#literally I have been studying the ancient times last year and the ancient East world during this year

[that-weirdo-thing]

I was going to continue writing my fic, making the Christmas special, start another one for a different fandom and instead a new idea where Chloé and Adrien are twins who get the miraculous, making everything a fucking family drama came and therefore I'm obligated to recreate from zero the whole universe because the Kwamis doesn't make any historical and cultural sense AND THE FACT THAT SUN WUKONG IS A MIRACULOUS USER MEANS THAT PIGSY IS ALSO A MIRACULOUS USER AND POOR DAIZZI WAS TRAPPED WITH SOME PERVERT AND VERY INTERESTED IN THE PLEASURE OF THE BODY MAN

THOMAS UR WORLD DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE FROM THE "MYTHICAL" ORIGINS OF IT

AND MY SIS CREATED A WORLD WERE THE DEMONS ARE TECHNICALLY OVIPAROUS BEAST PEOPLE, HER DEMONIC PROTAGONIST IS HALF BIRD, THE FUCKING DEMONS LORD IS SOME HALF CROCODILE DUDE WHO GOT DRAGON WINGS WITH THE TITTLE

[valadon]

it's my last night in seattle after my little trip and i have many feels about this city, grunge nostalgia, and the fics i wrote in the past 3 years without ever having set foot here. so, read on under the cut if you dare...

in august 2020 i got heavily back into my grunge roots as a coping mechanism for a falling-apart life (relationship, work, living situation, etc etc). i started writing a nostalgia-heavy fanfic set in 1989 seattle, creating my own little cast of original characters to play with the grunge guys i loved, from my little apartment overlooking a textiles market in a crumbling victorian building in east london, england. covid-era london couldn't have been further from grunge-era seattle, and i'd never been further northwest than san francisco years back, but somehow none of that deterred me. i read and watched everything i could about seattle, pored over google maps creating my own landscape of how it might look, feel, smell; where people might have lived, the streets they might have walked, the parks they might've visited, alongside the apocryphal venues like the vogue, central, showbox, metropolis etc - venues which, in some cases, still existed only in old photos found on pinterest. seattle became a character in my fic, "butterflies", as much as anybody else. i imagined it might smell like the rain, or pine, or cigarette smoke, or saltwater. i imagined crowded low-rise brick and timber buildings, a more intimate city than london or new york where i ended up moving and now live. i went back further into seattle's past for my second fic "shadows" and imagined a darker city, with shuttered churches and a sprawling red light district, an easy place to fall apart.

this year, nearly 3 years after i started writing about seattle, i made it here. it's been totally surreal, like deja vu or something. the little map of the city in my head came to life and yet at the same time i've been struck by the things i didn't know, the kind of things you only learn from being somewhere. it's HILLY here - the gradients are steep, and between downtown and capitol hill is a constant climb. the streets are wide and cut with alleyways, the sunlight is so bright here. the raison d'etre cafe where jeff worked is literally downstairs from the sub pop office; the vogue is around the corner from the northwest school where stone and steve turner studied, the monastery club was very close to the off ramp, the showbox is across the street from pike place (and nextdoor to a super seedy, ancient xxx theater). bainbridge island is huge, and beautiful.

i think the major impression i get is that seattle as a city feels SMALL. like, you can imagine what a small world this was back in the grunge days; people would've bumped into each other all the time, at shows and bars and cafes and just on the street. it's really sad to see that the city is beginning to buckle under all the big glassy developments, but the ghost of it is still there if you know where to look. the metropolis is a dingy little cafe now, the vogue and raison are salons, the ok hotel is apartments, the monastery site is all construction. the showbox and the central and off ramp are still recognisably music venues, though i know places like this are under threat to a degree and it breaks my grungey heart.

walking round this city with my partner the past couple days, i was always looking, at times internally SCREAMING - because here's where i had jeff and sara share pierogis, here's where stone and andy threw stones off the pier, here's where alicia and grace got off the bus to go to monastery, all these little moments from the fictional map in my head - and i have no one else to share this with but you guys, because as insane as it might be, my partner has 0 idea i've written about 500k words of seattle-set fic, and to him it's just another kind of cool city to explore. why i am so terminally ashamed of revealing my writing to anyone irl is a whole thing - my work exists only online to strangers (and tumblr friends) - but i'm working on it. i can definitely say that visiting seattle has only made me want to write about it more; it's a truly fascinating, layered place. i recommend it to anyone, and if you go, @magpiewithacamera 's incredible grunge history posts/photos are invaluable in finding the grungey layer beneath. i also took some photos, which i'll share at some point.

i dont live in london anymore, but seattle was an escape for me long before i ever came here. so: i bought a mother love bone poster at one of the underground shops in pike place market and a coaster with the view from kerry park, another location i wrote about what feels like a lifetime ago in the anxious midnight hours of a covid london night, and while i was walking down pike street, with the pine-smell and the edge of rain in the air just like i imagined they would be, i thought: when i write about this place again, i'll make sure i mention the hills.

[garykrepak]

I recently made several posts and comments that echoed some life-long concerns of mine that have been partially satisfied.

I have only recently found a pool of people with very similar interests and unlike me. They have degrees from multiple distinguished universities and they have representative PhDs. They have spent their entire academic lives learning how to research and articulate and publish their findings on the subject. They often read and fluently speak several ancient languages of the near east. They seek out and study ancient texts and cultures and especially religions. They do this not in an effort to reinforce modern theological interpretations. But they seek to understand the intentions of the texts’ authors and to base their findings considering the wider historical contexts present upon their composition. They often encounter many ancient manuscripts of the same writings and they have to determine which of these are the earliest, most complete and least edited of them. They NEVER encounter manuscripts that are originals of the author. What they most often encounter are copies that are hundreds of years newer than the original compositions. This is especially true of both whole and fragmentary manuscripts of books that would later be included (or later excluded) in what would become the New Testament. In the last two to three hundred years, an incredible amount of ancient manuscripts have been discovered and/or made available for scholarly review and study.

The Torah, or Old Testament. Has its earliest manuscript examples in the form of Greek manuscripts and the recently discovered and translated fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Both, dating many centuries after the periods that the books were probably originally composed.

Because so many of their findings based upon objective scholarship have demonstrated a lack of harmony with the understanding of theologians that were basing their theology on less scientific information. These scholars are sometimes met with fervent opposition. This is not a new problem.

Some of the first European scribes to come back from reading early Greek scrolls, were actually murdered for publishing or even verbalizing their discoveries that ran counter to the interests of the church leaders of their time. Often, they did so at the behest of whatever King was funding their ministerial efforts of the time. They were political assassinations more than they were killed for committing actual heresy.

Today. The professional term for reviewing and more deeply understanding ancient texts and publishing the findings, is called Critical Scholarship.

They come from many countries, religious backgrounds and from varying academic disciplines. They do not seek to prove or disprove anything. They simply seek to understand what is available to be studied and to represent their translations absolutely as accurately as they can. Word for word. As one very prominent scholar puts it. “Data over Dogma”.

It isn’t their job to instill a spiritual interpretation on any given document. They are simply doing their best to make sure that the modern world has access to the literal words as they were intended to be read. Your spiritual interpretation is your personal prerogative. Religion, in its myriad of traditions, cultures and theology. Is there to guide you as to how they want you to interpret it based upon their preferences, spiritual interpretations, and their understandings.

Many of them will declare traditions of univocality and inerrancy and lack of contextual conflict and all manner of ways to elevate your spiritual perception and experience with whichever translation of the Canon they prefer. Some versions are based upon older manuscripts than others. Therefore some of the versions have some verses that differ from others. Or some may use various expressions of the English language than others. Oddly enough. The ones that used the oldest expression of English are based upon manuscripts that are hundreds of years newer than the source material used for more modern versions.

These paragraphs would have gotten me killed or excommunicated not all that long ago.

Because religious zealots are more interested in being in control than they ever were about carrying out the actual intended ministry of Jesus Christ. The most fascinating man that ever lived.

If you are going to call yourself a Christian. Then do as he did. Guide them to God rather than a religion, Feed the hungry, heal the sick, forgive sinners, demonstrate Grace, flip the tables of bankers, and show Love whenever possible no matter who they are, how they are dressed, what country they are from, and make apostles of women. Western Evangelicals like to ignore the fact that Jesus’ longest conversation in the Bible was him training woman to spread his Ministry.

This is probably the last time I am going to post about this subject. As I have my understanding of how I practice spirituality and I am not qualified to preach. All I could do is share some of my understanding for a minute, in hopes that it clicks with some.

Now. Go spread actual Love.

[space-nyadessy]

I am 1.5 edibles and a bottle of wine in and started thinking about geologic and biologic time (after rereading my 2017 [High School Newspaper] article lmfao

Science is art, it's art. There is no other reason to do it. That is fundamentally what it is. It’s a form of worship, really, to something cosmically greater than whoever or whatever I am. This is how i was in the top 2% of applicants to an R1 PhD program but also would’ve been a Maenad in ancient Greece. Why does it all come back to ancient Greece? There is a deep ancestral fucking hatred I have for these Western cultures. We could’ve had the Maenads and the Hyades and the Pleiades of the Inca, or the Amazon. This is also why I resent the IAU official constellations. Yes they fuck and I love them and I have them all memorized and they will be the last thing I see against the blackness of my eyelids as I fade away into oblivion someday, but oh my God we could have also had the motherfucking Azure Dragon of the East. The constellations of other cultures are the most beautiful romantic and tragic things in the world to me. Something about them manages to encapsulate the vastness of space, the deep ancient historical contemplation of our existence and place in the universe, the beauty and longevity of the art that people made and still make out of the earliest human science, the mathematical and geometric elegance (poetry) of so many different pictures and patterns being traced in the night sky by countless different hands reaching out and pointing at the stars and describing their mythologies across thousands of kilometers and over thousands of years. That’s not to mention the collaboration, the compatibility, the cross-cultural exchange that occurs when we look at one another’s constellations today, or the abject tragedy of the erasures of hundreds of massive historical pieces of art due to the political recognition of the symbols of only one culture’s ancestors. We all share the same skies. We all share the fucking stars, as products of the insane prebiotic chemistry that brought us to be where we are around our dear insignificant G-type, literally in a cosmic sense, against a backdrop of infinite worlds and infinite possibilities. It is fucking tragic and immature and wrong to think anything else. I will not let myself forget that. I will not let myself conform. Anyway, this is what Star Trek got so fucking right. God I miss Annika. But it brings me back to this idea of geologic and biologic time, and the beauty of how they interrelate. The mystery and eroticism and cosmic horror that lies within the deep dark ragged fault in our very ability to conceptualize the vast difference between our entire lives (let alone our day-to-day experiences) and the shortest and smallest processes we have even named in our studies of geology and let alone astronomy. It’s beautiful, it’s romantic, it’s horrifying, it’s unknowable, it’s blacker than the darkest night spangled with ancient distant stars. It’s the shadows (Loren Eiseley, The Unexpected Universe, 1964) and I’m in the deepest fucking thralls of love

[readerbookclub]

One Year Later, May’s Booklist

Hurray! It’s been a year since the book club first started. Time really does fly. And why not celebrate this birthday by looking back on some of the books we’ve read together? This month’s book list is made up of novels by author’s whose works we read throughout the past year. Let’s revisit some old favourites, shall we? 

In May 2020, when the world felt like it was going to end and so many of us had more time than we could spend, this book club read its first book. Neil Gaiman’s, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, kept us occupied during that frightening time. So our first pick for this list is:

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman:

Life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of Wall—named after the imposing stone barrier which separates the town from a grassy meadow. Here, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester and for the coveted prize of her hand, Tristran vows to retrieve a fallen star and deliver it to his beloved. It is an oath that sends him over the ancient wall and into a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining...

June was when many of our members first joined us (hey Ann, hey Rey, hey Lani! love ya!). Together we read The Starless Sea, a book that enchanted some, and frustrated others. Now we take a look at Morgenstern’s other novel:

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

In August, when many of us still couldn’t leave our houses, we read A Gentleman in Moscow and met Count Alexander, a man under house arrest. He taught us a lot about finding beauty and purpose, even when everything seems hopeless. In this list, we take another trip into the wonderful imagination of Amor Towles:

Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles:

On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar with her boardinghouse roommate stretching three dollars as far as it will go when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker with royal blue eyes and a tempered smile, happens to sit at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a yearlong journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool toward the upper echelons of New York society and the executive suites of Condé Nast—rarefied environs where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve. Wooed in turn by a shy, principled multi-millionaire, and an irrepressible Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, befriended by a single-minded widow who is ahead of her time, and challenged by an imperious mentor, Katey experiences firsthand the poise secured by wealth and station and the failed aspirations that reside just below the surface. Even as she waits for circumstances to bring Tinker back into her life, she begins to realize how our most promising choices inevitably lay the groundwork for our regrets.

In November, while I was procrastinating studying for my entrance exam, we embarked on a whirlwind journey that unfolded over twenty years. Journey Under the Midnight Sun was a story that started with one murder, then spiralled into a world of crime and deception. Now we take a lot at another one of Higashino’s novels:

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, by Keigo Higashino:

When three delinquents hole up in an abandoned general store after their most recent robbery, to their great surprise, a letter drops through the mail slot in the store's shutter. This seemingly simple request for advice sets the trio on a journey of discovery as, over the course of a single night, they step into the role of the kindhearted former shopkeeper who devoted his waning years to offering thoughtful counsel to his correspondents. Through the lens of time, they share insight with those seeking guidance, and by morning, none of their lives will ever be the same.

In February, we read This is How You Lose the Time War, a book that led to our most lively and active discussion yet. It was then we welcomed many new voices into our book club, and we’re very happy to have them. Whether you loved the novel or just felt confused, I think we can all agree that it was something unique and different. Now, we take a look at another of Gladstone’s sci-fi books:

Empress of Forever, by Max Gladstone

A wildly successful innovator to rival Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action. On the eve of her greatest achievement, she tries to outrun people who are trying to steal her success. In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine. The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider--until Vivian Liao arrives. Trapped between the Pride―a ravening horde of sentient machines―and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.

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[misiwrites]

Beyblade Week Day 1

joining @beybladeweek2021 late but i’ll probably be doing these belatedly all may so, whatever! it is what it is.

i’ve never participated in a fandom challenge with writing before, but i was feeling adventurous this time and the seasonal themes were just perfect for the 4kingdoms AU-verse (which is this), i haven’t been writing much anything in so long that i’m mega rusty and thought i could use the bey week to do some warm-up oneshots. these aren’t going to be particularly interesting because i’m really bad at doing oneshots actually, but i like the idea myself and. that’s the only thing that really matters. right. (i’m not even sure if AUs are allowed for the beyblade week?? but the rules didn’t say anything about it so /shrug)

the day 1 oneshot is a little story from takao’s childhood about how he first met kyouju. this was inspired by my own childhood memories as the youngest sibling when i just wanted to hang out around my big sisters because i thought everything they were doing was Cool Big Sister Stuff.

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~

Firsts / Childhood / Spring

”Takao! I’m trying to read this! Leave me alone already, will you?”

