William Wilberforce Biography

Why Name the School After William Wilberforce?

"William Wilberforce...was a great man who impacted the Western world as few others have done. Blessed with brains, charm, influence and initiative, much wealth … he put evangelism on Britain's map as a power for social change, first by overthrowing the slave trade almost single-handed and then by generating a stream of societies for doing good and reducing evil in public life… To forget such men is foolish."
-J.I Packer

William Wilberforce as a young man.

William Wilberforce (1759-1833), abolitionist and philanthropist, was born to a family of merchants. He was first educated at Hull Grammar School under Joseph Milner, an evangelical Anglican minister. His father died when Wilberforce was nine, and his mother sent him to stay near London where he was reared by an evangelical aunt and uncle. Through their influence, he came to faith at the age of 12. In this home he came into contact with such men as George Whitefield, the great evangelist, and John Newton, who had converted from a life of a slave trade, and ultimately penned the hymn 'Amazing Grace'.

Wilberforce's mother and other close family friends were alarmed at young William's religious "enthusiasm" and sought to reverse this course. By the time he arrived at St. John's College at Cambridge in 1776, his evangelicalism was well behind him, and he was as worldly as any of his friends, and vastly popular. Witty, charming, erudite, eloquent and hospitable, not to mention exceedingly wealthy, Wilberforce as an undergraduate displayed the charisma of a natural leader who drew friends and followers into his world.

In 1779, Wilberforce moved to London where he became friends with William Pitt. Both were motivated to enter politics and Wilberforce was elected to Parliament in September 1780 at the age of 21, the youngest age at which one could be elected. Pitt was soon to be Chancellor of the Exchequer and by the age of twenty-four Britain's Prime Minister, and because Wilberforce and Pitt were inseparable, the political career of this son of a tradesman advanced quickly.

William Wilberforce as an older man. In 1784, while respected as one of Parliament's leading debaters, Wilberforce decided on a European tour and invited an Irish friend to accompany him. When the friend declined, Wilberforce asked Isaac Milner, the brother of Joseph Milner (his former schoolmaster) to join him. Isaac, an Anglican clergyman, was known as a brilliant Cambridge scientist and mathematician. Unaware of Milner's evangelical convictions, Wilberforce was surprised to find that someone whom he could respect intellectually could also embrace a Christian worldview. Together they read and reviewed the Greek New Testament and Philip Doddridge's The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. By the end of two European trips, the politician was convicted of his sin. He acknowledged "a sense of my great sinfulness in having so long neglected the unspeakable mercies of my God and Savior."

At this time, Wilberforce sought counsel from John Newton, by then the leading Anglican evangelical in London, and by October 1785 the 'great change' became complete. For a time Wilberforce thought about a call to ministry and retiring from public life, but Newton and Pitt urged him to stay in Parliament and serve Christ there.  Pitt said, “Surely the principles as well as the practice of Christianity are simple, and lead not to meditation only but to action” (The Private Papers of William Wilberforce, 1897, p. 13).

After a long period of self-questioning and prayer Wilberforce reached his famous conclusion that, 'God had set before me two objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners' [i.e. morality]. While due in part to the influence of Newton, a former slave trader, Wilberforce's embracing of the anti-slavery cause was from the direct effect of embracing the Christian worldview. But this was not a popular cause. Wilberforce was the target of tirades and assassination threats. Admiral Nelson wrote that as long as he would speak and fight he would resist "the damnable doctrines of Wilberforce and his hypocritical allies." An irate sea-captain pummeled Wilberforce on the street. It was whispered slanderously when he was yet unmarried that his wife was black and that he beat her. His friends were accused of being spies in the service of the French. Despite threats to his life, he put forward a bill in the House of Commons in 1793 advocating gradual abolition. It failed by eight votes, most members absenting themselves from the House so as not to have to vote. Next he brought forward a bill prohibiting British ships from carrying slaves to foreign territories. It lost by two votes in a near-empty House. Promised the support of some Members of Parliament, he found himself abandoned. Although Wilberforce reintroduced the Abolition Bill almost every year in the 1790s, little progress was made even though Wilberforce remained optimistic for the long-term success of the cause.

William Wilberforce as an older man, again. In the meantime, Wilberforce directed some of his efforts into other arenas, largely evangelical or philanthropic. One historian has calculated that Wilberforce was a member of the committee of some sixty-nine voluntary societies. In addition to his abolition work, he was consistently involved in church work that included the Church Missionary Society and the sending of missionaries to India and Africa, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Proclamation Society Against Vice and Immorality, the School Society, the Sunday School Society, the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, the Vice Society and others. His public philanthropic efforts were many, including relieving the suffering of the manufacturing poor, and French refugees and foreigners in distress. History records Wilberforce as having made major financial contributions to at least seventy such societies, and as being active in numerous reform movements which included reform in hospital care, fever institutions, asylums, infirmaries, refugees and penitentiaries. He supported religious publications and education, especially the schools of Hannah More, a close friend and leading reformer of British education. (Gathro, William Wilberforce and His Friends).

In 1797 he published a book, A Practical view of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, a work of popular evangelical theology that was highly influential and sold well on publication and throughout the nineteenth century. It was also that year, at the age of thirty-seven, after a short romance, he married Barbara Ann Spooner beginning 'thirty-five years of undiluted happiness'. Over the next ten years his family life became even busier with the birth of four sons and two daughters. Wilberforce viewed his own role as father as more important than his role as politician.

Wilberforce's resolve to end slavery never abated. He was joined in his efforts by like-minded Christian friends known as the “Clapham Sect”. For twenty years they labored to turn public opinion and political leaders against the evils of slavery and the tide began to turn.

