Bellicorum instrumentorum liber (1420).

Bellicorum instrumentorum liber,  Book of warfare devices, is a fascinating and absorbing inventor’s notebook. The title was bestowed by someone else, and it’s misleading as to the contents, which cover a very wide range of ideas.

Sometimes we try to invent something new by exploring within the bounds of what is known to be possible, and sometimes we invent by expanding those limits. For an imaginative engineer in the early fifteenth century — working more than two hundred years before the discoveries of Newton — the process of invention would be often a curious mix of the two. You would know so little about mechanical force that you could conjure up almost anything and believe it to be practical. Of course, attempts to bring the designs to reality would often fail, but they might, on occasion, also succeed.

Suppose for a moment that you were such a person possessing a talent for gadgets in the early fifteenth century, or an engineer hoping to build marvelous machines and clever structures no one else had yet dreamed of — how would you go about showing your talents? And what if you were someone who wanted to own wonderful and mysterious devices, such as a prince — how would you find the person who could make these things? A remarkable testimony to this meeting of engineering skill, technological ignorance, individual initiative, and public demand can be found in the Bavarian State Library, in the sketchbook of an Italian inventor of the early fifteenth century. It is a volume of sixty-eight drawings advertising the inventions that Johannes (or Giovanni) de Fontana (ca. 1395–1455), who was both the engineer and the artist, hoped to sell to patrons. Thought to have been created sometime between 1415 and 1420, the work has no title by Fontana that has survived, but a later owner gave it the title Bellicorum instrumentorum liber — the Book of Warfare Devices — despite the fact that most of it does not concern military matters.

This is an absorbing insight into thought, knowledge, and the desire to create, and you can see the whole thing here, or see selected bits along with text at The Public Domain.

Diabolus artificiosus, artificial devil.

Diabolus artificiosus, artificial devil.

Heilender Baum, Healing Tree.

Heilender Baum, Healing Tree.

Spleen, Gallbladder, Intestines.

Isidore sits on a chair, writing on a sloping desk the words '(ysid)oris (de) natu(ra) hominisI' Isidore, Concerning the Nature of Man.

Isidore sits on a chair, writing on a sloping desk the words ‘(ysid)oris (de) natu(ra) hominisI’ Isidore, Concerning the Nature of Man.

Text Translation:

The spleen, splen, gets its name from supplementum, because it fills up the part opposite the liver lest there should be an empty space; some reckon that it was created as a seat of laughter. For we laugh with the spleen, grow angry with the bile, discern with the heart and love with the liver; the whole animal is formed from these four elements in harmony.

The gall bladder, fel, is so called because it is a little bag holding the humour called bile, bilis. The gullet, stomachus, is called in Greek os because, as the door, ostium, of the belly it takes in food and sends it on to the intestines.

The intestines, intestina, are so called because they are contained in the inner, interior, part of the body. They are arranged in long coils, so that they are not obstructed by food that has been swallowed. The caul, omentum, is a skin containing the greater part of the intestines; the Greeks call it epiploon. The diaphragm, disceptum intestinum, is so called because it separates the belly and other intestines from the lungs and heart. The blind intestine, cecum, is so called because it lacks an opening or exit; the Greeks call it tiaonentipon [tuphlon enteron]. The thin intestine is calledieiuna; from it comes ieiunium, fast day. The belly, venter, the bowel, alvus, and the womb, uterus, differ from each other. The belly digests food that has been swallowed and is visible from outside; it extends from the breast to the groin. It is called venter because it conveys throughout the body the food of life.

The bowel is the part that receives the food and is regularly purged. Sallust: ‘Pretending that he purged his bowels’ (History, 1, 52). It is also called the bowel, alvus, because it is washed out, abluere, that is, purged. For from it flows out excremental filth.

Folio 89v – the parts of man’s body, continued.

Tearful.

