Shaker Ann Lee on This Day in History

This Day in History: Ann Lee was born on this day in 1736. Commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, she was the founding leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or as they were more famously known: The Shakers. She was also one of the very few females in history who claimed to be Jesus (Lee's followers referred to her as "Mother", believing that she was the female incarnation of Christ on Earth). The Shakers engaged in ecstatic dancing or "shaking", which resulted in their name, however, they are best known now for their furniture.

The Shakers were not allowed to engage in sex, and as a consequence there are only two members left today. Since they're not putting out the sect will probably die with them.

See also 300 Books on DVD on Christian Cults & Sects
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/300-books-on-dvd-on-christian-cults.html

Watson, Crick & DNA on This Day in History

This Day in History: James Watson and Francis Crick announced to friends that they have discoverd DNA on this day in 1958, one of the most important discoveries in science. Having studied the "building blocks of life" have given them unique qualifications to weigh in on the differences in humans...however, this often got them into trouble. Both Crick and Watson were adamant that there are IQ differences between the races, with Watson being the most vocal. Even in a recent PBS Documentary (American Masters: Decoding Watson), James Watson reaffirmed that though he wishes it weren't so, there are definite genetic IQ differences between the races. A Nobel Prize winner, James Watson was stripped of his honorary titles because of his views. He was made such a pariah he eventually had to sell his Nobel Prize. “Because I was an ‘unperson’ I was fired from the boards of companies, so I have no income, apart from my academic income."

See also: The Smartest People in History - 300 PDF Books on DVDrom
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-smartest-people-in-history-300-pdf.html

The Ultimate IQ Test Book
https://archive.org/details/TheUltimateIQTestBook

Race Differences in Intelligence by Richard Lynn
https://tinyurl.com/y6mnblwu

The Bell Curve by Charles Murray
https://lesacreduprintemps19.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/the-bell-curve.pdf
https://archive.org/details/TheBellCurveAbridgedAudiobookcharlesMurray

The "Dark City" Movie on This Day in History

This Day in History: Dark City was released on this day in 1998. This was Roger Ebert's (and my) favorite movie of that year. 22 years later this strange "film noir meets Gothic scifi-dystopian nightmare" still holds up and is still talked about. Researchers have analyzed this movie frame by frame and many claim hidden symbolisms inserted throughout the film. The movie was filmed on the same set as The Matrix a year prior, and there are similarities in the story.

The Matrix vs Dark City

Roger Ebert on Dark City

Dark City Review

Fairy Tales on This Day in History

This Day in History: Today is National Tell A Fairy Tale Day. Today's retelling of fairy tales do not accurately retell the truer original tales that reflected a darker more violent world. For instance, in “Cinderella” the evil stepsisters cut off their toes in order to make the slipper fit, and later have their eyes pecked out by birds; in “The Six Swans” an evil mother-in-law is burned at the stake; in “The Goose Maid” a girl is stripped naked, thrown into a barrel filled with nails and dragged through the streets; and in “Snow White” the wicked queen dies after being forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes. Sleeping Beauty was actually raped and Pinocchio was hanged, the queen in Snow White was actually a cannibal, and in the Frog Prince the frog is turned back into human form by having its head cut off, or by being slammed into a wall.

See also The Grimmest & Darkest Original Fairy Tales - 50 Books on CDrom

Fairy Legends & Faery Mythology - 75 Books on DVDrom
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/fairy-legends-faery-mythology-75-books.html

The Colt Revolver on This Day in History

This Day in History: Samuel Colt was granted a patent for the Colt revolver on this day in 1836. You might think that the most popular guns in the world are American made, but you would be wrong. The Russian AK-47 is the most popular, with perhaps 150 million in circulation. Next is the German Mauser Gewehr 98, then the Russian Mosin-Nagant, then the British Lee-Enfield, and finally in fifth place you have the American M16/M4/AR-15. The Colt doesn't show up until 26th place on this modern list. However, Samuel Colt's iconic Peacemaker is probably the gun that won the West.

"God made man, Sam Colt made men equal."

See also: Buffalo Bill & the American Wild West, 200 Books on DVDrom
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/buffalo-bill-american-wild-west-200.html

Dennis Weaver on This day in History

Duel (1971) Movie

This Day in History: Dennis Weaver died on this day in 2006. Best known for his starring role in the NBC police drama McCloud, others my age know him from the movie Duel in the early 70's. Duel was Steven Spielberg's first full length feature film about a tank truck chasing Weaver in his Plymouth Valiant. Duel was a thriller that had a Hitchcock feel about it:

"The hero is an ordinary man who is suddenly plunged into trouble by mere happenstance. Chaos and violence erupt, totally disrupting his complacent routine. Macabre and bizarre events take place in broad daylight. The hero’s life is in danger, he is chased by a malevolent force, and the climax is a plunge over a cliff.”~Andrew M. Gordon

You never actually see the driver, so the truck was the villain. In fact, trucks were actually auditioned for the role and a 1955 Peterbilt 281 won the role because of its menacing look. Dennis Weaver drove 2000 miles shooting his scenes in this low budget movie that had to be filmed in only 10 days. The Snakerama gas station seen in the movie shows up again in Spielberg's 1979 comedy, 1941.

