Tom lent me the Game of Thrones to read recently. I enjoyed it thoroughly but I couldn’t help but think that – if you take away the thin veneer of magic and fantasy – it reads a lot like the … Continue reading →

The History of English continues with the Norman invasion. Tasty fact: cow, sheep & swine came from English but beef, mutton & pork from the French.

I love learning about the history of English. I love the Open University and I especially love the fact that they put all of their courses online. It’s almost enough to make me want to finish my OU degree. In … Continue reading →

I’m reading the biography of Winston Churchill by Max Hastings and I’m also following along with The Orwell Diaries on RSS. I’m at a similar point in both stories and what strikes me most forcefully is how bleak those times … Continue reading →

The Times has a great series of essays by Errol Morris on Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. According to the author, Structure is a post-modern work which makes the relativist claim that people in one paradigm (or culture … Continue reading →

Remember, remember The fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot. A long time ago, there was a King of England called King James I. In the years before James … Continue reading →

I find it simply amazing that, one thousand years ago, people were drinking excellent beer and singing this fantastic song and that even now, one thousand years later, beer is still excellent and the song is still fantastic. There were … Continue reading →

In the comments at In the confident hope of a miracle, Matt suggested that the founding fathers were – or at least appeared to be – devout Christians and added It would have been heresy to elect someone who wasn’t … Continue reading →

The defeat of the Spanish Armada, in 1588, marked the end of Spain as a global power. Before sailing, one Spanish commander “reasoned” as follows: “It is well known that we fight in God’s cause. So when we meet the … Continue reading →

Scott Adams proposes a plan to rid the world of religious extremism I have often thought that America’s strict rule about not teaching religion in schools is responsible for the fact that the more fervant forms of christianity are more … Continue reading →