Category: History
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No sitting US president has ever visited the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only major urban centers on earth that bear testimony to the effects of nuclear warfare. President Jimmy Carter went to Hiroshima as an ex-president. Nancy Pelosi is the highest ranking US official to have paid a visit to Hiroshima while in office. President Obama will…
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A poignant war story, more than six decades old, describes the desperation and anxiety of Japanese Americans during World War II. Citizens of the US, they had to prove their loyalty to their country in those uncertain times of suspicion and hostility. Sometimes that involved acts of conspicuous courage and valor. Even 65 years later, Astro Tortolano thinks almost daily…
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October 2nd is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. Check out today's Google logo commemorating the anniversary.
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Certainly seems that way. More than half a century after Britannia ceased to rule the waves, the hot spots of sectarian conflicts it left behind continue to smolder and flare up around the world. Here is a list of some of the major political powder kegs in erstwhile British colonies. SRI LANKADuring their 150-year rule, the British favored Tamils and other minority ethnic groups over the…
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I present here a longish excerpt from an essay by guest author Narayan Acharya (who goes by the name "narayan" in his writings). On a visit to India Narayan learnt about Elihu Yale's connections to the south Indian city of Madras (currently Chennai). He later traced Yale's footsteps from England to India and back in a book by Yale professor, Hiram Bingham. (Narayan's complete…
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So is the Hockey Mama for Obama … this time as Sarah Palin. Thanks to Sandy and Richard Riccardi, makers of the videos, for sending me the link. Yes, I too think she will run in 2012. Like a moth attracted to the bright flame, I doubt she can resist the lure of the national limelight.
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Readers may remember this book review about the Crypto Jews of Spain and Portugal. Their stories were a complicated maze of religious faith, persecution and conversion under duress. Above all, their history was also about tenaciously and secretly holding on to a personal identity despite considerable external threats. Christian persecution of Jews is now mostly a matter of the past and the Crypto Jews, several generations…
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Are scientists on the path to deciphering the Indus Valley script? The story here and here. An ancient script that's defied generations of archaeologists has yielded some of its secrets to artificially intelligent computers. Computational analysis of symbols used 4,000 years ago by a long-lost Indus Valley civilization suggests they represent a spoken language. Some frustrated…
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Why become a pirate? Perhaps because other "honest" means of livelihood have been destroyed? Lawlessness is a menace whether perpetrated by pirates or "civilized" governments. So reveals Johann Hari in the Independent. (via 3 QD) Hari also reflects on the rebellious and brutal history of pirates, some of whom were mercenaries for legitimate European regimes. Who imagined that in 2009, the…
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