tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91231548182416507332024-03-10T18:38:21.421-07:00talking to meDroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-60805077601192216602022-08-02T18:52:00.001-07:002022-08-03T04:47:41.543-07:00The Sons of Tannhäuser<p> The Sons of Tannhäuser are a secret society whose origins date back to the 15th century, around the year 1430, and whose members, who are suspected of having included celebrities such as Richard Wagner or Ludwig Bechstein, follow in the footsteps of the legendary Tannhäuser.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6EaAc0BovUYEPTHv7L5-1mHo90UwMbcEy4gi_kesyhybMGK5vHP8-WgzuRI9Fxx93i9Brp839lYAvRwu4DZ5oal-hrFOInXYTf4afRJo2EQ6i7pMDaV0g7pfnPIPFU-RXzDOhcdbn4KD5Rmdz9TOI6Euy4Jgxx39qrj-1czXdlzFeReJWaCsQPA6/s768/tannhausers%20sons.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; outline-width: 0px !important; user-select: auto !important;"><img alt="Sons of Tannhauser" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6EaAc0BovUYEPTHv7L5-1mHo90UwMbcEy4gi_kesyhybMGK5vHP8-WgzuRI9Fxx93i9Brp839lYAvRwu4DZ5oal-hrFOInXYTf4afRJo2EQ6i7pMDaV0g7pfnPIPFU-RXzDOhcdbn4KD5Rmdz9TOI6Euy4Jgxx39qrj-1czXdlzFeReJWaCsQPA6/w400-h400/tannhausers%20sons.jpg" title="Sons of Tannhauser" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Tannhäuser</h2><p>Tannhäuser was a German poet and Minnesänger, born into a family of knights from the Salzburg area, the Knights of Thannhausen, who resided in their castle at Tannhausen, near Ellwangen and Dinkelsbühl.</p><p><br /></p><p>Tannhäuser was an active member of the court of Frederick II of Austria, and according to the Codex Manesse he would have taken the habits of the Teutonic Order, and participated in the Fifth Crusade.</p><p>After this he would have led a life as a wandering poet in Germany, composing lyrical poetry and songs (Tanzlieder).</p><p>Upon his death, the legend was born according to which Tannhäuser would have found the Venusberg, the subterranean abode of the goddess Venus, where he would have spent seven years of his life given over to the pleasures of the goddess.</p><p>The Venusberg (in German, Venus Mountain), is the name of a mythical mountain in Germany located between Gotha and Eisenach. The mountain caverns house the court of Venus, goddess of love, who was supposed to be perfectly hidden from mortals: entering there meant eternal perdition, and the ultimate erotic adventure.</p><p>According to legend, after leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser felt remorse and traveled to Rome to ask Pope Urbano IV if it was possible for him to be absolved of his sins.</p><p>Urbano replied that forgiveness was as impossible as it would be for his cane to flourish. Three days after Tannhäuser left, Urbano's cane blossomed. Messengers were sent for the knight, but he had already returned to the Venusberg and was never seen again.</p><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Daughters of Venus</h2><div><br /></div><div>For the Children of Tannhäuser the legend is true, although hidden behind metaphors that obscure the real meaning of Tannhäuser's discovery.</div><div>For the members of this organization, what really happened is that by chance Tannhäuser discovered a group of what they call "Daughters of Venus", female secret societies that coexist daily with the world without being discovered, and who live according to certain principles among which are the impossibility of denying the desires of any man who demands obedience from them to fulfill their carnal desires, the permanent care of their physical beauty to be irresistible to the opposite sex, and the desire to search for perfection through male pleasure.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQ18Dvqm7nzTCZXMupvigoSLBAeG8tDMz1ZjlV_jumtWbaKyApc2FqjFlT5jTOFdRDdW0tjejiemE6z8bxVVrqLvyl2iG_Hy59-L4VFWulR9WRWnlCh_irh6KPO_DhQOD_sYFgI3EqFq_tZ04qe-Mmo5REwho2MpC3G_Xh7Cg4B98OEiyfB7uK_kW/s1350/white%20ladies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Daughter of Venus" border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="953" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQ18Dvqm7nzTCZXMupvigoSLBAeG8tDMz1ZjlV_jumtWbaKyApc2FqjFlT5jTOFdRDdW0tjejiemE6z8bxVVrqLvyl2iG_Hy59-L4VFWulR9WRWnlCh_irh6KPO_DhQOD_sYFgI3EqFq_tZ04qe-Mmo5REwho2MpC3G_Xh7Cg4B98OEiyfB7uK_kW/w452-h640/white%20ladies.jpg" title="White Ladies or Ladies of the White Rose" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For the Sons of Tannhäuser there are groups, such as the White Ladies, who make up what they call the Daughters of Venus, and whose existence is protected exclusively by anonymity.</div><div>The Sons of Tannhäuser maintain that the Venusberg is nothing more than the discovery of the existence of one of these groups, and that the man who manages to identify one of its members will be at what they call the Gates of Tannhäuser.</div><div>The man who manages to discover one of these groups of women would find a virtually inexhaustible source of pleasure, since he would obtain from them pleasure and obedience in exchange for their silence, which would be what Tannhäuser would have discovered.</div><div>The oath of the Sons of Tannhäuser is to search for these "Venusberg" and share it exclusively with the other members of their brotherhood.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although there is abundant evidence for the existence of the White Ladies, as well as abundant references to Tannhäuser and his followers, there are those who question the nature of the quest for the Sons of Tannhäuser, and while there are scholars who favor that the group maintains a metaphysical search, in pursuit of reaching the true Venusberg, others maintain that it is about more mundane and pragmatic objectives, the identification of the "Daughters of Venus" as a way to achieve physical pleasure, without other further goals.</div></div><div><br /></div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-43261925628477647902018-10-09T11:14:00.003-07:002022-08-02T17:29:22.080-07:00Social media in education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJewI0ZKRknqf4jQkh3s37XSuvlMDxHBfX6q9EmwPfbwMQeQx1o3UlFSchghwtWGaHKqoSw1mhsw__9HVBbZiiP31dvHBCG0Dqejw0PFDw_Qh7h3XZ1OFTvy0mfvLI5SZjcishgb7CVM/s1600/social-media.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Social media in education" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJewI0ZKRknqf4jQkh3s37XSuvlMDxHBfX6q9EmwPfbwMQeQx1o3UlFSchghwtWGaHKqoSw1mhsw__9HVBbZiiP31dvHBCG0Dqejw0PFDw_Qh7h3XZ1OFTvy0mfvLI5SZjcishgb7CVM/s400/social-media.png" title="Social media in education" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nowadays, social networks are a fundamental tool. There are many opinions that technology allows to speed up education, but at the same time it can reduce it. We must bear in mind that social networks have changed the way we communicate, socialize, how to conduct new business, as well as have made an important change in the way in which students can learn.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><h2 style="text-align: justify;">Can social networks come to be considered Educational?</h2><div style="text-align: justify;">In the last two decades the media has reached the hands of children by providing information that was previously restricted to them. Years ago the only way to learn was to read a topic as many times as necessary until you memorize it; From the communicative point of view, the use of the means of communication that we have, can be beneficial, but it has also led to many parents being restricted in the education they give their children. This educational tool does not only affect children, adults and adolescents; besides its use produces addiction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Currently, one out of every 5 people in the world makes use of social networks, therefore, it is important that in educational centers they are known and used in a way in which students can benefit from them for their training and their Personal development.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Experts of the pedagogy affirm that social networks within the classroom encourage dialogue and participation, and also affirm that social networks are a new way of understanding Education, although there are teachers who refuse to implement them in their teaching systems for several reasons. reasons: as it may be, the scarce training on their part in this field totally new to them and the lack of technological means in the classroom.</div><br />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Are the benefits of social networks in the classroom unknown?</h2><div style="text-align: justify;">It would be important to detail the benefits and positive aspects of the use of social networks in current education. Both teachers and students can benefit from the possibilities granted by social networks; teachers can facilitate their work as teachers and from the point of view of students, can facilitate the learning process.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among the benefits provided by the use of social networks in the area of education, we find the following:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>It allows teachers to teach the student to learn for themselves, acting only as a guide in learning. It is true that social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook ... can become educational tools but the problem with this education is that it is out of control.</li>
<li>They are a means of communication, allowing adolescents who are very familiar with them, to feel more comfortable in their relationships with teachers. But not only it serves to communicate between students and professors of the same center, but it can serve them to contact experts of other subjects or students of other centers.</li>
<li>It helps to develop digital and technological skills necessary to work in companies, as well as in their own entrepreneurial initiatives, such as the digital certificate, a tool which is totally unknown to students but can help them and facilitate the completion of paperwork related to the INEM, with the rent, with the ministry of justice, request for online appointment in the social security, as well as consult the points of the driver's license.</li>
<li>The use of social networks and blog, promotes the value of sharing and collaboration. In this way, not only the teacher transmits knowledge, but also cooperation between a group of people is favored.</li>
<li>Help in the awareness of the importance of socializing, working as a team, freedom of expression ...</li>
<li>Through the use of ICT, students learn by doing, which is how they learn best.</li>
<li>They make it possible to make themselves known to the center, to the teaching staff and to the students, providing opportunities to publicize the institutional and educational activity.</li>
