Mr. Ward

"The Most Beautiful Girl"

SBC: wk3(a)

SRC: wk3

"The devil" gets serious about coffee.

"1421: The Year China Discovered The World"

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”  Apparently, that is akin to saying, “In 1992, Clinton went to The White House.”  Neither was the first to accomplish their individual feat; regardless of how historic the events were.  After a seriously cool guy’s recommendation, I decided to read this book for the summer reading club.  Gavin Menzies has spent years gathering evidence that in 1421, the Chinese Emperor sent out massive fleets of ships to establish trade and map the world.  We learn that de Gama was not the first to sail to India around the tip of Africa, Columbus “rediscovered” the Americas, Captain Cook found Australia three centuries after the Chinese, and they were in Antarctica four hundred years before Europeans.  Oh yeah, remember the straits of Magellan? That dude had a map that showed the passage with him when he “found” it. 

The evidence presented in this weighty tome is enough to convince the most ardent skeptic. What kind do you want?  How about animals and plants found by Europeans on their discovery voyages that are not indigenous to those lands?  What about metals found on islands where no ore exists?  What about the wreckage of ships larger than anything the Europeans ever had?  How about numerous writings in European sailors’ diaries about meeting Asian people in the new world?  Did you know that many Native American tribes have Chinese DNA?  Or that it shows up frequently in Norwegian fishermen? There are structures throughout the new world that were designed and built in a manner that no native people did.  My personal favorite piece of evidence is the existence of two villages in Peru three miles apart who cannot speak each others’ language, but both understand Chinese. 

All of that is secondary to the most compelling evidence; maps that demonstrate navigation and astronomy skills that Europeans did not possess at the time of their voyages.  I will admit that sometimes the science here went a bit over my head; but laymen can still get the gist of it.  If you are at all interested in cartography, you will love this book. 

So why did we not know any of this before?  There are two conspiracies of silence here.  When these great fleets returned home, they found a weakened emperor and bureaucrats changing the nation.  Instead of being welcomed as heroes, the admirals were set out to pasture and most of the evidence of their discoveries was destroyed.  Thus began the long age of Chinese isolation that lasted until recent history.

It also seems that the Portuguese, who led the European charge of exploration in the late 15^th Century, were the only ones who had maps that contained the Chinese information.  Since they were in competition with the rest of Europe, they hid their knowledge.  As a result of both these circumstances, Europe took over the spice trade the Chinese had worked so long to establish and put their names on everything else, as there was no one to stop them. 

This is a compelling work of new ancient history that changes everything we thought we knew about exploration of the western hemisphere.  The “what if” presented here is endless.  I think everyone of European descent in the Americas should read this book. 

Two final things; First, if you are a skeptic, there is the mention of an alternate theory that aliens did all this. Second, with China beginning to open up again, it makes me wonder if this time they really will rule the world.

That's alot of popcorn!

STOP THE WORLD! COLDPLAY HAS A NEW ALBUM!

If you are a music fan (especially rock), you want to be up on the latest thing. Sometimes however, you miss an artist’s first album and then never really latch on afterwards. This is what happened to me with Coldplay. There is no way I could ever buy all the music I want. I have to pick and choose; and apparently I chose something else in 2000.

This post was originally going to be about the incredible hoopla surrounding the release of Coldplay’s latest album. All the hipsters’ hearts are ready to burst through their vintage t-shirts and the critics are tearing through the thesaurus to try to find adjectives to describe how great it is, even before they have actually heard it. I can’t open a magazine without a mention of it and Apple is using them for their new iTunes ad. I was going to talk about how I sometimes resent being told I have to like a certain artist or I’m not cool or don’t know music. This happened to me in the 80’s with REM and U2 (it’s only in the past 10 years I’ve been able to enjoy either band). Chris Martin is being lifted up as the next Bono and his face is everywhere.

Don’t get me wrong; I have no doubt this band is incredibly talented and makes great music. For all I know, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” will be the biggest selling album ever and change music for the next 30 years. Even though I’m sick of hearing about Martin’s personal life; I hope he and Gwyneth have a veritable rainbow of fruit flavored children and live happily ever after. It’s just that I feel overexposed for them. Anyway, that’s what this post was going to be.

However, with the cover story (“Confessions of an Anxious Rock God”) and new interview (“The Jesus of Uncool”) in Rolling Stone magazine, it has to be about something else. As is evident from the titles, Martin has now been elevated to deity status. Again, not his fault, but the critics and rock scribes have placed all their hopes and dreams on him. If you don’t believe me, read the first two paragraphs of the article. I can’t decide if the author is describing Martin or their ideal lover; it’s practically orgasmic. I think placing him on this level might be due to the fact that Bono is falling out of favor because he talks too much about God and actually likes George W. Bush. That last point is a good place for a transition to what my new complaint is. Here is a quote from the article when discussing Barak Obama:

“But I think that, really, the fair thing would be, in electing the American president, to let everyone in the world vote, because it affects all of us. If there was a world vote, there’s no question who would win. No question.”

What the @#$%&* is that!? First, why should I care what a citizen of another country thinks of our country? Second, does he have no understanding of the term “sovereign nation”? Third, if American politics affect everyone else, it is because they have allowed it to. Fourth, has Martin polled the entire world about their political preference? “No question”; do we not even get the standard plus or minus 3 percent? Finally, why are we even asking him about an American presidential candidate in the first place. He’s a musician; ask him about music! In my sphere, Martin has moved from an overexposed annoyance to a blithering idiot.

Five Things My Father Taught Me

I know Father’s Day is practically over, but I did not have internet this weekend. Anyway, here is the post I intended to put up. I presented this in a men’s group a few years ago.

Purpose: You were created by God to have a relationship with Him.

Responsibility: Men provide for thier families (not just financially, either).

Humility: If the job is honest; you’re not too good for it.

Love: Men show love.

Humor: “Hang on to your white hats”.

We don’t always appreciate what we have. I was fortunate to have a good father, and I know it. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

POTUS 08

Baseball = Life

Baseball is the game best suited as an analogy for life. Here’s why:

1. No clock on the field. Do you know exactly how much time you have left? Nope. You don’t know how long it will take to play those nine innings either.
2. The defense controls the ball. Honestly, are you really setting the pace or do you spend most of your time reacting to what life throws at you?
3. The way you score. See all those cars on the crowded highways? At the end of the day, everyone is just trying to get home safe.

Now go watch a ball game.