Updates and added essay on technology of creating horcruxes.

6 files changed, 224 insertions, 19 deletions

diff --git a/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst b/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst
index f3a4e90..cb94c82 100644
--- a/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst
+++ b/faith/breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Biorn`_” by The Animation Workshop. It starts with this line:
 a dwarf off a cliff?” Many good stories exactly with this: why
 somebody did something very strange, against their character or
 against what we would expect from a person like him. Why this
-not-that-girl does things which she shouldn’t is exactly this
+not-that-girl does things which she shouldn’t do is exactly this
 question that made me interested in the story.
 
 Jim Chamberlain writes in `one of her interviews`_ how the
@@ -81,9 +81,10 @@ permanently)? Why would he? What would they do afterwards, when
 the baby happens?
 
 Where good people do bad things (think `Graham Greene`_, if you
-want to have a good Catholic writer) is exactly the place where
-graphomania ends and literature may begin. “It was magic who did
-it!” is just a valiant attempt to avoid making good literature.
+want to have a good writer who is a Catholic) is exactly the
+place where graphomania ends and literature may begin. “It was
+magic who did it!” is just a valiant attempt to avoid making good
+literature.
 
 Another point, if the author wants to have their pair have `the
 Quiverfull marriage`_, it is dishonest to hide their courageous
@@ -114,12 +115,13 @@ a breakdown in her third one.
 And when she is overcome by stress, loneliness, guilt (she did
 effectively enslave her parents, she, a founder of S.P.E.W.!),
 unfulfilled desire, and perhaps a bit of wine (of course,
-Catholics must drink wine, not Scotch!), she sleeps with Harry,
-from all that stress. And when she finds later she is pregnant
-out of wedlock, she does the same: being the overachiever,
-perfect student, perfect single mother (and by God’s grace, she
-actually is). Fortunately, she is Hermione Granger, so she has
-the brain to back up this drive, and she manages to pull it off.
+Catholics must drink wine, not Scotch!), she breaks down and
+sleeps with Harry, from all that stress. And when she finds later
+that she is pregnant out of wedlock, she does the same: being the
+overachiever, perfect student, perfect single mother (and by
+God’s grace, she actually is). Fortunately, she is Hermione
+Granger, so she has the brain to back up this drive, and she
+manages to pull it off.
 