A groan of disappointment. Reluctantly, Takao backs away from his older brother by the desk, shooting him a frown of judgment and betrayal. Now, a quick change of tactics: he figures that, just maybe, Hitoshi allows him to stay in the room if he zips his lips to his best ability.

Wrong. Two silent minutes pass in the small study room until Hitoshi bellows at his brother again, swinging an arm in the door’s direction.

“I’m serious, you can’t keep doing this when I’m trying to do my homework!”

“I’ll just watch and keep quiet, I promise,” Takao insists, giving his brother his best puppy eyes.

“I can’t focus if you’re standing there! Now get out!”

Takao’s frown deepens; with heavy feet and a heavy heart, he trudges toward the sliding door. He doesn’t like this recent change in his brother, all this emphasis on what Hitoshi refers to as “important stuff”. Just because he’s now seventeen. Acting all high and mighty, pretending to be so adult and so important, too adult and too important to play with his younger sibling.

“It’s a very important time for your brother,” their grandfather responded to Takao’s fraternal laments once. “In one year, he will officially inherit the crown of the Seiryuu-ou. There’s much for him to do to grow into the role of the king before his coronation.”

Important this, important that. What about having fun, wasn’t fun important at all? And fencing – surely instructing Takao with the basics of fencing has to be important? Hitoshi’s fencing skills are second to only their grandfather’s, and Takao cannot imagine – doesn’t want to imagine – anyone else teaching him the art of the bamboo sword. And now Hitoshi is “too busy” to teach him, all of a sudden.

“But I’m boooored,” Takao whines from the doors, balancing his weight on his heels back and forth.

“How about you go study something too for once? You really should be reading a lot more than you do, you know. I don’t want my little brother to end up being a dumb prince who doesn’t know anything about the way the world works.”

Takao’s nose wrinkles in disapproval. The word “study” smells like old paper and dust and boredom.

“It’s the Sowmoon holiday now! And what the hell would I study?” he barks.

“Don’t cuss. Anything – whatever interests you. How about the history of the city?”

“Bahhhh.”

“The history of fencing, then. I don’t know – go to the library, take a look at the books or whatever, just leave me alone. I don’t have time for this.” Hitoshi lifts the yellowish document in front of his face and disappears behind it. A wall has risen between the two brothers.

* * * * * *

In the country of spring and year-round greenery, it’s difficult to stay sullen under the tranquil blue of the Eastern sky. Moments later Takao is skipping down the road that leads to the town of Tsuno below, his child’s heart already ignited with new-found hope and aspiration, his feelings of frustration shed by the sturdy wooden gates of the Cherrywood Castle and he's moving on, literally.

At first, the idea was dull at best; reading sounds like just about the flattest thing he could be doing on this beautiful Sowmoon day, a warm breeze blowing through his indigo hair as he carefully hops from one cobblestone to the other… but, in the end, it’s the wish to please his brother that has won him over. Now a plan is taking shape in his mind, the idea swelling like a balloon by each step he takes down the road, and soon his head is racing with the ambition of studying as many topics as he can think of; he’s dreaming up scenarios of impressing his brother with all his newly acquired knowledge, his brain buzzing and his proud heart thumping with all the imaginary praise from Hitoshi… and, just maybe, he’ll then agree to do something fun with his cool and smart little brother again.

So caught up in his daydreams, Takao hardly pays attention to all the familiar townspeople greeting him as he passes by their wooden dwellings and shops and stalls, and he prances past several flocks of tourists lingering on the streets of Tsuno, too busy taking pictures of the cherry blossom trees in their rare blue Sowmoon bloom to notice the royal prince walking right past them. Even if they did see him, not many would pay attention to him; people from outside the city would never imagine a member of the royal Seiryuu-ou family strolling around in a simple hakama without making a scene; but in the royal capital of the Country of East, this was a mundane everyday sight, and Takao was a regular guest of the pastry stalls on the main street of Tsuno. The townspeople loved to pamper this bold and friendly little prince, who hadn’t yet been spoiled by the privileges of the royalty.

Takao reaches the tall glass doors of the main library, only to face the reality of the numbers painted on the glass panel. Five minutes to closing time. So caught up in the rollercoaster of his imagination as he left the Cherrywood Castle, checking the opening hours of the library didn’t even pass his mind.

“Oh, hello, Your Highness,” he’s greeted by one of the kimono-clad library workers who spots him. (The surprise is evident; Takao is not a usual guest in the library.) “How wonderful to see you here. Are you looking for something?”

“Well, yeah, for something to read… but it looks like you’re about to close.”

But coincidence is on Takao’s side today, for the clerk tells him that the library is staying open for one extra hour every day this week.

“The reading hall has been reserved by Professor, a local researcher – but I’m positive he won’t be disturbed by Your Highness’s presence.”

“Really? Okay.” Relieved and triumphant, Takao enters the old-fashioned yet admittedly curiosity-inducing depths of the city library.

He quickly comes to the conclusion that he has underestimated the number of books in the world. Expecting there to be one of each subject of his admittedly limited academic imagination, he is instead hit by an entire universe of paper and ink and covers and words. The map of the library layout alone is full of complex characters that Takao hasn’t yet come across in his schooling.

Dammit.

In the end, Takao finds himself pacing back and forth a narrow aisle of local history books, looking for one with a cover that sparks interest. Perhaps he cannot read all the text, but at least he can look at the pictures.

That’s when he notices another person sharing the space with him, at the far end of the hall, where the shelves have been moved to hug the walls to make room for a reading area in the middle and the ceiling seems to climb up impossibly high under the arch of a dome roof. This person is another kid, hardly older than Takao, and he’s not paying the prince any attention in return; the boy is glued to the screen of a laptop computer that sits on a table in front of him along with several books, one of which has been spread open. Every now and then, his fingers dance across the keyboard at a speed that Takao didn’t even know a computer keyboard could be used with; then the boy crouches over to take a quick glance at the open book before turning back to the laptop again.

A curious sight. For a moment, Takao is tempted by the allure of calling out to this strange boy, to ask him why he’s still there after closing hours. He decides against it and swallows his curiosity. If there’s one thing that his older brother has recently taught him, it is to mind his own business and not bother other people hard at work.

* * * * * *

The next day Takao returns to the library, a pile of books in his lap that he leafed through all night last night. Hundreds of pages of buildings so old they probably stayed up in the pictures with willpower alone – so old that Takao half-expected them to crumble and disappear by the turn of a page, leaving empty picture frame squares behind.

He came to the conclusion that Tsuno’s history was perhaps not the subject to start from.

Takao returns the books, decides to try and find something about fencing, a subject he’s already in some way familiar with. (Between the important-looking books, he secretly slips in a story about Southern pirates; this one he’s not going to tell Hitoshi about.)

In the hall with the dome ceiling, the kid with the laptop is by the exact same table again. Only the array of books next to him is a little different… maybe. Takao is nearly seized by his curiosity again, but something about the air around this boy holds the lingering scent of “do not disturb”, so he bites his tongue once more.

* * * * * *

How could even books about fencing slap him in the face with all this wall of text?! The following day Takao once again turns up at the library, to return his previous findings that had only briefly managed to capture his interest with images of old fencing gear that were not only ancient but, as he ultimately decided, very ugly and stupid-looking.

What about archery, the other national sport of the East? Takao finds it boring and repetitive compared to fencing, but since books about fencing turned out to be boring, did it mean that books about the boring sport were, in turn, more interesting? It makes perfect sense, in Takao’s eight-year-old mind.

However, as he makes his way to the library at the cusp of closing hours again, he no longer pays much heed to the books. Instead, his feet take him to the reading hall under the dome right away.

Sure enough, the kid with the big round glasses and a laptop in front of him is there in his usual spot, all alone. And again the boy’s fingers are hammering at the keyboard faster than Takao can form a coherent thought about computers, the strange machinery that originates from the technically advanced Country of West for all he knows.

It’s been three days now, and Takao can no longer hold back his burning curiosity. Eyes on the strange boy, he takes small sideway steps between the bookshelves, inching his way closer and closer, until he reaches the open reading area under the arched skylights above.

“Hey,” Takao says as he enters the boy’s proximity by the table.

The boy doesn’t do as much as raise his eyes from the computer screen.

“Is there something I can do for you?” he asks, still typing away. The tone of his high-pitched voice is just slightly aggravated but his choice of words oozes formality, a strange speech pattern for someone his age. It throws Takao off a little.

“Umm, I’ve seen you here every day this week and was wondering what you’re doing, that’s all. You know the library was already closed, right?”

After saying this, the thought then passes Takao’s mind that perhaps this kid never leaves the library. Perhaps he’s not even aware that he’s in a closed library. What if Takao is talking to a ghost, haunting this remote corner of the library all day and night? Or, maybe, he’s nothing but a product of Takao’s imagination?

The boy’s voice is now so blunt in response that these phantasmagoric thoughts immediately vanish from Takao’s mind.

“Yes, of course I know. The library personnel was very kind to allow me this one working hour without other people disturbing me. So really, I should be asking – what are you doing here?” Now the stranger’s hands finally leave the keyboard and he lifts his eyes to Takao.

A moment of confused silence. Then the boy’s face begins to resemble the colour of a strawberry.

“Oh!” he squeaks and jumps up to his feet, only to bow his head toward the floor. “Oh, Your, uh, Your Highness! I am terribly sorry for being so rude! Oh, goodness me, how could I…!”

“Wow, calm down,” Takao interrupts, startled himself by the suddenness of the boy’s reaction. “And raise your head – I don’t like people bowing at me, it makes me feel weird. More importantly, what you said just now – are you saying you booked this extra hour from the library?”

Hesitantly, the boy straightens his back, which doesn’t increase his height significantly; now that they’re standing next to each other, Takao notices how small the person he’s talking to is, his head barely on level with Takao’s shoulders.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he says. “I wasn’t aware I was sharing it with the royal family, though. How thoughtless of me.”

“No, well, I kinda just walked in on my own, to be fair. So… you’re a researcher?”

“You could say so, I am indeed carrying out some research here. My name is Saien Manabu, but everyone calls me Professor.”

“Oh, wow. What exactly are you researching?”

“Right now I am writing a paper on the goddess cult of the Country of North. I know, it’s not exactly a topic that interests most children, but I find it so terribly fascinating…”

The mention of children – a nod to the fact that this boy, too, is a child just like him – makes Takao immediately feel more at ease. This person, albeit strange and overly formal and clearly too smart for his age, really is just a child after all. This notion alone is enough to make the kind-hearted and fairly simple-minded Takao like this boy more.

“Sure, that sounds cool,” he says with a grin. “Hey – you said you’re Saien, right? Like that ramen shop on the main street?”

“Yes, it is owned by my parents.”

“Well, it’d be real interesting to hear more about your research and all, but I’m kinda hungry, to be honest – the Saien noodles sound awesome just about now. How about we go there and then you tell me more?”

“Hmm. Well, I wasn’t making as much progress today as I wanted, in any case.” The boy, visibly at least a little relieved to get a break from staring at the screen, slams his laptop shut and tucks it under his arm. Then he flashes a friendly smile at Takao. “Very well, Your Highness. But my mother may pass out if I bring a member of the royal family to their shop all of a sudden, so please prepare for that.”

“Bah, just call me Takao, I’m not so into that formal stuff.”

“Alright, and you can call me Professor.”

* * * * * *

Once back in the Cherrywood Castle, Takao told both his brother and grandfather how much he’d learned about the Northern goddess Hiromi of time and space already; and from that day onward, Hitoshi never needed to refer to his younger brother as the dumb prince again, as Takao, who became a frequent visitor of the Saien family ramen shop both inside and outside business hours, never ran out of curious stories to share about all the things he learned from his new friend.

And while the royal Seiryuu-ou family wasn’t to stay together for much longer from the moment of this story, Takao and Professor remained best friends for many years to come.

[nationalparkposters]

Re-discovering America, the Park-to-Park Highway Series – Part 4 of 4

Re-discovering America, the Park-to-Park Highway Series – Part 4 of 4: After visiting Yosemite, General Grant and Sequoia National Parks, the Park-To-Park Highway group left the mountain climate behind them and headed into warmer weather. They continued on to Bakersfield on October 19th, where they were met by the automobile Club of California, and one other surprise visitor, who had emerged from his hospital bed. The great pathfinder, Anton Westgard. His desire to see through the tour temporarily outweighed his illness, but unfortunately, he could only rejoin the tour as far as Los Angeles. As the group moved west, Westgard traveled south to San Diego, where his health continued to decline. He would not rejoin the tour. The Auto Club of Southern California had hosted them during their stay in Los Angeles, and when the group left, they traveled on what today is the famous Route 66. Traveling now in desert conditions dotted with Joshua trees, they journeyed to the next park on the list. Zion National Park With the intensely dry heat of the Mohave Desert being a constant companion, the Park-to-Park tour group's resolve was beginning to wane. Dust was an ever-present fixture on the road and it permeated everything, from their clothes to the engines of their automobiles. Their journey continued north, and after 4,000 miles of travel, a 500-mile trip to Zion National Park seemed not only impossible, but unbearable. What's more, they simply had no time to spare. But what they did not realize was the beautiful other-worldly sights they would miss at Zion. With its sheer sandstone cliffs and green oasis in the desert, they could not fathom the scenery unless they saw it with their own eyes. Located on the edge of the Colorado Plateau, the rock that was pushed up over millions of years started to erode away, leaving a unique landscape with colorful rock formations and a desert river at the bottom, forming a ribbon of green in the middle of an arid land. Oblivious to Zion's wonders, the party soldiered on. Grand Canyon National Park Even though Zion was bypassed, the group could not have anticipated the spectacular vistas they were about to experience. On October 26th, the caravan crossed the border into Arizona, arriving at El Tovar Hotel at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. They were not prepared for the truly awe-inspiring sight of endless miles of steep cliffs and colorful strada, made possible by the eroding force of the Colorado River. At some points, the Canyon is a mile deep; the result of millions of years of erosion and a perfect recording of the Earth's history. The unbelievable spectacle of seeing the Grand Canyon for their first time has been known to leave some visitors so overcome that they simply faint, or sink down to their knees, crying with joy and wonder. Varying from 4 to 8 miles wide, the Grand Canyon stretches for 277 miles. Previously set aside by past presidents as first a forest, and then a game reserve, it wasn't until 1919 that Congress made it a national park. In 1902, the first automobile came to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff along a stagecoach route. Back then, that journey took 4 days. Construction of Rim Road began in 1908. The tour group spent 3 days at the Canyon. On October 30th, they traveled on to Flagstaff. They continued east, stopping by Petrified Forest National Monument. By now it was November and winter was catching up. With the weather becoming a deterrent, they had to shift their itinerary and ship the cars up to Pueblo, Colorado. The trip had become too cumbersome for some and a few of the members left the tour to catch a train back home. The remainder of the group took a train to Durango.  Mesa Verde National Park Despite the inclement weather, Steven Mathers joined the rest of the group for the final push to Mesa Verde. It was the only park on their journey to feature man-made structures, where the Pueblo people built their homes and sacred spaces 900 years ago. In a mysterious move, these ancient citizens abandoned their home and when the Europeans discovered it several centuries later, it became jeopardized when early tourists took delicate artifacts; some even vandalizing the area. It was then a group of ladies who realized they had to do something about it. Around the 1890's they began advocating for Mesa Verde to become a protected national park, and in 1906, their efforts paid off. Not only did they protect the cliff dwellings, but they commissioned the building of wells, trails, and eventually roads. When Steven Mather and company arrived at the park on November 6th, 1920, only one major road had been built so far, the Knife Edge Trail. Back in 1917, Horace Albright described this road as “one of the most disreputable, dangerous, fearsome bits of slippery rotted misery I ever had the misfortune to travel.” This, of course, gave the Park-to-Park tour a renewed sense of their mission to preach the gospel of good roads. Home Again, Home Again After touring the last park on their grand circle tour, they headed back to Denver to attend a convention to further discuss the creation of good roads. But before that, they held their last meeting in Pueblo at the Congress Hotel. Then, on November 9th, the tour drove up South Broadway into Denver after 76 days of almost constant travel which saw them being escorted by 60 automobiles and a welcome banquet. The group was able to show the world that visiting these national parks could be possible on passable roads going from park to park. Seven of the original 12 members completed the entire tour. Anton Westgard was one of the more notable figures not in attendance that day. Alas, he had to remain in San Diego, as late-stage syphilis ravaged his body. He succumbed to the disease on April 3, 1921. He was 66 years old. Later that year, Congress began the process of getting good paved roads to link the parks together, eventually creating the Park to Park Highway. It was a direct result of the enthusiasm that this tour created. These roads provided a whole new scale of American tourism. It opened the door to the concept that the almighty road trip is part of the American dream of adventure, freedom, and exploration. Mathers, Westgard, and the entire Park-to-Park team literally paved the way for the Great American Road Trip, and of re-discovering the amazing beauty of the American West. Click here to read Part 1 of the Park-to-Park Highway series... or Click here to read Part 3 of the Park-to-Park Highway series... Meet Rob Decker, Creator of National Park Posters Photographer and graphic artist Rob Decker studied photography with Ansel Adams in Yosemite National Park during the summer of 1979 when he was just 19. It was an experience solidified his love of photography and our National Parks. Now he is on a journey to photograph and create iconic WPA-style posters of all our major national parks as we celebrate the next 100 years of the National Park Service. "I feel it's important to protect America's special places, and to connect people with nature. And it's up to all of us to pitch in. Perhaps more importantly, we need to inspire the next generation of park stewards. I'm trying to make a difference by giving back to the amazing organizations that support our National Parks. I donate 10% of annual profits, so when you buy one of these original works, you're helping these trusts, conservancies and associations, too." Click here to meet the artist, Rob Decker. Join the growing community of 75k+ National Park enthusiasts to receive insider deals and updates. See why 75k+ National Park fans have already joined... https://national-park-posters.com/blogs/national-park-posters/park-to-park-highway-series-part-4?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=Sendible&utm_campaign=RSS

