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Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 10:20 - Mar 30 by Steve_M
Now, however well intended this is the idea that anyone should only learn history, or any other subject, at school seems such a waste. I'm not sure I could come close to providing an answer as I'm firmly of the opinion that learning and the accumulation of knowledge, should be a life-long experience.
Just one example though, Jared Diamond's argument in Guns, Germs and Steel for the reason that Western civilisation became dominant globally. Agriculture was able to expand laterally through Eurasia as East-West climate variation was far less than the North-South variation in the Americas, that led to wider ranging people and thus seaborne trade and more technology whereas civilisation in the Americas was more geographically isolated. The spread of agriculture meant that Europeans had greater exposure to a range of diseases than their contempories. Once that combined with exploration and conquest then greater European technology - guns- and the diseases they brought with them decimated the American empires of the time.
It's a brilliant, thought-provoking book.
Indeed, in Britain we had the globally fairly unique combined advantages of gentle terrain, lots of fertile soil, a damp and mild climate, plentiful natural resources, settled and dense population, plus good communication links. Which gave us the agricultural surpluses and raw materials to support the Industrial Revolution.
Rome had something similar (North Africa was a great grain-producing region at the time), as did eastern China, ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. It's no coincidence that those were all the sites of major technological development and the seats of wealthy empires.
There was some of that developing in West Africa and Central/South America in the early-to-mid 2nd millenium AD, but it was interrupted by European expansion.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 22:44 - Mar 29 by bluelagos
Another one was all around the civil war in Liberia and the role of Prince Johnson.
This is barely believable, but google it and it's all as written.
During the civil war there were various factions in a bit of race for the capital Monrovia. Get there first, and you are in charge. Prince Johnson had one group and Charles Taylor another.
The first to Monrovia was Prince Johnson who captured Doe - the sitting president. He caught him and then videoed himself torturing Doe and mutilating him before killing him. The video was distributed as a kind of trophy "I am the man, I'm in charge". You can find it on youtube but I won't link it as it is as described.
Later on Charles Taylor's rebels arrive and PJ fleas Liberia to live in Nigeria. He alleges to find god and after the war ends and Liberia returns to peace, Prince Johnson returns. He then decides to stand for election and wins a senator seat in Nimba county. Another election on, and his party holds the balance of power and he is the king maker in the Liberian parliament.
So this guy goes from rebel leader who tortured to death a president to an elected senator who decides who is next president.
Try getting your head round that. I read up on this in the rather excellent "Mask of Anarchy". And I later discovered that my noisy neighbour (for a year) was Doe's sibling or daughter, can't remember which it was. Fair to say I didn't complain about the noise given how well connected these guys were.
If you want to get an idea of how messed up Liberia was, Charles Taylor ran for election in 1997 with the slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him"
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Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 11:48 - Mar 30 with 399 views
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 22:44 - Mar 29 by bluelagos
Another one was all around the civil war in Liberia and the role of Prince Johnson.
This is barely believable, but google it and it's all as written.
During the civil war there were various factions in a bit of race for the capital Monrovia. Get there first, and you are in charge. Prince Johnson had one group and Charles Taylor another.
The first to Monrovia was Prince Johnson who captured Doe - the sitting president. He caught him and then videoed himself torturing Doe and mutilating him before killing him. The video was distributed as a kind of trophy "I am the man, I'm in charge". You can find it on youtube but I won't link it as it is as described.
Later on Charles Taylor's rebels arrive and PJ fleas Liberia to live in Nigeria. He alleges to find god and after the war ends and Liberia returns to peace, Prince Johnson returns. He then decides to stand for election and wins a senator seat in Nimba county. Another election on, and his party holds the balance of power and he is the king maker in the Liberian parliament.
So this guy goes from rebel leader who tortured to death a president to an elected senator who decides who is next president.
Try getting your head round that. I read up on this in the rather excellent "Mask of Anarchy". And I later discovered that my noisy neighbour (for a year) was Doe's sibling or daughter, can't remember which it was. Fair to say I didn't complain about the noise given how well connected these guys were.
Doe himself had come to power after a coup.
Tim Butcher in Chasing the Devil is good on that conflict for an outsider.
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 00:39 - Mar 30 by factual_blue
I think the first and last British soldiers killed in WW1 were in East Africa.
Another obscure fact for the pub quiz: The German in overall command in East Africa, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, was the only German military leader in the Great War to be undefeated......
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 09:14 - Mar 30 by WeWereZombies
On that third one, if you ever walk down Lady Lane (at the town end of St. Matthew's Street leading towards The New Wolsey) on the western side of a modern brick wall you find a small shrine just above head height:
Following on from the 'Lammy' thread - 'secret' history. on 21:57 - Mar 29 by Keno
The coloured women at NASA in the 60s
Courtesy of an odd time travel series called Timeline and a film called Hidden Figures
Ahem, I think you mean the women of colour...
'In 1951, Jackson was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which in 1958 was succeeded by NASA. She started as a research mathematician who became known as one of the human computers at Langley...Jackson received an offer to work in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a 60,000 horsepower wind tunnel capable of blasting models with winds approaching twice the speed of sound...she received hands-on experience conducting experiments. Her supervisor...suggested she enter a training program that would allow Jackson to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer...the classes were held at then-segregated Hampton High School, Jackson needed special permission to join her white peers in the classroom...Jackson completed the courses, earned the promotion, and in 1958 became NASA’s first Black female engineer. For nearly two decades during her engineering career, she authored or co-authored research numerous reports, most focused on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes.'
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