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24 results for “richardrathe”
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One of the most famous #computerprogramming books (1975)...
https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-niklaus-wirth-1934-2024/
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Let's start with some of the signs…
There were "hit and run" #bears taking random, non-food packs on #RoseLake. We saw a bear cub on the #GunflintTrail on the way up, but no sign on #DuncanLake where we camped. #BWCA #Camping
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It is important to note… "Use of #antibacterial soap showed little added benefit compared with use of nonantibacterial #soap."
Take home: There is NO need to add antibacterial agents to soap for basic #InfectionControl at home or in public places. More important that that you "just DO it" [wash your hands] than choosing a brand/formula of soap.
…and...
"Hand hygiene is clearly effective against #gastrointestinal and, to a lesser extent, #respiratory infections."
Take home: This makes sense! #GI #infections are typically "fecal/oral" (I don't have to go into what that means!). The hands are the most likely route of infection. Wash them!
#Influenza can be transmitted by touching surfaces. #COVID19 less so. So again the above makes sense.
Hope this Helps!
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"Ah Ha!" moment or just "Duh"? 🙄
I generally don't use #headlamps when I'm #camping because they are generally too bright for close work and I get blinded by my partner every time they look up to ask me a question (and vise versa). I haven't even owned a functioning headlamp for more than five years.
Then it suddenly dawned on me... Open up the nice soft headband and pull it OVER your head so the light hangs at your NECK. The light goes mostly where it's needed and no one gets blinded. Make that light dimmable and/or red and it's even better! 🙂
If the light is too far "down" for you, simply wear the headlamp upside down. This will let it hinge up to light the path in front of you. Again, no blinding blackouts when you turn your head. 👍
I discuss some other interesting #innovations in my recent headlamp #review...
https://richard.mdpaths.com/camping/flashlight_thoughts/headlamp-thoughts.html
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Et voici bande-annonce de Je suis une Légende en BD !
Rendez-vous le 10 septembre en librairie...
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#Bales2023FilmChallenge March 5: Someone named Scott for #NationalScottDay
Despite its sensationalist pulpy title and #ColdWar premise, Jack Arnold's adaptation of the #RichardMatheson novel is an existentialist treatise.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) plays with the understanding of what it means to be acknowledged as a human, and one's place in the world. The story is told through the eyes of the titular Shrinking Man – Scott Carey – who after being exposed to strange fog, finds himself increasingly lost in this world.
It's phenomenal and I can only recommend it.
#film #SciFi #drama #GrantWilliams #JackArnold #existentialism #phenomenology #psychology #philosophy @film
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“Usually he felt a twinge when he realized that, but for some affliction he didn’t understand, these people were the same as he.” https://library.hrmtc.com/2026/05/05/usually-he-felt-a-twinge-when-he-realized-that-but-for-some-affliction-he-didnt-understand-these-people-were-the-same-as-he/ #affliction #ApocalypticDystopian #ApocalypticFiction #BacteriaFiction #BacteRiesRomansNouvellesEtc #book #Classics #ContemporaryLiteratureFiction #didnTUnderstand #felt #fiction #GhostFiction #horror #HorrorFiction #HorrorTales #LosAngelesCalifFiction #MovieGameTieInFiction #nouvelles #Novellas #PandemicsFiction #PandeMiesRomansNouvellesEtc #peopleSame #quote #realized #RichardMatheson #ScienceFiction #shortStories #TV #twinge #usually #VampireFiction #vampires #VampiresFiction #VampiresRomansNouvellesEtc -
My 2025 in Review (Best Science Fiction Novels and Short Fiction, Reading Initiatives, and Bonus Categories)
- Graphic created by my father
Here’s to happy reading in 2026! I hope you had a successful reading year. Whether you are a lurker, occasional visitor, a regular commenter, a follower on Bluesky or Mastodon, thank you for your continued support. As I say year after year, It’s hard to express how important (and encouraging) the discussions that occur in the comments, social media, and via email are to me. I’m so thankful for the lovely and supportive community of readers, writers, and discussion partners that stop by.
What were your favorite vintage SF reads–published pre-1985–of 2025? Let me know in the comments.
Throughout the later part of the year I’ve dropped hints about a research project. Perceptive readers might have parsed together the contours of the research: late 19th/early 20th century, utopian, African American, the American South, radical politics… It’s taking longer than expected. I’ve read a good ten monographs, five dissertations, countless articles. I’ve written twenty pages. I hoped to have it posted by early in this year. Alas. It’s coming together–slowly. Stay tuned.
Without further ado, here are my favorite novels (I only read a few) and short stories (I read a ton of those) I read in 2025 with bonus categories. I made sure to link my longer reviews where applicable if you want a deeper dive.
Check out my 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021 rundowns if you haven’t already. I have archived all my annual rundowns on my article index page if you wanted to peruse earlier years.
