And "It Came True ...."

 

I know of several people who, at some time of their life, went to see an astrologer, a fortune teller or a psychic medium. Maybe something like that is not in these years, but when it was it was quite common to ask about someone's zodiac sign, to discuss their horoscope, etc., etc.. Also some may have went by the popular horoscopes of magazines for advice about what to do, although they were not personal: A zodiac sign would be set out to cover the fortune of everyone who was born within a specific month which of course turns it into nonsense. Still, I know of some who might tell their friends that they can't lunch, meet, get out of bed, go to the dentist or whatever on a specific day, (e.g. the 11th of October 2024!), because they read a horoscope in a magazine that told them to "keep it low" on that day. 

Maybe they also had a discussion with "The Spirit of the Ouija Board" which actually may be great fun if one doesn't take it as genuine information about the future ....

Presumably, all of these divinations "come from above": Good or bad, one's fate is a birthday gift which outline rules for one which must be obeyed to please those godly powers which are assumed to control the fate of humans and animals. All the divinations are seen as means to steer out of trouble whenever that's possible by warning people of "getting out of bed or whatever" on these dangerous days.

One of the most famous fortune teller was the physician Michel de Nostradamus who was born in France in 1503. His first prophecies, which were in the form of quatrains, are from 1547 and he had them published in a book, "Centuries" (1555). As some of his prophecies seemed to come true he gained fame in his own life time. Being a renowned fortune teller he gained access to the court of the French king Henry II and his queen, Catherine de Medici. Even today many refer to him and his predictions as trustworthy: He is supposed to have predicted World War II, the 9/11-attack and much more. As his prophecies are that vague that they have to be interpreted I don't find them all that valuable, but he has many fans, even today.
 

When the friend and diviner of Alexandra, the last Zarina of Russia, Grigorij Rasputin, said that if a member of the Romanov family murdered him all of them would be dead within a couple of years it looked like a prediction that came true: He was murdered, and so was the entire Romanov family. However, first and foremost what he said must be seen as a warning and (perhaps) nothing but that. Actually, that is the problem with most of these divinations, predictions, etc. which "come true": There are no proofs that they are anything but happy coincidences. 

Many people see the Biblical prophecies, especially about Jesus, as proofs that God spoke to humankind through "holy men and women", i.e. his "prophets". I think that kind of prophecies may be seen as part of all religions and, again, what is true and what is a "happy coincidence"?

 

https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/perkins_chart.cfm

 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe/bible/bible-prophesies

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/four-prophecies-have-already-come-true-in-2024-says-living-nostradamus/articleshow/113356393.cms?from=mdr

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/The-Bible-Gods-Word-or-Mans/Prophecies-That-Came-True/

Wikipedia

AMAZON being WEIRD???????????????

 

Recently I published five ebooks with Amazon and I felt good about it. However, after some WEIRD experiences I'm thinking of deleting my account, never as much as visiting Amazon again. Why??? Well, I know that these years authors are facing difficulties in the publishing world, and one should be on the look-out when it comes to whom one trusts with one's works. As it is, I've lost much of my trust in Amazon over something other authors also may have experienced WITHOUT KNOWING IT ....

When I visit my publishing page on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=else+cederborg&i=digital-text&crid=3486ZV5RBVHE4&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C146&ref=nav_signin) on the computer I'm using right now it looks like this:

All of my books are published within KDP, and NONE of them are KUs (: Kindle Unlimited). That is at it should be as that is what I chose. However, when I visit my page on another one of my computers this page - all by itself - turns into what is or looks like KU: The book prices change, some even diving to 0:

When I tried to check out my settings for KU, I found a note that my account doesn't have that. Then WHY are my books - which HAVE NEVER BEEN KU - presented as if that's what they are?????

I don't have KU, don't want it, but my books look as if that's what I have AS SEEN ON MY SPARE COMPUTER, NOT ON THE ONE WHICH IS MY MAIN COMPUTER. Weird, as weird can be, but part of the riddle is the fact that on my spare computer I'm not logged into my Amazon account. When I did just that the page changed, like by magic, into what to me is the NORMAL PAGE, i.e. NO KU.

Some might say, never mind, it's only for three months, and you have your own ISBN Number so you'll be OK. No, I shall NOT be OK, because what I see when I'm not logged in is what people visiting my page, i.e. guests and/or customers, see is the KU-page with the very, very low prices. I never set out to earn a lot of money, but I never intended to "sell books for nothing" ....

So, what is Amazon up to?????????????????? I tried to get access to what is called "Support", but was very disappointed as the individual I told of my problem didn't do anything to solve it ....

 

CATTELENA: Black Spinster In Tudor England

 

 

I admit that I was quite surprised to learn about the 16 Africans living in the small village of Almondsbury close to Bristol in England. How did they get there?  One of them was Cattelena who seems to be the best known of this group of Africans. She left possessions which secured her name through the inventory of them after she died in 1625. It's obvious that she wasn't poor in the go-hungry-sense of the word: 

"She is described as ‘Cattelena, a negra deceased of Almonsbury in the county of Gloucester, single woman & in the diocese of Bristol’. Her inventory includes cooking utensils, clothes, bedding, tablecloth, and a candlestick. However, Cattelena’s most prized possession was a cow."

As pet names were common for cows one may wonder why Cattelena's cow didn't have a name. After all, it must have been the source of sustenance for her, as it gave her milk and butter. Also she may have sold dairy products in the village. The worth of this cow has been made up to be: "Catellena’s cow was worth £3 10 shillings, £460.32 in today’s money. In 1625, the year Cattelena died, this would have also bought you 10 stones of wool, a quarter of wheat, and was the equivalent of 70 days of skilled labour." 

To be the owner of a cow may have been the way Cattelena survived as a citizen in a small village because, without making her "rich", it must have kept her free of grave money troubles. It seems that she was a well-to-do spinster who happened to be black, but that leads to a question: How did she - and the other 15-16 black citizens - end up in England????

Being a spinster wasn't that unusual, as c. 30% of the English adult female population is supposed to have been single. What was special about someone like Cattelena was that she, single as she was, lived in her own home, although she may not have been the owner, but rented it. Not more than 5% of single women below the age of 45 were head of their households which she seems to have been. 

By the way, the total of the possessions listed on Cattelena's inventory came to £6 9s 6d (: £851.59). As she presumably wasn't toiling as a servant, but simply lived off her cow she did quite well ....

 

https://schoolhistory.co.uk/early-modern/cattelena-of-almondsbury/ 

 

https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/black-tudors/0/steps/224781 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

Whatever Made The Toad Hop?

 

 

 

Whatever made the toad hop?
He wasn’t tickled or spun like a top
Why did he make such long strides
When nothing threatened his toad-hides?

Maybe he sang to annoy me
I shouted as loud as I could: Stop, let it be!
But no, he did not stop his infamous noise
Well, that was his own choice

A singing and quacking toad is at danger
The stork wants his lunch without anger
He grabbed Mr. Toad to swallow him in one gulp!
Poor Mr. Toad cried out but nobody stopped the stork

Down he went in the throat of the stork
Even down into his stomach, singing all along
Poor, poor Toad bore no vengence or regrets
He just sang and danced as down he went

 

CopyRight  © Else Cederborg

Camille Claudel, Sculptor, Muse And Mistress

 

This young woman doesn't look happy, but when one sees her soulful and beautiful face it speaks volumes both of an interesting personality as well as a difficult life: Camille Claudel (1864-1943). As so many other talented women she dreamed of giving vent to her artistic visions, although her mother found her ambitions of becoming a sculptor very unladylike and tried to curb them. However, Camille had her way and she went to Paris to study at The Academie Colarossi which not only allowed female students, but also gave them the opportunity to work with nude, male models. (At that time Ecole des Beaux-Arts barred women from enrolling to study). Alfred Boucher became her mentor and friend for three years, and he was the one who introduced her to the famous sculptor Augusta Rodin in 1883. Much to her mother's chagrin the 18 years old Camille not only became his muse, but also his mistress. This relationship gave her access to the artistic circles of Paris, but it was seen as scandalous, not least by her family.

                                             August Rodin, c. 1875–80

It's well-known that many of Rodin's works were made in collaboration with Camille, but typically for that time, Rodin received the honors. Camille wasn't recognized as the artist she was, and she also had to share her famous lover with another woman, the mother of his son. In 1898 she suffered a miscarriage and broke off her sexual relationship with him. At the same time she seems to have developed some kind of psychological problems, smashing some of her works, withdrawing from society now and then which gave her mother the opportunity to have her locked up in a mental asylum for the rest of her life.

