Nostr notes by nev

So I'm not going to get too much into Liberation Theology 101 ...

2025-04-21T19:00:46Z

So I'm not going to get too much into Liberation Theology 101 here, but it arose in Latin America in the late 50's-70s in response to *waves at 500 years of history, Vatican II, etc.*. Clergy and theologians advocated for radical solidarity with the poor, actually acknowledged feminist criticisms of the Church and poverty's disproportionate effect on women, and supported leftist revolutions and rebellions in the face of right-wing mililtary oppression. Ecclesiastical "base communities" (kind of like independent congregations) centred ordinary lay people's interpretations of the Gospel in light of their own lives. It was often called Marxist; proponents argued they used the tools of Marxist analysis without limiting themselves to it.

Anyway, as you can imagine, the extremely anti-communist Pope John Paul II was NOT A FAN. Nor was the conservative head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (once known as the Inquisition and currently known as the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith), one Joseph Ratzinger, who of course became Benedict XVI. So while paying lip service to the Church's "social teaching" (against poverty, oppression, capitalism run amok, etc.), they cracked down on liberation theology—works were condemned, clergy were disciplined and effectively blacklisted.
While the "father of liberation theology", Gustavo Gutierrez, was a Dominican, quite a few Jesuits were associated with the movement (e. g. these guys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_murders_of_Jesuits_in_El_Salvador ). Future Pope Jorge Bergoglio…was not one of them. Not only did he rein in politically active Jesuits, he was perceived as collaborating with (or, more mildly, not doing enough to stand up to) the Argentinian junta. But he grew more progressively minded over his career (as detailed in this fantastically thorough and enlightening 2013 piece by James Carroll: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/23/who-am-i-to-judge // archive: https://archive.ph/1S0Ye) [edit: fixed link]

You'd expect even a relatively conservative Latin American Pope to go easier on liberation theology than if he were from anywhere else, but Francis went about actively reversing decades of censure. E. g.

- He thoroughly rehabilitated Gustavo Gutiérrez (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/11/vatican-new-chapter-liberation-theology-founder-gustavo-gutierrez, https://www.religiondigital.org/corresponsal_en_el_vaticano-_hernan_reyes_alcaide/Vaticano-definitivamente-Gustavo-Gutierrez-preferencial_7_2139456035.html)

- He "unblocked" Archbishop Oscar Romero's, uh, mysteriously stalled cause for sainthood (https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-beatification-of-oscar-romero // https://archive.ph/wggsg) and canonized him in 2018 (https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/archbishop-oscar-romero-becomes-a-saint-but-his-death-still-haunts-el-salvador // https://archive.ph/LpNAF)

- He un-suspended Ernesto Cardenal, who was suspended for doing the absoutely unthinkable…no, not sexual abuse, c'mon folks, you know they don't exactly crack down hard on it…no, he TOOK A ROLE IN GOVERNMENT. The Sandinista government. (https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/02/18/pope-francis-lifts-suspension-imposed-nicaraguas-ernesto-cardenal)

(There's probably lots of other shit that happened, I don't follow things that closely, but those are some major events.)

So yeah. That is one of his most surprising legacies that you might not know about!

(Note: in the decades to come and around the world, liberation theology flowered into Black liberation theology, queer liberation theology, and more…but that's another story.)

#LiberationTheology

in other news, today I learned that crows can correctly nest and ...

2025-04-19T19:36:35Z

in other news, today I learned that crows can correctly nest and close brackets/parentheses, which is going to make me feel just great the next time I'm banging my head against the wall over a script that doesn't work only to find out I forgot to close one (1) bracket

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crows-perform-yet-another-skill-once-thought-distinctively-human/

I found a bug! I think. Is there a formal way to send feedback or ...

2025-04-18T10:41:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…3kwx
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I found a bug! I think. Is there a formal way to send feedback or should I just, like, email you?

doin' god's work

2025-04-02T14:08:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…8arx
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doin' god's work

TRANS DAY OF VENGEANCE You Had Your Fucking Chance

2025-03-30T16:08:00Z

TRANS DAY OF VENGEANCE
You Had Your Fucking Chance

Science fiction idea: one of those settings with people living ...

