>Tom, seems we both share a love of the study of history.

And as George Santayana has been attributed to have said:
"The peoples that do not know their history, are condemned to repeat it"


Alex;

Some people cannot remember what happened yesterday and some of them are or were political leaders.

My approach to history began when I was ten. I decided to begin reading a general outline from pre history through the present. Then I began the study of major events and realized there was more than one version of each event described by different authors. It became fun to read at least five books on one battle. Each book had to be by an author from a different country, including the principle countries involved. Interesting how everyone has such different concepts about the same event. Consequently, I developed my own "theories" about many historical events. I like to find the humor in an event whenever possible. Believe me there is a great deal of humor through out history. The more recent the history the more complex it becomes as there are so many dependencies upon the past.

My wife (Enriqueta – we call her Katy) is from Peru, and I am constantly telling her stories about her country she had never heard. In a few days we will celebrate our 35th anniversary. When we were first married Katy could not speak English and my Castellano was excellent. Katy asked me to speak to her in English only which helped her but my Spanish (spoken) does not get much use. Entiendo castellano perfectamente pero hablo no más de largo el lenguaje tan bien como quisiera.

Philosophy is another topic I enjoy, and I like the writings of Schopenhauer, Kant, Hagel, and Nietzsche, as well as many others. I prefer the humorous side of this topic, and the writings of Wil Durant are enjoyable.

My means of stress relief is to play flamenco guitar. Each Tuesday evening I play for a local dance class. I have been playing for over 40 years and played professionally before I married. Who wants to marry a poor flamenco guitar player? I have even played for some well known dancers from Spain, and have done so even recently. Katy studied Spanish dance (Jota, etc.) and flamenco (baile y cante), as her grandparents were from Zaragosa – Northern Spain. Katy will sing while I play guitar and that makes our home a great place to be.

There is more to life than programming but it pays the bills.

Tom