tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post492970195040984000..comments2024-03-28T09:59:13.754-07:00Comments on bionic mosquito: You Complete Mebionic mosquitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-87068643232382822732019-05-14T13:16:02.988-07:002019-05-14T13:16:02.988-07:00Then there are those who prefer to think both posi...Then there are those who prefer to think both positions may or should coexist: the event was a random natural process and perhaps a "divine" punishment for the sins of slavery and immorality in general. The present being devoid of certainty and confusion reigning on all sides, may find some solace in this dichotomy.grofak the yughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01618209393197235262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-31081804662582998322019-05-09T13:05:20.764-07:002019-05-09T13:05:20.764-07:00Ah, it's a pity we don't have this book in...Ah, it's a pity we don't have this book in English:<br /><br />https://www.fnac.pt/Perfil-do-Marques-do-Pombal-Camilo-Castelo-Branco/a847170<br /><br />Perhaps you may want to practice your Portuguese?<br /><br />It's a scathing Pombal profile by one of the most famous XIX century Portuguese novelists ("Amor de Perdição", "O Crime do Padre Amaro", etc.), written in the 100th anniversary of Pombal's death (the freemason and "enlightened" Portuguese liberals of the XIX all raved about Pombal; he is still "admired" as a great "statesman") and your post reminded me of this lines:<br /><br />"[i]n 1770 he passed great sentences to those who possessed and did not surrender to a bonfire the Bayle Analysis, the Philosophical Dictionary of Voltaire, or Nouveau Dictionair historique portatif, the Lettres turques, the Oeuvres Philosophiques de la Mettrie, etc. What a disgraceful impostor! He read all these, and endeavored to keep the people in darkness, fearing a reaction from philosophy. What a civilizer, oh centennists [the ones celebrating his 100th anniv.]!"<br /><br />He was also "famous" for expelling the Jesuits (you know, our beloved scholars from Salamanca-Coimbra, the ones who protected the native brazilianas [re: The Mission] and the ones responsible for educating lower-class Portuguese children - who, for nearly 200 years, until Salazar that is, would be kept in pure analfabetism), creating the oldest wine demarcated region (Douro), whereby he sentenced hundreds of small wine growers to poverty and enriching his english trader friends on the way (you know, fixing prices below market prices and all the rage), crushing entire fishermen villages that wanted to avoid conscription for a silly micro-war with Spain, etc.<br /><br />J H Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09020966621312965657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-41614435273348804092019-05-09T08:25:52.172-07:002019-05-09T08:25:52.172-07:00Note that once again, the State wraps itself in th...Note that once again, the State wraps itself in the cloak of the Church to provide cover for the silencing of those who threatened it or the elimination of easy scapegoats. We see here that with the passage of the Lisbon earthquake and the progress of the Enlightenment, the State was learning that it increasingly didn't need to Church to provide a justification for doing what it wanted. It certainly didn't have to fear the Church from preventing it from doing what it wanted. A true innovation, indeed.Dr. Weezilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08100872384842284034noreply@blogger.com