We will be having WTH class this Wednesday, December 3. Even though it's only been one week since the last class I have a conflict the following week, so I'm moving the next session forward to the 3rd. This will be the last session before Christmas and the class will pick up after the holidays, perhaps as a weekly thing.

This week's topic will be, "The Wine Dark Sea: the Role of the Oceans in World History." How has the sea shaped the development of our civilization and culture, and what role have they played in our worldview?

To whet your appetite, today's post (below) is about the Pirate Queen of Ireland during the age of Drake and the Spanish Armada...

This Wednesday night at the Manna Green Building we'll have the next installment of the Walk Thru History class. This week's topic: The Beard Tax and the History of Social Control.

Societies and governments have always had an interest in shaping the behavior of their citizens. The Roman Empire allowed cultural and religious diversity in the provinces, but required everyone to make sacrifices to the emperor to maintain some cultural cohesion. 15th century Spain instituted the Inquisition to force loyalty to the crown and eliminate the Jewish banking class that held much of the country's capital. One 19th century government taxed anyone with a beard to force cultural change. And in the United States today we use the tax code to create all kinds of carrots and sticks to encourage desirable and discourage undesirable behavior.

This Wednesday we'll talk about the history of individual freedom vs. the efforts of governments to create conformity throughout Western Civilization. We start in the Green Building at 7pm, usually wrap up the teaching around 8:30pm or so.

And just to wet your whistle, here's this tribute to George Orwell's 1984 (also author of Animal Farm, both of which I'll be mentioning Wednesday):

I've been considering taking a tour group to Great Britain next summer, but the reservation requirements are such that unless we commit to a certain number of rooms, bus, etc. within the next 30 days it might be tough to get any group rates. We will still do Great Britain trip but it might have to be Fall of 2009 or Spring/Summer of 2010. So a few people have expressed interest in an alternate trip next summer...

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I realized that an unfinished version of today's post was auto-uploaded first thing this morning. I've replaced it with the finished version. If you read today's post early this morning and it seems... curiously unfinished... go back and check it now.