Saturday, April 28, 2007

Genocides

The following is a list of the worst genocides that have occured in the 20th century.
Its important to note that Atheist based ideologies have had more than their fair share of genocide related crime - an obvious phenomenon downplayed by Richard Dawkins and the 'God Delusion' groupie crowd.

Those in Red have been driven by Marxist related ideological regimes (Atheist Focused).
Those in Blue have been driven by Fascist related ideological regimes (Atheist Focused).
Those in Green have been inspired carried out by Muslim Leaders against predominantly Muslim Populations.
Those in purple have been carried out by Muslim leaders against predominantly non-Muslim populations.
Those in grey have been carried out by Muslim leaders against mainly Muslim but also non-Muslim populations.
Those in light blue have been carried out by Western Governments.
Those in Black were carried out within by African dictatorships or during the course of African Civil Wars.
Other attrocities are shown in this brownish-colour mixture.

Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69)
49,000,000 ("great leap forward" and "cultural revolution
")

Jozef Stalin (USSR, 1934-39)
13,000,000 (the purges)


Adolf Hitler (Germany, 1939-1945)
12,000,000 (concentration camps and civilians WWII)


Hideki Tojo (Japan, 1941-44)
5,000,000 (civilians WWII)


Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79)
1,700,000


Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94)
1.6 million (purges and concentration camps
)

Menghistu (Ethiopia, 1975-78)
1,500,000


Ismail Enver (Turkey, 1915)
1,200,000 Armenians


Yakubu Gowon (Biafra, 1967-1970)
1,000,000


Leonid Brezhnev (Afghanistan, 1979-1982)
900,000


Jean Kambanda (Rwanda, 1994)
800,000


Suharto (East Timor, West Papua, Communists, 1966-98)
800,000


Saddam Hussein (Iran 1980-1990 and Kurdistan 1987-88)
600,000


Yahya Khan (Pakistan, 1971) vs Bangladesh
500,000


Fumimaro Konoe (Japan, 1937-39)
500,000? (Chinese civilians)


Savimbi (Angola, 1975-2002)
400,000

Mullah Omar - Taliban (Afghanistan, 1986-2001)
400,000


Idi Amin (Uganda, 1969-1979)
300,000


Yahya Khan (Bangladesh, 1970-1971)
300,000


Benito Mussolini (Ethiopia, 1936; Yugoslavia, WWII)
300,000


Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire, 1965-97)
?

Charles Taylor (Liberia, 1989-1996)
220,000

Foday Sankoh (Sierra Leone, 1991-2000)
200,000

Slobodan Milosevic (Yugoslavia, 1992-96)
180,000


Michel Micombero (Burundi, 1972)
150,000


Hassan Turabi (Sudan, 1989-1999)
100,000


Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Centrafrica, 1966-79)
?


Richard Nixon (Vietnam, 1969-1974)
70,000 (vietnamese civilians)

Efrain Rios Montt (Guatemala, 1982-83)
70,000


Papa Doc Duvalier (Haiti, 1957-71)
60,000


Hissene Habre (Chad, 1982-1990)
40,000 (Although Hissene was a Muslim leader and killed many Muslims this was felt to be the most appropriate category for him).

Chiang Kai-shek (Taiwan, 1947)
30,000 (popular uprising
)

Vladimir Ilich Lenin (USSR, 1917-20)
30,000 (dissidents executed)


Francisco Franco (Spain)
30,000 (dissidents executed after the civil war)


Fidel Castro (Cuba, 1959-1999)
30,000


Lyndon Johnson (Vietnam, 1963-1968)
30,000


Hafez Al-Assad (Syria, 1980-2000)
25,000


Khomeini (Iran, 1979-89)
20,000


Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe, 1982-87, Ndebele minority)
20,000


Rafael Videla (Argentina, 1976-83)
13,000


Guy Mollet (France, 1956-1957)
10,000 (war in Algeria)


Paul Koroma (Sierra Leone, 1997)
6,000


Osama Bin Laden (worldwide, 1993-2001)
3,500


Augusto Pinochet (Chile, 1973)
3,000


Al Zarqawi (Iraq, 2004-06)
2,000


Source: For all the numbers and stats visit: http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Thomas Jefferson Quiz