2025-03-06T14:58:25Z

Science fiction idea: one of those settings with people living amid the immense and mysterious ruins left by a previous highly technologically advanced society, except it turns out the ruins were some extremely dumb and completely unworkable megaproject, like drilling into the Yellowstone supervolcano or something, that stopped because they ran out of money or it was cancelled by a new incoming government

timidly raises hand I'm Canadian do we also have to do the ...

2025-02-28T15:56:04Z

*timidly raises hand* I'm Canadian do we also have to do the buy nothing day

bear arms > bearing arms

2025-02-22T20:57:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…v2ze
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bear arms > bearing arms

fun fact, he snuck them in for the photo ...

2025-02-15T19:29:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…kswp
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fun fact, he snuck them in for the photo https://www.rover.com/blog/astronaut-included-his-dogs-in-portrait-now-has-new-puppy/

Heads up: the Braille Institute has released two new fonts in the ...

2025-02-12T16:55:58Z

Heads up: the Braille Institute has released two new fonts in the popular Atkinson Hyperlegible family!

- Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, an updated version of the original, with 7 weights <https://braileinstitute.box.com/shared/static/waaf5z9gfss6w6tf5118im5hhlwolacc.zip>;
- Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono, a monospaced version <https://braileinstitute.box.com/shared/static/jgwjzchbnlqkrqmm5br27jcy6e3op3w0.zip>;

If the direct download links don't work, you may have to enter your email address here (they don't seem to send you anything): https://www.brailleinstitute.org/freefont/#download

#typography #fonts #accessibility

it's Canada!!! do we even have enough guns??

2025-02-10T15:38:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…qura
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it's Canada!!! do we even have enough guns??

hey i found the jeans from this @npub16kg…afn8 post ...

2025-01-24T21:05:00Z

hey i found the jeans from this Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :paw:⁠:paw: (npub16kg…afn8) post (https://infosec.exchange/@catsalad/113885142747392137)

they're not jncos! they're from taiwanese designer angus chiang's music-inspired spring/summer 2020 collection: https://www.anguschiang.com/blogs/archive/spring-summer-2020

edit: "'Even though people don’t really use CDs anymore and everything is so digitalized, I think of them as a memento of a time when you could really connect with music and create memories that should never be forgotten,' the designer said after his spring 2020 show, which was a tribute to the humble CD-ROM" https://wwd.com/runway/spring-ready-to-wear-2020/paris/angus-chiang/review/ (also has more runway photos)

(via this insta post: https://www.instagram.com/anormanhouse/p/CwfeXe_S93p/?img_index=2)

it's the perfect weather to reiterate my Celsius Versus ...

2025-01-22T17:47:59Z

it's the perfect weather to reiterate my Celsius Versus Fahrenheit Take: having 0° be the freezing point of water is actually very relevant and practical in everyday life because it lets you easily see whether the precipitation will be rain or snow, which require very different clothing, gear, and planning.

i can bike in heavy snow, not so much in heavy rain. i can bike right after it has heavily rained, but not right after it has heavily snowed. if i'm walking and it's raining i need an umbrella and a more water-resistant coat, but not when it's snowing.

if it's just below freezing black ice can form, which drivers need to look out for.

positive number? liquid. negative number? solid.

Just tried baking bread (Budget Bytes' "no-knead ...

2025-01-21T01:16:41Z

Just tried baking bread (Budget Bytes' "no-knead bread" recipe) and it seems awfully hard (I mean as in "not soft", not "difficult"), I don't think it rose enough :(

Don't worry, I am going to keep trying until I get it right (because my roommate and I both bought flour not knowing the other had done so and now we have an impossible amount of flour to use up)

Well, got back from a walk in the park, took (what felt like) a ...

