It's Good to be King: The Governance of 7th Century Britain (Day Forty)

Today's featured article on Wikipedia has a royal turn.

Æthelred (/ˈæθəlrɛd/; died after 704) was King of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, where his armies destroyed the city of Rochester. In 679 he defeated his brother-in-law, Ecgfrith of Northumbria, at the Battle of the Trent: the battle was a major setback for the Northumbrians, and effectively ended their military involvement in English affairs south of the Humber. It also permanently returned the Kingdom of Lindsey to Mercia's possession. However, 

Æthelred was unable to re-establish his predecessors' domination of southern Britain.
He was known as a pious and devout Christian king, and he made many grants of land to the church. It was during his reign that Theodore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reorganized the church's diocesan structure, creating several new sees in Mercia and Northumbria.... 

Æthelred's wife, Osthryth, was a daughter of King Oswiu, one of the dominant 7th-century Northumbrian kings. Osthryth was murdered in unknown circumstances in 697, and in 704 Æthelred abdicated, leaving the throne to Wulfhere's son Coenred. Æthelred became a monk at Bardney, a monastery which he had founded with his wife, and was buried there....

The most interesting sections in this article relate to the governing structures and manners of 7th Century Britain.  My curiosity peaks, however, with this question: How common of a practice at the time to abdicate one's kingship?

The Darwinian Waters of Evolution: The Case Study of the Trait du Nord (Day Thirty-Nine)

Today's featured article on Wikipedia highlights how even artificial selection cannot man the Darwinian waters of evolution.

The Trait du Nord, previously also known as Ardennais du Nord or Ardennais de type Nord, is a breed of heavy draft horse developed and bred in the area of Hainaut in western Belgium and in northeastern France. Originally considered a subtype of the Ardennes, it was recognized as an individual breed with the opening of a studbook in 1903. Developed in the fertile Flemish grasslands, it was bred for size and pulling power for agricultural work. By 1855, the horses bred near Hainaut were considered by some veterinarians to be superior to other Flemish draft breeds. The Trait du Nord was used extensively in mining from the late 19th century through 1920, with lesser use continuing through the 1960s.

The Trait du Nord continued to be used extensively for agriculture through World War II, but after the war this usage, and the breed population, declined significantly as farming became increasingly mechanized. During the mid-20th century, the breed was in demand for the production of horse meat, and due to this was bred to be larger and heavier. In the early 1970s, the market for horse meat began to decline, and the Trait du Nord, like many European draft breeds, was in danger of extinction. It was not until the 1990s that the breed experienced a slight revival through an increased interest in recreational riding and driving.

With increased reliance on motorized technology for farming and mining, coupled with changes in consumer dietary tastes, we find the Trait du Nord presently an endangered species.    

The breed is considered to be endangered by the French government, with fewer than 100 new foal births a year. The national breed registry in France is working with local groups in an attempt to promote this breed and bring population numbers back up. The breed currently has a high risk of inbreeding, due to the low number of breeding stallions, and is at risk of extinction.

We often think of animal species flourishing in the absences of us, and that if only those darn humans would just get out of the way or off of this planet entirely, these other creatures would thrive. However, the fate of the Trait du Nord reminds us well that numerous species rely on us exclusively for their very livelihoods. In short, what stands between a species and its extinction is often nothing more than us humans. To many, we are their only levee against the raging waters of evolution.

J.S. Bach's Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22: Scoring and Structure (Day Thirty-Eight)

As a musician and music-lover who often confines himself to mostly Jazz or Jazz-influenced music, Wikipedia's featured article on days like this make my ears happy!

Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe (Jesus gathered the twelve to Himself), BWV 22, is "a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach composed for Quinquagesima, the last Sunday before Lent. Bach composed it as an audition piece for the position ofThomaskantor in Leipzig and first performed it there on 7 February 1723."

Scoring and structure

The cantata has five movements and is scored for three vocal soloists (an alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir (SATB), and for a Baroque orchestra of an oboe (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo. The duration is given as c. 20 minutes.

In the following table of movements, the scoring, divided in voices, winds and strings, follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The continuo group is not listed, because it plays throughout. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr. The symbol is used to denote common time (4/4).