Thomas Jefferson

1. Which university in the South did Thomas Jefferson found, design and build?
2. Jefferson wrote a book rejecting the divinity of this man. Name the individual?
3. What type of system did Jefferson suggest for the US currency?
4. Thomas Jefferson was one of two presidents to sign the Declaration of Independence. Who was the other?
5. Which state’s capital is named after Jefferson?
6. Of 10, 15, 20 and 25. What % of the US population was comprised of slaves at the time of Jefferson’s inauguration?
7. What political party did Jefferson represent?
8. What was his nickname?
9. What day of the year did Thomas Jefferson die?
10. What was the name of Jefferson’s mountaintop home?
11. Jefferson is alleged to have had an affair with this slave woman who bore him a son. Who was she?
12. In which country did Jefferson live between 1784 and 1789?

Answers to Thomas Jefferson

1. The University of Virginia
2. Jesus Christ. The book was entitled ‘The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth’.
3. The decimal system.
4. John Adams.
5. Missouri. Capital is Jefferson City.
6. 20%. Jefferson owned 200 slaves himself.
7. Democratic-Republican Party
8. Red Fox
9. 4th of July 1826. The same day and year as John Adams. Pretty eerie..
10. Monticello.
11. Sally Hemmings.
12. France. He was the US Ambassador. Saw first hand the events leading to the French Revolution.

Four Questions to begin a History Course

What is history?

History is more than just the study of our past. It is the study of human nature responding to different but recurring problems. From history we learn about the limitations of our species, its shortfalls as well as its successes and triumphs. I have often viewed history as the matrix through which all knowledge flows. In shirt is the collective librarian keeping track of our progress providing us with possible solutions for both the present and the future.

What factors drive history?

The factors are numerous but these are the most important ones in my opinion -

· Geographical Position – location is critical. Countries sandwiched between two expansionist powers are likely to have a turbulent history – look at Poland that lies between Germany and Russia. Coastal civilizations will rely more on sea power – England, Portugal and the Netherlands. Landlocked countries will develop strong standing Armies – The Mongols and the Austrians
· The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Famine. Plague, Pestilence and War all exert pressure on a population that in turn lead to certain responses. It can be argued that history is the story of a population’s response to adverse conditions.
· Influential Personalities. Modern historians tend to downplay the role of the ‘Great Man’ in history but there is no doubt that the personalities of such individuals as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon influenced the course of events of their respective times.
· Economic Cycles. There is still much debate as to what causes economic cycles of booms and busts. Everything from sunspot theory, to the whims of human nature have been considered in an attempt to elucidate the trends that influence economic growth.
· Ideology and Philosophy – Communism, fascism, capitalism have all been motivators for a change to the status quo as has been the need for liberalism, nationalism and democracy.

Perhaps one day some genius of untold ability will replicate all these drivers in a mathematical model that accurately mimics our story until then its best to look at these factors through qualitative eyes. Besides which its much more fun.

What is Historical Revisionism?

Historical revision can be either positive or negative. Positive revision involves the updating of the historical record and its interpretation based on new evidence that has become available. This type of revision is not ideologically motivated and is true to the academic spirit. Negative revision is a reinterpretation of the historical record for political and ideological purpose. Very often fact distortion and negation are used to twist the facts to suit the purpose of the writer. This is not only morally corrupt but a crime against history itself with future historians being left with the arduous task of correcting the tainted records for the benefit of all.

What is the role of the historian?

The role of the historian is to uncover, decipher and interpret the record of our past to uncover as true a picture of our legacy as is possible. Since history is filed with information gaps, conflicting observations and missing records the historians task is often daunting and in a sense never complete. However without a history our society lacks much in its collective soul while on a practical level we risk repeating the often costly errors of the past. Historians occupy positions in such fields as academia, journalism, teaching and publishing.

