Jack Churchill was a badass

Jack Churchill. He did more than just invent a new kind of surf board. When I first heard about him I assumed that Neal Stephenson had based his 'Shaftoe' characters (from cryptonomicon and the baroque cycle trilogy) on him.

Total badass.

Maxwell Street

When I was a high school student taking a semester (or a year) of American History, we did a week or two on local History. For that class I wrote a research paper on Chicago's famous Maxwell Street (which, at the time, had disappeared only a few years prior). My history teacher sent that paper in to some contest, without informing me, and I won some prize. The prize wasn't monetary, it was more like something that I can put on my college application (I don't think I ever did).

Anyway, what's my point? Well, I don't think I won that contest because I was a great writer (though, without knowing the writing ability of my peers, I can't say for sure how to define mediocrity) . Instead, I think that I just really cared about the subject matter. My research on Maxwell street was my introduction to American Sociology. It was an example of how despite all the differences between American culture and the European/Italian culture I grew up in there were some really fundamental similarities. It's a lesson that has stayed with me for the rest of my life.

A few months ago, I learned of this movie and I really hope to get to see it soon.

The good old days.

The people who were teenagers when watching this video are the people who are now voting almost exclusively for republicans.

Ownership and Archeology

The Peruvians want their machu picchu artifacts back. The Egyptians want their own stuff back too. In the meantime, powerful 'western' entities (like the british museum and Yale) refuse to return that stuff. Their most crucial arguments?

A: They might still be undiscovered if it weren't for the money they spent and the archeologists they sent. The artifacts' value was provided, in large part, by their discovery.
B: The artifacts are more accessible in their current location than they would be in their home countries. Fewer people are likely to travel to Egypt and Peru just to look at some old stuff, where-as people go to london and the american north-east way more often.

I'm not yet sure where I stand on this problem though I'm definitely leaning toward returning the items along with hefty donations (a sort of back payment) to make sure that they will be well maintained for years to come, regardless of whether people go see them or not.

The benefits - like, that more tourism will lead to more prosperity in countries that need it more than we do - seem to outweigh the drawbacks.

Maybe we can compromise. Let's put all the world's ancient artifacts in Antarctica.