My Top 5 Science Fiction Novels of 2025
- Alan Gutierrez’s cover for the 1985 edition
1. Octavia E. Butler’s Clay’s Ark (1984), 4.5/5 (Very Good). Full review.
Octavia E. Butler’s Clay’s Ark is the final published volume of her Patternist sequence (1976-1984). It is the third novel according to the internal chronology of the series. Clay’s Ark is, without doubt, the most horrifyingly bleak science fiction novel I have ever read. It’s stark. It’s sinister. It’s at turns deeply affective before descending into extreme violence and displaced morality. The moral conundrum that underpins the central problem, the spread of an extraterrestrial disease, unfurls with an unnerving alien logic. Butler’s characters are trapped by the demands of the alien microbes, scarred by the pervasive sense that their humanity is slipping away, and consumed by the fear of starting an epidemic. A true confrontation of the moment cannot lead to anything other than suicide or the first steps towards an apocalyptic transformation.
- Mark Weber’s cover for the 1st edition
2. Kim Stanley Robinson’s Icehenge (1984), 4.5/5 (Very Good). Full review.
Kim Stanley Robinson’s Icehenge, a fix-up from two previously published stories “To Leave a Mark” (1982) and “On the North Pole of Pluto” (1980), tells three interconnected tales that all connect to a mysterious monolith left on Pluto (the titular Icehenge). By design Icehenge instead follows the action after the action: men and women attempting to figure out their own place in a world characterizes by lifespans that stretch hundreds and hundreds of years. And its this brilliant interconnection between self-conception and the operations of history that Robinson succeeds and casts his spell. The story is well-told, polished, and filled with fascinating details (technological and sociological).
- Peter Jones’ cover for the 1978 UK edition
3. Joe Haldeman’s All My Sins Remembered (1977), 4/5 (Good). Full review.
The vast Confederación is comprised of radically distinct worlds ruled by the entire spectrum of political systems with both alien and non-alien inhabitants. There are few rules: don’t take advantage of indigenous populations and don’t wage wars on neighboring planets. At 22, the naive Otto McGavin, an Anglo-Buddhist, joins the Confederación as an agent to protect the rights of humans and non-humans. But there’s a twist. Under deep hypnosis a construct of Otto McGavin will be created for each mission. He’ll take on the identity–under a sheath of plasticine flesh–of whatever person he needs to be depending on the task. The story follows Otto on three missions over many years. The interlocking segments convey the deep trauma Otto must confront before he’s immersed in another persona and sent on another mission. His idealism clashes with the violence he must perpetuate. His sense of self conflicts with the violent actions of his “constructs.” The looming sense of dread and despair must finally have its reckoning.
- Uncredited cover for the 1983 edition
4. Zoë Fairbairns’ Benefits (1979), 3.75/5 (Good). Full review.
Zoë Fairbairns charts the struggles of the British women’s liberation movement in a dystopic near future. An anti-feminist fringe political party called FAMILY comes to power, simultaneously proclaiming family values while systematically dismantling the welfare state. Benefits effectively eviscerates governmental doublespeak and champions the need to organize and educate in order to fight against patriarchal forces and messianic movements that promise to solve all our ills.
- Colin Hay’s cover for the 1976 edition
5. Edgar Pangborn’s The Company of Glory (1975), 3.5/5 (Good). Full review.
Edgar Pangborn is an unsung SF hero in my book. At his best, he’s a deeply humanistic writer interested in moments of effective metafictional play on the nature of narrative. The Company of Glory (serialized 1974, 1975) is the third novel in the Tales of Darkening World sequence. It forms a prequel to Pangborn’s masterpiece Davy (1964). As with Davy, The Company of Glory attempts to create multiple interlocking layers of narrative, stories within the stories, quotations from various diaries, and the interjections of the overarching narrator of the entire collection of texts who remains anonymous until the final pages. Unfortunately, The Company of Glory is a deeply flawed novel. Recommended only for Pangborn’s fans. Read Davy first if you’re new to his work.
My Top 20 Science Fiction Short Stories Reads of 2025 (click titles for my full review)
1. Philip K. Dick’s “Foster, You’re Dead” (1955), 5/5 (Masterpiece): I featured on a podcast about this story. When the episode is posted, I’ll make sure to link it. Mike Foster spends his school days practicing survival skills–digging, making knives, weaving baskets–in case of a nuclear attack. The kids snicker at him as he walks past. They don’t own a fallout shelter at home. His father refuses to pay into the NATS (National Security fund). If a bomb hit, Mike wouldn’t even be granted access to the school shelter. He’s possessed by a deep, perpetual, encompassing trauma.
