#Nova Encyclopaedia

[angelanatel]

O Poder da Vagina e a História dos Símbolos Cristãos

Vi o símbolo da vagina na parte de trás de um carro outro dia. Vi também um em um cartão de visita, um colar, um boletim da igreja e até mesmo numa Bíblia. As vaginas estão por toda parte! As pessoas devem realmente amar a sexualidade feminina.

É claro que estou falando do símbolo do peixe.

O icthys em forma de vulva ou "peixe de Jesus" já foi um símbolo “pagão”, proeminente, representando uma denominada “Deusa da fertilidade” pré-cristã: desde Atargatis, Afrodite e Artemis, até muitas outras que não seguem minha linha de aliteração, por isso vamos ignorá-las por enquanto.

O sincretismo cristão inicial envolvia tomar os símbolos “pagãos” existentes e dar-lhes um novo significado. Um exemplo disso é com a antiga Deusa Asherah que era adorada na Terra Santa durante o tempo dos primeiros israelitas. Karen Garst, editora da revista Women Beyond Belief, faz uma breve história sobre Asherah, a antiga Deusa da nova vida, e seu símbolo, a serpente, que descama sua pele para demonstrar regeneração.

Serpentes e Divindades femininas eram frequentemente vistas juntas. Na verdade, o hieróglifo egípcio para a palavra "Deusa" é uma imagem de uma serpente. Garst's faz uma boa observação: "Que melhor maneira de abater esta adoração de Deusa do que retratar o diabo usando um símbolo clássico associado a ela"? Na verdade, que melhor maneira de mostrar que as mulheres são de alguma forma más?

Assim como com a serpente, o cristianismo assumiu o símbolo “pagão” da fertilidade dos ichthys e o torceu para representar uma religião que acabou promovendo a subjugação das mulheres e as culpou por tudo de errado no mundo. Adorável.

O ichthys cristão é um retroacrônico, ou seja, uma sigla aplicada a uma palavra já existente, como quando Calvin, nas tirinhas de Calvin e Hobbes fez com que a palavra "gross" (grosseira) significasse Get Rid Of Slimey girlS (Livres-se das Garotinhas). Da mesma forma, os cristãos torceram ichthys (ἸΧΘΥΣ) em Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ ou Jesus Cristo, Filho de Deus, Salvador.

Mas ichthys é também a palavra grega para peixe, que era um nome apropriado do filho da Deusa dos peixes, Atargatis. Como o culto a Atargatis é obviamente anterior ao cristianismo, ele detém os direitos sobre o símbolo. Enquanto ideias e linguagem podem ser emprestadas por outras culturas, o cristianismo foi um passo além ao tomar a propriedade intelectual dos adoradores de Deusas e subverter completamente o símbolo em algo antitético a ele.

"[O ichthys] era tão reverenciado em todo o império romano que as autoridades cristãs insistiram em assumi-lo, com uma revisão extensiva dos mitos para negar seus antigos significados feminino-genitais". The Woman's Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets de B. G. Walker, p.314.

Imagine se uma religião conquistadora viesse e pegasse nosso símbolo para amor, o coração, e decidisse que agora era o símbolo de seus Deuses do ódio. "Eu <3 você", passaria então a significar "Eu te desprezo em nome dos Deuses do ódio". É essa aplicação de sentido retrógrado grave que torna seu uso quase um ato de intimidação. Quanto pior, porém, quando um símbolo sexual de feminilidade é roubado sem o consentimento de uma religião androcêntrica?

Contrariando um mundo centrado na mulher

Na antiga Éfeso, Artemis (que às vezes era confundida com Cybele) era retratada com este símbolo de peixe familiar sobre seus genitais. Ela era a origem de toda a vida, mas dizia-se que o pecado tinha entrado no mundo através dos Deuses masculinos ao seu redor; não através de um ser humano, e certamente não através de uma mulher. Ao contrário do culto de Yahweh centrado nos homens por todos os sacerdotes masculinos, as sacerdotisas de Artemis eram principalmente mulheres, ou homens que haviam renunciado a sua masculinidade, que falavam com autoridade religiosa. Esta cultura era tão proeminente que os primeiros missionários (cristãos de fora) foram a extremos misóginos para combatê-la.

Considere a epístola pastoral de Timóteo, que foi escrita de Éfeso:

"Não permito que uma mulher ensine ou assuma autoridade sobre um homem; ela deve ficar quieta". Pois Adão foi formado primeiro, depois Eva. E Adão não foi o enganado; foi a mulher que foi enganada e se tornou uma pecadora".

Você quase pode ver o autor desta carta (a maioria dos estudiosos colocaria 1 Timoteo entre as epístolas pseudônimas) pisando em seu pé enquanto ele exige esta inversão não só da religião nativa, mas também da ordem natural. Ao invés do homem vindo da mulher, agora a mulher vem de um homem.

O empoderamento feminino foi provavelmente visto como perigoso para o cristianismo. Éfeso, uma cidade que uma vez foi fundada e governada por mulheres guerreiras, começou a ver um declínio acentuado no status da mulher depois que o cristianismo explodiu pela cidade. Os cristãos inspirados por estas palavras continuariam a destruir o templo de Artemis, suas imagens e sua estátua maciça. Uma inscrição cristã no local explica porque encontramos tão poucos resquícios:

"Destruindo a imagem ilusória do demônio Artemis, Demeas ergueu este símbolo da Verdade, o Deus que afasta os ídolos, e a Cruz dos sacerdotes, sinal imortal e vitorioso de Cristo".

