#NON OPUS DEI

[maquina-semiotica]

Non Opus Dei, "Milk of Toads"

[rlim1908]

[diceriadelluntore]

Storia Di Musica #339 - Gentle Giant, Octopus, 1973

Lo spunto per le storie di Settembre me lo ha dato la notizia più sorprendente in ambito musicale di questi giorni: la riappacificazione dei fratelli Gallagher che ha portato ad una reunion dopo 15 anni degli Oasis (con inevitabili polemiche, cascate di meme, vero indicatore dell'interesse sociale delle questioni, e biglietti per concerti venduti a migliaia di euro). Lo spunto però l'ho voluto ampliare, raccontando storie di gruppi musicali che non hanno due, ma almeno tre fratelli in formazione.

Sono un po' sorpreso che solo oggi questo gruppo, tra i miei preferiti di sempre, appaia in Rubrica. Tutto inizia quando, ad inizio degli anni '60, i tre fratelli Shulman, Derek, Phil e Roy mettono su una band: sono scozzesi di Glasgow, ma il padre, che suonava la tromba in un gruppo amatoriale dopo lavoro, si trasferì con loro neonati a Portsmouth, nel 1948. I tre fratelli Shulman formano uno dei primi gruppi inglesi di rock\ r'n'b, Simon Duprèe & The Big Sound (Simon Duprèe è lo psudonimo di Derek). La band riuscì ad andare in tour e a evolvere il proprio sound, fino a raggiungere un discreto successo, entrando nella classifica inglese con il brano musicale Kites, da un album bellissimo, Without Reservation, e per un certo periodo suonò con loro un giovanissimo pianista, Reginald Dwight, che qualche anno dopo cambiò nome d'arte in Elton John e sappiamo come andò a finire. Nel 1969 sciolgono il gruppo e si organizzano, sull'eco della nascente musica progressive, a fondere le loro idee con il jazz, la musica classica, il folk in un modo del tutto unico e caratteristico, anche sfruttando il fatto che i tre Shulman sono degli eccellenti polistrumentisti. Arruolano Gary Green alla chitarra e Kenny Minnear alle tastiere. Prendono spunto dai racconti di François Rabelais, che sarà spesso fonte di ispirazione, il nome per la nuova band: Gentle Giant. Nel 1970, George Underwood disegna il meraviglioso Gigante Gentile, che tiene tra le mani la band, nella copertina del primo, omonimo disco: album fondamentale della scena progressive è il primo disco di una tetralogia eccezionale e meravigliosa. Acquiring The Taste (1971, dalla copertina dissacrante e dalla musica sperimentale e creativa al massimo livello) e il loro concept, Three Friends (1972) svelano una band che ha delle caratteristiche peculiari. Brani che non superano quasi mai i 5 minuti, rispetto alle lunghe suite degli altri gruppi prog, un intreccio spettacolari di contrappunti, melodie, strumenti e stili che fa ridere a 36 denti gli amanti del genere, testi che hanno ispirazioni spesso letterarie, piuttosto sofisticate.

La massima espressione di tutto questo si ha nel disco di oggi, uno dei capolavori del rock progressive. Octopus esce nel 1973, con in copertina uno spettacolare disegno del leggendario artista Roger Dean (creatore di alcune delle copertine più belle di sempre, ricordo la sua collaborazione con gli Yes) di una piovra dallo sguardo intenso. in verità, c'è un gioco di parole dietro: Octo Opus è infatti un riferimento agli 8 brani, da considerarsi 8 prove musicali, brevi (quasi tutti di circa 4 minuti e mezzo, tranne l'ultimo che di poco supera i 5 e mezzo, niente in confronto agli oltre 20 di molti brani cult del prog) ma dalla quantità e qualità musicale da pelle d'oca. È anche il primo disco con il nuovo, tecnicamente abilissimo, batterista John Pugwash Weathers, già con Joe Cocker e decine di altre band. Si parte con The Advent of Panurge, che è la continuazione di Pantagruel's Nativity da Acquiring The Taste (Pantagruel e Panurge sono tra i personaggi principali di Gargantua E Pantagruel, una serie di cinque romanzi di François Rabelais): inizia con melodie vocali che poi mutano in un rock funk di altissimo livello. Raconteur Troubadour è una bellissima ballata medievale, altro motore di ispirazione creativo, suonata con assoli di violini e violoncelli.  A Cry For Everyone, la canzone più hard rock anche con assoli di Minimoog, ha un testo ispirato ai lavori di Albert Camus (Run, why should I run away\When at the end the only truth certain\One day everyone dies\If only to justify life). Arriva poi la pelra tra le perle: Knots è una sorta di madrigale folk prog, con cimbali, xilofoni, intrecci vocali spettacolari ed un finale drammatico ispirato al lavori di uno psichiatra scozzese, Ronald Laing, che fu autore di tesi piuttosto eterodosse sulle malattie psichiatriche e sul ruolo dell'emozionalità dei pazienti (tra l'altro, c'è una storia sostenuta da David Gilmour, che Laing visitò Syd Barrett, lasciando zero speranze che si potesse riprendere). Il lato B è lo stesso meraviglioso: The Boys In The Band intreccia riff di organo e sax creando un capolavoro di jazz-rock pazzesco, inizia con una risata ed una moneta che rotola fino a fermarsi. Dog's Life è uno dei pochi strumentali della band, Think Of Me With Kindness è il loro tentativo di scrivere una ballata romantica, River chiude l’album con il brano più "prettamente" progressive di un disco che esprime al massimo le capacità strumentali e creative di un gruppo che nelle note di Acquiring the Taste scriveva: "Il nostro obiettivo è quello di espandere le frontiere della musica popolare contemporanea, a rischio di essere molto impopolari. Abbiamo registrato ogni composizione con un solo pensiero: che dovesse essere unica, avventurosa e affascinante."

Ci riuscirono in pieno: amati tantissimo da colleghi e dai fan più integerrimi del prog, ebbero successo relativo, nonostante una sfavillante attività live, che li portò a suonare nei più importanti Festival del periodo. Ebbero come tutti i gruppi prog successo in Italia, dove esiste ancora oggi uno zoccolo duro di appassionati. Furono attivi dieci anni, dal 1970 al 1980, attraversando la nascita, il picco e il declino della musica prog, dimostrando come si può ottenere un capolavoro condensando le idee in meno di 5 minuti.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

It's clear at this point that the single most mobilizing issue in the 2024 election in the US is anger over the Opus Dei Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade, and a demand that this decision be overturned and Roe v Wade, which enjoys 70% support among Americans, be reinstated. Whitney Fox is a political newcomer, but the Democratic candidate for Florida’s 13th congressional district is optimistic that anger over the rollback of abortion rights will nudge her to victory.

Fox is challenging Republican incumbent Anna Paulina Luna, a firebrand ally of Donald Trump and a self-described “pro-life extremist”, with a promise to defend women’s autonomy. In a campaign video, Fox makes her pitch: “Our way of life is under attack by extremist politicians, attacking our reproductive freedoms, our democracy and doing nothing to lower the costs we are all struggling with,” she adds. “That’s why I am running for Congress: to end these attacks and protect our way of life, for my family and yours.”

But Fox faces an uphill battle if she is going to win on November 5. Pinellas county, where she is standing, has leaned conservative in recent years, and the non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the Fox-Luna race as “competitive” but “likely Republican”. Over a lunch of Cuban sandwiches in the city of St Petersburg, Fox is confident. Luna is wrong on this issue, she says, “And we know that with the right candidate, the right message, and our well-run campaign, we will be able to beat her.”

Democrats across the country are making the same bet. With just under two weeks until election day, when Americans will choose not only a new president but also a new Congress, they believe the hardline positions on abortion being pushed by many Republicans will work in their favour. Florida is one of nearly a dozen states where voters will be given a direct say on abortion laws through ballot referendums in November, including presidential battlegrounds such as Arizona and Nevada that are likely to determine who wins the White House.

Ever since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade in 2022, striking down the national right to an abortion, Republican officials have been pushing for increasingly prohibitive abortion restrictions at the state level. More than 20 states have laws to limit abortion earlier in pregnancy than the viability standard set by Roe, including 13 states where abortion is now banned in almost all circumstances, including for victims of rape and incest.

Some conservative lawmakers and judges are going further, calling for restrictions on access to contraception and fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilisation. All of this is at odds with the clear majority of Americans who identify as pro-choice, according to multiple polls. Opposition to the hardline policies was credited with supercharging Democratic victories in the 2022 midterms and several other special elections and off-year contests since. Democrats are now bullish that voter discontent with Republicans on the issue will once again motivate voters — especially women and young people — to turn out in large numbers for their candidates, from vice-president Kamala Harris to congressional hopefuls like Fox.

At the same time, many high-profile Republicans — including Trump — have scrambled to distance themselves from the religious right, to avoid alienating moderate and swing voters whose support will be critical in an election that is on a knife-edge.

The latest polling suggests while Harris and Trump are in effect tied in the crucial swing states, the former president has a problem with female voters in particular: a recent NBC News survey showed women across the country supporting his rival by a 14-point margin.

At a campaign stop in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman who broke with her party over Trump and is now campaigning for Harris, called on women of all political stripes to “reject cruelty” and “misogyny” at the ballot box.

“[Abortion] is not an issue that we’re seeing break down across party lines,” Cheney added. “There are many of us around the country who have been pro-life but who have watched . . . state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need.”

Jessica Mackler, president of Emily’s List, a national group that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, says the issue is already shaping how Americans will vote.

“The question is not: Will abortion drive votes in this election?” she says. “It is: How far, how wide and how deep does that impact go?” Florida — a racially and economically diverse state that is America’s third-largest by population — was for decades considered a bellwether of who would take the White House. Pinellas county, where Fox and Luna are competing, has picked the winner of every presidential election since 1980, with the exception of George W Bush in 2000.

But the state, which Trump adopted as his own after making Mar-a-Lago his primary residence in 2019, has become increasingly Republican. Trump won Florida by 3.4 points in 2020 and, in the 2022 midterms, Republican governor Ron DeSantis was re-elected by a nearly 20-point margin.

