Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 15:29:31 -0700
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Arden 45

Arden
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


45:  Technology Continued

1319, 7th month, 7th day.

Our ambassador arrived from Constantinople along with the merchant
Agoustus.  He brought much fine cloth for the brides and others.  Lyuben is
now staying in the castle with his mentor.  His military training is much
advanced for his age and he already has gained a second rank in the
Argoanuts.  I know he is being closely watched by many, including Corrado
and a number of knights with young daughters who will be of age when he is.
I could see the Agoustus are most impressed with him since entering their
service, just a year and a few months ago.  He is much taller and his
shoulders are wide and with massive muscles for one his age.  I am sure the
sculptors will be looking to him as a model in the near future.  Now that
he lives with us we will soon enjoy this new body on our family bath
nights.

The Ambassador also brought a letter from one of the young nobles we met,
asking to be considered for admission to the university.  The ambassador
thought well of him and recommended he be accepted.


1319, 7th month, 10th day:

The ingegneres have just completed a new water project at the castle.  It
was none to soon either.  This summer has been much hotter then usual and
we have had little rain.  The palace gardens have been suffering.  They had
installed three large Archimedes Screws on the shore of the lake.  These
screws move water from the lake into large, wooden tanks that feed into
smaller, wooden pipes.  That water is then directed to different parts of
the gardens.  The screws are driven by donkeys that walk in a circle.
These wooden pipes feed smaller, wooden pipes, going from one to six and
six to twelve.  From the twelve the water is carried in 24 unglazed
terra-cotta pipes that are between the rows in the garden.  These clay
pipes are laid on the ground and covered with soil.  Most of the wooden
pipes are covered with straw.  Each successive set of pipes, as is the main
and tank, is fitted with a gate that controls the flow of water.  The tanks
are filled four times in 24 hours unless it rains.  By keeping the tanks
covered and being more tall than round and having all the pipes covered,
less water is lost to the sun.

Irrigation and the screw are not new to us.  What is new is the size and
the use of wooden pipes as well as covering them and the terra-cotta pipes.
The ingegneres want as much water as possible to reach the plants being
cultivated.  It is fortunate that we have a ready source of pitch, found
not to far from Koalhurst.  The gardeners tell me that consistent water, to
most vegetable plants, is better than lots of water and then none.  Older
irritation methods are much less consistent.  It is also a matter of
conserving our efforts and resources.  This new method requires less energy
and effort to deliver the water, fewer workers to maintain it, better use
of the water, the resource, so less is required.

We have been moving water through canals and pipes since records have been
kept, probably before that.  Water, not from wells, to the city and many
towns and of course the castle, comes through pipes and covered canals.  It
is captured up stream from the sea and directed where needed, often
powering mills on its way.  We know that if the level of the source lake or
stream, the elevation, is greater than the sea, the water in the pipes
flowing from it can reach that elevation even leagues away; as long as it
is confined to a pipe or tube over its travel distance.

The castle operates on water from a mountain lake and is brought in a
covered canal to a level just higher than the castle tallest structure.  It
moves trough a tube to large tanks.  The tanks have many pipes running from
them, bringing water to any place in the castle complex it is needed.

Our ingegneres are working on something they call a pump or ships pump, in
Dutch.  For small boats like the Princess Class and smaller, we bail water
out by hand.  In the larger Prince Class we use an Archimedes Screw that is
powered by a small wind mill, fixed to the side of the ship or by turning a
hand crank.  This is to remove the water that collects in the bilge, below
the lowest deck and hull.  These small wind mills were taken from the
Persians centuries ago.  They are a series of vertical fins or sails, fixed
to a table like structure, that turns a vertical shaft.  When pumping is
not needed or the wind does not blow or in battle, the table and vertical
fins are taken down.

The new screws behind the castle could be driven by the wind, except the
castle often blocks it.


1319, 7th month, 11th day,

These past days have been unusually hot and the breezes have been from the
land and very dry.  I find the only true respite is swimming in the lake or
in our baths.  The massive stone walls of the castle keep them cooler then
mid day heat and pleasant in the cool of the night.  Everyone except the
ladies have abandoned tunics and we ware only short, light, cotton and
linen kilts.  When outside and not in the shade, we all have large hats
made of straw or reads.

