In the hit musical Hamilton England rsquo s King George III is humorously portrayed as a cartoonish deranged villain However a new biography on King George said he was not the tyrant described in Hamilton or America rsquo s Declaration of Independence If George had been the brutal despot that Americans said he was he would have stopped their drive for independence with extreme scorched-earth measures But he was restrained by his ldquo civilized good-natured rdquo temperament Who knows if King George died with regret Would his reign have been more successful if he rsquo d been harsher with his [... more]

ldquo Will the real person rsquo s name please stand up rdquo That rsquo s the familiar line at the end of the game show To Tell the Truth A panel of four celebrities ask questions of three individuals claiming to be the same person Of course two are impostors but it rsquo s up to the panel to discern the actual person In one challenging episode the celebrities tried to guess ldquo the real Johnny Marks rdquo who wrote the lyrics to ldquo Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer rdquo The celebrities found out just how difficult it is even with [... more]

In the Oxford Bus Company launched the instantly popular ldquo Chatty Bus rdquo a bus with designated people on board willing to talk with interested passengers The route was initiated in response to government research which found that thirty percent of Britons go at least one day each week without a meaningful conversation Many of us have likely experienced the loneliness that comes from not having someone to talk to in a time of need As I reflect on the value of important conversations in my life I m especially reminded of discussions that were full of grace Those times [... more]

During the American Civil War the penalty for desertion was execution But the Union armies rarely executed deserters because their commander-in-chief Abraham Lincoln pardoned nearly all of them This infuriated Edwin Stanton the Secretary of War who believed that Lincoln rsquo s leniency only enticed would-be deserters But Lincoln empathized with soldiers who had lost their nerve and who had given in to their fear in the heat of battle And his empathy endeared him to his soldiers They loved their ldquo Father Abraham rdquo and their affection led the soldiers to want to serve Lincoln all the more When [... more]