User talk:Other Choices

Adoption?
I note that you are on the list of editors seeking adoption. I picked up one of Menzie's books and read about a third of it before starting to question some of the foundations of his research. You may inspire me to continue to finish it. I am also very interested in early American history and so I think we have some things in common. If you wish I am offering my services to help ease you into the world of Wikipedia. Either respond here or on my talk page with your thoughts. Thanks. H1nkles (talk) citius altius fortius 21:10, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you; I am pleased to accept your offer. I'm sure that I'll have my share of "newbie" questions as I settle in around here. I realize that Menzies' work is very problematic, but it was a fun, thought-provoking read. It made me want to know more about a lot of different subjects that I hadn't thought much about, such as that strange old Rhode Island tower, pre-Columbian plant transfer to and from the Americas, DNA analysis of native American peoples, and the general idea that an experienced navigator could extract information from those mysterious old maps that academic professionals would miss. I was struck by his analysis of the names on the various maps of "Antilia" (Puerto Rico) around page 408, and also by his plausible scenario about the forged map with which Columbus bamboozled the Spanish monarchs around pp. 433-34.--Other Choices (talk) 23:49, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Excellent I'm happy to get started. First off, when responding to someone's post it is customary to start the next post with a colon .  This idents the post which signals a response.  The more colons the deeper the indent.  You can also put a star (*), which acts as a bullet point if you are making a list of points.  Finally you can start with the pound sign (#), if you are wanting to make a numbered list.  Putting a colon before either the star or the pound sign further indents your post.  I didn't read the 1421 book by Menzies I started with 1434, which was interesting.  He had some compelling arguments about DNA analysis of some communities in and around Italy and the Adriatic sea.  He also talked extensively about maps and how European scholars had to know about the "new" world prior to Columbus.  By now I don't think any repudable historian could maintain that Columbus "discovered" America so for me some of Menzie's assertions weren't really earth shattering.  What was interesting is how he ties these maps to the Chinese, which begs the question, how could the Chinese know about the east coast of North and South America?  Tying back to the 1421 book I assume.  Still I felt his research was shaky in parts (relying on people who posted to the 1421 website for example) and many of his assertions were based on quite a bit of assumption.  I'm a big fan of David McCullough's books and when comparing the two on scholarly research Menzie doesn't hold a candle.  I know that he isn't fully off base and my knowledge of eastern history is sorely lacking, so I hope to finish it up soon but I had to put it down for a while.  At any rate, I'll take a look at your article below and make some recommendations.  H1nkles (talk) citius altius fortius 16:04, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Francis Hutcheson: Influence in the American Colonies
Francis Hutcheson has been described as “probably the most influential and respected moral philosopher in America in the eighteenth century.”  His early Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, introducing Hutcheson's perennial association of "unalienable rights" with the collective right to resist oppressive government, was used at Harvard College as a textbook as early as the 1730s. In 1761, Hutcheson was publicly endorsed in the annual semi-official Massachusetts Election Sermon as "an approved writer on ethics." Hutcheson's Short Introduction to Moral Philosophy was used as a textbook at the College of Philadelphia in the 1760s. Francis Alison, the professor of moral philosophy at the College of Philadelphia, was a former student of Hutcheson who "appears to have adopted Hutcheson’s moral philosophy totally and uncritically.”  Alison's students included "a surprisingly large number of active, well-known patriots,” including three signers of the Declaration of Independence, who "learned their patriotic principles from Hutcheson and Alison.”  Another signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), relied heavily on Hutcheson's views in his own lectures on moral philosophy.

Introduction to contentious topics
MrOllie (talk) 12:15, 8 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Please note that The Epoch Times also falls under the "post-1992 politics of the United States and closely related people" contentious topic. Thanks. —  Newslinger  talk   21:54, 23 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Both you and Mr. Ollie have made unsupported statements on the Epoch Times talk page. Mr. Ollie falsely stated that sources in the article supported his false statement that the U.S. Epoch Times shifted to the far right after 2016.  You have referred misleadingly to "corporate assets" of the Epoch Times (which one?) even though Dun & Bradstreet categorizes almost all "Epoch Times" organizations as "independent," and you have falsely labeled Dun & Bradstreet a "primary source." Other Choices (talk) 06:48, 26 September 2023 (UTC)

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