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History

A collection of 253 issues

Louis XIV

> An Italian chemist came to Louis XIV with plans for the first bacteriological weapon. Louis XIV refused. He never developed the weapon, never used it against other European nations. But even more impressive, he paid the chemist an annual salary to keep the bioweapon a secret from the world.

Kierkegaard

> Kierkegaard was haunted by the fact that his Dad--when he was a struggling tenant farmer--stood on a hill and solemnly cursed God, an act that Kierkegaard believed doomed the entire family. Source: The Know-It-All. We're a bit skeptical about K's reaction

One of Our Favorite Saintly Anecdotes

In 372, Valens' zealous Arian servant, Modestus (the “Count of the East”), came to Caesarea and summoned Basil. Basil–emaciated from his asceticism but mentally rigorous–came. Modestus shouted at him: “Basil, how dare you defy our great power? How dare you stand alone? Everyone else has yielded, and

Evil Rules

> History is brimming with evil leaders you've never heard of. Early on, there was Jean-Bedel Bokassa, head of the Central African Republic, who . . . crowned himself emperor in a sumptuous $20 million ceremony that helped bankrupt his country. Though he did find enough money to also kill

Encyclopedia Miscellany

Isaac Asimov wrote about five hundred books. When he was 81, P.T. Barnum fell gravely ill. At his request, a New York newspaper printed his obituary in advance so he could enjoy it. Watch for this to become a source of revenue for newspapers seeking to shore up their

Abelard and Heloise

The Claremont Institute has published a nice piece about the greatest love affair of the Middle Ages. Link [http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/summer2005/bramwell.html]. Excerpt: > Abelard and Heloise inhabited a world that, like our own, was changing rapidly. They saw themselves and their times as modern.

Young Marx

Interesting piece at Tech Central Station, A Tale of Two Prophet: Karl Marx and Brigham Young. Link [http://www.techcentralstation.com/062405C.html]. Excerpt: > Brigham Young believed that man was put on earth to do hard physical work with his hands, and he believed this was the only sure

Origins of Ghetto Culture

Interesting excerpt from a gushing review of Thomas Sowell's Black Rednecks and White Liberals (link [http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/sowell7.html]): > Sowell begins by tracing the origins of black ghetto culture all the way back to the British Isles from which white American Southerners immigrated in

The Spirit of the Gay Community

In 1810, a woman in Toronto reported she was raped and, in the tussle, had scratched the rapist's genitalia. The magistrate, Alexander Wood, lined up suspects and demanded they drop their pants so he could inspect them. When the community heard, he was branded a "molly"

G.K. Chesterton Sheds a Tear

Chesterton loved Fleet Street. Stories were told for years about his large frame tottering down the street and about him sitting in the pubs, composing his timeless columns. > For over 300 years, London's Fleet Street was the heart of British journalism, home to many of the country&