Category: Society

Finding Altamira

Posted on by kevinfordsubmariner

The true story of an 8-year-old girl from Cantabria, Spain who, with her father, discovered what were at the time, in 01879, the oldest cave paintings ever found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira

“In 01879, amateur [late 18th century: from French, from Italian amatore, from Latin amator ‘lover’, from amare ‘to love’.; An amateur is one who does something for the love of it, not quid pro quo in exchange for money] archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was led by his eight-year-old daughter María to discover the cave’s drawings. The cave was excavated by Señor Sautuola and archaeologist Juan Vilanova y Piera from the University of Madrid, resulting in a much acclaimed publication in 01880 which interpreted the paintings as Paleolithic in origin.”

Dogmatic religious leaders and purportedly scientific leaders falsely accused Señor Sautuola of having forged the paintings. His good name and reputation were destroyed and his honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. He died in ignominy in 01888 at age 57 years, before he was finally vindicated by decades of evidence which ultimately showed that he was right and they were wrong. Modern evidence indicates the paintings are ~35,000 years old.

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Ancient Rome: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire | 02006 BBC Documentary | Part 2 of 6: Nero

Posted on by kevinfordsubmariner

Part 2 of a 6-part BBC docuseries begins roughly at the end of the Roman Republic (the start of the Roman Empire).

History of Ancient Rome can be roughly divided into 4 phases:
1. The Roman Kingdom (753 BC–509 BC),
2. The Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC),
3. The Western Roman Empire (TWRE) which for centuries included modern-day England and Wales, but never Scotland or Ireland (27 BC–00476 AD),
4. The Eastern Roman Empire (TERE) survived the fall of TWRE and lasted until 01453.

For context, The Scientific Revolution (which most scientists consider to have begun with The Copernican Revolution) began 90 years later in 01543 in Thorn, Royal Prussia, Poland (birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus).

The region now called Poland was never a part of Ancient Rome (which never extended significantly north of The Black Sea in the European mainland), and Poland was one of the last regions of Europe to accept Christianity, which (having been embraced in 00313 when co-Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, providing for restitution to Christians injured during the persecutions), could arguably be considered to be an extension of Ancient Rome.

-TWRE lasted roughly 1,200 years in duration.
-Ancient Rome (including TERE) lasted rougly 2,206 years.
-If one considers Christianity to be an extension of Ancient Rome, then predominantly-Christian nations could arguably still be considered to be a part of a Roman civilization that has so far lasted 2,773 years.

The fall of TWRE was a 74-year-long period from about 00402 (when the capital of TWRE was forcibly moved from the city of Rome to the city of Ravenna), through 00410 (when the Sack of Rome occurred: Rome was sacked by the Visigoths under their king Alaric I), until about 00476 (when Odoacer conquered the Western Roman capital Ravenna, forced Emperor Romulus to abdicate, declared himself king of Italy, and The former Roman Senate sent former Emperor Zeno the imperial regalia of the Western Roman Empire).

See the wikipedia timeline for more detail.

Ancient Rome: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire | 02006 BBC Documentary | Part 1 of 6: Caesar

Posted on by kevinfordsubmariner

Part 1 of a 6-part BBC
docuseries begins roughly at the end of the Roman Republic (the start of the Roman Empire).

History of Ancient Rome can be roughly divided into 4 phases:
1. The Roman Kingdom (753 BC–509 BC),
2. The Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC),
3. The Western Roman Empire (TWRE) which for centuries included modern-day England and Wales, but never Scotland or Ireland (27 BC–00476 AD),
4. The Eastern Roman Empire (TERE) survived the fall of TWRE and lasted until 01453.

For context, The Scientific Revolution (which most scientists consider to have begun with The Copernican Revolution) began 90 years later in 01543 in Thorn, Royal Prussia, Poland (birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus).

The region now called Poland was never a part of Ancient Rome (which never extended significantly north of The Black Sea in the European mainland), and Poland was one of the last regions of Europe to accept Christianity, which (having been embraced in 00313 when co-Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, providing for restitution to Christians injured during the persecutions), could arguably be considered to be an extension of Ancient Rome.

-TWRE lasted roughly 1,200 years in duration.
-Ancient Rome (including TERE) lasted rougly 2,206 years.
-If one considers Christianity to be an extension of Ancient Rome, then predominantly-Christian nations could arguably still be considered to be a part of a Roman civilization that has so far lasted 2,773 years.

The fall of TWRE was a 74-year-long period from about 00402 (when the capital of TWRE was forcibly moved from the city of Rome to the city of Ravenna), through 00410 (when the Sack of Rome occurred: Rome was sacked by the Visigoths under their king Alaric I), until about 00476 (when Odoacer conquered the Western Roman capital Ravenna, forced Emperor Romulus to abdicate, declared himself king of Italy, and The former Roman Senate sent former Emperor Zeno the imperial regalia of the Western Roman Empire).

See the wikipedia timeline for more detail.

 

Democracy Now: Historic and Prophetic Speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on by kevinfordsubmariner

Democracy Now: Historic and Prophetic Speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.

https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2021/1/18

Opinion: How a little-known incident in 1956 unnerved MLK

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/opinions/martin-luther-king-jr-crisis-of-faith-lowenstein/index.html

Yolanda Renee King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s granddaughter, speaks at the March on Washington about racial equality, environmental justice and police brutality.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/08/28/martin-luther-king-jr-granddaughter-speech-march-on-washington-nr-vpx.cnn