<li>The search for information will no longer be a boring task, allowing the student to enter the different social networks to investigate and have the necessary resources to complete daily activities.</li>
<li>Social networks, such as facebook, allow the creation of private class groups and even a group for each subject, which facilitates the resolution of doubts in a quicker and more personal way with teachers; without counting also that in this way they can share with their classmates any resource they need.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Currently there are several collaborative webs, an example is the Wiki, where students can add, edit, create or modify the content of a web page quickly and easily.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thanks to social networks, teachers can disseminate among them different educational resources, ideas, even materials. There is no doubt that these tools, both teachers and students, facilitate the task of teaching and learning, since both parties have more resources to access and allows students to solve their doubts in an easier and faster way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To conclude, we can say that social networks are becoming a resource that increases the development of communication skills and can be used as a learning strategy by students, since most students use them daily without specific benefit and teaching them how to make an appropriate use of these, they can include them as part of their academic activities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Taking into account all the above, social networks will carry out an evolution in the field of education that will favor learning and enrichment reciprocally between teachers and students, that is, encourage collaborative learning using activities that allow self-evaluation or meditation on the work done.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-91485254467854659352018-09-21T13:03:00.000-07:002018-09-21T13:03:01.267-07:00Facebook launches its dating service to compete with Tinder<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">The social network Facebook launched "Dating" in Colombia, its tool to generate relationships among its users.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This new functionality is designed so that people can meet friends or potential partners who share their interests.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The service works with a separate and private profile within the main application, in an attempt to compete with the Tinder application, leader of the sector.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Facebook Dating uses a unique algorithm to match possible appointments, based on factors such as things you have in common and friends in common. You will not see anyone you're already a friend on Facebook, or see people you've blocked. You can also report and block users with the same tools available in other parts of the social network.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Facebook restricts potential matches to people located less than 100 kilometers away. Like other dating apps, you can also choose to match people who live nearby, whether or not they have children, share the same religion or fit into a specific age or height group.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Due to its emergence in the Mediterranean it was extended in principle by the Europe dominated by the Roman Empire, and then in epochs of the colonies from Europe towards mainly America and Australia.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">There is no evidence that there are groups of this type in Asia, or in the Arab World, and although the existence of small groups in these areas of the world can not be ruled out, it seems unlikely that they would prosper because of the cultural peculiarities of these civilizations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXJGRTIt9trJWKjh5JWmUti535sKEPysNVlnZOk5-GbrwgGO-3UozwnJKy4bjNbymz_MJ_woqXuKSJlgnTBwYcan13zuM_dn5l-N1M4LkOsBE1d5fYkEuHH1c4CVG0rgHDbnlQ2nF7RY/s1600/e5e0e41ff37f21ccd3164f0c14ae8af3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="325" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXJGRTIt9trJWKjh5JWmUti535sKEPysNVlnZOk5-GbrwgGO-3UozwnJKy4bjNbymz_MJ_woqXuKSJlgnTBwYcan13zuM_dn5l-N1M4LkOsBE1d5fYkEuHH1c4CVG0rgHDbnlQ2nF7RY/s200/e5e0e41ff37f21ccd3164f0c14ae8af3.jpg" width="110" /></a></div>It is assumed that there are groups of this type in most of the major cities of the West, but the most active and best organized groups would be in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.</div><br />
In Europe, all countries today are thought to have groups of this type, although in the countries of the socialist bloc they would have had more difficulties to organize themselves, since it is a group where early education of young people plays a very decisive role. girls from a very early age, and societies with more civil liberties offer a better refuge to groups like this.<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In any case there are strong indications that currently in Russia, Georgia, Czech Republic or Croatia have important organized groups.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australia and New Zealand are two countries where White Ladies would also have a significant presence.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Recently a publication invited its readers to comment on whether they knew directly or indirectly any member of the Daughters of Venus, and the response was strikingly numerous.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A large number of people in Europe, Oceania, America and part of Africa claimed to know members of the White Ladies group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is also worth noting that there was not a woman who confessed or even anonymously belonged to any of these groups.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-73061759302448680062018-08-17T13:45:00.001-07:002018-08-17T13:45:57.066-07:00White Ladies: Organization and Philosophy<div style="text-align: justify;">The White Ladies is an organization with a hierarchy of pyramidal type, which as far as is known is composed of 4 degrees:</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The Great Mother, who is the highest authority of the organization</li>
<li>The Big Sister, who is appointed by the Great Mother upon assuming her from among the Sisters, and who is her successor in case of death, illness or voluntary retirement.</li>
<li>The Sisters, who make up the majority of the organization.</li>
<li>The Novices, who are the aspirants to enter, and who do not belong fully to the organization until they have completed their 3-year trial.</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The entrance to the White Ladies is produced exclusively by recruitment, being common that happens between mothers to daughters. This is explained by the long period of indoctrination necessary to be part of the organization.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Any Sister may have a single candidate under her protection, although this is not obligatory, and when the Sister takes place, during that period she receives the rank of Sister Nurse.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Only those who bear the title of Sister, Big Sister, or Great Mother can be Nodriza</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Each Nurse Sister has a girl or young woman she has chosen under her protection, and the applicant's education period that lasts for years begins.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">During these years the Nurse must test her aspirant 10 times, and once the aspirant has satisfactorily passed these tests the Nurse requests the Great Mother permission for the aspirant to become a Novice, and the Great Mother decides so unappealable if it approves or denies said income.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">No aspirant can be a Novice before she reaches 20 years of age, and the novitiate lasts for 3 years, before she can become a Sister, and fully integrate herself into society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Little is known about the 10 tests to which applicants are subjected to the novitiate, but apparently it is evidence of trust and doctrine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Doctrine</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The White Ladies, unlike other secret societies, do not seek to occupy positions of power or influence this in any way. Its objective is to keep alive a vision of the universe and humanity, which according to its convictions has been separated from what they call the Natural Order.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXE8QLWg2bqt2YJXh5MFqxV5nMxlByDVXJlqdhMPT3Ub1hQq-Bza4RLsx5RmsVDo6Rj3Zj2meB8wsaNXQjtl2drWpx1-MIQ9HpWCjQnvq7xgyntfcbXsH4nBUhbEyvA1Bx1lcGCYpng0/s1600/aphrodite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="383" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXE8QLWg2bqt2YJXh5MFqxV5nMxlByDVXJlqdhMPT3Ub1hQq-Bza4RLsx5RmsVDo6Rj3Zj2meB8wsaNXQjtl2drWpx1-MIQ9HpWCjQnvq7xgyntfcbXsH4nBUhbEyvA1Bx1lcGCYpng0/s320/aphrodite.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the one hand, his doctrine inherits the whole tradition of the Aphrodite cult.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the so-called "ritual prostitution" found in the genesis of the goddess cult has remained in the past, some of its characteristics have not.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the classical tradition, each single young woman went once in her life to the sanctuary of the goddess to make love with a stranger. The man chose the girl, threw some money at her feet (although the amount of money was not important), and pronounced the phrase: "I invoke the goddess on you."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The most beautiful young women were able to do their duty quickly, while the less graceful ones usually took many hours to complete the ritual.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are those who maintain that from here the cult to the body of the White Ladies is born, as well as their erotic abilities, as a way to fulfill the ritual to the goddess Aphrodite with the promptness and efficiency that the goddess deserves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The phrase "I invoke the goddess on you" is still part of the initiation ritual, although the versions differ on whether it is pronounced by the Great Mother at the beginning of the novitiate or at the end of it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Logic would seem to indicate that with this phrase the novices become considered "Sisters", that is, full members of the group, but there is no certainty that this is so.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cult of physical beauty is an important part of the ritual and tradition of the goddess.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Cyprus there exists until today, for example, the legend of the rock of Aphrodite. On the beach of Cythera that saw the goddess emerge from the foam, there is a rock called the rock of Aphrodite, and who who swims 3 times around that rock will obtain eternal beauty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aphrodite, according to the myth was educated by the Hours, distributors of the rain, who received her as queen in Cyprus and taught her all the tricks to seduce mortal and immortal men.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The search for eternal beauty, as well as perfection in the arts of seduction, are permanent and fundamental searches of the White Ladies, but not the only ones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The concept that man should be the one who chooses the woman, as well as that the moral duty of this is to accept to honor the goddess, seem to endure throughout the centuries, although suffering changes and successive transformations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The concept of the Natural Order is another constant, in this order, the most evolved beings follow patterns of behavior dictated by Nature, and as they turn away from these they turn away from happiness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lion does not aspire to be anything other than a lion, it is his nature to act as such, and if he turned away from this precept he would fall ill.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The wolf does not choose to be a wolf, it simply is." This idea of the Natural Order assumes the concept that men and women are of a different nature, and that when they deviate from this behavior they deviate from the possibility of developing fully.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This philosophical position has been very harshly criticized from feminist sectors that argue that the concept of Natural Order aims to keep women in a role of inferiority against the male gender.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, the concept of Natural Order of the White Ladies does not point to a legal inequality, but to defend the natural differences between both sexes.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">For the White Ladies the Natural Order is not revealed by God or a superior entity, although they count among its ranks with members of different religious confessions, but it is reached by careful observation of the teachings of nature.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As in the myth of Aphrodite, fidelity is not a value in itself, nor is it in nature. "A lion has so many females, and for as long as he can defend his position from other rival males."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lioness does not "live" as infidelity the arrival of another dominant male in the group, but it is part of the natural course of things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is man's responsibility, because it is part of the essence of his masculinity, to keep rivals away from his partner.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The knowledge that one has of his philosophy and rituals or initiation tests are fragmentary, although they are consistent with the tradition of the rite of the goddess.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The positions around White Ladies are not unanimous, ranging from those who maintain that it is no more than a legend of oral tradition without real sustenance, to those who think there is strong evidence of its existence to this day; who maintain that their philosophy is quietist and extremely conservative, to those who accuse their members of propagating behaviors that are at odds with morality; those who maintain that it is only one of so many innocuous groups of little interest, to whom they dedicate an important effort to the attempt to identify their members, as is the case of the Sons of Tannhäuser.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6pE2PyezUwr427aYWhgPrHrUbW5R0gm3RDP0e1rd4LklUO2bDovOHCO1wv_GSEdtDaZvXfIm2AcqIxRKfJPfHKx8NjAjtXVOtxhn_gk8Z4ZuX9HWvPTgfyOqYrejkknA0xw9F931aLO8/s1600/Aphrodite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="709" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6pE2PyezUwr427aYWhgPrHrUbW5R0gm3RDP0e1rd4LklUO2bDovOHCO1wv_GSEdtDaZvXfIm2AcqIxRKfJPfHKx8NjAjtXVOtxhn_gk8Z4ZuX9HWvPTgfyOqYrejkknA0xw9F931aLO8/s400/Aphrodite.jpg" width="177" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Aphrodite</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, lust, beauty, sexuality and reproduction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although it is often referred to in modern culture as "the goddess of love," it is important to note that it was not usually love in the Christian or romantic sense, but love as physical or sexual attraction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Greek mythology, Aphrodite had no childhood: in all the images and references she was born adult, nubile and infinitely desirable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Due to its immense beauty, Zeus feared that Aphrodite was the cause of violence among the other gods. For that reason he married her with Hephaestus, the stern and ill-humored god of fire and forge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However Aphrodite, still married to Hephaestus, was not faithful, and kept frequent romances with other gods, especially with the mighty Ares, but also with Dionysus and Hermes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also had lovers among mortals, such as Adonis, Anchises, Phaeton and Kratos, among others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aphrodite had her own festivals, the Aphrodisias, which were celebrated throughout Greece but particularly in Athens and Corinth. In the temple of Aphrodite located on top of the Acrocorinth (before the Roman destruction of the city in 146 BC) sexual relations with their priestesses were considered a method of worship of the goddess. This temple was not rebuilt when the city was re-founded under Roman rule in 44 BC. C., but it is probable that the fertility rituals lasted in the city, near the agora.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Venus</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Venus was an important Roman goddess related mainly to love, beauty and fertility, which played a crucial role in many Roman religious festivals and myths, but from the third century BC. C., the increasing Hellenization of the Roman upper classes identified it as equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">His cult began in Ardea and Lavinio (Lazio). On August 15, 293 a. C. it was dedicated its oldest temple of which one has constancy, and on August 18 the party called the Vinalia Rustica was instituted. On April 25, 215 a. C. was dedicated a temple outside the Porta Collina on Capitoline Hill to commemorate the Roman defeat in the Battle of Lake Trasimeno.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Christianity</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cult of Venus was banished by Christianity, like all pagan cults.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, it was kept secret by different groups, not necessarily composed exclusively by women.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But by 1200 literary allusions to the cult of the goddess began to appear, as well as various medieval legends, now yes, already converted into an exclusively feminine cult surrounded by mystery, such as the legend of Tannhäuser.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This German story tells that the knight and poet Tannhäuser found the Venusberg, a mountain with caves that contained the underground home of Venus, and spent a year worshiping the goddess there. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser had remorse and traveled to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if it was possible for him to be absolved of his sins.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Urban replied that forgiveness was as impossible as it would be for his staff to flourish. Three days after Tannhäuser left, Urban's staff blossomed. Messengers were sent to look for the gentleman, but this one already had returned to the Venusberg and never was seen again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It has been asserted that the Venusberg is only one of many groups, of the then called Ladies of the White Rose, which would have been discovered by Tannhäuser, and that the knight would have succumbed to the temptation to take advantage of that discovery for his own benefit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">From the Roman upper classes, to the nobility of the European Middle Ages, the cult would have remained, although undergoing transformations in its interaction with other pagan cults.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Century XVIII</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the weakening of the power of the Church, and the proliferation of secret societies, the European courts would be the ideal breeding ground for the reappearance of the legend of the White Ladies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Far from its religious connotations, the organization is again mentioned with insistence, always linked to women of noble families.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The apolitical nature of the organization, as well as the fact that its members were exclusively women, contributed to its never being seen as a risk to the power of the day, as would other male secret societies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, that same contempt meant that they were never infiltrated as the other secret societies would be.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This has had as a consequence, on the one hand a deep ignorance of its internal functioning and on the other that from many intellectual circles the existence of this society of women was ruled out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who defend the existence of the White Ladies argue that these two are the most important causes why the White Ladies have remained in the shadows to this day. For those who claim that White Ladies exist, ignorance and disbelief are the best defense of this organization.</div><br />
