Monday, April 30, 2007

The Jerome Family - 1

Leonard Jerome made his first pile working for his uncle. He became a partner in his law firm in his hometown of Palmyra, New York.

It was a small town but it had one big attraction for Leonard: the Hall sisters. These sisters were Indian looking and rumors were that their grandmother had been raped by an Iroquois.

His brother and him both came calling. Leonard fell for Clara. Eventually both brothers married the sisters.

With Clara’s money, Leonard bought the Rochester Daily American. He was restless. He bought a telegraph company, too. In 1850 he quit the law firm, sold the newspaper, and moved the family to Brooklyn.

New York City satisfied Leonard Jerome’s desires. He immersed himself in the nightlife, the gambling, the racing, and the women. He befriended August Belmont, the American representative of the Rothschild banking empire. Clara stayed home and silently suffered.

Leonard could not see why his day life couldn’t be as exciting as his night life. He sold the telegraph company and plunged into the stock market. He sometimes combined business and politics. In the New Haven railroad scandal, he lobbied for and got a bill for railroad reform. This bill enabled him to get out of it a winner. “That damned fellow has figured out how to cash in on honesty!” a competitor cried.

In 1851 he was appointed U.S. Counsel to Trieste. Located between Italy and the Balkans, it was the Austrian Empire’s only seaport. In Europe, Clara got her first taste at a happier life. Europe’s elites did not impress the thoroughly American Leonard. “It is better to speak well in just one language than to chatter in five,” he said.

In 1853 he returned the family to the more adventuresome venue of New York City. There he met and fell in love with one of the most famous singing stars of the century, Jennie Lind. When his second daughter was born, on January 9, 1854 he insisted on naming her “Jeannette”. Months later Clara learned that her baby had been named after this other woman.

In 1859 he built his dream mansion on the southeast corner of 26th. Street near Madison Square. Clara had it designed in the best Napoleonic Paris style. It rose six stories high. The white and gold ballroom accommodated three hundred; the dining room seventy. Leonard’s attention was on the secondary buildings. His stable cost $80,000. Next to it his theatre seated six hundred.

At this time other wealthy families were building homes in the area. Delmonico’s Restaurant made its debut. So did the Fifth Avenue Hotel. It sported impressive innovations: a central heating system, “a perpendicular railway intersecting each story” (i.e. an elevator), and most startling of all – indoor toilets. Critics called them “not only unsanitary but immoral.”

The Civil War showed Leonard Jerome at his best. To seven year old Jennie Jerome, “I remember nothing about it, except that every little Southerner was ‘a wicked rebel’ to be pinched if possible.”

Leonard acquired a part interest in the New York Times. At the height of the Draft Riots in July 1863 he grabbed the latest in military hardware, a pair of gatling guns, and mounted them in the Times Building’s windows. The mob departed for easier pickings at the Herald Tribune.

Leonard made and lost enormous amounts of money. His womanizing and his gambling became increasingly notorious. As in business, he did not always win his battles. One day, while eating with his friend Belmont, he asked, “August do you remember Fanny’s celebrated ball?” Belmont replied, “Indeed I do. I paid for it”. Leonard slowly said, “Why, how very strange. So did I.”

“People like Belmont and Jerome do not enter Society, they create it as they go along,” a contemporary wrote.

They founded the American Jockey Club, an important event in the history of horseracing. They built the Jerome Racetrack, with seating for eight thousand, a luxurious clubhouse, with dining rooms, guest rooms, a ballroom, and facilities for other sports such as skating, trapshooting, polo, and sleighing. It was the biggest sports facility in the country up to that time.

Distinguished guests such as Ulysses Grant attended opening day on September 25, 1866. Leonard’s horse Kentucky won and in the winner’s circle twelve-year-old Jennie was hoisted on top of him. With the crowd’s applause flowing around her, it was one of the most memorable moments of her life.

Leonard’s play became larger. How about a race across the Atlantic, with a cool $90,000, winner takes all? It was done. He held the victory party at the Royal Yacht Squadron at Europe’s most famous resort, Cowes, on the English Channel.

By 1867 Clara had had enough. She took the children and left for Paris.
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Excerpt from a book in progress. Churchill Stories. (from Chapter 1.)

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Churchill's Origins - 2

4th. and 5th. Generations
The succession passed through their daughter Anne to their grandson Charles Spencer. They had quiet, diffident personalities. It was said that the magnificence of the Churchill legend hung heavily upon them. They maintained but did not add to the family legacy.

6th., 7th., and 8th. Generations
The next three dukes were profligate spenders. Under them debt began to tarnish the family legacy.

The third and fourth Dukes beautified the Palace. The gardens were a special achievement. They were great art collectors. Under them the estate reached its pinnacle of splendor and of debt.

9th. Generation
When George took over in 1817, the king granted permission to add “Churchill” back to the family name. Later, as Winston Churchill’s official biography puts it, “In more recent times the Churchills have tended to drop the Spencer from their surname.”

The 6th Duke brought the financial situation to a crisis. His irresponsible behavior led to charges of adultery, kidnapping, other lawsuits, and four marriages. Scandal and ruin threatened the Churchill legacy. By this time the Duke had to live in just a few rooms of his palace and close up the rest.

10th.Generation
John Winston, the 7th. Duke, set out to restore the Churchill situation. He was a serious man, and a deeply religious one. Sales of some of the palace treasures stabilized the Marlborough finances. He became active in Parliament. In a religious era, he made the religious state of the realm his priority issue. He became Lord President of the Council and a cabinet member in Lord Derby’s Third Administration. In 1868 Disraeli asked him to lead the Conservatives in the House of Lords.

The Churchill family was again a solid, established member of Europe’s nobility. They were normal. They were respectable. And John Winston intended to keep it that way. The family’s future depended upon solid conservatism both financially and socially, upon not making waves.

This is the situation in August, 1873 when Randolf bursts into the palace to announce that he has just met a most wonderful girl and he intends to marry her!

The Duke is away in Scotland but the Duchess naturally asks questions. Who is she? And more importantly, does she come from a good family? Randolf supplies such answers as he can.
Extract from a letter to his Father:

Blenheim [Palace]: Wednesday, August 20, 1873
Mr. Jerome is a gentleman who is obliged to live in New York to look after his business. I do not know what it is. He is reputed to be very well off, and his daughters, I believe, have very good fortunes, but I do not know anything for certain. He generally comes over for three of four months every year. Mrs. Jerome has lived in Paris for several years and has educated her daughters there. They go out in Society there and are very well known.
I have told you all I know about them at present. . . . .
Ever your most affectionate son,
RANDOLF
The Duke and Duchess are increasingly concerned. Then Randolf supplies Jennie’s picture. Shock!

Who is this American with the dark skin and the mysterious past? They will make inquiries! They will find out!

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Excerpt from a book in progress. Churchill Stories. (from Chapter 1.)

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Churchill's Origins - 1

When the first Duchess of Marlborough read the first history of the Churchill family just before her death in 1744, she wrote,

This History takes a great deal of Pains to make the Duke of Marlborough’s Extraction very ancient. That may be true for aught I know; But it is no matter whether it be true or not in my opinion. For I value nobody for another’s merit.
That last sentence carried her point. But the sentence immediately preceding it unintentionally revealed another. In just three generations the Churchills had come from nowhere to the top of society.

1st. Generation
When the first Churchill to enter our story was born sometime around 1600 the family was blacksmiths or something similar. John Churchill went to London and became a successful lawyer.

2nd. Generation
This enabled his son, Winston Churchill (the first one) to make an advantageous marriage with Elizabeth Drake. The Drake family had connections with the higher reaches of society. A century earlier, the family had included Sir Francis Drake, the buccaneer.

The Civil War broke out in 1642. The 21 year old Winston Churchill joined the king’s army. He fought for the king throughout the war. The cause was lost. Others deserted. Not Churchill. He fought on. As the king’s followers dwindled, he raised Churchill to the rank of Colonel.

By 1646 it is was all over. Defeat was total. In 1649 the king was beheaded. Oliver Cromwell ruled.

The discredited Royalist retired to the home of his mother-in-law, Lady Drake. The bad news for him was that he had to spend the next ten years living in his mother-in-law’s home. The good news was that she had supported Parliament and Cromwell in the war. Thus Winston got by and here a new generation of Churchills was born. John was born in 1650.

In 1660 came The Restoration. Charles II took back the throne. He remembered Winston Churchill, who had stayed with his father to the bitter end.

3rd. Generation
His son John was presented at court and granted a commission in the army. Over the next two decades John’s abilities at court and in the field propelled him to higher and higher levels of command. By 1674 he was Colonel. By 1682 he was a Lord; by 1685 a Baron, and Major General in the army.

In the Revolution of 1688 he supported William (the winner). In 1689 he was made a privy councilor and Earl of Marlborough.

Then came the fall.

John’s wife Sarah (the one quoted above) was Lady in Waiting to the Queen’s sister, Princess Anne. Throughout these years, John, Sarah, and Anne were close friends.

The King and Queen quarreled with the Princess and blamed the Churchills. All three were banned from the Court and from public life.

In 1702 everything changed. The King died. He left no children. The throne was vacant. Princess Anne succeeded to it. Also in 1702 the French launched their greatest bid for world domination until Napoleon a century later. When the Spanish Empire joined the French, it looked like nothing could stop them.

Marlborough was promoted from Earl to Duke and from Major-General to the head of the army and sent to the continent. Back in London, Sarah and Queen Anne, together with the Churchills’ close associate, Sidney Godolphin, ran the government.

Britain, The Netherlands, The Hapsburg Empire and lesser powers composed Marlborough’s Grand Alliance. Marlborough marched his army in daring thrusts and parries. He won every battle he fought; he captured every fort he besieged. Still, the French side was so strong that the war raged for 11 years.

At war’s end, grateful rulers throughout Europe showered gifts upon him for his deeds. He built the magnificent Blenheim Place in Woodstock.

John died in 1722 and Sarah in 1744.

---------------------------------------------
Excerpt from a book in progress. Churchill Stories. (from Chapter 1.)

Friday, April 27, 2007

Birth

Guns fired, bullets whizzed through the air, and Jennie fell. What kind of woman would go running around the countryside with a shooting party while in the last stage of pregnancy? The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough had to wonder.

That was not all. Even Lord Randolf wrote, “A rather imprudent and rough drive in a pony carriage brought on the pains on Saturday night.”

Imprudent, indeed! That wild, dark skinned American!

There’s more. Saturday was the St. Andrew’s Ball at the Duke’s Palace. She was not expected, to say the least. When she came down the stairs from her room holding a dance card, what could the Marlboroughs do? William Manchester in his biography of Winston Churchill writes, “She was actually on the floor, pirouetting, when the pains started.”

The servants took her out. They stumbled through the vast palace, down corridors, past drawing-rooms, then through the library “the longest room in England”. The quarter mile of red carpet was too much. She fainted.

They carried her to a room just off the Great Hall.

The pains continued that night and all Sunday. The lack of trains on a Sunday prevented the family doctor in London from coming. A local, country doctor came instead.

Lord Randolf wrote to Jennie’s mother (in the same letter),
“The country Dr is however a clever man, & the baby was safely born at 1:30 this morning after about 8 hrs labour. She suffered a good deal poor darling, but was vy plucky & had no chloroform. The boy is wonderfully pretty so everybody says dark eyes and hair & vy healthy considering its prematureness.”

Premature? The parents had been married that April. It was now November 30. So it must have been born prematurely! Though the baby didn’t look it. It was a fully developed baby!

Winston Churchill always enjoyed the controversy. “Although present on the occasion, I have no clear recollection of the events leading up to it.” The Marlboroughs were not amused. That wild woman! The Churchill family had not had such adventures since . . . . .
---------------------------------------------
Excerpt from a book in progress. Churchill Stories. (from Chapter 1.)

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Introduction

Sometime towards the end of third grade, I got sick. I was going to be confined to my bed for days. Dad moved the TV into my bedroom.

Did you ever notice that some things in life never vary? For instance, if you turn on the television set and it’s a really good program, then it’s just ending. -- Or if it’s bad, then it’s just starting. I think it’s the law.

Now, if you’re sick, and you have 24 hours to watch, all of the programs will be bad. -- Or the good ones will come on when you’re sleeping and end just as you wake up. It’s the law.
To keep me happy, Dad and Mom went to the library and brought me a bunch of children’s books. One of them was a picture book about Daniel Boone.

I read it. I couldn’t stop. This was just as good as the TV show (Disney’s Davy Crockett)! I watched the clock. I couldn’t help it. Inevitably, the big hand came to the half hour. I don’t know what I expected. Maybe the book would vanish in a cloud of dust or something. If the TV is showing something really good, it always ends when the big hand reaches the half hour. It’s the law.

