The Mystery of the Princes

 From Smithsonian:

Thornton draws on archival records to posit that Tudor courtiers Edward and Miles Forest—who held positions in the households of the king and top adviser Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, respectively—were the sons of Miles Forest, one of two men More claims were tasked with carrying out the princes’ killings. “[A] fellow hardened in murder before that time,” the elder Miles reportedly recruited John Dighton, “his own housekeeper, a big, broad, square strong knave,” to assist.

By the time More started researching the princes’ disappearance, Miles senior was dead. But Dighton was still alive, and, notes Thornton in a blog post accompanying the study, “living just across the Channel” in the English territory of Calais—an area where More “spent many months” around the time that he wrote History of King Richard III.

“[More] wasn’t writing about imaginary people,” says Thornton in the statement. “We now have substantial grounds for believing that the detail of More’s account of a murder is credible.” (Read more.)

Share

Thirteen Security Questions

 From Fox News:

Livid about what she called the "failure at the top" in the wake of the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insisted that the sergeant-at-arms for the House of Representatives be fired. He subsequently resigned and Pelosi appointed an interim sergeant-at-arms. The Senate made a similar move. Pelosi also moved to fire the chief of the Capitol Police. The Mercury News’ headline bellowed, "Pelosi Calls for Resignation of Capitol Police. Speaker of the House says either he resigns or she will fire him." At a press conference on Jan. 7, Pelosi said, "There was a failure at the top of the Capitol Police, and I think Mr. (Steven) Sund – he hasn’t even called us."

 Who is ultimately "at the top of the Capitol Police?" Pelosi knows she is. She and the Senate leader, though they don't manage day-to-day operations, have ultimate authority over Capitol security. They failed. She quickly vowed to fire the sergeant-at-arms and the chief of Capitol Police. But what about her own responsibilities and culpability in what all agree was an inadequate response, intelligence failure, and shameful preparation for such an event? (Read more.)

Share

Kraken Mare on Titan

 From Space:

Understanding the depth and composition of Kraken Mare will gradually reveal more about Titan's mysterious chemistry, dominated by ethane and methane that collects in pools, lakes and rivers on the surface, researchers said. The importance of the lake stems from Kraken Mare's immense size; if placed on Earth, it would cover all five of the Great Lakes of North America.

"Kraken Mare … not only has a great name, but also contains about 80% of the moon's surface liquids," study lead author Valerio Poggiali, a research associate at the Cornell University Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, said in a university statement. 

While Titan's chemistry is alien compared to Earth's, the moon's geography is reminiscent of swampy or lake-rich regions on our planet. Titan is also the only known moon in our solar system to boast a thick atmosphere — a gaseous nitrogen shroud, compared to Earth's mostly nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere.

That sets Titan apart from the numerous moons in our solar system with tenuous exospheres or no atmosphere (like Earth's moon) and from the potentially life-friendly "icy moons" where water ice covers an internal ocean — such as on Jupiter's Europa or Saturn's Enceladus, which both spout water through the ice into space.

Data on Kraken Mare was collected during Cassini's 104th flyby of Titan on Aug. 21, 2014, about three years before engineers deliberately threw the aging spacecraft into Saturn to avoid the small chance of accidentally contaminating the moon's surface. 

Kraken Mare was just one of the lakes on the mission's survey list for that flyby. Researchers also wanted to look at Ligeia Mare — the site of a mysterious "magic island" that regularly appears and disappears — and a smaller estuary called Moray Sinus, which the researchers estimated to be 280 feet (85 m) deep, about the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty's height. Cassini probed the moon's surface with its radar altimeter from about 600 miles (965 kilometers) away. 

Scientists calculated sea depth by figuring out how long it took the radar signal to bounce back from the liquid surface and from the sea bottom, comparing the difference between these depths and taking into account the composition of the lakes' liquid, which absorbs some of the radar signal's energy. 

