Fun Facts
About This. About That. About the Other. About Everything.
These reflect a lifetime of learning, of reading, of teaching, of living. Lots and lots.
Some of these will most certainly irritate you. What, me worry? Tough. Deal with it.
Constantly updated. Like my life.
Blood
Mexican
English
Irish
Family
Mother's side: Fought with Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Related to Andrew Jackson---and I act like it.
Father's side: From somewhere in Mexico, probably Chihuahua.
Education
BA History Summa Cum Laude
BS Political Science Cum Laude
Graduate work in History, Political Science and Spanish
Teaching Certifications
Religion
Orthodox Latin Mass Catholic
Passions
Classical and World Music
Solo backpacking
Bicycling
Bikepacking
Camping
Books
Ancient Historians
Bread Baking
Gourmet Cooking
My dog, Marvel
Favorite Foods
Kung Pao Chicken
Enchiladas de Pollo
Aji de Gallina
Beans and Rice
General Tso's Chicken
Chicken Fried Chicken
Favorite Book
Mere Christianity
Favorite Theologians
C.S. Lewis
G.K. Chesterton
Fulton Sheen
Dietrich von Hildebrand
Chad Ripperger
Favorite Painters
Goya
El Greco
Norman Rockwell
Ilya Repin
Jacques-Louis David
Favorite Movies
Tombstone
Casablanca
The Searchers
Troy
The Big Sleep
Midway
Favorite Composers
Saint-Saëns
Ravel
Debussy
Rachmaninoff
Liszt
Rimsky-Korsakov
Favorite Operas
Cavalleria Rusticana
Prince Igor
Favorite Ballet
Copelia
Favorite Symphony
Mozart's 40th
Favorite Guitarists
Danny Gatton
Johnny Hiland
Raphael Rabello
Forrest Lee, Jr.
Atahualpa Yupanqui
Ewan Dobson
The Romeros
Jan Akkerman
Santana
Favorite Authors
H. W. Brands
Will Durant
C.S. Lewis
T.R Fehrenbach
Frank McLynn
Winston Groom
Greatest Physical Accomplishments
Solo 1600 Mile Bikepacking Journey
Solo Descent from Yumal Pass into Gran Vilaya
560 Mile Solo Bikepacking Journey Across Oklahoma and Kansas
Favorite Amendment
The Second
Best Country
The United States of America
Freest US States
Oklahoma
Idaho
Florida
Wyoming
Montana
Enslaved US States
California
Oregon
Washington
Minnesota
New York
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Vermont
Connecticut
Virginia
Michigan
Cool Places to Hang Out
Peru
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Chile
Argentine Andes
Brazil
Colorado Wilderness
Idaho
The jungles of Honduras
The American South
Most Despicable Regimes
Ukraine
UK
the Netherlands
Canada
France
Austria
Germany
Recent Arrivals in Hell
Jacob Rothschild
Diane Feinstein
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Robert Mugabe
Hugh Hefner
Fidel Castro
Ted Kennedy
Hugo Chavez
Helen Thomas
Nelson Mandela
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Maya Angelou
Mario Cuomo
Fr. Richard McBrien
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz
Reverend Theodore Hesburgh
Most Influential Civilizations
Sumer
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Hebrew
Classical Greece
Ancient Rome
Medieval Catholic
English
American
Countries With the Most Beautiful Women
Argentina
Israel
Iran
Brazil
Venezuela
Countries With the Most Unattractive Women
England
Ireland
Australia
Most Admired Organizations
US Marine Corps
French Foreign Legion
The Wagner Group PMC
Most Despised Organizations
United States Congress
World Economic Forum
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Antifa
BLM
United Nations
World Bank
IMF
The Republican and Democrat Parties
European Union
United States Supreme Court
Planned Parenthood
Federal Reserve
US State Department
US Department of Energy
US Department of Education
US Department of Justice
Greepeace
Sierra Club
Southern Poverty Law Center
NSA
NATO
La Raza
CAIR
FBI
CIA
IRS
DHS
ATF
DEA
ADL
TSA
EPA
ACLU
PETA
The Greatest Evils in the World
Abortion
Sodomy
Adultery
Divorce
History's Greatest Medical Discoveries
Antibiotics
Analgesics
Anesthesia
Vaccination
History's Greatest Physicians
Hippocrates
Galen
Harvey
Edward Jenner
Jonas Salk
Joseph Lister
Carlos Finlay
Ignaz Semmelweis
Louis Pasteur
History's Greatest Philosopher
Plato
History's Most Worthless Philosopher
Wittgenstein
History's Most Complete Human Beings
Julius Caesar
Napoleon
History's Most Inexplicable Human Being
Joan of Arc
History's Greatest Man Born of Woman
John the Baptist
The Last Great Catholic Pope
Pius X (1903-1914)
The Current Anti-Pope
"Pope" Francis
The Current Actual Pope
The throne of Peter is vacant.