One of the optical guild masters stopped us as we walked from the
university to the castle.  He showed us spectacles that are made of colored
glass.  The glass is the same quality as special lenses but with no optical
correction.  The color is gray.  The lenses are larger then regular
spectacles but are thinner, as they are flat and not curved.  I liked them
very much, so did the others.  They had the effect of greatly reducing the
brightness of the sun and I did not need to squint so much.  My eyes, as
are Volos' and Iason's are quite wide apart, Heron has a very large nose so
we would need different frames from the standard, which the maker promised
to have ready for us by the next day.

At first he wanted to gift them to us but we refused and insisted we pay a
fair price.  He asked 1/8 gold piece which we quickly paid.  He measured us
with wide eyes or big nose.  I am sure he feels if the Princes of Parga
ware these sun specialties, all will want them.  Of that I am not so sure
but perhaps many will.

Spectacles made from gray quarts have been used in the past and still, I
suspect, in some places, to hide the eyes of judges from the witnesses they
are interrogating.  We know this from both Rome and China.  It is also said
Nero viewed sports through polished gems.  I would think the gray quartz
lenses would do a good job of this and of blocking the sun's glare and
strongness.  They would be costly, as gray quartz of the size needed would
be rear.  I do not believe any exists in Parga of the size and clarity
needed.  I am told that some rocks from volcanos are glass like and appear
black when in large masses but if cut and polished are gray and also would
make good colored spectacles.  No one makes them due to the cost and
difficulties of working with these rocks.

Our glass and spectacles makers, can and do, produce leases of exceptional
clarity.  Spectacles are not rare and while not cheep, they are affordable
for those who need and want.  I think if these sun-spectacles can be held
on my head with a thin piece of leather, I will be able to ware them while
running.  Once all of us men have them our boys will not be long in the
wanting.  They are determined to be as much like us as is possible.

Some ancient writers have asked which is more important, for the king to be
love or feared.  I know the princes of Parga are loved and I am sure the
king.  I understand that he is not so much feared, as respected.  The
citizens of Parga want four basic things: peace, order, fair and efficent
government.  That seams what they have and is what we are being prepared to
deliver.  They also know, should it be required, the king can and will act
to deliver.

This extremely warm weather has produced some most interesting behavior in
all of us.  I think it must relate to the contrast between the heat of the
day and comparative coolness of the nights.  The level of sexual activity,
between all knights of the phallus in our family, is extremely high.  This
is demonstrated by all of us from youngest to oldest, in what seams as
continuous rounds of fucking.

Since we are most always naked or nearly so, in our apartments and the
baths extreme heat or no, some other explanation need be found.  I think it
must be this contrast.  Perhaps the extreme heat, which saps our strength,
allows us to build up both desire and ardor for the cooler time.  What ever
it is I am not to complain and I hear none from my companions, short of
complaints relating to their short fall in performance.

This is true for our women as well.  We see much interaction between the
sexes on a sexual level as with men.  Fortunately some rather effective
methods of pregnancy control seems to be available to them, so interactions
between us and them is also more possible.


1319, 7th month, day 13:

All of this extra sexual activity has prompted Father Georgio to visit us.
Apparently this increase has not been confined to the castle.  He is
greatly concerned at what he calls, displays of public immorality.  The
local church was much concerned.  The Christians have some rather strange
views about these things.  They seem to want the state to control the
behavior of everyone, even in the family, in their homes.  I find it
acceptable for them to set rules for themselves.  If they wish to forbid
their monks, over the age 20, from group masturbation so be it.  If they
wish to punish their believers for doing that which is natural, god given,
that is their business.

When I look at all the rules they wish to impose, they are little more than
trying to force everyone into behaving as they, from there priestly
pedestals, believe others should behave.  Father told him straight out he
would not do so.  "If two people, regardless of their sex, wish to
fornicate in the streets that is their business.  If you or your believers
are offended, than don't watch or walk on the other side.  I believe the
opinions of the community are sufficient to control the behavior of its
citizens.  It may not be our custom to fornicate in public but it is not
the state's job to place these rules into our codes and laws."

Uncle Iason added, "The Christians and others, but mostly you, are trying
to impose by rule or law, what you can not convince others to accept by
force of reasoned argument and faith.  We have been over this ground before
friend.  The flowerers of Jesus or Mommahad that wish to remake society,
into what they believe it should be, have only two choices in Parga.
First, you can leave or second, by demonstration of your moral superiority
and the force of logic, you must convince others to act as you would have
them."