On the night of February 23, 1807, excitement grew in the House of Commons as his latest motion was debated. Speech after speech spoke in favor of abolition, and his fellow members began to pay tribute to Wilberforce. The climax came when Solicitor General Sir Samuel Romilly contrasted the reception that Napoleon and Wilberforce would receive at the end of a day’s labors: Napoleon would come home in power and pomp, yet tormented by the bloodshed and oppression of war he had caused. “Wilberforce would come home to ‘the bosom of his happy and delighted family,’ able to lie down in peace because he had ‘preserved so many millions of his fellow creatures.’ The House of Commons rose to its feet, turned to Wilberforce, and began to cheer. They gave three rousing hurrahs while Wilberforce sat with his head bowed and wept.” (Belmonte, Hero for Humanity, p. 148) Then the Commons voted to abolish the slave trade by a vote of 283 to 16. Prime Minister Granville called the passage “a measure which will diffuse happiness among millions now in existence, and for which his memory will be blessed by millions yet unborn.”

Wilberforce went on to lobby the governments of other nations, including the US, to adopt similar measures, and to assure that the laws were enforced. After stopping the trading of slaves, he devoted himself for the next twenty-five years to ending the institution of slavery itself. Three days before his death in 1833, he heard that the House of Commons had passed a law emancipating all slaves in the British Empire.

William Wilberforce as an old man.Wilberforce’s faith in Jesus Christ changed him from a careless, wealthy young politician to a tireless, compassionate public servant. He developed and used his gifts of leadership and persuasion to champion countless efforts to better society. He was a moral leader who voted against his party when principle required it. His partnership with his Christian brothers and sisters in the Clapham Sect serves as a model for Christians working together to bring about meaningful reform in society. He persisted for decades in the tasks God had called him to, despite illness, physical threats, and enormous opposition. At his death the British nation honored Wilberforce by burying him in Westminster Abbey and erecting a statue in his memory.

For all of these reasons, Wilberforce is a man we hold up for our children to learn from and emulate.


6.4. Revoking Certificates

RA agents can revoke certificates that were approved through that Registration Manager instance.
  1. Open the RA agent services page.
  2. Click the List Certificates link.
  3. All of the certificates which have been processed through the RA are listed.
  4. Open the certificate to revoke by clicking its Serial# in the certificate list.
  5. At the bottom of the certificate's details page, click the Revoke link.
  6. Select the reason that the certificate is being revoked, and then confirm the revocation.


the WHITE HOUSEPresident Barack Obama

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Good for Workers, Good for Business: #RaiseTheWage

Secretary Perez visits business owners from across the country to discuss the importance of a federal increase in the minimum wage.

Ed. Note: This blog is cross-posted from the U.S. Department of Labor

When I became labor secretary a little over six months ago, I made increasing the minimum wage one of my top priorities. During the time since, I’ve met with hard-working Americans who’ve shared with me their heart wrenching stories about what it’s like to live on the minimum wage, making constant choices between things like paying the rent or putting food on the table.

In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works a full time job should have to live in poverty. That’s a fundamental value proposition, an article of faith in our country that I know an overwhelming majority of Americans agree on.

Today I had the chance to hear from twenty men and women who run businesses, including many who own small businesses. They’ll be directly affected by any increase in the minimum wage. I learned it’s not just workers who support a federal increase; What I heard from these business owners is that raising the wage would help their businesses, too, by putting more money in the pockets of those in their communities. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

Charmington’s Cafe in Baltimore, Md.

Amanda Rothschild runs a small café in Baltimore in which she pays her employees just above the current federal minimum wage, and she does so because it’s good for her bottom line. She told me that when you put more money in workers’ pockets, they stay on the job longer which reduces turnover and training costs: “Our training costs would be significantly higher if we paid lower wages and we had the kind of turnover that you typically see in a restaurant.” She also said that she wants to see an increase in the minimum wage so that more people in her community could spend money in her café.

Emory Knoll Farms in Street, Md.

John Shepley runs Emory Knoll Farms, a small wholesale nursery in Maryland. He makes a strong economic argument for paying those at the bottom of the income ladder a little bit more: “They’re spending 100-percent of their take-home pay in the local economy. It’s recirculating. They’re spending it on rent, groceries, cars, new tires – all the things you need to live.”

Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, Mo.

Lew Prince runs Vintage Vinyl, a record store in St. Louis and is a survivor in an industry that’s seen a significant downsizing in recent years. He echoed Amanda’s words that increasing the minimum wage would lead to worker retention and a stronger local economy:: “I’m in an industry where 60% of the businesses are closed in the 21st century. If you think about having a relationship with your community and a relationship with your customers, it starts with your relationship to your employees.”

These business owners are not alone. A broader coalition and consensus is emerging. Yesterday I was in Silicon Valley where I met with business leaders and employers who aren’t directly paying any of their workers the minimum wage. But even they understand the issues that affect their bottom line. They want to make sure that people have money in their pockets to buy the products they’re making.

The take-away from these conversations is simple: When we lift the wage floor, it not only betters the lives of those whose wages are directly affected, it also lifts the economy as a whole.

The business leaders I’ve talked to in the last few days shatter the myth that a higher minimum wage hurts the bottom line. They know that our economy is powered by consumer demand, and it will benefit from more money in the pockets of working families who will spend it on goods and services. Better than anyone, business leaders know that leads to business growth and job creation. It’s time Congress acted to #raisethewage.


