A Geek History of Time - Episode 115 - Finally Dune Part III

Episode Date: July 10, 2021

So thank you all for coming to Cocktalk. He has trouble counting change, which is what the hands think. Wait, wait, stop. Yes, but I don't think that Dana Carvey's movie, um, coming out at that same time, was really that big a problem for our country. I still don't know why you're making such a big deal about September 11th, 2001. Fucking hate you. Well, you know, they don't necessarily need to be anathema, but they are definitely on different end-to-end spectra.

Oh, boy, how do you... See, I have a genetic predisposition against redheads, so... Because? Yeah, because you are one... Right. Yeah, combustion, yeah. We've heard it before. The only time I change a setting is when I take the hair trimmer down to the nether

reaches. Like, that's the only time. Other than that, it's all just a two. I'm joking, I use feet. After the four gospels, what's the next book of the Bible? Acts. Okay, and after that, it's Romans. It's a chapter of the Romans.

Yeah, okay. And if you look at the 15th chapter of Romans, okay, and if you look at the 15th chapter of Romans, okay, you will find that it actually mentions the ability to arm yourself That's why it's AR-15. Thank you. Checkmate-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 This is a history of time where we connect Mercury to the real world. My name is Ed Blalock, I'm a world history and English teacher here in Northern California. Actually soon to be starting a new position at a new site that will not involve me having to take a 50 mile train trip five days a week during the school year. I'm very, very excited about this.

That whole, it's been a little bit of an experience. I don't know, how long have you been in your district at this point? 16 years in this district, but I think I'm coming up on 18 or 19 years in this area. Okay. Yeah. Well, the reason I specifically mentioned district is because I am of course switching districts with a move that big from site to site. And so I have signed my offer letter. I signed my resignation letter for my prior district actually just yesterday. If you'd been able to join me and producer George last night and our came you'd have heard about that. It was it was pretty remarkable how quick my now former principal put my resignation letter in front of me or not letter the form a separation form for the district saying you know you

know you don't need to fill this out but if you could you know make make things easier for me if you can just put your name and all this sign here and I was kind of like, okay. And also on the way out the door, he made a point of telling me, number one, how sorry he was to be losing me, which is nice, and that he had been planning on asking me to take over the history department chair. Right. Next year. I remember that.

Okay, yeah, I did get to mention that to you. And my wife is convinced that was, he was just trying to make you feel bad about leaving. And I'm like, no, I genuinely think he didn't quite understand the extent to which I was done with him. Yeah. And also there's the fact that mutual friend of ours, who you went to teacher school with, who I won't name, but

who we both know, who is my department chair, was now was my department chair, has gotten to the point where he does know how done she is with him. And I think he thought that taking it away from her and giving it to me would make his life easier. Or possibly create a wedge. Possibly create a wedge, but he forgets that like staff members talk to each other. Right, yeah, yeah.

Especially staff members who were friends talk to each other and we'd already had the conversation. No, it's called administration through manifestation. Like you have a vision for it on your wall and you act as though that's reality. Yeah. Eventually, you gaslight yourself into thinking it is. Okay.

Well, yeah. So anyway, we can talk about that when we're not taking a podcast time with it. Sure. But I'm very, very excited to be starting this new chapter. The funny thing is, so I've signed and returned my offer letter. I have not had the chance to talk to my new principal yet, since accepting the offer, because that's all come through the district office. And so I'm in this weird limbo position of like, I've actually visited the campus. Like I drove through the parking lot of the campus,

going, oh my god, this is so cool. But I haven't spoken to anybody, and I know no anything about it, but I just know, okay, this is where I'm gonna be. Nice, okay, yeah. And so yeah, it's a little weird, but I'm very excited. Yeah, nice.

So who are you and what have you got going on? Nothing nearly as exciting as that. I'm Damien Harmony. I am a Latin high school teacher, high school Latin teacher. And that's the Latin high school teacher makes it sound like you're teaching kids in Togas. I know, which, which was what I did. But that is being phased out, but also going to be picking up three sections of drama. So again, nowhere near as exciting as the take this job and shove it moment that you kind of got to have in your head.

Kind of, yeah. But I did submit an entire, I gave three, so I'm normally an historian, right? Yeah. I gave three conditions under which I would take drama, none of which they were in any way forced to deal with me on by the way, but it was one of those like, hey, if I'm gonna do this, I want these three things.

Okay. Because my philosophy has always been with administrators, make them say no. Make them say no. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, you no. Make them say no. Okay. Yeah. So, you've told me that multiple times. Yes, sir.

That's been your professional advice to me. Now, for the next two years, always just say yes. Yeah, oh, yeah, no, no. And then start making them say no. Yeah, and then start, yeah. But I said, I need this different room, which oddly enough is the room that I had moved. So the current room that I'm in, I've had since my son was, since oddly enough is the room that I had moved.

The current room that I'm in I've had since my son was born. And prior to that I had a different room, which I'm essentially going back out to. Okay. And I said I need this room because it's the old orchestra room. We got rid of our little theater, which was short-sighted. But I said it has an academic space, and a performance space, and I need these things. I need this list of plays, because as much as I love Neil Simon,

my students don't look like me and don't have my life experiences. I need plays that'll reach them, too. And I had reached out to former students who are queer and who are BIPOC API. OK. And I said, and by the way, who are, I didn't just reach out to all of them because that would be way too blank in an email.

Specifically, the ones who had graduated with degrees in theater. Okay. I said, what plays spoke to you? Because I want plays to speak to my kids so they can get to a truer performance. And so I took that list from both of them. And then I made a master list and I said, I want all of these plays in my room.

I want a copy of each of these plays. And I want, you know, I named my schedule that I want. And I also, I think there was something else I said, oh I said I'm not doing the after school stuff because I have children. They said no problem in the after school stuff, yes you can have that room and then the other day I got an email from my principal saying these are all approved. Okay great. So what's like top three off the top of your head three of the plays on that list? I am a huge Neil Simon fan.

So, yeah, I mean, you know, but so am I. Yeah, no, so, so some plays. I actually, did you ever see Death in the Maiden? No, but I've heard of it. Okay, so got that, got Angels in America. Oh, wow. Yeah, got Twilight Los Angeles. Oh.

The one we'd spoken of. Yeah. Okay. Got a twilight Los Angeles. Oh, one we'd spoken of. Yeah. Yeah. Um, got, uh, let's see, uh, die in key die. Um, Cambodian, uh, what was it? That Cambodian rock band, I think it was. I'm blanking on it. Okay. Uh, I got, um, a couple of August Wilson plays, um, just Fences, but another one as well. I got some good, because I just, I talked to a friend of mine who had actually designed the drama program for our district, the course of study, and I showed him the list.

