North Korea to the World: "Break yo'self fool!"

Just when you thought we were done with World Wars....it seems as though WWIII has begun to coalesce. I'm scared y'all! What do we do now?




Hmmm...I think this cartoon says something about how the world reacts to North Korea...

The Experience: D-Day

Its one thing to hear about history; but it takes more than that to experience it. What did an event feel like, smell like, look like, taste like? In the following clip of Saving Private Ryan Stephen Spielberg does a superior job of recreating the D-Day invasion from the vantage point of the Allies.

Do you think these soldiers took for granted the fact that they would win D-Day and forever change the direction of WWII? Let's try to "get into the shoes" of these soldiers as they do their duty for their country.

True bravery? Does such a thing exist?

Its hard not to be selfish when you rule...absolutely!

He's the Louis "MTV Cribs" episode that I promised. Jason Schwartzman does an excellent job of conveying this aboslute rulers sense of entitlement. Louis, seemingly oblivious, lived in this palace as his people starved outside of its gates. (Note: No Louis did not drink Cristal).

The disturbing part of this excerpt is how closely Louis' attitude mimics that of out Celebrity class. Now with no further adieu:

See...knowing Social Studies matters.

For a chuckle over the Holidays...

Race and Rascim created with Black Slavery

The topic of African enslavement has come up in both my World and African American history classes at this point. For many of us today, it is difficult for us to imagine a world untouched by the modern conception of race with which we live and through which our most recent ancestors struggled.

The clip below I think sheds a little more light on the topic of Black and White racial harmony before the explosion of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade during the mid-eighteenth century. Many argue that it is not until well after the introduction Black slavery in the Americas that a history of racial inferiorization begins:



More information on the shift from racial harmony to racial separation:

As Promised..."Close Your Eyes"

Below is the video of James Taylor and Carly Simon that I spoke about in World History class today. I can't get it out of my head! These post 60s hippies have really invaded my psyche.

I love the emotion that the song conveys. They sing about a genuine uncontrived sort of love. With reality show like Chance at Love, Rock of Love, and the Bachelor, it doesn't seem as though there are too many popular models of that pure kind of love that still endure.

This clip is filmed in 1977 before Carly and James' divorce in the early 1980s:

Did the Chinese circumnavigate the Earth first? New "evidence" complicates the story of the age of discovery:

Old map found in a Shanghai shop

Hillarious...and Great Review!

If you havin Church problems then dont blame God, son
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope aint one.

VERSE 1
Listen up, all my people, its a story for the telling
bout the sin and injustice and corruption I been smelling:
I met that homie Tetzel, then I started rebelling
Once I seen the fat Indulgences that he been selling.
Now the Cathlics of the world straight up disgracin me
Just because I waved my finger at the papacy.
My people got riled up over this Reformation
Thats when Leo threatened me with Excommunication.
I warned yall that Rome best agree to the terms.
If not, then you can eat my Diet of Worms!
You think you done something spectacular?
I wrote the Bible in the vernacular!
A heretic! [What?] Someone throw me a bone.
You forgot salvation comes through faith alone.
Im on a mission from God. You think I do this for fun?
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope aint one.
Save me!

CHORUS
Ninety-five theses but the Pope aint one.
If you havin Church problems then dont blame God, son
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope aint one.

VERSE 2
One Five One Seventhats when it first went down.
Then the real test was when it started spreading around.
Sixty days to recant what I said? Father, please!
Youve had, what? Goin on fifteen centuries?
Oh snap, hes messin with the holy communion.
But I aint never dissed your precious hypostatic union!
One place at one time. Well, thank you Zwingli.
Yeah, way to disregard that whole Im God thingy!
Getting all up in my rosaryyou little punk.
Your momma shoulda told you not to mess with no monk.
What you bumpin me for? Suddenly you sore.
Keep that up, youll have yourself another Peasant War.
You blame common folk for the smack they talkin
You aint even taught them proper Christian doctrine.
With my hat, my Bible, and my sexy little nun,
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope aint one.
Save me!

CHORUS

VERSE 3
When I wrote the ninety-five, haters straight up assailed em.
Now they only care whether or not I nailed em or mailed em.
They got psychoanalytic. Now everyones a critic,
And getting on my case just because Im anti-Semitic.
Ive come back from obscurity to teach yall a lesson,
Cuz someone here still aint read their Augsburg Confession.
I said Catholicism brings a life of excess,
And we all remember what went down with Philip of Hesse!
But you forgot about me and my demonstration?
Like you can just create your own denomination?
We dont like this part, so well just add a little twist.
Now we Anglican, Amish, and even Calvinist.
I gave you the power, you gone and abused it.
I gave you Gods truth, you just confused it.
Dont you never underestimate the s*** that I done
I got 95 theses but the Pope aint one.
Save me!

CHORUS

Shout out to Johann Gutenberg... I see you baby.