Oh, and you can watch the entire movie for free on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-6A79qTFNg

McCloud Intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2wjvoOmVM

McCloud, starring John Denver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVtfSrKStTY

National Socialism on This Day in History

Listen to Planned Chaos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EnHeZXLzTc

This Day in History: William L. Shirer was born on this day in 1904, who is best known for writing The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany...a book I read when I was just a boy. There has been a long time effort to make Hitler out to be right-wing and someone who was "not really a socialist." Let me share the following from Planned Chaos (written in 1947) by Ludwig von Mises: "The philosophy of the Nazis, the German National Socialist Labour Party, is the purest and most consistent manifestation of the anticapitalistic and socialistic spirit of our age...The slogan into which the Nazis condensed their economic philosophy, viz., Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz (i.e., the commonweal ranks above private profit), is likewise the idea underlying the American New Deal and the Soviet management of economic affairs....It implies that profit-seeking business harms the vital interests of the immense majority, and that it is the sacred duty of popular government to prevent the emergence of profits by public control of production and distribution...For more than seventy years the German professors of political science, history, law, geography and philosophy eagerly imbued their disciples with a hysterical hatred of capitalism...At the turn of the century the immense majority of the Germans were already radical supporters of socialism...The Nazis were quick to adopt the Soviet methods. They imported from Russia: the one-party system and the pre-eminence of this party in political life; the paramount position assigned to the secret police; the concentration camps; the administrative execution or imprisonment of all opponents; the extermination of the families of suspects and of exiles; the methods of propaganda; the organization of affiliated parties abroad and their employment for fighting their domestic governments and espionage and sabotage; the use of the diplomatic and consular service for fomenting revolution; and many other things besides. There were nowhere more docile disciples of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin than the Nazis were."

Read Planned Chaos at https://mises.org/library/planned-chaos-0

Why Nazism Was Socialism and Why Socialism Is Totalitarian
https://mises.org/library/why-nazism-was-socialism-and-why-socialism-totalitarian
https://mises.org/library/why-nazism-was-socialism-and-why-socialism-totalitarian-0

Listen to: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Hate Hoaxes on This Day in History

This Day in History: Jussie Smollett's character was removed from the final episodes of Empire on this day last year following his infamous staged hate-crime hoax. There has been an alarming amount of hate crime hoaxes recently. For instance, one young lady in New York told Police that as she was driving home she was confronted by four white teenagers who yelled “Trump 2016” and told her she “didn’t belong here.” She told police that when she woke up the next morning her tires had been slashed and that a note was left behind, which read “go home.” After an extensive investigation, the young lady admitted to making up the entire story. She slashed her own tires and wrote the note.

Perhaps it is a sign of a better society that hate crimes are so rare, people have to fabricate them.

Fake Hate Map: When the Demand for Hate Crimes Outweighs the Supply
https://www.fakehatemap.com/

Hate Hoax Map
https://tinyurl.com/yacqeod4

The Communist Manifesto on This Day in History

Buy: The Folly of Socialism (40 Chapters) for 99 cents on Amazon

Visit a local listing for this here

This Day in History: Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto was published on this day in 1848. As Paul Johnson wrote: "Marx was an academic; or rather, and worse, he was a failed academic." He railed against Capitalists exploiting their workers, but at the same time he had a lifelong hard-working maid that he never paid. He was a parasite all his life, sponging off his Capitalist cohort, Freidrich Engels. He had 7 children, 4 of whom died because of the poverty Marx made them endure. Two of his daughters who made it to later life (Laura and Eleanor) committed suicide. His Mother summed up his pathetic life with the following words: "I wish Karl would start accumulating capital instead of just writing about it."

Under Marxism, more than one hundred million people have died, either from being murdered or from starvation.

5 Things Marx Wanted to Abolish (Besides Private Property)

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/11/5-things-marx-wanted-to-abolish-besides.html

Thought-Provoking Quotes about Socialism

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2018/08/thought-provoking-quotes-about-socialism.html

How Marx Got on the Wrong Side of History

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-marx-got-on-wrong-side-of-history.html

The Stupidity of Karl Marx By Henry Strickland Constable 1896

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-stupidity-of-karl-marx-by-henry.html

Bernie Sanders is Not a Social Democrat; He’s a Marxist

https://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2016/02/13/bernie-sanders-is-not-a-social-democrat-hes-a-marxist-n2118509

The Post Office on This Day in History

This Day in History: The Postal Service Act, which established the United States Post Office Department, was signed by George Washington on this day in 1792. To many people, a country can't be a country unless it has a post office. However, according to the Montevideo Convention a country should have: "a permanent population; a defined territory; government; and the capacity to enter relations with other states." According to Matt Rosenberg a country also needs to have "the ability to issue legal tender that is recognized across boundaries" and "Sovereignty, meaning that no other state should have power over the country's territory."

