Category Archives: History

Memories

Posted on April 5, 2012 by

Besides providing lyrics to the Byrd’s song, To Everything There is a Season, the author of Ecclesiastes opened his essay by writing, “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and … Continue reading →

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Quote for the Day

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday, then any leader can tell you anything. –Howard Zinn Send to Kindle

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Putting Words in People’s Mouths

Posted on February 19, 2012 by

I am puzzled. I found an article that argued very forcefully that Jesus, without a doubt, would vote for the Democratic Party candidate for President–if he was a United States citizen today. Shortly afterwards, I came upon an article that … Continue reading →

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Occam’s Razor

Posted on February 4, 2012 by

William of Occam was a famous fourteenth century schoolman and philosopher, born at Ockham in Surrey, England. A Franciscan, his fundamental principle was that “entities must not be unnecessarily multiplied.” What did he mean by this? In coming up with … Continue reading →

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Conspiracy

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Conspiracy theories by their nature are, in my experience, impossible to discredit. It is not that they are not discreditable, but rather that the difficulty and amount of time necessary are disproportional to the value, generally. For instance, there are … Continue reading →

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Chocolate

Posted on December 30, 2011 by

Chocolate is one of those things that we take for granted and probably can’t imagine not having around. And yet, like so many other things, its origins are relatively recent. No chocolate cakes were served at the first Thanksgiving, for … Continue reading →

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Quote for the Day

Posted on December 13, 2011 by

The world has actually been wired together by digital communications systems for a century and a half. Nothing that has happened during that time compares in its impact to the first exchange of messages between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan … Continue reading →

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Legends vs. Realities

Posted on December 7, 2011 by

Both the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition deserve criticism. Unfortunately, much of the criticism winds up being constructed of legends and incomplete information. It would be better if they were criticized on the basis of the cold hard facts, rather … Continue reading →

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Quote for the Day

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

Western civilization, it seems to me, stands by two great heritages. One is the scientific spirit of adventure — the adventure into the unknown, an unknown which must be recognized as being unknown in order to be explored; the demand … Continue reading →

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Night Thoughts

Posted on November 30, 2011 by

Edward Young’s ten thousand line blank verse poem, The Complaint: Night Thoughts, was first published in 1742. It is divided into nine “nights” of the author’s reflections on the question of suffering and tragedy. It was written in reaction to … Continue reading →

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