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This Rebel Came Armed With a Balance Sheet

Submitted by loner on 29 November, 2010 - 10:58am

 By JOHN STEELE GORDON

When most people think about the American Revolution, they think about the remarkable ideals that lay behind it and that guide the country still, or they think of the war itself, with Gen. Washington's men freezing and half-starved at Valley Forge.
What doesn't come to mind very often is how the Revolution was paid for. "Wars are fought with silver bullets," according to a Chinese saying, meaning that the side with the most money usually wins. But in the case of the Revolution, Great Britain—the richest country in Europe and the possessor of the most advanced financial system—lost despite its silver bullets. And it lost to a ragtag bunch of former colonies that didn't have a regular money supply, let alone a financial system. Nor did the rebels have the capacity to manufacture arms or gunpowder in any quantity.

Blood lines

Submitted by loner on 14 June, 2009 - 11:12pm

In a large private garden in Manhattan, behind a grand New York City brownstone, a man in his 90s took the hand of a young girl who is not yet 12. The bridge between them, the man's son, the girl's father, stood at a distance, looking on.

"That was pure love," says Sandi Pei, the 60-year-old son of I.M. Pei, the architect who designed Hong Kong's Bank of China tower and the Pyramid at the Louvre, in Paris, France. "I wasn't quite sure whether Anna was leading my father or if he was leading her."

School tests value of star teachers paid top dollar

Submitted by loner on 7 June, 2009 - 12:49pm

So what kind of teachers could a school get if it paid them US$125,000 a year?

An accomplished violist who infuses her music lessons with the neuroscience of why one needs to practise, and creatively worded instructions such as: "Pass the melody gently, as if it were a bowl of Jell-O." A self-described "explorer" from Arizona who spent three decades honing her craft at public, private, urban and rural schools. Two with Ivy League degrees.

What did I say then?

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