2024-12-17T00:18:12Z

Well, got back from a walk in the park, took (what felt like) a long nap, woke up and immediately got sucked back into Greg Egan (npub12cu…d38p)'s _Schild's Ladder_ (which mcc (npub1tq4…6nqn) recommended to me, I think I must have been like "hit me with the hardest, weirdest, mathiest fuckin' Egan you got, I swear I can handle it") which I got halfway through in the wee hours this morning while I couldn't sleep, finally emerged only knowing it was dark and having NO idea what time it was, pleasantly surprised to find it was around 6:30.

I would describe _SL_ as…"_The Gods Themselves_ but with current science and gender politics, and with all the rigor and, unfortunately, literary flair of a physics textbook"? Weirdest thing, while reading (and understanding very little of it, I'm afraid) I could practically…*see* a trippy New Wave sf version of the novel where the extremely didactic passages about quantum theory are rendered through lots of philosophical metaphors and quasi-fantasy stuff.

Anyway I was reading the credits/references and was like, *that* John Baez (John Carlos Baez (npub1nf4…nqe4)), from mathstodon?? It's the first time in a long while I've known of someone from fedi first and real life second, which used to happen to me all the time on Twitter. A little bittersweet-feeling, yet hopeful.

#sff

Thirty-five years ago today: ...

2024-12-06T14:52:06Z

Thirty-five years ago today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre

Geneviève Bergeron
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St. Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Barbara Klucznick-Widajewicz

We remember them.

#December6 #Dec6

Okay fedi. We were running out of flour and unbeknownst to each ...

2024-11-30T16:02:39Z

Okay fedi. We were running out of flour and unbeknownst to each other my roommate and I both bought flour and now we have a truly unrealistic amount of flour. What is a good way to use it up? (Doesn't have to be food, even.)

Neither of us bake bread, but I'm willing to try anything simple and easy.

Recipes/instructions welcome.

#halp #AskFedi :boost_ok:

dark-eyed juncos, alternatively (suggested a while ago in ...

2024-11-29T18:15:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…0yey
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dark-eyed juncos, alternatively (suggested a while ago in replies)

#birdeing #MastoArt #ArtWithOpenSource #CreativeToots

#caturday Very Special Episode: Wasabi is quite old and ill, and ...

2024-11-16T19:32:11Z

#caturday Very Special Episode: Wasabi is quite old and ill, and we don't know much longer she has. What's something you wished you did with your cat(s) before they died? What helped with the grieving process? Did you make any keepsakes?

(Feel free to CW replies if this is a sensitive discussion for you.)

#DailyCatPic #CatsOfMastodon #cats #selfie

is it time to quote Isaiah 58 again "And they that shall be ...

2024-11-08T18:28:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…ctc4
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is it time to quote Isaiah 58 again

"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

(KJV because it's what I have to hand)

Dream journal: catching a large and pretty _Phidippus regius_* in ...

2024-11-08T17:24:15Z

Dream journal: catching a large and pretty _Phidippus regius_* in my bathroom in a jar, but there were also a couple of large _Cheiracanthium_ (yellow sac spiders) in there, and it became one of those dreams where I have too many spiders and too few containers and am trying to keep them from eating each other. There was also a small female _Trichonephila_ of some kind. The P. regius fell and its abdomen ruptured and it died :(

Another part of the dream involved wearing a dark blue sarong and it kept coming untied and I had to discreetly try to re-tie it in public. I have this problem with sarongs in real life too. Well, had, I guess; I haven't worn one for years, and don't own one.

___
* Note: P. regius is pretty much only found in Florida & surrounding states, nowhere near Canada.

1. Sorry this is happening 2. OK, now some tough love: Don't ...

2024-11-06T10:27:57Z

1. Sorry this is happening

2. OK, now some tough love: Don't even fucking think about escaping to Canada. We have the exact same people here and they will now be emboldened., and it is quite likely the next Prime Minister will be of the same mold.

Immigrating legally is incredibly long and expensive and you basically need a skilled job already lined up. Don't count on getting asylum or being allowed to stay if you overstay a visa. If you don't have housing lined up, you will likely end up on the street. Remember, if you die in Canada you die in real life!

