Category Archives: history

Zolltan arbitrates Great Man vs. Everyman

Posted on 25 July 2016 by zolltan

Last time Zuuko came to visit me, he explained why he doesn’t have much to say for the blog anymore. He’s come to realize more and more that the world’s path depends on the specific actions, quirks and foibles of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, meta, personal | Leave a comment

Summer quotes from vzglyad

Posted on 20 October 2014 by zolltan

Back in summer, I wanted to write a post quoting translations from Russian media outlets to give an example of the totally different reality with respect to Ukraine that Russians have access to. Now, thankfully, talk of impending World War … Continue reading →

Posted in history, media, politics | 1 Comment

Olga Berggolts

Posted on 19 October 2012 by zolltan

There’s been too much politics on this blog lately. Every other blog has you covered on this front anyway. We’re not among the 100,000 best politics-related blogs on the internet. However, I’m pretty sure if we try, we can get … Continue reading →

Posted in books, history | 1 Comment

Long Run Perspective

Posted on 17 January 2012 by Zuuko

 “All this has happened before. All this will happen again.” Book of Pythia, Battlestar Galactica *** Doesn’t this sound like familiar trope? The Middle East’s oil resources are one of the focal points of geopolitical calculations by the two major Powers … Continue reading →

Posted in books, history | 3 Comments

Millard Fillmore: the US’ dumbest president

Posted on 5 January 2012 by zolltan

W. asked my opinion as to who the dumbest US president was. I tried searching for “List of US presidents by dumbness” but google autocorrected it to “List of US presidents by numbness” instead, so I found nothing. Nevertheless, I … Continue reading →

Posted in history | 7 Comments

In praise of inconsistency (but not college sports)

Posted on 5 December 2011 by zolltan

(stick with it, the first jokes aren’t very good) In case you don’t know, college sports is in trouble. Now, a certain (non-me) writer of this blog may complain that another recent news-item may be more pertinent for discussion at … Continue reading →

Posted in history, non-hockey sports | 1 Comment

“wander[ing] through an orgy thinking only about marginal rates of return”

Posted on 19 September 2011 by zolltan

via djw at Lawyers Guns and Money, an event close to my own heart: anthropologists sticking it to economists. In a very entertaining and informative post from David Graeber on the origins of money that you should definitely read in its entirety (spoiler: … Continue reading →

Posted in history, no value added | 1 Comment

Return from the (not yet) Stars

Posted on 11 July 2011 by zolltan

So the last space shuttle has taken off, and what’s there to say about it? New York Times’ newly minted opinion columnist Frank Bruni thinks about it and decides he has nothing to say on the matter. Kinda disappointing, but considering … Continue reading →

Posted in books, history | 2 Comments

Animula Vagula Blandula

Posted on 24 June 2011 by zolltan

I am reading Marguerite Yourcenar’s book Memoirs of Hadrian. Here are three quotes from this book, which I think are fantastic. ‘Hadrian’ on his rise through the ranks: …the ups and downs of my fortunes worried me chiefly because of … Continue reading →

Posted in books, history | 4 Comments

Election Night Roundup

Posted on 3 May 2011 by zolltan

Congratulations to Harper and the Conservatives, and to Layton and the NDP. Iggy was such an unmitigated disaster that I really hope people will take back at least some of the crap they said about Dion last time. In retrospect, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics | 1 Comment