[the-daily-tizzy]

ITALY’S COMMUNIST RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Published March 24, 2020 |  By Giacomino Nicolazzo

Montecalvo, Lombardy, Italy. 

As I sit here in my involuntary isolation, it was just reported that overnight 743 more people died and 5.249 new cases have been reported. This brings the total cases of infection to 69,176 and the body count to 6,820. We take relief in knowing that 8,326 people have recovered so far. ( Numbers as of 3/24, 8:30pm in Italy.)

Most towns here in Italy, from the upper reaches of the Alps to the ancient shores of Sicilia and Sardenia, while not deserted, are closer to being ghost towns than the bustling centers of tourism, business and daily life they were just a few weeks ago.Stores and shops have been shuttered. Restaurants and coffee shops no longer serve customers. Schools, universities, sporting arenas…even our museums and theaters…all closed. Even the Vatican City has closed its gates and armed patrols monitor the 20 foot tall walls that protect it!

Streets and roads are now empty for as far as the eye can see. Normally they would be filled with crazed Italian drivers in tiny cars and scooters (the ones that sound like demonic insects) darting here and there, reaching the limits of centrifugal force on our roundabouts. In the piazze of our towns and cities, there are now officially more pigeons than people.Many of us know someone who has been infected and recovered. Some of us know someone who did not recover…now they are dead. But everyone knows someone who has been affected by this microscopic monster in one way or another.

Sixty million of us are in lock-down…it is like a war zone here. We are being held prisoner in our own homes by an unseen enemy that sneaked in unnoticed…by most of us. As you will read in just a few more minutes, there were those who knew something like this was coming…or at least they should have.So who is to blame? With all this craziness swirling like a whirlpool at our feet, I just had to find the blame answer. And so I have spent my free time (of which I have a lot in these days) digging and researching. I was literally shocked to discover how this has come to be.I am not going to bore you with talk of Patient ‘0’ who spread it to Patient ‘1’ and how mathematics efficiently explains the rapid expansion of infection. No…I am going to tell you how (as I see it) the virus came to Italy.It has everything to do with communists. Allow me to explain.Beginning in about 2014, Matteo Renzi, the imbecile ex-mayor of Firenze (Florence) acting as the leader of the Partito Democratico (synonymous with the Italian Communist party), somehow managed to get himself elected as Italy’s Prime Minister. To give you a proper frame of reference, Matteo Renzi was so far left, he would make Barack Obama look like Barry Goldwater!

At the same time that Renzi was leading Italy into oblivion, strange things were happening in Italy’s economy. Banks were failing…but not closing. Retirement ages were being extended…for some reason the pension funds were dwindling or disappearing. The national sales tax we call IVA (Value Added Tax) rose from 18% to 20%, then to 21% and again to 22%.And in the midst of all this financial chicanery, the Chinese began furiously buying up Italian real estate and businesses in the North.Now the reason I mention Renzi and the Chinese together is that strange things were also going on between the governments of Italy and China. A blind eye was being turned to the way the Chinese were buying businesses in the financial, telecommunication, industrial and fashion sectors of Italy’s economy, all of which take place in Milano.

To be brief…China was getting away with purchases and acquisitions in violation of Italian law and EU Trade Agreements with the US and the UK…and no one in either of those countries (not Obama in the US or Cameron in the UK) said a thing in their country’s defense. As a matter of fact, much of it was hidden from the public in all three countries.In 2014, China infused the Italian economy with €5 billion through purchases of companies costing less than €100 million each. 

By the time Renzi left office (in disgrace) in 2016, Chinese acquisitions had exceeded €52 billion. When the dust settled, China owned more than 300 companies…representing 27% of the major Italian corporations.The Bank of China now owns five major banks in Italy…all of which had been secretly (and illegally) propped up by Renzi using pilfered pension funds! Soon after, the China Milano Equity Exchange was opened and much of Italy’s wealth was being funneled back to the Chinese mainland.

Chinese state entities own Italy’s major telecommunication corporation (Telecom) as well as its major utilities (ENI and ENEL). Upon entry into the telecommunication market, Huawei established a facility in Segrate, a suburb of Milano. It launched is first research center there and worked on the study of microwaves which has resulted in the possibly-dangerous technology we call 5G.China also now owns controlling interest in Fiat-Chrysler, Prysmian and Terna. You will be surprised to know that when you put a set of Pirelli tires on your car, the profits are going to China. 

Yep…the Chinese colossus of ChemChina, a chemical industry titan, bought that company too!Last but not least is Ferretti yachts…the most prestigious yacht builder in Europe. Incredibly, it is no longer owned by the Ferretti family.

But the sector in which Chinese companies invested most was Italy’s profitable fashion industry. The Pinco Pallino, Miss Sixty, Sergio Tacchini, Roberta di Camerino and Mariella Burani brands have been acquired by 100%.Designer Salvatore Ferragamo sold 16% and Caruso sold 35%. The most famous case is Krizia, purchased in 2014 by Shenzhen Marisfrolg Fashion Company, one of the leaders of high-priced, ready-to-wear fashions in Asia.

Throughout all of these purchases and acquisitions, Renzi’s government afforded the Chinese unrestricted and unfettered access to Italy and its financial markets, many coming through without customs inspections.

Quite literally, tens of thousands of Chinese came in through Milano (illegally) and went back out carrying money, technology and corporate secrets.

Thousands more were allowed to enter and disappeared into shadows of Milano and other manufacturing cities of Lombardy, only to surface in illegal sewing shops, producing knock-off designer clothes and slapping ‘Made In Italy’ labels on them. All with the tacit approval of the Renzi government.It was not until there was a change in the governing party in Italy that the sweatshops and the illegal entry and departure of Chinese nationals was stopped. Matteo Salvini, representing the Lega Nord party, closed Italy’s ports to immigrants and systematically began disassembling the sweatshops and deporting those in Italy illegally.

But his rise to power was short-lived. Italy is a communist country…socialism is in the national DNA. Ways were found to remove Salvini, after which the communist party, under the direction of Giuseppe Conte, reopened the ports. Immediately, thousands of unvetted, undocumented refugees from the Middle East and East Africa began pouring in again.

Access was again provided to the Chinese, under the old terms, and as a consequence thousands of Chinese, the majority from Wuhan, began arriving in Milano.

In December of last year, the first inklings of a coronavirus were noticed in Lombardy…in the Chinese neighborhoods. There is no doubt amongst senior medical officials that the virus was brought here from China.

By the end of January 2020 cases were being reported left and right. By mid-February the virus was beginning to seriously overload the Lombardy hospitals and medical clinics. They are now in a state of collapse.

The Far-Left politicians sold out and betrayed the Italian people with open border policies and social justice programs. One of the reasons the health care system collapsed so quickly is because the Renzi government (and now continued under the Conte government) redirected funds meant to sustain the medical system, to pay for the tens of thousands of immigrants brought in to Italy against the will of the Italian people.

If you remember the horrible earthquake that decimated the villages around Amatricia, in the mountains east of Rome in 2015, you would also remember how the world responded by sending millions of dollars to help those affected.

But there is a law in Italy that prevents private donations to charitable Italian organizations. All money and donations received must be turned over to a government agency, who in turn is to appropriate the funds as needed. But that agency is corrupt just as are all the others.Most of the money never reached a single victim in the mountains. The Renzi government redirected the vast majority of those funds to pay for the growing immigrant and refugee costs.

As the economy worsened under the burden of illegal immigration, compounded by gross government spending and incompetence, unemployment rose quickly…especially among young people. The unemployment rate for men and women under age 35 is close to 40%.

So more money was diverted from the health care system and used to pay what is known here as guaranteed income. Whether you work or not you are paid here, especially if you belong to the PD! The government simply raises taxes on those who do work

.Let me give you a quick example of the height of insanity to which Italian taxation has risen.

If you live in a building that has a balcony or balconies…and any of those balconies cast a shadow on the ground, you must pay a public shadow tax! I will say no more!

The point I am trying to make here is that not only did the Chinese bring the virus to Italy (and the rest of the world) it was far-Left politics and policies that facilitated it.

This should hopefully be a warning to Americans that while they work to rid themselves of the China Virus, they should just as vehemently endeavor to rid their government of any politician that circumvents the Constitution and ignores the laws of the land…plain and simple.

Giacomino Nicolazzo  is one of Italy’s most beloved writers.  Born and raised in Central Pennsylvania, he lives in a small village in Lombardy where he writes his books.

[gwiiyeoweo]

Aulea sees the legendary terror for herself, but finds he's not so terrible after all.

Pairing:  Ardyn & Regis, Ardyn & Noctis, Regis/Aulea, Aulea & Ardyn   Rating: G  

Aulea waked first.

It helped that she actually got a decent night of sleep, compared to Regis who rushed in before even the early rays of dawn could peak out. She quietly wrapped her robe around her, tying it in a lazy ribbon as she did her best to keep silent and sneak about the room afforded to her.

She had only started living in the Citadel last year, despite having been betrothed to Regis for the past two, and her room was bare for the most part. Besides the essentials, she kept a few succulents across her desk and a fern in the corner. Her attendants had fussed about livening up her room, even if it was only a temporary thing until she would be officially married to Regis, and the plants were proof of a hard-fought compromise she had drawn with them.

Regis shifted his arm across the empty expanse of the bed, fingers twitching for her missing warmth. But when he turned his head to farther bury his face into the pillow, Aulea decided he could use the extra hour of sleep and went off to toe on her slippers.

The maids would certainly be miffed if they caught her walking down the halls, dressed in nothing but her modest nightgown and her robe, with her hair strewn about everywhere. Aulea understood the need for appearances given certain circumstances, even if it meant with agreeing with the old stuffy council members, but a woman was allowed to walk in her own home in her pyjamas if she damn well wanted to. She might not yet be the official Consort, but everyone already revered her as such. All they needed was a paper with some fancy gold seal and it would be wham, bam, thank you before she could walk through all sixty-something floors in her underwear. Not that she would; she wasn’t as prim and proper as some of Regis’ matchmakers would like her to be, but she nonetheless kept a certain modesty and a standard of propriety she held herself up to.

At least no one caught sight of her, and she slipped between the lights and shadows easily enough as she made her way to Regis’ room.

Aulea entered without so much a knock, cracking the door open and poking her head in. She immediately zero’d in on Clarus, the man vigilantly sitting by the bedside and tapping away on his phone. “You look like hell.”

Clarus, with his grim dark circles, stilled his hand and lifted his head to glance at Aulea. “Been through worse,” he yawned, turning his face into the crook of his elbow.

Aulea rubbed her hands together, summoning some easy magic and igniting a soothing heat across her palms. Flexing her fingers, she ambled her way around the room and stood behind Clarus, lightly poking her fingertips around his neck and spine. “So,” she said, putting both hands on his shoulders and digging her fingers into his worn muscles. “This is Adagium.” Then a wrinkle of her nose. “Unfortunate name, by the way.”

Clarus sighed into her touch, leaning his back against the chair as he felt the heat radiate from her skilled hands. He twitched when she honed in on a knot hidden away between muscle and bone but kept his squirming to a minimum as she worked her literal magic. “That's what the books call him,” he answered, biting back a groan.

Aulea hummed in acknowledgment, but kept silent for the most part as she continued to work her way around the kinks and scars. She rubbed circles with her thumbs, using some elbow grease and pressing them deep into his flesh, just as her mother once taught her. “Go rest. I can watch,” she eventually said.

“Don't think Regis will appreciate me putting you on duty.”

“If he finds an issue, he can take it up with me.” She gave him a light shove on his arm. “Now go on, up and at ‘em.”

Whatever Clarus grumbled she didn't quite catch but it certainly had something to do with protocol and handbooks. He was more concerned with playing by the rules than leaving Aulea with a potential not-quite-a-daemon hazard sleeping in the bed, but they both knew she was a force in her own right. Worst case scenario, the room and the entire wing would be left in rubbles. It may have been a couple years, but Aulea had a few notches in her belt of besting Clarus and putting his rump to the dump — Cor moreso, back in his reckless days of fiery youth. (With Regis, though, there was no concrete record, considering their spars ended up in accidental makeout sessions or cuddle times, when either of them collided into each other with uncanny timing. “Get a room!” and exasperated groans notwithstanding.)

Clarus had no doubt Aulea could fend for herself should something go awry, but he was personally tasked by King Regis to keep an eye over Adagium. As Shield, he desired to carry on his duty; as friend, he only wished to help. Yet it didn’t help that Aulea was prodding incessantly at him, and knowing her stubbornness could only be matched by Regis’, well… He was but a man.

