Friday Fishwrap - Saturday Edition
Friday within the Octave of Easter. As of this late Saturday edition 236 shopping days to Christmas.
Welcome to Friday Fishwrap™, your weekly email filled with this week’s efforts from the staff of The Global Exclaimer.
This Week in Ancient History
Events worth remembering, even if they didn’t trend.
AFRICA
Around this week in 1470 BC, Hatshepsut’s fleet returned from Punt—bringing incense, ivory, and baboons. One of the earliest recorded trade missions by sea.
ASIA
May 5, 221 BC: Qin Shi Huang completed the unification of China, ending the Warring States period and establishing the first imperial dynasty.
AMERICAS
Roughly 250 BC: The Maya at El Mirador began work on the La Danta pyramid. Still one of the largest known structures in the ancient world by volume.
EUROPE
May 2, 73 AD: Masada fell to Roman forces after a long siege. The defenders’ mass suicide ended the First Jewish–Roman War.
OCEANIA
Around this week, 1000 BC: Lapita seafarers settled the Vanuatu islands, expanding one of the most sophisticated prehistoric navigation networks on Earth.
INVENTION
700 BC: Independent iron-smelting techniques appear in sub-Saharan Africa. Not borrowed, not copied—developed in place.
This Week in The Glob
So, I wrote an article about the Pope’s passing and how he has been viewed and may be viewed. If you missed it you can read it at Popes and Such. It proved to be “polarizing” to a group I posted to; I used quotes because I used it in this sentence as they took it: i.e., as a negative valued judgment. However, I missed an opportunity to clarify and work toward consensus in our back and forth. After reading an article about William F. Buckley, I had some thoughts and wrote this Mea Culpa:
Some more White Fragility. In this installment I move through 3 chapters fairly quickly as the subject matter is repetitive. DiAngelo introduces a concept she calls white fragility—then frames any pushback as evidence of it. One participant becomes a cautionary tale. One list becomes a behavioral indictment.
If you made it this far, you’ve endured history, heresy, and Hatshepsut. The least you can do is buy me a cigar by smashing the button below. I’ll buy something Nicaraguan, medium-bodied, and morally complex (like this newsletter). Until next time, may your cigars burn clean, your quarks remain ethically entangled, and your feedback violate none of the eleven sacred rules.