“Trump has carried Florida twice. I don’t know why he won’t carry it a third time,” says Brad Coker, a veteran non-partisan pollster and chief executive of Mason-Dixon Polling in Jacksonville, Florida’s biggest city. For now, Florida is leaning Republican, the Financial Times poll tracker shows, with Trump holding a 5.9-point lead over Harris. Yet there are signs of brewing discontent; political analysts expect the results in November will be much closer than they were in 2022. Other polls show Florida’s US Senate race — with incumbent Republican Rick Scott facing Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell — within striking distance for Democrats.

DeSantis’s approval rating has also fallen sharply in the past two years, a trend some analysts attribute to his increasingly conservative policy positions. In May, he signed a law banning access to abortion in the state after the sixth week of pregnancy — when many women do not yet realise they are pregnant — with some exceptions for victims of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother.

In this election, voters have a chance to overturn that law thanks to a ballot question known as Amendment 4, a referendum on enshrining abortion rights in Florida’s constitution. If 60 per cent of the electorate votes yes, the amendment would broadly guarantee access to abortion until a foetus can survive outside the womb, usually defined as around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The referendum, which was added to the ballot following a petition campaign by pro-choice groups, is nevertheless seen as an opening for Democrats, who are confident it will draw out voters on their side even though the campaign is not technically affiliated with any political party. “In every district that we are in, in every state that we are in, this is the issue that is driving the Democratic coalition in a really remarkable way,” says Mackler of Emily’s List. “Where abortion is on the ballot in any form, it is a driver of wins for Democrats.”

There is growing evidence that ballot measures to codify abortion rights can pass even in states that skew conservative, especially when only a simple majority is required. The most recent example was last year in Ohio, where an amendment enshrining reproductive rights in the state’s constitution passed with nearly 57 per cent of the vote. A year earlier, a similar measure passed in Kansas with 59 per cent support.

Both those states are reliably Republican: the Financial Times poll tracker shows Trump on course to win Ohio by more than 8 points and Kansas by 16. That has prompted GOP leaders to shrug off suggestions that support for abortion rights will fuel a so-called “blue wave” next month, insisting that issues like the economy carry more weight with voters. A recent nationwide Pew poll found the economy was the number-one issue for all voters in the election, while abortion ranked eighth. However, for those who identify as Harris supporters, abortion ranked as the third most important issue.

“You hear a lot of noise in the media, but the reality on the ground is that we are in a better place than we ever have been in Florida,” says Evan Power, chair of the state’s Republican party. “If you talk to Floridians, they care about immigration, inflation and the economy.”

Republicans already have an advantage over the Democrats when it comes to registered voters in the state, according to the latest official figures. Roughly 5.4mn people in Florida are registered Republicans, compared with 4.4mn registered Democrats. Another 3.5mn are registered to vote but unaffiliated with either major party.

That makes non-partisan experts like Coker doubtful Democrats can pull off an upset. “[Abortion] might move the needle a little in Florida when you start talking about the margins, but I don’t think it is going to change the overall outcome,” he says. “It is not going to be enough to flip a state like Florida.”

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

In the Footsteps of a Saint

FAITH TODAY：MAY 2011

Catholic actor Charlie Cox is making waves across the Atlantic – and he’s about to hit the cinemas in his native UK playing a saint in a new movie.

FAITH TODAY went to meet him.

How does it feel to be a saint?  That’s something no-one alive can ever really know, since sainthood is only acknowledged after death: but up-and-coming actor Charlie Cox knows more about it than most. Cox, 28, is the star of There Be Dragons, a new movie about the early life of St Josemaria Escriva, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei.  So – given that he’s a Catholic himself - how did it feel to Cox to walk in a saint’s shoes, and to portray his holiness on screen?

What struck him most, says Cox, is that ‘there seemed to have been no single moment when Josemaria was saintly... instead, what people who knew him spoke about and wrote about was a lifetime of consistently good decisions and a dedication of his entire life to God’.  So in fact, he explains, portraying him meant being very human – and yet aware that decisions often had to be made that weren’t directed at other people, but were directed at God. Playing Josemaria is the latest step on a path that’s fast feeling like the road to the big-time: Cox first appeared on the showbiz radar in 2007 when he got the role of Tristan Thorne in the movie Stardust, and he went on to play the Duke of Crowborough in the ITV drama Downton Abbey.  And just a fortnight before we meet, he’s filmed his first episode of HBO’s prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire, the flagship programme of the new Sky Atlantic channel, in which he plays an immigrant from Northern Ireland with ties to the IRA.  Cox says he’s loving the part: Steve Buscemi, who recently won a Gold Globe award for his portrayal of Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson in the series, is one of his all-time heroes, and he can hardly believe his luck in being cast with him.

’Working with Steve feels amazing, I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been,’ he says, as we chat over coffee at a Madrid hotel on the morning of the premiere of There Be Dragons.  He jetted in this morning from New York – he’ll be there filming Boardwalk Empire through the summer and, he says, he can’t imagine a better way of spending the next few months. ‘They’re the nicest bunch of people – and everyone is so confident about how good the series is, so there’s a great buzz about it.’