The composition of Kraken Mare surprised scientists, along with its depth. It contains a mix of methane and ethane, which differed from previous models suggesting ethane would prevail due to the lake's size and geographical position farther from the moon's poles. The unexpected chemistry in the lake could help scientists better understand the precipitation cycle on Titan, according to the researchers.

Scientists also hope to figure out from where the liquid methane on Titan originates. Titan receives about 100 times less energy from the sun than Earth, given it is roughly 10 times farther away. (Read more.)

Share

The Insurrection Lie

 From The National Pulse:

Ritualizing The Lie.

On January 13, we reported:

A Capitol Police officer died of a stroke the day after the riot; but it is not known what may have happened during the melee that would provide a causal connection. His brother stated that he had communicated with the officer after the event: “He texted me last night and said, ‘I got pepper-sprayed twice,’ and he was in good shape.” Sometime after the riot, he returned to his division office and collapsed. It has been reported that the Capitol Police initially issued a statement denying that a police officer had died as a result of injuries sustained in the attack. Based on available facts (which may change) it is speculative to say at this time that he was murdered or slain. His family has made a plea that the death not be politicized. 

Update: The National Pulse has since reported that early reports Officer Sicknick was hit with a fire extinguisher were false, and the New York Times has backed away from the claim. Revolver has done a deep dive into these events, raising further questions about the cause of death.

Based on available facts, it is reasonable to conclude that Sicknick’s death was not caused by the protest. Nevertheless, against the family’s wishes, the death has been used politically. Sicknick became only the fifth person to receive the distinction of lying in honor at the Capitol Rotunda. Alarmingly, this was done to ritualize the unsupported claim that he was slain by rioters. Democrat House impeachment managers alleged an “armed insurrection” based on the false assertion that Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher. The United States Capitol is surrounded by razor wire and secured by military units on the premise that its previous security was breached by armed insurrectionists who murdered a police officer. 

It is a lie. (Read more.)

Share

Best Bernard Cornwell Books, Ranked

 I read and enjoyed the Cornwell's Saxon Stories. Superb storytelling!! From The History Quill Book Club:

With characters like Richard Sharpe and Uhtred of Bebbanburg, Bernard Cornwell’s books have enthralled us for nearly 40 years. When it comes to engaging, page-turning stories, he is the master. In interviews, Cornwell always stresses that the story must come first. Not the timeline, not historical authenticity – the story. And that’s what makes his books so great. Strong characters who go out and get things done, clashing swords and roaring muskets. No-one does it better. (Read more.)

Share

An Elizabethan Garden Discovered

 From Smithsonian:

Archaeologists conducting excavations near Birmingham have discovered one of the best-preserved Elizabethan gardens ever found in England. As BBC News reports, no historical record of the 16th-century gardens, which stretch across nearly 1,000 feet of land on the ruins of a manor in Coleshill, exist. [T]here are no plans of it, [and] it is not mentioned in any letters or visitors’ accounts,” says Paul Stamper, an expert on English gardens and landscape history, in a statement.

Aerial photographs taken in preparation for construction of the United Kingdom’s HS2 high-speed railway revealed the first signs of the remains of Coleshill Manor. Over the past two years, researchers with Wessex Archaeology have unearthed additional traces of the Tudor estate.

“This is one of the most exciting Elizabethan gardens that’s ever been discovered in this country,” says Stamper in the statement. “The scale of preservation at this site is really exceptional and is adding considerably to our knowledge of English gardens around 1600.” The estate’s medieval owner, Sir Robert Digby, rose into the aristocracy by marrying an Irish heiress in about 1598. (Read more.)