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Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-17900985625605513542018-07-18T22:29:00.000-07:002018-07-18T22:29:05.384-07:00The Sons of Tannhäuser<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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</script><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbxPfSMwMOaooDk3J3SxyVAu95nlGCP73Txoh2RuNWfVqMQ2dHc7UiO3Gx43V9CZQi79aCq_LXeoOG870MecSbt-GzJEnxb8ZOtuwhNBmFOMBuSw_Qj2HqDctuBMRlqrOIDm0IdmMRkxM/s1600/Tannhauser+in+the+Venusberg+by+John+Collier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="698" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbxPfSMwMOaooDk3J3SxyVAu95nlGCP73Txoh2RuNWfVqMQ2dHc7UiO3Gx43V9CZQi79aCq_LXeoOG870MecSbt-GzJEnxb8ZOtuwhNBmFOMBuSw_Qj2HqDctuBMRlqrOIDm0IdmMRkxM/s400/Tannhauser+in+the+Venusberg+by+John+Collier.jpg" width="272" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Sons of Tannhäuser are a secret society whose origins date back to the 15th century, around the year 1430, and whose members, among whom we suspect that famous celebrities such as Richard Wagner or Ludwig Bechstein have been followed in the footsteps of the legendary Tannhäuser.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tannhäuser</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tannhäuser was a German poet and Minnesänger, born into a family of knights from the Salzburg area, the Knights of Thannhausen, who resided at his castle in Tannhausen, near Ellwangen and Dinkelsbühl.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tannhäuser was an active member of the court of Frederick II of Austria, and according to the Codex Manesse would have taken the habits of the Teutonic Order, and participated in the Fifth Crusade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">After this he would have led a life as a wandering poet in Germany, composing lyric poems and songs (Tanzlieder).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At his death was born the legend according to which Tannhäuser would have found the Venusberg, the underground dwelling of the goddess Venus, where she would have spent seven years of her life given over to the pleasures of the goddess.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Venusberg (in German, Mountain of Venus), is the name of a mythical mountain in Germany located between Gotha and Eisenach. The caverns of the mountain house the court of Venus, goddess of love, who was supposed to be perfectly hidden from mortals: entering there meant eternal damnation, and the ultimate erotic adventure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the legend, after leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser had remorse and traveled to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if it was possible to absolve his sins.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Urban replied that forgiveness was as impossible as it would be for his staff to flourish. Three days after Tannhäuser left, Urbano's staff blossomed. Messengers were sent to look for the gentleman, but this one already had returned to the Venusberg and never was seen again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The Daughters of Venus</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the Sons of Tannhäuser the legend is true, though hidden behind metaphors that obscure the real meaning of Tannhäuser's discovery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the members of this organization, what really happened is that by chance Tannhäuser discovered a group of what they call "Daughters of Venus", female secret societies that coexist daily with the world without being discovered, and that live according to certain principles among which are the impossibility of refusing the wishes of any man who requires obedience to fulfill his carnal desires, the permanent care of his physical beauty to be irresistible to the opposite sex, and the desire to search for perfection through male pleasure.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">For the Sons of Tannhäuser there are groups, such as the White Ladies, which make up what they call the Daughters of Venus, and whose existence is protected exclusively by anonymity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Sons of Tannhäuser maintain that the Venusberg is nothing other than the discovery of the existence of one of these groups, and that the man who manages to identify one of its members will be what they call the Tannhäuser Gates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The man who manages to discover one of these groups of women would find a virtually inexhaustible source of pleasure, since he would obtain from them pleasure and obedience in exchange for his silence, which would be what Tannhäuser would have discovered.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The oath of the Sons of Tannhäuser is to seek these "Venusberg" and share it exclusively with the other members of his brotherhood.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although there is ample evidence of the existence of the White Ladies, as well as abundant references to Tannhäuser and his followers, there are those who question the nature of the search for the Sons of Tannhäuser, and while there are scholars who prefer that the group maintains a search of metaphysical type, in pursuit of reaching the true Venusberg, others argue that it is more mundane and pragmatic objectives, the identification of the "Daughters of Venus" as a way to achieve physical pleasure, without other ulterior goals.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-50065610925443167822018-07-12T07:03:00.000-07:002018-07-27T14:24:45.756-07:00White Ladies: a female secret societyLast week I found a very interesting article in a German magazine, about a secret society composed exclusively by women that has been maintained through the centuries: the "White Ladies" or "Ladies of the White Rose".<br />
I took the trouble to try to transcribe it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfboS7AGaW7njnkuBf0HRT71jrTRdelmH7Q9Z9PAUqel27Yi_yMn-pZlHs1NRaFp_DkPxfUrMxkJ7izFnOSw4IcgxbGspHCNSkeQ_ZRAjVzDLFI9BVnecFrcKFBGXUeOBE2ICrLuhnYTE/s1600/b0971ca4874b55bece9f415cd04d645a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="564" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfboS7AGaW7njnkuBf0HRT71jrTRdelmH7Q9Z9PAUqel27Yi_yMn-pZlHs1NRaFp_DkPxfUrMxkJ7izFnOSw4IcgxbGspHCNSkeQ_ZRAjVzDLFI9BVnecFrcKFBGXUeOBE2ICrLuhnYTE/s400/b0971ca4874b55bece9f415cd04d645a.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The White Ladies is a female secret society whose origins can be traced back to the ancient world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is an organization composed exclusively by women, and its logo is a white rose, since in its early stages who belonged to this organization used this flower to identify themselves, and that would have given rise to its modern name.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While there are no documents to support its existence until well into the Middle Ages, there are indications that its beginnings are linked to the cults of Aphrodite in Greece.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The society would have persisted taking as an object of worship to Venus, already in Rome, and through it they would have spread throughout a good part of Europe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, it is not until the beginning of the thirteenth century that evidence can be found of the existence of this secret society, mentioned in documents of the period in which the house of Hohenstaufen the Holy Roman Germanic Empire, found in the monastery of Rupertsberg, in which it alludes to the "Ladies of the White Rose" (Damen der Weißen Rose), and stories are mentioned that would place the same Countess of Rheineck, Gertrude von Nordheim, a noblewoman famous for her great beauty, such as Große Mutter, Great Mother, of the Ladies of the White Rose.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The organization would be harshly persecuted by the Church, under the accusation of the practice of witchcraft, which is why it would be practically disarticulated, and the surviving members would disappear.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, it is known that various groups would remain in hiding, and would no longer publicly identify themselves, maintaining the identity of their members in the strictest secrecy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It will not be until the eighteenth century that there would be news of different groups of "Ladies of the White Rose" in countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany or England, although the existence of groups in most of the countries of Europe, and the emergence in the nineteenth century of similar groups in America.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtkMTqlccqlHXGTtdXMqLXozdOXOUdLHkRBgtd9CtAET4aopGU1saPqvUUodJI0RL3i_6pKhjDBRgERasyDrATb1P4qiC2-r6zcjhvDYwW_j9Vz0kfLlUlMjxLYc-2c0r73eZRDpUS9w/s1600/white+rose+ladies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtkMTqlccqlHXGTtdXMqLXozdOXOUdLHkRBgtd9CtAET4aopGU1saPqvUUodJI0RL3i_6pKhjDBRgERasyDrATb1P4qiC2-r6zcjhvDYwW_j9Vz0kfLlUlMjxLYc-2c0r73eZRDpUS9w/s1600/white+rose+ladies.jpg" /></a></div>The name "White Ladies" would be a variation suffered through the centuries of the "Ladies of the White Rose", although by the secret nature of these groups, and the long period of isolation due to the persecution suffered, they would have originated different denominations, being the best known: "White Ladies", "White Roses", "Ladies of the White Rose", "White Lodge" and "Lodge of Venus".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is estimated that only here in Germany, Damas Blancas would have more than 2,300 members today, although this information has been questioned since there has been a debate between those who say that this organization has never existed and it is a question of popular tradition, who argue that it did exist but was dismantled during the Middle Ages, and who argue that there is evidence of various active groups to this day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do not confuse the White Ladies with the Ladies in White; the latter is about a Cuban anti-Castro organization that has no ties of any kind with the White Ladies.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-75936168124637153852018-07-05T18:18:00.000-07:002018-07-05T18:18:55.655-07:00 The three fundamental reasons why women ask for a divorce<div style="text-align: justify;">For a marriage to last over time, it is very important to have life goals similar to those of the couple. If this does not happen, it becomes the first cause of divorce. More than 43,000 women are enrolled in NextLove, the largest online dating network in Europe for divorced people and single mothers and fathers. The platform has asked its users the reasons why they broke their marriage. Some of them are physical abuse, infidelity or lack of privacy.