Lessons From History Biographies

  Science is always changing—roll with it and be open-minded!             This will be a shorter blog, as dinosaurs are of course not “history”—they didn’t write down much for us to study, haha! I almost exclusively read history books, but every now and then I buy science books, to keep up with some of the discoveries I’ve missed out on since college. Also, this is a lesson from reading a dinosaur book that I think everyone can get behind—dinosaurs are, have been, and will ALWAYS be cool!!             One of the intriguing aspects of reading new dinosaur books is how much we are constantly learning and changing our views of these extinct giants. When my parents were growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, scientists generally saw dinosaurs as extinct reptiles, with giant bodies and necks that towered dozens of feet straight up into the sky. They were seen as typical slow-m...

  Dictatorial governments are inherently destructive, and ultimately ineffective.             “As awful as that dictator was, he did get stuff done!” That is a myth that has been used throughout modern times to try to justify the very existence of global autocracies, and one has that sadly grown in stature in recent decades as nations around the world have embraced more authoritarian political movements. After all, democracies and societies devoted to individual freedoms are inherently messy and complicated, and people often grow frustrated with just how slow and unwieldy they can be in responding to crisis. However, the myth that dictatorships are more efficient is largely a product of propaganda, and instead history has shown that these societies contain within them the seeds of their own destruction. Whether it takes months, years, or decades, a government that is run by goons and sycophants who are mostly devoted to tryin...