Category Archives: programming

Ubuntu, touchscreen and dualscreen: HD Touchscreen on the left, laptop on the right

If you read about calibrating touchscreen with X11 and are capable of simple addition and division, you won’t have a problem building the transformation matrix and applying it. I won’t cover the same details on how to set the matrix using xinput set-prop since I just want to write down the resulting matrix and, perhaps, save people some time if they have a setup similar to mine.

To get the name of the device, open Terminal and punch in:

In the output I found that my “Acer T232HL”‘s input component is actually called “Advanced Silicon S.A CoolTouch(TM) System”. I can see all of its properties with:

xinput list-props Advanced Silicon S.A CoolTouch(TM) System

Since I’ve set up the screen to be on the left site, that means top-left corner of my touch area is simply offset by 0,0, and bottom-right is 1920,1080. Considering that the total width of the usable X area is 1920+1280, I get 1920/3600=0.6 as the c0 constant on the above link.

My usable area’s height is max(1080, 800) (the respective y component of the resolutions of the two displays). Considering that touch area’s height is also 1080, then the c2 component does not need to be scaled and should be exactly 1.

I also have absolutely no offsets, so c1 and c3 stay 0.

xinput set-prop "Advanced Silicon S.A CoolTouch(TM) System" --type=float "Coordinate Transformation Matrix" 0.6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
# And if needed, to make the display configured as described above:
xrandr --output DP-0 --auto --left-of LVDS-0

From the times when I was trying to get Linux to run on iPaq H3800 devices using the kernel and distributions published at the now-defunct, I remember the “tslib” which included a touchscreen calibration tool. I wonder if that can and should be used to calibrate the modern multitouch displays.

Update (April 5th 2014): I just dug out package ‘xinput_calibrator’ by random googling, but have not tried it out yet.

On my final project for university

I’m completing my studies at the Polytechnic of Zagreb this semester, and my final project will be a compositing window manager (as a follow up to my text on the same subject written for the ‘Report’ class).

In discussion with my mentor, I wanted to double check the well-known fact that the university will be the owner of the resulting work. Yes, the university will claim ownership of the resulting work.

The follow up question was whether the resulting project could be GPLed. In that way, I would be able to continue working on the project later on. The answer is — no, I can’t GPL it. I might be able to wrestle with the bureaucracy and get a special exemption, but I’ve decided not to.

To the best of my knowledge, same policies exist at the Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering at the University of Zagreb — widely considered one of the best university-level schools in Croatia, if not the best.

I’m highly disappointed by the Croatian universities’ policy of appropriating work I am forced to do for purposes of acquiring a degree.

I have nothing against appropriating the accompanying paper, which is something that will not evolve further once written. I am highly frustrated by the application of same standards on potentially useful, potentially fast changing program code.

As a result, and as a form of protest, the software part of my project will be experimental, proof-of-concept research-quality code, and I will not try too hard to make it maintainable long term. The paper and the project will not be intentionally worse, but they will also not be intentionally better than they could be. This is because I want a clear road without obstacles whenever I decide to create a well-structured compositing window manager; I don’t want any obstacles to being able to modify my own code.

I am certain that numerous student developers in countries with similar practices do the same. This results in enormous waste of time that would, in the academic spirit of information sharing, better serve contributing to free software ecosystem. Instead, who knows how much code is either useless in the real world, or — worse — is actually useful in the real world, but claimed by the universities as their product?

I would suggest the responsible individuals in Croatia to review the history of Google, including the part where BackRub and PageRank Googol Google was a government-funded research project by two PhD students, yet they managed to take it out of the university and start a big company around it.

I would also suggest a review of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged which, while flawed and too narrow-focused, does offer some food for thought on government appropriations of works. And in cases of academic software projects that would be GPLed anyway, the situation is even worse: we’re seeing an appropriation of a work that I would gladly share with the world and previously intended to do so.

Some things I learned about OpenGL and OpenGL ES

I have done some stuff with OpenGL and OpenGL ES in the past. I generally tried to stick with fixed function pipeline; I never had good reasons to dig deeply into features provided post-GL1.4 (most of the time, GL1.1) and OpenGL ES 1.x. So the client for an MMORPG I worked on (both the 2D and 3D) did not need anything more. Nor did the simplistic unfinished spacesim. Neither did the zombie squishing game for iPhone.

For a few months now, I’ve had access to one of the “major league” game engines (which shall remain unnamed for now!), so I had to expand my knowledge a bit. I didn’t succeed as much as I should have, but here are a few interesting things I have learned.

They may be obvious, but I’ve only learned about them very recently. And it wasn’t trivial to figure them out exactly, at least based on queries I typed in Google. “What does this OpenGL feature do and how do I put it into OpenGL ES?”

Internal texture formats

We all know the incantation:

glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA, 64, 64, 0, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, textureData);

So I knew there was talk about the first GL_RGBA involving an “internal format”, and the second GL_RGBA and GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE specified how the textureData argument was, well, formatted. If we replaced them with GL_RGB, we’d drop the alpha from the image. But what did all that mean?

Yesterday I ran into GL_RGB8. And GL_RGBA16. And GL_RGBA4. And GL_RGB565, and more. These can be passed as the first argument, and determine how the desktop OpenGL implementation will store the texture. If you pass GL_RGB, you’re letting the implementation determine the optimal pixel component size in bits. If you get more detailed, you get more strict about the internal format you want the implementation to use for the pixels you passed.

Today I dug into a document I ran into yesterday, from 2007, which discussed that with OpenGL ES the implementation gets to decide, and tries to honor the internalFormat argument based on the format and type arguments.

GL_BGRA is an extension

On desktop, it got promoted to core OpenGL. On OpenGL ES, it’s called GL_BGRA_EXT.

