Don't build Babel when you should be conquering the Earth and all that is in it.

I was contemplating the appearance of the angels to shepherds to announce Christ, on his birth, today. 

I realised shepherds are throughout the bible. Able was a shepherd, Cain who tilled the ground murdered him after God preferred his sacrifice to Cain's. Abraham and his descendants were shepherds. Joseph's brothers tell the king of Egypt that they and all their ancestors were shepherds. Joseph notes that the Egyptians despise shepherds and they will thus be given land in a certain place, as shepherds, which they are. King David, pleasing to God, is a shepherd, and Jesus Christ calls himself the good shepherd. God's curse to Cain is that his crop yields will disappear when he plants, as he killed his brother. God's curse in the garden of Eden also is one referring to agriculture, not animal husbandry. (Noah was a man of the soil and planted a vineyard, so God is not portrayed as hating agriculture.)

In the Garden of Eden, God also curses Adam for listening to Eve over God, and curses Eve with a desire to be obedient to her husband, whose work in agriculture is cursed by God to be toil. A man who plants a field must be attentive to God, given plagues of locusts and droughts. He is at the mercy of God. A woman who is subject to the pains of childbirth, and to the needs of pregnancy and motherhood, in the ancient world would become reliant on her husband for protection and much else. 

Reading of the tower of Babel also is more useful when aware of God's blessings and curses. In the beginning he blesses mankind on making them and tells them to fill the Earth and subdue it. Those who built Babel did so to make a name for themselves and to prevent themselves being scattered. They do so to disobey God's will, so God sees not only that they are evil, but have allied to become powerful, and so he makes them speak in different languages to scatter to them to fill the Earth. 

Noah and his descendants are given all animals by God to eat, but instructed not to eat food with blood on it. Moses, in his law, as part of the Old Covenant, restricted what the Israelites could eat, further. In the New Testament God appears to Peter and as the Old Covenant is fulfilled, has the church return, just about to the dietary regime of Noah, saying to Peter kill and eat, for God had made all animals clean.

Able, through fulfilling the pattern of a shepherd, something God himself acts as with us, his sheep, pleased God in his sacrifices.

The Bible is full of patterns of the promises of God. As Saint Paul says in the New Testament, all scripture is useful. Also something to note, is that what you choose as your career, while not inherently evil, may be something that costs you God's favour. As with any tower or city you build to subvert God's will. Don't till when you should be shepherding. Don't build Babel when you should be conquering the Earth and all that is in it.

- Marc Evan Aupiais

Free Speech, the right to offend, and Saint Stephen's Day (December 26th)

Free Speech, the right to offend, and Saint Stephen's Day (December 26th)

https://youtu.be/KIcemjg1cqk

Today much of Europe celebrates Saint Stephen's Day as a public holiday, as the UK and Anglosphere celebrate Boxing Day. Saint Stephen, like Socrates and like Christ, was killed for telling people things which offended their honour culture at the time. He was the first Christian martyr, the first person to die for Christ. He prayed that God not take revenge on his killers and their accomplices, among whom was Saint Paul, the later apostle. Saint Stephen held to a dignity culture encouraged by Christ, and which has found fertile ground in Europe over the millennia.

Stronger Covid-19: What does not kill you makes you stronger. The same is true of viruses and lockdowns.

What does not kill you makes you stronger. The same is true of viruses and lockdowns.

We are endlessly told not to overuse antibiotics, because they create antibiotic resistant bacteria. We likewise are told to always finish our course of medication so that all the illness in us is killed off, so that the strongest ones don't survive, multiply and evolve to be more deadly from a baseline of strength. Evolution favours that which uses the least energy to survive. Difficulty raises that bar and creates stronger species.

We have been locking down our societies, to stop the spread of a virus which is defined against the flu and other viruses by one point more than any other, it is incredibly contagious. If allowed to run its course, it would infect far more people than the flu, and thus even with a low death rate, would kill countless people.

Our response of course, has been to lockdown whenever it looks like it is about to get out of control, to make sure that exponential growth does not see our whole society infected at once, overwhelming our hospitals.

Those places which have locked down the harshest, however, are now the site of new, more serious strains of the same virus. A new, even more contagious version of the thing has emerged, and without as much competition from its lesser peers, is multiplying into many baby viruses from a baseline where it has to do more to survive.

We know lockdowns will not stop the virus. So, we must know that locking down too harshly without ending it entirely will breed lockdown resistant Covid-19 strains, which without lockdowns, when they must end, will enjoy feasting upon us. 

I am glad I live in a mostly rural nation which has been defined by its softer lockdowns (its economy even grew this year). Last night we closed our border to our neighbouring nation, which has locked down far more forcefully, and has perhaps bred a lockdown resistant strain of the infamous coof.

- Marc Evan Aupiais

I am going to attempt to listen to the bible in a year (Chronologically)

 I have been thinking about how I have never read the whole bible, and how difficult it becomes when it gets to certain books, where I always gave up. 

A priest I follow on YouTube plans to read it in a year, chronologically, rather than in book order, and explain each reading. I think I am going to try to follow the podcast, and see what benefit I gain from it. 

Perhaps I was too quick to judge people who show off about reading their whole bible as a reading feat. 

It is an ancient book full of wisdom, not just the New Testament (which I have read, along with snippets throughout the book, over the years). 

I hope to learn from it. 

He explains what they are going to be doing in this YouTube video by Ascention Press (who have organised it):

https://youtu.be/g7o7WjQc3as 

The Podcast is:

The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5maXJlc2lkZS5mbS9iaWJsZWluYXllYXIvcnNz&ep=14

'Would you lie to Nazis who asked if you were hiding Jews in your basement when you were?'

'Would you lie to Nazis who asked if you were hiding Jews in your basement when you were?' is used as a common argument against never lying. It is deeply flawed, though.

Firstly, it entails the Nazis actually trusting your word, which probably is not a good testament to your character if they would in such circumstances. They are committing a genocide, and if you are hiding Jews, you probably know the Nazis are bad people.

Secondly it assumes that the Nazis would not just go in and raid your home anyway, and beyond that that they would feel a need to ask you when they suspect you of working against them.

We assume that people will not self incriminate, and thus do not ask 'do you have drugs in your home' to determine whether or not to raid them for drugs. Why would the Nazis, who are quite evil suddenly trust the word of someone who says they are complying?

Of course, the argument is not a logical one, but one based on social force. If you would tell the truth to the Nazis, or not lie to them, you are therefore deemed a collaborator, even if in the scenario you are hiding Jews from them in your basement.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn teaches us that it is by lying that totalitarian regimes are upheld, such as the USSR which imprisoned him, and that by telling the truth in all things, that they fall. The Nazis were only able to gain power because the people of Germany were prepared to accept lies and lie themselves. Truth is the best disinfectant for tyranny.

So, when the Nazis come to your door looking for Jews, be silent or tell the Nazis that they serve an evil regime. Don't be cowardly.

Dividing a man's wages among ten, leaves you with ten barely getting by.

The garbage truck arrives. A man gets out and one by one moves our bin trolleys to the back of the truck. The truck lifts them up, weighs them for us to be charged, by weight, per each bin's microchip, empties them into itself, and puts them down again. The bins have no house numbers on them. The bin man simply puts each back where they belong, and the driver drives a bit forward to the next house in the street.

In Johannesburg, these two men would have been twenty men. You never really know what most of the twenty do. I suppose they run next to a truck, and throw garbage in. They would often leave bins several houses down from where they collected them. House numbers in big white letters usually needed to be painted on the bins. Sometimes people even stole bins.

Beyond that, in Johannesburg, before the garbage men came, an army of men with trolleys behind them would raid the bins. Recyclables were in transparent bags, and I doubt very often made it to the recycling plant of the garbage company, if they had one. The trolley men would empty garbage of cans and other items. These they would take on their trolleys, walking on the road, to recycling centres many kilometres away. I would often have to suddenly brake, or swerve out of the way when going around a corner, to avoid having an accident with such trashpreneurs as the recycling place called them.

So, a job done by two men, with us cleaning out recycling and putting it in separate bins for them, in Johannesburg was done by likely dozens.

The same, here, occurs with petrol. I go to a petrol station. I fill up my tank. I tell the cashier in the convenience store which pump I used, and I pay. Sometimes, I buy oil for my car (the right one for the make), or other such things while there. 

In Johannesburg, between one and three men were needed to fill my car with petrol, in between which they would clean and wipe my windscreen, check my oil and tyres, and so fourth. A fourth man was often involved in payment, the cashier, who the petrol attendants answered to. Of course, a tip was also required to be given to the attendants, by customers. The attendants would also go on strikes, and those who still worked during a strike would be threatened and beaten up or worse. Often, you had to wait a good ten to twenty minutes at a petrol pump, for even one petrol attendant to notice you. You were not allowed to fill your own tank.

They would also play fun games, like putting nails in your car tyres, so you had to pay them to fix the tyre, or claiming they had found the same nail in your tyres to twenty or so drivers. I once caught a petrol attendant emptying petrol onto the concrete next to my tank, by the petrol flowing past my car, and there were stories of them pouring it into buckets as well.

Parking your car also involved payment of dues. Car guards not officially employed by owners of parking spaces would watch your car for you in Johannesburg. When you returned, you had to pay them. Whether they would actually do anything to stop someone stealing your car, I had no idea, but I feared they would damage my car if I didn't pay them. Beyond them, there were always people offering to wash your car (sometimes they damaged it in the washing) and demanding they be allowed to, for cash. 

Every traffic light, even in the suburbs of Johannesburg, had beggars, and often you would be approached in shopping centres for money as well. Usually, wares of every sort were also sold at traffic lights. Wealthy individuals would have very poor people sell their products for them, avoiding paying taxes on the sales.

I place my bag on a scale, it gives me a sticker, which I tie to it. I place it on the conveyer, and it heads through the airport system to the plane. Similarly, I am able to checkout my own groceries should I want to. Though if I choose a cashier, I will pack my own shopping cart with what I have bought. I usually take the shopping cart to my car and unpack it. I then return my shopping cart to the store, and connect it to the other carts, so it dispenses my Euro deposit back to me (in Johannesburg, full time trolley collectors take trolleys back to the stores). When I get home, I pack the items into bags and bring them into the kitchen.

