Data ‘Cap’ Government Idiocy: They Want Price Controls on the Internet

from The National Pulse: Former President Donald J. Trump says the United States should take a cautious approach to Iran and not get overly involved in any attempts to forcibly change the country’s government. Speaking with podcaster Patrick Bet-David on October 17, Trump was asked whether the U.S. government should back efforts to restore the family of the late […]

  George Washington’s legacy has endured for centuries, with his birthday becoming a focal point for national remembrance. After he died in 1799, informal celebrations of his February 22 birthday sprung nationwide. These local observances laid the groundwork for the eventual establishment of Washington’s birthday as a nationally recognized federal holiday in 1885, the precursor to the holiday we today know better as Presidents’ Day.   Origins: George Washington’s Birthday  America’s First President, George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1803. Source: The Clark Museum, Williamstown, MA   George Washington does not need an introduction. When the most famous American of his day—and arguably of all time—passed away on December 14, 1799, Congress commissioned the former Continental Army General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee to write the eulogy. The long-term friend of the president compiled a 3,500-word piece that is forever remembered for its famous quote that appears toward its conclusion:   “First in war–first in peace–and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.”   Like Lee, the American people deeply grieved the loss of their hero, and the nation plunged into a period of mourning unparalleled at the time. Numerous cities and towns did not take long to rename their streets in the general’s honor. Some localities took it a step further when Washington’s birthday came around on February 22 and staged informal celebrations where families would gather to reflect on the president’s legacy. As these were largely local and spontaneous, no exact place or date exists for the start of these less formalized and non-national observances. While celebrated sporadically across the country for nearly a whole century, the first significant step toward making Washington’s birthday a national holiday did not occur until 1879.   Following the American Civil War, Washington DC’s politicians attempted to heal the nation and reaffirm its principles by touting the virtues of its most unifying figure, the US’s first president. President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a law that made Washington’s birthday a federal holiday in the District of Columbia, the first honor of a federal holiday for any American.   The Shift Toward Presidents’ Day  A picture of Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner, circa 1863. Source: Library of Congress   As Washington’s birthday designation in the District of Columbia gained recognition and widespread coverage nationwide through favorable newspaper reports, Congress passed legislation extending the observance as a national federal holiday in 1885. At the time, there were only five nationally recognized holidays: New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the new Washington’s Birthday.   Ironically, the move to make Washington’s Birthday a more inclusive Presidents’ Day did not occur until the 1960s, and for a less noble reason than celebrating any specific individual, including George Washington. The decade known for cultural, social, and political revolutions witnessed a growing movement to standardize federal holidays and open up more opportunities for three-day weekends.   Spurred on by labor unions, the proposal touted the benefits for workers having more break time, subsequently improving their quality of life and, in the long run, boosting overall productivity. The 1968 Uniform Monday Act sought to adjust selected federal holidays’ observances from fixed dates to predetermined Mondays. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 28, 1968, and taking effect on January 1, 1971, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day were now three-day weekends.   As Washington’s Birthday would now be celebrated on the third Monday in February rather than his actual birthday, the United States television and print media saw it fitting to rename the holiday Presidents’ Day and attribute the three-day break to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln—the latter also born in February. While some states dedicate the day to the two presidents today, others have shifted to the more general celebration of all United States presidents.   Current Observance  A poster letting people know that Washington’s Birthday is now a national holiday by Edward Penfield, circa 1890-1899. Source: Library of Congress   Today, Presidents’ Day symbolizes the collective contributions of all US presidents, yet the holiday’s roots remain in George Washington and, to a slightly lesser extent, Abraham Lincoln. Each year across the nation, historical sites and museums associated with American presidents hold special events and exhibitions, with two of the more famous taking place at Washington’s Mount Vernon historic estates and at Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Library and Museum. The former includes costumed interpreters, reenactments, and discussions on Washington’s legacy, while the latter sponsored revered talks and special programs led by the country’s most celebrated Lincoln historians.   The holiday’s commercialization began after shifting to a three-day weekend in 1971, as businesses and retailers found another reason to attract customers through promotional campaigns. All of this has resulted in blurring the original intent of a holiday that the federal government still officially recognizes as Washington’s Birthday and not the Presidents’ Day label attributed to it by the social and commercial media. While some continue observing the day with reflection and reverence for America’s leaders, others see it as another day to enjoy a day off of work or school or an opportunity to get a good deal at the store on an item they always wanted to buy.

