Written In The Sand

Written in the Sand Episode 22 The Return of the Prodigal Podcast Yeah, I'm back, picking up where I left off. We expand on life as currency and moving into how that translates into relationships. We also examine the implied background of the conspiracy to attack the Atreides. This episode also starts to breach the next section, which concentrates on the character of Duke Leto. Contains music used under the Creative Commons License: "Also Sprach Zarathustra""Almost in F""Relaxing Piano Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Written in the Sand Episode 21 Hello. From, The Planet Just a little mini-sode for Earth Day. We'll be back to the main topic in the next episode. Of course, you do have to wonder if that topic really is the main one after listening to this. Contains music used under the Creative Commons License: "Cattails" "Porch Swing Days" (slow) "Fireflies and Stardust" "Easy Lemon" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Written in the Sand Episode 20 To Be Species Or To Be Specie, What Is The Equation? Great. An episode summary. You know, I hate these things. You spend so much time developing and maturing an episode and then you have to add the final touch and it's such a small space to fit something that will embody the soul and the face of what you've done. Will it be up to it? Equal to the task? Will it be convincing enough to tell people it's worth listening to? I can never tell, I always judge by the cover. Contains music used under the Creative Commons License: "Record Needle Scratch 3" www.audiosoundclips.com "Garden Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.

Written in the Sand Episode 19 Long Ago, and in a Future Far, Far Away   Continuing from last episode, we continue to explore the perspectives from childhood that affect us in adulthood. We specifically look at how the stories we are attracted to tell us how life is supposed to be. The Heroic Journey is the centerpiece of this episode, which is expanded to show how it is used in Dune and the Star Wars series. We also address how a modern trend in deviating from the Heroic Story can benefit human development. Contains an abundance of music used under the Creative Commons License: "Mars" by Gustav Holst “Teller of the Tales” “Doobly Doo” “Hidden Past” “Take a Chance” “Teddy Bear Waltz” “Ever Mindful” “Exotic Battle” “Perspective” “Division” “Dama-May” “Jaunty Gumption” “Carpe Diem” “Non Stop” “Jet Fueled Vixen” “Truth of the Legend” “With The Sea” “Willow and Light” “Temple of the Manes” “Darkest Child” “Tikopia” “Eternal Terminal” “Rites” “What You Want V2” “Children's Theme” “Basic Implosion” Kevin MacLeo

Written in the Sand Podcast Episode 18 We Are In a Sense Lost   After a healthy pause, we are back. A few changes and a new direction, but otherwise as constant as the sea. This episode we will be talking about a theme that threads through several chapters. As we see Paul almost fall into the trap of the Hunter Seeker, we use this scene and those surrounding it to explore topics regarding innocence, maturity, and experience. "Crossing the Chasm" "White Lotus" Kevin MacLeod incompetec.com Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Written in the Sand Podcast Episode 17 They May Take Our Lives, But They'll Never Take Our Conformity Are You One of Us? We call them catchphrases, clichés, inside jokes, slogans, battle cries, and George Orwell thought of them as sloppy language. In his essay, “Politics and the English language” he talked about how these phrases become removed from any recognizable meaning and become shortcuts for thinking. Even worse, these phrases can be retrofitted for political goals, selling unfamiliar ideas with familiar words. Some phrases become so obscure that we no longer use some of the words let alone know their definitions, but we can often recognize their intent. They become phrases that we understand without having to ponder what the actual words mean. George Orwell was not a fan. He felt that this sloppy language lead to sloppy thinking, and I agree with him up to a point. Some of those words may have meanings you are only vaguely aware of, you just kind of understand them by how they are used. One of the

Today we will absolutely not be doing a mini-sode, but it is going to feel like it. A funny thing happened on the way to the podcast, and I’ll tell you the story about that; but first, I want to talk to you a little bit about stories. Contains music used under the Creative Commons License: "Tempting Secrets" "Psychedelic Crater" "Chanter" "Crossing the Chasm" "Thunderbird" "Medusa" "Lasting Hope" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Who is Leto Atreides? The Duke Leto Atreides of Caladan is an honorable man. I don’t mean that in a sarcastic way. I am not Mark Antony giving a speech to the crowd loaded with barbs about honorable men. Duke Leto is an honorable, good man. He respects and honors those who follow him, he places great trust in people, and seeks to make sure that he is worthy of their reciprocal respect. Duke Leto is a benevolent dictator. But he is also not politically stupid. He knows how the game is played. As Thufir points out, he lays out the best hearth in order to attract good followers, and he does pay attention to potential opponents in the political arena; and He deals fairly with everyone — including the Baron Harkonnen. You may recall how Piter De Vries crowed over Leto’s reply to the Baron, and also the Baron’s comment that an Atreides will never miss an opportunity to make a grand gesture. Leto is someone who will conduct himself honorably so that people will see who they should follow based on the content of the

As I stated last episode, we have closed the first three chapters which helped form a foundation and start a framework that the remaining concepts can now build upon. The next few chapters we will be taking a slightly different tact. Simply talking about a particular idea is not always the best approach. Something may be true, but simply stating it makes it a very dry truth. Frank Herbert knew this, so his books do not just dictate simple, dry truths. There are larger concepts in these chapters — which I will discuss — but concepts are useless without people. These next chapters offer beginning character studies of the people involved, both in the subjects discussed and the personalities present. This is part of the great beauty of Dune, the concepts are displayed in narrative as well as being acted out by archetypal players. By doing this, the ideas are more than abstracts, they become parts of fables and legends which increases their power. So, in addition to discussing conceptual abstracts we will first

{margin-right: 50; padding-left 60px; text-align: justify;} p {style="text-indent:20px"; font: .9em Myriad Pro;} h1{font: bold; font size: 150%; "Helvetica";} h2{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} h5{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} Written in the Sand Dune, Book One, Chapter Three part 3 It's All Plumbing   Today we’re going to talk politics. Specifically, We’re going to talk about the Tripod that Mohaim mentions, and we’ll go from there. This will not be a resource link heavy episode, because where I want to go with this is mostly speculation based on observance. We will also be bringing up another aspect of the Bene Gesserit. What are the three Parts of the Empire? The primary part is the Landsraad, compromised of ruling families, which we have gone over, the second is the Emperor with his command of the fanatical Sardukar Army which we have also discussed. The third pillar of the empire is the Spacing Guild, which is new for us. What the Spacing Guild Commands is travel. All

So, I got sick this weekend. I'll get the new episode up as soon as I can.

{margin-right: 50; padding-left 60px; text-align: justify;} p {style="text-indent:20px"; font: .9em Myriad Pro;} h1{font: bold; font size: 150%; "Helvetica";} h2{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} h5{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} Written in the Sand Dune, Book One, Chapter Three part 2(ish) Let's Brush Up on Our Anxieties   Bit of a small re-cap episode here. I’m still recovering from the last one, plus it’s a damn holiday again. People and their social obligations. I’m kidding. Happy 4th of July for any Americans listening. Happy Canada Day for the Canadians. Happy second week of July for everyone else. What do I mean by re-cap, and why isn’t this a mini-sode? Well, I mean I’m going to brush up a few topics because that’s part of this chapter. The loose ends here are expansions and re-enforcements of things we already know, so I’ll just go over them fairly quickly because I want to acknowledge them rather than gloss right past them. There is at least one more episode and possibly

{margin-right: 50; padding-left 60px; text-align: justify;} p {style="text-indent:20px"; font: .9em Myriad Pro;} h1{font: bold; font size: 150%; "Helvetica";} h2{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} h5{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} Written in the Sand Dune, Book One, Chapter Three part 1 I see That I Am Blind   Prediction, prophecy, psychic knowledge…These form a central theme to the Dune series. This is the first chapter to bring it up, and it does so through Paul’s dreams and in Mohaim’s predictions regarding the fate of The Atreides Family and humanity itself. By what mechanism are these powers explained and is it possible for such a thing to happen? I believe that the explanation is possible, but the precision displayed relies on an idea that is unproven, possibly unprovable, but has some foundations in reality. In this episode we will discuss that premise, but also give a bit of a nod to a more reachable form of prediction. First off, we need to discuss what we mean by prophec

