So here's something I've been contemplating. We have all heard/read about how the Nile river floods yearly (or did until the Aswan was built anyhow). And how the annual flood deposited a rich layer of silt on the soils of the Nile valley, fertilizing the fields. How this was so essential to the functioning of Egyptian society and agricultural ( Read more... )

I watched a documentary about the lives of soldiers in "the Great War". It was a pretty poor documentary and most of it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before, but a couple of things struck me in new ways.

1. Trench warfare, it seems to me, is a stunning display of the insanity of war. Bring two armies of men together along a front and stick them in ( Read more... )