Notes
Sunday 28 June 2020 - Saturday 4 July 2020
[Notebook: DB 85 Science]
[page12]
Sunday 28 June 2020
Django Django Reinhardt - Wikipedia
My faith in the divine universe is secure but its theoretical foundation is a little dodgy, although nowhere near as insufficient as the clay feet of the Catholic Church, a politically motivated dream of power.
A fundamental problem with quantum theory which sets it apart from classical theory is the question of representation. In classical theory the abstract mathematical variables correspond to real entities like force, mass and acceleration. In quantum theory we postulate any number of orthonormal rays in Hilbert space which have a purely Platonic or mathematical existence corresponding to unobservable states which are believed to evolve unitarily as time goes by and only when observed does one of this set of states
[page 14]
becomes real and actually observed as a particle. This raises two questions: are potencies, such as solutions to differential equations real?; and if they are not real how does one of them become real in the act of observation? This question is of particular interest when we seek to understand how the quantum formalism can give rise to the existence of real space-time. As a matter of principle we can only grant existence to things which are both consistent (as required by formal mathematics) and real (as required by the fact that information is a physical entity). An old and unsolvable (so far) problem.
Before Michelson and Morley and Einstein Maxwell and others saw the ether as the representative vehicle of electromagnetic radiation. Then we might imagine the spirit of formalist mathematics may have penetrated [physics] and people seem to have become relaxed about formal structures with no representative vehicles, a situation which has grown more powerful with the detailed development of quantum mechanics and has continued into the realm of field theory where the formal fields have become in the opinions of many the ontological foundation of reality, eg Auyang. The ancient doctrine of immaterial spirits seems to have swept the field here, although its justification in terms of the need for intellect to be unhindered by matter has been overridden by neurophysiology and the quantum state of representation is tens of orders of magnitude finer than synapses and action potentials. Michelson and Morley: On the relative motion of the earth and the lumeniferous ether, Sunny Auyang: How is Quantum Field Theory Possible?
Monday 29 June 2020
What am I trying to achieve with cognitive cosmology?
1. To give a firm foundation to my claim that the universe is divine
2. To put quantum mechanics on a sound footing with respect to representation, eliminating the Platonic element, recognising that real representation [including neural representation in human minds] is concrete, not abstract, but that the layered nature of the universe allows for abstract ["universal" knowledge].
3. To eliminate the need for renormalization [in physics] by showing that real representation eliminates the infinities and absurd cosmological constants that arise from the formalist approach. Frank Wilczek: The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces page 109
4. To create a comprehensive model of the universe that embraces not only gravitation and the fundamental particles, but also embraces all structures in the universe, no matter how complex.
And the methodology: to recognise that the quantum of action is a real [physical] atom of action, self-representing in itself and the foundation of the representation of all other processes. We identify the quantum of action and the initial singularity [and also Aristotle's unmoved mover and Aquinas's god].
Each little step forward leaves me stunned for a while while I digest it. See the two day blank after 22 June when I carefully reread and possibly understood Zurek's argument for the need of a pure quantum [shared orthogonal] basis to transmit information. From this point if view the key issue in cognitive cosmology is the creation of entropy and the transmission of information to construct the structure of the world [and entropy requires space so that two or more entities can exist simultaneously]..
First thing to emerge from the initial singularity might be the quantum harmonic oscillator [an analogue of the trinitarian father - son]. This is the quantum equivalent if a pendulum cycling between potential and kinetic energy. Many
[page 15]
distributed QHOs give us space-time, so we may call kinetic energy and potential energy p and not-p or vice versa and this logical definition makes no assumptions about size so it raises no problem about identifying the quantum of action with the initial singularity except perhaps conceptual strangeness.
There is an overload of ideas which need sorting but at least I feel that I have enough pieces to make a picture.
Tuesday 30 June 2020
The quantum of action is a thing, not a number, an item of physical information like an embodied bit, whose meaning depends on the context of other items of information with which it is embodied. We are to understand this [formally] through the operation of a turing machine, whose operation, from its initial to its final step, if it has one, is to be understood as a quantum of action which may be logically decomposed into a series of sub actions, all of which are quantized.
Space can contain both p and not-p, ie 2 quanta of action. So how does one quantum split into two? How does one god become two gods? By communicating with itself, by copying itself, by duplicating itself, as I want to do by finally understanding myself and reproducing myself, becoming a centre of condensation / propagation, the source of a new theology / physics which can be called cognitive cosmology.
Wednesday 1 July 2020
[page 16]
So, after half a century of beating around the bush I have finally done the full circle, the quantum of action is a particle, embodied logic, formally identical to the classical gods of Aristotle and Aquinas and to the initial singularity of Hawking and Ellis. Hawking & Ellis: The Large Scale Structure of Space-time, Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, Thomas Aquinas, Summa, I, 2, 3: Does God exist>
Once we have agreed that we can look upon the quantum of action as the most primitive of particles with dimensions that would later appear in 3-space as angular momentum we can begin to see it as a component of all other fundamental particles (ie embodied computers) that we have discovered by smashing delicate physical structures ("watches") together and this would explain why all the fundamental particles (with the exception of the Higgs) have spin since they embody quanta of action. It now seems open to reconstructing particle physics along the lines suggested by seeing the quantum as a real particle existing in an epoch before spacetime and we are encouraged to see how we can wangle quantum mechanics to produce space-time out of quanta of action. One thing we might notice is that in Cartesian terms the quantum is a definite and separate object which appears in space-time as a flexible pixelwith constant action subject to the equations ΔxΔp ≈ ΔEΔt ≈ h. which lead to trouble in field theory by producing infinities and loops. We do have an opening here in the way it opens us up to seeing mass as an inverse measure (via energy) of the time / distance required to execute a quantum of action. and we might think that in a real time processing system (as the universe no doubt is) the masses of the particles associated with different processes must be a function if the timing necessary too synchronize all the elements of a complex process to achieve a successful outcome rather as the timing of a batsperon contributes to the success of their shot. Will, University of Melbourne: Has physics entered the nightmare scenario?