History's Most Memorable Anti-Christs
Annibale Bugnini
Lenin
Stalin
Mao
Hitler
Nero
Diocletian
Caligula
William the Conqueror
Decius
Julian the Apostate
Ashurbanipal
Timur
Kim Il-Sung
Kim Jong-Il
Nebuchadnezzar II
Khufu
Idi Amin
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Herod the Great
Karl Marx
Pol Pot
Rasputin
Maximillian Robespierre
Margaret Sanger
Henry VIII
Elizabeth I
Ahuitzotl
Ivan the IV "The Terrible"
Voltaire
Alfred Kinsey
Ted Kennedy
Marquis de Sade
Fidel Castro
Anti-Christs Among Us
the Kagan Cult
Victoria Nuland
the Obamas
Klaus Schwab
Yuval Harari
the Biden Crime Family
Nancy Pelosi
George Soros
Bill Gates
Jorge Bergoglio
Peter Singer
Eric Holder
the Clintons
Valerie Jarrett
Susan Rice
the majority of the American and European ruling, media and entertainment classes
History's's Greatest Murderers
Mao---100,000,000
Stalin---80,000,000
Planned Parenthood---75,000,000 and counting
Hitler---60,000,000
Genghis Khan---38,000,000
Timur---17,000,000
History's Greatest Slaughter
The Muslim Conquest of Hindu India (1000-1525): 80,000,000 killed
History's Greatest Genocide
The forced "vaccination" of hundreds of millions with the Pfizer and Moderna "vaccines"
Languages Worth Speaking
American English
Latin American Spanish
Brazilian Portuguese
Latin
Arabic
Finest Writer in English
V. S. Naipaul
Finest Writer in Russian
Chekhov
Finest Writer in Spanish
Mario Vargas Llosa
Finest Playwright in English
Shakespeare
Finest Playwright in French
Molière
Finest Playwright in Spanish
Lope de Vega
Finest Playwright in Russian
Chekhov
Finest Playwright of the Ancient World
Sophocles
Cultures That Have Produced The Finest Romantic Poetry
Hebrew
Persian
America's Greatest Poet
Emily Dickinson
The Poet
Homer
The Poetess
Sappho
CultureThat Has Produced the Finest Short Story Writers
Russian
Culture That Has Produced the Finest Dancers
Russian
Culture That Has Produced the Finest Composers
Russian
Culture That Has Produced the Finest Classical Musicians
Jewish
The Finest Creation of the Human Mind
Summa Theologica
America's Greatest Dead
George Washington
Ben Franklin
Patrick Henry
Alexander Hamilton
James Madison
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
Sam Adams
Andrew Jackson
Sam Houston
Abe Lincoln
Calvin Coolidge
James K. Polk
George Mason
John Hancock
Sherman
US Grant
Pershing
America's Worst Presidents
"President" Biden
Wilson
Hoover
LBJ
Nixon
Carter
Bush I
Bush II
Clinton
Obama
America's Greatest President of the 20th Century
Coolidge
America's Most Underrated President
Coolidge
America's Most Overrated President
Ronald Reagan
America's Greatest Presidents of the 19th Centrury
Andrew Jackson
Lincoln
Polk
America's Greatest President of the 21st Century
Donald Trump
America's Greatest President
George Washington
America's Most Despicable Presidents
Obama
Nixon
Carter
Wilson
Clinton
FDR
Biden
America's Greatest Diplomat
John Q. Adams
Greatest Diplomats in History
Richelieu
Talleyrand
Metternich
The Most Momentous Assassinations in History
Caesar
Lincoln
Archduke Ferdinand
The Greatest Trials in History
Christ
Socrates
The Greatest Event in History
The Resurrection of Christ
The Greatest Singer of All Time
Frank Sinatra
The Greatest Songwriters of All Time
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Lennon and McCartney
