Posts tagged “history”
The Day the World Exploded
Wow. I (finally) just finished reading Krakatoa — The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, by Simon Winchester. Crazy stuff. I liked it. It’s a smidge on the textbook-side, but he’s an entertaining enough writer — and the topic is so incredible — that you don’t ever get bored during its 380-ish pages. The
Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin
On Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions and Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanacks
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
In destinies sad or merry, True men can but try.
Ancient Texts
I’ve seen this linked in several places recently, but it’s such a great story I wanted to link it here too. The villa probably belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, father-in-law of Julius Caesar and one of the rulers of the Roman republic. In AD79, a century after his death, it was buried under 30 metres
Longitude
I finished reading Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel this afternoon. It is a wonderful book.
the origins of my blog
<random notes> My blog’s first birthday was this month, but I’ve been maintaining web sites continuously since early in 1993. One of my original sites was simply a collection of Hemingway essays that I posted on line in lieu of writing a term paper. At one point I managed to publish almost every writing assignment
Great Pyramid
You’re right, Bryan, that is only SIX. The Seventh Wonder of the World, and the only one still remaining, is the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Seven Wonders of the World
Jason sends word that the Taj Mahal is not, in fact, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Wonders are: the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse at Alexandria, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis, and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. I sit corrected.