I visited Barcelona last month and I was rather impressed at the steps taken there to prevent Catalan from being squashed in favor of (Castilian) Spanish. The language has apparently recovered quite a bit a bit since its low point during Franco's reign. It's a tough call (it probably hurts the economy and trade as well)- but if preserving your heritage and culture is important, there is nothing more crucial than doing so through language.
I wish the Irish would greater embrace Irish Gaelic. There are chunks of speakers here and there, but I'm not sure there is critical mass. I haven't visited Scotland, but isn't it even worse there for Scottish Gaelic and Scots? (Can some native Irish and Scotsmen comment?) It's got to happen in the early years of the schools...
1. Grant gets a bad rap frequently. His ultimate success on the battlefield where many others failed is undisputed. Lee was an excellent general as well and deserves much esteem, but every one of his mistakes gets pushed off on the shoulders of a subordinate like Longstreet or Pickett. Lee respected Grant quite well.
2. Grant's drunkeness is greatly exaggerated. Early in his career there is some evidence of that, but it's also widely believed to have been played up by his immediate superior in Washington (Henry Halleck) who was jealous of Grant's success in the Western campaign.
3. There is no evidence of Grant being a drunk as president. He had a scandal plagued time in office, but was the result of Grant being a overly trusting person, who had put faith in the honesty of people working for him. Grant himself was honest beyond reproach. His over-trusting of others also bit him late in life when a financial partner swindled him. It was only the immense success of his memoirs (published after his death) that's Grant's family was saved from financial ruin.
4. Finally, it irks the hell out of me to see modern politically correct writers use the terms "BCE" and "CE". OK, I understand you may be of a different faith or athiest or whatever. That is your perogative. It is also your perogative to use whatever calendar system you wish. If you choose to use the Gregorian calendar, though, regognize that the date numbering system is based on the traditional (early) reckoning for the birthdate of Christ. Renaming "B.C." and "A.D." into "Before the Common Era" and "Common Era" is disingenuous when your "Common Era" is still defined by the traditional birthdate of Christ! You are still being Christ-centric in the end, so why obfuscate? Use B.C. and A.D. as people have for 2 millenia or pick your own system with a different "time zero"!
How about the Douaumont Ossuary, which contains the remains of about 130,000 French & German soldiers killed at the 1916 Battle of Verdun? It doesn't get more dramatic than that... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont_ossuary http://www.verdun-douaumont.com/en/index.html
or the U.S. Arizona Memorial, where rest over 1100 victims of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.S._Arizona_Memorial
HEET is just a brandname for "drygas" -- a bottle of alcohol that gets dumped in your car's gasoline tank in winter to keep the lines from freezing if you've got any water in the tank. Depending on which variant you buy, it will either be methanol or isopropanol. The isopropanol will cost more but work MUCH better in your gas tank. Can't comment in which works better in a stove.
So with all the beautiful buildings in Prague, there aren't any decent architects left in the country? They had to hire Papa Smurf to come over from London to design this piece of trash?
Yeah, I think a 1940s themed wedding would be OK (albeit corny), but declaring war and wearing a uniform as a costume rubs me the wrong way.
It isn't a Ferari (sic). It's a Lamborghini.
Sigh.
I wish the Irish would greater embrace Irish Gaelic. There are chunks of speakers here and there, but I'm not sure there is critical mass. I haven't visited Scotland, but isn't it even worse there for Scottish Gaelic and Scots? (Can some native Irish and Scotsmen comment?) It's got to happen in the early years of the schools...
1. Grant gets a bad rap frequently. His ultimate success on the battlefield where many others failed is undisputed. Lee was an excellent general as well and deserves much esteem, but every one of his mistakes gets pushed off on the shoulders of a subordinate like Longstreet or Pickett. Lee respected Grant quite well.
2. Grant's drunkeness is greatly exaggerated. Early in his career there is some evidence of that, but it's also widely believed to have been played up by his immediate superior in Washington (Henry Halleck) who was jealous of Grant's success in the Western campaign.
3. There is no evidence of Grant being a drunk as president. He had a scandal plagued time in office, but was the result of Grant being a overly trusting person, who had put faith in the honesty of people working for him. Grant himself was honest beyond reproach. His over-trusting of others also bit him late in life when a financial partner swindled him. It was only the immense success of his memoirs (published after his death) that's Grant's family was saved from financial ruin.
4. Finally, it irks the hell out of me to see modern politically correct writers use the terms "BCE" and "CE". OK, I understand you may be of a different faith or athiest or whatever. That is your perogative. It is also your perogative to use whatever calendar system you wish. If you choose to use the Gregorian calendar, though, regognize that the date numbering system is based on the traditional (early) reckoning for the birthdate of Christ. Renaming "B.C." and "A.D." into "Before the Common Era" and "Common Era" is disingenuous when your "Common Era" is still defined by the traditional birthdate of Christ! You are still being Christ-centric in the end, so why obfuscate? Use B.C. and A.D. as people have for 2 millenia or pick your own system with a different "time zero"!
Straight Talk from Sid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont_ossuary
http://www.verdun-douaumont.com/en/index.html
or the U.S. Arizona Memorial, where rest over 1100 victims of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.S._Arizona_Memorial