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"United Methodist Denomination Votes to Expel LGBT Pastors and Pro-LGBT Churches" by Jay Michaelson on thedailybeast.com This is not going to sit well.

Speaking of advances in carbon and plastics in sports ... Why all this fire-and-brimstone crap? Why not high-speed drill technology, or Goldfinger's laser? Or The Agony Booth - wouldn't it be sufficient to stick someone in there and just leave them for all eternity? Do we still have nerves that cause pain after we die? That's sort of weird. Does an exact copy of our body magically appear somewhere deep beneath the Earth's surface? I mean, this makes for a good horror tale, but I'm not quite sure I buy it. James Joyce does a fine job at scaring the shit out of people: "Now let us try for a moment to realize, as far as we can, the nature of that abode of the damned which the justice of an offended God has called into existence for the eternal punishment of sinners. Hell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke. The straitness of this prison house is expressly designed by God to punish those who refused to be bound by His laws. In earthly prisons the poor captive has at least some liberty of movement, were it only within the four walls of his cell or in the gloomy yard of his prison. Not so in hell. There, by reason of the great number of the damned, the prisoners are heaped together in their awful prison, the walls of which are said to be four thousand miles thick: and the damned are so utterly bound and helpless that, as a blessed saint, saint Anselm, writes in his book on similitudes, they are not even able to remove from the eye a worm that gnaws it." Seriously, what the hell have I done to deserve *this*? If God came floating through my door *right now*, I'd abandon all my worldly possessions, give him a blowjob, and essentially do whatever the hell he wanted me to do, no matter what it was (with my luck, it would turn out to be some horny space alien, masquerading as God) - but nobody other than my fellow human beings has ever given me orders about how I'm supposed to live my life! Kind of unfair to humanity, to have terrified them for so many millenia, don't you think? I mean, living for merely 80 years in an infinity of time is bad enough on its own (and if anyone believes "the universe is 15-billion years old," they're wrong). This "universe" is nothing more than a blip, and just because our puny brains don't understand infinity, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Is "time" ever going to end? Did it have a beginning? I don't think so. The "Big Bang" might have been "an event," but it was one of an infinite number of events. No, I can't prove it, but that makes about as much sense as rotting in hell (actually, if you "rot" in hell, then it wouldn't be eternal, would it?) If you think about it, "eternity" is another word for "infinity," and that surely stretches backwards as well as forwards (and probably sideways, and through other dimensions) - why wouldn't it? That kind of puts the kibosh on the seven-day theory, don't you think? --- On a related note, I like "The Little Bird of Svithjod" as a visualization technique for "eternity": High up in the north, in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide. Once every thousand years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by. From The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon [The link just above calculates "one day in eternity" as 4.2 octillion years, FWIW. That number can be written as follows: 4,200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000] --- I wonder what Zeus has to say about all of this. "Fucking pecker, coming along and trying to usurp me!" It's like what James Hunt must have thought about Niki Lauda.

You know what? There won't be five people who read this thread, but it's nothing more than a John Oliver clip - a little weak when it comes to explaining the relationship between Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas (I was paying very close attention, and still had to supplement the viewing with a bit of research), but so much more intelligent than television comedy usually is - watch this, enjoy it, and learn from it. There is nothing that would make me happier than for this thread to segue into a serious conversation about the (theoretically) kidnapped Panchen Lama, the *counterfeit* (yes, counterfeit) Panchen Lama created by the Chinese government - Gyaincain Norbu - the potential for China to hand-pick the next Dalai Lama, and all the other hypnotically grotesque things that Oliver discusses. The Dalai Lama could easily stop future self-immolations by saying that it was a noble act looking backward (hence, honoring the families), but going forward, it cannot and should not happen, i.e., it doesn't need to happen, in the era of the internet, and the time has come for it to stop. What was this about not discussing religion and politics?

