Man Of Jackistan: Reason and Truth's Time and Place

Garlic: Yes, Garlic Originally drafted August 5, 2018; refined January 19-20, 2019 The garlic plant, or  Allium sativum,  has a history of human consumption dating back as far as we've kept records. Our name for garlic stems from the Old English word  garleac,  which translates to "spear leek." Since the dawn of time, humans have enjoyed garlic for its flavor, regarded it with mystery, and noticed its medicinal qualities, a traditional anecdote confirmed by modern medicine in the relatively recent past.  Probably originating somewhere in Siberia or Central Asia, Egyptians regularly ingested the plant as far back as the 4th millennium BCE. All classes of people enjoyed the plant: workers ate it to boost strength and endurance, as they believed it did at the time; the  Codex Ebers , an ancient medical document, prescribed it for insect infestation, circulatory problems, and unusual growths; even the pharaohs found it an important crop, seeing as Kin...

SICILY Original draft composed August 10, 2018 Sitting between the shores of Tunisia in North Africa and the toe of Italy's boot, the island of Sicily sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea-a body of water the name of which already means "middle of the world." Thus, Sicily rests in the middle of the middle of the world. Based on the position that it has historically occupied among the nations of the Mediterranean, one could argue that strategically, it was exactly that at one point. But many people don't know much about this curious land beyond it having outsourced the mafia and the volcano that erupted two decades ago. To understand this unique place, we must look to the past. For millennia, any mind thinking politics in the Mediterranean Sea area knew the most important island in order to dominate all of its shores: Sicily. From the ancient Phoenicians to the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War 2, rulers have sought to secure this island in the Medite...