Prayer and Probability

Treasongate: Part 1
A Brief (Western) History of Early Iraq

15 billion years ago, give or take a few billion, all the energy and matter in our known universe came into existence via the 'big bang'. Eons of violence and turbulence ensued.

4.5 billion years ago, give or take a few hundred million, the earth was formed. More eons of violence and upheaval followed.

3.8 billion years ago, give or take a hundred million or so, life appeared on earth. Billions of years of unending violence and change continue.

100,000 years ago, give or take a few tens of thousands, man came into being. Violence continues self consciousness and death became permanent fixtures of earth.

3500 BC give or take a century or so, man invents the plow most likely in Mesopotamia.

4 BC, give or take a couple of years, Jesus Christ is born.

570 AD Mohammed born

638 AD Muslims capture Jerusalem

1095 AD Pope Urban calls for first crusade

1452 AD Johannes Gutenberg reinvents movable type in the West

1453 AD Ottomans Defeat Byzantine Empire

1492 AD Moors defeated at Granada, Muslims kicked out of Western Europe

1535 AD Ottomans capture Baghdad

1650 AD Archbishop James Ussher calculates the creation of the universe to have been the evening before October 23, 4004 BC. For some unknown reason he could not be more precise.

1702 AD Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab founder of Wahhabism born

1859 AD Edwin Drake drills the first producing oil well, in Titusville, PA.

Treasongate Part 2