He's like, these are good. And here's also some others. I was like, great. I'll make those my asks for next year. So nowhere near is exciting. Kind of a lateral shift. Yeah, well, and we've mentioned it previously. So, you know, it's funny, I hadn't mentioned to my wife

that you had had this change thrust upon you until just the other day. And I said, yeah, so, you know, Damien's gonna be teaching drama. And she said, well, that's awfully appropriate, isn't it? I mean, everybody's responsive like, oh, but yeah, that's awfully appropriate. Isn't it? Everybody's responsive like, oh, but yeah, that fits. So, you know, it's like, Damian, drama, really? Yeah. I'm shocked.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, so. You know, like, friend of the show, Bishop, O'Connell, and I were talking about something earlier today, and, you know, if somebody asks the two of us, are you in a drama club, our response simultaneously is gonna be, we are a drama club. Sure.

So yeah. But yeah, yeah, it's one of those things of, I told my bosses, I don't like how I got to this spot, but I'm okay with the spot that I landed. That makes sense. You know, because I was looking for a way, because after this last year I was looking for a way to make it that I never had to grade papers outside of work hours again. Having a class that's entirely performance based will absolutely satisfy that.

Yes it will. So I do lose the thing that I've built for the last 14 years. Yeah, a long time. But, you know, the nature of things has changed. It's sifting like the sand's on a sand dune. There you go, which nicely done. Thank you.

Only a little bit forced. Oh, very ham-fisted. But very ham-fisted. Very ham-fisted. That does bring us back to what we're actually supposed to be talking about only nine and a half minutes and do recording. The first episode of Dune took 45 forever.

Yeah, so, but yeah, so this is now our third episode talking about it. So now we can actually say this, Dune, Dune, Dune, Nice. Not even mad. Not even mad. And if we take this to seven, Dune, dune, dune, dune. Well done. Well done.

Dune, dune. Um, Oh, that'd be cool. Special victims in it. Dune. Yeah. Oh, Lord. Well, it's a Chris knife. It could be fucking anybody. He you know what he used a killing word Yeah, but I think she just called out his name during sex, you know

So When last all the kids are mob DB That wouldn't get you a good day. So that's that's all right. Yeah, so yeah, when last week, but when last we were talking about this, I actually, because I've we we had a high aides for recording. You you on the listing end, hopefully didn't notice it, but we didn't record for a week. And so I had to text Damian earlier today going, where did we leave off? Because I have all these notes. And I know it was somewhere vaguely here. And so I had

been talking about the navigators guild. Right. And I had gotten done talking about the Benny Jeser had gotten done talking about a Number of other other parts of the universe just talking about the the aspect of the universe that Herbert had built Mm-hmm And what I had essentially left left off I had not yet gotten to was actually talking about the noble houses themselves Mm-hmm, okay so about the noble houses themselves. Okay, so very quickly again, for those who, for whatever reason, decided, I'm going to start this on episode three of this series. You're a monster.

You're, you're fucking, I don't know if I'd say monster, but you're, I will. I have a gone record saying you're a monster. But so, Dune, of course, takes place in a feudal society. Yes, there's no point in trying anything because the sands are going to get you. So, Dune, of course, takes place in a feudal society. Yes, there's no point in trying anything because the sands are gonna get you. Well, yes, that too. But I mean, the overarching universe, the economy

and the political system is F-E-U-D-A-L-F-U-D-L. Oh, okay. Not pointless and not worth trying trying although under such a system I would say that it might be pointless and not worth trying way I you I mean yeah There's there's an interesting symmetry involved in the sound of those two words. Yeah But so so it is it is a society where we have It's you've got lords you've got battles you got noble titles sure You know Duke Latoa treaties

You know the potta-shaw emperor should on the fourth is of course at the top of the heap And then you have this shit on the fourth Shadam shadam okay, that's different. Shaddam. I thought you said that the Hadesha Emperor. Hadesha Emperor, shit on the fourth. And I was like, what? What?

That's what I heard. No, Herbert was not nearly that radical? He's still logical. Yeah, or he's still logical for that matter. I can now you can see why they want that floating fat man to come down though, because what if he shits on the fifth? He becomes the Hadesha Emperor emperor. Well, there you go. Yeah, that's how it's yeah, that's the problem Yeah, that's actually there's a translation for the name for emperor in Cambodia. I want to say yeah, and it's a he

Who for whom our heads are fit for carrying his excrement or something like that? He who can shit on our heads. Wow. Yeah, it's something. Damn. Well, you know, damn. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

That's quite a thing. All right. So, even though this setting is impossibly far forward in the future, this, you know, thousands and thousands of years ahead of us, there's this immediate sense of kind of decay involved because we're dealing with a society that has moved politically and economically backward. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. So, now part of this is just that Dune is a product of its time, it's a product of where science fiction was. And this is, it is concurrent, Dune's publishing is roughly concurrent with foundation by Isaac Asimov, which also is a built around the setting of an interstellar empire. And so this was a concept around the setting of an interstellar empire. And so this was a concept within the genre that was a kind of widespread thing.

And it is kind of the logical narrative evolution of the whole idea of planetary romance. When you have swashbuckling adventures in space, the idea that you're going to have royalty and all of the kind of romantic trappings of a feudal society kind of follows at least in if you are raised in an environment where the fairy tales you hear as a kid are coming out of the late medieval early modern European era, that's just kind of where your brain is gonna go. And so that's kind of how the genre had developed.

So now you might answer this in the next paragraph, so feel free to say I'm getting to that. But you've just mentioned Dune as being contemporaneous with another fiction, another science fiction. When were they actually published in real life, though? Well, no, no, when I say contemporaneous, I mean, their publication happened at roughly the same time.

Yes, what time is that, though? Oh, okay, sorry. We're talking about the mid-60s. Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Okay, so I didn't, I didn't. I didn't hang empires in the mid-60s. Yes. That's the thing that I'm interested in.

Okay. Yeah. Well, because not that the rest isn't interested. Yeah, no, I understand. Yeah, no, I got what you meant. When they fight with their little knives and they like clang them against each other and then it causes them both to jump back

because everyone knows the criss-cross will make you jump. Jump, jump, jump. I said good day. So and I can I can look up the specific which one came out at one time. Yeah, yeah, because Dune, Dune published in 65. That went off the top of my head, I have handy. Where my brain immediately went was because of the way the genre influences itself, I'm trying to remember which one was first. Sure, sure, sure.