He knew this. Aulea knew this.

She wasn’t a tactician. She would never compare to the bright strategists circling their war talks, but Aulea could be as shrewd as the conmen who made their home in the dark shadows and Insomnian nights. She knew when sweet rewards held more power than bitter words and sharp whips. And she knew how tired Clarus must have been, considering how Regis had tumbled into her bed like a dead rock without so much a goodnight kiss.

Clarus had been given a losing battle from the get go, so the least he could do was bow out gracefully. So when he had finally relented, Aulea showed mercy and didn't even comment on the stumble in his step as he made for the door, to leave her alone by the stranger’s bedside.

Aulea walked along the walls and made sure each heavy curtain was drawn closed, to keep out the morning’s early rays. Whenever the man decided to wake, she was sure he’d appreciate not having the bright sunshine burning through his eyelids. It didn’t help that Regis’ windows happened to face east and took the full brunt of the sunrise, a lesson she learned herself on a morning she had decided to sneak in the night before.

She swiped a charging cable and one of the tablets hidden away in Regis’ drawers, taking them with her as she made her way back to the bedside. She plugged the charger in, settled herself into Clarus’ seat, and powered the tablet on. Tapping and swiping away at the screen, she typed in the four-numbered passcode and pulled up ChocoTube, a daughter platform for all things furry, fluffy, or cute.

Today’s featured playlist was cats.

“Good morning.”

Aulea didn’t even look up from the screen when she greeted the waking man.

She had her eyes glued on a litter of coeurl kittens, a mewling batch of little white furballs recently born in a conservation. According to the description, these particular species were close to extinction, having only a couple hundred left roaming in the wilds. Only when the video ended, with the camera fading to black and some white text with a link to the conservation’s website, did Aulea look up. She turned the tablet over, screen facing the man.

“Want to watch some cat videos?”

Adagium only stared, brows slightly knit together and lips trying to figure out how to make words.

In turn, Aulea silently studied him, watching for any sign or expression in that split moment it took for him to register her words. At a glance, he looked blank and clueless, like the trending video of that newborn chocobo staring at a single corn kernel and having no idea what it was. His dumbfounded look, she thought, would almost be as cute if it didn’t belong to a scraggly-bearded adult man. But she kept her focus on his eyes, the ways they flashed with emotion, and his mouth and jaw, where his lips parted or his teeth clenched. His eyes cycled through confusion and fear, caution and suspicion — and for a fraction of time, anger and contempt. She kept her magic at the edge, just in case .

But he made no motion, no twitch of his fingers, and the fleeting spite that glanced his face fell into confusion once more. Now, he only looked tired. Haggard. Like all he wanted was to go back to sleep and hibernate for the season, despite having two thousands years to do just that. If anything, it probably made his dark circles worse, now that Aulea actually made the effort to really look at him. His eyes were horribly sunken and dark, skin dry and lips chapped; none of them got him cleaned up after dragging him out of Angelgard, so he still had a fine layer of dirt and dust on him. If he felt as much as he looked, he was probably in want of a nice warm bubble bath.

Did Regis still have that jar of lavender bath salts under his sink?

“I… What?” Adagium rasped. Something didn’t agree with him, and he turned his face down to cough into his fist.

Aulea used her best disarming smile she saved especially for the old farts of the council, for the times when was simply not in the mood to argue semantics with them, to appear as an innocent docile woman who knew nothing of ancient rules and Lucian laws.

“Cat videos,” she said, keeping her voice light and sweet. Rising from her seat, she slowly moved to sit on the bed, being particularly careful with her movements as she kept the screen facing Adagium. She tapped on the next video in the playlist, starting up a two-minute clip of a chocobo chick trying to nudge itself under the belly of a large and ridiculously fat cat. “See?”

“…Oh.”

It had been the fourth video when Adagium spoke up, talking to himself more than to her. “This is not what I envisioned the Afterlife to be.”

Aulea, with a soft mirth to her quiet laugh, had pointed out this was far from the Afterlife, that they were both still within the living world. From there, the conversation had flowed easily enough, with brief pauses as Adagium occasionally coughed for that extra breath.

If she had not heard the prologue from Regis himself, she would have thrown Adagium’s story right out the window and deem him as some lunatic wanting to take advantage of her good will.

Because first of all, Adagium was not his name — it was Ardyn Lucis Caelum, older brother to Somnus Lucis Caelum. That wasn’t even the worst of it.

Aulea had left the tablet in Ardyn’s hands, letting him learn to fumble with the thing by himself, while she went to the small adjoining kitchenette to pour herself a glass of cold, very cold water.

She hovered over the sink, one hand clenching at the granite edge and the other dragging itself down her face. She wondered what exactly they got themselves into, why it had to happen during Regis’ reign of all times, and if maybe this was all some intricate lie crafted by a very cunning daemon. (That could shapeshift into human form? Ha! As if.) But as she pulled her hands away to fill a second glass, she thought, for the good of everyone and everything else but her and Regis’ sanity, that things would probably go worse if they had not been the ones to find Ardyn.

As much as they liked to joke about Regis’ soft heart, his gentleness had been one of his darling qualities she fell in love with, while also being responsible for the loyalty of Clarus and Cor. Mors, his father and late King, may have been more strict and utilitarian during his reign, but already Lucis was ready to turn themselves into the tender hands of Regis. The council had thought it a weakness to exploit, only to learn what a fierce lion paced just beneath, its fangs sharp and claws just as deadly.

So perhaps, she and Regis were just the people needed to tend to Ardyn’s scars and trauma, to help heal what should have been cared for so long ago, to keep his open wounds from festering and falling to infection. To keep the Scourge that literally embodied itself into his skin and bones and his very cells.

Aulea could feel the oncoming migraine from just thinking about that. Slaying daemons, products of the Starscourge that addled their lands, and sealing them were one thing; but purging it from a seemingly immortal man who, from what both she and Ardyn understood — even the man himself wasn’t sure of the specific details and implications of it all — was something beyond the Caelum magic. This was Oracle territory. And not even Sylva Nox Fleuret had experience in something so severe.

“Oh dear.”

Aulea turned around to see Ardyn holding the tablet, broken cleanly in half and sparking at its exposed wires, screen shards glittering on the silk bedding. He looked tragically concerned, torn between dropping the entire thing or trying to piece the broken parts together.

“I… Killed it?”

Not to mention Ardyn needed to play a game of major league catch-up. He had at least a couple thousand years’ worth to learn, and a whole curriculum on how phones and tablets work apparently.

Aulea allowed herself one large breath, puffing her chest out as she filled her lungs to the brim, and slowly exhaled through her lips. She lightly smacked her hands on her cheeks, prepping herself up for whatever ordeal that was to come. Alright, put it this way: maybe the gods decided to give her a pre-test. Because if she could help an ancient-Caelum-turned-Scourge-grandpa learn how the modern age worked — and work through all the emotional and mental damage of a two thousand year (wrongful) imprisonment — then helping Regis run the kingdom should be a breeze. Or something.

“Don’t worry about it.” Aulea picked up the two glasses, made her way over to Ardyn’s side, and offered one of the drinks. “I’m sure you’re parched.”

Ardyn didn’t have to say a word. He downed the entire glass in the same time span it took for Aulea to take one sip. Which made her feel rather foolish. For here she was, showing him cat videos when she should’ve addressed the basic needs first: food, warmth, rest, hygiene.

Rest was out of the way, sort of. Water? Check. She could whip up something easy while he showered, so that would check off food and hygiene. After refilling his glass, she went into the bathroom and made a beeline for the cabinets, rummaging through the extra shampoos and soaps as she searched for a certain bottle.

‘Oh.’ She grabbed the little chocobo toy hidden beneath a spare hand towel, giving the rubber toy a squeeze. It squeaked, high pitched and sharp, and she gave it another quick squish. Huh, she didn't know this was still here. Did Regis?

“What was that?” she heard Ardyn say, curiosity quite piqued. Aulea smiled to herself, pocketing the toy in her robes as she pulled out a bottle of “Sal's Hubba Bubba Bubbles.” She placed it at the edge of the porcelain tub as she made her way back to the door. Aulea leaned her head outside the doorway, meeting Ardyn’s inquiring gaze with her own bright one, and pulled out the rubber chocobo. She gave it a squeeze, and Ardyn realized what the noise had come from, judging from the small ‘o’ of his lips.

“Ardyn,” she said, wiggling the toy around in her hand, “would you like to try a bubble bath?”

Regis walked into his bedroom, somewhat dark with all the curtains still drawn — odd, he thought — and if he did not believe in the love they shared and knew of Aulea’s eccentric quips, he would have doubted all their years together upon seeing her towel dry a half-naked man’s hair, the same man curled up in Regis’ favorite armchair and devouring a plate of scrambled eggs.

There was a rubber chocobo toy resting on one of the arms.

His lips curled into a wry smile, audibly clearing his throat and earning both their gazes. Aulea looked only pleased as punch, though there was something tired around her eyes. Adagium, appearing far better and refreshed than when Regis had first laid eyes on him, still looked worn as the very walls that contained him, old and cracked in the most horrible of places, cold and hard deep within a shell. The bits of yellow egg around his mouth, though, somehow softened the image of a deadly beast that had once been chained within a stone tomb.

“Good morning, Reggie.” Aulea fitted the damp towel around Adagium’s shoulders and walked up to Regis, wrapping her arms around his neck and greeting him with a quick peck along his jaw. “Say hello to Ardyn.”

Regis followed his gaze from Aulea's outstretched hand, a gesture pointed at Adagium, whose fork hovered midair on the way to his mouth. “Hello,” he said, before turning back to whisper close to Aulea. “Ardyn?” He raised his eyebrows, searching for the answer in her face. “His name is —”

“Ardyn. Not Adagium.” Aulea tugged on his arm and led him to a chair across the small table, a short thing made of glass and elder wood that had certainly seen better days. “And you'll want to sit down for what you're about to hear.”

Regis was keenly aware of what should have been a working tablet instead of the broken pile of metal and scraps on his desk, but decided it was best to save that topic for later. Not to mention, Aulea held a glass of water obscuring his line of sight and intentionally blocking his view. He took the drink and sipped at it.

“Ardyn, this is Regis,” Aulea introduced, handing a simple plate of scrambled eggs to him.

Regis pushed the eggs around, not because he feared her cooking, but because he wasn't sure if eating was the best course of action, given her warning from earlier. And if Aulea didn't press him to eat, then, perhaps it was best to wait.

“My hero,” Ardyn drawled, after swallowing his food. “And very distant… Cousin?”

“Nephew,” Aulea chimed in, all right as rain and nodding sagely.

“Nephew then.”

“Pardon?” Regis looked from Ardyn to Aulea, then once more to Ardyn.

“Something like that.” Aulea crossed her arms. Ardyn was too busy eating to give any commentary, but he at least nodded along to her words.

And while the two seemed to be on understanding and oddly friendly terms already, Regis was out of the loop completely.

“Pardon?” he tried once again.

“Well —”

“You see —”

Both Ardyn and Aulea started to speak, but they paused to look at each other, each of their mouths opening and closing with no words shared as they tried to figure who should go first. Eventually, Aulea gestured for Ardyn to say his part, and she filled in the gaps between.

Still, Regis wasn’t sure if hearing it from Aulea lessened the wave of nausea that crept up the back of his throat and behind his eyes, and he wondered if he wasn’t back on the royal vessel, the waves softly rocking the ship; for even as he sat, his entire world was sent swaying, and the soft carpet beneath his feet felt unsteady as sand.

“Oh, he’s taking it better than I thought he would.” Aulea patted him on the shoulder, and Regis considered it as more out of sympathy than anything.

“Aulea,” Regis said, summoning forth all the seriousness he could muster, “it is still morning, and we both know I’m not a man of the drink, but if you would please.”

“Already have.” From seemingly out of nowhere, Aulea pressed a thick short glass into his hand, filled up to three fingers full of liquid dark amber.

“I love you.”

“You better.”

[madamlaydebug]

PROOF, PHYSICAL DATA SUPPORTED BY HISTORICAL TIMELINES..

STOP CALLING ANCIENT KEMET EGYPT! THERE WERE NEVER A SUCH PLACE AS ANCIENT EGYPT! GREEKS NAMED IT EGYPT!

The Black Egyptians--Original Settlers of Kemet

The Black Egyptians are the original settlers of Kmt. "The native Sudanese are one of the original pigmented Arabs in that region. They are members of the same ethnic family with the ancient Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Southern Arabians, and the primitive inhabitants of Babylon. They are all founders and sustainers of the mighty Nilotic civilization we still admire today. They are very great nation of Blacks, who did rule almost over all Africa and Asia in a very remote era, in fact beyond the reach of history of any of our records.

Egypt is a Greek word meaning “Black.”

bullet The Egyptians of the Bible were Negroid.

bullet The Bible says both Egyptians and Ethiopians are descendants of Ham.

bullet Arabs invaded Egypt in the 7th Century AD; Remember, Egypt wasn't invaded by Rome until 300 BC. The Bible dates 4000 BC.

bullet Therefore, Arabs have no more connection to Ancient Egypt than Europeans have to Ancient America.

bullet Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language. (AFRO, AFRO)

bullet The national language of modern day Egypt is Egyptian Arabic, which gradually replaced Coptic. (Coptic--Ethiopia)

bullet

Black Egyptians were eventually mixed with invading Libyans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Arabs and Western Europeans. That is where the mixed people of the modern-day Arabs come from.

The following is supporting evidence from The African Origin of Civilization: by: Cheikh Anta Diop

Evidence from Physical Anthropology

The skeletons and skulls of the Ancient Egyptians clearly reflect they were Negroid people with features very similar to those of modern Black Nubians and other people of the Upper Nile and of East Africa.

Melanin Dosage Test

Egyptologist Cheikh Anta Diop invented a method for determining the level of melanin in the skin of human beings. When conducted on Egyptian mummies in the Museum of Man in Paris, this test indicated these remains were of Black people.

Osteological Evidence

"Lepsius canon," which distinguishes the bodily proportions of various racial groups categories the "ideal Egyptian" as "short-armed and of Negroid or Negrito physical type."

Evidence From Blood Types

Diop notes that even after hundreds of years of inter-mixture with foreign invaders, the blood type of modern Egyptians is the "same group B as the populations of western Africa on the Atlantic seaboard and not the A2 Group characteristic of the white race prior to any crossbreeding."

The Egyptians as They Saw Themselves

"The Egyptians had only one term to designate themselves =kmt= the Negroes (literally). This is the strongest term existing in the Pharaonic tongue to indicate blackness; it is accordingly written with a hieroglyph representing a length of wood charred at the end and not crocodile scales," singular. ‘Kmt’ from the adjective =kmt= black; it therefore means strictly Negroes or at the very least black men. The term is a collective noun which thus described the whole people of Pharaonic Egypt as a black people."

Divine Epithets

Diop demonstrates that "black or Negro" is the divine epithet invariably used for the chief beneficent Gods of Egypt, while the evil spirits were depicted as red.

