Auyang (1995), 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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Amanda Taub (2025_02_25), Trump’s Ukraine Mineral Deal Is Seen as ‘Protection Racket’ Diplomacy, ' Ukraine is nearing a deal to hand over a portion of its revenues from natural resources to the United States, under heavy pressure from the Trump administration. The agreement, in its current form, would not include any explicit security guarantees to deter Russian aggression. The White House has argued that the mere existence of American economic interests should be sufficient for Ukraine, which is facing a harsh reality: The United States wants to be paid in exchange for helping the country fend off an invader. “What better could you have for Ukraine than to be in an economic partnership with the United States?” Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, said on Friday. Mr. Trump has long demanded that NATO and other allies contribute more to their own defense. But the minerals agreement would represent a major escalation in his transactional approach to foreign policy. The United States was once seen as the world’s policeman, but to many analysts it now seems more like an extortionate Mafia kingpin.' back

Angelina Trefilova (2025_02_25), Training the ‘Warriors of Victory’: Russian Orthodox Church Marks 3 Years of War in Ukraine, ' “For almost three years, the main topic for our entire nation has been the special military operation. And, of course, the Russian Orthodox Church is always with its people,” Metropolitan Kirill, the Church official who oversees its work with Russia’s military and law enforcement agencies, said Friday. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church has fervently stood behind the Kremlin’s policies and worked to bolster military morale. On the war’s third anniversary, the Church commemorated the date with militarized worship and events across the country. Over the past three years, clergy members have baptized 42,000 soldiers on the front lines, built 140 field churches, and dispatched 2,000 Orthodox priests to the battlefield, according to Church representatives. At least 27 military units have been named after Orthodox saints, including the Seraphim of Sarov Battalion, named for one of Russia’s most revered religious figures. “You can’t send people to their deaths simply by talking about material [benefits], allowances, subsidies and privileges. You need to rely on something more profound,” Andrei Afanasyev, a war correspondent and host on the Orthodox TV channel SPAS, said of the Church’s role in wartime. back

Associated Press (2025_02_25), UN rejects US resolution urging end to Ukraine war without noting Russian aggression, ' In a win for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the United States on Monday failed to get the UN General Assembly to approve its resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow’s aggression. And the assembly approved a duelling European-backed Ukrainian resolution demanding Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine. It marks a setback for the Trump administration in the 193-member world body, whose resolutions are not legally binding but are seen as a barometer of world opinion. But it also shows some diminished support for Ukraine, whose resolution passed 93-18, with 65 abstentions. That is lower than previous votes, which saw over 140 nations condemn Russia’s aggression. The United States had tried to pressure the Ukrainians to withdraw their resolution in favour of its proposal, according to a US official and a European diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private. They refused, and then the assembly added language to the US proposal making clear that Russia invaded its smaller neighbour in violation of the UN Charter. The vote on the amended US resolution was 93-8 with 73 abstentions, with Ukraine voting “yes”, the US abstaining and Russia voting “no”.' back

Benjamin Storrow &Jean Chemnick, ‘Viciousness’ of Trump’s climate attacks stuns even his critics, ' President Donald Trump’s promised assault on federal climate policies is sweeping across Washington, state capitals and private industry with a speed that’s surprising even some of his supporters and critics — and could leave an impact on the planet’s future well after his presidency. His cost-cutting orders have led to the firings of thousands of people from the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Energy and the Interior, with even deeper slashing on the way. He’s dammed the flow of billions of federal dollars for energy rebates, low-income solar installations, electric vehicle chargers and more — sometimes flouting courts that ordered the money reinstated. And he has cast uncertainty over clean energy industries by threatening tariffs on allied nations, pausing permits for wind projects and promising to roll back hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy tax credits contained in former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Taken together, Trump’s actions mark a vast and coordinated attack on U.S. environmental policy by a president who has spent years denying the tenets of climate science and the reality of rising global temperatures. Analysts and advocates say the administration’s moves threaten to reverse decades of painfully slow progress to curb planet-warming pollution. “This shock and awe campaign will undo decades of bipartisan and international efforts to curb greenhouse gases and, if left unchecked, will lead to the planet warming far beyond manageable levels,” said Jillian Blanchard, who runs the climate change program at Lawyers for Good Government, a nonprofit watchdog group. back

