Tag Archives: History

Photograph of the day: A boat sails down a river in the Jiangsu province of China in 1946

Posted on 17/09/2012 by

Click on the image to enlarge it. See also: Photograph of the day: Queen’s Road in Hong Kong on Chinese New Year’s Day, 1902

Posted in Visual Arts | Tagged , , , , , ,

Heil hockey! The moment a German team performed the Nazi salute as they faced English school boys in 1939

Posted on 27/10/2011 by

Click on the image to enlarge it. Heil hockey!  The moment a German team performed the Nazi salute as they faced English school boys in 1939.  How many of these young men ended up trying to kill each other? In six months’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Sport, Visual Arts | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Today’s Google doodle celebrates the life of the Augustinian friar and scientist Gregor Mendel

Posted on 20/07/2011 by

July 20th, 2011: Gregor Mendel’s 189th Birthday

Posted in History, Sciences | Tagged , , , ,

“Otto – a mortal and a sinner.” An interesting tidbit from Otto von Habsburg’s funeral service

Posted on 18/07/2011 by

Otto von Habsburg, the eldest son of the last Austrian emperor, was buried in grand style in Vienna on Saturday.  Here’s an interesting tidbit from the Hapsburg funeral: Three times the master of ceremonies knocked on the crypt’s doors and … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics, World Events | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Sophie Scholl and friends: Catholic Christians who founded the White Rose opposition movement in Nazi Germany

Posted on 02/07/2011 by

Charles Lewis writes: The film takes place over the course of a few days – from the time of Sophie’s capture, to her interrogation, her trial and execution.  Hans Scholl, 24, and family friend Christoph Probst, 22, were also taken into … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Alister McGrath, St. Augustine, Charles Darwin, evolution and ‘The Origin of Species’

Posted on 04/03/2011 by

Augustine’s Origin of Species by Alister McGrath Augustine would have rejected any idea of the development of the universe as a random or lawless process.  For this reason, Augustine would have opposed the Darwinian notion of random variations, insisting that … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Philosophy, Sciences | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Famous atheists in history: Napoleon Bonaparte

Posted on 07/02/2011 by

Most historians agree that Napoleon Bonaparte, who was heavily involved in the anti-clerical French Revolution, was an atheist.  For one thing, he claimed that “all religions have been made by men”.  A brilliant military conqueror, who set Europe afire with his military campaigns, … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, History | Tagged , , , ,

Did Hitler commission Nazi flying saucers? Of course not but it’s a great story!

Posted on 17/11/2010 by

[This is almost certainly rubbish but, for me at least, it makes an irresistible story!] Hitler’s secret flying saucer: Did the Führer plan to attack London and New York in UFOs? It is claimed that Hitler’s scientists designed a UFO-style aircraft – and … Continue reading →

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The flat earth myth: still alive and kicking — and it’s no accident

Posted on 05/11/2010 by

Some secular myths are almost impossible to kill off.  A prime example is the flat earth myth, which I was reminded of a few evenings ago while watching, of all things, the film Men in Black on television.  “Five hundred years … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Secularism | Tagged , ,