Os “ídolos” das Deidades femininas “de fertilidade” são tão antigos que muitas vezes são chamados figuras de Vênus, mas são anteriores à Deusa Vênus. A “Vênus” de Willendorf, por exemplo, foi estimada em 28.000 AEC. A humanidade vem venerando a vagina, a vulva e os poderes de nascimento das mulheres desde a era Paleolítica! Em contraste, o judaísmo tem apenas cerca de 3.000 anos de idade, e lançamento, o cristianismo, um juvenil de 2.000 anos.

Apesar de tudo isso, restos do símbolo da fertilidade ainda sobreviveram dentro do culto cristão através da veneração a Maria, a mãe de Jesus. A acadêmica B.G. Walker apontou,

 "Às vezes a criança Cristo era retratada dentro das vísceras [ichthys], que se sobrepunham à barriga de Maria e obviamente representava seu ventre, assim como no antigo simbolismo da Deusa". (Ênfase e parênteses parentéticos meus).

Em muitos aspectos, Maria tornou-se ela mesma um símbolo de fertilidade, embora sua fertilidade não tenha sido divorciada de sua agência sexual, permitindo que a maternidade fosse chamada de sagrada, mas a sexualidade feminina pecaminosa. Foi assim que me ensinaram, ao crescer, que a melhor coisa que eu podia fazer era ter filhos, mas a pior coisa que eu podia fazer era ter sexo fora dos limites do casamento heterossexual, aprovado pela igreja e governado pelo homem.

Quando sua única Divindade é o homem

Tudo isso para dizer que o medo cristão da sexualidade feminina certamente não é novidade. Na Idade Média, ela foi literalmente demonizada. Milhares e milhares de mulheres foram queimadas como bruxas por ordem dos líderes cristãos da época. O tratado cristão de 1487 sobre bruxaria, o Malleus Maleficarum, adverte: "Toda bruxaria vem da luxúria carnal, que na mulher é insaciável".

Os estudiosos Stuart Clark e Robin Briggs nos dizem que existe um certo binário no pensamento cristão que explica porque as mulheres eram mais propensas à acusação de feitiçaria:

"Os homens são associados a atributos positivos, então as mulheres devem ser associadas a seus pares negativos. Se Deus é a encarnação do bem e o Diabo, é seu oposto polar, então, em conformidade, os homens estão inatamente mais próximos de Deus e as mulheres do Diabo. Isto é até apoiado pelo pecado original de Eva em Gênesis da Bíblia".

Isto é o que acontece quando sua única divindade é o homem.

É claro que nem sempre foi assim. As raízes politeístas do Antigo Testamento ("Façamos o homem à nossa imagem") ainda são evidentes. O próprio Yahweh começou como um mero epíteto de El no panteão cananeu. A adoração de Asherah não desapareceu uma vez que os israelitas se mudaram, mas ela era conhecida há muito tempo como a esposa de Yashweh, ou a "Rainha dos Céus", como encontramos no livro de Jeremias. Seus filhos são os "filhos de Deus" em Gênesis 6 que acasalam com as filhas dos humanos e criam gigantes (sim, isso está na verdade na Bíblia).

Mais tarde, quando os Deuses e Deusas se transformaram em uma grande Divindade masculina sob o nome de Yahweh, todos os outros poderes foram subsumidos em um só ser. É assim que Yahweh pode ter as habilidades de Asherah, que incluem os poderes tradicionais das mulheres para dar vida. Até mesmo cristãos proeminentes notaram descrições femininas do Deus bíblico em suas Escrituras. Parece óbvio para o leitor moderno que Asherah acabou sendo enxotada de seu texto sagrado para preservar a autoridade masculina.

A maioria dos cristãos não está ciente de que os ichthys representava originalmente a sexualidade feminina. Hoje eles a colocam em suas roupas e a penduram em suas igrejas, onde silenciosamente cantam as antigas canções de empoderamento feminino.

Falando por mim, vejo isso e lembro que em meu corpo está a carne que os humanos primeiro chamaram de divina. Eu mesma trouxe uma criança para o mundo através de seus poderes. E enquanto o cristianismo trabalha para controlar os corpos femininos ainda hoje, milhões de mulheres através da história gritam através deste símbolo de fertilidade e vida.

Texto de Alexis https://disqus.com/by/disqus_KeeO63CG7G/

 Notas da tradutora: o termo ‘pagão’ foi traduzido entre aspas porque se trata de uma designação cristã no contexto romano para tudo o que não tivesse sua identificação e, portanto, contém juízo de valor.

A expressão “Deusa da fertilidade” também aparece entre aspas por se tratar de um reducionismo de gênero no viés das chamadas pesquisas acadêmicas realizadas por homens.

A termo “ídolo” é traduzido entre aspas porque se trata de um termo pejorativo com relação a imagens de Divindades de cultos demonizados e/ou vilanizados.