Monday, April 16, 2007

History of India - Prior to 1800

Based on some recent readings - here is my list of the Key Events in the history of the sub-continent prior to 1800

1. Indus River Civilization begins 5000-6000 years ago.
2. Earliest Vedas are written.
3. Cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa flourish (3000-1500 BCE). Bronze working techniques 4. were a feature of each of the city’s technology.
5. Decline of Indus River Civilizations in 1500 BCE. Reasons still unknown.
6. The Aryan invasion of India begins around 2000BC. Local Dravidian population are driven into the Deccan plateau.
7. Aryan invaders introduce Caste System in India. Hindu civilization flourishes in Ganges valley after 1400 BC.
8. Aryan Hindus extend power throughout India from 1000-600 BC. Aryan influence is felt as far away as Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka).
9. Period of the Mahajanapandas c. 600 BC. 16 Kingdoms and republics dominate the Ganges Valley.
10. Life of the Buddha – the Enlightened one: 560-483BC. Buddhist doctrine rises in opposition to Hinduism especially
11. Life of Mahavira or Jina (Victor): 540-468BC. Followers are the ultra-pacifist Jains.
12. Kingdoms of Magadha, Kosali and Kagi as well as the Republic of Vrjji dominate India c. 500BC.
13. Sinhalese begin colonization of Ceylon in 483BC (led by the Hindu price Vijaya). Start of the clash with native Tamil people (a struggle which continues today).
14. Persian territories in India move towards independence c. 350BC.
15. Alexander the Great reaches the Indus Valley. He defeats Porus the most influential ruler of the Punjab at the Battle of Hydaspes River in 326BC. However after his main troop body refuses to proceed further Alexander turns backward. Greek governors are left in the conquered territory.
16. Chandragupta takes power of the Nanda throne in 323 BC. He founds the Mauryan dynasty and drives out the Macedonian Greeks. The influential Arthasastra, a manual of Politics, is written during his reign.
17. Chandragupta blocks an invasion led by Seleucid Greeks in 305BC. In 286 BC Chandragupta will die.
18. Asoka, the grandson of Chandragupta wins control of the Mauryan throne in 274BC. His forces will campaign in both the Ganges Valley and the Deccan Plateau. After the carnage at Kalinga (100,000 people) killed Asoka will adopt Buddhism and become both a man of peace and a patron of Art and architecture.
19. Seleucid Greeks continue raids into India around 208-206BC. Mauryan Empire has all but disappeared.
20. Second wave of Greek influence in India 200-195BC. New Greeks are heavily influenced by Bactrian culture.
21. After a century of foreign influence the Hindu Kingdom of Andhara and its leader Vikramaditya establish Indian influence in the northern and central regions of the sub-continent.
22. Pallava family spreads Andharan influence south and eastwards during the 3rd century AD.
23. Founding of Gupta dynasty in Magadha c. 320AD. Chandragupta the dynasty’s founder claims descent from the Mauryans.
24. Magahda influence expands into Nepal, Assam, the Punjab and Gandhara during the reign of Chandragupta’s son Samudragupta.
25. Andhra Kingdom defeated by Magadha in 350AD. The latter are the new power in India, Magadha influence will spread to Malwa, Saurashtra and Gujarat.
26. Magadha in decline in the 6th century AD. Rise of the Hunas under Toramana. In 510AD the Hunans will take Malwa.
27. The Chola kingdom are driven South in 575AD by a rejuvenated Pallava dynasty,
28. Rise of the Pushyabhuti dynasty founded by Harsha (606AD). Pushyabhuti will brind together many of India’s smaller kingdoms.
29. The Gurjaras conquer Rajputana in 650AD. Gurjaras are a central Asian people.
30. The Chola Kingdom, a once powerful entity in Southern India is in decline after a defeat at the hands of Northern forces in 650AD.
31. Muslim forces press westward into India. They are stopped by the Gurjaras in Gujarat in 712AD. Further Muslim attacks fail in 740AD.
32. Pala dynasty is established in Bengal in 750AD. Dynasty will expand into the Punjab.
33. Chola power in Southern India grows under King Vijayala between 836-870AD.
34. Pratihara becomes the dominant state in Northern India between 890-910.
35. Chola power in India is destroyed in 953 by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III.
36. Forces of Sabuktagin of Ghazani move into India. Peshawar falls in 990.
37. Mahmud of Ghazani, a champion of Islam, is the new regional strong man. In 1014 his troops will take Thaneswar followed by Kanauj four years later. In 1025 Mahmud’s troops will move on Gujarat killing 50,000 Hindus in the process.
