometrist explained that the +1.00 on glasses means they force the lens to relax, and the -1.00 makes the eye tighten and focus. I've been wearing reading glasses for about a year now, much shorter than my best friend's fifteen years or my mom's thirty-some years, but now I get to wear them any time I'm reading or focusing on little things, or really anything up close.
     So far, it's helping. I've been on the computer for a couple hours and before that I read my book and I still haven't gotten a headache, whereas without the glasses I'd have a full-fledged, nap-requiring headache. I'm just a little wary about having to carry them around with me and worry about scratching the lenses. Oh, well... I'll figure it out eventually.

Just a thought....
Stephie