A modest proposal about popes...

So, another pope has died and his ashes will soon be emitted from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel. It is time to select a new pope.

But the pope has presided over a seemingly endless series of scandals for generations. They keep electing new popes, but the problems never go away. Why can't they solve these problems?

Looking for commonalities among all the popes of the last century or so, one stood out to me: they're all Catholic!

Maybe they should try choosing a nice Unitarian, or perhaps a Wiccan? They'd have at least as good a chance of solving the problems as the last umpteen Catholic popes. Maybe even better.

It's worth a shot.

(V jbaqre ubj znal ercyl thlf jvyy rnearfgyl rkcynva gb zr jul gur cbcr zhfg or Pngubyvp.)

Names of Craters on Phobos, discovered in 1877. You may recognize some of them? #Swift #TeamEnglish #literature #satire #astronomy #science #telescope #scifi #moon #JonathanSwift #18thcentury #19thcentury #cartography #lunar

I have a modest proposal.

Wait, hear me out.

- #JonathanSwift, probably

Damn you #JonathanSwift!
If you had only kept your mouth shut!

> He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes.

This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down.

…

> He assured me “that this invention had employed all his thoughts from his youth; that he had emptied the whole vocabulary into his frame, and made the strictest computation of the general proportion there is in books between the numbers of particles, nouns, and verbs, and other parts of speech

via #thechipletter’s latest, https://thechipletter.substack.com/p/the-engine

Merde alors (allora, merda) – di Ed Emery https://effimera.org/merde-alors-allora-merda-di-ed-emery/ #“TabelladellefecidiBristol” #UniversitàdiCambridge #SOASShitConference #campagna“Poonami” #WilliamBurroughs #progettoOVERDUE #“MerdeAlors!” #JonathanSwift #Crinali #EdEmery #PèreUbu #Macron #merda #Gaza

On this day in 1667 Jonathan Swift, poet, satirist and clergyman was born in Dublin. He was an Anglican cleric and became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

Depending upon one's definition, either John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) or Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726) could be called the first English fantasy novel. They both provide numerous imaginary continents, along with maps for context.

Today's #rabbithole started at @Irishphilosophy and why #JonathanSwift finally agreed to let his choir debase themselves by performing #Handel's 1742 #Dublin #Messiah premiere #otd in a common music hall which led to winding Wikipedia tunnels of 32 flavours of #Enlightenment #Deism and omg it's 6pm!

Depending upon one's definition, either John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) or Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726) could be called the first English fantasy novel, presenting a world with unique geography. Maps have been part of fantasy novels from the beginning.

Ich musste grad echt heulen, als ich das Video der Kletterkinder gesehen habe. Was die Fossilindustrie den Kindern antut, in was für eine Welt sie sie hineingeschmissen und im Stich gelassen hat, ist echt unmenschlich. Ich hatte wenigstens als Kind noch die Hoffnung, dass alles irgendwie gut werden würde auf der Welt. Und jetzt komm ich als erwachsener Mensch psychisch nicht klar, wenn ich Klimanews lese, wie soll es Kindern da erst gehen?

Die Kids sind aber echt stark und das macht Mut aber es macht mich auch fuchsteufelswütend, dass sie diesen Mut überhaupt brauchen.

Jonathan Swift hat vor fast 300 Jahren eine Satire geschrieben, A Modest Proposal, in der vorgeschlagen wird, Kinder zu essen, weil das besser für die Wirtschaft sei. Das sollte natürlich aufrütteln und die Grausamkeit und den Zynismus der herrschenden "Lösungen" für humanitäre Krisen anprangern. Aber die Fossilindustrie scheint nicht begriffen zu haben, dass es Satire war und isst, wenn auch nicht Kinder direkt, so doch deren Zukunft, Hoffnung und Lebensgrundlagen. Eine langsame Folter…

Gemeinsam werden wir sie aufhalten. Egal wie jung oder alt wir sind, egal wo und woher: Wir, die ein gutes Leben für alle Menschen auf diesem Planeten wollen und die bereit sind, dafür zu kämpfen, sind mehr.

I'm currently enjoying his 1704 'The Tale of a Tub".

NPG 4407; Jonathan Swift - Portrait - National Portrait Gallery

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw06170/Jonathan-Swift?LinkID=mp04388&role=sit&rNo=0

Composer George Frideric Händel was born #OnThisDay 1685 in Halle.

Famously his "Messiah" was first performed in Dublin.

A post on its performance (where Swift almost scuppered the whole thing)
https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2013/04/13/swift-handels-messiah/

and on its anti-deist roots & the appeal of that in Ireland (anti-Toland) https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2018/04/13/words-messiah/

Jonathan #Swift was born #OTD 1667 in the parish of St Werburgh's in Dublin.

#dib : https://dib.ie/biography/swift-jonathan-a8415

The quotable Swift – is that his only relevance today?

https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2017/11/30/swiftly-slowly/

On this day in 1667 Jonathan Swift, poet, satirist and clergyman was born in Dublin. He was an Anglican cleric and became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

Jonathan Swift died #OTD 1745 in Dublin.
https://www.dib.ie/biography/swift-jonathan-a8415

"He gave the little wealth he had
To build a house for fools and mad,
And showed by one satiric touch
No nation needed it so much."

https://libertiesdublin.ie/drswifts/

Jonathan Swift died in Dublin on 19 October 1745. He was an Anglo-Irish satirist, poet and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.