  Mount Tambora is a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. In 1815, Indonesia was still a part of the Dutch East Indies and was known for its Tambora coffee variety, produced on the slopes of the volcano. When the volcano began erupting on April 5, 1815, the devastation was immediate and widespread. The archipelago of Indonesia and much of the world suffered for around one year due to the massive climatic effect of the eruption. This is the story of Mount Tambora and its aftermath.   The History of Mount Tambora & Sumbawa Mount Tambora as seen today. Source: The New York Times   Mount Tambora is the highest point on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The peak’s volcanic activity is thought to have developed between 57,000 and 43,000 years ago and was formed as such due to the subduction zone that sits beneath the island of Sumbawa.   Before the 1815 eruption, Mount Tambora was thought to have experienced at least three eruption incidents in the current Holocene epoch, in approximately 3910 BCE, 3050 BCE, and 740 CE. The magnitude or length of activity that these eruptions created is unknown to scientists, but the current spree of activity from the volcano began in 1812 and has continued to be active until the present day.   Before the 1815 eruption, Mount Tambora was one of the highest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago, measuring approximately 14,100 feet. However, before 1815, a thriving population of around 10,000 residents was located along the slopes of the volcano. Bronze bowls and fine china of Cambodian or Vietnamese origins were uncovered during excavations, suggesting that the people who lived in the villages along Tambora were wealthy traders.   Haraldur Sigurdsson, a volcanologist at the University of Rhode Island, left, and Igan Sutawidjaja of the directorate of volcanology in Indonesia excavate the Tambora village, 2004. Source: NBC News   Despite much of Indonesia being converted to Islam in the 17th century, the remains of the Tambora culture show no such influence, and the extant written material of the Tambora language showed no similarity to the other Austronesian languages of the area. Rather, the Tambora language was thought to have been a language isolated from or distantly related to a Papuan language.   The island of Sumbawa did not play host only to the Tambora culture but also to several principalities and cultures, according to the 14th-century Javanese eulogy known as the Nagarakretagama. Among these were the Bima, Sape, and Dompu people. The island was known for many resources, including sandalwood, sappanwood, honey, horses, and, later, coffee.   A horse race takes place on a beach in Sumbawa. Source: Indonesia Travel   Due to its rich natural resources, Subawa has been subject to outside invasion many times throughout its history. The Makassar, Javanese, Balinese, and later the Japanese and the Dutch all invaded the island, which stood as a borderland of sorts between Hindu and Islamic influence in the East Indies.   While the Dutch first arrived on the island in 1605, their influence didn’t take hold until the early 20th century. However, Sumbawa gained independence from the Netherlands as a part of Indonesia in 1945. Today, the island is primarily rural and agricultural, but it has one of the highest GDPs in Indonesia thanks to its copper mine, which is one of the largest in the world. The current population of the island is around 1.6 million people.   Mount Tambora: The Eruption An artistic interpretation of the eruption of Mount Tambora by Greg Harlin and Wood Ronsaville Harlin. Source: Smithsonian Magazine   After several hundred years of dormancy, in 1812, Mount Tambora began to rumble and belch clouds of black smoke. Small eruptions continued for three years until April 5, 1815, when great detonations sounded, and a moderate eruption ensued. The next morning, a rain of ash began falling throughout the island.   Faint explosive sounds continued until April 10, when the volcano erupted in earnest, registering a 7 out of 8 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). A plume of gases, rock, and dust shot approximately 24 cubic miles into the atmosphere, and when the column of eruption collapsed, the flow of volcanic material turned lethal.   The pyroclastic flow flew down the sides of Mount Tambora, destroying everything, including the Tambora village and its 10,000 residents. The sound of the eruption was heard over 1,600 miles away on the island of Sumatra, where soldiers thought the sound was that of cannon fire. The resulting rain of ash and other volcanic matter in the area did not let up until April 17.   The eruption is classified as super-colossal and is considered the largest in recorded history, though the eruption of Krakatau in 1883, which was four to ten times smaller than that of Tambora, was more well documented due to the invention of the telegraph. Tambora, having once stood at just over 14,000 feet before the eruption, now reached a maximum height of 9,354 feet.   The Immediate Aftermath Eruption of Tomboro [sic] in 1821 [incorrect date] by Leon Sonrel, 1872. Source: University of Washington’s Freshwater and Marine Image Bank Minor eruptions and aftershocks from the volcano occurred for several months after the initial devastation. In August 1815, British ships reported encountering pumice rafts around 2,600 miles away from the island, while great plumes of smoke and ash remained over the island until August 23.   The main eruption also sent tsunamis flying across the Java Sea to several other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. The death toll of these tsunamis is estimated at 4,600. On the island itself, all vegetation was burned to ash. On Sumbawa, at least 10,000 people were killed instantly by pyroclastic flows, and estimates put the total death toll at at least 70,000 people between Sumbawa and its neighboring islands.   Ash particles were spread almost immediately into far-flung areas of the world, with the optical phenomenon being reported in London, England as early as June 28, 1815. The ash created colorful sunsets and impressive twilight displays for many months following.   While the eruption had caused immediate destruction and loss of life on the island of Sumbawa and its neighboring islands, the worst was yet to come. The sheer amount of ash that stayed in the atmosphere after the eruption would prove to have disastrous consequences, not only in Indonesia but across the globe.   The Year Without a Summer A map of temperature anomalies in Europe in 1816. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The eruption is estimated to have released 10 to 120 million tons of sulfur into the stratosphere. This, in turn, was spread over the planet by stratospheric winds, causing an aerosol veil over much of the Northern Hemisphere that was not dispersed by wind or rain for many months.   