Oh, and GL_HALF_FLOAT_OES does exist on OpenGL ES.

Protip: you do want to look into headers, especially the extension header (glext.h, gl2ext.h or such), whenever you can’t find if something exists and you’re sure it should.

Reverse formats

What the hell is GL_UNSIGNED_INT_8_8_8_8_REV? How does it relate to GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE and GL_UNSIGNED_INT_8_8_8_8?

This is strictly as far as I understand it! My understanding may be wrong and I would love it if someone clarified this in the comments! (For reference, the APPLE_packed_pixels extension talks about these.)

Once again, I may be wrong. Read the above links.

Alright, so let’s imagine you passed the source format of GL_BGRA in combination with the above. You’re specifying that the data you have passed has actually not been stored in the BGRA order — but in the reverse. That’s what REV means. Reverse. So you’re telling OpenGL you’re actually passing a texture stored in the ARGB order.

Notably, that doesn’t exist in OpenGL ES 2.0, so one may end up using GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_4_4_4_4_REV. Without actually playing with that, I suspect that would mean also having to pass data with 16 bits per pixel, which kind of defeats the purpose of not having to convert ARGB textures. You could bake the data at build time, sure, but still…

Just red, just red and green

There are GL_RG* and GL_R* formats. For example, GL_RG8, GL_RG16 and GL_R8. Yip yip.

Of course, I learned even more things. And I didn’t dig into everything I want to know (what’s GL_LUMINANCE and GL_LUMINANCE_ALPHA as a texture format, and why do I want to use that?).

Less than a week before I start the new job. Looking forward to spending some of the remaining time after my Wednesday trip on studying some of the interesting things such as these OpenGL features…

GSoC 2013: Final post

GSoC 2013: Text, images, delays

image by ericwa


Friday, January 29, 2016

A review of David Wootton’s translation Machiavelli: Selected Political Writings of The Prince, Selections from The Discourses, and Letter to Vettori (circa 1513, The Prince) (1994, this translation)

(Rating 5 of 5)

Around ten years ago I was taking a college course called Lying and Politics and this book was one of the textbooks we used.  I found it fascinating then and even more so now.  Niccolo Machiavelli was a man and public servant who lived in Renaissance Italy.  He was on hand for many historic events and met many important people.  During the restoration of the Medici in Florence he was tortured for the crime of being an official of the previous regime.   After surviving his torture he would go on to write these famous works.

            The introduction in this book discusses how Machiavelli’s work has been interpreted over the centuries.  There is apparently some controversy around to what is referred to as ‘the two Machiavellis.’ They try to reconcile the apparent contradiction of the author of The Prince, who gives advice to rulers and would be rulers, to the author of The Discourses, who prefers republican government.  I personally do not see a real contradiction because they are about two different things. The Prince is simply a how-to book for a dictator that was written for a potential employer while The Discourses is Machiavelli sharing his own view and preferences.
“In order to properly understand the behavior of lower classes one needs to be a ruler, and in order to properly understand the behavior of rulers one needs to be a member of the lower classes.” (pg. 6)
           I am not sure this is true although subject and ruler might have a unique perspective on the other its highly unlikely that this automatically grants them so much insight that they understand the other more than they understand themselves.  I currently work in call center, this would be like me declaring that I was an expert on the behavior of CEOs because I am regular wage employee.  There are elements of the CEO’s job that I am certain I do not understand, just as there is much about their low ranking employees’ job that the CEO does not think about in his or her daily function.

“Is it better to be loved than feared, or vice versa?  My reply is one ought to be both loved and feared; but since it is difficult to accomplish both at the same time, I maintain it is much safer to be feared than loved, if you have to do without one of the two.” (pg. 51-2)
          This is of course is probably Machiavelli’s most famous quote.  This is the one line that captures the very heart of The Prince.  I always thought it would be better to be loved.  For if you are loved than your subjects would take your side even when your chips were down, where as if they just feared you they may betray you in a moment of weakness.  Machiavelli would probably point out that just because they loved you does not mean that they would look out for their own necks primarily when they felt that they or their interests were in danger.
Niccolo Machiavelli

           We know Machiavelli thought about rulers keeping their word.  He felt it is better to be crafty than honest.

“Everybody recognizes how praiseworthy it is for a ruler to keep his word and to live a life of integrity, without relying on craftiness.  Nevertheless, we see that in practice, in these days, those rulers who have not thought it important to keep their word have achieved great things, and have known how to employ cunning to confuse and disorientate other men.  In the end, they have been able to overcome those who have placed store in integrity.” (pg. 53)

            Throughout The Prince Machiavelli is giving advice on how to rule people and the challenges one faces when ruling a people you had previously conquered.  During the course of the book Machiavelli jumps back and forth from ancient times of Alexander, Scipio, and Hannibal to the more “modern” times of Renaissance Italy.  Machiavelli finds quite a bit to praise of ancient leaders and much to criticize in the modern ones.  He completely chastises King Louis XII of France and his misadventures in Italy.

 “Thus, Louis had made the following five mistakes: He wasted his alliance with the lesser states; he increased the strength of one of the more powerful Italian states; he invited an extremely powerful foreign state to intervene in Italy; he did not go and live in Italy; he did not establish settlements there.” (pg. 13)

The part of Machiavelli’s criticism that I find rather weird is his insistence that a conqueror should move into his conquered territories despite being the ruler of another place.  The example that he gives is the Sultan of Turkey moving into Constantinople, that is true but the Ottoman Empire did not change capitals every time it expanded. Now it should be noted in Machiavelli’s time it wasn’t that long ago that the fall of Constantinople happened.  So I suppose he could be excused for the oversight.

