Using simple Trig, Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth around 600BC. His number was amazingly close to reality: about 26,000 miles, + or-. Columbus somehow got the units wrong and claimed that the Earth was only 13,000 miles around the middle.
When he sought project funds from the Portuguese, they politely tried to straighten him out, before kicking him out of the country. The Spaniards also knew the ancient numbers, but they risked very little when they backed Columbus up and didn't even argue about Columbus' cut of the profits, figuring there would be none, They thought that if indeed they saw him again, he might add to their knowledge of the Western Seas.
Ferdinand and Isabella were super busy. They had just kicked the Moors out of Spain in that very year, and Columbus was just another back burner project; their medieval version of a very low budget space program.
If we had more people that were independently curious enough to study history - we wouldn't be in the mess we are now...
Parents need to do what Lt. Col. Allen West's parents did with him when he was growing up: assign history lessons at home for discussion and testing his comprehension. As a result, we have a 22 year war vet - and HERO - who understands the Constitution backward and forward - golly, he even understands that we are NOT a democracy but a REPUBLIC.
We need this man in the pipeline...He ran for Congress in ‘08 - with no real support from the GOP = (a new comer - like Palin - so the establishment is threatened, it's not “his turn”)
He's running again for 2010 - Another big plus, like Palin, he's NOT a lawyer - so tells it straight up, no twisting/parsing.
But I digress ;o)
Dion introduces Allen West