2. Fritz Leiber’s “Coming Attraction” (1950), 5/5 (Masterpiece): A rare reread! Leiber imagines an America transformed after a limited nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The physical landscape mirrors the psychological scars of New York’s inhabitants. Perverse new forms of TV entertainment, in particular male wrestlers pitted against masked women, transfix all audiences.
3. Jack Dann’s “A Quiet Revolution for Death” (1978), 5/5 (Masterpiece): Roger and his family head out of the city for a picnic in a vast cemetery. Roger dreams that he is an angel of God guiding mankind through the realm. Visiting the cemetery is an act of devotion. While other kids plug themselves into feelies, Bennie is a fanatic disciple of his father’s pseudo-philosophy of embracing the macabre. Sandra, Roger’s wife, plays along. The kids see through her dislike of the cemetery and the burial rituals happening around them.
4. Izumi Suzuki’s“Terminal Boredom” (1984, trans. by Daniel Joseph 2021), 4.5/5 (Very Good): A nameless young female main character recounts her interactions her one-time boyfriend. HE wants to reconnect with his mother, who abandoned his family. HE joins a staged show called The Psychoanalysis Room in an attempt to convince his mother to take “pity and come and find” him. She also has a dysfunctional family. Her mother, a TV executive, struggles/refuses to connect to her daughter. Like some manifestation of the modern hikikomori, they often refuse to communicate with others, eat as a group or eat at all for days on end, or leave their dwellings for the sun and vista of the aboveground. Both find solace and escape in the vacuities and artifice of television.
5. Philip K. Dick’s “Explorers We” (1959), 4.5/5 (Very Good): Six astronauts return to earth from a voyage to Mars. But they are not treated as heroes. Instead people flee. I found “Explorers We” a well-crafted existential terror. The story plays with narrative expectation and hints at a cosmic enormity that will, at least in this iteration, remain unknown.
6. James Tiptree, Jr.’s “Painwise” (1972), 4.5/5 (Very Good): An explorer who feels no pain is hurled mercilessly from planet to plant where is he tortured, experimented upon, and broken again, and again, and again. His sense of time dissipates. Space becomes a hellscape that he cannot escape. And each time he’s lifted back to his scout ship where a mechanical boditech stitches him back together.
7. Jack Dann’s “The Dybbuk Dolls” (1975), 4.5/5 (Very Good): Chaim Lewis works at a sex shop down below in the Undercity, one of many identical spheres, one mile in diameter, buried one thousand feet below the ground. As Chaim finishes up his shift in the dingy shop, a group of visitors ask about his hook-ins and 21st century pornos. Eventually one of them asks him about his alien sex doll collection. And when he returns to the room with the dolls, he discovers they’ve all been unpacked and they imprint themselves on his mind! Cue a descent into the bizarre…
8. Jack Williamson’s “Guinevere for Everybody” (1955), 4.5/5 (Very Good): An artificially created Guinevere stands “chained” in a “vending machine” tempting sleepy passengers in an airport with her plaintive calls. I did not know Williamson had this type of vision in him! The surprise of the year!
9. George H. Smith’s “The Last Days of L. A.” (1959), 4/5 (Good): A nameless character (“you”) wakes from a recurring dream: “the dream that has haunted the whole world since that day in 1945.” A dream of apocalyptic annihilation, in infinite variations. A narrative repetition takes form: Nuclear nightmare. The waking moment. The aimless quest for understanding. Communing with other lost souls. The retreat to the bottle. Fragments of the news suggest a world unraveling.
10. Theodore Sturgeon’s “The Stars Are the Styx” (1950), 4/5 (Good): The premise: Humans created Curbstone, an artificial satellite around Earth, to facilitate the ultimate scientific achievement–near instantaneous transportation across the galaxy. How? Individual spaceships, with a solitary crew person or couple, will be hurled out from Curbstone at various points across the space time continuum. The story revolves around the aging (and rotund) Senior Release Officer on Curbstone, who certifies, counsels, and guides the strange collection of humans who gather at the station willing to take such a risk.
11. Richard Matheson’s “Dance of the Dead” (1955), 4/5 (Good): In a drug and alcohol drenched near-future, a group of young adults take a break-neck road drip and stray from the path set out by parents and small town community. Manifesting the SPEED of the car, Matheson’s prose resonates with pulse and hum, snippets of song and signage, slang and youthful lust. It’s frantic. It’s zappy. It’s vibrant. Recommended for fans of the more linguistically experimental (and bleak) of 50s visions.
12. Jack Dann’s “Rags” (1973), 4/5 (Good): Joanna wanders the streets without seeing a single person. Everything she sees—from garbage cans to parked cars–seem in be various states of decay (“dented, rusted, and discolored”). She teaches herself a new way to walk to avoid the “invisible beings” that flit around her (6). She remembers a past sickness. Deaths in the family. She makes new rules of movement and perception as an act of preservation. And suddenly she sees The Purple Cat.
13. Jack Dann’s “Fragmentary Blue” (variant title: “There are no Bannisters”) (1973), 4/5 (Good): he elderly dwell underground in large domed cities. It’s a commercial and media-inundated world — tiny machines grant “feeling” as you watch commercials. Professor Fleitman, who “could not rationalize having an orgasm over a cigarette advertisement,” presents a new idea to galvanize the elderly to Entertainment Committee. Rather than a feelie or a movie he wants to put on a circus.
14. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s “Wanderers and Travellers” (1963, trans. 1966), 4/5 (Good): Stanisław Ivanovich spends his days submerged in lakes and rivers tagging septopods, a new octopus-like species discovered on Earth. His daughter, Marsha, assists from above. When he emerges from a lake, Marsha is deep in conversation with Leonid Andreevich Gorbovsky, an astroarchaeologist implied to be on leave from an expedition. The two scientists–IIvanovich, with his eyes on earthly mystery, and Gorbovsky, untangling the traces of potential intelligences across the cosmos–and Marsha engage in a series of discussions about the nature of the universe.
15. John Wyndham’s “The Man From Beyond” (variant title: “The Man from Earth”) (1934), 3.5/5 (Good): Somewhere on the Venusian surface the Valley of Dur, with its amalgamation of gasses, traps unsuspecting denizens who wander into its depths. In the city of Takon, Venusians, six-limbed creatures with silvery hair, ogle the strange beasts extricated and caged and exhibited from the Valley. The child, transfixed by the man’s noises and scrawls, pushes his stylus and pad under the bars. And Morgan Gratz, stranded astronaut and self-confessed murderer, draws for the child the respective locations of their planets.
16. Katherine MacLean’s “Contagion” (1950), 3.5/5 (Good) is a contact with an alien planet tale that’s legitimately odd. A hunting party looking for specimens of alien life in order to dissect, sets off from the spaceship Explorer across an alien planet called Minos. Reasonably, the crew is obsessed with a minute medical analysis of flora and fauna. The hunting party encounters a majestically shaped human who spins a crazy tale of adaptation and disease.
17. Cherry Wilder’s “The Ark of James Carlyle” (1974), 3.5/5 (Good): Carlyle spends his tour of duty in a hut with a wood platform on small landmass surrounded by an “oily purple sea” on an alien planet. A crisis hits — and he suddenly learns the reason for the singular trees that grow in the center of each island.
18. E. C. Tubb’s“Without Bugles” (1952), 3.5/5 (Good): A naive journalist struggles to confront her heroic idealism, regurgitated through the media, in her attempt to save the Mars colony afflicted with a futuristic case of the black lung.
19. Frank K. Kelly’s “Famine on Mars” (1934), 3.5/5 (Good): President Herbert Hoover infamously proclaimed on the eve of the Great Depression that “given the chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, we shall soon with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.” “Famine on Mars,” published five years into the Great Depression, evokes similar paradigmatic shifts between propagandistic proclamation and harsh reality. Kelly spins a nightmare account of a famine on Mars and a plan to save the starving legions.
20. Gerald Kersh’s “Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo?” (1953), 3.5/5 (Good): Kersh imagines a literary version of himself returning to New York City from WWII interacting with a fantastical manifestation of a Wound Man on board the Cunard White Star liner Queen Mary. Corporal Cuckoo, the “Wound Man” in question, regals the narrator (Kersh) with the history of his scarred and mutilated form that mysteriously heals from every injury.
Reading Initiatives
I have continued, resurrected, and created new science fiction short story reading series over the course of the year. Most of the stories I’ve picked for the series are available in some fashion online via links to Internet Archive in each review. I’ve included installments from 2024 in each series below. Feel free to read along with me! And thanks for all the great conversation.