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">"The lack of common interests in a long-term life together can also be the cause of the second reason for this list," says Sigurd Vedal, CEO of NextLove and Victoria Milan, another dating website for married and divorced people looking for a affair "While infidelity is sometimes a very effective way to save some marriages, it can also be responsible for breaking others," continues Vedal. In fact, 29.2% of respondents cited infidelity as the second reason to leave their marriages. In the third step, 10.9% of the respondents affirmed that the constant fights and discussions were the main cause by which they broke their relationship.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The list is followed by a lack of privacy, which "can destroy a marriage and cause a couple to lead completely separate lives," says Vedal. Most women want excitement in their bedrooms and an active sex life and if they do not have this at home, they will look elsewhere. "In fact, we have seen that many of the users, both men and women, do it exactly for this reason: for taking time in a sexless relationship," explains the CEO of NextLove.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another reason why women apply for a divorce is because of mental illness. Despite the efforts of the couple, the challenge of these types of illnesses can break the marriage. Although it is less frequent, 5.6% of the respondents affirmed that this was the main reason why they divorced.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number 6 position on the list is the bad behavior on the part of the couple, either emotionally, financially or even physically. "Not helping with domestic chores, not worrying about their children or having bad character" are attitudes that "end up burning the couple", Vedal explains.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Boredom ranks seventh in this top. According to the dating platform, it is "a partner relationship killer" that has received 4.2% of the votes in this survey. Researchers from the University of Winnipeg say that the most common way for couples to describe their marriage is 'bland' or 'boring'.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<u><b>Almost 3% of divorces due to abuse</b></u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number 8 of the study is the physical abuse, a very serious issue suffered by 2.63% of women surveyed, which is 1,131 women in total.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">To avoid this kind of abuses "in NextLove and in the rest of our online dating sites we make sure that there are no false profiles, and second that all members' conversations are absolutely healthy. In other words, our technology controls, through keywords, that users do not use bad words or that they can harm the person they are chatting with ", explains the CEO of the company.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Vedal says that, although it is "difficult" to control abusive behavior in offline life, when users leave our website, "all their platforms are designed so that no abuse occurs in them".</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Other less important reasons that appear in the queue of the list are other domestic and economic problems. The CEO of NextLove believes that this top "represents quite well the reasons why many women decide to end their marriage and ask for a divorce" and celebrates that "after this process, they are usually quite open to give love a second chance" .</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-17661143783753681592018-06-22T09:22:00.000-07:002018-06-22T09:22:04.726-07:00The Origin of Tarot<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The origin of the tarot is dark. Perhaps, it goes back, like other playing cards, to the times of the ancient Egyptians, from the moment that scholars have recognized the major arcana in the hieroglyphics. On the contrary, other scholars have spoken about remarkable similarities of the playing cards with the first games and oriental idols. On the other hand, you can not exclude the average age as the birthplace of the tarot. We do not even know whether the major arcana, with their symbolic drawings and the minor arcana, with their well-known four suits, were created separately and later gathered in a single deck, by any genial mind, or if, on the contrary, they were born directly as a deck or deck of seventy-eight cards.</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">I will try to give the most plausible explanation about the origin of the normal cards of the game and the tarot in particular, following the chronological order and details of the first decks, similar to those of the tarot, which were popular in Italy during the 15th century, following them in its evolution until the definitive deck of the 18th century tarot.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The Egyptian Book of Thoth</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In volume I of the work Le Monde primitif, of 1781, Court de Gebelin offers a convincing argument in favor of the Egyptian origin of the tarot cards. He argues that the twenty-two major arcana are an ancient Egyptian book, The Book of Thoth, saved from the fire that destroyed the temples. Thoth was the Egyptian Mercury, considered one of the first kings, and the mythical inventor of the word and hieroglyphics, letters inserted in a chain of mystical events. Many students of the occult sciences recognize in the tarot cards the pages of the hieroglyphic books, which contain, in a series of symbols and emblematic figures, the principles of the mystical philosophy of the Egyptians: Gebelin was convinced that the esoteric symbols of the Tarot spread throughout Europe from the nomadic tribes of the Gypsies or gypsies.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Chess</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Chaturange or game of the Four Kings, is very similar to the four-suit game cards. This oriental game, which dates back to the V-VI centuries, precursor of the modern game of chess, had originally the King, the General (the current Queen) and the Horse, as well as the Pawns or soldiers. At the beginning there was no Queen, since the presence of a female figure in a game that reflected the war strategy contrasted with the original idea of decorum. It is probable that, at a certain moment, some Indian players would be left without a piece of Chaturange, they would cut out the missing figures using a tree bark or a paper, thus giving rise to a new game.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>China - Chess - Dominoes - Dice</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A type of Chinese cards has the same name as Chinese chess, Keu-ma-pou, or Cars - Horses - Rifles, so we can think that card games are derived from Chinese chess.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">It is believed that the Chinese domino, punctuated as the dice - from which it seems to derive - was used at the beginning in the divinatory practices. It is composed of twenty-one pieces, which represent the combinations of the two dice. Some experts consider that the game cards derive, in the last analysis, from the dice, through the Chinese game of wooden dominoes.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Korean divining arrow</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The eighty-letter Korean decks, called Htou-Tjyen, suggest the idea that Korean card games are derived from divining arrows. These letters are usually strips of paper, 20 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. The reverse is uniformly decorated with a feathered arrow. The cards include eight clubs. The letters present frontally bundles of stylized arrows that conserve, with respect to the different clubs, the symbolic meaning of the quiver. That is why it has been thought that these letters bring their origin from the divination arrows.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The Gypsies</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many associate the divining letters with the gypsies, native of Hindustan and expelled from Italy, at the beginning of century XV, by Timur Lenk, the Muslim conqueror of most of the Central Asia and the Eastern Europe. The Gypsies are universally recognized as the Cartomantes par excellence, since it is believed that they carry in their blood the divinatory virtues.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Tribes of Gypsies began to move towards the West around the year 1400, crossing the Indus, Afghanistan and the deserts of Persia and moving along the Persian Gulf, to the mouth of the Euphrates. Entering the great deserts of Arabia they found different roads to Europe. Small nomadic tribes had stopped in Crete, Corfu and the Balkans, before 1350. In 1417, a tribe of Gypsies arrived near Hamburg, in Germany. Other sources speak of Gypsies in Rome in 1422 and in Barcelona and Paris, in 1427.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Be that as it may, there is good evidence to believe that the Gypsies arrived in Europe only some time after the appearance of the playing cards.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Johannes, a German monk</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a letter sent by this monk to Brefeld, in Switzerland, he states that "a game called the game of cards (Ludus cartarum) has come to us this year of 1377"; but he adds that "he ignores when it was invented, where or by whom".</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In his treaty, which is preserved in the collection of the British Museum in London, Johannes compares the game of cards with that of chess "since in both there are kings, queens, nobles and commoners".</div><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Cards</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the main arguments in support of the Saracen origin of the letters is the name that the Spaniards use to indicate the playing cards: cards, which could be derived from the word napa, used in Vizcaya and which means plain, uniform.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Some scholars believe that playing cards is a voice of Arab origin. The Hebrew word Naibes has similarity to the old Italian name of letters, naibi, and in both languages means magic, clairvoyance and prediction.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">According to another theory the word cards would derive from the initials of the inventor of the letters: N.P., a certain Nicolao Pepin. However, there is a lack of evidence in this regard.</div><br />
Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-14074161846426241992018-06-12T20:51:00.001-07:002018-07-05T18:20:19.052-07:00Smell of luck<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">The last time I bought incense I did it in a supermarket, and besides looking very expensive, I have not been very satisfied with the aroma.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The truth is that slowly burning the chair in the living room would have been more or less the same, I paid for something that smells of burnt wood, despite the fact that the box presumed to be lemon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is clear that I have to buy another brand, of those that sell at fairs, but hey, if I do not even know when it's Thursday ..., like now, I just discovered that Thursday was yesterday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The good thing is that only 6 days are missing for the next one, it's not so much.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But less than the day I remember the Thursday fair, and the incense sticks, much less!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The other day I was talking to my mother and I asked her if she would not have a wand that she could give me, and that same night I had 12 boxes full of incense of all the perfumes and colors at home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's a couple of days ago, and until now I opened a little box at random, I took out a wand, I lit it, and that's it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But not today, today I'm a little more attentive to these details, and I've been given that I should choose an aroma that was with the moment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">And what is the moment? This moment? I do not know, no one worth remembering without hesitation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I look at the boxes scattered on the trunk that serves as a small table, in front of the stove.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All bring out some very striking colors, large letters indicating the aroma, and smaller some enigmatic phrases, which I guess will serve to guide us on what wand, what aroma is appropriate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sandalwood - Meditation, Spirituality and Good Luck!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I am not too spiritual but good, I could serve, to meditate I am quite rotten, but good luck never hurts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">FengShui - To harmonize your home and office</div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's good, with a wand I harmonize everything, that I have everything together, house and office let's say.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jasmine - Enthusiasm, Pleasure and Attraction</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It sounds great, the enthusiasm could help, but I'm worried about the attraction, how my things have been going lately, the most likely thing is that it attracts a lightning bolt, or a meteorite.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today I pass.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Luna - Sensuality, Pleasure and Good Dreams</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sensuality ... ta barbaric if you come with company, sensuality to sit down to program php alone is a mess.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I do not know, che ...</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There's the one that I think I need now: Sandalwood and Floral - Quick Luck.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I need luck urgently.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although to be honest, it would be enough for me to smell good.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I went, I lit it, and there it is; It's pretty smooth, it's not bad, although it's been on for 40 seconds and I still have not won the lottery or called me the woman of my dreams.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">You have to settle for the perfume ... it's not bad, it's not the eighth wonder, but hey, that's what it is.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-25142886898851942862012-09-27T06:01:00.003-07:002012-09-27T06:01:38.182-07:00The importance of keeping track<div style="text-align: justify;">
Got home from my trip to find a rejection letter from SciFiction in the mailbox. </div>
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It was a form letter and did not list my story title on the page. I checked my records and Sonar says I have nothing at SciFiction. But they couldn't have gotten one of my SASE's... so I have no clue what story they're rejecting. </div>
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Let this be a lesson to you. I now am hesitant to send any more of my existing stories to SciFiction because of this one mistake, as you do NOT want to send the same story to a magazine twice. </div>
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I will try my hardest to get an ISBW up today. It's already planned out, I just have to *do* it.</div>
Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-74109856176155088792012-07-04T06:37:00.000-07:002012-07-04T06:37:44.794-07:00Fascinating articleIn April 2001, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) awarded $1-million Mars Sample Return (MSR) study contracts to industry teams led by Ball Aerospace, Boeing, TRW, and Lockheed Martin (LM). In Phase 1 of the study, the four teams independently assessed a range of MSR mission concepts. JPL stipulated that all should include a rover capable of gathering samples across several square kilometers of Mars's surface over several months. The MSR mission would begin no earlier than 2011. In Phase 2, each team fleshed out one or two of its concepts to permit cost estimates to be made and to identify areas requiring technology development. <br />
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The LM industry team looked at three concepts: Libration Point Rendezvous (LPR), Low Mars Orbit (LMO), and Deep Space Rendezvous (DSR). In LPR, the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) bearing the Mars samples would rendezvous with an Earth-Return Vehicle (ERV) waiting in a loose orbit about the Sun-Mars L1 point, about one million kilometers nearer to the Sun than Mars. LMO was the traditional Mars Orbit Rendezvous (MOR) MSR architecture, which saw the MAV meeting up with the ERV in close Mars orbit. DSR would see the MAV rendezvous with the ERV as the latter zipped past Mars on a flyby trajectory that would carry it back to Earth. DSR outwardly resembled the FLEM and piloted flyby/MSSR concepts of the 1960s; according to study participant Benton Clark, however, his team was unaware of the 1960s plans when it developed DSR.<br />
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In LPR and LMO, the MAV could remain on Mars for months waiting on the JPL rover to gather samples; DSR, by contrast, enabled only a short surface stay before the ERV flew past Mars, so did not enable effective use of the rover's capabilities. Thus, in Phase 2, LM narrowed its focus to the LPR and LMO concepts.<br />
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Even as the contractor teams performed their studies, however, budget pressures forced changes in NASA's Mars plans. Aided by a Science Steering Group, JPL trimmed its MSR requirements to permit a cheaper "groundbreaking" "science floor" MSR mission in 2013. Sample collection would be by robot arm mounted on the lander, not by rover. This would reduce to a few weeks the time the lander needed to stay on Mars. The shorter stay-time led the LM team to revive the DSR MSR concept. <br />
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The company scheduled launch of its DSR MSR mission for September 14, 2013. The DSR MSR spacecraft would consist of an 810-kilogram Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) and a 2078-kilogram lander with Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). A General Dynamics Atlas 5-521 rocket would place the spacecraft on a low-energy Type IV trajectory needing nearly 32 months to reach Mars. The ERV, based on the LM Mars Odyssey spacecraft design (top image above), would provide course correction propulsion and electricity during the long voyage.<br />
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The MSR spacecraft would approach Mars on a collision course. The lander, encased in a 4.5-meter-diameter conical aeroshell, would separate from the ERV on February 4, 2016, four days out from Mars. The ERV would then briefly fire its rocket engine to place itself on a Mars flyby trajectory. <br />
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On February 8, 2016, the MSR lander would enter the martian atmosphere directly (that is, without first entering Mars orbit). Atmosphere entry, descent, and landing would benefit from experience and software developed during the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission, the LM team stated (bottom image above). Touchdown would take place within 10 kilometers of a pre-selected target near the beginning of martian northern hemisphere summer. <br />
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The DSR MSR lander would include three landing legs, six descent engines, twin 10-sided solar arrays, and a "Sample Handling Workbench" with twin robot arms. The arms would fill small cylindrical sample containers with a total of 0.5 kilograms of rocks and dirt. <br />
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In keeping with JPL's instructions, the LM-led team devoted much attention in its "science floor" study to preventing possible martian microbes from reaching Earth. Each sample container would be placed into an "ashing chamber," where heat would sterilize its exterior, then would be pushed into a "bagging chamber," where it would be sealed inside a cylindrical sleeve-like plastic bag. After bagging, the container would ride an elevator to the cylindrical Sample Canister Assembly (SCA) in the MAV's conical nosecone. Sample loading would occur within a "Bio Enclosure" "cocoon" pressurized above Mars's atmospheric pressure to ward off Mars dust and microbes that might infiltrate the SCA.<br />
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On March 1, 2016, 20 days after landing on Mars, the 266-kilogram two-stage MAV would blast skyward from a launch tube at the center of the lander's triangular frame. A modestly enlarged Star 17A motor with 146.2 kilograms of solid propellant would form the MAV's first stage, and would form its second stage. Cold-gas thrusters would provide attitude control. Mars atmospheric friction heating during ascent would help to sterilize the MAV's exterior. Prior to first-stage separation, the MAV second stage - a Star 13B motor with 54.2 kilograms of solid propellant - would be spun up to 150 rotations per minute to provide gyroscopic stabilization. <br />