However, according to the great 20th century philosopher Frank Zappa: "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer."

See also: American History & Mysteries, Over 200 PDF Books on DVDrom

The 1884 Tornado Enigma Outbreak on This Day in History

This Day in History: More than sixty tornadoes struck the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history, happened on this day in 1884 (The 1884 Enigma Outbreak). The 1880's have also been one of the busiest hurricane seasons in history. This is long before SUV's. "According to the National Hurricane Center, storms are no more intense or frequent worldwide than they have been since 1850. Temperatures were high in the 1920s and 1930s when there was much less CO2 in the atmosphere. Constant 24-7 media coverage of every significant storm worldwide just makes it seem that (storms are more frequent and intense).~Paul Bedard
https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/10/09/stewards-10-myths-about-global-warming-and-co2-damage

Hans Asperger & Eugenics on This Day in History

This Day in History: Hans Asperger was born on this day in 1906. His studies on mental disorders led to Asperger Syndrome being named after him. He was also a eugenicist which he has now come under fire for. Twitter blew up this past weekend when popular evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins posted the following about Eugenics:

"It’s one thing to deplore eugenics on ideological, political, moral grounds. It’s quite another to conclude that it wouldn’t work in practice. Of course it would. It works for cows, horses, pigs, dogs & roses. Why on earth wouldn’t it work for humans? Facts ignore ideology."

For instance, Iceland encourages pregnant mothers to be pre-screened for down syndrome and then those expectant mothers are encouraged the eliminate the pregnancy if such is the case. Hence, we already use abortion as a form of eugenics.

See: 300 Books on Darwinism, Eugenics, Creation & Evolution on DVDrom
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/300-books-on-darwinism-eugenics.html

Martyr Giordano Bruno on This Day in History

This Day in History: Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake on this day in 1600 for the crime of heresy. His crimes were believing in the heliocentric system of the universe, but mostly for his denial of eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Hegel wrote that Bruno's life represented "a bold rejection of all Catholic beliefs resting on mere authority."

This Kindle book, The Dark History of the Trinity, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only 99 cents

See a local listing for this book here

"Unitarians do not find in the Bible or in reason any warrant for accepting the doctrine of the Trinity; they believe that Jesus represented himself as being, not God the Son, but the son of God, our brother, the reconciler of man to God, not of God to man. They believe that history makes it clear that the early Christian church was not Trinitarian, but Unitarian, and that the doctrines of the deity of Christ and of the Trinity came into Christianity only by degrees, and as corruptions from outside,- never being accepted by the church in any authoritative way until the council of Nicea in the year 325. They also believe that in this manner the doctrines of vicarious or substitutional atonement, total depravity, the infallibility of the Bible, etc., came in from without as corruptions of the Christian stream, and at points that are easily traced. Hence a leading aim of Unitarianism in all its later history has been to get back to the simplicity and purity of the teachings of Christ.

In the great controversy that culminated at Nicea, Athanasius was the leader of the Trinitarian party, and Arms of the Unitarian. The decision was long doubtful, but was finally turned by the Emperor Constantine in favor of the Trinitarians. Trinitarianism being thus adopted as the state religion, Unitarianism began to decline; and after the rise of the Roman Catholic church was gradually crushed out. However, Ulfilas, the eminent missionary to the Goths in the fourth century, was a Unitarian, and the Gothic nations continued to hold Christianity in its Unitarian form for several centuries.

With the revival of letters, and especially with the appearance of the Protestant Reformation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Unitarianism reappeared and came somewhat prominently to the front. Many noted scholars, writers, preachers, and martyrs of those times were Unitarians; among them being Servetus, Lelius and Faustas Socinus, Bernardino Ochino, Blandrata, and Francis David. The celebrated Giordano Bruno, though not calling himself a Unitarian, was in the exact line of Unitarian thought. As the Roman Catholics persecuted the Protestants, so both Catholics and Protestants combined to persecute the Unitarians." The Unitarian, 1890

Buy on Amazon for only 99 cents by clicking here - see a local listing for this here

Bruno Ganz on This Day in History

Hitler Finds out Chuck Norris is Coming

This Day in History: Swiss actor Bruno Ganz died on this day last year. While I know him from Nosferatu and The Boys from Brazil, many now know him for the thousands of parodies of his "Hitler Rant" from the movie "Downfall." They got so popular that the producers of the film asked that they be removed (which I believe they should not have done). This then prompted more posting of parody videos of Hitler complaining that the parodies were being taken down which then created a resurgence of the videos on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/hitlerrantsparodies

The Canadian Flag on This Day in History

This Day in History: The new red-and-white maple leaf design was adopted as the flag of Canada on this day in 1965. It is rather a wimpy flag. When you consider that other countries picked strong animals to represent them (Eagles, Bears) Canada picked...the beaver, so it should not come as a surprise that England’s Castoff Country should pick a symbol so picayune as a leaf. When you consider that Barbados actually has Aquaman’s trident (a badass weapon) on the center of their flag, Canada could have picked a tomahawk. As The Ringer stated about the Canadian flag:

"You’re making your flag and you can put basically anything you want on there. And you want something that is strong, but not overbearing; attractive, but not dismissable; smart, but not ostentatious. It can go a ton of different ways. Pick any animal. Pick any weapon. Pick any color. Pick any symbol. All of everything is available. It’s all there for you. And you settle on … a leaf? Not even the whole tree? Trees  are strong. Trees are noble. Trees are useful. Leaves are like the fingernails of trees...I’m willing to bet there’s never been one single time in all of history when someone found a detached fingernail and was like, 'This is a good thing.' Canada: Great country, worst flag."