Dana H. Allin &Jonathan Stevenson (2025_02_25), America and Russia Are on the Same Side Now, ' During the Cold War, large and influential Communist parties in Western Europe maintained ties with Moscow, ranging from sympathetic to subservient. The United States kept its distance and in many cases supported their opponents financially and politically. Now Europe is confronted with a loose alliance of Russian-leaning parties, this time on the other end of the spectrum: the far right. And the U.S. government has taken the opposite approach: a warm embrace. By doing so, the United States is condoning Russia’s subversion of the postwar Europe that America helped create and secure. The parties Russia favors are hostile to the European Union, opposed to higher military spending and receptive to Russia’s arguments about the recklessness of NATO expansion and the need to assert right-wing Christian values. Should these parties and their populist cousins eventually dominate Europe — they are in government in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia, and making an impact in France and Germany — they could eviscerate NATO and geopolitically neuter if not subjugate Europe itself. That is certainly Russia’s hope. [. . .] The Trump administration appears not to care. Mr. Vance made it clear that moderate European leaders cannot rely on American moderation, that Trump administration officials are unlikely to welcome intelligence illuminating the depth and breadth of the Russian threat to Europe and that heedlessness and betrayal have become part of U.S. policy. ' back

Franklin Perkins (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy, ' While there was no word corresponding precisely to the term “metaphysics,” China has a long tradition of philosophical inquiry concerned with the ultimate nature of reality—its being, origins, components, ways of changing, and so on. In this sense, we can speak of metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy, even if the particular questions and positions that arose differed from those dominant in Europe. Explicit metaphysical discussions appeared in China with a turn toward questions of cosmogony in the mid-fourth century BCE. These cosmogonies express views that became fundamental for almost all later metaphysics in China. In these texts, all things are interconnected and constantly changing. They arise spontaneously from an ultimate source (most often called dao 道, the way or guide) that resists objectification but is immanent in the world and accessible to cultivated people. Vitality and growth is the very nature of existence, and the natural world exhibits consistent patterns that can be observed and followed, in particular, cyclical patterns based on interaction between polar forces (such as yin 陰 and yang 陽). [. . .] Rather, we can say that while European metaphysics has tended to center on problems of reconciliation (how ontologically distinct things can interact), Chinese metaphysics has been more concerned with problems of distinction. The most central problems are around the status of individualized things, the relationship between the patterns of nature and specifically human values, and how to understand the ultimate ground of the world in a way that avoids either reification or nihilism. These become problems precisely because of the underlying assumptions of holism and change.' back

Galileo affair - Wikipedia, Galileo affair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Galileo affair (Italian: il processo a Galileo Galilei) began around 1610 and culminated with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was prosecuted for his support of heliocentrism, the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the centre of the Solar System. ' back

Greens election policy platform, Greens election policy platform, ' In a wealthy country like Australia, we should have world-class public health, education, and affordable housing. We have the resources to make it happen — but only if we choose to act. Under both major parties, you’re paying too much, while 1 in 3 big corporations pay no tax. Our plan takes on the big corporations and makes them pay their fair share. We’d use it to fund world-class public health and education and genuinely tackle the housing, climate and environment crisis. Our plan is ambitious and achievable – it’s fully costed by the Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. This election, you have a once in a generation opportunity to make it happen. Change starts with your vote.' back