 Perhaps, you have another explanation, but anything is better
 than the Eros Syndrome.
diff --git a/faith/decline-of-the-west.rst b/faith/decline-of-the-west.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e07ac65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/faith/decline-of-the-west.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+How West Does Not Decline
+#########################
+
+:date: 2022-01-03T22:29:50
+:status: draft
+:category: faith
+:tags: review, cultureWar, blogComment
+
+(my comments on “`Looking Forward as the West Declines`_” by author)
+
+
+.. _`Looking Forward as the West Declines`:
+    https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/looking-forward-as-the-west-declines/
+
+Well, it is truly intellectual discourse when you start labelling
+your opponents as idiots (the author started with comparing his
+opponents with Hitler in first two paragraphs).
+
+Oswald Spengler’s “Decline of the West” is one of the weirdest
+books in the area of political science. It really doesn’t looks
+like a scientific book at all. Certainly its proposition is not
+verifiable/falsifiable, it is not possible to find out whether
+its conclusion is false or not. It was wrong in the time of its
+publication, because the West certainly didn’t head towards the
+decline, but 1918 was in the beginning of the absolute dominance
+of the West for the next almost century (at least), where history
+of the rest of the world was just unimportant footnotes on the
+history of West. This period is also called “The American
+Century” which very obviously signifies such decline of the
+Euro-atlantic civilization.
+
+Or perhaps it is actually religious eschatological vision of the
+doom which will come sometime in future, like century or more in
+future, and then I don’t care about it. Certainly it doesn’t
+look like the prophecy inspired by the Holy Spirit, it lacks the
+basic signs from 1Co 14 or 2Ti 3:16.
+
+Or it is just a blather, where any time you don’t like what’s
+going on around you can claim to be The Decline and hoping that
+everybody will forget what nonsense you were forecasting when the
+situation gets better.
+
+OK, I don’t like this book. Back to your article.
+
+The claims without any evidence, that there is “the collapse of
+moral norms and civilizational standards on both sides of the
+Atlantic Ocean.” I really don’t like this statement. Let me
+dispute this a little bit. Yes, claiming decay and oncoming doom
+is popular trope for all preachers of all times, and you can find
+it in any eschatological sermon as proof of the Second Coming of
+Christ (“`Death Comes Unexpectedly!`_” of course, this is a joke,
+but how many sermons, political speeches, etc. are written on the
+same pattern of making people worried so they are willing to
+accept a medicine suggested by the preacher; after all, that was
+the same pattern which made Germans to accept The Final Solution,
+because it was claimed to be the only emergency solution against
+the destruction of whole nation by Jews; we don’t hate Jews, we
+are just defending ourselves!), but where is the actual proof
+that the situation in the world actually declines.
+
+I liked the book “`The Progress Paradox`_” by Gregg Easterbrook,
+not so much for its conclusions which are rather vague, but for
+the large amount of statistical evidence that in every measurable
+aspect of life situation in US of 2000 was by far the best ever?
+And he was not measuring just a material welfare, but also every
+possible social pathologies. “Yes, we are more wealthy, but our
+morals are falling apart!” No, there is a long line of social
+pathologies (alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, drugs addictions,
+divorces, abortions … actual, even when they were illegal, etc.)
+where he shows huge improvement against the past.
+
+What if in fact we are living in the thirtiest richest nation on
+the Earth? What if the Czech nation has it never ever so good in
+any aspect of life, material, moral, or anything else? What if
+“[…] all will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of
+thing will be well.”?
+
+
+> As a result, the Old Continent is increasingly populated by
+aliens physically residing in Berlin, Toulon, or Leeds, but
+spiritually in Anatolia, Punjab, or the Maghreb. 
+
+How do you know? There is plenty of evidence that the
+accommodation of even Muslim immigrants in Europe is not that
+different from the accommodation of Italian and Eastern European
+immigrants to America in early 1900s.
+
+> Today’s “United Europe” is light years away from the civilized
+and, on the whole, decent community of nations which existed
+before 1914.
+
+That civilized and decent community lead multiple wars in the
+nineteenth century all over the Europe, and resulted in
+the First World War. Decadent and barbaric Europe post-1945 had
+one local war (falling apart of Yugoslavia).
+
+.. _`Death Comes Unexpectedly!`:
+   https://youtu.be/t7kA2idaLCo
+
+.. _`The Progress Paradox`:
+   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJDUW/
diff --git a/faith/on_technology_horcrux.rst b/faith/on_technology_horcrux.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dbe589
--- /dev/null
+++ b/faith/on_technology_horcrux.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+On Technology of Horcrux creation
+#################################
+
+:date: 2022-01-09T08:50:43
+:category: faith
+:tags: review, harryPotter, blogComment
+
+(my comments on “`Diary Horcrux Murder`_” by berkeleyjake)
+
+It may be possible that the result of the ritual sacrifice can be
+somehow stored and the ritual creating Horcrux can be done later.
+
+What’s more important is this:
+
+   “Well, you *split your soul*, you see,” said Slughorn, “and
+   *hide part of it* in an object outside the body. (HBP, chapter
+   23)
+
+and
+
+   “By an act of evil — the supreme act of evil. By committing
+   murder. Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard intent upon
+   creating a Horcrux would use the damage to his advantage: He
+   would *encase the torn portion* —”
+
+   “Encase? But how — ?”
+
+   “There is a spell, do not ask me, I don’t know!” said
+   Slughorn, shaking his head like an old elephant bothered by
+   mosquitoes. “Do I look as though I have tried it — do I look
+   like a killer?” (still Slughorn in the same chapter)
+
+and
+
+   […] what would happen to the wizard so determined to evade
+   death that he would be prepared to murder many times, rip his
+   soul repeatedly, so as *to store it in many, separately
+   concealed Horcruxes*. (Dumbledore in the same chapter)
+
+and
+
+   “No,” said Ron, before Harry could answer. “So does it say how
+   to destroy Horcruxes in that book?”
+
+   “Yes,” said Hermione, now turning the fragile pages as if
+   examining rotting entrails, “because it warns Dark wizards how
+   strong *they have to make the enchantments on them.* From all
+   that I’ve read, what Harry did to Riddle’s diary was one of
+   the few really foolproof ways of destroying a Horcrux.” (DH,
+   chapter 6)
+
+What I am saying is that Horcrux must be LATER created from
+a part of soul separated by a murder (or ritual sacrifice)
+BEFORE. Which means that first must be murder and then there is
+Horcrux-creating ritual (“a spell” as Slughorn said), and then
+perhaps even later there is some more magic to “make the
+enchantments on them” to protect the Horcrux from destruction.
+
+Conclusion is obvious. It was not possible for Voldemort to
+create a real Horcrux and even less it was possible for him to
+make those protective enchantments on it when he was killed just
+after the act of murder which was supposed to rip a part of his
+soul by murdering Harry. Therefore, whatever was in the Harry’s
+scar was not a full-fledged Horcrux and certainly it lacked those
+protective enchantments (if there are any).
+
+----
+
+There is a flaw in my argument (I still stand behind Harry’s scar
+not being a full-fledged Horcrux, although we don’t know whether
+it still couldn’t somehow help Tom Riddle to stand back from
+death). What’s the deciding point in time is actually a murder
+not creation of a Horcrux. If Tom Riddle ripped part of his soul
+by killing Myrtle Warren, then it would remember only things
+which happened before her death.
+
+How much alive is the part of the soul in the Horcrux? And does
+it have any means of perception? I don’t think so. So, even if it
+was still alive and it still had some self-consciousness (and
+that’s truly disgusting), it couldn’t learn about things which
+happened after Myrtle’s death, which Ginny didn’t know about.
+
+Actually, there is a flaw even in this contra-argument. If the
+diary was made into a horcrux, it is probable that at least for
+the rest of his Hogwarts years (and possibly for a long time
+afterwards) Tom Riddle was carrying the thing around and perhaps
+even writing into it. So, his memories of post-Myrtle-death
+events could there that way. Umph, I am glad to have this solved.
+
+So, yes, a horcrux is a living thing, which can still learn
+things. Ewww.
+
+
+.. _`Diary Horcrux Murder`:
+    https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/rzly4u/diary_horcrux_murder/
diff --git a/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst b/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst
index 9cfddfe..fdb65ee 100644
--- a/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst
+++ b/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ article.
 