The fundamental output of the theory of peace is that violence is not a necessary
[page 17
feature of a constructive cooperative shared life. The violent Leviathan is in no way necessary; all that is needed is an explicit shared representation of some golden constitutional rue like the shared genome of a multicellular organism. Leviathan (Hobbes Book) - Wikipedia
Thursday 2 July 2020
Hong Kong 'security" law, judgement and divinity. Jeffie Lam Jeffie Lam: National security law: US envoy slams 'terrible' legislation, says consulate will still meet with opposition figures
Friday 3 July 2020
The Personal History of David Copperfield The Personal History of David Copperfield - Wikipedia
Sometimes I wonder why I have tolerated the Catholic Church for so long in the sense that I have not become a loud activist against it. One reason may be timidity but what I console myself for my inactivity is more along the lines of know thy enemy and do not demolish the old structure until one has designed and financed the new one that will perform the same tasks better in every way, rather like the process of replacing the carbon based energy production with direct solar energy which does not carry the detrimental overheads of environmental destruction. The old theology is militaristic and violent, bringing abut "conversion" by the spurious promises of false doctrine, and my aim is to create a comprehensive replacement in which phasing out the old is implicit as the economic advantages of renewable energy imply the increasingly rapid death of of fossil fuels. The development of a comprehensive scientific theology, I feel, will wipe out the old violent and stupid theologies through a similar mechanism.
[page 18]
Next job: couple quantum theory to network computation theory. Quantum systems proceed by continuous unitary evolution, computers proceed stepwise. The stepwise element is introduced into quantum mechanics by observation, which involves a quantum of action. From a theoretical point of view, this observation may involve vectors in a space of countably infinite dimension with an infinite set of basis vectors or eigenfunctions, one of which is selected by the measurement process and the corresponding eigenvalue measured. The ability to deal with infinite spaces in one move is the source of hope that quantum machines can outperform classical machines. But how true is all this? Is it just an artefact of the mathematical wave mechanics in complete Hilbert spaces of unbounded complexity? Is there evidence of this view in the experimental data.
Dickens Wikipedia Catholic Church: "that curse upon the world". Charles Dickens - Wikipedia
As we have it, the invisible part of quantum mechanics is continuous, the visible part episodic. This contrast may reflect the difference between Hamiltonian (differential) and Lagrangian (integral) approaches to mechanics. Following Feynman and others, the Lagrangian approach has come to prevail. So what really happens between observations?
The Man Who Invented Christmas: 'One thing I learned from my father is that people will believe anything if you are properly dressed.
Can we say that wave mechanics is Hamiltonian,
[page 19]
matrix mechanics Lagrangian. (von Neumann) united in Hilbert space.
From a practical point of view our only access to what is going in behind the scenes in the universe is what we see, as is the case in all science. What we see is the so-called classical world, that is the world where we can establish a 1 to 1 correspondence between abstract mathematical symbols and real physical objects like electrons and bricks. This prescription falters when we come to talk about entities like angels, quantum amplitudes and quarks whose observability is at best marginal and whose theoretical models are at best questionable. Perhaps there is a better way?
Here we come to the critical question with respect to quantum mechanics, and the answer, I feel relates to the relationship between the computer network and the Hilbert space which we can approach through a study of the computer network and real 4D space-time via clocks and 3D wiring networks. The reality of the Hilbert space is that it follows special relativity into specifically incorporating the time / frequency / energy / [phase] domain into our understanding of the local space-time milieu in which we operate.
Saturday 4 July 2020
The insight noted above follows easily from the idea cooked up some time this year [in fact 6 January 2019] , that space massively increases the realm [domain] of logic but [nuancing] the existence of the formal logical principle
[page 20]
of the excluded middle, either p or not-p but not both by enabling the existence of an infinity of not-ps corresponding to each p. Space, in effect, deconstructs the non-constructive proof. Notes 6 January 2019]
So we begin the mapping of the computer network onto real space-time and the transform of this mapping into Hilbert space by the introduction of orthogonal complex vectors to describe local clocks and use this to explain synchronization by "gauge theory" ie "phase theory".
The extent of synchronisation in a single computer is restricted by the finite velocity of propagation of electrical signals which approach the the velocity of light, about 300 millimetres per nanosecond. This constraint becomes significant as processing speeds exceed 1 GHz.
In Hilbert logic the middle term is the phase which predates space and time and is the metric yielded by the inner product and interactions are described by superposition of phases. It in effect represented inertial space in one dimension. I am amazed at how this is coming out of my mind when I have had the long term feeling that I do not understand any of it.
Hilbert space is much simpler than classical space and carried the seeds of classical space [in the form of a vast spectrum of phases?]
Newtonian physics: one clock for all space. Special relativity: unique clock at every point in spacetime. Hilbert space: a set of orthogonal
[page 21]
clocks, no 'space' in the conventional sense of extended fields of action.
This leads to the idea that because Hilbert space precedes classical space the representation of all the basis vectors of a Hilbert space may be distributed through a sample of real space in some way hidden "underneath" it.
Music fills space by travelling through it. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Catfish John So we can imagine a similar situation with light propagating through space. Music is represented by the physical elements of musical instruments including the human body and the air and all the available recording media. How do we represent music in Hilbert space? Its all a matter of timing across a very large range of frequencies from nucleic to instrumental strings, tubes and other physical resonators. So what is resonating in quantum systems? Somehow it is the eigenfunctions. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Alison Kraus: Catfish John
We interpret the orthogonal basis vectors of Hilbert space as 'protophotons'. little units of angular momentum - action operating at orthogonal frequencies.
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Further readingBooks
Auyang, Sunny Y., How is Quantum Field Theory Possible?, Oxford University Press 1995 Jacket: 'Quantum field theory (QFT) combines quantum mechanics with Einstein's special theory of relativity and underlies elementary particle physics. This book presents a philosophical analysis of QFT. It is the first treatise in which the philosophies of space-time, quantum phenomena and particle interactions are encompassed in a unified framework.'
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Deighton, Len, Spy Sinker, HarperCollins 1990 'The third novel in Deighton's "Hook, Line and Sinker" trilogy. Spanning a ten year period (1977-87), Deighton solves the mystery of Fiona's defection - was she a Soviet spy or wasn't she? He also retells some of the events from the "Game, Set and Match", trilogy from Fiona's point of view.'
