Dream Prophecy, part 1
I still remember the date. It was the summer morning of August 15, 1987. I awoke from the most epic, vivid, and startling dream I ever had. I sat up in a daze, thinking of the images that had just marched past me. I knew this wasn’t an ordinary dream of random images. I knew that it actually meant something. And I didn’t have to sort through bizarre symbols to decode it. Everything I saw was literal and very real to me. … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
George H. W. Bush: Foreign Policy In His First Year
This is a college paper written in February 1990. It is a summary of President George Bush’s foreign policy in his first year in office. When he ran for president in 1988, George Bush ran on his resume. The experience which he cited included the ambassadorship to the United Nations, ambassador to China, CIA director, and vice-president. Those jobs all prepared him for a career in foreign policy. In his first year in office, President Bush did emphasize foreign policy, while primarily entrusting domestic affairs to Chief of Staff John Sununu, Budget Director Richard Darman, and Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady. … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
Jefferson, Thoreau, and King: Justice and Equality
I wrote this paper during my Senior year in college for an English course. I received an A in the class, so this paper must have earned a decent grade. It is dated July 25, 1990. Justice and equality are two ideals which Americans claim as of the foundations of the United States. It is ironic when looking back through American history to see how those who fought for such rights have been treated by mainstream America at the time. Three men who were dedicated to justice and equality in America were Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Each of these lived to promote equality, and left behind documents for generations to study. … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
In Defense of Foreign Aid
This is a paper I wrote during a summer session in my last few months in college. I still needed one lower level English course, so I took one during the Summer. I received an A in this class, so this paper must have earned a decent grade. It is dated August 22, 1990. A human feels the need to give to the less fortunate in the same way he may feel greed – both are instincts. Some devote their entire lives to helping needy people and some devote their lives to selfishness. It is interesting to note the way in which each are viewed when successful. A successful philanthropist is thought of as generous and kind, though not prosperous in an economic way. A “successful” miser is seen as … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
The Immigration Reform Act of 1986
This was my final term paper for a Political Science class in college, dated March 6, 1989. The Immigration Reform Act of 1986 was a five-year effort to make sweeping changes in United States immigration policy – the first since the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952. For the first time, U.S. employers were seen as much of the problem with immigration, and could be fined, or even face jail terms, for knowingly hiring illegal aliens. (Congress and the Nation, Vol.I, p.222) President Reagan, though not a key player in the bill, was the catalyst for action by making several proposals to Congress in 1981 on ways to fight the rising number of illegal aliens coming to the United States. Congress responded to his recommendations by sending the matter to their Judiciary … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
Random Quotes I Liked in 1989
Rewind to 1989. No internet for most people. The word “blog” simply didn’t exist. So how did we put our thoughts down in such primitive times? We wrote them down. Yes, I was a bigtime journal writer. Besides writing about the inane events of my life, I would often jot down quotes that jumped out at me. So here is a list of quotes gathered in my May-August 1989 journal that I recently discovered. Apparently I was watching a lot of Star Trek, news, and listening to The Doors. The are also some other random quotes I picked up in college at the time. Not all of the quotes are attributed. Maybe you know the origin? “I don’t need to hear what you don’t need to say.” Star Trek, The Next Generation, … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
Presidents ages when leaving office
As obvious as the information below is, I couldn’t seem to find some of it easily online. So if you’re looking for the ages of presidents when they left office, here is a good chart for you. For a discussion about how recent presidents have aged, take a look at this recent blog post. You can find the chart presidents here. … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
First time words appear online
From late 2004 to early March 2005, I was curious the first time certain words or phrases appeared online. I turned to the old Usenet archives and did my searches there, sorting my results chronologically and finding the earliest reference to each item. There is no logic to the terms I chose, but just whatever peaked my curiosity. Toward the end of the list you see “Year xxxx” in which I chose to search for that phrase instead of just the number of the year itself, which would have yielded random numbers. I also went back recently and spot double-checked this list to see if anything had changed. The only change I found was that “September 11, 2001″ had been mentioned in a prediction in 2000, and that post has since … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
Presidents age differently
I remember as a kid how people thought Jimmy Carter aged badly during his administration. I don’t know that he aged so bad, as much as his trademark smile was wiped off his face during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Recent thoughts of that made me want to go back and see how other recent presidents looked at the beginning and end of their terms. It does appear that being president ages some men more than others. … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
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