"How Brunch Became The Most Delicious and Divisive Meal in America" by Roberto A. Ferdman and Christopher Ingraham on washingtonpost.com

Everyone has heard of the "Protestant Reformation," most people know it's the beginning of the Protestant breakaway (note the word "Protest") from the Catholic Church, and some people know it was Martin Luther who history credits as being behind it. What many don't know are the shocking events leading up to it. The Catholic Church had gone insane, was essentially one gigantic, corrupt, sex orgy, and beginning with Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492), and continuing with Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) - also known as Rodrigo Borgia - who was regularly taking his daughter, Lucrezia Borgia, to orgies, where everybody would be fucking everybody else. I repeat: This was the Pope. One of Borgia's most lavish parties was known as "The Ballet Of The Chestnuts," where 50 naked prostitutes performed before, with, and on the invited guests. Shortly before these tawdry affairs, Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) proclaimed, in 1476, that it was now possible for people to give money (or, Indulgences) to the church, and in return, their dead relatives - who were suffering in Purgatory - would be released, and fly up into Heaven. Yes, rich people could now buy their way into Heaven, and be assured that their relatives would be there to meet them in Holy Paradise. Essentially, they could spend a lifetime shitting on people, and buy their way out of it in the end. This was all guaranteed by the Pope. Is it any wonder Martin Luther detected some hypocrisy in the state of things? Well, he did, and on October 31, 1517, he took a piece of paper, which contained his "95 Theses" - 95 refutations of Papal Indulgences - and nailed it to the Castle Church in Wittenberg (now in Germany), and the Protestant Church was born. This is only a summary - it's not like Martin Luther materialized out of thin air on October 31 - but this is what I was told. Do you know why I wrote this? Because I was watching "Parks and Recreation" - in particular, Season 2 Episode 4: "The Practice Date," where they make fun of a lying politician who's an obvious parody of Mark Sanford (Mark Sanford was the Governor of South Carolina, who was supposedly out hiking on the Appalachian Trail, when he was down banging a woman in Argentina). Sanford had met this woman in 2001, 8 years before, in Uruguay. They had met 7 times between 2001-2009, including 2 multi-night stays together. He also "crossed lines" with other women than his mistress. But he never had sex with them, or even with her until 2009. At least this is what I was told. An interesting correlation is that Mark Sanford's six years in the House of Representatives (from 1995-2001 - he promised he'd only serve for six years), and then his term as Governor of South Carolina (2003-2011) ended up being nothing more than a "Practice Date." You see, after the sex scandal forced him to resign from public office, he ran again, and won a special election in 2013. Mark Sanford has paid his price for his indulgences, and is once again a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. It was Mark Sanford that inspired me to write this post. Mark Sanford, I'm sorry, Congressman Sanford, is a member of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church describes itself as being Reformed, and "Protestant, yet Catholic." Thank God things have changed.

