TodayzHistory

       Technology is the angel and devil sitting on our shoulders 24/7.  It is the driver of amazing change and catastrophic outcomes.  We are both more protected and less protected because of it, and we have yet to figure out how to regulate it.  It also knows no age limits, as I have witnessed babies and senior citizens in use of it.  But, one thing is for certain. The youth of the present are growing up under a technological microscope that anyone over the age of thirty can not relate to.      I literally read George Orwell’s 1984 in 1984 when I was a high school sophomore. I was in a fiction class taught by the late, great Barbara Gordon Wise.  Despite Dr. Wise’s best efforts, I was a barely better-than-average student, and often read for the gist of the story, not the specifics that make the story special. But, I did remember Big Brother, and still think about it to this day. It felt so absurd forty years ago, an...

                                       History has a sense of humor, and often uses irony to show it.  There is probably an endless amount of examples to be fished out of the ocean of human existence, so it would seem odd that we would be surprised when irony occurs in our lives, but some examples stick out more than others, and since the presidency of the United States has been such an important part of American and global history, this is as good a place to start as any.  A failed redcoat who defeats the British and becomes an American demigod, a man of immense reason and rationality leading us through a schizophrenic war, a weak asthmatic who becomes a force of nature, and a man handicapped in his prime leading us through two of the most intense periods of American history.       George Washington was not destined for greatness, but he ...

       The Bill of Rights, a highly necessary addition to the US Constitution, has been a game changer to our society and the world in general.  These ten amendments addressed practically every grievance that former British subjects had with previous monarchies, absolute or limited.  They cover many issues, from free speech to fair trials to states’ rights.   But, they have also helped throw a spotlight on some of the most controversial, divisive issues that humans have ever had to deal with.  This type of transparency is both edifying and horrifying, because you can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge (like the pandemic belly that I have carefully cultivated for the last year).  The Eighth Amendment is one of those spotlights, and that transparency has led to changes in our society, for better or worse.        The Eighth Amendment is the shortest of all the Bill of Rights, and reads “Excessive bail s...