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History

10/2/2020

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​“There is no life that does not contribute to history.” -Dorothy West (1907 - 1998): “The Living Is Easy” (1948)
 
“Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world.” -Ludwig von Mises (Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (1881 - 1973))
 
In 1785 B.C.E., the first calendar, composed of a year with 354 days, was introduced by the Babylonians. This was quite a remarkable feat if you think about it.
 
“Take three hundred men out of history and we should still be living in the stone age.” -Arthur Keith (1866 - 1955)
 
Over several centuries, Hindus in India developed a system of numbers, culminating in the year 628 with the invention of 0, or zero, by an Indian astronomer and mathematician named Brahmagupta (about 598 - about 668). Arabs adopted this system as their own, and in 1125, they introduced the Indian system of numbers to Europe. Today, most of the world counts and calculates with Indian Numerals: 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0.
 
“History is so indifferently rich, that a case for almost any conclusion from it can be made by a selection of instances.” -Ariel Durant (born Chaya Kaufman (1898 - 1981)) and Will Durant (William James ‘Will’ Durant (1885 - 1981)): “The Lessons of History” (1968)
 
Ancient Egyptians proclaimed that the world was in the shape of a rectangle and that the heavens were held up by four giant pillars. They also warned sailors not to go too far away or they just might row off the giant rectangle called Earth. When the Queen of England heard this, she sent four ships south, north, east, and west to search for these ‘pillars.’ When they did not find any, because the world is in the shape of a sphere, the English questioned the Egyptians and the Egyptians told her the pillars must have been farther away than they predicted.
 
“When I want to understand what is happening today or try to decide what will happen tomorrow, I look back.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior (1841 - 1935)
 
“The history of the world is the record of man in quest of his daily bread and butter.” -Hendrik Willem van Loon (1882 - 1944): “The Arts” (1937)
 
“Our ancestors did without sugar until the 13th century, without coal fires until the 14th century, without buttered bread until the 15th century, without potatoes until the 16th century, without coffee and tea and soup until the 17th century, without pudding until the 18th century, and without gas and matches and electricity until the 20th century. Now, what was it that we were complaining about?” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “Sunshine Magazine”
 
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” -Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965))
 
“A people who cannot be bothered to study history, to preserve physical history, and to write and record history, will themselves be unknown to future generations. In purposefully disregarding the past, they ensure that they themselves will become forever forgotten with the passage of time.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
 
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana (Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás (1863 - 1952)): “The Life of Reason” (1905 - 1906), Volume I: ‘Reason in Common Sense’
 
“History repeats itself.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans (1819 - 1880)): “Scenes of Clerical Life” (1857); published anonymously in “Blackwood’s Magazine”
 
“History must repeat itself because we pay such little attention to it the first time.” -Blackie Sherrod (William Forrest ‘Blackie’ Sherrod (1919 - 2016))
 
“Maybe if we did a better job of listening, history wouldn’t have to repeat itself.” -Author Unknown
 
“History repeats itself, though less often than historians.” -Richard Norton Smith: ‘Our Literary Leaders,’ published in “The Weekly Standard” (28 March 2005)
 
“Every time history repeats itself, the cost goes up.” -Author Unknown
 
“History repeats itself. That’s one of the things that’s wrong with history.” -Clarence Darrow (Clarence Seward Darrow (1857 - 1938)): as quoted in Laurence J. Peter, editor: “Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time” (1977), page 248
 
“If history is going to repeat itself I should think we can expect the same thing again.” -Terry Venables
 
“If history does indeed repeat itself, then I want a pet dinosaur.” -Author Unknown
 
Donner: What island did Captain Cook discover in the Pacific Ocean in 1777?
Blitzen: Christmas Island.
 
“History, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in . . . I read it a little as a duty; but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all.” -Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)
 
Franklin: What did Paul Revere say as he passed a London barber shop?
Washington: “The British are combing, the British are combing!”
 
The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and Great Britain in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.
 
In the last 4,000 years of human history, only 268 years have been entirely free of war.
 
“History is a vast early warning system.” -Norman Cousins (1915 - 1990): as quoted in the “Saturday Review” (15 April 1978)
 
Erin: What ended in 1945?
Aaron: 1944?
 
Benjamin B. Franklin, president of Associated Clubs, Incorporated, had to arrange accommodations for Winston Churchill, grandson of the late prime minister, who was to be a guest speaker at one of his organization’s functions. Franklin phoned a hotel to make a reservation, saying, “I need a room for Winston Churchill.” “Uh, okay,” replied the clerk. “Who is this?” “Benjamin Franklin.” The clerk hung up.
 
On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on Earth’s Moon.
 