Irving Berlin
The Greatest Poet of All Time
David
The Greatest Poetry of All Time
The Psalms
The Greatest Artist of All Time
Michelangelo
The Greatest Sculpture of All Time
Michelangelo's David
The Greatest Painting of All Time
Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel
The Greatest Violinists of All Time
Paganini
Heifetz
Isaac Stern
Fritz Kreisler
The Greatest Dancers of All Time
Nureyev
Margot Fonteyn
the Nicholas Brothers
Fred Astaire
Gene Kelley
Cyd Charisse
The Greatest Musical Genius of All Time
Mozart
The Greatest Scientist of All Time
Archimedes
The Most Influential Opera of All Time
Carmen
The Most Influential Symphonic Piece of All Time
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
The Greatest Political Philosophers of All Time
Plato
Aristotle
Augustine
Aquinas
Hobbes
Locke
Ibn Khaldun
Montesquieu
Bodin
Madison
Jefferson
Hamilton
Hayek
Friedman
The Most Wicked Political Philosophers of All Time
Marx
Rousseau
Machiavelli
Nietzsche
Voltaire
Ayn Rand
The Greatest Gathering of Political Philosophers of All Time
The Constitutional Convention of 1787
The Greatest Political Documents of All Time
The Twelve Tables of Rome
The Articles of Confederation
The US Constitution
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
The Declaration of Independence
The Federalist Papers
Locke's Two Treatises of Government
Aristotle's Politics
Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws
the Gettysburg Address
the Emancipation Proclamation
Washington's Farewell Address
Hobbes' Leviathan
The Greatest Poltical Statement of All Time
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
The Greatest Prophet of All Time
Daniel
History's Most Overrated Artists
Picasso
Van Gogh
Da Vinci
Gauguin
History's Most Overrated Writers
Norman Mailer
Gabriel García Márquez
Boccaccio
Sartre
Melville
Mark Twain
Hemmingway
James Joyce
Proust
The Most Important Novel Ever Written
1984
History's Most Overrated Guitarist
Jimi Hendrix
History's Finest Guitarists
Les Paul
Chet Atkins
John McLaughlin
Segovia
Pepe Romero
Danny Gatton
Al Di Meola
Carlos Santana
Jan Akkerman
The Greatest Slide Guitarists of All Time
Duane Allman
George Harrison
History's Most Bizarre Civilizations
Maya
Moche
Olmec
History's Most Bizarre Writers
Kafka
Borges
History's Most Expansionist Civilization
Islam
History's Only Successful Examples of Socialism
The Inca
Egypt under Joseph
History's Only Successful Examples of Communism
Ur III
Sparta
History's First Philosophical Description of Communism
Plato's Republic
History's Greatest Stupidities
Darwinism
Communism
Socialism
Atheism
Market Failure
the Enlightenment
Liberation Theology
Social Justice Theory
Sexual Liberation
Multiculturalism
Sustainability Economics
Coexistence
Multilateralism
World Government
Relative Morality
Overpopulation
History's Greatest Lies
Piltdown Man
Global Warming
Peak Oil
La Leyenda Negra
Predictions of the Apocalypse
Melting Ice Caps
Disappearing Polar Bears
Disappearing Rain Forests
Present Day Idiocy
The Great Reset
Anthropomorphism
Recycling
Earth Day
Metrosexuality
Transgenderism
Political Correctness
Diversity
Climate Change
Transhumanism
Feminism
Hate Crimes
Gender Studies
Micro-aggression
Gender Studies
Coronavirus Pandemic
"social distancing"
Wokeness