Galaxy Science Fiction Read-through (started 2025)
- Galaxy Science Fiction, ed. H. L. Gold (October 1950)
- Galaxy Science Fiction, ed. H. L. Gold (November 1950)
Organized Labor and Unions in Science Fiction (started in 2024)
- Mack Reynolds’ The Earth War (1964)
- Zoë Fairbairns’ Benefits (1979)
The First Three Published Short Fictions by Female Authors (continued from 2021)
Translated Short Stories in Translation (with Rachel S. Cordasco) (started in 2024)
- Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s “Wanderers and Travellers” (1963, trans. 1966)
- Izumi Suzuki’s “Terminal Boredom” (1984, trans. by Daniel Joseph 2021)
The Media Landscape of the Future (started in 2022)
- George H. Smith’s “In the Imagicon” (1966)
- Izumi Suzuki’s “Terminal Boredom” (1984)
- Jack Dann’s “Fragmentary Blue” (variant title: “There are no Bannisters”) (1973)
The Search for the Depressed Astronaut (continued from 2020)
- Philip K. Dick’s “Explorers We” (1959)
- James Tiptree, Jr.’s “Painwise” (1972)
- E. C. Tubb’s “Without Bugles” (1952)
- E. C. Tubb’s “Home is the Hero” (1952)
- E. C. Tubb’s “Pistol Point” (1953)
- John Wyndham’s “The Man From Beyond” (variant title: “The Man from Earth”) (1934)
Generation Ship Short Stories (continued from 2019)
Exploration Logs (continued from 2022)
- Exploration Log 7: Interview with Jordan S. Carroll, author of Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (2024)
- Exploration Log 8: Pat M. Kuras and Rob Schmieder’s “When It Changed: Lesbians, Gay Men, and Science Fiction Fandom” (1980)
- Exploration Log 9: Three More Interviews with Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988)
- Exploration Log 10: Interview with Jaroslav Olša, Jr., author of Dreaming of Autonomous Vehicles: Miloslav (Miles) J. Breuer: Czech-American Writer and the Birth of Science Fiction (2025)
- Exploration Log 11: Interview with Chukwunonso Ezeiyoke, author of Nigerian Speculative Fiction: The Evolution (2025)
My Top 4 History Reads of 2025
A large portion of my history reading this year pushed my general interest in labor history and leftist politics backwards into the 19th century. Unusual for me I know! Often I write about what I can write about not what I plan on writing about. A brief caveat worth repeating: I’m a PhD-wielding historian and have a high tolerance for academic texts. That said, I’d classify everything in my list as on the approachable side of things if you know the broad strokes of American history.
1. Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp’s Setting Down the Sacred Past: African-American Race Histories (2010): This filled a complete hole in my knowledge. While I had encountered history-centric militant abolitionist texts written by black authors, I did not know how they fitted into the larger historiographic project of the era. As my PhD looked at universal histories in the medieval period, I’m a sucker for all kinds of histories of historiography! This is a good one.
2. Deborah Beckel’s Radical Reform: Interracial Politics in Post-Emancipation North Carolina (2011): I read this one for my research project on a black utopian author. Beckel’s brilliant monograph looks at the race and politics in North Carolina after the end of Reconstruction–a “fusion” government of Republicans and Populists managed to take power (temporarily) from the white supremacist Democratic status quo in the 1890s. Depressing. Fascinating. I’m waiting for an alt-history that uses the 1898 election in North Carolina as a jonbar hinge — hah!
3. Edward K. Spann’s Brotherly Tomorrows: Movements for A Cooperative Society in America (1989): While an older monograph, Spann’s work is a fantastic survey of the fascinating range of radical social idealism-inspired communities that proliferated across America. I’m obsessed by left-wing ideologies that permeate the rural world and movements for working-class utopianism. Spann will inspire you to track down newer monographs on the social movements he surveys.
4. Jordan S. Carroll’s Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (2025): Rightly won the Hugo! I interviewed Carroll in January. In the book, he examines the ways the alt-right uses classic science fiction imagery and authors to mainstream fascism and advocate for the overthrow of the state. This is a short monograph designed to encourage thought. Highly recommended.
Goals for 2026
1. Keep reading and writing.
2. Read more reviews by other bloggers.
3. Cover more SF in translation.
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
#1950s #1960s #1970s #ArkadyAndBorisStrugatsky #bookReview #bookReviews #books #CherryWilder #ECTubb #EdgarPangborn #fiction #FrankKKelly #fritzLeiber #GeorgeHSmith #GeraldKersh #IzumiSuzuki #JackDann #JackWilliamson #JamesTiptreeJr #JoeHaldeman #JohnWyndham #KatherineMacLean #KimStanleyRobinson #OctaviaEButler #philipKDick #RichardMatheson #sciFi #scienceFiction #TheodoreSturgeon #ZoeFairbairns -
2/- 👇
"By general agreement of historians, the most condemned act and worst error of Louis' career was his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, canceling his grandfather's decree of toleration and reopening persecution of the Huguenots. It lacks one qualification of complete folly in that, far from being reproved or admonished at the time, it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm and still lauded thirty years later at the King’s funeral as one of his most praiseworthy acts. This very fact, however, reinforces another criterion—that the policy must be the product of a group rather than of an individual. Recognition as folly was not long delayed. Within decades, Voltaire called it “one of the greatest calamities of France,” with consequences wholly contrary to the purpose in view." -- March of Folly
…the most condemned act and worst error of #Trump's career was his crackdown on #civil_rights, canceling progress towards equality and reopening persecution of #immigrants (#ICE) and other #minorities (#Racism). …it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm by #MAGA and #FoxNews.
