Books.

Scythe, Neal Shusterman.

I recently read Neal Shusterman’s Scythe. It’s a fast, easy read, with an interesting premise and engaging characters. We humans certainly spend a great deal of time striving for the ideal; we never quite give up on the idea of an utopia. That’s delivered in Scythe. AI broke through in a big way, it was not the monster doom people always thought, and now, society is perfect. There’s no poverty, no hunger, no inequality, no disease, and almost unlimited healing. All the things which routinely killed people before? No more. A person can launch themselves off a tall building, go splat, and wake up in perfect condition a few days later. There’s rejuv tech, so people can decide to ‘turn a corner’ as they age. As many times as they like. One thing which is not perfectly ruled: breeding. No laws, no restrictions, and people can breed for hundreds of years. So, a very small percentage of the world population is randomly selected to die now and then. The people who perform this duty are known as Scythes. You get the picture.

This is not a deep philosophical treatise on achieving eden; nonetheless, Mr. Shusterman does not shy away from many of the questions which would surface in such a world. The book makes for an excellent launch point into serious discussions. Probably what bothered me the most was the compleat inability of anyone to decide they wanted to die and to carry that out successfully. (Scythes are the only people allowed to suicide. Scythes are also prohibited from taking the life of anyone who wishes to die.) I don’t like the idea that a perfect society would consist of one in which my final act of autonomy was removed. But then, I’m not overly keen at not being in control.

Part of the book reminded me of Terry Pratchett’s Reaper Man, and the duel between Deaths, and why that duel took place. There’s a similar theme in Scythe.

It’s a good read, recommended.

Women and Demons in Medieval Finland.

The aim of the article is primarily to examine late medieval wall paintings in the church of Espoo that include women with some form of diabolical entity. The paintings under examination include five different motifs: the milking and churning, the Journey to Blåkulla, Skoella and Tutivillus.

The milking scene in Espoo shows a woman with a cow and a man-size demon with horns, hoofs and a tail observing the task (Fig. 1). Immediately above the woman milking a cow
another woman is seen riding on a broom, holding a pouch-like object in her left hand and a horn in her right (Figs. 1, 3).

On the south side of the church, the milking scene continues with a scene representing a demon assisting women in churning the butter (Fig. 2). Skoella scene represents a demon passing a pair of shoes to a woman on the west wall above the entrance (Fig. 7), and above, three demons are seen twiddling with a parchment (Fig. 9). This motif is referred to as Tutivillus. The analysis of the motifs begins with the examination of the images at their visual level in which the content of the images is explained. The analysis then proceeds to the examination of the motifs in their cultural and historical context. The article discusses the origin of the different motifs and compares them to similar ones found among other early
sixteenth-century wall paintings in Finland. The methodological approach combines art historical analysis and cultural-historical contextualisation.

A fascinating look at the pairing of women and demons, where a woman-centered activity is involved. Demons, always so much more interesting than saints and gods, even in churches. The paper may be read here.

The Migrant Quilt Project.

TUCSON SECTOR 2004-2005, 282 deaths.
Made by Carol Hood, Sunny Klapp, Phyllis Sager, & Virginia Wenzel, of Prescott, Arizona.

Picked from the desert, I’m gazing at the tiny pieces of Jeans. These are what’s left of real lives. They had hopes and dreams of better and safer futures. (Virginia Wenzel)

There is a wealth of heartbreak at The Migrant Quilt Project, but it’s heartbreak all should feel. No one should be able to turn a cold heart and hateful mind to the mute witness of so much death.

The Migrant Quilt Project.

What We Deserve…

Dante and Virgil in Hell, William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

There are times I idly wish some form of underworld existed; when it comes to mouthy, obnoxious, immoral christians, I could get on board with the notion of hell. At least for a time. I can’t ever get past that ‘tortured for all eternity’ business, it’s just too much. No matter which particular underworld, any treatment would pall after a sufficient time. Anyroad, Liz ‘Red Shoes!‘ Crokin had something of a pity party the other day.

Liz Crokin declared recently that she is not worried about her career suffering due to her obsessive efforts to prove that countless government, business and entertainment leaders are involved in a massive satanic pedophile ring because she knows that she will be rewarded by God for her work.

I wonder, does it ever dawn that there has been no reward? It has to occur at some point. No wonder theists then take refuge in ‘the afterlife!’.

In an interview with the America First Media Group last week, Crokin said that while she has suffered personally and professionally because of her crusade to expose supposed rampant pedophilia and child sacrifice, she would “rather be poor and getting the truth out there and being on the right side of God and history.”

That’s nice. It’s easy to be on the right side of a ‘god’, when said ‘god’ is a figment of your imagination, and of course believes everything you do, and shares all your hatreds. As for history, ah, that one is not quite so easy to deceive. It is remarkably arrogant of Ms. Crokin to think she’ll make the history tomes of the future. I’m afraid the majority of humanity never gets close to being recorded for all posterity.

“Judgment Day is coming and not only is God going to unleash His wrath on the pedophiles, He’s also going to unleash his wrath on the people that knew about it and covered for it,” Crokin said. “People like us will be rewarded by God … People like us who have been censored and punished for having politically conservative viewpoints, supporting Trump and especially the people that have hurt us for trying to help children and save children from predators, there will be a day where we will not have to worry about our bills and we will get lifestyle that we deserve.”