I added, I find their concept that women are sinful, because they are women
is nonsense.  I find the idea that sex is sinful in and of itself, unless
dedicated to procreation, a goal the church agrees with at only times it
allows, are stupid and nonsense.  I find that any group that tells its'
followers, on what days they may or may not have sexual relations for this
procreation, to be more interested in control than salvation.  Any rule
that denies a woman the right or means of controlling when and therefore
how she becomes pregnant, is no better than rape.  In the case of rape we
do have laws and they are enforced and they apply to both sexes.  This is
not because some profit told us to do this or defined it as wrong.  It is
because rape is a violent act that imposed a man's power on someone of
lesser power.  That imposition violates the sovereignty of that physically
weaker citizen. This went on for some time.  We did not give way.

Kastor summed it up.  "We find that all religious institutions are
hypocritical.  The state is hypocritical too but we at least admit that
hypocrisy exists.  This is very much true in the case of women.  We say
they are citizens but obviously second class citizens, since they do not
enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizens.  In many religious
institutions women are third or fourth class members, as they are demonized
for what god has given them.  Is it that men are jealous of women's ability
to produce new life?

If the religious leaders had their way, we would soon be stoning women for
adultery while praising the men for killing them.  We would be condemning
anyone we did not agree with, in the most violent of ways, simply because
they believed in a different god or wanted to think or do things
differently.  We would be restricting the pursuit of knowledge by our
scholars, innovation by our guilds and so on, because only that which
agrees with the prophet's writing is acceptable.

This state does have its hypocrisies but they are nothing like those of the
religious groups.  It was the state, long before any religious groups even
suggested it, that abolished slavery.  It was the state that forbid torture
for any reason and restricted killing of others to the most terrible and
serious of crimes.  These are crimes against the sovereignty of the people,
the citizens. It is the religious groups that would infringe on that
sovereignty and take it unto themselves.

You religious people talk about the sanctity of life, yet you willingly
kill others for any reason.  I know of no theocratic state that does not
excite or imprison more people each year than live in our city.  Justice
for the religious is punitive as it was for the Romans and others.  For us,
it is only achieved when the sovereignty of the citizen has been restored.

It is our job as government to represent and protect that sovereignty.  We
as Princes, Knights or what ever other titles we may have, retain or
control no more or less sovereignty, then any other citizen of Parga."

I now realize who the barbarians are.  They are anyone who is different
than or disagrees with us.  We, all human kind, are barbarians to someone,
probably everyone but themselves.

I am more than glad we keep the old ways here.  Sex between males and
between females is alive a strong in Parga.  I can not imagine not.  Sex
between males and females is alive a well too.  One just need look at birth
records to see that.

The thought of my penis sliding into a well oiled anus or slick vagina, is
all that is needed to be ready.  Touching or being touched by another
person of either sex, will do that too.  I am a sexual animal, as is just
about everyone else in this family.  Totally dedicated to each other and to
delivering and receiving pleasure.  What I am most glad of, is humans,
unlike most other animals, have a season that is without end.

Now that Helladios has become a more frequent visitor to my bed I can
appreciate why Iason loves younger boys so.  I see why many under 12 need
our protection.  At fourteen Nikias is now a fully developed sexual being.
He and the others are starting to widen their base of contacts as well.
His smooth round butt and dedicated oral attention to me has only served to
deepen my love and desire for him.  I find it hard to keep my hands from
constantly inspecting all of their supple bodies. Helo and Nikias
especially, seem to require my attention to their maleness.  I remember
fondly how much I wanted my lovers, at that age, to do the same for me.
The feeling of exhilaration that comes from one you love fondling and
kissing your penis and scrotum.  I recall taking Iason's hand or Uncles and
pressing it into my crotch for just such purpose and they mine into theirs.
Now that I am older, with boys of my own to fondle and kiss, I could do it
and nothing else for the entire day.

I am not a religious man and most I know are not, we shun these
organizations.  I am deeply religious as are my brothers, in that we
worship the demigod phallus, seemingly at any and all occasions.


