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Santayana, The Opium Wars and Chinese Policy
I had a very good high school history program, but had never heard of the Boxer Rebellion or the Opium Wars until Beast Barracks, my first summer at West Point. There, we learned some plebe knowledge about a young soldier that won the Medal of Honor during the Boxer Rebellion and then attended West Point as the only cadet that had the Medal of Honor. I took Diplomatic History and other history courses at West Point and recall little, if anything, about the Opium Wars. The first proper look I had at the Opium Wars was Flashman and the Dragon, one of the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser that…
Critical Thinking and Symbols
Solvé et Coagula is a term from alchemy that means to break something apart, examine and purify the components and then put it back together. It is the process of “analysis and synthesis”. Now, to most people who have even…
Mindfulness: Critical Thinking and the Eye of the Storm
The interesting secret behind critical thinking is that its components are simple and straightforward. However, the execution of these components together, particularly in challenging situations, is difficult and requires discipline and a focused mind. The events surrounding the need for…
Memory and Thought: The Basis of Cognition
In Norse mythology, Odin had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who flew around the world bringing him information. Their names mean Thought and Memory. In mythology, Odin also hung himself on the World Tree, Yggdrasil, to gain wisdom and knowledge…
Was Our Culture Intentionally Disrupted and Broken, Part 3: The Military-Industrial Complex
Abstract: At first blush, the military-industrial complex does not seem to fit with cultural disruption. It does, however, support the significant expansion of the federal government, as shown in the Power Shift series in part 1 and part 6. But…
The Angel Oak: Nature, Nurture, Or Something Else: Implications for Free Will
Note: I try to meditate nearly every day. Often, I will get a thought during meditation that acts like a seed for follow-up contemplation. This is an example. I started out with a meditative seed on the Angel Oak and…
Insignificant in the Cosmos, Critical Where We Stand
I had an interesting insight during my morning meditation. It’s certainly not too original or impactful. But for me, at this time, it was revelatory. One person standing in the vastness of the cosmos is relatively insignificant. But that same…
Was our Culture Intentionally Disrupted and Broken, Part 2
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer of Sherlock Holmes Part 1 ended with the questions: Why is this happening? What are the disrupters’ objectives? Threat…
Threat 8a: Because That is where the money
Is Willie Sutton is most often credited with replying, “Because that is where the money is” when asked why robbed banks. Sutton denies he said that. Quote Investigator attributes the statement to Paul Perritt, who was 26 years old when he…
Threat 8: Risk and the Threat
Part 1 framed the fundamental risk question as “How much risk and what kind are they [the threat] willing to take?” This concept underpinned the Cold War concept of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). While MAD appeared, well mad on the…
Was our Culture Intentionally Disrupted and Broken, Part 1
The first step in community organization is community disorganization. The disruption of the present organization is the first step toward community organization. Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displace by new patterns…. All change means disorganization…