Oh my. There’s a lot of material there, but I’m going to focus on this one small part:

we will get lifestyle that we deserve.

This is about lifestyle? This is about your desire to have the power which comes with obscene amounts of money? I’m pretty sure christianity throughout the ages has had plenty to say about rich people and filthy lucre, not that it has ever stopped christianity at large from amassing filthy amounts of wealth and power. Gosh, I thought you’d be all happy to be poverty ridden in the cause of your god. I rather doubt you’re all that poor, either. I expect you might be exceeding the framework of your current lifestyle. People do that one all the time. So, Jehovah is going to look upon you one of these days, say Good work, Red Shoes, have a pile of money! ? Hmmm. From what I remember of my christian days, it doesn’t work like that.

As for Jehovah unleashing his wrath on those who sexually abuse children, he’s had one hell of a long time to do just that. People have been abusing children in a variety of ways since always. That god of yours didn’t care when the church was using children as convenient fodder for the crusades, which also allowed the church to pile up on all that filthy lucre. Your god didn’t care when children were routinely worked and fucked to death by all those holy servants. And so on. There are children around the world suffering at the hands of adults, every single moment of every single day. Haven’t noticed a great swath of punishment happening. And it won’t happen. Trying to narrow it down to non-existent cults in Hollywood won’t help at all, because your god doesn’t exist. It’s on us to change things; it’s on us to help all those in untenable situations. I note you aren’t doing that, Ms. Crokin. Well, keep hollering. I’m sure if you pander to the willfully ignorant and gullible, you’ll get your hands on that filthy lucre one of these days.

Oh, and if you’re being censored, I expect silence. That would be blissful. Unfortunately, no bliss for us. Apparently, Ms. Crokin jumped all over the Tiny Tyrant’s recent fumble with a water bottle to turn it into something mysterious and cooooool:

President Trump’s Fiji water stunt today was no question strategic! He does not usually have a special table with water on it! They put the water on the table front and center on purpose because it’s a clue. The clue is Fiji! Plus, Trump was so dramatic about the water, it’s obvious he was sending a message. Also, he knew the brain dead MSM reporters would mock him for this leading people like me to take note and research the significance of Fiji.

There are lots of working theories on what Fiji symbolizes. The CEO of Fiji is corrupt as hell and a huge Clinton backer. Obama is a fan of Fiji water too, travels there and allegedly has a bunker there. I’ll post more theories in the comments.

If you can’t see that this was a strategic move, you don’t understand Trump. Literally everything he does has significance, meaning, symbolism, etc. Plus, he’s a master troll! Let’s not forget his epic photo op in front of the kids right after he got into the White House in front of Hillary Clinton’s portrait, lol!

Via RWW.

Melting! We’re Melting!

Let’s see:

Using “badge politics”, censoring those who don’t worship twitter’s liberal dictator, & implementing procedures to annihilate conservatives from the Internet?

Sounds like twitter is carrying out its own “final solution” for conservatives.

And so it begins. Twitter is quick to call me and others Nazis, but they are literally trying to eradicate my presence. Just like Hitler.

Twitter is uh, cracking down on hateful tweeters (not the Tiny Tyrant, natch), by removing their little checkmark. Yeah, that will show them. While I can’t say I think much of this ‘action’, it’s certainly upsetting the conservanazi crowd. Laura Loomer says Using “badge politics”. If that little checkmark didn’t mean anything to you Ms. Loomer, why on earth did you pursue it so hard? You claim Twitter is ‘annihilating’ conservatives, literally trying to eradicate your presence. Going by your checkmark free tweets, that has not been accomplished in the slightest. Perhaps you should save your hyperbole for a time when Twitter actually does something, like ban your account.

All the checkmarkless nazirati are having fits, as if this truly impacts their ability to spread their bigotry, hate, and fear. Perhaps it does, and if so, good. You can read many of the linked tweets of the nazirati at RWW.

Celebrating Natural Hair.

It’s truly rotten that so many places are determined to restrict and hate on a person’s natural hair, and to especially make girls feel ugly. This is not a matter of conformity as a social good, this is just plain old hateful bigotry, and it stinks, as bigotry always does. Enter CreativeSoul Photo:

Atlanta-based CreativeSoul Photo brought an inspiring artistic vision to life that highlights the beauty of black girls and their natural hair. Regis and Kahran are the husband and wife duo behind the photography studio, and their series Afro Art represents their expertise in capturing portraits as well as visual storytelling. The striking images feature young girls in elaborate costuming and hairstyles, from a Baroque-era aesthetic to steampunk clothing to fierce high-fashion ensembles.

The portraits of girls featured in Afro Art are stylish and carry themselves with confidence and grace. The feelings evoked from the series speak to the larger idea surrounding it. “We feel that it is so important for kids of color to be able to see positive images that look like them in the media,” Kahran told My Modern Met in an email. “Unfortunately the lack of diversity often plays into the stereotypes that they are not ‘good enough’ and often forces kids to have low self-esteem.”

To help combat these negative feelings, the couple showcases kids who love how they look. “We hope that viewers will see the beauty and versatility of afro hair,” Kahran explains, “and we hope that girls around the world will be inspired to love their unique differences and beauty within.”

The portraits and subjects are stunningly beautiful all. You can see some of them here.