1319, 7th month, day 15

Mohammed came up to me as we were leaving the university.  I could see
something was disturbing him but he was not forthcoming.  Perhaps it best
to just be a friend, I invited him to eat with us.  He hesitated briefly
and accepted.  "My father will be displeased that I am eating food that is
not certified halal."

Well, if the lamb or poultry is a concern then eat only bread, vegetables
and cheese, I said.

"He is concerned.  I am not, it is nonsense in Parga, since we have no
swine and I know the palace butchers kill properly, weather my father is
present or not."

He changed the subject to mathematics as we walked.  On finishing our meal
I took him to our apartments.  Mohammed had not visited in some time, so
all was new for him.  He was much impressed with the reorganization that
had taken place.  At first he was not all that keen on being naked.  He
took off his tunic but kept his kilt on.  For us it matters not and many
visitors never remove their clothing.

We sat near the terrace to enjoy the gentle breeze, even if it was warm,
playing chess.  His mind was not on the game, something besides the
abundance of naked boy flesh and various states of arousal, seamed to be
bothering him.  Not that he was not somewhat aroused.  I could see it.
Even man who are not interested in sex with other men can not fail to be
aroused.  Sometimes our genitals and our brains lack communication.

Check mate, Mohammed.  That was a bit to easy, you are a better player than
that.  Tell me friend, what is on your mind.

"I don't know how to begin and I don't know who else to talk to, Arden."
Is it deeply personal or something my brothers might help with.  "No, not
terribly personal, they are my friends too."  I called them over.

Just as the other three sat down Umar came running into the room and jumped
into my lap.  He wanted a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug.  Then he was
off.  I called him back to greet his uncles and my friend.  He ran back to
us, received a quick kiss on the cheek from each and disappeared into the
page's quarters.  Mohammed stammered a bit.  We had all been here before so
we were patient.

I asked for Miltiades who came forward.  He sat down and in his most
amazing way, had Mohammed talking about all his problems.  We four just sat
and listened.  Mohammed had all the usual problems with his family that any
young man would.

His father was pressuring him to get married.  Mo wanted no part of this
until he was much further along in his studies.  He desperately wanted to
define himself, as himself, not as the Imam's son.  He had his doubts about
much of the religious dogma he had been given, since a small boy.  His
parents were concerned that his study of mathematics would not lead to a
prosperous future.  He father was disappointed he would not follow him in
religious studies.  He was angry with his parents for objecting to his
friends, me included, as they thought us a bad influence on him.  "They
believe we are sexually involved Arden.  They do not believe me when I say
not."  I wish it were so.  I have seen his circumcised penis and it has
mighty potential.  His ass is also small, round and very inviting.

I asked what problem they had, even if we were?  He hung his head, "my
father believes it is a sin against god, and must be punished as harshly as
an adulteress woman."

Kastor asked, "What does our friend believe?"

"In Parga stoning or lashing 100 times is not permitted.  What ever the
Qur'an or other writings might say. Religious laws are not that, so much as
the culture from where they arose.  I have many problems with the Qur'an,
most since I began studying at the university.  Having now been exposed to
the writings of other religious groups and the philosophers, I see it is
less the word of Ala and more the word of men.  Not just one prophet but
many, some not profits at all.  I believe the religious zealots confuse
founding culture with the words of the god.  I find the hypocrisy of what
is acceptable, in these religions, for free men and slaves is unacceptable.
I think we in Parga have it right."

This then is the heart of your problem.  You feel that by questioning the
faith you are betraying your father and family.  Question you must, as a
thinking man.

"You are struggling to define yourself in two worlds at once.  That may not
be possible.  You may need give one of them up, at least for a time," Poly
added.

I think this is not the full story here, I said.  I suspect much more is
going on in you head.  I think you have the same problem as we.  It is
separating your duty to yourself from your duty to others and your god.
Also, what you see as duty, may be different from what others see.  In our
case we have a duty to ourselves, our duty to our family or families and to
the people of Parga.  Let us examine each and see how they relate to each
other, if at all.

Would you not agree that our first duty is to ourselves?  I submit we must
first be healthy, physically and mentally fit, educated, law-abiding and
socially acceptable.  We debated this and all agreed that was so.  Our
first duty was to be a functioning and potentially contributing citizen.
Without that little else is possible.