38. Chola’s are back once again as a force in Southern India from 1062-1070. A marriage of convenience that brings the Cholas into an alliance with the Chalukya kingdom will further extended Cholan influence into the Deccan plateau.
39. Muslims defeated in Gujarat by Hindu forces in 1178.
40. Muhammad of Ghor takes Delhi in 1193 as fighting continues between Hindu and invading Muslim forces.
41. After putting down several anti-Muslim rebellions in India Muhammad of Ghor is assassinated in 1206.
42. The Mongols raid India between 1260 and 1269.
43. Muslim forces under the general Malik Kufar expand into the Deccan Plateau in the early 14th century.
44. Madura becomes an independent Muslim sultanate in 1311. Madura is a Southern Deccan kingdom. It will dominate southern India in the late 14th century.
45. Revolt against the authority of Delhi by Muslim governors in the Mid 14th century.
46. Delhi’s Lodi dynasty takes Jaunpur and controls the Ganges Valley by 1487.
47. Indian naval fleet defeats Portuguese fleet off Chaul in 1508.
48. Between 1520-1529 Babur, the Mogul leader, will take Delhi, defeat Indian troops at Khanua and Gogra, conquer Bihar and Bengal and establish himself as the first Mogul Emperor of India. Babur was a descendant of both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. He will die in 1530.
49. Mogul leader Humayun fails to take Gujarat in 1536.
50. Sher Khan leads rebellions against Moguls. Humayun is forced to flee India in 1539. He will take power in Afghanistan.
51. Humayun invades Punjab and Delhi after death of Sher Khan. He will restore Mogul rule in 1555 but pass away the year after.
52. Akbar, the son of Humayun defeats Hindu forces at Panipat in 1556. Battle further strengthens Mogul authority. Akbar will take Malwa in 1562 and Rajputana in 1567.
53. Akbar’s forces take Gujarat in 1573. By 1595 his forces will also have expanded Mogul control to Kashmir, Sind, Orissa and Baluchistan.
54. Akhbar, who was famous for his era of religious toleration, dies in 1605. His son Jahangir will take power in the same year.
55. British East Indian company begins trade in India (at Surat) in 1608.
English army having defeated the Portuguese off the Gujarat coast begin armed movement into India in 1612.
56. Death of Jahangir in 1627. He will be succeeded by Jahan who will build the famous Taj Mahal at Agra.
57. Several Deccan states fall to Mogul forces between 1633 and 1636.
58. Establishment of Maratha state by Prince Sivaji in mid 17th century.
59. Rebellion by four sons sees the fall of Jahan in 1658. His son Aurangzeb will take power and rule over the Mogul Empire until 1707. Aurangzeb will actively persecute Hindus.
60. Maratha forces take the Mogul port of Surat in 1664. Maratha forces will further defeat Moguls and secure independence by 1674.
61. Rajput rises up successfully against Mogul rule between 1675-1679.
62. India is ravaged in the 1680’s as war between Moguls and Maratha’s continue.
63. French East India Company establishes a base in Calicut in 1701.
64. War between the Mogul leader Bahadur Shah and the Sikhs breaks out in 1710.
65. Deccan kingdoms start winning independence from the Moguls in the early 18th century.
66. Independent kingdom of Hyderabad founded in the Deccan in 1724.
67. Maratha forces defeat Moguls at Delhi in 1737.
68. Persians under Nadir Shah attack and loot Delhi in 1739. Moguls are powerless to stop them.
Britain and France fight the First Carnatic War between 1744 and 1748. The war is largely inconclusive although the Brits do gain control of Madras from the French.
69. Britain and France continue fighting for control of parts of India in Second Carnatic War (1749-1754). British general Robert Clive will emerge from the war with substantial military credentials.
70. More than one hundred British prisoners die in the Black Hole of Calcutta incident in 1756. Survivors are rescued by Clive’s troops who then go ahead and defeated a French backed Bengali force (under Nawab Suraja) at Plassey.
71. Afghan invaders under Ahmad Shah take Delhi in 1757.
72. Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years war in 1763. French East India Company disbanded. Britain is now the dominant European power active in India. French keep Pondicherry (it will fall to British forces in 1778).
73. Britain fight war of expansion against the Indian powers of Maratha and Mysore kingdoms in the 1770s, 1780s and 1790s. The Wars will result in considerable British expansion in the sub-continent.
74. Ranjit Singh unites Sikhs in 1799 as they begin a war of control for the Punjab.By 1802 most of the Punjab will be in Sikh hands.

