Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Civil War: 150th Anniversary — History.com
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Crossroads
(Source for image - http://www.dbm-info.co.uk/images/research/crossroads.jpg )
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Life's crossroads
What does it all mean?
As of late, I see myself getting more fatalistic with age.
Certainly not every life event is preordained.
But, alas the milestone events appear to happen without
any way to stop, change, or avoid them.
Not every falling leaf, raindrop, sunbeam, tear, or smile is fated.
But, those crossroad events seem immutable and beyond control.
What does it all mean? And where do I go from here?
I chose to walk my life road with a mate.
And fate has snatched her from me.
Plucked like a rosebud before coming to flower and full bloom.
No gloom, doom, or brooding temperament will I wear.
I control the attitude, demeanor, and character of my life.
Though uncertainty, doubts and trials still await me;
the road lay ahead with surprises and happiness yet to come.
But, does Fate intervene in life? Well, I believe so. The following is what I believe one could call Fate in one person's life.
New Abode
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Life's crossroads
What does it all mean?
As of late, I see myself getting more fatalistic with age.
Certainly not every life event is preordained.
But, alas the milestone events appear to happen without
any way to stop, change, or avoid them.
Not every falling leaf, raindrop, sunbeam, tear, or smile is fated.
But, those crossroad events seem immutable and beyond control.
What does it all mean? And where do I go from here?
I chose to walk my life road with a mate.
And fate has snatched her from me.
Plucked like a rosebud before coming to flower and full bloom.
No gloom, doom, or brooding temperament will I wear.
I control the attitude, demeanor, and character of my life.
Though uncertainty, doubts and trials still await me;
the road lay ahead with surprises and happiness yet to come.
But, does Fate intervene in life? Well, I believe so. The following is what I believe one could call Fate in one person's life.
New Abode
One day during World War I, Winston Churchill visited France as a volunteer to observe the fighting first hand. In his sandbagged shelter at the front line, he was brought a message from a visiting general, a former acquaintance, who wanted to see him. Churchill was instructed to walk to a crossroads some three miles away, where a car would meet him. After waiting at the crossroads for nearly an hour, however, he was joined by one of the general's officers. The car had been sent to the wrong crossroads, the man explained, and it was now too late for any meeting to take place. Churchill, understandably peeved, began the long haul back to the trenches in the dark; then, as rain began to fall, he produced a stream of silent invective describing the thoughtless general.
When he finally reached his camp, Churchill was astonished to find that his shelter had apparently disappeared. Five minutes after his departure, he learned, a shell had come through the roof, obliterating the structure and killing the man inside.
"Suddenly I felt my irritation against General X pass completely from my mind," he later recalled. "All sense of grievance departed in a flash. As I walked to my new abode, I reflected how thoughtful it had been of him to wish to see me again, and to show courtesy to a subordinate when he had so much responsibility on his shoulders."
Churchill, Winston Leonard Spenser (1874-1965) British politician and writer, First Lord of the Admiralty (1911-15, 1939-), prime minister (from 1940), Nobel Prize recipient (Literature, 1953) [noted for his remarkable eloquence and leadership ability; for his memoirs and letters; and for such works as The Second World War, The Great Republic : A History of America and My Early Life]
[Sources: Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes]
(Source - anecdotage.com - http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=3888 )
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. . . never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.
Winston Churchill
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November 1st marks four months since Pam died.
Pam - We all love you and miss you. Jerry and the Kids.
PS All of us are hanging in there and doing as well as can be expected.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Happy - 4th of July
John Adams wrote that the Fourth of July
"...ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns,
bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."
"...ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns,
bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."
The Declaration of Independence itself has become one of the most admired and copied political documents of all time. It was written by Thomas Jefferson and revised by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson.
The Declaration of Independence is a justification of the American Revolution, citing grievances against King George III. It is also a landmark philosophical statement, drawing on the writings of philosophers John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. It affirms that since all people are creatures of God, or nature, they have certain natural rights, or liberties, that cannot be violated.
The Declaration and the American Revolution have since inspired freedom-seekers the around the world.
The Declaration of Independence is a justification of the American Revolution, citing grievances against King George III. It is also a landmark philosophical statement, drawing on the writings of philosophers John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. It affirms that since all people are creatures of God, or nature, they have certain natural rights, or liberties, that cannot be violated.
The Declaration and the American Revolution have since inspired freedom-seekers the around the world.
(Source - Fact Monster - http://www.factmonster.com/spot/independenceday1.html )
Stars and Stripes Forever
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Not An April Fool's Post - Native Americans
The referral of Native people as Indians is not from the theory that Christopher Columbus thought he was in India. When Columbus set sail in 1492, the country that is known today as India was called Hindustan. He wrote that the people he had met in the "New World" were "una gente en dio"; meaning "a people in with God". The term "en dio" somehow got changed to Indian, thus the common belief held that Columbus called the Native people "Indians" because he thought he was in India.
(Source: www.lareina-persians.net/native.html - NOTE: This source has disappeared!!!)
(Source: www.lareina-persians.net/native.html - NOTE: This source has disappeared!!!)
Another explanation -
"Q: Why do you prefer the term American Indian over Native American?