A job, at least on the lower rungs, in Johannesburg, was often not something someone did but something of a fiefdom. People paid bribes to get government and other jobs. Unions insisted people from certain specific townships, miles away from the communities served, be hired by certain grocery chains. A cashier is accompanied by a grocery packer. A third individual will often offer to carry your shopping bags to your car and pack your car boot with them, for a price. Often someone was paid to take your shopping cart back to the store as well.

Government departments in Johannesburg are so full of staff, sharing similar duties, that you almost have to charm them into being the one to work, with a smile and questions about how they are this day. Getting a birth certificate or other document is so difficult, that you tend to need to pay a 'document specialist' ten times its price to get it at any reasonable juncture. Here, in contrast, you get any document you need, ordered online, within days, posted to you. There is no many months' wait while the document specialist tries to get your government documents (try without one and it can be years, in Johannesburg).

A social grants system gives the monetary equivalent of a few restaurant meals to millions each month. That money is shared between several generations to support extended families. And yet, a parallel system of charity exists throughout the economy, in Africa's 'most industrialised nation'. Jobs which should be done by two men which are done by twenty, petrol attendants, car guards ... Job after job exists to give a salary, rather than to achieve the ends paid for. And what salaries there are are eternally divided, further and further. The garbage collection men live in poverty. So do cashiers.

The garbage collection men in Johannesburg are sharing their salary between the dozens of them involved. The trashpreneurs also take a cut, by denying the garbage collection company recycling material. Money spent on petrol attendants and car guards will not be used to buy locally made products, and taxes what money those with money have, further. 

It used to be that people who worked basic jobs in Johannesburg could go home to their families, and support themselves and their families. But inefficiency is purposely built into everything. Ten men often share the job, and salary of one man. If that one man earned that salary, he would likely spend it, and once spent, it would continue fast circulation, as those he bought from spent it as well, creating more jobs, rather than ten spending it on basic necessities, while often living unlawfully on land they do not own, keeping warm by fire, and living in a home built from often found often stolen material: newspaper and tin.

Throwing inefficiency into an economy slows down the rate at which money is spent. An efficient economy creates jobs just by existing. An inefficient one creates make work, and congratulates itself for that, even as those doing the work, instead of expanding the pie, find themselves sharing an ever shrinking one.

Work is not a fiefdom, it is not something you are given as a possession due to your human dignity, it is something you do for others, in a fair trade. Countries which do all they can to create busy work, very seldom are wealthy countries, despite often being stacked full with resources. 

The central problem with economics is that human desire is infinite, resources aren't. Take someone out of a job which is not necessary, and the same person will be able to fulfil that human desire for the infinite in another role elsewhere, so long as an economy remains efficient.

The industrial revolution created the wealth we have in the West today, by mechanising jobs via the steam engine, then by standardisation. The idea that we have people who are marketers, accountants, YouTubers, and nail artists in any great numbers, is based on the fact that humans desire the infinite. What we have is never enough. So, if you free up wealth by making systems more efficient, that money will still be spent somewhere.

Dividing a man's wages among ten, leaves you with ten barely getting by.

Reading the New York Times is just reading the NYT. It does not make you elite.

 I'd rather have the opportunity to succeed as me, than have the opportunity to make sure that people who look like me succeed, where I or my children don't get to.

Today's new left seems to be all about living through the lives of others.  

Working for a billionaire elite makes them feel they are like that elite. Having people who look like them, dress like them, have intercourse with people of their type, or with the same dislikes of the body they have as them, makes them feel represented among the elite. 

The problem with what sociology terms sympathetic magic, is that it does not work. Reading the New York Times is just reading the NYT. It does not make you elite. 

It is a rather smart trick to play though. Foster divisive identity. Convince people they are so alike others who look or sound like them or live where they do or have sex like them, that it does not matter whether they themselves are successful in the society they are propping up for the super rich ... who benefit most by a system requiring close contacts with the state; often they run in the same circles as the political elite, or are pleased to have and lobby for regulations they can comply with while new competitors are kept out by the complexity and expense. 

A youth which complains endlessly about a system they themselves vote for every few years, because they feel more part of the elite by doing so, is the opposite of elite and cause their own poverty, tragically, for a hope that does not benefit them personally.

Apologise for your temptation

Temptation. Pray, thank God you have not fallen yet since last time. Apologise for your curent temptation. Ask him for the grace to continue on. 

If it persists, ask, is this thought habit or new. Habit happens in thought, actions merely follow. You also know where habitual thoughts go. If habit, disengage, it is not 'thought', but repetition, thoughtlessness. 

If it remains strong, know our minds are analogue, not digital. Ask what the thought symbolises to you, what its meaning is below what you think. It is a symbol of something else, other desires or concerns. Address those symbols, but engage meekly, and pray to God, thanking him and asking for grace. 

If it persists, distract yourself, focus on something else. Remember that you cannot fight future battles, only your present one. Often we push ourselves into temptation by living in a thousand futures that may never happen. Turn to prayer, even pray out loud. 

Life oscillates between strength and weakness, awareness, and sleep, easy and difficult. Both difficulty and ease will come and go. Staying firm despite both is the virtue of fortitude. Don't try to argue with your devils, you would not be aware that your temptation were wrong if you did not know those arguments will only work, because you have oscillated into a stage of weakness, and not against your sound and logical mind.

If you fall, immediately apologise to God for disappointing him, and ask his strength to again pursue good. Don't wait for confession to repent, confess later, but repent that moment.

Have faith in God, and start the fight to serve him again that very moment. Despair is a weapon the devil loves to use against us. Hope, real hope, is a power from God. Pray. Thank God for his grace, and for giving you repentance, yet again, and ask that you continue to walk in it. God does not judge you by who you were yesterday, he cares about who you are today.

Fight those battles you can fight, any one you see you are able to. Take your opportunities. Those which may not be there tomorrow. 

Fight in the present, and be always aware of where life's currents drag you to. You build today what tomorrow can behold, you strengthen your defences tomorrow, through present actions. You build virtue tomorrow, by forming habits of good virtue today, whenever you have the opportunity to. 

Present resolve is strong, future resolve is only as strong as the present resolve of each day you face. God gives us our daily bread, like he gave heavenly bread to the Israelites in the desert, enough for our present needs, but nothing secures against the future, which winds about out of sight and predictability. We get each day, now, we only get tomorrow tomorrow.

South Africa in a recession, and unlikely to properly recover soon.

'SA grew but 0,2% for the whole of 2019! We are in a recession and now unlikely to get out of it soon due to power shortages and coronavirus. This is a harsh harsh environment for business and particularly SMMEs.' economist Mike Schussler writes, adding,

'President Ramaphosa now has quite easily the worst economic growth record of SA leaders. It was not of his making perhaps but to get out of a rut you cannot play with the uncertainty of EWC, No clear economic policy other than spin. Unions lead important economic departments' and that,

'6 out of 9 quarter on quarter GDP declines is honestly not a record that helps confidence, It more often than not leads to leadership change (E.g. Brazil). The curse Zuma left SA with is not going away without decisive action to help business grow, profit in order to create work.'

Source: https://twitter.com/mikeschussler/status/1234776269801299968

Covid-19 Wuhan Coronavirus will not be contained. Here is how-to save your life.

Take a moment to read this. It is something that may save your life.

The editor of top scientific and academic discussion publication Quillette, Claire Lehmann, says:

We've confirmed human-to-human transmission of #COVIDー19 in Sydney & we know asymptomatic people transmit the virus. The time to start self-distancing is now. Advice this morning from Health Minister Greg Hunt to 'wash hands' & 'look out for each other is inadequate.' Thread.

The virus is not containable. It harms can only be mitigated. The people in our community most likely to be harmed are the already sick, frail, & elderly.

Our hospitals do not have "surge capacity." Therefore it's our responsibility to try to slow the spread of the virus.

How do we slow the spread? Through self-distancing. A preprint paper on medRvix states that the most effective strategies used in Wuhan were:

a) shutdown of public transport;
b) closure of entertainment venues; &
c) banning of public gatherings

https://t.co/APUhLJSX2b

This is done to flatten the curve. To get ahead of the virus. If everyone gets sick all at once, our healthcare system ***cannot deal with it.***

Instead of waiting for government advice, I've started practising self-distancing measures myself.

These include:
- driving instead of catching public transport
- cancelling non-essential travel
- organising workbooks & activities for homeschooling
- conducting all my work remotely
- cancelling in-person meetings

I've also stocked up on medical supplies to treat loved ones at home. Zinc lozenges, magnesium & potassium supplements, rehydration powders, thermometers are all essential. If you have relatives w/ respiratory problems, make sure you have a plan for oxygen therapy at home.

This is not about "panicking" this is about getting ahead of the virus. We can beat this thing, but we have to adapt, and fast.

Our mindset needs to be focused on being proactive, not reactive. Not for ourselves, but for the most vulnerable in the community.

(https://twitter.com/clairlemon/status/1234612212217470976)

Do you have to hate your 'father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters' to be a Christian? What the verse means ...

I recently quoted Jesus in the gospel, where he says: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.' (Luke 14 v 26).

I explained that he did not mean that we should hate our parents and everyone important (after all, the 4th commandment is honour thy father and thy mother), but that what Jesus meant by that was that to follow the Christian way of life is to choose to be moral should the heavens fall, i.e. even if it comes at great cost in this world to the Christian and to all the people they love. It was a difficult verse of the bible I was explaining. I was not meaning people should hate their families, but that Jesus meant that morality should be pursued even at the ultimate cost of one's own life, and of everything that matters in life.

A suggested prayer ritual against the evil in today's world

Pray: Angel of God x7 for each of the virtues. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, O my Jesus: x10 for obedience to each of 10 commandments. Pray to St Michael, Memorare, Anima Christi. And then ask for all the prayers to apply to your spouse, kids, siblings, parents & to theirs too.

Add a request for such blessings of virtue, goodness, to also be granted to the people of the nations, nationalities and peoples your blood comes from, and is connected to, and to your community and to the nation in which which you live. Say it daily or as near that as you can.

Give it your best shot, rather than fearing loss.

by Marc Evan Aupiais

Among the worst things many lawyers learn while still interns is that all that matters is winning, or achieving certain objectives within a very limited time period. It sets them up for both massive stress and for overriding their client's wishes, if they cannot escape this dangerous sort of thinking.