No.	Type	Text (source)	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
1	Arioso	Jesus nahm zu sich  die Zwölfe (Bible)	T B SATB	Ob	2Vl Va	G minor
2	Aria	Mein Jesu, ziehe mich  nach dir (anon.)	A	Ob		C minor	9/8
3	Recitativo	Mein Jesu, ziehe mich,  so werd ich laufen (anon.)	B			E-flat major − B major
4	Aria	Mein alles in allem,  mein ewiges Gut (anon.)	T		2Vl Va	B major	3/8
5	Chorale	Ertöt uns durch dein  Güte (Cruziger)	SATB	Ob	2Vl Va	B major

The time signatures for the second and fourth movements caught my attention, since these are highly uncommon in the music to which I play and listen.

John Irving on Knowing Whether You're a Writer

At some point in their lives, every author made a decision that they were a writer--no aspiring prefixed to the title. It frightens us to make such an identifying claim about ourselves, especially if we have little to show for it--no novels, no short stories, maybe only a few blog posts. Stepping onto such an admirable and storied path can feel pretentious or undeserved. Admittedly, writers are well aware of the many bookshelves that are full of unnecessary and terribly-written novels. It's only worse in the interwebs, crowded by millions of people trying to find a voice that can articulate something which may matter to somebody else. This curmudgeonly pessimism from already established wizards of the page shouldn't stop us from responding to the creative impulse inherent in our species. Most of us hear the call of the pen, or feel a very real compulsion to dance our fingers across the keys of a typewriter or a keyboard--too few of us decide to continue moving our feet once the path becomes treacherous, seemingly blocked by an immovable barrier. 

You may not find yourself ready for it, or believe you will ever be capable of penning something worth reading. John Irving, author of The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany, offers something heartening to those feeling under-prepared or unqualified for the work. His advice doesn't apply to all--especially if you are extroverted by nature--but I think most aspiring-writers will find some confidence. And, hopefully, a few more will find the courage to remove the hyphenated prefix.

Female Genital Mutilation: The Libertarian Imperialist Feminist Case Against (Day Thirty-Seven)

Today's featured article on Wikipedia draws attention to political, social, cultural, and moral issue on which I take a strong stance.  

Female genital mutilation (FGM), "also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade or razor (with or without anaesthesia), FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, and found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East, and among diaspora communities around the world. The age at which it is conducted varies from days after birth to puberty; in half the countries for which national figures are available, most girls are cut before the age of five.

The practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women's sexuality, and ideas about purity, modesty and aesthetics. It is usually initiated and carried out by women, who see it as a source of honour, and who fear that failing to have their daughters and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion. Over 130 million women and girls have experienced FGM in the 29 countries in which it is concentrated. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 20 percent of affected women have been infibulated, a practice found largely in northeast Africa, particularly Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and northern Sudan.

FGM has been outlawed or restricted in most of the countries in which it occurs, but the laws are poorly enforced. There have been international efforts since the 1970s to persuade practitioners to abandon it, and in 2012 the United Nations General Assembly, recognizing FGM as a human-rights violation, voted unanimously to intensify those efforts....

Yet, believe it or not, "[t]he opposition is not without its critics, particularly among anthropologists. Eric Silverman writes that FGM has become one of anthropology's central moral topics, raising difficult questions about cultural relativism, tolerance and the universality of human rights."

Ugandan law professor Sylvia Tamale argues that early Western opposition to FGM stemmed from a Judeo-Christian judgment that African sexual and family practices – including dry sex, polygyny, bride price and levirate marriage – were primitive and required correction. African feminists "do not condone the negative aspects of the practice," writes Tamale, but "take strong exception to the imperialist, racist and dehumanizing infantilization of African women."

The debate has highlighted a tension between anthropology and feminism, with the former's focus on tolerance and the latter's on equal rights for all women. Anthropologist Christine Walley writes that a common trope within the anti-FGM literature has been to present African women as victims of false consciousness participating in their own oppression, a position promoted by several feminists in the 1970s and 1980s, including Fran Hosken, Mary Daly and Hanny Lightfoot-Klein. It prompted the French Association of Anthropologists to issue a statement in 1981, at the height of the early debates, that "a certain feminism resuscitates (today) the moralistic arrogance of yesterday's colonialism."

