Author Archives: archbishop999

The Habsburgs were one of the most famous extinct bloodlinesin human history and in their day, they were a family ofrobust power.  Besides, with its  dominance in much of European history, the house itself remainslegendary. Today, I’d like to tell you about the Habsburg family and the reason for the family’s extinction.

The oldest Habsburg known is Radbot of Kllettgau, who was born in the tenth century. However, the Habsburg’s success started in the 1200s when Rudolf I was elected as king of the Holy Roman Empire. This was the start of the Habsburg’s gaining of power, along with Rudolfbeing given the title Duke of Austria. In order to gain more land, the Habsburgs sarranging marriages between their own royalty and members of the nobility ofother countries. Soon the Habsburgs expanded land stretching across from Austria to Germany and Spain. Though it may seem like the Habsburgs only gained success, the Habsburgs also suffered in many ways. The Habsburgs were under threat of the Mongols just after Rudolf I  sucessfully led led an invasion by the Mongolian empire on the Habsburgs. Thus, while the Mongols weren’t able to take over Austria, this destroyed towns and villages of Austria and many Habsburg soldiers were slaughtered after both supporting other allied countries, and during its defense of Austria. Also, clashing ideas between families of the Habsburg’s empire (Holy Roman Empire) divided it into two (west and east), weakening the power of the Habsburgs. Eventually, Austria (part of the Holy Roman Empire) was attacked once more by the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Suleiman I. Austria was home to most Habsburgs, andthe capital of the Holy Roman Empire was located there. The silk road stretched across the area and was the main base of the Habsburgs as the house’s declined. Suleiman’s army, with its robust power, plundered villages one by one heading to the heart of the Habsburgs: Vienna. This started the siege of Vienna which not only was a crisis for the Habsburgs, but also was the start of the military revolution during the 15^th-17^th centuries. As soon as part of the star fortress (built by architect and general Gustaf Adolf) had been bombarded, the high ranked officials of Vienna decided to call for help from Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and other countries.

 The Netherlands sent their best army, the Teutonic Knights, which were the best cavalry in Europe during the medieval ages. The Knights, along with Poland’s winged hussars and Black Riders, who were light cavalry, only being equipped with light armor along with pistols and swords, largely destroyed the Ottomans, slaughtering and plundering the main bases of the Ottomans, killing thousands. This started a military revolution in Europe, which challenged the Habsburgs’ military power. The Habsburgs even suffered severe losses against the Swiss Confederacy, who didn’t even have proper armor. The Habsburgs, who suddenly were under threat by the once-weak nations who started the military revolution, started hiring mercenaries and reorganizing its army. Especially, the Genoan crossbowmen and Swiss mercenaries became the starting point for the reorganization of the Habsburg’s military. As soon as they’ve hired enough mercenaries, the Habsburgs started to mimic their military just as the mercenaries hired. For instance, the Landsknecht used long spears similar to ancient phalanx and the Swiss mercenaries. This let the Habsburgs (both west and east) regain their power from the hardships that followed. In addition, the western Habsburgs (or Spanish Habsburgs) who controlled areas of Spain, invented new military tactics, and started gaining power through trade during the Age of Discovery. On the other hand, the last Austrian Habsburg died in the late 17^th century: Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire. The Spanish Habsburgs didn’t survive much longer either. The Spanish Habsburg were wiped only a decade or more later, dying out in the next century.

The early extinction of the Habsburgs was because of sibling marriage. This kind of uncommon sibling marriage was done in order to preserve and protect the family’s power from other families who could take power through marriage just as how the Habsburgs succeeded. This kind of strategy did let the Habsburgs dominate Europe for centuries, but according to research, this could easily cause genetic defects and could even threaten the lives of the descendants more at each sibling marriage. This made the Habsburgs share similar congenital conditions, such as protruding lower jaws, which is one of the greatest similarities between the Habsburgs caused by genetic defects.

To this day the Habsburgs, are a symbol of power and its flag of two falcons later was mimicked by many countries such as Prussia and Flanders. The ambitious success and bitter end of the Habsburgs leave both awe and disappointment to many people. This story of the Habsburgs is from my perspective, a true lesson of history.

Dragons are actual mottos of fantasy and ancient mythology and are loved by fantasy fans all over the world. However, the recognition of its origin and the reason for its origin isn’t recognized by many. Today, I’d like to talk about the origin of dragon mythology and its relationship with the human-dinosaur coexistence theory.

The first depictions of dragons date back to ancient Greece. The Greeks depicted dragons as huge, four-legged, horned creatures that would attack humans. These are a form of the European dragon, while the Asian dragon was first depicted in China, after the Greeks. Asian dragons would be depicted as wise creatures related to the seas and rivers, even in some regions being depicted as godly. The origins of these dragons are most likely to have been dinosaurs. After encountering dinosaurs or dinosaur fossils many would have thought of this as a new kind of creature: a dragon.

This then links with the human-dinosaur coexistence theory. Much evidence lays upon the human-dinosaur coexistence theory, such as a section of the Nile mosaic of Palestrina or the Dawyon County Triceratops fossil, which had a fossil age of 33,500 yrs. Mostly, dinosaurs should have fossil ages of at least up to 65 million yrs. However, this fossil has an age considerably clashing with the first appearance of homo sapiens. Plus, if we look upon the alleged cretaceous human hand fossil found in 1999, we already have considerable evidence.

It is said that the Europeans and the Middle Easterners would have likely encountered theropods or carnivore dinosaurs, leading to the depiction of them as 2 or 4 legged monstrous creatures, as they would likely harm crops and livestock and destroy villages. However, the Asian depiction of dinosaurs would have likely been depicted after Plesiosaurs (marine dinosaurs) or Pterosaurs (flying dinosaurs), who did not cause harm to humans. Plus, the reason for the relationship between Asian dragons and the sea and sky would be due to the thinking that Plesiosaurs would be responsible for the rain, which was important as in Asia, crops were the main food source for people. Plus, if we consider that Pterosaurs went high up into the mountains to avoid the rain or harsh weather, these simple acts of Pterosaurs are most likely to have been seen as responsible for the weather or as providing a warning for the weather.                  

Like this, every myth or character has an origin, and every single depiction of this has a meaning or a reason. Not only do dragons have these special origins, but other mythical creatures have origins that explain every simple act or depiction. All in all, this was my article about the origin of dragon mythology, and its relationship with the human-dinosaur coexistence theory.

  A “Double Irish and a Dutch Sandwich” might seem like a food menu in a restaurant, but there isn’t any relationship to food. Instead, it is an economic term. This is a strategy for companies to pay lower taxes and increase their profits. Today, I’d like to talk about the “Double Irish and a Dutch Sandwich,” what this means, and whether it should be stopped.

Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich: the two are actually different but mostly the two tax-avoiding strategies are pronounced together. This strategy to avoid paying taxes is carried out by transferring profits to branches in tax havens. For instance, a traditional “Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich” strategy usually involves two branches located in tax havens. One might be in Ireland, and another in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands, etc. The one in Bermuda would be called the first Irish company and the one in Ireland the second. Some of the profit is transferred to the second one, and this entity pays royalties and tax; then, leaving part of the profit, the rest of the funds are sent back to the first Irish corporation, which pays its royalties and tax (the second Irish corporation is managed by the first one, which is the second Irish company’s legal HQ). After that, the first Irish corp in turn licenses a Dutch branch office, which pays royalties to the first Irish corp. The Dutch corp then sub-licenses the second Irish corp, which in turn pays royalties to the Dutch corp, then the second Irish corp sub-licenses other branches and is paid royalties by the other overseas branches. Then the company in the US or UK doesn’t pay much tax (despite paying sales tax, etc.) since it would be running deficits due to lack of profits, since most of the profits were transferred. “Double Irish” means the first and second Irish corp while the “Dutch Sandwich” means the Dutch company. This makes a sandwich: Bread 1=first Irish corp, meat=Dutch corp Bread 2=second Irish corp. This kind of strategy is used by many companies, but the tax haven is not always Bermuda or Ireland and the cheese or meat is not necessarily in the Netherlands.

This strategy is hated by most countries that aren’t tax havens, while it is loved by countries that are tax havens, since the development of branches in their countries also means an economic boost for them. This makes non-tax-haven countries want to ban the “Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich”. However, they can’t due to the economic downfall that would happen when the companies move to tax havens. Therefore, this legal mechanism remains fact a “shield” for international companies to use Besides, companies such as Google, Apple, Starbucks, Facebook, Microsoft, and many others utilize tax havens.) They are all huge companies who lobby the government to keep allowing the tax havens. In my perspective, I believe this shouldn’t be banned. First, it is because of the “shield” the companies are gaining, there is hardly any way to eliminate this “shield’ and without these companies, information would be limited if we consider the fact that companies are gaining high amounts of info (Google and Microsoft) are using the “Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich.” Without these companies, there is the possibility of many losing their jobs and an economic downfall to happen. Due to this, I believe this is a risk government and society should handle instead of many benefits, leading to the reason why I believe this shouldn’t be banned.

Recently, many are frustrated about the “Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich”. However, before disliking it and global companies, people should know more about these strategies and make informed decisions on which side to take. All in all, this was what I believe about the “Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich” and what this strategy is and its effects on our lives and our society.

People love treadmills at the gym or to help them lose weight. However, it is hard to believe it was once a torture machine. Today, I’d like to talk about the violent history of the treadmill.

The treadmill was first invented in Rome and was used as a crane for construction. The machines  were powered by POWs, slaves, or prisoners. Many would die by falling from the crane and these workers weren’t paid nor were they given enough to eat. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, this type of treadmill was no longer used, until the middle ages, where these cranes were used to build castle walls and were still human-powered. Eventually, these cranes were used throughout Europe and took countless lives of prisoners and slaves. Many famous buildings were constructed this way, such as the Collosseum, which was built with 2-3 cranes.Workers walked hundreds of miles each day on the treadmill, and soldiers would whip these men when they tried getting off Most of them were unable to live a long or sustainable life, and died by lack of nutrition.

Treadmills were also used in prisons during the 1800s-1900s. In the early 1800s, Sir William Cubbit introduced treadmills, on the premise that they  getprisoners into shape. Also,  these treadmills, used in cells, provided energy for the factories and windmills of the first Industrial revolution. These machines were  said to give economic benfits for government and society and make the criminals regret and admit their crimes. These convicts had to walk the equivalent of halfway up the Himalayan slopes each day. There were many casualties and deaths, and usually the deceased weren’t even able to have a proper grave. These terrible acts were stopped in the early 1900s due to the Prison Act.

When thinking about these pitiful prisoners and slaves used to build buildings and power up factories, we should be thankful to be able to work out not being threatened with death. Treadmills are still used, but as workout machines due to their comeback in a new incarnation in the 1950s by Robert Bruce and Wayne Quinton, and we are still running on the tracks where once slaves and prisoners had ran.

 Have you ever heard of a legendary king called Prester John? Some might not know, but this legendary patriarch was a big motivator for sailors of the Age of Discovery. Today, I’d like to introduce my findings on this surely intriguing legendary patriarch and why would have these rumors last so long, leading to a sudden series of expeditions across the sea risking death to reach the kingdom that wasn’t real.

In the 13^th century, , during the fifth crusade, there were persistent rumors of a mighty try  king (priest as well). Said to have land stretching across the Middle East and having mighty power, the legend of Prester John spread across Europe. By 1306, 30 Ethiopian missionaries were supposed to have traveled to Europe during the reign of King Wedem Arad of Ethiopia, explaining that their king was Prester John. Hearing this, many European leaders were eager to find the kingdom and have an alliance with them to eliminate the Islamic kingdoms. Plus, there were widespread rumors of letters that  Prester John had sent to European countries including rumor of a conflict between Prester John and the Islamic empires. This led to the start of the Age of Discovery where many were looking for Prester John, especially Portugal and Italy competed to see who could find Prester John first, despite huge casualties of sailors who died out while making effort to find this legendary kingdom. This, in turn led to the development of better ships and navigational techniques. More and more countries developed these skills; this was the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Their ventures included Henry the Navigator’s reaching the Cape of Good Hope and the Spanish discovery of the Spice Islands. Many people thought the rumors were true even though the Ethiopian king exclaimed that he wasn’t Prester John; Ethiopian missionaries in the country also denied the story. The truth  wasn’t known until the 17th century when German orientalist Hiob Ludolf and many European scholars confirmed that there was no connection between Ethiopia and Prester John. This still remains as a hilarious rumor in history as many risked their lives while these long journeys to find a kingdom that wasn’t even real but the one of the reasons why the Age of Discovery started.