Share

On Russian Ballet

Anna Pavlova

 From Orthodox Christianity:

Ballet is a complex and ambiguous phenomenon. Meanwhile, dance in and of itself, is more neutral than sinful. It all depends on what one or another production carries, what the choreographer conceives, what the dancer puts into it, even down to the costumes, music and scenery he or she dances in.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill spoke about this at one of his meetings with the public:

“All that does not provoke lust, that does not destroy the human personality, but, on the contrary, elevates it and works to harmonize the world and man—all of this is included in God’s plan for the salvation of sinful and fallen man… And in this sense, both opera and ballet—I mean classical ballet—deserve attention.”

It is known that the holy Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna loved to go to the theater. The Emperor liked opera more than ballet, but there is quite a lot of information in his diaries about him visiting ballet performances. The Emperor appreciated Tchaikovsky’s music, spoke highly of the ballets, Sleeping Beauty and the Little Humpbacked Horse. In 1913, St. Nicholas II and his daughters watched the ballet, Pharaoh’s Daughter, in which Anna Pavlova (1881–1931) “danced wonderfully.”

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh wrote in his works:

“Dance is perfect, complete, contemplative silence, and this experience of communion with God in the depths of stillness is expressed in movement, in full harmony, in perfect beauty.”

Dance as an experience of communion with God… It sounds rather bold. Is it really possible in any way?

The history of Russian ballet began in the mid-eighteenth century. In as early as 1806, the house church dedicated to the Holy Trinity at the Imperial Drama School (now the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet) opened. While he approved of the idea, Emperor Alexander I said: “Dancing is dancing; but one’s faith in God should not be shaken by it.”

“The religious foundation laid in the school remained with all the ballet dancers forever,” Victor d’Andre, Anna Pavlova’s husband, wrote in his book. “Many years after leaving school, the dancers—and many even after their service—continued to attend the theater church.”

Anna Pavlova, who often went to the theater church, together with the dancers of her company made a carpet for the church services as a gift. “Ballet is not about technique—it is about the soul,” the great Russian ballerina used to say. Having no children of her own, Pavlova opened an orphanage for Russian orphans in Paris.

The choreographer Michel Fokine (1880–1942), who was also good at painting, presented the school with an icon, “Christ the Savior, Not-Made-by-Hands”, he had painted himself. It was blessed and hung in the holy corner of the students’ dormitory.

The Russian-born American choreographer of Georgian origin, George Balanchine (1904–1983), as a child helped in the altar of the Drama School church. His relative wrote that “he was a very religious person. During his stays in Georgia he would always visit our churches.” This is what he would say about his faith:

“The words of the Gospel are rooted in all of us… Faith is not verified. …You cannot jump into the faith as you jump into a swimming pool. You need to enter it little by little as you would enter an ocean.”

The Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva (1895–1991) was a very religious person as well. Lonely in emigration, living out her days in a mental institution, she would often attend church services—only in the Orthodox Church did her melancholy abate. She loved Pascha very much. Spessivtseva miraculously overcame her illness and passed away at the age of ninety-six, reconciled with God and in her right mind.

This continuity was not interrupted even in the Soviet era. Igor Moiseyev (1906–2007), the founder of the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble, recalled that he had been pressured to join the communist party as many as eighteen times. But he always refused for reasons of principle.

“Why don’t you want to join the Party?”

“Because I believe in God and don’t want to be tongue-lashed by you at your meetings.”

“We learned ballet… in church,” the soviet ballerina Alla Osipenko (b. 1932) recalls her studies during the Second World War. Baptized in 1937, she does not conceal her faith and says:

“God gave me talent, God gave me a family, and God gave me my wonderful [dance] partners.”

Aggripina Vaganova (1879–1951), who devised classical ballet technique and training system, spoke about modesty and did not recommend having an attitude higher than ninety degrees (in simple terms: “Do not raise your legs above your head”).

“Posture leads to a manner—very strict, without excess. The purity of a naked body requires this. A person turns into a living sculpture,” Nadezhda Bazarova (1904–1993), a pupil of Vaganova, wrote in her Alphabet of Classical Dance.