Tearful, in a good way. Voyager sent me a priceless gift, a beautiful piece of sea glass, from the 17th to 18th century. It comes from large glass barrels which were used to transport goods in the early days of shipping. It’s an unusual size and colour, and I’m astonished Voyager could give it up, but I am beyond thankful. Thankful is completely inadequate…I hold this ‘stone’ in my hand, this small tether to people and events of long ago, a piece of history, and it fills me with awe. Such a gift. I shall carry it with me, and use its power to transport me to another age when I need it, and I’ll be needing that a lot this year. Another thank you for the magnificent card too. You can read a bit about black sea glass here.

© C. Ford, all rights reserved.

Asshole vs Asshole: “Bloodsports”.

Screencap, Right Wing Watch.

The Nazis have a new gig on youtube, “bloodsports”, their um, rebranding of debates.

Over the past month, prominent alt-right personalities on YouTube have carved out platforms for themselves on a handful of popular livestreamed political debate channels, where they’ve engaged in debates against “classical liberal,” libertarian and “anti-social justice warrior” YouTube talkers.

The series of debates, which have been affectionately dubbed “bloodsports” by their participants, have provided the white nationalist alt-right with its latest chance to thrust itself into the political consciousness of young people and to appeal to members of some of the subcultures that have splintered from the movement in recent months.

The “bloodsports” phenomenon grew out of a fight about “race realism,” which is how some white supremacists refer to their pseudoscientific claims about racial superiority.

[…]

When the feuding between various pundits reached critical mass, alt-right figures who promote “race realism” and white nationalist advocates for the creation of ethnostates offered themselves up for debates with YouTube personalities who have channels much larger than their own. Taking advantage of the attention that the feud was providing, alt-right figures were able to secure spots on YouTube channels that boast hundreds of thousands of followers and to go up against some of YouTube’s biggest political commentators, such as Carl Benjamin (“Sargon of Akkad”), who were eager to inject themselves into the public hype.

One of the most prominent channels hosting these debates belongs to Andy Warski, a YouTube personality who has grown increasingly sympathetic to the alt-right.

[…]

In the last few weeks, Warski has hosted debates featuring nearly every popular white nationalist YouTube figure, including J.F. Gariepy, Tara McCarthy, Richard Spencer, Colin Robertson (“Millennial Woes”), Greg Johnson, Peinovich, James Allsup, Nick Fuentes and Tim Gionet (“Baked Alaska”). More often than not, these white nationalist personalities have been paired against conservative opponents who offer incredibly weak pushback to their arguments. On only a few occasions have they faced true, strong counter-arguments. One of these debates—featuring Sargon of Akkad and Tarl Warwick (“Styxhexenhammer666”) debating Spencer and Gariepy—became the highest-trending live video on YouTube during its broadcast. Afterward, Spencer declared that he had “destroyed” in the debate.

Oh yes, Richard Punch My Face Spencer declared he destroyed skepticism. So, I guess no one can be skeptical about anything ever from now one. Right Wing Watch has the full rundown on the deepening youtube cesspit, it’s quite involved. You can read all about it here.

Jehovah, A Very Stable Genius.

Steve Sack / Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Steve Sack / Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Lance Wallnau has decided to run with the whole ‘brilliant, stable genius’ business, apparently assigning the TrumpGenius™ to Jehovah.

…Wallnau said that Scalia was “the one verifiable Christian on the Supreme Court filled with vim and vigor, articulate, engaging, witty, powerful and a force to be reckoned with,” and that his death made Christian voters realize that “we can’t afford to lose a conservative because [the court] already has a preponderance of liberals on it.”

“Look how brilliant God is,” Wallnau said. “The Lord controls life and death. It’s possible that if Antonin Scalia had lived, the urgency to support this president and his nominations might not have been so strong. You might have had Hillary Clinton in the White House and you might have had maybe three appointments made during the next four years, during the next three years, who knows? Two appointments for sure—we already got one.”