And if I'm, I think foundation was published in 59 or early, earlier 60s, because, well, I'll get into doing this relationship to other things with the general later on. But the houses of the lands rod are the noble houses of of this universe. Okay. And so there are there we know of house of treaties and house of Parkinan. Those are the two the two houses of Fair Verona or, start across the other side of this kind of thing. Yeah, the round which our story is built.

And of course, we have our protagonist who is Paul Atreides, who is the heir to his father, Duke Lato Atreides. On the other side, we have Baron Vladimir Harkinan. Very important to note, Baron Vladimir Harkinan is, it is hinted at very strongly that Baron Harkinan may be the wealthiest man in the galaxy. At the beginning of the book, he is, he has more money than God. Like, like, Harkin and has way much more wealth than how Satrathees does. But his title is lower.

Remember, the Duke is right up next to the king. Right. And a Baron is just above a knight. Yeah, yeah, he's like, he's kind of a large-scale landlord as opposed to, no, no, I am a magnate of the realm, right? Right. And then below Duke is an Earl, but anyway. So a Duke of Earl.

So Duke of Earl, yeah. That's, is that kind of a nonsense title? Okay, I was gonna say, is there a place called Earl? No. Okay, because being the Earl of Earl just seems it seems weird. Little or a mill. Oh, that's why you need the Duke of Earl.

Yeah, because we redundant otherwise. It's like naming an entire part of the hospital after one family, the wing family. Nice. Yeah, the wing. Especially in upstate New York, Buffalo wings. Nice, I like it. Well done, not even mad on that one.

It's called the wing wing. Yeah. Okay, that one, screw you. Um, so the houses of Lansred are, are the aristocracy of this empire. Okay. The emperor is at the top of the heap. By himself, he has a larger military

force at his disposal than any other house. Is he a moderating emperor? Is he a weakening and faltering emperor that people are jockeying to take over? What kind of emperor we talking The overwhelming sense that we have is he is the power within the empire. The emperor is the, he constantly has to worry. And I'm going to talk about when we get into themes of the novel and we talk about politics and power. That's a thing. But it is, it is very clear that he is a very powerful individual But he is very very conscious and everybody in the book is very conscious about the fact that no, no if he

had All his ducks in a row he could destroy anybody Okay, but the moment he actually does it everybody else is going to go for his head because they're all going to see that he could do the same thing to them. Okay, so he's got a very sharp sword in the scabbard, but as soon as he strikes the blow, he's out of action for the right. He's, yeah, it's, yeah, it's blunted. Yeah. Yeah. And so yeah. And so one of the recurring themes is the limitations of absolute power.

So the emperor, if that makes sense. And oh, yeah. The paradox involved in that is one of the recurring things. And hegemonic power is, okay, so again, this is 65. Yeah. So is the emperor cut out for the United States or is the emperor cut out for any dictator that, or is the emperor cut out for any dictator that is the Susaran over the analogy?

The analogy is not as direct as Shaddam the fourth is Nixon or Johnson. Would have been Johnson. You know, it's not he is Johnson at all. Okay. If it's anything, he might be George the fourth. Okay. I get much stronger British Empire vibes. Well, yeah, because you're talking about an empire and decline. So now it's Frank Herbert and Anglo-File,

or is he English? Or not, not that I'm able to see. He's, you know, Pac-Nor-West kid. Okay. But I think within the popular imagination, sure. The British Empire, well, would be the model if you're, if you're an Anglo-Fone,

the British Empire is the Empire. Yeah. If you're a Francophone, it would be, you know, the later, you know, French. Yeah, but France, France has not had an emperor for quite some time. Quite a lot of public. Yeah. So, okay. So, and in 65, I mean, you're starting to see, you know, India gets freedom in 48, 49. Yeah. In 65, you are seeing a whole bunch of African countries. Yeah. Well, let me hold on.

Yeah, okay. Okay. We briefly went over this, but the Portuguese colony started to pull away after Goa was next by India in 61. And Goa, Mozambique and Guinea-Baso wound up having a 13 year long civil war. The French left Algeria in 62. That's after the coup.

And that's after eight years of fighting by the way to hold on the dirty war. Yeah. Kenya had the, and this is British Empire, the Malmau 52 and 56, and Rhodesia had an ugly civil war. I mean, there's no other kind, but a particularly nasty one. Yeah, that started in 64 and ran until 79 yeah

Well, I'm being Rudi's yeah, Belgium Belgium cut the Congolese to get the light bulbs. You've told that story Yeah, like what kind of crazy bitch takes the ice trays like And that's such a crummy movie, but that's the quote that comes to mind. What's the lie? A true lies. It's Tom Arnold's line about his ex-life. It took the ice tray. Yeah.

What kind of crazy bitch takes the ice tray? Belgium. Belgium. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, are operating as I explained in the brief five minute. Here's a way simplified plot arc. Right. And so the emperor sees Lito as a threat

because Lito is a duke. He is a leader of a house major, meaning he has a very large military force, has a lot of wealth, and what he has that harkening, barren harkening, who has all the money, and presumably lots of military force in his own, what harkening doesn't have is anybody's respect. Oh, okay. Okay, because he doesn't have, because he's a barren.

You know, never mind the fact, he's got more money than Cresus. Right. He's a barren. So, um, so, Lato. Wow, he sounds familiar. You know never mind the fact he's got more money than creases right he's a Baron so So Lato, oh he sounds familiar. Yeah, sounds real familiar To do us recording this in the year 20 in the future of 2021 Yeah, you know So yeah, so did he have a lot of like dealings with Queens Did he insist that males wear a covering on their heads?

Man kept a hat on oh nice, you know, no, okay, no, okay nothing like it We'll get into okay, Harkin and as a character here in a second, because it's an important part of kind of talking about the... Yeah, yeah. Okay, so there's some between it. Rich's hell but no one respects him. Yeah, Rich's hell is no one respects him. Lato is, I mean, his bad name, his Duke, old money, well, they're all money, generations old money, but he's not, his power is rooted in prestige and charisma.

Soft power. Soft power. Soft power. Yeah. And so the Emperor sees, who is, it's repeated multiple times, Lato is a distant cousin of the Emperor himself. Oh, okay. And so the Emperor. So that is, of course, a threat.

Yeah. So the Emperor sees Lato as a threat because the other nobles within the lands rad follow Leito's example. And Leito has called the emperor, we hear this in various conversations. Leito has essentially set himself up as the leader of the opposition within the House of Lords, effectively, the landsrod is the, what passes

for a parliamentary body in this universe. And it is clearly supposed to be a balancing force on the power of the emperor. Okay. And of course, the emperor wants it to be on his terms, not true balance or not, a serial balance, okay.

