Here’s what it can feel like to practice religion when you don’t believe in the common fantasy [AKA faith]. I knew from a young age that I didn’t see religion as a literal interpretation of moral code sent from God, but rather a human construct of what we (those writing
Continue readingTag: history
Dead Wild Roses: No Good Men Among The Living – Dispelling The Imperial Narrative
We tell ourselves the stories we need to hear. This is excerpt details American involvement in Afghanistan, but from a non-embedded reporters point of view and analysis. “The central thesis of the American failure in Afghanistan — the one you’ll hear from politicians and pundits and even scholars
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: War On Drugs Still a Losing Battle
Why are drugs still illegal? I wrote a while ago about the success of Portugal, where all drugs were legalized, and the money previously used to enforce drug laws were instead used to fund social programs to help those with drug problems. Not only was Portugal’s drug abuse problem significantly reduced,
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Pompeii: Swords-and-Sandals Flop
As a film setting, the town of Pompeii in the first century CE is a lot like the deck of the Titanic in 1912: no amount of special effects or clever script writing is going to save it from the disaster awaiting. As a film, Pompeii has a lot of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Canadian Colonial Legacies – The Inconvenient Indian
We here in Canada often like to think of ourselves as the ‘good guys’. Our history somehow a few degrees shinier, more pristine than the the bloodstained record our American neighbours seem to bandy about with pride. Like any colonial narrative though certain distortions are present and sometimes the
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Bully Pulpit
“I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!” US President Theodore Roosevelt uttered those words in office (reported in the February 27, 1909, issue of The Outlook magazine), coining the phrase ‘bully pulpit’ in referring to the presidency as an ideal platform
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Family, a Century Ago
The gentleman in the uniform on the right is William Gordon Pudney, Chief Petty Officer and engineer on the cruiser, Niobe, one of the earliest ship’s in Canada’s fledgling navy. William (Bill) was born in Canada, in 1893. He is perhaps in his early 20s in this undated photograph, taken
Continue readingwmtc: subway tokens, greek coffee cups, and me: missing nyc
This week I received email from my friend Alan, formerly known in this blog as Alan with one L, or AW1L. Subject line: Re: 34th Street/Penn Station Just Now Out-of-Towner [leaning into packed Uptown Express [2 or 3] train]: “Does anybody know if this goes to Times Square?” About 10
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Harper History, Part 3 – First Con Minority
Jan 2006 – Sept 2008 In part three of our series examining the things that Mr Harper and his supporters have done that impacted our democracy we cover the period of “Canada’s New Government” tm which lasted 2 1/2 years before Harper declared it “dysfunctional” and called a new election
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Liberal Media and the Ideology of Black Victimhood
Fascinating article by Thomas Barker- here is the conclusion. Find the rest on Counterpunch. […] Conclusions As with so much of the racial tension in the United States, the origins of the present situation can be traced back to slavery. In his ground-breaking work on the American slave system, the
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Same same?
TL:DR version – learn your history before you shoot off at the mouth.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Harper History, Part 2 – In Opposition
June 2004 – Jan 2006 This is the second of a series of monthly articles examining the actions of Stephen Harper and his Party colleagues both before and after his rise to power with particular emphasis upon words and actions that effect our democracy. This period is most notable for
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Megamind Time Machine
We kicked off a Netflix addiction with “The Croods” [5/10] last night, and “Megamind” [8/10] this morning. At Christmas we replaced a tube TV with a more modern LED version that can get free broadcast channels and hook up to a laptop. Cutting the cable was made possible also with
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Weaponized Aryan Jesus?
The term “weaponized Jesus” comes from an article I read on politicsusa.com, from November 2013, titled “The Religious Right With Their Weaponized Jesus Are Not Christians.” It’s worth a read, if you enjoy the political-religious debate. I eventually traced the phrase back to a 2010 story in Mother Jones. It’s a
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Fossils To Museums
I was an 8 year old awash in fossils, so I was a tad more generous than this former 9 year old PEI lad with his much more valuable fossil. I donated a lower mandible piece from a ~12,000,000 year old Saskatchewan rhino to the Sask. Natural History (now Royal
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: A Devilishly Smart Pope
A DEVILISHLY SMART POPE
One of the books I’m reading now is John D. Barrow’s ‘The Book of Nothing’. The subject is a look at the concept of ‘nothing’, the void, emptiness, zero, the vacuum and so on. There’s actually quite a bit to say about nothing, and book ranges from a history of the mathematical sign for zero, through the ‘philosophic concept’ of nothingness, to the idea of the vacuum in physics, its explanation by the ‘ether’ and the eventual overthrow of that concept. Temperatures (absolute zero) and the place of the vacuum in quantum mechanics, relativity and cosmology come on stage, and the book ends with a return to the philosophic concept itself. Yes, quite complex, and I’ve barely gotten to chapter 2. Nice to have a roadmap to a blank space. I’ll be reviewing the book when done.
But one of the matters that did come up was the story of Pope Sylvester II, one of the few admirable holders of the keys of Peter in the Middle Ages. This is a story appealing enough to shove its way to the front of the ‘Molly Line’. Sylvester II was born Gerbert de Aurillac (945 – 1003). He reigned as Pope from 999 to 1003. Yes the Pope in the Chair during the turn of the millennium. The world didn’t end, and Gerbert/Sylvester was definitely one of the more capable Popes of the age. A lot of his accomplishments were political and hardly bear mention here. Defending the property of the Church. Playing off one ruler against another though he was usually in alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor of the time. The politics of Italy at the time were particularly chaotic, and once both he and the Emperor had to flee Rome during one of the revolts. He even tried to reform the Church’s organization and reduce abuses such as simony, concubinage and nepotism. This was an Herculean task, and even with the assistance of St. Jude (the patron saint of the impossible) the Church remained just about as corrupt as always. He did, however, succeed in significantly increasing the Church’s title holdings. Maybe this goal was in direct contradiction to the idea of making the Church into a more ‘Holy’ outfit. He also played a major role in the Christianization of Eastern Europe, appointing Metropolitans for both Poland and Hungary, and in the later case naming that country as a ‘Kingdom’. Thus the Crown of Hungary became dependent on the Papacy.