Evidence From the Bible

The Bible states"…[t]he sons of Ham [were] Cush and Mizraim [i.e. Egypt], and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah and Sabtechah." According to Biblical tradition, Ham, of course, was the father of the Black race. "Generally speaking all Semitic tradition (Jewish and Arab) class ancient Egypt with the countries of the Black."

Cultural unity of Egypt With The Rest of Africa

Through a study of circumcision and totemism. Diop gives detailed data showing cultural unity between Egypt and the rest of Africa.

Linguistic Unity With Southern and Western Africa

In a detailed study of languages, Diop clearly demonstrates that Ancient Egyptian, modern Coptic of Egypt and Walaf of West Africa are related, with the latter two having their origin in the former.

Testimony of Classical Greek and Roman Authors

Virtually all of the early Latin eyewitnesses described the Ancient Egyptians as Black skinned with wooly hair.

After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander, under the Ptolemies, crossbreeding between white Greeks and black Egyptians flourished. "Nowhere was Dionysus more favored, nowhere was he worshiped more adoringly and more elaborately than by the Ptolemies, who recognized his cult as an especially effective means of promoting the assimilation of the conquering Greeks and their fusion with the native Egyptians." {Endnote 15: J. J. Bachofen, Pages choisies par Adrien Turel, "Du Regne de la mere au patriarcat." Paris: F. Alcan, 1938, p. 89.}

These facts prove that if the Egyptian people had originally been white, it might well have remained so. If Herodotus found it still black after so much crossbreeding, it must have been basic black at the start.

Before examining the contradictions circulating in the modern era and resulting from attempts to prove at any price that the Egyptians were Whites, let us note the comments of Count Constantin de Volney (1757-1820). After being imbued with all the prejudices we have just mentioned with regard to the Negro, Volney had gone to Egypt between 1783 and 1785, he reported the Egyptian Race is the very race that had produced the Pharaohs: the Copts (p. 27).

“All have a bloated face, puffed up eyes, flat nose, and thick lips; in a word, the true face of the mulatto. I was tempted to attribute it to the climate, but when I visited the Sphinx; its appearance gave me the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically Negro in all its features, I remembered the remarkable passage where Herodotus says: "As for me, I judge the Colchians to be a colony of the Egyptians because, like them, they are black with woolly hair. ..." We can see how their blood, mixed for several centuries with that of the Romans and Greeks, must have lost the intensity of its original color, while retaining nonetheless the imprint of its original mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest or shed light on historical evidence on the origins of peoples. {End quote}

When Egypt was invaded by Arabs - Egypt suffered turbulent times when, in 609 AD, the country had sided with Nicetas, a lieutenant of Heraclius, in the rebellion against the emperor Phocas. Only shortly after Heraclius overthrew Phocas, the Byzantines were attacked by the Persians. The armies of the Sasanid King Khosrau II invaded Egypt, inflicting cruel suffering upon its some of its inhabitants. This Persian occupation lasted six years.

Narmer (Menes) The 1st Pharaoh of Egypt

(Fig 5 - Diop Cheikh Anta, The African Origin of Civilization, 1974)

King Aha-Mena-Narmer is known by millions of people by the Greek-distorted "version" of his name: King Menes. Notice the African features from his high chick bones, flat nose and thick lips. The Kufi/Crown upon his head is a sign of royal authority.

King Aha-Mena-Narmer is the founding King of the first Ancient Egyptian dynasty. He also become the first Emperor of Kemet by unifying Upper and Lower Egypt into one imperial federation, along the Nile Valley. From its Central-Eastern Kilimanjaro Mountains sources to the Mediterranean Sea Delta, the Ancient Egyptian Empire gave birth to the world's first civilization.

Since then, the imperial heritage has been carried on, from dynasty to dynasty and from generation to generation. Extensive territory is nothing new to African Kings and Emperors: it is simply a matter of historical, cultural and imperial continuity.

African history and culture trace their roots back to that pharaonic period, the ultimate source of African humanities. The same way the European/Western world traces its history and culture back to Greece and Rome. African human sciences, finally reconciled with its Ancient Egyptian sources, can retrace the entire history of the Nation, step-by-step.

On this immemorial timeline, the enslavement and colonial periods suffered by African people can be considered as little parenthesis. Yet, the terrible impact of colonial bound mis-education and cultural conditioning affects many people, Blacks and Whites alike. Consequently, innocent victims of "schooling" who have lost their historical memories, now find it hard to believe that, Black people actually played the earliest civilizing role in the world. That misleading education has damaged the minds, self-esteem and behavior of many people across racial lines:

"The History of humanity will remain confused as long as as we fail to distinguish between the two early cradles in which nature fashioned the instincts, temperament, habits and ethical concepts of the two subdivisions before they met each other after a long separation, dating back to prehistoric times..."Cheikh Anta Diop

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, in his “L’Antiquité Africaine Par L’Image” (Notes Africaines No Special 145) drew two important conclusions:

Humanity born at the latitude of the African Great Lakes, near the Ecuador is by necessity pigmented (black) and African. This is substantiated by Gloger’s Law which states that warm blooded beings are pigmented in hot and humid climates”.

All races are issued from the African race by direct relationships and, the other continents were peopled from Africa at the Homo erectus stage, as well as the Homo sapiens stage, which appeared about 150,000 years ago.

It has been finally proven that, for a time period beginning 5 million years ago up until the glacial thaw (10,000 years ago), Africa almost unilaterally peopled and influenced the rest of the world.

Dr. Leakey, one of the world's most reputable paleo-anthropologist, in his serious work “Progress And Evolution Of Man In Africa”, reminds us that: “The critics of Africa forget that men of science are today satisfied that, Africa was the birthplace of man himself”. Human beings are Africa’s first contribution to humanity.

Advanced research and several studies in prehistory and paleo-anthropology have confirmed the similarities between the original founders of the pharaonic civilization (ancient Nubians, Ethiopians and Egyptians) and the modern day Africans.

Rawlinson concludes in “Origins Of Nations” that: “The authors of Genesis unites together as members of the same ethnic family the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Southern Arabians, and the primitive inhabitants of Babylon”.

According to many ancient testimonies, the inhabitants of Sudan, Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Western Asia and India were Ethiopians, therefore Africans. Back in that era, there were two lands called Ethiopia. Sir Godfrey Higgins (Anacalypsis, vol.1) declared: “One on the east of the Red Sea, and the other on the west of it; and a very great nation of Blacks, from India, did rule almost over all Asia in a very remote era, in fact beyond the reach of history of any of our records”.

Herodotus who was initiated within the Ancient Egyptian mystery system declared that:” The uniform voice of primitive antiquity spoke of the Ethiopians as one single race, dwelling along the shores of the southern ocean, from India to the pillars of Hercules”. (Herodotus, vol.1 book I)

Greece: An Average Student of Ancient Egypt

Dr. Theophile Obenga, in this magisterial book "African Philosophy in World History" (Obenga,1998), successfully challenges and neutralizes the Hegelian philosophy of history, continuing in the footsteps of Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, his mentor. Hegel alienated the Caucasian mind by stating with ignorance that "Africa has no history". That mis-education of the Caucasians led to arrogance with an unfounded racial superiority belief system.

The seven liberal arts and sciences, which are grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy, come out of Africa. Therefore, to the Ancient Egyptians, and neither to the Greeks, nor to the Romans, are we indebted for the present body of human knowledge. Greece and Rome were average students in Ancient Egypt. Considered foreigners and childish, Greek students were unable to access a complete initiation and induction within the Ancient Egyptian Mystery System.

[ravkanreads-blog]

As my summer comes to an end later this month, the freedom to waste away entire days curled up in bed with a book also comes to an end soon. Before school starts, I’m planning one last hurrah by participating in the N.E.W.T. readathon hosted by bookroast on Youtube! You can find detailed information about the challenge here.

The readathon takes place from August 1st to August 31st, and in order to “pass” and complete the challenge, you must pass two or more subjects with at least an A and achieve a score of an O in at least one of them. I’m planning to achieve O’s in four subjects and pass a fifth with an A.

Hopefully, that actually happens.

TRANSFIGURATION

A: read a book with a gray cover →Ash Princess, by Laura Sebastian [goodreads]

I was really struggling to find a book with a gray cover, but I finally settled on this one. I know almost nothing about it, besides that fact that it follows the story of a princess who has been dethroned and her kingdom taken over. It’s also been recommended to me by a friend because I liked The Young Elites, so uh, insert eyes emoji here.

E: read a book from an author you’ve never read before →To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, by Jenny Han [goodreads]

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve read a contemporary, but I needed to include this somewhere because the trailer for the upcoming movie caught my eye on Twitter. This honestly just looks like an adorable read that I need in my life now.

O: read a book that’s set in a kingdom/has royals →To Kill a Kingdom, by Alexandra Christo [goodreads]

I’ve always loved stories about mermaids and/or sirens. The concept really just called to me with this one—the idea of a siren princess and a siren hunter prince meant to kill each other falling in love just. Yes please.

MUGGLE STUDIES

A: read a book by one of your favorite authors →This Savage Song, by Victoria Schwab [goodreads]

After falling completely in love with Victoria Schwab’s other books this year, it only makes sense that I can’t wait to pick up the last series of hers that I haven’t yet read. I’ve heard such wonderful things about this duology, and I know Schwab’s writing, world-building, and characters never disappoint.

E: read a biography →I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou [goodreads]

I recently bought this on a whim at a used bookstore because I read and loved some of Maya Angelou’s poems a few years ago. Based on those poems and the interesting things I’ve already researched about her, I’m eager to read her life story in her own words.

O: read a retelling →Heart of Iron, by Ashley Poston [goodreads]

This is a retelling of Anastasia, and while it’s been a while since I’ve brushed up on that particular story, I remember loving it as a child. This also just sounds like a fun sci fi story, and it’s been recommended to me a lot recently, so I’m finally giving it a go.

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS

A: read a last book in a series →Our Dark Duet, by Victoria Schwab [goodreads]

After reading This Savage Song, I’ll be moving onto this second and final book in the Monsters of Verity duology. I always love Schwab's works, so I’m positive I’ll love both of the books.

E: read a foiled book →Delirium, by Lauren Oliver [goodreads]

Upon examining my bookshelves, I think this might just be the only book I own with an entirely shiny foil cover (I have the new paperback edition). I’ve owned it for way too long without reading it, so now seems like the perfect opportunity!

O: read a book with the word ‘dark’ in the title →The Darkest Legacy, by Alexandra Bracken [goodreads]

This is the fourth book in the Darkest Minds series, and it just came out yesterday! I’ve literally been waiting anxiously for it for months, so I couldn’t be more excited to return to a beloved story and world from a new perspective. I’m also so ready to get into a Darkest Minds mood in anticipation for the film coming out in a few days.  

CHARMS

A: read a book with magic in it →Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi [goodreads]

I have been wanting to read this book for months, but other books have gotten in the way, and I think it’s about time I make space for this one. I’ve heard nothing but incredible things about it, and the concept is super intriguing, especially with its basis on West African mythology and its focus on elemental magic.

E: read a book with a cover that charmed you →Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken [goodreads]

I bought this book such a long time ago, back when it first came out, solely because of the cover. (This was before I realized it’s by the same author who wrote The Darkest Minds.) It’s so gorgeous and I’ve had it for a ridiculous amount of time without reading it, so now is as good a time as any to pick it up.

O: read a book you think will leave a mark →The Poppy War, by R.F. Kuang [goodreads]

While this is a high fantasy novel, I’ve also heard that it’s an intense and bloody book grounded in the violence of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking, which is a piece of East Asian history that has been largely ignored. This sounds like it will be very impactful, and I’ve heard nothing but glowing praise for the book.

ANCIENT RUNES

A: read a book set in the past →Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys [goodreads]

This book is set in 1941 and explores one of the lesser known experiences of World War II. I was deeply moved by Sepetys’s other WWII book, Salt to the Sea, and the way it shed light on a tragedy I never would have known about otherwise. I hope this book will have the same effect.

[jonroxton]

the romances in the dceu are so good

asklddfgjksjksadf this is legit my dream ask. I’VE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THIS FOREVER BUT HOW TO START???? OK HERE with romanticism. STRAP IN!

The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe—especially that experienced in confronting the new aesthetic categories of the sublimity and beauty of nature. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, but also spontaneity as a desirable characteristic (as in the musical impromptu). In contrast to the Rationalism and Classicism of the Enlightenment, Romanticism revived medievalism[7] and elements of art and narrative perceived as authentically medieval in an attempt to escape population growth, early urban sprawl, and industrialism.

I know i know.

Znyder has a clear love and appreciation for baroque art, having studied it in school. Same for Patty. And though far removed from a classical art history education, Ayer’s work is heavily influenced by growing up in East L.A surrounded by Mexican and Latino culture that is deeply rooted in very expressive Catholism. Three auteurs who, in their formative years, learned about expression of the self specifically through art and imagery, raised smack in the tail end of a post-modern world. I think people tend to forget that Znyder, Patty and Ayer are all over 45 and have been in the film game a looooong time. By the time they came to their CBMs they had perfected their palette, and that is one that embraced the expressive emotive over the rational and realistic. Look at all their work and it’s solid ideas filtered through an expressive lens, not a rejection of post modernism entirely (esp irt to media and military), but a transference of sorts, an equalizing. The DCEU is fantasical but it never feels like fantasy. The DCEU is hella romantic, but it never feels melodramatic or preachy, even when Clark is sitting directly in front of a crystal glass depicting Jesus in Gethsemane. Detractors say: UGH CLARK IS JESUS. A romantic says: why is Clark being compared to Jesus in this text/movie? Znyder, Patty and Ayer take seriously the language of romance, it’s art, it’s preoccupation with the medieval and mythic (that is in itself extremely religious), and transfers that into film technique.

Apprehension: at accepting the heroes call. Horror: at experiencing your own power. Terror: at being accepted/rejected. Awe: of discovering your full potential. CONFRONTING THE NEW: with film language that deliberately disregards what has been done and focuses instead on what CAN be done with what came before.

My fave criticism of Man of Steel is that it’s shaky and muted. That it’s different. That it is confronting. That it’s not the same as all the other Supermen. Even thought it’s literally just STM1+2 and the first three eps of STAS and the First/Last seasons of SV. I’ve said this before. MOS actually did NOTHING new story wise, but it feels entirely different. I remember being extremely confused by the handheld, by the colors, and I initially thought it was too much and distracting, but then it hit me. THAT IS THE POINT. I personally don’t care for hand held but i ADORE man of steel.

By embracing this method of full on romanticism, they also embrace the romantic love that can exist in a character. Lois and Clark is iconic and their stories have always been a slow burn journey that takes a while to become overtly romantic. In Man of Steel the romance is PART of the language of the movie. It’s woven into the plot, into Clark’s character, into Lois’s character, into the climax and it held BvS together and is catapulting Justice League, and that is explicitly because the movies are unapologetically sincere in its commitment to being expressive. CLARK HOLDS ON TO LOIS AFTER CRYING HIS HEART OUT IN MAN OF STEEL, and it’s strategically framed so that she is higher than him, taller than him, that she is the only thing keeping him up. It’s such a raw and confronting moment, and there are zero words. No declarations. No I love yous. But you don’t NEED them because the entire movie they have shown that love over and over, by being there for each other, by asking for each other, by protecting each other.

