veni redemptor gentium (12. 064)

Fêted on this day on the anniversary of his consecration as the bishop of Milan in 374 AD, the statesman and theologian Saint Ambrose was a strong and influential proponent of heterodoxy in the Latin rite and was also celebrated for a cycle of Advents hymns and antiphonal chants that inform later traditions of carolling. Along with Augustine of Hippo (whom Ambrose converted), Jerome and Pope Gregory the Great, he is considered in western traditions a Doctor of the Church. Born in Augusta Treverorum around 339, it is said a swarm of bees descended on the infant whilst in his crib, leaving the baby unharmed and anointed with droplets of honey—taken as an auspicious sign and his patronage of apiculturists and by extension candle-makers. Moving to Rome from the provinces, Ambrose would study law and rhetoric and enter public service, like his father, becoming governor of Liguria and Emilia with the captial in Milan. Intervening in a succession crisis for the city’s bishop seat, not standing for the office, the politician accepted the vacancy compelled by popular acclaim of the assembled council, the Church afforded a measure of autonomy by Ambrose’s imperial connections, which tended towards deferment to his decisions and a level of independence. Charitable and advocating a kind of liturgical flexibility and rejecting rigid customs—including tolerance for pagans and other non-Christians, his advice to Augustine about respecting local ways stays with us, distilled as, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

dies iræ, dies illa (12. 052)

Fêted on this day in the Roman and Eastern Orthodox calendar of saints, Zephaniah (Σοφονίας, צְפַנְיָה, Concealed is god) was a priest of the Temple of Solomon during the reign of Josiah (circa 640 to 609 BC) counted among the Twelve Minor Prophets and credited as forecasting the coming of the Messiah, during a time when worship of other deities was popular and widespread, especially that of Baal and Astarte. The incipit of his book that warns of corruption and the imminent destruction of Jerusalem for its moral degeneration for its religious waywardness is the origin of the setting for the liturgical hymn as the sequence from the Requiem Mass—translated in the Vulgate edition of the Bible, “Day of wrath and doom impending!”

sancarlone (11. 972)

Fêted on this day, following the sainted Milanese archbishop’s death in 1538, Carlo Borromeo, is celebrated for his reforms and the introduction of seminaries for the education of priests as a force, along with Ignatius Loyola, of the Counter-Reformation. Though we didn’t make it to his home town of Arona to see the colossal bronze created in his likeness during the seventeenth century on a recent visit to Lake Maggiore (at twenty metres tall, the world’s largest statue of the kind second only to the Statue of Liberty and hollow on the inside for visits up to the head), we did see some of his family’s other properties. Carlo’s patronage ranges from the obvious catechists and spiritual directors to the more obscure apple orchards and starch-makers and is invoked against a range of stomach diseases and digestive ailments.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a German supermarket chain allows customers trade worthless NFTs for coupons (with synchronoptica) plus leap minutes and seconds

seven years ago: electric VM mini-buses

eight years ago: statues celebrating women’s suffrawicker ge in the US Capitol, Türkiye requests rendition of disloyals in Germany, a magazine for discerning sweater-wearers plus self-repairing materials

nine years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus the wicker peacock chair

ten years ago: DNA is not life’s only blueprint, charivari plus the Fall of Rome

caesaropapism (11. 958)

Entailing the complete subordination of priests to a secular power, both this form of government and a theocracy admit no separation of church and state and the two aspects of power structure are merged. Though far too many contemporary theonomies whereby divine law governs society, the Holy See, Mount Athos, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tibet—with more confessional states with an officially endorsed creed—exist, examples of caesaropapism are hypothetical and confined, arguably, to the past with Byzantium’s emperors (and successor sultans under the Ottomans) administrating the Eastern church and appointing patriarchs (the inversion of the Roman pope crowning the emperor), the break of Henry VIII with Rome and following dissolution of the monasteries and the Act of Supremacy and Ivan IV (earning the epithet the Terrible) through his total subjugation of the Orthodox Church as an instrument of state terror against traitors, real and imagined—though not without encountering some resistance and whose independence was restored by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, though again retooled to varying degrees under the Soviet Union and inheritors. Though mostly confined to history (there are instances of mild to blatant use of the pulpit as soapbox), the careerism and ambition still hold sway in matters of the sacred.

mauritius (11. 863)

Fêted on this day on the occasion of his martyrdom in 287 by execution for refusing to kill local Christians under order of Emperor Maximian, this disobedience punished with decimation—killing one out of every ten rebellious soldiers, at the Roman outpost of Agaunum (present day Saint-Maurice in the canton of Valais, and not to be confused with St Moritz in the Engadine, also named for the same leader of the Theban Legion), Maurice (Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲙⲱⲣⲓⲥ) is a popular and widely venerated saint whose patronage includes multiple kingdoms, municipalities and professions. Depictions and iconography of Maurice have been contentions throughout the centuries, with some suggesting that Holy Roman Emperor (who the saint champions with some crowned before his altar in St Peter’s) Frederich II in the eleventh century initiated the darker-complected trope as a symbol for the Crusades, and that the Christian mission was a universal and non-discriminatory one. Others argue Maurice was never turned Black, though the otherness (see also) went through periods of acceptance and intolerance, including the Nazis’ forbidding the city of Coburg’s coat of arms (since 1493) for glorifying another race and temporary replaced the Wappen with a sword (as guardian of sword-makers) with a swastika on its pommel. Patronage also include armorers, Alpine troops, infantry soldiers, cloth-makers, weavers, dyers and the Pontifical Swiss Guard, Austria, Piedmont, Sardinia, the Houses of Savoy, Lombard and the Merovingians and is invoked against muscle cramps and gout.

the people’s crusade (11. 766)

Though sanctioned officially by Pope Urban II to begin on this day in 1096 (the Feast of the Assumption) in order reassert Church primacy in society having lost influence under the rise of feudalism and mercantilism, restoring fealty to the faith rather than allegiance to overlords and landed-gentry, and counter Muslim influence in the Holy Land and Byzantium, armed pilgrimages were already mobilised under the charismatic French priest known as Peter the Hermit (Pierre d’Amiens) with an advance though untrained and mostly illiterate and ignorant—not knowing where Jerusalem was and reacting as if any sizeable settlement they encountered along the way was their goal—army of disaffected Christian peasants. The call for a crusade (against holy war) issued first during the Council of Clermont the preceding year was met with enthusiastic acclaim, particularly as tenant farmers had experienced famine and drought in recent seasons—possibly an outbreak of ergotism due to poorly stored grain—and a strongly held belief in Millenarianism (see also) and Peter’s forces gathered and set out from Flanders in April. En route, the pilgrims destroyed Jewish communities along the Rhein in unprecedentedly large and violent pogroms in Metz, Speyer, Trier and Köln—condemned by the Church and secular leaders and forbidden during the following Crusades. Joined by many thousands of the poor, they marched through Hungary and attempted entered Byzantine territory at Belgrade, who were refused entry due to their unexpected early arrival and unheralded commander. Eventually the crusaders we granted admittance at Niš after making a general nuisance of themselves and pillaging local markets and proceeded to Constantinople but were massacred by the Seljuks on the road to Nicaea, the army of some hundred-thousand destroyed—although the many women, children and those who surrendered were spared. Peter and some of the remaining leadership, broken and bankrupt, continued to Palestine to join the better organised and funded First or rather Princes’ Crusade in October.

dioecesis selenis (11. 725)

Delving the depths of Wikipedia, we learn via Neatorama that the bishop of the diocese of Orlando, Florida established in 1968, citing the 1917 Code of Canon Law (Iuris Codex Canonici) which extended pastoral jurisdiction over newly discovered territories to the episcopal authority of the diocese from which the expedition was launched, claimed the Moon in the name of the Church, his appointment coinciding with the Apollo missions to the lunar surface. With a counter-claimant in the archbishop of New York as vicar of the Military Ordinariate as chaplain to all military bases, including Cape Canaveral, the matter was never resolved as it was ultimately a papal decision and Pope Paul VI was bemused by the question, not issuing an official response.

my beautiful christians (11. 724)