Sobre a inadequada designação das imagens de Deusas como “Vênus”, recomendo outro artigo que traduzi Elas não são figuras de “Vênus”  em https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2020/07/25/elas-nao-sao-figuras-de-venus/

Tradução de Angela Natel - https://linktr.ee/angelanatel

[Fonte de imagem: Adobe Stock]

 Para saber mais, adquira os cursos:

Curso “Asherah: Deusa de Israel” – para uma luta anticolonial

Para informações e inscrição:  https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/04/06/curso-asherah-deusa-de-israel/

 Curso “Bíblia Hebraica: formação e conteúdo (panorama histórico e literário)” – estudo sobre os textos do Antigo Testamento

Para informações e inscrição: https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/04/02/curso-biblia-hebraica-formacao-e-conteudo-panorama-historico-e-literario/

 Curso “Leituras do Novo Testamento: os quatro Evangelhos e a literatura”

Para informações e inscrição: https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/04/24/curso-leituras-do-novo-testamento-os-quatro-evangelhos-e-a-literatura-3/

 Curso “Apocalipse: texto e contexto (sentido e interpretação)”

Para informações e inscrição: https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/05/16/curso-apocalipse-texto-e-contexto-sentido-e-interpretacao/

 Curso: “O panteão ugarítico e a mitologia cananeia: Deuses e Deusas da Bíblia”

Para informações e inscrição: https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/06/20/curso-o-panteao-ugaritico-e-a-mitologia-cananeia-deuses-e-deusas-da-biblia-4/

 Curso: “Metaverso: explorando o livro de Juízes - Mitologias, tradições, personagens e narrativas na Bíblia”.

Para informações e inscrição: https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/07/17/curso-metaverso-explorando-o-livro-de-juizes/

 Curso: “Zacarias: a expulsão da Deusa e o silenciamento profético”.

Para informações e inscrição:

https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/08/21/curso-zacarias-a-expulsao-da-deusa-e-o-silenciamento-profetico-4/

 Curso “Deusas, loucas e feiticeiras: as mulheres nos textos bíblicos”

Para informações e inscrição:

https://angelanatel.wordpress.com/2022/10/16/curso-deusas-loucas-e-feiticeiras-mulheres-nos-textos-biblicos-2/

 Curso: “A representação do Mal nas Religiões”

Garanta já seu ingresso: https://www.sympla.com.br/evento-online/a-representacao-do-mal-nas-religioes/1786961

 Curso: “O divórcio de Yahweh e a Deusa no Éden”

Garanta já seu ingresso: https://www.sympla.com.br/evento-online/o-divorcio-de-yahweh-e-a-deusa-no-eden/1786975

 Texto original em https://www.patheos.com/blogs/removingthefigleaf/2016/11/vagina-power/

[lilacerull0]

Jo, I need a new series to watch. Recommendations?

@sunsetskies-over-icecream sent me a similar ask, so i'm replying to both of you. 🧡

*i'm probably gonna mention some shows i know for sure one of you has seen, but the other one hasn't.

(btw i love that this is my fandom role, tv show encyclopaedia strikes again 😎)

okay so, my definite favourites are (like... these are the fandoution of my entire personality): criminal minds, grey's anatomy, house m.d., bones, boy/girl meets world and the x files. i think they're all great and i hate them <3

robin, idk if you've seen gilmore girls, but you definitely should see it!!!! it's the one show i wish i saw earlier in life and it's very good at capturing experiences that are both universal and very specific. it's comforting, but it's also extremely relatable and the perfect background noise for study sessions as dash puts it, which you might appreciate.

i'm not sure if nova saw stranger things, but if not: do it! it's not mind-blowing or anything, but there are some things to be discussed there and the vibes are immaculate <3 i am not okay with this has similar energy, but unfortunately it was never renewed for a second season :(

i haven't caught up with the flash in ages, but i was very into it a few years ago.

as you know, i also watch quite a lot of (what i consider to be) trash tv, partially because i find it amusing, partially because it almost always ends up being accidentally deep! that's definitely the case with gossip girl and some people here really opened my eyes to everything riverdale could be (besides a top notch comedy ofc) and everything it is in canon, and some of it isn't even subtextual. i enjoy bad tv a lot, just!!!! the mechanics of storytelling are palpable with those.

i prefer elementary to BBC's sherlock and i reccomend it with my whole entire heart, just... PLATONIC SOULMATES EXCELLENCE i'm such a sucker for sherlock adaptations in general, but i particularly like the modern take on the story that's captured here (and in house m.d. as well, but you know enough about that one if you follow me sjsjjsjsjs)

the good place is AMAZING!!!! definitely extraordinary and something you haven't seen before.

the queen's gambit and anne with an e are objectively such good shows and i'm never not gonna recommend them. idc if you saw them, SEE THEM AGAIN! like. NOW!

i've been meaning to watch the marvellous mrs. maisiel (which is created by the person who made gilmore girls) soooo nova!!!!! we can make plans to see it at the same time if you want. 💖

once upon a time (which i've only seen bits and pieces of) and teen wolf are also currently of my watchlist.

[earthstory]

Let there be Light: The Making and Death of Stars

Hubble has spent nearly 30 years sending us the most amazing and dazzling photos of our Universe. Hubble has literally expanded the frontiers of human knowledge. Using it to peer deep into space and back in cosmic time, astronomers learned that galaxies formed from smaller patches of ‘stuff’ in the early universe by capturing light from newborn galaxies as it looked 13 billion years ago. The creation of this light is made from the billions of stars out there, illuminating our universe for all to see. How is this light created? How are stars made and what happens once they have used up all their energy? Lets take a brief look at the making and death of stars. First of all, some basic facts about our Sun. Our Sun is a G2 V type main sequence dwarf star (medium sized), at the center of the solar system and contains nearly 99.8% of the solar systems mass. The colour is whitey green but appears yellowish due to the scattering of blue light in the atmosphere. It is a population I star, that being rich in heavy elements, (high metallicity). The Sun was probably formed from a high proportion of material from prior supernova events (death of super massive stars way bigger than our own). Its composition is about 74% Hydrogen, 24% Helium, 0.8% Oxygen, 0.3% Carbon and 0.2% Iron. Its gravity is about 28 x the Earth’s and is about 150 million km (93 205 678.8 miles) away from Earth, or just over 8 light minutes.