Okay, cool. So, and now I actually need to open the book up terms, not true balance or not adversarial balance. Okay. Cool. So, and now I actually need to open the book up because there's a great quote and this will simultaneously give you a primer on what exactly the universe looks like politically and kind of where the lands read falls, but it'll also give you an idea of how people talk in this universe, which is special. So this is in the middle of, this is right before, let's see, give me a sec. Yeah, this is before Paul was going to be going into going to be going into undergo the gum jibbar. Okay, the paint test. Okay, so, so Jessica is having a back and forth of verbal sparring match with mother Reverend mother Guy is Helen Mohiam, her teacher, and later on, we, the audience, find out

her mother, but she doesn't know that because Benny Jesuit and they don't know their parentage. Right. So, Jessica, I'm cutting in the middle of the conversation. That's certainly what I need right now, Jessica said, a review of history. Don't be facetious girl. You know as well as I do, what forces surround us. We have a three of history. Don't be facetious girl. You know as well as I do what forces surround us. Weve a three point civilization.

The Imperial household balanced against the federated great houses of the Landsrad, and between them, the guild with its damnable monopoly on interstellar transport. In politics, the tripod is the most unstable of all structures. It'd be bad enough without the complication of a feudal trade culture which turns its back on most science. Jessica spoke bitterly, chips in the path of the flood. And this chip here, this is the Duke Leito, and this one's his son, and this one's, oh, shut up girl, you entered this with full knowledge of the delicate edge you walked.

I am Benny Jesuit. I exist only to serve. Jessica quoted. So right there, that's a primer on who we're dealing with. Right. And it gives you an idea. Like that's the dialogue in this fucking book. Okay.

I love this book. But oh my God, it's so clear. I have big, my name is Frank Herbert but oh my god, it's so clear. I have big, my name is Frank Herbert and I have big ideas. Right. You know, but so that's a really great summary. It's a little bit, it's not a little, it's ham-fisted, but it is a really great way of expressing,

okay look, this is who the forces are that we're dealing with. This is how this works. And in many ways, this is the pointer scene for this is how society is. Yeah, yeah. And there's more even before that, talking about Chalam, which I'm gonna get into.

But right now, talking about the Lonsrod. So we have, we have a feudal trade culture and we have these noble houses. So individual planets are essentially left up to the nobles who own them, to run them. Right, in the same way that in feudal Europe, right, technically speaking, all of England belong to the king. Right. Okay. In the same way that in feudal Europe, right, you know, technically speaking, all of England belonged to the king.

Right. But he was limited by the fact that, well, my great, great grandfather gave this territory to you to control. You're going to pay me a portion of the rent. You collect and return when I call on you to fight for me. You got to show up, you know, right, right, primer on the feudal system, of course. But similarly, technically speaking, the emperor could, if he wanted to,

take anybody's territory away any time. But if he does that, he's gonna have. It's not without consequences. Yeah, they're all good and united against him. And, you know, just like a feudal king, yeah, had to be very careful about how hard he hit somebody with a particular hammer, which was really what cooked John's goose historically

was he didn't know when to use the hammer and when not to. Right. But anyway, so, so on a given, the culture of a given planet is gonna be very closely tied to the culture of the house that runs it. Okay, yeah. Okay.

And reflective of it and their values. Yeah, and yeah. And vice versa. So there's gonna be this, you know, cyclical, you know, back and forth between the house that rules a place and the people who live under their rule. And the emperor is only going to get involved when he has to. Right. Okay, partly because who wants to try to micromanage a thousand different planets.

Yeah, you got other things to do. And at the same time, if he tries to do that too much, he's not gonna be emperor anymore. Sure. Okay. And so we have, we have these two houses being held up against one another from the very beginning of the book. We have House of Traides and we have House Harkinan. House of Traities is

the House of Atreus. They trace themselves to the House of Atreus. Duke Lato at the head of the House, the start of the novel, have already mentioned he's popular with the other words, the Lansrad. And he has started, beginning in the book, he has started a war of assassins called Conley in the constructed future language that Herbert came up with some of his terminology from. He has started this war of assassins against House Harkinon. Okay.

Okay. And we find out that Harkinon are the ancient generations long, feuding enemies of House Attradies. They've been enemies for a thousand years. It's a passing reference in the novel here and in a couple of the other novels later on they talk about the Battle of Corino which then Brian Herbert and Anderson, Kevin Anderson then you know in the prequel novels they write a whole book about Battle of Corino and like have to go into all the details about how it happened and why the two houses hate each other and like just leave it alone. But anyway, sorry, I'm editorializing there.

But so there's this generation's long feud and Lato has basically pulled the pin on it and said he sends a message to Baron Harkin and saying, there are people who still believe in the old ways of Canley, which according to the convoluted, you know, wheels within wheels, Machiavellian kind of language of the noble houses of this universe is the way of saying, fuck you, Canley. Right. You know, uh which is we're going to war but our troops are never going to meet on a battlefield but I'm gonna be doing everything I can to get your head on a spike right right and I expect you're

gonna be doing the same thing to me yeah and I told you I'll and I've told and I have given you warning yeah okay okay um so, now the reason for this is that Lato, before's being sent into a trap and he knows Harkinon is part of it. Okay. He knows that this is a scheme of heart that Harkinon is is making it look like oh look It's being taken away from me Okay, okay as a as a way to work and he knows he's working with the emperor somehow, but it doesn't know details And this is all thanks to his men tat doing the fourth and fifth order calculations of, okay, who's gonna, who gets the money?

Like, where, where, you know, how does this work out? And so he, he has basically said, yeah, yeah, you know what? I'm going to Errakis and by the way, fuck you. I'm gonna have your head on a pole, right? Okay. on a rakis and by the way, fuck you. I'm gonna have your head on a pole, right? Now, house of tradies are the good guys, okay? Like from the outset, obviously our very clear protagonist is the heir to house of tradies. So right away there's that.

But the other thing that's really important is from the very, very beginning, we see the cultures of the two houses compared to one another immediately. And we see that, Lato has this select group of characters, Duncan Idaho, the master swordsman, Gurney Hallock, the troubidor warrior poet

Thufir hawa the the menta assassin he has all of these people who are who love him like like they are they are motivated they're partly motivated because they hate the harkinan but they are also motivated because he has made them love him. Okay. And so they are very clearly the good guys. The thing is though, they're not polypure hearts. Okay. We see the Duke is playing a power game.