Guardian Editorial (2025_02_27, The Guardian view on Spain: a progressive beacon in dark times Editorial, ' Coverage of this week’s seismic election result in Germany focused on the disturbing rise of the far right, and chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz’s warning that Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security. But for European progressives, there was also a third depressing takeaway: the comprehensive rejection of Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic party, which recorded its worst postwar result. Across the continent, centre-left parties have been exiled from the corridors of power, while the radical right has fuelled anxieties over immigration and economic stagnation to extend its influence. There is, however, one startling outlier to this dismal trend. Last year, Spain recorded the highest growth of any major country, at 3.2%. This was achieved under a Socialist-led coalition government that has welcomed high levels of immigration as a driver of economic prosperity, and which from this year plans to offer residency and work permits to up to 900,000 undocumented migrants. In 2024, over 400,000 vacancies were filled by migrants and dual nationals, as overall unemployment figures fell to their lowest level since the 2008 crash. [. . .] Nevertheless, at a time when much of the mainstream centre-left appears to have lost faith in progressive political solutions, the Sánchez government’s achievements deserve to be celebrated. A robustly social democratic approach to economic renewal, and a recognition of what migrants can offer ageing societies, remains the best response to the rise of nationalist, xenophobic politics. When unveiling his government’s plans to make it easier for migrants to settle last October, Mr Sánchez commented: “Throughout history, migration has been one of the great drivers of the development of nations, while hatred and xenophobia have been – and continue to be – the greatest destroyer of nations. The key is in managing it well.” It has become vanishingly rare to hear political leaders not only making such an argument but also acting on it. This may be a moment of maximum hubris for the Trumpian right across the west. But Spain continues to show that there is another way. back

History of weapons - Wikipedia, History of weapons - Wikipedia, the fee encyclopedia, back

Joelle Rollo-Koster (2025_02_25), Papal elections aren’t always as dramatic as ‘Conclave’ − but the history behind the process is, ' I’m a historian of the medieval papacy and editor of the forthcoming three volumes of “The Cambridge History of the Papacy.” So it was more or less mandatory for me to see the new movie “Conclave,” which has racked up dozens of award nominations – and several high-profile wins – heading into the Academy Awards. [. . .] What the movie does not do, though, is explain where the word “conclave” comes from, and how the mysterious system was created in the first place. Conclave is formed from the Latin words for “with key,” referring to how cardinals are sequestered to elect a pope – inside the Vatican, today; but wherever a pope died, in the Middle Ages. Why sequestered? Because it took centuries for the church to develop an electoral system free from manipulations and violence – which should resonate with contemporary politics. Once free from Byzantine and Holy Roman imperial controls, from the end of the 11th century forward, a medieval pope held powers far superior to the ones a pope holds today. Not only did he offer spiritual guidance, but the pope was heavily engaged in political affairs, including negotiations between states, and was head of the wealthiest institution around, collecting taxes and revenues from most of Europe. ' back

Mahabharata - Wikipedia, Mahabharata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the Mahābhārata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, the story of Shakuntala, the story of Pururava and Urvashi, the story of Savitri and Satyavan, the story of Kacha and Devayani, the story of Rishyasringa and an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa, often considered as works in their own right.' back

Mary Sirridge (1999), Quam videndo intus dicimus: Seeing and Saying in De Trinitate XV, ' What is being asserted is that thought has the same form as seeing or speaking respectively, i.e., that it works essentially like seeing or speaking, that thought is a formal and functional isomorph of seeing or speaking.' back

Massimo Faggioli (2025_02_19), Donald Trump captured American Catholicism — and the ramifications are being felt around the world, ' American Catholicism is no longer just a refuge for socially conservative ideologues as it was between the 1990s and the early 2000s. It is now a brand, for sale to the highest bidder. Consider Vice President J.D. Vance, who arrived on the political scene thanks to masters of the universe such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, and converted to Catholicism on the road to Damascus of the new ressourcement Thomism — a Thomism and a ressourcement very different from that of the theologians of Vatican II like Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu. [. . .] Catholics for Trump, including those behind the “Project 2025”, are heirs of the patriarch of modern American Catholic conservatism, William F. Buckley, Jr., with his visions of society and race, of anti-Europeanism and isolationism, of the “procreative society”. Today these ideas are expressed in a crude and populist form, not elitist and refined against the masses. But there is nonetheless a genealogy of the recovery of anti-liberal Catholicism that goes back to Buckley and his followers, as well as to his nineteenth-century sources such as Edmund Burke’s reflections on the French Revolution. [. . .] And then there are the blatant lies that characterise much of the “Christian” propaganda for Trump since 2015. A façade of pro-Christian culture is used to pass off, misrepresent or justify virtually everything from his supposed pro-life beliefs, to his contempt for science, to his attacks on political opponents as “godless communists”. There are members of the Catholic hierarchy who have subjugated themselves to Trumpism and the goals of his campaign, going so far as to claim that former President Joe Biden was not a true Catholic — and in so doing so have embraced the manipulation of the word typical of this era. [. . .] In America, there is still a hunger for spirituality, community and God that is nurtured and sustained through politics. Trump’s populist movement is not only a response — albeit a simplistic, violent, vindictive one — to America’s economic and social uncertainties. It is also a response to that search for meaning that emerges from a world order that is visibly on the ropes. back

