I read a note in one of the books I am going through about Indian Ocean merchants that make a warning against writing the history of commerce as a "captain of industry" narrative, and it is funny because it is pretty true. I think in general people get attracted to mercantile history because they are tired of those boring noble fuddy-duddies, and there is definitely a bit of Reynard-esque appeal to reading about a Jewish merchant avoiding the extraction of a corrupt governor through his wits.

On another note, does anybody know whether Spartacus was described as a latro ("bandit", but with complex shades of meaning) or the Greek equivalent?

Final bit: there is a well known, tongue in cheek list of 210 reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Has anyone ever made one of these for the origins of capitalism and industrialism?

I've submitted another article to the ActiveHistory blog on Canadian History - this time dealing with the theoretical combinations of environmental and labour history that emerged through a case-study of a regional pulp and paper plant. The plant has recently been at the centre of extensive debate, as they have been acting outside of regulations in terms of pollution. The article can be found online here. I think it gives a segue into a broader discussion about the different strains of environmentalism that have historically made up the environmental movement - not simply those associated with the middle class, as if often portrayed.

Well it took me like 3 minutes to find the pirate-code for FLAIR just now! Anyway, in honor of this happy day, have you seen our rather excellent pirates section on the FAQ? Be sure to check out the two AMAs!

I only recently learned of Deng Xiaoping's "70 percent right and 30% wrong" quote on Mao, but I remember seeing the same statement applied to Park Chung-hee by Koreans. In fact I think the main opposition candidate even agreed with it in the last presidential election.

However now I can't dredge up the origin of the Korean quote, or the article (in English most likely) where Moon Jae-in commented on this.

Am I imagining things? I also wonder if this phrase has become popular for criticizing other leaders.

EDIT: I did find this editorial mentioning the phrase, but only to refute it, and further searches in Korean show a few mentions (including about Deng Xiaoping). I was given to believe that it was a common way to describe the PCH era, but that may have all been pre-Internet.

So today is apparently International Talk Like a Pirate Day (well, it is 19 September for those living in GMT +8 timezone at the time of the posting). Any historians want to tell us good ol' pirate trivia?