We then talked about our duty to family.  We defined this in a relatively
narrow way, deciding we where not meaning the whole of our clan but those
for whom we loved, respected and have some obligation to care for,
relatively close kin.  It was clear, if we did not meet the minimum
standards of duty to our ourselves, we would be unable to meet the minimums
do the family, close kin or extended.

Next we tackled god and the state.  Kastor was able to logically
demonstrate they were not the same thing but our duty to them, was very
much the same kind and for us princes degree, as those who are in the
clergy of any religion.  Iason demonstrated that the two, need by necessity
be separated, using the same logic as his father had all those years ago.

I pointed out that if duty to self is fundamental to all other duties, that
it was not what his family wanted or his princes or his religious leaders
but what he wanted, that was paramount.  That it mattered not, be the
person a king or the sweeper of the streets, duty to self was equally
important and was made up of the same components.  Only relative importance
of those components was variable between.

We then tackled the difference between love and obligations, resulting from
it and duty to the family.  We concluded that the different kinds of loves
we man have, all required different kinds and degrees of duty.  Duty to the
family stopped when that duty prevented proper duty to self or the
god/state.  We have no duty or obligation to love our family, although most
do and most wanted.  The duty to our parents was not the same as to our
children and so on.

Kastor pointed out that duty to the state or god, beyond those of being a
good citizen or a rational believer, was voluntary.  Belief must be
voluntary.  Doing things just to demonstrate ones faith should only be
voluntary.  It can be mandated or demanded but if not voluntarily giving,
becomes meaningless.  It might be expected by others but unless each
volunteered to accept that duty, it would only grudgingly be discharged.

Iason pointed out, "we princes are expected to discharge our duty to the
best of our abilities.  Mine and Arden's, we were given little choice;
however, we did have several opportunities to refuse our station.  The
council had as many opportunities not to accept us.  Kastor and Polydeukus
were volunteers, in that they did not need accept the appointments when
offered and like us the council did not need accept them.  We knew from the
time we were 14 more or less, what that duty would be and how easy or
difficult it would be to discharge it.  Had we not done duty to ourselves
we would not have been prepared to make that choice."

"I am in the process of learning both my duty to myself and that to my
family and the state.  I needed to make some hard choices not all that long
ago.  I did what I had to do and broke away from my fathers house.  For me
it was the correct choice.  At least I can now speak to the man and we
respect each other.  The others did not need do that but as you and I both
know, they are respected and because of that are respectful."  Miltiades
said.

Mohammed all of us princes have been prepared for the role of King, should
that be required.  None of us seek the job but all will do our duty should
it be required.  Iason is exception, being Crown Prince, he will some day
be king.  You are preparing for a different duty.  That does not mean you
will not accept others as need presents.  The one duty you must never
accept is that which you are not competent to discharge.  There are many
duties that others would thrust on me.  My first duty, that to myself, is
not to allow those for which I am not competent.

"Then what you are saying is I should not allow my father to pull me along
his path to become a religious cleric, since my faith is less than that
required."

Yes, exactly.  I am sure you will make a wonderful mathematician or
Ingegnere when you finish your education.  Your most important duty to your
self, is being true or honest to yourself.  I can not judge your faith,
only you can do that.  I am told that it is normal for youth to question.
We do that all the time: we question our mentors, ourselves, advisors,
professors.  That is the process each of us follows in becoming himself.
Point out to your father, that being a righteous man is less dependent on
praying a set number of times a day but more about how we live our lives.
I would rather have an honest, trustworthy, loyal man, who never prayed,
than a dishonest, untrustworthy, disloyal man, who did so ten time a day.
Slavish adherence to ritual is nothing more than false piety.

Speaking of loyalty for a moment.  Each of us must in our own hearts
declare to whom or what and how much we have or do not have.  We must judge
how much loyalty is needed or required and what loyalty means in each.  We
must define for ourselves what that means for each.  Loyalty to ones lover
is not the same as ones parents and so on.  You and you alone must decide
if you have greater loyalty to a concept or idea, to rules of men, to even
the veracity of any religious writings or to yourself.  For me, anyone or
any group that demands complete and total submission can not be trusted.

Polydeukus added, "from my view the monotheistic gods, as described in
their books, are all things to all men.  The claim is made they are
everything to everyone.  I see them as nothing to anyone.  I do not believe
that evil exists in the word as an abstract force, nor is goodness.  Those
exist in the minds of men and men alone.  It is the priests and imams of
the world that require them and probably invented them.  Without them they
would be out of business.  I suspect it would be a bad idea to say that to
your father, however."

