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more on heresy

Ad abolendam was promulgated at a time when the scale, variety and effectiveness of mechanisms of government of every kind and at every level, and of the number of men trained and available to operate them, taking full advantage of the consequent opportunities to develop their careers, line their pockets and undermine their rivals, were increasing exponentially. -The War on Heresy, pg 142

“When Statesmen gravely say ‘We must be realistic’
The chances are they’re weak, and therefore pacifistic:
But when they speak of Principles, look out: perhaps
Their generals are already poring over maps."

--W. H. Auden, Collected Shorter Poems

pg 148

ну да, when politicians talk about morals - watch your pockets

more on albigensian crusade starting from pg 171:

The most notorious of the events and atrocities that have given the Albigensian wars the reputation of reaching new levels of savagery and destructiveness took place during this first phase of the campaigns and triumphs of Simon de Montfort.

...

In describing these holocausts Peter of Les Vaux de Cernay uses the Latin phrase cum ingenti gaudio (‘with great joy’)...

The level of cynicism

The level of cynicism is just boundless. @FischerKing64

the rest is history obvious

on hate-watching

... hate-watching is now part of the cultural conversation and arguably contemporary life. Chalk it up to morbid curiosity: We start watching a show because it looks appealing, but we keep watching because we want to complain about it at happy hour. It’s fun to be the person who describes a particularly terrible story arc or performance to our friends’ disbelief. Besides, it’s better than whatever is on the news. --I ❤️ a Hate-Watch. Don’t You?

неплохое эссе, еще и познавательное: целый список кандидатов на hate-watching. и фраза про новости удачная. еще там хороший термин doomscrolling

Tech companies recognize an unfortunate truth: incentivizing our worst impulses is far more lucrative than harnessing our best ones. In this context-free void, an eyeball is an eyeball, whether the brain behind it is being flooded with dopamine or adrenaline. A click is a click, whether you’re glad or mad.

...
It is also the kind of behavior, like doomscrolling and replying to trolls, that feeds our less charitable instincts. The more we do it, the more it becomes a habit, a negative approach to the world. We start to expect to be mad, even crave the feeling, and that cynicism spills over into more than just our TV diet.

ну и ударный финал: To borrow a sentiment, the opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. от себя добавлю: хоть я и hate-read NYT, иногда в ней встречаются достойные вещи, как это эссе.

difficult to ignore

They denounced clerical vice and avarice, and repudiated most sources of clerical income and power. They denied the authority of the church fathers to interpret the scriptures and insisted on their own right to do so.

They maintained that marriage was a matter for those concerned and not a sacrament of the church. They advocated the baptism of adults, not of infants, and confession in public before the community, not in private to priests.

In short, the faith they preached plainly affirmed the values of a world in which small groups of men and women stood together as equals, dependent on each other, suspicious of outsiders and hostile to every external claim on their obedience, allegiance or wealth. They represented a challenge increasingly difficult for the reformers to ignore. --The War on Heresy, pg 100-101

it's difficult indeed.

As with many radical thinkers, Arnold’s principal achievement was to unite his enemies. -pg 113

"Augustine’s uncritical reliance on the inadequate Latin translations of the original Greek and Hebrew versions made things worse." - he didn't know neither Hebrew nor Greek 🤡 это из Closing of the Western Mind. дальше я читать не стал.

женщины и спорт

Четко, грамотно про пол и спорт - там ссылка на статью Майи Гусейновой.

ну и заодно о женском боксе у avva - дурь в основном.

разве вот

Весь спорт достижений — это меряться тем, чья мутация круче. Один выиграл генетическую лотерею, вырос высокий и играет в баскетбол. Другая выиграла генетическую лотерею, имеет высокий уровень тестостерона, благодаря чему мышцы лучше растут. Прогонять мутантов с выставки мутантов за то, что они мутанты, абсолютно не логично. © talk_a_bit

Wolfe, Vance and Brooks

The Secret to Tom Wolfe’s Irresistible Snap, Crackle and Pop - essay by David Brooks (usual suspect), not too bad, not too good either, but did they place it in NYT just because he mentions JD Vance?