1500c The Rhind Papyrus - "Directions For Knowing All Dark Things" (Ahmes) 530c Pythagoras forms cult at Croton 458 "Agamemnon" (Aeschylus) 250c Philo of Byzantium uses a circle and a secant to determine string proportions 75c "De Rerum Natura" (Lucretius) 25c Didymus uses syntonic comma to correct Pythagoras 15c "De Architectura" (Vitruvius) discusses the mesolabium (error on p. 119 attributes this book to the 9th century) ------- 100c Clement (Alexandria) inserts image of Christ into music 126 Pantheon rebuilt by Hadrian 150c "Harmonics" (Claudius Ptolemy) introduces elements of "Just Intonation" 400c Ammianus (Rome) observes that 'music has displaced philosophy' 520c "Di Instituzione Musica" (Boethius) gives early implication that Equal Temperament goes against the laws of nature 745c Charlemagne (814) 757 Emperor Constantine Copronymus (Byzantine Empire) gifts organ To King Pepin (Franks) 812 King of Constantinople gifts organ to Charlemagne (Franks) 814 (Charlemagne, 745c) 826 Georgius builds organ at Aachen for Louis the Pious (Aquitaine) 900c Pope John VIII advocates Church Organs for teaching the science of music 1000c Organistrum invented (attributed to Odo of Cluny, note date discrepancy with Odo's birth date) 1030c Guido de Arezzo Develops Six-Note Ascending Scale (Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La) From "Ut Queant Laxis" 1079 Peter Abelard, (1142) 1093 Winchester Cathedral Opens 1132 Statute Of The Cistercian Order Tries To Regulate Singing 1141 Saint Aelred (Cistercian Rievaulx Abbey) Expresses Concern About Excessive Use Of Organs 1142 (Peter Abelard, 1079) 1163 Construction begins on Cathédral de Notre Dame de Paris (1345) 1190c "The Guide for the Perplexed" (Maimonides) 1195 "Saigyo Monogatari Emaki" depicts dwarfed potted trees, bonsai (Kamakura period, Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya) 1200c Arab Palace (whereabouts unknown) Gifts 90-Pipe Organ To Emperor Of China (hilariously, during the Song Dynasty) 1211 Construction begins on Cathédral de Notre Dame de Reims (1275) 1250c Melody Written Which Reversed Itself (Dominus - Nusmido) 1266 Giotto di Bondone (1337) 1274c "Summa Theologica" (Thomas Aquinas) 1275 (Cathédral de Notre Dame de Reims Opens, 1211) 1280c Anonymous IV (English commentator) describes thirds and sixths as "the most agreeable of all [harmonies]" "Perspectiva Communis" (John Peckham) 1300 First Jubilee Year, depicted in "The Inferno" by Dante as "a traffic jam in Hell" 1309 Avignon Papacy, 1378) 1310 Roman de Fauvel I (Gervais de Bus and Chaillou de Pesstain) 1314 Roman de Fauvel II (Gervais de Bus and Chaillou de Pesstain) 1320 "Feast of Herod" (Giotto) 1321 "The Inferno" (Dante) 1324 First Papal Bull Issued that was devoted entirely to music 1328 House of Valois (1589) 1330c Francesco Landini (1397) 1337 (Giotto di Bondone, 1266) 1342 "Presentation at the Temple" (Ambrogio Lorenzetti) 1345 (Cathédral de Notre Dame de Paris Opens, 1163) 1350 Costumes (mens and womens) became more revealing 1352 Construction begins On Strasburg Clock 1353 "The Decameron" (Boccaccio) 1355 Johannes Boen (Dutch Priest and Music Theorist) predicted heightened musical skills 1360c Robertsbridge Manuscript includes thirds in parallel motion (earliest surviving music written for keyboard) 1363 King John II (not Charles V - error on p. 69) grants Duchy of Burgundy as an appanage to Philip The Bold, (1404) 1364 Reign of King Charles V (1380) ------ Links are all completed before this point 1367 King John I (Aragon) Sought A Player For An Early, Primitive Clavicembalum 1370 Petrarch bequeaths a Giotto Madonna to his friend, the ruler of Padua 1377 Filippo Brunelleschi (1446) 1378 Lorenzo Ghiberti (1455) Papal Schism (1418) (Avignon Papacy, 1309) 1380 (King Charles V, 1364) 1382 Guild of Saint Luke (in Antwerp) began accepting tradesmen 1385 Roman Pope Urban VI Fled From Naples To Nocerina 1386 Donatello di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (1466) 1389 Year Depicted In Giovanni da Prato's "Paradiso degli Alberti" 1390c John Dunstable (1453) 1395 Parisian Police Forbade Minstrels To Mention Unity Or Disunity Of The Church In Their Songs 1397 Guillaume Dufay (1474) Giovanni Lambertacci (Padua) Informs Son-In-Law (University Of Pavia) That The Clavicembalum Had Been Invented (Francesco Landini, 1330c) 1400c Advanced Motets Written "Il Libro Dell'Arte" (Cennino Cennini) "Geographia" (Ptolemy) becomes available in Florence 1400 Dr. Hermannus Poll (Inventor Of Clavicembalum) Becomes Physician Of King Ruprecht Of The Palatinate (Southwestern Germany) 1401 Dr. Hermannus Poll Executed At Nuremburg For Treason Against The King 1402 Gian Galeazzo Visconti (Duke of Milan) dies of fever while invading Tuscanye 1404 Leon Battista Alberti (1472) Reign of John The Fearless (1419) (Philip the Bold) 1407c Filippo Brunelleschi and Donatello journey to Rome to study Classical Art 1408 "Sculpture of David" (Donatello) 1409 Council of Pisa attempts to install third Pope 1410c Conrad Paumann (1478) 1414 Council of Constance installed to eliminate Papal Schism 1417 Pope Martin V unifies papacy (1431) 1418 (Papal Schism, 1378) 1419 Reign of Philip The Good (1467) (Reign of John The Fearless, 1404) 1420 Filippo Brunelleschi begins work on Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore (1436) 1420c Filippo Brunelleschi (re-)discovers vanishing point, thus linear perspective with 1) Florentine Baptistery 2) Palazzo Vecchio 1425c Filippo Brunelleschi and Giovanni di Gherado da Prato exchange insulting sonnets 1425 "Gates of Paradise" (Lorenzo Ghiberti, east doors, second commission) 1426 "The Trinity" (Masaccio) 1435 "On Painting" (Leon Battista Alberti) repeats Protagoras that "Perception is truth." 1436 Pope Eugenius IV Consecrates Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore completed by Filippo Brunelleschi Guillaume Dufay performs motet Nuper rosarum flores at Dome's dedication 1439 Florentine Academy founded and led by Marsilio Ficino, supported by Cosimo de' Medici 1440 First attestation of the Dulce Melos (Henri-Arnault de Zwolle) 1445c Domenico da Piacenza publishes treatise on The Dance (not much is written about it) 1446 (Filippo Brunelleschi, 1377) 1447 Papacy of Pope Nicholas V (1455, error on page 109 stating his inauguration was on Christmas Day, 1449) 1449 Lorenzo de' Medici (1492) 1450c Antonio Squarcialupi most famous Italian organist in mid-15th century Movable-type printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg 1451 Franchinus Gaffurius (1522) - index (and text) error by referring to him by both Franchino Gaffori and Franchinus Gaffurius 1452 Leonardo da Vinci (1519) "De Re Aedificatoria" (Treatise on Architecture, Leon Battista Alberti) (Gates of Paradise, 1425) 1452c Josquin des Prez (1521) 1453 Paolo Uccello weds, lays awake at night pondering perspective (John Dunstable, 1390c) 1453c First Gutenberg Bible printed (about 48 copies still exist) 1455 (Papacy of Pope Nicholas V, 1447) (Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1378) 1463 "Corpus Hermeticum" translated into Latin by Ficino 1466 Desiderius Erasmus (1536) Leonardo da Vinci apprentices in Andrea del Verrocchio's workshop (1476) (Donatello di Niccolí² di Betto Bardi, 1386) 1467 Reign of Charles The Bold (1477) (Reign of Philip The Good, 1419) 1468 Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli draws meridian of sun's rays on the floor of Santa Maria del Fiore to determine Easter 1471 Papacy of Pope Sixtus IV (1484) 1472 (Leon Battista Alberti, 1404) 1473 Nicolaus Copernicus (1543) 1474 Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli writes Fernam Martins and asserts viability of reaching the Orient by sailing west (Guillaume Dufay, 1397) 1475 Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1564) 1475c Johannes Tinctorus Chronicles English Musical Condition, In Which Composer John Dunstable Stood Forth 1476 Pope Sixtus IV announces offering of Indulgences for souls suffering in Purgatory (Leonardo da Vinci finishes apprenticeship in Andrea del Verrocchio's workship, 1466) 1477 (Reign of Charles The Bold, 1467) 1478 (Conrad Paumann, 1410c) 1480 Contract for organ at Lucca calls for both sharp and flat keys installed as options for the performer 1481c da Vinci leaves for Milan to present Ludovico Sforza with a lira da braccio from Lorenzo de' Medici 1482 "Musica Practica" (Bartolomeo Ramos de Pareja) supports Just Intonation. Euclid's "Elements" translated, uses geometry as a solution to irrational numbers 1482c Fazio Cardano translates John Peckham's "Perspectiva