Ghostly tracks in New Mexico

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(Keeping off the current dire threat to the country and what it stands for…..

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Thirteen thousand years ago, a woman made her way across mudflats with a small child whom she sometimes carried in her arms. Nothing of her remains – except her footprints: stretching for almost a mile across the White Sands National Park in New Mexico.  They have been confirmed as the longest set of fossilised human prints ever discovered.

Analysis of the prints reveals that on her outward journey, the woman walked fast with the child; sometimes she slipped on what may have been wet ground. On her return, a few hours later, she walked steadily – and was alone. At various points, a giant sloth, a mammoth and a sabre-toothed cat crossed their path. The first reared up on its hind legs, perhaps to catch their scent, before turning and making off. The mammoth carried on, without deviating. “There’s a boundary in science between pure evidence and poetry and we’re on that boundary,” said Prof Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University; “but everything that we said in the story is evidenced in some shape.”.  (The Week 31 October 2020)

My comment: It must have been terrifying living in close proximity to mammoths and  sabre-tooth cats ( for “cats” read “tigers”!).  And life must have been so uncomfortable.  On the other hand, there were fewer humans around, and those who were there did not have guns.   There was food and clean water for the taking – and in those days you didn’t know any better, anyway.  Might not have been so bad.

Tearing the Catholic Church apart

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Pope Francis is taking a big risk by airing progressive views on gay relationships.. In a documentary aired at the Rome film festival last week, he signalled his support for same-sex civil unions (if not marriage), declaring that gay people “have a right to a family [as] they are children of God”.

The Pope’s progressive thinking impresses liberals, but the pace of change has “overwhelmed” many more conservative Catholics. Rejection of homosexuality is “anchored in the Church’s DNA”, and a change of direction could be the last straw. How are cardinals, bishops and priests “supposed to suddenly approve of what they used to condemn”?

The impact of Francis’s words was felt immediately in his home continent of Latin America, the “last great bastion” of the Catholic Church: there they sparked an “ideological earthquake” among conservatives. In Brazil, a huge shift towards more conservative evangelical churches which portray homosexuality as “the work of the devil” is already under way. Francis’s latest remarks will give them another selling point. He may be compassionate, but his taste for liberal interventions could yet end up tearing the Church apart.  (Tobias Kaiser, Die Welt. (Berlin) and The Week 31 October 2020)

My comment:   As a non-Catholic it might be wise to keep quiet and let this play out.  Nonetheless, I have to say that I am dismayed at the old- fashioned views of so many in the Catholic hierarchy, and the hypocrisy of it all when you see the activities of so many in the priesthood.  No man or woman can help being how they are they. They are born that way. It is in the genes, if that is an accurate statement medically speaking.  Well, done , Pope Francis.  You are a true christian.

Meanwhile, this morning we received a charming and happy New Year message from a young  male, married couple who live in London and who we know through the parents.  They are both highly intelligent, fun to be with and successful in their jobs; in fact, model citizens.  It is high time Catholics came to terms with all this and treated them as perfectly normal and valued.  ( By the way, the couple concerned had one of the most touching and happy weddings my wife and I can remember, – including our own, of course!)

Courtesy

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Courtesy is a science of the highest importance. It is, like grace and beauty in the body, which charm at first sight, and lead on to further intimacy and friendship, opening a door that we may derive instruction from the example of others, and at the same time enabling us to benefit them by our example, if there be anything in our character worthy of imitation.

Where have we seen this before?

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( I will not comment on the coup attempt itself-  it has had excellent coverage.  What interests me is the historical parallels)

The last four years (and yesterday was culmination) has shown the underbelly of the nation, what happens when jobs are scarce and insecure, education is dreadful unless you have a lot of money, and healthcare costs are sky-high; when the gap between rich and  poor has widened year on year, and companies hire immigrants for peanuts, (encouraging resentment and racism), or they send production to Asia.

Along comes the US version of Mussolini, full of bluster and blah.  His lies and promises are believed and his messianic (and bogus) promises blindly welcomed. Once in power Mussolini set about creating an Italian “empire” – incompetently, but it drew attention away from the maladministration and thuggery.  This is what we might just have avoided by the skin of our teeth.

Politicians and commentators:  concentrate on helping the poor feed, clothe and educate their families (an actual education is arguably as urgent as the food and rented shelter that isn’t whisked away from you).  Fortunately, the incoming regime has the right ideas, if they are allowed to implement them.

 

 

 

If they can do it in London………

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“Dear Mr Hanrott

You are now eligible for the Pfizer Covid Vaccination. Please contact the surgery to book it urgently. We have only a few appointments left for this week.

Kind regards,    Megan Mann

Reception Team
The Pembridge Villas Surgery

45 Pembridge Villa,    Notting Hill Gate,  London W11 3EP”

The above arrived yesterday afternoon.  I am not even a resident of the UK, albeit I am registered with the National Health Service.  I am tempted to leap on the first plane, get the jab and return. But, coming or going I could catch covid-19 on the plane.  So I will wait patiently while American wheels grind at their own pace.  Long live socialized medicine!

With apologies for this second, similar, posting.  I couldn’t resist it.