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Last week, I said I'd have "...tales of cursed gems, glow-in-the-dark diamonds, diamonds from outer space..." ready this week: "barring the unexpected". Then the unexpected happened. But I do have most of the Koh-i-Noor's story ready for you. I pieced together much that diamond's story this week: from the "mythical" king of a place that's not there any more, to present-day England: Koh-i-Noor: Diamond of Destiny, Slayer of Sultans and Shahs "The Diamond Does Not Satisfy" Doom of Afrasiab Emperors, Sultans, Shahs: and the Koh-i-Noor Gets Its Name The Body Count Grows In the Shadow of the Koh-i-Noor "...More Things in Heaven and Earth...." Superstition, Seances, and "Supernatural" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (The story of the Koh-i-Noor: an allegedly-cursed diamond owned by Afrasiab of Turan, assorted sultans and emperors, and finally Queen Victoria of England.)

St. Patrick's Day is a public holiday in Ireland (Republic of and Northern), Newfoundland, Labrador, and Montserrat. It's a day when folks wear something green. I've heard that some even drink green beer. Why anyone would think green beer is a good idea is beyond me, and that's another topic. Chicago celebrates by turning the city's river green. If today's holiday post looks familiar, maybe you're remembering the one I wrote three years back. This one was going to be shorter. But aside from eschewing asides about Ptronius Maxiums, a Roman Emperor whose body got tossed in the Tiber, and Suffolk County's Evacuation Day 1 — fact is, I ended up adding a few paragraphs, and polishing the rest: Pick a Peck of Prickly Problems Protest, Perspectives, and — King Lear?! Previous Prickly Problems "...I am a Sinner" — St. Patrick, Shamrocks and All That Shamrocks Legends and a Forbidden Pit Saints Due Process New and Improved Fo...

This week I'll be talking about what's changed over the last century, what hasn't, and why I think progress isn't inevitable. On the other hand, I don't think we're doomed. That last may take explaining. Yesterday's Future O Tempora, O Mores, O Wow! Progress is Inevitable Possible "...The Good or Evil Performed by Nations ... in a Cosmopolitical View..." Science, Religion, Progress, and — Maybe — Mything the Point Truth, Facts, Science: and Hope Works in Progress ... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Blind optimism does not make sense. Neither does blind pessimism. I look at what has changed in the last century, what has not: and works in progress.)

(From Giovanni Paolo Panini, via Staatsgalerie, Stutgard/Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Giovanni Paolo Panini's "Ancient Rome" — an 18th century view. (1754-1757)) "...Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome...." (" To Helen ," Edgar Allen Poe (1845) via Wikipedia) I've split this week's post into three sections: History 101 and Humanity's Continuing Story About History: Definitions, Documents, and Narratives Will the Real Ancient Rome Please Stand Up? More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Impressions of ancient Rome: morals, Cicero, Sallust and Gibbon. An almost-forgotten King, a president and a thought experiment. Historical narratives.

I'd like to say that my 'Marlowe's Faustus' series follows some grand scheme, marching down a well-organized path toward a profound conclusion. But it doesn't, so I won't. I started re-reading Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus," a little bit at a time, a year and a half ago. My idea was to polish and re-post a "Faustus" series I'd done back in 2012. That's not what happened.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . This week: an Elizabethan era entertainment district, attitudes and values. Faustian fascination. And Wagner, who may be like Palaestrio, Jeeves and Haroud Hazi.

(From Agostino Carracci, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons; used w/o permission.) I figure folks have been hankering for the 'good old days' since long before we started keeping written records. And occasionally preserving them. The records, I mean. Not the 'good old days.'... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . This week I discuss Troy and the Late Bronze Age collapse, golden ages, fear and Phaedrus. And why history is not mythology, but both are important.

(From Jürgen Ludwig, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) I talked about angels, real and imagined, last month; mentioned Doctor Faustus' big plans, including putting a brass wall around Germany, and said that I'd talk about Valdes and Cornelius next month. Then I got sick. I'm still running a fever; but considering that this is COVID-19, it could be worse. "Next month" is now this month, so I'd better introduce Valdes and Cornelius: "friends to Faustus," Marlowe calls them in the dramatis personae.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

How the Grand Canyon was formed depends on who's talking. Scientists say it's what happened as a river cut through the Colorado Plateau. Since I think scientists are right about the Colorado River's role in making that mile-deep gulch, and think that both are part of God's creation, maybe an explanation is in order. To begin with, I'm a Christian and a Catholic, so I must believe that God made and makes everything. Which doesn't mean I see God as a supercharged Paul Bunyan. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The 2020 Summer Olympics and Stearns County Fair are both in progress this weekend. One is an annual agricultural and commerce show, the other is half of a four-year Olympiad; but they're not entirely different. The COVID-19 pandemic shut both down last year, for example.... ...Can't say that I blame Tokyo officials for saying that they could keep athletes and visitors safe, though. My culture has variations on 'the show must go on' — and sometimes it makes sense. But the International Olympic Committee said 'not now, maybe next year.' Can't say that I blame them, either. I had quite a bit to say this week, mostly about Olympic history .... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Throughout the ages, Saints and sages have pondered the big questions. Who are we? What are we? Why are our lives so messed up? Storytellers and movie makers — these groups overlap — also reflect on human nature from time to time. Sometimes they use use space aliens as placeholders for ideas and ideals, strengths and failings. I'll be talking about that, and why I don't "believe in" space aliens: but think we may have neighbors. Then again, maybe we don't. Which hasn't kept folks from wondering "what if?"... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

March 17 is St. Patrick's Day. It's a public holiday in Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador. Chicago plumbers celebrate by turning the city's river green. It's a day when folks wear something green, and I've heard that some even drink green beer. Why anyone would think green beer is a good idea is beyond me, and that's another topic. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(Marguerite's garden in Gounod's "Faust," set design by Édouard Desplechin. (1859)) Christopher Marlowe based his "Dr. Faustus" on Germany's Faust legend, which was in turn inspired by Johann Georg Faust's reputation. And on J. G. Faust's abrupt death in 1520, give or take a few decades. Someone or something wrung Faust's neck. Or he didn't survive an alchemical laboratory explosion. Stories agree that he died abruptly, but vary on details. J. G. Faust had been a Renaissance con man of sorts, presenting himself as an alchemist, astrologer and magician. His reputation grew after his unpleasant death, inspiring a slew of chapbooks, plays, operas, ballets and video games. Gounod's "Faust" was an early Faustian opera, and I'm wandering off-topic. 1 Or maybe not so much.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

"A journey of a thousand li starts with a single step." (Tao Te Ching," Laozi) "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." (Neil Armstrong) I figure the journey to Earth's moon began when someone looked up and wondered what this world's "lesser light" might be. Uncounted ages, most likely, before folks like Laozi and Thales of Miletus added their thoughts to humanity's storehouse of knowledge. Thales of Miletus gets credit for figuring out that Earth's moon is roughly spherical. So does Anaximander, depending on who's talking. Those two lived about two and a half millennia back. A century later, Anaxagoras said Earth's moon was earthy, made of the same sort of stuff we stand on. He was right about that. Other details in his cosmology, not so much.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

For two dozen centuries, at least, a few folks have said that peace is a good idea. Many others have agreed. Making peace a practical reality has remained an elusive goal. But I think we're closer to it than when Chu won the Battle of Bi, or Sparta lost the Battle of Leuctra. 1 I'm quite certain that finding an alternative to war is a good idea. No matter how long it takes us to get there. More at World Day of Peace, 2019 ; brendans-island.com/catholic-citizen/world-day-peace/ . (More at A Catholic Citizen in America )

I've read that spiritualism and spiritism started in the 18th or 19th centuries. Folks who take one or both seriously seem to think spiritism isn't spiritualism. How the 'isms' are different depends on who's talking. Some say spiritualism is a religion, while spiritism is a social movement. Or spiritism is a science and spiritualism isn't. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Some folks act as if they think physical reality is bad and having a body is icky. The notion's 'Biblical,' sort of. Galatians 5:19 through 21 call bad ideas like licentiousness, hatreds and idolatry "works of the flesh." With a little paraphrasing, I could claim that 1 Corinthians 3:3 says jealousy and rivalry are "of the flesh." Romans 8:3 mentions "sinful flesh." Taking those verses, ignoring Genesis 1:31 , Psalms 84:3 , Ecclesiastes 2:24 - 25 and two millennia of Catholic teaching, and I might see loathing physical reality as an option. But not, I think, a reasonable one.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Once upon an evening dreary, while I pondered, fogged and bleary, Over many a disconnected fragment of erratic text, While I dithered, nearly dozing, suddenly I started thinking: I should be sleeping!... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

This universe is bigger and older than some folks thought, a few centuries back. I don't mind, at all. Besides, it's hardly new information. We've known that we live in a big world for a long time. " 4 Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth." ( Wisdom 11:22 ) If that bit from Wisdom doesn't sound familiar, I'm not surprised. It's not in the Bibles many Americans have. The one I read and study frequently is the unexpurgated version.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Another gravitational wave observation gave scientists the best evidence yet about one aspect of merging stars. On August 17, 2017, folks with the LIGO/Virgo collaboration observed three clusters of gravitational waves. This time astronomers found an infrared, visible, and X-ray event near where the gravitational wave source. The August gravitational wave observation, GW170817, is the first one where astronomers found electromagnetic waves coming from the same spot. It's a very big deal. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The world didn't end last Saturday. That's nothing new, and neither is another fizzled End Times prediction. I'll be talking about how a current End Times prediction affected someone whose name is the same as the wannabe prophet's; but is an entertainer, not a doomsayer. I'll also take a look at the continuing, and serious, search for Planet 9; predictions involving close encounters of the cometary kind; and what we're learning about the outer Solar System.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .