In light of Facebook’s redesign and apparent mission to better streamline and present content, it would be interesting to see if Facebook is having a positive impact on academia. With all the talk questioning the academic impact of online services such as Twitter, it is important to discuss Facebook in the same fashion. A few posts ago I assessed what I thought were some of Twitter’s strengths and weaknesses as a means of expanding academic discourse. Like Twitter, is there the possibility that Facebook has the potential to facilitate the spread of information amongst historians? Certainty, but what is really important is whether Facebook’s growing content and members can be active participants any valid history orientated debate.
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Years worth of studying might be over, but please do not forget how to read! Do yourself a favor and read an enlightening book over the summer. Too much time has been spent on getting you to read quality works for you regress to a primitive state. After encouraging my students to read material, such as Lincoln’s greatest speeches, I would not want to imagine freshly molded minds roting away once more. Oh well, I tried.
With all the chatter about whether these modern “Tea Parties” have anything in common with the famous Boston Tea Party, it is very easy to get lost in political interpretations. Much like Michael Keating’s musings over the RNC’s twisting of historical truths, Publick Occurrences is deepening our understanding of the historical associations, or lack thereof, with the current tea partying crowd.
After viewing The Rachel Maddow Show’s episode on the Republican Party’s so called Tea Party, I started to think of a response to post on my blog. I contemplated the RNC’s complete lack of historical correctness when linking their current disdain for taxes with the tax issues of pre-Revolution America. Nonetheless, I was not sure how to convey some of the most straight forward facts about the real Boston Tea Party to a political party that is notorious for ignoring bothersome truths.
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A lot of talk over how to combat these new age pirates has been going on for a few years, with the only major action being the increase of foreign warships in the waters off western Africa. Has this helped? Anyone following the news this week is well aware of the capture of an American merchant vessel by pirates of the coast of Somalia. So in short, no, using modern warships has not helped. Much of the blame can be attributed to the lack of sufficient numbers in armed ships as well as the rules of engagement agreed upon by many of the nations taking part in the anti-piracy patrols.
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Synopsis
The purpose of Thompson-Werk is to exhibit my love of history and the web. This site is a repository of my musings concerning history and relevant web topics. My opinions should not be confused with those of my colleagues, employers, friends, family, or anyone else associated with me.
Contact me with any comments, complaints, and/or questions.
External
Good sites to visit...
- Abu Muqawama
- Airminded
- Blog Them Out of the Stone Age
- Corrina Thompson
- Dan Cohen’s Digital Humanities Blog
- History-ing
- In the Service of Clio
- Keating Report
- Kings of War
- Nunal
- Omar Multimedia
- On Violence
- PhDinHistory
- Progressive Historians
- Publick Occurences 2.0
- Stahlgewitter 1914-1918
- Strange Maps
- The Academy’s Bench Warmer
- The Edge of the American West
- Thoughts on Military History
- Trench Fever