{margin-right: 50; padding-left 60px; text-align: justify;} p {style="text-indent:20px"; font: .9em Myriad Pro;} h1{font: bold; font size: 150%; "Helvetica";} h2{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} h5{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} Written in the Sand Episode 10: There is a Harkonnen Among You If you are just joining us today for the first time, I usually have something here to strongly hint that you should go back to the first episode and listen to them all in order. I’m not necessarily going to do that today because this is a minisode, a break in continuity where I talk about things that have to do with the podcast in general and so can be safely listened to out of order. For returning listeners, yes, I went with the mini episode option, and I have posted the entire transcript because I wanted this one fully available. The reason why I decided to do these things is actually multiple reasons, not the least of which is that shortly after posting this episode I will be knee-deep

  {margin-right: 50; padding-left 60px; text-align: justify;} p {style="text-indent:20px"; font: .9em Myriad Pro;} h1{font: bold; font size: 150%; "Helvetica";} h2{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} h5{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} Written in the Sand Dune, Book One, Chapter Two part 2 Weaving a Tangle   What we’re doing today is looking at some of the dialogs and actions in Chapter Two and we’re going to talk about some of the underlying ideas. There will be a bit about the governing bodies of the Dune Universe, a bit about attitudes towards certain classes, a dash of this, and a pinch of that. What is being used here are tidbits, so they will be discussed briefly. These are parts that we will use to build bigger ideas with later on. Shall we begin? I think the best place to start is to discuss the Baron’s goals here. To understand what the Baron is going after you have to understand the political ladder he is trying to claw his way up. He is seeking power within the Landsraad.

  {margin-right: 50; padding-left 60px; text-align: justify;} p {style="text-indent:20px"; font: .9em Myriad Pro;} h1{font: bold; font size: 150%; "Helvetica";} h2{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} h5{font: bold; font size: 200%; "Helvetica";} Written in the Sand Dune, Book One, Chapter Two part 1 And in this Corner, Floating like a Bumblebee   At the end of our last episode we completed Chapter One. It was a Five parter with one Mini-sode in the middle. As I said, some chapters are going to take longer than others. One thing I’m planning to do sometime this week is synopsize the the meta points we went over and post them in a list for the chapter for easy reference. I know in the mini-episode I talked about other plans and those are still in the works, I beg your patience on those. It should be obvious by now I don’t do frivolous and simple, and things will come as I feel they’re ready. I think it’ll be worth it. Today, in this installment, we’re going to concentrate primarily on the Baron

This is part two of our look at men and women, the differences and the stereotypes. This episode will add to the foundation we’ve already established and we will get to the point of why this topic needs to be here. Just to recap, in part one I presented some general stereotypes of both men and women and then took a look at the merits and shortcomings of those stereotypes. To re-emphasize, I want to make clear that such stereotypes are not going to be true for everyone, but they are going to be true for someone. The dangers of stereotypes is that they create an expectation, sometimes it is one of standards that one must live up to and at other times the expectation that one is no better than the stereotype. These expectations come from outside and also from within. Men setting expectations for other men, women setting expectations for men, men setting them for women, and women setting standards for other women. And last, but not least, we expect them from ourselves.

As promised, this episode is a bit big. I wanted to make it bigger Truth be told, I’m a little sick of being in Chapter one. Unfortunately, because of time and hosting limits, I had to break the episode up. Sorry. So, one more Episode exists in this chapter. This was a hard one to write. As I begin, I hope you’ll understand why it took so many delays to get to this one. I’ll be addressing men and women, the differences of the sexes, and I’m going to irritate a lot of people as I go along. I am requesting that you get through the tough parts. I feel this episode has to go through its stages, from beginning to end.

What I want to address today is the manipulation of Paul Atreides in the first chapter. It is a very subtle form of manipulation, and my interpretation is somewhat speculative, but it’s Dune, so plans within plans within plans is par for the course. Now, I did mention this manipulation previously with regards to family, but there is another aspect to it that is used more than once. Paul is the son of a Duke. He has rank and his commitment to his role in society, what we call duty, is called into question here.

Hello again and welcome to Written in the Sand. I am Patrick Anthony. It's going to be a lot shorter than other episodes have been so far, which is actually nice as far as the muscles I use for speech are concerned. Last episode I started to slur words after the umpteenth recording. Today, we'll have some news announcements and I'll be talking about future plans on guiding the course of the cast. This is basically a shop talk episode, with a few cool items mixed in.