Each star is different, but starts life the same way in clouds and dust called Nebulas, stellar nurseries for stars such as Orion, Eagle and Horse head to name but a few. To make a star, all you need is gravity, hydrogen and time. Gravity pulls the hydrogen gas into a swirling vortex. Gravity brings matter together and when you 'squeeze' things together in smaller spaces, they heat up, basically when you compress something you drive the temperature up. Over 100's and 1000's of years the cloud gets thicker, a large spinning vortex as big as our solar system and at the centre a large dense spinning ball where the pressure builds until large jets of gas burst out at the sides. Eventually a star ignites, throwing off any remainder gas out. With a temperature of 15 million degrees at the core, atoms of gas fuse together. BOOM! A star is born.

So, we now know how a star is created, what about what drives stars energy then? Atoms of Hydrogen smash into each other, this process is called fusion. Hydrogen atoms naturally repel one another, chemistry 101, but if they travel fast enough, really fast, they crash into each other, fusing together to make helium, heat with a small amount of pure energy. The hydrogen gas weighs slightly more than helium, loosing mass during the collision in which this mass turns into energy. Stars are huge, and to drive this you need gravity to compress the star to create nuclear fusion at its core.

What happens when the fuel runs out? Well, eventually it will run out, bigger stars use their fuel more quickly so the bigger the star the shorter its life. Gravity is in a constant battle with the stars fusion process that they balance each other out, however gravity eventually wins the battle. Our Sun is no exception, every second it burns 600million tones of its hydrogen fuel. As hydrogen gets used up, the core slows down giving gravity the edge, with less fusion pushing outward, gravity pushes inward and as fusion fights back the star begins to expand. This is called the red giant stage that will consumes all the inner rocky planets, and most likely even the Earth. This is the end of our beautiful planet Earth (although some theorists think that this process may ‘push’ Earth further out). With no hydrogen left to fuel it, the star starts to burn helium and fuses it with carbon. Blasting energy from its core to the surface, these energy waves blow away the stars outer layer and slowly it disintegrates into a “white dwarf”. A white dwarf is so dense that if a sugar cube amount were placed on Earth, it would fall right through it. Astronomers believe that in the core of a white dwarf there is solid carbon, literally a diamond in the sky!

This is the outcome of our star, but what about bigger ones? Larger stars have a much more violent ending than our G type star. The gravity of these stars is so massive that they can smash together bigger and bigger atoms. The cores of these stars are like factories, manufacturing heavier and heavier elements, which lead to the stars destruction. Gold, Silver, Nickel and other elements are all created in these stars. The next time you wear your gold chain or ring, just think, it wasn't created here on Earth, but in the death of a super massive nova. Once the star starts to make iron, this is the end. Iron absorbs the energy in a 1000th of a second, robbing it of its remaining fuel until gravity wins and the star collapses. It creates a huge explosion, a supernova and the single most violent event in the universe, spewing everything out into space. Then, the whole process of star formation begins again. If it wasn't for these massive explosions, our Sun wouldn't be here, therefore so wouldn't we.

There is only so much hydrogen in the universe and astronomers believe that eventually, the entire universe will simply run out of the star forming gas and eventually the lights will all go out. Thankfully, we will not be around to see this, nor see the death of our own middle-aged star in about 4.57 billion years. We have a long time to appreciate it and be thankful for its life giving ingredients. To be thankful that its rises, sets and rises again, because without it, it’s goodnight sweetheart smile emoticon

Carbon, Oxygen, Iron in our blood, Everything around us came from the belly of a star. We are in a 'golden age' of the universe. A good time to be here, seeing the best of all stages of the universe, filling the darkness with light. For we are all made of stardust.

~ JM

Image Credit: http://bit.ly/1FnZ8dV

More Info:

Hubble: http://hubblesite.org/

Sun Facts: http://bit.ly/1xqjsaz

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory:http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Space Weather: http://www.spaceweather.com/

Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://bit.ly/1CiFOPI

Stellar Evolution: http://bit.ly/1BkXinG

[thelazyenvironmentalist]

