Yeah, John,

An additional degree, in computer science of course, would put a twinkle in 
my step, but they don't increase social security for additional degrees.

According to your definition, the term "presentism" has been badly misused 
in the past few days. I don't know of any "political" agenda that is served 
by debunking the myths about the "Columbus Discovery". Saying that Columbus 
was a "worthy man" is about like saying that Hitler was a "worthy man". 
Columbus' calculations on the time it would take to sail to the far east 
were based on his miscalculation of the circumference of the Earth which was 
originally calculated very accurately by the Greeks. But, Columbus wanted 
his voyage funded, so he made up a story that his calculations were more 
accurate than those "old" ones. And he was WRONG! He couldn't bring back 
enough gold and "riches" to repay the money advanced for his voyage, and he 
committed torture and genocide against the peoples he found in his travels. 
The one exception were the Carribs, who fought back with a weapon that 
scared the Europeans away - cannabalism!

Anne


Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

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