Samantha Pierce

I've been reading To Hell or Barbados: The ethnic cleansing of Ireland by Sean O'Callaghan since I got it for Christmas. The book details Oliver Cromwell 's campaign against the Irish during the English Civil War. It also explores the fate of the Irish who were shipped to the Americas, often to live out their lives as little more than slaves. Having learned a bit about Oliver Cromwell it was easy to see why upon the restoration of the monarchy Cromwell's body was dug up, having died and been succeeded as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth (a position which sounds suspiciously like a king from the descriptions I've read) by his son before then, to be hanged in chains and then beheaded with his head displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall. But back to O'Callaghan's book. One of the first passages that really stuck out for me in the book was the following: "In all the parliamentary army numbered 20,000 men. They were all trained soldiers, well eq...

Last summer a friend gave me a copy of The Caribbean Islands in Full Color by Hans W. Hannau, published in 1972. I started reading it as I was embarking on a study of the history and culture of the region at the time. While billed as a pictorial volume I found it contained a surprising amount of historical and cultural information. The following excerpt from page 12 caught my attention when I first read it and has stayed with me since. I've added links to the text for those as curious as I was. “Sugar was in some ways the curse of the Caribbean. The industry brought economic, political and social upheaval to the islands, much of it violent and destructive.             The Spaniards brought the first African slaves to the Caribbean in 1510 to work their mines and sugar plantations on Hispaniola. They came from West Africa. Factories were set up along the Guinea coast where African chiefs and kings brought slaves for trade. Each c...

Alright Sis1 no need to freak out. The previously snake free (except for a few pets) island of Barbados now has its own native species. The smallest species of snake so far discovered by scientists. This species can curl up comfortably on a US quarter. Most regular folk would probably mistake it for a worm or a millipede . I have the feeling that Sis2 may have bashed some of these with a rock when she went through a creepy crawly hunting and bashing stage when she was little. Spaghetti-Thin Snake Is World's Smallest Technorati Tags: snake , barbados , caribbean , west indies Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Sometime around 2:00 PM EST there was a magnitude 7.4 earthquake somewhere near the island of Barbados (land of my birth). That particular part of the West Indies is not know for seismic activity so when I saw this a few minutes ago I thought Instapundit meant politics. I followed the link to Caribbean Lionesse and found out that they meant a real earthquake. Then I called dad who confirmed that there really was an earthquake. He said that everyone we know is fine. He's still waiting to hear from one more family member. Dad also noted that at least one news report he heard got the geography of the region wrong. Here's a link to the USGS data if you want the facts. The epicenter appears to be near or on Martinique. Others blogging the incident are: Riehl World Mike in Dominica Steve's Dominica More later. I've got to get the kids to bed now. Updates 9:22 PM EST Global Voices Magnitude-7.4 earthquake rocks Caribbean In Martinique, police and firefighters responded to h...