Category Archives: History

Fighting the Good Fight?

June 8, 2007 – 11:58 pm

What happens, say, when two devoutly religious football teams play a match, and the captain of each team prays to God that his team will win? Do the devoutly religious believe He balances the competing prayers, and that the winner is the more righteous before God?
The doctrine of free will would say that He doesn’t [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Religion | Comments (9)

National Day of Secularism

May 26, 2007 – 1:56 pm

Bruce has tagged me for the National Day of Secularism meme.

He’s interested to see what I will say because of a comment I made to him when discussing those stupid citizenship questions…namely:
“The Ten Commandments can be regarded as forming one of the precedents for modern law, canon law, and all kinds of other law. [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Religion | Comments (16)

An exciting… draw!

May 15, 2007 – 2:38 am

One of the hardest things about test cricket for foreigners - particularly Americans - is explaining the idea of a draw. Even harder is explaining the concept of an exciting draw. You know, that two sides can go into a game and emerge roughly equal after a ding-dong battle gladiatorial in its fury.
For mine, this [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Law | Comments (127)

Being a Communist means never having to say you’re sorry…

March 1, 2007 – 2:48 pm

I seldom lurk around the pages of the Grauniad, but this was simply too sadly amusing to ignore. Ms Clark remembers her halcyon days in the Hungarian Young Pioneers some thirty-odd years ago. In so doing she manages to recall a figure common in English writing for young people (of a certain vintage, of course): [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Politics | Comments (158)

Roman Graphics

January 31, 2007 – 11:05 pm

Here are two of my graphics, originally designed to go with the ‘Pasts Imperfect‘ piece. I haven’t figured out how to put them on the front page as yet, but if you click on the links below you can have some enjoyable fun pretending to walk around the Roman Forum in the late evening. Once [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Popular culture | Comments (5)

Past Imperfect

January 31, 2007 – 10:03 pm

The past has occurred. It has gone and can only be brought back again by historians in very different media; for example in books, articles, documentaries (…) not as actual events. The past has gone and history is what historians make of it when they go to work (…) It is this work, embodied in [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Popular culture | Comments (34)

Some (Australian) Libertarian History

January 6, 2007 – 4:25 pm

Today I had the excellent fortune to meet Ron Kitching (left), life member of the Mont Pelerin Society and sponsor of Hayek’s month-long lecture tour to Australia in 1976. Ron is a Rockhampton local, with a lifetime’s experience in the mining industry, where he was a distinguished exploration drilling contractor. He still consults to the [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Economics | Comments (149)

Turf Wars

January 5, 2007 – 1:35 pm

Let’s face it, I’m a gadget girl (have got a house full of the things), and this is one of the best online gadgets I’ve found. David Jackmanson is a clever little tech geek, and I’ve shamelessly pinched this off his site. It’s a 90 second animated history of just who’s had control of the [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Defence | Comments (8)

The Middle East - How has it come to this?

July 21, 2006 – 11:38 am

I have been inspired by CeeCee’s post on the topic of the Middle East. How have things reached the point where there is open warfare in the Middle East?
This is not a rant, but a layperson’s guide to Middle Eastern history and an exploration of how matters have escalated. I am attempting to provide an [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Middle east, Politics | Comments (1)