Anyway, the big hand reached the half hour but I decided to cheat. I kept reading. Something would surely happen to make me stop, but until then the story would continue. Nothing happened, a momentous nothing.

I made two discoveries: (1) there are no time limits on reading and (2) history books are interesting. Reading a history book was as interesting as watching any TV show. And it didn’t end just as you started it, especially if you went to the adult section and got a really thick, big book! As a bonus, I didn’t get into trouble for reading!

In that first batch of books was “The World of Captain John Smith” by Genevieve Foster. I asked, “What is this?” My mom answered, “He’s a little like Davy Crockett, isn’t he?”
It’s all these years later and I can’t forget that book. Foster was a famous children’s author in the forties and fifties. She wrote what she called “horizontal history.” She took a person’s life and then wrote stories from around the world during the time that person lived. The person served as an anchor on which she based a general history of the world during that lifetime.
Within a short period of time, I had read every one of her books that I could get my hands on. She’s largely forgotten now. Such a shame!

For all these years I’ve wondered why anybody else didn’t pick up on this approach to writing history. And why was this just for children?

1964 marked a divide for me. My interest in history led to the history that was currently happening on television and in the newspaper. I followed the election news avidly. The years since have been “current events” to me. I remember watching them on TV or reading about them as they happened. Before 1964 was “history."

This volume is about that period just before that year of the divide. The man to anchor the story on is obvious.

In the 1890’s he was already famous in the fields of war, sports, and journalism. In the 1900’s he became one of the leading liberal reformers in the world. When World War I began, he was head of the British navy. When it ended, he was head of the British Army. In the Roaring Twenties he was head of the British treasury. In World War II he was one of “The Big Three” Allied leaders. In the Cold War he was Prime Minister and the world’s leading anti-Communist. He rounded out his career with the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He’s Winston Churchill.

He was one of the greatest writers of the century. His interest in painting led to close connections to the art world. Science, movies, sports, war -- his story touched all these areas.
Want a travel story? His escape from a South African prison and trip across the wilds of the continent established his reputation.

Want a crime story? As Home Secretary he oversaw Scotland Yard. Documentaries still show newsreel footage of him directing gun battles in London.

Want a love story? There’s his marriage, the topic of such movies as “The Gathering Storm” starring Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave. There’s also the abdication crisis when the king gave up his throne for the woman he loved. One man risked his career and his reputation for him: Churchill.

In addition to his individual qualities, there’s another reason why this volume will devote considerable space to Churchill’s immediate world and British affairs.

During this period of history Britain is the established, though fading superpower. The United States is emerging. After World War I, it again turns inward. Russia fades in and out, too. In 1904 it is licked by the Japanese. After World War I, it is consumed by the Revolution. Only in World War II does both powers come into their own. Britain is down but under Churchill it is not out. During this period, the British Empire was the major influence on world history and Winston Churchill was the major influence on Britain’s.

This story begins with the Victorian Age at its height. Europe dominates the world. In the United States, Wild Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid, Bat Masterson, and Wyatt Earp roam.
It ends with the Space Age and Vietnam.

Franklin Roosevelt once told him, “It’s fun just being in the same century as you.” With a new century, we can no longer say that. It’s just fun. That’s the attitude behind this book.

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Excerpt from a book in progress. Churchill Stories.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Another Planet Like Earth Discovered?

Discovering another planet like Earth is news. Big news. Really, really big. When one considers the rapid pace of technological progress, the possibility of travel to other stars becomes a real possibility. I’ve always believed that reality could catch up to science fiction when it comes to space travel.

Brief summary of known facts:

1) Planet lies 20 light years away.

2) It is 5 times as massive as Earth. This leaves a very big question: could humans survive for a lengthy time on such a planet? Could our hearts and other vital organs support bodies that weigh 5 times what they do now for indefinite periods of time?

3) It orbits a dim star known as Gliese 581 in the Constellation Libra. It is a Red Dwarf. That means that is much smaller than the Sun and puts out much less energy and light.

4) It orbits the star once every 13 days at a distance of 7 million miles. A Gliesean year would consist of just 13 days which would mean that every day would be a holiday. (What holidays would you propose get deleted from the list?)

5) To compare distances, the distance to the moon from the Earth is ¼ million miles. The distance to the Sun from the Earth is 92 million miles. The distance from the Sun to Venus is 67 million miles.

6) The planet’s temperature will be just right, ranging between 32 degrees and 104 degrees farenheit.

Here’s references from the press:


The New York Times

Yahoo News

Wikipedia

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Blogging Tartakower - 1

I like his pithy introductions to each game. Here’s a few taken at random.

Game: Yates – Gunsberg, Chester, 1914

The time spent in effecting a pawn capture of doubtful value often allows the enemy pressure to become irrestible. This is the painful lesson to be learnt from the very beautiful game that follows.

Game: Alekhine – Euwe, World Championship Match, 1935

A most tense struggle, in which the interest never flags, in spite of one or two missed opportunities, due perhaps to the importance of the occasion.

Game: Lasker – Rubenstein, St. Petersburg, 1914

There are rook endings in which the advantage of one or two pawns is not sufficient to ensure victory. But here is an endgame, apparently simple and, after Black’s 58th. move, with equal material on each side, in which a seemingly unimportant feature turns the scale in White’s favor.

Game: Burn – Tarrasch, Ostend, 1907

After lengthy, consolidating maneuvers on either side, White succeeds in winning a well-merited pawn, after which Black’s resistance quickly collapses. On the whole, a game won in simple but eloquent fashion.



Disclaimer: This gives you a picture of the book and an idea of what it costs. The fact that I will be compensated if you click on the link and buy the book turns this post into a semi-advertisement. I only will link to Amazon.com for books I actually liked.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Iraq and the Middle East

There needs to be more to politics than just being against George Bush. Here's a few questions Democrats and foreign opponents of Bush need to answer:

1) What will happen if the terrorists in Iraq win?

2) Particularly what will happen to the people of Iraq?

3) What makes you think that the killings will stop if they win?

4) Given the volume of killings that occured under Saddam Hussein's regime, do you think that the killings of Iraqis have increased or decreased since his overthrow? By how much?

5) About the Iraqi elections: the terrorist opposition have declared that they oppose them while the Iraqi people certainly went to great lengths to vote in them. Do you support the will of the people or that of the terrorists?

6) What do you think should be done to stop the terrorists from destroying Iraqi democracy?

