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Donnie what you say is true about “uneventfulness”. However, I'd have to say that real tests of leadership are created when uncontrollable circumstances force presidents to react in some way which changes the course of American (and perhaps world) events. I wonder if Lincoln would fit in the "best" catagory. Successfully leading a nation facing civil war with an enemy army encamped a few miles southwest of your side's capital has to be one of the most threatening situations ever to face an American leader. People talk about President Bush's difficulties with domestic political opposition. I can only imagine what it was like to have domestic military opposition.
Well, happy Thanksgiving everyone! I wish I had some early Colonial songs to share here. I added a link in the Links section on songs through American history, but I'm not sure if any are songs the Pilgrims might have sung. Then again, if they were Pilgrims, would they have sung secular songs?Brings me to another point - were the Pilgrims that landed at Plymouth a sect of the Puritans who were being marginalized in by Anglican authority in England in the 1620s?
Red Cross hospital WW1? I must now meet the 20 word minimum word requiment, is it twenty yet? How about now?
Would a hospital have a cannon on the top of it?
I just instituted it today. It can be modified somewhat if people want but I thought it would ensure quality postings. Twenty words really isn't all that much. If the average sentence is about 12 words, then this requirement means people have to write about a sentence and a half worth of writing. If people think this is unfair I'm open to suggestions. However, I hope people would agree on the ultimate goal of this.** Ok I just saw your post on the "what is this?" thread. If you click on the "quote" button it will include that stuff in the count (see what I did in that thread). **
Sounds like a discussion of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst is in order. See this:
As Martin Lee and Norman Solomon noted in their 1990 book Unreliable Sources, Hearst "routinely invented sensational stories, faked interviews, ran phony pictures and distorted real events."
Barney OldfieldBarney Oldfield[/wiki]:
He was the first man to drive a car at 60 miles per hour (100 km/h). His accomplishments led to the expression "Who do you think you are? Barney Oldfield?"
So we know this sentiment has been around for hundreds of years. I did a little looking for the money-aspect of historical anti-Jewish sentiments and Wikipedia says that during the Middle Ages, Jews were forced into money-lending kinds of jobs due to Christian prohibitions on these lines of work. For example, usury (lending money at interest) was prohibited, so Jews entered this field because their religion did not restrict it. You can probably imagine the feelings people might have toward those who lended at interest in a day when there were few alternatives to taking such loans. If the feeling were to continue for hundreds of years, it would become deeply-rooted and could transform into other prejudices.
I agree, the Germans had been gearing up for a long time for war. When someone wants something bad enough they will take any excuses they can get.
It's a lesson we need to hear even to this day. The extreme actions and words of some groups over minor offensives seem to show us that even a spark can start a fire.
I don't know that the Native Americans had the same concept of expansionism that the Europeans had. They also lived under a different set of circumstances than the Europeans which affected their cultures and ways of thinking and living (see this thread where we discussed some examples).However - since this is a "What if?" thread - I'm going to have to say that they would have sought sparsely populated areas at which to set up trading posts. In America, tribes didn't seem to congregate in large "urban" areas, so in Europe they would be more likely to encamp near creeks or rivers with nearby woodlands and good hunting opportunities. Seems like those kinds of places would have been plentiful in Europe during the late Renaissance period, so avoiding large cities (London, Paris, Lisbon, etc.) would have been the plan.
Skiguy, I understand what you are saying. It's a good question. I recall reading in Candide by Voltaire where he gives a reference to a Jewish person being a swindler. Since the book is a satire I think Voltaire meant to play up stereotypes in those days, and this was written mid-18th Century. Perhaps there was not one major episode, but rather a general feeling. Think about how social groups are portrayed even today. Many people living in the South today are referred to as “hicks” or “rednecks”, though we can't point to a single “big redneck”. It's an interesting question you ask.
The thing is that at the end of the show, I believe they said that they know it's physically possible to create gold (I think from lead or some other source), but I think only in nuclear reactors and at energy-intensive conditions. I wonder if the “ancients” found a way to heat certain elements and in certain conditions to modify properties. I think there's probably a subset of knowledge that they knew about that we might not – if only because we have taken a different approach to what we have learned.
I think that coincides with what I had heard. The Jews became the money lenders in Europe and they must have been a clear minority in otherwise Christian nations. Whether they were fair in their financial dealings I do not know. But it does sound like they would have been easy targets as scapegoats.
