History. --- .This section is about history. Topics include: ( ) History, current, future. ( ) Nostalgia. ( ) World. ( ) 1960's. ( ) What is history. ( ) Why study history. --- 1/24/2006
History. --- (1) A common reaction to history, especially by the young, is to not want to be burdened by the weight of the baggage of history. People want to live their own lives, not someone else's past life. Otherwise people begin to feel like a baggage clerk. History can feel oppressive at times. People do not want to be dictated to by history. People do not want to be slaves to history. Yet, it is also unethical to ignore history. (2) Another objection to the study of history is, "You're living in the past." One response to the objection is that humans live in time. The past is connected to the present and future. Another reply is that many people ignore the past. (3) The relationship of people to history is thus a balancing act between ignoring history and ignoring the present and future. --- 11/17/2005
History. --- (1) How much time should we devote to thinking about the past, present and future? One third of our time to each? (2) Of the time we devote to thinking about the past, what amount should we devote to thinking about our own personal past, and what amount should we devote to thinking about the history of the world? Half and half? --- 1/1/2001
History. --- (1) In some sense, the past is gone, the past is dead. The only way is forward, for only the future will be. The past, kiss it goodbye. Sayanora, its history. (2) Yet, in another sense, the past is inescapable. The past cannot be undone. The past is immutable, unchangeable, permanent, indelible. --- 4/23/2002
History. --- (1) Levels: universe, world, society, individual, etc. (2) Areas: 26 subjects. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- (1) Logical organization vs. (2) chronological organization vs. (3) importance organization. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- (1) Prelude: New York is always new but sometimes you get a glimpse of the old New York, that is, the historical New York. Historical New York is about ghosts. (2) History is about ghosts and the tendency of humans to have a feeling of there being ghosts. Memories haunt us. History is fascinating because the notion of ghosts involves the fascinating notions of "I notice someone was here before me and they might be coming back.", and "Those people are dead". Early humans had an interest in the notion of other humans having previously inhabited the immediate environment. Early humans also had an interest in the notion of death, how to spot it, and how to avoid it. --- 1/24/2002
History. --- (1) To lack a sense of history and future, to live in the ever-present now, is the geographic equivalent of living trapped in a small town in a big world. Travel time and space. (2) What is the alternative to a sense of history and future? The alternative is to be caught in the ever-present "now", and that is even worse than being a prisoner of time (past and future). --- 4/14/2002
History. --- (1) What do you choose to remember, acknowledge, allow, admit, recognize? What do you choose to forget, ignore, avoid, repress, deny? (2) How do you choose to remember it? As something good? As something bad? (3) The most commonly used sleazy tactic in the study of history is silence. --- 11/17/2005
History. --- A history of ideas. Each idea has a history. --- 4/24/2007
History. --- A history of persons. All human lives are of equal worth. Therefore, one human life is as important as another. Therefore, a history of every individual is needed. Each person is important, and thus each person's story, or history, is important. Every person should have an autobiography and several biographies. --- 4/24/2007
History. --- A history of things. Each thing has a history. --- 4/24/2007
History. --- A negative view of history. There is no such thing as time. There is no such thing as history. There is just a bunch of dead people. --- 3/26/2001
History. --- Age and Year. How does it feel to be age 42, or any other year for that matter? How does it feel to live in the year 2007, or any other year for that matter? How does it feel to be age 42 in the year 2007, or any other age in any other year for that matter? --- 5/5/2007
History. --- All ideas about the history of society and the history of humankind are rooted in personal, individual thoughts and emotions of memory. --- 1/24/2002
History. --- Anti-history views. Anti-history positions are held by the egoist, the solipsist, the nihilist, and the anti-intellectual. (1) The solipsist and nihilist says things like, "Nothing in the past matters. Nothing happening now matters. Nothing matters. Nobody knows anything. Its all meaningless." (2) All the egoist cares about is himself and his little world. "Only the self matters. Only the here and now matters." (3) The anti-intellectual says, "There is no world of ideas." (4) Egoism, solipsism, nihilism and anti-intellectualism are all wrong views. --- 6/22/2006
History. --- Anti-history views. To say you are not interested in history is to say you are not interested in the accumulated knowledge of humankind. It is a form of anti-intellectualism. --- 6/23/2006
History. --- Applications of historical knowledge. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Arguments for and against history. PART ONE. Anti-history arguments: (1) Past does not determine the future. (2) World is changing so fast that history is not a guide. PART TWO. Pro history arguments: (1) Only way we know about the world is through history and past experiences. All our knowledge is historical. (2) You cannot predict the future so why bother studying the future, therefore study the past. --- 12/2/2006
History. --- Art and science of history. (1) History as art. History is a narrative, and narrative is art. We choose what to put in and leave out. (2) History as science. If history is a science, and if science is value free, then history is value free. But we don't consider history to be value free. We judge historical events good and bad. We judge historical persons and actions right or wrong. So history is not really pure science. --- 1/20/2005
History. --- Art and science of history. History as an art. History, much like other artistic endeavors, requires imagination and empathy. History is part science and part art. We imagine how people in the past lived. We imagine what they experienced, thought and felt. We empathize with them. To imagine completely means to feel what they felt. To imagine completely how those in the past lived means to relive what they experienced and to feel what they felt, and to think what they thought, just like we do in works of art. --- 1/2/2005
History. --- Art of history. History as a novel or movie. The argument is that the only thing that can transport you back in time is a novel or movie. You must be surrounded or immersed in a world of historical detail. How accurately this can be done is the big question. --- 10/25/2000
History. --- Art, philosophy and science of history. Consider the way an artist like Proust saw the past. Consider the way a philosopher of history sees the past. Consider the way a scientist like an archaeologist sees the past. It is useful to view history through the modalities of art, philosophy and science. --- 4/30/2005
History. --- Arts and science of history. Is history an art or science? We should use all the tools of science to get the facts of history. But then, to assemble the facts of history into a cohesive whole (or story) requires imagination and art. --- 3/4/2001
History. --- Bad attitudes of historical oppression. "That's the way it was, so that is the way it has to be." "That's the way we have always done it." Conservatives are ossified. --- 11/17/2005