 Let me start with a short historian’s exercise. Czech polymath,
 universal artist, overall genius, and gynaecologist amateur, Jára
-Cimrman very sternly urged great men of history to consider the
+Cimrman, very sternly urged great men of history to consider the
 day when they accomplish their great achievement and think about
 future students who will have to learn about it in their history
 classes. We can commend the Czech king and German emperor
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ reads:
     You shall not permit bunja’h to live.
 
 Whole translation of the verse again hinges on the understanding
-of the term bunja’h (completely make-up word just for the purpose
+of the term bunja’h (completely made-up word just for the purpose
 of this example). Unfortunately, this word is never ever
 mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and we don’t know anything
 about it even from other ancient Hebrew literature (i.e., it is
diff --git a/faith/unhappy_dark_lord.rst b/faith/unhappy_dark_lord.rst
index 6f7e440..6bc90fc 100644
--- a/faith/unhappy_dark_lord.rst
+++ b/faith/unhappy_dark_lord.rst
@@ -22,10 +22,11 @@ Lordship, Tom Riddle:
    square centimetre was just too much even for the magical
    protections on the cup.
 
-2.  Diary — while still travelling he left it in the middle of
-    the Sahara desert, specifically at Reggane_; which
-    unfortunately was the place of French Nuclear tests in 1960
-    completely evaporating it.
+2. Diary — while still travelling he left it in the middle of the
+   Sahara desert, specifically at Reggane_ … surely, nobody would
+   find one small book in the middle of Sahara!; which
+   unfortunately was the place of French Nuclear tests in 1960
+   completely evaporating it.
 
 3. Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring — left in the Gaunt’s shack, which was
    a miserable ruin with an unknown owner (Gaunts didn’t bother
diff --git a/faith/why_drop_story.rst b/faith/why_drop_story.rst
index 6bf4703..aa96a85 100644
--- a/faith/why_drop_story.rst
+++ b/faith/why_drop_story.rst
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ pink-pipes asked_ on Reddit
 
 I have prepared this list:
 
-* harem, polygamy, fluid sexuality, PWP
+* harem, Ménage à trois, polygamy, fluid sexuality, PWP
 
 * adult/child + Death Eater/normal romantic relationships (yes,
   I am certain there are some exceptions, but I have yet to find
@@ -29,10 +29,16 @@ I have prepared this list:
 
 However, since then I have noticed couple more of these:
 
-* “I bullied you, because I loved you.” It is not cure, it is
-  disgusting. Just say no.
+* Dramione stories … “I bullied you, because I loved
+  you.” It is not cure of a problem with young Hitlerjugend, it
+  is disgusting. Just say no.
 
 * sheeple
 
+* A time travel story: “Good, then you understand that Sirius
+  needs to stay in Azkaban until the time is right.” No, I don’t.
+
+* Apartment-sized trunk
+
 .. _asked:
     https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/q4s3gk/what_tropes_or_scenes_have_made_you_drop_a_fic/