On Jul 16, 2012, at 2:05 AM, cblists@xxxxxxxx wrote: > > On 16-Jul-12, at 10:10 AM, I wrote: >> >> Lots of stuff (I choose the colloquialism deliberately to note in passing >> the query, 'What IS the ontological status of past historical events?') >> happened on this day in history ... > > and somehow forgot to mention that today is Pinchas Zukerman's 64th (please, > no humming of ... oops, too late) birthday! Also, the resignation of "Lord Greenville." http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history I couldn't recall any "Lord Greenville," so I looked him up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Grenville Items to note: he was against using Hessians, he imposed the Stamp Act, his name is associated with "gunboat diplomacy," he advocated sending support to the Corsican Republic. Grateful Corsican nationalists subsequently fought for the British in the American War of Independence. So a little nudge in the narrative here or there--had George III liked Grenville a little better, had Britain supported Corsican independence militarily, had there been no Stamp Act or employment of Hessian mercenaries--and there'd be a British America, no Napoleon, the first nation in Europe with women's suffrage and a black guy on their flag... That would be the Republic of Corsica. David Ritchie, doomed to a minor role in history after his dad rejected the sobriquet, "Ritchie, the Elder"------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html