History. --- Both individuals and empires rise, last, and fall based on the following. (1) Technology. (2) Great leaders: smart and driven. (3) Knowledge. (4) Attitude/philosophy advantage. (5) Philosophy of the masses, and motivations of the masses. (6) Political: justice. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Causation of events. Its one thing to determine that an event occurred in the past. Its quite another thing to determine the causes and effects of an event. Events often have multiple causes and multiple effects. And each of those causes have multiple causes, and each of those effects have multiple effects. And the causes all interact with each other in a web like fashion. And the effects all interact with each other in a web like fashion. So it is almost impossible to determine exact cause and effects. (2) Furthermore, what exactly is an historical event? Any event can be broken down into smaller sub-events, each of which can be called an event in itself. Likewise, events can be grouped into larger super-events, which can be called an event in itself. (3) Thus, if it is not clear what is an historical event, and if it is not clear what are the causes and effects of historical events, then how is history to proceed? --- 9/5/2005
History. --- Change: causes and effects (see philosophy: time, change). --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Change. (1) Major rapid, large changes. (2) Gradual accretion of small changes. (3) Its easier to notice large, rapid changes, but the accretion of slow, small changes can be greater. --- 3/16/2006
History. --- Civil War buffs today are like the Revolutionary War buffs in the mid 1800's. And so on, back in time. Ridiculous. --- 2/14/1999
History. --- Coming to terms with the world means, in part, coming to terms with the history of the world. History is everyone's baggage. --- 9/8/2005
History. --- Complete historical truth would be a replay of reality. All historical accounts that fall short of this are simplifications. --- 4/14/2002
History. --- Computers make it easier for "Do-it-yourself history". Write history as you live it. Everyone gets an autobiography. Everyone gets to say their view. Everything gets recorded. --- 3/15/2000
History. --- Concepts in history: bias, context, interpretation, etc. (1) Bias. Bias is always present. We always look from our own point of view. Can we reduce bias? Can we look from anothers point of view? (2) Context. Events cannot be isolated from the context in which they occur. We must look at the context, be it psychological, sociological, etc. (3) Interpretation. Interpretation always takes place. Interpretation is unavoidable. We must determine (A) The importance of the event. Is it very important or of little importance? (B) Was the thing a success or a failure? Was it good or bad? (C) What was the lesson to be learned? (D) Attribution of causes and effects. (4) Epistemology of history. Standards of physical proof. Standards of logical reasoning in historiography. (5) When you write a history of a person, you are best off using psychoanalysis. When you write the history of a culture you are best off using sociological analysis. Other areas to look at: economics and business, science and technology, politics and law. What else is there? --- 9/5/1998
History. --- Constantly review. Constantly reinterpret better and more accurately. As we develop as individuals and as a society we gain more understanding of the past. Our view of the past changes as we evolve. --- 11/15/2003
History. --- Cool phenomena long gone. Sights, sounds, scents, tastes, textures. There are lifestyles, forms of life, and worlds long gone. They were not all completely bad. Thus, there are many good things lost. Is it the job of the artist or the historian to save these things? --- 7/16/1999
History. --- Criticism of the "great man" theory of history. Proponents of a "great man" theory of history are likely to embrace the unethical form of government known as dictatorship. --- 1/1/2006
History. --- Critique of the "lessons" of history. (1) There is no guarantee that the "lessons" of the past will apply to future situations. The future may not be exactly like the past. Thus, a method that worked well in a past situation may be unworkable in a future situation. (2) Also, there are innumerable "lessons" from the past, with no sure way of knowing which past "lesson" to apply to which future situation. For example, for any future situation, one person may think one past event applies, while another person may think another past event applies. (3) Also, for any given past event, various people draw various "lessons" about that event. Different people draw different conclusions about an event. --- 9/7/2005
History. --- Cultural forces: media, hollywood, academia, politics, corporations, and masses. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Current events (major, minor) and current issues (big, small). --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Development of notions of history are based on the following: (1) Development of memory (unconscious and conscious) in humans. (2) Development of notions of the past in humans. (3) Development of notions of oral history in humans. (4) Development of notions of written history in humans. (5) Development of notions of multimedia history (sound, images, words, etc.) in humans. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- Digging up history vs. recording it as it happens. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Eco-history. Environment has a major effect on society and individuals. There is a natural environment of earth, plants and animals. There is a social environment of people. There is a man made environment consisting of man made objects like buildings. There is an environment of ideas. We live in an ecosystem. The study of history should acknowledge the environment. --- 4/30/2005
History. --- Eco-history. History as written by humans is too human centered. Ecological history, bio history, environmental history is as important to humans as any history of humans. --- 4/27/2005
History. --- Elements of history. (1) The facts. Based on proof beyond reasonable doubt? (2) Interpretation of the facts. Attribution of causes and effects. (3) Normative judgments. Was it a good or bad thing that happened. Or saying that it would have been better if this had not happened. (4) Hypotheticals. What would have (could have, or should have) happened if things were different. --- 10/28/2003
History. --- Environment's effect on man vs. man's effect on environment. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Ethics and history. (1) Many historians write a history of progress, a history of good ideas. The problem is that, in addition to good ideas, humans also come up with bad ideas, and so a complete history would include the bad ideas as well as good ideas. (2) When we evaluate the events of history as good or bad, we are making normative judgments, which is an issue of ethics. Applying ethical evaluations to history is another way how history goes beyond the narrow definition of science. History is not only a science, that is, history is not science-alone, when it makes ethical evaluations of the events of history. --- 2/24/2007
History. --- Ethics and history. History from a standpoint of ethical evaluation. All historical events have an ethical dimension. (1) Top 100 bad things in human history. Natural disasters. Wars. Disease. Famine. Number of people killed. Amount of human misery caused. Is anything 100% natural disaster if humans could have forecasted and prepared for it? (2) Top 100 good things in human history. Inventions. Scientific discoveries. Philosophical ideas. How many lives saved? How many lives improved? How much happiness created? It may not create happiness in the mind of the everyone because some things that improve life are taken for granted by some people. (3) If we extend this evaluation to non-humans then how to judge natural extinction, which is bad for the individuals of the species becoming extinct. --- 9/28/2005
