Jack Kelly's 'Gunpowder'

I'm reading a terrific book by Jack Kelly about the history of gunpowder : http://www.atlantic-books.co.uk/book/Gunpowder . I am reading the paperback, ISBN 1843541912 / 9781843541912.

At the end of a chapter describing the development of the use of canons on board European ships from Vasco da Gama in the very late 15th c. to the Napoleonic Wars, he has the following striking passage:

Vasco da Gama, 1469-1524

Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805

"Sea battles are almost invariably wrapped in a cloak of glory. Horatio Nelson, who helped hone fighting tactics to a peak of brutality, now stands in state on his oversized pillar in Trafalgar Square. Yet few events, even in war, match the naval fight of the gunpowder era for sheer madness. That two bands of poor, illiterate, scurvy-ridden men, kidnapped & driven by the whip, should be induced to fire at each other from point-blank range with massive guns - it was a ritual of almost incomprehensible savagery & barbarism. That it should have continued & reached its apogee in the Age of Enlightenment is a deep paradox that any theory of political conflict is feeble to explain."


- Gunpowder , p. 107

Nelson's Column

Iggle Piggle's Not in Bed ! : Ontological Semiotics in 'In The Night Garden'

There is in fact no blog to go with this, I am afraid. Having thought of the title, it was simply too good to waste.

Iggle Piggle (with his characteristic blanket) & Upsy Daisy

Ditto

Marcus on Being Straightforward

The party conference season has just ended in the UK, & the race for the Presidency is in full swing in the US. In this context, when we have seen & heard so many protestations by leaders & their would-be replacements, you may well imagine how forcibly I was struck by the following passage by Marcus Aurelius [Meditations , Bk.11.]:

Barack Obama

Mitt Romney

Joe Biden & Paul Ryan in debate.

David Cameron

Ed Miliband

Nick Clegg

"15. How hollow & insincere it sounds when someone says, 'I am determined to be perfectly straightforward with you.' Why, man, what is all this ? The thing needs no prologue; it will declare itself. It should be written on your forehead, it should echo in the tones of your voice, it should shine out in a moment from your eyes, just as a single glance from the beloved tells all to the lover. Sincerity & goodness ought to have their own unmistakable odour, so that one who encounters this becomes straightway aware of it despite himself. A candour affected is a dagger concealed. The feigned friendship of the wolf is the most contemptible of all, & to be shunned beyond everything. A man who is truly good & sincere & well-meaning will show it by his looks, & no one can fail to see it."