7) About Afganistan: The Democrats are calling for a redeployment of forces from Iraq to Afganistan. How long after that event occurs do you think that the Democrats will be calling for a pullout from Afganistan, too?



Just curious if anybody who opposes the war will answer questions like these in any kind of meaningful way. My experience is that opponents seem to think that all that is necessary to understanding politics is to oppose whatever George Bush says.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

NASA Releases First 3d Pictures of Sun


The pictures were taken simultaneously from two different spacecraft. NASA believes that this new technology will help predict solar flares and other solar storms.

The twin spacecraft, launched in October, are orbiting the Sun, one slightly ahead of the Earth and one behind. The separation, just like the distance between our two eyes, provides the depth perception that allows the 3D images to be obtained.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Audits and the USCF

Today I put the following up onto the USCF Forum.

(Note: This thread splits off from a previous thread entitled, “Pension/Profit Sharing Plan Review Update”.)

I believe that the USCF needs to be much more aggressive in the management of its audits. The Administration disagrees. This is a philosophical disagreement on this issue. This should not be construed as an attack on any individual or anybody. Honest people can have honest disagreements. This is the case here. The purpose of this thread is for me to state the case for more aggressive management of audits and for those who wish, to present the case against it.

In the above thread, I stated:

5) I’ll repeat what I’ve said before. The USCF needs to manage the audit function more aggressively than it has done in the past. The Executive Board needs to meet with the auditors during one of its meetings in Crossville. Better audit management = less controversy on this forum and elsewhere. Less heartburn all around.

To which the following replies:

Mike Nolan wrote:

I've been at a meeting between the Board and the auditors, I doubt most of the current members of the Board (and most of the 10 candidates) would know what questions to ask in an audit exit interview, why should the USCF spend the money to send the full Board to Tennessee only about two weeks before they're going to be spending the money to send them somewhere else (wherever the US Open is?)

I've been on other boards where the auditors met with the board to discuss the audit, I have yet to hear ONE worthwhile question or gain one significant piece of information at such a meeting.

We've had the audit partner at the US Open at least once (Cherry Hill 2002 being the most recent), the questions were not very insightful, and I'm sure we got billed for the day.

Bill Goichberg wrote:

I agree with Mike Nolan that this would be a waste of time and money.

The case for more aggressive audit management rests in the endgame. We’re chessplayers. We know the significance of steering events towards a winning or a drawing endgame. Right now we are in a drawn position. Two sides on finances – one side says there’s a mess, there’s dirt, there’s this wrong, there’s that wrong; the other side says everything is fine and what’s not fine is being fixed. I want to see the USCF Management in a winning position, (think the Lucena Position, if that helps). One where most questions/criticisms but the most extreme can be answered quickly, decisively, and authoritatively.

Like chess, winning positions might be wished for but they MUST be worked for. I want management to know what financial areas have been looked at and how. There might be areas of concern that the auditors might not ordinarily consider. The Board can decide what areas are of special interest and what areas are not.

The Board can also be much more aggressive in managing audit costs. Just because some small minority is blowing gas on something does not mean the USCF needs to run up a large audit bill over it. When the Board deliberates and decides what areas are worthy of bringing to the attention of the auditors and what are not, then the Board is managing events instead of just reacting to them.

The Board can limit the scope of an audit. For example, a question was asked on a previous thread if any member can contact the auditors. I answered that there is no audit rule that prohibits the auditor from talking from anybody he wants. Trouble is that this can amount to a blank check for any malcontent to run up a bill on the USCF tab. The Board can set policies and limits on this kind of thing. Again, this comes under aggressive audit management.

To do all of this, the Board needs to meet with the auditors. If the Board comes to such meetings as unprepared and as ill equipped to pose the questions (as Nolan and apparently Goichberg, too, claim), then we need to get ourselves a new Board. There’s been audit related questions that have dominated these forums these past months. (Remember all the flap over whether or not the auditors examined the deed to the Crossville land?) I just don’t believe that Board meetings will be that unproductive. I think better of these people.

Let’s talk some more about audit costs. The USCF spends a huge chunk of change on audit costs. This is supposed to buy the USCF something: peace of mind about finances. This has clearly not happened. Management and leaders have had to spend huge amounts of time and heartburn (and money) over suspicions about finances. Clearly, the USCF has not got value for money paid. If an audit is going to have such little value to our deliberations than one must wonder why should we have an audit at all?

Summary: USCF leaders need to change their attitude towards the audit function. They ought to “buy-in” and “take ownership” of the issue. (Management buzzwords, I know, but they describe what needs to be done.) Then they will be equipped to meet future attacks quickly, decisively, and authoritatively.

Friday, April 20, 2007

A Great Writer: O. Henry


Last night I read a story by O. Henry before going to sleep. O. Henry is one of my favorite authors. I like his use of language best.

The story, titled “The Caballero’s Way” starts


The Cisco Kid had killed six men in more or less fair scrimmages, had murdered twice as many (mostly Mexicans), and had winged a larger number whom he modestly forebore to count. Therefore a woman loves him.
Now isn’t that just like it is real life? I don’t know why women always seem to go for the jerks but they do. Then they cry that there’s no nice guys around. They’re around. They’re the ones who can never get a date. They’re too nice.

Back to O. Henry. A Texas Ranger gets on the Kid’s trail. Where to find him? He looks up the Kid’s girlfriend. When he finds her,


The Cisco Kid was a vain person, as all eminent and successful assassins are, and his bosom would have been ruffled had he know that at a simple exchange of glances two persons, in whose minds he had been looming large, suddenly abandoned (at least for the time) all thought of him.
With an economy of words, and a whimsical turn of phrase, the writer gets his point across. Note how he advances the plot while also describing the differing feelings of three different people.

How does a writer go about describing a beautiful woman? How would you do so? Most of literature contains elaborate descriptions of the woman’s body, her complexion, her gentle manner, and so on. Here’s O. Henry:


As for Tonia, though she sends description to the poorhouse, let her make a millionaire of your fancy.
But back to the action. Twice a week the Ranger visits the girl, combining business with pleasure. No Cisco Kid.

Finally he shows up. But being careful, he sneaks up on the two and finds out that he’s become the third wheel on a two wheel cart.

Now you think you know the ending but you don’t? Too, bad. O. Henry was the master of the surprise ending. I won’t spoil it for you. I’ll leave you with


When the form of Sandridge had disappeared, loping his big dun down the steep banks of the Frio Crossing, the Kid crept back to his own horse, mounted him, and rode back along the tortuous trail he had come.
To find out the ending, go to the public library and check out his book. Here’s further info on O. Henry at Wikipedia.



