Culture

The milieu through which we swim

Saturn and its rings - photo taken by Cassini spacecraft - the pale blue dot of earth can be faintly perceived through the outermost rings

BFTP: Io, Saturnalia!

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For those of us who like the December Solstice holiday season to last as long as possible, starting the celebrations tomorrow for Saturnalia is a top-notch idea.

Medieval painting of a nun with three other women with books and sewing (LHS), and with one other woman building a wall (RHS)..

Friday Hoyden: Hrotsvit von Gandersheim

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Hrotsvit, whose name is also recorded as Roswitha, and in other variations, lived in the Abbey of Gandersheim, which is in the region known today as Saxony, in the second half of the tenth century. The dark ages may not have been quite so dark if you were a noble-born, highly educated nun, with a rather quirky sense of humour.

An old Christmas postcard showing Santa holding a doll in one hand and a stick in the other. Santa is wearing a blue robe.

Anthropomorphic Personifications

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There’s been a bit of the annual Twitter discussion recently about Santa Claus. Specifically about how to handle the “Is he real?” questions, and the personal and social ramifications of same.

Some Thoughts on Transhumanism

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My biggest problem with transhumanism as a movement is it seems to be largely about the extremes of techno-neepery on the part of a lot of IT and engineering nerds. Now, that would be fine, except IT and engineering nerdery share a couple of rather crucial traits which make them, and the resulting transhumanist movement, somewhat dodgy.