There are many ideas about the identity of Prester John. One great example would be that he was Genghis Khan or one of his sons. The only kingdom or empire that would have had such huge lands and would have been likely to attack the Islamic empire, would be the Mongols, as not many had hope to defeat the Islamic world in Africa or Asia. Except the Mongols, few had the power to successfully attack the Muslims, and Ethiopia wasn’t that prosperous nor developed to wage war against the Islamic Empire. This leads to the idea that Prester John would have been Genghis Khan or one of his sons who had inherited the land. However, there are also a few ideas that he wouldn’t have been a Mongol, as in the figure above where Prester John is depicted fighting with the Mongols. Plus, if it were the Mongols, they might have known it earlier, given their conquest of Europe. I believe this is quite hilarious, if true since the Mongols who slaughtered the Knight’s Templar were known as a holy priests and saviors of the Pope. These rumors, in my perspective, might have been made by the Pope in order to attract more kings and strengthen crusade armies, due to the shortage of soldiers as the crusades dragged on. Most of these rumors are based on the Pope and Italy, so I believe the rumor would possibly have been made by the Pope who was the only one who could make money by the crusades.

The rumor of Prester John dominated Europe for centuries, but no one was able to find the kingdom and the only thing anyone discovered was the fact that Prester John never existed. However, this whole scenario encouraged the development of European technology and certainly brought forth the Age of Discovery. All in all, without the legend of Prester John, there wouldn’t have been the Age of Discovery, nor would have there been the discovery of many continents as well. Without all of this, history, including present day of humanity would have been a lot different than now.

 Recently, our world has started being in an anxious situation. With Russia attacking Ukraine and China trying to support Russia, many are worried abour a third World War. Today, I would like to share my findings about the situation, which people of the world are worrying about.

Xi Jinping and Putin’s meeting on March 15^th 2022, at which Putin requested military reinforcements and economic support to Xi Jinping, where all requests were accepted except military reinforcement.

Image link

Like the image above portrays, China and Russia are having a very close relationship, with the two countries in the Sino-Russian bloc both support each other in various issues. Plus, with Russia trying to regain the power of the old Soviet Union and trying to conquer Belarus, Ukraine, etc, Russia is surely a threat to most Eastern European countries. China as well is trying to conquer regions like Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, making these territories completely a part of their country, ignoring the regulations they had before gaining HK from the UK. With North Korea also supporting the two as a communist nation, it is a recognizable threat for the US and many European and Northeast Asian countries (Japan & Korea, etc). Due to the recent war in Ukraine, many are worried that China, which is a big ally of Russia, could attack Taiwan. Well, this could be possible since, thus Taiwan has quasi-diplomatic relations with the US.Meanwhile, China is trying to conquer Taiwan and going forward, is expanding their Northeast project from Mongolia and Tibet into Korea and other countries, keeping with China’s “One China, One Family” policy. Some individuals say that this could lead to a third world war, and indeed this seems slightly possible if we see what is going on. China, North Korea, and Iran are supporting the acts of what Russia is doing: war. China’s support of the Russians has surprised NATO members. Also, with North Korea highly giving strong support to Russia, and the Iranian president geatly offending the US, it seems like either one of them could start a war after Russia’s action in Ukraine.

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 Thus, many civilians around the world want economic sanctions on Russia to be enacted, but these are also a threat to many Western European nations. Even though many Eastern European countries, such asPoland, Lithuania, and Latvia, want stronger economic sanctions to be enacted, for first world European nations, this is a big blow when done long-term. Most Western European countries use Russian gas and Germany and France use approximately 30% of all Russian gas flowing through Russia’s complex gas pipeline system. These gas pipelines power many buildings in Western Europe and when gas is blocked as a part of economic sanctions, this surely will be a major burden. As shown in figure 2 above, Western European countries rely heavily on Russian gas and have fewalternatives. For instance, American shale oil is in limited supply, since the US produces 11,000,000 barrels of oil daily, but uses most of that domestically,  making the supply of American oil in the global market limited.. It is obvious that Russia and Western nations are truly interdependent, in terms of the world’s need for oil, and Russia’s need for the revenue it generates.