Canada is (song by Roger Whittaker)

Buster Keaton Travelling through Canada in The Railrodder

Alexander Graham Bell (& Simultaneous Inventions) on This Day in History

Simultaneous Inventions (Ancient Aliens)

This Day in History: Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone on this day in 1876, as did Elisha Gray. This is not the only time that 2 people came up with the same idea at the same time. One example being Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace both coming up with the theory of evolution by natural selection. Other examples are Lothar Meyer and Dmitri Mendeleev (Periodic Table of Elements), John Logie Baird, Philo Fansworth, Kenjiro Takayanagi, Charles F. Jenkins and Vladimir Zworykin for the TV, the Skladanowsky brothers and Woodville Latham (film projector), Frank Whittle and Hand von Ohain (jet engine), Carl W Scheele and Joseph Priestley (Oxygen), John S Barron and Don Wetzel (ATM Machine), Ben Franklin and Prokop Divis (electricity and the lightning rod), Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce (microchip) Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (calculus), Jonas Salk, and Albert Sabin (polio vaccine), Einstein, Henri Poincaré, Olinto De Pretto, and Paul Langevin (E=mc2)...and I could go on for a while.

See also: Are Inventions Inevitable? A Note on Social Evolution

See also The Smartest People in History - 300 PDF Books on DVDrom

Cotton Mather on This Day in History

The Wonders of the Invisible World, Tryals of the New England Witches

This Day in History: American minister Cotton Mather died on this day in 1725, who was known famously for being at the heart of the Salem Witch Trials. Many have heard of the Witch Dunk test to determine whether someone was a witch, but there was also the Lord's Prayer test.

"George Burroughs, the only minister to be executed during the Trials, ran across this problem. He was standing at the gallows to be executed when he recited the Lord's Prayer to prove his innocence—it was believed that a witch (or warlock, in this case) would be unable to utter the holy words. People were momentarily convinced that the jury had wronged him, until...Cotton Mather told the crowd that the Devil allowed George Burroughs to say that prayer to make it seem as if he was innocent." ~Mental Floss

However, Cotton Mather did believe in inoculation against the small pox epidemic whilst most did not. His scientific writings would go on to inspire Benjamin Franklin. It's too bad that the good he had done will always be overshadowed by the superstition that doomed the lives of many.

See also:

The Occult History of America by Lewis Spence 1920
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-occult-history-of-america-by-lewis.html

200 Books on DVDROM about Satan the Devil & Witchcraft
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/100-books-on-dvdrom-about-satan-devil.html

Immanuel Kant on This Day in History

This Day in History: German philosopher Immanuel Kant died on this day in 1804. His greatest writings he gave the titles (with some hubris) "Pure Reason" and "Practical Reason." I often wonder how someone can build a philosophy when he has never left his immediate neighborhood for his entire life. Perhaps he just re-images or re-states a previous philosophy. Take his famous Categorical Imperative: "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." Is this not just a fancier way of stating the golden rule in Matthew 7: "do unto others what you would have them do to you?"

Perhaps Jason Brennan is right:

"Just as Einstein’s field equations aren’t particularly useful for studying the path of a falling feather, so Kant’s CI isn’t particularly useful to know what to do in a given situation."
https://fee.org/articles/what-do-you-need-philosophy-for/

See also 350 Books on German Philosophy on DVDrom (Kant, Nietzsche,
Schopenhauer, Hegel)
http://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/350-books-on-german-philosophy-on.html

Dissing Immanuel Kant
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/dissing-immanuel-kant.html

Theosophy and Immanuel Kant by H. T. Edge, M. A. 1916
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2018/02/theosophy-and-immanuel-kant-by-h-t-edge.html

Rene Descartes on This Day in History

This Day in History: French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist Rene Descartes died on this day in 1650. He gave us the dictum Cogito Ergo Sum (I think therefore I am). He also had a fetish for cross-eyed women, and his books were placed on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books, though he was Catholic himself. He was rockstar popular in his time, so much so that his skeletal remains were taken and for 350 years they traveled the continent in one place after another.