History. --- Ethics and history. Three things to study in history: the good, the bad, and the average. PART ONE. Study the good things in history. What is important in history is progress. Progress means improvement. Progress is caused by good new ideas put into action. PART TWO. Study the very bad things in history in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes. What is important in the study of history is learning what mistakes to avoid. Thus, study examples of the worst mistakes and how to prevent them. PART THREE. Study the average things in history. What is important in the study of history is studying the average. Study how most people lived. Study the conditions under which most people, or the average person, lived. Study which people lived under conditions that can be called average. "Average person" and "average conditions" can be difficult terms to define. PART FOUR. A complete historian would study all three: the good, the bad, and the average. Making evaluations about which historical events are good, bad, and average, is an endeavor in ethics. Thus, one problem is when a historian refuses to give any thought to ethics, due to mistakenly thinking that history is a science only. --- 2/18/2007
History. --- Everyone does history. (1) Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has lived a series of events. Everyone has a history. (2) Everyone tells their own story. Their own side of the story. Their own version of what they think happened. Their own biases and self interests. Everyone writes a history. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- Everyone has a story of their past. Everyone has a vision for their future. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- Everything, everywhere. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- External criticism: is this thing what we think it is? Internal criticism: what does it actually mean? --- 12/30/1992
History. --- For some people the past is dim, hazy and far-off. For other people the past is clear and present. Part of it is due to the strength of your memory. Part of it is due to your attitude toward the past. --- 4/23/2002
History. --- Format of "best of, worst of, and slice of life". (1) Best of 1950's: do wop. Worst of 1950's: McCarthy. Slice of life from 50's: Leave it to Beaver. (2) Best of 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's. Worst of 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's. Slice of life of 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's. --- 1/30/2002
History. --- Historical conundrum. (1) History, especially your own view of your own personal history, should not be merely an exercise in non-constructive, "coulda, woulda, shoulda" thinking. History should not be an exercise in regret. (2) And yet, it is also counterproductive to ignore one's history entirely. That is an exercise in repression, denial and avoidance. (3) So, developing a constructive attitude about one's history is an important task from a psychotherapeutic standpoint. And for society to develop a constructive attitude toward society's history is an important task from a social standpoint. --- 4/30/2005
History. --- Historical development of (1) Mistakes. (2) Explanations of mistakes. (3) Improvements (even if still wrong). (4) Right answers. (5) Explaining why right answer is right. (6) Total clarity or total truth (all the answers). (7) A new idea. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Historical importance (x was an advancement in its time) vs. present practical importance (x is still good today). --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Historical knowledge. (1) What things do we know for sure? Historical facts. (2) What things do we make educated guesses about? (3) What things do we have no clue about yet? --- 10/12/2006
History. --- Historical sciences: cosmology, geochronology, anthropology, archaeology, scholarship. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Historical successes and failures: what works and doesn't. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- History as a catalog of good ideas and bad ideas, in theory and in practice. --- 5/16/2007
History. --- History as a record of human experiments. --- 10/1/1999
History. --- History as baggage. We as individuals have individual baggage. And each of us, as humans, have the baggage of humanity weighing us down. We each carry two sets of baggage. That's a lot of luggage. --- 2/4/2002
History. --- History as narrative. (1) Funny stories. Happy stories. (2) Sad stories. Disturbing stories. (2) Stories of the curious and odd. --- 11/10/2006
History. --- History as narrative. (1) Stories of chance. Lucky breaks. Bad luck. Unavoidable. Natural events, not human events. (2) Stories of human actions, which we judge right or wrong. --- 11/10/2006
History. --- History as narrative. (1) Stories of problems that got the better of us. Loss. Tragedy. (2) Stories of problems overcome. Hero. Proud. Wins. --- 11/10/2006
History. --- History is also about loss and thus grief. --- 1/24/2002
History. --- History is endlessly debated. The purported facts are debated. The ethical ramifications are debated. Crackpot views are sorted from accepted views. --- 5/16/2007
History. --- History is not always a science. (1) If a person writes a journal and publishes it, then the interpretation of that journal by readers is not a science. (2) If a person gives an interview, then the interpretation of the person's answers to the interview questions is not a science. (3) Thus, history is an interpretive project. --- 7/31/2006
History. --- History of goals, and efforts, and results, and changing views of my goals. (1) History of my goals for a place to live. (2) History of my goals for social life. Chick goals. Friend goals. (3) History of my job goals. (4) History of my goals for the Notes. (5) History of my leisure goals. (6) History of a person's goals reveals a person's changing views of self, life and world. Reveals a person's values, priorities and allegiances. Shows what they think is important. Shows what they think is possible to achieve. Reveals a person's ethics system. --- 12/11/2005
History. --- History of ideas of (1) Masses. (2) Power holders. (3) Mainstream academia. (4) Intellectual avante garde. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- History of study of history. (1) Who discovered what fact when? Major important new discoveries vs. minor repeated. (2) Who came up with what theory when? Major vs. minor. (3) Who developed what technique when? Major vs. minor. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- History of the theory and practice of x. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- History should be called "temporal studies" and should include the present and future. Similarly, geography should be called "spatial studies" and should include the ocean and the atmosphere. --- 9/24/2002
History. --- History, current, future. Difference between past and future. (1) The past: we know what happened and we cannot change it. (2) The future: we don't know what will happen and yet we can and do change the future by the actions we take today. (3) That is quite a difference. --- 10/25/2004
History. --- History, current, future. History, current and future all meld together. Questions occur like: What could we have done? What should we have done? What can we do? What should we do? --- 5/25/2004
History. --- History, current, future. We can discuss history, current and future. What do we mean by current? (1) Current can mean anything that occurs within the near past (day, week, month or year). (2) Current can also mean anything that occurs within either the near past or the near future (day, week, month or year). --- 6/7/2004
History. --- Ideas and their history. The history of ideas. Principles of a history of ideas. (1) Ideas have a history. (2) It is important to understand the history of ideas because the history of an idea can shed light on the current and future uses of said idea. (3) The history of ideas is as important as the history of people and events. (4) Ideas and their application vary (change, mutate) slightly through time and place. Yet, on the other hand, something about the idea must remain the same for the idea to remain the same idea. (5) Ideas can be thought of as memes so history of ideas can also be called memetic history. --- 12/12/2004