Just after reneging on his commitment for a second debate as his sparring partner is more formidable and has the power for a real dressing down—whist sexist and racist attacks by surrogates on Harris increase, Trump held a rally near Mar-a-Lago

unabashedly promoting theocracy and an end to representative democracy. Imploring the crowd to mobilise just this once, Trump said, “You have to get out and vote. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won’t have to vote again.” Incoherent and meandering at times, the speech reiterated in no uncertain terms how the regime has no intentions of conceding or being bound by law or norms.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Indian diamond-bourse’s new headquarters (with synchronoptica) plus destination-specific travel disorders

seven years ago: animations by Frédéric Vayssouze-Faure, actor Bryan Cranston, Trump’s policy platform plus more on the custom cars of George Barris

eight years ago: a practise environment for Martian colonisation, Wikipedia’s photo competitions, manhole print tee-shirts plus more on terror attacks across Europe

nine years ago: naturally occurring nuclear fission

ten years ago: further adventures in Croatia

arcus constantini (11. 721)

Opened to the public on this day in 315 and spanning Rome’s Via Triumphalis amid the decennalia, a series of festivities and games held every decade since 27 BC when Augustus declined the offer of supreme power for life but would accept it for a decade—a tradition upheld by later, non-term-limited emperors to solemnise (they would symbolically relinquish imperium only to have it foisted back on them by popular acclaim) the sacrifice of their predecessor, the Arch of Constantine was dedicated by the Senate to celebrate the the tenth year of his reign and his victory over the forces of Maxentius during the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, ending the civil wars of the terarchy, power disputes among the co-emperors. 

The decorations and the frieze, recounting Constantine’s exploits, along the crowning entablature and colossal proportions make the fourth century archway one of the most iconic examples of the architecture of late Antiquity, but there is some scholarly controversy on its actual builder and purpose, some suggesting it was the vanquished Maxentius who began its construction, his imprimatur erased by damnatio memoriae, particularly since as the emperor was by then more interested in founding his new capital in the East, Constantinople, rather than erecting public buildings in a declining Rome.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the French comic that heavily influenced Star Wars, domestic double-agents plus the heart of man

eight years ago: alchemist Paracelsus plus the châteaux of the Loire

nine years ago: more links to enjoy

eleven years ago: a mystery ranging leaflet 

big chris, little chris (11. 717)

Venerated on this day in German-speaking dioceses (the following day on the General Roman Calendar of the Saints) on the occasion of his martyrdom in 251 in Anatolia, the Canaanite of legendary stature, imposing and standing at five cubits (2,3 metres), called Reprobus (reprobate and also by some accounts and portrayals, dog-headed due to a misunderstanding of the Latin demonym Cananeus for suggesting cynocephaly) was determined to be in service to the greatest king of all, and upon seeing his ruler blessing

himself with the sacrament of the sign of the cross at the mention of Satan and reasoning that the devil able to inspire such trepidation must certainly be more powerful abandoned his post and sought out this master to service. Falling in with a gang of robbers claiming to be in league with the devil, the giant of a man was again disappointed by seeing the leader avoiding Christian iconography and sought out the faith under the guidance of a hermit he had encountered. Responding with prayer and fasting when asked how to best serve Christ, Reprobus answered that would be unable to comply with either of those tasks. The hermit reasoned due his size and strength he could please Christ by helping people ford a treacherous river. One day after many successful and easy crossings, a young boy sought passage with the burden becoming almost too much to bear and the river difficult to trudge across, the rapids becoming leaden around his legs. After the arduous journey, the passenger revealed himself to be Christ his king, whom was well served by this work. The ferryman henceforth was known as Christopher (Χριστόφορος, the Christ-bearer), ultimately beheaded in Lycia for his evangelising and refusing to sacrifice to the local pagan gods. Patron saint of Baden, Mecklenburg and Braunschweig, Rab in Croatia, Vilnius, Riga and St Kitts, Christopher is also the protector of athletes, mariners and travellers, as well as invoked as an intercessor against sudden death (owing to the dangerous river-crossing) an toothaches. This spurious association comes from a donation of a supposed relic in the form of a giant moral to a group of friars in the Piedmontese town of Vercelli in the late Middle Ages. Described by one of the numerous pilgrims seeking relief over centuries, the silver and gold reliquary as dena molaris pugno major (a tooth bigger than a fist), the inheriting order of the Barnabites had the attraction examined scientifically in the late eighteenth century and was determined to have belonged to a hippopotamus. The object was summarily deaccessioned and forbidden to be treated with idolatry. The community apparently keeps the tooth out of public view as a curiosity in their monastery.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the death of Twitter (with synchronoptica) plus AI and dragnet surveillance

seven years ago: a Tagalong word for overwhelming cuteness plus an act to prevent pernicious political activities

eight years ago: acts of terrorism across Europe, visiting Château d’Oléron, a coup in Turkey, presidential commercial interests, colouring black and white photos per algorithm, lanterns of the dead plus punditry in America

nine years ago: a Venus flytrap, assorted links worth revisiting plus Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Cologne

eleven years ago: the frequency illusion

9x9 (11. 585)

super easy, barely an inconvenience: if cats had podcasts  

minor arcana: a metaphysically intelligent™️ tarot reading—via Web Curios  

fleeting moments: a concept camera that only delivers ephemeral poetry based on the subject in the view-finder—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest  

the ghana must go: as ubiquitous as the IKEA bag but more practical, this tartan sack from Japan by way of Hong Kong contains multitudes  

god’s influencer: following a second miracle attributed to his intercession, the first Millennial saint is canonised  

atlas shrugged: AI-apocalypse Jennifer Lopez vehicle from James Cameron garners negative reviews but we found it enjoyable—going in blindly and wondering if it wasn’t part of the Duneiverse and setting up the Butlerian Jihad 

long averages: advances in the understanding of probability fuelling casino gambling—via Damn Interesting  

planchettes and re-enchantment: LLMs are haunted things toc-cat-a in b-major: Noam Oxman personalised musical pet portraits—via Waxy

 synchronoptica

one year ago:  a portrait of a dog, Berlin’s Mouse Bunker, a study of incomplete cubes plus men and women duelling in the Middle Ages

two years ago: a pact between NATO and Russia (1997), a dragon in Essex plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: mojibake, font sizes, the Golden Gate Bridge (1937), relocating geese plus Dune manga

four years ago: more links to enjoy, a rock-climbing inspection, weasel iconography plus Trump 2.0 would be far more fraught

five years ago: getting around in Swiss Saxony

neustadt a. / a. (11. 565)

We ventured out to visit the main town of the region, Neustadt an der Aisch—a member of the cohort of European municipalities called Neustädter numbering around a dozen—and saw the old town, which was cultivated through the auspices of House Hohenzollern under the burgraves of Nürnberg into a cultural, political and economic hub along the main overland trade route between Würzburg and Nürnberg already by the twelfth century but ending after the Thirty Years War in the mid-1600s and falling under Prussian sovereignty. Neustadt faded in importance but due to subsequent developments in the rail network (which followed those ancient merchant roads) and repopulated with Germans expelled from the Sudatenland, Neustadt regained some of its former prominence.

We saw the Altes Schloss that now hosts a carp and aquaculture museum and the old town square that features a Neptune, referred to as the Gabelmensch like its former diocese of Bamberg, in front of the Rathaus. 

Afterwards we made loop along a hiking path through the forest from the campgrounds to a little community called Kästel with a twelfth century church dedicated to St Mauritius next to this ivy covered guesthouse. The church was closed by a tablet indicated that it was founded by the Knights Templar with the incipit Non nobis—from the Latin prayer of thanksgiving and humility: Nōn nōbīs, Domine, nōn nōbīs, sed nōminī tuō dā glōriam or ”Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory.“

synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic from Looking Glass plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: the Geneva Convention on Environmental Modification (1977), another MST3K classic, a national assembly in Frankfurt (1848) plus more links to enjoy

three years ago: even more links plus the plan to put a roller coaster on the Golden Gate Bridge

four years ago: the eruption of Mt Saint Helens plus more links

five years ago: an old/new painting by Vermeer 

national day of reason (11. 530)

In response to the statutory observance of the National Day of Prayer—codified into law at the urging of conservative evangelical preacher Billy Graham in 1952 during the Korean War with US president Harry S Truman signing a bill proclaiming that each subsequent administration was to declare this annual holiday on the date of his choosing—this secular counter-convocation has been held on the first Thursday since 2003 by humanists and freethinkers to assert freedom from religion after unsuccessfully petitioning the federal government from endorsing the former, supported by public monies and time for Christian-dominated religious ceremonies. The latter having gained in popularity in recent years as a demonstration that nonbelievers can contribute to their communities in positive and life-affirming ways and be good without god, activities include organised food drives, blood donations and giving to other charities.

