History

152 posts

19 August, Day of Coups

With thousands of years of recorded human history, invariably there are going to be coincidences. Yesterday, August 18, and tomorrow, August 20, are each anniversaries of the deaths of 3 Catholic Popes (none today, though). 19 August holds a rather interesting status, though. It has more than its fair share of coups. And not just coups on little islands. Big, history-changing coups. Perhaps because it comes at the end of the northern summer it is a likely end for military campaigns? Perhaps the months of summer heat or drought finally drive people to the point of trying to kill their king, prime minister or generalissimo? Or maybe it is just a coincidence. We report. You decide.

Here’s just some of the list. Continue reading

A Visit to Kanazawa, Japan

Speak of a tourist visit to Japan, and inevitably people will ask about places like Tokyo (for mine, the most amazing city in the world), Kyoto (gorgeous, worth as much time as you can afford to spend there) or Hiroshima (haven’t been, but there’s definitely more to it than its nuclear scars).  Perhaps Kobe (great beef, and the earthquake museum is a must-see), Osaka (boringly industrial), Sapporo (cold) or Nara (doe, a deer, LOTS of deer).  But some of the best places to visit in Japan are a little away from the usual sights.  One such is Kanazawa, the highlight of my own time in Japan.

Continue reading

Remember the Ladies

On a day when we remember the Founding Fathers of America, let’s try to remember the Founding Mothers, too.

Abigail Adams, our second First Lady, wife of John Adams. Abigail famously wrote her husband, as he served as Massachusetts’ representative to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, to ‘remember the ladies.’ Abigail was an enormous proponent of women’s property rights, among other things, long before it was cool.   Continue reading

War For Profit In Bougainville

“It is my opinion that absent Rio Tinto’s mining activity on Bougainville or its insistence that the Panguna mine be re-opened, the government would not have engaged in hostilities or taken military action on the island.”

”Because of Rio Tinto’s financial influence in PNG, the company controlled the government.”

”The government of PNG followed Rio Tinto’s instructions and carried out its requests … BCL was directly involved in the military operations on Bougainville, and it played an active role. BCL supplied helicopters, which were used as gunships, the pilots, troop transportation, fuel and troop barracks.”

– Sir Michael Somare Continue reading

Roy Innis and the Demise of The Congress on Racial Equality

A few years ago I did some freelance transcription work while I was unemployed.  One gig I had was someone’s college thesis from 1979.  The topic was CORE, the Congress on Racial Equality, which was responsible for the Journey of Reconciliation in 1947 and the Freedom Rides in 1961, both important events in the civil rights movement. Continue reading

Ut male iudicari*

Before Phil Jackson ranted about bogus calls, before Sir Alex Ferguson got another five match ban for his outbursts and before Didler Drogba screamed into television cameras about a “motherfucking disgrace,” a Roman gladiator named Diodorus complained how a referee’s bad call cost him the match – on his epitaph.

Most gladiatorial epitaphs include details of the deceased’s professional life. This particlular tombstone was unusual, according to Professor Michael Carter of Brock University, because it told a story. Continue reading

Angel Island: The Guardian of the Western Gate

They huddled together on large steamboats, “eating wind and tasting waves” for nearly three weeks, before they finally saw land. They had scraped and borrowed funds to get on those boats to escape economic and political economic instability and to make a better life for their families back home. Many of them dreamed of Gam Saan, or Gold Mountain, thinking that this new land was filled with golden fields and rivers. But most would end up on a goldless, small island off the San Francisco Bay – Angel Island. Continue reading

Apocalypse… Now? A(nother) Brief History of The End of the World

Hello fellow Crasstalkers, it’s that time again!

“What time is that?” you ask.  Well, I’ll tell you my friends.  Once again the Apocalypse is upon us.  In honor of this special day, let’s explore all the previous apocalypses (apocali?) of times gone by.

Back in the 1800s, amateur Bible student William Miller began to study the prophecies of Daniel and using the “year-day” method of prophetic interpretation.  Wait, “year-day” method?  *frantically searches Wikipedia* ahh, so the word day in apocalyptic prophecy is symbolic for an actual year of time.  Just so we’re all clear on how this works out for Mr. Miller here, let’s review: Continue reading