Friday, April 13, 2007

History in the News

Taking Christopher Hitchens apart over Churchill

I still don't know why so many conservatives are going ga-ga these days over Hitchens - frankly I don't trust his conversion to reason one bit.

Article Source:
http://www.churchillsociety.org/bco-robert.htm
by Andy Roberts

Volume 14 Issue 1 Spring 2002

Dear Sir,

I’m surprised that The Atlantic Monthly should have published an article so studded with factual inaccuracies. For example:

1 Norman Shelley did not broadcast Churchill’s speeches. The BBC have gone into this in tremendous detail and have discovered that the original recordings were mis-labelled. (See BBC History Magazine for the full story.)

2 The idea that Churchill was a hopeless alcoholic, ‘incapacitated by drink’, is quite wrong. As he put it himself, alcohol was his servant not his master. We know precisely how much was consumed at Chequers and once it is divided by the large numbers of guests he invited it is not excessive. Furthermore, his private secretaries all attest that he greatly watered down his whiskies and brandies.

3 The point that the Germans did not have detailed plans for the invasion of Britain in no way lessens the heroism of the British Empire’s decision to fight on, because we did not know that no such plans existed. And plans were being drawn up feverishly by the German High Command between May and September 1940.

4 The RAF was not the first air force to bomb a capital city. Warsaw, the capital of our ally Poland, was repeatedly bombed by the Luftwaffe in September and October 1939. Other cities in the West such as Rotterdam also suffered severe bombing before the RAF attacked Berlin.

5 Far from exhibiting ‘ruling-class thuggery against the labour movement’, Churchill’s actions at Tonypandy were non-violent (though not reported as such) and during the General Strike he pressed for a fair deal from the mine-owners, but was overruled. Martin Gilbert – which Hitchens acknowledges as ‘the Ur-text’ of Churchillian studies – goes into this in some detail.

6 Far from being ‘vulgar and alarmist’, Churchill’s ‘constant drumming on the subject’ of rearmament was desperately needed and came almost too late. How can one be too ‘alarmist’ about such a phenomenon as the rise of Hitler?

7 Far from it being ‘easy to imagine’ the RAF taking part in Hitler’s invasion of Russia, it is in fact completely impossible to imagine any such thing. If the British Government were unwilling to risk losing six squadrons in the Battle of France in 1940, they would hardly have committed anything to aid Hitler in dominating the entire European land.

8 To state that Churchill’s ‘pure ambition’ actuated his opposition to German expansionism in the Thirties is to ignore the great mass of his writing - his books, journalism and speeches - in support of the concept of European Balance of Power over forty years. (See, for example, Marlborough and The World Crisis.)

9 Churchill did not turn his back on the Duke of Windsor ‘only a short while’ after the Abdication, but a full four years later when the Duke and Duchess’s outrageous behaviour after the Fall of France forced him to reprimand them severely.

10 It is completely wrong to say that ‘more than once Churchill favoured limited negotiations with Hitler’ as any careful reading of his actual words in context will show. (See chapters 21-23 of my biography of Lord Halifax, The Holy Fox.)

11 The fact that Churchill ordered the Channel Islands to be evacuated has no bearing on anything, except that a single glance at the map will show that they could not be defended.

12 India might have been a more ‘faraway country’ than Czechoslovakia, but Britain had the most intimate ties of imperial responsibility for India, whereas she had no treaty obligations to Czechoslovakia.