Matthew Ricketson (2025_02_21), Friday essay: as the legacy media have dumbed down, The New Yorker has dumbed up, The key reasons behind The New Yorker’s current success, in my view, are twofold. First, as the internet made a cornucopia of information available instantly anywhere, the magazine continued to produce material, especially journalism, that was distinctive and different. Think, for example, of the extraordinary disclosures made by Seymour Hersh and Jane Mayer during George W. Bush’s administration (2001–2009) about the torture by American soldiers of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison and how rules about what constituted torture were changed to make almost anything short of death permissible. [. . .] The second reason for the magazine’s continued success is that even as the internet’s information abundance has curdled into the chaos and cruelty of social media’s algorithm-driven world, The New Yorker has not wavered in its editorial mission. Just as Donald Trump doubled down on the Big Lie surrounding the 2020 election result and the January 6 2021 riots at the Capitol, so the magazine doubled down on reporting his actions since then and into his second presidency. [. . .] By contrast, The New Yorker has published a steady stream of reporting and commentary about the outrageous and shocking actions of the Trump administration in its first month. The new administration has moved so quickly and on so many fronts that the import of its actions have overwhelmed the media, making it hard to keep up with reporting every development in the detail it might deserve. To take one example, The Washington Post reported that candidates for senior posts in intelligence and law enforcement were being asked so-called loyalty questions about whether the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” and the January 6 Capitol riots an “inside job”. Two individuals being considered for positions in intelligence “who did not give the desired straight "yes” answers, were not selected. It is not clear whether other factors contributed to the decision". The report prompted media commentary, but not enough of it recognised the gravity of an attempt to rewrite history every bit as egregious as Stalinist Russia.' back

Michael Marshall (2009_07_07), Timeline: Weapons technology, ' Throughout history, societies have put their best minds to work creating new weapons. Explore the history of war and weapons with our timeline of weapons technology. Please note, many of the technologies are difficult to attribute, and historical dates are often approximate. back

Modernism in the Catholic Church - Wikipedia, Modernism in the Catholic Church- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In a historical perspective, Catholic Modernism is neither a system, school, or doctrine, but refers to a number of individual attempts to reconcile Roman Catholicism with modern culture; specifically an understanding of the Bible and Catholic tradition in light of modern mainstream conceptions of archeology, philology, the historical-critical method and new philosophical and political developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—and implicitly all that this might entail. The term came to prominence in Pope Pius X's 1907 encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis, which synthesized and condemned modernism as embracing every heresy.' back

Olga Ivshina (2025_02_23), Invisible Losses: Tens of thousands fighting for Russia are dying unnoticed on the frontline in Ukraine, ' Over 95,000 people fighting for Russia's military have now died as the war in Ukraine enters the fourth year, according to data analysed by the BBC. This figure doesn't include those who were killed serving in the militia of the self-proclaimed Donbas republics which we estimate to be between 21,000 and 23,500 fighters. BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022. The list includes names of the deceased that we verified using information from official reports, newspapers, social media, and new memorials and graves. The real death toll is believed to be much higher.' back

Peter Osper (1957), Review: Albert Szent-Györgyi (1957): Bioenergetics, ' Everyone who is interested in biological chemistry will want to read and reread this book, and then design some experiments to prove Szent-Györgyi: right or wrong. One gets the impression that Szent-Györgyi will not be too unhappy to be proved wrong. . . .' In 1957 the scientist Albert Szent-Györgyi released this book which contained a part titled “Biological Structures and Functions”. The following statement without attribution was employed as an epigraph for this part (page 56): https://archive.org/details/bioenergetics00szen/page/57/mode/1up “Research is to see what everybody has seen and think what nobody has thought.” back

Robin R. Wang (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Yinyang (Yin-yang), Yinyang (yin-yang) is one of the dominant concepts shared by different schools throughout the history of Chinese philosophy. Just as with many other Chinese philosophical notions, the influences of yinyang are easy to observe, but its conceptual meanings are hard to define. Despite the differences in the interpretation, application, and appropriation of yinyang, three basic themes underlie nearly all deployments of the concept in Chinese philosophy: (1) yinyang as the coherent fabric of nature and mind, exhibited in all existence, (2) yinyang as jiao (interaction) between the waxing and waning of the cosmic and human realms, and (3) yinyang as a process of harmonization ensuring a constant, dynamic balance of all things. As the Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu) claims, “Yin in its highest form is freezing while yang in its highest form is boiling. The chilliness comes from heaven while the warmness comes from the earth. The interaction of these two establishes he (harmony), so it gives birth to things. Perhaps this is the law of everything yet there is no form being seen” (Zhuangzi, Chapter 21). back

Ruth Graham (2025_02_26), Christianity’s Decline in U.S. Appears to Have Halted, Major Study Shows, ' For decades, social scientists, demographers and Christians themselves have told a familiar story about the state of Christianity in the United States: The country was rapidly secularizing. The Christian population was shrinking, on its way to becoming a minority religion. America may have been some years behind Europe in the process, but its pews were emptying steadily and inexorably. Now, that narrative may be changing. After years of decline, the Christian population in the United States has been stable for several years, a shift fueled in part by young adults, according to a major new survey from the Pew Research Center. And the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans, which had grown steadily for years, has also leveled off. [. . .] The findings come from the Religious Landscape Survey, a survey of more than 35,000 randomly selected adults from across the country conducted in 2023 and 2024. The last survey was published in 2014, making the new edition’s release a major update in the understanding of American spiritual beliefs and practice. The survey finds that 62 percent of adults in the United States describe themselves as Christians, including 40 percent who identify as Protestant and 19 percent who are Catholic.' back

Sergei Shelin (2025_02_25), Nothing Stood in the Way of Putin Invading Ukraine, ' The three-year anniversary of Russia's attack on Ukraine brings us back to the paradoxical atmosphere of the last days before the war. In mid-February 2022, the proximity of war was obvious to everyone. But that war would break out was perceived as unthinkable. It seemed unnecessary and incomprehensible to the Russian masses, contradicting the interests of the upper classes, the regime, and even President Vladimir Putin himself. China did not need it at all and the invasion provoked the West into a crushing response. The prior conditions and driving forces behind the war seemed a mystery. The aggressor is responsible for the aggression. But let us start not with Putin, but with the surrounding world. Only two or three external powers were capable of preventing the invasion: the Chinese, the Americans and — at a stretch — the Europeans. In early February 2022, Putin went to Beijing for permission to fight and got it. Nothing was surprising about that. The opposite would have been a surprise. The PRC has never once stopped its friends and trade vassals from even their most exotic adventures. Iran's military campaigns and the DPRK's nuclear missile improvisations are examples. China is again confining itself to the role of the beneficiary of others' aggression. As for America, Putin recently echoed President Donald Trump's assertion that there would have been no war under him: “I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president, if the victory had not been stolen from him in 2020, then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that occurred in 2022. We cannot dismiss this as mere conjecture. There is a grain of truth here. Judging by the fact that Trump is proving unable to intimidate Putin today, he would hardly have been able to intimidate him before 2022 either. But there has always been a purely human affection between them. Justified or not, Putin has always seen Joe Biden as his implacable enemy, while he sees Trump as someone like himself with whom he could bargain. However, according to Putin, the only thing that could be bargained for in 2022 was the procedure of turning Ukraine into a Russian protectorate. He simply would not agree to anything less without a war. And Trump would probably offer him a smaller piece - for example, to recognize the annexation of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as they were in February 2022. But Putin in 2022, unlike in 2025, was not looking for “compromises”. He imagined that the Ukrainian army was weak and Ukraine was ready to collapse. back

