Non-IT News Thread
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I'm not saying that England wasn't asking for it, and that they didn't set themselves up for it to happen. They did not think things through very well. They now know that the kind had literally lost his mind and that led to much of what happened. But revisionism has been what has created the ultra-pro revolutionary propaganda that has fueled American textbooks for so long.
The same kinds of things like how they teach in Texas that Texas is unique having been a republic (a legal requirements for all 50 states, never something that is unique) or that it has the option to leave the union (there was a war over that, the answer was a resounding "no".) Yet they teach those things that are clearly untrue and super obviously illogical and yet, somehow, the whole state fails to notice them because, I guess, they never learn how states work in general or that there was a Civil War over separation of states.
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A really great history book is "Lies My Teacher Told Me", in it the author (who won a court case against Mississippi that they didn't have the legal right to not buy textbooks based solely on the fact that the books were factual) talks about how history is the only subject where students entering college are hoped to have had as little as possible former education rather than as much as possible because colleges have found that the US high school education of history is so generally inaccurate that it is better if the students had not attended as the more they've been taught, the harder it is to get them to have a useful perspective and working knowledge of history.
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@scottalanmiller said:
The US ended up being a non-free slave country a lot longer than it likely would have been had the Revolution not happened and protected slavery for another century.
Yes, let us not forget that The next US holiday celebrates a man reviled pretty much everywhere in Central America.
Discussed last year in case you missed it: http://mangolassi.it/topic/2670/everything-that-you-need-to-know-about-columbus-day -
That one truly amazes me that any region has allowed Columbus Day to have ever existed let alone continue and actually be recognized at a National level! It's so inconsiderate and misguided, there are so many amazing people (American and otherwise) worthy of a holiday and yet that guy (who, BTW, never came to the US and has nothing to do with American history in any way) gets one of the few national holidays? But not John Brown, not Alexander Hamilton, not John Adams, not even Washington or Lincoln (they each get half a holiday tops) - it's crazy. Not just crazy, but super random. We might as well celebrate any random well known name (but unknown actions) from history.
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Hmmmm... sounds like it's time for a petition!
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It's really kind of politically schizophrenic that we celebrate both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Christopher Columbus. One celebration of civil rights and racial unity, the other celebrating racial genocide and intolerance. Which is it that we admire more? Or do we like to strike a balance between the two so celebrate both in the hopes that they cancel each other out?
Next we'll have the Knox/Arnold Summer Picnic event! (Knox being the soldier hero of the Revolution, Arnold being the traitor who went British on us.)
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Interesting historical tidbit.... in King Philip's War, one of the bloodiest in American history, most modern Americans identify themselves with the side of the war that lost - and with which we are not genetically descended from. History has distanced us from the war and culture has shifted so much that most Americans which that what became America would have lost the war.
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Ah... King Philip, another American hero FAR better deserving of a holiday but, Columbus got it instead.
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South Carolina Highway: 70 miles of I-95 Closed Due to Flooding
The South Carolina Department of Transportation closed a section of the highway between the I-20 and I-26 interchanges Sunday due to flooding from storms.
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Guatemala Landslide: Death Toll Reaches 131 After Disaster in Santa Catarina Pinula Suburb, Officials Say
Rescue workers brought in heavy machinery Sunday to accelerate the search following the disaster that left many homes buried. Guatemalan authorities said around 300 people remain missing.
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@scottalanmiller said:
The bad crap coming from England was rapidly rectified on their side too. The US ended up being a non-free slave country a lot longer than it likely would have been had the Revolution not happened and protected slavery for another century.
I'm not sure if it was known, could have been known that that 'bad crap' would be rectified so quickly - but then it might have only been rectified because of the Revolutionary War.
I agree that it's unfortunate that slavery hung on as long as it did here, and that would have probably been removed much earlier as you mention had we still been under British rule. -
@Dashrender said:
I'm not sure if it was known, could have been known that that 'bad crap' would be rectified so quickly - but then it might have only been rectified because of the Revolutionary War.
Doubtful that the Revolution had much impact. To the British that was a minor war of little consequence, even at its time. They had so many, much larger and scary wars going on. That one was minor. Things improved when the monarch died of natural causes.
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Trans-Pacific free trade deal agreed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34444799 -
World Bank: Extreme poverty 'to fall below 10%'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-34440567 -
Syria conflict: Turkish jets intercept Russian plane
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34441201 -
French Riviera floods: Death toll rises to 19
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34443189 -
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Back to the Future Part II: Pepsi to Release Limited Edition Bottle Featured in Film, Report Says
The bottle of "Pepsi Perfect" is designed to look like the one Marty McFly is given during the second film, USA Today reports. The 6,5000 bottles will be released Oct. 21 and sold for $20.15 each.
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It was USA Today that got the odd 6,5000 wrong. No idea what number they meant to say.