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When the MAV second stage exhausted its propellant, it would be about four million kilometers from the ERV. Solar cells on the MAV nosecone would power a radio transponder to enable tracking. On March 6, 2016, the ERV would fire its rocket motor to place itself on course to intercept the passive MAV second stage and SCA.<br />
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About 80 days after MAV launch (June 1, 2016), when the MAV second stage and ERV were about one million kilometers apart, the ERV would perform another rendezvous maneuver. The ERV would then intercept the MAV second stage about 20 days later. The SCA would eject from the MAV nosecone and the ERV would scoop it up using a "funnel" that would channel it into a "vault" in the Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV). The team explained that its EEV design was based on the Stardust and Genesis sample return capsule designs. <br />
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The ERV would then begin a series of Earth targeting maneuvers. Earth return would occur on November 13, 2016. The ERV would spin up and release the EEV, then fire its rocket motor to ensure that it miss Earth. This would help prevent any martian microbes it carried from contaminating Earth. If the ERV failed, timers on board would automatically fire a solid-propellant rocket motor to divert it from Earth impact. If telemetry from the EEV indicated that the SCA had leaked, the samples would be heat-sterilized to prevent biological contamination of Earth. <br />
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The EEV would enter Earth's atmosphere directly, cast off its backshell and heatshield, and deploy a parachute. If the EEV broke up during Earth atmosphere entry, the vault containing the SCA would serve as a backup entry vehicle capable of surviving Earth impact. Assuming a successful EEV reentry, however, a helicopter trailing a hook would snag the parachute in midair in the manner planned for September 2004 Genesis and January 2006 Stardust sample recoveries. The industry team stated that the probability of a successful midair recovery was 99.9%, and that this could be further enhanced by additional testing and helicopter pilot training. After recovery, the EEV would be placed inside a containment carrier and transported to a Bio Safety Level 4 handling facility.<br />
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The LM team briefly considered a "split" DSR scenario in which the lander and MAV would leave Earth in September 2013, and the ERV would leave Earth in November 2016, after the MAV had successfully placed the SCA bearing Mars samples into orbit around the Sun. The split scenario called for a "long-life SCA" and a three-stage MAV. The additional MAV stage would be used to refine the SCA's orbit, making it easier for the ERV to locate. <br />
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The team estimated that, at $791 million, its baseline DSR MSR mission would cost $480 million less than its LPR mission. The largest single savings ($72 million) would be achieved by deleting all lander science instruments. Switching from a Delta 4050H rocket to an Atlas 5-521 would save $64 million, and dispensing with the rover would save $51 million. The industry team did not include in its cost estimate the $135-million "Pre-Project Technology Development Program" it believed to be necessary to help ensure a successful DSR MSR mission.<br />
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In September 2004, after a successful Earth reentry, the Genesis sample return entry vehicle failed to deploy its parachute and crashed in Utah, breaching its sample container (image below). U.S. space policy changes, meanwhile, caused NASA to push its target date for the launch of the first U.S. MSR mission to the late 2010s or the 2020s.<br />
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source: http://robotexplorers.blogspot.com/Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-83618709886769178262006-11-30T05:49:00.000-08:002012-07-03T05:50:18.876-07:00am I honest?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Prof Me is moving. Reading her post today about blogging honesty and assuming a character moved me to a little soul-searching: Why do I do this? Why do I make the effort to write on this blog when there are plenty of other writing projects to keep me busy? Besides the why, is there a question of who? Might I have taken on a persona that doesn't ring true to the real me? </div>
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I started this blog over two years ago - a fact that stuns me every time I think of it. I started because I was interested in weblogs; I was considering them as part of the research for my dissertation and I didn't think I could do that without first experimenting with the concept. The first few posts were rather stilted (since I wasn't writing for any real purpose) but I gradually slid into academic mode: the blog became a way for me to think through dissertation issues - the research, the writing, the meetings, the literature. Like PM mentions, though, the blog "quickly evolved into a more personal statement" and I was writing whatever came to mind. </div>
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Two years later, why do I keep writing? Sure, I like using the blog to work through things as I type - but I could easily write in a journal. Yes, the blog gives me a place to vent about all sorts of things, large and small - but I could talk to a wall if the issue is just venting. Okay, I have found that the physical act of making myself think coherently in this informal space guarantees that I write something every day, which is necessary for my brain - but I could keep a notebook or scribble on a scratchpad to keep those juices flowing.</div>
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When it comes down to it, I write because of the community I feel here. Selfishly, I like the feeling of friendship that comes from writing, receiving comments, reading other blogs, leaving comments; I have a group of friends - even without knowing their faces or sometimes even their names - and I want to talk to them. I like that new friends might pop up; I like that I can ask questions and get answers; I like that I can have a bad day and hear the virtual nods from everyone who's suffered the same. This blog isn't the same blog that I started two years ago but I think I'm okay with that.</div>
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The question of "honest" blogging is harder to answer. Is this me? If you met me for coffee (or tea, as the case may be), would you make the connection between the me in front of you and the me on your computer screen? I'd like to think so. I "talk" here, so I feel like this is my voice. The turns of phrase, the muttered asides, the self-deprecating humor - that's me over lunch, too. </div>
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So, why blog anonymously? If I think of this as a community and many of you as friends, why not just open it up and say who I am, where I am, what I do? You know, I have a hard time answering that. I've thought about it at times over the past two years but I don't have a clear response. There are the issues of protecting myself from possible university retribution, perhaps (I definitely wouldn't link to my blog from my faculty website, so that perhaps may be more definitive than I want to admit). However, the best answer I can give is this: I'm still figuring out who I am. Right now, phd me identifies me as clearly as my real name, at least in my mind, and it doesn't come with some of the baggage that accompanies my given name. It's like meeting someone for the first time, offering your hand and starting a conversation; at that minute, you are only what exists between you. It isn't that you're creating a new persona, it's that you get to present a fresh you, the real you. Using my real name provides info that may or may not accurately present who I am - not the name itself (I'm not descending from a royal line or anything) but the accompanying bits that are easily interpreted to form a perception - what I look like, what I do, where I live. </div>
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That's the best I can do, and it may or may not make sense.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-4702284770607345862006-11-29T09:48:00.000-08:002012-07-02T09:48:39.361-07:00and sometimes I'm not so sure<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another student meeting. Another successful discussion about the research project. I'm not leaving with my warm and fuzzy butterflies this time, though. </div>
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This student has had a rough semester; I knew that, on one level, but without knowing anything else, I just had a record of class absences and missed assignments leading to possibly failing the course. I stopped the student after class the other day and suggested (okay, told) that my office hours today would be an excellent time to talk to me. We'd had a similar discussion earlier in the semester, so I was a little miffed that we had to rinse and repeat, but such is my job, right?</div>
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I handed over the Kleenex five minutes into our conversation. This student has had to manage a personal issue and two major family traumas this semester, on top of an 18-hour courseload. The student was very apologetic in explaining that classes were the only flexible option in all of that and the intention wasn't to blow off anything but there was just too much to handle at one time, literally and emotionally. </div>
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I can only imagine. I wish I'd known earlier because, I assure you, I would have handled my irritation about missed classes quite differently. At the same time, I'm a private person - I wouldn't have approached any of my professors with something like this, either - so I can understand the reluctance to talk about personal issues. The student is headed back toward solid ground academically now and there was laughter before we finished, so I feel okay about things in general.</div>
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I just needed to remember, it isn't really about the classwork after all.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-67525294595520506062006-11-29T09:47:00.000-08:002012-07-02T09:47:52.289-07:00sometimes I am good at what I do<div style="text-align: justify;">
