;)
The Return of Walk Thru History
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 11:47PM Coming back in a new way in 2010, including the first WTH book.
The Pirate Queen of Ireland
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:22AM 
While Henry VIII was on the throne of England divorcing his wives the O'Malley (Ó Máille) clan ruled the north west coast of Ireland. Unlike most Irish of the time they were seafarers, taxing anyone who fished off their coast which included ships from as far away as England. The leader of the clan bore the title "The O'Malley."
The O'Malley had a daughter, Grace. Legend says that when she was a young teenage girl she asked her father to take her along on a trading expedition to Spain that he was leading. He came up with what was, admittedly, a lame excuse: he would like to but her long hair might get caught in the ships ropes. Showing the spirit that would eventually put her in front of the most powerful ruler in Europe she cut off most of her hair and presented herself to her father, ready to sail, daring him to come up with another excuse. Whether the legend is true or not, her nickname reflects it: in Gaelic it was Gráinne Mhaol, meaning bald or cropped hair...
Famines and Nickolai Vavilov
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 2:18PM 
I've been reading quite a bit lately about about Nickolai Vavilov, someone that I'm sure most of us have never heard of. This week I completed writing a new chapter for my book about the history of famines, and I'm going to read from that material tonight at the Walk Thru History class.
Vavilov is a tragically ironic figure...
The Ordeal of the Whaleship Essex
Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 9:27AM 
A couple of years ago I read an excellent book, which I highly recommend, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick (actually I've read three of his books and recommend all of them).
On November 20, 1820 -- 188 year ago today -- the whaleship Essex from Nantucket Island went through an ordeal that would partly inspire the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville...
Don't Drink the Kool-Aid!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 10:09AM 
I remember a number of years ago when I worked for a major publishing company which was owned by an international media conglomerate. Every couple of months our structure or strategy would be jerked into a 90° change and it would come down from the Olympian heights of corporate leadership in New York City that this was finally the winning formula that would take us into a glorious future. Nevermind that 60 days earlier we had another winning formula for the future ("We've always been at war with Eastasia!")
"Drink the Kool Aid" has become a popular euphemism for believing or at least going along with the current corporate ideology when it is manifestly untrue or stupid.
Today, November 18, commemorates the 30th anniversary of that phrase entering the English language. What is not often discussed -- even at the time -- is the ideology that brought that us that phrase. Hint: it was NOT a dangerous brand of evangelical Christianity...
One of the Biggest, Man-Made, Non-Nuclear Explosions in History
Monday, November 17, 2008 at 10:38AM The massive blast occurred in the most unlikely of places, and the events after the blast were as even more strange and interesting than the blast itself...
Even More Torture Tourism
Friday, November 14, 2008 at 12:00PM Edinburgh is one of my favorite cities. Among it's quirks, along the High Street it features an unusual amount of "torture tourism:" underground attractions and guided tours to places where people were tortured (in the distant past, of course). And just to clear any potential misunderstanding, this is not why I'm fond of Edinburgh.
The Grassmarket is a 2-3 block area directly beneath Edinburgh Castle. Currently tourists don't have much reason to wander down from the High Street to the Grassmarket, even though it's less than a 1/4 mile away. There are some hotels, office buildings, convenience stores, a few pubs. Here's what it looks like now:
Anyway, as a professional marketer I file this under the headings: "If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It," and "If a Little is Good, More is Awesome..."
On This Day in History: November 12, 1970
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 7:00AM I've written some fairly long and weighty posts in the last week. Like this one, or this one, or this one or even this one. I'm going to guess that a lot of you haven't even have time to read all of them or give adequate reflection to the subject matter.
What can I say? Today I needed something a bit lighter as I prep for teaching the Walk Thru History Class @ Manna tonight (another heavy duty topic) so I reached for something quick, easy and cheap. Sue me.
I didn't have to reach far. This day in history, November 12, 1970, provides many lessons in life, engineering, environmental management and problem-solving. Not to mention serving up a cautionary tale in poorly-thought-through government solutions...
The First and Only Mission of the Bismarck
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 7:00AM Over all the centuries of North Atlantic naval warfare, there had never been a warship as big and dreadful as the Bismark. Nor one as heavy-laden with expectations.
Jethro Tull Dances on Thomas Malthus' Grave, Unleashes a Wicked 18 Minute Jazz Flute Solo
Monday, November 10, 2008 at 7:00AM The title for this post is the title of one of the chapters in the book I'm writing, The Church on the Edge of the World and Other Walks Through History (hopefully out by next Summer). I wasn't going to use it here on the blog, but I saw something in the news yesterday that was such a good example of the idea that I couldn't resist giving a taste of it here.
