American History

This past week, Annika and I have been studying 19th century US history. Though from the looks of it, I am more interested than she is about the subject. She wanted to know why we have to read about all these dead people.

Heaven help us from cheeky 12 year olds!

I laughed and promptly turned to her. I told her that history is a way for us to understand how we deal with the present and our future. Unfortunately, I wasn't buying what I was selling but I smiled anyways and encouraged her to read about the suspiciously familiar politics and economy of the 1800's.

There's the usual cast of characters: malleable politicians, powerful banks and corporations juxtaposed with the unemployed and a struggling lower class. You really only had to change the names, dates and places and you have modern day America.

Annika has yet to realize the pragmatic reality of history.

It simply repeats itself.

Dying in a Blaze of Glory

It's been two weeks and the world appears to still be in mourning. I am actually getting sick of it. Take this image for example. Every time I go into the Apple website, his face stares me down with an I know something that you don't look.

But enough already! His death had actually increased the hype over the iPhone 4S launch so I wondered if his passing wasn't strategically planned on his iCal.

I considered the possibility that maybe he knew Harold Camping was right this time and that Judgement Day will arrive on October 21...or 22...and he wanted to get ahead of the line.

On the other hand, it was more likely that he realized it would take a lot more than the Siri to boost the momentum on his new, but relatively unremarkable, iPhone to keep Apple's lofty perch in the technology meat market.

And maybe...just maybe...he did accomplish the epic coup de grâce and death became his ultimate marketing tool. He once said that "death is very likely the best invention of life. All pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

And what he left behind was the final effect he sought to achieve: his name etched into perpetuity.