Working on Boardwalk Empire has taken him a long way from his Sussex roots.  He grew up in Hearst Green, the son of publisher parents – and he was raised a Catholic, like his father, although he was educated at a non-Catholic independent school, Sherborne School in Dorset.  ‘Only about 70 out of 700 boys were Catholics. We had to get up early on a Sunday to go to Mass at a local girls’ school... it would have been easy to skive off it, but actually we never did.  I’ve always loved churches – even now, in a strange city, I’ll often wander around looking at churches.’ There was no history of acting in the family – bar a grandmother who had been at RADA before the second world war – but even as a youngster, Cox was smitten with the idea.  ‘My mum and dad had a fantastic attitude to it,’ he says.  ‘The school wanted me to go to university, play it in safe mode, have a back-up plan.  But my parents came to see me act, and afterwards my dad sat me down and he said: ‘I think you’d be a fool not to pursue this’.  And I don’t know whether I’d be here now if it hadn’t been for that one comment...’ Despite living in the US at the moment, and the fact that his parents spend most of their time these days in France, Cox says Britain will always be home – and he’s very close to his family.  He has a brother, and three half siblings from his father’s first marriage, and his parents have flown to see him in Madrid while he’s over for the premiere of There Be Dragons. After school, he spent a gap year working for a photographer – and even before he could take up a place at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, he’d landed the role of Theo in the movie Dot the i.  ‘An agent took a punt on me and put me up for the part,’ he says.  ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky, and that was just one of my lucky breaks.’

But it’s not just luck – Cox is immensely likeable, and he’s obviously genuinely passionate about acting.  He’s also been smart enough to realise that he can learn a huge amount from more seasoned actors – so he saw acting alongside Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust, for example, as a fantastic opportunity to soak up knowledge.  And he’s learnt lots more, too, from Roland Joffe, director of There Be Dragons, who was also the film-maker behind The Mission (about the early Jesuits in south America) and The Killing Fields (about the murderous Pol Pot regime in Cambodia), both of which were Oscar nominees.

‘I didn’t think twice about taking the part of Josemaria, and that was down to Roland,’ he says.  ‘He’s such a great director – he really understands the processes that actors have to go through to give their best.  I learnt so much from working with him.’

Given the subject-matter of There Be Dragons, Cox also spent time in the run-up to filming learning about Opus Dei, which has the status of a ‘personal prelature’ within the Catholic Church.  ‘I visited several Opus Dei houses, and I went on a retreat and had a lot of help from an Opus Dei priest, Fr John Wauck.’

Before he made the film, he admits, he’d never heard of Josemaria – and all he knew about Opus Dei was what he’d read in Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code.  But researching Josemaria, he says, what struck him most was the saint’s humanity – and his ability, examined in the film, to forgive.  ‘It was an example I had to put into practice, because one day when we were filming I returned to my trailer to find someone had broken in and cleaned the place out completely,’ he says.  ‘They’d even taken my computer, and the charger, and even my clothes.’ ‘The following day I was due to film one of the big scenes in which Josemaria shows how he can forgive, and I remember thinking: this is really interesting.  And the thing is that I did manage to forgive the guy who nicked my stuff.’ ‘And what I realised, through that incident, was that – though we think of forgiveness as something very moral and impressive, it’s actually something that works totally in your own favour.  Because if you don’t forgive then you’re angry inside – and that anger doesn’t hurt the other person, but it really hurts you.’ Since filming finished for There Be Dragons, Cox has been working on another movie – Moby Dick, due to be released later this year – and now Boardwalk Empire.  It all suggests, I tell him, that fame – which he’s told previous interviewers frightens him – could be beckoning. ‘It’s tricky,’ he says, candidly.  ‘I’ve got friends who have gone on to extraordinary fame, and what I’ve realised through them is that it’s never quite as appealing as it promised to be. ‘On the other hand, like everyone else I want recognition.  I like people to think I’m good at what I do. That’s human nature, isn’t it?’

~*~

[thenewwei]

BAD AMERICANS by Tejas Desai-An Update on the Great American Pandemic Novel

On this Independence Day Eve, I have to report that things are not looking good for the prospects of my latest book BAD AMERICANS being conventionally published. I haven’t gotten a single hit among the 50 agents or so I sent queries to several months ago. The ones who deigned to give a non-form response told me that the massive Great American Pandemic Novel was too long to be conventionally published.

Apparently, anything over 120,000 words is virtually impossible to publish right now, let alone a novel and short story collection in one, which is unheard of and doesn’t fit into a defined bookstore category. One agent even told me to constrict it into 80,000 words—it is currently 260,000 words. Even with dramatic editing, that’s practically impossible unless I write a different book.

I hoped that my momentum of winning 15 indie literary awards for my last novel The Dance Towards Death would cruise me into a major publication and Pulitzer Prizes/National Book Awards as a kind of natural progression of artistic ascent, especially for an ambitious Magnum Opus like BAD AMERICANS, but this was apparently just wishful thinking. That's not how the literary world works, at all.

I conveniently looked past the risk-averse, rigid and bureaucratic nature of the publishing industry which is the very reason I independently published 5 books over 8 years. I hoped DEI would help the prospects for the most DEI book ever written, but yet again, this promise was exposed as a front and a lie. It appears the major publishers don’t care about true diversity in fiction, and certainly not when there’s innovation and raw realism involved.