See also Descartes, Spinoza & Philosophy - 230 Books on DVDrom (Rationalism, Hume, Kant)

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/descartes-spinoza-philosophy-230-books.html

See also Norman Smith's Studies in the Cartesian Philosophy 1903

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2016/03/norman-smiths-studies-in-cartesian.html

Descartes, Spinoza & Philosophy - 230 Books on DVDrom (Rationalism, Hume, Kant)

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/descartes-spinoza-philosophy-230-books.html

Rene Descartes and the Soul by John Pancoast Gordy 1890

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/02/rene-descartes-and-soul-by-john.html

Descartes and the Pineal Gland By HP Blavatsky

https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2018/01/descartes-and-pineal-gland-by-hp.html

The Beach Boys "20/20" on this Day in History

This Day in History: The Beach Boys album "20/20" was released on this day in 1969. It has a song co-written by Phil Spector, another written by Leadbelly, and a third written by Charles Manson. This may not be their best album, but it must be the only album history featuring songs by three different murderers.

Pizza on This Day in History

This Day in History: Today is National Pizza Day. Approximately 3 billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year, and Pepperoni is America's favorite topping (anchovies are the least favorite). The first pizzaria (pizzeria?) in America was Lombardi’s in New York City in 1905 and is still operating today. The Hawaiian (pineapple) pizza was invented in Canada by a Greek, and this is one of the most argued about pizzas...the president of Iceland once said he wanted to ban it. The government has used pizza deliveries to spy on reporters, and the mafia has often used pizzarias as a front for illegal activities. There is a small pizza for dogs called the “Heaven Scent Pizza” made of flour, carrots, celery, and parmesan cheese. There is also a pizza museum in Philadelphia.

A few years ago a woman called 911 to report a burglary, but because the robber was still in her home, she pretended to order pizza. Thankfully the police caught on, and responded to the call.

Without Government, Who Will Build the Roads? Domino’s Pizza, Apparently
Libertarians can now rest easy knowing that the next time we are accosted with the infamous question about roads, we can look to Domino’s as a beacon of free-market innovation of a public good.

Doomslayer Julian Simon on This Day in History

This Day in History: Economist Julian Simon died on this day in 1998. Known as the Doomslayer, Simon argued that "over-population" was actually a good thing. More people means more brains to help solve our problems. To prove this he entered into a famous wager with Dr Doom Paul Ehrlich who wrote the Population Bomb. The bet was that with more people commodities would become rarer and thus more expensive. That didn't happen and Julian Simon won the bet. You can read Simon's great work "The Ultimate Resource" online at
http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource/

Another scientist, Bjorn Lomborg, set out 20 years ago to debunk Julian Simon who he viewed as a "simple American right-wing" nutjob: "Three months into the project, we were convinced that we were being debunked instead," Dr. Lomborg said. "Not everything he said is right. He has a definite right-wing slant. But most of the important things were actually correct." As a result, Lomborg went on to write "The Skeptical Environmentalist."

"The increase in the world's population represents our victory over death." JS

Julian Simon Was Right: A Half-Century of Population Growth, Increasing Prosperity, and Falling Commodity Prices

------------------------------------------

This is my long-run forecast in brief: The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today's Western living standards. I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse.~Julian Simon

The humour of blaming the present, and admiring the past, is strongly rooted in human nature, and has an influence even on persons endued with the profoundest judgment and most extensive learning.~  David Hume, "Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations"

By a process of contraction, distance in space makes things look small, and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks so much better in a contracting mirror or in a camera obscura than it is in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The scenes and events of long ago and the persons who took part in them wear a charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the outlines and takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys no such advantage, and it always seems defective. ~Schopenhauer

Gothic Writer Ann Radcliffe on This Day in History

Radcliffe's Book in Northanger Abbey

This Day in History: Writer Ann Radcliffe died on this day in 1823. Little known today, she was the highest paid author in the 1790's. She was one of the first of the Gothic writers, writing novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian which inserted supernatural elements, though many complained that she failed to incorporate "real ghosts" into her stories. She influenced writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Walter Scott and was admired by Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Baudelaire and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Jane Austen paid homage to Radcliffe in Northanger Abbey and in the 2007 movie Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen, the two actually meet.

See also: Many Penny Dreadfuls, Dime Novels and Gothic Novels on DVDrom

Edgar Allan Poe - An Exhumation is available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only $1.99 

See a local listing for this book here

Joseph Priestley on This Day in History

This Day in History: Joseph Priestley died on this day in 1804. This period of history had so many great minds, many who have long since been forgotten. Priestley is probably best known for discovering oxygen, but he was also a theologian, natural philosopher (scientist), chemist, innovative grammarian, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works. He was the first to discover that electrical force followed an inverse-square law. He also popularized Unitarianism as he was big on adding rationalism to Christianity. He wrote once: "The doctrine of Transubstantiation implies a physical impossibility, whereas that of the Trinity...implies a mathematical one; and to this only we usually give the name of contradiction." He was friends with Thomas Jefferson who held similar views.

See also Joseph Priestley on the Trinity

Buy on Amazon for only 99 cents by clicking here - see a local listing for this here

Peg Entwistle on This Day in History

Hauntings-The Hollywood Sign Girl

This Day in History: Actress Peg Entwistle was born on this day in 1908. However, she is not known for any roles she played, as she gained notoriety after she jumped to her death from atop the "H" on the Hollywood sign on September 1932, at the age of 24. She came to Hollywood from Wales to strike it big as an actress only to be disappointed. In desperation she committed suicide, and it was in
death that she finally became famous as her fall became widely publicized. To this day people say the Hollywood Sign is haunted by her ghost.

