Coronation of Charlemagne (800 AD)
Charlemagne was one of the most illustrious and celebrated rulers of the Middle Ages. Originally the King of the Franks, a West Germanic confederation of tribes, he expanded his empire throughout Western and Central Europe, conquering Italy and the Saxons. He is considered to be the founder of the French and German monarchies. Remarkably, Charlemagne united most of Western Europe for the first time since the domination of the Roman Empire. His conquest of Italy was completed in 800 AD when Pope Leo III crowned him Imperator Augustus, or Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne would serve as the first Holy Roman Emperor of the Carolingian dynasty from 800-814 AD, during which time he helped spark the Carolingian Renaissance.
Kingdom of Hungary Formed (1000 AD)
The Kingdom of Hungary was formed from the old Principality of Hungary with the coronation of Stephen I y Ppe Sylvester II as the king of Hungary. This legitimized Hungary as a Western kingdom that was separate from the Holy Roman and Byzantine empires. This led to a massive reconstruction of Hungarian society. Catholicism gained incredible strength throughout the land. The runic-like script used to write Hungarian was replaced with the Latin alphabet during this time. This also led to a restructuring of Hungary's kingdom administration along the Frankish Empire model.
William the Conqueror Crowned (1066 AD)
One of the most significant and important events in European history, the coronation of William the Conqueror as the first Norman King of England was the pivotal moment of the Normal Conquest of England. It began with William's invasion of England and his decisive victory over King Harold II of England at the Battle of Hastings. The transfer of rule over England to the Norman's led to several defining moments of English history. The native ruling class was removed and replaced with a French-speaking monarchy, aristocracy, and clergy. The Norman Conquest of England also led to the Norman conquests of Wales and Ireland. Many also see this as the birth of the legendary rivalry between Great Britain and France.
Washington's Crossing of the Delaware (1776 AD)
It was the moment that turned the American War for Independence from the Colonial British to the American revolutionaries. On December 25th, 1776, George Washington led a column of the Continental Army across the frozen Delaware River in order to carry out a surprise attack against the Hessian mercenary forces in Trenton, New Jersey. The attack was an overwhelming success for the American forces, only suffering nine casualties while capturing 1,000 prisoners. The battle was also a major morale victory for the beleaguered American forces who had been systematically defeated by the British at almost every engagement.
Halley's Comet Confirmed (1758 AD)
Although Halley's Comet, a short-period comet that becomes visible on earth every 75 to 76 years, had been observed and recorded periodically by astronomers since at least 240 BC, it was not until 1705 that scientist Edmond Halley proposed that it was the same object. He predicted that it would return in 1758. That year, it was first spotted on December 25th, by Johann Georg Palitzsh. Halley's Comet has gone on to be one of the most important visible objects in our general vicinity of space.
First Christmas (336 AD)
The first recorded celebration of Christmas was marked in a list of Roman bishops that was compiled in 354 AD. Nobody is sure which day Jesus was actually born, though it is proposed that the date December 25th was chosen as the day to celebrate his birth because the date was already used by many cultures and pagan religions as a holiday to hold feasts and celebrate the winter solstice.
Christmas Truce (1914 AD)
The story of the Christmas Truce is one of the most heart-touch events to take place during the horrors of World War I. On Christmas Day, 1914, a series of unofficial truces took place all along the Western Front. It is estimated that around 100,000 British and German troops were involved in these impromptu truces. The soldiers sang carols and met in the middle of No Man's Land to exchange gifts. Joint Christmas services were also held for the involved troops. While there were other, smaller truces that took place during the rest of the war, there would not be another that was on such a wide scale as the Christmas Truce. The event has been glorified as a symbol of goodwill and peace, even among the horrors of war. The Christmas truce has been glorified in numerous books, films, and songs.
Showing posts with label Seven List. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seven List. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Seven Important Historical Battles
Stalingrad, 1942-1943
The Battle of Stalingrad effectively ended Hitler's quest for world dominance and started Germany down the long road towards ultimate defeat in World War Two. The battle lasted seven months, beginning in July 1942 and ending in February 1943, by the time the battle was over, 1.5 million men had been killed, captured, or wounded, with 91,000 Germans being taken prisoner and an entire German Army being wiped from the face of the Earth. The German loses were so bad that the German army never fully recovered and was forced to largely take the defensive for the remainder of the war. While it's unlikely that a German victory at Stalingrad would have cost the Russians the war, it would certainly have extended it by many months, possibly even giving the Germans the time required to perfect their own version of the atomic bomb.
Waterloo, 1815
In a total repudiation of Napoleon's attempt to reclaim his previous glory after a brief vacation to the island paradise of Elba, an undersized force of British, Dutch, and Prussian troops under the capable command of the Duke of Wellington threw back Napoleon's army at the little Belgian town of Waterloo, thereby bringing an ignorable end to his much-touted comeback tour. Of course, the "Little Corporal" had been on something of a slide since that unfortunate little affair in Russia a couple of years earlier, when he lost most of his army retreating from Moscow in the dead of winter, but this latest setback pretty much ended it for him and sent him packing for another vacation spot; some little placed called St. Helena. Of course, it's not a certainty Napoleon would have ultimately succeeded even if he had bested Wellington, but it's a certainty losing put whatever plans he had for the future on permanent hold.
Gettysburg, 1863
Lose this one, and General Lee probably marches on Washington DC, sending Lincoln and his staff fleeing and forcing the country to accept the existence of a Confederate States of America. This one was a must win for the Union, and fortunately the man in charge, George Meade, proved to be up to the task, though just barely. In a battle that raged for three sweltering days in July of 1863, the two massive armies pummeled each other into dust, but it was the superior Union position, they held the high ground, and Lee's ill advised decision t have General Pickett charge the center of the Union line that ended in the worst defeat in Confederate history to that time. While the Union losses were heavy too, the North could better absorb such losses. The South, on the other hand, never recovered from Gettysburg and was forced to begin increasingly fighting a defensive battle to stave off inevitable defeat against a much more populous, industrially advanced, and wealthier North.
Battle of Tours, 732
Chansces are you never heard of this battle, but had the Franks lost it, we might all be bowing towards Mecca five times a day. The battle near the city of Tours pitted about 20,000 Carolingian Franks under Charles Martel against a Muslim force of up to 50,000 soldiers under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi intent on bringing Islam to Europe. Though outnumbered, Martel proved to be an especially able commander and routed the invaders, driving them back into Spain and, ultimately off the continent. Had Martel lost, Islam would probably have become the predominant faith of Europe and, eventually, the main religion around the world today. How this would have impacted western civilization can only be guessed at, but chances are it would have tkaen a dramatically different tact then it did.
Yorktown, 1781
In terms of numbers, this was a pretty puny battle, with 8,000 American troops supported by 8,000 French troops, fighting against 9,000 British troops, but by the time it ended on October 19, 1781, it changed the world forever. the indomitable British Empire, the super power of its day, should have easily defeated the rat-tag colonists under George Washington, and for most of the war, they generally had the upper hand. By 1781, however, the upstart Americans had learned how to fight and, having acquired the assistance of England's arch enemy, France, had become a small but professional fighting force. As a result, the British under Cornwallis found themselves trapped on a peninsula between the determined Americans on one side and a French fleet on the other that made escape impossible and so, after a couple of weeks of fighting, they surrendered. In doing so, the Americans defeated the world's premier military power and gained independence for some backwoods country in the new world called the United States of America.
Battle of Salamis, 480 BC
Imagine a sea battle today that involved over a thousand ships and one can begin to appreciate the magnitude of this single engagement between the outnumbered Greek Navy under Themistocles and the massive navy of King Xerxes of Persia. The Greeks had used guile to get the Persian fleet to sail into the narrow Straits of Salamis, where they were able to deprive them of taking advantage of their superior numbers, and dealt the Persians a humiliating defeat. As a result, Xerxes was forced to withdraw most of his army back to Persia, thereby leaving Greece to the Greeks and preserving western civilization in the process. A number of historians believe that a Persian victory would have stilted the development of Ancient Greece, and by extension 'western civilization,' making Salamis one of the most significant battles in human history.
Actium, 31 BCE
Imagine how history might have gone differently had Cleopatra and Mark Antony's fleet carried the day against the smaller naval forces of Octavian. In a sea battle of epic proportions, in the course of a few hours Antony and Cleopatra lost two-thirds of their fleet, about 2,000 ships, and any chance of ousting Octavian as Emperor of Rome once their soldiers got word of the defeat and began deserting in large numbers. Obviously not agreeable to being martyrs for a lost cause, the couple managed to escape the carnage and make their way back to Egypt to work on plan B, which apparently involved committing suicide. Makes you wonder why, if they were intent on ending it all anyway, the just didn't just go down with their ships, that at least would have been the honorable way to lose.
The Battle of Stalingrad effectively ended Hitler's quest for world dominance and started Germany down the long road towards ultimate defeat in World War Two. The battle lasted seven months, beginning in July 1942 and ending in February 1943, by the time the battle was over, 1.5 million men had been killed, captured, or wounded, with 91,000 Germans being taken prisoner and an entire German Army being wiped from the face of the Earth. The German loses were so bad that the German army never fully recovered and was forced to largely take the defensive for the remainder of the war. While it's unlikely that a German victory at Stalingrad would have cost the Russians the war, it would certainly have extended it by many months, possibly even giving the Germans the time required to perfect their own version of the atomic bomb.
Waterloo, 1815
In a total repudiation of Napoleon's attempt to reclaim his previous glory after a brief vacation to the island paradise of Elba, an undersized force of British, Dutch, and Prussian troops under the capable command of the Duke of Wellington threw back Napoleon's army at the little Belgian town of Waterloo, thereby bringing an ignorable end to his much-touted comeback tour. Of course, the "Little Corporal" had been on something of a slide since that unfortunate little affair in Russia a couple of years earlier, when he lost most of his army retreating from Moscow in the dead of winter, but this latest setback pretty much ended it for him and sent him packing for another vacation spot; some little placed called St. Helena. Of course, it's not a certainty Napoleon would have ultimately succeeded even if he had bested Wellington, but it's a certainty losing put whatever plans he had for the future on permanent hold.
Gettysburg, 1863
Lose this one, and General Lee probably marches on Washington DC, sending Lincoln and his staff fleeing and forcing the country to accept the existence of a Confederate States of America. This one was a must win for the Union, and fortunately the man in charge, George Meade, proved to be up to the task, though just barely. In a battle that raged for three sweltering days in July of 1863, the two massive armies pummeled each other into dust, but it was the superior Union position, they held the high ground, and Lee's ill advised decision t have General Pickett charge the center of the Union line that ended in the worst defeat in Confederate history to that time. While the Union losses were heavy too, the North could better absorb such losses. The South, on the other hand, never recovered from Gettysburg and was forced to begin increasingly fighting a defensive battle to stave off inevitable defeat against a much more populous, industrially advanced, and wealthier North.
Battle of Tours, 732
Chansces are you never heard of this battle, but had the Franks lost it, we might all be bowing towards Mecca five times a day. The battle near the city of Tours pitted about 20,000 Carolingian Franks under Charles Martel against a Muslim force of up to 50,000 soldiers under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi intent on bringing Islam to Europe. Though outnumbered, Martel proved to be an especially able commander and routed the invaders, driving them back into Spain and, ultimately off the continent. Had Martel lost, Islam would probably have become the predominant faith of Europe and, eventually, the main religion around the world today. How this would have impacted western civilization can only be guessed at, but chances are it would have tkaen a dramatically different tact then it did.
Yorktown, 1781
In terms of numbers, this was a pretty puny battle, with 8,000 American troops supported by 8,000 French troops, fighting against 9,000 British troops, but by the time it ended on October 19, 1781, it changed the world forever. the indomitable British Empire, the super power of its day, should have easily defeated the rat-tag colonists under George Washington, and for most of the war, they generally had the upper hand. By 1781, however, the upstart Americans had learned how to fight and, having acquired the assistance of England's arch enemy, France, had become a small but professional fighting force. As a result, the British under Cornwallis found themselves trapped on a peninsula between the determined Americans on one side and a French fleet on the other that made escape impossible and so, after a couple of weeks of fighting, they surrendered. In doing so, the Americans defeated the world's premier military power and gained independence for some backwoods country in the new world called the United States of America.
Battle of Salamis, 480 BC
Imagine a sea battle today that involved over a thousand ships and one can begin to appreciate the magnitude of this single engagement between the outnumbered Greek Navy under Themistocles and the massive navy of King Xerxes of Persia. The Greeks had used guile to get the Persian fleet to sail into the narrow Straits of Salamis, where they were able to deprive them of taking advantage of their superior numbers, and dealt the Persians a humiliating defeat. As a result, Xerxes was forced to withdraw most of his army back to Persia, thereby leaving Greece to the Greeks and preserving western civilization in the process. A number of historians believe that a Persian victory would have stilted the development of Ancient Greece, and by extension 'western civilization,' making Salamis one of the most significant battles in human history.
Actium, 31 BCE
Imagine how history might have gone differently had Cleopatra and Mark Antony's fleet carried the day against the smaller naval forces of Octavian. In a sea battle of epic proportions, in the course of a few hours Antony and Cleopatra lost two-thirds of their fleet, about 2,000 ships, and any chance of ousting Octavian as Emperor of Rome once their soldiers got word of the defeat and began deserting in large numbers. Obviously not agreeable to being martyrs for a lost cause, the couple managed to escape the carnage and make their way back to Egypt to work on plan B, which apparently involved committing suicide. Makes you wonder why, if they were intent on ending it all anyway, the just didn't just go down with their ships, that at least would have been the honorable way to lose.
Seven Horrible Romantic Dating Sites
Finding love is hard, and it's even harder when you are only attracted to Asian midgets with Parkinson's disease and a lisp. In the days of no interwebs, you would have died alone, but thanks to the interwebs we now know that no matter how insane your tastes are, there is a community out there that shares them with you.
The Atlasphere
Do you love Atlas Shrugged, but hate it when your friends don't understand how that makes you better than the rest of society? Did you read The Fountainhead in college and decide you were destined to change humanity? Are you a fan of terrible puns? Then you might find love at The Atlasphere, the dating site for hardcore fans of Ayn Rand. The Atlasphere feels less like a genuine dating site and more like a place for people to tell each other how awesome they are for liking Ayn Rand. Are those the sort of people we really want to be reproducing?
Datecraft
If you like video games so much that you want to fulfill every last stereotype about them, then Datecraft is where you'll need to look for love. Clearly, anyone who's a gamer isn't fit for normal human interaction, they need their own special dating site, where their unwashed pallor won't spook the regular people. Again, there's nothing wrong with trying to share a mutual interest, but if you can't separate yourself from Lord Thunderdong, your level 85 shaman, then maybe romance shouldn't be your first priority in life.
Date my Pet
Date my Pet is, despite the name, not a bestiality site. It's actually much more creepier; it's a site for people who (platonically) love their pets so much that they come as a package in a relationship. It's right there in the site's slogan: "Date Me. Date My Pet." Date my Pet's profiles are so saccharine it's hard to believe these people actually know what dating is. Users spend more time describing their pets than they do themselves, and they use words like "purrfect" and "nosewiggling" with such reckless abandon that even the Care Bears would be disgusted. Everyone on this site is trying to stave off menopause, including the men. Their idea of a hot night out is a trip to the quilt festival and finishing the evening with some heavy petting in an entirely nonsexual way.
Farmer's Only
You no doubt have assumed that Farmer's Only is a dating site for farmers only, but you couldn't be more wrong. According to the site's founder, "you don't have to be a farmer, but you do have to have good old-fashioned down to earth values." By "old-fashioned values," Miller is actually using code for either being a racist or being Amish. The site also has elements of Confederacy Couples and more First Cousin Fornicating. Anyone who chooses a dating site on the advice of a talking cow is probably upset that their own heifers are only interested in the physical aspect of their relationship.
Vampersonals
Vampires need love as much as we mere mortals, as a variety of terrible novels have demonstrated, but just where can the undead find a life partner? Daytime activities are out, and they can't go to the bar without the risk of being killed by George Clooney. Well, as luck would have it, the interwebs is the perfect place for mopey freaks who sit around in the dark all day. And it's great for vampires too!
Vampersonals is the dating site for goths and bloodsuckers, whether users are just claiming to be vampires as an excuse to bite people or they actually think they're nosferatu isn't completely clear. In addition to letting you browse its pale and clammy members roster, Vampersonals offers a variety of suggestions for the perfect gothic date, such as "discussing the frailty and futility of life as you sip aged wine.
Dating with Benefits
Dating with Benefits is both the most honest dating site I've seen, and the saddest. DWB is where rich men looking for sexual favors and gold diggers on the hunt for their latest sugar daddy meet and mutually agree to suck all the romance out of their lives. Why look for a partner who shares your interests and dreams when you could just hook up with some old guy who's willing to buy you designer clothes if you indulge his perverted desires?
Gleeden
Look at all those single farmers, video game addicts, and vampires are having! Why should you, the married man or woman, miss out? What your significant other doesn't know can't hurt them, right? If you aren't repulsed by that line of thinking you should check out Gleedon, a dating site for married people! Gleeden commits a double sin by promoting adultery with one of the most horrific play on words we've ever seen. If you can cringe your way through their home page, you'll find an elaborate profile system that allows users to only reveal personal information to each other after they've built up a level of trust, thereby significantly lowering the odds of accidentally arranging a tryst with a Russian supermodel who turns out to be your suspicious wife. And there's even a panic button on every page, just to make it extra clear how sleazy you are for using the site!
The Atlasphere
Do you love Atlas Shrugged, but hate it when your friends don't understand how that makes you better than the rest of society? Did you read The Fountainhead in college and decide you were destined to change humanity? Are you a fan of terrible puns? Then you might find love at The Atlasphere, the dating site for hardcore fans of Ayn Rand. The Atlasphere feels less like a genuine dating site and more like a place for people to tell each other how awesome they are for liking Ayn Rand. Are those the sort of people we really want to be reproducing?
Datecraft
If you like video games so much that you want to fulfill every last stereotype about them, then Datecraft is where you'll need to look for love. Clearly, anyone who's a gamer isn't fit for normal human interaction, they need their own special dating site, where their unwashed pallor won't spook the regular people. Again, there's nothing wrong with trying to share a mutual interest, but if you can't separate yourself from Lord Thunderdong, your level 85 shaman, then maybe romance shouldn't be your first priority in life.
Date my Pet
Date my Pet is, despite the name, not a bestiality site. It's actually much more creepier; it's a site for people who (platonically) love their pets so much that they come as a package in a relationship. It's right there in the site's slogan: "Date Me. Date My Pet." Date my Pet's profiles are so saccharine it's hard to believe these people actually know what dating is. Users spend more time describing their pets than they do themselves, and they use words like "purrfect" and "nosewiggling" with such reckless abandon that even the Care Bears would be disgusted. Everyone on this site is trying to stave off menopause, including the men. Their idea of a hot night out is a trip to the quilt festival and finishing the evening with some heavy petting in an entirely nonsexual way.
Farmer's Only
You no doubt have assumed that Farmer's Only is a dating site for farmers only, but you couldn't be more wrong. According to the site's founder, "you don't have to be a farmer, but you do have to have good old-fashioned down to earth values." By "old-fashioned values," Miller is actually using code for either being a racist or being Amish. The site also has elements of Confederacy Couples and more First Cousin Fornicating. Anyone who chooses a dating site on the advice of a talking cow is probably upset that their own heifers are only interested in the physical aspect of their relationship.
Vampersonals
Vampires need love as much as we mere mortals, as a variety of terrible novels have demonstrated, but just where can the undead find a life partner? Daytime activities are out, and they can't go to the bar without the risk of being killed by George Clooney. Well, as luck would have it, the interwebs is the perfect place for mopey freaks who sit around in the dark all day. And it's great for vampires too!
Vampersonals is the dating site for goths and bloodsuckers, whether users are just claiming to be vampires as an excuse to bite people or they actually think they're nosferatu isn't completely clear. In addition to letting you browse its pale and clammy members roster, Vampersonals offers a variety of suggestions for the perfect gothic date, such as "discussing the frailty and futility of life as you sip aged wine.
Dating with Benefits
Dating with Benefits is both the most honest dating site I've seen, and the saddest. DWB is where rich men looking for sexual favors and gold diggers on the hunt for their latest sugar daddy meet and mutually agree to suck all the romance out of their lives. Why look for a partner who shares your interests and dreams when you could just hook up with some old guy who's willing to buy you designer clothes if you indulge his perverted desires?
Gleeden
Look at all those single farmers, video game addicts, and vampires are having! Why should you, the married man or woman, miss out? What your significant other doesn't know can't hurt them, right? If you aren't repulsed by that line of thinking you should check out Gleedon, a dating site for married people! Gleeden commits a double sin by promoting adultery with one of the most horrific play on words we've ever seen. If you can cringe your way through their home page, you'll find an elaborate profile system that allows users to only reveal personal information to each other after they've built up a level of trust, thereby significantly lowering the odds of accidentally arranging a tryst with a Russian supermodel who turns out to be your suspicious wife. And there's even a panic button on every page, just to make it extra clear how sleazy you are for using the site!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Seven Notable National Revolutions
Chechen Revolution (1994-1996)
Chechnya is a small Eastern European locale that has a history of rebellion dating back to the early 1800s. With the collapsing of the Soviet Union, Chechen authorities concluded the time was ripe to declare their independence from the Soviet Union/Russian Federation in 1991. At the time, Russian authorities had other pressing problems to deal with besides a breakaway republic, though they did not recognize the republics calls for Independence. This period of relative quiet ended in 1994 when Russian forces finally garnered their attention to the breakaway Republic and invaded Chechnya. With many of the former Soviet Union satellites and republics becoming sovereign nations once again, the Russians had had enough. Russian forces, not known for being particularly even-handed in their approach, were brutal, completely destroying the city of Groznyy before capturing it. Out marched and out gunned, the Chechen government was ousted and Russians set up a puppet regime. Nevertheless, pockets of rebels continued to hold out and take the fight to the Russians over the course of the next couple of years. Finally, a peace accord was reached in 1996 that essentially allowed Chechnya to be an autonomous entity within the Russian Federation, but not secede and become a sovereign state. By the end of the conflict, more than 40,000 people were dead (mostly Chechen civilians) and over 300,000 people displaced.
Kosovo Rebellion (1997-1999)
The strife in Kosovo is about as convoluted as any can be found. The main issue, if one really gets to the bottom of the matter, is tied up in ethnic tension between Serbians and Albanians. Kosovo happens to be an area that is ethnically important to Serbians. However, as it so happens, Kosovo has a population that is about 80% Albanian. Naturally, the Albanians would prefer to either be a sovereign state in their own right or to be annexed into the sovereign nation of Albania. Of course the Serbian minority population of Kosovo doesn't agree, nor does the nation state to which Kosovo is apart of. To this end, Kosovar Albanians decided to take up arms and force the issue. Calling themselves the Kosovo Liberation Army, they set out to attack Serbian targets. In retaliation, Serbian forces launched a campaign to simply wipe out the Kosovar Albanians, or at least anyone the determined was a problem. The violence resulted in hundreds of dead Kosovar Albanians and with over 200,000 Albanians displaced. The sheer brutality of the Serbian forces enticed many to join the rebels in the hills and fight. By 1999, the United Nations convinced that further Serbian forces were intent on committing genocide by completely wiping out the Kosovar Albian population (about 1.5 million people). NATO intervened militarily, and eventually an agreement to end hostilities was signed. By this time, it is estimated that well over 4,000 are dead and 600,000 Kosovar Albanians were displaced, though most returned under the protection of UN peace keeping forces. Kosovo remained a territory under Yugoslav sovereignty, but was essentially a protected territory of the United Nations.
Bosnian Civil War (1992-1995)
The civil war that erupted in the former Eastern European country of Yugoslavia was another military engagement that involved NATO and the United Nations (and the United States forces assigned to peace keeping duty). The disintegration of the Soviet Union left a political vacuum in Eastern Europe that reignited much of the regional animosity that had existed prior to Soviet domination of the area. Such was the case in Bosnia. Bosnia (officially called Bosnia and Herzegovina) was one of the six republics that made up the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia being the other five). Bosnia, unlike the other republics with significant ethnic majorities, was comprised of equally large populations of Muslim Slavs, Serbs, and Croats, with each side receiving assistance from either Serbia or Croatia. Serbian military forces (which were better trained and equipped) managed to take control of about 70% of Bosnia. The Serbs then launched a massive ethnic cleansing campaign to rid the areas they controlled of all non-Serbian people. These atrocities led to worldwide attention and condemnation. The Croats then launched an attack against their former Muslim allies. While the territory in contention was not dramatically altered, both sides committed their own versions of ethnic cleansing. The atrocities committed were horrendous, with well over 200,000 deaths. Mass murder and rape, tens of thousands of people placed in modern day concentration camps and executed (mostly Muslims), and torture was the business at hand. The war finally came to an end with NATO and UN intervention.
Egyptian Revolution (2011)
When most people think of Egypt, images of pyramids and stories of pharaohs are the usual affair. Certainly, in the eyes of the United States, the Egyptian government under Hosni Mubarak represented a measure of stability in an unstable region. This wasn't the case in 2011, when the eyes of the world watched a revolution unfold on their televisions. In the mold of many leaders around the world, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak was popular abroad and generally disliked at home. Mubarak had been president of Egypt since 1981 when he assumed the presidency after the assassination of Anwar Al-Sadat. Western nations, including the US, generall supported the Mubarak government because of its willingness to align Egypt with pro-western policies that affected the region (particularly the Middle East). The story on the home front, however, was much different. Egypt, during the entire length of Mubarak's rule was officially under martial law (a move that began after the assassination of al-Sadat and simply never ended). This gave Mubarak exceptional powers over the country. Those powers were used in a very autocratic manner. Any opposition to his government was silenced in one form or another. Mubarak also cracked down on what he termed religious fundamentalism, which in turn, angered a largely religious population. Guerrilla warfare-like violence ensued and was sporadically a problem throughout Mubarak's regime. Dissatisfaction with Mubarak's regime culminated in a popular uprisings that was generally unforeseen in January 2011. Surprisingly, this revolt unlike other similar uprisings was fairly bloodless. With the exception of a few clashes between protesters and government forces (with casualties only numbering a few hundred), the downfall of Mubarak's reign was the result of mass demonstrations held in major Egyptian cities. Coupled with wide spread media exposure and pressure from the international community, Mubarak decided to step aside, leaving the military in charge of plotting a new course for this ancient nation.
Iranian Revolution (1978-1979)
Iran, a consistent focus of international attention in recent years, was also headline news in the 1970s. During a majority of the 60s and 70s, Iran was ruled by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah initiated a sweeping set of reforms in the early 60s, that severely limited traditional, religious authority and influence in the nation. As a result of the Shah's more secular leanings, the US lent its financial support to the regime (promoting regional stability and other security concerns). Unfortunately for the Shah, his government reforms didn't go over very well with Iran's clergy or most anyone else in the country. Out of this discontent came Ayahtollah, Ruhollah Khomeini. The Ayahtollah as early as 1963 began fermenting dissent against the Shah's government. He particularly lambasted western and specifically US influence in Iranian affairs. Though the Ayahtollah was quickly exiled, he continued to sow the seeds of revolution from Iraq and then France. It all came to a boil in 1978 as demonstrators (about 20,000 strong) were fired upon by government security forces. This was the day that became known as Black Friday. Several hundred students were killed and thousands of others were hurt. Within a few months, protesters began rioting across the country, attacking any symbol of so-called Western "decadence" (liquor stores, banks, government institutions, etc). Finally, disgruntled soldiers rebelled and attacked officers of the Shah's Imperial guard. this was the Shah's death knell and in 1979 he fled the country, leaving the Ayatollah Khomeini and his plans for an Islamic state behind. It wasn't long after this that the US embassy in Iran was taken over by militants and held the personnel assigned there as hostages.
American Civil War (1861-1865)
The War Between the States was the deadliest military contest in American history. This war pitted son against father and brother against brother. By the 1800s, American society found itself split into two distinct and competing regional areas: the North and the South. The main issue that ignited the passions of both sides to the point of civil war was slavery. The South depended on slavery as the force of labor that allowed their agricultural based economy (dependent on the growing and exporting of cotton) to exist. The North, on the other hand, didn't depend on slave labor, instead utilizing immigrants to work in its factories and build its infrastructure. With the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, the Southern states felt that their political influence was in dire jeopardy and seceded from the United States. President Lincoln found this unacceptable. The newly formed Confederate States of America then took the fight to the Union. The Union was initially unprepared to fight a war. While the North could field a larger army and had more resources, their forces were inadequately led (at least in the eastern campaigns). The Confederacy, on the other hand, would produce some of America's greatest military leaders. True grit, however, only goes so far. Failing to obtain foreign support (which was the element that allowed the Americans during the Revolution to defeat the British), the Confederacy could not long match the resources that were available in the North. Still, the fight was a bloody one. More than 600,000 men lost their lives in this conflict, with well over a million casualties. The property damage was in the billions of dollars. and while more than 4 million slaves were given their freedom and the country was reunited, the emotional scars from the war were deep and a certain degree, remain to this very day.
American Revolution (1775-1783)
No list of revolutions would be complete without including the conflict that defined the fight for freedom: the American Revolution. The struggle was born out of a dissatisfaction of the 13 British colonies established on the east coast America with Great Britain. A lack of adequate political representation within the British government, economic disparity and oppression, a natural attitude of self-reliance, and being located several thousands of miles away (and separated by a vast ocean), all contributed to American discontent. As a result, armed revolt was the answer in 1775 (with the declaration of independence coming a year later in 1776). Interestingly enough at the onset of hostilities, the 13 original colonies considered themselves as separate and sovereign nations; though with common interest. It wasn't until 1781 that the states places themselves under a united a united banner with the Articles of Confederation. Nevertheless, the task ahead of the American rebels was daunting. The British military was arguably the finest in the world (their navy was unquestionably so). They were well armed and expertly trained, with the resources of a wealthy nation behind them. The Americans, on the other hand, were poorly situated in every single category. In fact, the Continental Army struggled to the very end of the war to maintain itself. Nevertheless, what the Americans lacked in, well everything, they did have the advantage of fighting on their own land. This meant they had a much shorter line of supply and a friendly population surrounding them. The rest, as they say, is history.
Chechnya is a small Eastern European locale that has a history of rebellion dating back to the early 1800s. With the collapsing of the Soviet Union, Chechen authorities concluded the time was ripe to declare their independence from the Soviet Union/Russian Federation in 1991. At the time, Russian authorities had other pressing problems to deal with besides a breakaway republic, though they did not recognize the republics calls for Independence. This period of relative quiet ended in 1994 when Russian forces finally garnered their attention to the breakaway Republic and invaded Chechnya. With many of the former Soviet Union satellites and republics becoming sovereign nations once again, the Russians had had enough. Russian forces, not known for being particularly even-handed in their approach, were brutal, completely destroying the city of Groznyy before capturing it. Out marched and out gunned, the Chechen government was ousted and Russians set up a puppet regime. Nevertheless, pockets of rebels continued to hold out and take the fight to the Russians over the course of the next couple of years. Finally, a peace accord was reached in 1996 that essentially allowed Chechnya to be an autonomous entity within the Russian Federation, but not secede and become a sovereign state. By the end of the conflict, more than 40,000 people were dead (mostly Chechen civilians) and over 300,000 people displaced.
Kosovo Rebellion (1997-1999)
The strife in Kosovo is about as convoluted as any can be found. The main issue, if one really gets to the bottom of the matter, is tied up in ethnic tension between Serbians and Albanians. Kosovo happens to be an area that is ethnically important to Serbians. However, as it so happens, Kosovo has a population that is about 80% Albanian. Naturally, the Albanians would prefer to either be a sovereign state in their own right or to be annexed into the sovereign nation of Albania. Of course the Serbian minority population of Kosovo doesn't agree, nor does the nation state to which Kosovo is apart of. To this end, Kosovar Albanians decided to take up arms and force the issue. Calling themselves the Kosovo Liberation Army, they set out to attack Serbian targets. In retaliation, Serbian forces launched a campaign to simply wipe out the Kosovar Albanians, or at least anyone the determined was a problem. The violence resulted in hundreds of dead Kosovar Albanians and with over 200,000 Albanians displaced. The sheer brutality of the Serbian forces enticed many to join the rebels in the hills and fight. By 1999, the United Nations convinced that further Serbian forces were intent on committing genocide by completely wiping out the Kosovar Albian population (about 1.5 million people). NATO intervened militarily, and eventually an agreement to end hostilities was signed. By this time, it is estimated that well over 4,000 are dead and 600,000 Kosovar Albanians were displaced, though most returned under the protection of UN peace keeping forces. Kosovo remained a territory under Yugoslav sovereignty, but was essentially a protected territory of the United Nations.
Bosnian Civil War (1992-1995)
The civil war that erupted in the former Eastern European country of Yugoslavia was another military engagement that involved NATO and the United Nations (and the United States forces assigned to peace keeping duty). The disintegration of the Soviet Union left a political vacuum in Eastern Europe that reignited much of the regional animosity that had existed prior to Soviet domination of the area. Such was the case in Bosnia. Bosnia (officially called Bosnia and Herzegovina) was one of the six republics that made up the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia being the other five). Bosnia, unlike the other republics with significant ethnic majorities, was comprised of equally large populations of Muslim Slavs, Serbs, and Croats, with each side receiving assistance from either Serbia or Croatia. Serbian military forces (which were better trained and equipped) managed to take control of about 70% of Bosnia. The Serbs then launched a massive ethnic cleansing campaign to rid the areas they controlled of all non-Serbian people. These atrocities led to worldwide attention and condemnation. The Croats then launched an attack against their former Muslim allies. While the territory in contention was not dramatically altered, both sides committed their own versions of ethnic cleansing. The atrocities committed were horrendous, with well over 200,000 deaths. Mass murder and rape, tens of thousands of people placed in modern day concentration camps and executed (mostly Muslims), and torture was the business at hand. The war finally came to an end with NATO and UN intervention.