He is playing a very calculated power game. He's not going to Iraqis for moral reasons. He's not going to liberate the poor sods on the planet from harkin and oppression. He is going to treat them better. And he's going to make sure they're aware that, hey, look how much better I'm treat. He actually has a rather bitter self-directed moment talking to his son about, no, you don't

understand, the very first people we sent to this planet were my propaganda core to let all of these people know how wonderful I am. Look how great I am. Look what a what a look look how humane I am look at all this and And he says this like bitterly like he's he hates he feels filthy for it and the thing is there's a very very telling moment The Herbert writes really well. It's also a great moment in the movie. You may remember it the Lynch movie, where he and Paul and several of these henchmen, you know, high-ranking henchmen go to see what a spice harvester, what a spice crawler looks like when it's in operation. comes under attack from a worm. And the short version of the story is, the Duke says, forget about the equipment, get all of those men aboard Ornithopters,

get them out of there. I don't care about the equipment, I care about the people. Okay. And the men aboard the crawler are like, there's an unimaginable amount of spice sitting in that crawler, like the kind of wealth involved in losing that, I don't care.

People are more important, get the people aboard the thoughtters, get them out of here. Whatever you've got to dump to make a wait to get them off the ground and get them out of here before that worm gets here, do it. And this is this moment of, oh my God. This guy is like holy shit.

And the people of the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the shit. And the people of the the the doon natives who are You know involved in all of this like oh well This is a change because they've been under Harkin and rule and the Harkin and would have flayed A crew for not staying aboard the harvester until the absolute last minute You know to get every penny out of it that they could, you know. And so, so he is a humane figure. And a trade is more relatively morally upright, but we are constantly aware of the dirty tricks that they play. Like one of the kind of side conversations

that happens is Duke Lato says to his men tat, okay, so if they're planning on doing this, they're gonna be stockpiling spice because they know that there's gonna be interference in the economy, they're gonna be stockpiling supplies. I want you to get together with my highest ranking generals. I want you to put together a team to raid their home planet and destroy their stockpiles.

Okay. Like, make it happen. Like blow their shit up. Like, you know, dirty tricks, knives in the dark, it's cany. Now, that's our good guys. Right. The mirror image of that. I would say that.

Okay. So your characterization of them is that they are cunning and ruthless, but at core, they value people. Yeah. And they're moral. Yeah. That seems to be how they are being set up. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and, and, Lato and Paul, although it's, it's mentioned many times later in the book, it's mentioned, you know, M.I.M.I. he asks one of his one, Thufir Hawaat at the culmination of the novel, Spoiler Alert. He asks Thufir Hawaat, M.I.M.I. my father's son, and Thufir says, you're more your grandfather's son. You're the, you're the old Duke. I see, I see the look you have, you have his look about you and whatever. And it's kind of mentioned that the old Duke was more calculating, more formal, more,

you know, less sentimental, less squishy than Leito. Harder than Duke Leito. But so, so, and it is repeatedly mentioned that Lato and Paul to a lesser extent get people to follow them through love, that we know, because we're inside everybody's head through the whole book, we know Lato respects and values and loves all of his subordinates. And the interplay between them is full of warmth. Is like one point, Gernie Hallack. Gernie Hallack makes a remark and Dutlato says,

if I ever catch that man without a quote, he'll be naked. Just the, like Herbert does a really great job of making it really clear with remarkably little dialogue, especially after the passage I just read, you might not believe me, that these people have known each other and these people are family to one another. And that's how a trade is operates. How's Harkinan? If trade he's in the nuanced good guys,

then Harkinon are all caps, the bad guys. Sure. Mustache twirling, black cape, cackling villains, and to give you an idea of this, let's see. This is this, we're now on Guide Prime, the home world of the Harkinon. And this is the introduction we have to House Harkinon. An ellipsoid desk with a top of jade,

pink, petrified, elacca wood stood at the center of the room. Veraform's suspenser chairs ringed it, two of them occupied, in ones at a dark-haired youth of about sixteen years round of face and with sullen eyes. The other held a slender, short man with a feminine face. Both youth and man stared at the globe, and the man half hidden in shadows, spitting it. A chuckle sounded beside the globe. A bass of voice rumbled out of the chuckle.

There it is, Peter. The biggest man trap in all history. And the dukes headed into its jaws. Is it not a magnificent thing that I, the Baron Vladimir Harkinon, do? A surely Baron said to man, his voice came out tenor with a sweet musical quality. The fat hand descended onto the globe stopped the spinning. Now all eyes in the room could focus on the motionless surface and see that it was the kind of globe

made for wealthy collectors or planetary governors of the Empire. It had the stamp of imperial handicraft about it. Latitude and longitude lines were laid in with hary fine platinum wire. The polar caps were insets of finest cloud milk diamonds. The fat hand moved tracing details on the surface. I invite you to observe the base of voice rumbled. Observe closely, piter, and you too, Fedratha, my darling. From 60 degrees north to 70 degrees south, these exquisite ripples, their coloring, does it not remind you of sweet caramels, and nowhere do you see blue of lakes or rivers or seas.

And these lovely polar caps so small, could anyone mistake this place? A wreckus, truly unique, a superb setting for a unique victory. A smile touched Piter's lips, and to think, Baron, the Pottisha emperor believes he's given the Duke your spice planet, how poignant that's a nonsensical statement the Baron rumbled. You say this to confuse young Fade Rautha, but it is not necessary to confuse my nephew. The Sullen faced youth stirred in his chair, smoothed a wrinkle in the black leotards he wore. He sat upright as a discreet tapping sounded at the door in the wall behind him.

Piter unfolded from his chair across to the door, cracked it wide enough to accept a message cylinder. He closed the door, unrolled the cylinder and scanned it. A chuckle sounded from it. Another. Well, the Baron demanded. The fool answered us, Baron. Whenever it did in a trade, he's refused the opportunity for a gesture. The Baron asked, well, what does he say? He's most uncouth, Baron. Addresses you as Harkinon, no sire at share cousin, no title, nothing. It's a good name, the Baron growled, and his voice betrayed his impatience. What does dear Leito say? He says, your offer of a meeting is refused.

I have often times met your treachery, and this all men know." And the Baron asked. He says, the art of cannelly still has admirers in the Empire. He signs it, duke Lato of a Rakis. Piter began to laugh. Of a Rakis! Oh, my! This is almost too rich! Be silent, Piter." The Baron said, and the laughter stopped as though shut off with a switch. Canley is it, the Baron asked? Vendetta, huh? And he uses the nice old words a rich tradition to be sure I know he means it. That's our introduction.

Like how? That guy in a shadowed room despite the opulent wealth and the lighting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now what I didn't get around to because you know, I was already Engaging yeah engaging in a long excerpt, but yeah But what what then is is important to point out is Lato is Described repeatedly as being you know good-looking rugged, you know, athletic leader of men type, Baron Vladimir

Harkinan literally has to wear a harness with anti-grave modules attached to it in order to move around because he is so grossly obese. Yes. Vladimir Harkinan is a poster boy for moral degradation, a la 1960s kind of more A's. Okay. House Harkinan engages in slavery. There is a whole side plot within the book that my summary didn't mention where Fade Routha spends a year and a half working to try to assassinate his uncle in order to take over House Harkinan. And he does it by replacing the slave master of House Harkinan with somebody who's loyal to him. He winds up getting caught. But you know, they have an entire stable of slaves. The punishment when Fade Routh gets caught, the punishment that the Baron enforces on Fade Routh of four trying to kill him is, I'm going to make sure that you

go into the slave quarters and you strangle every one of your pleasure slaves with your own hands for trying to kill me. So that gives you an idea of just how decrepit we're talking about these people being morally. And so so Vladimir is a petarast. He is thoroughly, thoroughly, redeemable, just like absolutely like filthy. Just in every possible kind of aspect filthy. Stain, yeah.

He is essentially a fat human skexus. Yes, actually, that's a really good, really good analogy. Yes, I like that a lot. Now, he has two nephews. And in this book, we don't know anything about his sibling who is the parent of these two nephews, but there are brothers. Raban, known as the Beast Raban, who is a thuggish, not really a thinker. Like, I'm not going to say he's stupid.

Like, his portrayal in the movie is like he's an idiot like he's he's a big noble idiot you know below normal IQ dummy you know but gets away with stuff because his uncle is rich and he's he's big enough to push people around like in the book to push people around. Like in the book, he's not that stupid, but he is a blunt object. He is, he has, he has an average intelligence score and not a very high wisdom. Like, you know, he ain't dumb. He just prefers this direct approach. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, you know, doesn't't doesn't think two steps three steps ahead fade Rautha is slender and beautiful

and a fucking psychopath Yeah, like you know you have basically you've got thick and brutish yeah, yeah, got scheming and stiletto sharp. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Fade Rautha as his hobby, he fights in House Harkinans gladiatorial contests. Okay. And I mean, they're rigged. Like, he's the presumed heir to house harkening. So it's not like they're gonna let him die

But but his his idea of fun is well, you know, this one might actually wound me right right And and there's there's a whole scene that is part of that subplot about trying to kill his uncle that that involves his his competing in the in the arena. And so he's he's viper like and and all of these things. Okay. And so these these two houses are held up as mirror images of each other. And they are our window into the entire noble cast of the empire. And one way of looking at them would be thinking of these are kind of the moral extremes. Yeah, I was gonna say,

these are tens of moralities. Yeah, so on the one end, like the best you're gonna get is a house like a traities who are ruthless and autocratic. And no, no, we're nobles, you're not. Right. And and our power is is built on the edge of a knife and you know nuclear weaponry. Sure. And then on the other end are no no no, we literally fucking own you. Like we own everybody. And one of the incidents in the book that's notable about Harkinan, when Baron Harkinan's head of security dies in an attempt on Baron's life. So long story short, when too late.

And it's yeah, yeah. But when the Harkin and Overcom house the trade is on Iraqis, and Duke Lato is brought before Harkin and so Harkin and has the chance to gloat before Lato dies, Lato dies. Lato has been given a poison tooth and he's supposed to crunch on the tooth and exhale, toxic gas is gonna kill Harkinin

and that'll be Dr. Uey's ultimate revenge on Vladimir Harkinin long story. Now, he does that. He succeeds, but the Baron is at the other end of the room because the Duke is kind of muzzly because he's been beat up and concussed. And so he gets Piter, the men's hat, and the Baron's head of security dies in the expanding cloud of toxic gas. The baron gets away.

Well, now the baron needs a new chief of security. The first man who shows up in response and takes control of the situation is a essentially non-commissioned officer in his household guards. And he promotes that guy immediately. And one of the first things he remembers is, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're addicted to Simuta. That's what I'm gonna use to control you. No, okay.

So, Harkinin holds Dominion over their people by, I know what your weaknesses are. Right. I know what I can, I know what I can deny you, or threaten to take away from you. And that's how I'm gonna get leveraged. That's how I'm gonna maintain control. And so one house rules through love

and the other one rules through force and fear. And so we have this, again, this spectrum of, this is what the nobility of this universe looks like. is what the what the nobility of this universe looks like. Now parallel to the noble houses is Chowam, which is the feudal overarching corporate structure that essentially runs the economy. Okay. Like it would be it would be wrong to call Chowam a monopoly,

but it kind of is a monopoly. Like it's the corporation slash regulatory body that assigns directorships. And so control of the planet, Arrakis is a show them directorship that goes along with the noble title of Duke of Arrakis, if that makes sense. And so it is the regulatory agency and corporation from which noble houses gain their wealth.

Okay. Okay. Okay. And then that brings in the most important commodity. So everything anybody buys anywhere in the universe has passed through the hands of Chome at least once. Okay. Okay. Okay.

And the most important commodity in the galaxy is melanch the spice. Okay. So everybody needs it. There's only one planet where it can be gotten. That's a rakis. And so control of a rakis through a Chome Directorship appointed by the emperor with the Ascent of the Lands Rads. So now you can see how it all ties together gives a noble house a source of unimaginable wealth. Paul figures out over the course of his apotheosis into the quizatzotarach.

Paul has a semi-mystical experience in which he figures out what the actual source of the spice is and how the ecology of the spice works and he figures out how it could be destroyed If you destroy that then you don't have a wildly imbalancing Influence in the world. Well one two As he puts it the power to destroy a thing is the absolute control of it Okay So nobles eat this stuff in their food regularly for its longevity properties. It allows people to live 120 years looking like they're 50 or 60 or younger. Mentats and guild navigators use it for their

precognitive powers and that part with the guild makes it unavoidably vital For the function of literally all of society as everybody in this galaxy knows it So it's if if go ahead. I was gonna say it's either it's transistor radios and or it is specifically nuclear power I mean, you know how nuclear power in 60 60s was going to start powering everything. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, our plants and all that, which yeah, you know, good or bad. It was a source of energy That was very exciting for people to you know get to witness. Yeah, so yeah, and and yet it is a thoroughly destructive and destabilizing influence. Yeah But yeah, it's also petroleum.