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Drabble, Margaret, The Radiant Way, Knopf; First U.S. edition (October 12, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0394561430
ISBN-13: 978-0394561431 1987 Amazon editorial review: From Library Journal
'Drabble's major new novel, her first in seven years, charts the fortunes of three women who meet at Cambridge in the 1950s. Liz becomes a successful psychotherapist, Alix a teacher of literature in a women's prison, and Esther an art historian specializing in the Italian Renaissance. Their stories unfold against the sweep of post-war England, a period of decline, disillusionment, and radical social change. As the novel progresses, we delve more deeply into each woman's past, discovering how their lives intersect and how their relatively privileged status contrasts with that of people living on the fringe: a disturbed young girl, even a serial murderer. The title itself (taken from a childhood reading primer) becomes an ironic commentary on lost ideals. A long, satisfying book, full of characters, full of talking, full of ideas.' Laurence Hull, Cannon Memorial Lib., Concord, N.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Hallett, Michael, Cantorian Set Theory and Limitation of Size, Oxford UP 1984 Jacket: 'This book will be of use to a wide audience, from beginning students of set theory (who can gain from it a sense of how the subject reached its present form), to mathematical set theorists (who will find an expert guide to the early literature), and for anyone concerned with the philosophy of mathematics (who will be interested by the extensive and perceptive discussion of the set concept).' Daniel Isaacson.
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Hawking, Steven W, and G F R Ellis, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, Cambridge UP 1975 Preface: Einstein's General Theory of Relativity . . . leads to two remarkable predictions about the universe: first that the final fate of massive stars is to collapse behind an event horizon to form a 'black hole' which will contain a singularity; and secondly that there is a singularity in our past which constitutes, in some sense, a beginning to our universe. Our discussion is principally aimed at developing these two results.'
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Ikegami, Eiko, Bonds of Civility: Aesthetic Networks and the Political Origins of Japanese Culture, Cambridge University Press 2005 Amazon editorial reviews: 'In this fascinating and illuminating study of the politics of civility in Japan, Eiko Ikegami discusses the way that politeness and politics are inseparable. She shows persuasively that what in Western cultures is normally separated, like art and politics, has been, and is, closely interwoven in Japan. It is an amazing society that rises before her audience's eyes, and, since Ikegami presents this astonishing story with enviable lucidity, her book is as accessible to the reader innocent in the ways of Japan as it is to the specialist.'
-Peter Gay, Yale University
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Marais, Eugene, and (translated by Winifred de Kok, The Soul of the White Ant, Penguin Books 1973 Jacket: 'Is nature a state of chaos or a predetermined pattern of existence? Is a termite colony a collection of individuals or a single, unified organism working toward a single aim? In this utterly absorbing study of a termite colony, Eugène Marais, the brilliant South African journalist, lawyer poet and natural scientist poses these intriguing questions. Ten years of close observation led him to some startling conclusions - with disturbing social implications.'
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McKeown, Thomas, The Origins of Human Disease, Basil Blackwell 1988 Jacket: 'This book is a history of the diseases of humankind and their causes from earliest times to the present day. It is a tour de force drawing upon the author's extensive work on the history of infection, as well as on the evidence drawn from archaeology, history and demography.'
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Misner, Charles W, and Kip S Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation, Freeman 1973 Jacket: 'Einstein's description of gravitation as curvature of spacetime led directly to that greatest of all predictions of his theory, that the universe itself is dynamic. Physics still has far to go to come to terms with this amazing fact and what it means for man and his relation to the universe. John Archibald Wheeler. . . . this is a book on Einstein's theory of gravity. . . . '
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Monk, Ray, Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, Vintage ex Jonathan Cape 1990 Review: 'With a subject who demands passionate partisanship, whose words are so powerful but whose actions speak louder, it must have been hard to write this definitive, perceptive and lucid biography. Out goes Norman Malcolm's saintly Wittgenstein, Bartley's tortured, impossibly promiscuous Wittgenstein, and Brian McGuinness's bloodless, almost bodiless Wittgenstein. This Wittgenstein is the real human being: wholly balanced and happily eccentric . . . ' The Times
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Pais, Abraham, 'Subtle is the Lord...': The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, Oxford UP 1982 Jacket: In this . . . major work Abraham Pais, himself an eminent physicist who worked alongside Einstein in the post-war years, traces the development of Einstein's entire ouvre. . . . Running through the book is a completely non-scientific biography . . . including many letters which appear in English for the first time, as well as other information not published before.'
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Veltman, Martinus, Diagrammatica: The Path to the Feynman Rules, Cambridge University Press 1994 Jacket: 'This book provides an easily accessible introduction to quantum field theory via Feynman rules and calculations in particle physics. The aim is to make clear what the physical foundations of present-day field theory are, to clarify the physical content of Feynman rules, and to outline their domain of applicability. ... The book includes valuable appendices that review some essential mathematics, including complex spaces, matrices, the CBH equation, traces and dimensional regularization. ...'
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Wilczek, Frank, The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces, Basic Books 2008 ' In this excursion to the outer limits of particle physics, Wilczek explores what quarks and gluons, which compose protons and neutrons, reveal about the manifestation of mass and gravity. A corecipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, Wilczek knows what he’s writing about; the question is, will general science readers? Happily, they know what the strong interaction is (the forces that bind the nucleus), and in Wilczek, they have a jovial guide who adheres to trade publishing’s belief that a successful physics title will not include too many equations. Despite this injunction (against which he lightly protests), Wilczek delivers an approachable verbal picture of what quarks and gluons are doing inside a proton that gives rise to mass and, hence, gravity. Casting the light-speed lives of quarks against “the Grid,” Wilczek’s term for the vacuum that theoretically seethes with quantum activity, Wilczek exudes a contagious excitement for discovery. A near-obligatory acquisition for circulating physics collections.' --Gilbert Taylor
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Links
Al Jazeera & News Agencies, Hong Kong marks handover anniversary under shadow of security law, ' Hong Kong marked the 23rd anniversary of the territory's return to China on Wednesday hours after Beijing's imposition of a new national security law, drawing international condemnation and thousands of defiant protesters.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam joined her predecessors and other officials at the harbour's edge for a flag-raising ceremony and a reception for specially-invited guests, as the territory's annual pro-democracy march was banned for the first time.
In her speech, Lam praised the new law as "the most important development" in the relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong since the 1997 handover, saying it is "necessary and timely" move to restore stability.
She defended the legislation, which came into force overnight after being rushed through China's rubber-stamp parliament as "constitutional, lawful, sensible and reasonable".' back |
Alan Gilbert, The Secret Black History of the American Revolution, ' And as I emphasize in Black Patriots and Loyalists (2012), the acme of freedom in the American Revolution was the gradual emancipation of slaves in Vermont (not yet a state) in 1777, in Pennsylvania in 1780, in Massachusetts in 1782, in Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784, in New York in 1799, and in New Jersey in 1804. If we ask the central question in American history: how did there come to be a free North to oppose bondage in the Civil War, the answer is, surprisingly: gradual emancipation during and just after the American Revolution. Thus, Black Patriots and their white abolitionist allies played a central, undiscussed role both in battle and in the deepening of American freedom.' back |
Annus Mirabilis papers - Wikipedia, Annus Mirabilis papers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Annus Mirabilis Papers (from Latin annus mīrābilis, 'extraordinary year') are the papers of Albert Einstein published in the "Annalen der Physik" scientific journal in 1905. These four articles contributed substantially to the foundation of modern physics and changed views on space, time, and matter. The Annus Mirabilis is often called the "Miracle Year" in English or in German, the "Wunderjahr"' back |
Aquinas 20, Summa I, 3, 7: Whether God is altogether simple? , 'I answer that, The absolute simplicity of God may be shown in many ways.
First, from the previous articles of this question. For there is neither composition of quantitative parts in God, since He is not a body; nor composition of matter and form; nor does His nature differ from His "suppositum"; nor His essence from His existence; neither is there in Him composition of genus and difference, nor of subject and accident. Therefore, it is clear that God is nowise composite, but is altogether simple. . . . ' back |
Australian Government, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 'WHEREAS all children deserve a safe and happy childhood.
AND Australia has undertaken international obligations to take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect children from sexual abuse and other forms of abuse, including measures for the prevention, identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow up of incidents of child abuse. . . . IN WITNESS, We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent.
WITNESS Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Dated 11th January 2013
Governor-General
By Her Excellency’s Command
Prime Minister back |
Canonical transformation - Wikipedia, Canonical transformation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'IIn Hamiltonian mechanics, a canonical transformation is a change of canonical coordinates (q, p, t) → (Q, P, t) that preserves the form of Hamilton's equations (that is, the new Hamilton's equations resulting from the transformed Hamiltonian may be simply obtained by substituting the new coordinates for the old coordinates), although it might not preserve the Hamiltonian itself. This is sometimes known as form invariance. Canonical transformations are useful in their own right, and also form the basis for the Hamilton–Jacobi equations (a useful method for calculating conserved quantities) and Liouville's theorem (itself the basis for classical statistical mechanics). back |
Canticle of the Sun - Wikipedia, Canticle of the Sun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopdia, 'The Canticle of the Sun, also known as the Canticle of the Creatures or Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Creatures), is a religious song composed by Saint Francis of Assisi. It was written in an Umbrian dialect of Italian but has since been translated into many languages. It is believed to be among the first works of literature, if not the first, written in the Italian language.' back |
Charism - Wikipedia, Charism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In Christian theology, a charism (plural: charisms or charismata; in Greek singular: χαρίσμα charisma, plural: χαρίσματα charismata) in general denotes any good gift that flows from God's love to humans. The word can also mean any of the spiritual graces and qualifications granted to every Christian to perform his or her task in the Church. In the narrowest sense, it is a theological term for the extraordinary graces given to individual Christians for the good of others.' back |
Charles Dickens - Wikipedia, Charles Dickens - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.[1] His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.' back |
Codec - Wikipedia, Codec - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. Codec is a portmanteau of coder-decoder or, less commonly, compressor-decompressor.' back |
Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, RAAF jet fuel: Defence personnel call for inquiry after reporting wide range of serious illnesses, 'Current and former Defence Force personnel are calling for a wide-ranging inquiry into whether thousands of servicemen and women have suffered serious illnesses due to exposure to toxic jet fuel.
The ABC has spoken to dozens of men and women who served in the Army, Air Force and Navy over the past five decades who believe their health, or that of their loved ones, has been detrimentally affected through working with fuel and other chemicals.
Some also say Defence has been aware for many years of the dangers of fuel exposure, but did not enforce the workplace precautions necessary to protect Defence personnel.' back |
Daniel Hurst, Tribunal refeuses to release Abbott government's university fee modelling, back |
Darren Curnoe, Aboriginal history rewritten again by ignorant political class, 'Ian McNiven, an archaeologist at Monash University, wrote an article in 2011 in the journal Australian Archaeology about the 1990s/2000s public debate over them.
As he noted, there is very good evidence for cultural continuity between these paintings and recent art as documented for example by amateur archaeologist David Welch in 1996.
Paul Taçon who holds a chair in rock art research at Griffith University also pointed out in an article in Nature Australia (1998-1999) that Welch:
“has documented a recent use of every type of artefact depicted in Bradshaw art, strongly suggesting the paintings reflect Indigenous Australian way of life”.
More broadly, the science of human origins has moved a long way in the last two decades not the least because of big developments in genetic research.
DNA shows clearly that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are directly descended from the earliest humans to have settled Australia, New Guinea and surrounding islands.
Genetic clocks show they split from populations alive in East Asia today between 45,000 and 75,000 years ago.
Human skeletons from the Willandra Lakes region of southwest New South Wales also make abundantly clear that living Aboriginal Australians are the very same people as those who arrived here more than 40,000 years ago.
McNiven has also pointed out the very long history of the political use of archaeology to justify colonial ends by disassociating Indigenous people from their land and heritage.
He pithily concluded in 2011:
Thus, I suspect, we haven not heard the last of colonialist interpretations of Gwion Gwion paintings. As long as Australian society struggles to comprehend and acknowledge Aboriginal Native Title rights, archaeology will continue to be manipulated by those seeking to undermine Aboriginal authenticity and legitimacy of connections to land and heritage. back |
Digital subscriber line - Wikipedia, Digital subscriber line - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, back |
Django (2017 Film) - Wikipedia, Django (2017 Film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Django is a 2017 French drama film about the life of Django Reinhardt, directed by Étienne Comar. It opened the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Reinhardt's music is performed in the film by the Rosenberg Trio. back |
Django Reinhardt, The definitive Django, ' Tracklist :
00:00 - Nuages
03:14 - Douce Ambiance
05:35 - Georgia On My Mind (feat. Jerry Mango)
08:48 - Blues en Mineur
12:15 - Saint Louis Blues
14:40 - Vendredi 13
17:44 - Mistery Pacific
20:04 - Ol' Man River
22:43 - The Sheik of Araby (feat. St. Grappelli)
25:46 - Echoes of Spain
28:54 - Solitude
32:02 - Crepuscule
35:55 - September Song
38:28 - I'll See You In My Dreams
40:59 - I Cover The Waterfront
44:23 - Manoir de mes reves
47:40 - My Serenade (feat. St. Grappelli)
50:39 - Les Yeux Noirs
53:47 - Swingtime In Springtime
56:54 - I Got Rhythm (feat. St. Grappelli)
59:36 - Alabamy Bound (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:02:24 - Swing from Paris (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:04:56 - Stockholm
01:07:42 – Nagasaki (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:10:32 - Belleville
01:13:02 - Mabel
01:17:17 - Swing 39
01:19:49 - Minor Swing (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:23:03 - Body and Soul (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:26:28 - In a Sentimental Mood (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:29:28 - Dinah
01:33:03 - Daphne
01:37:29 - Louise
01:39:57 - Dinette
01:42:48 - Tea for Two
01:45:38 - Oh Lady Be Good ! (feat. St. Grappelli)
01:48:28 - Tears
01:51:06 - Viper's Dream
01:54:02 - Swing Guitars
01:56:26 - Djangology
01:59:29 - Echoes of France
Brought to you by The WNTS Jazz Education Program back |
Django Reinhardt - Wikipedia, Django Reinhardt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his stage name Django Reinhardt was a Belgian-born Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was the first jazz talent to emerge from Europe and remains the most significant.
With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Reinhardt formed the Paris-based Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934. The group was among the first to play jazz that featured the guitar as a lead instrument. Reinhardt recorded in France with many visiting American musicians, including Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter, and briefly toured the United States with Duke Ellington's orchestra in 1946. He died suddenly of a stroke at the age of 43. ' back |
E J Dionne Jr, The Acceleration of History: Sociall Moements Can Sway Courts, '. . . the core liberal conviction about the Supreme Court, developed during and after the New Deal years, still rings true: that the court plays its most constructive role in our national life when it uses its power to vindicate the rights of beleaguered minorities. This week will be remembered as a stunning moment when our institutions converged to accelerate our long, steady movement toward an ever more inclusive equality.' back |
Fabiana Batista, Brazil Burns Billions of Carbon Credits in Amazon Rout, CEO Says, ' The world’s biggest wood-pulp producer says cutting down the Amazon makes no business sense.
While Brazil‘s President Jair Bolsonaro defends opening up the world’s largest rainforest to agriculture and mining, the head of Suzano SA said preserving the biome could earn the country $10 billion a year on the carbon credit market.
“It would be an incredible opportunity in the green carbon market if Brazil cut Amazon deforestation and burning to zero,” Chief Executive Officer Walter Schalka said in an interview. “It’s not a loan, or investment. It would be profit from carbon credit sales.” ' back |
George F Will, Some GOP candidates becoming unhinged over gay marriage ruling, 'Now, 147 years since ratification of the 14th Amendment, its guarantees of “equal protection of the laws” and “due process of law” mean that states, which hitherto controlled marriage law, must recognize same-sex marriages. Anthony Kennedy’s opinion for the court said: “The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning .” (Emphasis added.)' back |
H A H Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Message upon the Day of Prayer for the Protection of Creation, 'Inasmuch as it is well known and proven, that "the laws of nature are neither dissolved nor disturbed, but always remain constant" (St. John Chrysostom, On Lazarus VI PG 48. 1042), we are today obliged to focus our attention on the unseen human interventions impacting on the ecological balance, which is disturbed not only by visible destructive actions – such as deforestation, depletion of water resources, the overall exploitation of natural and energy resources, together with the pollution of immense land or marine regions by means of spilling or depositing toxic and chemical materials – but also by activities invisible to the naked eye.' back |
Hari Kunzru, Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world, 'Actually, the great Dune film did get made. Its name is Star Wars. In early drafts, this story of a desert planet, an evil emperor, and a boy with a galactic destiny also included warring noble houses and a princess guarding a shipment of something called “aura spice”. All manner of borrowings from Dune litter the Star Wars universe, from the Bene Gesserit-like mental powers of the Jedi to the mining and “moisture farming” on Tattooine. Herbert knew he’d been ripped off, and thought he saw the ideas of other SF writers in Lucas’s money-spinning franchise. He and a number of colleagues formed a joke organisation called the We’re Too Big to Sue George Lucas Society./ back |
Helen Davidson & Christopher Knaus, Timor-Leste: court upholds Australian government refusal to release documents on Indonesia's invasion, ' Decades-old documents relating to Australia’s involvement in the Indonesian invasion of Timor-Leste will remain secret after a court upheld the Australian government’s refusal to release them. . . .
Academic Kim McGrath had repeatedly sought access from the National Archives to the diplomatic cables and cabinet documents which relate to maritime border negotiations between Indonesia and Australia in the 1970s.
But the archives has resisted granting access to the documents, and its decision was upheld in the tribunal last month.
In 2018 Guardian Australia revealed that some documents declassified during the hearing showed that Australia appeared driven by its desire for oil and gas rights when it legitimised Indonesia’s 1975 occupation of Timor-Leste. ' back |
IAEA, Report of International Post-Review Mission on Radiation Safety Aspects of the Opeeration of a Rare Earth Processing Facility and Assessment of the 2011 Mission Recommendations, back |
IAEA: Rodolfo Quevenco, Malaysian Rare Earth Plant Complies with IAEA Recommendations, Report Concludes, 'The Malaysian government has implemented all recommendations put forward by an IAEA-led review mission in 2011 on radiation safety at the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP), a rare earths processing facility completed in 2012 near Kuantan, Malaysia. This is one of the main conclusions of a report recently made public by the IAEA on the request of the Malaysian government. The release of the report in itself complies with recommendations to ensure maximum transparency over the project.' back |
James Athanasou, Why Greece's economic tragedy is a warning for Australia, 'It is about freedom and how we manage this God-given right. It is about the psyche of a tiny nation (an Australia or a Greece) that is being told what to do by others. It is about making ordinary people suffer for the mistakes of their politicians. It is about developing a cargo-cult mentality and thinking that the good times will never end. It is about losing trust in essential services like banks.
How did Greece dig itself into this hole? While the workings of monetary systems may be all Greek to most readers, the simple answer is that it borrowed too much for too long. It spent more than it could hope to repay if it continued going the way it was.' back |
James Massola, Its the principle that stops refugees from facing harm. So why is it absent from Labor's platform, 'According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which Australia signed in 1954, any signatory nation shall not "expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion".
The two previous national platforms, published in 2009 and 2011, both explicitly committed an Australian Labor government to "comply with the non-refoulement and all other protection obligations we have voluntarily assumed in signing the Refugee Convention".' back |
Jay Neugeboren, Last Word: Max Baer in Chicago, '“Hey—I’d get rid of that sign, I were you. It’s making your customers uncomfortable.”
The bartender froze where he was.
“Now!” Max commanded.
The bartender did what Max asked. The man who had confronted Max backed away, told Max he didn’t mess with killers or kikes, and hurried out of the bar.' back |
Jeffie Lam, National security law: US envoy slams 'terrible' legislation, says consulate will still meet with opposition figures, ' “The point is not whether or not you have a national security law, but how it’s created and whether or not it reflects the will of Hong Kong people,” he said.
“This was imposed by Beijing in an opaque way. You have troubling and very unfortunate scenes of people here publicly supporting legislation that they have never laid eyes on.” ' back |
Kerygma - Wikipedia, Kerygma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Kerygma (from the Greek word κήρυγμα kérugma) is a Greek word used in the New Testament for "preaching" (see Luke 4:18-19, Romans 10:14, Matthew 3:1). It is related to the Greek verb κηρύσσω kērússō meaning, literally, "to cry or proclaim as a herald" and used in the sense of "to proclaim, announce, preach".
According to the New Testament (Luke 4:17-21), Jesus launched his public ministry when he entered the synagogue in Nazareth, read from the scroll of Isaiah and identified himself as the subject of Isaiah 61. The text is a programmatic statement of Jesus' ministry to preach or proclaim – kerygma – good news to the poor, the blind and the captive.' back |
Kerygma Venture, What is the Kerygma, 'The Kerygma is the declaration that:
The coming of Jesus Christ fulfills all the promises of history and inaugurates the kingdom of God on earth;
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection accomplishes the forgiveness of sin;
From his exalted position as ascended Messiah, Jesus rules all things;
The presence of the Holy Spirit signifies his present reign and empowers believers to fulfill their destiny as image-bearers; and
This declaration demands a response of repentance and complete trust.' back |
Khalid Koser, Migration and Climate Change, 'The impact of climate change on migration has attracted considerable attention in recent years, among academics, but also in media coverage and on the political agenda. Although there is a striking lack of scientific consensus on what these effects will be, and how many people will be affected, there has been a tendency to pose migration resulting from the effects of climate change as a serious threat, especially in Europe. In the spirit of promoting objective debate and evidence-based policy, this short article attempts to summarize the existing research.' back |
Leviathan (Hobbes Book) - Wikipedia, Leviathan (Hobbes Book) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668). Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan. The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), it argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a state of nature ("the war of all against all") could only be avoided by strong, undivided government.' back |
Liar paradox - Wikipedia, Liar paradox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In philosophy and logic, the classical liar paradox or liar's paradox is the statement of a liar who states that she/he is lying: for instance "I am lying" or "everything I say is false". If he/she is indeed lying, he/she is telling the truth, which means he/she is lying... In "this sentence is a lie" the paradox is strengthened in order to make it amenable to more rigorous logical analysis. It is still generally called the "liar paradox" although abstraction is made precisely from the liar himself. Trying to assign to this statement, the strengthened liar, a classical binary truth value leads to a contradiction.
If "this sentence is false" is true, then the sentence is false, but then if "this sentence is false" is false, then the sentence is true, and so on.' back |
Lisa O'Kelly, Masha Gessen: 'I never thought I'd say it, but Trump is worse than Putin, ' Masha Gessen is a Russian-American author and journalist who has been writing about Vladimir Putin and other modern autocrats for two decades. After Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016, they wrote an essay in the New York Review of Books arguing that it was folly to regard him as a regular politician and predicting that he would attempt to transform America into a Putin-style autocracy. Gessen’s new book, Surviving Autocracy, demonstrates how Trump has come closer to achieving autocratic rule than most people would have thought possible.' back |
Mark Sutherland, Taylor Swift: 'I want to make the most of this success. Its not going to last,, 'She is trying, in her words, "to create a beautiful life". She likes to "play the tape of her life forward" when she's making decisions. But ask her what the tape looks like if you fast-forward five years and she seems less certain. "I'll be 30," she gasps.
She is not even sure she'll have made another album by the time 2020 rolls around. "I'm not going to put out an album until I've made one that's better than this one and that's going to be really hard," she says.
For now, though, her life is mapped out indefinitely. As we start to leave she runs through her schedule for the rest of the day: watch the fan reaction videos to her latest batch of gift-giving, work out, go to a dress-fitting, more meetings.