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2/- 👇
"By general agreement of historians, the most condemned act and worst error of Louis' career was his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, canceling his grandfather's decree of toleration and reopening persecution of the Huguenots. It lacks one qualification of complete folly in that, far from being reproved or admonished at the time, it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm and still lauded thirty years later at the King’s funeral as one of his most praiseworthy acts. This very fact, however, reinforces another criterion—that the policy must be the product of a group rather than of an individual. Recognition as folly was not long delayed. Within decades, Voltaire called it “one of the greatest calamities of France,” with consequences wholly contrary to the purpose in view." -- March of Folly
…the most condemned act and worst error of #Trump's career was his crackdown on #civil_rights, canceling progress towards equality and reopening persecution of #immigrants (#ICE) and other #minorities (#Racism). …it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm by #MAGA and #FoxNews.
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2/- 👇
"By general agreement of historians, the most condemned act and worst error of Louis' career was his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, canceling his grandfather's decree of toleration and reopening persecution of the Huguenots. It lacks one qualification of complete folly in that, far from being reproved or admonished at the time, it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm and still lauded thirty years later at the King’s funeral as one of his most praiseworthy acts. This very fact, however, reinforces another criterion—that the policy must be the product of a group rather than of an individual. Recognition as folly was not long delayed. Within decades, Voltaire called it “one of the greatest calamities of France,” with consequences wholly contrary to the purpose in view." -- March of Folly
…the most condemned act and worst error of #Trump's career was his crackdown on #civil_rights, canceling progress towards equality and reopening persecution of #immigrants (#ICE) and other #minorities (#Racism). …it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm by #MAGA and #FoxNews.
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2/- 👇
"By general agreement of historians, the most condemned act and worst error of Louis' career was his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, canceling his grandfather's decree of toleration and reopening persecution of the Huguenots. It lacks one qualification of complete folly in that, far from being reproved or admonished at the time, it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm and still lauded thirty years later at the King’s funeral as one of his most praiseworthy acts. This very fact, however, reinforces another criterion—that the policy must be the product of a group rather than of an individual. Recognition as folly was not long delayed. Within decades, Voltaire called it “one of the greatest calamities of France,” with consequences wholly contrary to the purpose in view." -- March of Folly
…the most condemned act and worst error of #Trump's career was his crackdown on #civil_rights, canceling progress towards equality and reopening persecution of #immigrants (#ICE) and other #minorities (#Racism). …it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm by #MAGA and #FoxNews.
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2/- 👇
"By general agreement of historians, the most condemned act and worst error of Louis' career was his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, canceling his grandfather's decree of toleration and reopening persecution of the Huguenots. It lacks one qualification of complete folly in that, far from being reproved or admonished at the time, it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm and still lauded thirty years later at the King’s funeral as one of his most praiseworthy acts. This very fact, however, reinforces another criterion—that the policy must be the product of a group rather than of an individual. Recognition as folly was not long delayed. Within decades, Voltaire called it “one of the greatest calamities of France,” with consequences wholly contrary to the purpose in view." -- March of Folly
…the most condemned act and worst error of #Trump's career was his crackdown on #civil_rights, canceling progress towards equality and reopening persecution of #immigrants (#ICE) and other #minorities (#Racism). …it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm by #MAGA and #FoxNews.
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"The #Future of #War is #Drones #Bombing #DataCenters"
"Attacks on energy #infrastructure or shipping lanes with the potential to ripple outside the region are a familiar part of modern war. But a series of Iranian drone strikes in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain tells a new story about how wars will be fought in the future: with tiny, cheap drones in the sky disabling massive, critical data centers on the ground." #Iran #IllegalWar #AsymmetricalWarfare
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-future-of-war-is-drones-bombing-data-centers.html
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For your readers, to be very specific...
"It causes mild to severe allergic reactions to red meat, such as #beef, #pork or #lamb. It also can cause reactions to other foods that come from mammals, such as #dairy products or #gelatins."
Note that this list does not include chicken or fish.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alpha-gal-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20428608
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I don't know the source or year.
Labeled "Beatrix Potter and Xarifa" 🙂 💕
#BeatrixPotter and her pet #mouse #history
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"Modeling Reemergence of Vaccine-Eliminated Infectious Diseases Under Declining Vaccination in the US"
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2833361
"At current state-level vaccination rates, measles may become endemic again; increasing vaccine coverage would prevent this. Under a 50% decline in childhood vaccination in the US, the simulation model predicted 51.2 million #measles cases over a 25-year period, 9.9 million #rubella cases, 4.3 million #poliomyelitis cases, 197 #diphtheria cases, 10.3 million hospitalizations, and 159,200 deaths."
Note that the graphic is labeled "25% decline in childhood vaccination" not 50%. I think this is because the authors wanted an "average" of their models for the graphic. Bottom line: It's bad at 25% and can only get worse! Also note that the #measles numbers are much larger because it is so much more contagious!
People... this would be an *appalling* outcome of the current anti-vax, anti-science, anti-child confusion and policies of the current #Trump administration!