First of all, I'm going to be curious to see how many of you even get the joke in the title. Maybe one of you will explain it to the rest in the comments below.
Anyway, here's the idea...
WTH Class at Manna this Week (November 12): The Beard Tax
Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 1:06PM This Wednesday night at the Manna Green Building we'll have the next installment of the Walk Thru History class. This week's topic: The Beard Tax and the History of Social Control.
Societies and governments have always had an interest in shaping the behavior of their citizens. The Roman Empire allowed cultural and religious diversity in the provinces, but required everyone to make sacrifices to the emperor to maintain some cultural cohesion. 15th century Spain instituted the Inquisition to force loyalty to the crown and eliminate the Jewish banking class that held much of the country's capital. One 19th century government taxed anyone with a beard to force cultural change. And in the United States today we use the tax code to create all kinds of carrots and sticks to encourage desirable and discourage undesirable behavior.
This Wednesday we'll talk about the history of individual freedom vs. the efforts of governments to create conformity throughout Western Civilization. We start in the Green Building at 7pm, usually wrap up the teaching around 8:30pm or so.
And just to wet your whistle, here's this tribute to George Orwell's 1984 (also author of Animal Farm, both of which I'll be mentioning Wednesday):
Would Anyone be Interested in a WTH Tour to New York and Boston Next Summer?
Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 4:44PM I've been considering taking a tour group to Great Britain next summer, but the reservation requirements are such that unless we commit to a certain number of rooms, bus, etc. within the next 30 days it might be tough to get any group rates. We will still do Great Britain trip but it might have to be Fall of 2009 or Spring/Summer of 2010. So a few people have expressed interest in an alternate trip next summer...
One Hundred Years
Friday, November 7, 2008 at 6:59AM I followed a link to this interesting story on the Sky News site: Rare Film Shows London Life in 1904. Someone had discovered twelve minutes of footage of daily life in the streets of London in some Australian archive. They only have a 30 second clip on that site, but what I watched fascinated me. All of that footage isn't available for me to embed here, but I found a short piece of it:
I found some similar footage from the first decade of the 20th century. I've got them all embedded at the end of this post. Take the time to watch as much of them as you have time for, but let me try and explain why I wanted to post them: as we watch them, I want us to reflect on some things...
My Dinner with Atilla
Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 7:00AM I know that in your downtime (waiting for a bus, during the commercials in Dancing with the Stars, clicking on WTH to see if I've put up a new post) you've often wondered, "I wonder what it would be like to have dinner with Atilla the Hun?"
Well, today's your lucky day...
On Mornings Like These, The Depressed Resort to Comfort Foods. I Choose Corn Flakes.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 7:00AM Corn Flakes. Yes, after all the recent... "unpleasantness" of the election, taxes, unrepentant terrorists and the field dressing of mooses ( moosi? ), etc., today I want to write about the history of Corn Flakes. Yes, Corn Flakes. After all, What could be more healthy, more normal, a more wholesome benchmark for the historic virtues of the uniquely American character?
Updated Today's Post
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 8:16AM I realized that an unfinished version of today's post was auto-uploaded first thing this morning. I've replaced it with the finished version. If you read today's post early this morning and it seems... curiously unfinished... go back and check it now.
My Thoughts on the Morning After, the Day Before
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 7:00AM I'm not often spot-on with predictions about the future, but I'm totally confident of this: tomorrow morning, about half of America -- and a big chunk of the world -- is going to be depressed and angry.
Whoever wins the election a lot of folks are going to start spinning through the whole grief cycle: shock, denial, four-letter-words-shouted-at-the-TV anger, vainly looking for a way out (I'm guessing legal challenges to the outcome), can't-bear-to-get-out-of-bed despondency chock full 'o incontinent fear, a full cafeteria food fight of accusations and blame. The more adaptable among us will move quickly to acceptance and start scheming a way to survive and prosper under the new regime.
Yeah, it's gonna be a rough morning for the losers. Odds are, I'll be one of them and I'm not going to feel like writing anything. So I thought that I'd go ahead and upload my thoughts ahead of the outcome...
Why Isn't Detroit a Paradise?
Monday, November 3, 2008 at 7:40AM Excellent article on recent history (post WWII). Here's the premise: