This is a survey of the most viewed posts ever on this site…

China’s Age of Discovery: The Voyages of Zheng He

This post, about the explorer Zheng He and the voyages of his grand treasure ships, is usually the most viewed post for any given week. Not only does the post shed light on the way-ahead-of-their-time ways that the Yongle Emperor projected power and influence with technology like the printing press and an enormous Navy (techniques that would seldom be used with such sophistication until the 19th century) but it also remains very relevant because it details a Chinese period of prolonged international engagement, trade and wealth only rivaled by the high water mark of Chinese power today. The end of the treasure ships, with hardliners burning them as an isolationist backlash swept the empire, illuminates a pattern you see over and over again in Chinese history: after the inevitable bust comes following an economic boom, Conservative Confucians take over and crackdown on trade after a harsh isolationist reaction. Today, China-watchers and investors, and indeed the PRC regime, worry about another cycle of isolationist backlash cropping up if Chinese people in the underdeveloped heartland don’t feel enough improvement in their lives from foreign trade and become angry.

The Griffin Was Based On A Real Creature!

Rivaling “Zheng He” for the Top Search term leading people to my blog is “griffin” or related key words. This post is shockingly well-visited, and it’s one of the quickest ones I’ve written. I saw a program on the History channel about mythical creatures that suggested the Griffin came from ancient Scythian warriors who came upon dinosaur skulls and spread stories about Griffins to intimidate enemies, and decided to blast a quick blog post. I guess people really like Griffins.

Donald Duck As A Nazi. Really.

This post, coming in a distant third in views, generates hits from the sheer bizarreness of the video it highlights, a war propaganda-era Disney short with Donald Duck dreaming he is a Nazi. Even though the film is clearly meant to mock and underline the failures of the Nazi system, seeing Donald in a Nazi uniform is still WEIRD!

Special mention: Vigorously Insisting On A More Perfect Union: Fighting Cuts, Demanding Universal Health Care

This blog post of mine was published by the Greenhaven Press imprint of Gale Publishing in their Opposing Viewpoints Series, which is heavily used both in libraries and high school and college courses, to introduce differing views of the issues. it’s in the 2008 edition of Opposing Viewpoints: Health Care, if anyone is interested.

Also check out my comic art, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders vs. Zombies over at Superdude.org — it’s can’t miss!

Nick

Summary: It’s 1898, and a Zombie Apocalypse has hit the tri-state area hard. Theodore Roosevelt is New York’s only hope to wage war on the zombies, and muckraking journalist Jacob Riis the only man who can uncover the mystery of WHY the dead are rising.

Chapter 1: Introducing…Zombies!

Please check out the first installment and comment over at Superdude.org

I’ve put a lot of time into researching this, devouring relevant books, almost all in audio format… most of them I got free from the library or resources for the blind and disabled…

I would recommend any of these:

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

The Lion’s Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and his Family in Peace and War by Edward J. Renehan Jr.

Theodore Roosevelt: American Rough Rider by John Garraty

The Rough Riders by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt (Autobiography) by Theodore Roosevelt

How The Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis

The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara W. Tuchman

The Spanish-American War and WWI by Joseph Stromberg

Still reading, not done:

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War by James Bradley

Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker by Stacy A. Cordery

On Disability Unity

NextStep blog
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

Finding My Way: Journey of an Uppity Intellectual Activist Crip
Human Rights

Whose Planet Is It Anyway?
Supporting Allies

Insights

Sanabitur Anima Mea
Look Closer (my favorite post in the ‘swarm)

Metamorphosis (Bob Kafka)
On the discrimination behind the institutional bias

Documenting The Action

PhilosopherCrip
Atlanta Action Days 1 & 2
Atlanta Action Day 3

The Roving Activist’s Blog
I am excited
Live from Atlanta

Today.com’s Official Disability Rights Blog
Action Day One: Conversations with Self
Action Day 2

Finding My Way: Journey of an Uppity Intellectual Activist Crip
Power is sexy and…

Composite: thoughts on poetics & tech
ADAPT in Atlanta kicking ass, taking names

Comment below to add a post to the ‘swarm!