I’ve also sent BAD AMERICANS, meaning the whole manuscript, edited/half versions, and the individual stories out to indie publisher contests, but these have also resulted in rejection so far, and I’m not hopeful for a hit. These contests have also been very expensive—the fees for each contest range from $25-$80. I’m basically subsidizing their companies when that money would traditionally be used to promote my own works or those of other New Wei writers I admire. And it’s likely I could build a bigger profile and readership for BAD AMERICANS through The New Wei even if a small publisher does accept it.

Of course, sending BAD AMERICANS directly to the People has resulted in a much different outcome. Massive amounts of sensitivity (I hate this word—I prefer identity?) readers and beta readers have read and thoroughly commented on both the individual stories and the 1000 page book as a whole. How much did they charge? Nothing at all. In fact they were thrilled to participate in and aid this important project.

The 12 internal stories, most of which are novelettes or novellas, have been universally praised. I have gotten some criticisms on the frame story, particularly the long food and activity descriptions, and these will be edited. But even those critical readers finished the massive novel and admired it on the whole (meanwhile, the so-called publishing professionals have done absolutely nothing for this work).

In fact, one retired librarian read the 1,000 page tome two times, including giving me extensive line-by-line feedback the second time, and now wants to read it a third time. And she loved the individual stories so much that she adapted two, with my permission, and gave them to her book club to read and discuss. Now that’s dedication!

So essentially, I am at yet another crossroads. Do I keep trying to get the book conventionally published, which will likely take many years if it ever happens at all, or do I go it alone yet again and build The New Wei along with it? In particular, self-publishing BAD AMERICANS will be a huge endeavor due to its size, scope and components, likely one of the greatest self-publishing projects ever undertaken.

Well, you know I love a great challenge.

At this point, barring some miracle (and a few have happened to me), for the next six months I’m going to plan to do a final revision of the frame story and rebuild or confirm my team for the large publishing project. Perhaps I will send out 50 more queries to agents and here and there enter a contest—seems like a waste of time and money but I suppose you never know, I could get lucky.

Under the Grand Design, one story would be published as a Kindle ebook for each month of 2025 and then the whole book would be published in two volumes, in multiple formats, six months apart in 2026. That would be an all-consuming 2 year publishing project consisting of 18-20 distinct publications (possibly one with the whole work too, meaning potentially over 20) involving the same book.

Now that would be dedication!

We’ll see—I reserve the right to revise timelines, elements, and paths, but as you all know, once I get a plan for a project in my mind, almost nothing except divine intervention (and perhaps not even that) can stop me.

My goal all along has been to create a massive oeuvre like Balzac’s The Human Comedy, Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County books and Dostoyesky’s St. Petersburg works. Waiting around for publishers to take notice on a whim will likely never fulfill my ambitions, let alone my additional one of promoting other great indie literary writers I admire.

I hope to have help with this great enterprise, but other than my magnificent team and my growing number of wonderful fans, I’m not going to plan on it! :( #literature #books #publishing #thehumantragedy #BadAmericans #authors

[quetzalpapalotl]

Non-exhaustive list of IDW1 Transformers I know in my heart are Catholic/ex-Catholic don't question me

Tyrest (easy)

Star Saber (easy)

Mistress of the Flame (also easy)

Prowl (I have multiple posts about this, I know I'm right, probably ex Opus Dei)

Chromedome

Brainstorm

Cyclonus (also Opus Dei or Legionaries of Christ or another cult like that)

Soundwave (yes)

Sandstorm

Centurion

Optimus Prime (okay, he has never actually identified as Catholic, but he is extremely culturally Catholic and is painfully unaware of it, he is also a folk saint)

Rung (you guys may not believe me, but this isn't a diss at him)

[danzameccanica]

Quando uscì Diabolis Interium non stavo più nella pelle. Avevo conosciuto i Dark Funeral solo parzialmente con l’EP Teach Children to Worship Satan e poi avevo finalmente trovato da Musica Musica il primo The Secrets of the Black Arts. I Dark Funeral incarnavano tutto il black metal che volevo ascoltare e in cui volevo immedesimarmi in quegli anni; ricordo che in primo liceo, pur non avendoli mai ascoltati mi ridisegnai il loro logo sulla cartella di educazione tecnica. Ancora oggi, Vobiscum Satanas è un disco che non capisco granché, che non è entrato in me, forse per l’eccessiva somiglianza fra un brano e l’altro. Invece Diabolis Interium inizia ad essere variegato; c’è un ottimo lavoro di songwriting sulle chitarre che non sono più dei semplici e velocissimi power-chords ma iniziano ad essere più “swedish”. I Dark Funeral iniziano davvero a suonare in questo disco; certo sono ancora velocissimi, addirittura più veloci dei Marduk; ma ora il patto col diavolo ha davvero generato i suoi maligni frutti. Intanto il batterista Matte Modin (ex Defleshed) riesce a dare ai brani una vitalità disarmante; la doppietta Ahriman-Dominion è forse la più vincente fino al recente Where Shadows forever Reign.