History. --- Importance. Determining importance of events due to their (1) Effects: immediate and long term. (2) Degree of change: good and bad. (3) Number of people affected. (4) Examples of events: change in government; discovery or invention; work of art. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- In each decade there is a residue or aftertaste of the preceding decade. For example, the nineties had an aftertaste of the eighties; the eighties had an aftertaste of the seventies; and the seventies had an aftertaste of the sixties. It is so because we often attempt to make sense of the present in terms of the recent past. --- 8/6/2001
History. --- Individual personal history vs. societal global history. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- Its all a foggy blur. --- 3/9/2001
History. --- Just as the individual does not make sense of things as they are happening but rather in retrospect, so too society makes sense of things through what we call the method of history. And we keep on re-making sense of things through retrospect (history). Our re-making sense of the past never stops. It is a healthy thing to do so. --- 3/5/2002
History. --- Language and history. Historians describe events using words like "economic", "political", etc. But these words are only labels. And these words are loaded. And these words are theory laden in and of themselves. --- 9/5/2005
History. --- Learning the facts vs. learning the lessons. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Levels. (1) Cosmological: world. (2) Sociological: men. (3) Psychological: individuals. (4) Ideological: ideas. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Levels. (1) Universe, earth, life, man, civilizations and societies, continents, nation, state, local, person, family. (2) Universe, earth, world, life, man, civilization. (3) Nation (USA), region (northeast, new york), me. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Like the song, "Walking Through the Park and Reminiscing". --- 4/14/2002
History. --- Lists of trivial pop culture references. For some people, life consists of a conglomeration of assorted, trivial, pop culture references. Fads. Bands. Dances. Television shows. Celebrities. Gossip. Sports. Etcetera. --- 3/25/2006
History. --- Make a note of when something new happens to you. For example, a new attitude, a new action or a new experience. Analyze the new. Because the "same old, same old" usually involves little risk, few mistakes, little learning and little growth. With the "same old" we usually rely on auto-pilot and scripts. We usually make our mistakes with the new. Yet we grow from the new. So seek out the new. Give the new some thought. And keep it fresh. --- 9/22/2000
History. --- Me. Reading my early notes and remembering back, what struck me was the following: How fu*ked up they (my detractors) were in their views. How fu*ked up they thought I was. How wrong they were. How easily they could have done much damage to me. How smart it was to get away. How easy it is to forget it all, and go back. How bad that would be. --- 08/17/1997
History. --- Memory and history. We are different people as we go through life. History is a gathering and meeting of our different selves. --- 6/29/2001
History. --- New views about old events. This is a key principle in psychotherapy. This is also a key principle in the study of history. --- 5/27/2006
History. --- Nostalgia has grief at its core. When you are nostalgic you mourn, miss and long for days gone by. What could possibly cause nostalgia? A low-level, chronic depression can cause persistent grief, which can lead to nostalgia. Also, low-level, chronic anxiety can cause a fear of the future that causes one to yearn for the safety of the past. Thus, Depression + Anxiety = Nostalgia. --- 6/25/2001
History. --- Nostalgia is about "missing" a thing, which is another way of saying "emotional longing". Some people have an overactive part of the brain that makes the chemicals that produce the emotions of "missing and longing". These people become historians. --- 6/8/2001
History. --- Nostalgia is an attempt to salvage meaning from one's past. When one is starved for meaning one begins to mine the past for meaning. --- 3/4/2005
History. --- Nostalgia lovers vs. future studies. (1) The past. (A) The past and nostalgia is safe, secure and controlled. (B) The past is set and known. The past is not going to change. We know who won and lost. There is a tendency to dwell on past victories and rest on laurels. There is also a tendency to feel that what is done is done, and that wrongs cannot be righted. (C) The concept of historical knowledge. How can we "know" about the past? Is not there some component of the past that is irrevocably lost? (2) The future. (A) The future is about uncertainty and risk. Possible danger is scary. That is why people avoid it. (B) The future is a big question mark. People tend to ignore the future. (C) The concept of future knowledge. How can we "know" about the future? We cannot. How can we study the future? Some people say we cannot. --- 6/30/2000
History. --- Nostalgia, History and Psychoanalysis. (1) Psychoanalysis is about "revisiting the past" and drawing some new, useful conclusions. (2) History, as an academic subject, is also about "revisiting the past" and drawing some new, useful conclusions. (3) However, nostalgia is about "living in the past" with no desire to draw any new, useful conclusions. Nostalgia fans often pick an era, then deem that era "the good old days", and then move there permanently. Nostalgia fans dwell in the past. Nostalgia fans are stuck in the past. Nostalgia fans relive the past but never learn and never change. --- 6/25/2001
History. --- Nostalgia. Contra nostalgia. Four reasons people like nostalgia. (1) Attraction to the past because the past is safe. The past is safe because it is essentially done or finished. It is like a movie we know the ending of. (2) Attraction to the past as pure, good, or uncorrupted. (A) It may have been you that was pure, good, and uncorrupted when you were a child. (B) You may think the past was pure, good, and uncorrupted, but if you lived way back then you could see that it was not. (3) Attraction to the past because it was simple. But simple means less freedom. Simple also means more stupid. (4) Attraction to the past because it was more "natural". Once we get the ecology movement going, we will be even more natural. --- 09/26/1997
History. --- Nostalgia. Contra nostalgia. Nostalgia and trivia are for those who love the past and who love the unimportant. They do so because both are safe. There is no risk involved. Both require no thought. The end result is known in nostalgia. No major issues need be confronted in trivia. On the positive side, they reflect an interest in history and pop culture. --- 06/01/1993
History. --- Nostalgia. In the 1970's they had a television show called "Happy Days" that was about the 1950's. In the year 2000 they had a television show called "That 70's Show" that was about the 1970's. I say this to the current generation: in twenty years you will be a television show. --- 8/8/2001
History. --- Nostalgia. Resignation and history. The past is done, the past is dead. To live in the past is to live as a dead person. Sometimes history attracts people who want to give up on life. Sometimes history attracts people who have a pathological degree of a sense of resignation. This is like nostalgia gone too far. --- 7/1/2000
History. --- Nostalgia. Why do I like the song Stardust so much? It is not nostalgia and reminiscence. It is actually resignation or giving up. It is wanting to be able to look back in peace. To be at rest looking back on a journey well done, or just plain done. But there is no rest for the weary. You can sleep when you are dead. This song preys on my desire to give up. --- 12/30/1996
History. --- Objective: what actually happened. Subjective: what we think or know happened, and don't. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- One can argue that there is two types of history, the history of the natural world and the history of humans. The natural world follows natural laws. Humans, being sentient beings, do not always follow natural laws. These two divisions of history correspond to the divisions in science between the natural sciences and the social sciences. Some people in history may call for "consilience" between these two types of history, much like E.O. Wilson called for conscilience in the sciences. (2) One argument for conscilience in history is the fact that humans are animals and part of nature. Another argument for conscilience in history is the fact that species other than humans possess some degree of consciousness and intelligence. --- 9/5/2005
History. --- Past and future. (1)(A) The safety of the past. (B) The certainty of the past. (2)(A) The uncertainty of the future. (B) The risk of the future. --- 11/29/2003
History. --- Past and future. Why does the future seem unfathomably new and exciting? Why does the past seem hopelessly outdated? That these two phenomena continue year after year creates something of a paradox. After all, the past was once the future. Perhaps it is the case that either the future is not quite so new and exciting, or else the past is not quite so dull and outmoded. --- 1/7/2007
History. --- Past and present. (1) When do current events become history? Do current events become history immediately? Do current events become history after five or ten years? Does a current event become history when it ceases to influence present day events? Should I keep notes about the world situation in the Politics section or the History section? (2) Does the past ever cease to influence the present? Some people argue that the past never ceases to influence or affect the present. Other people argue that the present is always a new start, a clean slate, and even if we know about history we are still able to act as we choose. --- 5/17/2007
History. --- Philosophy of history. (1) Philosophy of flow of history vs. (2) Philosophy of study of history. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Politics and history. Human history is more prone to be politicized than natural history. For any event in human history, the right wing historians spin it one way and the left wing historians spin it the other way. In this case, what is historical interpretation other than political spin? Historians may seek to describe and explain events in a scientific way, but the politics of history keep history from being pure science. --- 9/5/2005
History. --- Politics and history. Same set of facts, two opposite interpretations. That's what you get when you read left wing history and right wing history, every historian falling somewhere along the political spectrum. Its the politicization of history. Is there such a thing as history free of politics? --- 7/31/2005
History. --- Politics and history. The powerful often try to rewrite history in their favor, regardless of the truth. They act as censors or silencers of the less powerful. They act as propagandists for their own views. They use history as a tool to oppress the less powerful. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- Popular history, arguments for. No person is more important than another person. Therefore, the history of the many poor people is as important as the history of a few, high status persons. Unfortunately, many history books have been written with a focus on only a few, high status persons. Unfortunately, the history books have often ignored the masses of poor people. Write history books that recognize the many poor people. --- 7/2/2006
History. --- Presenting arguments for and against the actions of a person. --- 5/28/2006
History. --- Problem analysis. (1) What were the problems they were faced with? (2) Did they try new or old solutions? (3) Did it work or not, and how well? --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Problem. Denial or repression of history: costs and benefits of. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Problems. The study of history at its worst becomes traditionalism, conservatism, dogmatism. When the past determines the future the culture becomes ossified and unchanging. --- 1/4/2006
History. --- Progressive history. The history of the Progressive movement. The global history of progressives through the millenia. The history of progress is the history of forward-thinking progressives who battled against backward-thinking conservatives. The abolition of slavery. The right to vote for women. Public education for children. Desegregation and the civil rights movement of the 1950's. These were big struggles. The struggle for truth and justice. The struggle continues. If you want to talk about history, if you want to talk about human history, then talk about the struggle for truth and justice against the forces of oppression and exploitation. Talk about people struggling to solve problems and the obstacles that other people put in the way. --- 5/13/2007
History. --- Progressivism and history. Tell the people's history. For example, Howard Zinn's book, "People's History of the United States". A history of the global labor movement. The history of the civil rights movement. The history of the women's rights movement. The struggle for public education. The struggle for universal health care. Know the struggle of Progressives around the globe and throughout time. --- 5/5/2007
History. --- Put neither too much emphasis, nor too little emphasis on history. One might err to either side. --- 6/23/2006
History. --- Recorded history vs. prehistoric history. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Related subjects: historical sciences, geography, astronomy, earth science, biology (evolution), anthropology (physical and cultural). --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Revisionist history methods. (1) Denying facts. (2) New interpretations of facts. (3) Hoaxes and fabrications. Lies. --- 10/23/2003
History. --- Science and history. History as a science? (1) Historians cannot "observe" past events in the same way that scientists observe present events. (2) Historians cannot "experiment" on the past in the same way that scientists experiment in the present. (3) These are only some of the problems when one tries to construe history as science. --- 9/5/2005
History. --- Short time span vs. long time span views of history and future. Narrow vs. wide geographic views of history and the future. Narrow vs. wide subject matter views of history and the future. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- Simple and complex (how much you leave out) written history. True and false written history. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Six scope approaches. Subject, Area, Time (historical): (1) S, T, A. (2) S, A, T. (3) A, T, S. (4) A, S, T. (5) T, S, A. (6) T, A, S. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Sociology and history. If individual people construct themselves in relation to other people who they encounter, then individual people are irreducibly social, and thus history is irreducibly social. History is not merely the sum of individuals. --- 4/30/2005
History. --- Systems approach to history. History as a group of subsystems. --- 4/30/2005
History. --- Systems theory and history. Using systems theory to understand history. History is best understood using systems theory. --- 5/12/2005
History. --- Take a photo of yourself every year, for a total of about 75 photos over the course of your life. Then fast forward through the photos to give the appearance of aging. --- 9/10/2005
History. --- The historical record. When people do things "for the record" it seems somehow more official, more indelible. As humans become more technological, more and more things become "for the record". How will people feel when their every action is "for the record". Especially if its is a public record that anyone can view. Less anonymity. Less privacy. Everyone a Hollywood star. Everyone facing the scrutiny that politicians face. --- 11/17/2005