"I just want to have as much fun and as many adventures as possible," she says before politely taking her leave. For once, you suspect, she really doesn't need to worry.' back |
Masha Gessen, Autocracy: Rules for Survival, ' Rule #6: Remember the future. Nothing lasts forever. Donald Trump certainly will not, and Trumpism, to the extent that it is centered on Trump’s persona, will not either. Failure to imagine the future may have lost the Democrats this election. They offered no vision of the future to counterbalance Trump’s all-too-familiar white-populist vision of an imaginary past. They had also long ignored the strange and outdated institutions of American democracy that call out for reform—like the electoral college, which has now cost the Democratic Party two elections in which Republicans won with the minority of the popular vote. That should not be normal. But resistance—stubborn, uncompromising, outraged—should be.' back |
Michael Bradley, The Government's 'allegiance' law sends us back to the Middle Ages, 'What's happening here is very subtle. The Government is seeking to co-opt the historical anachronism that we are all subjects, not free persons, and transport it into the modern context of the nation state. The intended result is the development of a new concept - that all Australians, whether born here or naturalised, owe an allegiance that is much deeper than we've ever understood. . . . The Government has shown its hand. It is attempting to redraw our relationship with Australia as a State, to elevate the State to a position equivalent to that of a medieval king, to which fealty is owed in return for protection from physical harm. The new citizenship law, by seeking to add an extremely long list of ways in which we can "renounce" our citizenship, is designed to make them a substantive part of our personal duty to the State. This is a very different thing from just calling them a crime. Losing your liberty is a very different thing from losing your identity as an Australian.' back |
Michael Vagg, Why doctors won't cop lgislated silence, 'Two Australian doctors have taken to the pages of the prestigious journal, the BMJ to make their international colleagues aware of the extraordinary assault on medical ethics contained in the recently enacted Border Force Act 2015. I have also received an email on behalf on the President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Laureate Professor Nick Talley to all members of the College and its Chapters and Faculties calling the Act “unacceptable to physicians”. They join the AMA and other peak health organisations in publicly warning the Government about trying to prevent doctors advocating for vulnerable patients.' back |
Michele L. Norris, George and Martha Washington enslaved 300 people. Lets start with their names, ' Many say Washington deserves some measure of grace because he arranged to free some of his slaves upon his death. So, he did in death what he would not do in life? We must own up to the fact that he owned people, that those people were separated from their loved ones, made to work without pay, made to live without dignity, made to suffer whippings, made to disappear. Because of that their names are monuments unto themselves. back |
Michelson and Morley, On the relative motion of the earth and the lumeniferous ether, The classic paper, 1887. They conclude that "It appears, from all that precedes, reasonably certain that if there be any relative motion between the earth and the luminiferous ether, it must be small; . . . " back |
Michiko Katukani, Obama's Eulogy, Which Found Its Place in History, 'In his eulogy on June 26, Mr. Obama recounted the history of Charleston’s “Mother Emanuel” — how “a church built by blacks seeking liberty” was “burned to the ground because its founders sought to end slavery” and how it rose again, “a phoenix from these ashes,” to become a sacred place where Dr. King would preach from its pulpit. He spoke of how history “must be a manual” to avoid “repeating the mistakes of the past” while building “a roadway toward a better world.” ' back |
Moses - Wikipedia, Moses - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Moses (/Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה) in both the Septuagint and the New Testament) is a prophet in Abrahamic religions. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was a former Egyptian prince who later in life became a religious leader and lawgiver, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed.' back |
Moses (?), Exodus, Bible, King James Version, 'Exod.2
[1] And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
[2] And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
[3] And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
[4] And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
[5] And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
[6] And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.' back |
Mustafa Akyol, Where the Powerful Can Kill the Weak, as Long as They Pay, ' How can a murder case be closed through a mere “pardon” by a family member? And how is it acceptable, legally and culturally, that the family member gets handsomely paid for it?
The answer is in the notion of “diya,” or “blood money,” which has been used in Saudi Arabia for decades to cover up grave crimes. . . .
Today, Saudi Arabia represents the deep troubles of an archaic Islamic tradition that bypassed many of these modern reforms. Its crown prince may try to close the gap cosmetically, by allowing women to drive or dance, which is fine. But real reform for the kingdom will be accepting the rule of law and freedom of speech. That would include not murdering critical journalists and not covering up their murders by paying blood money.' back |
Mystagogue - Wikipedia, Mystagogue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'A mystagogue (from Greek: μυσταγωγός "person who initiates into mysteries") is a person who initiates others into mystic beliefs, an educator or person who has knowledge of the Sacred Mysteries. Another word is Hierophant.
In ancient mystery religions, a mystagogue would be responsible for leading an initiate into the secret teachings and rituals of the cultus. The initiate would often be blindfolded, and the mystagogue would literally "guide" him into the sacred space.
In the early church, this same concept was used to describe the bishop, who was responsible for seeing to it that the catechumens were properly prepared for baptism.' back |
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Alison Kraus, Catfish John,
'Mama said, Don't go near that river,
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John
Come in the morning I'd always be there,
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.
Take me back to another morning, to a time so long ago,
When the sweet magnolia blossomed, cotton fields as white as snow.
Catfish John was a river hobo who lived and died by the river's bed,
Looking back I still remember I was proud to be his friend.
Mama said, Don't go near that river,
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John
Come in the morning I'd always be there,
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.
Born a slave in the town of Vicksburg, traded for a chestnut mare,
Lord her never spoke in anger though his load was hard to bear.
Mama said, "Don't go near that river,
Come in the morning I'd always be there,
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.
back |
NYT Editorial Board, President Trump Has Tools to Pressure China. Will He Use Them?, ' The new national-security law for Hong Kong is the most current and most publicized example of Mr. Xi’s repressive, nationalistic policies. The measure severely erodes Hong Kong’s civil and political freedoms, undermining the “one country, two systems” model that China pledged when the British colony reverted to Beijing’s rule in 1997. One of the first arrests under the new law was of a protester with a pro-independence flag, the display of which is now a criminal offense.' back |
Odium theologicum - Wikipedia, Odium theologicum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Latin phrase Odium theologicum (literally meaning "theological hatred") is the name originally given to the often intense anger and hatred generated by disputes over theology. It has also been adopted to describe non-theological disputes of a rancorous nature.' back |
Paganism - Wikipedia, Paganism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Pagan
The adoption of paganus by the Latin Christians as an all-embracing, pejorative term for polytheists represents an unforeseen and singularly long-lasting victory, within a religious group, of a word of Latin slang originally devoid of religious meaning. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church. Elsewhere, "Hellene" or "gentile" (ethnikos) remained the word for "pagan"; and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace.
—Peter Brown, Late Antiquity, 1999[
The term pagan is from Late Latin paganus, revived during the Renaissance. Itself deriving from classical Latin pagus which originally meant "region delimited by markers", paganus had also come to mean "of or relating to the countryside", "country dweller", "villager"; by extension, "rustic", "unlearned", "yokel", "bumpkin"; in Roman military jargon, "non-combatant", "civilian", "unskilled soldier". It is related to pangere ("to fix", "to fasten") and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag- ("to fix"). back |
Paul, Galatians 5:17, '16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.' back |
Paul, Galatians 2:20, '20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.' back |
Paul III - Council of Trent, Decree Concerning Original Sin, '1. If anyone does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he transgressed the commandment of God in paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice in which he had been constituted, and through the offense of that prevarication incurred the wrath and indignation of God, and thus death with which God had previously threatened him, and, together with death, captivity under his power who thenceforth had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil, and that the entire Adam through that offense of prevarication was changed in body and soul for the worse, let him be anathema.' back |
Paul Valelly, The Pope's Ecological Vow, back |
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ (1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French idealist philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of Peking Man. He conceived the idea of the Omega Point (a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving) and developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of noosphere.' back |
Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, '1. The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to come.' back |
Pope Francis, Laudato Si': On care of our common home, '1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.
2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.' back |
Ross Guest, The spending splurge matters regardless of what modern monetry theory says, ' The experience of Latin American countries that relied on their central banks to create money is frightening. Argentina and Venezuela in particular experienced inflation rates of up to 50% and plummeting exchange rates.
