From the Washington Post …a look at the past suggests three signs that a particular practice is destined for future condemnation. First, people have already heard the arguments against the practice. The case against slavery didn’t emerge in a blinding moment of moral clarity, for instance; it had been around for centuries. Second, defenders of [...]
history
The Manhattan Project
To go along with the documentary on the Cold War, here is a great one on The Manhattan Project. It’s not a groundbreaking documentary but was worth the viewing time. What I came away with from watching the video was an appreciation for what I think is a predominantly American characteristic which is the ability [...]
Centralia
The stupidness of humans never ceases to amaze me. The good people of Centralia, Pennsylvania decided to burn some garbage in May 1962 and hired some volunteer firefighters to do the job and they did in an abandoned coal mine. After burning the trash the firefighters made the bold decision to not actually put the [...]
The effects of Global Thermonuclear War
As written by Wm Robert Johnson 12:00 midnight CDT 5/6 August 1988: The nuclear exchange is generally over. In the U.S. 5,800 warheads detonated totaling 3,900 mt. Soviet and NATO weapons successfully used in Europe numbered 3,300 (1,200 mt) (excluding tactical weapons). About 6,100 warheads (most of them American, but some Chinese, British, and French) [...]
‘Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read …’
Letters home from a 19 years old soldier from Afghanistan, including the one he wrote after he was killed in action on June 2, 2009. The family gave the letters to the Independent to publish. In the spring of this year, the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles deployed to Afghanistan. Halfway through the battalion’s tour, it [...]
How a Vice Presidential Run Can Hurt Politicians
Politico has a good article about how a run at VP can hurt your further electoral chances. But Palin’s run with Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, revealed a number of glaring weaknesses. Her knowledge about domestic and foreign policy turned out to be much thinner than her supporters had hoped. Ethical [...]
Why don’t we start all over?
Because we really don’t want to Second, we’re not being honest about what we’re trying to do. We’re not even trying very hard to go all the way back. We take a vast amount of theological, historical, and cultural baggage with us when we look back. Even people who read authors like N.T. Wright in [...]
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
I finally finished The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson last weekend. I was 20 pages into it when it got left up at the cabin for a couple of weeks. The book is centered on the life of Joseph Priestley, the 18th-century British natural philosopher (or amateur scientist) who most people know as the [...]
The National Trust of Canada
I have been thinking lately that Canada needs something like the National Trust in the U.K. For those of you who do not know of the National Trust, according to Wikipedia. The trust owns many heritage properties, including historic houses and gardens, industrial monuments and social history sites. It is one of the largest landowners [...]