"Polydeukus you have no idea how closely your words reflect some of my own
thoughts.  You are correct too, it would be a bad thing to say.  My father
is a true believer and true believers tend not to think beyond what they
believe in."

That does not solve your problem however.  You need find some balance in
your immediate life.  You will complete your studies soon, can you keep the
faith until then?  "Yes of course, as long as I have friends like you to
talk to.  My father is trying to arrange a marriage for me."

"Are you unhappy about this," Iason asked?

"No, I think a wife would be a good thing.  I have met her several times
and she is not unattractive but I am not ready.  I have never been outside
the city.  I have never done anything except attend school and assist my
father in the mosque."

You will be 18 in a few weeks, you can refuse but I would think that would
not be very well received, will it?

"No, not well at all."

"Why not join the new civil ingegneres core.  I think we can see to it that
you are posted outside the city for at least a year or even two.  Once in
the King's service he can be persuaded not to allow the marriage, until you
agree readiness," Kastor suggested.

"Better join the army ingegneres for two years.  It will pay well and as a
university graduate would give you junior officer status.  In addition, as
a junior officer, you will not be stationed in the city for two years,
married or not.  Accept the betrothal but suggest the marriage be postponed
until you reach a better rank and are posted closer to the city.  Unless
ingeneering is not to your taste," Iason quipped.

"It is to my taste as I need some real experience applying the mathematics.
I would like to return to the university, to work on this new idea of zero
as a number and not just a place holder.  I am not sure if being a student
and supporting a family is possible."

I am sure it is possible since I know others that do it.  Perhaps with some
experience you could teach mathematics in the State Service Core school and
attend university classes at the same time.  Let us explore this idea over
some tea and wine.  I was much surprised that he took wine and not tea.  I
think my friend was looking at Miltiades with more than a quick eye.  I
suspect he will be testing himself in many way over the next couple of
years.

Just before he departed, Mohammed asked me what it was like to have a son.
I told him how I feel about it.  It is the most exhilarating thing to hold
your children as babies in your arms.  They are so fragile and dependent
but you are complied from within to love and nurture them.  Older children
like Umar are an absolute delight.  They too need love but their dependence
is different.  They trust and love completely and you can do nothing but
return that love and honor that trust.  He smiled.

"I can see you and Umar have taken strongly to each other.  Has the sultan
contacted you?"

Yes that is true.  He seams to need some kind of contact with me at least
once a day, even if it is just a brief one.  Perhaps he needs reassurance I
still exist.  It is a true joy to watch and help a child grow.  I think I
learn much from him as well, young children have not learned guile, except
for getting sweets.  As to the sultan.  His Vizier wrote offering money for
the boy's return.  I replied he is considered a gift from god, having been
found floating on a piece of wreckage.  God's gifts are priceless and not
returnable.  Mohammed kissed me on the cheek and turned very red in the
doing.

"May I tell my father this?"

Of course.

Of late, our port has seen much increased traffic.  I do not know the
reason for this.  My customs officials indicate taxes are increased only a
little, suggesting the increased trade is export in nature.  I also notice
the sun spectacle maker is increasing sales.  More and more are using them
and I expect others in the optical guild to begin making them soon.

I would also think these useful for fishers and our mountain fighters and
sailors.  I think some additional work is needed on the glass before the
military or fishers can make use of them.  The lenses in my sun spectacles
will brake into sharp shards if struck.  Those could pose a danger to the
face and eyes.  I will talk to the optical and glass guilds about this, as
will Iason.  We think this invention could be of great help, if some way
can be found to temper the glass as one tempers steel or bronze.


1319, 7th month, day 17

After our classes we all went to the glass guild to talk about tempered
lenses.  They were not interested in investing in new technology, as a
guild they did not do things that way.  I told them straight out either
they worked together and shared the technology among their members or the
state would commission the work and license the technology to them to
recover its costs.  They did not like it.  I think they felt the idea would
not go far.

We did not bother with the optical guild, feeling we would get the same
treatment from them.  Instead we headed to the university to speak with
some of the professors.  We started with the optics and light group and
moved on to the alchemists and ingegneres.  No one thought the subject was
worth looking into.

