Random Learnings #66
From an article in the Guardian: Seems perfectly reasonable that anyone booking a “Superior Room with Pitch View” at the Blackpool Football Club Stadium hotel, located inside the Bloomfield Road Stadium, would…
Book Review #3
In the translated book Planning in the USSR by I.A. Yevenko, the communist hyperbole and delusion begins immediately with the Author's Notes on page 5: The system of socialist planned…
Visiting the Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, the seat of British Government since the creation of the Model Parliament in 1295, is easily recognizable, if for no other reason than the Elizabeth Tower…
Constitutionality
Donald Trump's continual declaration of national emergencies that he uses to declare executive orders of dubious legitimacy harkens back to similar usage in Germany following World War I. This was…
Random Learnings #64
In 2016, the government of the Czech Republic declared that Czechia is the country's short name in English. Yes, Czech Republic remains the country's official name and yes, Czech Republic…
Unexpected Continuity
From the Brittanica Book of the Year 1968, p376: Another in a series of legislative measures designed to establish the separate statehood of East Germany was passed by the People's…
Oh What A Year: 1933
[Nothing like spending a Sunday reading undigitized, bound periodicals at your local university library...] Time Magazine began 1933 by declaring Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president-elect, as Man of the Year.…
Sint Paulus, Antwerpen
Saint Paul's Church in Antwerp dates from the seventeenth century, built after Calvinists destroyed a former Dominican order church. St. Paul's has been owned by the city of Antwerp since…
Random Learnings #63
I happened upon this article in a 1949 issue of International Conciliation (sorry, didn't note which issue, the name of the article, the author): The North Atlantic Pact is a…
When Poland Needed More Jews
World War I technically ended on November 11, 1918 with Germany agreeing to the Allies' terms for an armistice but did not conclusively end all fighting. The vacuum in Central…