The Draft for Vietnam

Since the 1950s, the United States had been sending a steady stream of military advisors to a little-known country in southeast Asia that was seen as susceptible to communist influence. By 1962, the number of advisors had reached 11,000. U.S. involvement escalated rapidly in the mid-1960s, until by 1969, there were more than 540,000 U.S. military personnel battling communist rebels in Vietnam.

To feed the war machine, about 400,000 men a year were called before their draft boards in the mid-1960s. The Selective Service System, which had received high marks from the public for fairness in previous wars, began to be seen as biased against the poor and minorities. Protests against the draft became common on college campuses--in the academic year 1969-70, there were 1,800 anti-war demonstrations--and draft evasion increased dramatically.

A little-known truth, though, is that only about 16 percent of the servicemen in Vietnam were drafted. Those who were drafted were often assigned the most dangerous jobs. (For instance, 88 percent of infantry riflemen were draftees.) And that meant that draftees were killed in disproportionately high numbers. Draftees accounted for more than half of the U.S. Army's battle deaths. Before the war was over, President Richard Nixon moved to end the draft and convert the armed services to an all-volunteer force.

-Colleen Kelly
October 26, 2006

Ramadan

The ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is a month of fasting. From sunrise to sundown for a entire month muslims will not eat or drink. They will also spend massive amounts of money on charity and spend many of their days doing good deeds and charity. Why do they do this on the ninth month? Because in their Holy Book, the Quran, an angel appeared to Muhammad in the ninth month also known as Ramadan.

The Muslim Second Coming

"The Mahdi--Arabic for "divinely guided one"--is the redeemer who's supposed to straighten things out at the end of time. Along with the prophet Isa, Islam's version of Jesus, the Mahdi is supposed to usher in a golden age here on Earth, just after the defeat of the Antichrist and just before the Final Judgment. (Yes, many Muslims believe that Jesus will one day return--though their view of the Second Coming is pretty different from the Christian one.)

Belief in the messianic Mahdi is common among both Sunnis and Shi'ites. But they disagree about the particulars of his story. And that disagreement ties in with the history of the Sunni-Shi'ite split, which basically began as an argument over who should lead all Muslims after Muhammad's death in 632."

-Knowledge News

Discovery

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

-Andre Gide

War

"I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell."

-William T. Sherman

The Population

It is estimated that the population of the United States has reached over 300 million. Compared to the 100 million in 1915, the 200 million in 1967, and the projected 400 million of 2043, the population grows exponentially not through births, but through immigration. Of this growing population the rate of elder citizens is now unprecedentally high at 12% as compared to the 5% in 1915. As the population tilts past a median age of 36 as compared to the 24 of 90 years ago, many problems begin cropping up. For example, much of the stress on Social Security is from more and more people getting money from the system and fewer paying into it.

For Religion Q&A

Why would God create time, if he is outside of it?

Man on the Moon

"On July 20, 1969, more than half a billion people watched a 38-year-old aeronautical engineer step onto the fine-grain surface of the moon. People heard the former test pilot, Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong, say these words:

"That's one small step
for man, one giant leap
for mankind."
Humans everywhere cheered. Grammarians everywhere grimaced. Surely the able astronaut meant to say:

"That's one small step for a man,
one giant leap for mankind."
Later, back on Earth, Armstrong basically said, "Uh, roger that, grammar control. I meant to say the a." Armstrong told his authorized biographer, history professor James Hansen, "Perhaps it was a suppressed sound that didn't get picked up by the voice mike. . . . Certainly the a was intended, because that's the only way the statement makes any sense." Otherwise, while it sounds heroic, it means "that's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind."

Now, it looks like Neil Armstrong may finally be vindicated. A former TV anchorman and current computer programmer named Peter Shann Ford says that he has discovered the a Armstrong left on the moon in 1969. Using off-the-shelf voice editing software, the multitalented Australian has produced sound wave graphs that he says unmistakably show an uttered a. Armstrong simply said it too fast to hear. (Armstrong admits he swallows syllables in his biography.)