Oh, okay. Remember that one of Herbert's first published stories had to do with a war over oil. And so without this, there is no interstellar trade. Everybody is gonna be fumbling around in the dark individual planets are gonna be cut off from literally everybody else. Nobody can move. All commerce will grant.

Will. Yeah. Okay. Um, and so control of Erakus is again, and when I get into really focusing on themes, we'll talk about it, but control of Erakus is another one of these limitations of absolute power. You are the one who controls this commodity, but everybody expects you to deliver on that. Right. And you've got to be very careful about how you do it, because if you screw it up, the consequences are going to be dire. Yes. Right? Okay. they're gonna be dire. Yes.

Right? Okay. Now, we're getting close to the one hour mark. I wanna wait to talk about the last of the world building elements here. Okay. For a new episode, because it's gonna require some doing, I don't wanna get part way into talking about the Fremen and stop.

Sure, sure. So So based on this, what are your thoughts? What's your response at this point in our discussion? The thing about sci-fi from the ears that you have spoken of, it always seems to me as being remarkably sloppy. There's nothing nuanced about it. There's nothing particularly clever about it. It's just like we changed the names of the things that are in the world that we live in and now these are the things. Okay. Now that's partly because of its relatively new nature. That's partly because I don't know, I think that as a genre it's easily accessible and therefore somewhat democratized and when you democratize it you will let a lot of good writers get away with being not particularly nuanced or tidy. Settle. Not being particularly subtle. Herbert drops anvils like everywhere. And it could be that these are the people that you keep bringing to me or are

anvil droppers, but also in the 60s, like technicolor was a brand new thing. And yeah, it's true. Those colors in your musicals like matter, you know, stuff like that. So, you know, it just seems like all the media back then was really subtle and it almost makes me, almost not quite, but almost makes me think that perhaps the grittiness of the 80s was a not an overreaction, but a very logical reaction to all of this. Okay, almost. Almost, yeah, I know. I know both of us get that grit in our underwear and it bugs us.

No, but that you had nuance, you had subtlety. Well, okay, see, the thing that bothers me about the grit of the 80s is so often it was not subtle in the opposite direction. Yeah, I guess I'm thinking more about like the grit that you see. Like by the time you get to Civil War in comic books, for instance, you know, and my brother will disagree with me on this and he's probably right to do so. I think that it was a wonderfully not particularly subtle because comic books aren't supposed to be, but a wonderfully nuanced argument because friend of the show Tim has a huge Iron Man. And he's like, okay, so you think that people should just not, you know, like he turns it into the gun rights issue. And I's like, okay, so you think that people should just not, like he turns it into the gun rights. If you can, I'm like, you kind of got me there,

but at the same time. If you're looking at, yeah, well, and again, we talked about this in the episode, if you're talking about, okay, well, my powers are based on an object hanging on the wall. Yeah, okay, that makes sense. If my powers are something I didn't choose, like this is literally part of my identity.

Yeah, and they're in lies. And I also realized that my mic wasn't on just now, so it's entirely possible. Wow, that'll be interesting. We'll find out what came through on your side. Yeah, but anyway, so in the 60s, short version, 60s, the writing feels not particularly subtle. And I can't see why people like it.

Like now. I could see why people liked it then in the same way that I liked all the Star Wars books when they came out. Yeah. But they're dog shit. Some of them are just dog shit, like dog or roll. Yeah, well, Sturgeon. Having been eaten and then shit out by my dog

Yeah, no, I understand you're familiar with with Sturgeon's law, though, right? No 90% of everything is crap. Oh Wow, that's really 90% of everything is crap. Yeah, now however, there's a second half to that law that nobody Hardly anybody ever remembers which is but that last 10% is worth fighting for. Oh, okay, cool. So, yes. I don't think they were particularly subtle. Like you said, when I was like,

oh, it's nuclear, probably you're like, it's also petroleum. I'm like, yeah, that's even less subtle. Like, at least nuclear was kind to knew it. Kind of, yeah. But, no, you're absolutely right. So, yeah, I think that's my takeaway so far is that Herbert wasn't really writing about,

I mean, of course science fiction's not writing about the future. Well, no. But he's writing a romanticized, I read the Hobbit once version of futuristic and yet. The other thing is, you know, the thing is, I don't like desert adventures at all. I don't like to eat. I like tundra adventures.

I like to cold. Like, I'm just drawn to those. Okay. So it's a little hard for me to like be anything but disdainful for like, well, he said it on our really hot planet. Well, at least you recognize that that's your bias. Oh, it's my prejudice. Speaking to the subtlety or lack thereof,

I think that's a big part of that is the maturity or lack thereof of the genre as a whole. Okay, I can believe that. Because remember that, you know, the earliest, you know, antecedents that we would look at as being recognizably modern science fiction. Uh-huh. Or excuse me, are, you know,

Buck Rogers, the original cereals. Okay. And, the original cereals and John Carter of Mars and all of the and again planetary romance stories and it was all swashbuckling adventure stories and they were designed to be brain you know a lot of them were designed to be brain, you know, a lot of them were designed to be brain candy. Yeah. And we now look at science fiction and there is an understanding certainly within fandom. Right. Maybe not within popular culture as a whole, but there is, but there is, there is an understanding certainly within the science fiction community that no, no, no.

We can do literary shit with this genre. Like we can, you know, and the thing is, part of why Dune is important is because, yes, it's clumsy, but the fact that he's pointing out, hey, look at what this system actually involves. Yeah. Like, so you're telling me there's this, this feudal system on Mars based on these city states of helium in this place, this place in this place like okay Now how does the economy work right like what does that look like right

Herbert really actually looked at that went no no no how does that work right like what does that actually mean okay So the second-door third-doordoor-door calculation is from there. And so it's interesting from a historyographical literary point of view, it's interesting to me on those levels of nerddom to look at this as the pubescent beginnings of what I mentioned previously talking about soft science fiction, you know, coming out of the 40s and the 50s into the 60s where we start seeing more and more development of sociological ideas and philosophical, political ideas and all that kind of stuff involved. I guess I would say, you know, kind of like when we went back to first edition D&D, I don't care about property rights of fake real estate in a fantasy game.

And I guess, yeah, great that he that he thought like what would the economy be like I never would have thought of that nor would I care yeah and and you know which which means it's just simply not for me in terms of like hey if you like this thing I don't oh okay well okay yeah moving on then yeah well if you like chocolate chocolate, I don't. Do you like fruit? You know, it's like one of those things. So I am very interested in the next episode though, when you get through the third leg, as it were, of this world, as to thank you.

