Hopkins (2001), Keith, A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity, Penguin Random House 2001 ' In this provocative, irresistibly entertaining book, Keith Hopkins takes readers back in time to explore the roots of Christianity in ancient Rome. Combining exacting scholarship with dazzling invention, Hopkins challenges our perceptions about religion, the historical Jesus, and the way history is written. He puts us in touch with what he calls “empathetic wonder”—imagining what Romans, pagans, Jews, and Christians thought, felt, experienced, and believed-by employing a series of engaging literary devices. These include a TV drama about the Dead Sea Scrolls; the first-person testimony of a pair of time-travelers to Pompeii; a meditation on Jesus’ apocryphal twin brother; and an unusual letter on God, demons, and angels.' 
Amazon   back

Nielsen (2016), Michael A., and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2016 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002. 
Amazon   back

Amber Jamieson (2017_03_01), Rebecca Ferguson says she will play Trump inauguration if she can sing Strange Fruit, 'First recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939 and covered by Nina Simone in 1965, Strange Fruit is one of the nation’s most famous songs about racism. The lyrics by Abel Meeropol graphically describe the lynchings of African-Americans: Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees' back

Aquinas, Summa, I, 3, 7, Is God altogether simple?, 'I answer that, The absolute simplicity of God may be shown in many ways. First, from the previous articles of this question. For there is neither composition of quantitative parts in God, since He is not a body; nor composition of matter and form; nor does His nature differ from His "suppositum"; nor His essence from His existence; neither is there in Him composition of genus and difference, nor of subject and accident. Therefore, it is clear that God is nowise composite, but is altogether simple. . . . ' back

Arwa Mahdawi (2025_04_26), Why is Yale University implicitly endorsing Israeli extremist Ben-Gvir?, ' Let me start with a statement that should be obvious: deliberately starving 2 million people – half of whom are children – is indefensible. It is not complicated, it is not a nuanced situation that requires a PhD to parse. It is not an unfortunate and unavoidable part of war. It is quite simply indefensible. I would say that it is also very much prohibited by international human rights law, but that doesn’t seem to exist any more, does it? As I write this, no food, water or medicine has been allowed into Gaza for almost two months. It is impossible to know just how bad the situation really is because Israel has imposed a media blackout on the region. However, aid organizations have said: “The Gaza Strip is now likely facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the 18 months” since the war began. Thousands of children are malnourished. Childhood malnutrition, I can’t stress enough, has long-term consequences. An entire generation’s future has been violently stolen from them. “Starving kids to death is bad, actually” isn’t a statement that should require any debate. Over in the White House and the hallowed halls of Yale, however, they seem to think otherwise. On Wednesday night, an organization called Shabtai, which is based at Yale though not officially affiliated with it, hosted Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for a talk. Ben-Gvir has had the red carpet rolled out for him by the US. The extremist politician came to New Haven following an extravagant dinner, presumably paid for by US taxpayers, at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort the night before. While he ate fancy food with Republican party officials they all reportedly discussed how they could starve kids in Gaza more efficiently. “[Lawmakers] expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely,” Ben-Gvir tweeted following the dinner. I’ll give Ben-Gvir his due. He doesn’t even try to hide his hatred for Arabs. If Ben-Gvir were a Palestinian, every single politician and media outlet would be in an uproar that he was anywhere near Yale. The man lives on an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank and has advocated for the deportation of all Arab citizens. He had a picture in his living room for years of Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron in 1994. He has previous convictions for inciting racism and supporting terrorism. back

