“Five years ago, the National Security Agency (NSA) released 136 issues of its internal Cryptolog periodical spanning 1974 through 1997. The collection offered a look into the some of the discussions being held within one of America’s most secretive intelligence agencies. Today the GWU-based National Security Archive is providing a complete index of all 1,504 items in the declassified collection, including but not limited to articles, interviews, and puzzles.”
Tag: history
The History of the World: Every Year – YouTube
“Seeing White” series on Scene on Radio
“Seeing White” is a 14 part series on the Scene on Radio podcast exploring the construction of white identity in the United States and the institutional structures of white supremacy that underpin it.
“Man” by Steve Cutts
Freedom vs. Sovereignty
“The reward for accepting unpredictability is meaning. Unlike the abyss faced by makers, the plurality of other humans who are the object of action don’t just stare back. Sometimes they accept your invitation to play on; they join you in continuing the game. To act, in the Arendt sense, is to issue a call to play an infinite game in the James Carse sense (Carsean finite games, obviously, map to maker-theaters).
The reward for dealing with others through promises and forgiveness, rather than fuck-yous, is freedom, a richer mode of being than sovereignty.”
—Venkatesh Rao, “How To Make History.” Ribbonfarm.com. September 14, 2017.
There seems to be an interesting overlap going on here where the element of surprise is the hallmark of agency and freedom, and Baggini’s bringing in the same when talking about truth.
The Secret History of Dune
“…part of Herbert’s genius lay in his willingness to reach for more idiosyncratic sources of inspiration. The Sabres of Paradise (1960) served as one of those sources, a half-forgotten masterpiece of narrative history recounting a mid-19th century Islamic holy war against Russian imperialism in the Caucasus…
…Why is Blanch’s influence on Dune worth recognizing? Celebrating Blanch is not a means to discredit Herbert, whose imaginative novel transcends the sum of its influences. But Dune remains massively popular while The Sabres of Paradise languishes in relative obscurity, and renewed public interest in Blanch’s forgotten history would be a welcome development.”
—Will Collins. “The Secret History of Dune.” The L.A. Review of Books. September 16, 2017.
Ben Grierson, Equinophobic U.S. Civil War Cavalry Hero
“If you grew up in church, you get that story in a hot second: He was one of the Elect, horse-wise. God got him kicked, marked with the hoofprint to tell him he’d have to crawl to the ol’ rugged hoss, like it or not, and added the horse-phobia to make it more interesting. Although I’m not sure being scared of horses is even a phobia. It’s just common sense. Any animal with a tiny brain and an iron-tipped back leg cocked like a bear trap is a good thing to be scared of. I had some horsey relatives and every time they wanted to show us Gypsy or Joker, I’d be edging around trying to stay out of range of that twitchy back leg. I’d already read enough military history to know that horses killed and crippled a whole lot of soldiers. One thing I’ll say for cars: they may kill you but at least it won’t be personal. A horse can nurse a little grudge for weeks, then kick your brain out the back of your head.”
—Brecher, Gary. “Ben Grierson, Actual Hero.” The Exile: War Nerd. October 16, 2011.
Not in the authoritative style of most history, but damn if it isn’t much more interesting to read.
Roman Roads as Subway Map
via Sasha Trubetskoy
cafebedouin.org 