If you’re like me and you’ve always wanted to add O. Henry to your personal library, I also left a link to Amazon.com here.
The Complete O. Henry

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Julius Caesar on Leadership


Here is a great essay on leadership.

Much can be learned from history that can have practical use for us in our everyday lives. The usefulness of great men and great events in history is that they are so large. When they succeed, their success is easy to see and the reasons are (mostly) easy to find. When they fail, same thing.

Julius Caesar (102 BC – 44 BC) was a politician first, a soldier second, and a writer third. He was a person of his era. When he learned that a military career was necessary to success in politics, he became a general and conquered France. He wrote books about his successes as a way to promote himself. After his conquests, he returned to Rome to discover that he had to still fight a civil war to win power. He finally won, became absolute master of Rome but was killed just as he started to consolidate his power.

He is interesting to history because he moved from politics to the military and back again. He had to manage people in order to succeed. The article relates various events to modern management theory

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Korchnoi vs. Kasparov, 1983

Victor Korchnoi Ponders His Next Move
Photo courtesy of Susan Polgar Chess Blog. Used with permission.

Recently, Dr. Stephen L. Jones responded to a question on the USCF Forum: what has he done wrong or poorly in his promotion and support of chess and what has he learned from his mistakes. This was his response.


In 1983, I and four others decided we would bid and try to have the Korchnoi-Kasparov candidates match in Pasadena. We agreed to split all unreimbursed costs. We then played our cards right, wined and dined Campomanes*, and were awarded the right to host the match. We obtained an agreement from Pasadena Community College to use its auditorium as the forum. Thereafter, everything went to hell in a handbasket.

Among the five, I was assigned to arrange for television coverage and obtain corporate sponsorships and contributions. No television company was even vaguely interested. I was all but laughed at. A couple of corporations expressed some interest, but eventually withdrew. We ended up with a total of zilch in corporate sponsorships and contributions. And the FBI even contacted me regarding some serious diplomatic problems with having Russians come to the Los Angeles area – it was still the cold war era. The five of us were on the hook for everything. The only significant contribution came from the USCF*, which gave $25,000, but we had to sign a release saying that they would not be responsible for a single penny more.

It looked like the five of us would be solely responsible for the payment of several hundreds of thousands of dollars. I considered refinancing my house. Then, the Russians refused to allow Kasparov to participate. I regret to say that that Russian decision saved our bacon. We were only responsible for the reduced prize fund to Korchnoi and for his expenses. We were out only $50,000.

Apparently, the Russians believed that they had the clout in FIDE* to vacate the default and to re-instate Kasparov into the candidates cycle. They had miscalculated. In order to re-instate Kasparov, Campomanes required Russia to reimburse us and the USCF. But their payments went to the USCF, who refused to give us our share. The USCF claimed that the release we had signed excused them from having to give us our money. The USCF claimed that the release gave them a right to steal.

Eventually, under threats of litigation, the USCF paid us some of the money it received from FIDE. But only after it had taken out its entire $25,000. Finally, the Russians were still $5,000 short of fully compensating us. In exchange for forgiving the last $5,000, they offered to pay for two young Americans to come to a high level chess camp in Russia. We agreed and selected the two players. The USCF took the entire credit for sending the players to Russia. To this day, I do not know if these two players really know who selected them and paid for their trip.

It was an eye-opening learning experience in the general American disinterest in chess, in the general disinterest of American corporations to contribute to or sponsor chess, and in the manner in which the USCF sometimes conducted its business. For example, until now, was anyone in this forum even aware of any of these facts?

I learned to be realistic and never to underestimate the American public’s disinterest in chess. Unfortunately, we chessplayers have a myopic view of what the rest of America thinks of us. I learned never to underestimate the American corporate disinterest in sponsoring chess. There are some potential sponsors out there, but they are very hard to find and, when found, should be treated with utmost deference and respect. And I learned that the USCF sometimes did not operate fully above-board. If ever I had the chance, I vowed to require that there be full disclosure of all the USCF dealings. As I recently posted in the thread on Open Record Requests, that is required by Illinois law anyway. And I hoped that someday, someone would be on the board with the qualifications to help explain a little about the law and fair play.


by Stephen L. Jones. Used with permission.


* Editor’s Notes: Florencio Campomanes was the President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). USCF = United States Chess Federation.


The author is a candidate for the USCF Executive Board. The forum question was asked of all of the candidates. He has a doctorate in Mathematics, a master rating in chess, and is a lawyer in California.

Thank you Stephen Jones for sharing this piece of chess history. And a belated thank you for all you went through to support chess and to try to make the world a better place.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

My Book - Installment 2




This is the second half of the introduction to the book that I am working on. The first half is here.






In that first batch of books was “The World of Captain John Smith” by Genevieve Foster. I asked, “What is this?” My mom answered, “He’s a little like Davy Crockett, isn’t he?”

It’s all these years later and I can’t forget that book. Foster was a famous children’s author in the forties and fifties. She wrote what she called “horizontal history.” She took a person’s life and then wrote stories from around the world during the time that person lived. The person served as an anchor on which she based a general history of the world during that lifetime.

Within a short period of time, I had read every one of her books that I could get my hands on. She’s largely forgotten now. Such a shame!

For all these years I’ve wondered why anybody else didn’t pick up on this approach to writing history. And why was this just for children?

1964 marked a divide for me. My interest in history led to the history that was currently happening on television and in the newspaper. I followed the election news avidly. The years since have been “current events” to me. I remember watching them on TV or reading about them as they happened. Before 1964 was “history."

This volume is about that period just before that year of the divide. The man to anchor the story on is obvious.

In the 1890’s he was already famous in the fields of war, sports, and journalism. In the 1900’s he became one of the leading liberal reformers in the world. When World War I began, he was head of the British navy. When it ended, he was head of the British Army. In the Roaring Twenties he was head of the British treasury. In World War II he was one of “The Big Three” Allied leaders. In the Cold War he was Prime Minister and the world’s leading anti-Communist. He rounded out his career with the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He’s Winston Churchill.

He was one of the greatest writers of the century. His interest in painting led to close connections to the art world. Science, movies, sports, war -- his story touched all these areas.
Want a travel story? His escape from a South African prison and trip across the wilds of the continent established his reputation.