A: The word “Indian” is an English bastardization of a Spanish bastardization. Columbus wrote “una gente en dio” – “a people in with God.” He went on to write that they are so peaceful and generous as it to be a fault. Therefore they’d make excellent slaves. The Spaniards started calling them “indio.” That stuck. This is 100 years before the English conquered the sub-continent they called India. We were the first with that name. Then the English bastardized the Spanish to “Indian.” "
(Source for picture - "Le Costume Ancien Et Moderne" - Art.com - http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--12059004/sp-- )
Your friendly neighborhood trivia buff. ;-) GC
PS - This explanation sounds good but just maybe apocryphal*.
(* Click on following link for definiton -http://www.thefreedictionary.com/apocryphal )
Sunday, November 14, 2004
The First Genocide of the 20th Century - Armenia
"The term Armenian Genocide (also known as the Armenian Holocaust or Armenian Massacre) refers to the deportation and murder of Armenians by the Young Turks government in 1915-1916.
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The Armenian Genocide is denied by Turkey, although the massacre of large numbers is widely, freely admitted and publically regretted."
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(Go to the link below for the balance of the article.)
For more on World War One - I recommend any juvenile book on World War One, just go to the children's section and see what's available. Any current adult book on World War One should have a paragraph, page or section on the Armenians. This is what I'm reading now:
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The Great War
And the Shaping of the 20th Century,
by Jay Winters and Blaine Baggett,
Penguin Books, NY, NY, etc.,
1996, ISBN 0-670-87119-2
The Great War
And the Shaping of the 20th Century,
by Jay Winters and Blaine Baggett,
Penguin Books, NY, NY, etc.,
1996, ISBN 0-670-87119-2
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It was also a PBS TV series and videos can be checked out at most public libraries nowadays. I wouldn't let small children watch it but older children could be interested. Don't let the size of the book deter you, its quick reading and informative and there's also lots of pictures.
It was also a PBS TV series and videos can be checked out at most public libraries nowadays. I wouldn't let small children watch it but older children could be interested. Don't let the size of the book deter you, its quick reading and informative and there's also lots of pictures.
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Love, the editor ;-)
Love, the editor ;-)
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Prime Minister Menachem Begin: Terrorist?
“Begin was dispatched to Palestine in 1942. Discharged in 1943, he remained in Palestine and assumed command of the Irgun Tsvai-Leumi, a guerrilla organization seeking to oust the British, who had controlled Palestine since 1922. Pursued by British authorities for his anti-British activities, Begin managed to evade capture by going into hiding in Tel Aviv (now part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."
(source from Lycos)
"On July 22, 1946, members of the Jewish underground military organization Irgun Tsvai-Leumi in the British Mandate of Palestine planted and exploded a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The hotel was the base for the British Secretariat, the military command and a branch of the Criminal Investigation Division (police). 91 people were killed, most of them civilians: 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 other. Around 45 people were injured..The attack was initially ordered by David Ben Gurion, who was in the United States, but he later changed his mind and ordered the bombing to be cancelled. But Menachem Begin, the head of Irgun, went ahead anyway. Both Ben Gurion and Begin would later become Israeli Prime Ministers. The attack was commanded by Yosef Avni and Yisrael Levi."
Click on the link below to read the balance of the article. (source)
Some people believe the attack of the King David Hotel was a terrorist act.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Armistice Day - November 11, 1918, 11 am
THE CASE OF THE ELUSIVE ANGEL OF MONS
by Alan S. Coulson, MD, PhD. and Michael E. Hanlon, Website Editor
by Alan S. Coulson, MD, PhD. and Michael E. Hanlon, Website Editor
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"One of the abiding legends of the Great War is of an intercession by a heavenly agent -- allegedly observed by many soldiers -- during the opening action at Mons, Belgium, part of the larger action known as the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914. In his book ANGELS A TO Z Matthew Bunson recounts, 'One of the most famous episodes of angelic intervention, [was] the supposedly widely reported descent of an angelic army in August 1914, which came to the aid of the British forces against the Germans in Mons. . . The angelic host's assistance could not have come at a more propitious moment as the British were being driven back by the relentless German advance."
Bunson also relates one version supposedly corroborated by German prisoners describing a force of phantoms armed with bows and arrows and led by a towering figure on a shining white horse who spurred on English forces during an assault on German trenches. Another story spoke of three angelic beings seen by the British, hovering in the air over German lines, providing a source of deep inspiration for them. Aside from these beings, Bunson states that soldiers later claimed to have seen St. Michael the Archangel, the Virgin Mary, even Joan of Arc. [D See reference list at end of article.]"
"One of the abiding legends of the Great War is of an intercession by a heavenly agent -- allegedly observed by many soldiers -- during the opening action at Mons, Belgium, part of the larger action known as the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914. In his book ANGELS A TO Z Matthew Bunson recounts, 'One of the most famous episodes of angelic intervention, [was] the supposedly widely reported descent of an angelic army in August 1914, which came to the aid of the British forces against the Germans in Mons. . . The angelic host's assistance could not have come at a more propitious moment as the British were being driven back by the relentless German advance."
Bunson also relates one version supposedly corroborated by German prisoners describing a force of phantoms armed with bows and arrows and led by a towering figure on a shining white horse who spurred on English forces during an assault on German trenches. Another story spoke of three angelic beings seen by the British, hovering in the air over German lines, providing a source of deep inspiration for them. Aside from these beings, Bunson states that soldiers later claimed to have seen St. Michael the Archangel, the Virgin Mary, even Joan of Arc. [D See reference list at end of article.]"
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go to the following website for the complete article
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