As one who quickly disregards my multi-cultural principles when the individual is to be left tyrannized by the community, tribe, and/or family, I take a hard anti-anthropologist line on this matter. And if being against the anti-FGM campaign makes one an imperialist, do understand that I am "imperialist" because of my libertarianism. The state is not the only source of force in the world;–that is, culture can be as rippling to individual liberty as any government, be it democratic or despotic. 

Also, as one who finds nymphomania as an aspirational value for both the individual and society, at large, I cannot rectify how FGM is not sexual theft. What else can it be, when according to Understanding the Female Orgasm (July 2003), by Al Cooper, that

• Fifty to 75 percent of women who have orgasms need clitoral stimulation and are unable to have an orgasm through intercourse alone. 
• Even for women who do orgasm through vaginal intercourse alone, most still need the right position to provide clitoral stimulation.

Putting my libertinism aside, this again speaks to my liberal nature: individual sexual choices and experiences should never be sacrificed to any community's prejudices.

In short, on the issue of FGM, I am proudly a libertarian imperialist feminist!

P.S. Since many people I have spoken with over the years seem not to be aware of what exactly is be cut during FGM, here is illustration to explain:

Bases Loaded Deux: The Things I Have Missed for the Last Three Days (Day Thirty-Four, -Five, and -Six)

Here is what I missed from the last three days, at least, according to the best website online, Wikipedia:

On Feb. 3rd,

State Route 67 (SR 67) is a state highway in San Diego County, California. It begins at Interstate 8 (I-8) in El Cajon and continues to Lakeside as the San Vicente Freeway before becoming an undivided highway through the eastern part of Poway. In the town of Ramona, the route turns into Main Street before ending at SR 78. SR 67 provides direct access from the city of San Diego to the East County region of San Diego County, including Ramona and Julian.

The route has existed as a railroad corridor since the turn of the 20th century. A highway known as the Julian road was built by 1913, and was designated as Legislative Route 198 in the state highway system by 1935. Route 198 was renumbered SR 67 in the 1964 state highway renumbering. A freeway south of Lakeside was built in the late 1960s, and opened to traffic in 1970. Since then, the portion of the highway north of Lakeside has become known for a high number of traffic accidents and related fatalities. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has made several attempts to remedy the problem and make the road safer.

On Feb. 4th,

"Damien" is the tenth episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 4, 1998. In the episode, the boys' class is joined by a new student named Damien, who has been sent by his father Satan to find Jesus and arrange a boxing match between the two. The majority of South Park residents bet on Satan to win the match due to his enormous size and muscular physique, but Satan ultimately throws the fight and reveals he bet on Jesus, thus winning everybody's money.

On Feb. 5th,

Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. (February 5, 1875 – May 19, 1942) was an American mammalogist, bacteriologist, and pathologist. He was born into a military family, and demonstrated an early interest in zoology by collecting local wildlife around his father's army posts. He graduated from Brown University in 1897, and continued his studies at George Washington University while working part-time at the United States National Museum (USNM). At the same time, he taught at Howard University Medical School and later George Washington University Medical School. He received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1913. In 1919, he and his wife, Martha, moved to South Bend, Indiana to join a newly opened clinic. Prior to moving, Lyon had published many papers on mammalogy, both during and after his tenure at the USNM. In these papers, he had formally described six species, three genera, and one family. Once in South Bend, he began to publish medical studies, too, but continued his work in mammalogy, with a particular focus on the local fauna of Indiana. He published more than 160 papers during his career.

Philip Seymour Hoffman on Doing a Job Well (Day Thirty-Three)

Today's featured article on Wikipedia spotlights the beautiful craft and tragic life of one of the finest actors of the last quarter century.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was "an American actor, director, and producer of film and theater. Best known for his supporting and character roles – typically lowlifes, bullies, and misfits – Hoffman was a regular presence in films from the early 1990s until his death at age 46."

So much of Hoffman's work is readily spoken for by itself. Yet, my main takeaway from this article is how he spoke about doing the craft (any craft) well:

[I]n a 2012 interview he confessed that performing to a high standard was a challenge: "The job isn't difficult. Doing it well is difficult." In an earlier interview with The New York Times, he explained how deeply he loved acting but added, "that deep kind of love comes at a price: for me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing... Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great – well, that's absolutely torturous."