            Quite bitter with the example of leadership that he had seen in Italy politically, he clearly shows his anger at what Italy had been going through in his own time.

“The outcome has been that Italy has, in quick succession, been overrun by Charles, plundered by Louis, raped by Ferdinand, and humiliated by the Swiss.” (pg. 42)

When referring the types of principalities there are he makes it pretty clear that the long established powers are the best.

“It is much easier to hold on to hereditary states, that are accustomed to being governed by the family that now rules them, than it is to hold on to new acquisitions.” (pg. 7)
             I do not think Machiavelli is anything here that is not obvious.  It is much easier to inherit power in an established dynasty than to go out and try to take it.  Of course you would have to be born into an established dynasty for that to occur.  Since one who seeks power is likely to have it just handed to him by luck of birth they are required to take it and hopefully set up their own system.  Machiavelli is quick to point out how dangerous that actually is.

“One ought to pause and consider the fact that there is nothing harder to undertake, nothing more likely of failure, nothing more risky to pull off, than to set oneself up as a leader who plans to found a new system of government.  For the fonder makes enemies of all those who are doing well under the old system, and has only lukewarm support from those who hope to do well under the new one.” (pg. 19)

            There was however one ideal guy who showed the way on how to do it.  When advising new rulers on the best path to success, his ideal candidate was Cesare Borgia.  This was odd because he lost in the end.  Yet to Machiavelli, he was perfect and he served as a duel example.  He was the model to follow but he also came with a warning: that one can act perfectly and still fall due to bad luck with no fault of your own. His power was dependent on the patronage of others and when those 'others' went away he was alone and vulnerable.  Borgia was the son of the Pope. (Yeah, I know how strange that sounds.)  His father, Alexander VI, and his ally King Louis XII of France were his primary backers and without them he had no independent power.

“So, now I have surveyed all the actions of the duke, I still cannot find anything to criticize.  It seem to me I have been right to present him as an example to be imitated by all those who come to power through good luck and someone else’s military might.  For since he was great-hearted and ambitious, he had no choice as to what to do; and he only failed to achieve his goals because Alexander died too soon, and he himself fell ill.” (pg. 26-7)
Cesare Borgia, son of the Pope

            Part of the reason Machiavelli admired Cesare so much was how he would do what he thought needed to be done and not only was he not hesitate, he would be in a hurry to get it accomplished.  In Machiavelli's world any bad you need to do you must do it quickly.
“Do all the harm you must at one and the same time, that way the full extent of it will not be noticed, and it will give least offense. One should do good, on the other hand, little by little, so people can fully appreciate it.” (pg. 31)
           Machiavelli also gives a hint of his populism in his next bit of advice. It is better to become monarch at the head of a popular movement than it is to have the title awarded to you by a small elite. This advice is a tad bit strange when you consider his comments on Julius Caesar are in The Discourses.  For Caesar is the one who comes to mind when I hear these statements.
“He who comes to power with the help of the elite has more difficulty in holding on to power than he who comes to power with the help of the populace, for in the former case he is surrounded by many who think of themselves as his equals, and who consequently cannot order about or manipulate as he might wish.  He who comes to power with support of the populace, on the other hand, has it all to himself.” (pg. 31-2)

In The Discourses, Machiavelli discus the history of ancient Rome a great deal.  It is embarrassing to say this especially in light on how brilliant The Prince is, but all of his theories on Rome are wrong.  Machiavelli comes off as complete Catoian in his views on the Roman Republic.  He fails to see the Republic that could manage a city well could not manage an empire.  He seems to think that the Republic’s downfall was due to lack of character of the people living at the time who failed to live up to the ideals of their ancestors.

Machiavelli was one of the most fascinating minds of Renaissance Italy, a place not lacking at all in marvelous minds.  The father of political realist thought.

{Video from the Showtime series the Borgias}

Monday, January 25, 2016

(Rating 5 of 5)

Statue of Pliny

The Destruction of Pompeii

To Minicius Funganus

To Tacitus
Pompeii victims: young family
Pompeii victims: fetal position

Pompeii victims: lost pet

Pliny to the Emperor Trajan

Trajan to Pliny

 Pliny to the Emperor Trajan
“Trajan to Pliny

 {Video was posted by List 25 on YouTube}

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Grandpa’s War

A review of David Eisenhower’s Eisenhower at War: 1943-1945 (1986)

(Rating:5 of 5)

This book about Dwight D. Eisenhower’s command over the Allied European Forces in World War II is unique to all others on the same topic. For the author is the grandson and namesake of that very commander*. David Eisenhower began working on his book during the Watergate controversy that brought down the presidency of his father-in-law, President Richard M. Nixon. To the younger Eisenhower, the work was a form of escapism from the problems of their facing. However, originally his book was going to be about the second term of grandfather’s presidency because those both were happier memories and a fascinating time in the nation’s history. As he begun to work however, he found himself in the position of an old historian’s cliché. That is ‘never ask a historian for a little bit of background,’ because more often than not you end up with a larger story than you had originally asked for. Every time David Eisenhower went to describe an event in the second term, he found himself having to go back and explain the events the first. Moreover, as explained the events of the first, he found himself going back all the way to the war to provide the details that he wanted. So as a result, instead of writing a book about the second term he decided to write one about the war.

The book focuses on the planning and execution of ‘Operation: Overlord.’ Overlord was the plan of invasion of Normandy and the crusade in Europe. The book, in the first three chapters, deals with the planning, events, and atmosphere leading up to D-Day. The rest of the book deals with the war until V-E day. The book contains descriptions of battles, charts, and photographs form the events. However, that is not what I personally found to be the most fascinating part of the book. To me, what make this book a good read was where the grandson could tell stories of events only a few people would have been privy to.

