Couldn’t have said it much better myself

Just spreading “hate,” or something. . .

Original sources unknown

On This Day in History

 c/o Den of Décor

1189 – European Crusaders launched the Siege of Acre against Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty in present day northern Israel, by which the Christians achieved a conclusive triumph amid the Third Crusade nearly two years later.

Ultimately Richard the Lionheart and his army, which included the Knights Templar, made considerable headway throughout the region, and Saladin himself failed to defeat Richard in any military engagement.

1609 – English maritime explorer Henry Hudson, for lack of a better way of describing it, discovered the Delaware Bay.  Initially selected by the Dutch East India Company to find an easterly passage to Asia, Hudson was unable to complete the predetermined route due to excessive ice blockage.

Hudson redirected while he and his crew were near Norway's North Cape and pointed his ship west to find another passage, this time through North America.  Hudson landed in the Bay some three months later.

1845 – The first issue of Scientific American is published.  After 166 years, the magazine can boast of a circulation that approaches three-quarters of a million.

1862 – Outnumbered by 12,000 troops, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia engaged U.S. Army Maj. General John Pope and his Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run/Second Manassas.  The South earned a decisive victory two days later.

1898 – Though Coca-Cola gets all the press for being a uniquely Southern beverage, a pharmacist named Caleb Bradham developed the recipe for what would become known as Pepsi-Cola at a drug store in New Bern, North Carolina.  PepsiCo was incorporated four years later, which, at present, generates net revenues that exceed $40 billion annually.

1957 – Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) began a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957.  He stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, which remains longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.

1965 – The lovely and vivacious Shania Twain was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

1981 – The Centers for Disease Control revealed a high rate of incidence among gay men for both pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma.  The resulting immune disorder was soon identified as AIDS for the first time.

Most information obtained via Wikipedia; revised (when necessary) and confirmed through various sources.

5,000 years of Imperial history

Throughout my life I have heard more than I ever cared to hear about the evil, oppressive, conquering faction of European colonialists and the culpability they (and their descendants) should be willing to accept for the supposed degradation of anything they touched.  And from this, I have been equally taken aback upon observing the inconvenient but necessary truths the accusers flatly refuse when challenged to give an account for their own cultural imperfections.

For those interested, visit this link and take 90 seconds to watch a timeline history of the Middle East and Africa.  Consider how one empire perpetually conquers another, and note the points in which the Crusaders and European colonialists finally make their presence known.  You just might learn something.

On This Day in History: February 18

I've been in some pain over the past week or so.  I'm rather tired and a bit preoccupied, so the posts haven't been as consistent lately, but that will change in the near future.  In the meantime, here's some history:

1229 -- Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II signs a 10-year truce with Islamic sultan al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem without the typical necessity of military engagements or support from the Pope.

1861 -- Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.  It would be nearly nine months before the provisional title was dropped.

1884 -- Largely recognized as the first "Great American Novel," Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

1901 -- Winston Churchill gives his maiden speech -- the first oratory offering by a newly elected member of Parliament -- in the House of Commons as a representative of Oldham.