The eruption and its massive expulsion of ash and gases into the atmosphere caused a global climate anomaly. In addition to the skies turning shades of purple, pink, and red over the following months, the planet cooled at an unnatural speed. Though scientists believe that the eruption of Tambora is not solely responsible for this, the planet was already trending toward cooling. The eruption certainly sped the process along, sending the average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere down by approximately 0.4 to 0.7 degrees Celsius (0.7 to 1.3 degrees F).   This drop in temperature was enough to produce, in much of the world, what would come to be known as the “Year without a Summer.” Beginning at ground zero, no vegetation, thus no crops, survived the blast. Up to 36,000 people in Sumbawa alone are thought to have died from starvation.   Moving through Asia, the cooling temperatures disrupted weather in China and Tibet, where the cold killed rice crops and water buffalo. The cooling is thought to have contributed to a new strain of cholera that originated in 1816 in Bengal and disrupted the monsoon season in India.   Woman Before the Rising Sun by Caspar David Friedrich, ca. 1818, shows the yellow haze of the time in Europe. Source: Discover Magazine   Europe was greatly affected by the cold and wet weather, where crops failed throughout the continent. In Germany, the situation became dire, prompting food prices to rise and riots and looting to break out when the Elbe River froze for 12 days in early 1816.   In Ireland and the British Isles, rain poured down. In Ireland, it reportedly rained for eight weeks straight. Wheat, oat, and potato harvests failed, which sent parts of the country into famine. Welsh families were even reported to have traveled far and wide as famine refugees, begging for food along their way. The cooling, which had been caused by an eruption halfway across the world, caused the worst European famine of the 19th century. Furthermore, disease followed famine, when in late 1816, typhus broke out in Ireland and cut a path through the British Isles for the next few years.   An excerpt from John Quincy Adams’ diary while he lived in London in the summer of 1816, “Weather continues very cold – all nature appears encircled in gloom.” Source: Massachusetts Historical Society   In North America, too, crops failed as far south as Virginia. Starting in mid-May, the weather turned, as locals claimed, “backward.” Virginian Pharoh Chesney spoke of snowfall in June when children went sledding, then “On July 4, water froze in cisterns and snow fell again, with Independence Day celebrants moving inside churches where hearth fires warmed things a mite.”   In Virginia, the harvest was so poor that even Thomas Jefferson could not make ends meet, having to apply for a $1,000 loan to supplement his income. Canada, too, faced freezing temperatures, with snowfall measuring a foot on June 10, 1816.   New Englanders began something of a mass exodus, settling America’s heartland one failed harvest at a time. According to historian L. D. Stillwell, twice the number of people left Vermont than usual from 1816 to 1817, looking for more fruitful harvests further west. While scientists are not quick to blame all climate problems of 1816-1817 on the eruption of Mount Tambora, the Northern Hemisphere did experience the second coldest temperatures since 1400, and the 1810s were considered the coldest decade on record.   The Lasting Legacy of the Eruption of Mount Tambora Diodati, The Residence of Lord Byron by William Purser & Edward Finden, 1833. Source: National Library of Medicine   Lord Byron, the famous poet, was vacationing at Lake Geneva in Switzerland during the summer of 1816. It was, in short, miserable, but he and his companions, Percy Bysshe Shelley and his soon-to-be wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, passed the stormy days by writing. Byron penned the poem “Darkness,” which he set in a time where the “bright sun was extinguish’d” and “Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day.”   Byron challenged his fellow travelers to write their own stories, and out of this friendly competition came Percy Shelley’s The Vampyre. However, Godwin was not outshone by either man, for it was at Lake Geneva that she first penned her gothic horror, Frankenstein. Godwin, better known as Mary Shelley, captured the relationship between nature and humanity in her novel and showed, in reverse, how one could harm the other.   Of course, no human act could have caused the eruption of Mount Tambora, but during the chilly summer of 1816, Shelley harnessed the idea that our relationship with nature can have a vast impact on our lives.   Rob Wood’s depiction of the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption. Source: TreeHugger   Tambora today is still dangerous to visit. The last eruption occurred in 1967, with tremors also reported in 2011. It is still a vast and barren landscape, a reminder that the eruption was not as long ago as we may think.   Scientists who study climate trends use the effects of Mount Tambora as a benchmark. Ice core samples from Antarctica and Greenland clearly show the year 1815-1816 through elevated sulfur content. The eruption was an interesting and natural study of what happens when our planet’s temperature is affected, even by a small amount. It serves as a sort of warning, an example of what can happen when our habitat’s homeostasis is disrupted. With the current climate crisis, the eruption of Mount Tambora is a concrete event to look back upon and consider when it comes to the pollution of our atmosphere, whether natural or man-made.

  The 1988 Australian Bicentenary marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet in the area now known as Sydney. It also marked 200 years from the first official contact between indigenous people and Europeans. In 1788, Aboriginal people had been managing and living on the Australian continent from time immemorial. Their knowledge of the continent was deep and ancestral. Beginning in 1788, British settlers and explorers gradually stole away their lands, dispossessed them, and attempted to assimilate them into white Australian society. This process was slowly reversed in the 1960s with the birth and affirmation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Movement. Slowly but steadily, without resorting to violence, indigenous groups across Australia have set an example to the whole world.   The Gurindji People Go On Strike The Gurindji Freedom banners, celebrating the 1967 Gurindji Wave Hill Walk-Off. Source: Northumbria University Newcastle   Connection to land is more than just an ideological stance for indigenous Australians. They are not the owners of the land, but its custodians. For example — since time immemorial, the Gurindji people have lived on the area now known as Victoria River, in the Northern Territory, southwest of Katherine.   