Communis" (1280c) and shares it with da Vinci 1483 Martin Luther (1546) 1484 Papacy of Pope Innocent VIIII (1492) (Papacy of Pope Sixtus IV, 1471) 1486 "Oration on the Dignity of Man" (Giovanni Pico della Mirandola) - 900 theses defended publiclyas the basis for all knowledge Pope Innocent VIII mortgages Papal Tiara to pay for his illegitimate son's (Franceschetto Cybo) lavish wedding to Lorenzo de' Medici's daughter 1486c Pope Innocent VIII establishes Papal bureau to sell favors and pardons at exorbitant prices (believe it or not) 1487 "Musices Opusculum" (Nicolaus Burtius) criticizes "Musica Practica" (page 9, e.g.) 1488c Viola Organista invented by da Vinci 1489c Plotinus translated into Latin by Ficino, who also publishes "De Vita Libri Tres" 1490c "Vitruvian Man" (da Vinci) accompanied by notes on the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius Adrian Willaert (Venezia, 1562) 1491 Henry VIIII (1547) 1492 "Theorica Musicae" (Gaffurius) Papacy of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, 1503) (Papacy of Pope Innocent VIII, 1484) (Lorenzo de' Medici, 1449) 1496 "Practica Musicae" (Gaffurius) makes possible refererence to Meantone Temperament - date error on page 101 1498 "The Last Supper" (da Vinci), Refrectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan 1501 Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) holds "Ballet of the Chestnuts" in the Papal Palace 1503 (Papacy of Pope Alexander VI, 1492) 1506 "Mona Lisa" (da Vinci), La Louvre 1509 John Calvin (1564) Johannes Pfefferkorn publishes "Mirror of the Jews," ordering Jewish books destroyed (1553) 1511 Nicola Vicentino (Vicenza, c1576) Lira da Braccio (Giovanni d'Andrea (no biographical information found), Verona), Kunsthistorische Museum, Wien 1513 Machiavelli's first copy of "The Prince" Papacy of Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, son of Lorenzo The Great <--- deserved for arrogance, 1521) 1514 Copernicus circulates manuscript among friends saying the Earth was not at the center of the cosmos Fra Bartolomeo's nude San Sebastian removed from the Convent of San Marco (Florence) due to women lusting after it 1517 Leo X names Johann Tetzel Commissioner of Indulgences for all of Germany Martin Luther nails The 95 Theses onto the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, beginning the Protestant Reformation Erasmus marvels that "splendid talents are forming all over the world" 1518 "What a century! What literature! How good it is to be alive!" (Letter written by Ulrich von Hí¼teen) 1519 "Quid Non Ebrietas" (Adrian Willaert) exposes flaws in Pythagorean Tuning and Just Intonation by an octave-leap after traveling the Circle of Fifths Ferdinand Magellan's crew sets sail around the world (1523) (Leonardo da Vinci, 1452) 1520 A French Instrument-Makers Guild claimed the right to make their own inlays and marquetry, incensing furniture makers 1521 (Josquin des Pres, 1452c) 1522 Pope Adrian VI wanted the Sistine Chapel ceiling stripped of nudes (Papacy of Pope Leo X, 1513) (Franchinus Gaffurius, 1451) 1523 "Toscanello In Musica" (Pietro Aron, Florence) makes definitive reference to Meantone Temperament Andreas Karlstadt (a Lutheran) sets aside church music, supports clerical matrimony, rejects baptism, and denounces education (Papacy of Pope Adrian VI, 1522) (4 of the original 55 on Magellan's Trinidad reach Spain, Tidore being the starting point of the final leg of the journey) 1531 "Avodat Hakkodesh" (Meir ben Ezekiel ibn Gabbai) says music creates "a magical resonance between earth and Heaven" 1533 Alfonso II d'Este (1597) First citation of the Lira da Braccio Giovanni Maria Lanfranco proposes equal temperament (flat fifths, sharp thirds) in "Scintille de Musica" 1534 John Calvin embraces Protestantism, forced to leave France Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy confiscated all lands belonging to the Holy See between 1536 and 1541, Church of England established 1535 Jan Beukelsz murders one of his (several) wives (error on page 123 says year was 1534) 1535c Silvio Cosini makes jerkin from human skin 1536 In "The Education of Children," also titled "On Civility in Children," Desiderius Erasmus (1466) calls this period "the worst age in history." 1538 Martin Luther praises complexity in music, calling anyone who does not understand it a "clodhopper." 1540 Jesuits (Society of Jesus) formed by Ignatius Loyola 1543 "On The Revolutions Of The Celestial Spheres" (Copernicus) (Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473) 1545 Council of Trent (1563) 1545c "Arezzo" (Bartolomeo Torri (spelling error on page 86)) 1546 (Martin Luther, 1483) 1547 (Henry VIII, 1491) 1550 "The Lives Of The Most Excellent Artists ...." (Vasari, 1st Edition) Theories of Temperament-to Music in 16th-Century Europe became much like Theories of Cartography-to-Mapmaking "De Subtilitate" (Girolamo Cardano) recommended scholars read love stories (et al) to rekindle their animal spirits 1551 Vicente Lusitano debates Nicola Vicentino before a court in Rome, over traditional musical views vs. radical ones 1553 Pope Julius III orders a burning of all copies of The Talmud 1555 Archicembolo, with six rows of keys, invented by Nicola Vicentino John Calvin turns Switzerland into an authoritarian state (1564) 1558 Gioseffo Zarlino describes tuning a lute using the mesolabium (attributed to Archimedes) 1562 Council of Trent urges ban on anything impure or lascivious in music (Adraen Willaert, 1490c) 1562c Cardinal Carlo Borromeo (Milan) induced composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (Palestrina) to write "Missa Papa Marcelli" to win support of counterpoint 1563 (Council of Trent, 1545) 1563c Convocation of 1562/3 eliminated organs from churches (Protestants taking over Catholicism) 1564 Galileo Galilei (1642) (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, 1564)) (John Calvin, 1509) 1566 Carlo Gesualdo, Venosa (1613) 1568 "The Lives Of The Most Excellent Artists ...." (Vasari, 2nd Edition) 1570 Regnans in Excelsis (by Pope Pius V) declares Queen Elizabeth I a Heretic Giorgio Vasari covers up "The Trinity" (1426) 1576 Bubonic Plague kills nearly one-third (appr. 50,000) of Venezia (1577) 1576c Nicola Vicentino (1511) 1577 (Bubonic Plague in Venezia) 1581 Vincenzo Galilei mentions that the Viola Organista sounds like an ensemble of Viols 1589 (House of Valois, 1328) 1590 Carlo Gesualdo murders Donna Maria d'Avalos after catching her in flagrante delicto ------- End Dates Corrected To Here 1594 "Coelia" (William Percy) 1597 Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1679) 1598 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1680) 1599 Queen Elizabeth gifts organ to Sultan Mehmet III of Constantinople (29 years after her excommunication) 1597 (Duke Alfonso II of Modena, 1533) - owned 52 harpsichords at his time of death 1606 Rene Descartes (1650) 1608 John Milton (1674) 1611 Woodcut of Josquin des Prez (copied from a lost oil painting) 1613 (Carlo Gesualdo, 1566) 1618 Fabio Colonna publishes "La Sambuca Lincea, Overo del'Musico Perfetto" 1698 "Eighth Sonnet" (William Shakespeare) 1618 "Temple Of Music" (Robert Fludd) Michael Praetorius calls the Hurdy-Gurdy 'the lyre of peasants and itinerant wenches' 1621 The Anatomy of Melancholy 1623 Blaise Pascal (1662) Pope Urban VIII Reign (1644) 1625 Charles I Reign (1649) 1637c "Harmonie Universelle" (Marin Mersenne) proposes 17-key, 19-key octaves to resolve wolf notes; uses intersecting triangles to determine string proportions 1640 Doni (mean) vs. Frescobaldi (equal) 1642 Issac Newton (1726) (Gaileo Galilei, 1564) 1644 Lords and Commons Ordinance calls for demolition of organs, monuments to idolatry and superstition, etc. 1644 (Pope Urban VIII Reign) 1649 (Charles I Reign) 1650 (Rene Descartes) 1655 Bartolomeo Cristofori (1731) 1660 Charles II Reign (1685) 1662 Royal Society Formed (Blaise Pascal) 1667 Jonathan Swift (1745) Paradise Lost 1674 (John Milton) 1679 (Cardinal Francesco Barberini) 1680 (Gian Lorenzo Bernini) 1683 Jean-Philippe Rameau (1764) 1684 