Saturday, September 14, 2002Brian Ganz in Concert at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Auditorium
My wife and I had the pleasure of hearing local pianist Brian Ganz perform in Rockville this evening, with sparkling performances of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Chopin. While my wife enjoyed the "Pathetique" most, I personally liked the Chopin best. We were seated second row center, and could not have been in a better position to enjoy this bravura performance. Ganz was poised and gracious throughout, and favored the audience with a short encore.11:43:19 PM #
11:36:12 PM #
WebMD/Lycos - Article - Tea Drinking Good for the Heart
April 25, 2002 -- Tea is chock full of flavonoids -- powerful antioxidant compounds that seek and destroy dangerous substances in the body. Recently, the health benefits of tea drinking have become increasingly evident, and now Dutch researchers report that regular consumption can help stave off a heart attack.
4:31:31 PM #
Tea Is Good for the Heart
An interesting letter to the AMA on the purported health benefits of tea, particularly green tea, which has a higher antioxidant content than black or fermented tea.4:29:25 PM #
3:59:32 PM #
"US a threat to peace" -- N. Mandela.... (IndyMedia: Jerusalem) [News Is Free: Middle East] Nelson Mandela is a voice that we should not lightly disregard, since he has moral authority that is nearly unique.
He analyses the policy struggle in the United States as one between Cheney and Powell, and he is clearly in the Powell camp. His analysis of Israel as a "white" nation with weapons of mass destruction versus Iraq as a "black" nation trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction is more questionable. The bottom line is that we trust Israel to use its power (and our aid) responsibly, and we do not trust Saddam Hussein. The degree of trust we should repose in each can be readily ascertained by their actions, quite apart from any question of race.
(As a footnote, I find it interesting that Mandela seems to view Iraq as a "black" nation. In my experience, Arabs generally consider themselves to be "white," and Mandela might have given some thought to the long history of African slavery in Arab countries when he made his comparison.)
3:51:58 PM #
Sailing 'Around Alone' and Online
NEW YORK -- Thirteen eccentric adventurers will soon attempt to sail solo through 28,755 miles of the earth's roughest and most remote waters in the sixth annual "Around Alone" race.
My boyhood dream, but not one I expect to realize.
1:07:56 PM #
Representations of the British Empire (the Zulu War)
"The theme of the course is the story that England told itself about the Empire which it built in the late nineteenth century. Using a case study of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 we examine illustrations, newspaper articles, imperial adventure stories, cartoons, school textbooks and speeches to try to understand how attitudes to empire were formed."
This is a fascinating collection of contemporary cartoons and engravings describing the Zulu War, as well as subsequent accounts of the war in British textbooks that describe the war as viewed (and retold) by the victors.
12:10:53 PM #
The Martini-Henry
"The Martini-Henry Rifle is a weapon of Empire. Unlike the Snider-Enfield it replaced, it was England's first service rifle designed from the ground up as a breechloading metallic cartridge firearm. It protected and served the British Empire and her colonies for over 30 years."
An interesting site with good pictures which describes the British Army's firearms used during the Zulu War.
11:58:04 AM #
Baltic Soil Yields Evidence of a Bitter End to Napoleon's Army
"The evidence indicates that Napoleon's army died of starvation, exhaustion and cold — numbing cold that left many drawn into a fetal position to conserve heat."
The estimate that perhaps 80,000 people — nearly a fifth of Napoleon's 500,000 man army — died in Vilnius, lends an interesting perspective on the magnitude of modern catastrophe. Killing huge numbers of people is nothing new.
At the same time, this graphic illustration of the brutal deaths of thousands of Napoleon's troops, while he and his commanders retreated to safety in Paris, strips some of the gilt from Napoleon's romantic image.
The Problem of Supply and Its Illustration in the Zulu War
On a more pragmatic note, it illustrates the lesson that Hitler failed to heed more than a century later; that a modern army cannot wage a successful campaign if it is not adequately provisioned. This lesson is illustrated in fascinating detail in the book I am currently reading — The Washing of the Spears — which describes the difficulties the British faced in their campaign against the Zulu empire. The British army required an enormous amount of food, ammunition, tents, wagons, and other supplies to move forward. In southern Africa at the time, the only effective means of transporting these vast quantities of supplies were wagons drawn by oxen. The oxen, however, needed eight hours to rest and another eight hours to graze. Mules were a possible alternative, except they had to transport their own fodder, which could weigh as much as a whole wagon load for a week's provisions. In either case, the animals moved with excruciating slowness, the long drawn out wagon trains (often twenty animals to a wagon) were vulnerable to attack and destroyed the roads and fords they crossed, making it difficult for later wagons to follow. Lord Chelmsford's chief obstacle to mounting a successful attack on the Zulus (apart from disastrous tactics at Isandlhwana) was trying to purchase enough oxen to move his army and keep them fed and healthy long enough to launch his invasion.
11:31:58 AM #
Copyright 2003 Bill Day
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Theme Design by Bryan Bell
Comments by: YACCS
