SEARCH
On the evening of April 17, 1006 AD, a little more than 1,000 years ago, human beings from around the world looked up into the night sky and saw a brilliant light, the likes of which they had never before seen in their entire lives. Most people thought it was a new star–
[Editor’s note: This is Simon’s take on what POTUS should have said at last night’s State of the Union address.] My fellow Americans. It has become somewhat of a tradition for Presidents to stand in front of you during this annual address and claim that “the state of our union is strong”. And
“Irresponsible.” That’s the word that some politicians in the United States Congress have been using this week to describe their opponents’ demands to balance the federal budget. Just imagine what that says about the state of US public finances: that even the mere thought of having a balanced budget… of living within your
When the infamous British smuggler Robert Jenkins sailed past Jamaica in April of 1731, he probably thought he was home free. Jenkins had a ship full of contraband which he had picked up in the West Indies, and he was heading back to England to sell his goods in London’s premium markets. But
By the early 300s AD, ancient Rome’s population was in significant decline. Modern historians haven’t nailed down a precise number for Rome’s population— and estimates vary— but the clear consensus is that population peaked in the first or second century AD, and then began a rapid fall. We know the reasons why. Roman
We all know that inflation has been well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2% for nearly two years now. It peaked at over 9% last June and has remained stubbornly high since then. But it seems like the bureaucrats have finally found a way to reduce inflation. No, it has nothing
On March 2, 1629, after years of escalating tensions with his own government, King Charles I of England dissolved parliament and ordered all the politicians to go home. He was only in the fourth year of his reign, but Charles was already a very unpopular king. One of his worst habits was frequently
Around 23,000 years ago on the southwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee, a small paleolithic tribe of hunter-gatherers made an incredible discovery that would forever alter the course of human history. They realized that, instead of relying on fishing, hunting, and foraging for edible plants, they could actually grow their own food,
Starting today I’m going to try something that I haven’t been able to accomplish in more than twenty years: take two solid weeks off to spend time with my family. The last time I had the chance to do this was back in 1999 when I was in my final year at West
On the fifth of April in the year 1853, a diplomat from the United Kingdom with the most quintessentially British name — Stratford Canning — arrived by boat to Constantinople and immediately took an emergency meeting with Sultan Abdulmejid of the Ottoman Empire. After decades of relative peace, Europe was once again on the brink
On the morning of June 20, 1783, the Continental Congress of the United States was just starting its daily session at Independence Hall in Philadelphia when the building was suddenly mobbed by hundreds of angry people. It turned out the protesters were soldiers who had fought in the American Revolution. And they wanted
There’s a lot of hope out there right now that inflation has peaked, and will be gradually heading lower. And it’s great to have hope. After all, no one can say with certainty exactly what’s going to happen, and when. So realistically anything is possible. But there’s are plenty of reasons to conclude
On the 17th of September in the year 1665, the three-year old Charles II became King of Spain. And the odds were stacked heavily against him. To start off, Charles was the unfortunate result of inbreeding; Charles’s mother was also his first cousin, in that Charles’s father was his mother’s uncle. Let that
My trip from Cancún to Puerto Rico on Monday was a smooth journey, which is fortunate given that I was traveling with my extended family in tow, including two babies, plus my wife’s family from Ukraine. We had managed to get them out of Ukraine several weeks ago and into Mexico, where we
Several months ago my wife and I traveled to Cancún, Mexico for a very specific reason: we wanted our son to be born here. This was a no-brainer decision. Our daughter was born here in Cancún last year, and the experience was so great that we knew we wanted to repeat it. Now