Oh, and you can eat at the Pig'n Whistle in Hollywood, a restaurant dedicated to her name.

See also: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/10/hollywood-sign-haunted

Mystery, Philosophy & History: Over 100 Books You Won't Believe are Online for FREE

Many Books you won't believe are online for free...but you may have to hurry before they are taken down. I did not post any of these books, these are simply books I found in my online travels.

For a list of all of my digital books and books on disk click here

See also Stock Market & Investing Books you Won't Believe Are Online For FREE and True Crime, Mysteries & More-Over 100 Books you Won't Believe Are Online For FREE and Ed & Lorraine Warren & 100 Other Books You Won't Believe Are Online for FREE and Mysteries & Censorship etc - Over 100 Books You Won't Believe Are Online For FREE & Christology, Mythology & 100 Other Books You Won't Believe are Online for FREE and The Best Free Horror Books (and some films) that are Online for FREE! and Ghosts & Guns - Over 100 Books You Won't Believe Are Online for FREE and Chomsky, Fascism, Icke, Mises & 100 Other Books You Won't Believe Are Online for FREE and Malachi Martin & the Church & Over 100 Other Books You Won't Believe Are Online For FREE, Serial Killers, Ted Bundy & 100 Other Books You Won't Believe Are Online for FREE and Ayn Rand, Trump & 100 Other Books You Won't Believe Are Online For FREE

Income Tax: The Root of All Evil by Frank Chodorov

https://mises.org/library/income-tax-root-all-evil

They Lie In Wait to Deceive, Volume 2 by Robert & Rosemary Brown

https://www.fairmormon.org/archive/publications/they-lie-in-wait-to-deceive/vol2

The Philosophy Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained

https://tinyurl.com/y8hpjn7s

Catholic Commentary On Holy Scripture

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.449110

What Is Metaphysics? by Martin Heidegger

https://goo.gl/P0wA2N

How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes

https://archive.org/details/MastermindHowToThinkLikeSherlockHolmes

Physics and Philosophy by Werner Heisenberg

https://archive.org/details/PhysicsPhilosophy

What Is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger

http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf

ILLUSIONS: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

https://bit.ly/2xF6dJj

Entropy by Jeremy Rifkin

https://goo.gl/Hsk4V7

This Kindle book, The Dark History of Christmas, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only $1.99 and The Strange History of Easter and the Christian Cross is on Amazon for only $1.99 

The Trial by Franz Kafka

https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/the-trial.pdf

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/the-metamorphosis.pdf

The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio

https://tinyurl.com/y62zytp8

Being and Time by Martin Heidegger

https://goo.gl/0MAkII

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

https://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/siddhartha.pdf

The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

https://tinyurl.com/ybt4r633

But I trusted you And other true cases by Ann Rule

https://archive.org/details/butitrustedyou00annr

The Bible in Living English by Steven Byington 1972

https://sites.google.com/site/byintonbible/download-the-bible-in-living-english

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101972130

The Screaming Skulls & Other Ghosts by Elliott O'Donnell

https://archive.org/details/TheScreamingSkullsOtherGhosts

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

https://archive.org/details/AlbertCamusTheMythOfSisyphus

Human Accomplishment The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and

Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 by Charles Murray

https://tinyurl.com/yydzwy4s

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

https://www.chinhnghia.com/1836.pdf

Ishmael, the Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNSEamIha7Z3YHoMN2Wlm9dm9lCzg47BF

Sartre: Literary And Philosophical Essays

https://archive.org/details/SartreJeanPaulLiteraryAndPhilosophicalEssaysCollier1962

Dictionary Of Gods And Goddesses by Michael Jordan

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-oq2BfT0sB_7IP7Th

The Routledge Dictionary Of Gods And Goddesses, Devils and Demons

https://archive.org/details/TheRoutledgeDictionaryOfGodsAnd

The Secret History Of The World by Laura Knight-Jadczyk

https://archive.org/details/LauraKnightJadczykTheSecretHistoryOfTheWBookZZ.org

Vicars of Christ: the Dark Side of the Papacy by Peter De Rosa

http://musicians4freedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Vicars-of-Christ.pdf

Famous Serial Killers by Borg Schroeder

https://archive.org/details/FamousSerialKillers

This Kindle book, 70 Forgotten Ghost Stories is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only 99 cents and Edgar Allan Poe - An Exhumation is available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only 99 cents

