On this day:
42 BC
Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat Brutus’s army. Brutus commits suicide.
1641
Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
1642
Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.
1861
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
1911
First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
1912
First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
1956
Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
1958
The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
1983
Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
2002
Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat Brutus’s army. Brutus commits suicide.
1641
Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
1642
Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.
1861
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
1911
First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
1912
First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
1956
Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
1958
The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
1983
Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
2002
Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
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"...job opportunities will exist as long as we human beings have wants to be met, and entrepreneurs and workers are free to bargain with each other to find ways to satisfy those wants.
Unless AI becomes godlike and fully satisfies each and every human desire, leaving no one wanting for anything, humans will have demands that can be met only by cooperating commercially with other humans. This cooperation creates jobs."--letter to the editor WSJ, on AI
***
Will AI history formulas emerge from AI writing formulas?
***
Which laws approved by duly elected representatives should we oppose in the streets? How is that decision made? Why are some law agents opposed and not others?
***
It is said that discussion is an alternative to violence. Here is an interesting etymology:
Polemical:
MEANING:
adjective: Relating to or involving strong, critical, or controversial writing or speech.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek polemikos, from polemos (war). A related word is polemology (the science and study of human conflict and war). Earliest documented use: 1615.
Where are rights from? What rights are inalienable?
Cicero, bringing the Greek Stoics' idea of higher law to Rome, expressed the primacy of moral standards over government laws. These standards became known as natural law. Above all, Cicero declared, government is morally obliged to protect human life and private property.
Thomas Hobbes, a much later English philosopher, described nature as a “war of all against all,” where life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” In this chaotic environment, Hobbes argued that individuals had the natural right to do whatever they needed to survive, and society's restrictions arose to moderate it.
John Locke had a more optimistic view of the state of nature. He believed that people were generally reasonable and moral, but still needed a government to protect their natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humans were naturally good but were corrupted by society. The development of property, social institutions, and technology led to inequality and conflict.
Jeremy Bentham was a critic of natural rights. He described the idea of natural rights as “nonsense upon stilts,” that rights are created by laws and cannot exist outside of a legal framework.
The “nature rights” movement is pushing environmentalism into that unscientific realm. Specifically, the movement promotes a neo-pagan mysticism — such as invoking Pachamama, the Incan earth goddess — as a major basis for its advocacy.
Such approaches have reached the highest levels and are in use in medical and scientific journals.
Which laws approved by duly elected representatives should we oppose in the streets? How is that decision made? Why are some law agents opposed and not others?
***
It is said that discussion is an alternative to violence. Here is an interesting etymology:
Polemical:
MEANING:
adjective: Relating to or involving strong, critical, or controversial writing or speech.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek polemikos, from polemos (war). A related word is polemology (the science and study of human conflict and war). Earliest documented use: 1615.
***
Human Rights
Human Rights
Where are rights from? What rights are inalienable?
Cicero, bringing the Greek Stoics' idea of higher law to Rome, expressed the primacy of moral standards over government laws. These standards became known as natural law. Above all, Cicero declared, government is morally obliged to protect human life and private property.
Natural rights are those inherent to human beings, before any formal legal or social structures were in place. They can not be removed and do not need to be granted.
Thomas Hobbes, a much later English philosopher, described nature as a “war of all against all,” where life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” In this chaotic environment, Hobbes argued that individuals had the natural right to do whatever they needed to survive, and society's restrictions arose to moderate it.
John Locke had a more optimistic view of the state of nature. He believed that people were generally reasonable and moral, but still needed a government to protect their natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humans were naturally good but were corrupted by society. The development of property, social institutions, and technology led to inequality and conflict.
Jeremy Bentham was a critic of natural rights. He described the idea of natural rights as “nonsense upon stilts,” that rights are created by laws and cannot exist outside of a legal framework.
"Natural." "Rights." A merging. A two-way street. A partnership. The Left takes a leap of faith.
The Left is, in the absence of argument, becoming fantastical.
Such approaches have reached the highest levels and are in use in medical and scientific journals.
And symposiums.
Harvard Kennedy School hosted a symposium on “nature rights” undergirded by “indigenous knowledge” as part of the 2025 Harvard Climate Action Week. From “Indigenous Leadership on Protecting Water as a Fundamental Right:”
Throughout the event, a recurring theme was the need to reframe the human relationship with water—not as a resource for human consumption but as a living relative with which humans share reciprocal duties.
So, if a river rises and the flood hurts people, should we whip the waters? Or can we sue it?
Harvard Kennedy School hosted a symposium on “nature rights” undergirded by “indigenous knowledge” as part of the 2025 Harvard Climate Action Week. From “Indigenous Leadership on Protecting Water as a Fundamental Right:”
Throughout the event, a recurring theme was the need to reframe the human relationship with water—not as a resource for human consumption but as a living relative with which humans share reciprocal duties.
So, if a river rises and the flood hurts people, should we whip the waters? Or can we sue it?
Or are we above that?
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