And each DCEU movie has SO MANY OF THESE. Diana/Steve. Quinnshot. Martha/Jonathan and Martha/Thomas and Jor/Lara who are not even mains but get to be strong and supporting and IN LOVE and these relationships MATTER to every aspect of these movies. Jor/Lara get Clark to Earth. Martha/Jonathan raise Clark as a good person. Martha/Thomas shape Bruce’s entire existence. And it’s these couples who help Clark and Bruce come together. THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO THE FABRIC OF THIS UNIVERSE. I MEAN. so much of suicide squad is exactly about the lengths people will go to for love, to atone for love, to die for love. TATSU AND HER HUSBAND GET THE RESOLUTION SPEECH EVERYONE WISHES THEY HAD. chato promises to get them there because he loved and lost his wife and children. RICK CRUSHES ENCHANTRESS’S HEART BC HIS LOVE BEGGED HIM TO, TO END HER SUFFERING, EVEN THOUGH IT MEANT HE’D SUFFER FOREVER FOR IT. and ayer didn’t condemn them! ayer didn’t say: in order to save the world, you have to sacrifice it all, you get to keep your love and it’s okay and you can forgive and be free and LIVE.

And that’s just the romantic love. There’s so much emphasis on familial love and platonic love all throughout these movies. The strength that comes from people working together instead of apart. THE POTENTIAL OF EVERY PERSON TO BE A FORCE FOR GOOD is such a romantic view of the world and DCEU is built it on it!

[lemodo]

ITALY’S  RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Published March 24, 2020

By Giacomino Nicolazzo; one of Italy’s most beloved writers.  Born and raised in Central Pennsylvania USA, he lives in a small village in Lombardy where he writes his books. 

Montecalvo, Lombardy, Italy.

As I sit here in my involuntary isolation, it was just reported that overnight 743 more people died and 5.249 new cases have been reported. This brings the total cases of infection to 69,176 and the body count to 6,820. We take relief in knowing that 8,326 people have recovered so far (Numbers as of 3/24, 8:30pm in Italy.)

Most towns here in Italy, from the upper reaches of the Alps to the ancient shores of Sicilia and Sardenia, while not deserted, are closer to being ghost towns than the bustling centers of tourism, business and daily life they were just a few weeks ago. 

Stores and shops have been shuttered. Restaurants and coffee shops no longer serve customers. Schools, universities, sporting arenas…even our museums and theaters…all closed. Even the Vatican City has closed its gates and armed patrols monitor the 20 foot tall walls that  protect it! 

Streets and roads are now empty for as far as the eye can see. Normally they would be filled with crazed Italian drivers in tiny cars and scooters (the ones that sound like demonic insects) darting here and there, reaching the limits of centrifugal force on our roundabouts. In the piazze of our towns and cities, there are now officially more pigeons than people. Many of us know someone who has been infected and recovered. Some of us know someone who did not recover…now they are dead. But everyone knows someone who has been affected by this microscopic monster in one way or another. 

Sixty million of us are in lockdown…it is like a war zone here. We are being held prisoner in our own homes by an unseen enemy that sneaked in unnoticed…by most of us. As you will read in just a few more minutes, there were those who knew something like this was coming…or at least they should have. 

So who is to blame? With all this craziness swirling like a whirlpool at our feet, I just had to find the blame answer. And so I have spent my free time (of which I have a lot in these days) digging and researching. I was literally shocked to discover how this has come to be.  

I am not going to bore you with talk of Patient ‘0’ who spread it to Patient ‘1’ and how mathematics efficiently explains the rapid expansion of infection. No…I am going to tell you how (as I see it) the virus came to Italy. 

It has everything to do with communism. Allow me to explain. Beginning in about 2014, Matteo Renzi, the imbecile ex-mayor of Firenze (Florence) acting as the leader of the Partito Democratico (synonymous with the Italian Communist party), somehow managed to get himself elected as Italy’s Prime Minister. To give you a proper frame of reference, Matteo Renzi was so far left, he would make Barack Obama look like Barry Goldwater! 

At the same time that Renzi was leading Italy into oblivion, strange things were happening in Italy’s economy. Banks were failing…but not closing. Retirement ages were being extended…for some reason the pension funds were dwindling or disappearing... The national sales tax we call IVA (Value Added Tax) rose from 18% to 20%, then to 21% and again to 22%. 

And in the midst of all this financial chicanery, the Chinese began furiously buying up Italian real estate and businesses in the North. 

Now the reason I mention Renzi and the Chinese together is that strange things were also going on between the governments of Italy and China. A blind eye was being turned to the way the Chinese were buying businesses in the financial, telecommunication, industrial and fashion sectors of Italy’s economy, all of which take place in Milano. 

To be brief…China was getting away with purchases and acquisitions in violation of Italian law and EU Trade Agreements with the US and the UK…and no one in either of those countries (not Obama in the US or 

Cameron in the UK) said a thing in their country’s defense. As a matter of fact, much of it was hidden from the public in all three countries. 

In ‪2014, China‬ infused the Italian economy with €5 billion through purchases of companies costing less than €100 million each By the time Renzi left office (in disgrace) in 2016, Chinese acquisitions had exceeded €52 billion. When the dust settled, China owned more than 300 companies…representing 27% of the major Italian corporations. 

The Bank of China now owns five major banks in Italy…all of which had been secretly (and illegally) propped up by Renzi using pilfered pension funds! Soon after, the China Milano Equity Exchange was opened and much of Italy’s wealth was being funneled back to the Chinese mainland. 

Chinese state entities own Italy’s major telecommunication corporation (Telecom) as well as its major utilities (ENI and ENEL)... Upon entry into the telecommunication market, Huawei established a facility in Segrate, a suburb of Milano. It launched is first research center there and worked on the study of microwaves which has resulted in the possibly-dangerous technology we call 5G. 

China also now owns controlling interest in Fiat-Chrysler, Prysmian and Terna. You will be surprised to know that when you put a set of Pirelli tires on your car, the profits are going to China. Yep…the Chinese 

colossus of ChemChina, a chemical industry titan, bought that company too! 

Last but not least is Ferretti yachts…the most prestigious yacht builder in Europe. Incredibly, it is no longer owned by the Ferretti family. 

But the sector in which Chinese companies invested most was Italy’s profitable fashion industry. The Pinco Pallino, Miss Sixty, Sergio Tacchini, Roberta di Camerino and Mariella Burani brands have been acquired by 100%. 

Designer Salvatore Ferragamo sold 16% and Caruso sold 35%. The most famous case is Krizia, purchased in 2014 by Shenzhen Marisfrolg Fashion Company, one of the leaders of high-priced, ready-to-wear fashions in Asia. 

Throughout all of these purchases and acquisitions, Renzi’s government afforded the Chinese unrestricted and unfettered access to Italy and its financial markets, many coming through without customs inspections.                                      

Quite literally, tens of thousands of Chinese came in through Milano (illegally) and went back out carrying money, technology and corporate secrets. 

Thousands more were allowed to enter and disappeared into shadows of Milano and other manufacturing cities of Lombardy, only to surface in illegal sewing shops, producing knock-off designer clothes and slapping ‘Made In Italy’ labels on them. All with the tacit approval of the Renzi government. 

It was not until there was a change in the governing party in Italy that the sweatshops and the illegal entry and departure of Chinese nationals was stopped. Matteo Salvini, representing the Lega Nord party, closed Italy’s ports to immigrants and systematically began disassembling the sweatshops and deporting those in Italy illegally. 

But his rise to power was short-lived. Italy is a communist country…socialism is in the national DNA. Ways were found to remove Salvini, after which the communist party, under the direction of Giuseppe Conte, reopened the ports. Immediately, thousands of unvetted, 

undocumented refugees from the Middle East and East Africa began pouring in again. Access was again provided to the Chinese, under the old terms, and as a consequence thousands of Chinese, the majority from Wuhan, began arriving in Milano. 

In December of last year, the first inklings of a coronavirus were noticed in Lombardy…in the Chinese neighborhoods. There is no doubt amongst senior medical officials that the virus was brought here from China. 

By the end of January 2020 cases were being reported left and right. By mid-February the virus was beginning to seriously overload the Lombardy hospitals and medical clinics. They are now in a state of collapse. 

The Far-Left politicians sold out and betrayed the Italian people with open border policies and social justice programs. One of the reasons the health care system collapsed so quickly is because the Renzi government (and now continued under the Conte government) redirected funds meant to sustain the medical system, to pay for the tens of thousands of immigrants brought in to Italy against the will of the Italian people. 

If you remember the horrible earthquake that decimated the villages around Amatricia, in the mountains east of Rome in 2015, you would also remember how the world responded by sending millions of dollars to help those affected 

But there is a law in Italy that prevents private donations to charitable Italian organizations. All money and donations received must be turned over to a government agency, who in turn is to appropriate the funds as needed. But that agency is corrupt just as are all the others. 

Most of the money never reached a single victim in the mountains. The Renzi government redirected the vast majority of those funds to pay for the growing immigrant and refugee costs.                                      

As the economy worsened under the burden of illegal immigration, compounded by gross government spending and incompetence, unemployment rose quickly…especially among young people. The unemployment rate for men and women under age 35 is close to 40%. So more money was diverted from the health care system and used to pay what is known here as guaranteed income. Whether you work or not you are paid here, especially if you belong to the PD! The government simply raises taxes on those who do work. 

Let me give you a quick example of the height of insanity to which Italian taxation has risen. If you live in a building that has a balcony or balconies…and any of those balconies cast a shadow on the ground, you must pay a public shadow tax! I will say no more! 

The point I am trying to make here is that not only did the Chinese bring the virus to Italy (and the rest of the world) it was far-Left politics and policies that facilitated it. 

This should hopefully be a warning to Americans that while they work to rid themselves of the China Virus, they should just as vehemently endeavor to rid their government of any politician that circumvents the Constitution and ignores the laws of the land…plain and simple. 

[badbackgroundscience]

Mole Man returns, still knows nothing about geology

Hey, Sue’s less useless now!

Those of you who haven’t read the old Fantastic Four comics might never have known that Susan Storm was originally only capable of turning herself invisible. The comic wherein she finally gets her upgrade doesn’t say she generates force fields - instead, her “invisibility is a form of energy”* - and it never offers up the science-y explanation of her being able to bend light around her, which will pop up as an explanation some unknown time in the series’s future.**

She can also now make other people and objects invisible, but not while invisible herself. And she can turn already invisible objects [i.e. ones she didn’t turn invisible] visible, which turns her invisible whether she wants to or not. It’s a bit weird, and part of her powerset so we won’t be continuing the analysis any further. But it’s important that the character’s not just good for sneaking purposes, anymore, so I need to mention it.

This issue sees the return of the Mole Man, whom we last saw all the way back in the very first issue I ever covered on this blog. He tricks the Fantastic 4 into considering buying an uninhabited island off the coast of New Jersey, and captures them when they go to survey it.

[Quick vocabulary lesson: “Geography” is a field of study, both of the physical properties of the Earth itself and how they influence people living on it (or how people influence the Earth). The word comes from the Ancient Greek γεωγραφία for “a description of the earth”, which is made up of the words γῆ (gê, “earth”) and γράφω (gráphō, “write”). You cannot own “a piece of geography”. Apparently, people in business use “geographies” in place of the perfectly sensible word “regions”. They’re weird, but if you were one of them I guess you could say you owned “a piece of a geography”. I wouldn’t be proud of you.] 

After the team arrives on the island, something steals their ride and Johnny almost drowns trying to get it back. The Thing claims they’re now stranded on the island “for good”, completely forgetting the fact that if they’re mere miles away from the East Coast, all they have to do is wait for Johnny to wake up and dry out and he can fly back to go get someone with a boat. Or something.

Follows a shadowy figure into a cave, Reed gets ‘caught’ in the worst pair of handcuffs ever...(The man’s arms are noodles! Those aren’t handcuffs! They’re a poor McDonald’s advertisement.)

But anyway, Mole Man reveals himself and drops the lot of them down a cavern of unknown height onto a small trampoline surrounded by a radioactive wall that only glows when they get close to it.

How can a wall be radioactive only on the inside, you might ask? I mean, technically that’s easy. Only some element isotopes are radioactive. The outside of the wall could be made of the non-radioactive lead-208, and the inside of the wall could be made out of a uranium-rich material, since Uranium ores/minerals have been used to tint things yellow in the past (e.g. glass). Many Uranium minerals/ores are yellow-green in color, like

Autunite, Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2·10-12H2O:

Saleeite, Mg(UO2)2(PO4)2·10(H2O):

Uranocircite, Ba(UO2)2(PO4)2·10H2O:

or Gummite (an unspecific mixture of uranium minerals):

You’ll notice that none of them are glowing, but Uranium minerals do fluoresce*** under ultraviolet light (usually they’re green, though - not yellow):

So, if there was some sort of proximity sensor which turned on a giant blacklight no one bothered to point out, then our uranium-laced wall would indeed glow.

But this all ignores the fact that the wall is somehow so radioactive that simply touching it would kill a person instantly, but absolutely benign when you stand a few feet away from it. Is that even possible?

It depends on the type of radiation being emitted by this wall (alpha, beta, gamma); each has its own ability to penetrate air. Uranium basically always undergoes alpha decay, whose particles are effectively blocked by mere centimeters of air. Even your outer layer of dead skin cells (or solid rock, if you’re Ben Grimm) can block basically all of it. I wouldn’t go climbing a mountain of Uranium any time soon ever, but if you accidentally touch a rock of it you’re not going to die a slow agonizing death, let alone a quick one.

[Some of uranium’s other decay chain products - that is, the elements uranium decays into along the way to lead - emit beta and gamma rays, so Mole Man’s giant wall of radioactive ore probably isn’t just emitting alpha radiation. Beta radiation can cause radiation burns with a skin-penetrating power of about 1 cm; gamma rays can go all the way to your core. 

That being said, having an outer ring made of lead isn’t going to stop all the radioactive particles from staying inside the circle, and if the wall emits enough radiation to kill the F4 with a single touch, it’s too dangerous for Mole Man and his cronies to be anywhere in the room.]

We learn Mole Man’s plan to take over the world via monologue. He’s built hydraulic platforms underneath “the largest cities on Earth” (by which he means New York City and Moscow), and they will lower the cities “down to the Earth’s core”. He then assumes the US and the USSR will bomb each other to smithereens and Mole Man can take the rest of the planet by force.

Let’s ignore the complete unfeasibility of digging a hole with the cross sectional area of an entire city to the Earth’s core.**** Or any hole to the Earth’s core.

The temperature’s going to get so hot that giant metal contraption is going to melt long before it gets anywhere near the core - the Earth’s mantle ranges from 1000 to 3700 °C - the latter of which is hotter than the melting point of any known elemental metal, and hotter than all but a couple of alloys’. Inside the Earth, the high pressures help keep things solid, but if Mole Man’s dug a hole - and can keep something that wide open - that source of pressure is gone.

And, like, why does he even need to lower them down to the core? People will be dead before they even hit the mantle - water boils at 100 °C, remember, and humans are bags of mostly water?