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1864-02-08: To #RichardBethell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bethell,_1st_Baron_Westbury), the #ThirtyNineArticles were "meagre and disjointed extracts" from #ThomasCranmer's #FortyTwoArticles (https://snrk.de/meagre-and-disjointed-extracts/). #LewisCarroll (the Deacon #Dodgson) objected especially to the 42th article in the Forty-TwoArticles.
#Number42 | #39Articles | #ChurchOfEngland |#ThomasCranmer's #42Articles |#LewisCarroll | #CLDodgson | #EternalDamnation | #EternalPunishment | #TheHuntingOfTheSnark
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Please do not use the term 'intellectual property'. See https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html
#intelectualproperty #copyright #FreeSoftware #RichardStallman #RichardMatthewStallman #RMS @rms #FreeLibreSoftware #FreeSoftwareFoundation #FSF @fsf
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Untapped Cities examines the curtain wall architectural technique through Richard Roth Jr.'s work on Alexander's department store in NYC and how Alexander's represented innovation in both retail architecture and construction methods during the post-war building boom.
#NYCArchitecture #CurtainWall #ModernArchitecture #ArchitecturalHistory #RichardRothJr #RetailArchitecture #UntappedCities
https://www.untappedcities.com/curtain-wall-nyc-architect-richard-roth-jr-alexanders/ -
CW: Actor attention tags
Hi #MichaelStuhlbarg #TimMcMullan #BillPaxton #JasonOMara #JasonClarke #LinusRoache #MichaelNyqvist #PhilipFranks #IanMcShane #ElliotCowan #PeterSerafinowicz #LeeVanCleef #ChristopherLee #BobPeck #ConONeill #GregDavies #TimCurry #TerenceHill #YulBrynner #WilliamFichtner #JohnTurturro #PeterWoodward #SashaRoiz #MichaelSheen #JamesPMorrison #WillPatton #AlanCumming #LambertWilson #DavidDaker #KevinDurand #MichaelEmerson #TomHollander #JRBourne #RichardAttenborough #SimonPegg
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The Three Lions
There are few symbols in England more instantly recognisable than three golden lions marching proudly across a field of red.
Today they adorn football shirts, cricket caps and rugby jerseys. They are painted on pub signs, stamped on passports, embroidered onto military uniforms and waved from terraces whenever England dares to dream.
Millions sing Three Lions without ever stopping to ask a simple question.
Why three?
Why lions?
And why has this particular emblem survived almost nine centuries while kings, dynasties, empires and governments have all faded into history?
Like so many ancient symbols, the answer lies somewhere between history and mythology.
The lion itself had never roamed Britain. Wolves, bears and wild boar once stalked these islands, but lions existed only in stories carried home by pilgrims, crusaders and Roman writers. To medieval Europe, the lion represented everything a king was expected to be: courageous, just, noble, watchful and fierce.
Long before heraldry became an organised system, lions appeared throughout Christian art. Medieval bestiaries claimed that lion cubs were born dead before being brought to life by the breath of their father three days later. Whether believed literally or symbolically, the tale became an obvious parallel with the Resurrection of Christ. Lions were therefore not merely dangerous beasts; they were creatures associated with kingship, divine authority and eternal life.
It is hardly surprising that Europe’s rulers eagerly adopted them.
England’s relationship with lions began with the Norman kings. William the Conqueror himself probably bore no official coat of arms because heraldry had not yet fully developed, but by the twelfth century shields and banners had become increasingly important on crowded battlefields. Knights hidden beneath mail and helmets required instantly recognisable devices.
The first English royal lions seem to appear during the reign of Henry I. Henry married Matilda of Scotland, linking Norman and Anglo-Saxon royal bloodlines. Some historians believe one lion may have entered the royal family’s symbolism through this marriage, while another emerged through subsequent dynastic alliances.
Heraldry during this period was fluid, with symbols evolving rather than appearing fully formed. The decisive moment arrived with Henry’s son, Richard I.
Richard Plantagenet.
Richard the Lionheart.
Few English monarchs have acquired such legendary status. Ironically, Richard spent remarkably little time in England. He spoke French, regarded his continental possessions as more important than his English kingdom, and devoted much of his reign to warfare and the Crusades. Yet he became the king most closely associated with English courage.
Richard originally used seals depicting two lions passant guardant – walking with one forepaw raised while turning their faces towards the viewer. During his reign a third lion appeared, creating the royal arms that remain instantly recognisable today.
Whether Richard consciously chose three lions or inherited an evolving design remains debated by historians, but by the end of the twelfth century England possessed one of Europe’s most distinctive coats of arms. Three gold lions with blue claws and blue tongues, marching one above another upon a crimson shield.