An intern is told to write three summonses in a single day. They obey, but the summonses are substandard, and every time they do so, remain substandard, because they have been taught to work for an object instead of to work as best they can. Give an intern instead one summons to write over three days, and the next he will write in two, and the next in a few hours, and he soon surpasses the intern who consistently writes three in a day, not the least in an ability to write without serious error. Speed is something which should not be there out of the hat, it should come with experience and rightly earned confidence.

I don't tell myself I will get this, this and this done today. If I do, I know I am in danger of doing shoddy work in all. Instead, I tell myself, I am setting aside this much time today, for this, this much time for this other thing, and this much time for that. The result is that I do better work, and achieve my goal. As a sole practitioner, I also find that I am far better motivated to get my work done timeously, by setting aside time for it, than by setting set specific goals. Goals can be useful and deadlines do need to be met, but if the focus is on the goal, work quality is likely to suffer.

What governs an attorney, whether in the office or at court, should be procedural, not substantive. At court, I will do all I am able to do to protect my client's rights, both in offence and defence. But, should I instead decide that I shall win, I add enough stress to my job to hinder myself somewhat, which is why I don't focus on that. Such an approach, of win at all costs, also makes us fearful of attempting some matter well within our wheelhouse but which may be difficult, or which may see us lose.

Good sportsmanship, we are told, is always giving your all on the field, while respecting the rules and your opponents. Be down a few points and if your only goal is to win, then you have lost the morale for it. But, if your goal is to simply always give your best, you might well come back from your early losses and still have victory.

A lawyer wanting to win may make all the strategic decisions for their client, and be surprised when sued for negligence by a disappointed patron.

A lawyer whose concern is procedure, not substance i.e. one which focuses on doing their job the best they are able, rather than on winning, however, has the added advantage of being a creature of instruction. The decision to take a risk for a client can send a man to the madhouse from stress. However, informing your client of all the risks of various decisions but letting them decide not only lengthens a lawyer's life due to a reduction in stress but also gives their client ownership of the decision.

Having a win-lose mindset instantly puts the lawyer's ego into a matter. With each case he feels he is fighting for his own life and reputation. But, his client might not have told him everything.

Having instead a procedural mindset, of: whatever I am to do today, I will give it my best shot, regardless of whether I succeed or not, however, makes a legal career bearable and puts the client back in the driver's seat. The lawyer is operating without ego, because his pride is not tied in to victory, but into giving the best possible service to his client, in the circumstances.

The Holy Rosary (Full Text)

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.


I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth;

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified,

died,

and was buried.

He descended into Hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into Heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God,
the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come
to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.


Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.


For the virtue of Hope.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

For the virtue of Faith.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

For the virtue of Love.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.


Glory be: to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be;
World without end.
Amen.

The Mysteries of the Rosary are contemplated when praying each decade (a decade consists of 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be, followed by the Fatima prayer of Oh my Jesus).

They are:

The Joyful Mysteries (J) which are said on Mondays and Saturdays (Sundays during Advent is optional);
The Sorrowful Mysteries (S) which are said on Tuesdays and Fridays (Sundays during Lent is optional);
The Glorious Mysteries (G) which are said on Wednesdays and Sundays;
And the Luminous Mysteries (L) which are said on Thursdays.



The first mystery:

J: The Annunciation
S: The Agony in the Garden
G: The Resurrection
L: The Baptism in the Jordan



Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.


Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.


Glory be: to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be;
World without end.

Amen.


Oh, my Jesus,
forgive us our sins,
save us from the fires of Hell,
lead all souls to heaven,
especially those who are most in need of
Thy mercy.

Amen.

The second mystery:

J: The Visitation
S: The Scourging at the Pillar
G: The Ascension
L: The Wedding at Cana



Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.


Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.


Glory be: to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be;
World without end.

Amen.


Oh, my Jesus,
forgive us our sins,
save us from the fires of Hell,
lead all souls to heaven,
especially those who are most in need of
Thy mercy.

Amen.


The third mystery:

J: The Nativity
S: The Crowning with Thorns
G: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
L: The Proclamation of the Kingdom



Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.


Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.


Glory be: to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be;
World without end.

Amen.


Oh, my Jesus,
forgive us our sins,
save us from the fires of Hell,
lead all souls to heaven,
especially those who are most in need of
Thy mercy.

Amen.


The fourth mystery:

L: The Presentation
S: The Carrying of the Cross
G: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
L: The Transfiguration



Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.


Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.


Glory be: to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be;
World without end.

Amen.


Oh, my Jesus,
forgive us our sins,
save us from the fires of Hell,
lead all souls to heaven,
especially those who are most in need of
Thy mercy.

Amen.

The fifth mystery:

J: The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
S: The Crucifixion
G: The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
L: The Institution of the Eucharist



Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;
Thy Kingdom come;
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.


Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.


Glory be: to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be;
World without end.

Amen.


Oh, my Jesus,
forgive us our sins,
save us from the fires of Hell,
lead all souls to heaven,
especially those who are most in need of
Thy mercy.

Amen.


Having said the five decades of the Rosary, the Hail Holy Queen is said.


Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope.

To thee do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.

To thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, Most Gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this, our exile,
show us the blessed fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Oh clement, oh loving, oh sweet Virgin Mary,
Pray for us oh Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Amen.


