16 February 2007

New Book

I just ordered Steven Nadler's Spinoza: A Life.

14 February 2007

Star Names

Apparently 2/3rds of star names are Arabic in origin. The Islamic world had a scientific revolution; in other words, it didn't lack one. Thus the issue isn't why no scientific revolution happened in Islam, but the question is what happened to it?

12 February 2007

WWI & Railroad Employment

From James W. Ely, jr.'s Railroads and American Law (citations in text omitted), pg. 144:

"...World War I brought a temporary federal government takeover of the rail industry. This development had significant implications for black railroad workers. In 1918 the Federal Railroad Administration issued General Order 27 mandating equal wage and treatment without regard to race for workers who performed the same tasks. Generally speaking, however, government operations of the railroads strengthened union power. Confronting yet another series of racial strikes, the Railroad Administration imposed new regulations that forced blacks out of various and further restricted their employment oppurtunities."