The idea that, if and when inflation arrives, the Australian government could easily throw its spending and tax engines into reverse is fanciful. It is politically difficult to wind back government spending and raise taxes. To do so on a large scale might be impossible. ' back |
Seven deadly sins - Wikipedia, Seven deadly sins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a classification of vices (part of Christian ethics) that has been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct Christians concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin. In the currently recognized version, the sins are usually given as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Each is a form of Idolatry-of-Self wherein the subjective reigns over the objective.' back |
Summa Theologica - Wikipedia, Summa Theologica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Summa Theologiae (Latin: Compendium of Theology or Theological Compendium; also subsequently called the Summa Theologica or simply the Summa, written 1265–1274) is the most famous work of Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 - 1274), and, although it was never finished, it is arguably "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature". It was intended as a manual for beginners and a compilation of all of the main theological teachings of the time. It presents the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology in the West by medieval scholastic reckoning. The Summa's topics follow a cycle: the existence of God; God's creation, Man; Man's purpose; Christ; the Sacraments; and back to God.' back |
Tabula rasa - Wikipedia, Tabula rasa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Tabula rasa (Latin: blank slate) refers to the epistemological thesis that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. . . . In Western philosophy, traces of the idea that came to be called the tabula rasa appear as early as the writings of Aristotle. Aristotle writes of the unscribed tablet in what is probably the first textbook of psychology in the Western canon, his treatise . . . (De Anima or On the Soul ).' back |
The Book of Genesis, The Fall, '1. Now the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?”
2.
The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
3
it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’”
4
But the snake said to the woman: “You certainly will not die!
5
God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know* good and evil.”
6
The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
8
When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9
The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you?
10
He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.”
11
Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat?
12
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”
13
The LORD God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it.”
14
Then the LORD God said to the snake:
Because you have done this,
cursed are you
among all the animals, tame or wild;
On your belly you shall crawl,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.
16
To the woman he said:
I will intensify your toil in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Yet your urge shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.
17
To the man he said: Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,
You shall not eat from it,
Cursed is the ground because of you!
In toil you shall eat its yield
all the days of your life.
18
Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you,
and you shall eat the grass of the field.
19
By the sweat of your brow
you shall eat bread,
Until you return to the ground,
from which you were taken;
For you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.' back |
The Personal History of David Copperfield - Wikipedia, The Personal History of David Copperfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Personal History of David Copperfield is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Armando Iannucci, based on the 1850 Victorian era novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It stars Dev Patel as the title character, and Aneurin Barnard, Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, Rosalind Eleazar, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw and Paul Whitehouse.
The world premiere was at the Toronto International Film Festival on 5 September 2019. It was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2020 by Lionsgate and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on 14 August 2020 by Searchlight Pictures. ' back |
Thomas Aquinas, Summa, I, 2, 3, Does God exist?, 'I answer that, The existence of God can be proved in five ways. The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. . . . ' back |
Thomas Faunce, How the US trade deal undermined Australia's PBS, 'Allowing the US to alter the basic processes of Australia’s PBS represented an inexcusable surrender of Australia’s democratic sovereignty. It represents just how compromised the state has become as a representative of citizens' interest in the face of corporate power.
It also provides salutary lessons as Australian citizens attempt to prevent their government surrendering democratic sovereignty on an even greater scale by agreeing to investor-state dispute settlement in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.' back |
Tim Lee, Cotton waste composter uses earthworms to turn waste into high grade fertilizer, ' The aim was to find a way to turn thousands of tonnes of cotton residue into fertiliser.
The secret was getting the right mix, one that could maximise a natural asset: earthworms.
So Mr Raccanello won some contracts to process domestic organic waste from regional towns, such as Mildura and Wagga Wagga.
He blended the waste with cotton trash and carefully tended his rows of waste material to ensure optimal conditions for worms.
He soon found the perfect recipe, and so was born a unique compost product that will soon be available to the retail market as well.' back |
Tim Lyons, Josh Frydenberg's industry super change is either pointless politics or vandalism, 'At present, there is about half a trillion dollars of superannuation assets held in not-for-profit industry superannuation funds. Although some have independent directors, the traditional board structure is 50% member representatives (often unionists) and 50% representatives of contributing employers.
Industry funds are a large pool of capital that isn’t being controlled by for-profit finance. In a world where everything is a ticket to be clipped, this has always driven the big banks and their friends in the Liberal party a bit nuts.' back |
United Nations, Official UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights Home Page, 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) (French) (Spanish) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.'' back |
Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The unmoved mover (Ancient Greek: ὃ οὐ κινούμενον κινεῖ, romanized: ho ou kinoúmenon kineî, lit. 'that which moves without being moved'] or prime mover (Latin: primum movens) is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary cause (or first uncaused cause) or "mover" of all the motion in the universe. As is implicit in the name, the unmoved mover moves other things, but is not itself moved by any prior action. In Book 12 (Greek: Λ) of his Metaphysics, Aristotle describes the unmoved mover as being perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation: self-contemplation. He equates this concept also with the active intellect. This Aristotelian concept had its roots in cosmological speculations of the earliest Greek pre-Socratic philosophers and became highly influential and widely drawn upon in medieval philosophy and theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, elaborated on the unmoved mover in the Quinque viae. ' back |
US Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics: Electricity, World electricity generation, 2008-2012 back |
Will, University of Melbourne, Has physics entered the nightmare scenario?, ' Particle accelerators seek to explore the workings of nature at the most fundamental level. Richard Feynman, the great 20th Century physicist and science communicator, described the logic behind them as so: “Atoms are complicated. Maybe like watches are—but atoms are so small that all we can do is smash them together and see all the funny pieces (gears, wheels, and springs) which fly out. Then we have to guess how the watch is put together.” ' back |
WP Editorial Board
, Trump's perverse pandemic response has thrown health officials into a vortex of fury, ' GOVERNMENT PUBLIC health officials in normal times are entrusted with thankless duties — tracking down the source of food poisoning, monitoring the spread of influenza, keeping tabs on water quality. Now, the coronavirus pandemic, and President Trump’s perverse response to it, have thrown these public servants into a vortex of fury, exposing them to threats from an angry population and pressure from political leaders. They deserve better.' back |
Zombie - Wikipedia, Zombie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Zombies are undead creatures, typically depicted as mindless, reanimated human corpses with a hunger for human flesh. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole: zonbi) where a zombie is a dead body animated by magic. Modern depictions of zombies do not necessarily involve magic but invoke other methods such as a virus.' back |
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