In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Did Dutch police arrest a bird for robbery?

A viral tweet is claiming that Dutch police arrested a bird for robbery.

However, if you follow the link to the article the Twitter user shares as proof, the embedded police release on Instagram, however, shows the actual story.

The police in the Netherlands arrested a suspected shoplifter. The suspect had a bird on their shoulder. Police did not have a cage to house the bird in, and thus, consulting with the suspect, allowed them to keep the bird in the cell with them while making sure it was well cared for.

'We will just hop on a plane'? No, you won't. You need a detailed plan.

'We will just hop on a plane'? No, you won't.

Emigration is not easy. Even if you have an EU passport or right to be in another country, just hopping on a plane isn't a good plan.

You need to find work, housing, adjust to a whole new society with different laws and conventions. If you are allowed to live and work somewhere, great, but often you won't be able to afford anything if not earning in the local currency. If you plan to move based on some skill or qualification, what do you need to do to get such and to have it recognised in the place you want to move to? Do you have a plan sorted out, and the details accounted for? Will you be allowed to job hunt in the country? Or will you have to do so from South Africa and then apply to go through? When will your family be able to join you, and will they at all?

How will you find work, do you have a curriculum vitae in the format preferred in the place you are going to? Do you mention things which would by law force them not to hire you due to anti-discrimination legislation there?

Do you understand the local language, or the local variation spoken there? Will the way you personally speak be clear and understood, there? Do you have clothing suitable to the local environment? Are your pets ready, and certified ready, to emigrate? What are your plans for getting any medication you may need? Have you got your medical records from your doctors? What are the rules on bringing your children and spouse? Have you budgeted and prepared for your child's schooling and care? What furniture and other effects will you be able to take with you? Which would be foolish to take with, based on local laws and customs? What are your plans for internet and cellular phone usage, and for getting your money out of the country legally? Do you need to open a bank account before leaving? Are you ready for the process of converting your driver's licence? What are your plans for getting out and making new friends (bear in mind, you take your current social support system for granted, you might need a friend quite urgently to do a favour at some point).

Do you have letters of recommendation attesting to your trustworthiness for potential employers, and in some cases, letters from former landlords to new landlords attesting you are a good tenant? Do you have police clearance, if necessary?

Will you be able to afford a car, and possible statutory insurance? Do you have the right plans in place to register to pay tax and financially emigrate? Have you started looking at a budget, and at converting your qualifications to work there? Have you spoken to someone in your field who made the move?

Will you be able to fill your own car with petroleum and keep your own place clean? Have you budgeted for things like rubbish removal fees?

If you think you might land up leaving South Africa, you can't just plan to jump on a plane. That is how you land up homeless with no support system, stranded in a foreign land.

You at least need to be on emigration footing, from having what you need to leave, to having a curriculum vitae prepared, qualifications valuable there, and a real plan.

Do you at least have unabridged computerised originals and apostilles (if needed for that country, or may be needed there in future) of each of your major certificates, e.g. birth, marriage, divorce order, death, adoption, etc? Have you checked that unabridged is enough and vault is not possibly required by the specific country? Have you applied to Home Affairs for retention of South African citizenship in case you land up naturalising in the country you want to move to? Bear in mind, if South Africa goes bankrupt, the state may not be able to print new certificates for you. Zimbabwe ran out of funds to print new passports for their citizens. Do you have your antenuptial contract ready to bring with? Do you have baptismal and other certificates which could affect whether some churches allow marriage in them, or children to attend their schools?

If you are an attorney or advocate, do you have originals and apostilles of each of your court orders admitting you to the profession you are in? Is your firm ready to shut down on short notice?

Whatever profession you are in, have you started the process to convert your qualifications to be accepted there? Whether industry tests or via organisations which validate academic achievements? Have you got your syllabus description for your degree from the university you attended?

For dual nationals, do you have your South African passport, which you need to enter or leave South Africa on? Is your foreign passport current (bear in mind it can take months to arrive)?

Do you have enough money offshore in foreign currency to afford an airline ticket and a stay in the place you are looking at going to, until you have an income? Is your LinkedIn up to date? Do you know how salaries are quoted, and how in demand your profession is?

For those staying, are you on emigration footing? For those leaving, have you thought the process through?

Essay by Marc Evan Aupiais

Let us not delude ourselves, as ordinary, non-violent, law abiding South Africans, we live in a society permeated by devils

South Africa is one of the most violent societies on Earth. Men don't hurt women because of some sort of universal patriarchy, but because those men who do are violent men anyway, and we live in one of the most God forsaken, violent societies on planet Earth, with that violence permeating our politics and staying within every level of society.

The vast majority of violence is against men by men. The small percentage of that violence against women is an overflow which has become a flood because of the general violence.

The same men who loot foreign owned stores, murder others, steal with impunity, and pay and receive bribes, will more likely take a woman against her will for his own sexual gratification or assault her.

South Africa is a violent society that worships Marx and his religion of envy, lust and force rather than Jesus Christ and his religion of self control, self denial, and consideration of the needs, rights and wants of others.

The answer to violence against women in South Africa lies not in feminist doctrine, nor with lumping together good men with the bad, but with God.

