Growing up in a society that seems to be solely focused in education upon the teaching of science and mathematics this quote strikes a sensitive chord. Ever since I wrote a paper on the importance of history in the 10th grade I have been an adamant voice for teaching history in public education at the grade school, middle school and high school levels. The reason that I think that history is so important is encompassed in the prompt which by the way is a quote from Jacques Barzun’s book called, The Culture We Deserve.
My favorite part of the quote is this, “Not that studying history imparts formulas and recipes; it develops connoisseurship in human affairs, the intuition of what is likely and what is important.” Barzun is simply but sophisticatedly saying that although one cannot tell the future by studying history they can more easily decode what is currently happening, what’s going to happen next and also are able to watch for certain historically repeated warning signs or indications of opportunities. For instance if Hitler had been more of a student of history he might of won WWII by not trying to invade Russia with only 3 months to winter… DUH! Another great example is the economy, for instance if someone in power had studied Americas historical spending trends and were able to find some indications of the exorbitant spending and lending in the 1920’s and what that led too they would of possible been able to see the current recession before it hit. Also the fact that we are trying to “win” in the conventional sense in Afghanistan is a joke. If Bush or Obama just got on the phone with the British or Russians and asked them about how their attempts went to tame Afghanistan we might learn from their mistakes and not make the EXACT same ones.
Although there was only room for these three examples I could of continued on for another couple pages solely on political and military mistakes that keep happening through out history. History tends to repeat itself if the same mistakes are made and I do not believe our society or education system put nearly enough importance on the study and understanding of both national and international history. With out a thorough grasp of where we come from how can we possibly hope to appreciate what we have or to plan for tomorrow.
AWESOME! That’s the word to describe this fantastic organization. As you guys know I have had the priveledge of rescuing and rehoming a couple of amazing tortoises and know how hard it is to take care of these guys, heal them and then find them some loving and secure homes. Consequently I can’t help but to be in awe of the scope of this delightful organizations dedication and hard work at rescuing and then rehoming these awesome animals! I have made a new friend in the director of the organazation, who seems to always be busy doing good for the little guys! Anyway there website is www.sdturtle.org and I encourage you to check it out and if its in the cards provide a loving home for some of these deserving pets!
Guys…. Leonidus is a tiny 2″ carapace greek tortoise who is amazing! I have a backyard that my tortoises live in and leonidus has managed to escape 2 times. The secound time over 5…. FIVE cinder block walls I set up to keep him in the yard! If anyone has stories of escaping tortoises share them!
I have been going through an incredibly difficult time the last 2 years… full of illness, family conflict, loved ones passing, loved ones hurt, moving, losing a job and gaining 3 more, but enough about the negative! My point is that no matter what may be messing up your day today remember that no matter what you can not control anything or anyone other than yourself. Ultimatly your mind shapes your realitity so if you stay positive than those negative experiances will pass more quickly and you might be able to see the reason that they happened, because EVERYTHING happens for a reason! O…… FYI ill be putting an article on my extreamly GNARLY Greek tortoise Leonidus up shortly!
Ok… “GREEN WATER” SUCKS
Turtles are nasty animals that we are constantly trying to keep clean! We finally get their tank super clean only to have the entire tank turn into a vat of green pea soup. I mean this stuff gets so thick you cannot see the turtles or any of their tank ornaments. The first time this happened to me was about a WEEK ago. I have dealt with yellow water, dirty water, smelly water but I had never had to deal with GREEN WATER. It was the hardest. The tank it showed up in water my 33 gallon outdoor tank that has an AWESOME cascade filter designed for tanks of 65 gallons AND a Canister ReptiFilter rated for 30 gallons and yet I had all green! After hours and hours of looking up the reason and asking turtle “professionals” I found that it is harmless for the turtles and fish but annoying for us humans. Ok… breath the little dudes are ok!
LET’S BEAT IT
Ok to beat it you need to eliminate what it needs to survive; nutrients, sunlight. If you have an indoor tank all you have to do is just not expose the tank to sun light or any UVA, UVB lights fr a couple days and the algae will DIE. If its outdoor (like mine) I made a huge sunshade and just keep the sun away for 2 hours and now my tank is crystal clear. Also always feed your turtle in another tank if possible as it will save you a lot of grief and gross food scraps 
. Good luck guys…. Over and Out