History. --- The history of man up till now has been largely a history of wasted lives. (1) People did not have the tools to make the most of themselves. (Technology) (2) People did not have the freedom, equality or time to make the most of themselves. (Political freedom and equality. Social freedom and equality. Economic freedom and equality.) (3) If they did have the above, people did not have the motivation to make the most of themselves, and to develop their full potential and abilities. (Psychology). (4) This is changing slowly but surely. The future means less wasted lives. --- 6/21/2000
History. --- The past does not always predict the future. Yet some people are locked into this kind of thinking. Thinking that the past determines the future goes beyond mere neurotic fatalism. It can produce "learned helplessness" which is an even more neurotic condition. Individuals who are excessively oriented toward the past, or who are too historically minded, sometimes suffer from either fatalism or learned helplessness. --- 10/31/2001
History. --- The past may not be new, but the past is new if its new to you. Anything is new if you didn't know it already. Thus, true historians deal with the new. At the opposite extreme, nostalgia trippers want to hear old stories retold. --- 4/4/2001
History. --- The present, the "now", is actually the recent past and the recent future. --- 3/29/2002
History. --- The problem with conservatives and antique collectors and graphic designers who are enamored with the 1950's is that they mistakenly think that things from times past have more meaning and value just because the are old. They think this only because they either refuse to or cannot see the meaning and value of their own time and place. --- 10/28/2001
History. --- The twisted view of history and life that we are teaching our young is that history remembers an individual based on how many wars they start and how many peoples they subjugate, oppress and exploit. That is the drawback of a power-centric, war-centric approach to history. The war-centric approach to history is promulgated by those intent on raising little tyrants and warlords. And by those who don't recognize it and can't figure out a better way. --- 1/26/2004
History. --- Theories of causes. (1) Divine: god causes history (bogus view). (2) Nature: laws of nature form history. People follow instincts. (3) Society: actions of groups form history. (4) Great individuals: big men cause history. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Theories of history. (1) Evolution: progress is being made. (2) Devolution: we are going down hill. (3) Cyclical: history moves in cycles. (4) Stasis: nothing changes, everything remains the same. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- There are two types of attitudes toward the past, healthy and unhealthy. (1) A healthy attitude toward the past is much like the technique used in psychotherapy, where one revisits the past and sorts out the good and bad in order to achieve catharsis, justice and an integrated personality. (2) An unhealthy attitude toward the past can be of two types: (A) Totally unable to look at the past. That is, historically repressed. Two types: reluctant to think of your own past, or reluctant to think of the history of the world. (B) Living in the past. Obsessed with the past. Unable to think of anything but the past. That is, repressed in terms of the current situation and the future. These people are using the past as a crutch. To only think of "what was" is to be unable to confront "what is" and "what will be". There are two types of obsession with the past: obsession with one's own past, and obsession with the history of the world. --- 1/1/2001
History. --- They should write a biography of a fictitious person that is actually a compilation of a bunch of true stories from many different real people welded together. --- 9/12/1999
History. --- Those who ignore History are doomed to repeat it next semester. --- 4/16/2006
History. --- Three big questions. (1) What happened. (2) How do we know? (3) Was it a right or wrong action by humans? Was it a natural event that was good or bad for humans? --- 11/10/2006
History. --- Three different concepts. (1) Things we thought were important in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's, etc. (2) Things we thought were cool in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's, etc. (3) Things that got a lot of press in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's, etc. (4) "Cool" meaning, variously, fun, interesting, admirable. "We" meaning, variously, me, anyone, average person. --- 3/25/2006
History. --- Three views of history. (1) Arguments that things are getting better. Medicine. Education. Democracy. No slavery. Women's rights. (2) Arguments that things are getting worse. Two world wars. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot. (3) Arguments that things are staying the same. --- 7/1/2006
History. --- Three views of history. (1) History of ideas. History as the books humans produce. History as knowledge or information. The history of humans is really about the history of the books that humans write. More specifically, history is about the history of ideas. And the history of the intelligentsia. The "Great Books" method is more a method of history than it is a method of education. (2) History as the masses. The history of humans is really about what most people are experiencing most of the time. History is about the masses and pop culture. (3) The Earth. The history of the Earth is what is important. The history of the Earth is not primarily about the history of humans. Humans are just one species on Earth. Humans are wrecking and ruining the earth by polluting the earth and destroying natural habitat. --- 8/15/2005
History. --- Time divisions. (1) Organic: natural cycles. (2) Manmade: calendar, watch, millennium. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Two concepts. (1) The future of the past: The as yet undiscovered historical artifacts and theories about the past that will be discovered as we continue to study the past. (2) The past of the future: The current ideas, actions and objects that we live with today that will shape the future. --- 12/8/2003
History. --- Two types of history. (1) Natural history. Natural events and their causes. (2) Human history. Human actions and the reasons people do them. --- 10/23/2003
History. --- Two views of history. (1) History as the history of the "great": Major wars. Great cities. Powerful rulers. Grand scale events. (2) History as the history of the masses: Daily activities. Average people. Popular culture. --- 7/18/2002
History. --- Two views of history. (1) History is all important because the past determines the future. Versus. (2) History is irrelevant because the future will be very different from the past. --- 6/12/2005
History. --- Two views of history. (1) History is change. Change is loss. Loss of the present. Loss is grief. Vs. (2) History is about change. Change is about growth and progress. Progress is good. --- 9/28/2003
History. --- Types of history. (1) History of ideas. There is a world of ideas. Each ideas has a history. Each idea has a life cycle. How many people hold the idea to be true or false, important or unimportant? (2) History of a person. Autobiography and biography. (3) History of a group of persons. Social history. Cultural history. Relationship history. (4) History of a place. (5) History of a time span. (6) History of an event. (7) History of an object. (8) History of a subject. --- 2/4/2005
History. --- Types of history. (1) History of philosophy. History of epistemology, ethics and metaphysics. (2) History of sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, earth science, ecology. (3) History of the arts, literature, music, visual arts, movies. (4) History of politics and law. (5) History of economics and business. (6) History of work and leisure. (7) History of the environment. --- 9/28/2005
History. --- Types of history. (1) Macro-history. Global, long term. (2) Micro-history. Local, short term. --- 8/4/2006