wunderzeichen (11. 490)

We quite enjoyed pursuing this collection of sixteenth century German woodcuts cataloguing ominous signs in the heavens, the unexplained and inexplicable occurring with enough frequency to create a carve-out—and still does—parallel to the nascent publishing industry for special bound editions of pamphlets and broadsheets circulated on the topic, “wonder books” as sort of a personal log to curate, update and hand down of the phenomena, preserving an otherwise ephemeral record of strange occurrences happening too often to otherwise commit to the historical record, sightings and encounters spurred on by sightings and sermonising speculation that was also propelled by the printing-press. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link up top.

liduina of schiedam (11. 487)

Venerated on this day on the occasion her death in 1433, aged 52 after a life of suffering progressively worsening ailments due to an accident as an adolescent, the sainted Dutch mystic (see below) is celebrated as the patron protector of those stricken with chronic pain and disability, her hometown near Rotterdam and of ice-skaters and roller-skaters, which seems a bit of a painful reminder. Cultivating a reputation as a healer, and judging from the symptoms recorded in her hagiographies perhaps the first documented case of multiple sclerosis—though such diagnoses are problematic, she is said to have fasted and foregone sleep throughout the decades and her cultus grew popular following her death thanks to the writings of Thomas à Kempis who epitomised her piety from Keulen.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an AI writes fortune cookies plus assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: solar new year

three years ago: sequencing the human genome, more links to enjoy plus an outstanding landing page, business 

four years ago: a medieval UFO encounter, an unhinged press briefing, a cosmopolitan coffee break, a museum at the Volkswagen factory, safe social distancing plus more accidental art

five years ago: an AI authored country and western song, the N'ko script, designer Verner Panton plus Easter fountains

the fabiola project (11. 463)

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we are acquainted with the extensive portfolio Mexican artist of Belgian extraction Francis Alÿs through a travelling installation of some three hundred reproductions of the fourth century figure Saint Fabiola based off the profile and pose created by Jean-Jacques Henner in his 1885 portrait. The original was lost in 1912 but the image was copied over the decades by painters around the world, and sourced from flea markets and rummage sales in the Americas and Europe, mostly attributed to anonymous, amateur studies and naive artist, Alÿs’ 1994 exhibit explores the precedents and antecedents that inform and flow from popular replicas and what constitutes an icon. The fourth century Roman noblewoman who filed for legal separation from her insufferable husband and remarried, contrary to Catholic practise but was welcomed back to the congregation for her works, turned to a life of charity under the influence of Jerome, is fêted on 27 December in the calendar of saints and includes in her patronage divorced people, the hospice movement—establishing many care centres throughout Italy and the Near East as well as attending patients herself as a trained physician after lodging with Paul (see above) during a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, and is called on for intercession in difficult relationships. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Me and Bobby McGee (1971), a rogue archivist, Russian-America, more MEUTE plus more links to check out

three years ago: Wishing Well (1988), fuchsias, the Yellow Fleet (1967) plus St Francesco

four years ago: naming houses

five years ago: sonic disruptors, plant based burgers plus decision fatigue

give us barabbas (11. 457)

Via Miss Cellania, we are directed to the rather compelling 1961 biblical epic (overshadowed by others in the genre) directed by Richard Fleischer for Dino De Laurentiis’ studio, originally cast for Yul Brynner in the title role, portrayal of the thief chosen by the crowd over Jesus to the be pardoned and released by provincial governor Pontius Pilate, as a Passover custom, went to Anthony Quinn with supporting roles by Arthur Kennedy, Ernest Borgnine and Jack Palance and expands on the life of the reformed recidivist after the Crucifixion (filming timed to take advantage of an actual solar eclipse that took place on 15 February in the year of the debut) who is only mentioned in passing in the gospels. Upon release and returning to his compatriots, still a sceptic, Barabbas is disappointed and frustrated to discover that his girlfriend has become a convert—stoned to death later in Jerusalem for evangelising. Feckless and devastated by the loss following his reprieve, Barabbas returns to his life of crime and when a botched attempt on a caravan goes awry, Barabbas throws himself at the mercy of the authorities and is condemned to toil in the hellish sulphur mines of Sicily for the rest of his existence. Chained to a Christian slave that at first resents Barabbas was spared over Christ but over the years of their sentence—eventually curtailed by an earthquake that causes the tunnels to collapse killing all the slaves except the two companions—became friends and return to Rome, via the gladiatorial route to freedom. With suspected sympathies and guilt by association, Barabbas is imprisoned with other Christians, including Peter the Apostle, rounded-up and incarcerated en masse, accused of having set fire to the city under the rule of Nero and charged with arson, were summarily executed by crucifixion.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the flags of Antarctica plus a special air raid all clear message