Want a crime story? As Home Secretary he oversaw Scotland Yard. Documentaries still show newsreel footage of him directing gun battles in London.
Want a love story? There’s his marriage, the topic of such movies as “The Gathering Storm” starring Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave. There’s also the abdication crisis when the king gave up his throne for the woman he loved. One man risked his career and his reputation for him: Churchill.

In addition to his individual qualities, there’s another reason why this volume will devote considerable space to Churchill’s immediate world and British affairs.

During this period of history Britain is the established, though fading superpower. The United
States is emerging. After World War I, it again turns inward. Russia fades in and out, too. In 1904 it is licked by the Japanese. After World War I, it is consumed by the Revolution. Only in World War II does both powers come into their own. Britain is down but under Churchill it is not out. During this period, the British Empire was the major influence on world history and Winston Churchill was the major influence on Britain’s.

This story begins with the Victorian Age at its height. Europe dominates the world. In the United States, Wild Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid, Bat Masterson, and Wyatt Earp roam.

It ends with the Space Age and Vietnam.

Franklin Roosevelt once told him, “It’s fun just being in the same century as you.” With a new century, we can no longer say that. It’s just fun. That’s the attitude behind this book.

Monday, April 16, 2007

The Left's Rush to Judgement

The "News Observer" of Raleigh/Durham North Carolina has told the detailed story of the Duke Lacrosse Case. This story is important because it shows how much politics can play a part in criminal cases.

Summary: Some privileged white kids at Duke University had a party where they invited a stripper. The stripper later claimed she had been raped. Since she was black, the story took off as a race thing. The athletes were immediately judged to be guilty by the liberal establishment, including the University faculty, “Civil Rights” leaders, (I use quote marks because in cases like this, they act more as Black Power leaders), and the rest of the left wing including the media. The District Attorney, Mike Nifong was in a tough election in the Democratic Primary. He used the case to win the election. Problem was, the athletes were innocent.

Conclusion: The story tells a lot about the reasons why people leap to conclusions. Partisanship and ideology aren’t the least of them.

And in Other News: Don Imus apologized to Al Sharpton for a racial slur. Sharpton, like Nifong, became famous for a fake racial rape story. After the Tawana Brawley affair was exposed as a fraud, Sharpton was sued but escaped the conseqences when a benefactor paid his judgement for him. Now he's a radio DJ who's prominent in the Civil Rights Movement.

Prediction: Mike Nifong gets disbarred and ends up as a radio DJ, too. While he probably does not do as well as Sharpton, he does equal radio DJ G. Gordon Liddy. (Liddy is the Conservative Republican, who masterminded the Watergate Scandal that ended Richard Nixon's presidency.)

Sunday, April 15, 2007

The British Navy After the Gulf Affair

It was for centuries the greatest force in the world. Today it is a laughingstock. Here is the best summary of what happened. Pay particular attention to the force and deployment information at the bottom of the article.

What is significant is not only the cuts in the shipping; but what ships are being cut. The best ships are going because they are the most expensive.

Projected amounts for surface ships are 13 frigates and 6 destroyers of which 13 ships will be in mothballs.

Why this is important: For the first time since World War I, the US Navy will be on its own. The famous British Mediterranean Fleet is gone. The Home Fleet is gone. The Far East Station and all the rest are gone. The navies of our potential friends are declining; the navies of potential adversaries are rising. China may be the biggest naval threat in the 21st. century. It is the one that is expanding the fastest and furthest.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

From the USCF President

Some people say that the USCF is loosing money and providing less service to members. We don't know that USCF will lose money this year, though it is possible. We are a very seasonal business, and a nine month loss which includes our four worst months does not prove there will be a twelve month loss.

Since its financial low point in the summer of 2003, USCF has shown a cumulative surplus of over $500,000.

As for "providing less to its members,"

In 2003, most tournaments took a month or more to rate. Today most are submitted online and are rated in less than a day.

In 2003, rating report errors had to be corrected manually and the office had a backlog of more than a year in making these corrections. Today not only are the corrections done quickly, but the opponents of the corrected players are also appropriately corrected.

In 2003, many tournaments were rated out of chronological order, which distorted the true ratings. This situation is now corrected by the regular use of rerating.

Chess Life has been redesigned and its appearance significantly improved.

We now have a USCF website which, even though the redesign is unfinished, has substantial chess content.

We again have a scholastic publication after several years without one, and Chess Life for Kids is an improvement on the old School Mates.

We now have a USCF Issues Forum which allows members like you to post how terrible the Federation is and allows other members to discuss issues with each other.

We just went through a 6 month period in which adults could join or renew for only $39, the lowest dues since 1994. Even today, adults can join/renew online for $41, just $1 more than the 1995 cost.

We have restored the Tournament Membership, and for most tournaments, non-members can pay $10 rather than the old requirement of $49 or $27.

The result of all the above is that during the six month period from 9/1/06 through 2/28/07, USCF had the fourth largest membership increase of any six consecutive months in the Federation's history, and the largest increase in adult members for any 6 month period since 1994.

By Bill Goichberg, President of the USCF. Used by permission.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Last Minute Tax Tips

Yes, I do taxes for a living. Here’s a few last minute tips for you procrastinators out there.

  • Deadline is April 17 not April 16. Quirk in law gives you one extra day.
  • Request an extension if you still need one. You can get an automatic six month extension to October 15 by filing Form 4868. Do it by the April 17 deadline.

Deductions

  • You can still do an IRA for last year. You need to do it by the deadline, though. The limit is $4,000. If you own a company you have more options, like a profit sharing plan.
  • Don’t forget your auto mileage deduction. For 2006 the rate is 44.5 cents per mile for business. This can really add up.
  • If you owe money, try to pay as much of it as possible. If you can’t, you may call the IRS and request a payment plan.

And if you still need help, get hold of me through my business web site.

Okay, that last sentence was a blatant advertisement. (Grin!)

Happy taxes!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Privatizing the Space Age

Photo of Genesis I, Bigelow Aerospace's Prototype Space Station, now in orbit.
.

Space is not for just big government anymore. Flying somehow under the big media radar a major turning point is being passed in the Age of Space. Private companies are sending space stations into space.

According to the Washington Post yesterday, “Private space exploration took a potentially significant step forward this week as Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace announced plans to send a series of inflatable space stations into orbit over the next decade.”


The announcement comes at a heady time for private space entrepreneurs. The rocket company SpaceX, founded by Pay Pal billionaire Elon Musk, had its most successful test launch to date last month. Voters in New Mexico this month passed a referendum to raise taxes to help build a spaceport for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism company.

