Thursday, February 11, 2016

news earlier February 2016

I love that picture. If you make it big you can see that's a balloon with light in it casting the image on its surface.

Dramatic news today as scientists document final proof of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Simply, they detected the effect that two black holes colliding 1.3 billion light years away had on gravitational waves. This massive occurrence seemed to bend or stretch the space-time continuum creating a 'ripple' effect that we just detected. Again, scientists just documented it happening today, but it actually occurred 1.3 billion years ago. This opens a window shut until now looking out into the farther reaches of space and time and gets at its basic building blocks. Very exciting.
____________________________________________
A massive riot in a prison in Mexico has killed at least sixty. Meanwhile, the rest of the country awaits the arrival of Pope Francis.


_____________________________________________
Most daily news in the US has been swirling around the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary and the numerous candidates and debates and figures around this year's electoral buildup.

If a new President in the United States wanted to fix corporate crime, there are ways to do that. It's been done before.


The standoff in a bird refuge outside Bend, OR seems over, with all but one of the seditionists arrested and the father of the ringleader, Cliven Bundy, also arrested by the FBI.
_________________________________________

The Dutch have put a driverless bus for mass transit on the road.

Possiblity of changes allowing citizenship to certain families in Spain. The timing is noteworthy.
_________________________________________
Carnevale Festivities in Venice got off to a bang earlier and ended with cleanup crews the world over, yesterday.

Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Savonarola Used Published Works To Spread Message: From 1496

Another crucial development in the spread and popularity of Friar Girolamo Savonarola lay in the transmission of the written word. While it is true, much of that came from sermons over time, Lauro Martines tells us that the Friar himself oversaw proof sheets for documents and was keenly interested in the whole editing and translating process. As an another example of Savonarola's sharpness and effectiveness in spreading his message, Martines spends some time giving several examples of this activity. Here Savonarola is both a man of his time and also furthering his views in novel ways.

During the winter following the departure of the French from Italy, the Friar spent time writing and editing and collating previous treatises after he had received word from the pope asking him to desist from preaching. But Martines tells us, the Friar had previously seen the effectiveness of a well documented Medici propaganda campaign that was in response to a prior papacy's likely involvement in the Pazzi conspiracy in Florence eighteen years before. The pope had excommunicated Lorenzo de Medici, placed the whole city under indictment and denied all sacraments to the people of Florence. The de Medici waged a capable and effective PR campaign.
"Lorenzo and his friends fought the Pope's circulating accusations by issuing printed tracts, letters, a scathing account of the conspiracy, a soldier's confession, and even poems. It was an onslaught of the printed word, intended to win the sympathies of Italian ruling elites.... Savonarola saw -- must have seen -- the importance of reaching minds with a version of events that was not otherwise available; that is, of taking control away from the controllers. This meant recourse to the printing press." [p.86]
If the Friar could put the accusation of nepotism in the church or corruption of the ungodly in front of the very faces of the literate, it would force them to deal with their consciences. If he could get this message into more and more hands, he could persuade more and more people. More than this, as his popularity rose and as he was heard more in political circles, he gained more detractors who generated their own treatises and circulars. With printed works the Friar as well could refute many of his critics. He had Latin works translated back into Italian so more could read them, and sent letters around to elicit responses. These in turn were published in his lifetime and gained wide dispersion. There were multiple editions as well of his popular treatises and sermons.

As example, Martines highlights On the Simplicity of the Christian Life which was brought out in Latin in August 1496 and published again in an Italian translation by Girolamo Benivieni two months later. But there were so many that came out. In the years 1491-1500, six different presses in Florence were publishing his works. By the end of the 1400's Martines says, there were 108 items of his that were published in Florence with only ten printed for those of that most popular of Florentine poets, Dante Alighieri. More and more people wanted to -- had to know what the fuss was with this preacher. [p. 88]
________________________________________
notes and pagination from Martines, Lauro: Fire In The City: Savonarola and the struggle for the soul of Renaissance Florence ; Oxford University Press, New York, 2006
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Letters 20,21: Alessandra Strozzi: 7 February 1465

A pair of close examples involving the importance of information and its transit may be found in the letters of Alessandra Strozzi. After the death of Cosimo de Medici, mid-century, there were further losses for the Strozzi family, as well as others. In this turn, the Strozzi banks at Naples had collapsed, petitions for entrance to the city of Florence had to be made for Lorenzo in secret, and with coded numbers to conceal names, and a moratorium on debts had been declared. Alessandra wrote in January, "Ed e vero che gran rovina ci e stata." 'It's true there's been a great ruin."

There was news in these letters, as she heard it and assimilated it, some analysis, some advice. There was praise for some and shame for others. There was the failure of the bank that Ludovico Strozzi worked in Naples as well as the company in Florence that Giovanfrancesco, another family member, apparently managed. Alessandra reassured that Ludovico's family could stay rich, only losing their reputation. Giovanfresco remained in much debt and needed to do right by certain creditors or he might be declared a rebel and condemned to death in absentia.

Meanwhile Lorenzo, her middle son, needed to return to Florence, but as an exile he had to wait for permission for safe-passage. Kept waiting far south of town at San Quirico on the road from Siena, she could show her impatience waiting in Florence. Petitions for friends of the Strozzi, on the Council of One Hundred, had been drawn up and delivered to the appropriate people. She felt she could list these only by pre-arranged number.

The matter of continued exile for her son, this prominent member of the Strozzi family was deemed so important at this time, and obstructing him from re-entering Florence soil so sensitive, that the family needed and had gained letters of favor from King Ferrante of Naples himself. These in addition to friends in Florence, Filippo could be grateful for, since, the night before, permission had been granted for Lorenzo to enter and come as close as the city walls and stay through the month of March.

Mention is made in January of different batches of letters from different people and different times. One can imagine Alessandra at a desk reading these through her spectacles. At one point she complains that at 4pm the servant from Rome has not yet arrived. Sometimes the mail carrier was late.

But from the letter dated February 7 she can confirm that a temporary reprieve for Lorenzo had been permitted and she looked forward to see him as early as the 9th. She says ambassadors from Florence are going to Naples and Milan and that Filippo should give presents to those that make the journey to Naples.
_________________________________________
from pp. 123-31, translated with notes by Heather Gregory: Selected Letters of Alessandra Strozzi : Bilingual Edition, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

news winter 2016

The war in Syria has destroyed many lives and many places and many hopes. The end is nowhere closer even as negotiations work at the highest levels.

Jeremy Corbyn visited refugees camps in France.
A UK ruling may help some refugees seeking asylum from Syria's civil war.

________________________________________________
The unrest in Tunisia has reached a peak of intensity not yet seen before since the Arab Spring.
More destruction is felt in the Yemen capital Sanaa.
_______________________________________________

In the US, as primary season for the US Presidential candidates gets underway, the biggest donors are under a greater degree of scrutiny with a new book by Jane Mayer. She was on npr's Fresh Air talking about it last month.
The BBC had a great series on race in the US a couple weeks ago.
These people are keeping track how much money the state of Kansas will not accept in order to help with the expansion of Medicaid like other states. In the name of claiming independence from the Federal Government which the Governor, the State Legislature and Big Energy concerns like KOCH industries say they don't like. But those people are not likely to benefit (much) from such funds, either.

Because of a fake budget crisis in Michigan, the governor allowed local officials in charge to change the water supply for the city of Flint. The resultant shock to the system getting water from the Flint River dumped toxins into sinks and showers all over the city. It's been brown ever since with many people including children being exposed to many months of poisonous water.

The standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge was mostly dispersed after a month of ridiculous tension.

Some great music.

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)