13 Britain did not ‘mortgage’ the Caribbean islands to America; she granted 99 year leases on some bases there. This in turn freed up Royal Naval vessels for service in the North Sea.

14 Why should it be ‘unbelievable’ that Britain expected a Nazi invasion via Ireland? In the past Ireland had been considered by James II, Napoleon and Wilhelm II as the ideal route via which to attack Britain.

15 If Mr Hitchens thinks that Churchill’s Oran oration to the House of Commons ‘is one speech that has not come down to us by way of the Churchill school of historians’, he ought to read Martin Gilbert’s ‘Finest Hour’ p.641. (Back to the Ur-text.)

16 Churchill was not to know that Vichy, whose precise relationship with Nazi Germany had not yet been established, would not hand over her fleet. Mr Hitchens might be willing in 2002 to believe in the French assurances, but he was not responsible for Britain’s safety in 1940.

17 When he says that Churchill chroniclers prefer to ‘skate over’ the Oran incident, ‘or, where possible, elide it altogether’, Mr Hitchens is simply talking rubbish. The episode is gone into by Martin Gilbert (in no fewer than 27 pages), Roy Jenkins, Geoffrey Best, Norman Rose, A.L. Rowse, myself and of course Churchill himself in volume two of his memoirs, as well as many other biographers.

18 The accusation that Churchill was responsible for sinking the Lusitania is pure tripe, and I’m surprised that someone not known for his belief in absurd conspiracy theories would entertain it.

19 Ditto the idea that Churchill had prior knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbour but failed to warn Roosevelt. It is true that Britain had broken the Japanese naval codes, but the crucial fact is that the Japanese fleet maintained radio silence throughout the journey to within 200 miles of Pearl Harbour.

20 Far from his retirement being ‘a protracted, distended humiliation of celebrity-seeking and gross overindulgence’ Churchill published his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, which were acclaimed by academic historians and are still a publishing phenomenon forty years later. After the Second World War, Winston Churchill had little reason to ‘seek’ celebrity!

21 Far from weakening Hitler, the appeasers’ attempts at ‘a compromise or holding operation’ greatly strengthened his regime. The only time conspirators came close to deposing him was in the days just before before Munich; after the West appeased him there he was safe.

22 Although the Final Solution itself did not begin until war was declared, Hitler made his ‘extermination’ speech in January 1939, by which time the fate of the German Jews was sealed. Dachau had been in existence since 1933. The only sure way of saving European Jewry was to eliminate Nazism from the planet as soon as possible, which was Churchill’s policy and too few others’.

23 The Tory majority did not want to save the Empire by ‘becoming dependent upon the Nazi’s goodwill or pleasure’ because if they had they would not have voted for the guarantee to Poland in April 1939, which would precipitate a war for reasons entirely unconnected with any threat to the Empire. Laying that European tripwire for Hitler proves that Imperial considerations could not have been uppermost in Tory minds.

These twenty-three substantial errors – quite apart from Mr Hitchens’ bileful rhetorical devices and ‘straw dog’ arguments – serve to destroy his central thesis. Contrary to your front page headline, Churchill’s reputation suffers no fall.

Yours sincerely,
Andrew Roberts

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Spanish History - Key Events

20 Most Important Events in Spanish History

1. Moorish rule and the mixing of the cultures
2. Rise of the Christian Kingdoms in the 11th, 12 and 13th centuries.
3. The Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. Unification of Castille and Aragon.
4. The Spanish Inquistion and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492
5. Charles V becomes Joint Hapsburg and Spanish Empire
6. The Final Defeat of the Moors in 1492.. Last Moor stronghold in Granada collapses.
7. Invasion by the Visigoths during Roman times
8. Age of Discovery and the conquest of South and Central America in the 16th century
9. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
10. Loss of Colonies in South and Central America in the 1820’s and 1830’s
11. Loss of the Spanish Armada (1588)
12. The Carlist War of the 19th century
13. Financial Collapse in the 17th century
14. Defeating Napoleon in the Peninsula War (with English assistance)
15. Death of Franco and the coming of Democracy
16. The rise and fall of Roman power in Spain.e
17. War of the Spanish Succession and the Rise of the Bourbons
18. Charlles V abdicates and hands over power to his son Philip II
19. 80 Year War with the Dutch in the 16th And 17th century. Leads to Dutch independence from Spain.
20. Loss of the Rock of Gibralter to the British

