Herbert Spencer on Protecting Fools

May 4, 2009

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. –Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer said that, but it isn’t really a quote that originated with him. The book of Proverbs holds the same sentiment, and however wrong Herbert Spencer was on some things this statement is certainly [...]

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On Spring

May 4, 2009

As we are currently in the midst of spring, this quotation seemed appropriate: If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! But [...]

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A Word From Madison

May 4, 2009

Today we bring you a word from James Madison on government and oppression: Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts [...]

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Deportation and Death

April 7, 2009

Armenians On Deportation March (source) This is what loosing everything you had looks like. This is what facing starvation, and death looks like. Between 600,000 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Armenian genocide. Is this a bit of history you aren’t familiar with? Read more about it(1). _____ (1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

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Forty Minute War

December 18, 2008

Elsewhere, I wrote about the three hundred and thirty-five year war(1). To fill in the opposite end of the spectrum, I now present to you the “Forty Minute War” otherwise known as the Anglo-Zanzibar War(2). It began something like this: The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. [...]

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The Bhopal Disaster

December 17, 2008

China has been in the news a lot recently for its poor health record. It is a sad fact that they are not the only country with this problem, and that this is not a new problem. Let me take you back to Bhopal, India in December 1984. According to the Wikipedia article(1): The Bhopal [...]

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World’s Largest Conventional Explosion

December 16, 2008

Thirteen miles away (source) A bit of grim history for you. The world’s largest conventional explosion (that status a bit disputed) occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with [...]

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Admiral Yi: The Other Lord Nelson

October 30, 2008

Many people have heard of Lord Nelson(1) and his famous naval victory in the Battle of Trafalgar(2). Far fewer people have ever heard of Admiral Yi(3) who was every bit as brilliant a naval commander as Lord Nelson, if not more so. For example, in the Battle of Myeongnyang(4): on October 26, 1597, the Korean [...]

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