Egyptian Revolution (2011)
When most people think of Egypt, images of pyramids and stories of pharaohs are the usual affair. Certainly, in the eyes of the United States, the Egyptian government under Hosni Mubarak represented a measure of stability in an unstable region. This wasn't the case in 2011, when the eyes of the world watched a revolution unfold on their televisions. In the mold of many leaders around the world, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak was popular abroad and generally disliked at home. Mubarak had been president of Egypt since 1981 when he assumed the presidency after the assassination of Anwar Al-Sadat. Western nations, including the US, generall supported the Mubarak government because of its willingness to align Egypt with pro-western policies that affected the region (particularly the Middle East). The story on the home front, however, was much different. Egypt, during the entire length of Mubarak's rule was officially under martial law (a move that began after the assassination of al-Sadat and simply never ended). This gave Mubarak exceptional powers over the country. Those powers were used in a very autocratic manner. Any opposition to his government was silenced in one form or another. Mubarak also cracked down on what he termed religious fundamentalism, which in turn, angered a largely religious population. Guerrilla warfare-like violence ensued and was sporadically a problem throughout Mubarak's regime. Dissatisfaction with Mubarak's regime culminated in a popular uprisings that was generally unforeseen in January 2011. Surprisingly, this revolt unlike other similar uprisings was fairly bloodless. With the exception of a few clashes between protesters and government forces (with casualties only numbering a few hundred), the downfall of Mubarak's reign was the result of mass demonstrations held in major Egyptian cities. Coupled with wide spread media exposure and pressure from the international community, Mubarak decided to step aside, leaving the military in charge of plotting a new course for this ancient nation.
Iranian Revolution (1978-1979)
Iran, a consistent focus of international attention in recent years, was also headline news in the 1970s. During a majority of the 60s and 70s, Iran was ruled by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah initiated a sweeping set of reforms in the early 60s, that severely limited traditional, religious authority and influence in the nation. As a result of the Shah's more secular leanings, the US lent its financial support to the regime (promoting regional stability and other security concerns). Unfortunately for the Shah, his government reforms didn't go over very well with Iran's clergy or most anyone else in the country. Out of this discontent came Ayahtollah, Ruhollah Khomeini. The Ayahtollah as early as 1963 began fermenting dissent against the Shah's government. He particularly lambasted western and specifically US influence in Iranian affairs. Though the Ayahtollah was quickly exiled, he continued to sow the seeds of revolution from Iraq and then France. It all came to a boil in 1978 as demonstrators (about 20,000 strong) were fired upon by government security forces. This was the day that became known as Black Friday. Several hundred students were killed and thousands of others were hurt. Within a few months, protesters began rioting across the country, attacking any symbol of so-called Western "decadence" (liquor stores, banks, government institutions, etc). Finally, disgruntled soldiers rebelled and attacked officers of the Shah's Imperial guard. this was the Shah's death knell and in 1979 he fled the country, leaving the Ayatollah Khomeini and his plans for an Islamic state behind. It wasn't long after this that the US embassy in Iran was taken over by militants and held the personnel assigned there as hostages.
American Civil War (1861-1865)
The War Between the States was the deadliest military contest in American history. This war pitted son against father and brother against brother. By the 1800s, American society found itself split into two distinct and competing regional areas: the North and the South. The main issue that ignited the passions of both sides to the point of civil war was slavery. The South depended on slavery as the force of labor that allowed their agricultural based economy (dependent on the growing and exporting of cotton) to exist. The North, on the other hand, didn't depend on slave labor, instead utilizing immigrants to work in its factories and build its infrastructure. With the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, the Southern states felt that their political influence was in dire jeopardy and seceded from the United States. President Lincoln found this unacceptable. The newly formed Confederate States of America then took the fight to the Union. The Union was initially unprepared to fight a war. While the North could field a larger army and had more resources, their forces were inadequately led (at least in the eastern campaigns). The Confederacy, on the other hand, would produce some of America's greatest military leaders. True grit, however, only goes so far. Failing to obtain foreign support (which was the element that allowed the Americans during the Revolution to defeat the British), the Confederacy could not long match the resources that were available in the North. Still, the fight was a bloody one. More than 600,000 men lost their lives in this conflict, with well over a million casualties. The property damage was in the billions of dollars. and while more than 4 million slaves were given their freedom and the country was reunited, the emotional scars from the war were deep and a certain degree, remain to this very day.
American Revolution (1775-1783)
No list of revolutions would be complete without including the conflict that defined the fight for freedom: the American Revolution. The struggle was born out of a dissatisfaction of the 13 British colonies established on the east coast America with Great Britain. A lack of adequate political representation within the British government, economic disparity and oppression, a natural attitude of self-reliance, and being located several thousands of miles away (and separated by a vast ocean), all contributed to American discontent. As a result, armed revolt was the answer in 1775 (with the declaration of independence coming a year later in 1776). Interestingly enough at the onset of hostilities, the 13 original colonies considered themselves as separate and sovereign nations; though with common interest. It wasn't until 1781 that the states places themselves under a united a united banner with the Articles of Confederation. Nevertheless, the task ahead of the American rebels was daunting. The British military was arguably the finest in the world (their navy was unquestionably so). They were well armed and expertly trained, with the resources of a wealthy nation behind them. The Americans, on the other hand, were poorly situated in every single category. In fact, the Continental Army struggled to the very end of the war to maintain itself. Nevertheless, what the Americans lacked in, well everything, they did have the advantage of fighting on their own land. This meant they had a much shorter line of supply and a friendly population surrounding them. The rest, as they say, is history.
Seven Historical Cross Dressers
Mary Read, Pirate (1690-1721)
Raised as boy by her mother in England, Read joined the British military at a young age. On a trip to the West Indies, the ship she was traveling on was captured by pirates, and Read decided that a pirate's life was for her. When she later joined a new crew, a female pirate by the name of Anne Bonny took a liking to her. In a scene straight out of a movie, Bonny attempted to seduce Read, only to discover that she, too, was a female pirate. The two became lifelong companions. After being captured in 1720, Read and Bonny became the only two women to ever be convicted of piracy.
Francois De Choisy, Writer (1644-1724)
French author Francois De Choisy was dressed as a girl by his mother until the age of 18. Her reasons might have been political: De Choisy's playmate, Philippe I, was also encouraged to dress as a girl, possibly so that he would not be seen as posing a threat to his older brother, King Louis XIV. As an adult, De Choisy took up male dress for awhile but soon went back to his preferred female clothing. Many young women of the day visited him for fashion advice, encouraged by their mothers. He enjoyed their company, so much in fact, that one ended up pregnant by him. Although he later wrote a number of historical and religious works, De Choisy is most famous for his tell-all book, The Transvestite Memoirs, published in 1737.
Deborah Samson, Soldier (1760-1827)
At the age of 21, Samson dressed in men's clothing and enlisted to fight in the American Revolutionary War under the name of her deceased brother. Things went remarkably smoothly until she was wounded in battle: Samson was so scared of being found out that she instructed her fellow soldiers to leave on the field to die, but the refused. She escaped from the hospital, and removed a bullet from her own thigh. Another hospitalization in 1783 finally revealed her secret, and Samson was given an honorary discharge. Although she married and had children, Samson did several speaking tours wearing her old military uniform. She was the first known American to pass as a male in war, but definitely not the last. Up to 400 women are thought to have fought in the Civil War while dressed as men.
Charles D'Eon, Diplomat (1728-1810)
A French soldier, spy, and diplomat, D'Eon was sent to Russia in 1756 to reestablish diplomatic relations between the countries; he achieved this by dressing as a woman and becoming a maid of honor to the Russian Empress. Later, he worked as an ambassador in London, where at one point there was so much speculation on whether he was male or female that people actually placed bets on the London Stock Exchange. On his return to France, D'Eon demanded that he be recognized as a woman, claiming that he had in fact been born female and raised as a boy because of an inheritance dispute. The French King agreed, providing that he wear 'appropriate' women's clothing. Posthumously, medical examinations revealed D'Eon to be anatomically male.
Isabelle Eberhardt, Explorer (1877-1904)
Born in Switzerland, Eberhardt moved to North America in 1897, where she became an explorer under the assumed name of Si Mahmoud Essadi. Male clothing allowed her to move freely in Arab society, and she eventually joined the Sudi sect Quadiriyya, impressing them so much with her piety that she was initiated as a faqir, a male member of the order. During her short life, she also acted as a spy and briefly took up arms in an Algerian revolt against France.
Shi Pei-Pu, Spy (1938-2000)
Male opera singer Shi Pei-Pu met Bernard Boursicot, an employee at the French Embassy in Beijing when Shi was 26. After convincing Boursicot that he was actually a woman dressed as a man, they began an affair. Amazingly, the charade continued for 20 years, with Shi at one stage claiming to have borne him a son. Boursicot even began handing over secret documents to the Chinese in order to help Shi's position in the Communist party. In 1982, Boursicot brought Shi and his son to Paris, where they were eventually arrested for espionage. When Shi's identity was revealed, Boursicot physically attacked him, slashing his throat. Shi survived. A successful play and movie, M. Butterfly, was loosely based on Shi's life.
Joan of Arc, Soldier (1412-1431)
During the Hundred Years War, when large areas of France were occupied by the English, this young peasant girl heard heavenly voiced commanding her to cut her hair, dress as a man, and go lead an army. Joan convinced Charles VII, the French claimant to the throne, that she was for real, and was given an army and supplies. She led a series of military successes that ended with Charles being crowned king.
At the age of 19, Joan was captured and handed over to a pro-English Biship, who subjected her to an illegal trial. In Europe at the time, cross-dressing was actually condoned, providing that a woman did it for safety or protection. Nevertheless, Joan was convicted of 'relapsed heresy' when she took up male dress again in prison, probably after a rape attempt. She was burned at the stake. Later, the unjust decision was overturned in court, and Joan is now considered a saint by the Catholic Church and a heroine of France.
Raised as boy by her mother in England, Read joined the British military at a young age. On a trip to the West Indies, the ship she was traveling on was captured by pirates, and Read decided that a pirate's life was for her. When she later joined a new crew, a female pirate by the name of Anne Bonny took a liking to her. In a scene straight out of a movie, Bonny attempted to seduce Read, only to discover that she, too, was a female pirate. The two became lifelong companions. After being captured in 1720, Read and Bonny became the only two women to ever be convicted of piracy.
Francois De Choisy, Writer (1644-1724)
French author Francois De Choisy was dressed as a girl by his mother until the age of 18. Her reasons might have been political: De Choisy's playmate, Philippe I, was also encouraged to dress as a girl, possibly so that he would not be seen as posing a threat to his older brother, King Louis XIV. As an adult, De Choisy took up male dress for awhile but soon went back to his preferred female clothing. Many young women of the day visited him for fashion advice, encouraged by their mothers. He enjoyed their company, so much in fact, that one ended up pregnant by him. Although he later wrote a number of historical and religious works, De Choisy is most famous for his tell-all book, The Transvestite Memoirs, published in 1737.
Deborah Samson, Soldier (1760-1827)
At the age of 21, Samson dressed in men's clothing and enlisted to fight in the American Revolutionary War under the name of her deceased brother. Things went remarkably smoothly until she was wounded in battle: Samson was so scared of being found out that she instructed her fellow soldiers to leave on the field to die, but the refused. She escaped from the hospital, and removed a bullet from her own thigh. Another hospitalization in 1783 finally revealed her secret, and Samson was given an honorary discharge. Although she married and had children, Samson did several speaking tours wearing her old military uniform. She was the first known American to pass as a male in war, but definitely not the last. Up to 400 women are thought to have fought in the Civil War while dressed as men.
Charles D'Eon, Diplomat (1728-1810)
A French soldier, spy, and diplomat, D'Eon was sent to Russia in 1756 to reestablish diplomatic relations between the countries; he achieved this by dressing as a woman and becoming a maid of honor to the Russian Empress. Later, he worked as an ambassador in London, where at one point there was so much speculation on whether he was male or female that people actually placed bets on the London Stock Exchange. On his return to France, D'Eon demanded that he be recognized as a woman, claiming that he had in fact been born female and raised as a boy because of an inheritance dispute. The French King agreed, providing that he wear 'appropriate' women's clothing. Posthumously, medical examinations revealed D'Eon to be anatomically male.
Isabelle Eberhardt, Explorer (1877-1904)
Born in Switzerland, Eberhardt moved to North America in 1897, where she became an explorer under the assumed name of Si Mahmoud Essadi. Male clothing allowed her to move freely in Arab society, and she eventually joined the Sudi sect Quadiriyya, impressing them so much with her piety that she was initiated as a faqir, a male member of the order. During her short life, she also acted as a spy and briefly took up arms in an Algerian revolt against France.
Shi Pei-Pu, Spy (1938-2000)
Male opera singer Shi Pei-Pu met Bernard Boursicot, an employee at the French Embassy in Beijing when Shi was 26. After convincing Boursicot that he was actually a woman dressed as a man, they began an affair. Amazingly, the charade continued for 20 years, with Shi at one stage claiming to have borne him a son. Boursicot even began handing over secret documents to the Chinese in order to help Shi's position in the Communist party. In 1982, Boursicot brought Shi and his son to Paris, where they were eventually arrested for espionage. When Shi's identity was revealed, Boursicot physically attacked him, slashing his throat. Shi survived. A successful play and movie, M. Butterfly, was loosely based on Shi's life.
Joan of Arc, Soldier (1412-1431)
During the Hundred Years War, when large areas of France were occupied by the English, this young peasant girl heard heavenly voiced commanding her to cut her hair, dress as a man, and go lead an army. Joan convinced Charles VII, the French claimant to the throne, that she was for real, and was given an army and supplies. She led a series of military successes that ended with Charles being crowned king.
At the age of 19, Joan was captured and handed over to a pro-English Biship, who subjected her to an illegal trial. In Europe at the time, cross-dressing was actually condoned, providing that a woman did it for safety or protection. Nevertheless, Joan was convicted of 'relapsed heresy' when she took up male dress again in prison, probably after a rape attempt. She was burned at the stake. Later, the unjust decision was overturned in court, and Joan is now considered a saint by the Catholic Church and a heroine of France.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Seven Creepy Justin Bieber Pictures
I'm all for young people showing off their talent. While I may not enjoy it myself, I do have an appreciation for it. Justin Bieber is the *NSYNC and New Kids on the Block for this generation. I may have an appreciation for his talent, but that does not necessarily mean that I can't poke fun at him. As a result, I present a special edition of Seven: Seven Creepy Justin Bieber Pictures (with Rocky Horror Picture Show quotes).
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| "I'm just a sweet transvestite, from Transsexual, Transylvania." |
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| "Well, I don't like men with too many muscles." |
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| "Great heavens! That's a laser!" |
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| "In just seven days, I can make you a man." |
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| "A weakling weighing 98 pounds." |
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| "Well really. That's no way to behave on your first day out." |
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| "It was a mercy killing. He had a certain naive charm, but no muscle." |
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Seven Doomsday Prophecies
I think is safe to assume that everyone survived the Rapture on Saturday, if not then I shall miss you as a reader. Congrats on getting into heaven though, what's it like up there? Who's up there with you? Are there lots of parties and dinner engagements? Is everyone really smart? Do you dress really fancy?
As for everyone else, let's face it, there was no Rapture. Harold Camping was once again rambling about his "special upgrade" and the end of the world and was once again proven wrong. Of course, Camping isn't the first person to "predict" the end of the world (and won't be the last thanks to the Mayans). Campings failure at predicting the end of the world gave me the inspiration to write a special "Seven" list on doomsday prophecies.
The Jupiter Effect (1982)
The year 1982 was a magical year that marked the birth of none other than me and the year that all nine planets were supposed to align and cause mass chaos. John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann theorized that a rare alignment of all nine planets in 1982 would create a combined gravitational pull that would place huge stress on the planet's tectonic plates, causing killer earthquakes and severe changes in Earth's climate. The two men even wrote a book about their theory, that caused quite a stir at the time, but after the alignment passed without incident their professional reputation took quite a beating. Even though the two men were completely wrong, it was one of the first popular doomsday sceneries which held nature responsible for the end of the world rather than God's wrath.
The Battle of Armageddon (1999)
Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) was a noted psychic who made a number of predictions during the 1930s while in a trance state that went either unrealized or their fulfillment is open to debate. Of his various catastrophic Earth predictions, the epic Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ were by far the most popular. Obviously, when these events failed to materialize on cue, it also made him as wrong as many of his contemporaries as well, though in having been dead for fifty-five years at the time, it made him one of the few end-time prognosticators who didn't have to suffer the consequences of his failed predictions.
Y2K Bug (2000)
In 2000, I was a senior in high school and actually did believe some of the hype of the Y2K bug. I didn't think it was going to cause the end of the world, but I did think it was going to give me a hiccup when I went to Wawa to buy a cup of coffee before school. As you may have remembered, a bunch of computer geeks gave everyone anxiety after they claimed that computers would get confused by all those zeros and do all sorts of nasty things. Not only would we get a hiccup when trying to buy our morning coffee and newspaper, it was supposed to shut down air traffic control radars, resulting in numerous mid air collisions as pilots blindly crash into each other. The Y2K bug would also cause computers to forget to send coolant into nuclear reactor cores, causing them to blow up like a hundred little Hiroshimas. As a result, in the weeks and months leading up to the big event, there was a run on everything from bottled water to toilet paper as people prepared for Microsoft Armageddon, only to awake the next morning with one too many bottles of water. Who could have known all that was needed to prevent doomsday were a few software patches and a bit of diligence.
Late Great Planet Earth (1970)
Few people got the Christian community anticipating the Rapture, the appearance of the Antichrist, th eBattle of Armageddon, and the seven year Great Tribulation period than did the steamboat captain turned preacher Hal Lindsey, whose landmark 1970 book, The Late Great Planet Earth, became an overnight international bestseller. Outlining a remarkable chain of events designed to culminate in the Christ's triumphant return at the end of the seven year cycle of abject horror, literally millions of Christians looked to 1988 (the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 when the doomsday clock literally started, according to Lindsey) as "the date." While in all fairness Lindsey never came out and specifically named the year, it was apparent by his arguments that the 1980s was to see all the events described in the Book of Revelations come to pass which, to readers in the 1970s, was pretty scary stuff. Remarkably, Lindsey suffered little from his prophetic faux pas and went on to write several more books on the end of times and even acquired his own cable TV prophecy show today, demonstrating that nothing breeds success quite like failure.
