Category Archives: history

How Social Media Rewired Our Minds

Posted on November 2, 2023 by smellincoffee

One of my core beliefs is that we live in a world which we made for ourselves, and yet which is not fit for ourselves. Our eyes expect to see what they do not see, our arms reach for which … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Astounding

Posted on October 20, 2023 by smellincoffee

I don’t remember why I picked up “Foundation” back in 2008, but it would be the beginning of an obsession with Asimov that saw me reading collection after collection of his stories from the 1930s – 1960s, finding greater and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Facebook

Posted on October 12, 2023 by smellincoffee

“Look at us,” my buddy chuckled. It was the halfway point of a 3-hour night class, and we’d been given a fifteen minute break to hydrate, caffeinate, and evacuate. Four people immediately flowed into the student common area and occupied … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The rise of digital cryptography & the dark web

Posted on September 27, 2023 by smellincoffee

Short rounds time! First up, a surprisingly serious and detailed history of digital cryptography from Steven Levy. The previous books I’ve read by Levy have also been tech histories, but How Google Works and his Apple-related titles had a strong … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Flags of our Fathers

Posted on September 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

More Marines were killed in the first four days of the Battle of Iwo Jima than perished in Guadacanal over the course of five months, and the battle accounts for over a third of Marine casualties sustained in the entire … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Worst Hard Time

Posted on August 23, 2023 by smellincoffee

I first encountered the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the same history book, and images of houses covered by drifts of dust and those of men standing in line looking for relief or work are forever twinned in … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Woke Up This Morning

Posted on August 21, 2023 by smellincoffee

Ho! Waitaminute. This is a review of a book about The Sopranoes called Woke Up This Morning. It would be wrong to begin it without “Woke Up this Morning”. Alright, wiseguy, you watched the theme? Good. This thing of ours, … Continue reading →

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We Have Capture

Posted on July 24, 2023 by smellincoffee

Tom Stafford is the last man of Gemini, having outlived all of his previous colleagues. Born in 1930 on the Oklahoma plains, he sought escape from poverty like many through the armed forces. Though too young for World War 2, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Carrying the Fire

Posted on July 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

Yet a higher call was calling, and we vowed we’d reach it soonSo we gave ourselves a decade to put fire on the moonAnd Apollo told the world, we can  do it if we try —There was One Small Step, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Forever Young

Posted on July 20, 2023 by smellincoffee

If ever the title “Mr. Astronaut” was given out, it would not go to John Glenn, despite his being the posterboy of Mercury; it wouldn’t even go to Neil Armstrong, who fifty-four years ago today became the first human to … Continue reading →

Posted in General, history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments