Lest we take them for granted…
Bob Truby collects- in in collecting, celebrates– pencils. His site, brandnamepencils.com, showcases hundreds of pencils from over 140 brand-name suppliers from around the world (and through time)… and reminds us that one person’s commodity is another’s specialty…
(Thanks, PL)
As we reach for our sharpeners, we might recall that it was on this date in 1824 that Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios y Blanco– better known simply as Simón Bolívar or “El Libertador”– a leader in the independence from Spain of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bolivia, became the President (and dictator) of Peru. After the triumph over the Spanish monarchy, Bolívar helped found Gran Colombia, a nation formed from several of the liberated Spanish colonies; he became President of Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela, in addition to Peru. Despite Bolivar’s use of explicitly genocidal terror tactics (as outlined in his “Decree of War to the Death”), he is revered as a hero in the region.