I was feeling just a little down in spirit as we gathered in our apartment.
We had thought it rather brilliant, no one else seemed to think so.  It was
Ikaros that got me thinking in the right direction.  "Sometimes to get
things done you are best to do them yourself," he said.  I do not have the
equipment or the knowledge to do this myself I thought.  I do have some
idea of what we need to do and what it will take to do it.

We know that leases are made from special glass, called blanks.  The glass
makers produce the blanks and lens makers grind and shape them.  If this
were steel we would start with iron and heat treat it, then shape it, then
temper it.  One did not temper the raw but the finished or near finished,
product.  So we need start with blanks, shape lenses, temper them.  Our
standard lens quality glass, which is to hard for easy decoration, but
still has a high clarity, should work. We need not get to fancy in the
shaping for the testing phase and them we need figure a way to temper the
glass.  Plunging hot steel into water is fine or repeatedly hitting it with
a hammer.  Techniques that will not work for glass.

No one is sure why tempering works, just that it does.  It is thought the
plunging in cold water cools it quickly at least on the surface and that
seams to give the hardness.  Can we cool hot glass quickly but not as
quickly as a water bath.  I puzzled over this.  While doing so I moved to
the open terrace to let the breeze cool me as the afternoon was quite hot.
As the breeze passed over my sweating body I was cooled.  Air I thought.
If we cool the hot glass by moving air across it rapidly it would be like
plunging me into the water but less dramatic, just as the breeze on my
face.  Yes.  I explained my ideas to the others.  Iason thought the ground
lenses could be heated in a potter's kiln to the desired temperature and
cooled by blowing air thought bellows on all sides at once.

This still left the problem of getting the artisans needed to do what was
needed.  We talked it over.  Kastor got up and ran out the door,
reappearing momentarily to wind on his kilt and out again.  He returned a
few minutes later with a list of Argoanuts.  We quickly identified those
that had gone to be apprentices in glass making, pottery making and lens
making.

Two of the glass makers and four pottery makers were now masters, the lens
maker was still an apprentice.  Iason recalled them to Argonaut service,
using his Princely Authority.  We would make a team of them and the place
carpenters and instrument makers.  If the guilds would not do the
technological development, we would.  The crown would recover its
development costs through license fees.  We were feeling like we had just
solved the greatest problem ever posed to anyone.

As we talked we realized this was only the start of what could be done.  We
would create a school to tackle problems of all kinds.  Soon the guilds
would be seeking out our help.  Ikaros summoned Darkon the steward.  I
asked him to find offices and workshop space for this new team.

Tertius came along and when hearing of our plan, suggested he would ask
Archimedes to send us his most creative Ingegnere, to over see the new
techno team.  (TN: A techno team, that is my creation.  The actual terms
Arden used were three words: practical (prektkios), art or craft (tekhne)
and analysis (analusis), this phrase or sometimes written as a compound
noun, I translate as technology.  That is what he means, despite the Greek
roots, technology is a 17th century word.)

Kastor would have the place staff put together a budget for the project and
I was told to find the money.  Poly suggested we create a real Achemedia.
We could call it the Prince Arden Achemedia of Technology or APTA.  I would
have none of this saying we already had to many Prince Arden things in
Parga.  I want Parga.  They all though Parga would go at the end anyway.
While we were arguing over the name, Thoren came in.  He stood and listened
a bit.

"Princes, I think this name you are trying to resolve should honor one of
your younger brothers.  If you place their names on pieces of paper I will
pick one.  That will be fair to all."

We did and he picked Helladios.  I think it appropriate and Helo was
thrilled by the gesture.  The PHAPTA of Parga will be its official name.
Now all we needed to do was get the council to approve it.  Iason went to
find Tertius and Poly to find the scribes.  Kastor and I to inform our
father and uncle.  Helo went with us feeling father could not refuse him.

Uncle Iason did not feel the idea of licensing the method was workable.  He
thought it would be to difficult to administrate and people would spend to
much energy finding ways to avoid the fee.  He proposed, if successful we
use it as an example and then tax the guilds to pay for the operation of
the PHAPTA.  He reminded us that other improvements like those in grist and
textile mills were not licensed and the cost of renovations was funded by
long term loans to the millers.  If our technique works, then all spectacle
lenses should be made this way and we need encourage it.