This is historic. For the first half century of the Space Age, Space has been primarily a government activity. Because of this, space exploration has been subject to the vagaries of politics and partisan pressures. The advent of private enterprise in both the launch of vehicles but the maintenance of complexes in orbit (as opposed to just satellites), means several things.

  • Costs are coming down.
  • Exploration and development decisions can be more free of government constraints than before.
  • Competition will motivate business to lower costs and improve performance.

"We think the time will come when orbiting space complexes won't be considered a novelty, but a necessity," said Bigelow's president, Robert Bigelow, who made a fortune as founder of Budget Suites hotel chain.


"When the first satellites went up, they were a novelty, too," he said. "Now they are a major business with enormous commercial importance. This is a logical next step."


With spaceports, launch vehicles, satellites, and now space stations, the privatization of space launches a new era for all mankind.



Here is further information.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

What Was Early Earth Like?

The planet is about 4.5 billion years old. It was very hot. Within just a few million years – say 4.3 billion years ago, it had cooled to about where it is today. That is Earth had a landscape that would roughly be familiar to us.

According to LiveScience,

Mark Harrison, a geochemist at UCLA, suggests picturing a sandy beach near sparkling blue water with a blue sky above ... and lots of volcanoes.


The full story will be in the May 6 issue of the journal Science.

Early life gave the Earth a different color. Early plants were purple, not green.

Plants today use a molecule called “chlorophyll” to take the Sun’s rays and Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, and convert it to Oxygen. The process is called “photosynthesis.” Chlorophyll gives plants their green color.

Early plants used retinal. This molecule made the plants purple.

Here is the story from LiveScience.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Britain’s End: Maybe not.

Here’s an interesting article in the in the Chicago Sun Times. 15 sailors got captured and were returned last week. Yesterday, I wrote about sailors behaved; how the military behaved; and how the political leaders behaved. This article indicates that the British people behaved badly, too. But there are signs that this incident may be causing them to “snap out of it.” I sure hope so.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Britain: End of a World Power?


HMS Victory, photographed in 1885.
This was the flagship of the fleet that destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

15 British sailors were captured off the coast of Iraq while engaged in naval operations. Their ship, the frigate HMS Cornwall was miles away. The sailors were taken to Iran and put through the usual Iran hostage treatment. The sailors cracked wide open. They condemned Britain and thanked their Iranian captors at every opportunity and without prompting. The word to best describe their behavior was “loquacious”.

They were released last Friday. They came home to lucrative media deals. In them they said they were in fear of their lives and so on.

In other news, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) refused to air a story about a genuine war hero because it was too positive about the war according to “The Telegraph”, one of the main British newspapers.
“Private Johnson Beharry's courage in rescuing an ambushed foot patrol then, in a second act, saving his vehicle's crew despite his own terrible injuries earned him a Victoria Cross.
"For the BBC, however, his story is 'too positive' about the
conflict."
They were afraid that broadcasting a positive story about the war would anger the vast majority of the viewers because they were against it.

Those are the basic facts of the events of the last few weeks.

One is reminded of the military truism that it takes centuries to build a tradition but only a little while to destroy it. Britain may no longer be a world power. It may have lost the will to be one. I hope that it gets it back.

The problems with these events:

1) Why did the British Navy let their sailors get captured in the first place?

2) Why did the captives go out of their way to suck up the Iranians?

3) Why did these same captives get lucrative media deals back in Britain, while heroes with far more interesting stories get shut out?

Meanwhile, the British government is making the most drastic countries in the country’s history. A century ago Britain’s policy was to have a navy that was larger than the next two navies combined. Soon, the British navy will be the size of Belgium’s. Britain will be inconsequential as a naval power.

This is sad. Britain for centuries was a power for good in the world. I fear that is now just a memory.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Happy Easter


It is that time of year again for celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is also that time of year for the usual nuttiness.

Susan Polgar summed up the spirit of the day in these politically correct times on her blog today. “For those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter! For those of you who do not, Happy Sunday! And for those of you who do not like Sundays, Happy Blogging! :)”

It’s also the time where people question the basic principles of Christianity. Over at the Washington Post, yesterday’s question was something like , “Would you still be a Christian if Jesus Christ’s body were proven to have been found?”

The obvious answer is, “Of course not.” A simple “no” gets full credit, too. The Bible’s position is so clear that Jesus rose from the dead, that to disbelieve it is to question the whole Bible. If this were not true, then what can we believe?

There is another weird view going around that people can believe that Jesus was a great teacher but he was not God. Really? What made him such a great teacher?

He taught that men should love one another? Big deal! Lots of contemporary teachers taught that. Teachers had been teaching that for centuries before he appeared on the scene. So, what made Him so special, anyway?

It was this: He said people should do the things He told them to do because He was God. That was it. As scholar after scholar has pointed out (attempting to debunk Christianity), there was very little in Jesus Christ’s teachings that was new. Scholars can trace most moral precepts to other religeions before his time.

Which brings us to the dilemma that Christian debunkers face: if He was not God, then what was it that made him a great teacher?

More pointedly, if He was such a great expert on the subject of religion, then how could He screwed up claiming to be God? If one believes that claim to be mistaken, then isn’t that a rather large mistake?

It’s like if I claimed to be a Grandmaster of Chess but when I sat down to play a game, I had to ask which way the little horsie moves. Some Grandmaster! Some teacher!

Much of the skepticism of Easter is very fashionable; it is not very rational.

Happy Easter! It really did happen.

Invisible Cloak in Development

Scientists have worked out the principles for creating a cloak of invisibility. Their model will use pins to bend light.

"It looks pretty much like fiction, I do realise, but it's completely in agreement with the laws of physics," said lead researcher Vladimir Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.

"Ideally, if we make it real it would work exactly like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak," he said. "It's not going to be heavy because there's going to be very little metal in it."

At the moment their big problem is that their design will bend only one frequency of light at a time. One can still see the object through the rest of the colors in the spectrum. To make a true cloak of invisibility, it will have to block out ALL of the colors. Blocking out the infra-red and ultra-violet would be a nice touch, too.

"How to create a design that works for all colours of visible light at the same time will be a big technical challenge, but we believe it's possible," Prof. Shalaev said. "In principal it's do-able."