In 1883, without signing any treaties with the Gurindji, the colonial government handed over almost 3,000 square kilometers (1158 miles) of this vast area to Nathaniel Buchanan, an Irish-born pastoralist and explorer. One year later, he had 1,000 cattle move onto the land. Little did he know that in doing so he was disrupting the delicate land management balance that had allowed indigenous people to thrive there for millennia. Many Aboriginal men and women decided to stay, working as stockmen, stockwomen, and domestics first for Buchanan and then for the Vestey Brothers, the meat-packing company the Buchanan family sold Wave Hill station to in 1914.   The lands of the Gurindji people. Source: Deadly Story   Aboriginal workers represented a huge pool of cheap labor. Here like elsewhere, their contribution to the growth of the cattle industry has been invaluable. But living conditions were poor, and wages extremely low, if not non-existent.   On August 23, 1966, the strike began; it would go down in history as the Wave Hill Walk-Off. The Gurindji people, led by Vincent Lingiari, walked off Wave Hill Station, demanding equal pay with other stockmen. Above all, they wanted to regain possession of their ancestors’ lands.   After months of (failed) consultations, in April 1967 they moved their camp to Daguragu, also known as Wattie Creek, a floodplain on a tributary of the Victoria River. In a petition to Governor-General Lord Casey, they asked him to grant them a lease of 1,300 square kilometers (502 miles) around the creek as both a mining and cattle lease. The governor refused.   The Gurindji workers on strike in 1966. Source: The Freedom Day Festival   According to the Australian legal system, the Gurindji were illegally occupying land leased to the Vestey Brothers. They didn’t bend and the strike lasted seven years. Everything changed in 1972 when the Labor Party came to power and Gough Whitlam became Australia’s 21st Prime Minister. On August 16, 1975, Whitlam transferred the leasehold title to the Gurindji people.   After symbolically pouring a handful of red soil into Vincent Lingiari’s hand, he said: “Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people, and I put into your hands part of the earth itself as a sign that this land will be the possession of you and your children forever.” Lingiari replied: “Let us live happily together as mates, let us not make it hard for each other…” One year later, the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, was passed.   Vincent Lingiari, the face of the Wave Hill Walk-Off, with Gough Whitlam. Source: The Australian   54 years later, in September 2020, native title to Wave Hill Station was granted to the Gurindji people. The Gurindji strike, peaceful as it was, had received support from activists outside the Gurindji community, from the Socialist Party of Australia to the Communist Party of Australia, from  Wiradjuri woman and humanitarian activist Shirley Coleen Smith (1924-1998), better known as Mum Shirl, to anthropologist and photographer Hannah Middleton. Decades later, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders marched alongside non-Indigenous Australians to protest the celebrations for the Australian Bicentenary. January 26, 1988, was first and foremost a day of protests, and the culmination of years of petitions, conferences, strikes, and rallies. Lingiari died exactly that year, on the now Indigenous-owned land of his ancestors.   Eddie Mabo Goes to Court Eddie Mabo, Trevor Graham and Yarra Bank Films, 1989. Source: The NFSA   Aboriginal activist Marcia Langton (who was also one of the key negotiators of the Wik case in 1996) remembers that in the aftermath of the 1982 Mabo case “there were predictions that the Australian title system and our legal system were under threat. The hysteria was unbelievable.” But what was the so-called Mabo case?   From time immemorial, Mer has been home to the Meriam people. This tiny island is the most eastern of the islands in the Torres Strait, and it was renamed Murray Island by Captain Edwards of the HMS Pandora in 1791. The Queensland Government annexed it, along with the islands of Boigu, Erub, and Saibai, with the Queensland Coast Islands Act 1879. Little more than a hundred years later, a group of Meriam People decided to challenge the Australian legal system by bringing an action against the State of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia.   Mer, also known as Murray Island. Source: The National Museum of Australia   The leader of the group, and the man who was to become the face of the so-called Mabo Case, was Eddie Koiki Mabo (1936-1992), born in the village of Las on the Island of Mer. On May 20, 1982, along with three other Meriam men and one Meriam woman, he lodged a case with the High Court of Australia against the State of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia, claiming legal ownership of Mer, the land of his ancestors.   On June 3, 1992, exactly ten years after the case was first presented, six of the seven judges of the High Court ruled that the Meriam people were entitled “in accordance with their laws or customs, to their traditional lands and that, subject to the effect of some particular Crown leases, the land entitlement of the Murray Islanders in accordance with their laws or customs is preserved, as native title, under the law of Queensland.”   Aboriginal people from Murray Island, 1900. Source: Queensland Art Gallery   The decision was groundbreaking in that it altered the very basis of land law in Australia. The longstanding concept of terra nullius, the assumption that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders had no concept of land ownership before the arrival of the British settlers and that they were unable to properly use the land, had finally been declared a fiction.   The decision recognized that the rights and interests in the waters, lands, and islands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the original inhabitants of the continent, continued to exist despite settlement. The High Court decision, therefore, guaranteed the protection of Australian law to indigenous peoples, not only to the Mer, but to numerous groups around Australia. The Mabo decision also led to the passing of the Native Title Act 1993.   Aboriginal village on Murray Island, 1900. Source: Queensland Art Gallery   The Bill defines native title as the right (and interests) to land and waters possessed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders according to their traditional customs and laws, and it comes in two forms: exclusive rights and non-exclusive rights.   