Category Archives: history

second-generation royal dukes

Prince Charles succeeds his father as 2d Duke of Edinburgh. There are now three living British princes with the title “2d Duke of…”; how often have there been even two?

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next time you hear someone blame Hitler on Darwin or atheism

Nazi racial ideology was religious, creationist and opposed to Darwinism — long and thoroughly documented

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do you speak my calendar?

In MacBSD, the command cal 9 1752 shows the shortening of that month in the British Empire. If I reinstall MacOS and choose Italian as its default language, will the shift show up instead in October 1582?

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Circe the siren?

Patrick Henry said in 1775: It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us … Continue reading

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sometimes there are no good possibilities

Years ago, in a Usenet thread about Lincoln’s unconstitutional reconquest of the South, someone asked me (I paraphrase): “As a descendant of slaves, why should I prefer to live in that alternate history where the CSA continued to keep slaves … Continue reading

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where was Waterloo?

I have twice raised the question: “In what country was the battle of Waterloo fought?” Waterloo is now in Belgium, but that state was created fifteen years later. Well, I finally bothered to go looking for an answer to the … Continue reading

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say, Colonel DuBois?

Heinlein’s Starship Troopers has a teacher say that all wars are caused by population pressure. Did Europe have a lull after 1348?

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