Bernard Smith (split keys) vs. Renatus Harris 1685 George Frideric Handel (1759) Domenico Scarlatti (1757) Johann Sebastian Bach (1750) (Charles II Reign) 1687 "A Song for Saint Cecilia's Day" (John Dryden) 1700 Cristofori keeps and signs the musical inventory of the de Medici family - first hard evidence of a piano 1726 Gulliver's Travels (Grand Academy of Lagado) (Issac Newton) 1731 (Bartolomeo Cristofori) 1745 (Jonathan Swift) 1750 Handel buys split-key organ for Foundling Hospital (not 1768, error on page 19) (Johann Sebastian Bach) 1756 Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1827) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791) 1757 (Domenico Scarlatti) 1759 (George Frideric Handel) 1764 (Jean-Philippe Rameau) 1785 "Art du Faiseur d'Instruments de Musique et Lutherie" (Diderot et d'Alambert, Paris) 1787 "Discoveries in the Theory of Sound" (Chladni) - grains of sans form geometric patterns on a plate that is bowed 1791 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) 1819 "Ode On A Grecian Urn" (John Keats) 1822 "Hellas" (Percy Bysshe Shelley) 1827 (Ernst Florence Friedrich Chladni) 1857 "Les Fleurs du Mal" (Charles Baudelaire) 1874 John Ruskin impressed with Giotto's Frescoes 1914 Robert Frost writes to John Bartlett, "A sentence is a sound unto itself onto which other sounds called words may be strung." 1922 "Sonnets to Orpheus" (Rainer Maria Rilke, not "The Poet," error on page 58) 1942 "Notes Towards A Supreme Fiction" (Wallace Stevens) 1972 "The Thicket of Spring" (Paul Bowles) 1975 "The Painted Word" (Thomas Wolfe)

I love to learn, and so I love documentaries - often manageable in length, and covering topics I know little about. --- SPOILERS ABOUND --- "Scientology - The Ex-Files" is just such a film. Starting with footage of founder L. Ron Hubbard. As with all cult leaders, Hubbard was a charismatic man, who backed up that charisma with severe punishment for those who disagreed with his philosophies, even having a punishment group aboard his ship called the "RPF" (the Rehabilitation Project Force - this all took place on a boat). Hubbard passed away in 1986, but Scientology carries on, an Austalian-based organization, headed by his successor, David Miscaviage. It achieved tax-exempt religious status in Austalia in 1983. Hubbard's "bait and switch" philosophy is called "Dianetics" - to fully master it costs about $50,000 (sound like a few physical-therapy modalities we all know and partake in?) We used to have a Dianetics paperback in our house growing up, stuck away on a bookshelf, and I had no idea what it was (my parents were entirely normal; we just had a ton of books), but it was the first time I'd ever heard of L. Ron Hubbard. Apparently, this three-dollar book can turn into $50-75K if played out to its logical conclusion. "The Bridge To Total Freedom" is yet the next level, dealing with spirituality, not simply a "mental approach." Now we're talking $150-200K. L. Ron Hubbard wrote a secret scripture in 1967, about an evil inter-galactic warlord called "Xenu" who visited earth millions of years ago, and the spirits of his victims are the cause of mankind's spiritual ills. Read that previous paragraph as many times as you need, and feel free to verify its validity on Google. Everyone who joins the "Sea Organization" (Hubbard's Scientology contract) signs a contract for a billion years. Joe Reaiche was Scientology's #1 person for keeping members in line, but became a skeptic. Secret internal reports had been written about him and were disclosed. He was not allowed to see the reports, call witnesses, or have any legal representation. On June 7, 2005, Reiache was declared a "Suppressive Person," and expelled from the church. And when he called to speak with his children, the brainwashed little ones were not allowed to speak with him. Similar things have happened to many other families - mind control is nearly total. As for Tom Cruise and the other distressingly long list of famous Scientologists, I did not ask for their opinions.