“In the next several days the Eisenhowers spent the late afternoon and evening with guests at Telegraph Cottage. There were reunions with ‘Uncle Everett’ Hughes and Patton over dinners that John’s father cooked in a tall chef’s hat on the new patio behind the glassed-in porch, followed be serious after-dinner bridge games attended by hosts of orderlies. John had noted that a slight ‘military barrier’ had grown up between father and son. During a twilight stroll through the woods behind the five-acre Telegraph Cottage compound, John, walking to his father’s left, posed a question. ‘If we should meet an officer who ranks above me and below you, how do we handle this? Do I salute first, and when he returns my salute, do you return his?’ John knew he raised an unresolved point of Army protocol which his father sidestepped with a smile. ‘John, there isn’t an officer in this theater who doesn’t rank above you and below me.’” p.299

Those kinds of personnel touches between a father and son that could only be retold by a family member are some of the best parts of this work. My all-time favorite happens to involve the pervious King of England.

“The King, afflicted by ill health since youth, was notoriously quiet and shy was hampered by a speech impediment. According to a story told by staff members, the King and Eisenhower in Tunisia had once ridden together in a jeep for several hours in complete silence. On the twenty-sixth, however, King George was gregarious. Over lunch, served buffet style in an upstairs apartment, the three reminisced. The Queen told Eisenhower for the first time about something that had happened on his tour of Windsor Castle two years before. As it turned out, the guide, Colonel Sterling, had forgotten to that the King and Queen were on the grounds. The couple were sipping tea in the garden when they suddenly heard Sterling, Eisenhower, and Clark approaching. The royal couple had not wanted to intrude, so they knelt on their hands and knees behind the hedge until the Americans had walked by. Now the three shared a laugh.” p.237

The very idea of the King and Queen hiding behind a bush is very amusing. It is personnel information like that, which makes this book very enjoyable. I am sure that anyone who gives this book his or her time will enjoy it as well.

*Dwight D. Eisenhower was born ‘David Dwight’ but his mother reversed first and middle names. Later his grandson was named Dwight David Eisenhower II, but answers to David. Camp David is named after the author.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

A review of Titus Livius’s The Early History of Rome Translated by Aubery De Selincourt with Introduction by Robert Ogilvie (27 B.C. original, this copy 1971)

(Rating 5 of 5)

One of the first things a person learns when studying history is the difference between primary and secondary sources.  George Washington’s war journal is a primary source of history while a biography on Washington written in the 20th century is considered a secondary source.  When the ancient world is researched these lines become a little blurred.  For example anything written by a Roman is considered a primary source on Rome even, like in this book, when the author is writing about events centuries after the events happened.  So this is technically primary source material but it doesn’t feel like it.

            In his famous work Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville mentioned that America was lucky to have been born already literate so when we research our origins we are sure of our birthright.  He pointed out that Europeans when researching their personal country’s beginnings it is hard to separate fact from fiction.  You see this in Livy’s work as well.  Livy is telling us Rome’s origins.  Yet the stories can be so fantastic, Romulus and Remus being saved by a wolf for example, that you can not help but be skeptical of their claims.

            On narrative Livy excels, his work is never boring he tells exciting stories.  He even invites the reader to be skeptical at some of the claims that get proposed for often he throws doubt on them himself; such as suggesting that the story of King Romulus ascending to the heavens might have been a cover for a political assassination.  My favorite tale however is how King Tarquin I selected his successor.  Tarquin sees a slave boy, Servius Tullius, head catch on fire and he remained unharmed.  The King took the boy under his wing, and when Servius grew to manhood King Tarquin arranged for the young man to marry one his daughters. When the King was murdered by the son of his predecessor, the Queen begged Servius to follow the King's wishes and take the crown.

            The story of Rome’s last king is one Livy’s finer stories.  Livy paints a horrid tale of a man who killed his wife and brother so he could marry his sister-in-law.  He grows bitter with Servius and openly challenges him.  He mocked his father's successor lowborn as a slave’s son to his own status as a king’s son.  King Tarquin II after murdering Servius takes the throne and rules as a tyrant.  Yet it was not his tyranny but rather the rape of Lucretia by the King's son that led the people of Rome to rebellion.  In that rebellion, Lucius Junius Brutus chased out the tyrant king.

             In addition to being interesting there are times where Livy can be downright weird.  I guess you can chalk up to him being a man of his time and that time was thousand years ago.  Here is a case in point observe Livy describe the infamous Rape of the Sabine women. (That has some disturbing parallels with some political events in Nigeria in recent years.) Rome as a new city, having no women, tries to arrange marriages with nearby towns.  They are a refused so Romulus plans a party and invites their neighbors and their daughters.  While the party is going on the trap is sprung and soldiers come out and kidnap many of the young women of marriageable age and kicked their families out of the city.

“Then the great moment came; the show began, and nobody had eyes or thoughts for anything else.  This was the Romans’ opportunity: at a given signal all the able-bodied men burst through the crowd and seized the young women.  Most of the girls were the prize of whoever got hold of them first, but a few conspicuously handsome ones had been previously marked down for leading senators, and were brought to the house by special gangs.  There was one young woman of much greater beauty than the rest; and the story goes that she was by a party of men belonging to the household of someone called Thalassius, and in reply to the many questions about whose house they were taking her to, they, to prevent anyone else laying hands upon her, kept shouting, ‘Thalassius, Thalassius!’ This was the origin of the use of this word at weddings.” (p. 44)

            Now at first there is nothing odd there, just a description of a rather disturbing historical event.  Where it gets weird is his later statements.