Secret History of the Jesuits

https://archive.org/details/SecretHistoryOfTheJesuits_648

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

https://archive.org/details/jay-anson-the-amityville-horror

Babylon Mystery Religion - Ralph Woodrow

https://archive.org/details/Babylon-Mystery-Religion-Ralph-Woodrow

https://archive.org/details/BabylonMysteryReligionByRalphWoodrow

Michael A. Cremo Richard l. Thompson - The Hidden History of the Human Race 1998

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-LN0OpY4ng1hKOfR7

Michael Behe - Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

https://archive.org/details/MichaelBeheDarwinsBlackBox

DARWIN ON TRIAL by Phillip E. Johnson

http://maxddl.org/Creation/Darwin%20On%20Trial.pdf

The Psychology of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden

http://www.al-edu.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Branden-The-Psychology-Of-Self-Esteem-1966-2001.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuBEmBxDAAE

Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race by Michael A. Cremo; Richard L. Thompson

https://archive.org/details/forbidden-archeology

Buddha A Story Of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra

https://archive.org/details/BuddhaAStoryOfEnlightenmentDeepakChopra

The Pink Swastika by Scott Lively; Kevin E. Abrams

Homosexuality in the Nazi Party

https://tinyurl.com/yxh5of6u

Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-SYCxwjSEcXfTIMwc

The Secret Teachings Of All Ages by Manly P. Hall

https://archive.org/details/TheSecretTeachingsOfAllAgesManlyHall

Chariots of The Gods - In Search of Ancient Aliens by Erich von Daniken

https://subharanjangupta.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/chariots_of_the_gods1.pdf

The God Makers - A Shocking Expose of What the Mormon Church Really

Believes by Ed Decker, Dave Hunt

https://archive.org/details/TheGodMakers-AShockingExposeOfWhatTheMormonChurchReallyBelieves

Buy: And the Word was a god: A New Book on the Most Disputed Text in the New Testament - John 1:1  and The Dark History of the Trinity, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and both are only 99 cents

The Holy Bible The Book Of Mormon Doctrine And Covenants Pearl Of Great Price

https://archive.org/details/TheHolyBibleTheBookOfMormonDoctrineAndCovenantsPearlOfGreatPriceStandardWorksEnglish

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

https://archive.org/details/Vol4No4

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

https://bit.ly/2tEHyV4

Seven Types Of Ambiguity by William Empson

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.215758

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.182542

My Early Life by Winston Churchill

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462479

As I Lay Dying Full by William Faulkner

https://archive.org/details/AsILayDyingFullTextWILLIAMFAULKNER

The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew)

http://www.indiana.edu/~bestsell/readings/Secret-Of-The-Old-Clock.pdf

Cliffs Notes Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-6FtTyLLmfJdjnwrU

The Junior Bible An American Translation by Edgar J. Goodspeed 1936

https://archive.org/details/juniorbibleaname028157mbp

The Third Book Of Enoch

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-lFh2SRV-tLJq15wg

Scream Comic 1974 - Who Killed Frankenstein's Monster

https://archive.org/details/skywald-comics-Scream-06

Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine v12n60 American Mercury (Nov 1948)

https://archive.org/details/Ellery_Queens_Mystery_Magazine_v12n60_American_Mercury_Nov_1948

Inside Detective (1939-04) (Mark of the Vampire article)

https://archive.org/details/Inside_Detective_1939-04_Mark_of_the_Vampire_article_only_Weird_Hollow

Creepy - First Magazine of Illustrated Horror (Warren Publishing) Issue 038

https://archive.org/details/warrencreepy-038

Vampirella, Illustrated Magazine (Warren Publishing) Issue 001, 1974

https://archive.org/details/warren-vampirella-001

Fawcett Comics: This Magazine is Haunted 007

https://archive.org/details/fawcett_This_Magazine_is_Haunted_007

The Lost Books Of The Bible The Rejected Texts By Joseph B. Lumpkin

https://archive.org/details/TheLostBooksOfTheBibleTheRejectedTextsByJosephB.Lumpkin

Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy by Curt Rowlett

https://archive.org/details/eBook-Labyrinth13

Buy my published Kindle book on Amazon on the Strange History of Medicine and Buy my book: The Folly of Socialism (40 Chapters)

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

http://evelynbrooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/The_True_Believer_-_Eric_Hoffer.pdf

Wonders In The Sky - Unexplained Aerial Objects From Antiquity To

Modern Times - Jacques Vallee, Chris Aubeck

https://archive.org/details/JacquesValleeChrisAubeckWondersInTheSkyUnexplainedAerialObjectsFromAntiquityToModernTimes

Paranthropology Magazine

https://archive.org/details/ParanthropologyVol6No1

Some things can never be explained: A selected list of books on the

occult and the supernatural for young adults

https://archive.org/details/somethingscannev00grou

Dark Horse Comics Presents The Book Of Hauntings

https://archive.org/details/DarkHorseComicsPresentsTheBookOfHauntings

Spawn Comics

https://archive.org/details/Spawn100to109

The Simpsons' Treehouse Of Horror, September 2014

https://archive.org/details/TheSimpsonsTreehouseOfHorrorSeptember2014

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

http://bit.ly/2yJeuxD

Time for Murder - Detective Magazine

https://archive.org/details/TimeForMurder_542

Murder In The Basement by Anthony Berkeley

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.209229

Zetetic Scholar - Zetetic Scholar was started by Marcello Truzzi to counter the pseudoskeptics.  He promoted the term "zeteticism" as an alternative to "skepticism", because he thought that the latter term was being usurped by what he termed "pseudoskeptics". A zetetic is a "skeptical seeker". The term's origins lie in the word for the followers of the skeptic Pyrrho in ancient Greece. Skeptic's