Dina Khapaeva (2025_04_22), Make Russia Medieval Again! How Putin is seeking to remold society, with a little help from Ivan the Terrible, ' Copy link Email X (Twitter) Bluesky Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Print Beginning in September 2025, Russian middle and high school students will be handed a new textbook titled “My Family.” Published in March 2025, the textbook’s co-author Nina Ostanina, chair of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of the Family, claims that it will teach students “traditional moral values” that will improve “the demographic situation in the country” as part of a “Family Studies” course that was rolled out in the 2024-2025 school year. But some of those lessons for modern living come from a less-than-modern source. Among the materials borrowed from in “My Family” is the 16th century “Domostroi” – a collection of rules for maintaining patriarchal domestic order. It was written, supposedly, by Sylvester, a monk-tutor of czar Ivan the Terrible. Unsurprisingly, some teachings from “Domostroi” seem out-of-keeping with today’s sensibilities. For example, it states that it is the right of a father to coerce, if needed by force, his household – at the time, this would refer to both relatives and slaves – in accordance with Orthodox dogmas. “Husbands should teach their wives with love and exemplary instruction,” reads one of the Domostroi quotations repeated in the textbook. “Wives ask their husbands about strict order, how to save their souls, please God and their husbands, arrange their home well, and submit to their husbands in all matters; and what the husband orders, they should agree with love and carry out according to his commands,” reads another extract A painting shows an old man with a beard and a seated man. Czar Ivan the Terrible and the priest Sylvester. Wikimedia Commons The use of “Domostroi” in the textbook both references the past while evoking the current government’s politics of decriminalizing family violence. A 2017 law, for example, removed nonaggravated “battery of close persons” from the list of criminal offenses. It also fits a wider pattern. As a scholar of historical memory, I have observed that references to the Russian Middle Ages are part of the Kremlin’s broader politics of using the medieval past to justify current agendas, something I have termed “political neomedievalism.” Indeed, President Vladimir Putin’s government is actively prioritizing initiatives that use medieval Russia as a model for the country’s future. In doing so, the Kremlin unites a long-nurtured dream of the Russian far right with a broader quest for the fulfillment of Russian imperial ambitions. Beginning in September 2025, Russian middle and high school students will be handed a new textbook titled “My Family.” Published in March 2025, the textbook’s co-author Nina Ostanina, chair of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of the Family, claims that it will teach students “traditional moral values” that will improve “the demographic situation in the country” as part of a “Family Studies” course that was rolled out in the 2024-2025 school year. But some of those lessons for modern living come from a less-than-modern source. Among the materials borrowed from in “My Family” is the 16th century “Domostroi” – a collection of rules for maintaining patriarchal domestic order. It was written, supposedly, by Sylvester, a monk-tutor of czar Ivan the Terrible. [. . .] In February 2025, just a month before “My Family” was published, the government of Russia’s Vologda region – home to over 1 million people – established nongovernmental organization called “The Oprichnina.” The organization is tasked with “fostering Russian identity” and “developing the moral education of youth.” But the group’s name evokes the first reign of brutal state terror in Russian history. The Oprichnina was a state policy unleashed by Ivan the Terrible from 1565 to 1572 to establish his unrestrained power over the country. The oprichniks were Ivan’s personal guard, who attached a dog’s head and a broom to their saddles to show that they were the czar’s “dogs” who swept treason away. Chroniclers and foreign travelers left accounts of the sadistic tortures and mass executions that were conducted with Ivan’s participation. The oprichniks raped and dismembered women, flayed or boiled men alive and burned children. In this frenzy of violence, they slaughtered many thousands of innocent people. Ivan’s reign led to a period known as the “Time of Troubles,” marked by famine and military defeat. Some scholars estimate that by its end, Russia lost nearly two-thirds of its population.' back

Istvan Bodnar (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Aristotle's Natural Philosophy, ' Aristotle had a lifelong interest in the study of nature. . . . Aristotle provides the general theoretical framework for this enterprise in his Physics, . . . In this work, Aristotle sets out the conceptual apparatus for his analysis, provides definitions of his fundamental concepts, and argues for specific theses about motion, causation, place and time, and establishes in bk. 8 the existence of the unmoved mover of the universe, a supra-physical entity, without which the physical domain could not remain in existence.' back

Joshua 10:12-13, Sun, stand still at Gibeon (USCCB), 'It was then, when the LORD delivered up the Amorites to the Israelites, that Joshua prayed to the LORD, and said in the presence of Israel: Sun, stand still at Gibeon, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon! The sun stood still, the moon stayed, while the nation took vengeance on its foes. This is recorded in the Book of Jashar. The sun halted halfway across the heavens; not for an entire day did it press on. back