Sonya B. Starr (2025_02_26), The Department of Education Threatens to Pull the Plug on Colleges, ' The Department of Education issued a threatening letter this month addressed to all educational institutions that receive federal funds. The letter offers an extreme and implausible interpretation of the law governing diversity, equity and inclusion policy. It demands that schools abandon not just affirmative-action-like programs that consider the race of individuals but also policies that are blind to individuals’ race if those policies were adopted, even in part, to promote racial diversity. [. . .] In recent years, many people have criticized college campuses, sometimes with justification, for being insufficiently committed to free speech. But if you care about free speech, the Department of Education’s anti-D.E.I. effort is a cure far worse than the disease. Even on the “wokest” of campuses, dissenters are generally free to critique D.E.I. They may face social consequences (or in rare instances, institutional discipline) but they have not faced a threat from the federal government to their university’s existence. Schools should comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action. They should be prepared to eliminate similar policies that treat people differently based on race. But schools should not cave to the Department of Education’s indefensible further demands, and the courts must curtail this blatant overreach.' back

Standard model - Wikipedia, Standard model - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory that describes three of the four known fundamental interactions between the elementary particles that make up all matter. It is a quantum field theory developed between 1970 and 1973 which is consistent with both quantum mechanics and special relativity. To date, almost all experimental tests of the three forces described by the Standard Model have agreed with its predictions. However, the Standard Model falls short of being a complete theory of fundamental interactions, primarily because of its lack of inclusion of gravity, the fourth known fundamental interaction, but also because of the large number of numerical parameters (such as masses and coupling constants) that must be put "by hand" into the theory (rather than being derived from first principles) . . . ' back

Victoria Bourne (2025_02_22), Oscar-nominated documentary produced in Sydney kept secret for a year due to fears of Russian interference, ' A studio in Sydney's inner city appears unassuming from the outside, but for over a year it has been the hub of a top-secret documentary project, for fear of Russian interference. Sydney-based production company Songbird Studios is behind the Oscar-nominated documentary Porcelain War which follows three Ukrainian artists who take up arms to defend their country and their culture. The secure facility was built in Paddington and fitted with an air-gapped server protected by firewalls — all in a bid to address safety concerns and hacking threats. A soldier in Ukrianian army uniform stares into a telescope in a field. The Sydney-based production studio sent a dozen cameras to Ukraine. (Supplied: Picturehouse, 2024) The film's production started about a year after Russia invaded Ukraine. In the documentary, footage shows streets of buildings ravaged in the throes of war. It also highlights the juxtaposition of fragile, porcelain figurines being handed to Ukrainian soldiers preparing for battle. These animal figurines were designed and painted by Anya Stasenko [. . . ] Before Ms Stasenko and Mr Leontyev started filming their lives, they had no experience behind the camera. The production studio sent a dozen cameras to Ukraine and the documentary's director taught the couple and a third artist the principles of filmmaking online over Zoom. "We were scared that we might be hacked, or the footage might be compromised somehow, and we had a huge responsibility to the artists and the other film participants living in Ukraine who were trusting us with this footage," Camilla Mazzaferro, the documentary's producer said.' back

World religions - Wikipedia, World religions - Wikipedia, ' World religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate at least five—and in some cases more—religions that are deemed to have been especially large, internationally widespread, or influential in the development of Western society. Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism are always included in the list. These are often juxtaposed against other categories, such as folk religions, Indigenous religions, and new religious movements (NRMs), which are also used by scholars in this field of research. The world religions paradigm was developed in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, where it was pioneered by phenomenological scholars of religion such as Ninian Smart. It was designed to broaden the study of religion away from its heavy focus on Christianity by taking into account other large religious traditions around the world.' back

Yaniv Kubovich (2025_02_28) , IDF Probe: Military Intelligence Misread Hamas Intentions, Failed to Manage Conflict, ' At the basis of the failure was the assumption that Hamas was a pragmatic organizations one "could do business with." On the military level, the assumption was that the main threat posed by Hamas lay in the rocket fire and that its ability to carry out a land invasion was limited. "The inquiry detected, in retrospect, a number of real opportunities in which significant information was obtained, to events in reality, a critical interpretation of which could have contradicted Israel's approach to Hamas, and therefore could have led to disputing the intelligence community's basic assumptions in its understanding of Hamas," the summary says. "In fact, these were wrongly interpreted as part of the existing concept, and did not lead to undermining it".' back