July 2012 - Richard M. Langworth

Washington Baseball: The Amazin’ Nats

28 July 2012 Comments 0 Comments

Nats veterans know it’s a long way to October. Says first baseman Adam LaRoche, who carried the team early when hits were scarce: “I’ve seen a lot of crazy things happen in the last month or two of the season where teams have blown big leads.” Ryan Zimmerman added: “[When] we have the best record in September or October, then you can talk about it.”

Churchill’s “V-Sign” and the Peace Symbol

14 July 2012 Comments 3 Comments

I was wanting to find out about the two-finger gesture in the picture. It appears to be either the earliest peace symbol, and/or rabbit ears? The “crow foot” peace symbol predates Churchill’s V-sign by four or five centuries. Its current form was popularized by Picasso in the World Peace Conferences of the 1950s, when it was alleged to represent the Christian cross upside down and broken, the symbol of a Communist peace. Wikipedia has an interesting discussion.

I’m not sure where Churchill picked up his two-finger V-sign (palm facing out), but he certainly popularized it during World War II. …

Churchill’s “Infallibility”: Myth on Myth

10 July 2012 Comments 10 Comments

Mr. Daniel Knowles (“Time to scotch the myth of Winston Churchill’s infallibility,” (originally blogged on the Daily Telegraph but since pulled from all the websites where it appeared), wrote that the “national myth” of World War II and Churchill “is being used in an argument about the future of the House of Lords.”

Mr. Knowles quoted Liberal Party leader Nick Clegg, who cited Churchill’s 1910 hope that the Lords “would be fair to all parties.” Sir Winston’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames MP, replied that Churchill “dropped those views and had great reverence and respect for the institution of the House of Lords.”…