The Greatest Cataclysms in History
The Eruption of Thera (c.1500 BC)
The Bronze Age Collapse (1200 BC - 1150 BC)
World War I (1914 - 1918)
The Eruption of Tambora (1815)
The Greatest Threats to American Freedom Today
Globalism
The Media
Pandemic Hoax
China
Antifa
BLM
the Democrat Party
RINOs
Big Tech
Greatest Cities of the World
Paris
Seville
Rio
Cuzco
Rome
Istanbul
Mexico City
Greatest Cities in History
Republican Rome
Constantinople
Granada
Classical Athens
Abbasid Bagdad
Tenochtitlan
Alexandria
Babylon
Thebes and Memphis
Nineveh
Kiev
Carthage
Ctesiphon
America's Most Depraved Cities
Washington, DC
Las Vegas
Chicago
Newark
New York
San Francisco
Seattle
Portland
Atlanta
Hollywood
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
Detroit
Baltimore
Birmingham
Austin
Boston
Minneapolis
Most Horrific Civilizations in History
Aztec
Nazi Germany
Assyria
Imperial Japan
Soviet Empire
Khmer Rouge
China
Greatest Road Builders in History
Ancient Rome
Pre-Colombian Peruvians
Inca
America
Ancient Persia
The Greatest Historians of All Time
Moses
Herodotus
Toynbee
Tacitus
Cassius Dio
Spengler
Will Durant
Gibbon
Polybius
Paul Johnson
Ibn Khaldun
Thucydides
Michelet
Victor Davis Hanson
Huizinga
Burckhardt
Livy
The Greatest Biographers of All Time
Boswell
Plutarch
Suetonius
Samuel Johnson
Things Worth Studying
History
Philosophy
Mathematics
Physics
Theology
Music
Greatest Gunfighters of the American West
John Wesley Hardin
Wild Bill Hickok
Doc Holliday
Wyatt Earp
Billy the Kid
King Fisher
Clay Allison
Luke Short
Dallas Stoudenmire
Bat Masterson
Ben Thompson
Kid Curry
Dave Mather
The Fastest, Deadliest, Most Psychopathic and Homicidal Gunfighter of the American West
John Wesley Hardin
Greatest Gunfights of the American West
Gunfight at the OK Corral
Hickok - Tut Shootout
Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight
Luke Short - Jim Courtright Duel
Greatest Criminal Gangs in the American West
The James Gang
The Daltons
The Wild Bunch
The Youngers
Greatest Depression Era Criminals
John Dillinger
Baby Face Nelson
Homer Van Meter
Pretty Boy Floyd
Alvin Karpis
Bonnie and Clyde
The Barkers
Machine Gun Kelly
Harry Pierpont
William Underhill
Greatest Indian Fighters in American History
Andrew Jackson
Ranald Mackenzie
William Henry Harrison
Greatest Knife Fighter in American History
Jim Bowie
Greatest Indians in American History
Pontiac
Tecumseh
Sitting Bull
Geronimo
Sacajawea
Osceola
Sequoyah
Crazy Horse
Victorio
Black Kettle
Metacomet
Red Cloud
Quanah Parker
The Deadliest, Most Ferocious and Terrifying American Indian Tribe
Comanche
Greatest Killer of Americans in History
U.S. Grant
Bloodiest War in American History
King Philip's War (1675-78)
Longest War in American History
The Wars Against the Native Americans (1608 - 1890)
Greatest Bank Robbers in American History
Harvey Bailey
Willie Sutton
John Dillinger
Pretty Boy Floyd
Baby Face Nelson
Jesse James
Greatest American Criminal
Al Capone
Greatest American Mafia Killer
Harry Strauss, "Pittsburgh Phil"
Greatest Criminal of all Time
Pablo Escobar
History's Most Lethal Militaries
Sparta
Rome
Spanish Conquistador
America
Assyria
Macedonia
Mongolia under the Khans
History's Greatest Captains
Napoleon
Alexander
Caesar
Genghis Khan
Scipio Major
Hannibal
Lucullus
Pompey
Scipio Minor
Sulla
Subutai
Marius
Joshua
Cortez
Richard the Lionheart
Achilles
Thutmosis III
Belisarius
Timur
Wellington
Nelson
Greatest Living Captain
Tommy Franks
History's Most Overrated Captains
Robert E. Lee
Montgomery
Omar Bradley
History's Most Underrated Captains
Epaminondas
George Washington
George Armstrong Custer
Hamilcar Barca
Phormio
Jan III Sobiesky
José de San Martín
Thrasybulus
Tiglath-Pileser III
Charles XII of Sweden
William Tecumseh Sherman
Shaka Zulu
George Patton
Heraclius
Clive
Darius the Persian
Marlborough
Winfield Scott
Zachary Taylor
Andrew Jackson
Pershing
Ogodei
Rameses III
History's First Modern Military
Assyria
Civilizations That Have Produced the Greatest Captains
American
Roman
Assyrian
Mongolian
Byzantine
History's Most Impressive Military Achievements
The siege of Tenochtitlan by Hernando Cortez (1520-21)
The siege of Alesia by Julius Caesar (52 BC)
Lucius Cornelius Sulla's Defeat of the Armies of Mithridates VI (87-86 BC)
Marius' Defeat of the Germanic Tribes at Aqua Sextiae and Vercellae (102-101 BC)
The destruction of the armies of Republican Rome at Lake Trasimene and Cannae by Hannibal (217-216 BC)
The destruction of the Spartan army by Epaminondas at the Battle of Leuctra (371 BC)
Alexander's siege of Tyre (332 BC)
The Battle of Lepanto (1571)
The Taking of Babylon by Cyrus (539 BC)
The destruction of the British army at New Orleans by Andrew Jackson (1815)
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese (1941)
The destruction of the Japanese Imperial Navy by the Americans at Midway (1942)
The defeat of Persia by Athens at Marathon (490 BC)
The destruction of the Persian navy by Athens at Salamis (480 BC)
The defeat of the Canaanite coalition by Thutmosis III at Megiddo (1457 BC)
The Defeat of the South by the Union at Gettysburg and Vicksburg (1863)
The Destruction of the Khwarezmian Empire by Genghis Khan (1219 - 1221)
The Annihilation of an American Army by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket at the Battle of the Wabash (1791)
History's Most Impressive Military Defeats
The annihilation of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae (480 BC)
The defeat of the Byzantine army by the Turks at Manzikert (1071)
The siege of the Alamo (1836)
The Destruction of an American fleet by the Japanese at the Battle of Savo (1942)
Napoleon's march from Moscow (1812)
The extinction of the culture of slavery in the US South by Sherman (1864-1865)
Hitler's defeat at the hands of the Soviets at Stalingrad (1943)
The destruction of the entire class of French nobility by English king Henry V at Agincourt (1415)
The Defeat of the Huns by Rome at Chalons (451)
The Destruction of the Army of the Eastern Roman Empire by the Goths at Adrianople (378)
The English surrender to the Americans at Saratoga (1777)
The destruction of the Muslim armies at Tours by Charles Martel (732)
The destruction of Nineveh by the Chaldeans, Scythians and the Medes (612 BC)
The Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse (415 - 413 BC)
The Defeat of Russia by Sweden at Narva (1700)
The Destruction of the Roman Army of Crassus by the Parthians at Carrhae (55 BC)
The defeat of General Custer at Little Bighorn by the Plains Indians (1876)
The Greatest Land Battle in History
Stalingrad (1942-43)
The Greatest Sea Battle in History
