Showing 1 - 10 of 31
Religion and warfare
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 06/09/2019
» What all religions, sects, cults have in common is that each believes it is the true one, the others not only unworthy but spawns of the devil, deserving to be liquidated.
Expert Advice
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 13/04/2018
» In several Peanuts comic strips, little Lucy sets up a booth. For a nickel she'll solve a problem bothering you. Her advice is quite good, indicating insight unlikely in the young. The thing about advice is that virtually everyone offers it, asked for or not, free and costly.
Artificial intelligence
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 12/01/2018
» There are Vatican scholars. Then there are novelists who research the Vatican library to give the plots of their imaginative religious stories the aura of authenticity. It turns out that the lay writers usually pen more interesting books. Less authentic, yet more believable.
A hoax in Rome
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 15/12/2017
» When, after suffering horrendous losses, the 3 million-strong Red Army liberated Eastern Europe, Stalin was feeling his oats. Who couldn't they defeat if he gave the order? The Catholic Church was the reply. How many men does the Pope have, he chuckled? One billion, was the reply. The supreme dictator stopped chuckling.
Choosing sides
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/12/2017
» Not long ago a historian calculated that throughout human history there has been a total of fewer than 25 years of peace. There were wars somewhere on the planet the rest of the time. The clear meaning is that homo sapiens are a violent, bloodthirsty lot.
Three days in May
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 11/08/2017
» Hitler learned a lesson from his unsuccessful Munich putsch of 1924 -- that weapons are legal only in the hands of the government. He spent the next decade getting into the national government. After that Germany built weapons at breakneck speed.
Pulling it all together
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/07/2017
» What I learned from years of backpacking is that there's no single pattern of development. Every country I've been to has had its unique history, which is why the prospect of globalisation is incongruous and why mother countries couldn't hold on to their colonies.
Never volunteer
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 05/05/2017
» For millennia, the essential part of every tribe and nation has been its military. Whether called war councils, war offices or war departments, their concern was having sufficient arms and training men to use them to the best of their ability.
Combating the beasts
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 24/03/2017
» The world is a jungle and its beasts -- humans and animal -- are out to get us. Can the forces, sworn to protect and defend us, keep them at bay? It's touch and go. The basic task is not to catch them after they've struck, but to prevent them from striking.
Excellent research
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 07/10/2016
» Though over for three-score-and-10 years, with many of its combatants gone to the Happy Hunting Ground, the World War II is still being written about and regurgitated in film. Little wonder, as tens of millions of soldiers and civilians were killed in it, courtesy of the Fuhrer and General Tojo.