Praise of Folly One |
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Mistaken Identity or Visionary? “Prince Henry the Navigator was an English prince who sailed to Africa to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment. This happened around 1600 before the French Revolution.” |
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For a Laugh! |
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Students sometimes write the funniest things. This usually occurs when they are under time pressure and are thinking faster than they can write. Here a collection of bloopers taken from various student assignments, tests, etc. over the past ten years. Academia would never be the same without the occasional non-sequitur and the odd slip of the pen! |
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Being safe before you travel…. “Columbus and the rest of the European explorers were vaccinated against diseases before they arrived in America.” |
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Revisionist history? “Consumers during the 18th century drove the French Revolution to its apex, and the industrial revolution made it worse.” |
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Obsolete monarchs and a revolutionary snowball “The growing discredit of the power of the obsolete monarchs add to the growing tensions and the displeasures of the people. But the political revolution in Europe was a tiny snowball. It was these tensions combined with the obsolete monarchs that led to a bigger snowball.” |
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Biologists will be stunned
“After the discovery of America, Europeans soon adopted potatoes. The discovery of America also saw the interaction of animals. And then there was biological interaction between the animals and the plants.” |
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Bison warriors, ecology and the origins of the USA
“Continents like Europe and Africa were largely isolated from one another. However, when Christopher Columbus accidentally stumble upon America, he brought with him a wealth of knowledge and a system of government. This marked the beginning of the USA. Columbus also brought the Native Americans. These competed for resources with the bison and greatly affected the eco-system. Although they were startled to see humans they made excellent warriors.” |
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A lesson the bankers should have heeded in the recent crisis “Florence prospered because it attracted foreign talent. Incidentally, so did Amsterdam, but it all came to an end when the Medici bank declared bankruptcy. This only goes to prove that financial services are important and have to be developed.” |
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A secret shareholder? “The main beneficiary of forming the VOC [Dutch East India Company] was the Catholic church. “ |
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But they did have the wheel! “The Europeans did not come to Asia before 1450 because they did not know how to build ships.” |
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The origins of European expansion... “After the black death epidemic that happened between 1450 and 1600 the population in Europe almost doubled. This caused overpopulation, and to make things worse, the heavily forested and unfertilized Europe made life difficult. This made the Europeans leave their home in search for food. ”
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Wasteful, selfish monarchs
“Rulers in the 18th century looked after themselves, and kept the money instead of putting it into infrastructure, like public transportation. .”
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Failure of the Cultivation System in Java in the 19th Century “The system [i.e. cultivation system] reduced the standard of living and the lands became unfertilized. There was no proper health care and food for the people. They were drained of the basic necessities like electricity, cars, food and clothing. There was a shortage of manpower and technology in order to enable to the country to prosper.” |
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Hong Kong’s movies “Hongkong makes an average of a movie every three days. This is pioneered by the use of cables to lift actors in the air.” |
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Have you ever seen the salt bush? “India walked toward independence. This happened when Indians decided to process their own salt in retaliation against British super tax on poor salt farmers. They refused to grow more crops.” |
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Honey I shrunk the world!
“Globalization is a word leading to shrinking distances. Through globalization, the economy keeps shrinking, and now we are living in an earth village. But not only are economies shrinking, so are the products. During globalization process, the products produced in Japan got smaller and smaller too. Globalization is the shrinking of the world in a litteral sense.”
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Revisionist explanation of the Opium Wars “The First Opium War started because the Chinese were smoking too much opium. The second war started because they were still smoking too much.” |
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The beginnings of modernization: at least they could count to 1000! “Modernization began early in AD 1000 during the era where the Bushmen existed. Then there was the Neolithic Revolution which was a form of modernization process taking place. Then, there was no signs of science and technology which we preceive this day.” |
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Confused Identities “Napolean discovered America.” “Copernicus discovered America.” “The Enlightenment discovered America.” “Frank Xavier led the French Revolution.” “Vasca de Garmo was the Chinese Emperor who rejected European trade.” |
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Fluff “The Industrial Revolution has changed our lives today. From the pre-scientific days to scientific days and followed by post-scientific days, it brought new reasonings to many events.” |
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Singapore before Raffles “Before 1819, Singapore was known as Melaka. In this period, Singapore was just an island, the people earned their lives due to farming” |
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When people used to be very fit “Industrialization was possible thanks to the introduction of the steam engine and the tread mill….”
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Italy’s broken promise: no pooch!
“Italy did not receive the Dalmatian promised to them in the Treaty of London.” ” |
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The Columbian Exchange: “During the Columbian Exchange, Europeans traded potatos for syphilis. Some animals died of the syphilis.” |
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New Etymological Explanation: “Empire derives from the Latin word “emporium.”
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Medical experts beware: “Java people were forced to plant coffee. Hundreds of millions starved and many millions more died because of the coffee.” |
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A very short history of military technology “The military usage of bows and horses evolved into muskets and then transformed into motorized vehicles.” |
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“Cannon Law”? “Cannon law is the law of pure force .” |
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The Westphalian System “The Peace of Westphalia was a treaty signed between Lutherans to recognize Calvinism. ” |
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The “Columbian Exchange” “The Columbian Exchange is a market for African goods. ” |
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The Thirty Years’ War “The Thirty Years War introduced to Europe the concept of statehood. States did not exist before that. ” |
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Harry Potter “wannabes”? “High magic refers to the magic that is performed by members of the Catholic clergy.” ” |
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Singapore’s Malaysian experience “After World War II, Singapore became a state of Malaysia United.” |
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Raffles in Singapore “Raffles, searching for fortune, came to Singapore and became a sultan and signed a treaty.”
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On hindsight…. “Temasik could not really develop and prosper before 1819 because it lacked someone with the hindsight to make an impact.” |
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From outer space…. “Singapore has a cosmological population.”
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Before Swine Flu... “The Spaniards invented the common cold during World War One.”
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The Industrial Revolution “The industrial revolution is a momentous event in world history, especially for the people who survived it.”
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Columbus and the Age of Discovery: too late? “Columbus discovered Hispanics in Latin America ”
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