And and, like, why does he think the US military will see a giant perfect circle in the ground going Odin knows how far down and think it’s a nuke attack? We’re the only country that’s dropped nukes on another nation! We know what a nuked city looks like!

Did none of Mole Man’s subterranean underlings ask about this plan? I mean, good job on the “let them destroy themselves” bit, but why not dig a hole beneath someone’s nuclear stockpile, steal some bombs, and then launch them at the other guy? I came up with that in literally 2 seconds.

How long did it take you, Mole Man, to come up with your brilliant plan?

Obviously, the F4 stop our baddie from dropping either city even a meter. Sue uses her new force field powers (that aren’t force field powers) to block him from pressing the not-big-&-red button, and also shielding her team so they can crawl up the wall.*****

They somehow land in the exact right positions to drop down into customized traps.

“...the one which is now sucking you down to the bottom with a powerful vacuum blast of air...”

Vacuums are a complete lack of air.`* What does that even mean!?

Our heroes get out of their respective traps - the Thing’s is everyone who took gymnastic’s lessons’ worst nightmare (a foam pit). Mole Man turns off the lights (If he can see in the dark, why even have the lights on in the first place?) and escapes. The F4 follow suit, and when Mole Man pushes the button it’s their off-the-coast-of-NJ island that sinks. 

Because...Reed rewired...something...

And that’s how our comic ends. Was it worth wading through that ridiculous science to see the only woman on the team get a power upgrade?

Yeah. Probably.

* Energy is not the same thing as force. Very roughly speaking, a force is a push or pull on an object, whereas energy is something used to exert a force upon an object over a distance. Also, “invisibility” - as in not being visible - can’t be “energy” anymore than, I don’t know, being “tasty” can be.

** James Kakalios suggests in The Physics of Superheroes that Sue’s invisibility comes from an ability to make her molecules not absorb visible light whenever she wants (by “[increasing] the “energy gap” of all the molecules in her body” so that she absorbs/reflects ultraviolet light). This is based off 2002′s Fantastic Four #62, Vol. 3, which states while she’s invisible she uses “scattered cosmic rays” to see. (As he says, “Right idea -- wrong illumination source.”)

*** Fluorescence happens when a material’s atoms absorb certain wavelengths of light - kicking some of their electrons into higher orbitals - then emit light as the electrons fall back down. Usually the light emitted is lower energy (and therefore longer wavelength) than what was absorbed. Glow-in-the-dark products usually use phosphorous, which absorbs UV light and emits visible light. Fluorescent lights use an electric current to make mercury atoms emit ultraviolet light, which is then absorbed by a coating inside the tube, and that coating emits that sick office-cubicle color.

**** If we make a circle 2500 square kilometers in area, approximately equal to Moscow’s land area, Mole Man would need to remove at least 90,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms of rock to lower the Russian city to the core [It’d be more because the density of the Earth increases as you go down, and I just used the average density of rock], which is not quite the mass of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. 

It took 20 years to dig the deepest hole we’ve ever done - which went a whole 12 km down...and is 9 inches in diameter.

***** You might be wondering why Johnny doesn’t just fly out the open top. Don’t worry. I am, too.

`* If he got ‘sucked’ into that room ‘cause it had previously been a vacuum (He really would have gotten blown into it by air trying to rush in), Mole Man’s room would have had to close back up and then somehow suck all the air out of it again.

Also, if Johnny were actually trapped inside a vacuum, he’d lose consciousness after 15 seconds and die in 60-90 seconds.

Enjoy the blog and have a dollar to spare? I have a Patreon, now.

Fantastic Four #22 - Writer: Stan Lee, Art: Jack Kirby, Ink: G Bell

Image Credits:

Autunite By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Saleeite By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Uranocircite By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Gummite By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Fluorescence By Weirdmeister - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

[propvestintl]

Dubai Premium Malls & Virtual Offices Presents Real Meditation

It is out of a sense of utter frustration and disgust at so much misleading information on the topic of Meditation that has forced me to finally write down my own view on the subject, which I feel will benefit those who wish to at least know what Meditation is all about.

The origin of the concept of meditation is from the Ancient East Indian Yoga System, as depicted in their ancient Vedanta Scriptures, which is claimed to be over 5000 years old.

Meditation is not an act of sitting with closed eyes and using one of multiple taught methods that claim it is meditation. Meditation is part of an 8 step process, where the last step results in actual success in achieving meditation.

Following the various steps and methods to achieve meditation can lead to serious harm to both your health and your mental health. Period! I am so sad to see so called great and respected leaders misleading people into giving short cuts to meditation, claiming they want to benefit people. Some obviously want to make money off the ignorant and others want to gain fame and followers. Most, in my opinion, don’t know what they are talking about.

Some Background

I have studied and had the privilege of practicing the system that incorporates the subtle art of mediation now for over 40 years. Although the time period spent is no indication of authenticity, as is apparent in the world since this concept was investigated by seekers. However I like to give my opinion, which I feel will clarify and open the minds of seekers of knowledge of this subtle art.

Meditation is a culmination of a major project to develop oneself to attain the higher capacities inherent in all of us, which is not an easy task but can also be simplified if the steps are clearly explained. So that one knows exactly what to expect along the progression of this lifelong endeavor.

The lifetime of a human is insufficient to reasonably achieve the highest levels of progress in this endeavor. Yet regularity of practice can bring about amazing benefits to the practitioner within a short space of time, probably some significant results within a 5 to 10 year period. These results will start to show itself in subtle ways from within a few weeks of commencement of the right practices.

I would never have written this article if I felt that people in general will not massively benefit from attempting to take on this endeavor. It can complete reverse almost any illness, physical or mental, curable or incurable. It can drastically improve the intellectual capacity far beyond what is logical. It will greatly increase a sense of peace and assist you greatly in succeeding in the achievement of your most insurmountable challenges in life. It is the true law of attraction, tailor made to you individually, from within you, from your very own higher intelligence sitting dormant within yourself.

I never started this course of study and practice for any of the above benefits as I did not believe any of that was possible but was very attracted to this system as it seemed a fascinating subject with so many subtle secrets that it simply forced me to investigate and unravel the mysteries.

I only began to understand parts of what this is about after many years of practice, over 25 years I would estimate before I took the matter seriously when I experienced some of the mind blowing results. Yet I still needed more time and only after I had encountered some serious health problems that I decided to see if the practice could help me at all, as it was fabled to.

I had been diagnosed with Diabetes for a second time, but this time was far more serious than the previous time, which I overcame without my understanding how. I was Insulin Dependent diabetic for 10 years when I eventually started practicing the yoga and meditation system more seriously. I completely recovered and thought I just experienced an odd miracle in my life. I remained well for about 13 years without any need for doctors. I greatly improved in my health and took great care of my habits in respect to food, supplements and exercise.

However the second time I was diagnosed was recently and I also had serious nerve damage and serious blood circulation problems. I lost peripheral sensitivity and I tried many herbal and medical solutions with a little success for a while but then the situation started to get worse very fast and I lost major sensitivity in my hands and legs. It was actually quite alarming and I tried to find a solution without much success. I continued trying for several months and eventually exhausted nearly every known alternative, which was also a very costly exercise. Fortunately I was able to afford the experiments.

It is by chance that I suddenly remembered about meditation, which practice I abandoned for about 13 years seeing that I felt I no longer craved sensational psychedelic experiences, which is all what I thought meditation was about.

I certainly was able to meditate very easily as I had years of dedicated practice under my belt. I sat and meditated the first evening just to see of I can perhaps get any benefit at all. I sat only for about 30 minutes and to my amazement, over 50% of my sensations returned.

I was totally blown, as you can imagine. I started to practice it regularly for just a little while daily and to my amazement, I recovered from diabetes symptoms within a few days and my sensations returned to me about 80% within the first week.

Of course the reason for the rapid improvement was I had knowledge, experience and proficiency in meditation and was able to tap into being receptive to the curative energy that awakens whilst one enters into proper meditation.

Then all the theories started to make sense. I was able to sift through the truth and fantasy with the years of changes in my life that now started to make sense.

I now understood my drastic increase in intellectual capacity during my childhood and teens. The different periods of massive financial success and failures which corresponded proportionally to my adopting and abandoning the practice over the years.

So what is meditation?

The featured image of this article gives the outline of what meditation is. It is the 8th step in a system known as Raja Yoga. The practice requires proficiency in the preceding steps before progress can safely be made.

Let me explain the steps briefly in my opinion:

Step 1: Yama – “Self Control…..”

This requires one to adopt a sound character. To have an exemplary character with reasonable levels of patience, forgiveness, helpful attitude, kindness, abandon bad habits that are harmful, etc. If this is not sound, once you awaken your higher levels of consciousness, your very thoughts that will now have power will reign havoc in the world resulting in harm to others as well as yourself of course. Every action has an equal but opposite reaction.

Step 2:  Niyama – “Discipline…”

This requires you to be able to put an action plan together and maintain consistency in it. To carry it through to the successful completion and overcome all challenges along the way. Without this ability, you cannot succeed long term in anything in life. You need to adopt a healthy active lifestyle, good career habits that will give you the financial stability to sustain your livelihood and help you make time for your higher aspirations, etc.

Step 3: Asana – ” Physical Exercise…”

This step is referring specifically to the yoga exercises which is very different from fitness exercises. Fitness exercises takes energy out of you, depleting your energy reserves as you workout. Yoga done correctly will increase your energy levels leaving you clearly more energized after the session. It actually works on the flexibility of your body and activates the spiritual centers that are closely linked to your body. If you fail to activate these centers, then you will have an imbalance in the way the spiritual energy will affect you once it is awakened. This can lead to actual physical problems that are more serious than normal physical problems. You will most likely live a life of extreme pain and suffering, completely opposite to what you intended in the first place.

The second amazing benefit is that the awakening of the spiritual centers linked closely to your body will greatly increase your health and intellectual capacity as well. You will notice the differences after a few years of regular practice.

Please note that once you start the journey to awakening your spiritual centers in your body, you will stir the inner spiritual higher self which will take control of your life and make you undergo extreme difficulties if you abandon the practice. It will literally make you lose your health, wealth and all friends and family if you leave the practice and it will not stop until you recommence the practice.

I think I said sufficient to make you understand a little what meditation really is. If you do immoral acts you will get severe punishment from mysterious circumstances. There is actually no mystery. Your own inner self is sabotaging you. It is extremely judgemental and will not hesitate to use any means what so ever to bring you back into the right path which is continue to complete what you started.

Ignorance is bliss…… I strongly recommend you not to start this journey unless you have no other choice or you are ready to drastically lose control of the life as you know it.

If you still want to pursue this further, contact me and I will be glad to introduce you to a few simple daily practices that you can adopt practically and hopefully achieve the inexplicable dimensions…..

Dubai Premium Malls & Virtual Offices

(Also available: Dubai Residence Visa, Business Set up and Premium Property Service)

https://propvestintl.wordpress.com

[godssea7-blog]

“… Iam God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand ….”—Isaiah 46:9-10

The history of the Holy Roman Empire—and the truth that it was created, led and exploited in each manifestation by the Catholic Church—is beyond dispute. It is proven true by recorded history, thorough scholarship, and museums and archaeological excavations full of relics and artifacts.

It is now time to consider more thoroughly what the Bible reveals about the Holy Roman Empire.

In Chapters 1 and 2, we considered the Apostle John’s dramatic vision described in Revelation 17. In particular, we concentrated on the woman, or church, of Revelation 17, who was “sit[ting] upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (verse 3).

This church was riding—she was guiding, empowering, leading—a “beast” that had seven heads and 10 horns.

The following verses show that under this woman’s inspiration and leadership, the beast performed many cruel and mighty works. This beast was the woman’s instrument of destruction, her main vehicle for expanding her power, her chosen weapon for conquering and subjugating great portions of the Earth.

The “beast” mentioned in Revelation 17 is the Holy Roman Empire, which, as we have seen, was comprised of seven consecutive resurrections, or seven governments—or “seven heads”!

Can you believe the Holy Roman Empire was prophesied? Will you?

The Bible contains a lot of prophecy, much more than people realize. One third of the Bible is prophecy, and 90 percent of that prophecy pertains to our time. But remember, the entire Bible was completed nearly 2,000 years ago. Some of the Bible’s earliest prophecies were written 1,400 years prior.

Think about that: God forecast the major events and trends unfolding in today’s world between roughly 1,900 and 3,400 years ago. For what purpose? That is simple: to prove He is real.

Fulfilled prophecy is the greatest proof we have of God’s existence!

But think further about the audience God is especially trying to reach with fulfilled prophecy. It can only be observed and accepted by people who have seen evidence of its fulfillment. And most prophecy pertains to our time today. Many biblical prophecies have only begun to be fulfilled in the last century, especially in the last three decades.

Human beings today, more than at any other moment in history, have seen Bible prophecies fulfilled. There has never been more evidence of fulfilled prophecy. And evidence of prophecies being fulfilled is piling up weekly.

The point is, mankind today has more proof than at any other time in human history of God’s existence!

Yet sadly, mankind’s belief in the true God is practically bankrupt. Belief in the Bible has dwindled epically. Concerning God and religion, humanity is more ignorant, more confused and more hostile than ever. Humanity has almost completely lost sight of God.

The Bible is literally full of prophecies serving the same function as the Holy Roman Empire. These prophecies are clear, vivid and detailed. And they were written millennia before they were due to be fulfilled. Moreover, they exist to prove to you—right now—that God exists, that He reigns supreme, that the Bible is His Word, and that He has a plan for mankind.

Bible prophecy is truly one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. It is proof of God’s love for mankind, and for you.

The Image of Daniel 2

Before we study further into specific prophecies about the Holy Roman Empire, we must put human history into broader prophetic context.

Daniel 2 is the key to unlocking world history. As Gerald Flurry wrote in Daniel Unlocks Revelation, “The Daniel 2 image gives an overview of history and prophecy like nothing else in the Bible. It is the main tool God uses to unlock the book of Revelation!”

In Daniel 2 we read about a detailed and riveting dream King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had in the seventh century b.c. In it, he saw a great image, or statue.

Verses 32-33 show that the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw was made of four distinct materials: “This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.”

This image was standing tall and menacing, when suddenly, a stone from outer space came hurtling down and collided with it, annihilating the image and grinding it to dust. Then this stone became a great mountain that covered the whole planet (verses 34-35).

King Nebuchadnezzar was confused and disturbed. He called in his magicians and soothsayers, and demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed and then give its interpretation. The magicians had no idea what Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was about, let alone what it might have meant.

Residing in Babylon at the time was a Jew named Daniel, a young prophet with the God-given talent to interpret dreams. Through Daniel, God explained to King Nebuchadnezzar that his dream was actually a prophecy of future world events.

“Thou, O king,” Daniel began, “art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. … Thou art this head of gold” (verses 37-38). How clear: King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian-Chaldean Empire, which we can read about in history books, was the head of gold.

Daniel continued: “And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken” (verses 39-42).

Daniel was prophesying the succession of four world-ruling empires. The first, symbolized by the head of gold, was Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian-Chaldean Empire of the seventh century b.c. The second, symbolized by the chest and arms of silver, was the Medo-Persian Empire, which lasted from the sixth century to the mid-fourth century b.c. The third, symbolized by the belly of bronze, was the Greek Empire, which emerged in the fourth century b.c. The fourth, symbolized by two legs of iron—picturing two distinct regions, east and west—was the Roman Empire, which began in 31 b.c.