“Just think of it, whenever anyone ever says, ‘Last one to the Moon is a rotten egg!’ Neil Armstrong wins, every time, forever.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“There are only two classes of people who live in history: those who crowd a thing to its extreme limit, and those who then arise and cry, ‘Hold!’” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))
 
In 1978, Mary Hargrafen, also known as Sister Mary Carl, became the first nun with the rank of captain in the United States Air Force. She belonged to the order of the Sisters of Saint Francis.
 
Matilda: What do historians talk about when they meet?
Matthew: Old times, of course!
 
Question: What war ended with the fall of Saigon and in what year did it end?
Answer: The Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. When Saigon fell, the signal for all Americans to evacuate was Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” being played on the radio.
 
First Person: “I’m Henry the 8th. Who are you?”
Second Person: “I’m August the 12th.”
 
“The value of history . . . is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.” -R. G. Collingwood (Robin George Collingwood (1889 - 1943))
 
“If you want to see what the notable people of history were made of, simply look at your hands and feet, or your face in a mirror.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“Histories make men wise.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
 
“History . . . is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.” -Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794): “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (1872), page 72
 
“If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.” -Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677)
 
“The highways of history are strewn with the wreckage of nations that forgot God.” -Author Unknown
 
“They lived and loved and made beautiful things.” -Will Durant (William James ‘Will’ Durant (1885 - 1981)): “The History of Civilization”
 
“The time for extracting a lesson from history is ever at hand for those who are wise.” -Demosthenes (384 B.C.E. - 322 B.C.E.)
 
“The final lesson of history is, ‘Let’s never go back there again.’” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900))
 
“History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable.” -John W. Gardner (John William Gardner (1912 - 2002))
 
Born on Holidays
 
I often pause and wonder
     At fate’s peculiar ways,
For nearly all our famous folk
     Were born on holidays.

by Author Unknown
 
“The greatest lesson we can learn from the past . . . is that freedom is at the core of every successful nation in the world.” -Frederick Chiluba (Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (1943 - 2011))
 
“History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to wake.” -James Joyce (James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882 - 1941)): “Ulysses” (1922)
 
“By despising all that has preceded us, we teach others to despise ourselves.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830): “On Reading Old Books” (1821)
 
“History is the torch that is meant to illuminate the past to guard us against the repetition of our mistakes of other days.” -Claude Gernade Bowers (1878 - 1958)
 
“History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.” -Konrad Adenauer (Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (1876 - 1967))
 
“The Past: Our cradle, not our prison; there is danger as well as appeal in its glamour. The past is for inspiration, not imitation, for continuation, not repetition.” -Israel Zangwill
 
“Your personal history is a part of the history of the world.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“The past is no further away than the last breath you took.” -Robin Hobb (pseudonym of Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born 1952))
 
“A generation which ignores history has no past - and no future.” -Robert A. Heinlein (Robert Anson Heinlein (1907 - 1988))
 
“The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different . . .” -Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 - 1963)): “The Devils of Loudun” (1952)
 
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” -Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965))
 
“I think a secure profession for young people is history teacher, because in the future, there will be so much more of it to teach.” -Bill Muse
 
“Evaluation of the past is the first step toward vision for the future.” -Chris Widener
 
“It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts.” -Bill Vaughan (William Edward ‘Bill’ Vaughan (1915 - 1977))
 
“Happy the people whose annals are blank in the history books!” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)
 
“Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened but of what men believe happened.” -Gerald W. Johnson (Gerald White Johnson (1890 - 1980))
 
“Learning history is easy; learning its lessons seems almost impossibly difficult.” -Nicholas Bentley
 
“The causes of events are ever more interesting than the events themselves.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero (also known as Tully or simply Cicero (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))
 
“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” -Abba Eban
 
“Perhaps nothing has changed in the course of history as much as historians.” -Franklin P. Jones (Franklin Pierce Jones (1908 - 1980))
 
“If the world learned from history, how different both would be.” -Arnold H. Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow (1905 - 1998))
 
“The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down.” -A. Whitney Brown (born 1952)
 
“Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it.” -George Orwell (pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair (1903 - 1950))
 
Penny: Why aren’t you doing well in history?
Lenny: Because the teacher asks about things that happened before I was born!
 
“Not to know what has transacted in former times is to continue always a child.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero (also known as Tully or simply Cicero (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))
 
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” -Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 - 1963))
 
“Our history is not our destiny. . .” -Alan Cohen: as quoted in Eric Allenbaugh: “Wake-Up Calls: You Don’t Have to Sleepwalk Through Your Life, Love, or Career!”
 
