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omorkaThe Spouse mentioned the Fortean adage "It steam-engines when it is steam-engine time" this weekend. The idea, of course, is that there are some inventions, ideas, thoughts, etc. that do not have single inventors because they simply appear in the stream of history when they become obvious. The steam engine was Fort's example, but the television and the computer are actually better examples.
I had never, to my recollection, heard of U.S. Marine Corps General Smedley Butler before watching The Corporation this weekend. Now, my U.S. History class in 11th grade kind of plowed through the Depression/New Deal era to get to WWII, so this might merely have been an artifact of not catching it then, but I'm pretty sure the name wasn't even mentioned in the textbook.
Then I check up on the Straight Dope website, just to see what's been posted recently, and I find Cecil's column of the 18th of this month.
Obviously it was time for me to hear about this, although I'll be damned if I can understand why (except as the obvious cautionary tale).
I had never, to my recollection, heard of U.S. Marine Corps General Smedley Butler before watching The Corporation this weekend. Now, my U.S. History class in 11th grade kind of plowed through the Depression/New Deal era to get to WWII, so this might merely have been an artifact of not catching it then, but I'm pretty sure the name wasn't even mentioned in the textbook.
Then I check up on the Straight Dope website, just to see what's been posted recently, and I find Cecil's column of the 18th of this month.
Obviously it was time for me to hear about this, although I'll be damned if I can understand why (except as the obvious cautionary tale).
