Tag Archives: History
With software we continually improve by removing bugs and adding features. Eventually we get to the point we want to do something dramatically different and we call the last release a terminal release. At that point we don’t spend time on it anymore and it is stable. If you want the next set of improvements, a bigger upgrade is required. Oddly, history has a similar rhythm. The nature of people telling stories in print means they stabilize into the accepted…..
“…our children will go forth and pluck the lovely red blossoms of courage, and generosity, the beautiful blue flowers of truthfulness and kindness, and the white purity of the divine “Lily of the Valley” — thus they find the heritage of the Narragansett fathers and mothers, and loyalty to our country in their own back yard.” Princess Red Wing in the Narragansett Dawn, as recorded in Dawnland Voices The impact of the First Nation People is everywhere just beneath the surface if…..
In honor of Woman’s History Month, let me introduce the life and work of Anne Hutchinson. Three hundred seventy nine years ago Anne Hutchinson was the mother of fifteen, the respected midwife and counselor, and a house-church leader. Banished from Boston, she settled as a refugee from persecution for cause of conscience on Aquidneck Island near Roger Williams’s colony, an experiment in the separation of church and state. Roger Williams helped her come to his region even though he did not…..
Edward Wightman was a successful merchant and left behind a family when he was burned at the stake in 1612. In fact, I went to college with one of his descendants, Bobby Wightman. The Bobby Wightman of our day is a historian, by hobby if not by trade. As a descendent, he was allowed to dress up in something resembling surgical scrub and go into a room at SMU containing an original copy of the book about the burning of…..
A review of Reza Aslan’s Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Reza Aslan is one of the voices in the USA media explaining Islam to Christians today. He is popular, because he makes most Muslims seem anti-extreme, a comforting thought and one that helps promote the unity of humanity against extremism in our time. I read his book about Jesus in part to calibrate his credibility. My theory is he will be similarly accurate when evaluating Islam’s…..
When Roger Williams was banished he set out alone into a blizzard in a harsh New England winter. He would survive to separate church and state in a brand new settlement that would become Rhode Island. Roger Williams wrote little that has survived about his 14 week winter stay in the wilderness of New England. The resulting absence of fact has led to a plethora of theories. There are many alternatives to the one in the novel Rekindled. What we do…..
When I was an engineer, my mentor told me I had to choose. I could either get things done or I could take credit for getting things done. There is simply not time be the best at both. It seemed incredibly unfair at the time, but all my subsequent experience showed that I was better off getting things done and pairing up with people who wanted to spend time getting credit (they usually shared credit anyway — at a fraction of the…..