Al di là degli altisonanti titoli in latino, che all’epoca erano dei cliché, “An Arrival of Satan Empire” è una mazzata diretta e melodica (ricordo ancora il potente impatto quando li vidi nel 2002-2003 a Roma) mentre “An Apprentice of Satan” è stata ri-registrata in modo sbalorditivo rispetto al precedente EP. Prima era più classica, precisa, black metal old-school. Ora invece, intorno ai riff efficaci ma quasi banali, la batteria riesce a tirar fuori quanto ci sia di più maligno e possente. Le seconde voci aggiunte in produzione non fanno altro che aprire di più l’imbuto dell’Inferno verso Lucifero. Per non parlare dell’aura evocativa che emana il bridge del brano. “The Goddess of Sodomy” stranamente può risultare il brano più azzeccato dei Dark Funeral; stranamente perché il brano è una traccia in mid-tempo dove le chitarre tracciano dei riff alla Mayhem. “Thus I Have Spoken” è un brano che ricorda i Marduk di Opus Nocturne e, dopo un altro paio di doppiette sparate al fulmicotone, la conclusiva “Heart of Ice” è degna di interesse  sempre per le sue partiture chitarristiche che salgono in un climax davvero niente male.

[popolodipekino]

Leonte di Bisanzio

nel manuale di greco le versioni sono precedute da una frasetta introduttiva in italiano, che presenta l'argomento e tipicamente contiene suggerimenti per la traduzione dei punti più ostici

questa versione cominciava così (e perciò l'ho dovuta tradurre immediatamente: ἔδει, opus erat)

Una battuta del retore Leonte di Bisanzio mette di buonumore la rissosa assemblea ateniese. (traduzione:) Leonte si recò in ambasciata dagli Ateniesi, mentre la città era in subbuglio già da lungo tempo, governata come di consueto; presentandosi davanti all'assemblea suscitò l'ilarità generale per il proprio aspetto, poiché era grasso e aveva un gran pancione; per nulla turbato dalle risa, disse: "Ma perché ridete, Ateniesi? forse perché son così grosso e grasso? Mia moglie è ancor più grassa di me, eppure, finché si va d'amore e d'accordo, il letto ci contiene entrambi, però se abbiamo litigato non basta nemmeno tutta la casa." E il popolo ateniese si rappacifica grazie alla scaltra battuta di Leonte. (da Flavio Filostrato, ii-iii sec. d.C., Vite dei filosofi)

s.p.q.g. (sono pazzi questi greci)

[maquina-semiotica]

Non Opus Dei, "Milk of Toads" #NowPlaying

[crescent-coral-base]

Well, this will certainly come as a shock to my wife of almost 35 years.

I'm non-Catholic (bi/pan, atheist) and married by a Catholic priest in a Catholic church in a Catholic ceremony to a woman who was raised Catholic. My protestant great uncle did likewise, as did my father-in-law. The Catholic Church has a procedure for interfaith marriages, and it does not require religious conversion on the part of the non-Catholic spouse.

What it does require is agreeing to raise any children resulting from that union as Catholic, or at least not standing in the way of raising the children as Catholic, and attending a pre-marriage weekend retreat for interfaith couples.

In the case of our retreat, the priest who was running it and treating other faith traditions with respect was called away to attend to a dying parishioner and the rest of the weekend was run by a lay couple who I called (dating myself) "Pat Buchanan Catholics." Today, they would likely be members of Opus Dei. The man in this group was very much not respectful of other faith traditions. This was a CATHOLIC pre-marriage encounter, and we're the "one true faith" and we're better than all of you.

Back in our hotel room, we had a talk about the changeover. My legalistic atheist mind went to work: Agreements with nonexistent religious deities have no legal force. We came to our own agreement: No matter what we told the Church prior to this engaged encounter weekend, our children would not be raised Catholic (or in any other faith) when they were young and vulnerable. If they decided to explore Catholicism or any other faith much later in adolescence or adulthood, that would be their decision.

There's no real enforcement of the "raise your kids Catholic" provision. The Church is not going to dissolve our marriage unless one of us seeks an annulment, and, so far, neither of us has been inclined to do so in three and a half decades.

My own paternal grandfather (a Methodist) also married a Catholic woman. In his case, unlike his brother, he wouldn't agree to raise his children Catholic, and so, my grandmother left the Catholic Church. By the time I came around, my paternal grandparents were attending two separate churches - Methodist for my grandfather, and Disciples of Christ for my ex-Catholic grandmother.

[impossibleperfectionnerd]

Eurocorps- try to enforce in 4-6 hours

try to add 22 NATO (elite) Teutonic 4 defense contracts- 12 hrs rotating shift

Try to add 25 France NATO (elite) - 12 hrs rotating shift

it’s the blue eagle problem with a romania aspect- still Opus Dei. Recruits. Muslim & non Muslim terrorist. Obviously.

I will begin paying the defense contracts again Nov. 13, 2024. be careful of the mindtech I can barely hear it. That’s how underhanded it is in here. follow canon law.