Another reason for her changed attitude may have been that Rodin, who had been of help to her, started to oppose some of her ideas and see to it that she didn't get the opportunities she deserved. That didn't condemn her to an eternal obscurity: In 2017 she was sort of being "re-discovered", and today her works are exhibited in several famous museum. Also she now has her own museum, southeast of Paris: Musée Camille Claudel which holds approximately half of her artworks.

 

Camille Claudel in her studio with a plaster model of "Perseus and the Gorgon"

 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-woman-of-genius/

 

https://www.christies.com/en/stories/camille-claudel-collecting-guide-6102000635104cbe88a705f65fdf8288 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Claudel 

 

 

WARNING: Facebook is attempting ID-thefts

This Facebook-message in Danish, which I received this morning, reads as follows: "Prove your identity using a videoselfie: In order to make sure that you are a real individual you need to make a videoselfie. We want you to move your head during this process to help us in shooting your face from various angles."

WOW, this very first message of the day really set my soul aflame after being told that I had been kicked out of Facebook: THANK YOU, Mr. Zuckerberg, I SEE THAT KIND OF EFFORTS AS A GENUINE RECOMMENDATION OF EVERYTHING I STAND FOR!!!!!! 

Well, but HOW did our ongoing fight over my Facebook-postings being "proper" or not end up in something like this? I think it started out with my not liking the 45th president of USA, whom I always refer to as Don the Con (or even worse), but I can't be sure, and it may be something else that turned the focus on me and my postings, even called some of them "pornographic" (which they are not!!!). One of these assumedly pornographic postings goes back 10-12 years and Facebook has been harping about it for a long time: It's the photo of teenage-girls and one of them is "mooning" the photographer/onlooker. I see that as a joke, but the Facebook-"police" see it as child pornography. It goes without saying that had it been anything close to child-pornography I wouldn't have brought it as I'm against exploiting other people, young or not. However, photos like that one sent me to Facebook jail over and over.

After being kicked out (they called it something else) by Facebook they offered me a sort of comeback by starting a new profile. To me that looked silly, but I decided to se what happened if I tried to do so. 

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but then I was asked to give them my "videoselfie". THAT was a full stop for me as I know that they, actually right now, are harvesting the comments, sayings, etc. by the members for the developing of their (more or less illicit) AI-programs. However, I my face or my words, are not for that kind of exploitation by Mark Elliot Zuckerberg.  

By the way, during the process of starting a new profile I was asked about the date of my birthday, and I chose to give them a random age. Why? Because, these days, a birthday-date may be the first step in attaining access, etc. to the most private parts of someone's privacy ....

As they always stress their concern about privacy issues and the importance of not exploiting them I'm quite flabbergasted at their reading - and sampling??? - private conversations on Messenger. Looks weird, looks illicit or "out of character for what they propose to be"??? Yup, and still it's true as I can prove by this screenshot of their comment to one of my private Messenger-conversations:

The framed part reads as follows: "You can't post messages for 3 days. Something you wrote in a chat goes against our rules." 

As will be known Facebook is working on developing some of those, before-mentioned, AI-constructions and that's what they use as an excuse of several kinds of transgressions, like e.g. the "burglary" of Messenger. They are not the only ones who are working on something like that, but that's no excuse as people come to the platform for some innocent fun, not to be exploited by something that looks more and more like an attempted ID-theft. Actually, they seem to suffer from some delusions about "ownership", but the users of Facebook are NOT "owned" by anybody but themselves.

 

https://www.meta.com/da-dk/help/quest/articles/accounts/account-settings-and-management/delete-meta-account/

 

Noyb - Google-søgning 

 

https://headshottr.com/ 

Star Gazer and X-ray Woman

 

Sarah Frances Whiting (1847-1927) was a true pioneer in astronomy, and her work stands today, as she was one of the founders as well as the first director of the observatory at Wellesley College. She made a career before that was considered proper for women.

Actually, Sarah Frances Whiting was the first one to establish a program of astronomy in laboratory instruction for women in the United States. However, she also delved into another - and then quite new - field of science: X-rays. She started out only a few weeks after Wilhelm Röntgen annonced the discovery of this kind of rays which to me is a proof that she was of a genuine scientific mind, ready to study something that not many have done before. That turns her into a "double pioneer": A physicist, which she was, as well as an astronomer, which she also was. 

In her long career she introduced many women to physics and astronomy even though both these fields of science were almost entirely associated with men at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Fr

 

https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/ajp/article/91/6/417/2891436/Sarah-Frances-Whiting-pioneer-of-laboratory 

 

https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1927PA.....35..539C