Julian Novitz (2025_04_22), Graydon Carter hired Christopher Hitchens, pissed off Trump and revealed Deep Throat. He calls himself a ‘beta male’, Review: When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines – Graydon Carter (Grove Press) ' The editor of Vanity Fair, Radhika Jones, is stepping down after seven years. Amid the media buzz about who might take her role – long considered a plum one – is a surprising question. “Is it still a good job?” asked the New York Times last week. Some magazine editors have said no, one even saying “I wouldn’t touch that job”. But Jones’ immediate predecessor, Graydon Carter, says it’s “still a great job for an enterprising editor”, though the golden age of magazines – including Vanity Fair – is clearly over. Carter’s new memoir recounts his time as editor from 1992 to 2017, during the magazine’s glory days. It’s full of stories about editors and writers who comfortably stalked the halls of power. They rubbed shoulders with tycoons and celebrities, attracted both reverence and apoplectic rage, and were handsomely paid for it. [.. .] The existence Carter describes feels remarkably privileged now, but throughout the 80s and 90s, high-circulation magazines like Time provided vital support for a generation of writers. Their generosity with expenses, salaries and fees allowed their employees and contractors to pursue book-length projects. back

Katherine Kim (2025_04_23), How Gen Z Became the Most Gullible Generation, ' The video starts with bold red letters blaring: “2016 Democrat Primary Voter Fraud CAUGHT ON TAPE.” A series of blurry security footage follows, showing blatant instances of ballot stuffing. The only problem: The clips actually depict voter fraud in Russia. Would you have taken the bait? A quick Google search would have easily revealed the dubious source of the video, along with news articles debunking its claims. But when researchers from Stanford studying young people’s media literacy — the ability to accurately evaluate information in the wilds of mass media — showed the video to 3,446 high school students, only three succeeded in identifying the Russian connection. “There is this myth of the digital native, that because some people have grown up with digital devices, they are well equipped to make sense of the information that those devices provide,” says Joel Breakstone, who led the 2021 study. “The results were sobering.” It’s a startling reality about Gen Z, backed up by multiple studies and what we can all see for ourselves: The most online generation is also the worst at discerning fact from fiction on the internet. [. . .] While social media may make news more accessible, there’s also little quality control to the information on the platforms. And although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation — which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI — members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There’s a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities — which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It’s the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim.' back

Nicolás Rivero (2025_04_24), Scientists say they can calculate the cost of oil giants’ role in global warming, ' Oil and gas companies are facing hundreds of lawsuits around the world testing whether they can be held responsible for their role in causing climate change. Now, two scientists say they’ve built a tool that can calculate how much damage each company’s planet-warming pollution has caused — and how much money they could be forced to pay if they’re successfully sued. 10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint Collectively, greenhouse emissions from 111 fossil fuel companies caused the world $28 trillion in damage from extreme heat from 1991 to 2020, according to a paper published Wednesday in Nature. Industry officials have contested this sort of reasoning, and Trump administration officials, along with some congressional Republicans, are working to shield oil and gas companies from legal liability for climate-related damages. The new analysis could fuel an emerging legal fight. The authors, Dartmouth associate professor Justin Mankin and Chris Callahan, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, say their model can determine a specific company’s share of responsibility over any time period. “There’s long been this veil of plausible deniability that any emitter could hide behind: ‘We’re all emitting greenhouse gases, so who’s to say that mine are the ones responsible for outcome X, Y or Z?’” Mankin said. “We can now do that accounting exercise".' back

Public Key Cryptography - Wikipedia, Public Key Cryptography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Public-key cryptography is a form of modern cryptography which allows users to communicate securely without previously agreeing on a shared secret key. For most of the history of cryptography, a key had to be kept absolutely secret and would be agreed upon beforehand using a secure, but non-cryptographic, method; for example, a face-to-face meeting or a trusted courier. There are a number of significant practical difficulties in this approach to distributing keys. Public-key cryptography was invented to address these drawbacks — with public-key cryptography, users can communicate securely over an insecure channel without having to agree upon a key beforehand.' back

Quantum cryptography - Wikipedia, Quantum cryptography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks.The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution which offers an information-theoretically secure solution to the key exchange problem. The advantage of quantum cryptography lies in the fact that it allows the completion of various cryptographic tasks that are proven or conjectured to be impossible using only classical (i.e. non-quantum) communication. For example, it is impossible to copy data encoded in a quantum state. If one attempts to read the encoded data, the quantum state will be changed due to wave function collapse (no-cloning theorem). This could be used to detect eavesdropping in quantum key distribution (QKD).' back