History. --- Types of history. (1) Micro-history. Psycho-history (Autobiography. Biography.). Small group history. (2) Macro-history. Social history. Political history. Economic history. Technological history. --- 5/17/2004
History. --- Types of history. History of problems. A history of problems and solutions traces the development of negative conditions and attempt to alleviate them. --- 2/1/2005
History. --- Underestimation and overestimation of significance or importance. (1) People constantly underestimate or overestimate their own selves and the events in their lives. And when people write history, there is also a constant underestimation and overestimation of people and events. For example, consider the following two monologues regarding breakfast. These two monologues could be internal monologues or trains of thought. Or these two monologues could be passages in an autobiography or a biography. Firstly, "What's for breakfast? Inevitably, cornflakes again. Nothing ever changes. Locked in boring tedium. What could be more insignificant that this bowl of soggy cornflakes. My life is like this bowl of cornflakes" Secondly, "What's for breakfast? Yes, I think I will have cornflakes today again. What could be more a befitting way to start this splendidly momentous day than a bowl of delicious cornflakes. There is a perfect moment when the cornflakes are neither too crunchy, nor too soggy, and I live for that moment. Everything I do works in a big way." (2) In the first monologue, the speaker errs toward underestimation. In the second monologue, the speaker errs toward overestimation. Underestimation and overestimation can cause problems, both in life and in the writing of history. Good living involves balanced judgments, and good history writing also involves balanced judgments. --- 6/18/2006
History. --- Units of history. At what level should one do history? (1) The event or action. Natural events. Human actions. (2) The idea. (3) The work. The book, the artwork, etc. (4) The person. (5) The group. --- 4/1/2005
History. --- US Slavery. The Holocaust in Germany. The Japanese invasion of China. (1) Publicly acknowledge the wrong. (2) Apologize. (3) Give monetary reparations to survivors and descendants of the victims. --- 11/12/2005
History. --- Various attitudes that people have about the past and history. PART ONE. Anti-history views. (1) Some people do not like to feel like a slave to history. These people do not like to feel bound by history. These people do not like to feel that the distant past, other people's lives, has invariably determined their own life. These people do not like to feel bound by their own past, feeling that their own past actions have invariably determined their future. (2) Other people do not like to memorize an endless list of people, places and events. (3) Other people do not want to spend all their time reviewing and rehashing the events of the past. Chewing the cud. The past is boring. The past is old, and the old is passe'. The future is new, and the new is interesting. (4) Other people find the past irksome, both their own past and the general past of the world. Their own past can be painful to recollect, especially if bad things happened. Good riddance to the past. If you feel your best days are in front of you, then you focus more on the future than the past. The past in general can feel confining. These people would much rather consider the present and future. (5) If you have a tendency to dwell and obsess about the past then you spend a lot of time thinking about the past. PART TWO. Pro-history views. (1) Some people feel we can learn from the past. The individual person learns from their individual past. The individual person learns from the history of civilizations. The civilization learns from the history of civilizations. The civilization learns from the history of individuals. (2) Some people desire to set the historical record straight in the interest of justice. (3) Other people find the past a comfort, both their own past and and the general past of the world. These nostalgia-trippers like to linger in the past. The good old days. If you feel your best days are behind you then you will revel in the past. --- 7/2/2006
History. --- Various historical phenomena. (1) Quickly developing events vs. slowly developing events. (2) Small scale events vs. large scale events. (3) Direct cause and direct effects vs. indirect cause and indirect effects. (4) Single cause and single effect vs. multiple causes and multiple effects. --- 5/17/2004
History. --- Ways to approach history. (1) 26 subjects. (2) Theory and practice. (3) Societies and civilizations. (4) Most important events. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- We have photos of the civil war. We do not have photos of the revolutionary war. There was only a ninety year gap between the revolutionary war and the civil war, but it seems like a metaphysical eternity. --- 10/26/1999
History. --- What can I learn from history? What lessons are most important for me to learn? What are best ways to learn about history? --- 12/30/1992
History. --- What happened, when, where, to who, how, why? --- 12/30/1992
History. --- What is history? (1) Everything ever thought, said, or done. (2) Endless chain of cause and effect. (3) The truth of fact occurrence. (4) Origin, development, stagnation, decay, and death of x thing (in general, specific type, specific thing). (5) The search for truth through time. (6) Search for what works and doesn't. (7) A grand experiment. (8) Record of my relations with other people. Not meant as historical, but rather used as an on-going tool. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- What is history. (1) History (what actually happened) vs. (2) Study of history as a subject (philosophy and science). --- 12/30/1992
History. --- What is history. (1) History is a trial. You get to judge the past. (2) History is a re-try, a do-over, a chance to relive the past and make it right. --- 7/20/1998
History. --- What is history. A record of experiences that explains the formation, content, and mechanism of your mind. Your likes and dislikes. Your ideals. Your highs and lows in life. What you would/could/should have done. --- 01/01/1993
History. --- What is history. History as a catalog of problems and attempted solutions. Successes and failures. --- 11/10/1998
History. --- What is history. History as psychoanalysis and ethics. For health one must re-live and sort out the problems and mistakes of the past. --- 12/01/1993
History. --- What is history. Written history is always incomplete, and thus always half-truths. --- 12/30/2003
History. --- What we consider important changes with our perspective or viewpoint. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- What would people from the past say to us if we met them in their time and place? What would people from the past say to us if they met us in our time and place? Would they tell us their life story? Would they tell us their philosophy of life? Would they describe their joys and sorrows? Would they sit silently with nothing to say? What would they say? Could we understand them? Would they talk of the indescribable beauty and joy of their lives? Or the gyp, rip-off and injustice of being born too soon or too late? --- 1/15/2002
History. --- When people think about their own personal history they often attach too much importance to the fact that they were in a certain place at a certain time. What is actually more important is the experience of being a certain age (ex. child, teen, adult, old). For example, the poignancy of the movie "American Graffiti" is not due to the characters being in Modesto or Bakersfield in the late 1950's, rather, the poignancy of "American Graffiti" is due to the characters being age 17. When we think about our past, instead of trying to recapture a time and place, we should, if anything, try to recapture how old you were and the way it felt to be that age. PART TWO. Two supporting arguments: (1) Consider people of the same age in a different time and place. How it feels to be a teenager in Bakersfield in 1958 is how it feels to be a teenager almost anywhere and anytime. (2) Consider people of different ages in the same time and place. How it feels to be a teenager in Bakersfield in 1958 is much different from how it feels to be 80 years old in Bakersfield in 1958. PART THREE. To sum up: People tend to attach too much meaning to time and place and things. The majority of the meaning resides within the people themselves. --- 7/11/2001