Whatever you want to do will be immensely easier in a place where you are already a citizen. Save your money and stay in the US.

#USpol #canada

After seeing one too many "if this really happened…" ...

2024-10-16T22:18:24Z

After seeing one too many "if this really happened…" social media screenshot posts I'm thinking I should put my frustration towards something positive by writing a quick guide to how to find the source of a screenshot. Like, "this is what a Twitter/Tumblr/Facebook post looks like", googling for distinct phrases in the post or looking up the profile, searching archive/mirror sites if it's not publicly available, etc., making a list of relevant people/organizations/companies to contact to verify the details, etc.

Quite often, such things *won't* be verifiable, and the unfortunate truth is that you cannot trust it and should probably not repost or spread it.

#MediaLiteracy

Wasabi, everyone #DailyCatPic #CatsOfMastodon #cats ...

2024-10-10T23:27:24Z

Wasabi, everyone

#DailyCatPic #CatsOfMastodon #cats

Dictionary book club would actually be hilarious. We'd all ...

2024-09-28T15:14:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…wr2q
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Dictionary book club would actually be hilarious.

We'd all need the same edition of the same dictionary, obviously. Something relatively smallish, like we're not talking the full OED here, but still including stuff like etymology and maybe first occurrence.

We could do a couple pages a week (or whatever people are comfortable with), and convene to talk about any new words or pronunciations or definitions we learned, interesting etymologies, particularly euphonious or unpleasant-sounding words, aspects or nuances of words not included in the definitions, etc.

i guess this is where dictionary book club meets when you think ...

2024-09-28T13:23:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…gx49
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i guess this is where dictionary book club meets

when you think about it, dictionary book club is every other book club reduced to its constituent parts. it's efficient

(see also https://mastodon.sdf.org/@jleedev/113192292930058194)

also, the dictionary we had when i was a kid had other things, ...

2024-09-28T13:18:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…dste
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also, the dictionary we had when i was a kid had other things, like a very brief history of the English language, a glossary of common Latin phrases used in English, and examples of different letter formats, like for business correspondence or whatever.

anyway i was trying to make up a name for something and i just ...

2024-09-28T13:13:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…7z6k
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anyway i was trying to make up a name for something and i just wanted to be able to page through all the words starting with a particular few letters, like you can with a paper dictionary. but nowadays it's all search-based. there's no serendipity in it. i think there is something to be said for the dérive of words, just jumping into a big list of things and seeing what strikes your eye, what new things turn up. sometimes you aren't looking for anything in particular and what you really need is an index or directory or glossary. not "random page" or "trending" or "latest addition" or "stuff you may like", but just a big old list of Everything You Got, A-Z.

(P. S. this is not an invitation to send me big lists of words, I can find those myself)

i just want to mention that when i was a kid sometimes i would ...

2024-09-28T12:06:44Z

i just want to mention that when i was a kid sometimes i would just read the dictionary, did anyone else do that

For those curious: the offenders, from top to bottom, are Cochin, ...

2024-09-15T21:19:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…w9eq
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For those curious: the offenders, from top to bottom, are Cochin, Charter, Sabon, and Palatino.

i'd like to share my thoughts on juncos #birdeing #MastoArt ...

2022-01-17T17:37:18Z

i'd like to share my thoughts on juncos

#birdeing #MastoArt #ArtWithOpenSource #CreativeToots 🐘

remember that time a north african merchant(?) named constantine ...

2021-11-30T21:56:37Z

remember that time a north african merchant(?) named constantine was in italy and a guy in the hostel was sick and they called a doctor and constantine was like "uhh aren't you gonna take a urine sample" and the doctor was like "a what" and constantine was like "…" and the doctor was like "…" and then constantine africanus moved to the monastery of monte cassino and spent the rest of his life translating arabic medical texts into latin,

because i think about this probably every single week

more: https://constantinusafricanus.com/2017/12/22/ego-constantinus-africanus-montis-cassinensis-monacus/ 🐘