Rev Adalbert Fazokas OP, Born 20/04/1920, Ordained in Slovakia 21/09/1946 - Dominican Fathers., Died 14 September 2014 Adalbert was born in Hungary. Before World War II he entered the Premonstratensians, and was ordained as a priest on 11 April 1944 in St Elizabeth's Cathedral in Kassa (now Košice, Slovakia). After the war he joined the Dominicans, making profession 21 September 1946. He was sent to the Angelicum in Rome to obtain a Doctorate in Theology. One of his classmates was Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II). Adalbert came to Australia in 1954 and taught philosophy and the theology of Thomas Aquinas in the Dominican House of Studies in Melbourne and, from 1966, in Canberra. His method was innovative for the time, teaching directly from the texts of Aristotle and Thomas rather than using the standard manuals. When the Dominican House of Studies closed in the early 1970s, Fr Adalbert moved to St Elizabeth's Home for aged Hungarians at Dean Park (near Blacktown) to be chaplain to the Hungarian community, travelling around Australia. Ever the teacher, he gave classes in the philosophy of Aristotle and Thomas to the Hungarian community in Sydney and taught the theology of St Thomas at the Aquinas Academy. He also played a key role in the visit of Cardinal Mindszenty to Australia in 1974. After the collapse of communism he returned to Hungary, but things had changed too much for a man in his 70s to comfortably adapt. He returned to his ministry in Australia until about 2007 when the effects of age brought him back to St Elizabeth's home, this time to be cared for by others. Rest now in peace dear Adalbert. back

Ruth Graham & Elizabeth Dias (20245_04_21), How Francis, a Progressive Pope, Catalyzed the Catholic Right in the U.S., ' A few months before he died on Monday, Pope Francis entered what turned out to be his last high-profile skirmish with his flock in the United States. In a letter in February to American bishops, with whom he had his own complicated relationship over the years, the pope criticized President Trump’s treatment of migrants, claiming that deportations violate the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.” [. . . ] The slap in February, with its intertwining layers of politics and theology, was typical of the often fraught public relationship between Pope Francis and conservative American Catholics. When Pope Francis took office in 2013, many Catholics in the United States were optimistic that his emphasis on inclusivity and ministry to the margins would lead to a “Francis effect” that would enliven the American church for years to come. Pope Francis did end up energizing American Catholics, but not only in the way his supporters hoped. His papacy galvanized a traditionalist stream that had always existed in the American church, and that strengthened and expanded throughout his papacy as a tide of resistance rose in the American church hierarchy, in Washington and in the pews. [. . .] In 2023, Pope Francis expressed with unusual frankness his consternation at “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” that was arrayed against him in the American church. Speaking to a group of fellow Jesuits at a gathering during World Youth Day in Lisbon, he lamented the “backwardness” of some American conservatives and warned about what happens when “ideologies replace faith.” [. . .] An independent Catholic media ecosystem in the United States was unrelenting, depicting Pope Francis as undermining the church, or even as an apostate. Some questioned whether he was actually the pope because the true pope cannot teach heresy. In February, when Pope Francis was in the hospital for what turned out to be a five-week stay, the right-wing website LifeSiteNews ran an opinion essay suggesting that irregularities in the 2013 conclave may invalidate his papacy altogether. Questioning the integrity of a pope’s election shows how deeply American political dynamics have seeped into some corners of the church.' back

Ten Commandments - Wikipedia, Ten Commandments - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew: עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים‎, romanized: ʿĂsereṯ haDəḇārīm, lit. 'The Ten Words'), or the Decalogue (from Latin decalogus, from Ancient Greek δεκάλογος, dekálogos, lit. 'ten words'), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten Commandments appears in three markedly distinct versions in the Bible: at Exodus 20:2–17, Deuteronomy 5:6–21, and the "Ritual Decalogue" of Exodus 34:11–26. According to the Book of Exodus in the Torah, the Ten Commandments were revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai, told by Moses to the Israelites in Exodus 19:25 and inscribed by the finger of God on two tablets of stone. Scholars disagree when the Ten Commandments were written and by whom, with some modern scholars drawing comparisons between the Decalogue and Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties.' back

