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QotD: Judging Columbus
I should be judged as a captain who went from Spain to the Indies to conquer a people numerous and warlike, whose manners and religion are very different from ours, who live in sierras and mountains, without fixed settlements, and where by divine will I have placed under the sovereignty of the King and Queen our Lords, an Other World, whereby Spain, which was reckoned poor, is become the richest of countries.—Christopher Columbus
You may judge him more harshly than he judged himself. Or maybe more leniently. But however you do it, happy Columbus Day.
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How is everyone celebrating Columbus Day?
In honor of his homeland, I will be eating some leftover pizza with extra Italian sausage.
So shall I as a matter of fact.
Courage is an almost forgotten virtue. Took courage to sail off into the great unknown.
My calendar calls today Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It’s from an insurance company, so I suppose, woke. Another calendar I have says it Thanksgiving Day in Canada and Day of the Race (whatever that means) in Mexico.
Dentist appointment. Semi-annual one was cancelled for Covid so we will have back to back, his and her , annual dentist visits followed by lunch in town . I don’t mind the visits. The office is friendly. The dentist is a black belt in my dojo and his wife is my sparring partner , although contact drills have been avoided during Covid. Any day I see fellow humans now is a good day. Added benefit – 40 minutes in a place where I won’t be asked to wear a mask.
It’s Anti-Immigration Day!
I vote that the way to truly enjoy these festivities is to really rub the left’s face in their anti-immigration stance.
I mean, we’re smack dab in the middle of the China Flu right now! How hard could this be?
Day of the Race is Day of THE Race – it’s the La Raza holiday. Man that’s racist.
I was used to it being a government holiday when I was in the military. One year, when my oldest was in first grade, we slept in then loaded her in the car for lunch out and shopping at the mall. As we drove by the school, we saw, oopsie, cars in the parking lot. It hadn’t occurred to us that school would still happen.
Can you imagine? No, ma’am – I don’t know what’s there. I hope there are riches but no, I don’t know how far. No ma’am, I don’t know when we will be back or where we get food and water. Yes, ma’am, I am very grateful for your support and prayers.
Do you ever think about how they even got to the point of casting off? Courage and perseverance. Thanks be to God.
Day of the Race is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It just means they think everything was great here until that Columbus guy came along and stopped them from having human sacrifices, etc.
And a firm belief that the Earth was smaller around than the Greeks had calculated it to be.
Coming back to this one, Canadians are always wrong. They shoot off their fireworks on July 1st.
That’s what you get when you “model” something instead of getting in your ship to check it out. Kind of like modeling something like weather or – oh, I don’t know – a virus!
No, the Greeks were very close on the size of the Earth. It was Columbus who was wrong, and continued believing that he had landed close to India.
Torturing myself by watching at least part of the Senate Judiciary Hearing. Can’t wait. . .
Yeah, now that’s excitement. Or medication for overcoming low blood pressure.
Pizza!
My sister wanted today off, and when she put in for it, her state office said they already had the day off – Columbus Day. She said what?! Monday is Columbus Day?? She looked at her wall calendar and it said, “Indigenous People’s Day”. She called me and asked, “Did they replace Columbus?? !! Haha – not kidding! Thank you for the reminder – I’m going to put out my flags!
So was mine! And I have to wait until November! My young dentist got Covid and landed in the hospital!
Thank you for doing this so we don’t have to.
Thank you for doing what I wouldn’t do except under duress. Please give at least a small recap when you recover.
Well, today I only got through the first three senators. I was disappointed that Lindsey Graham didn’t tell them directly to honor the constitution and not use any “religious tests.” Maybe he’s saving that warning for tomorrow. (right)
Ben Sasse is doing well.
People belittle Columbus’ achievement by pointing out that others “discovered” America before he did – not least the natives, but also the Vikings and Breton fishermen. Fair enough. But Columbus did something with his discovery.
Similarly, lots of people invented incandescent light bulbs at about the same time that Edison did. But Edison came up with a filament that would last and with a power generation and distribution system. In other words, he was the guy that made electrical lights a practical alternative to kerosene lanterns.
Wasn’t that a black guy?
Or a Russian.
Right. I think mathematicians from a few different civilizations had calculated it out pretty much correctly.
Much of Columbus’ motivation was because he had a mistaken belief about longitude and the circumference of the earth. I have forgotten the details of how this came to be. Erasthorenes discovered the spherical nature of the earth and a good approximation of its size by determining noon from the bottom of a well a measured distance from another well. Of course the measurement of time was uncertain but the “flat earth” nonsense is a modern invention.
Columbus’ belief that he had found “The Indies” stemmed from that mistake in longitude. The western hemisphere was a surprise. His mistake was still some years in solution. Magellan finally accomplished the circumnavigation but did not survive it. He was killed in The Philippines and only one of his five ships made it home to Portugal.