The Greek Influence on the Ban on Circumcision San Francisco

A guy came to my stand yesterday and started talking about the sharpness of his kitchen knives but then turned to the subject of Moyles. I allowed as yes they must have very sharp knives and it might be interesting to talk to one. But then he turned to San Francisco where it will be illegal for moyles to circumcise. He had lived in England and San Francisco I was about to tell him the little known fact that all of the British royalty had been circumcised by Moyles but the conversation to the general subject of the wide new acceptance of gays and how this wouldn't even of been thought about going back twenty or thirty years ago. I got busy and he could see and left but then after he left I got to thinking about it all that the whole thing is not really new but came out of a ancient conflict between Hebrew and the Greek culture.

The Greeks had a whole plethora of cultural agenda and were in their day advancing on the whole rest of the world. they were on the one hand very puritanical and on the other very promiscuous, Greek dualism I think it is called. They were obsessed by the human body. They had gymnasiums where athletes would exercise strenuously in the nude. Athletes means nude I've been told. And so they ere in conflict with other cultures like the Hebrews.

The Hebrews annoyed the Greeks with their different library and language and also not the Greek obsession with the body and the Greek sexual practices. And central to their conflict was the Hebrew circumcision. The Greeks when they conquered Israel forbade circumcision and had as a punishment to hang the dead baby around the neck of the parents. It was a brutal situation and the Jews under the Maccabees rebelled. The Greeks came back and won eventually. But I maintain this is the real source of the current conflict in San Francisco.

Greek culture today dominates Western culture. We have Greek influenced architecture in Washington DC. We have a very Greek influenced education and religion with the concept of lectures and sermons which are really the contuation of the Greek Sophiests the Greek philosopher entertainers that dominated the Greek world. So is it any wonder that this idea has come up again and is in conflict.

Rod's Sharpening Service Current Schedule

Rod’s Sharpening Service
Weekly Locations (spring through fall only):
Sundays in Alexandria, 9:00 - 1:00: West End Farmers Market , Ben Brenman Park 4800 Brenman Park Drive, Alexandria, VA
Tuesdays in Fairfax,1:30 - 5:30: Fairfax Smart Market, Fairfax Corner on the Plaza, Fairfax, VA (near Fairfax Government Center)
Wednesdays in Reston, 3:30 - 6:30: Reston Smart Market, 11890 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA (in office park at intersection with Reston Parkway)
Thursdays in Potomac, 2:00 - 6:30 Potomac Village Farmers Market, Potomac United Methodist Church, 9908 South Glen Road, Potomac, MD (near intersection of Falls Road and Democracy Road)
Year-Round Locations--Sharpening done while you shop or leave for pick-up:
Mondays in Vienna, 10:00 - 1:00: Magruder’s Supermarket, 180 Maple Avenue, Vienna, VA (no drop off)
First Wednesday of Every Month in McLean, 10:00 - 11:30: Curran Designer Fabrics, 6825 Redmond Drive, McLean, VA (located around the corner from Giant)
First and Second Friday of Every Month in Vienna, 10:00 - 12:00: Culinaria Cooking School, 110 Pleasant St. NW, Vienna, VA (located across Maple Avenue from Shell gas station)

Most scissors and knives are $5. Sharpened while you shop.

I visited Fletcher's Boathouse this afternoon. Fletcher's is just below Chain Bridge as it descends into Washington DC. I had visited over the years. Arriving by car by the tunnel under the C & O canal is truly a experience. The tunnel looks like it was built during the Civil War and probably was. I was always impressed by the lines of the skiffs. They looked much the same for the last forty years or so that I had been looking at them. But most were not that old Fletcher told me.

This is where wood boat building meets the pavement. These boats are outside all year and are always in the river. Nothin g fancy here. He says they paint them every year with porch and deck enamel. They use marine plywood which has solid plays with every ply plugged. His father began making the boats originally of planks of cypress . Fletcher says you can't find cypress any more and pretty soon there just won't be any. Wood of any sort is more and more expensive

I asked him if there was any Cupernal on them and he allowed as there are people who would gladly put in jail for using Cupernal. I remember buying it at Hechingers the local hardware store where it was stacked up and ready for consumers to obtain by the gallon to preserve what ever was wood. Today boatbuilders rely on epoxy to preserve and fill in gaps. Fletcher's boats just use water proof glue, Weldwood probably.

pruning workshop

http://reston.patch.com/events/pruning-workshop

Posion Ivy branch in section of Sidewalk in Reston on Glade Sidewalk Between Deepwood and Hunters Woods: Note some leaves worn down by pedestrians, ma

We sharpen knives and scissors

We sharpen knives and scissors
Tuesdays
3:30pm–6:30pm at the corner of Monument Dr. and Government Center Pkwy.

Wednesdays
Parking lot of the National Realty Building
Corner of Reston Parkway and Sunrise Valley Drive
3:30pm–6:30pm

Also by appointment on location