Heaven's Gate (1997)
On the morning of March 26, 1997, San Diego police were called to a rented mansion in the upscale community of Rancho Santa Fe, California to investigate reports of a possible death. When the police arrived at the home, they were made a horrific discovery: thirty-nine rapidly decomposing bodies. Each body was dressed in identical black shirts, black sweat pants, black and white Nike tennis shoes and lying in their own bunk.
Who were these people and why did they all commit suicide within a few days of each other? They were the members of a group of cultists known as Heaven's Gate, a tiny group of dedicated believers who had been convinced by a former music teacher turned New Age guru, Marshall Applewhite, that planet Earth was about to be recycled and that the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately in the spaceship that rode in the tail of the then recently discovered comet Hale-Bopp. Unfortunately, the only way their souls could hitch a ride on this spaceship was by ingesting poison and releasing themselves of their Earthly shells so they might make their "transition." Apparently, his followers took him seriously enough that over three dozen of them joined him in taking their own lives as part of a ritualistic suicide act, demonstrating that doomsday beliefs are far from being simple, harmless fun.
The Great Disappointment (1844)
New York farmer turned Baptist minister William Miller (1792-1849) was by all accounts a good and decent man who had a remarkable power to persuade people to his ideas. This turned out to be to his great detriment, however, when after undertaking an exhaustive self-study of the Old Testament, especially the book of Daniel, he came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ would return to Earth in all His glory on October 22, 1844. How he arrived at that precise date is the result of a fairly complex series of calculations, but suffice is to say that by 1840 his powers of persuasion were sufficient to induce upwards of 50,000 (with some estimates being as high as 500,000) of his fellow New Englanders to buy off on his teachings. When the day came and went without Christ's return, however, the disappointment was, to put it mildly, more than a little palpable. Almost overnight his burgeoning church folded, leaving him a man without a congregation. Undeterred, Miller recalculated and finding a simple math error, decided he had been off by one year and named 1845 as "the year." After Christ stubbornly refused to return that time either, Miller largely gave up and lived out the final years of his life a virtual recluse, devastated by his great disappointment but never for a moment giving up on his belief that the Second Coming was "imminent." Not to worry, however, for a small remnant of his church survived him to become the foundation for the fairly substantial Seventh Adventist Church today which, while no longer setting dates, still maintains a strong end-times mentality.
Rapture Day (2011)
Harold Camping, an American Christian radio broadcaster, predicted the end of the world through the use of mathematics. Prior to his 2011 predictions, Camping predicted Rapture Day would occur in September 1994, with the world ending five months later. Obviously, nothing occurred in September 1994 so Camping sat down to recalculate the end of the world a second time. Camping based his belief on the cycles of the Jewish feat days in the Hebrew calender (described in the Old Testament), the lunar calender, and a close approximation of the Gregorian calender tropical year. Rapture day would begin on May 21, 2011 at 6 pm with earthquakes in New Zealand and would then proceed to make it's way around the world. Only 3% of the world's population was to be raptured, with their bodies floating to heaven. As for everyone else, they were to spend the next five months in Hell on Earth, with God eventually destroying Earth and the entire universe five months later on October 21.
As for everyone else, let's face it, there was no Rapture. Harold Camping was once again rambling about his "special upgrade" and the end of the world and was once again proven wrong. Of course, Camping isn't the first person to "predict" the end of the world (and won't be the last thanks to the Mayans). Campings failure at predicting the end of the world gave me the inspiration to write a special "Seven" list on doomsday prophecies.
The Jupiter Effect (1982)
The year 1982 was a magical year that marked the birth of none other than me and the year that all nine planets were supposed to align and cause mass chaos. John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann theorized that a rare alignment of all nine planets in 1982 would create a combined gravitational pull that would place huge stress on the planet's tectonic plates, causing killer earthquakes and severe changes in Earth's climate. The two men even wrote a book about their theory, that caused quite a stir at the time, but after the alignment passed without incident their professional reputation took quite a beating. Even though the two men were completely wrong, it was one of the first popular doomsday sceneries which held nature responsible for the end of the world rather than God's wrath.
The Battle of Armageddon (1999)
Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) was a noted psychic who made a number of predictions during the 1930s while in a trance state that went either unrealized or their fulfillment is open to debate. Of his various catastrophic Earth predictions, the epic Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ were by far the most popular. Obviously, when these events failed to materialize on cue, it also made him as wrong as many of his contemporaries as well, though in having been dead for fifty-five years at the time, it made him one of the few end-time prognosticators who didn't have to suffer the consequences of his failed predictions.
Y2K Bug (2000)
In 2000, I was a senior in high school and actually did believe some of the hype of the Y2K bug. I didn't think it was going to cause the end of the world, but I did think it was going to give me a hiccup when I went to Wawa to buy a cup of coffee before school. As you may have remembered, a bunch of computer geeks gave everyone anxiety after they claimed that computers would get confused by all those zeros and do all sorts of nasty things. Not only would we get a hiccup when trying to buy our morning coffee and newspaper, it was supposed to shut down air traffic control radars, resulting in numerous mid air collisions as pilots blindly crash into each other. The Y2K bug would also cause computers to forget to send coolant into nuclear reactor cores, causing them to blow up like a hundred little Hiroshimas. As a result, in the weeks and months leading up to the big event, there was a run on everything from bottled water to toilet paper as people prepared for Microsoft Armageddon, only to awake the next morning with one too many bottles of water. Who could have known all that was needed to prevent doomsday were a few software patches and a bit of diligence.
Late Great Planet Earth (1970)
Few people got the Christian community anticipating the Rapture, the appearance of the Antichrist, th eBattle of Armageddon, and the seven year Great Tribulation period than did the steamboat captain turned preacher Hal Lindsey, whose landmark 1970 book, The Late Great Planet Earth, became an overnight international bestseller. Outlining a remarkable chain of events designed to culminate in the Christ's triumphant return at the end of the seven year cycle of abject horror, literally millions of Christians looked to 1988 (the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 when the doomsday clock literally started, according to Lindsey) as "the date." While in all fairness Lindsey never came out and specifically named the year, it was apparent by his arguments that the 1980s was to see all the events described in the Book of Revelations come to pass which, to readers in the 1970s, was pretty scary stuff. Remarkably, Lindsey suffered little from his prophetic faux pas and went on to write several more books on the end of times and even acquired his own cable TV prophecy show today, demonstrating that nothing breeds success quite like failure.
Heaven's Gate (1997)
On the morning of March 26, 1997, San Diego police were called to a rented mansion in the upscale community of Rancho Santa Fe, California to investigate reports of a possible death. When the police arrived at the home, they were made a horrific discovery: thirty-nine rapidly decomposing bodies. Each body was dressed in identical black shirts, black sweat pants, black and white Nike tennis shoes and lying in their own bunk.
Who were these people and why did they all commit suicide within a few days of each other? They were the members of a group of cultists known as Heaven's Gate, a tiny group of dedicated believers who had been convinced by a former music teacher turned New Age guru, Marshall Applewhite, that planet Earth was about to be recycled and that the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately in the spaceship that rode in the tail of the then recently discovered comet Hale-Bopp. Unfortunately, the only way their souls could hitch a ride on this spaceship was by ingesting poison and releasing themselves of their Earthly shells so they might make their "transition." Apparently, his followers took him seriously enough that over three dozen of them joined him in taking their own lives as part of a ritualistic suicide act, demonstrating that doomsday beliefs are far from being simple, harmless fun.
The Great Disappointment (1844)
New York farmer turned Baptist minister William Miller (1792-1849) was by all accounts a good and decent man who had a remarkable power to persuade people to his ideas. This turned out to be to his great detriment, however, when after undertaking an exhaustive self-study of the Old Testament, especially the book of Daniel, he came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ would return to Earth in all His glory on October 22, 1844. How he arrived at that precise date is the result of a fairly complex series of calculations, but suffice is to say that by 1840 his powers of persuasion were sufficient to induce upwards of 50,000 (with some estimates being as high as 500,000) of his fellow New Englanders to buy off on his teachings. When the day came and went without Christ's return, however, the disappointment was, to put it mildly, more than a little palpable. Almost overnight his burgeoning church folded, leaving him a man without a congregation. Undeterred, Miller recalculated and finding a simple math error, decided he had been off by one year and named 1845 as "the year." After Christ stubbornly refused to return that time either, Miller largely gave up and lived out the final years of his life a virtual recluse, devastated by his great disappointment but never for a moment giving up on his belief that the Second Coming was "imminent." Not to worry, however, for a small remnant of his church survived him to become the foundation for the fairly substantial Seventh Adventist Church today which, while no longer setting dates, still maintains a strong end-times mentality.
Rapture Day (2011)
Harold Camping, an American Christian radio broadcaster, predicted the end of the world through the use of mathematics. Prior to his 2011 predictions, Camping predicted Rapture Day would occur in September 1994, with the world ending five months later. Obviously, nothing occurred in September 1994 so Camping sat down to recalculate the end of the world a second time. Camping based his belief on the cycles of the Jewish feat days in the Hebrew calender (described in the Old Testament), the lunar calender, and a close approximation of the Gregorian calender tropical year. Rapture day would begin on May 21, 2011 at 6 pm with earthquakes in New Zealand and would then proceed to make it's way around the world. Only 3% of the world's population was to be raptured, with their bodies floating to heaven. As for everyone else, they were to spend the next five months in Hell on Earth, with God eventually destroying Earth and the entire universe five months later on October 21.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Seven Deadliest Prisons
San Quentin Prison, California
In the 1930's, San Quentin was rife with corruption by management, until a new director, Clinton Truman Duffy, appalled at the inhumane conditions at the prison, decided to implement reforms in the 1940's. Prior to his appointment, prisoners made counterfeit currency in the prison shops, had their heads shaved and were forced to wear numbered uniforms, while eating out of pails and enduring solitary confinement in poured-concrete cells that had little air and no light. Even a petty offense to prison regulations would land an inmate in solitary, and race riots would put inmate lives at risk on a regular basis. San Quentin is still a harsh environment, filled with California's most violent offenders, and the high ratio of guards to general population, just barely keeps the prison system from spiraling out of control.
Bang Kwang Prison, Thailand
Known as the "Bangkok Hilton", Bang Kwang is understaffed, overcrowded, and filled with inmates who struggle with insanity as they spend the first months of their sentences chained in leg irons. The Thai culture doesn't believe in coddling prisoners, and in the words of Director of Prison Khun Nattee, "Thai prisons are tough...you don't want to be in Bang Kwang." Poor medical care is standard at this prison, with sick inmates shackled to their beds as they wait for medicines they probably will never get. If you find yourself on Death Row at Bangkwang, you will have leg irons welded on until your execution, and will be given only two hours notice before dying by lethal injection.
La Sante Prison, France
According to former prison official Veronique Vasseur, this prison was a hellhole, where prisoners were forced to live out their sentences in concrete cells full of rats and lice. Inmates were prone to lose their sanity as they dealt with the harsh daily realities of life at La Sante, which translates, ironically, to "health" in the English language. The well being of inmates was very low on the list of priorities for the French administrators of this torture chamber on a grand scale: weaker inmates were routinely enslaves by stronger ones, and rapes were a daily event at the prison. Suicide was rampant at la Sante, with a staggering 122 self-inflected deaths of prisoners in 2002, and 73 more by mid 2003. The tendency towards suicide could be linked to the terrible living conditions that plunged inmates into clinical depression: overcrowding, understaffing, and prison violence led these people to swallow drain cleaner in order to end their suffering once and for all.
Diyarbakir, Turkey
This prison has been cited for its human rights violations, which are thought to cross the line into true atrocity. From 1981 to 1984, 34 prisoners lost their lives due to the excessive instances of torture, both mental and physical, practiced at Diyarbakir. This prison is notorious for the sexual abuse of its inmates, and its unlivable conditions. Prisoners have attempted hunger strikes, set themselves on fire in protest of prison conditions, and committed suicide in order to escape the horrors of this Turkish facility. Diyarbakir is known to incarcerate mre children for sentences of life imprisonment, and its "crimes against humanity" make it one of the world's most sadistic and forbidding penal institutions.
La Sabaneta Prison, Venezuela
Venezuela is known for its brutal prisons, where violence is a daily occurrence, and inmates are at the mercy of disease outbreaks, underpaid staff, little medical services, and insufficient food and care. La Sabaneta is the worse of the worst, a place where cholera outbreaks have wiped out 700 inmates, amidst "appalling violence" and riots that triggered a horrific massacre of 100 inmates back in 1994. Death is rampant at La Sabaneta, and the hair-trigger tempters of inmates and staff are thought to be linked to idleness and boredom, as no activities are permitted to release tension. Left to their own devises, prisoners fight amongst themselves, fashion shivs and other deadly weapons, and kill one another in this truly archaic penal facility.
Tadmor Prison, Syria
The violence at Tadmor is so gruesome and utterly merciless, I felt sick reading about it. Described as a "kingdom of death and madness" by a former detainee, Tadmor features bloodthirsty guards who butcher inmates with axes, and political prisoners who are starved to concentration camp emaciation by prison administrators. In 1980, after an assassination attempt on the President, inmates were made to pay the ultimate price as commandos landed at Tadmor in helicopters, and butchered as many as 500 prisoners in their cells, this "warming," sent a clear message to Syrians about staying in line. When guards are not busy tying up inmates and dragging them to death, they can be found chopping up body parts in one of the prison's several courtyards.
Carandiru Prison, Brazil
The body count was sky-high as this notorious Brazilian prison, where riots in 1992 triggered a massacre of the general population by local police: inmates, who had already given in and surrendered to police, were shot as they cowered in terror in their tiny cells. Deaths at this facility are thought to be as many as 1300 over its 46 year history: the reign of terror by prison officials was stopped in 2002 when the prison was closed, amidst campaigns from Amnesty International, and reports of gross human rights violations that could not be quieted by Brazilian officials. The violence wasn't the only thing threatening the unfortunate residents of this dark place, an AIDS epidemic at the facility spread rapidly, with as many as one in five of the inmates suffering from the disease.
In the 1930's, San Quentin was rife with corruption by management, until a new director, Clinton Truman Duffy, appalled at the inhumane conditions at the prison, decided to implement reforms in the 1940's. Prior to his appointment, prisoners made counterfeit currency in the prison shops, had their heads shaved and were forced to wear numbered uniforms, while eating out of pails and enduring solitary confinement in poured-concrete cells that had little air and no light. Even a petty offense to prison regulations would land an inmate in solitary, and race riots would put inmate lives at risk on a regular basis. San Quentin is still a harsh environment, filled with California's most violent offenders, and the high ratio of guards to general population, just barely keeps the prison system from spiraling out of control.
Bang Kwang Prison, Thailand
Known as the "Bangkok Hilton", Bang Kwang is understaffed, overcrowded, and filled with inmates who struggle with insanity as they spend the first months of their sentences chained in leg irons. The Thai culture doesn't believe in coddling prisoners, and in the words of Director of Prison Khun Nattee, "Thai prisons are tough...you don't want to be in Bang Kwang." Poor medical care is standard at this prison, with sick inmates shackled to their beds as they wait for medicines they probably will never get. If you find yourself on Death Row at Bangkwang, you will have leg irons welded on until your execution, and will be given only two hours notice before dying by lethal injection.
La Sante Prison, France
According to former prison official Veronique Vasseur, this prison was a hellhole, where prisoners were forced to live out their sentences in concrete cells full of rats and lice. Inmates were prone to lose their sanity as they dealt with the harsh daily realities of life at La Sante, which translates, ironically, to "health" in the English language. The well being of inmates was very low on the list of priorities for the French administrators of this torture chamber on a grand scale: weaker inmates were routinely enslaves by stronger ones, and rapes were a daily event at the prison. Suicide was rampant at la Sante, with a staggering 122 self-inflected deaths of prisoners in 2002, and 73 more by mid 2003. The tendency towards suicide could be linked to the terrible living conditions that plunged inmates into clinical depression: overcrowding, understaffing, and prison violence led these people to swallow drain cleaner in order to end their suffering once and for all.
Diyarbakir, Turkey
This prison has been cited for its human rights violations, which are thought to cross the line into true atrocity. From 1981 to 1984, 34 prisoners lost their lives due to the excessive instances of torture, both mental and physical, practiced at Diyarbakir. This prison is notorious for the sexual abuse of its inmates, and its unlivable conditions. Prisoners have attempted hunger strikes, set themselves on fire in protest of prison conditions, and committed suicide in order to escape the horrors of this Turkish facility. Diyarbakir is known to incarcerate mre children for sentences of life imprisonment, and its "crimes against humanity" make it one of the world's most sadistic and forbidding penal institutions.
La Sabaneta Prison, Venezuela
Venezuela is known for its brutal prisons, where violence is a daily occurrence, and inmates are at the mercy of disease outbreaks, underpaid staff, little medical services, and insufficient food and care. La Sabaneta is the worse of the worst, a place where cholera outbreaks have wiped out 700 inmates, amidst "appalling violence" and riots that triggered a horrific massacre of 100 inmates back in 1994. Death is rampant at La Sabaneta, and the hair-trigger tempters of inmates and staff are thought to be linked to idleness and boredom, as no activities are permitted to release tension. Left to their own devises, prisoners fight amongst themselves, fashion shivs and other deadly weapons, and kill one another in this truly archaic penal facility.
