sede vacante

I have noted that some of the more progressive minds can transform into be the most oppressive and narrow-minded when presented with dissent in any sort. I think that this may be the case in the United Nations' damning assessment of the Vatican (not the appendages of the Holy See, which is an important limitation) over its disposition towards women's rights and sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the Church is trying to reform its ways when it comes to child-protection, another but very valid complaint in need of changing. I wonder, however, if this wholesale pointing out of the obvious is not just a grab at low-hanging fruit, since the UN nor by European (the Vatican does not claim EU membership) channels would dare challenge other convictions (religions, traditions) and articles of faith over lifestyle and preaching.

caveat lector or recently improved content

In response to a formal study that confirmed that Wikipedia is not only the resource of first-instance for hypochondriacs and the morbidly curious but also for physicians and aspiring students, a professor at a Californian medical school is offering as an elective a course in proofing and editing articles on health, medicine, and disease in order to ensure an accurate and reliable resource for the public—and the professionals. Wikipedia protocols will still be enforced, gladly, to stave off authoritarian language that's questionable or unsupported, doctors' jingoism, and the use of jargon.

monumenta germaniae historica

Coinciding with the star-studded premiere of the feature film on this courageous profiles in conservatorship, the Smithsonian is exhibiting many photographs and artefacts from its archives to enhance the portrayal of the so-called “Monuments Men.”

Those under siege, historians, connoiseuirs, academics as well as the generals storming Europe realised what defining treasures were at risk, not only through plunder but as collateral damage. Just before the D-Day (Operation Overlord) invasion, Eisenhower, among others, personally charged each commander with the responsibility of protecting and respecting the monuments that they would encounter—irreplaceable and important representatives of the what they are struggling to save. War leaves its physical scars and there are many restoration projects to this day, but just imagine what sort gaps in the skyline or in the galleries there would be without the work of this corps.

personae, pandora

Conceived as sort of an electronic annual, a year book ten years ago for an elite university in a dorm room, the reigning social network has matured and seems to have come of age, established and hard-wired.

Of course, it's only a platform that could be easily unseated, as were its predecessors and it is the behavior of its users—like the adage a leader is not leader without the support of his or her first follower, that craft how we communicate. It is not, I think, the other way around—beneath the surface lexical and semantic shifts, such changes in the way we communicate are expressions, important ones—nonetheless, of statements that would have been voiced already in one fashion or another.

I cannot say whether the lure of the instantaneous and easy and convenient is taking away from native creativity (rather than enhancing it) or more artistic, meaningful or fulfilling pursuit—but if that is the case, I think people are still quick (mostly, at least as quick as they would be otherwise) to realise that that chance is not easily retaken, but there is more than just a change in our vocabularies or ways of coddling our own sense of indolence or procrastination in the simple fact that the Internet does not forget and reminders are lightly stirred. I believe, if used correctly, that could be a supplement rather than a liability too, but considering the current climate, telecommunication providers being prosecuted for complicity and governments being held liable for their abidance, it seems that we are not very good at self-censorship and temperance.