Dictionary memorialized Truzzi thus: “Truzzi considered most skeptics to be pseudoskeptics, a term he coined to describe those who assume an occult or paranormal claim is false without bothering to investigate it. A kind way to state these differences might be to say that Marcello belonged to the Pyrrhonian tradition, most of the rest of us belong to the Academic skeptical tradition.” (from Wikipedia)

https://archive.org/details/ZeteticScholarNo111983

Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders

https://archive.org/details/ColumboTheHelterSkelterMurders

The wife of a wealthy Los Angeles businessman is found murdered in her bed with her lover, with the words Helter Skelter painted in blood on the walls. Columbo, America's favorite TV detective, must ask himself whether the horror of the Manson himself is ordering a fresh new round of atrocities from his San Quentin prison cell?

Buy: The Mysterious Book of Genesis - Lilith, Enoch & Other Strange Studies: An Anthology on Amazon and The Companion Guide to Death, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only $1.99

World Of Horror 007 (1972)

https://archive.org/details/World_Of_Horror_007_1972

Halls of Horror 026 (1983)

https://archive.org/details/Halls_of_Horror_026_1983

Tales of Horror

https://archive.org/details/TalesOfHorror006toby

Haunted Magazine 2015

https://archive.org/details/Haunted_Magazine_15_2015_UK

Haunted Waters by Elliott O'Donnell

https://archive.org/details/HauntedWaters

Asimov's Science & Fiction Magazine

https://archive.org/details/Asimovs_Science_Fiction_Magazine_September_2015.09

The Franklin Cover-Up [Child Abuse, Satanism And Murder In Nebraska] by John W Decamp

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-JUImyEgGzE-JEb6F

Murder By Injection The Story of the Medical Conspiracy Against America by Eustace Mullins

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-ZFZWsItIObLzmUUN

The Bible And The Dead Sea Scrolls

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-SGfkFhRRxaQTSOrv

Fallen Angels And The History Of Judaism And Christianity by Annette Y Reed

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-YR30ZIogGdklFMLj

The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal by Lynne Kelly

https://archive.org/details/The_Skeptics_Guide_to_the_Paranormal_by_Lynne_Kelly

The Basement Sublet of Horror - Magazine

https://archive.org/details/BSOHMagazineIssue02

https://archive.org/details/BSOHMagazineIssue06

https://archive.org/details/BSOHMagazineIssue03

https://archive.org/details/BSOHMagazineIssue04

Massimo Pigliucci: How to Be a Stoic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyCQVMLpZ2I

The Haunting of Ashburn House Darcy Coates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcnewhjpHU&t=1685s

Increase your financial IQ by Robert T. Kiyosaki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZHBxpAFmLw

Buy this published Kindle book on Amazon on Forgotten Bible Versions for only 99 cents  and Buy Forgotten Tales of Dogs - 60 Chapters of Dogs in Legend, Lore, Love, Loyalty and Intelligence for only 99 cents

The Politically Incorrect Guide To The Presidents: From Wilson To Obama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12eRiW5cRxU&t=10s

Watchers by Dean Koontz Audiobook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueh3MKW_BT0

Phantoms by Dean Koontz Audiobook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6a4C277F68

Joel Fuhrman: The End of Diabetes (Audiobook)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_xWZ_xRnE

The Theory of Everything By Stephen Hawking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExExwfr95lA

Suspense Magazine: Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction

http://www.suspensemagazine.com/files/SM_September_2012.pdf

Unpopular Opinions by Dorothy L. Sayers

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.209970

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

https://tinyurl.com/y6we9rho

Roman Catholicism by Loraine Boettner

http://www.tlchrist.info/keithgreen/boettner_romancatholocism.pdf

Buy : Halloween and the Strange in Story and History for 99 cents (50 Chapters) and Buy this Kindle book on Amazon on Vampires and Werewolves for only 1.99

Uncanny Tales By Mrs Molesworth

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35641/35641-h/35641-h.htm

Dan Simmons - The Abominable Collins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q8MDuZOJKI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UF948Q0ab8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rCPmDZTj2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1UtfGA9B0

Laws of Money, Lessons of Life Audiobook by Suze Orman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlTHl3HsvXc

You are a BADASS (audiobook) by Jen Sincero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQW08Cp1Jg

The Plot Against the President: The Biggest Political Scandal in US History by Lee Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TekriKAz8v4

Joyland (Full Audiobook) by Stephen King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjAMlay5UBg

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: The Greatest Detective Stories: 1837-1914 by Graeme Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixbm7kAggf4

Anatomy of Evil by Will Thomas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmENJ5O-FM

Buy on Amazon for only 99 cents by clicking here - see a local listing for this here