theDrahos

No one can build a decent palace anymore. I agree that this is not one of the greatest social problems of our time, but it must nevertheless be revelatory of something economic or cultural. My first reaction when seeing President Erdogan standing at the foot of the stairs of his palace in Ankara, said to be several times larger than Versailles, was to laugh (I am not a Turkish taxpayer). Surely it was some kind of film set, to be dismantled when the film has been completed. They would do better in Hollywood, or even in Las Vegas. At least … Continue reading →

This week, North Korea’s dynastic leader, Kim Jong-un, was beaming from ear to ear as a Pukgeukseong-1 missile shot out of the water, apparently launched by a new “Sinpo” class strategic submarine. For Kim, Christmas arrived early. The United States and South Korea publicly sneered at the missiles launch calling it a fake, a dummy,  trick photography or a re-tread old Soviet SSN-6  missile. Washington has always underestimated North Korea ever since the Korean War of the 1950’s.   South Korean intelligence has an entire department that routinely spreads phony stories about the North, like the canard that Kim had his … Continue reading →

The Washington Post has published a guest article by a California teacher arguing that American high school students shouldn’t read Shakespeare because he’s a dead, white man. Dana Dusbiber, who teaches English in Sacramento, says she avoids Hamlet and all the rest because her minority students shouldn’t be expected to study a “a long-dead, British guy” (Dusbiber herself is white). And while Shakespeare is widely regarded as the premier writer of the English language, able to timelessly portray themes central to the human experience, Dusbiber says he only is regarded that way because “some white people” ordained it and he can easily be replaced. “Why … Continue reading →

Monday, June 15, 2015, is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. In his book, Magna Carta, J.C. Holt, professor of medieval history, University of Cambridge, notes that three of the chapters of this ancient document still stand on the English Stature Book and that so much of what survives of the Great Charter is “concerned with individual liberty,” which “is a reflexion of the quality of the original act of 1215.” In the 17th century Sir Edward Coke used the Great Charter of the Liberties to establish the supremacy of Parliament, the representative of the people, as the origin of … Continue reading →

You’ve probably read that there is a “war on cash” being waged on various fronts around the world. What exactly does a “war on cash” mean? It means governments are limiting the use of cash and a variety of official-mouthpiece economists are calling for the outright abolition of cash. Authorities are both restricting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks, and limiting what can be purchased with cash. These limits are broadly called capital controls. The War On Cash: Why Now? Why are governments suddenly acting as if cash money is a bad thing that must be … Continue reading →

A lot of people see their hair as a reflection of their identity so it isn’t surprising that the global hair care products market is worth over $80 billion. What might surprise you is how much your hair can reveal about your health. Medical researchers from around the world have been just as fascinated with hair as some of the world’s top stylists. Trichology, the branch of dermatology that focuses on the study of the health of hair, has existed for more than 100 years. However, scientists are the professionals who have uncovered what hair really tells us about our … Continue reading →