With the start of thesudden war on Ukraine, tension is higher than ever around the world between the US and it’s allies vs Russia and it’s supporters. This kind of tension had led many people around the world to start worrying about what might happen now. It is impossible to learn what will happen next, but I hope we will see peace in the near future, given today’s uncertain times.

We, humanity, are living in a globalized world. Everything feels closer and closer and we are being affected by world-wide interdependence everyday. However, is this really significant? Today, I’d like to share the pros and cons of globalization.

 PROS

Globalization has given and can continue to give  people many advantages . A great example might be Hong Kong and Singapore. Hong Kong was once a country depending only on fishing, but became Asia’s financial center as time passed. Singapore, as well was only a weak, undeveloped kingdom called Singapura but became a country with a powerful economy. Like this, we can see these developments of countries made by globalization. Plus, as the majority of citizens are able to be influenced by international experiences, many ideas can be formed and new businesses could be made as a result of these international experiences. The collapse of the Korean Joseon dynasty can be one significant example. The Joseon dynasty refused and denied any trade with foreign countries and any tax collected wouldn’t be used for developing the country, but the only for greed of officials and the king’s family members. This led to Joseon still using bows and arrows while most neighboring countries were using muskets and rifles and eventually collapsing. Without globalization, the speed of development of humanity, would have been a lot slower, and there wouldn’t have been the Industrial Revolution nor the Agricultural Revolution, which would make the world completely different than now. Many disagree on this idea on the fact that globalization can terminate cultures easily, but the termination of cultures is a risk we have to handle and manage for the development of humanity, but it is not such a big problem when compared to the advantages.

CONS

Thus, there are many economic advantages due to globalization, but there are many disadvantages. Every year, more than 100 languages disappear and many are endangered. Many languages have only 1 remaining speaker; think about what you’d feel and be like when you’re the only remaining speaker of your language. That language can be yours. Can the value of the founder of your language’s effort and the value of a language have less value than economic advantages? Not only would there be risk of languages being lost,  but there would also be the risk of other cultures. When these kind of developments can be made, there can be many people who have a hard time in following up. Especially, when the speed of development is getting faster and faster.

There are both pros and cons on every single theme and globalization’s pros and cons a popular theme between people for debates and discussions. Like this, this was my pros and cons on globalization. Where do you stand for?

The 2022 Winter Olympics has opened in Beijing, China. However, some unjust actions were observed among the skaters and ski players. Today, I would like to talk about this deplorable behavior.

In the Winter Olympics short track, a Chinese player threw a rock at a Korean player who was winning the game, and therefore unfairly won the game, as the Korean player was injured and fell down after being hit. According to GolfDigest.com Chinese players even threw their bodies on Hungarian players (Lio Saorin Sandor etc.), letting the other Chinese players win. As per donganews.com and tvchosun.com the Chinese were found to be hitting and pushing any opposing players who were winning the game. However, they were not penalized and the judge gave the Chinese gold, silver, and bronze medals. This angered many countries, especially Korea and Hungary, who were the main victims of the attacks. This led to protests in Beijing and many people were angry about the situation. Soon Chinese player Lyun Zu Wei, who was responsible for most of the attacks on his opponents, pushed, and attacked other players. He the last remaining Chinese player in the short track that day, but he was finally eliminated from the game after many meetings with the Olympic judges and many other authorities.

On the other hand in skiing, more problems were being found. The snow was too rough and it was learned that in some parts of the slope, the players would keep falling down. Also, some were eliminated from the game for unreasonable causes, like clothing. Plus, many players are getting severely injured by the rough snow. According to Seoulfinancial and Moneytoday, approximately 40% of the players are falling down due to the rough snow on the slope. Not only does the rough snow pose a problem, but also the ski slope is situated alongside a nuclear power plant. This could be dangerous, since the snow might be easily contaminated by plant’s emissions, which some blame for the poor piste.

I believe that the pertinent authorities should take more interest in problems at this year’s Winter Olympics facilities. We should fix the problem immediately, before more get injured by unsafe facilities and violent players before there are more accidents.All in all I hope the next Winter Olympic will be safer. If Olympic committees and host country authorities could get a hand on issues like unsafe venues and out-of-control players, the games could be much safer.