Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
This weekend is the tenth anniversary of the Gulf Coast landing of Hurricane Katrina, which wrought so much destruction in both Louisiana and Mississippi. I had started the predecessor format of this blog earlier that year. Given ancestral and business interests, a disaster of this size made an impact on me, especially after visiting the …
Continue reading "When Your Metairie is Wiped Out: My First Post After Hurricane Katrina"
We're about a year out from the Republican National Convention, and already we're off to the races with one debate. Iowa and New Hampshire are already awash in visits, paid media and free media. The heat's on for Republicans to make up their minds about whom they plan to support. Let's start with the Republican …
Continue reading "Why I'm In No Hurry to Back a Republican Presidential Candidate"
This ends a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. If there's one thing to be learned about studying the Ottomans, it's that there are many strange stories to tell. What makes up "strange" depends upon one's frame of reference. In his book on Palm Beach, Laurence Leamer characterised …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales XI: They'd Rather Die Christian"
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. I've mentioned earlier that the Ottomans were capable of adjusting their MO to suit non-Turkish public opinion when the situation called for it. This story--which comes long after the last Sultan abdicated and the Empire came to an end--shows …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales X: An Officer and a Gentleman"
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. As I've noted earlier, the Ottoman Empire's lurch towards representative government was one of fits and starts, mostly fits. The first Ottoman parliament opened in March 1877, in (of all places) the Sultan's own Dolmabache Palace (soon to be …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales IX: Seated at the Right Hand"
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans was a process written in blood, as was their inclusion in the Sultan's realm. The Romanian count who is known as Dracula fought to keep up the independence of his …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales VIII: Christians, Keep Your Promises"
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. Most students of European history, especially those who focus on the nineteenth century, know the Ottoman Empire as "the sick man of Europe". People today don't get the impact of that moniker: then what it meant was that the …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales VII: Sick Man of Europe, Sick Man of North America"
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. As Sultan Abdul Hamid raised the Banner Named Barack, his armies had one distinguishing feature: In one, and only one thing, the Turkish soldier is not cheated. He is well fed, and gets his full allowance of the rations …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Tales VI: Not Much for Victory, but the Eats Were Good"
The things we find out when we investigate... “Humans tend to try to establish a rank hierarchy,” Jennifer Wong, a criminology professor who led the study, told the Post. “When you’re in high school, it’s a very limited arena in which you can establish your rank, and climbing the social ladder to be on top …
Ronald Kessler makes an interesting statement about Donald Trump and Palm Beach: "When Donald opened his club in Palm Beach called Mar-a-Lago, he insisted on accepting Jews and blacks even though other clubs in Palm Beach to this day discriminate against blacks and Jews," Kessler says. "The old guard in Palm Beach was outraged that …
Continue reading "Trump Opens the Club to Blacks and Jews? Not Quite"
Positive Infinity 