This loops right back to the idiocy of Jehovah needing a blood right. This is an example of brilliance? Looks more like fucking idiocy to me. We’re talking a god, right? A god, a being who is, if not all powerful, is at least superhero powerful. All kinds of superduperspecial powers, but constantly reduced to pallid weakness due to the constraints of all manner of stupid and wacky rules. If I think about being a god, first thought: cool, I can do whatever the fuck I want, *poof* *bing* *bang*…awesome! When it comes to Jehovah though, it’s always one excuse after another why things can never be straightforward, but must always be terribly convoluted, and mostly pointless.

This is the same nasty, evil god who hardened the heart of Pharaoh 10 fucking times so his narrative would play out the way he wanted.  Jehovah the asshole cheater, who nowadays just can’t seem to manage anything at all, except perhaps to point a finger of death at a 79 year old man, because that would, aha! be a stroke of genius in possibly swaying people towards a particular narrative. Uh huh. Even Wile E. Coyote was better than that.

“You could have had Clinton making the appointments and then the balance of power would have overpowered a Scalia vote on the Supreme Court,” he added. “All that I’m saying is we don’t always see the long-term picture, but it could be that the Lord in His infinite insight saw that Scalia, him being a loss, might be the event that motivated the majority of people to show up. I think that Trump is that important and Hillary Clinton would have been that disastrous that it’s a major game of chess going on in the spirit realm over how things happen.”

Spirit realm chess. Right. Why? A god, why fuck about with such nonsense, when you could just do whatever you want? Anyroad, this little narrative is right spoiled by the fact that the majority of people were not motivated to show up for the Tiny Tyrant, they were motivated to show up against him. So much for Jehovah’s brilliance. If you morons cannot bring yourselves to shut up, at least do the rest of us a favour and try to at least think shit through before you decide to spew it all over.

The whole bad story is at RWW.

Word Wednesday.

Vivandière¹

Noun.

A woman who is a sutler.*

[Origin: French, feminine of vivandier sutler, from Old French, hospitable man, alteration of viandier, from viande, viaunde item of food.]

(1844)

*Sutler, noun: a civilian provisioner to an army post often with a shop on the post.

[Origin: obsolete Dutch soeteler, from Low German suteler sloppy worker, camp cook.]

(1599)

“Agnes turned to the gray-haired woman who was limping toward her. Despite her fifty years, and her slightly stooped gait, Mother Barbara still cut an impressive figure. Her eyes were bright as those of a girl of twenty, and she combed her ample, should-length hair every morning. She had once been the most beautiful whore in the baggage train, but then an intoxicated landsknecht had broken both her legs in a fight, and now she earned her living as a vivandière.” The Castle of Kings, Oliver Pötzsch.

¹ You can read more about vivandières and Cantinières here, and it’s fascinating reading.

Blood, Veins, Lungs, Liver.

Isidore sits on a chair, writing on a sloping desk the words '(ysid)oris (de) natu(ra) hominisI' Isidore, Concerning the Nature of Man.

Isidore sits on a chair, writing on a sloping desk the words ‘(ysid)oris (de) natu(ra) hominisI’ Isidore, Concerning the Nature of Man.

Text Translation:

The veins, vena, are so called because they are the channels, vie, of flowing blood and streams which are spread throughout the whole body, by which the members are supplied with blood. Blood, sanguis, gets its name from Greek etymology, because it is active, it survives and it has life. When it is in the body, it is called sanguis; when it pours forth, it is called gore, cruor. It is called cruor because when it is spilled, it runs down, decurrere; or because when it runs, it sinks into the ground, corruere. Others take cruor to mean corrupt blood which is discharged from the body. Others say blood is called sanguis because it is sweet, suavis. Except in young people, the blood supply does not remain constant. For physicians say that it diminishes with age, which is why old people have tremors. Strictly speaking, however, blood is a property of the soul. For this reason women tear their cheeks in grief, and we furnish the dead with purple clothing and purple flowers.

