Category History

Santa Fe Emergent Engineering 2021: Niall Ferguson

Freeman Dyson famously wrote that “A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.”

Intellectual Warehouse

While access to information is now relatively more widespread than in the past, the modern paywall can often prove to be as much of a hurdle to access as the price of manuscripts was in yesteryear.

Scribble, Scribble, Scribble

I think it was the George III who is reputed to have said to the great historian Edward Gibbon: “Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?” Apocryphal or not, the sentiment is the apologetic title…

I Saw The World End

I went up to the hillside and took a panorama view of the city and found the whole city on fire. - Kiyoshi Tanimoto,

Late Abroad Again

People thinking of their impact on others, maintaining the known health authority guidance and looking out for others as they look out for themselves.

Armada

The history of the Spanish Armada is a call to take care on our journey home. Although we may feel mauled by the day, we can salvage most of what we have.

Fête Nationale

I could not let July 14 pass without a nod to that most French of occasions: Bastille Day. A celebration which marks both the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 and the Fête de la…

The Struggle is Topic

There is no dearth of ideas, but each was pondered and rejected in turn as the research involved exceeds the allotted time for this daily challenge.

Peasants’ Revolt

Much the same could be said for the current protests. Eventually the people will leave the streets and things will largely go back to how they were.

Damnatio Memoriae

Memory is more than the activity of an individual. It is an object, in so much as a statue or inscription reminds passers by of a person or event.