Praise of Folly Two |
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The Bering Strait
“The Americans filled up the Berring Strait in 1492.” |
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More Laughs! |
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Due to popular demand here are more slips of the pen, non-sequiturs …. and that occasional spark of true brilliance! This page is dedicated to the folly of mankind. The world would be such a sad place without it! |
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What about Alexander VI?
“Portuguese and Spanish expansion were very different. The Portuguese had the sanction of the pope, whereas the Spanish did not. ” |
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Galileo “Galileo invented the heliometric model law. This got him into huge trouble with the church and there was a violent debate about this new law.” |
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A short history of the tomato “The tomato came from the Italian cuisine to the Americas via the Spaniards. “ |
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Singapore in “700 AC”? “Around 700 AC, Singapore was one of the many places with a port.” |
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“Crash crops”? “Slaves were used to harvest crash crops.” |
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A City State defined “A city-state is a state that also has a city.” |
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The Columbian Exchange “The Columbian Exchange refers to the trading in silver and pepper from Columbia.” |
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Russia’s Ascent “The Thirty Years’ War saw the rapid rise of Russia as a global superpower.”
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Museums “The age of production saw the invention of the museum, that in turn, fostered mass consumption.“ |
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Germany’s Decentalization “As a result of Thirty Year War, the Holy Roman Empire became decentralised. “ |
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True, actually…. “Mussolini did not march on Rome. He took the train.” |
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Ghost Economy? “In 1776 Adam smith published a book that argued for an economic system based on the invisible.” |
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Prester John “Prester John was a monk engaged in missionary work in colonized lands.” |
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Coffee Houses “Coffee houses led to the overthrow of the obsolete monarchy in France.” |
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The Industrial Revolution ”The Industrial Revolution in Britain led to exports, and soon the revolution itself was exported to foreign shores. Soon there was an abundanment of manufactured goods with no home.” |
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Coffee “On the discovery of the New Word, coffee was grown to export to Europe. “ |
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The Age of Discovery “The first European explorers rounded India for the first time. The discoveries were made with the assistance of telescopes and laid the foundations for future technological leaps. “ |
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Before Europe had the potato… “Before the potato, the Europeans desperately needed rice from Asia.” |
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Martin Luther and Jan Hus “Jan Hus and Martin Luther not only shared many views, they were also very good friends.” |
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The tea trade “Tea was important from the first day that the Europeans arrived in India, and that is why India produces so much tea.” |
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The Cultivation System in Java (19th Century) “The cultivative system was prospered by van den Bosch in 1830 when the colonial government, the Netherlands, needed a serious financial shot in the arm. The cultivative system failed to an extent because the Netherlands government failed to give the natives of Java basic things like healthcare. This led to the Diponegro revolt.”
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Marxism “Marxism is a theory of how power can be avoided. “ |
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Bollywood “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a very successful Bollywood movie. Bollywood movies are appreciated all around the world because they promote Confucian values. ” |
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Bollywood movies “Indian films have a lot of singing and dancing and the main themes of Indian movies revolve around trees, bushes, and happy families. They generally make people feel good and also contain no sex, since the Indian censors board does not allow sex in the country. The movies and the actors are completely sexless.” |
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The Industrial Revolution … Again “During the industrial revolution, pubic health declined. Then the population exploded everywhere.” |
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Japan and World War II “The outbreak of World War II was very important. Japan was an ally of the Americans and helped forge a plan to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere with the help of the Western powers.” |
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Coffee linked to suicide rates? “The growing of coffee was so monotonous, people impoverished and committed suicide.” |
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Westernization “Westernism is so powerful in Asia today, MacDonalds has become synonymous with the Asian landscape.” |
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The origins of coffee “The reason why the British had to sell opium to the Chinese is very simple: it was due to the outflow of tea. Tea and Coffee were the two most important commodities that existed in the past and come from China.” |
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Tea in Europe “Tea is a basic necessity. Before the arrival of tea and coffee in Europe, Europe was very backward and people only drank beer.” |
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Revolutions “Reform and Revolution are synonymous terms. Revolutions are sometimes bloody.” |
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Golden Jubilee … “In 1887 the British celebrated Victoria's birthday with the Golden Juvenile.” |
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Che Guevara “'Che' was seen as a romantic revolutionist involved in the Cubist revolution.” |
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“Foreign natives” …. “There was a stark difference between the local natives and the foreign natives.” |
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Steam power “The development of steam engine eventually lead to invention of coal, and oil to replace use of steam.” |
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Anthropocentrism “Anthropocentric means that the world is not flat.” |
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The Council of Trent “The Council of Trent was convened at Trent … to persuade Luther to take back all his accusations and criticisms against the Catholic Church, but he refused, so they killed him.” |
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The Constantinian Donation “The Constantinian Donation was a controversial affair, whereby the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire donated the empire to Pope Constantine.” |
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The Anabaptists “The Anabaptists were a radical lot. They broke away from several Catholic practices, such as making babies.” |
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Amsterdam’s Economy “Amsterdam’s main export product was pickled herring, but its agricultural sector was poorly managed.” |
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Louis XIV “Under Louis XIV France lost its democratic, federal structure.” |
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Mussolini “Mussolini had a trigger-happy attitude towards life.” |
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Quite a Duck! Charles V was originally the Duck of Burgundy. |
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The Renaissance “The Renaissance concentrated on new birth, rebirth and birth place.” |
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The Great Plague During the Great Plague, the Italian cities lost a lot of farmland. |
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Luther Luther managed to escape from a high security prison where he translated the Bible in six months. |
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Columbus again Columbus would make many new discoveries, such as the silver mines in Latin America. |
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End of the French Revolution “Not wanting to be outdone [by the British], the French invented the Eiffel Tower. This marked the end of the French Revolution”. |
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American Farms “Farms were introduced in the United States after the American Revolution …. “ |
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The Renaissance “In the 15th century, there was renaissance in Italy, which means the exchange of knowledge through rebirth, reinvention of the world and of man. People were trying to civilize people through the Enlightenment. “ |
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Ptolemy, Copernicus and Galileo “Ptolomy challenged the world view of Copernicus …. and Galileo brought up the question of theological credibility. “ |
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Capitalists beware! “Feudalism abolished the use of money.” |
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France and the 30 Years’ War “[The Thirty Years War] introduced France as Europe’s cultured power.” |
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The origin of taxes “The Renaissance introduced the collection of taxes.” |
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Gunpowder “Gunpowder proved to be a source of understanding patterns of human interaction.” |
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More about Prester John “Prester John converted people in Spain after the reconquista.” |
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“Solar Scriptura” “Solar Scriptura are a collection of scientific documents outlining theories regarding the movements of planets relative to the sun ” |
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Some Casualties “World War I was the war to fight all wars, but it led to some casualties.“ |
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Bruce Lee “Bruce Lee starred with Lucy Liu in Green Hornet.” |
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Japan after World War II “The American atomic bomb destroyed all of Japan. The whole country was in shambles and there was nothing left. This enabled the Americans to impose their management system on Japan and it emerged as the flying geese. Then the lead goose got sick.” |
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Totalitarianism “Direct rule is when a colonial government has total control over a society. This is the origin of the term ‘totalitarianism’.” |
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Nipping Habsburgs The Habsberg dynasty took an active role in nipping heresy in the but. |
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Origins of the Age of Exploration Genoa kicked off the Age of Exploration with the discovery of Anatolia. |