I’m honored to announce the following blogs will be participating:

PhilosopherCrip
Announcement post

The Roving Activist’s Blog
Intro

Crippled Under The Law

NZ Accessibility

The Center for Disability Rights

Sanabitur Anima Mea

Today.com’s Official Disability Rights Blog

Composite: thoughts on poetics & tech and Hack Ability

LTC Reform

Empowering People Changing Lives

If you’re not yet listed as a participant and would like to be, please comment below. We need all the help we can get.

FREE OUR PEOPLE!!

Nick

It’s a work in progress, so please comment and suggest changes or additions.

Nick’s Crusade Statement of Inalienable Rights

Remember, Blogging Against Disablism Day (BADD!) is this Friday, May 1st (though since it is on GMT–Britain–you might want to make your submission late Thursday).

Ablism (discrimination based on ability) is one of the dumber forms of injustice. Speaking out against it is the right thing to do.

Please blog about ablism/disablism this Friday.

Nick

The answer is this: I don’t know how to consistently write things that AREN’T about injustice. I’m driven to right the wrongs around the world, like the fire drives a locomotive. I’m, at my core, an activist for social justice; and I run a blog about fighting injustice. Injustice is depressing.

And I don’t think we should look away from injustice. It’s wrong to turn your back on others’ pain.

Obama was right when he said:

Obama warned against what he called the dangers of silence, saying that every day, somewhere in the world people must resist the urge to turn away from scenes of horror, hate, injustice and intolerance.

All people, he said, must “fight the impulse to turn the channel” from distressing TV images of suffering, the sort of inhumanity known not only in the time of Nazi Germany, but more recently in Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Darfur.

Obama declared that people cannot wrap themselves “in the false comfort that others’ sufferings are not our own.” The president also called for people to “make a habit of empathy, to recognize ourselves in each other.”

Source: AP: Obama: World’s people must resist hatred, racism

“But Nick, my life is happy. Why bring myself down with all the pain and injustice in the world?”

The fallacy behind this is the assumption that you’re somehow separate from the young refugee in Sri Lanka or the Janjaweed rapists in Darfur or the unethical investment bankers on Wall Street or the hungry children of unemployed single mothers in Ohio. We are connected to everyone, we share common ancestors, one people, united, part of one universal force.

Those protesting injustice GET IT.

We are ONE. As John Donne put it:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Meditation 17, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624)

"it tolls for thee...."

Nick

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Media Coverage of Nick

Links to web, newspaper, radio and TV stories about what I’ve done

Sites I Read

A list of my favorite blogs and news sources, but, unlike many blogrolls, I’ve limited it to sites I actually read routinely.

Check out the new sidebar, and please comment below and tell me your thoughts.

All my best,

Nick

Going Big-Time, Need A New Name

This Blog has picked up in activity lately, and I hope to keep it that way, and broaden its audience and its influence. I now publish it on Xanga, MySpace and on nickdupree.blogspot.com.

And big news: the blog is now featured alongside other lefty blogs at PowersandMorrison.com! See it here.

Though I sincerely oppose the Bush regime generally and souless, Torah-less corporate amorality in particular, I try to make my posts more cogent policy statements and less raving rhetoric, though sometimes I mix the two.

But I differ from other blogs in another big way: I’m religious. And I blog about Torah portions and other theological things.

All told, my posts fall into four broad categories, or a mixture of these:
1) Political analysis
2) Torah commentary and religious matters
3) Musings on personal life
4) Other

My blog will continue to communicate my unique, odd takes on life, politics and scripture.

What should my blog be named? What single short phrase can capture a taste of these posts calling for justice and inalienable rights, Torah-style?

NAME THE BLOG.

I’m opening up the floor for suggestions.

Nick