Tony Milligan (2025_04_24) , Pope Francis’s death reveals a hidden truth about public grief, ' So, what makes false grief false? It’s not deception or performance – it’s the absence of impossible desire. In true grief, we yearn for what can never return. Most of us, when mourning a figure like Pope Francis, may want something – meaning, comfort, community. This is at the heart of what makes a false emotion false, rather than the real thing. A false emotion lacks the desire that sits at the heart of its genuine counterpart. In the case of false grief, we may desire something. We usually do. The crowds who gather in St Peter’s Square and those of us who watch events unfold on TV clearly want something. But in most cases we do not have the right kind of impossible desire for our feelings to count as grief. Even if we do think of ourselves as grief stricken, we are mistaken. Copy link Email X (Twitter) Bluesky Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Print When a significant international public figure like Pope Francis dies, the world seems to pause. Tributes pour in, flags lower, candles flicker in city squares. The sadness is palpable. But is this real grief, or something else entirely? Widespread mourning can look and feel genuine. And in many ways, it is. Most people aren’t faking their sorrow. But public grief often lacks depth and duration – it fades almost as quickly as it appears. For those who knew Francis personally, the loss will be profound and lasting. For the rest of us, we are witnesses to the passing of a beloved figure, not mourners in the intimate sense. The world saw this after the deaths of Princess Diana and Pope John Paul II. Both were enormously popular and the global reaction was immense. Yet, weeks after their funerals, the emotional tide began to recede. This time, the public response to Pope Francis feels more restrained. Less swept away by the moment. Less inclined toward what some psychologists refer to as false emotion – emotions that appear sincere but don’t reflect deep personal experience. Partly, this is due to Pope Francis himself. He was not one for drama. Partly, it’s a quiet recognition: feeling sad about his death is not the same as being grief-stricken. Still, the absence of a one-to-one relationship doesn’t necessarily make our feelings inauthentic. Millions may grieve for Francis without having met him. For devout Catholics and others inspired by his leadership, he was a symbol of hope, a voice for justice, humility and reform within an often troubled institution. His life carried a transformative power, and for those who pinned their hopes on him – on what he represented – his passing may leave a genuine and lasting void. That looks a lot like real grief. Longing and hope Every Catholic I’ve ever known has had a “favourite pope.” The new one rarely feels the same. That attachment, though deeply symbolic, is emotionally real. My father used to tell a story – likely embellished – about growing up in a Catholic neighbourhood in Bridgeton in the east end of Glasgow. When a neighbour’s home caught fire, she pleaded with firemen: “Save him! Save my darlin’!” They rushed in, expecting a person. All they found was a picture of the pope. Even if exaggerated, the point holds: people feel a real longing for these figures. And that’s what grief is, in essence – a yearning for the impossible return of someone we’ve lost. It’s not just sadness. It’s the ache of a love that can no longer be reciprocated. Priests who experience crises of faith describe something similar – a desire to return to a state of belief that now feels unreachable. It’s not just about loss; it’s about longing without resolution. But when the new pope is announced, the atmosphere in St Peter’s Square is not one of despair. It’s a return to hope, not an immersion in grief. People may mourn Francis, but they’re also swept up in collective emotion – a desire to be part of history, part of the moment. That sense of unity can be powerful and real, even if it isn’t grief. Atheists can feel it as much as believers. We sense it at funerals of people we didn’t really know. We cry because everyone else is crying. Then, days later, we carry on as if nothing happened. Impossible desire So, what makes false grief false? It’s not deception or performance – it’s the absence of impossible desire. In true grief, we yearn for what can never return. Most of us, when mourning a figure like Pope Francis, may want something – meaning, comfort, community. This is at the heart of what makes a false emotion false, rather than the real thing. A false emotion lacks the desire that sits at the heart of its genuine counterpart. In the case of false grief, we may desire something. We usually do. The crowds who gather in St Peter’s Square and those of us who watch events unfold on TV clearly want something. But in most cases we do not have the right kind of impossible desire for our feelings to count as grief. Even if we do think of ourselves as grief stricken, we are mistaken. Saying this is not at odds with Francis’s own religious tradition. In his biographical Confessions, St Augustine notoriously claimed that we always want unity with God, and we are restless until we achieve it: “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” But Augustine also claimed that this longing comes disguised as a desire for all sorts of other things: fame, alcohol, intoxication and the warm pleasures of the flesh. Augustine was a little on the puritanical side about these matters, but his idea of disguised longing may be close to the truth.' back

Unitary operator - Wikipedia, Unitary operator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In functional analysis, a branch of mathematics, a unitary operator . . . is a bounded linear operator U : H → H on a Hilbert space H satisfying UU* = U*U = I where U* is the adjoint of U, and I : H → H is the identity operator. This property is equivalent to the following: 1. U preserves the inner product ( , ) of the Hilbert space, ie for all vectors x and y in the Hilbert space, (Ux, Uy) = (x, y) and
2. U is surjective.' back