Nexus of Thought: History in the News

I scanned the internet recenly for some new history stories of interest. Here are a few that are worth looking into:

Napoleon's sword sells for 6.5 million dollars.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6737909.stm
There is clearly still some life in the Little Corporal.

A look at Hemingway and Orwell in Spain
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28681
Contrasts in personality

The Other D-Day
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/VictorDavisHanson/2007/06/07/the_other_d-day
How D-Day almost backfired

On Churchill and Zionism
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2006/08/the_controversy.html
A worthwhile article from Peter Hitchens - the better of the two Hitchens brothers.

A look at the relationship between Eisenhower and MacArthur in the 1930's
http://www.historynet.com/magazines/mhq/3025421.html?featured=y&c=y

My beliefs

I believe ….

1.That there is a God who transcends space and time. (I call it God for want of a name although I personally prefer the Kabbalistic term Ein Sof).

2. That it is impossible to know the nature of God. It cannot be truly defined.

3. That the universe operates according to the Laws of Physics. Life evolved through a combination of natural selection, genetic drift and other selection pressures acting on a genome whose variation arose as a consequence of mutation.

4. That God can intervene but such intervention is undetectable and does not contravene the laws of physics. God is a subtle actor who presents no evidence of understandable design.

5. That an agnostic position on a personal God makes sense.

6. That revealed religion are merely man made attempts at trying to understand God and although some carry the wisdom of earlier thought they are all inherently flawed.

7. That humans need to develop their own moral code based on reason, logic and the collective thinking of what has worked in the past.

8. That some religious customs may serve a purpose with respect to group cohesion but they need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

9. That God is a minimalist in action but not a disinterested party.

10. That the afterlife is unknowable.

11. That skepticism and the scientific method are the best tools we have in understanding the world.

Nexus of Thought

Monday, June 11, 2007

History in the News

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