Ecnomus (256 BC)
The Greatest Air Battle in History
Battle of Britain (1940-41)
The Greatest Cavalry Battle in History
Leipzig (1813)
The Greatest Invasion Force in History
Hitler's Invasion of Russia (June 22, 1941)
The Greatest Loss of Life in a One-Day Infantry Battle
Battle of Cannae (216 BC): 70,000 dead in four hours
The Greatest Loss of Life in a One-Day Naval Battle
Battle of Salamis (480 BC)
The Largest Land Empire in History
Mongols
The First Global Empire in History
16th Century Portugal
The Most Powerful Man in History
Phillip II of Spain
The Most Religiously Tolerant Empire in History
Mongols
The Largest Empire in History
Imperial Spain
The Richest Man in History
Alexander III of Macedon ("The Great")
The Men With the Strongest Wills in History
Napoleon
Andrew Jackson
Julius Caesar
Richelieu
The Most Common Type of Government in History
Tryanny
The Most Common Condition of Man Throughout History
Slavery
History's Finest Cavalries
The Numidians of Northern Africa (300 BC - 100 BC)
The Plains Indians of the American West ((1730 - 1880)
The Mongols (1200 - 1550)
The Parthians (250 BC - 200 AD)
The Huns (250 - 450)
The Most Terrifying Military Machines on Earth
The USS Carl Vinson
US Marine Expeditionary Unit
The French Foreign Legion
Wagner PMC
The Most Terrifying Military Machines in History
The Macedonian Phalanx
The Spartan Phalanx
The Roman Legion
The cavalry of the Mongolian Khans
The Medieval Knight
B-52
B-17
B-29
The Timurid Army
The Assyrian army
Greatest Empires in History
Ancient Rome
The New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt
Inca
Assyria
Mongolia Under the Khans
Imperial Spain
British
Byzantine
Austro-Hungarian
Ptolemaic
Seleucid
Neo-Babylonian
Ancient Persian
Islamic Andalusia
Abbasid Caliphate
History's First Empire
Akkad under Sargon the Great (c. 2250 BC)
History's First Polyglot and Multicultural Empire
Assyria
History's Longest-Lived Empire
Rome---1400 years
History's Longest-Lived Republic
Rome---509-27 BC
History's Longest-Lived Civilization
Ancient Egypt---3000 years
Ancient Egypt's Last Pharaoh
Cleopatra
The Strongest Government Known to History
Ancient Rome
History's Most Useless Creation
the Pyramids
Greatest Explorers
Henry Morton Stanley---Africa
Richard Burton---Africa, Asia
John Hanning Speke---Africa
Magellan---the Oceans
Cook---the Oceans
Cabeza de Vaca---the Gulf Coast
de Soto---the American Southeast
Coronado---the American Southwest
Cândido Rondon---Brazil
Hiram Bingham---Peru
Percy Fawcett---Bolivia, Brazil
Marco Polo---Asia
Samuel Baker---Africa
Gene Savoy---Peru
Christopher Columbus---the Caribbean
Federick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens---Central America
Francisco Orellana---the Amazon
David Livingstone---Africa
Roald Amundsen---the Poles
Mungo Park---West Africa
James Bruce---the Nile
Alexander Humbolt---South America
Lewis and Clark---the American northwest
Hanno the Carthaginian---the African coast c. 600 BC
Pytheas of Massilia---England c. 325 BC
Ibn Battuta---Northern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East, Asia
Ed Stafford---the Amazon
Favorite Beer
Pearl
Favorite Rum
Zaya Gran Reserva
Favorite Whiskey
Maker's Mark
Favorite Adult Beverage
Burnett's Grape Vodka and Tonic with a hint of lime and a touch of bitters