Why I’m Organizing for a Green New Deal in Canada

When I was little, I spent my summers at my grandma’s house. She lived with my grandpa in a ranch-style bungalow a few hundred meters up from the shores of Lake Huron. The house had an immaculately kept garden, mint shag carpet, and a blue porcelain bathtub. It was perfect. When the weather was good, my grandma would spend hours outside with me, collecting Queen Anne’s Lace in the meadow across the road, walking under the cool green canopy of the forest nearby, or splashing in the waves at the beach for so long that when she brought me inside she would immediately place me in the bathtub to wash the sand off. If I sit quietly I can still hear the sound of the grains of sand settling at the bottom of the blue porcelain as she washed the day out of my hair. It was during this time outside that I first learned what it felt like to feel at home in what we refer to as “nature”. I learned that I could eat apples right off the trees in the woods, scrub myself clean- and then get hopelessly dirty again- at the lake, or sit in our secret spot and nap in the shade of a pine tree with the person I loved the most. On days that were cold and rainy, my grandma and I would stay inside, flipping through a Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of North American Wildlife, or watching TVO. On those days spent inside, every Saturday or Sunday morning (I can’t remember which) I would park myself in front of the old tube TV to watch the same two mid-nineties infomercials each week. The first, a classic in Canadian Millennial cannon- was from the Humane Society- the one with Sarah McLachlan playing in the background, while sad kittens stared into the camera. The second, slightly more scarring, was produced by the World Wildlife Fund, and this one broke my heart. Every weekend I’d sit on that mint shag carpet and sob watching images of Amazon Rainforest being clear cut, or Bengal Tigers being poached and separated from their cubs. Silly as it might seem, it was these early morning infomercials that taught me the devastation and heartbreak of losing nature. They taught me empathy for creatures I will never see or touch in real life, a sadness and longing for places and times I will never live in. They taught me that if I wanted to see things change, I would have to take action myself. My grandma echoed these lessons in her care of me, and those around her. Her compassion for all creatures-humans and animals alike- sticks with me even now, years after her passing. Anyone in our family could tell you about the time that Grandma nursed an abandoned baby mouse back to health, or when we hand fed a litter of baby bunnies for weeks when the mother was scared away by my Aunt Pauline’s dog, or when she brought our Cat, Mr. Tibb’s back from the brink when he was sick and my parents’ had already booked us a trip to Mexico. What I’m trying to say is my grandmother taught me that even if you can’t immediately relate to someone, or something, even if you’re a different species, when help is needed, you offer it. She taught me that there was beauty in the world and that it was worth saving. I haven’t mentioned my Grandpa yet, but he was the love of my Grandma’s life. They met when she was 17 and living in Florida with her parents. He saw her singing in the church choir when he was on vacation with his family, and three months later she had moved up to Canada, they were married, and soon my Aunt Debbie was on the way. My Grandpa’s brother’s made their way owning car dealerships and racehorses, and lived well into their 80s and 90s- my Grandpa got into the oil industry. First in Sarnia, then Nova Scotia, the United States, Calgary, and, for a short period of time, Saudi Arabia, among numerous other towns and cities. My Grandpa managed oil refineries for decades- and was proud of his work and all it afforded his family. Both he and my Grandma had jackets and hats stitched with the Turbo Canada logo (a now defunct petroleum company) and somewhere in my closet at my parent’s house, I still have one of his old jackets tucked away, with a decades old cigarette hidden in the pocket. My Grandpa was in insanely good health, for his entire life. Due to his health, and love of his job, he didn’t retire until he was in his early 60s. When I was about 11 his health abruptly changed. He got very sick, very quickly, and for the first time in his life, he was admitted to a hospital overnight, and for the next 6 months or so, he didn’t really leave. My Grandpa died of Leukaemia in his early 70s, due to, what the family believed, was from a lifetime of benzene exposure from working in the oil and gas industry. Much of the generational wealth I still benefit from, is due to the Canadian oil industry; this makes me uncomfortable. But this same industry, the one that allowed my grandparents to raise 4 daughters comfortably, and retire on the shores of Lake Huron, in a house that they built, is the same industry that ultimately cost him his life- it’s the reason I no longer have a Grandpa. It’s also why when my grandma had a series of mini-strokes resulting in dementia, she spent the last few really difficult years of her life alone, without the comfort of her lifelong partner by her side. I’m not going to say that my Grandfather dying is the reason I work with other young people for climate justice- that fate was sealed over two decades ago, when I first started crying in front of the TV seeing the harm we have the capacity to inflict. But what my Grandpa’s leukaemia does compel me to do is work for a world where no one else has to leave this world too soon in order to provide for their family. The oil and gas industry in Canada has given so many of us so much, and it has also taken so much away. Not just from those like my family who lost a single loved one too soon, and too painfully, but from the communities like the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Chemical Valley, downstream from the refineries my Grandfather worked at in Sarnia, where miscarriages are frequent because of exposure to chemicals like cadmium and mercury. The weight of our affluence shouldn’t be borne by those who have had their land stolen from them, or by the workers who risk their health and livelihood working in mines and refineries because our government can’t be bothered to subsidize job training programs for low-carbon work, or support an energy economy that doesn’t make a few influential people exorbitant amounts of wealth. The greed of the Canadian petro-state is devastating. It is so easy to give into the heartbreak, the malaise, to wallow in the understanding that we are already losing, that we have lost so much, and so many to climate change, and the fossil fuel industry. What’s hard is hope. What’s hard is to continue to love, to continue to plough ahead despite the odds, to demand better of our leaders; of ourselves. The Green New Deal is the first thing that has offered me real hope in a very long time. The Green New Deal and it’s “no one left behind” attitude offer us a chance to build the world we want to live in- a world without catastrophic climate change, a world where workers are respected and valued to a higher degree than the resources they’re extracting. A world where having the energy to power our lives doesn’t mean sacrificing entire communities like the Aamjiwnaang, and their children. Where, in order to provide for your family, you don’t first have to sign away your red blood cell count. My heart was first broken in front of that TV when I was little. I’m so ready to put it back together. And I’m going to do that the only way I know how: by working with those I love to try to save my home. We can do that with a Green New Deal, but we need your help, we need your hope, and we need your hands. We need to get to work.

