Think Big
19 March 2009
Amazing Civil War Veteran Videos
A Confederate Veterans Convention from 1914.
From the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1938.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicates the Civil War Memorial along with footage of Civil War veterans who were present.
This one is my favorite. The music along with the footage of elderly Civil War Veterans (from both sides) reuniting is powerful and emotional. I'm so glad that we have footage of these soldiers.
These videos really bring the Civil War home. These aren't paintings or musty photographs. Here the veterans are smiling, frowning, moving, one of them even dances.
The Spread of History E-Books
If you love a good book, you are living in exciting times. The E-Book industry, after years of struggling to provide a quality product, is now vaulting to the forefront of the discussion about new technology. The recently released Amazon Kindle 2 is generating a lot of buzz, and the Sony Reader series is experiencing booming sales and popularity. Newspaper and magazine articles about the death of print may be a bit premature, but there is no doubt that the E-book is finally revolutionizing the way we see books.
I was once a skeptic myself, raising an eyebrow at the attempts to push an electronic avenue for book reading. I scoffed at those who read books on their computers and could never do it myself. The eyestrain and discomfort was simply too much. So someone went and invented E-Ink, which is absolutely wonderful. A few tech tweaks later, and suddenly reading a book on a Kindle or Sony Reader is more comfortable than reading an actual book. You don't have to fight with paper pages that don't want to stay open, you can read in bed more comfortably, and there's no end to where you can read with an e-book reader.
To top off the fantastic technical aspects, there is the aspect of free e-books! That's right! Any book in the public domain is available somewhere online, in many formats. No more dishing at $5-20 for that classic you've been thinking about reading. Download it quickly for free and see if you like it. Expanding your cultural and literary horizons has never been easier.
Now here is some really awesome news: Sony and Google just announced a partnership that has seen 500,000 (yes, half a million, it's not a typo) public domain books become available for free through the Sony E-Book Store. Virtually any obscure text you can think of is available here. All the classics, many government documents, historical books, biographies, science books, it's all there.
Now here is why I'm REALLY excited. As a history student, I now have free access to an unending supply of primary documents and pre-1920 histories. Sure, there are flaws, especially when trying to cite them. But the fact remains, I can find out which books are helpful, which are not. If I need to use a book, but perhaps it's not a direct scan or has a lack of citation information, I can at least know the book is useful and find a hard copy. Some scholars can scoff at this, but students and young historians don't have the money to invest in subscriptions or to travel to distant libraries to do research. Access to historical texts through things like Google Books has broken down a major barrier for many of us.
And with the floodgates open, I am immersing myself in as much as I can find. History buffs once limited by having to carry around dusty, moldy volumes can breathe a sigh of relief. I have something like 150 historical e-books on my Sony PRS-505 and don't even know where to begin.
Talk about an embarrassment of riches.
I was once a skeptic myself, raising an eyebrow at the attempts to push an electronic avenue for book reading. I scoffed at those who read books on their computers and could never do it myself. The eyestrain and discomfort was simply too much. So someone went and invented E-Ink, which is absolutely wonderful. A few tech tweaks later, and suddenly reading a book on a Kindle or Sony Reader is more comfortable than reading an actual book. You don't have to fight with paper pages that don't want to stay open, you can read in bed more comfortably, and there's no end to where you can read with an e-book reader.
To top off the fantastic technical aspects, there is the aspect of free e-books! That's right! Any book in the public domain is available somewhere online, in many formats. No more dishing at $5-20 for that classic you've been thinking about reading. Download it quickly for free and see if you like it. Expanding your cultural and literary horizons has never been easier.
Now here is some really awesome news: Sony and Google just announced a partnership that has seen 500,000 (yes, half a million, it's not a typo) public domain books become available for free through the Sony E-Book Store. Virtually any obscure text you can think of is available here. All the classics, many government documents, historical books, biographies, science books, it's all there.
Now here is why I'm REALLY excited. As a history student, I now have free access to an unending supply of primary documents and pre-1920 histories. Sure, there are flaws, especially when trying to cite them. But the fact remains, I can find out which books are helpful, which are not. If I need to use a book, but perhaps it's not a direct scan or has a lack of citation information, I can at least know the book is useful and find a hard copy. Some scholars can scoff at this, but students and young historians don't have the money to invest in subscriptions or to travel to distant libraries to do research. Access to historical texts through things like Google Books has broken down a major barrier for many of us.
And with the floodgates open, I am immersing myself in as much as I can find. History buffs once limited by having to carry around dusty, moldy volumes can breathe a sigh of relief. I have something like 150 historical e-books on my Sony PRS-505 and don't even know where to begin.
Talk about an embarrassment of riches.
20 February 2009
New Articles!
Victor Mobley's Content Producer Page - Associated Content
http://www.associatedcontent.comuser/256209/victor_mobley.html
http://www.associatedcontent.comuser/256209/victor_mobley.html
13 August 2008
Comparing Athens and Sparta, Charlemagne and the Franks
Two new articles.
One compares and contrasts Athens and Sparta and is a must read for anyone working on a paper or wanting to know some general information about the two.
The other is about Charlemagne and how he saved the Catholic Church and created the first French Empire.
One compares and contrasts Athens and Sparta and is a must read for anyone working on a paper or wanting to know some general information about the two.
The other is about Charlemagne and how he saved the Catholic Church and created the first French Empire.
12 August 2008
Russia Invades Georgia, What Can We Do?
Russia's invasion of Georgia is all over the news now. But what can the world do about it? President George Bush is taking it to the UN, but the most that will come out of that is a toothless resolution that means nothing. Things certainly don't look good, read about what the options are and what is likely to happen!
World Response to Russian Invasion of Georgia
World Response to Russian Invasion of Georgia
"Obama's Foreign Policy Flip-Flop," America's Invasion of Haiti
A whole slew of new articles just published thanks to Associated Content.
The first, "Obama's Foreign Policy Flip-Flop" is an op-ed piece about Obama stumbling to clarify his foreign policy involving Iraq.
The second is a history of the US Invasion of Haiti in 1915 and a brief history of the occupation. This one is meant to be a complement to this article.
The first, "Obama's Foreign Policy Flip-Flop" is an op-ed piece about Obama stumbling to clarify his foreign policy involving Iraq.
The second is a history of the US Invasion of Haiti in 1915 and a brief history of the occupation. This one is meant to be a complement to this article.
President Buchanan Article
Ever wonder about why the American Civil War happened? There were many reasons, and one of them was President James Buchanan. A terrible, terrible President, he actually helped the nation TOWARD civil war. His ineptitude was shocking, read this article for the whole crazy story!
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