BC HISTORY
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

Robert Smalls was born into slavery but would go on to become a hero of the Civil War, a successful entrepreneur, and a U.S. congressman.

His journey is one you have to read to believe.

Who's up for a story?

👇👇👇

 1/ Robert Smalls was born on April 5, 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina.

His mother, Lydia Polite, was a house worker enslaved by a man named Henry McKee.

It is widely believed that McKee was Robert's father, which afforded him preferential treatment in his early years.
2/ While she had worked in the McKee household as an adult, Robert's mother had grown up working in the fields.

Not wanting her son to be blind to the plight of the other slaves, Lydia Polite requested that he be exposed to this work.

This experience was formative for Robert.
3/ In 1951, when the McKee family moved to Charleston, Robert and his mother went with them.

The 12-year-old Robert was hired as a laborer in the city, earning a tiny wage for working various jobs.

But it was in Charleston that Robert would discover his first love: the water.
4/ Finding himself attracted to the ocean and life on the water, Robert Smalls took on work at the docks.

He quickly displayed an aptitude for the work.

Starting as a stevedore, he soon became a wheelman on a ship, in charge of navigating through Charleston's complex harbor.
5/ In 1856, at the age of 17, Robert Smalls married Hannah Jones, an enslaved hotel maid in Charleston.

As the couple started their life together, Robert attempted to purchase their freedom but was unsuccessful.

He worried constantly that his new family would be torn apart.
6/ But the course of Robert Smalls' life changed on April 12, 1861, when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter, a small fort in Charleston harbor, setting off the American Civil War.

Smalls was hired as a deckhand on a Confederate supply ship called the CSS Planter.
7/ With his skills honed over the years working in the complicated, narrow Charleston harbor waterways, Robert Smalls became the effective helmsman of the CSS Planter.

Given his status as an enslaved man, he was not allowed the title, but he held the post nonetheless.
8/ But all Robert Smalls could think about was freedom - for himself, for his wife, for his children.

So as Union forces formed a blockade just outside Charleston harbor (part of President Lincoln's order to blockade all Southern ports), Smalls crafted a daring plan.
9/ In the pre-dawn hours of May 13, 1862, after the three white officers had gone onshore and left the ship in the hands of the enslaved men, the CSS Planter slowly pulled away from the dock.

It stopped briefly at a wharf, where the families of the enslaved men boarded the ship.
10/ At the helm of the ship, donning the captain's traditional straw hat, was Robert Smalls.

He expertly navigated in the darkness, his years of experience with the waterways all culminating in this moment.

He signaled the watchtowers of the various checkpoints appropriately.
11/ The CSS Planter escaped the harbor, swapped its Confederate flag for a white sheet, and sailed towards the Union blockade.

Pulled up alongside a Union ship, Smalls famously called to its captain, "Good morning, sir! I’ve brought you some of the old United States guns, sir!"
12/ Robert Smalls' daring plan had succeeded. All of the enslaved men and their families were officially free.

He served the Union for the remaining years of the Civil War, even returning with the CSS Planter to the ceremonial raising of the American Flag at Fort Sumter in 1865.
13/ In a bit of sweet, karmic justice, after the war, Robert Smalls returned to his birthplace of Beaufort, South Carolina and purchased his former master's house.

He became a businessman, opening a store and publishing operation to support the needs of freedmen in the region.
14/ But Robert Smalls didn't stop there.

In 1868, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives.

In 1874, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

Robert Smalls had been born into slavery. 35 years later, he was a United States congressman.
15/ Robert Smalls passed away in 1915 at the age of 75.

His journey - from enslaved man to Civil War hero, businessman, and congressman - is truly remarkable.

The legacy of his courage and daring must never be forgotten.

Here's to you, Robert Smalls. Here's to you.
16/ Thanks to @holdenbweaver for alerting me to this amazing man and story in response to my "spend a day with one person from history" question.

For more on Robert Smalls, check out the resources below:

https://t.co/dFGwp0irkb

https://t.co/Ip5Un5aBJ2.

https://t.co/CETAO0qPIN
17/ And for more educational threads on business, finance, history, money, and economics, check out my meta-thread below.