[lonesomemao]

DANS LA MAISON D'AMOUR

En fait

Le Diable

Opus Dei qui l'avait

Ordre de Malte

Le PS l'a demandé

Pour la classe moyenne

Non à cette bolchévisation des esprits

Mais compromis le pyramidal

On a dû partager

Lundi 7 octobre 2024

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[The Daily Don]

What else to call a backwards confederacy designed to uphold white supremacy and the influence of small men?

* * * *

The social consequences of the Opus Dei court's rulings on admissions are devastating for America, accelerating the process of exclusion of minorities. A way must be found to overturn this decision or to circumvent it.

FT: Since the early 1960s, US institutions have sought to counter the lasting legacy of racial prejudice with “affirmative action” programmes to promote diversity in education and the workplace. That job is far from done. But the US Supreme Court has thrown a spanner in the works. Its ruling last week declared that admissions programmes at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that aid under-represented minorities violate the constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. “College admissions are zero-sum. A benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former group at the expense of the latter,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

The ruling is the latest assault on long-held liberal precedents by the six conservative justices who have also kneecapped federal environmental regulators and tossed out constitutional protections for abortion. Affirmative action is, though, not only a progressive cause: research demonstrates that diverse teams make better decisions that lead to better outcomes. Large employers underscored the economic benefits in a brief to the Supreme Court that unsuccessfully sought to defend the current system.

Universities and employers should not let this ruling end efforts to build inclusive environments and create greater equality of opportunity. History suggests that this will not be easy. Nine states have already banned affirmative action, and minority enrolment at their flagship universities has either fallen sharply or failed to keep up with demographic changes that were already bringing in more non-white applicants. If America’s top universities are to be the engines of progress and social mobility that the country needs, their admissions criteria also need to be redesigned. A shocking number of top US schools already admit more students from the top 1 per cent financially than the bottom 60 per cent.

Universities will have to step up their efforts to recruit from non-traditional backgrounds, and provide them with the funding and support they need to succeed. Increased financial aid and programmes aimed at helping first-generation college students navigate university life are a must.

Now that race cannot provide a generic boost, other factors, such as low income, overcoming adversity and succeeding despite a poor performing school, should gain more weight. Dropping the preferences for the children of alumni and donors would also make room for candidates from a wider range of backgrounds. Universities must also make full use of an exception Chief Justice John Roberts made in the Harvard decision. He wrote “nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life.” That should allow some leeway in a case-by-case basis.

Companies are not directly affected by this decision but will have to spread the recruitment net wider if top universities become less diverse. They also need to think hard about how to structure internal programmes that seek to give diverse candidates an extra boost. Reverse discrimination claims, which had fallen sharply from 2011 to 2021, are now on the rise again. Mentoring and leadership programmes aimed at specific races are especially vulnerable to challenge. But choices based on individual characteristics and needs — rather than tick boxes — ought to survive scrutiny. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned the ruling “will entrench racial segregation . . . because racial inequality will persist so long as it is ignored”. US educators and businesses have to make sure that does not happen.

[Financial Times]

[rlim1908]

don’t let them spy on it. That email. There are vital pipol dying. No spy games. let me teach u canon Law: I am the Queen of starlight and I am motherless & fatherless & I am an only child of the cosmos. Period.

Specific canon law: for a Queen of starlight- if certain pipol claim relation to myself & they don’t meet the standard they die right away

specifIc canon law: extremely good looking & it is made so even more. Scientifically & organically. In this situation: low fat or non fat food, calorie count not more than 1,800 calories per day at times. Cheat days are 2200 to 2500. Not eating beyond 3pm. Grocery shopping 2x per week. Fixing genes in my physical appearance that are being fucked up underhandedly by Opus Dei Ateneo illegitimate pipol gay pipol. Super clean water 14. Super clean air, super clean home. Super clean husband & super clean pipol in the household & office. Especially the BEda home care, UST, UP, Rockwell the grove staff & security & megaforce & southbend, powerlink. My offices worldwide. Clean pool, clean areas that I see & walk on or used to see or walk on or walked on & have seen.

[tecnowiz]

Come aprire file null: soluzioni per Android, iPhone, Windows e Mac

Hai mai avuto a che fare con quei misteriosi file "null" che sembrano non voler essere aperti dal tuo computer o dispositivo mobile? Questi file, spesso senza estensione o con un'estensione sconosciuta, possono sembrare impossibili da visualizzare o modificare. Tuttavia, non disperare! In questo articolo esploreremo come aprire file null su diverse piattaforme, inclusi Android, iPhone, Windows e Mac, in modo da poter finalmente risolvere questo fastidioso problema.

Hai un file null e non sai come aprirlo? Scopri come risolvere questo problema su Android, iPhone, Windows e Mac

Tutti scarichiamo file da Internet, ma a volte il file che scarichi potrebbe essere etichettato come null. Non solo i file appena scaricati possono essere null, ma anche i file che in precedenza funzionavano correttamente possono diventare null a causa della corruzione. Quando ciò accade, il tuo sistema operativo non riesce ad aprire il file.

Che cos'è un file null?

Un file null è un tipo di file che non ha un formato riconosciuto dal sistema operativo. Spesso, questi file vengono generati accidentalmente o possono essere il risultato di errori di trasferimento o di scrittura dei dati. Quando un file viene etichettato come "null", significa che il sistema non riesce a identificare il tipo di file e quindi non sa come aprirlo o interpretarne il contenuto.