two years ago: a NATO expansion (2004) plus omissions in the presidential daily diary

three years ago: assorted links to revisit, Casa Sperimentale plus California cults

four years ago: a record high for the Dow Jones index (1999), Bulgarian postal cancellation stamps,  a GI*Joe reboot plus fashion-enforced social distancing

five years ago: more links to enjoy, satirical job titles that are probably real ones now plus Brexit is going swimmingly

dionysian incarnation of the word (11. 450)

First reckoned by Scythian monk Dionysius Exiguus (the Humble) in 525 but his Computus for determining the date of Easter not widely adopted until the ninth century, his convention of Anno Domini was conceived as way to number regnal years breaking with the old system of Roman eras that continued the memory of rulers who often subjected Christians to persecution and repression. Reaching back five centuries, cross-referencing traditional dating systems, Olympiad years, biblical accounts and the reign of consulships, prone to inaccuracies and some confusion and fraught with the Roman idea that great figures would live out lives only in whole years, his calculations were confounded and not synchronised with any extant calendar, the logic behind the ultimate decisions made obscure by design, possibly wanting to tamp down on the influence of certain branches of the faith who believed that the end of the world was imminent and the resurrection of the dead would come five hundred years after the birth (conception, incarnation, nativity) of Jesus, the common era beginning with year one on this day five hundred twenty-four years prior, by demonstrating that it had already passed.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a Trump rally in Texas

two years ago: Lady Day plus Ring of Fire (1963)

three years ago: your daily demon: Aguarès, a huge NFT portfolio, St Dismas, Like a Prayer (1989) plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: more links to enjoy

five years ago: elegant, animated GIFs to teach maths, COBRA started as a pyramid-scheme, an unusual time-piece for Lent in Austria plus more links worth revisiting

bascílica i temple expaitori de sagrada família (11. 436)

For the anniversary of the laying of the ground stone for the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world (see also) initially under the direction of architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano in 1882, whom resigned his commission from the Spiritual Association of Devotees of St Joseph over creative differences and was subsequently awarded to Antoni Gaudí (previously) who transformed the project into his magnum opus. Passing away in 1926 when the structure was only an estimated fifteen percent completed and leaving future builders to finish his vision, Gaudí reported answered to the slow progress of construction with “My client is not in a hurry.” Impediments to progress arose during World War I, the Spanish Civil War and World War II but the cathedral is open to the public, with regular masses held since 2017. Executed in Gaudí’s unique fusion of Cubism and Art Nouveau and rich withsymbolism, one can take a virtual tour courtesy of Open Culture at the link above. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the history of paper shredding, more FOIA follies, the excavation of Knossos, Germany’s biggest union plus the Second Iraqi War (2003)

two years ago: assorted links to revisit plus Plagiarism Today

three years ago: more links to enjoy

four years ago: Spring is coming

five years ago: C-SPAN, Hitler’s orders to destroy infrastructure in Germany (1945), more links worth revisiting plus music for cheese

handmaids’ tales (11. 384)

We are turned towards a coupling of sermons, one from a Methodist preacher from 2018 and another more recent commentary from the pulpit of US politics, that highlight the hypocrisy of American fundamentalism and championing the unborn, privileging potential and the least complicated, objectionable over those inconvenient actualities of the poor, unwell, indigent and alien who might not be sufficiently grateful or not present a challenge for the societal arrangement and power structures that put them in this situation to begin with, which—if redressed could take care and truly foster the former as well. The second piece has a more satirical tone but delivers the same message and both are worth reading in full.