“The women in course of time lost their resentment; but no sooner had they learned to accept their lot than their parents began to stir up trouble in the earnest.” (p. 45)

            Yeah, they just got over it.  And phooey on their parents who never got over their daughters being kidnapped.  Later when the Romans and the Sabines are about to go to war it is these women who play a Disney Pocahontas type role, and throw themselves in between their fathers and husbands.  This causes peace and much rejoicing.
The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Nicolas Poussin

            One of my favorite pieces in the book is when Livy takes shots directly at Emperor Augustus in the form of a back-handed compliment.  In Livy’s time Marcus Licinius Crassus, grandson of the triumvir who had the same name, led a campaign against a tribe called the Bastarnae.  During the battle he killed King Deldo in single combat.  Killing an enemy's leader in single combat entitled one to a particular honor that Crassus demanded and that Augustus was reluctant to give.  Augustus used the excuse that since Crassus had not been the supreme commander he was therefore denied. (During the Republic the supreme commander was the magistrate in command. In the imperial system the supreme commander was always the Emperor even when he wasn’t there.)  When it was pointed out that said honor had not been so limited in the past and gave the example of Aulus Cornelius Cossus, who was just a tribune.  It was suddenly ‘discovered’ that Cossus had indeed been supreme commander after all.

“I have followed all previous chroniclers in saying that Aulus Cornelius Cossus was a senior officer—‘army tribune—when he deposited the ‘spoils of honor’ in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius; but there is a difficulty here, for in addition to the fact that the expression ‘spoils of honor’ is probably applicable only when they are taken by the supreme commander from the supreme commander of the enemy, and that we recognize no supreme commander apart from the man under whose auspices the campaign is fought, the actual inscription on the spoils proves that Cossus was consul when he took them.  I have heard that Augustus Caesar, founder and restorer of all our temples, enter the shrine of Jupiter Feretrius, which he had caused to be rebuilt after many years of neglect and dilapidation, and himself read the inscription on the linen corselet, and I have felt, in consequence, that it would be almost sacrilege to deprive Cossus so great a witness to his spoils as Caesar, the restorer of that very shrine.  By what error the ancient annals and the Linen Rolls of magistrates in the temple of Moneta, cited again and again as his authority by Licinius Macer, only record Cossos as having shared the consulship seven years later with Titus Quinctius Pennus, is anybody’s guess.  Again, it is impossible to shift the date of such a famous battle to the subsequent year, because Cossus’s consulship (to assume the later date) fell within a three-year period which, owing to famine and epidemics, there were no wars at all—indeed certain annals of the time, as dismal as death registers, gives us nothing beyond the names of the consuls.” (p. 291-292)

            Take that Augustus.

            The Early History of Rome is a great read even if its status as a primary source should somewhat be questioned.

{Video is from YouTube posted by Tom Mackenzie}


Definition - uncultivated

  2. (of land or fields) not prepared for raising crops; "uncultivated land"
  3. (of persons) lacking art or knowledge


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Dynamics of the Pasoh forest in Peninsular Malaysia were assessed by drawing a comparison with a forest in Panama, Central America, whose dynamics have been thoroughly described. Census plots of 50 ha were established at both sites using standard methods. Tree mortality at Pasoh over an eight–year interval was 1.46% yr−1 for all stems greater than or equal to 10 mm diameter at breast height (dbh), and 1.48% yr−1 for stems greater than or equal to 100 mm dbh. Comparable figures at the Barro Colorado Island site in Panama (BCI) were 2.55% and 2.03%. Growth and recruitment rates were likewise considerably higher at BCI than at Pasoh. For example, in all trees 500 to 700 mm in dbh, mean BCI growth over the period 1985 to 1995 was 6 mm yr−1, whereas mean Pasoh growth was about 3.5 mm yr−1. Examining growth and mortality rates for individual species showed that the difference between the forests can be attributed to a few light–demanding pioneer species at BCI, which have very high growth and mortality; Pasoh is essentially lacking this guild. The bulk of the species in the two forests are shade–tolerant and have very similar mortality, growth and recruitment. The Pasoh forest is more stable than BCI's in another way as well: few of its tree populations changed much over the eight–year census interval. In contrast, at BCI, over 10% of the species had populations increasing or decreasing at a rate of > 0.05 yr−1 (compared to just 2% of the species at Pasoh). The faster species turnover at BCI can probably be attributed to severe droughts that have plagued the forest periodically over the past 30 years; Pasoh has not suffered such extreme events recently. The dearth of pioneer species at Pasoh is associated with low–nutrient soil and slow litter breakdown, but the exact mechanisms behind this association remain poorly understood.

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Probing matters of the heart

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The fate of an embryonic stem cell, which has the potential to become any type of body cell, is determined by a complex interaction of genes, proteins that bind DNA, and molecules that modify those genes and proteins.

In a new paper, biologists from MIT and the University of California at San Francisco have outlined how those interactions direct the development of stem cells into mature heart cells. The study, the first to follow heart-cell differentiation over time in such detail, could help scientists better understand how particular mutations can lead to congenital heart defects. It could also assist efforts to engineer artificial heart tissue.

"We're hoping that some of the information we've been able to glean from our study will help us to approach a new understanding of heart development, and also lead to the possibility of using cells that are generated in a dish to replace heart cells that are lost as a consequence of aging and disease," says Laurie Boyer, an associate professor of biology at MIT and a senior author of the paper, which appears in the Sept. 13 online edition of Cell.