While exclusive native title grants Aboriginals the possession of a specific area to the exclusion of all other parties, be it a family or an international company, non-exclusive native title rights apply when there is a shared interest with another party (with pastoral or mining leases for instance). The Bill also established the National Native Title Tribunal, to assist Indigenous peoples in drafting their applications and handling the evidence claimants are supposed to provide in order to file their claim and to prove their continuous and unbroken connection to their ancestors’ country.   Traditional owner Jimmy Wavehill with Federal Court’s Justice Mansfield at Pigeon Hole, 2011. Source: Northern Land Council   As provided for by the Bill, whenever native title holders feel that their rights and interests have been damaged or diminished by their coexistence with other leases, they can ask for compensation. This brings us to another crucial moment in the history of the Aboriginal Land Rights Movement — the 1996 Wik case.   When the Wik People Fought the Law (and Won)  Aboriginal women working in conjunction with rangers to locate and map waterholes in remote Australia. Source: Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa   In the Aboriginal language of the Wik peoples, wik means “speech” or “language.” From time immemorial, they have lived and thrived in the area around the Archer and Eward rivers, on the western Cape York Peninsula. In 1993, together with the Thayorre people, they claimed native title rights over two large areas, known as “Holroyd River Holding” and the “Michellton Pastoral Leases.”   These areas included various pastoral leases and two mining leases, however, they claimed that their native title rights had not been extinguished by the granting of various leases over the land. Their native title rights had, in fact, survived them. The Wik’s claim was the direct successor to the Mabo case, but while the Mabo decision was limited to a small area, the lands of the Wik people were right within the orbits of mining and pastoralist interests.   Aboriginal native title across Australia. Source: Māori Law Review   The case ended up in the High Court, which was called to decide whether pastoral leases extinguish the rights of native title holders, that is, whether a native title could coexist with other leases. On December 23, 1996, it was decided that yes, it could. A pastoral lease, the Court decided, does not automatically substitute nor extinguish native title rights, just as it doesn’t grant rights of exclusive possession on the pastoralist and leaseholder.   The Wik Peoples v. Queensland (also known as the “Pastoral Leases case”) was met with widespread hysteria. The government, led by John Howard, responded with the Wik 10-point plan which severely watered down the High Court decision. It stated, among other things, that native title can coexist with the rights of a pastoralist only if there is no conflict between the pastoralists and the native title holders. In the case of a conflict of rights, the native title holders must yield. In other words, Aboriginal rights must come second.   Gladys Tybingoompa dancing and celebrating outside the High Court. Source: Cape York Partnership   Nonetheless, the Wik case was a crucial moment in the history of Aboriginal activism. It brought the communities of the Cape York peninsula together, putting Aboriginal women at the forefront of the political battle for land rights. The famous picture of Gladys Tybingoompa celebrating, dancing, and singing, outside the High Court, is more than just symbolic: it is a truthful representation of what happened in the months leading up to December 23, 1996, as Aboriginal women from remote communities actively engaged in the fight.   Aboriginal filmmaker Dean Gibson, the director of the 2018 feature documentary Wik vs Queensland, has stated that the whole case came down to Aboriginal people saying “we know that you are here, miners and farmers, you are part of the landscape, but as Aboriginal people we can’t just be stomped on, we need to have an equal and prominent seat at that table.”   Timber Creek: Compensation for Spiritual Loss Aboriginal Elder helping rangers to locate a waterhole. Source: Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa   The Timber Creek Compensation Case, officially known as the Griffiths v. Northern Territory case, has been hailed as one of the most significant events in the land rights movement since the Wik and Mabo cases. The High Court decision, which marks the end of an eight-year-long legal battle, was the first to recognize the existence and value of Aboriginal culture, finally putting it at the forefront of the struggle for land rights.   Makalamayi, known to non-indigenous peoples as Timber Creek, is located 285 kilometers (177 miles) west of Katherine in the Northern Territory and it has long been the home of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples. In 2006, they finally won native title rights to the area. Such rights were, however, non-exclusive. As mentioned above, under the native title system, non-exclusive native title rights can be “extinguished” by the government whenever they clash with national interests.   Aboriginal protected areas across Australia. Source: Māori Law Review   This means, essentially, that roads can be built over Aboriginal sacred sites if needed and that mining companies can disrupt and destroy ancient Aboriginal sites. That Aboriginal rights and culture always come second.   On March 13, 2019, the High Court of Australia awarded a total of $3.3 million in compensation to the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples (later decreased to $2.9), of which $1.3 was awarded for cultural and spiritual loss alone. What makes the Timber Creek decision unique and groundbreaking is that it treated the spiritual aspect of the case distinctly from the more objective economic value of the land itself. It also stated that, given the highly personal and subjective nature of each group’s relation to the land, cultural loss needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.   Vincent Lingiari standing by a plaque marking the handing over of the lease in Wattie Creek, 1975. Source: The National Museum of History   The Timber Creek case highlighted the “tension between national growth (…) and local and regional development for Indigenous land owners” discussed by Altman in his essay on what he describes as the “Indigenous land titling ‘revolution’ in Australia.” A tension that is likely to never be completely solved.   In Dean Gibson’s documentary about the Wik case, Wik vs Queensland, Stanley Ngakyunkwokka, one of the leaders of the case, says that Aboriginal Australians must learn to fight, “not to fight with fists but with our tongues,” not with violence but through dialogue “because everybody has their feelings for their land within their heart.” This is perhaps the greatest lesson that the Aboriginal Land Rights Movement can teach us all.

