Originally posted by Enrique
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Originally posted by Enrique View PostAlright. Also, it occurs to me that another answer could be 'so did I have', which is one step from 'so did I', omiting 'have'.'Man know thyself'
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The Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides.
Having read this book in my youth, I wonder now how I had the patience to do it. It's so pityful to see how Athens was at times a little distance from winning the war. The disastrous expedition to Sicily, where the Athenians lost 50000 men and the stupid removal of Alcibiades from its command. The unbelievable absurdities made by the Athenian democracy. I do not think Sparta would have won were it not for the Persian gold. This war parallels the World Wars in many respects, including psycological warfare. Grave problems of decay in many fields could be observed in Greece after it ended, and she never more was what it once was.
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Originally posted by Enrique View PostThe Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides.
Having read this book in my youth, I wonder now how I had the patience to do it. It's so pityful to see how Athens was at times a little distance from winning the war. The disastrous expedition to Sicily, where the Athenians lost 50000 men and the stupid removal of Alcibiades from its command. The unbelievable absurdities made by the Athenian democracy. I do not think Sparta would have won were it not for the Persian gold. This war parallels the World Wars in many respects, including psycological warfare. Grave problems of decay in many fields could be observed in Greece after it ended, and she never more was what it once was.'Man know thyself'
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Enrique raises perhaps one of the greatest lessons in politics as in life itself.
That is if you plan something you have to plan it all the way to the end.
In 415 BC the Athenians attacked Sicily.
All they saw was power, riches and glory.
They did not take into account how hard the Sicilians would fight, or how all Athens enemies would unite against them or that war would break out on several fronts totally overwhelming their own limited forces.
The expedition was a complete and utter disaster leading to the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations of all time.
They did this because they only looked in isolation at one thing, what they were going to get out of it, and they completely ignored the dangers looming in the distance.
I have to say that the parallels with the current war in Iraq are just uncanny.
As somebody once said, ''human intelligence has obvious limits, human stupidity none whatsoever.''
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Originally posted by RobertH View PostEnrique raises perhaps one of the greatest lessons in politics as in life itself.
That is if you plan something you have to plan it all the way to the end.
In 415 BC the Athenians attacked Sicily.
All they saw was power, riches and glory.
They did not take into account how hard the Sicilians would fight, or how all Athens enemies would unite against them or that war would break out on several fronts totally overwhelming their own limited forces.
The expedition was a complete and utter disaster leading to the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations of all time.
They did this because they only looked in isolation at one thing, what they were going to get out of it, and they completely ignored the dangers looming in the distance.
I have to say that the parallels with the current war in Iraq are just uncanny.
As somebody once said, ''human intelligence has obvious limits, human stupidity none whatsoever.'''Man know thyself'
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Originally posted by RobertH View PostEnrique raises perhaps one of the greatest lessons in politics as in life itself.
That is if you plan something you have to plan it all the way to the end.
In 415 BC the Athenians attacked Sicily.
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Originally posted by Peter View PostWell your average politician's historical knowledge is lamentable so there isn't much hope, especially as they don't teach context properly - an example is of a (bright) pupil of mine studying the suffragettes at GCSE level who thought this happened in the Elizabethan era, but mind you she had no idea when that was either! Indeed we're doomed to repeat past mistakes.
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Plots & Parallel Powers
Thought I would mention an interesting novel I read recently, Plots & Parallel Powers, about the Gunpowder Plot, by Robert Neville.
It is a tense filled blend of fact and fiction.
I certainly got a sense of an historical place and time.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plots-Parall.../dp/B00CS3BMQ8
Recommended!‘Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.’
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what am reading right now?
Something about "integration through approximation"
I say I'm reading it-but I don't understand it..
some of us are just regular gluttons for punishment, eh?
xoxox
L(isa)"It was not the fortuitous meeting of the chordal atoms that made the world; if order and beauty are reflected in the constitution of the universe, then there is a God."
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Originally posted by EternaLisa View Postwhat am reading right now?
Something about "integration through approximation"
I say I'm reading it-but I don't understand it..
some of us are just regular gluttons for punishment, eh?
xoxox
L(isa)Last edited by Enrique; 07-09-2013, 06:05 PM.
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Originally posted by Enrique View PostThe idea behind it is quite simple, though. Incidentally, a function of the real variable x, like exp(-x^2) can only be integrated by approximation. There is no function whose derivative is exp(-x^2).
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