She was echoed by a critic who noted “a special, captivating modesty of gesture” in the legendary Galina Ulanova (1910–1998). Her whole image was “imbued with spiritual nobility and high moral purity.”

An elderly bishop who had seen Ulanova on stage as a young man told me that her entire dance was… spiritual. When I asked him, “Vladyka, do you think she believed in God?” he replied, “I think she did.”

“Do you believe in God?” Galina Sergeevna was once asked after perestroika. She answered: “God lives in me.” When she was a girl, her mother, also a ballerina, would take little Galina to the house church at the ballet school. Her nanny was also religious.

Ulanova’s last dance, after which the fifty-year-old ballerina left the stage, provoked feelings close to awe in Alexander Vertinsky1:

“I have never seen anything of this kind in my life! O Lord, what peaks and heights creativity can attain! It must be the Spirit of God!… How can one retain, preserve this miracle on earth? How can one pass on this gospel to posterity for future centuries, so that others can learn this supreme, divine art from her?” (Read more.)

Share

A Turning Point for Abortion?

 From CNA:

Joe v. Wade is of course the Supreme Court decision in which the court struck down all state laws against abortion and legalized the practice nationwide. In a notably nasty touch, the Biden-Harris statement was released on the 48th anniversary of that infamous ruling.

As for “codifying” Roe, Biden almost certainly means pushing Congress to enact a sweeping pro-abortion bill called the Women’s Health Protection Act. The legislation, which has been kicking around in Congress for years, has little do with protecting women’s health and everything to do with making America the world’s pacesetter in permissive abortion.

The bill is best described as a kind of abortion rights catchall. Along with establishing a federal statutory right to abortion, it would sweep aside any and all state enactments that set limits to abortion and establish conditions for it to be performed. That includes measures barring late-term abortions, prescribing pre-abortion waiting periods and ultrasounds, and requiring that parents of minors who are seeking abortions be notified.

Biden’s promise to push for enactment of this frightful bill comes as the prolife and pro-choice sides wait to see whether the Supreme Court will agree to review a case that many people think could produce a landmark ruling significantly modifying the Roe decision.

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, comes from Mississippi and involves a state law called the Gestational Age Act, enacted in 2018, that bars virtually all abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. Dobbs is Dr. Thomas E. Dobbs, the state’s chief medical officer. The Women’s Health Organization, located in Jackson, is Mississippi’s only abortion facility.

The state is asking the Supreme Court to review and reverse a December 2019 ruling by the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals which upheld a district court decision that overturned the law. Among the groups supporting Mississippi in its appeal are the state’s two Catholic dioceses, Jackson and Biloxi.

(Read more.)

Share

The "Magnetic Powers" of Mesmer

 Louis XVI was the last king before the Revolution, but not the last King of France. From Vox:

In the 18th century in Europe, a period known as the “Age of Enlightenment,” scientific progress was demystifying the universe with breakthroughs in chemistry, physics, and philosophy. But medical practices were still relying on centuries-old treatments, including leeching and bloodletting, which were painful and often ineffective. So when Franz Anton Mesmer, a charismatic physician from Vienna, Austria, began “healing” people in Paris using an alternative therapeutic practice he called “animal magnetism,” it got a lot of attention.

Mesmer claimed an invisible magnetic fluid was the life force that connected all things, and that he had the power to regulate it to restore health in his patients. He was a celebrity figure until Louis XVI, the last king of France, commissioned a group of leading scientists to investigate Mesmer’s methods in 1784.

Benjamin Franklin headed the commission, which debunked the existence of the magnetic fluid in the first-known blind experiment. Mesmer was ruined, but “mesmerism” didn’t end there. The report also acknowledged that Mesmer’s methods were making his patients feel better, which the commission attributed to the power of the human imagination. This experiment ultimately laid the groundwork for our understanding of the placebo effect and inspired an evolution of Mesmer’s practice into something more recognizable today: hypnotism. (Read more.)

Share