South Africans are a nation corrupted by a widespread entitlement attitude and with it the unnatural desire to acquire unjust wealth and unearned respect. Victims to be are demonized and dehumanized. Women are treated in the same way by rapists, who are not deterred by communities taking things into their own hands and burning the alleged rapists alive, in informal settlements.

The mistreatment of women in our nation, which some call the rape capital of the world, is to be condemned utterly, but cannot be viewed in isolation of the society of entitlement by force and through force of unjust institutions and corrupted laws which exist to perpetuate such a society of violence and indifference to to suffering of our fellow man, which is South Africa. South Africa is also a human trafficking capital of the world, and a place where organised crime and gang violence flourish. Political power is gained through assassination, and deals with the corrupt, so much so that the New York Times has noticed it, doing a long special on how local council positions are fought for through bullets aimed upon rivals and witnesses.

A government was just elected on promises to steal the pensions from old people, and to change the Constitution to let the government steal possessions from the people without it frowning on them for it. You are not entitled to someone else's pension or land, but according to South Africa's parliament you are.

When a woman who accused our former President Jacob Zuma of rape had to flee for her life to the West, and this was applauded, an example was set. When elderly women are put to death as witches, an example is set. When fathers and mothers go off to loot shops, an example is set. When cars and trucks are stoned and set on fire, an example is set. When jobs are gained or kept because the government threatens companies with jail, ultimately, if they don't give you them, an example is set.

Let us not delude ourselves, as ordinary, non-violent, law abiding South Africans, we live in a society permeated by devils, one where violence is a way of life and how many of our nation's leaders have got ahead. Our ultimate national secular saint is a man who was jailed for 27 years for a massive bombing and sabotage campaign, a man who was offered freedom if he would only denounce violence, whose wife of many years was famous for her support of setting people on fire. Yet, we as a nation treat his being jailed for violence as a great injustice, and teach that in our schools, justifying violence. Violence begets violence. Our society has chosen a religion of force over a religion of peace, one where no matter how violent people are, they cannot be questioned, because their means are justified in their ends, and so any means become justified and then become normal.

The problem with South Africa is that it does not know God. And if it knows him, it does not believe in Him, and if it believes in Him, it does not obey Him. Instead, it obeys, praises, and worships the use of force, and the strong men who use it against others. Our foundations are what have cracked, as a nation. And into the cracks, the edifice has begun to collapse.

Essay by Marc Evan Aupiais.

The lack of a gay gene does not mean sexual orientation is a choice; environmental factors include neurodevelopment

A study recently found there was no gay gene, and determined that environmental factors are responsible for homosexuality. Unlike the 1990s left, the new intersectional left is very pleased to report this. However, environmental factors include neurodevelopment, which genes provide the building blocks for but not an exact map to guide. The likelihood of genes creating any one outcome in neurodevelopment is calculated by means of twin studies.

If one identical twin is gay, there is about a 50% chance of the other twin also being gay. i.e. placing people with the same genetic makeup, 1 in 4 with certain combinations of genes will be gay. Among those without that heritage, none will be gay, according to the current literature.

Bisexuality is incredibly rare, and homosexuality, seems to only occur in very specific circumstances. It being largely down to environmental factors and a number of genes interacting in specific ways, actually puts it on par with most neurodevelopmental conditions. Most of the conditions you hear of, bar the very extreme ones - which prevent breeding almost 100% of the time, and thus are almost always new variations occuring at conception itself by random mutation - are inherited, and carried in families.

The ways in which brain wiring doesn't occur in the ordinary path are many but the results tend to be quite finite.

There is definitely choice involved for gays: act in their orientation to the same sex or don't. However, the body of science indicates sexuality is not a spectrum. Bisexuality is rare, and homosexuality only tends to occur with people with specific genetic heritage.

Just because something occurs at the stage of neurodevelopment and not the stage of conception, does not mean it is a choice or the result of childhood and not innate.

In some cases it is a choice, cultural influences (much like in the case of rapid onset gender dysphoria), brain damage, or childhood trauma, but the statistical analysis of twins and modern knowledge of neurodevelopment suggest that sexual orientation is not a spectrum (bisexuality is incredibly rare); although studies have found that it can be, and often is, temporary, changing to the norm upon maturation of the brain.

Understanding the latest study on what is a fascinating thing to neuroscience, a difference which almost always causes individuals to not breed and to not pass on their genes, by choice, requires a better understanding of the genetic influences on neuroscience themselves.

Essay by Marc Evan Aupiais.

Angels bearing the message of death ... and Ramaphosa's admission of national bankruptcy

I know it can be hard to see, but bannings like that of a harmless flag or of speech or of insulting politicians, are signs of tyranny and the complete erosion of liberal democracy.

Combine that with the President's admission that the state has run out of financial resources ... we are a lot closer to Venezuela than people think, but we don't have their oil resources. If you don't have a plan to get out of the country, you need one.

You can glory in revenge against whites, our culture and history all you want, and many South Africans are super focused on that, making Rhodes fall, banning the Union flag. But, in the end, the result of everything going on is collapse. Is the worst possible outcome.

Right now, we live in Sodom. The angels have come to visit us and warned us that due to the immorality of our city, God is going to destroy us. That immorality is communism, tyranny, and the lies many of us have been okay with for decades, and God is reality and the market.

