What precisely is a “head of state”? In 1981, outgoing President Carter was able to inform the nation: In a few days I will lay down my official responsibilities in this office, to take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of President, the title of citizen. These lines descend… Continue reading #OTD 19 November – What is a head of state?
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#OTD 18 November – Ring, ring, how do you give me a call?
Our industrial revolutions so far are mechanization, mass production, automation and robotization. The fifth revolution, we keep telling ourselves, will be a rehumanization, an age when we all reap the benefits of these gains. Whether such optimism is justified, the one consumer durable for at least three of the ages and the one we will… Continue reading #OTD 18 November – Ring, ring, how do you give me a call?
#OTD 17 November – Lost causes
17 November is the feast day of St Gregory Thaumaturgus, patron saint of desperate, forgotten, impossible and lost causes. Gregory was born in Neocaesarea, now the city of Niksar in northern Turkey. The name “Neoceasarea” is a sensible adoption to keep the favour of the monarch, and so Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret… Continue reading #OTD 17 November – Lost causes
#OTD 16 November – Something old something new
When Justice Scalia’s son presided over his father’s funeral mass, one theme was the reconciliation of the old and the new. The goodness or badness of Scalia’s jurisprudence in the transience of politics to one side, this son of an immigrant rose to pre-eminence in the law with an adherence to originalism when approaching the… Continue reading #OTD 16 November – Something old something new
#OTD 14 November – The rippling effect of Alexander, Egypt and the Nile
Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the Nile” and the ancient Afro-Asian nation founded upon the mighty river has fascinated for millennia. The Guinness Book of Records has 14 November 1152 BC as the world’s first recorded strike. From what fragments there are, it appears that on this day, the artisans attached to the royal… Continue reading #OTD 14 November – The rippling effect of Alexander, Egypt and the Nile
#OTD 15 November – Nations within nations
History belongs to the victor and for the victor, a nation is a land where all the people are governed by the same government. The difficulty with this definition is that many peoples comprising history have steadfastly declined to be defined in such a way. 15 November is an apt day to celebrate this delicate… Continue reading #OTD 15 November – Nations within nations
#OTD 13 November
US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was born on 13 November 1856. His prevailing legacy is a concern for what he called “the curse of bigness” and doubtless his role as a co-inventor of the right to privacy will sustain his legacy for some time. That said, the mantle of “progressive” rests uneasy with the… Continue reading #OTD 13 November
#OTD 12 November
For centuries, the words “net” and “web” had involved the idea of capture. All this has changed in the Age of Information. In 1969 man landed on the moon and computer scientists sent the first message over what we now call the net. The word was meant to be “LOGIN”, the system crashed after two… Continue reading #OTD 12 November
#OTD 11 November – Lest we forget
The word “armistice” appears to have been coined by the French in the 17th century from the Latin words for “arms” and for “standing still”. The latter also gets into “solstice”, for when the sun seems to stand still. The Great War armistice was initially for 36 days and concluded: The present armistice was signed on the… Continue reading #OTD 11 November – Lest we forget
#OTD 10 November – A tale of two Churchills
“Celebrity” meaning being famous may have been invented by the 14th century poet Chaucer in his translation of a late Latin poem. It wouldn’t surprise me because he chose the same work to invent the word “twitter”. Fame lasts until you are forgotten. Celebrity is more ephemeral and a bit too popular, summed up well… Continue reading #OTD 10 November – A tale of two Churchills