Isidore on the parts of man’s body. The lung, pulmo, gets its name from the Greek. The Greeks call the lung, pleumon, because it acts as a fan for the heart, in which the pneuma, that is, the spirit resides, by which they are both activated and set in motion; for this reason lungs too are called pulmones. In Greek the spirit is called pneuma; by inflating and activating, it sends out and takes in air, causing the lungs to move and throb, opening in order to catch a breath, contracting to expel it, for it is the organ of the body.

The liver, iecur gets its name because it is the seat of a fire which flies up to the brain. From there the fire is spread to the eyes and other senses and members of the body, and by its own heat, draws the moisture from food to itself and turns it into blood which supplies each part of the body with food and nourishment. Pleasure and lust reside in the liver, according to those who debate scientific matters. The extremities of the liver are filaments, fibre, like the outer parts of leaves on the vine or like projecting tongues. They are said to be so called because among pagans they were borne by soothsayers in religious rites to altars of Phoebus, so that when they had been offered up and burned, the soothsayers would receive answers.

Folio 89r – the nature of man, continued. Ysidorus de membris hominis; Isidorus on the parts of man’s body.

What Does God Need With A Blood Right?

Self-styled prophets teem like maggots, all of them desperate to be the one who called the shot, and in their desperation, reach farther and farther in a vain attempt to make connections. As usual, I had not heard of today’s “prophet”, Hank Kunneman of One Voice Ministries in Omaha, Nebraska. Naturally, Kunneman claims to be known for a strong prophetic anointing.

…“That is why we have a president, right now, from New York,” he said. “It’s no coincidence. People, you can hate it if you want, but you are going to go against certain things that God has chosen to put His hand on.”

“New York City, the reason why—9/11, our nation was pierced, this nation has never been the same, the nations of the earth have never been the same, God is trying to re-establish a blood right,” Kunneman said. “It’s no coincidence the president is from New York, that is where the towers fell. He also is part of Trump Tower—the towers fell. He is part of world trade—the World Trade Center. God is revisiting this nation to establish a blood right. Who ever gets the blood right gets the legal right to rule.”

Is there any so blind as an American Christian? Other countries were dealing with terrorism long before we here in Ustates experienced it. If you leave the cutesy little word games aside, there isn’t any meat on that “prophecy”. And I have to ask, what does a god need with a blood right? Is that like a birth right? Christians are always trying to paint their god as all mighty, the ultimate strong man, and every result is the painting of a weak, puny creature helplessly bound by all manner of arcane rules, which of course, were created by the idiot god itself. Putting the god stuff aside, this sounds to me like an attempt to make a case for Holy Emperor Trump. I can hear Nero fiddling.

[…]

“This is more than just about who’s president, it’s about a blood right being established by God so that His glory can come,” Kunneman declared. “The enemy was working real hard to get the blood right, that is why it wants to keep aborting children, that is why it wants to continue its agenda so that it has the legal right to rule and to push the church out. God is coming. Nobody is going to remove His church.”

I get the idea that a whole lot of christians don’t have the slightest fucking idea of how government works, or that we don’t have kings, queens, and emperors here. As for ‘god is coming’, yeah, yeah, yeah. Christians have been saying that for a very long time, and it’s amazing, all the excuses you manufacture through the ages to try and cover up that ever obvious absence. As for “his church”, ummm, what church are we talking here? Pretty sure you don’t mean the catholic church, and there’s a whole lot of splintery christianity out there. Just once, I’d like to see you asses acknowledge just how splintery christianity is, and decide you can’t go any further until you resolve your differences, so when you “prophesy” about “the church” there’s just one. Not that it would ever happen, but at least you’d be too busy arguing for centuries to interfere with people.

I have to say, I was amused by Mr. Kunneman’s outfit, I think he might be a wannabe Elvis. You can read and see the whole thing at RWW.