[jokin-izar]

BALANCE INVIERNO 2022

- - - LIBROS - - -

   “44 de la Calle Armonía”, de C.D. Casino.    "Antisolar”, de Emilio Bueso.

   “Asalto a las panaderías”, de Haruki Murakami.

   “Billy Summers”, de Stephen King.    “Colegio Z- Sala este”, de Ignacio Mallén.

   “El centinela”, de Aerthur C. Clarke.

   “La nostalgia de la Mujer Anfibio”, de Cristina Sánchez-Andrade.

   “Subsolar”, de Emilio Bueso.    “Los crímenes post mortem”, de Marcos Nieto.

   “Luna Llena”, de Aki Shimazaki.

   “Mañana es el día siguiente”, de Mario Marín.

   “Ponzoña”, de David Luna Lorenzo.    “Una casa llena de gente”, deMaruana Sández.    “Yo, Tituba, la bruja negra de Salem”, de Maryse Condé.   

  - - - SERIES - - -

     “Archive 81”    "By Ana Milán" T2    “Dexter - New blood”

   “Dr. Brain” 

   “El libro de Boba Fett”

   “Estamos muertos”    "Feria - La luz más oscura"    "Mar de la Tranquilidad"    “Perdidos en el espacio” T3

   "Raised by wolves" T2     “Reacher"

   “Sequía"

   “Star Trek Discovery" T4

   “The Boys Diabolical"    “The Expanse" T6

   “The Girl Before"    “The Witcher" T2    “Yellowjackets"

  - - - PELÍCULAS - - -

    “Agentes 355”    "Cangrejo negro"    “Cazafantasmas. Más allá”

   “El buen patrón” 

   “El callejón de las almas perdidas”

   “El páramo”    "El proyecto Adam"    "En la tormenta. No exit" 

   “Eternals”    "Proyect Gemini"        “Hotel Transilvania - Transformanía"

   "Kimi"    "La abuela"    “Mamá o Papá”    “Master”    "Matrix - Resurrections"    "The Colony"    "Spine of Night"

  - - - - - - - - - - MÚSICA - - - - - - - - - -

Enero 2022

 AUTUMN'S CHILD - "Zenith" (2022) ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS - "Raise The Roof" (2021) NONPOINT - "Ruthless" [EP] (2021) FEUERSCHWANZ - "Memento Mori" (2021) BLUEDHALIA - "BlueDhalia" (2021) CHANGE THE LOCKS - "What A Waste" (2022) BLUE MERROW - "Blue Merrow" (2022) LIKE A STORM - "Okura" (2022) SKILLET - "Dominion" (2022) MAGNUM - "The Monster Roars" (2022) NOCTURNA - "Daughters of the Night" (2022) WOLVESPIRIT - "Change the World" (2022) LIHER - "Eta hutsa zen helmuga" (2022)

Febrero 2022 

ASHES OF ARES - "Emperors and Fools" (2022) SARATOGA - " XXX " (2021) HARPYIE - "Blutbann" (2022) JETHRO TULL - "The Zealot Gene" (2022) DIANTHUS - "Realms" (2022) KORN - "Requiem" (2022) SPITFIRE - "Denial to Fall" (2022) EVERGREY - "Before the Aftermath (Live in Gothenburg)" (2022) EDEN SYNTHETIC CORPS - "The Encyclopaedia of Black Sleep" (2022) ROLLING QUARTZ - "Fighting" [EP] (2022) LOUDNESS - " Sunburst ~ Gamushara" (2022) JOLLY JOKER - "Loud & Proud" (2022) HILBERA - "Mundu galdua" (2022)

  Marzo 2022

BLOODYWOOD - "Rakshak" (2022) HAMMERFALL - "Hammer Of Dawn" (2022) BAD OMENS - "The Death Of Peace Of Mind" (2022) SABATON - "The War To End All Wars" (2022) SYLVAINE - "Nova" (2022) FLEISCH - "The Kite" (2022) RAMMSTEIN - "Zeit" [single] (2022) BONUS - "Disyuntiva" (2022) CROSS EYED LOVER - "Blonde Zombie" (2022) DYMYTRY - "Revolt" (2022) GHOST - "Impera" (2022) RADIOACTIVE - "X.X.X." (2022) FURY - "Born To Sin" (2022) MIDDLECAGE - "Plethora" (2022) STABBING WESTWARD - "Chasing Ghosts" (2022)

[stupendousrebelpuppy]

This Day in History: September 2

This Day in History: September 2

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Featured Event

1666 – Great Fire of London. On this day in 1666 the Great Fire of London began accidentally in the house of the king’s baker; it burned for four days and destroyed a large part of the city, including Old St. Paul’s Cathedral and about 13,000 houses.

1998 – Swissair flight 111 crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 229 on…

[capalivros]

ARNOLD, Vladimir I.; KOZLOV, Valery V.; NEISHTADT, Anatoly I.. Mathematical aspects of classical and celestial mechanics. 3 ed. Nova York: Springer, 2006. 518 p. (Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences, 3 - Dinamical Systems, 3). ISBN 3540282467. Inclui bibliografia e índice; 24cm.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

The Freedom Fighters

By Bill Twatio

 Blacks in Canada had no problem choosing sides in the American Civil War. Enlisting in the Union cause in great numbers, they too fought for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Among them was Harriet Tubman, who made repeated trips into the South to guide slaves north on the Underground Railroad.

  Convinced long before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that the fight against slavery and the preservation of the Union were synonymous, Henry Jackson, a black Canadian wrote: “I wish to impress upon your mind that the war is a trial between freedom and slavery not only here, but all over the world.” True to his convictions, he enlisted in the Union Army and was killed at Campbell’s Station on November 16, 1863.    

Black Canadians had no problem in choosing sides in the American Civil War. Bred in slavery, they rallied to the Union cause as soon as President Abraham Lincoln issued a directive allowing black enlistments in the Union armies. Maritimers made their way to Massachusetts to enlist in the famous 54th, celebrated in the movie “Glory,” while young blacks from the Elgin and Buxton Settlements in Ontario crossed the border at Detroit to join the 1st Michigan Coloured Infantry. Others, encouraged by Joseph Henson, a schoolteacher at Dresden whose escape from slavery inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, would serve in the cavalry, artillery and navy in every theatre of war. Two of every 100 Canadians who served were black Canadians fighting for the freedom of black Americans.

 The Road to Freedom 

Although most black Canadians were American born, blacks had settled in Canada as early as 1629 when David Kirke arrived at Quebec with a black slave from Madagascar who he promptly sold to Champlain’s master-builder, Guillaume Couillard. Little is known about this first black resident of Canada except that he was baptized under the name Olivier Le Jeune, served as a domestic and died, still a young man and a slave, in 1654.     

Slavery was forbidden in France, but Louis XIV gave it limited approval in Canada, informing the colonists that “His Majesty finds it good that the inhabitants import Negroes there to take care of their agriculture.” Blacks were soon set to work as household servants and field-hands and did much of the heavy work in the new fur-trading outposts. Although there would be fewer slave-owners in New France than in the neighbouring English colonies to the south, the attitude to slavery was similar. Enumerated with the animals, a black was a slave everywhere and no one was astonished to find him in bondage.    

Slavery in Canada continued to flourish under the British regime, Jeffrey Amherst assuring the Marquis de Vaudreuil, a slave-owner, that “Negroes of both sexes shall remain in their quality of slaves in possession of the French or Canadians to whom they belong.” This assurance was included in the Articles of Capitulation signed at Montreal in 1760.    

Many prominent citizens acquired slaves. The Reverend David Delisle of the Church of England in Montreal bought a slave name Charles in 1766 and two years later James McGill, a wealthy merchant, bought “a negro woman named Sarah, about the age of 25 years for the sum of 56 pounds, lawful money of the Province.” Much of the dealing in slaves was carried on through the newspapers. When Fleury Mesplet founded the Montreal Gazette in 1778, he announced that his paper would “give notice to the public at any time of slaves deserted from their masters.”    

Slaves accompanied the Loyalists to their new homes in British North America in the wake of the American Revolution. Veterans of Butler’s Rangers who settled along the Niagara Frontier brought slaves with them or bought them from livestock dealers who brought their wares to Canada. A Colonel Clark of Ernestown in Prince Edward Country recalls that “drovers used to come in with horses, cattle, sheep and negroes, for the use of the troops, forts, and settlers in Canada, and my father purchased his four negroes, three males and one female named Sue.”     

Wherever the Loyalists brought their slaves, black settlements began to form – at Birchtown near Shelbourne in Nova Scotia; at York, Kingston and Prescott; at Sandwich, Amherstburg and Chatham. Although they came as slaves, hope was beginning to dawn. In 1791, Colonel John Graves Simcoe, the newly-appointed Governor of Upper Canada, pledged himself never to support any law that “discriminates by dishonest policy between the Natives of Africa, America or Europe.” Two years later he introduced a bill in the Legislative Assembly prohibiting the importation of slaves, which passed “with much opposition but little argument.”

 The Underground Railroad

In spite of its limitations, Simcoe’s bill helped to change public attitudes to slavery and by the turn of the century most Canadian blacks were free. Moreover, American blacks, learning that they would not be enslaved north of the border, began a trek to freedom honouring Simcoe’s memory with an abolitionist song:

”I’m on my  way to Canada

That cold and distant land

The dire effects of slavery

I can no longer stand -

Farewell, old master,

Don’t come after me.

I’m on my way to Canada

Where coloured men are free.”

The legendary Underground Railroad, with its mythical “trains” running through the northern states to terminals in Canada, had no track or rolling stock. It was underground only in the sense that it was a secret operation. Quakers and Methodists, free blacks and slaves, “shareholders” united in their hatred of slavery, worked out of border states and used railway terms to confuse the authorities. “Conductors” drove carts and farm wagons with slaves hidden in false compartments and transferred them to “stations” along the many routes leading to Canada. The most famous, Harriet Tubman, called the “Black Moses” of her people, made repeated trips into the South to guide slaves north. Her forays ended at St. Catharines at the home of the Reverend Hiram Wilson, the leader of the local refugee community. Operating informally without reports, meetings and memoranda, the Underground Railroad spirited some 30,000 fugitives to Canada between 1800 and 1860.

 Cheers for Massachusetts

Harriet Tubman continued her work during Civil War as a spy and nurse for the Union Army. Discriminated against and denied a pension, her experience was only too familiar to Canadian black volunteers. Black soldiers did not receive the same pay as whites and could not become officers. Many served for long periods without pay until they were grudgingly awarded half the standard rate, prompting the 54th to adopt the bitter battle cry: “Three Cheers for Massachusetts and Seven Dollars a Month!” The men who died in the attack on Fort Wagner were never paid.    