  In modern representations of the Vikings, you will often hear them say that when they die, they expect to find themselves in Valhalla, a kind of warrior paradise overseen by the Norse god Odin. But what did it take to earn a place in Valhalla, what was this hall of Odin like, and what did it mean to join the Einherjar? Additionally, what happened to the Vikings who did not earn a spot there? The surviving sources make mention of several different afterlives — although how they relate to one another is often unclear.   Belief in Life After Death Collection of Viking grave goods. Source: Historical Museum, Norway   We know less about Norse afterlives than you might imagine. This is principally because all the surviving written sources for the Norse afterlife come from after the widespread conversion of the Vikings to Christianity. As a result, the way the afterlife is described is heavily influenced by Christian ideas.   Nevertheless, we know that the Vikings believed in life after death from their burial practices. Typical Viking burials included items they used in life, suggesting that they believed people would need these objects in the next life.   The burial goods reflected a person’s life. They might be buried with tools of their profession, jewelry that reflected their social status, and weapons. Swords were very valuable in the Viking world because they were complex and expensive to manufacture. Therefore, when a warrior was buried with their sword, it was bent, presumably to discourage grave robbers.   Viking ship burials are a well-known phenomenon, but this was an honor reserved for the wealthiest and most important individuals. Again, this was a tool that served a person in life and could continue to serve them in the next, suggesting a belief that life after death looked a lot like this life.   There is also evidence that the very, very wealthy might have been buried with slaves, who were essentially human sacrifices. A burial at Flakstad in Norway was found to contain multiple bodies in the same grave, but DNA and dietary evidence suggests that they were slaves buried with their master. In addition, the 10th-century traveler Ahmed ibn Fadlan claimed that he saw a woman sacrificed as part of the funeral of a Viking chief. However, the evidence suggests that this was rare.   Transitioning Between Life and Death Drawing of a burial mound at Mammen, Denmark, by Magnus Peterson, 1868. Source: Historical Museum, Norway   The Vikings believed that the soul was comprised of four parts. The Hamr is the physical appearance of a person, which could be changed through shapeshifting rituals. The Hugr is the person’s personality or character. The Flygia is a totem of a familiar spirit, which a Volva (witch) might send out into the world to travel and see on their behalf. The final part is the Hamingja, which is a person’s quality or inherent success in life, and this appears to have been inherited within families.   It was probably the Hugr that moved on to the afterlife, but there were several different afterlives that it could move into. The dead were generally described as passing to Helgafjell, which means “the holy mountain.” This was probably not a specific place but just the general realm of the dead.   The dead are sometimes described as coming back to visit the living. One place where they often made this transition was at their burial mound, where the veil between the world of the living and the dead was believed to have been thinnest.   This could be a disconcerting experience. For example, when the hero Helgi returns from Valhalla to visit his wife Sigrun at his burial mound, he is still covered in his battle wounds, but he spends the night holding his wife. After his first appearance, Sigrun returns every night in search of him, but he never returns. She dies of a broken heart. But despite this harrowing tale, most descriptions of life in Helgafjell are of a happy and pleasant existence that mirrors the world of the living.   Norre Naera Runestone from Denmark, with an inscription believed to be designed to keep the deceased in their grave. Source: National Museum Denmark   A much worse fate was to not to pass over at all, but to remain in limbo in the world of the living as a draugr, a kind of zombie. According to Norse legend, it was normally evil men and ones with unfinished business that remained on the earth of draugr. They possessed otherworldly strength and had grotesque features including horrible blue skin and eyes so terrible that they could freeze a man with fear. They tormented their community by killing livestock, collapsing homes, and killing servants.   The only way to kill a draugr was by decapitation. When it was suspected that a draugr was tormenting the community, people would weigh down the recently dead by placing rocks on their bodies or placing a blade over the dead body’s neck so that it would decapitate itself if it tried to rise.   But turning back to the dead who did pass over, in addition to being in the general veil of Helgafjell, there were several specific afterlife realms where they could find themselves in.   Valhalla: Realm of the Einherjar Gylfi stands before Odin in Valhalla, illustration by George Hand Wright, from Norse Stories, Retold from the Eddas, by Mabie Wright Hamilton, 1902. Source: My Norse Digital Nomad Repository   According to Norse mythology, the god Odin, with the help of his band of Valkyrie shieldmaidens, chose the bravest fallen warrior from the battlefield to live in Valhalla, a hall of Odin in Asgard, the realm of the Aesir gods. Odin is sometimes called Valfodr, which means father of the slain. In Valhalla, the warriors, who were collectively called the Einherjar (“the lone warriors”), feasted and trained with the express purpose of fighting alongside the gods at Ragnarök, the end of the world.   While our descriptions of Valhalla come from Christian authors, especially the 13th-century Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson, the idea of Valhalla is certainly much older. For example, it is mentioned in the 10th-century poems Hakonarmal and Eiriksmal.   Snorri Sturluson describes the hall as enormous and majestic, with a thatched roof made from golden shields. It has many doors and enough space for all the warriors, who have been growing in number since the beginning of time.   