Tadmor Prison, Syria
The violence at Tadmor is so gruesome and utterly merciless, I felt sick reading about it. Described as a "kingdom of death and madness" by a former detainee, Tadmor features bloodthirsty guards who butcher inmates with axes, and political prisoners who are starved to concentration camp emaciation by prison administrators. In 1980, after an assassination attempt on the President, inmates were made to pay the ultimate price as commandos landed at Tadmor in helicopters, and butchered as many as 500 prisoners in their cells, this "warming," sent a clear message to Syrians about staying in line. When guards are not busy tying up inmates and dragging them to death, they can be found chopping up body parts in one of the prison's several courtyards.
Carandiru Prison, Brazil
The body count was sky-high as this notorious Brazilian prison, where riots in 1992 triggered a massacre of the general population by local police: inmates, who had already given in and surrendered to police, were shot as they cowered in terror in their tiny cells. Deaths at this facility are thought to be as many as 1300 over its 46 year history: the reign of terror by prison officials was stopped in 2002 when the prison was closed, amidst campaigns from Amnesty International, and reports of gross human rights violations that could not be quieted by Brazilian officials. The violence wasn't the only thing threatening the unfortunate residents of this dark place, an AIDS epidemic at the facility spread rapidly, with as many as one in five of the inmates suffering from the disease.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Seven Bizarre Theme Parks
Shijingshan Amusement Park
If you're alive and breathing (and read my Seven Bizarre Disney Facts and Oddities), you probably know something about Disneyland and the plethora of characters you will find there. While Disneyland theme parks have expanded across the glove into several locations such as France and Hong Kong, you may just come across an eerily similar park in Beijing, known as Shijingshan Amusement Park. Just by looking at the park, you can see the similarities between the two castles, but the characters you will find inside look like they've been transplanted from Orlando to Beijing. From Cinderella look-a-likes to a "cat with large ears" that resembles Minnie Mouse, you'll definitely start to think that the park owners may have stolen Disney and other characters. However, the park maintains that all of their characters are based on those found in Grimm's Fairy Tales and are no way associated with Disney or other cartoon characters. However, I think the park's slogan "Disneyland is too far" proves it all.
World Chocolate Wonderland
No, this isn't another Hershey Park away from home; the World Chocolate Wonderland is located in China and its the first of its kind. The park opened on January 29, 2010 and is centered on everything chocolate, in fact, 176,000 pounds of chocolate. From the Great Wall of China to very famous Terracotta Warriors, you'll find several different objects and figures made of nothing but this yummy treat, including a BMW, clothing, and even shoes. All of the exhibits are encased in glass in order to prevent melting (and probably to prevent some sweet-toothed visitor from taking a bite). The park owners created the park with the idea that due to the tough economic times in China recently, the population needed something sweet. You'll also be able to enjoy a fashion show at the park with models wearing nothing but clothing crafted using chocolate.
Haw Par Villa
Located in Singapore, the Haw Par Villa is a theme park based around folklores from Chinese literature. The villa was built in 1937 and was first known as Tiger Balm Gardens and was eventually renamed in 1985 when it was sold to new owners. While once considered an amusement park, Haw Par was revamped and the dragon roller-coaster was removed. Because the park is centered on Chinese folklore, you will find many statues, 1,000 to be exact, dedicated to certain stories, many of them relating to Confucianism. At the park there are also about 150 dioramas that depict several different scenes. While the park seems to have nothing bizarre about it, once you get a look at some of the statues, you definitely understand. you'll find dioramas entitled "Filthy Blood Pond" as well as a scene of blue demons dismembering a chained prisoner. You'll also find the "Ten Courts of Hell" which depict grotesque sights of the many punishments for sinners.
Holy Land Experience
While there's nothing wrong with religion, there is definitely something odd about a theme park based around life during the time of Jesus, the odd part being that the park does reenactments of many events, including the crucification of Jesus. If you're a devout Christian, this park just may take you to Heaven in Orlando, Florida. The park was built in order to allow present-day people to experience life during ancient times in the Holy Land. At the park you'll find a town made to look like olden-day Jerusalem with markets, a Judean Village, a Temple, and even a Garden Tomb that is meant to look like the one Jesus was buried in, as well as many structures that were built to present the architecture and life 2000 ears back. There are also old artifacts that allow every visitor to picture themselves in the life of someone living in the Holy Land.
Grutas Park
Grutas Park is a theme park that really twitches a nerve in your head. Sometimes known as "Stalin's World" and "the park of totalitarianism," Grutas Park is located in Lithuania and is definitely no Disneyland. The park is surrounded by barbed wire as well as watch towers; not the happiest of sights. Founded by Vilumas Malinauskas, the park is home to statues of extremely famous Soviets, including Lenin, Marx, Dzerzhinsky, and even Stalin, just to name a few of the 100 statues found there. These statues were placed in the park after they were dismantled in 1990 after Lithuania gained its independence. To bring in a sense of light-heartedness and child friendliness, the park added a zoo filled with peacocks and ostriches as well as plenty of other animals. I don't know about you, but I never envisioned Stalin and peacocks in the same vicinity.
Love Land
Now, if you thought Freud overdid it when it came to phallic, vaginal, or sexual symbols, you've seen nothing until now; meet Love land. Located in South Korea, the park is literally based around nothing but sex, and was meant to be for adults only, but was eventually demolished before it was even able to open to the public. The whole idea behind the park was to help Chinese citizens "enjoy a harmonious sex life." At the park you'd have found giant statues of penises, vaginas, and statues committing several different sexual acts. While the park was actually built and prepared to open in October 2009, the Chinese government deemed the theme park to be overtly sexual and considered it to be a very negative influence on the Chinese culture.
Memory Village
Another theme park that takes its visitors back into time, Memory Village is one that provides everyone the chance to experience life as a slave. Though not an established theme park, Haiti wanted to create the first theme park revolving around slaves in hopes of educating the public about slavery. Those who visit the park are given the chance to be a participator or a spectator. Those who decide to take on the participating role are given traditional slave clothing and are then mock-kidnapped, chained, and forced to load a mock slave ship. Other participators are "sold" and put on a plantation. After the end of the 12 hour day, participants reenact a slave rebellion and free themselves.
If you're alive and breathing (and read my Seven Bizarre Disney Facts and Oddities), you probably know something about Disneyland and the plethora of characters you will find there. While Disneyland theme parks have expanded across the glove into several locations such as France and Hong Kong, you may just come across an eerily similar park in Beijing, known as Shijingshan Amusement Park. Just by looking at the park, you can see the similarities between the two castles, but the characters you will find inside look like they've been transplanted from Orlando to Beijing. From Cinderella look-a-likes to a "cat with large ears" that resembles Minnie Mouse, you'll definitely start to think that the park owners may have stolen Disney and other characters. However, the park maintains that all of their characters are based on those found in Grimm's Fairy Tales and are no way associated with Disney or other cartoon characters. However, I think the park's slogan "Disneyland is too far" proves it all.
World Chocolate Wonderland
No, this isn't another Hershey Park away from home; the World Chocolate Wonderland is located in China and its the first of its kind. The park opened on January 29, 2010 and is centered on everything chocolate, in fact, 176,000 pounds of chocolate. From the Great Wall of China to very famous Terracotta Warriors, you'll find several different objects and figures made of nothing but this yummy treat, including a BMW, clothing, and even shoes. All of the exhibits are encased in glass in order to prevent melting (and probably to prevent some sweet-toothed visitor from taking a bite). The park owners created the park with the idea that due to the tough economic times in China recently, the population needed something sweet. You'll also be able to enjoy a fashion show at the park with models wearing nothing but clothing crafted using chocolate.
Haw Par Villa
Located in Singapore, the Haw Par Villa is a theme park based around folklores from Chinese literature. The villa was built in 1937 and was first known as Tiger Balm Gardens and was eventually renamed in 1985 when it was sold to new owners. While once considered an amusement park, Haw Par was revamped and the dragon roller-coaster was removed. Because the park is centered on Chinese folklore, you will find many statues, 1,000 to be exact, dedicated to certain stories, many of them relating to Confucianism. At the park there are also about 150 dioramas that depict several different scenes. While the park seems to have nothing bizarre about it, once you get a look at some of the statues, you definitely understand. you'll find dioramas entitled "Filthy Blood Pond" as well as a scene of blue demons dismembering a chained prisoner. You'll also find the "Ten Courts of Hell" which depict grotesque sights of the many punishments for sinners.
Holy Land Experience
While there's nothing wrong with religion, there is definitely something odd about a theme park based around life during the time of Jesus, the odd part being that the park does reenactments of many events, including the crucification of Jesus. If you're a devout Christian, this park just may take you to Heaven in Orlando, Florida. The park was built in order to allow present-day people to experience life during ancient times in the Holy Land. At the park you'll find a town made to look like olden-day Jerusalem with markets, a Judean Village, a Temple, and even a Garden Tomb that is meant to look like the one Jesus was buried in, as well as many structures that were built to present the architecture and life 2000 ears back. There are also old artifacts that allow every visitor to picture themselves in the life of someone living in the Holy Land.
Grutas Park
Grutas Park is a theme park that really twitches a nerve in your head. Sometimes known as "Stalin's World" and "the park of totalitarianism," Grutas Park is located in Lithuania and is definitely no Disneyland. The park is surrounded by barbed wire as well as watch towers; not the happiest of sights. Founded by Vilumas Malinauskas, the park is home to statues of extremely famous Soviets, including Lenin, Marx, Dzerzhinsky, and even Stalin, just to name a few of the 100 statues found there. These statues were placed in the park after they were dismantled in 1990 after Lithuania gained its independence. To bring in a sense of light-heartedness and child friendliness, the park added a zoo filled with peacocks and ostriches as well as plenty of other animals. I don't know about you, but I never envisioned Stalin and peacocks in the same vicinity.
Love Land
Now, if you thought Freud overdid it when it came to phallic, vaginal, or sexual symbols, you've seen nothing until now; meet Love land. Located in South Korea, the park is literally based around nothing but sex, and was meant to be for adults only, but was eventually demolished before it was even able to open to the public. The whole idea behind the park was to help Chinese citizens "enjoy a harmonious sex life." At the park you'd have found giant statues of penises, vaginas, and statues committing several different sexual acts. While the park was actually built and prepared to open in October 2009, the Chinese government deemed the theme park to be overtly sexual and considered it to be a very negative influence on the Chinese culture.
Memory Village
Another theme park that takes its visitors back into time, Memory Village is one that provides everyone the chance to experience life as a slave. Though not an established theme park, Haiti wanted to create the first theme park revolving around slaves in hopes of educating the public about slavery. Those who visit the park are given the chance to be a participator or a spectator. Those who decide to take on the participating role are given traditional slave clothing and are then mock-kidnapped, chained, and forced to load a mock slave ship. Other participators are "sold" and put on a plantation. After the end of the 12 hour day, participants reenact a slave rebellion and free themselves.
Seven Bizarre Disney Facts and Oddities
Walt Disney's Apartment
Because Walt Disney wanted to ensure that everything would be as magical as possible when Disneyland was being built in the early 1950s, he had an apartment built in the theme park, which was an hour from where he lived in California. Employees would know when he was in the apartment, above the fire station on Main Street uSA, when the light was on in the window at night. To this day, more than 45 years after his death, a light is left on in the window in his memory and supposedly the room has been left untouched. since he passed away. Perhaps Mickey's Ears are not the only things you could ever see at Disneyland.
The Vault
Included in that rigid control of their trademarks in the vaunted Disney Vault. Disney started theatrically re-releasing movies seven years after they were originally released after "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Since them, the home movie craze hit and with the advent of DVDs, the Vault is only reopened once every 10 years. Supposedly this is a ploy to get new generations of children interested in the movies. Or like any business, it could just be a way to make more money.
Rigid Control of Trademarks
Years ago, Disney promised that the corporation would sue three daycare centers in Florida for having five-foot tall painted depictions of Disney characters. The characters were replaced, but that is just one example of how Disney holds its trademarks close to the chest. In another case, a Florida couple was sued for a million dollars when they advertised Eeyore, Tigger, and Pooh outfits that they had available for parties. The couple sent the costumes back to the Peru ebay seller, which prompted Disney to say the couple acted in bad faith. No honey for you!
Don't Date Disney
Talk about keep quiet. Disney employees are expressly prohibited from dating other Disney employees, hence Don't Date Disney. A former employee of Disneyland let the cat out of the bag on that policy years ago when the he tattled to "LA Magazine" about his time as Jack Sparrow. Unfortunately, someone took a photo of him and his then girlfriend, an Ariel, and showed it to the higher ups, who were displeased. However, it was going to the premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," doing an interview in costume, giving his full name, and the interview being posted online that got his Ears taken away.
Facial Hair
Back in the 60s, long hair and facial hair was considered to be a sign of hippies, which the empire could not afford to be associated with. Hence a policy was born requiring all male employees to have short hair and no facial hair at the theme parks. It took until 2000 for the theme parks to renege on the policy. Now male employees are allowed to have neatly trimmed mustaches.
Hidden Ears
Whether your're at Disneyland or any of the other theme parks, everywhere you look there are Mickey Mouse Ears. And no, not the merchandise ears. From the shape of the pizza to the hedges to the ears hidden in the tiles, Mickey's iconic ears are everywhere thanks to Walt's desire to add to the magic of the kingdom.
Oscars
By the 2008 Academy Awards, Walt Disney's company had been nominated for more than 200 Oscars with more than 50 wins just in films under the Disney logo. Of those films, there are 51 nominations for animated features with 14 wins. With Pixar under the Ears, that amount close to doubles with 13 Oscar wins for Pixar. Disney will likely continue to tack on more wins since it has distributed all the major film releases for Pixar and bought the company two years ago. As for dear old Walt, he holds the record for most Oscars with 22 in regular categories and four honorary out of his 59 nominations.
Because Walt Disney wanted to ensure that everything would be as magical as possible when Disneyland was being built in the early 1950s, he had an apartment built in the theme park, which was an hour from where he lived in California. Employees would know when he was in the apartment, above the fire station on Main Street uSA, when the light was on in the window at night. To this day, more than 45 years after his death, a light is left on in the window in his memory and supposedly the room has been left untouched. since he passed away. Perhaps Mickey's Ears are not the only things you could ever see at Disneyland.
The Vault
Included in that rigid control of their trademarks in the vaunted Disney Vault. Disney started theatrically re-releasing movies seven years after they were originally released after "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Since them, the home movie craze hit and with the advent of DVDs, the Vault is only reopened once every 10 years. Supposedly this is a ploy to get new generations of children interested in the movies. Or like any business, it could just be a way to make more money.
Rigid Control of Trademarks
Years ago, Disney promised that the corporation would sue three daycare centers in Florida for having five-foot tall painted depictions of Disney characters. The characters were replaced, but that is just one example of how Disney holds its trademarks close to the chest. In another case, a Florida couple was sued for a million dollars when they advertised Eeyore, Tigger, and Pooh outfits that they had available for parties. The couple sent the costumes back to the Peru ebay seller, which prompted Disney to say the couple acted in bad faith. No honey for you!
Don't Date Disney
Talk about keep quiet. Disney employees are expressly prohibited from dating other Disney employees, hence Don't Date Disney. A former employee of Disneyland let the cat out of the bag on that policy years ago when the he tattled to "LA Magazine" about his time as Jack Sparrow. Unfortunately, someone took a photo of him and his then girlfriend, an Ariel, and showed it to the higher ups, who were displeased. However, it was going to the premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," doing an interview in costume, giving his full name, and the interview being posted online that got his Ears taken away.
Facial Hair
Back in the 60s, long hair and facial hair was considered to be a sign of hippies, which the empire could not afford to be associated with. Hence a policy was born requiring all male employees to have short hair and no facial hair at the theme parks. It took until 2000 for the theme parks to renege on the policy. Now male employees are allowed to have neatly trimmed mustaches.
Hidden Ears
Whether your're at Disneyland or any of the other theme parks, everywhere you look there are Mickey Mouse Ears. And no, not the merchandise ears. From the shape of the pizza to the hedges to the ears hidden in the tiles, Mickey's iconic ears are everywhere thanks to Walt's desire to add to the magic of the kingdom.
Oscars
By the 2008 Academy Awards, Walt Disney's company had been nominated for more than 200 Oscars with more than 50 wins just in films under the Disney logo. Of those films, there are 51 nominations for animated features with 14 wins. With Pixar under the Ears, that amount close to doubles with 13 Oscar wins for Pixar. Disney will likely continue to tack on more wins since it has distributed all the major film releases for Pixar and bought the company two years ago. As for dear old Walt, he holds the record for most Oscars with 22 in regular categories and four honorary out of his 59 nominations.
Seven Facts About Snow
The Colors of Snow
While many think that snow is either white or blue, its 'colors' range from yellow and orange to green and even purple, but snow is actually colorless. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, "the complex structure of snow crystals results in countless tiny surfaces from which visible light is efficiently reflected. What little sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed uniformly over the wavelengths of visible light thus giving snow its white appearance.
Cold-tolerant algae are small, photosynthetic organisms which grow on snow and ice in the polar and alpine regions. Different strains of algae can color the snow yellow, red, orange, brown, and green. Of course, the snow acquires its color after it has fallen. You may see snow that falls pink, brown, orange, or red, if the air is filled with dust, pollutants, or sand. Orange snow fell over Siberia in 2007 and Russia was covered in pink snow in 2010.
Snowfall Record
If you ever wondered where did the most snow fall in one year, here is the answer. Mount Baker, in the North Cascades of Washington State, holds this amazing record, a reported 1,140 inches accumulated during 1998-1999 snowfall season. It is the youngest volcano of the Mount Baker volcanic region and the most heavily glaciated of the inhospitable Cascade volcanoes. Mount Baker is for sure one of the snowiest places on earth.
Snowfall Record Within 24 Hours
The greatest amount of snow to fall within 24 hours in U.S. occurred in Silver Lake, Colorado in 1921: 76 inches of snow. Another impressive record of 63 inches was registered in Georgetown, Colorado on December 4, 1913. It can never be to cold to snow. Actually, it can snow even at incredible low temperatures "as long as there is some source of moisture and some way to lift or cool the air" (National Snow and Data Center). However, major snowfalls occur in relatively warm temperature climates. If you are curious to know how much snow falls where you live, check out the Snowfall Table provided by the National Climatic Data Center.
Snowstorms and Bombs
Did you know that a single snowstorm can drop more than 39 million tons of snow, carrying the energy equivalent to 120 atomic bombs? 'The Great Blizzard of 1888' was one of the most devastating snowstorms to hit New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The storm dumped up to 50 inches of snow. 'The Great Snow of 1717,' 'The Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm', 'The Long Storm of November 1798' and the 'Portland Storm' are other major snowstorms that struck America.
The Fastest Half-Marathon Run Barefoot on Snow
Dutch daredevil Wim Hof holds the world record for running the fastest half marathon barefoot on snow and ice. He completed the marathon in 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 34 seconds near Oulu, Finland, on January 26, 2007. Hof's stunning abilities to withstand harsh winds, snow, ice, and freezing temperatures won him the nickname 'Ice Man.' By courageously swimming 80 meters under the North Pole ice, Wim Hof earned another Guinness World Record.
The Largest Snow Sculpture
A team of 600 amazing sculptors unveiled at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held on December 20, 2007, 'Romantic Feelings', the world's largest snow sculpture. The Olympic Games were the source of inspiration for the staggering 656 ft long and 115 ft tall sculpture. This magnificent 'landscape' was the centerpiece of the festival opened in the Heilongjiang Province, one of China's coldest places.
The Snowflake Man
Throughout time, snowflakes have fascinated many eminent scientists and philosophers such as Rene Descartes, Johannes Kepler, and Robert Hooke, but the man who literally devoted his entire life to showing us the diversity and beauty of snowflakes is American Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931).
While many think that snow is either white or blue, its 'colors' range from yellow and orange to green and even purple, but snow is actually colorless. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, "the complex structure of snow crystals results in countless tiny surfaces from which visible light is efficiently reflected. What little sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed uniformly over the wavelengths of visible light thus giving snow its white appearance.
Cold-tolerant algae are small, photosynthetic organisms which grow on snow and ice in the polar and alpine regions. Different strains of algae can color the snow yellow, red, orange, brown, and green. Of course, the snow acquires its color after it has fallen. You may see snow that falls pink, brown, orange, or red, if the air is filled with dust, pollutants, or sand. Orange snow fell over Siberia in 2007 and Russia was covered in pink snow in 2010.
Snowfall Record
If you ever wondered where did the most snow fall in one year, here is the answer. Mount Baker, in the North Cascades of Washington State, holds this amazing record, a reported 1,140 inches accumulated during 1998-1999 snowfall season. It is the youngest volcano of the Mount Baker volcanic region and the most heavily glaciated of the inhospitable Cascade volcanoes. Mount Baker is for sure one of the snowiest places on earth.
Snowfall Record Within 24 Hours
The greatest amount of snow to fall within 24 hours in U.S. occurred in Silver Lake, Colorado in 1921: 76 inches of snow. Another impressive record of 63 inches was registered in Georgetown, Colorado on December 4, 1913. It can never be to cold to snow. Actually, it can snow even at incredible low temperatures "as long as there is some source of moisture and some way to lift or cool the air" (National Snow and Data Center). However, major snowfalls occur in relatively warm temperature climates. If you are curious to know how much snow falls where you live, check out the Snowfall Table provided by the National Climatic Data Center.
Snowstorms and Bombs
Did you know that a single snowstorm can drop more than 39 million tons of snow, carrying the energy equivalent to 120 atomic bombs? 'The Great Blizzard of 1888' was one of the most devastating snowstorms to hit New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The storm dumped up to 50 inches of snow. 'The Great Snow of 1717,' 'The Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm', 'The Long Storm of November 1798' and the 'Portland Storm' are other major snowstorms that struck America.
The Fastest Half-Marathon Run Barefoot on Snow
Dutch daredevil Wim Hof holds the world record for running the fastest half marathon barefoot on snow and ice. He completed the marathon in 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 34 seconds near Oulu, Finland, on January 26, 2007. Hof's stunning abilities to withstand harsh winds, snow, ice, and freezing temperatures won him the nickname 'Ice Man.' By courageously swimming 80 meters under the North Pole ice, Wim Hof earned another Guinness World Record.
A team of 600 amazing sculptors unveiled at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held on December 20, 2007, 'Romantic Feelings', the world's largest snow sculpture. The Olympic Games were the source of inspiration for the staggering 656 ft long and 115 ft tall sculpture. This magnificent 'landscape' was the centerpiece of the festival opened in the Heilongjiang Province, one of China's coldest places.
The Snowflake Man
Throughout time, snowflakes have fascinated many eminent scientists and philosophers such as Rene Descartes, Johannes Kepler, and Robert Hooke, but the man who literally devoted his entire life to showing us the diversity and beauty of snowflakes is American Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931).
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Seven Abraham Lincoln Facts
Lincoln Under-Utilized his Pockets
Lincoln's stovepipe top hat severed as more than just fashionable head wear. He used it to store and carry notes, letters, and even bills. Why do they call it a stovepipe hat? Well, the rise is so tall and straight with no flair that it resembles a length of pipe. They're hard to come by nowadays, the traditional tp hat being much more current, but still pretty "retro."
Lincoln has No Living Heirs
Despite the fact that the marriage between Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln yielded 4 sons, there are no living heirs. Three of the four sons died before their 20th birthdays: Edward died at 4 years of age, Willie at 12 years, and Tad at 18. Robert was the only child who lived into adulthood and his last descendant died sometime in the 1980s.
Lincoln's Son was a Death-Magnet
Robert Lincoln was sort of a magnet for tragedy. More specifically, presidential assassination tragedy. While he was not present when his father was killed, he was an eyewitness to Garfield's assassination, and at the same World's Fair where McKinley was assassinated. Another interesting fact about Robert, he was saved from a train accident by Edwin Booth, the brother of his father's killer, John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln was Kind of Psychic
In the weeks before his death, Lincoln was extremely melancholy. He had seen portents of his own death, and had been dreaming of death as well. On one occasion, he looked in the mirror and saw a double reflection, one image much paler and blurrier than the other. He told his wife that he thought it meant that had survived his first term, but wouldn't survive his second. The week prior to his death, Lincoln had a dream of hearing crying in a distant room of the White House. He sought out the room and found that it had a coffin in it. He asked the weeping person who had died and the person responded that it was the president. In his dream, Lincoln looked into the coffin and saw himself.
Lincoln Dabbled in the Occult
Not only did he get premonitions, he also believed in the occult. Well, if he didn't believe then he was at least willing to go along with it. After loosing Edward and Willie at such young ages, Lincoln and his wife actually held seances in the White House trying to contact their dearly departed. Mrs. Lincoln also attended seances at the homes of famous mediums of the day. Whether or not they made actual contact is unknown.
Lincoln was Spiritual, not Religious
Despite the last two facts, Lincoln said he was still a Christian. He didn't, however, feel it necessary to subscribe to a particular brand of Christianity. Though many different sects try to claim him, Lincoln was 100% non-denominational. He never joined a church, didn't say grace before meals, and spoke on a more spiritual level, rather than religious. He did read the Bible quite often, and did have a highly developed spiritual governance. When asked if he thought the Lord was on the side of the North in the Civil War, Lincoln responded, "I am not concerned about that...But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."
Lincoln had a Way with Words
Not only was Lincoln spiritual and intelligent, he was also a heck of a speech writer. He wrote his own speeches, and it is said that his famous Gettysburg Address wasn't even the best one! Rumor has it that the speech Lincoln made to the Illinois Republican Convention on May 29, 1856 was his best, but it was either so enthralling that nobody remembered to take notes or it was so controversial that nobody was allowed to print them. Either way, no record of it exists.
Lincoln's stovepipe top hat severed as more than just fashionable head wear. He used it to store and carry notes, letters, and even bills. Why do they call it a stovepipe hat? Well, the rise is so tall and straight with no flair that it resembles a length of pipe. They're hard to come by nowadays, the traditional tp hat being much more current, but still pretty "retro."
Lincoln has No Living Heirs
Despite the fact that the marriage between Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln yielded 4 sons, there are no living heirs. Three of the four sons died before their 20th birthdays: Edward died at 4 years of age, Willie at 12 years, and Tad at 18. Robert was the only child who lived into adulthood and his last descendant died sometime in the 1980s.
Lincoln's Son was a Death-Magnet
Robert Lincoln was sort of a magnet for tragedy. More specifically, presidential assassination tragedy. While he was not present when his father was killed, he was an eyewitness to Garfield's assassination, and at the same World's Fair where McKinley was assassinated. Another interesting fact about Robert, he was saved from a train accident by Edwin Booth, the brother of his father's killer, John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln was Kind of Psychic
In the weeks before his death, Lincoln was extremely melancholy. He had seen portents of his own death, and had been dreaming of death as well. On one occasion, he looked in the mirror and saw a double reflection, one image much paler and blurrier than the other. He told his wife that he thought it meant that had survived his first term, but wouldn't survive his second. The week prior to his death, Lincoln had a dream of hearing crying in a distant room of the White House. He sought out the room and found that it had a coffin in it. He asked the weeping person who had died and the person responded that it was the president. In his dream, Lincoln looked into the coffin and saw himself.
Lincoln Dabbled in the Occult
Not only did he get premonitions, he also believed in the occult. Well, if he didn't believe then he was at least willing to go along with it. After loosing Edward and Willie at such young ages, Lincoln and his wife actually held seances in the White House trying to contact their dearly departed. Mrs. Lincoln also attended seances at the homes of famous mediums of the day. Whether or not they made actual contact is unknown.
Lincoln was Spiritual, not Religious
Despite the last two facts, Lincoln said he was still a Christian. He didn't, however, feel it necessary to subscribe to a particular brand of Christianity. Though many different sects try to claim him, Lincoln was 100% non-denominational. He never joined a church, didn't say grace before meals, and spoke on a more spiritual level, rather than religious. He did read the Bible quite often, and did have a highly developed spiritual governance. When asked if he thought the Lord was on the side of the North in the Civil War, Lincoln responded, "I am not concerned about that...But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."
Lincoln had a Way with Words
Not only was Lincoln spiritual and intelligent, he was also a heck of a speech writer. He wrote his own speeches, and it is said that his famous Gettysburg Address wasn't even the best one! Rumor has it that the speech Lincoln made to the Illinois Republican Convention on May 29, 1856 was his best, but it was either so enthralling that nobody remembered to take notes or it was so controversial that nobody was allowed to print them. Either way, no record of it exists.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Seven Important Historical Finds
Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army
A farmer in China named Yang was drilling for water when he found the Terracotta Army in 1947. The Army was carved by 700,000 forced workers and was buried underground in front of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang so they could protect him in the afterlife. Qin Shi Huang was the first Emperor to unify China and is so much reviled for his tyranny as he is admired as a visionary. Tens of thousands of human and animal statues were created in several pieces and then assembled, each of which is unique. Actual weapons and armor were used in the manufacturing of the warriors but they were stolen shortly after the creation of the tomb. Despite the impressive discoveries, the tomb of the emperor has yet to be found.
Why is this important?
The Terracotta Army is our doorway to understanding how the real Qin Dynasty army functioned. By examining these clay warriors we can determine the formations of the army and what kind of weapons they used as well as their quality. Fine bronze swords, daggers, billhooks, spears, halberds, axes, crossbow triggers and arrowheads were all found in various pits.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient, mostly Hebrew manuscripts that were found at several sites on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Between 825 and 870 different scrolls have been found in 11 caves from 1947 to 1956. Most of the texts are biblical and include fragments of every book of the old Testament except the book of Esther as well as the earliest known Book of Isaiah and never before seen psalms attributed to King David and Joshua. Some non biblical texts were found as well, and are commentaries on the Old Testament, rule books of the community, war conduct, hymnic compositions and benedictions to name a few. The Scrolls are believed to be the library of a Jewish Sect, written by the Essenes and hidden in the caves around the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 AD).
Why is this important?
The discover of the Dead Sea Scrolls is widely considered the greatest manuscript find of all time. The scrolls predate the next oldest Old Testament manuscript by 1000 years and prove that Christianity was rooted in Judaism. They also give us a clear insight into Jewish life at the time.
Tutankhamun's Tomb
In November of 1922, British Egyptologist Howard Carter found one of the most intact tombs ever found in the Valley of the Kings. Carter and his employer, the fifth Lord of Carnarvon, had been searching for Tut since Theodore M. Davis found several funerary artifacts with his name on them in 1907. The tomb is believed to have been originally intended for someone else and was turned into a royal tomb because Tutankhamun died so young, some even believe that it was to be tomb of either Ankhesenamum, Nefertiti, or Smenkhare. Tut's tomb consists of a burial chamber, a treasury, an annex and an antechamber, which is entered by a stairway and a sloped corridor. It contained a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian objects including statues, model boats, chariots, and even two mummified foetuses which are considered to be his stillborn children.
Why is this important?
Tutankhamun's tomb was not the grandest tomb (in fact it was the smallest royal tomb to be found in the Valley of the Kings) nor was he one of Egypt's most powerful rulers, but his tomb is the most intact tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings. This has given Egytologists an understanding of the possessions deemed important enough for the King to bring with him to the afterlife. It also provides scholars a checklist of items that were missing at other burial sites throughout Egypt.
Pompeii
Pompeii was an ancient city that had been founded in the 6th century BC by Oscan-speaking descendants of the Neolithic inhabitants of Campania, later coming under Greek, Etruscan, Samnite, and finally Roman control. As a Roman colony it prospered as a port and as a resort destination, evidence of which can be found in many villas, temples, theaters, and baths built throughout the city. Pompeii also had an amphitheater, a forum, and a basilica and was home to around 20,000 citizens. In 63 AD an earthquake caused extensive damage to Pompeii and in the years that followed there were attempts to repair some of the damage. Then terror struck on August 24, 79 AD when the nearby volcano of Mount Vesuvius erupted and blanketed the city in cinders and ash. Pompeii was discovered in 1599 by Domenico Fontana while he was working on a hydraulics project, but remained unexcavated until it was rediscovered in 1748 by Spanish military engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.
Why is this important?
The ruins of Pompeii give archeologists a unique perspective into Roman life: the daily workings of a living city. We can get a clear snapshot of a city in crisis because the ash has preserved everything so well including families huddling together, criminals still in chains, animals left where they stood and perfectly preserved frescoes.
The Lascaux Cave
A vast cave complex in southwestern France, Lascaux is best known for its many Paleolithic cave paintings. The Lascaux Cave was discovered by four teenagers, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon Coencas on September 12, 1940. There are nearly 2000 figures of animals, humans, and abstract signs inside the cave. The animals that were painted include stags, cattle, bison, felines, a bird, a rhinoceros, and a bear. Lascaux doesn't seem to have been occupied but rather visited periodically just for the purpose of painting. In 1948 Lascaux was opened to the public but the amount of daily visitors to the cave were changing the atmosphere inside the cave so it was closed in 1963 and 20 years later an exact replica, Lascaux II was opened. Today the cave is under attack by a series of molds, fungi, and bacteria threatening to erase this priceless work of Prehistoric art.
Why is this important?
The Lascaux Cave is not only the largest Prehistoric cave in France, but the most well preserved. One of the paintings called "The Crossed Bison" shows the skill of the cave painters to capture realism. The ability to use perspective was not used again until the 15th century. From these paintings we also can determine what type of animals were available and important to the painters.
Peking Man
Peking Man or Beijing man was a previously unknown type of Prehistoric man discovered by Canadian anatomist Davidson Black in a cave at Zhoukoudian, China in 1927. Between then and 1937, 14 partial craniums, 11 lower jaws, many teeth, and skeletal bones were found at the site. It is believed that the cave was home to about 45 individuals. From extensive studies of the remains made by Black and his predecessor German anatomist Franz Weidenreich, we know that Peking Man stood erect, made stone tools, understood how to use fire, had a heavy brow ridge and large teeth. In 1941, while being shipped to the United States for safety during World War II, the original fossils disappeared and have yet to be found. However, casts and descriptions remain and since the end of the war, other Peking Man fossils have been found at the site and at other sites throughout China.
Why is this important?
Before Black had uncovered Peking Man, many scholars believed that the remains of Java Man were actually the remains of a deformed ape. The finding of tool usage and fire at Zhoukoudian proved that both Java Man and Peking Man were members of the same broad stage of human evolution and thus filled out the edges of our evolutionary picture.
The Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a black basalt stela (an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings) that dates back to 196 BC. An Egyptian decree honoring King Ptolemy V is carved into the stone in Greek, Demotic Egyptian, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone would have originally been displayed in a temple and was later moved and used as building material in a fort at the village of Rashid (Rosetta). It was discovered there by Captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard on July 15, 1799, during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. Attempts to decipher it were first made by Thomas Young, who translated the Demotic text, and by French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion who is generally known as the translator of the Rosetta Stone. Champollion used the Coptic language to realize that hieroglyphs served as a spoken language and not just symbols.