Research in Boyer's lab focuses on how DNA is organized and controlled in different cell types to create the wide variety of cells that make up the human body.

Inside a cell, DNA is wrapped around proteins called histones, which help control which genes are accessible at any given time. Histones may be tagged with different chemical modifications, which influence whether a particular stretch of DNA is exposed or hidden.

"These modifications cause structural changes that can act as docking sites for other factors to bind," says Joe Wamstad, a postdoc in Boyer's lab and one of the lead authors of the Cell paper. "It may make the DNA more or less accessible to manipulation by other factors, helping to ensure that you don't express a gene at the wrong time."

In this paper, the researchers found that histone-modification patterns shift rapidly as a stem cell differentiates. Furthermore, the patterns reveal genes that are active at different stages, as well as regulatory elements that control those genes.

Tracking development

To discover those patterns, the researchers grew mouse embryonic stem cells in a lab dish and treated them with proteins and growth factors that drive heart cell development. The cells could be followed through four distinct stages, from embryonic stem cells to fully differentiated cardiomyocytes (the cells that compose heart muscle). At each stage, the researchers used high-throughput sequencing technology to analyze histone modifications and determine which genes were being expressed.

"It's basically watching differentiation over time in a dish, and being able to take snapshots of that and put it all together to try to understand how the complex process of cardiac commitment is regulated," Boyer says.

The researchers found that they could identify groups of genes with related functions by comparing their modification patterns and whether they were being transcribed at a particular time. They also identified regulatory regions located far away from the genes they regulate. Many of these regions were located in sections of DNA previously thought to be "junk." Recent studies have revealed that much of this DNA actually plays important roles in regulating gene expression.

"We're starting to link genes with the regulatory elements that may be activating them, and beginning to draw a picture of the molecular circuitry that is controlling and driving these cardiac-specific programs the DNA elements that are important for turning on all the genes that you need to make a heart cell," Wamstad says.

The team also identified transcription factors proteins that initiate the expression of genes that appear to work collaboratively at regulatory regions to drive transcription of genes important for cardiac development. Defects in many of these transcription factors have previously been linked to congenital heart defects.

Linking disease with DNA

Previous genome-wide sequencing studies have revealed genetic variations that are more common in people with congenital heart disease or cardiovascular disease. The data obtained in this study should help researchers figure out why those variations give rise to such diseases.

The researchers are now looking for other combinations of transcription factors that are involved in controlling cardiac differentiation. They are also studying variations in the regulatory sequences they identified to figure out how these sequences might give rise to congenital heart disease or susceptibility to cardiovascular disease later in life.

Contact: Sarah McDonnell
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Bill Wells - Lemondale

A beautiful record
Bill Wells - Lemondale
Having recently illuminated the Aidan Moffat album ‘Everything’s Getting Older’, Bill Wells has travelled east to find his next collaboration. ‘Lemondale’ was recorded on a single day in Tokyo, pitching fourteen musicians together and allowing alchemy to ensue. Virtuoso pianist Satoko Fuji features alongside Jim O’Rourke on guitar, as Wells nurtures a gorgeous set of arrangements that are both cinematic and intimate. Balancing airy jazz and gentle loops, ‘Toon City’ manages to be both rich and airy, while the repeated refrain of the delightful title track is dappled in shimmering light. ‘Lemondale’ is a beautiful record - Wells has overseen a magical moment.

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How is it possible today to gain insight into the culture that flourished in ancient Greece over 2,500 years ago? Works of art are eloquent intermediaries.  This generously illustrated volume provides an introduction to the painted pottery that served specific utilitarian functions and that afforded outstanding artists a medium for depicting their gods and heroes and the details of daily existence. The key to understanding the rich language of the Greek vase is tuning into the interrelation of its function, shape, technique, and subject matter. Notable examples from the Metropolitan Museum’s exceptional collection reveal the variety and vitality of the refined forms and masterfully rendered scenes that characterize these engaging works of ancient Greek art.


The September Eureka Quiz

How much of a science nut are you? Find out in the science quiz from Eureka’s September issue

Each question has three levels of difficulty:

a: is for civilians

b: is for geeks

c: is for brainiacs

Question 1

a: Which animal class is distinguished by female mammary glands, hair or fur on the body and three middle-ear bones?

b: This class can be split into three groups: placental, marsupial and monotreme. What is special about the last-named?

c: Name two monotremes.

Question 2

Name the scientific philosophers who are associated with the following ideas:

a: I think therefore I am.

b: A theory is scientific if and only if it is falsifiable.

c: Our universe is “the best of all possible worlds”.

Question 3

a: What is the sum of the first ten whole numbers, ie, 1+2+3+…+10?

b: What is the sum of the first 100 whole numbers?

c: What is the sum of the first N numbers?

Question 4

a: By what collective term are Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus commonly known?

b: Place them in descending order of size.

c: The presence of which three substances in Neptune and Uranus lead them also to be described as the Ice Giants?

Question 5

a: Which two gases are produced by the electrolysis of water?

b: When electricity is passed through water, what is the name for the negatively charged electrode?

c: Which gas is produced at which electrode?

Question 1

a: Mammals

b: They lay eggs

c: Duckbill platypus, Echidna/spiny anteater

Question 2

a: Descartes

b: Popper

c: Leibniz

Question 3

a: 55

b: 5,050

c: N(N+1)/2

Question 4

a: The Gas Giants

b: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

c: Water, ammonia, methane

Question 5

a: Hydrogen and oxygen

b: Cathode

c: Hydrogen at cathode, oxygen at anode

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Dare to be different

Meet the businesses shaking up the status quo

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How to educate employees about protecting their data from hackers

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Understanding capital markets


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