Heidrun standing on the roof of Valhalla, illustration from Icelandic manuscript NKS 1867 4to, 1760. Source: My Norse Digital Image Repository   The warriors are served mead by the Valkyries, which is taken from the udders of the goat Heidrun, which lives on the roof of Valhalla. He eats the leaves from a tree called Laeradr, which may be part of Yggdrasil, the world tree. The warriors also eat meat from a pig or boar called Saehrimnir, prepared by a cook called Andhriminir in a pot called Eldhrimnir. They can eat their fill every night as the boar is magically restored each day, much like Thor’s two goats.   Upon arrival, the warriors are greeted by Bragi, a divine skald (poet) who may have been a real person, the 9th-century skald Bragi Boddason, brought to Valhalla for his skill. He composes poems about their deeds, just as skalds did in the halls of chiefs in the realm of the living.   Valhalla, illustration by Johannes Gehrts, from Walhall: germanische Götter- und Heldensagen. Für Alt und Jung am Deutschen Herd erzählt, by Felix Dahn, 1885. Source: GermanicMythology.com   Valhalla was considered the most desirable afterlife, and only open to warriors who died bravely in battle. There is evidence that when older warriors were on their deathbeds, their loved ones would stab them to trick the Valkyrie into thinking that they belonged in Valhalla. The poem The Hakonarmal suggests that magical words were spoken over the grave of Hakon to ensure that his Hugr made its way to Valhalla.   The Valknut, a symbol of three interlocking triangles, was the symbol of Valhalla. While we do not know what the Vikings called the symbol, it always appears in association with both Odin and the dead, drawing a clear link to Valhalla. When associated with graves, it could have been used to indicate the belief that the fallen person was in Valhalla, or to call on the Valkyries to come and take them there.   Folkvangr: Field of Freyja Freyja, by Joannes Gehrts, from Walhall: germanische Götter- und Heldensagen. Für Alt und Jung am deutschen Herd erzählt, by Felix Dahn, 1885. Source: GermanicMythology.com   But Valhalla was not the only afterlife for fallen warriors. The goddess Freyja also ruled over an afterlife called Folkvangr, which means “field of the people.” She is one of the Vanir goddesses who came to live in Asgard following the Aesir-Vanir War.   According to the sources, Freyja also chose brave fallen warriors from the battlefield to transport to Folkvangr. The sources also suggest that Freyja had the first choice. This has led to confusion around whether Freyja was also a Valkyrie, and if overseeing Folkvangr was somehow an extension of that responsibility.   On the other hand, Folkvangr may not have been exclusively for fallen warriors. In Egils Saga, when the protagonist Egil refuses to eat, his daughter says that she will also go without food until she starves to death and is welcomed to the table of Freyja, presumably in Folkvangr. So, Freyja may have had different criteria for choosing her fallen.   Helheim: Traveling Downward Hermod´s Ride to Hel, illustration from Icelandic manuscript NKS 1867 4to, 1760. Source: My Norse Digital Image Repository   While Valhalla and Folkvangr were believed to be in the higher realms, in Asgard, Helheim is an afterlife located in the lower realms, in Niflheim, a world of cold and mist among the roots of Yggdrasil. This stronghold of the dead within Niflheim is called Helheim after the jotun (giant) Hel, who rules there.   Hel is the daughter of the trickster jotun Loki with the jotun Angrboda. Hel was born half-black and half-white, which is interpreted as meaning half-living and half-dead. Consequently, she was both feared by the gods and considered horrific to look upon. They sent her away, placing her in command of the Niflheim underworld.   But that does not mean that Helheim was considered a place for the wicked. When Balder, the son of Odin and Frigg, who was considered the most noble of the Aesir gods, died due to the machination of Loki, he found himself in Helheim. But Helheim is a place of no return. Even Odin could not retrieve his son from Helheim. Odin sent Hermod to Helheim to negotiate for the release of Balder, but this was unsuccessful. While Helheim seems to have been a general afterlife, our only descriptions of Helheim come from Christian authors, who clearly describe it with Christian ideas of Hell in mind.   Gjallarbrú, illustration by Louis Moe, from Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning, 1929. Source: My Norse Digital Image Repository   The road to Helheim is called Helvegr and it involves traveling through a dark and misty land and then a sunny and fertile land where herbs grow year-round. You then reach a raging river that is flowing with weapons called Gjoll, which means “loud noise.” You cross over a bridge called Gjallarbru and meet a jotun called Modgudgr, whose name means “furious battle.” She oversees a field of fallen warriors locked in eternal battle. You then arrive at the walls of Helheim where you are confronted by Garm, the guard dog of Helheim.   Sturluson describes Helheim as a dark and dreary hall called Elvidner (misery), where Hel eats from a dish called “hunger,” with a knife called “famine,” suggesting that no amount of eating can fill the empty stomachs of the dead. He also refers to a bed that is called “sick bed,” again suggesting that no amount of sleep can ease the weariness of the dead.   Death Reflects Life Ran, illustration by Johannes Gehrts, from Walhall: germanische Götter- und Heldensagen. Für Alt und Jung am Deutschen Herd erzählt, by Felix Dahn, 1885. Source: GermanicMythology.com   Even these afterlives are not the only places where the Vikings believed a person might find themselves after death. Another source mentions Ran, a realm named for the jotun Ran who lives at the bottom of the ocean in a realm illuminated by the masses of treasure that she accumulates by sinking passing ships. It is said that she catches sailors in her nets, drowning them, and keeping them with her in her watery realm. There were probably other realms like this one that have been lost to time.   What this suggests is that the Norse believed that how you lived your life and how you died influenced where and how you spent your time in the next life. This suggests that life after death is a continuation of life and how you choose to live and die, matters.