See, I'd listen. But when you get through the third leg of it, I am very curious as to then how this is reflective of the time in which it was written. Oh, yeah. And that's, I think, incredibly valid because I cannot deny. You know, it's kind of like, I think that Requiem for a Dream is a fantastic movie. And I cannot deny the excellence of the cinematography of it. Yes. And the writing.

And you never want to watch it ever again in your life. No, no. And so I cannot deny the influential nature of this book. The, what I'm going to assume now is going to be the tremendously pressient Approach that he takes to telling about the time in which he lives That will be undeniable it just he will have done it in a way that was you know No, it's too cold. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's there's there ain't nothing wrong with that

There's been plenty of times where I've read a book. I'm like, this had a lot of good stuff in it. Don't like it. Yeah. You know, yeah. So. You know, I'm the same way about saving Private Ryan. Oh, yeah, there you go.

I've seen it once. It was an incredibly powerful emotional experience for me. And thank you, no, I never want to fucking watch it again. Yeah, there you go Like the the ending of that film Guided me fair Absolutely gutted me absolutely fair and there were multiple moments within that film that were really really brilliant at making it clear Mm- clear how horrible combat was in World War II.

Yeah, no, I can think of a very busy scene. Yeah, I can, two of them off the top of my head. The sniper scene and the German and the one that is slowly. It's okay. Vomitous. Yes. Oh God, even thinking about it is. No, I get that's why I wasn't going to say anything. You broke hearts.

Yeah, okay. But I completely understand that, I completely understand that I completely understand that I think the difference here though is that it had the visceral reaction. It was intended to for you Yeah, whereas this is Talking about a thing I'm interested in and it does it very well in a way that I don't care Yeah, and that's you know, I think that's totally fine. You know, again, you know, there are episodes in our podcast that people have been like,

yeah, I could not give a shit about your analysis of wrestling for the third time. I'm like, I get that. I totally get that. Yeah, understand that. I'm here for it though. Yeah, you know. But, yeah, understand that. I'm here for it though. Yeah, you know. But, yeah, I understand.

Yeah. But yeah, that's what I've leaned from. Okay. So, cool. So, I have a recommendation for people today. Okay. And I'm going to recommend it next week as well. Okay.

But go to bigblackdice.com. Okay. Bigblackdice.com. OK. Bigblackdice.com. And that will direct you, if you're sacramental local, that will direct you to the Sacramento Comedy Spot for the date of Thursday, July 29, which this episode should come out well in advance of that, to book yourself a seat to watch diversity and dragons

as run by Tail Morgan. It's a fantastic, fantastic show. He is a man who cares a great deal about role playing games, making stuff fun. He has captured lightning in a bottle in a big way, and it is their first live show, fire call correctly. Oh, very cool. That has come back, and as Zach ComedySpot

has been fantastic about keeping people safe. Very cool. Yeah, it is diversity in dragons. Tail Morgan, bigblackdice.com. That's what I'm gonna recommend. Don't read anything, go bigblackdice.com. That's what I'm going to recommend. Don't read anything. Go check that out instead. Okay.

So yeah, that's, that's, that's where I'm at. All right. Well, I, I do have a recommendation. I'm going to say, I'm going to say check that out. Mm-hmm. Number one, because that's fucking awesome. Yep. But the other, what I'm going to recommend, uh, is a, a, a, uh, history book, uh, entitled

Black Count. Glory, Revolution, betrayal, and the real Count of Monte Cristo. Oh, cool. And it is a... Oh, it's Duma-assus. It is a biography of the author Duma-assus father, general daddy Duma. Disguise amazing. Tomas Alexandria Duma, author Dumas' father, General Daddy Dumah.

Disguise amazing. Tomas Alexandria Dumah, up until General Colin Powell became, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tomas Alexandria Dumah was the highest ranking black man in a Western army. black man in a western army. And he, he, so, uh, this is anecdote about him. He led the French army into Egypt. Yes. The Egyptian saw him at the head of the army and said, this must be Napoleon. And Napoleon showed up and they went, no, no, we want that guy back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he immediately got demoted and sent back to France

because the bulletin was that kind of dick. Yes. That guy, I am going to be teaching English this coming year. I don't know what grade level yet. I really want to be able to teach some work of Duma. That'd be great. I'd really like to do Count of Monte Cristo and part of what I'm going to harp on is the fact that no, no, no, look at that photo.

Look at that photo. Look at his hair. Look at that's a black Yes writing this classic of Western literature Yes, and and like because the the default assumption that you and I were raised on oh, yeah Was well as name is Dumas a Frenchman so it's white right no No critical race theory isn't a big scary bug of who it's just teaching actual fucking history. And so, bringing that into the literature curriculum means, no, no, not a white guy. Yeah.

And so I really highly recommend everybody reading the story of Duma's father. It's, I mean, if it were fiction, it would be hard to believe. Right, yeah. He was the illegitimate son of a renegade French nobleman. I mean that literally. Yes. And was kept to slave by his father until it was, you know, convenient at which point he was purchased out of slavery by his father.

And then rose through the French army to become, you know, one of Napoleon's essentially second or third in command kind of guys. Fascinating character went on to be the father of one of the greatest writers in Western history. So yeah. Yeah. Check it out. I like it. Yeah. I like it. Okay. So where can where can you be found if people want to find you? Yeah. You can find me at duh harmony on the Twitter and the Instagram. Feel free to find me there. You can also find me every Tuesday night at twitch.tv, forward slash capital puns.

As my partner is a nice sling puns back and forth for your entertainment. The difference between that and this podcast is they actually throw them back. Yeah, there's that. There's that. For saying. Yeah, I also, I probably talk more than that one. Well, yeah.

Probably. But I mean, the whole conceit of this show is to teach each other. Yeah. That's no shade. So, yeah, you could find me any of those places. How about you? Where can you be found? I can be found on Twitter at EHBladeLock.

I can be found on Instagram at EHBladeock also and on TikTok I am MrBlalock. And there you go. And now if somebody wants to come at the two of us for something we got wrong either about the history or about an interpretation we have regarding melange as petroleum or nuclear power, where would they find us to do that? You can find us at Geek History Time on the Twitter or go to our website Geek History of Time. .com. So yeah. Cool. Well you know what for Geek History of Time I'm Damien Harmonic. And I'm Ed Blaylock and until next time keep rolling 20s.

And until next time, keep rolling 20s.