Here is the news story. And here is his website.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

More on Chess Books

As I said yesterday, I believe that when it comes to chess and book learning, it is better to know a few books in depth than many books normally. Here’s my chess library:

For knowledge:

Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman
Chess Endings by Jeremy Silman
Mastering the Chess Openings by John Watson


To practice analyzing moves, a couple cheap Fred Rienfeld books
1001 Checkmates
1001 Chess Sacrifices


Collection of Master Games
500 Master Games of Chess by S. Tartakower
1953 Candidates Tournament by Bronstein


That’s it. I figure if I know these books thoroughly, then I will be good to go. Right now I’ve been journeying through 500 Master Games.

Friday, April 6, 2007

Chess Books: Beware!

Don’t buy too many books on chess. Years ago, I had an extensive library of chess books. It was easier to buy these books than it was to read them. In order to really read a chess book, one has to use a board and pieces (or a computer) to follow the moves. Then one has to understand the moves, too. This requires considerable care and thought. Chess moves punctuate the battle of ideas. These ideas may be strategic in nature or they may be tactical. Strategy is best expounded upon by words, supplemented by variations of analysis. Tactics is best expounded by variations of analysis, supplemented by words. In any case, this is technical material, enjoyable, but still technical.

A book on chess is hard to read – right. Years ago, I read most of the books in my collection once. I did not think about what I was reading much, nor did I do much analyzing with a chess set. Thus, I got only a fraction of the value out of the book.

I think that it is better to know a few books well than to know many books slightly. Here’s a collection of games that I am journeying through now. I like it because it gives a good overview of what games at the master level are like up to the 1930’s. I don’t mind that it is not up to date so much. If I could play as well as Tartakower and his colleagues, I would feel okay.



Disclaimer: The fact that I will be compensated if you click on the link and buy the book turns this post into a semi-advertisement. I only will link to Amazon.com for books I actually liked.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Joan of Arc's Final Humiliation


The National Geographic Society reported today that the bones of Joan of Arc is really an Egyptian Mummy. Joan of Arc was the most famous person in Europe at the time she died in 1431. She had taken charge of the French Army and had turned the 100 Years War around. Even though she was burned at the stake, her remains must have received high level attention at the time. According to the NG story, they were discovered above a Paris drug store in 1867. How did they disappear to begin with? How did those in authority decide they were genuine in 1867?

Between then and now, the burnt bones have resided in a church in Normandy. Scientists exhumed them and studied them. Carbon dating showed that their age went back to the 6th. century BC. Pieces of cloth showed that the bones had been part of a mummy and pine resin on the cloth took the scientists to Egypt.

So the mystery deepens. What did happen to Joan’s bones? How did a mummy from Egypt of all places make it to Paris and get confused with her? If this was a hoax, wouldn’t it have been easier to just use some anonymous body from a local cemetery?

Joan had been such an amazing person; she had been so courageous; she deserved better.



painting circa 1485 from Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

European Chess Championship Underway

The biggest chess event in the calendar began yesterday. The 11 round Swiss has over 600 participants from 43 countries. Many of the top Grandmasters in the World are competing for the title in Dresden, Germany. The games will run through April 16th.

Here is the official tournament web site.

Not only is this a chance for the participants to qualify for the World Championships but also to win the highest ever prize fund in an Individual European Championship. (200,000 Euro in total.)

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

On Saturn's Moon

“Titan Lake in a Haze”
Artwork by Kees Veenenbos.
Copyrighted by Kees Veenenbos. Used by permission.

I think that the most demanding branch of art today has to be depictions of astronomy. The artist has to know about the scientific attributes of his subject and then he has to use those attributes to imagine an object in space. All this in addition to the usual artistic concerns about color and presentation makes this a most demanding art form.

Kees Veenenbos is one of the world’s premier artists. His art has been featured in major magazines and television shows the world over.

The picture above invites you to imagine standing on Titan, the large moon of Saturn. You are looking at a lake of liquid methane. The color of the sky is the result of the composition of the atmosphere (yes, Titan is big enough to have one) and the light conditions. The temperature is incredibly cold – near absolute zero. The South Pole on Earth would be sultry in comparison.

In my own mind, I imagine constructing a small sail boat to go onto the lake. But where would the materials come from? These kinds of thoughts are the lure of space art to me. These works are an invitation to imagine.

---------------
For further information see Mr. Veenenbos' work at www.space4case.com.

Monday, April 2, 2007

490 B.C: Interesting Times


300 is a popular movie right now. It depicts the famous battle in 490 B.C. where 300 Greeks held off an army of Persians. Apart from the blood and gore, this was an interesting period in history.

The Persians had conquered the Middle East including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, and modern Turkey. Where to expand next? To their south lay the Indian Ocean. To their north lay the Gobi Desert and the nomadic lands of Central Asia. To their immediate east lay the Himalayas, while to the southeast lay the riches of India. Their best bet would probably have been to go there. But when they looked to their west, the Mediterranean beckoned. It was a waterway of trade.

The Phoenicians and the Greeks competed for the business. Both established colonies in the lands to the west. Syracuse in Sicily was the crown jewel for the Greeks; Carthage in north Africa for the Phoenicians.

To sweeten the deal for the Persians, Phoenicia was part of their empire. But what really got things going was when the Greek colonies in Persian territory revolted against the Persians. The Persians crushed the revolt and then decided to conquer Greece. At the same time, Carthage attacked Syracuse in the west.

Had the Greeks lost the war, the world would be a far different place now.

Meanwhile in the rest of the world, Confucius was nearing the end of his career as a government official in China. The founder of Buddhism was preaching in India. Interesting times.



I am currently reading Herodotus. This is the first historian - and one of the most interesting. His history is still the primary source of this era.

Disclaimer: The fact that I will be compensated if you click on the link and buy the book turns this post into a semi-advertisement. I only will link to Amazon.com for books I actually liked.



Sunday, April 1, 2007

Government Control Over Accounting?


Here’s an article that you should read. Here’s why this matters.

The accounting rules have been developed by an independent body, The Financial Accounting Standards Board. Members come from accounting, and leaders from business leaders and the general public. The accounting standards have many problems, not least of which is that there is too many of them. But at least they make sense.

Compare to the income tax code. The problem is not just that the code originates from the government, it is what the government uses to drive the code: politics. The income tax code is not effort to arrive at some economic truth for what is best. It is the result of political manipulations.

The accounting standards at least try to arrive at the best and most truthful way to keep score. Transferring the power from an independent body to the government will inevitably lead to politically driven standard setting. This will be bad for everybody.