It is the lost lunar vowel, says Ford, ready for reentry into the historical record. Armstrong says he has "reviewed the data and Peter Ford's analysis of it" and finds it "persuasive." NASA's own sound engineers say they'll review the tapes and make a ruling. Either way, there's no doubt about the words on the plaque that Apollo 11 left on the moon:

"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
Michael Himick
October 5, 2006"

-from Knowledge News

Manifestation of the Trinity

Throughout the Old Testament God never appears in the Christian sense. He never appears to have three persons in one essence. The trinity is first revealed when Jesus is baptized by his cousin John. In that moment a light shines from the sky, a dove flies down to Jesus, and a voice proclaims, "This is my Son with whom I am well pleased." Later, after Jesus' death this was shown as the first moment when the trinity could be seen together. Jesus as the Son, the light and voice as God the Father, and the Holy Spirit as a dove.

Tolstoy and War

In his book War and Peace, Tolstoy describes the atmosphere over the Russian armies when they first engage Napoleon. Due to his experience in the russian military, he seems to be able to bring one into middle of the company that is under bombardment by the French artillery. Although some soldiers are scared and frightened, others take comfort in the strength of those around them and watch unflinshing as cannonballs fly above their heads. It reminds me of another book of the American Civil War, which is told from the perspective of a young recruit in the Union army.

Journey into Space

Our current president has set a goal of creating a moon base then sending a manned mission to Mars. Although set for completion several years in the future, such goals may likely lead to more common space travel. However, to really make man leap to the stars, it will be necessary for profit to be seen in it. Whether it be the finding of precious materials on the moon, the invention of a new metal only manufacturable in null gravity, or the cheapening of transport to space in order that tourism may become possible.

Columbus

A vastly interesting man of Italy. Columbus went to the Spanish King, Ferdinand, and Queen, Isabella, for help in reaching the Far East when his plan to reach his goal by sailing due west instead of around Africa were conceived as too risky by Portugal. Although, difficult to convince the royalty of Spain eventually agreed to help Columbus after the defeat of the moors in Granada. With three ships Columbus set sail in 1492. However, instead of reaching the Near East, Columbus bumped into the Americas where he enslaved the natives and oversaw a fruitless search for gold.

World War 3

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

-Albert Einstein

Korea and Its Nukes

A small country with a population slightly over that of Australia, North Korea is nearly bankrupt, but finds funds to pay for a massive army. In addition they have a sizeable nuclear program which was again brought to the public mind when North Korea released the message that they have conducted a nuclear test underground. For over a decade North Korea has succesively agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for money, oil, and other international help, then continued its program once it has recieved these goods. Now after 10 years of duping the rest of the world into giving them aid, NOrth Korea's nukes are ready to be used in ballistic missiles.

Pre-Cold War Prevention

More than 100 years, before the cold war, a man named Alred Nobel, the inventor of the nobel peace prize, invented a powerful high yield explosive known as nitroglycerin. This substance was incredible volatile and eventually Nobel remade it into modern Dynamite. Ironically, Nobel intended this new explosive to prevent war. In his own words: "The day when two army corps can annihilate one another in one second, all civilized nations, it is to be hoped, will recoil from war and discharge their troops." A principal which was put to the test by the ultimate weapons of the 20th century.

Georgia vs Russia

Viewed by Russia as a nation under her influence. Georgia recently was outraged when four Russian spies were found in the Georgian Capital. Since then Russia has created a blockade against all Georgian imports and exports, a move which might well cripple Georgia in the coming winter. Ever since the election of Saakashivili who promised to bring Georgia closer to the west and enter NATO, relations with Russia have become strained starting the ban if import of wine and mineral water, two of the major exports of Georgia. With a tenth of Georgia's population working in Russia, and without travel between the two countries, Georgia is to the point of explosion.

Yom Kippur

On the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish year, the day of Yom Kippur arrives. Every year the Jews hold a day of repentence by command of the Lord in Leviticus. Before the temple was destroyed a goat was offered as a focus for all the sins of the people and driven into the desert never to be seen again along with the sins of the past year.