During the 10th Century, a group of Vikings landed on Greenland and in time developed settlements there. About 400 years later they vanished from the island. No one outside of Greenland even knew that they were gone until 1721 when some missionaries arrived at the sites and found only the ruins of their settlements. Their
WHY DID THE VIKINGS DISAPPEAR FROM GREENLAND? Read More »
If the politicians are asked this question, the democrats will complain that corporate power and inequality of wealth have geared the economy to benefit and protect the rich. Ask the republicans and they will contend that the entrepreneurial spirit has been stifled and the public debt is completely out of control. What then is the
IS THE U.S. ECONOMY STRONG OR WEAK? Read More »
It’s that time of year again when spring is in full bloom, and the boys of summer begin to play ball. What’s new this year for the major leagues is a pitch clock. Designed to help move the game along, the pitch clock penalizes a pitcher for failing to deliver his pitch within a certain
BASEBALL AND ITS IDIOSYNCRASIES Read More »
In Ancient Rome in the year 68 A.D. the emperor Nero committed suicide. A civil war followed, and Titus Flavius Vespasianus rose to the top and became the emperor Vespasian. One of Nero’s generals, Vespasian was the first of a dynasty of three emperors including his two sons: Titus and Domitian. The rise of the
WHAT WAS THE ARCHETYPE OF TODAY’S FOOTBALL STADIUMS? Read More »
In 1803, President Jefferson negotiated a major land transaction with the First French Republic and its First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte. Known as the Louisiana Purchase, the land acquisition nearly doubled the territory of the United States, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Jefferson sent a military expedition to explore this territory and
WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION? Read More »
Most of you know that I recently took a cruise to Alaska on Princess Cruise’s Crown Princess. But perhaps only a few of you know that I formerly worked for Princess Cruises as their Assistant Controller back in the 1980’s. In those days the business consisted of only three ships and was owned by a
CRUSING THEN AND NOW Read More »
After the American Revolution it became abundantly clear that a better form of democracy was needed for the new nation than what was supplied by the Articles of Confederation. But what type of democracy would this mean, and what could the framers go by? There was no suitable working model of democracy that could be
WHAT WAS NORTH AMERICA’S FIRST DEMOCRACY? Read More »