His political accomplishments were minor compared to his intellectual contributions to European culture. He had early on spend considerable time as an envoy to the far more civilized Muslim states of southern Spain, and he turned his natural curiosity to good effect there, absorbing much of the culture of Andalucía. When he returned to France he was appointed head of education for the Archdiocese of Rheims, and from there he significantly elevated the clerical level of education throughout the French Kingdom.
When his patron died he was considered the natural successor, but the Capetan monarchy had other ideas, and a relative of the King was appointed in his stead even though Gerbert was a supporter of Hugh Capet whose reign marked the end of the Carolingian dynasty. Barrow has this matter somewhat confused as he lists this Episcopal position without mentioning that Gerbert’s appointment was overthrown. Consistent with the political level of the time the King’s appointee was later removed because of suspicion of treason to his sponsor. Gerbert who initially was himself accused of treason to the House of Capet was reappointed, but this was challenged and his appointment declared invalid. When he did finally become Pope he pretty well washed his hands of the matter by declaring his competitor as the legitimate Archbishop. Barrow also confuses another appointment of his, as Archbishop of Ravenna, supposing him to be the ‘Abbot’ of Ravenna. All this is quite forgivable as the politics of the time, clerical and lay, were by their very nature confusing.
Gerbert was lauded for his scholarly contributions in a number of fields. He became the tutor of both Emperors Otto II and his son Otto III, and, as mentioned above, he was elevated to the Papacy with the support of the latter. Gerbert was a true polymath. He was the accepted authority in the liberal arts in his day and a major influence on theology. He was also something of an engineer, designing a hydraulic organ that didn’t require air to continually be pumped in as it played. He is also credited with advances in the art of clock making due to one which he designed for the Cathedral of Magdeburg. Even this is confused. Some sources such as the ‘Catholic Encyclopedia’ say that he was the inventor of the pendulum clock. Others say that his clock was mechanical but weight driven rather than using a pendulum. Still others say that his clock was actually simply a sundial. It was, however, in the field of science and mathematics that he made his greatest contributions.
Gerbert was credited with a number of innovations. He introduced the abacus to Europe, and also the use of the Arabic/Indian number/decimal system. Both were necessary foundations for the later rise of commercial enterprises in the Renaissance. Hard to do proper accounting with Roman numerals. Not that they were always appreciated. In 1299 the decimal system was outlawed in Florence supposedly because it was more vulnerable to fraud. The worry about this matter delayed the adoption of decimal numbers in northern Europe until the sixteenth century. For Gerbert, however, they were a Godsend, and he was the foremost expert on mathematics, geometry and astronomy of his day. Much of this was based on what he had learned in southern Spain even though he was creative enough in his own right.
He is credited with the reintroduction of the ‘armillary sphere’ to western Europe. This is a 3D model of the heavens, and fitted with viewing tubes it was an early prototype of the telescope. It should be noted that such a sphere would imply that the Earth itself was a sphere. Not that the idea of a flat Earth was universal in Medieval times, but it was common enough even though the use of spheres such as this proliferated.
Barrow’s book corrected a misconception of my own, one that I had held for more than a few years. I knew that Sylvester II was a remarkably educated and knowledgeable man well ahead of his time. I also knew that one of the medieval Popes had been dug up from his grave and the corpse put on trail. I’d always assumed that the uncommunicative defendant was Sylvester. During his lifetime and after his death rumours circulated that he was in league with the Devil, that he had even constructed a bronze head that would answer questions posed to it. Sort of an early robot I guess. I assumed that this was the reason for the exhumation. Wrong I was. The corpse was that of one Pope Formosus, and the charges were much more mundane. After the guilty verdict was pronounced the hapless cadaver was chopped to pieces, burnt and the ashes thrown into the Tiber. That will teach him.
The accusations of witchcraft would certainly be a likely medieval explanation for Sylvester’s brilliance, but no – he stayed in the ground. Not that he rested easily though. The legends of his life followed him into the grave, and typically they are also confused. One legend says that when a Pope is due to die that Sylvester’s bones rattle in the tomb. Another says that the walls of the crypt weep on the sad occasion. I guess there’s no reason they can’t both be right.
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: A Devilishly Smart Pope
A DEVILISHLY SMART POPE One of the books I’m reading now is John D. Barrow’s ‘The Book of Nothing’. The subject is a look at the concept of ‘nothing’, the void, emptiness, zero, the vacuum and so on. There’s actually quite a bit to say about nothing, and book ranges
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Excerpts from “Letter to a Young Army Ranger” – Rory Fanning
A brief note. I think that this essay should be required reading for all those who consider joining the armed forces and participating in the cycle of terrorism and destruction that currently dominates our foreign policy and geo-political goals here in the West. Many thanks to Tom’s Dispatch for hosting
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Harper History, Part 1 – The Early Years
This is the first of a series of monthly articles examining the actions of Stephen Harper and his Party colleagues both before and after his rise to power with particular emphasis upon words and actions that effect our democracy. The 2015 Federal Election will undoubtedly be critical to to whether
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Religious Disservice – Charlie Hebdo
Oh, those wacky religious Muslim terrorists are at it again going all murder happy on people who dare to make fun of their religion. This event is completely ludicrous and, in 2015, should not be happening, some reasons off the top of my head: 1. Mohammad, Jebus, Krishna, Sif –
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