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It is with some sadness that I report the passing of noted shortwave/ham radio author Harry Helms, who lost his battle with cancer two days ago at the age of 57. I first read one of his articles in the November 1977 Popular Electronics magazine, where he wrote a fascinating piece about pirate radio. A few months later another of his articles dealt with "mystery" signals and clandestine stations on shortwave, including that one numbers station out of Cuba that I've briefly touched on.
Mr. Helms was quite knowledgable about the oddities in radio that were out there, but he knew a lot about some other things. He authored a book called "Top Secret Tourism" which I've been meaning to get a copy of. This book is about places that are not generally known to the public, such as Area 51. He was careful to caution his readers about respecting the signs that restricted access and trespassing.
I stumbled across his blog some six months ago, and he didn't know this but he was inspiring me to create this blog. I never contacted him via his email; he had enough on his hands as that he had been a terminal cancer patient for nearly three years. He was open about what was happening with him, and he faced that battle with dignity.
He will definitely be missed.
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As of late I've been reading The Templars by Piers Paul Read. It's a fascinating history that goes into great detail about the rise of both Christianity and Islam, and the Crusades. The role of the Templars in this period is also examined in great detail.
Up until a year or so ago, this was one of the several areas of the world's history that I've been largely ignorant of. It isn't taught in public schools and if you learn it at a university you're either a history major or you took the class as an elective.
I will grant that a better understanding of the American nation can be gained by studying our nation's history, which typically begins with the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Yes, anyone graduating from high school in this country needs to know American history.
However, I'm wondering if maybe we should go back even further and make our children learn about medieval Europe, and the development of the legal system in England. It wasn't until I read a Supreme Court decision regarding the Second Amendment that I became aware that a lot of our "law doctrine" or concept of rights, if you will, emerged out of England. That in turn goes back to the Magna Carta, which most folks have heard about, but almost no one can explain how that came into being and why, or even what it said in the first place.
Getting back to the Crusades, I think it would do us all well to be knowledgable about them and what was left in their wake. I think the influence of the Crusades is still with us, even though many of us are largely ignorant about it.
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That's it for this evening. I don't think I'll be posting for the next few days.
I read that book, it is quite interesting. I've read quite a few books about that time frame and topic, as history has always fascinated me. I agree that more history should be taught, it might prevent it from repeating itself as it does so often.
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