I read. Too much stuff to read really. My current list (stuff I'm reading right now), includes Lord of the Rings (single-volume version) by J.R.R. Tolkien in preparation for the first of three Lord of the Rings movies . My usual magazines, too, including Discover and Readers Digest.
I've got a historical bent, hitting sites like The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies and The New Advent Catholic Supersite (full of historical information!), and more. I guess my general love of history (anywhere) comes from the knowledge the any one place over the millinia has been home to many poeple, who farmed, faught, and worked, got married, had kids, and died. Stand in one place one day and think about all the people who have passed there in the last 1000 years. Each person was in their place and time, oblivious to the fact that at some later point in time the place they stood would be paved, and that a skyscraper would stand somewhere nearby, or that jets would fly over their heads. Not to mention just the sheer diversity of human kind over time, such that we can look back on historical figures and realize they were just human, doing what they did. For them, however, the world and the universe was a very different place, as it will be for future beings that will stand where we have stood.
Then there's miscellaneous links to points of interest for me. Like physics, for example, which was my first love in science. Right now I'm looking through the Particle Adventure Home Page, a nice page covering the Standard Model (basics). I'll add some of the history links I've been reading lately (couple are already listed above). One cool place is The Society for Creative Anachronism, an international society dedicated to the study and re-creation of life in the middle-ages (600-1600 A.D.). Their site has several cool links to historical resources. The SCA is where I get my Society name and rank, Lord Scot MacFin.
26 June, 2001