Come aprire file null su Android

Se hai un file null sul tuo dispositivo Android, ecco alcuni passaggi da seguire per provare ad aprirlo: - Utilizzare un'app per la gestione dei file: Molte app di file manager come ES File Explorer, Solid Explorer o FX File Explorer, possono essere in grado di visualizzare e aprire file sconosciuti come i file null. - Provare con un'app per aprire file di testo: Poiché i file null sono spesso file di testo semplici, puoi provare ad aprirli con un'app di editor di testo come Files By Google.

- Convertire il file in un formato diverso: Alcune volte, aprire file null può essere possibile convertendoli in un formato più comune, come .txt o .doc. Puoi provare a farlo utilizzando un'app di conversione dei file.

Come aprire file null su iPhone e iPad

Purtroppo, i dispositivi iOS come iPhone e iPad non hanno un accesso nativo ai file system come i dispositivi Android. Tuttavia, ci sono ancora alcune opzioni per aprire file null su questi dispositivi: - Utilizzare un'app di file manager di terze parti: App come Documents by Readdle, FileBrowser o iFiles possono aiutarti ad accedere e visualizzare file sconosciuti come i file null.

- Inviare il file a un'app di produttività: Puoi provare ad aprire il file null inviandolo via email o attraverso servizi di cloud storage ad app come Pages, Numbers o Google Drive. Queste app potrebbero essere in grado di interpretare il contenuto del file. - Convertire il file su un computer e sincronizzarlo: Se hai accesso a un computer, puoi provare a convertire il file null in un formato più comune, come .txt o .doc, e poi sincronizzarlo sul tuo dispositivo iOS tramite servizi di cloud storage.

Come aprire file null su Windows

Su un sistema operativo come Windows, l'apertura di file sconosciuti può rappresentare una sfida. Il primo passo è identificare la causa del problema. Potrebbe essere utile verificare se il file è stato danneggiato o se l'estensione è stata alterata erroneamente. Ecco alcuni passaggi da seguire per aprire file null: - Utilizzare l'Esplora File (premendo la combinazione di tasti  Win  +  E  ).: Prova a fare doppio clic sul file null per vedere se Windows riesce a identificarlo e aprirlo con un'app predefinita. - Utilizzare un Editor di Testo: Un modo semplice per aprire file null su Windows è utilizzare un editor di testo come Notepad++ o Sublime Text. Questi programmi possono aprire quasi tutti i tipi di file, permettendoti di vedere il contenuto del file.

- Usare un'app di gestione dei file: Programmi come Directory Opus, Total Commander o Q-Dir possono essere più flessibili nell'aprire e gestire file sconosciuti come i file null. - Convertire il file in un formato diverso: Come per Android e iOS, puoi provare a convertire il file null in un formato più comune, come .txt o .doc, utilizzando un'app di conversione dei file. - Verifica del Sistema: A volte, i file NULL possono essere il risultato di problemi nel sistema operativo. Esegui una scansione del sistema utilizzando strumenti integrati come CHKDSK o SFC per identificare e correggere eventuali errori.

Come aprire file null su Mac

Come per Windows, anche su Mac è possibile utilizzare applicazioni integrate per aprire file null. TextEdit, ad esempio, è un editor di testo preinstallato che può aprire una varietà di formati di file. Ecco alcune soluzioni per aprire file null: - Utilizzare Finder: Prova a fare doppio clic sul file null per vedere se macOS riesce a identificarlo e aprirlo con un'app predefinita. - Provare con TextEdit: Se il file null sembra essere un file di testo semplice, puoi provare ad aprirlo con l'editor di testo nativo di macOS, TextEdit. - Usare un'app di gestione dei file: Programmi come ForkLift, Path Finder o Default Folder X possono essere più flessibili nell'aprire e gestire file sconosciuti come i file null. - Convertire il file in un formato diverso: Anche su macOS, puoi provare a convertire il file null in un formato più comune, come .txt o .doc, utilizzando un'app di conversione dei file.

Conclusioni

In conclusione, anche se i file null possono sembrare un enigma, ci sono diverse soluzioni per aprire file null sui principali sistemi operativi, inclusi Android, iPhone, Windows e Mac. Dalle app di gestione dei file alle conversioni in formati più comuni, ci sono sempre opzioni da provare per risolvere questo tipo di problema. Se hai ancora difficoltà con un file null specifico, non esitare a lasciare un commento qui sotto. Sarò lieto di aiutarti a trovare una soluzione personalizzata per il tuo caso.

Note finali

E siamo arrivati alle note finali di questa guida. Come aprire file null: soluzioni per Android, iPhone, Windows e Mac. Ma prima di salutare volevo informarti che mi trovi anche sui Social Network, Per entrarci clicca sulle icone appropriate che trovi nella Home di questo blog, inoltre se la guida ti è piaciuta condividila pure attraverso i pulsanti social di Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr e Instagram per far conoscere il blog anche ai tuoi amici, ecco con questo è tutto Wiz ti saluta. Read the full article