History

  • History,  Russia,  Soviet

    The Great Siberian Ice March

    Somehow I wound up on this page on WikiPedia and found it fascinating. During the Russian Civil War in the late teen and early 20s, the Red Army was chasing the White Army across Siberia, specifically Lake Baikal had to escape across the frozen lake in sub-zero temperatures.

    the Arctic winds that blow unobstructed across the lake froze many in the army and their families to death. The bodies remained frozen on the lake in a kind of tableau throughout the winter of 1919 until the arrival of summer, when the frozen figures and all their possessions disappeared in 8,000 feet of water.

    Does anyone know of a good history of the Russian Civil War? I don’t know of any notable works on the topic.

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  • Cycling,  History,  Links,  Photography,  Quotes

    Quick tab clearing round up

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  • Cycling,  History,  Movies,  Tech

    Short 2006 best of list

    • Best New Movie – The Departed
    • Best Book – Truth Imagined by Eric Hoffer
    • Best TV Show – The Shield
    • Best Old Movie Seen For the First Time – Tie – The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman) / The Testament of Dr Mabeuse (Fritz Lang) / The Big Sleep (Bogart/Bacall). Only The Big Sleep is in English, where as the other two are probably much better off being subtitled. All three are from the 30s and 40s.
    • Best New Gadget – Garmin Street Pilot – I never get lost anymore
    • Best New General Interest Site – DamnInteresting.com
    • Best Concert – Prince – though to be honest I didn’t see that many in 2006
    • Best New Band discovered – Freakwater – I have no idea how I managed to not know about them until this year, they’re perfect for me.
    • Biggest physical accomplishment – Biking the entire Silver Comet Trail – 126 miles – in one day with no rest and very few stops for water and such. It did take forever
    • Biggest professional accomplishment – staying in business for another year I suppose
    • Biggest artistic accomplishment – successfully finishing two whole songs, and actually doing open mic nights
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  • Biz,  Cartoon Wars,  History,  Libertarianism,  Tech

    Quick Saturday afternoon round up

    1. Baltic Crusades – on WikiPedia. Interesting.
    2. Tips for startup companies
    3. The torn up credit card application – this is scary – get a shredder now.
    4. An interesting article about the self-described “The Hell with them Hawks.
    5. Interesting post from Marginal Revolution about inherent tensions in libertarianism.
    6. Borders is refusing to stock a magazine that is showing the Mohammed cartoons. More here and here.
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  • BigThink,  History,  Iraq,  Russia

    Interesting from the Belmont Club

    Whilst perusing Wretchard’s thoughts on the current state of Iraq

    Philip Bobbitt argued in his book, the Shield of Achilles, that Napoleon’s strategic revolution consisted in fielding armies so large that any sovereign who opposed him would, in matching the size of his force, be compelled to wager the entire State, and not simply a wedge of territory in confronting him. Napoleon’s campaigns were designed to kill enemy armies — and thereby enemy states. What Napoleon failed to realize in his 1812 campaign against Russia was that the Tsarist state was so primitive that the destruction of its army simply did not mean the corresponding demise of its state. Like the proverbial dinosaur of pulp fiction, Russia had no central nervous system to destroy and lumbered on, like the bullet-riddled monster of horror stories, impervious to the Grand Armee. What Russia had on its side was chaos as epitomized by its savage winters.

    Saddamite Iraq, like most terrorist-supporting states threatening the world today, are like the landscape of 1812 in that they were cauldrons of anarchy given a semblance of shape by fragile, yet brutal shroud-like states.

    Most of what I’ve read actually suggests that Napoleon’s brilliance was in organization of his armies, not his actual command or tactics. In Russia, he was captured by not seeing a qualitative difference between Russia and the rest of Europe. Unlike the Nazi Germany, (who did see Russia accurately, but bungled the strategy) the problem was that he did not conceive of Russia properly.

    Needed – software that helps in conception via clever use of 3D motion graphics.

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  • History,  Weirdness

    Quote of the moment

    Kin Hubbard

    Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.

    and

    From The Corner

    How does Kanye West, self-confessed porn addict (confessed in this cover story!) pose as Jesus on the news stands? Rolling Stone’s theology is interesting: they’re tongue-in-cheek about Jesus and genuflect under the ashes of dope fiend Hunter S. Thompson.

    While at one time I was was a huge fan of HST (and still am to some extent) and a supporter of the right to die, he did:

    • Shoot himself, thereby proving a messy cleanup for someone, most probably a family member or friend. Totally unnecessary due to his drug connections.
    • Shoot himself while his kids were in the house. As far as anyone can determine there was nothing special about the time. That’s far worse than the above I think.

    That should be enough to taint his memory.

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