A student came this morning to talk about her final research project. She wasn't as lost as she thought, but she couldn't quite grasp how everything was supposed to come together (and don't we all know that feeling!). I drew diagrams; I asked questions; I used props; I scribbled down notes. She nodded and asked questions and explained where I didn't make sense and, in the end, left with a much better idea of how to tie the whole project together. I ran across campus to grab something to drink after she left and on the way back, I thought,</div>
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"I like this part of my job. I like sitting down with students to work through roadblocks; I like the push and pull required of working one-on-one with students; I like being able to challenge and support my students - and I'm good at it. Maybe it doesn't count for anything in the grand scheme of tenure and promotion - but I'm good at it. Maybe I don't do everything well - but I am good at this."</div>
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Self-aggrandizing, perhaps, but sometimes, it's nice to feel like you do something well.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-84967020288781639752006-11-29T09:46:00.000-08:002012-07-02T09:47:01.445-07:00I've got nothing<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, the headache is gone but I still find myself with nothing very interesting to say. Shall I update you on the not-very-interesting, then?</div>
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I had a 9:30 meeting with a fellow prof this morning (and I was running late, as I always seem to be these days). I prepped for class and managed a few emails before a student came to talk about the final project (now they want to talk!). Class went well; we had an interesting topic for discussion and they managed to stay awake for my - very short - lecture (I had good examples). I finished up my grant proposal for the study abroad program and sent it off (one thing off the to-do list - whoo) before I met a prof from the department for a semester check-in. After a quick stop at the grocery store, home to grade student papers before finally fixing dinner and collapsing in front of the TV to do nothing productive.</div>
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Fascinating, I know.</div>
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<i>And I'm curious as to whether anyone is actually getting my posts over this last week. I have a sneaking suspicion that the site feed isn't working.</i></div>
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<i>Update: Thanks to Prof Mama for letting me know comment moderation was somehow enabled on my blog. There have been some weird happenings in my personal blog-land lately; I'll just blame it on the techno-elves.</i></div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-53953050497909688952006-11-28T09:45:00.000-08:002012-07-02T09:45:50.129-07:00so - much - grading<div style="text-align: justify;">
Aside from making revisions to a grant application this morning, I've been grading all day. All day. Obviously this is a common complaint at the end of the semester, and since I'm the one that assigned the work in the first place, I have only myself to blame. However. Oh well, at least they're writing interesting stuff - and by interesting, I mean both intellectually stimulating and downright laughable.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-2248300286338875542006-11-27T09:44:00.000-08:002012-07-02T09:45:09.889-07:00and the visitors are gone<div style="text-align: justify;">
Life is back to normal again. My sister and nieces left this morning, after a brief whirlwind of shopping, eating, game playing, talking and dramatic outbursts of adolescent angst (ah, to be sixteen again).</div>
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That's about all I've got right now. I've got a headache and it's hard to think through it. Perhaps I'll have something to say tomorrow.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-40348561316401303602006-11-25T09:43:00.000-08:002012-07-02T09:44:21.484-07:00visitors!<div style="text-align: justify;">
My sister, with Nieces #2 and #3, arrived yesterday. Yeah! There was much shopping, eating, talking and playing of Uno. Today, I'm taking them to see campus and downtown PRU; I believe someone mentioned going to the bookstore (twist my arm); food will be involved at different times of the day; and I'm sure we'll end the evening around the table playing something. Despite my avowedly independent lifestyle, it's awfully nice to have them here.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-13222542874757484052006-11-23T13:44:00.000-08:002012-06-27T13:46:01.036-07:00giving thanks<div style="text-align: justify;">
It occurred to me yesterday as I pulled into my pleasant little driveway under a brilliantly blue sky: "This may be as happy as I ever am." All things considered, I have a very good life at the moment, with lots to be thankful for, so rather than fixate on what isn't, let me take a minute to consider what is.</div>
<ul>
<li><b>New friends</b>. I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends than I have here. We're an eclectic bunch, to say the least, but we're a good bunch. I've laughed more in the last four months than I have in the last year. I have a social outlet, but just as importantly, I have the support that comes from all of us being in the same situation and understanding the ups and downs that entails.</li>
<li><b>Old friends</b>. I miss my friends back in Home State but we talk regularly, we email sporadically, and we know we're still around. I've been very lucky in the friendships I've formed and I have no intention of letting them go, regardless of where I live.</li>
<li><b>Blog friends</b>. You know, I'm rather fond of a number of you. I love reading your blogs; I enjoy your comments; and I look forward to meeting the some of you in the future. I like the little community that's formed through my wireless network and it's nice that people continue to come in.</li>
<li><b>Family</b>. Admittedly, they're a little crazy but not in a bad way. All families have their moments and we've certainly had ours but we love each other, for better and worse.</li>
<li><b>Career</b>. I finally have a career - not a job, not a stop-gap, not a way to pay the rent (although, yes, it does take care of the latter). I feel very lucky to finally know what I want to do and, more importantly, that I want to do it.</li>
<li><b>PRU City</b>. It's not a metropolis or a cultural center or a hot spot of vacationing Europeans. I like it, though. It's pleasant; it's pretty; it suits me, despite my avowed love of big cities. </li>
<li><b>PRU</b>. I couldn't have asked for a better first position. The issues that pop up would do so at any research university, and I'm developing a network of support to help me deal with those issues. Looking into the foreseeable future, I have no reason to look elsewhere.</li>
<li><b>My house</b>. I like my little place; it's perfect for one person, with room for visitors when they pop in. I know I'm lucky to own my own home as a first-year assistant professor and that it's a nice place in a pretty neighborhood.</li>
<li><b>The little things</b>. There are lots of little things that make each day a little better - spending half an hour playing the piano; having a student tell me it finally makes sense; getting an email from a friend; reading a good book; curling up on the sofa with a mug of hot tea to watch a favorite TV show; waking up to a clear blue sky; making headway on a writing project. Those little things, the quiet and often overlooked things, are a good reason to pause and give thanks on this particular day, too.</li>
</ul>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-51858644477397120922006-11-23T13:42:00.000-08:002012-06-27T13:42:56.194-07:00it's not you, it's me<div style="text-align: justify;">
At some point, I have to consider the possibility that I'm the one who causes all the problems in the (potential) relationship. There is absolutely no reason not to like Nice Guy; we can talk for hours, he is more than interested in me, we have so many things in common that I'm constantly surprised - so what's wrong with me that I don't feel anything when we're together - not aversion, not excitement, not boredom, not anticipation, not anything. </div>
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I met some girlfriends at a local place after dinner with NG; after a few pints, we met additional girlfriends at another local place. Guys everything - none of them paying the least bit of attention to me, but that's generally the case. As one of the girls explained to me tonight (after several rum and cokes, or perhaps she wouldn't have been so honest): "Honey, no guy is ever going to come up to you in a bar. You're too...you're just...you don't need them and they know it. Guys don't like independence. You need to be a little more needy." Oh, but I am - but I'm not about to show it.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-63933612646137027132006-11-22T13:43:00.000-08:002012-06-27T13:43:51.832-07:00update on date<div style="text-align: justify;">
For those who are interested: I went out with Nice Guy again Sunday. We saw the new Bond movie (pretty good, actually) and had an early dinner (local restaurant with atmosphere and tasty food). My general assessment: pleasant afternoon out, decent conversation, no sparks - at least for me. He seems to be smitten, which is flattering, but I'm not quite sure how to respond when I don't feel that strongly - which isn't to say I might not eventually but I don't right now. But I suppose that's the point of dating, isn't it? To figure it all out as you go and hope you have some fun doing so. Which is why we're having dinner tomorrow night.</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-21312953739591273492006-11-22T13:38:00.000-08:002012-06-27T13:39:15.581-07:00back to boring<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm not sure what happened with the margins in the old template but, rather than waste time reading through code - when I don't actually read code - I'm switching back to boring, in the hopes that everything will work again. I have a strange feeling this is somehow connected to me using a Mac...</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9123154818241650733.post-45640995327867833512006-11-21T13:33:00.000-08:002012-06-27T13:35:39.846-07:00good news<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just got the email: I've been accepted to a conference in March. More importantly, I've been accepted to a conference held in a deliciously sunny location in March. </div>
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How much will I appreciate that after surviving a long grey winter? </div>
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And how nice is it to have something to put in the tenure file before my review this Feb?</div>Droxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544859470365486564noreply@blogger.com0