In heraldic language the animals are not technically “lions” at all. They are described as lions passant guardant. Passant refers to the walking pose. Guardant means the head faces directly towards the observer. To medieval eyes this posture conveyed confidence rather than aggression. A rampant lion, rearing upon its hind legs, symbolised battle. A passant lion suggested calm authority – a ruler who possessed strength but had no need to prove it.
There may also have been another layer of symbolism. Throughout medieval Europe, the number three carried profound meaning. Three represented the Holy Trinity. Birth, life and death. Past, present and future. Faith, hope and charity. The symbolism would have been immediately understood by contemporary audiences. Whether Richard deliberately chose three lions because of religious symbolism remains uncertain, but medieval rulers rarely ignored such powerful associations.
Once adopted, the badge spread rapidly.Royal seals, coinage, castles, government documents,military banners. It became the visual signature of the English Crown.
As English armies marched across France during the Hundred Years’ War, three golden lions marched with them. The emblem flew above the armies of Edward III, the Black Prince and Henry V. It fluttered above muddy battlefields at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, becoming associated not simply with monarchy but with English identity itself. Ironically, the badge survived periods when the monarchy itself seemed close to collapse.
During the Wars of the Roses, rival claimants fought beneath variations of royal heraldry. Under the Tudors, dragons, roses and portcullises joined the royal display, yet the three lions remained.
When James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne in 1603, the royal arms expanded dramatically. Scotland’s rampant lion and Ireland’s golden harp joined the shield, yet England’s three lions retained their place.
Empires rose. Empires fell. The lions remained.
One reason for their remarkable survival maybe lies in what they came to represent. Originally they belonged solely to the king. Gradually they became the property of the nation.The shift happened slowly over centuries. The English Civil War challenged royal authority. The Industrial Revolution transformed society. The British Empire reshaped Britain’s place in the world. Yet somehow the ancient lions adapted, and by the nineteenth century they had become less a symbol of monarchy than of England itself.
Then came football.
In 1863, when the Football Association sought an emblem, it turned naturally towards the ancient royal arms. The modern FA crest retained the three lions while adding Tudor roses between them. Few sporting badges possess such extraordinary ancestry. Every England football shirt carries a design whose origins stretch back to the Crusades. Every chant echoes nearly nine hundred years of history. Every major tournament briefly reconnects modern England with a medieval kingdom.
Of course, symbolism rarely remains fixed. To Victorian imperialists the lions represented national destiny. During the World Wars they became symbols of resilience. For football supporters they came to embody hope, frustration and stubborn optimism in equal measure.
The song Three Lions, first released during the European Championships in 1996, captured something far older than football itself. “It’s coming home” resonated not simply because the game originated in England, but because the badge itself already felt timeless. The lions seemed to belong to history rather than any particular generation.
Yet there is another, older way of looking at them.
Folklore often blurs the line between animal and guardian. Across Britain, churches possess spectral black dogs, castles harbour ghostly ravens and forests boast white stags. England’s lions occupy a similar symbolic space. Not literal creatures. Guardians. Sentinels. Beasts that exist not in the countryside but in the collective imagination of a nation.They have watched Norman knights become Tudor courtiers, Georgian soldiers become Victorian industrialists, and factory workers become football fans. They have witnessed plague, civil war, empire, Blitz, victory and defeat. Kings have died beneath them. Queens have ruled beneath them. Governments have come and gone. The lions simply continue their silent march.
Unlike flags, or borders, which shift. Unlike politicians, who disappear into history. The three lions remain reassuringly constant. Almost nine hundred years after Richard the Lionheart’s reign, children still draw them in school exercise books. Soldiers still wear them into battle. Sportsmen still carry them onto the world’s biggest stages.
Most never think about where they came from.But perhaps they should because hidden inside those three ancient beasts lies the story of England itself. And it’s a story of crusaders and kings, of heralds and holy symbolism, of battlefields and belief, of history transformed into legend.
And that is one of the greatest mysteries of all.
Not that three lions came to symbolise England.
But that, after nearly nine centuries, England still instinctively recognises them as its own.
#BritishHistory #castles #chivalry #ChristianSymbolism #coatOfArms #Crusades #England #EnglandFootball #EnglishFolklore #EnglishFootball #EnglishHistory #EnglishIdentity #EnglishMonarchy #Folklore #FootballAssociation #HenryI #HenryII #heraldicLions #heraldry #historyOfEngland #knights #lionSymbolism #medievalBestiary #medievalEngland #medievalHistory #medievalKings #medievalSymbolism #nationalSymbols #NormanEngland #passantGuardant #Plantagenets #RichardI #RichardTheLionheart #royalArms #royalHeraldry #royalHistory #StGeorge #symbolism #ThreeLions #ThreeLionsEmblem -
Prince Richard (later known as King Richard the Lionheart) being knighted by King Louis VII of France (Peter Jackson)