Well Said

Columbus was Awesome

"Let's be honest, few would do what he did. Oh, and the indigenous peoples were guilty of the same stuff."

[---]

"Yes, it’s in vogue to forsake our Western heritage, to see dead, white men as evil barbarians. But let’s be honest, the reason they’ve been celebrated is because what they did, despite their sins, was incredible. Columbus is certainly one of those men.

In an age when many teenage Americans are too terrified to even state their opinion in a high school class for fear of getting a bad grade and not getting into college, Columbus was already sailing the ocean blue, with reports that he went as far as the coast of Guinea in West Africa – that’s several thousand nautical miles from his home port!"

[---]

"Now, put yourself into the expedition. In looking back, modern man seems tempted to harshly judge every sin of a man whom the current culture has chosen to be against, while failing to judge the whole man and what he accomplished. How many today would have the courage of not just Columbus, but of the other 120 men aboard those little ships (at most, 60 feet long) to sail into the unknown, likely to fail and even to die?"

[---]

"Without a doubt, Columbus did some horrible things, including sending natives back to Spain as slaves who ironically were not treated as such initially. Should he be celebrated for some of his later deeds? Probably not. And so the complexities of history and the imperfections of men reveal themselves to us. But that is also the case of the native populations."

[---]

"Today, any number of classrooms and cities celebrate “Indigenous People’s Day” or some such thing as a way to repent of Columbus’ and the West’s sins of conquest. And yet, when we look at the historical record of indigenous peoples, they were no less blood thirsty (often more so) than the Europeans. Indeed, they conquered and enslaved each other with great frequency."

Amazing!!

Ancient Machines (Machines Of Ancient China)

Allan West Nails It

The question of Muslim terror was never so succinctly answered as here by Allen West. (Courtesy of The Hudson Institute's Reclaim American Liberty Conference).

Posted by American Bikers United Against Jihad - ABUAJ on Friday, September 11, 2015

46 Years Ago...

...today:

Neil Armstrong walks on the moon, July 20, 1969

The 60's Scoop...

...reconsidered:

https://soundcloud.com/thecharlesadlershow/misguided-apologies-for-60s?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook

Little Known Facts About History

A Short History of Conservatives and Liberals

"Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals; and
2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That’s how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q’s and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement."

Related: New Study shows Liberals have a lower average IQ than Conservatives

What can I say? Makes sense to me.

More Stuff You Can't Make Up

British Protests, Violence Mark 239 Years Since Expulsion from American Colonies

"As Americans celebrated the 239th anniversary of its independence with barbeques, parties and fireworks, Saturday was a day of rage in the United Kingdom as the British marked what they called the “Proper Mess,” British for ‘catastrophe‘. Peaceful protests against the United States’ independence turned violent, as clashes broke out between NATO troops and protesters demanding a “right of return” to the U.S. mainland.

Riots were held in London, Manchester and other major cities, as British citizens protested their expulsion from what they termed “Occupied Western England.” Many of the protesters consider themselves refugees, as their ancestors were British officials forcibly expelled from the colonies nearly 250 years ago.

“My parents, grandparents, and great-great-great grandparents may have lived in London, but my heart will always be in Philadelphia,” said Rupert Chesselwit, whose ancestors were expelled in 1776. “Baltimore and Charleston are as much a part of England as Birmingham and Leeds.”

Though there were injuries reported in several of the riots, violence did not reach the level of previous years. In 2011, four Britons were killed by the U.S. Coast Guard after storming across the Atlantic Ocean and trying to enter Virginia.

Authorities are warning of potentially more violence next month, when India celebrates its Independence Day."

From The "You Can't Make This Up File"

Waterloo 200 years on... and the strange journey of Napoleon's penis

AAAARRRRRGH!!!

Weapons

The Huns

Mongols

Vikings

Saxons

Absolutely Fascinating...

...biography of a musical genius whose personal life was a disaster.

Beethoven

One Of The Best...

...historical summary of "Palestine" and Israel I have ever seen.



Another one:

Ancient China

PYRAMIDS IN CHINA: ANCIENT LOST SECRETS 

History of China

The Last Emperor of China

You know me. I'm a history junkie. The history of China fascinates me. There were so many firsts that took place in China. Their golden age was about the same time as the Roman Empire in the West. They were light-years ahead of  anything in Europe at the time. Gun powder, steel, using fossil fuels for heat, energy and industry.  The first use of paper currency. The list goes on.

Little Known Facts...

