>>>>>>>>>It is actually not plural but is Revelation...... unless you are a Southerner... and many of us Southerners in fact do say Revelations....:)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>I think a proper understanding of the the Book of Revelations
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>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Interesting! As a fourth generation San Franciscan and Roman Catholic, we always say the Book of Revelations. Perhaps that is because my mom was a Cummings! :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I have a copy of the King James Version (really!) and there it is called "The Revelation of S. John the Divine."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The Catholic version is not the KJV though but the Douey (sp?)
>>>>>
>>>>>I understand that there are different versions, and I was not trying to correct Tom W. It was more in the nature of an FWIW.
>>>>>
>>>>>Somewhat related, the Coursera class I am taking is "The Modern World Since 1750." I am enjoying it greatly. Yesterday my daughter Emily asked "Why are you doing that?" and I said it's a knowledge for knowledge's sake kind of thing. I was not raised by wolves and know something about it but wanted to know more. And even though it is only the end of the first week, which emphasizes the period around 1760, I am already learning a lot. For example, the reasons the nation-states of western Europe gained an advantage over other empires at that time. It's fascinating. IAC your knowledge of history is one of the things that inspired me to do this. Not in an effort to compete with you, because I could spend the rest of my life studying history and still not catch up to you, just in the sense of inspiration.
>>>>>
>>>>>Coursera follows actual college timeframes and this semester is already underway. (It even has a spring break week, which cracks me up for an online class). The grade, which really doesn't matter to anyone other than the student, consists of a total of scores on weekly quizzes. 40 million people around the world are taking this class, which is a tip of the hat to the internet. In the related discussion groups, which I only peeked in at in the beginning, the main topics were how to obtain the recommended textbook and the translation to non-English languages feature. The professor is a real, living, breathing University of Virginia history prof with a comforting bedside manner. There is nothing "eat your peas" about it. Terrific stuff.
>>>>
>>>>Sounds very cool. It is indeed amazing how the internet makes learning so much more accessible. I'm so geeked out on Pluralsight and now Lynda.com. Much more my style than scheduled classes like in college. If they had on-line learning and Ritalin in 1964 I'd own the world now :-)
>>>
>>>Maybe Ritalin would have dulled down the things that have made you you.
>>>
>>>Professor Zelikow's thesis is already clear. History consists of repeated cycles of problems, reactions, choices, and consequences. He instills the idea that history might be quite different if different choices had been made. That sounds obvious on the surface but he walks us through specifics.
>>>
>>>Here is one example. He talks about the need for cheap labor in the Caribbean, which at the time was per capita the most valuable place on earth due to valuable natural resources like sugar and rum. The development of finance and feudal-military arrangements with governments, plus technological advances like shipbuilding, had made transoceanic commercial voyages feasible. What the European nations lacked was labor. Attention turned to Africa. European nations attempted slavery on their own, with dim results due to high death rates from disease. They made arrangements with tribal powers on the west coast of Africa, who captured inland Africans by the millions and sold them to the new world. This could be presented explosively -- "Next on Oprah!" -- but Prof. Zelikow does not present it that way. He is a dispassionate and apolitical historian, which I like. He mentions that at the time there were many more slaves in the Caribbean than there were in the future U.S. by an order of magnitude. Cotton was still ahead and the money and slaves had not shifted there yet. One detail is that Caribbean slaves perished at a far higher rate, something horrifying like 40 year average lifespan, due to harsher temperatures and harsher mistreatment.
>>>
>>>UPDATE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you already knew that. Or may disagree with it. It was aimed at those who have not given Coursera a shot (did I mention it's free?) -- the seekers among us.
>>
>>
>>About 500,000 Irish Catholics were sent to the New World as slaves – not indentured. They worked in the fields, the women were used to breed with African’s and the offspring sold to increase the profit margin. You see, an Irish slave was valued at $5 pounds and an African at $50, by the English. Thank you Oliver Cromwell.
>>
>>You will find many Irish names in Jamaica, were Irish slaves lived, as well as street names that are Irish. Blue eyed blacks with Irish names are common. This story is common throughout the areas where the English lived throughout the world. They just had a documentary about red haired, freckled faced, light skinned African Americans, who lived originally in the South. I have met many. East Jackson, Ohio, is an area where such people live today, and was the subject of the documentary.
>>
>>I have always thought that Irish Catholics should be in the forefront when it comes to human rights. Some are but not that many. How quickly people forget his/her history. Everyone in this country had to pay his/her dues when coming from another country or because of race or religion. There are still people and areas of our nation that hate others based upon racism, religious or political reasons. There are regions of our country I will never again visit due to my experiences there in the 1960’s.
>>
>>
>>In 1960 when I was 17, I had the opportunity to travel throughout the United States by train. My conclusion was, “The United States of what”? Had I not been born and raised in San Francisco, I might see the world differently. However, things are as they are. One person’s idealism (or laws) is not necessarily reality as it exists. :)
>
>Obviously this is a more personal issue to you than it is to me, although I have some Irish blood. It seems to me that Irish-Americans are very well assimilated at this point. Nothing seems to be stopping them from success here in Chicago, in business and even more so in politics. "Irish-American Chicago pol" is almost redundant.

Assimilation is important for some people. It is easy to forget or neglect your roots.

I did a good deal of positive work to help others in my lifetime, and have never allowed prejudice or sexism around me without taking appropriate action. Today, it seems that it is more difficult to address such issues. Some people I have met would have done well in the 17th century when it comes to treating people in a negative fashion. This includes top professionals in large corporations as well as the man on the street.

A cousin of mine from Galway, Ireland, is well known in San Francisco. Although he passed away on Palm Sunday, 1925 he is still remembered and a Catholic Mass is given for him each Palm Sunday. Between 200 and 1000 people will attend each year. We had a family reunion in 2005 and relatives from England, Ireland, Canada, the United States and New Zealand attended. His name was father Peter Christopher Yorke. The street that the Catholic Arch Dioceses of San Francisco is located on has his name.

Father Yorke was known as the priest of the working class and the poor. He helped a lot of people. He also fought the American Protestant Association (APA), which was an anti Catholic group. The APA was very influential and responsible for the state of Oregon outlawing parochial schools in that state. Father Yorke took up the matter and it went to the United States Supreme Court. The intent of the APA was to have all states close parochial schools, and ultimately rid this nation of all Catholics. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of father Yorke.

Today there is still a great deal of hatred towards Catholics. In fact this is a nation of hatred in so many ways. Those that hate get the publicity.