Turn on post notifications so you never miss a thread! https://t.co/53UhhfzIcp

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1/ First, let's set the stage.

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Lindy Effect 101

With Bitcoin's return to the spotlight, debates on its long-term viability are raging. Its proponents contend @nntaleb's Lindy Effect says the technology is here to stay.

But what is the "Lindy Effect" and how does it work?

Here's Lindy Effect 101!

👇👇👇


1/ First, a few definitions.

The Lindy Effect is a theory that the future life expectancy of specific non-perishable items, like a technology or idea, is proportional to their age.

Put simply, the longer it has already lasted, the higher the likelihood it will continue to last.

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The longer he lasted, the longer he would continue to last.

4/ @nntaleb built upon Mandelbrot's work, formally coining the term "Lindy Effect" in his book, Antifragile.

He noted the Lindy Effect with books - the longer a book has been in print, the longer it is likely to survive.

With no natural upper bound, power laws come into play.
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The Feynman Technique—how to learn anything:

The Feynman Technique is a foundational learning method that prioritizes simplicity and depth of understanding.

It was developed by Richard Feynman—an American theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his groundbreaking work in quantum electrodynamics.


So yes, you could say that Richard Feynman was intelligent...

But there are a lot of intelligent people in the world.

Feynman's true genius was found in his ability to convey extremely complex ideas in simple, elegant, digestible ways.


He had observed that complexity and jargon are often used to mask a lack of deep understanding.

As a rule:

If someone uses a lot of acronyms, complexity, and jargon to explain something to you, they probably don’t understand it.

We've all encountered this type of "expert"...

The Feynman Technique is a learning framework that forces you to develop a deep, elegant understanding of a given topic.

It involves four key steps:
(1) Set the Stage
(2) ELI5 (Explain It To Me Like I'm 5)
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Principle: Follow Your Curiosity

Humans are born with astonishing curiosity.

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Push back.

Learn to follow your curiosity—trust it.

For the curious mind, anything is possible.

Fortune favors the curious.


Principle: Operate in Your Zone of Genius

Your Zone of Genius is where your interests, passions and skills align.

Operating in your Zone of Genius means playing games you are uniquely well-suited to win.

It means you can stop playing *their* games and start playing *yours*.


Principle: Adopt a Positive Sum Mentality

Want to get ahead in life?

Start genuinely rooting for others to succeed.

When one of us wins, we all win—winning spreads.

If you adopt that mentality, you’ll become a magnet for the highest quality people.


Principle: Speak Up

Closed mouths don’t get fed.

A little push goes a long way.

Don't sit back and wait for good things to happen.

If you want something—and you’ve put in the work for it—ask for it.

Worst case: you’re told no and nothing has changed.

Best case: it’s yours.
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The first ever world map was sketched thousands of years ago by Indian saint
“Ramanujacharya” who simply translated the following verse from Mahabharat and gave the world its real face

In Mahabharat,it is described how 'Maharishi Ved Vyasa' gave away his divine vision to Sanjay


Dhritarashtra's charioteer so that he could describe him the events of the upcoming war.

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This is how he described the face of the world:

सुदर्शनं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्वीपं तु कुरुनन्दन। परिमण्डलो महाराज द्वीपोऽसौ चक्रसंस्थितः॥
यथा हि पुरुषः पश्येदादर्शे मुखमात्मनः। एवं सुदर्शनद्वीपो दृश्यते चन्द्रमण्डले॥ द्विरंशे पिप्पलस्तत्र द्विरंशे च शशो महान्।

—वेद व्यास, भीष्म पर्व, महाभारत


Meaning:-

हे कुरुनन्दन ! सुदर्शन नामक यह द्वीप चक्र की भाँति गोलाकार स्थित है, जैसे पुरुष दर्पण में अपना मुख देखता है, उसी प्रकार यह द्वीप चन्द्रमण्डल में दिखायी देता है। इसके दो अंशो मे पीपल और दो अंशो मे विशाल शश (खरगोश) दिखायी देता है।


Meaning: "Just like a man sees his face in the mirror, so does the Earth appears in the Universe. In the first part you see leaves of the Peepal Tree, and in the next part you see a Rabbit."

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Neyyattinkara Krishna Kshetram
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