“The past should be a springboard, not a hammock.” -Ivern Ball (1926 - 1992)
 
“When we read history, we find stories mainly of wars, politics, persecution, and crimes. What we seldom find are stories of farmers who fed entire nations, or seamstresses who made uniforms for marching bands and gowns for brides, or shoemakers who outfitted whole towns. The largely forgotten or untold stories of the people who actually built civilizations has been long neglected and ignored in favor of those who destroyed civilizations by persecuting and murdering the good and the innocent people. This is a gross error in human existence that needs to be corrected so that going forward into whatever future lies ahead for humankind, we get more farmers and fewer destroyers and evildoers, because we get what we focus on.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“Someday, we will all be ancient history.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“It takes people to make history, and people to record it.” -Author Unknown
 
“We cannot join in the rewriting of history to make it conform to our comfort and convenience.” -Claude Gernade Bowers (1878 - 1958)
 
“The main thing is to make history, not to write it.” -Otto von Bismarck (1815 - 1898)
 
“Give the historians something to write about.” -Propertius (about 45 B.C.E. - 15 B.C.E.)
 
We are MFOL! . . . scanning history for the humorous, the inspirational, and the educational . . . to shine a light on it for all the world to see . . .

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Words of William James Durant

2/24/2020

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Words of William James Durant
 
Perhaps the cause of our contemporary pessimism is our tendency to view history as a turbulent stream of conflicts - between individuals in economic life, between groups in politics, between creeds in religion, between states in war. This is the more dramatic side of history; it captures the eye of the historian and the interest of the reader. But if we turn from that Mississippi of strife, hot with hate and dark with blood, to look upon the banks of the stream, we find quieter but more inspiring scenes: women rearing children, men building homes, peasants drawing food from the soil, artisans making the conveniences of life, statesmen sometimes organizing peace instead of war, teachers forming savages into citizens, musicians taming our hearts with harmony and rhythm, scientists patiently accumulating knowledge, philosophers groping for truth, saints suggesting the wisdom of love. History has been too often a picture of the bloody stream. The history of civilization is a record of what happened on the banks.
 
-William James Durant: as quoted by John Little (at Will Durant Foundation) in, “The Gentle Philosopher” (2006)
 
William James ‘Will’ Durant was born on 5 November 1885 in North Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States of America. He became a historian and a writer. He is known for his works that include, “The Story of Philosophy,” and “The Story of Civilization.” He co-authored several written works with his wife Ariel Durant. William James ‘Will’ Durant passed on at 96 years of age on 7 November 1981 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States of America.
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What’s Up, Doc?

6/3/2019

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​“What’s up, Doc?” How did a man eating a carrot help to create one of the best-known cartoon characters of all time? In a scene from the romantic comedy, “It Happened One Night,” actor Clark Gable chewed on a carrot while situated next to actress Claudette Colbert. With the movie’s release in 1934, the incident became readily familiar to the public, and so, when people later watched the first cartoons showing the completely developed ‘Bugs Bunny’ character, which appeared starting on 27 July 1940, they easily recognized the parody, or humorously exaggerated imitation. As time passed by, the public largely forgot about the movie “It Happened One Night,” but the ‘wascawy wabbit’ it inspired lives on in their imaginations.
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From Candles to Soap

2/23/2019

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​From Candles to Soap
 
In 1879, the Procter & Gamble Company’s best-selling product was candles. But the company was in trouble. Thomas Alva Edison had invented the light bulb, and it looked as if candles would become obsolete. Their fears became reality when the market for candles plummeted and people bought them only for special occasions.
 
The outlook appeared to be bleak for Procter & Gamble. However, at this time, it seemed that destiny played a dramatic part in pulling the struggling company from the clutches of bankruptcy. A forgetful employee at a small factory in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America, forgot to turn off a soap-mixing machine when he went to lunch. The result was a frothing mass of lather filled with air bubbles. He almost threw the stuff away, but instead decided to make it into soap. The soap floated. This is the story of how Ivory soap was invented, and it became a central product of the P&G Company.
 
Why was the soap that floats such an in-demand item at that time? In Cincinnati, during that period, many people bathed in the Ohio River. Floating soap did not sink, and consequently, would not get lost in the river. Ivory soap became a best seller in Ohio, and eventually, all across the country. Quite by accident of a careless employee, it became the lifesaver of the Proctor & Gamble Company.
 
Like the folks of Procter & Gamble, you must never give up when things go wrong or when seemingly unsurmountable problems arise. Keep working, and put some creativity to work so that what seems like a problem situation is turned into your gold mine of good fortune.
 
To learn more about Ivory Bar Soap or to purchase it and other P&G Products, click on Proctor & Gamble.
 
We are www.MakeFunOfLife.net
, and we always strive to keep it clean . . .
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