FYI October 28, 2018

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On This Day

 
 
1420 – Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty on the same year that the Forbidden City, the seat of government, is completed.
The Ming dynasty (/mɪŋ/)[3] was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Great Ming Empire – for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the Shun dynasty, soon replaced by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty), regimes loyal to the Ming throne – collectively called the Southern Ming – survived until 1683.

The Hongwu Emperor (ruled 1368–98) attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty:[4] the empire’s standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy’s dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world.[5] He also took great care breaking the power of the court eunuchs[6] and unrelated magnates, enfeoffing his many sons throughout China and attempting to guide these princes through the Huang-Ming Zuxun, a set of published dynastic instructions. This failed spectacularly when his teenage successor, the Jianwen Emperor, attempted to curtail his uncles’ power, prompting the Jingnan Campaign, an uprising that placed the Prince of Yan upon the throne as the Yongle Emperor in 1402. The Yongle Emperor established Yan as a secondary capital and renamed it Beijing, constructed the Forbidden City, and restored the Grand Canal and the primacy of the imperial examinations in official appointments. He rewarded his eunuch supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia and the eastern coasts of Africa.

The rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances; the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade and connected and fortified the Great Wall of China into its modern form. Wide-ranging censuses of the entire empire were conducted decennially, but the desire to avoid labor and taxes and the difficulty of storing and reviewing the enormous archives at Nanjing hampered accurate figures.[4] Estimates for the late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million,[7] but necessary revenues were squeezed out of smaller and smaller numbers of farmers as more disappeared from the official records or “donated” their lands to tax-exempt eunuchs or temples.[4] Haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from “Japanese” pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves.

By the 16th century, however, the expansion of European trade – albeit restricted to islands near Guangzhou like Macau – spread the Columbian Exchange of crops, plants, and animals into China, introducing chili peppers to Sichuan cuisine and highly productive corn and potatoes, which diminished famines and spurred population growth. The growth of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced a massive influx of Japanese and American silver. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose paper money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, the heterodoxy introduced by Wang Yangming permitted a more accommodating attitude. Zhang Juzheng’s initially successful reforms proved devastating when a slowdown in agriculture produced by the Little Ice Age joined changes in Japanese and Spanish policy that quickly cut off the supply of silver now necessary for farmers to be able to pay their taxes. Combined with crop failure, floods, and epidemic, the dynasty collapsed before the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who was defeated by the Manchu-led Eight Banner armies who founded the Qing dynasty.

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Born On This Day

 
 
1599 – Marie of the Incarnation, foundress of the Ursuline Monastery in Quebec (d. 1672)
Marie of the Incarnation, O.S.U. (28 October 1599 – 30 April 1672) was an Ursuline nun of the French order. As part of a group of nuns sent to New France to establish the Ursuline Order, Marie was crucial in the spread of Catholicism in New France. Moreover, she has been credited with founding the first girls’ school in the New World. Due to her work, the Catholic Church declared her a saint[1], and the Anglican Church of Canada celebrates her with a feast day.

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FYI

 
 
By Whitney Kimball: Saturday Night Social: Very Good Girl Gets a Pile of Leaves
 
 
 
 
By Elizabeth Werth: My Dream Vehicle is the George Barris’ 1966 Tradesman Supervan
 
 

 
 
 
 
By Tom McKay: First Private Chinese Attempt to Launch Satellite Into Orbit Suffers Unspecified Failure
 
 
 
 
Shane Parrish (Farnam Street): Hemingway, a Lost Suitcase, and the Recipe for Stupidity
 
 
 
 
David Sherry Creative Caffeine: Live Blogging
 
 
 
 
AP News: Judge chases prisoners, nabs one during attempted escape
 
 
 
 
“3 Steps to Increasing Your Inner Peace” written by Suzanne Zoglio.
When you awaken each morning, practice Morning Intent. Before you get out of bed, take five minutes to formulate your intent for the day. Decide three things:

1. Which personal trait do you want to grow today (patience, humor, compassion, good listening, loyalty, courage)

2. What top three tasks do you intend to accomplish today?

3. Where will you make a difference in someone’s life today?

Just before you go off to sleep each night, practice Evening Acknowledgement. Reflect on three things:

1. What moments in your day were you the person you aspire to be?

2. What did you learn today, perhaps from mistakes?

3. What blessings large and small are you grateful for today?
 
 
 
 
By Kate Morgan: You Can Force Yourself to Fall Out of Love
Lessons from neuroscience about easing the pain of a breakup
“Understanding how we fall in love on a physiological level doesn’t necessarily mean we can control it, but it does mean we may be able to influence it.”
 
 
 
 
Vector’s World: Off the Grid, Making Cable and Hippo Love
 
 
 
 
The Passive Voice: The Ghostly Residents of the Famed Literary Hotel Chelsea, Swedish Court orders ISP to block access to The Pirate Bay and other Torrent sites and more-> Copyright Savvy
 
 
 
 
By Morgan Gstalter: Parkland father 3D prints sculpture of son to protest 3D-printed guns
 
 
 
 
Kassandra Lamb: Always Wanted to Write Fiction ~ Here’s Your Chance to Get Started! November is NaNoWriMo ~ National Novel Writing Month
 
 
 
 
Two Nerdy History Girls Breakfast Links Week of October 22, 2018: Madhouse genetics: what the archives of mental-health asylums reveal about the history of human heredity and the evolution of genetics, Photo sleuths: How an American Civil War soldier’s photograph with distinctive markings reveals the forgotten invaluable work of the Dead Letter Office. More ->
 
 
 
 
Caffeinated Reviewer: Sunday Post #340 Cutest Little Police Officers
 
 
 
 
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings: Anne Lamott on Love, Despair, and Our Capacity for Change, An Illustrated Field Guide to the Art, Science, and Joy of Tea and How a Jellyfish and a Sea Slug Illuminate the Mystery of the Self
 
 
 
 

By Scotty Gilbertson: Jetsons Vs. Flintstones: 1984 Chevrolet S-10 Mirage
 
 
 
 

Ideas

 
 
By RayP24: Low-Tech Moving Eyes Portrait (Rembrandt)
 
 
 
 
Alicia W Hometalker Middletown, PA: Shooting Stars
 
 
 
 
By Hometalk Highlights: 15 Loving Repurpose Projects Your Family Can Do For Birds Recycle common household items to make something special for your feathered friends!
 
 
 
 
By Hometalk Hits: 31 Space-Saving Storage Ideas That’ll Keep Your Home Organized Don’t be alarmed if your house feels 10x larger and more tidy after these!
 
 


 
 

 
 

Recipes

 
 
The Happy Foodie: Low Carb Apple Pie
 
 
 
 
By paperplateandplane: Cockroach Donuts (Boston Cream)
 
 
 
 
By VespressoCooking: Cheesy Leftover Mashed Potato Cups
 
 
 
 
By In The Kitchen With Matt : Easy Amazing Pumpkin Bread

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