Why is this important?
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the realization that it is the same passage written in three languages allowed scholars to get a glimpse into a civilization that for a long time had been a mystery to scholars. Egyptologists have been able to figure out the entire Ancient Egyptian language from its inscriptions.
A farmer in China named Yang was drilling for water when he found the Terracotta Army in 1947. The Army was carved by 700,000 forced workers and was buried underground in front of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang so they could protect him in the afterlife. Qin Shi Huang was the first Emperor to unify China and is so much reviled for his tyranny as he is admired as a visionary. Tens of thousands of human and animal statues were created in several pieces and then assembled, each of which is unique. Actual weapons and armor were used in the manufacturing of the warriors but they were stolen shortly after the creation of the tomb. Despite the impressive discoveries, the tomb of the emperor has yet to be found.
Why is this important?
The Terracotta Army is our doorway to understanding how the real Qin Dynasty army functioned. By examining these clay warriors we can determine the formations of the army and what kind of weapons they used as well as their quality. Fine bronze swords, daggers, billhooks, spears, halberds, axes, crossbow triggers and arrowheads were all found in various pits.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient, mostly Hebrew manuscripts that were found at several sites on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Between 825 and 870 different scrolls have been found in 11 caves from 1947 to 1956. Most of the texts are biblical and include fragments of every book of the old Testament except the book of Esther as well as the earliest known Book of Isaiah and never before seen psalms attributed to King David and Joshua. Some non biblical texts were found as well, and are commentaries on the Old Testament, rule books of the community, war conduct, hymnic compositions and benedictions to name a few. The Scrolls are believed to be the library of a Jewish Sect, written by the Essenes and hidden in the caves around the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 AD).
Why is this important?
The discover of the Dead Sea Scrolls is widely considered the greatest manuscript find of all time. The scrolls predate the next oldest Old Testament manuscript by 1000 years and prove that Christianity was rooted in Judaism. They also give us a clear insight into Jewish life at the time.
Tutankhamun's Tomb
In November of 1922, British Egyptologist Howard Carter found one of the most intact tombs ever found in the Valley of the Kings. Carter and his employer, the fifth Lord of Carnarvon, had been searching for Tut since Theodore M. Davis found several funerary artifacts with his name on them in 1907. The tomb is believed to have been originally intended for someone else and was turned into a royal tomb because Tutankhamun died so young, some even believe that it was to be tomb of either Ankhesenamum, Nefertiti, or Smenkhare. Tut's tomb consists of a burial chamber, a treasury, an annex and an antechamber, which is entered by a stairway and a sloped corridor. It contained a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian objects including statues, model boats, chariots, and even two mummified foetuses which are considered to be his stillborn children.
Why is this important?
Tutankhamun's tomb was not the grandest tomb (in fact it was the smallest royal tomb to be found in the Valley of the Kings) nor was he one of Egypt's most powerful rulers, but his tomb is the most intact tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings. This has given Egytologists an understanding of the possessions deemed important enough for the King to bring with him to the afterlife. It also provides scholars a checklist of items that were missing at other burial sites throughout Egypt.
Pompeii
Pompeii was an ancient city that had been founded in the 6th century BC by Oscan-speaking descendants of the Neolithic inhabitants of Campania, later coming under Greek, Etruscan, Samnite, and finally Roman control. As a Roman colony it prospered as a port and as a resort destination, evidence of which can be found in many villas, temples, theaters, and baths built throughout the city. Pompeii also had an amphitheater, a forum, and a basilica and was home to around 20,000 citizens. In 63 AD an earthquake caused extensive damage to Pompeii and in the years that followed there were attempts to repair some of the damage. Then terror struck on August 24, 79 AD when the nearby volcano of Mount Vesuvius erupted and blanketed the city in cinders and ash. Pompeii was discovered in 1599 by Domenico Fontana while he was working on a hydraulics project, but remained unexcavated until it was rediscovered in 1748 by Spanish military engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.
Why is this important?
The ruins of Pompeii give archeologists a unique perspective into Roman life: the daily workings of a living city. We can get a clear snapshot of a city in crisis because the ash has preserved everything so well including families huddling together, criminals still in chains, animals left where they stood and perfectly preserved frescoes.
The Lascaux Cave
A vast cave complex in southwestern France, Lascaux is best known for its many Paleolithic cave paintings. The Lascaux Cave was discovered by four teenagers, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon Coencas on September 12, 1940. There are nearly 2000 figures of animals, humans, and abstract signs inside the cave. The animals that were painted include stags, cattle, bison, felines, a bird, a rhinoceros, and a bear. Lascaux doesn't seem to have been occupied but rather visited periodically just for the purpose of painting. In 1948 Lascaux was opened to the public but the amount of daily visitors to the cave were changing the atmosphere inside the cave so it was closed in 1963 and 20 years later an exact replica, Lascaux II was opened. Today the cave is under attack by a series of molds, fungi, and bacteria threatening to erase this priceless work of Prehistoric art.
Why is this important?
The Lascaux Cave is not only the largest Prehistoric cave in France, but the most well preserved. One of the paintings called "The Crossed Bison" shows the skill of the cave painters to capture realism. The ability to use perspective was not used again until the 15th century. From these paintings we also can determine what type of animals were available and important to the painters.
Peking Man
Peking Man or Beijing man was a previously unknown type of Prehistoric man discovered by Canadian anatomist Davidson Black in a cave at Zhoukoudian, China in 1927. Between then and 1937, 14 partial craniums, 11 lower jaws, many teeth, and skeletal bones were found at the site. It is believed that the cave was home to about 45 individuals. From extensive studies of the remains made by Black and his predecessor German anatomist Franz Weidenreich, we know that Peking Man stood erect, made stone tools, understood how to use fire, had a heavy brow ridge and large teeth. In 1941, while being shipped to the United States for safety during World War II, the original fossils disappeared and have yet to be found. However, casts and descriptions remain and since the end of the war, other Peking Man fossils have been found at the site and at other sites throughout China.
Why is this important?
Before Black had uncovered Peking Man, many scholars believed that the remains of Java Man were actually the remains of a deformed ape. The finding of tool usage and fire at Zhoukoudian proved that both Java Man and Peking Man were members of the same broad stage of human evolution and thus filled out the edges of our evolutionary picture.
The Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a black basalt stela (an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings) that dates back to 196 BC. An Egyptian decree honoring King Ptolemy V is carved into the stone in Greek, Demotic Egyptian, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone would have originally been displayed in a temple and was later moved and used as building material in a fort at the village of Rashid (Rosetta). It was discovered there by Captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard on July 15, 1799, during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. Attempts to decipher it were first made by Thomas Young, who translated the Demotic text, and by French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion who is generally known as the translator of the Rosetta Stone. Champollion used the Coptic language to realize that hieroglyphs served as a spoken language and not just symbols.
Why is this important?
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the realization that it is the same passage written in three languages allowed scholars to get a glimpse into a civilization that for a long time had been a mystery to scholars. Egyptologists have been able to figure out the entire Ancient Egyptian language from its inscriptions.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Seven Websites of Human Misery
Texts from Last Night
As convenient as text messaging is, sometimes the "send" button can be your worst enemy. Whether you've just sent that explicit message about the whipped cream and leather harness to your dad, or accidentally thanked your girlfriend for the amazing night of sex you didn't have with her last night, texts can be disastrous, humiliating, and very funny. Add a little alcohol and lack of sleep to to the equation, and you have a recipe for some of the greatest cringe humor on the web. Texts from Last Night collects millions of embarrassing, rude, and downright idiotic texts from all over the world. Anyone can submit their failure totally anonymously (all you have to include is the area code) and share their deepest regrets and screw ups with the entire world. They can post texts about how awesome they are or what a great night they've just had, but they aren't half as interesting as the ones where they sleep with their cousins.
F My Life
Sometimes, life is pretty good. Other times, it's like a smirking chimp throwing rotten fruit at you wile it has sex with your wife. For those less than perfect days, F My Life is there to make you feel better. An open site for people to post the mundane or horrible things that happen to them, you're guaranteed to find someone who has it worse off than you. From inconsiderate partners, spectacular bad luck, to just the plain old drudgery of daily life, F My Life is a perfect place to remind yourself just how good you have it. Unless of course you search the site and can't find anyone whose life is worse than yours. In that case, the least you can do is post yourself and let some other poor bastard feel a little better about their miserable existence. If by some small chance things are always going really great in your life, you can always stop by the site to laugh at the poor bastards who don't have it so good.
Passive Aggressive Notes
But videos of frat guys falling off roofs aren't the only dumb but funny things you can find on the World Wide Interwebs. Sometimes all it takes is one person to be so upset by the actions of another that they do they only thing possible, write a stern note. At Passive Aggressive Notes, they have a huge collection of notes written by people who were angry enough to want to confront someone, but too wimpy to actually do it in person. These Post-It crusaders wage a never-ending battle against those who don't change the toiler paper, steal milk from the office fridge, or generally intrude upon the way they think the world should be. It's a hilarious collection of impotent rage and shaky grammar. But then you obviously know that because you're so smart, right?
My Life is Average
Sure it's easy to get on one of these sites if you are a major jackass, but what if you're just an everyday, run-of-mill loser? My Life is Average is the place for you. Forgoing the flashy facepalms and splashy sex texts, My Life is Average catalogs the mundaneness of life. They aren't terrible, but they aren't the great either. Entires usually involve minor annoyances or tiny victories, the kinds of things that happen to everyone every day. The reason it belongs on this list is that millions of people are posting and rating the most basic occurrences of life. Now if that isn't stupid, what is?
You Idiot
To some, the ubiquity of cameras has turned society into a collection of voyeurs obsessively recording and watching every pointless and irrelevant occurrence of daily life. While that may be true, it also has ensured that just about every moment of rib tickling jackassery will be recorded and available for public consumption at the click of a mouse. a great collection of such moments exists at You Idiot. The site takes a no-frills approach to funny tools. They find the videos or pictures, post them, and that's it. It's perfect if you're busy but need a quick look at somebody doing something incredibly stupid to help get you motivated for the day.
Regretsy
For those of you who don't know it, Etsy is a website for people who want to sell their handmade crafts. For a small fee, they can put up ads that show the world the things they've made. Some of the stuff is great and was obviously made with care by people who really love making crafts (such as the woman who crafted our engagement rings). Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff is complete garbage. To save you the trouble of searching through it all, Regretsy combs through the crafts and finds the best of the worst. Whether it's horrible clothing, ugly art, or just plain old junk, Regretsy finds it and brings it to you in all its cheap, kitschy glory. Not only is it an amazing collection of crap, but it's also a great document of just how disillusioned people can be about their own talent.
Failblog
Everybody screws up sometimes. If we're lucky, no one is around to see our mistakes and we can carry the failure buried deep within ourselves next to the guilt and shame. If we're unlucky, some jerk is going to film the while thing and put it on Failblog, a collection of people making stupid yet laugh out-loud funny mistakes. There are tons of videos of dudes trying to jump off walls, do crazy bike tricks, or generally wow their friends with some amazing act of daredevilry that ends in gut-busting tragedy, but the real hilarity comes from the seemingly endless photo of mislabeled products and signs that apparently litter stores and restaurants across the nation. From terrible misspellings to grammar bombs, Failblog shows that you don't need a bike and ramp on your roof to screw up in a hilarious way.
As convenient as text messaging is, sometimes the "send" button can be your worst enemy. Whether you've just sent that explicit message about the whipped cream and leather harness to your dad, or accidentally thanked your girlfriend for the amazing night of sex you didn't have with her last night, texts can be disastrous, humiliating, and very funny. Add a little alcohol and lack of sleep to to the equation, and you have a recipe for some of the greatest cringe humor on the web. Texts from Last Night collects millions of embarrassing, rude, and downright idiotic texts from all over the world. Anyone can submit their failure totally anonymously (all you have to include is the area code) and share their deepest regrets and screw ups with the entire world. They can post texts about how awesome they are or what a great night they've just had, but they aren't half as interesting as the ones where they sleep with their cousins.
F My Life
Sometimes, life is pretty good. Other times, it's like a smirking chimp throwing rotten fruit at you wile it has sex with your wife. For those less than perfect days, F My Life is there to make you feel better. An open site for people to post the mundane or horrible things that happen to them, you're guaranteed to find someone who has it worse off than you. From inconsiderate partners, spectacular bad luck, to just the plain old drudgery of daily life, F My Life is a perfect place to remind yourself just how good you have it. Unless of course you search the site and can't find anyone whose life is worse than yours. In that case, the least you can do is post yourself and let some other poor bastard feel a little better about their miserable existence. If by some small chance things are always going really great in your life, you can always stop by the site to laugh at the poor bastards who don't have it so good.
Passive Aggressive Notes
But videos of frat guys falling off roofs aren't the only dumb but funny things you can find on the World Wide Interwebs. Sometimes all it takes is one person to be so upset by the actions of another that they do they only thing possible, write a stern note. At Passive Aggressive Notes, they have a huge collection of notes written by people who were angry enough to want to confront someone, but too wimpy to actually do it in person. These Post-It crusaders wage a never-ending battle against those who don't change the toiler paper, steal milk from the office fridge, or generally intrude upon the way they think the world should be. It's a hilarious collection of impotent rage and shaky grammar. But then you obviously know that because you're so smart, right?
My Life is Average
Sure it's easy to get on one of these sites if you are a major jackass, but what if you're just an everyday, run-of-mill loser? My Life is Average is the place for you. Forgoing the flashy facepalms and splashy sex texts, My Life is Average catalogs the mundaneness of life. They aren't terrible, but they aren't the great either. Entires usually involve minor annoyances or tiny victories, the kinds of things that happen to everyone every day. The reason it belongs on this list is that millions of people are posting and rating the most basic occurrences of life. Now if that isn't stupid, what is?
You Idiot
To some, the ubiquity of cameras has turned society into a collection of voyeurs obsessively recording and watching every pointless and irrelevant occurrence of daily life. While that may be true, it also has ensured that just about every moment of rib tickling jackassery will be recorded and available for public consumption at the click of a mouse. a great collection of such moments exists at You Idiot. The site takes a no-frills approach to funny tools. They find the videos or pictures, post them, and that's it. It's perfect if you're busy but need a quick look at somebody doing something incredibly stupid to help get you motivated for the day.
Regretsy
For those of you who don't know it, Etsy is a website for people who want to sell their handmade crafts. For a small fee, they can put up ads that show the world the things they've made. Some of the stuff is great and was obviously made with care by people who really love making crafts (such as the woman who crafted our engagement rings). Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff is complete garbage. To save you the trouble of searching through it all, Regretsy combs through the crafts and finds the best of the worst. Whether it's horrible clothing, ugly art, or just plain old junk, Regretsy finds it and brings it to you in all its cheap, kitschy glory. Not only is it an amazing collection of crap, but it's also a great document of just how disillusioned people can be about their own talent.
Failblog
Everybody screws up sometimes. If we're lucky, no one is around to see our mistakes and we can carry the failure buried deep within ourselves next to the guilt and shame. If we're unlucky, some jerk is going to film the while thing and put it on Failblog, a collection of people making stupid yet laugh out-loud funny mistakes. There are tons of videos of dudes trying to jump off walls, do crazy bike tricks, or generally wow their friends with some amazing act of daredevilry that ends in gut-busting tragedy, but the real hilarity comes from the seemingly endless photo of mislabeled products and signs that apparently litter stores and restaurants across the nation. From terrible misspellings to grammar bombs, Failblog shows that you don't need a bike and ramp on your roof to screw up in a hilarious way.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Seven Pandemics
Malaria
Although it is now mostly confined to the tropics, malaria is still one of the world's most devastating pandemics, and continues to infect as many as 500 million people every year. The sickness, which is caused by a parasite found in certain mosquitoes, is resistant to drugs, and a dependable vaccine has still yet to be developed. Malaria and its effects have been well documented as a major factor throughout history. There were over a million cases of the disease during the American Civil War alone, and malaria is considered by many to have been a factor in the decline and eventual fall of the Roman Empire.
On a more personal note, Momma Dukes got malaria when I was in elementary school. Don't believe me, she's Case 1 in the Proceedings of the Seventy-Ninth Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Mosquito Control Association. A more detailed account of Momma Dukes vs. Malaria was written in the New England Journal of Medicine. She actually never traveled outside of the country at this point in her life, so she sure as hell wasn't in Africa. Of course, being nine years old at the time, not many people tend to believe a nine year old when she says "my mom has malaria."
Typhus
Known for its ability to spread quickly in cramped and unsanitary conditions, typhus is credited with millions of deaths in the 20th century alone. The disease is also known as "camp sickness" for the way it seems to flare up on the front lines during wartime. It is said that 8 million Germans were killed by a typhus pandemic during the 30 years war, and the disease is also well documented as a significant cause of death in Nazi concentration camps. Typhus is perhaps most famously known for nearly wiping out the French army during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. It has been estimated that as many as 400,000 of his soldiers may have died from the disease, many more than were killed in combat.
The Plague of Athens
The Plague of Athens was an epidemic that broke out in Greece during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC. Historians have been unable to agree on exactly what the plague was, with typhoid, smallpox, and measles all being considred, but it is most commonly considered to have been a form of the bubonic plague. The disease started when the inhabitants of Athens retreated behind the city-state's walls for protection from the approaching Spartan army. The cramped quarters inevitably became a breeding ground for the plague, which is said to have killed one in three of the city-state's inhabitants, including its leader, Pericles.