October 22, 2024 Maybe We're All More Alike Than We ThoughtLYSA TERKEURST Lee en español "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12 (NIV) It's no secret that the world today feels so divided. And while we won't always understand everyone else's thoughts, opinions and ways of processing life, I think we can focus on areas where we are all more alike than different. You see, we all have tear stains on our pillows and have faced: Unforeseeable, life-altering circumstances.Unresolved relationship tensions.Unanswered prayer requests. When our hearts get broken, it hurts. Grief stings. Hard stuff piled on top of hard stuff is disorienting for all of us. We all carry a bit of sorrow or frustration or heaviness. And when we take time to remember this, compassion toward others grows in our hearts - because the reality is they're hurting too. Maybe the truth that we're all carrying some form of pain in our hearts means we're a lot more alike than we are different. Maybe today is a great day for us to reach out with compassion to another hurting human soul. Make that phone call.Leave that encouraging comment on social media.Stop by just to say hello to a friend with her favorite coffee.Pray more words over her than you talk about her.Pick up some flowers and place them where she can see something beautiful.Smile and take a photo of the two of you, proving life isn't all bad. One of the most compassionate things we can do for others is create a space where they know they're welcome just as they are. Around a table. On a walk. Maybe even on a road trip. Initiating those moments where togetherness says, You belong. You have a place. You have a voice. You have people. You are loved. I think Colossians 3:12 says it best: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."  When you're hurting, it can feel isolating if you aren't sure how to talk about the hard things or who can safely hold your honest thoughts. But compassion allows us to love people who are hurting, empathize with their pain, and acknowledge their side of things, even if we can't change the outcome or fix things for them. Only God can do that. But what can we do? Invite. Initiate. Comfort. Pray. Release our desire to control things or change people and instead simply create space for the Holy Spirit to move. We can show up with Jesus in our hearts and compassion in our words and just be there. So who is someone in your life who may need this today? Maybe shoot that person a quick text saying, "Hey, friend. Jesus loves you, and I love you, and I'm here for you." And if you're that person who needs to be reminded she's a little less alone in what she's walking through right now, I'll be that friend for you: Hey, you. Jesus loves you, and today isn't the whole story. Keep going. You're going to make it. Father God, sometimes I forget we all have tear stains on our pillows. Please remind me that every person I come across needs compassion and that I might be the only one in their life right now who has the chance to help and the courage to care. In Jesus' Name, Amen. OUR FAVORITE THINGS People who break our trust do not have the power to break apart God's good plans for our lives. If you need help believing this is true, join Circle 31 Book Club in reading our November pick: I Want to Trust You, but I Don't by Lysa TerKeurst! When you join Circle 31, you'll also receive FREE access to two brand-new Bible teachings taught by Lysa from the I Want to Trust You, but I Don't Bible Study. Join now, and start reading with us on November 1! ENGAGE Find real-life encouragement when you connect with Lysa TerKeurst here on Instagram. FOR DEEPER STUDY Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (NIV). What is something you can do in compassion for someone else who is hurting today? We'd love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments. © 2024 by Lysa TerKeurst. All rights reserved. Proverbs 31 MinistriesP.O. Box 3189 Matthews, NC 28106 www.Proverbs31.org The post Maybe We’re All More Alike Than We Thought –  Encouragement for Today – October 22, 2024 appeared first on GodUpdates.

October 22, 2024 Maybe We're All More Alike Than We ThoughtLYSA TERKEURST Lee en español "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12 (NIV) It's no secret that the world today feels so divided. And while we won't always understand everyone else's thoughts, opinions and ways of processing life, I think we can focus on areas where we are all more alike than different. You see, we all have tear stains on our pillows and have faced: Unforeseeable, life-altering circumstances.Unresolved relationship tensions.Unanswered prayer requests. When our hearts get broken, it hurts. Grief stings. Hard stuff piled on top of hard stuff is disorienting for all of us. We all carry a bit of sorrow or frustration or heaviness. And when we take time to remember this, compassion toward others grows in our hearts - because the reality is they're hurting too. Maybe the truth that we're all carrying some form of pain in our hearts means we're a lot more alike than we are different. Maybe today is a great day for us to reach out with compassion to another hurting human soul. Make that phone call.Leave that encouraging comment on social media.Stop by just to say hello to a friend with her favorite coffee.Pray more words over her than you talk about her.Pick up some flowers and place them where she can see something beautiful.Smile and take a photo of the two of you, proving life isn't all bad. One of the most compassionate things we can do for others is create a space where they know they're welcome just as they are. Around a table. On a walk. Maybe even on a road trip. Initiating those moments where togetherness says, You belong. You have a place. You have a voice. You have people. You are loved. I think Colossians 3:12 says it best: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."  When you're hurting, it can feel isolating if you aren't sure how to talk about the hard things or who can safely hold your honest thoughts. But compassion allows us to love people who are hurting, empathize with their pain, and acknowledge their side of things, even if we can't change the outcome or fix things for them. Only God can do that. But what can we do? Invite. Initiate. Comfort. Pray. Release our desire to control things or change people and instead simply create space for the Holy Spirit to move. We can show up with Jesus in our hearts and compassion in our words and just be there. So who is someone in your life who may need this today? Maybe shoot that person a quick text saying, "Hey, friend. Jesus loves you, and I love you, and I'm here for you." And if you're that person who needs to be reminded she's a little less alone in what she's walking through right now, I'll be that friend for you: Hey, you. Jesus loves you, and today isn't the whole story. Keep going. You're going to make it. Father God, sometimes I forget we all have tear stains on our pillows. Please remind me that every person I come across needs compassion and that I might be the only one in their life right now who has the chance to help and the courage to care. In Jesus' Name, Amen. OUR FAVORITE THINGS People who break our trust do not have the power to break apart God's good plans for our lives. If you need help believing this is true, join Circle 31 Book Club in reading our November pick: I Want to Trust You, but I Don't by Lysa TerKeurst! When you join Circle 31, you'll also receive FREE access to two brand-new Bible teachings taught by Lysa from the I Want to Trust You, but I Don't Bible Study. Join now, and start reading with us on November 1! ENGAGE Find real-life encouragement when you connect with Lysa TerKeurst here on Instagram. FOR DEEPER STUDY Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (NIV). What is something you can do in compassion for someone else who is hurting today? We'd love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments. © 2024 by Lysa TerKeurst. All rights reserved. Proverbs 31 MinistriesP.O. Box 3189 Matthews, NC 28106 www.Proverbs31.org The post Maybe We’re All More Alike Than We Thought –  Encouragement for Today – October 22, 2024 appeared first on GodUpdates.

We are seeing trends on “X” like #IraniansStandWithIsrael. Why does this major Muslim country have so many people supporting Israel? Iranians in major cities like Berlin, Paris, Toronto, Rome and San Diego hosted pro-Israel rallies to show support for the Jewish people. “They’re active on social media speaking out against Hamas, in favor of Israel […]