Wolfe’s goal was to be like Balzac, not JD Vance. He was a provocateur, not an advocate. He came to examine fashions, not legislate morality.

not sure what this supposed to mean really. just to kick in passing?

два фото

Looking cool in Harlem,1972                   Fashion shoot on Clifton beach,                                                              Cape Argus, 1977

Cunt for Red October

Captain of nuclear sub armed with doomsday weapons made sex tape with underling at sea @nypost

deepfake

posting whatever the hell i want while the beans and toast people get locked up for mean tweets pic.twitter.com/4C1fpstmEz

— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) August 11, 2024

их нравы

Crocodile expert is jailed for sexually abusing dozens of dogs

the epitome of cringe

  Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy Is Fueling Her Campaign.

instead of newspaper of record NYT should be called newspaper of cringe © yhs

Непобедимый

Непобедимый [youtube]

вот так с 1964-го и не надоело.

Он подумал о своей недавней тщеславной мечте: самому вести "Непобедимый". Теперь он благодарен судьбе, что не должен решать дальнейшую судьбу экспедиции.

...
- Да. Поскольку своими противниками мы имеем создания мертвой эволюции, наверняка апсихичные, то не можем решать проблемы в категориях мести либо расплаты за "Кондор", за судьбу его команды. Это все равно что отхлестать океан, утопивший корабль и людей...

интересно, что Солярис был написан на два года раньше

Циклоп привел в действие излучатель антиматерии. Никто из стоявших в рубке не шевельнулся, не произнес ни слова, но никто не мог сдержать чувства мстительного удовлетворения; оно было неразумно, но это не уменьшало его силы.

,

Хасбара

Хасбара (ивр. הַסְבָּרָה‎ — «разъяснение») — публичная дипломатия Израиля, то есть усилия по связям с общественностью по распространению положительной информации за рубежом о Государстве Израиль и его действиях[1] в противовес пропаганде его противников[2][3]. -Wiki

см. также Public diplomacy of Israel - гораздо более объемная статья. интересно, что edit history очень даже скромная.

сам термин хасбара попался в очередной трогательной дискуссии.

типография

Если Россия - это бензоколонка, то США - типография. -народ

Higgs Boson on Broadway

Can the Higgs Boson Shine on Broadway? A musical about particle physics is under development, with David Henry Hwang, the playwright behind “M. Butterfly.” 😁

Rotherham redux

Ротерхем, far-right, антирасизм и так далее. - пока без скандала. я там тоже отметился. вообще там полная бессмыслица. впрочем это везде.

see also Easy Meat

Far-right riots erupt in U.K. in the wake of child murders - ишь как запели

Spain in Our Hearts

google search for Torkild Rieber returns on top Norwegian seaman, while Wiki says at the very beginning that he was a Norwegian immigrant to the United States who became chairman of the Texas Company (Texaco). here's an enlightening article about this gentleman: How Texaco Helped Franco Win the Spanish Civil War: "Not a single investigation on the subject appeared in any major American newspaper at a time when the civil war in Spain was front-page news almost daily."

listening to Spain in our hearts, about Americans in Spanish Civil War.

beautiful and smart women: Virginia Cowles, Martha Gellhorn. and courageous too. Toby Jensky, Milly Bennett... wonderful Virginia Cowles reported from both sides in the war: Looking for Trouble

see also Robert Hale Merriman.

Even the fervently anti-Stalinist George Orwell, who witnessed the Stalinist secret police in the Soviet-controlled Loyalist government hunt down his fellow front-line soldiers on trumped-up charges of being fascist spies, learned that, in at least one instance, one of those arrested was murdered by his Communist captors, grudgingly admitted that those like Merriman were proof that “’good party men’ make the best soldiers.” -Robert Merriman Was Brave, But Apologized For Soviet Tyranny

интересная книга. грустная.

batshittery and crackpottery

Is it possible to mute the USA until they have their election?

Asking for a friend.

The batshittery and crackpottery from all sides across the pond is getting hard to credit. @_HelenDale