Smallpox
Although it has since been successfully eradicated, smallpox devastated the Americas when European settlers first introduced it in the 15th century. Of all the diseases brought to the new world, smallpox was the most virulent, and it is credited with the deaths of millions of native peoples in the United States and Central America. Smallpox decimated the Aztec and Inca civilizations and is generally considered to be a major factor in their eventual conquering by the Spanish. The disease was equally dangerous back in Europe, where it is estimated to have killed 60 million people in just the 18th century alone.
Bubonic Plague
Perhaps the most well known pandemic in history, the Black Death was a massive outbreak of bubonic plague that ravaged Europe through most of the 1300s. Characterized by the appearance of oozing and bleeding sores on the body and a high fever, the plague is estimated to have killed anywhere from 75 to 200 million people in the 14th century alone, with recent research concluding that 45-50% of the entire population of Europe was wiped out. The Plague would be a constant threat for the next hundred years, periodically resurfacing and killing thousands, with the last major outbreak occurring in London in the 1600s.
The Spanish Flu
Arriving on the heels of the devastation of World War I, the Spanish Flu of 1918 is widely considered to be one of the most vicious pandemics in history. A worldwide phenomenon, it is estimated to have infected one third of the world's entire population, and eventually killed as many as 100 million people. The virus, which has since been identified as a strain of H1N1, would surface in waves, frequently disappearing in communities as quickly as it arrived. Fearing a massive uproar, governments did their best to downplay the severity of the flu, and because of wartime censorship, its far-reaching effects were not fully realized until years later. Only Spain, a neutral country during WWII, allowed comprehensive news reporting on the pandemic, which is why it eventually became known as the Spanish Flu.
Cholera
One of the most consistently dangerous diseases in history, cholera and its so-called "seven pandemics" killed millions between 1816 and the early 1960s. Generally transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water, the disease first sprang up in India, where it is said to have killed as many as 40 million between 1817 and 1860. It would soon spread to Western Europe and the United States, were it killed more than a hundred thousand people in the mid-1800s. Since them, there have been periodic outbreaks of cholera, but advances in medicine have made it a much less deadly disease. While it once had a mortality rate of 50 percent or more, when treated, cholera is now life threatening only in the most rare of cases.
Although it is now mostly confined to the tropics, malaria is still one of the world's most devastating pandemics, and continues to infect as many as 500 million people every year. The sickness, which is caused by a parasite found in certain mosquitoes, is resistant to drugs, and a dependable vaccine has still yet to be developed. Malaria and its effects have been well documented as a major factor throughout history. There were over a million cases of the disease during the American Civil War alone, and malaria is considered by many to have been a factor in the decline and eventual fall of the Roman Empire.
On a more personal note, Momma Dukes got malaria when I was in elementary school. Don't believe me, she's Case 1 in the Proceedings of the Seventy-Ninth Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Mosquito Control Association. A more detailed account of Momma Dukes vs. Malaria was written in the New England Journal of Medicine. She actually never traveled outside of the country at this point in her life, so she sure as hell wasn't in Africa. Of course, being nine years old at the time, not many people tend to believe a nine year old when she says "my mom has malaria."
Typhus
Known for its ability to spread quickly in cramped and unsanitary conditions, typhus is credited with millions of deaths in the 20th century alone. The disease is also known as "camp sickness" for the way it seems to flare up on the front lines during wartime. It is said that 8 million Germans were killed by a typhus pandemic during the 30 years war, and the disease is also well documented as a significant cause of death in Nazi concentration camps. Typhus is perhaps most famously known for nearly wiping out the French army during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. It has been estimated that as many as 400,000 of his soldiers may have died from the disease, many more than were killed in combat.
The Plague of Athens
The Plague of Athens was an epidemic that broke out in Greece during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC. Historians have been unable to agree on exactly what the plague was, with typhoid, smallpox, and measles all being considred, but it is most commonly considered to have been a form of the bubonic plague. The disease started when the inhabitants of Athens retreated behind the city-state's walls for protection from the approaching Spartan army. The cramped quarters inevitably became a breeding ground for the plague, which is said to have killed one in three of the city-state's inhabitants, including its leader, Pericles.
Smallpox
Although it has since been successfully eradicated, smallpox devastated the Americas when European settlers first introduced it in the 15th century. Of all the diseases brought to the new world, smallpox was the most virulent, and it is credited with the deaths of millions of native peoples in the United States and Central America. Smallpox decimated the Aztec and Inca civilizations and is generally considered to be a major factor in their eventual conquering by the Spanish. The disease was equally dangerous back in Europe, where it is estimated to have killed 60 million people in just the 18th century alone.
Bubonic Plague
Perhaps the most well known pandemic in history, the Black Death was a massive outbreak of bubonic plague that ravaged Europe through most of the 1300s. Characterized by the appearance of oozing and bleeding sores on the body and a high fever, the plague is estimated to have killed anywhere from 75 to 200 million people in the 14th century alone, with recent research concluding that 45-50% of the entire population of Europe was wiped out. The Plague would be a constant threat for the next hundred years, periodically resurfacing and killing thousands, with the last major outbreak occurring in London in the 1600s.
The Spanish Flu
Arriving on the heels of the devastation of World War I, the Spanish Flu of 1918 is widely considered to be one of the most vicious pandemics in history. A worldwide phenomenon, it is estimated to have infected one third of the world's entire population, and eventually killed as many as 100 million people. The virus, which has since been identified as a strain of H1N1, would surface in waves, frequently disappearing in communities as quickly as it arrived. Fearing a massive uproar, governments did their best to downplay the severity of the flu, and because of wartime censorship, its far-reaching effects were not fully realized until years later. Only Spain, a neutral country during WWII, allowed comprehensive news reporting on the pandemic, which is why it eventually became known as the Spanish Flu.
Cholera
One of the most consistently dangerous diseases in history, cholera and its so-called "seven pandemics" killed millions between 1816 and the early 1960s. Generally transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water, the disease first sprang up in India, where it is said to have killed as many as 40 million between 1817 and 1860. It would soon spread to Western Europe and the United States, were it killed more than a hundred thousand people in the mid-1800s. Since them, there have been periodic outbreaks of cholera, but advances in medicine have made it a much less deadly disease. While it once had a mortality rate of 50 percent or more, when treated, cholera is now life threatening only in the most rare of cases.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Seven Sketch Comedy Shows
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series that ran from 1967-1969. This was an early appearance of many actors and comedians who later became famous, such as Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle, who later became members of Monty Python. The program consisted of a series of sketches, often bizarre and surreal, frequently satirical with a disjointed style which was to become more famous in the more daring Monty Python's Flying Circus, which followed five months later.
Human Giant
The difference between good sketch comedy and great sketch comedy often lies in a troupe's ability to connect to whatever particular zeitgeist they find themselves in: Monty Python could only have ever happened in the late 60s in England and The Kids in The Hall were a product of Toronto in the late 80s. Of course, they have to transcend those limits to be great, but they also have to be a reflection of their times. Human Giant achieved this in the 2000s. Appearing on MTV, Aziz Ansari, Rob Hubel, and Paul Scheer were the kings of the burgeoning interweb comedy trend. Basically a couple of guys get a camera and some editing software and shoot a funny video. Like other interweb groups, they were fresh, charmingly low-fi, and full of energy. Unlike most other interweb groups, they were really good. With their seemingly endless collection of self-important goofballs and witlessly confident jackasses, they gently skewered pop culture like exceptionally talented class clowns who managed to bluff their way on to a major network. They only made two seasons of Human Giant, but those two seasons were quite funny.
The Kids in The Hall
The Kids in the Hall quickly established themselves as one of the most original sketch comedy groups in history. While the more popular Saturday Night Live was leaning more and more heavily on running recurring characters as far into the ground as they could, The Kids in the Hall were creating masterful character based comedy firmly grounded in the everyday lives of normal people. Sure, they had their share of outlandish characters and catchphrases, but they were always planted in the most mundane and common situations. The Kids in the Hall was always best when it mimed the endless struggles, insane and serious, of relationships, work, and life at the end of the 20th Century. A massive success in their native Canada. The Kids in the Hall remained a mostly cult phenomenon in the US. The show gave fans of smart original comedy some of the greatest and funniest characters ever created. A few examples: the Chicken Lady, Francesca Fiore, Bruno Puntz-Jones, Gavin, Simon and Hecubus. If you haven't seen it, you have to. Right now.
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show ran for 11 seasons, a total of 288 episodes, on CBS, with the sole agenda to make people laugh. Anchored by incredibly charming and down to earth Carol Burnett, and featuring one of the greatest comedy duos in history in Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, it produced year after year of funny material. But what really drew audiences back week after week was how much fun the cast seemed to be having. Ask anyone who has watched the show what their favorite sketch was, and they'd probably say any one where Conway and Korman cracked each other up. Sure, it could be corny and sentimental at times, but the show proved that "family entertainment" doesn't have to be dumb entertainment. And for that it more than deserves its place on this list as one of the best loved TV shows of all time.
Chappelle's Show
It isn't by accident that most of the great sketch comedy shows are the products of a comedy troupe. Writing and performing even a bad show takes hours and hours of work. Trying to put together a great show takes that much more. Even if it were an average show, you'd still have to admire the work Dave Chappelle put into his brief but memorable Chappelle Show, but it was anything but average. Built upon the well-honed stand up of Dave Chappelle's earlier career, Chappelle's Show was a controversial mix of race, drugs, sex, and everything else on the star's mind. A singular vision, it presented Chappelle's unique take on the powder kegs of modern life. Watching Chappelle's Show is like taking a tour of modern American through the eyes of one guy. A ridiculously talented, balls-out hilarious guy. That persistent voice and sense of humor makes it unique on this list and in the sketch comedy world. here was one guy pouring out his mind and thoughts in the funniest way he could. Is it any wonder he burned out after just two seasons? He worked way too hard to give us one of the best sketch shows there ever was.
Saturday Night Live
It may be everyone's favorite thing to hate these days, but no matter how many more substandard seasons they let it run, nothing can diminish the electricity and pure comedic energy of the first few seasons of Saturday Night Live. SNL combined a murderer's row of talent and a youthful fearlessness that pushed at the confines and strictures of what TV comedy could be. The Not Ready for Primetime Players (the nickname John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, Garret Morris, and Lorraine Newman gave themselves) may have started as a bit of self-deprecation, but it became just the opposite. They were good for prime time. Too smart, too hip, and way too cool for TV. They made staying home on Saturday night what the cool people did-to-not watch SNL was to be out of touch and left out of the cultural discussion. Like Monty Python, they were comedy rock stars who instantly became household names. At least for anyone in the house under 25. Even after 35 years and through the light of the some great and many terrible seasons since, those first four years stand as one of the best moments in American comedy history.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
No list of sketch comedy shows would be complete without Monty Python's Flying Circus. Sketch comedy existed before Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam started Monty Python's Flying circus, but they made it an art form. With their brilliant satire, absurd yet instantly recognizable characters, and almost preternatural understanding of the tropes and tricks of television they created an entirely new form of comedy. Drawing on the social and cultural change around them yet maintaining enough distance to properly mock it, they made traditional comedy that was thoroughly modern. They were Oxford and Cambridge educated men who could riff on classical philosophy and Spam in the same episode. They were smart, stupid, clever, and ridiculous all at the same time. It's not without accident that they became comedy megastars and the acknowledged masters of the genre. Other groups have come and gone, some of them incredibly funny. But there will always only ever be one Monty Python. And they will always be the best sketch comedy group of the time.
On a side note, several names for the show were considered before Monty Python's Flying Circus was chosen. Some were Owl Stretching Time; Toad Elevating Moment; A Bucket, a Horse, and a Spoon; Vaseline Review; and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot.
Now you know where I got the name Owl Stretching Time, from my comedic idols. (I actually wrote about Monty Python in my dedication of my thesis in college).
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series that ran from 1967-1969. This was an early appearance of many actors and comedians who later became famous, such as Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle, who later became members of Monty Python. The program consisted of a series of sketches, often bizarre and surreal, frequently satirical with a disjointed style which was to become more famous in the more daring Monty Python's Flying Circus, which followed five months later.
Human Giant
The difference between good sketch comedy and great sketch comedy often lies in a troupe's ability to connect to whatever particular zeitgeist they find themselves in: Monty Python could only have ever happened in the late 60s in England and The Kids in The Hall were a product of Toronto in the late 80s. Of course, they have to transcend those limits to be great, but they also have to be a reflection of their times. Human Giant achieved this in the 2000s. Appearing on MTV, Aziz Ansari, Rob Hubel, and Paul Scheer were the kings of the burgeoning interweb comedy trend. Basically a couple of guys get a camera and some editing software and shoot a funny video. Like other interweb groups, they were fresh, charmingly low-fi, and full of energy. Unlike most other interweb groups, they were really good. With their seemingly endless collection of self-important goofballs and witlessly confident jackasses, they gently skewered pop culture like exceptionally talented class clowns who managed to bluff their way on to a major network. They only made two seasons of Human Giant, but those two seasons were quite funny.
The Kids in The Hall
The Kids in the Hall quickly established themselves as one of the most original sketch comedy groups in history. While the more popular Saturday Night Live was leaning more and more heavily on running recurring characters as far into the ground as they could, The Kids in the Hall were creating masterful character based comedy firmly grounded in the everyday lives of normal people. Sure, they had their share of outlandish characters and catchphrases, but they were always planted in the most mundane and common situations. The Kids in the Hall was always best when it mimed the endless struggles, insane and serious, of relationships, work, and life at the end of the 20th Century. A massive success in their native Canada. The Kids in the Hall remained a mostly cult phenomenon in the US. The show gave fans of smart original comedy some of the greatest and funniest characters ever created. A few examples: the Chicken Lady, Francesca Fiore, Bruno Puntz-Jones, Gavin, Simon and Hecubus. If you haven't seen it, you have to. Right now.
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show ran for 11 seasons, a total of 288 episodes, on CBS, with the sole agenda to make people laugh. Anchored by incredibly charming and down to earth Carol Burnett, and featuring one of the greatest comedy duos in history in Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, it produced year after year of funny material. But what really drew audiences back week after week was how much fun the cast seemed to be having. Ask anyone who has watched the show what their favorite sketch was, and they'd probably say any one where Conway and Korman cracked each other up. Sure, it could be corny and sentimental at times, but the show proved that "family entertainment" doesn't have to be dumb entertainment. And for that it more than deserves its place on this list as one of the best loved TV shows of all time.
Chappelle's Show
It isn't by accident that most of the great sketch comedy shows are the products of a comedy troupe. Writing and performing even a bad show takes hours and hours of work. Trying to put together a great show takes that much more. Even if it were an average show, you'd still have to admire the work Dave Chappelle put into his brief but memorable Chappelle Show, but it was anything but average. Built upon the well-honed stand up of Dave Chappelle's earlier career, Chappelle's Show was a controversial mix of race, drugs, sex, and everything else on the star's mind. A singular vision, it presented Chappelle's unique take on the powder kegs of modern life. Watching Chappelle's Show is like taking a tour of modern American through the eyes of one guy. A ridiculously talented, balls-out hilarious guy. That persistent voice and sense of humor makes it unique on this list and in the sketch comedy world. here was one guy pouring out his mind and thoughts in the funniest way he could. Is it any wonder he burned out after just two seasons? He worked way too hard to give us one of the best sketch shows there ever was.
Saturday Night Live
It may be everyone's favorite thing to hate these days, but no matter how many more substandard seasons they let it run, nothing can diminish the electricity and pure comedic energy of the first few seasons of Saturday Night Live. SNL combined a murderer's row of talent and a youthful fearlessness that pushed at the confines and strictures of what TV comedy could be. The Not Ready for Primetime Players (the nickname John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, Garret Morris, and Lorraine Newman gave themselves) may have started as a bit of self-deprecation, but it became just the opposite. They were good for prime time. Too smart, too hip, and way too cool for TV. They made staying home on Saturday night what the cool people did-to-not watch SNL was to be out of touch and left out of the cultural discussion. Like Monty Python, they were comedy rock stars who instantly became household names. At least for anyone in the house under 25. Even after 35 years and through the light of the some great and many terrible seasons since, those first four years stand as one of the best moments in American comedy history.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
No list of sketch comedy shows would be complete without Monty Python's Flying Circus. Sketch comedy existed before Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam started Monty Python's Flying circus, but they made it an art form. With their brilliant satire, absurd yet instantly recognizable characters, and almost preternatural understanding of the tropes and tricks of television they created an entirely new form of comedy. Drawing on the social and cultural change around them yet maintaining enough distance to properly mock it, they made traditional comedy that was thoroughly modern. They were Oxford and Cambridge educated men who could riff on classical philosophy and Spam in the same episode. They were smart, stupid, clever, and ridiculous all at the same time. It's not without accident that they became comedy megastars and the acknowledged masters of the genre. Other groups have come and gone, some of them incredibly funny. But there will always only ever be one Monty Python. And they will always be the best sketch comedy group of the time.
On a side note, several names for the show were considered before Monty Python's Flying Circus was chosen. Some were Owl Stretching Time; Toad Elevating Moment; A Bucket, a Horse, and a Spoon; Vaseline Review; and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot.
Now you know where I got the name Owl Stretching Time, from my comedic idols. (I actually wrote about Monty Python in my dedication of my thesis in college).
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