Now, check your history. You will find that the succession of these empires is recognized and chronicled in detail in history books the world over. Of course, other civilizations and peoples, many of them influential and impressive, existed concurrently, but these four were the dominant civilizations of their time.

What is amazing is that you can prove the fulfillment of this biblical prophecy by checking the contents page of most Western civilization textbooks!

Daniel’s Beasts

The four successive world-ruling empires identified in Daniel 2 are also identified in Daniel 7. But here God uses different symbolism. In Daniel 7 the four empires are pictured by “four great beasts.” The first, the Babylonian-Chaldean Empire, is “like a lion, and had eagle’s wings” (verse 4). The second, the Medo-Persian Empire, is typed by a bear (verse 5). In verse 6 the Greek Empire is symbolized by a leopard with four wings, depicting a kingdom with terrific speed and agility. (Remember how fast Alexander the Great blazed across Asia Minor and the Mideast?)

Now notice how Daniel 7 describes the fourth beast. It is totally unique. Verse 7 says, “behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”

The beast depicting the terrifying Roman Empire isn’t symbolized by a known animal, like a lion, bear or leopard—but by a unique-looking beast, unlike any normal animal. Notice too, this beast has 10 horns. These horns represent 10 successive administrations, or resurrections, of the Roman Empire.

Next we come to a pivotal truth.

In verse 8, Daniel continues describing the fourth 10-horned beast that symbolizes the Roman Empire. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Clearly this “little horn” is separate from the 10.

But notice: This powerful little horn comes on the scene after the first three horns, or administrations. In fact, this “little horn,” this administration, plucks up—it overcomes and destroys—the first three horns. In verse 20, Daniel explains this prophecy: “And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.”

The Hebrew word translated “stout” means “captain, chief, great, lord, master.” This “little horn” is clearly a powerful and commanding institution. And it begins ruling over the last seven horns after it destroys the first three.

The identity of this “little horn” is obvious: It is the Roman Catholic Church, which began leading the Holy Roman Empire after the demise of the three Goth tribes that dominated Rome in the fifth century.

“God reveals so much in this one scripture,” Mr. Flurry wrote. “This verse depicts the 10 horns that grow out of the fourth beast—the Roman Empire. It depicts a ‘little horn’—a great false church—coming on the scene after three horns are plucked up. The church directed the violent uprooting of the barbarians. The three horns picture three governments (the Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths) that came and went, and then suddenly the whole configuration changed from that point forward: The great church guided every succeeding resurrection of this Roman Empire, in an unprecedented church-state relationship” (Daniel Unlocks Revelation). If you are interested in really proving this prophecy and understanding it deeply, request and read this free booklet.

Notice what Mr. Flurry wrote next: “God revealed to Herbert W. Armstrong that this verse was the key to European history. So European history is tied to Daniel’s image. The last seven horns comprise a church-state relationship, which began in a.d. 554—led by Justinian. Once you understand that, it is much easier to see where it is. Europe was ruled by a church-state relationship and is unique in this way. That is a super-critical key to understanding its past. This combine is called the Holy Roman Empire. It has produced the most destructive church-state relationship in human history!” (emphasis added).

The message of Daniel 7:8 must underpin our study of European history, and specifically the history of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a counterpart to Revelation 17, though it was written almost 600 years before the book of Revelation.

Read the remainder of Daniel 7: After rising up to destroy the first three horns, this “little horn” stays around to guide and influence the last seven horns, which represent seven resurrections of the Roman Empire. These seven resurrections—each under the spiritual and moral influence of the “little horn”—comprise the seven resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire.

Revelation 13

About 600 years after God inspired the Prophet Daniel to write these prophecies, He added to them through the Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 13, the Apostle John discusses two distinct beasts. The first, described in verses 1 to 10, has features similar to those described by Daniel. The first beast of Revelation 13 looks slightly different from the four distinct beasts described in Daniel 7, but depicts the same four world-ruling empires, including the 10 horns of the Roman Empire, described in Daniel 7.

Verses 11 to 18 describe the second beast of Revelation 13. Verse 11 says, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” What powerful symbolism. This beast appears harmless and enticing, like a lamb. But when it speaks, it is terrifying and dangerous, like a dragon. The institution represented by this beast looks peaceful and altruistic, but it is vicious and cruel.

A dragon in biblical symbolism represents Satan the devil (e.g. Revelation 12). This beast is Satan’s creation. It is his primary instrument for deceiving mankind and seeking to destroy the true followers of God.

What does this second beast of Revelation 13 represent? Herbert Armstrong explains in his booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? “This second beast of Revelation 13 is also pictured in Revelation 17 as the harlot woman who rode the beast. This fallen woman, or church, is different from all other churches in one respect. She is organized as a civil government, as well as an ecclesiastical church. Nations of the world send ambassadors to her, the same as they do the capitals of other nations.”

The second beast of Revelation 13 dominates the world (verses 12-18). It violently and cruelly forces humans into submission and worship. It seeks to extinguish its opponents. It is inspired and fueled by Satan and his demons, who infuse it with the power to do “great wonders” and many “miracles.”

Revelation 17: the All-important Chapter

To understand the specifics of the Holy Roman Empire, Revelation 17 is the key chapter. The Holy Roman Empire is its theme. It is different from Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 13 as it discusses only the last seven resurrections of the Roman Empire. Once again, just as He did in Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 13, God reveals the truth about the Holy Roman Empire by causing the Apostle John to see a vivid and dramatic beast.

Before God revealed this image, He sent an angel who explained to John what he was about to see. “… Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:1‑2). This image was about a great false religion that deceived the world—and, by spiritual deception, ruled kings, or governments.

Next, read for yourself what John saw in vision: “[A]nd I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (verse 3). Notice, there are two distinct parts to this image: a “woman,” or church—and a “scarlet coloured beast” with seven heads and 10 horns, upon which the woman rode.

We now know the identities of both the woman and the beast. “The seven heads symbolize the seven dynasties or historic peaks of the Holy Roman Empire,” wrote Mr. Armstrong in the January 1979 Plain Truth. “The 10 horns are 10 kings or nations comprising this empire at the time of its seventh stage.” Verse 9 explains further what these seven heads represent: “The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” In the Bible, a mountain is a symbol for a government.

Each “head” of this Revelation 17 beast represents a distinct administration, or government!

As we have proven in this book, together these seven successive governments comprise the beast of Revelation 17. The first head, or government, was Emperor Justinian and the Imperial Restoration of a.d. 554; the second, Emperor Charlemagne and the Frankish Empire of a.d. 774; the third, Otto the Great and the Holy Roman Empire in 962; the fourth, the Habsburg dynasty of the early 16th century; the fifth, Napoleon’s kingdom in the early 19th century; the sixth, the German-Italian axis ultimately responsible for World War ii.

The seventh head, or government, which is comprised of 10 horns, or 10 kings, is now coalescing in Europe!

But remember what the most distinguishing and important feature of the Revelation 17 beast is! Read it again in verses 3-5: “I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast …. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.”

Never forget that image, for it is the key that unlocks the history of Europe and future world events!

This seven-headed beast is inspired, guided and exploited by a great false religion. This false religion is the woman of Revelation 17—she is responsible for guiding each of the seven governments of the Holy Roman Empire. More than any other secular power or individual, this woman, who is under the influence of Satan the devil—the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)—is responsible for the unspeakable atrocities committed by the Holy Roman Empire.

Also, we cannot forget the reason this woman-beast alliance exists. Revelation 17:6 says, “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ….” In Daniel 7:25 this religion is symbolized by a “little horn” that shall “speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High ….”

This is a vital truth: Satan the devil raised up the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire as his primary weapon for destroying the true saints of God! Think about that. How can Catholicism be God’s true religion when the Bible says the Catholic Church exists to oppose and destroy the true Church?

If you want to find God’s true Church, look for a Church that is being persecuted by the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire! Look for the Church that is exposing the truth about the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire.

The Fifth Kingdom?

Before we finish, we must consider a vital component—in fact, the most important—of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. This part of the dream is often overlooked or ignored, but it is by far the most exciting. One can be intrigued and excited by the symbolism of the image, by the head of gold and the other three materials—and the fact that these four parts explain world history—and fail to think much about this image’s ultimate fate.

Read it for yourself: “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34-35).

There is far greater depth in those two scriptures than most people know.

These two verses discuss the entire gospel message! They show us that God has a plan for mankind!

What does the “stone” that is “cut out without hands” represent? The Bible reveals that it is Jesus Christ!

Ephesians 2:20 says that God’s Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, “Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” In 1 Corinthians 10:4 Christ is identified as “that spiritual Rock.”

This stone flying in from heaven and destroying the image pictures the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, this stone—after smashing the image and grinding it so thoroughly that the dust of iron, clay, brass, silver and gold blow away and vanish—transforms into a “great mountain” that “fills the whole earth.” Daniel explains this: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44).

When Jesus returns, after demolishing the cruel, savage kingdoms of man, He will establish on Earth the eternal Kingdom of God!

Daniel 7 describes the same course of events. After describing the four beasts—each corresponding to the four parts of the statue in Daniel 2—the prophet explains what happens after the time allotted to the Roman Empire expires. “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:27).

The final human kingdom—the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire—will be replaced by the Kingdom of God.

This eternal kingdom will be ruled by Jesus Christ and the “saints of the most High.” In addition to Christ, there will be other God beings sitting on the throne with Christ establishing and reigning over the everlasting Kingdom of God! (Revelation 3:21; 20:4-6).

This is the very gospel message that Christ preached! (Mark 1:14-15).

The same people that the Holy Roman Empire worked so hard to destroy will be ruling in the Kingdom of God. Their victory is prophesied!

Can you begin to fathom what God is teaching us here?

Isn’t it marvelous how Bible prophecy and world history—how the Daniel 2 image and the beasts of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and 17—how the history of the Holy Roman Empire, and the shocking truth about the Roman Catholic Church—actually prove the existence of God, and reveal the stunning, incredibly positive and hopeful truth about the coming Kingdom of God?

When you truly understand this, world events and Bible prophecy come alive. Why? Because they reveal that there is a God in heaven and the dawning of a new future for mankind.

Think seriously about this: Bible prophecy and world history—even the inglorious and frightening history and prophecy about the Holy Roman Empire—are fundamentally a hope-filled, inspiring message about the gospel of God.

More than any other, this is the great lesson we must take from the Holy Roman Empire: The history of this empire proves God’s existence; it proves the Bible is true and accurate; and it proves that the establishment on this Earth of the Kingdom of God is just ahead.

There is no more exciting, positive message than that!

The Deadly ‘Wound’

In Revelation 13, the Apostle John describes a beast that looks very similar to the fourth beast of Daniel 7. Both beasts represent the fourth world-ruling empire, the Roman Empire of 31 b.c. to a.d. 476. As John depicts it, this beast includes the most powerful characteristics of all the beasts that preceded it. It had seven heads, but the only head existing at the time John saw it was that of the fourth beast of Daniel, containing the seventh head, and also the 10 horns.

Revelation 13:3 describes “one of his heads as it were wounded to death.” The head that was wounded was that picturing the Roman Empire, which also had 10 horns. These horns, as Daniel makes clear, represent 10 successive governments of the Roman Empire that were to continue until the establishment of the Kingdom of God at Jesus Christ’s Second Coming.

What was the “wound” John described? This deadly wound was inflicted on the Roman Empire when, in its last decaying stages, the barbarians overran the city of Rome, temporarily ending its government in a.d. 476. At that moment, for the first time since its creation, the Roman Empire was not ruled by a Roman. The empire was wounded and effectively dead!

Study the history. The Roman Empire in Northern Africa was overrun by the Vandals, who sacked Rome in 455. Then in 476, Odoacer set up his government at Rome, called the Heruli. But this regime did not heal the deadly wound, for it was not a Roman government, but one of foreign barbarians. Then came the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, from 493 to 554—another foreign people that ruled in the territory. They were subsequently driven out of Italy, and they disappeared.

These three kingdoms were the first three horns, or governments. These three kingdoms sweeping into the Roman territory filled the period known in history as the “transition age” (see Ancient History by Philip Van Ness Myers). It was a transition between the wound and the healing.

But notice: Revelation 13:3 says the wound would be “healed” and the Roman Empire would continue.

In Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 7, we see another “little horn” arise and pluck up the first three horns, which symbolized those three barbarian tribes that ruled Rome (Daniel 7:8). This left seven horns to come. Of the little horn, Daniel 7 says his “look was more stout than his fellows” (verse 20). The Hebrew word for “stout” means “captain, chief, great, lord, master.”

This horn represents the Catholic Church, which completely dominated all the horns to follow.

When was the “wound” healed? It was when the barbarian tribes were ousted from Rome. This occurred in a.d. 554, when “Justinian, emperor of the East, from Constantinople, set up his government through an Imperial Legate at Ravenna, Italy, and brought about what is known as the ‘Imperial Restoration’ of the empire” (Herbert W. Armstrong, Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?) (see Chapter 2).

The 73rd Emperor of the Fourth World Empire

On that famous Christmas in a.d. 800, the pope crowned Charlemagne “73rd emperor of the fourth world empire.” Why the fourth empire? The idea did not originate with this pope. Many scholars and theologians knew at the time that the Roman Empire was the fourth world-ruling kingdom. Many even identified this fourth kingdom with the one the Prophet Daniel spoke of. In fact, centuries before, while the old Roman Empire still existed, most Jews and Christians thought it would be the world’s last kingdom because of Daniel’s prophecy.

That is why Europeans and Catholics kept trying to revive the empire: The Bible said there would only be four empires.

Though many scholars knew the Roman Empire was prophesied to be the final world empire, beyond that, they tragically misinterpreted Bible prophecies. That is what led to so much violence and bloodshed during the Middle Ages.

People falsely assumed that the antichrist would emerge on the world scene once the Roman Empire was extinguished. What the Bible actually says is that after the fourth empire passes from the scene, God’s Kingdom will be set up (Daniel 2:44).

This also was misinterpreted because people during the Middle Ages assumed the Holy Roman Empire was God’s Kingdom on Earth! That elevated their laws and aspirations for world rule above God’s. Thus, the groundwork for the tragedy of the Middle Ages was laid—not upon a holy empire, but upon Satan-inspired, gross misinterpretations of God’s Word.

The Germans, more than any other people, felt it their divine duty to preserve this “Holy” Roman Empire so that “antichrist” might not appear. So time and again, when the empire sank into decay, it would somehow muster enough strength to again raise itself—usually behind one powerful leader, oftentimes German, supported by a powerful religious head in Rome.

What the people of these empires also failed to understand was that these same Roman resurrections were themselves prophesied in the Bible!

Scripture does foretell of four, and only four, world-ruling empires. But that final empire, after it was crushed in a.d. 476, was prophesied to rise seven more times, which would be in conjunction with the papal authority in Rome as the resurrected “Holy Roman Empire.” It was that same Roman Empire, under new names and titles, that again rose up during the 20th century under German dominance, and that awaits one last resurrection, again prodded by a strong European hand, probably German.