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Time Travel Tours

· I have an idea for a book that would contain various tours that could be offered in the future if a time machine system was ever developed successfully for popular use. Imagine viewing the great events of history, isolated from the event itself and invisible to its actors, but still witnessing the events as they unfold and run their course. In my mind this would be incredible. Sample tours could include:

· The Battles of the World – The tourist gets to view from the outside protected by a force field some of the great battles that have shaped human history. Battles such as Kadesh, Arbela, Salamis, Marathon, Cannae, Pharsalia, Actium. Teutoburg Forest, Tours, Agincourt, Blenheim, Yorktown, Valmy, Austrelitz, Waterloo, Sadowa, Sedan, Antietam, Mafeking, Port Arthur, Passchendale, Cambrai, Kursk, Stalingrad, D-Day and Dien Bien Phu.

· Alternative Earth’s – Flying into different Time lines, to view past and future Earth worlds. If a mechanism for zeroing on the required parallel Earth world could be developed, this would be a great way of viewing and analyzing those ‘ What If’ historical scenarios that we often wax about.

· Momentary Events of Importance - Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, Birth of Jesus Christ, Signing of the Magna Carta, Coronation of Napoleon, Lincoln Assasination, The Kennedy Assassination etc.

· The Book would consist entirely of tours. Listing itinerary, meals and other generalities. Lodging would occur aboard the time machine which I envision to be a modern version of a cruise liner.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

History of Art

Art Schools

Which School of Art are the following Artists most associated with?

1. Roy Lichtenstein.
2. Edvard Munch.
3. Paul Cézanne.
4. Henry Moore.
5. Pablo Picasso.
6. Salvador Dali.
7. Edgar Degas.
8. Jackson Pollock.
9. Jacques Louis David.
10. Henri Matisse.
11. Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
12. Giovanni Bellini.
13. Edward Hopper.
14. Piet Mondrian.
15. Marcel Duchamp.

Answers to Art Schools

1. Pop Art.
2. Expressionism
3. Post-Impressionism.
4. Abstract Art.
5. Cubism
6. Surrealism
7. Impressionism
8. Abstract Expressionism or Action Painting.
9. Romanticism
10. Fauvism
11. Pre-Raphaelite.
12. Renaissance
13. Realism/New Realism.
14. The De Stijl Movement and Neoplasticism.
15. Dadaism/Futurism/cubism. Give yourself one point if you answered any of these.

School of Philosophy Quiz

Philosophy - Schools of Thought

From the descriptions supplied, give the school of thought that would be most associated with this doctrine:

1. Virtue is a mean or a middle way between opposing extremes.
2. Everything is open to doubt.
3. The events of our lives are determined.
4. Virtue is the only aim in life. A virtuous man will always achieve happiness regardless of his circumstance.
5. Good involves creating the most happiness for the most number of people.
6. All knowledge is derived from sensory experience.
7. Good is pleasure and that evil is pain.
8. All belief in the supernatural must be rejected.
9. The strength of an idea lies in its practical consequence.
10. Reason is the only source of knowledge.
11. The world has no absolute meaning; we are therefore free to make choices provide we accept the consequences.
12. History is a struggle between opposing economic forces.
13. Matter is an illusion; reality is that which exists mentally.
14. Self-sufficiency is the best way of achieving happiness. Mankind should be scorned for anything else.
15. Knowledge is a product of sense-experience. Observations must be governed by Scientific methods.

Answers to Philiosophy Schools of Thought


1. Aristotlelianism
2. Sceptism
3. Predestination
4. Stoicism
5. Utilitarianism
6. Empiricism
7. Epicureanism (although in moderation of course).
8. Humanism
9. Pragmatism
10. Rationalism
11. Existentialism
12. Dialetic Materialism (aka Marxism).
13. Idealism
14. Cynacism
15. Logical Positivism.