History. --- When something is gone it is not like it was never there. "Once was" is not the same as "never was". --- 11/20/2000
History. --- Which did ancient man realize existed first, the past or the future? How did humans escape the "now" of present reality all those millions of years ago? I say, memory came before planning. Reaction came before goals. Notions of the past came before notions of the future. --- 2/28/2002
History. --- Why study history (discovery and interpretation)? Why is history important, and how important is it, for society, and for individual persons? (1) Memory is important. (2) To remember and learn. (3) Re-learning. (4) Psychotherapy for psychological health. (5) Discover repressed memories. Identify and work on neurosis. (6) To know what happened. (7) If you know your history you know everything. (8) For survival and health (psychology). (9) Optimize behavior. (10) For justice, for catharsis. (11) To learn a lot of best truths quick. (12) Avoid blowing opportunities, avoid damage, avoid loss, and avoid unhealth. (13) Deal with people better. (14) Understand and make sense of life. (15) A record for organizing and working out problems. (16) Avoid mistakes, making them and repeating them. (17) Avoid misfortunes by remembering solutions. (18) Loss of history = loss of memory = loss of identity. (19) For planning, control, and evaluation of my life. (20) To develop fast enough to stay ahead of pack. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- Why study history. (1) Why an individual should study history. Why a society should study history. (2) Business management argument for history: We need to plan, implement, and evaluate. History helps in the evaluation step. --- 4/28/1998
History. --- Why study history. Contra. It is possible to think too much about the past, at the expense of thinking about the present and future. Coulda, woulda, shoulda has its limits. --- 01/01/1993
History. --- Why study history. Contra. The desire to look back can be escape and avoidance of the uncertain, and therefore fearful, present and future. Often people don't want to learn lessons from the past, they just want to hide in the past. The "good old days" of the past can be gathered and enjoyed at will. The "good new days" must be reached through a day to day tedium. --- 07/20/1993
History. --- Why study history. Estir = past. Goals = future. They form a continuum, and should be read together. Reviewing progress toward goals. --- 11/27/1993
History. --- Why study history. History notes are effective as a personal management control function. Goal analysis: seeing how far you have come, and how fast. And to plan and make adjustments. --- 04/23/1994
History. --- Why study history. The reason to write your history is so when you ask yourself, "Where did the time go?", you have an answer and do not have to suffer needless regret. --- 7/23/1998
History. --- Why study your own history? To see if you are reaching your goals. To see how far and how fast you are progressing. --- 01/01/1993
History. --- World history. How does one write a history of the world? How does one write a history of everything? --- 10/21/2005
History. --- World history. The history of the world is the sum of the histories of all the things in the world. --- 4/24/2007
History. --- World. 1800-2000 an explosion of theory and invention made possible by printing and renaissance. Will the pace of development slow down? Yes, as we reach our intellectual, ecological, and technological limits? --- 01/30/1994
History. --- World. 1960's barbecue. Before we knew meat was bad for us. Before we knew alcohol was bad for us. Before we knew smoking was bad for us. And we walked on the moon. --- 3/5/2002
History. --- World. 1960's. Also important in the 1960s was the fight for rights for the physically handicapped and mentally handicapped. --- 8/26/1998
History. --- World. 1960's. Sixties. If you equate the sixties with sex, drugs, and rock and roll, then it can be viewed as a failure, or a limited success. But if you equate the sixties with the environmental movement, women's rights, animal rights, world peace, black rights, american indian rights, handicapped rights, minority rights, tolerance, it was a big success and a triumph of important ideas. I view it as the latter. --- 09/26/1997
History. --- World. 1960's. The sixties were about freedom. Especially the freedom to express yourself. That is why it was a great time. The fifties were about politically oppressive mccarthyism. --- 02/28/1998
History. --- World. 1960's. The sixties. (1) Surf/climb golden age. (2) Black rights struggle. Civil rights movement (3) Feminist rights struggle. Increase of women in workplace. Sexual revolution: the pill, antibiotics. (5) Space program. (6) Vietnam. (7) Hippies: drugs, free love, acid rock, peace/harmony, natural. --- 12/30/1992
History. --- World. 1960's. Vietnam. Our soldiers had trouble not just because of (1) The fighting style and environment: guerrilla warfare (can not trust civilians, can not see enemy as a group) in the jungle (hot, humid, disease, pests), (2) No clear cut reason or goals for the war, (3) Cheap and readily available drugs that blew minds. (4) Opposition at home. (5) A real factor was that these soldiers grew up in a different society, with a different culture (different metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, history) than W.W.II soldiers. They were too smart to be soldiers in the traditional sense. They were smarter (as society was) and expected more political rights, power, and economic consumer comfort. They were more likely to have trouble when forced to believe and follow blindly. Less likely to blindly follow rules of army. They were smarter and consciously and unconsciously expected more from life than the W.W.II soldier. Life for them was more complex. Less likely to blindly obey rules of religion and civic religion (american way). Especially under stress of warfare. --- 08/15/1994
History. --- World. 1990's. If someone told me ten years ago that there would be trolls lurking on the web having wraps and smoothies for lunch I would have told them they were mad. Yet here they are. --- 7/25/2002
History. --- World. Communication technology and information technology has really been the factor that turned the earth around. Language, writing, printing, and computers promote civilization, development of reason, and ethics. --- 4/28/1998
History. --- World. Decade style highlights. 1960's: crew cuts, Mets, beer. 1970's: Foghat, Welcome Back Kotter, weed. 1980's: Flock of Seagulls, suspenders, crack. 1990's: Nirvarna, World Wide Web, ecstasy. --- 8/30/2001
History. --- World. Disco was a nightmare to live through, basically because people took disco seriously. But 20 years later, looking back at disco with a perspective of irony, disco looks and sounds great. Therefore disco is ironic. --- 8/15/1998
History. --- World. How has the world changed? (1) Less repression. (2) More communication. (3) Smarter people, more aware of what's going on. (4) More control over ourselves and our environment. (5) More freedom. (6) More cooperation. --- 06/10/1993
History. --- World. USA history. Why do people keep writing new books on early U.S. History? (1) They want to rewrite the past in their interests. (2) They want to have the last word. (3) New information appears that needs to be analyzed. --- 5/17/2004
History. --- World. USA. Plain cake doughnuts and hot black coffee built this country, and then plain cake doughnuts and hot black coffee gave this country a heart attack. --- 7/31/2001
History. --- World. USA. Plain cake doughnuts and hot black coffee built this country. --- 12/29/1997
History. --- World. USA. Slavery was a national disgrace. --- 3/30/1998