...about Sir John A.:

10 things you didn’t know about Canada’s first prime minister

Some of these are downright hilarious. For example:

"The 1864 Charlottetown Conference that founded Canada was only supposed to include representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, who were gathering to discuss forming a Maritime union. Sensing an opportunity to build a nation, Macdonald and his pro-Confederation allies sailed the steamship Queen Victoria from Quebec to P.E.I. and crashed the conference. Aided by $13,000 worth of champagne that he brought along to the party, Macdonald sweet-talked the Maritimers into expanding the union to become Canada in 1867."

So that's how Canada came into being. I wonder what would have happened had Sir John been a sober sort?

And this:

"With his rugged face and wild hair, Macdonald was a dead ringer for British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881). The resemblance was so uncanny, one official at Disraeli’s funeral in London mistook Macdonald for Disraeli’s ghost."

Got An Hour And A Half To Spare?

Then don't miss this excellent history of the Mughal Empire. Warrior Empire:The Mughals Of India

No wonder the Brits considered India to be the "Jewel in the Crown" of their empire - absolutely astounding achievements, technical and otherwise.

Reburial Of Richard The IIIrd's Remains...

...took place yesterday:

"Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor, will read a 14-line poem at the service.

Cumberbatch is Richard III's third cousin 16 times removed, according to researchers at the University of Leicester who said around 13 million others share that connection with the fallen monarch."

Third cousin 16 times removed? Get your head around that one. If he was anything like most monarchs of those days, he also has millions of descendants through all the illegitimate children he fathered.

Vikings...

...get a facelift:

"They raped and raided. They pillaged and plundered. With their horned helmets and deadly weapons, the Vikings terrorized Europe for centuries.

Or did they?"

"The Vikings are traditionally known for leaving destruction in their wake as they travelled around Europe raping, pillaging and plundering.

But Cambridge University has launched a campaign to recast them as "new men" with an interest in grooming, fashion and poetry.

Academics claim that the old stereotype is damaging, and want teenagers to be more appreciative of the Vikings' social and cultural impact on Britain.

They say that the Norse explorers, far from being obsessed with fighting and drinking, were a largely-peaceful race who were even criticised for being too hygienic."

I think I liked the old image better:

Hip, hip,...

...boo hoo:

Vikings did not replace Orkney population, concludes DNA study

"Their findings, published in the scientific journal Nature, show that just 25 per cent of the Orcadian DNA was of Norwegian origin, showing “clearly that the Norse Viking invasion (9th century) did not simply replace the indigenous Orkney population.”

The study showed that the UK was divided into 17 genetically distinct clusters of people – three of which are in Orkney."

New genetic study of UK shows 10,000 years of immigration and invasions

Britons’ DNA much more German than Norman, Roman or Viking

Kinda Scary, If You Ask Me

Hunting for Germs in an Ancient Graveyard

Researchers scour Italian cemetery for DNA of ancient strains of cholera

"An Italian church graveyard could preserve more than bodies: Researchers are searching the cemetery for the DNA of ancient strains of cholera.

Cholera is a deadly diarrheal disease caused by a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. In the 1850s, an epidemic swept the world. In 1854, during this epidemic, London doctor John Snow famously traced one outbreak to a contaminated water pump in the Soho district of the city. The case is still cited today as a triumph of epidemiology.

Cholera still kills today. According to the World Health Organization, there were more than 100,000 cases in 2013, and periodic epidemics send that number soaring. In 2011, for example, there were nearly 600,000 cholera cases worldwide, driven largely by an outbreak that occurred after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti."

And in other "science" news:

Evolution theory confirmed: Big is better, Stanford researchers say

The Greatest Murder Machine...

...in history:

"When one thinks of mass murder, Hitler comes to mind. If not Hitler, then Tojo, Stalin, or Mao. Credit is given to the 20th-century totalitarians as the worst species of tyranny to have ever arisen. However, the alarming truth is that Islam has killed more than any of these, and may surpass all of them combined in numbers and cruelty.

The enormity of the slaughters of the "religion of peace" are so far beyond comprehension that even honest historians overlook the scale. When one looks beyond our myopic focus, Islam is the greatest killing machine in the history of mankind, bar none."

You Know Me...

...I like history:

Kings and Queens of England - Episode 1: Normans to Magna Carta (History Documentary)


Kings and Queens of England - Episode 2: Middle Ages (History Documentary)

Kings and Queens of England - Episode 3: The Tudors (History Documentary)

Kings and Queens of England - Episode 4: The Stuarts (History Documentary)

Kings and Queens of England - Episode 5: The Hanoverians (History Documentary)

Kings and Queens of England - Episode 6: The Moderns (History Documentary)

Medieval Lives - Episode 7: The Outlaw (History Documentary)

Medieval Lives Episode 8/8: The King