Military hospitals had separate but unequal facilities for black and white troops leading to a higher death rate among blacks. Only eight black surgeons received commissions and they were they were resented by their white colleagues. Dr. Alexander Augusta, who had trained at Trinity College in Toronto, was removed from his position as head of surgery at Camp Stanton in Maryland after his white assistants personally complained to the Secretary of War. Returning to Washington by train, he was attacked by two men who tore his officer’s insignia from his uniform while a mob watched.

Approximately 180,000 blacks served in the Union Army. They participated in over 500 military engagements, 40 of which were major battles. Their most difficult battle, however, was waged against entrenched racial attitudes. American and Canadian blacks alike, faced the fires of war and hatred with courage hoping that they too would finally have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

 Reprinted from the encyclopaedia Canada at War and Peace II:  A Millennium of Military Heritage, published by Esprit de Corps Books in 2001.

[parkerbombshell]

Jazzamatazz - Thrill Seeker - Kaleidoscope 51

  Bombshell Radio Jazzamatazz Double Header Today 1pm-3pm EST 7pm-9pm BST 10am-12pm PDT bombshellradio.com Today's Bombshell (Bombshell Radio) A kaleidoscope of 23 cool eclectic funky,jazzy,quirky,far-out & fun tracks. A genre juggling journey into groovy sound. Volume51. Enjoy the trip :)     #funksouljazz , #rock, #funk , #jazz , #lounge, #eclectic , #soundtrack , #groove 1 Getaway Johnny Keating 2 Attente-Trans Europe Express Camille Sauvage 3 Portobello Market Syd Dale 4 Strike Rich Reg Tilsley Orchestra 5 Running Sabotage Johnny Pearson 6 What Goes Around Comes Around Arthur Monday 7 Major League Baseball John Scott 8 Rice And Beans James Last 9 Clown Face Big Boss Man 10 Soul Encyclopaedia Geraldine Jones 11 The Witch Adam & Eve 12 Rock Creek Park The Blackbyrds 13 Rumplestiltskin Alan Hawkshaw 14 Safari The Flintstones 15 Zaguansongo Miguel Castro 16 Jungle Young Senators 17 Taste For Living John Fiddy 18 The Whip (Part 2) Darnell Simpkins And The Family Tree 19 No No No Dieter Reith 20 Bahia Bossa Nova Bernard Lubat 21 The Prowler Harry Roche Constellation 22 Coco 20 Pierre Briffa 23 Riviera Express Bernard Estardy Read the full article

[environmental-issues-caitlanb]

In-Class Blog Reflection: Worldviews

Out of the 3 types of environmental standpoints (Anthropocentric, Ecocentric and Biocentric), my environmental ethics lie within the non-human focus of ecocentric.

The ecocentric standpoint appeals to me because I’m a firm believer that in order to preserve biodiversity, we must make the overall health of the planet a top priority.

I believe that we must identify and protect what exactly keeps our forests, grasslands, and tundras stable and able to sustain various ecosystems; prioritizing the protection of the keystone species of each region will do just that. These keystone species are pivotal in providing stability in the structure and health of their respective ecosystems, if they were to ever be removed, then their ecosystems would fall apart.(1)

An example of this phenomenon would be when the Wolves were completely eradicated from Yellowstone National Park, which in turn caused very serious issues within the ecosystem such as [All info (2), (3)]:

Increase in the Elk population (which made them more prone to falling ill from spread of disease)

Other predators could not hunt as much as they only go after weak elk; older and (mostly) healthier elk were more common

Coyotes had no more competition - made various other species within the park critically endangered (Primarily Foxes),

Overgrazing; vegetation was being consumed faster than it was able to grow.

The flow of the rivers surrounding the park changed course

Soil erosion occurred (due to overgrazing); landscape became irritable.

Of course, once the wolves were reintroduced to the park, these issues immediately were reversed, and the ecosystem functions went back to normal. Learning about this phenomenon last year in my ENVR 1000 class has really opened my eyes as to how dependant a whole landscape can be on just one type of species; this is where my ecocentric views began to flourish.

Furthermore, we must take the initiative to get directly involved with the various ecosystems around the world to ensure that their stability never falters at the hands on any intrusive/problematic species(4). I recall learning about this issue during my highschool geography class, where we learned about how Zebra Mussells have taken over Lake Winnipeg. These Zebra Mussells have not only severely degraded the population of various aquatic species, but they have also made the lake unpleasant to be around; with it becoming even more difficult to eradicate them, Lake Winnipeg may soon be declared dead. (5)

Ultimately, I can stand by the declaration that the systems of the world's ecosystems must be prioritized. Without a solid ecological structure, our beautiful landscapes will cease to exist; in which the human race will cease to exist.

Endnotes

(1)  Thompson, John N. “Keystone species”. Encyclopaedia Britannica, March 19, 2015 https://www.britannica.com/science/keystone-species

(2) “Bringing wolves home”.  NOVA, November 11, 1997http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/wolves-yellowstone.html

(3)  Macneil, Caeleigh, “How wolves saved the foxes, mice and rivers of Yellowstone national park”, Earth justice, July 8, 2015

(4) Class notes**

(5) lakewinnipegfoundation.org