Like Lot, we need to escape without looking back. If you don't have emigration plans, you need to make them now. Collapses like the one the ANC is steering us towards almost inevitably lead to fighting in the streets. Individual rights and responsibilities and honesty are how any nation survives.

The path we have been on for years now, leads straight to hell on earth.

Prosperity gospel tells you to be a prostitute. In Christianity, the church is the bride of God.

Wealth isn't a bad thing and God does often give those he loves rewards including wealth. We do need money to survive and Jesus taught us to ask God for our daily bread.

You can't be generous or charitable if you are worried about losing everything, all the time, but can focus on the things of God if you can trust God to clothe, shelter and feed you, your spouse and your offspring.

The heresy of Posperity Gospel is strongest here in Africa, where Christianity isn't viewed the same as in the West. People go to church and then go home and sacrifice animals to their ancestors.

The problem with prosperity gospel is that it teaches Christianity as a form of witchcraft: do this and this and become wealthy by the ritual of it.

Christianity is a relationship with God, our protector and provider.

The difference between a Christian and a believer in prosperity gospel teachings is kind of like the difference between a wife and a prostitute. Prosperity gospel tells you to be a prostitute. In Christianity, the church is the bride of God.

Essay by Marc Evan Aupiais

What else explains their actions and their fear of judging based upon the merit of an individual?

Liberals don't believe their victim classes really have agency as people, or free will.

On the right there seldom is a racism steeped in fear; on the left, there is a pandemic racism, cemented in the bigotry of low expectations. Victim class members are treated as infants in need of protection, perhaps as two year olds, whose only duty is to have tantrums and be cared for.

Viewing whole classes of people as pathetic is far worse than the sin of fearing them as profound.

The left are steeped in intersectionality. People on the right usually believe in merit, and in judging large groups of people as large groups of people, but individuals by their own value.

On the intersectional left, they secretly are all white supremacists, at least in how they view the world and act out that belief, and they often act to fight what they ironically believe to be a present supremacy of the white race. This is reflected in different standards for different races.

An example is victim classes needing lesser scores to enter university than other classes. Other examples abound, liberals, for instance, speak in smaller words when speaking to perceived victim class members.

They also don't hold an individual belonging to a victim class to the same standards when judging culpability for one's own calamities in life.

The intersectional left ironically, in the way it lives its beliefs in the real world, judges victim classes as though they were non-actors in life, lesser creations. What else explains their actions and their fear of judging based upon the merit of an individual? They act as though they believe their victim classes to be inferior, surely that is bigotry.

If you attack people for employing people, expect less and less-desirable jobs to exist ...

If you attack people for employing people, expect less and less-desirable jobs to exist, and for employees whose productivity would drive our economy's engine, to move elsewhere, and drive the engines of other economies.

A woman asks what to pay a gardener if she needs one, and what hours and conditions of employment are right. While some helpfully point out the legal requirements, and the going rates and practices in the area, the inevitable comment is posted, this time about food. The poster, a university educated black woman, insists that employers who don't serve their 'helper' lunch are essentially the devil.

Similar attacks are made on employers who allow their domestic worker (maid or gardener) to wear their work clothes outside of their place of employment (as though they were a toddler or pet the employer has a right to dress or prevent from wearing what the employee happens to want, outside of work), or who don't buy their child's nanny a steak dinner when going out, as though she were part of the family, in the sense of a 'one of the family' pet, rather than what they are, an employee, if I read the anti-employer Facebook posts' attitudes right.

I suspect that the dignity of unemployment is not preferred by such employees, to having a livelihood and the ability to feed their children. In fact, many employees who are given lunch at work, take it home to feed their children. Some would prefer payment in cash than in kind, after all, domestic workers are human beings, not beloved pets, often, they may prefer to buy their own food, for less or better quality or nutrition, in their financial planning goals.

A while back, a farmer was crucified by South Africans, in their nasty views of him, because he dared to let a woman of a different race take a ride in his livestock cage in the back of his pickup truck. Apparently, she had not only asked for a lift, but had preferred the fresh air due to her health at the time. The result is likely that less farmers will be prepared to give strangers lifts.

Most people of my generation, myself included, have no intention of ever hiring a domestic worker in South Africa. Why bother, when employers are treated as the devil, and already on probation, no matter what.

South Africa's government, and a highly misguided local Catholic Church, has compared some jobs, such as those which migrant labour travels hundreds of kilometres to perform, to slave labour. Minimum wages, have solved that problem quite effectively, as farmers have sold and emigrated, or switched to less labour intensive crops, causing South Africa to have to import food, and giving the workers involved the great and kind dignity of having no way to feed their families.

South Africans have two very distinct reputations in the workplace, those of expat South Africans, who are known as incredibly hard workers, and those of the average South African semi-skilled worker, and recent social grant paid for university graduate. The word 'entitlement' is often used by local employers wishing to find someone who will take the bull by the horns and work with enthusiasm.

Whenever a law firm advertises a job where an intern must have a car, or driver's licence, cries of racism, and attack after attack on the law firm commence. This despite the fact, that many black South Africans own cars, and that the job for a paid intern, a candidate attorney, in a law firm, usually involves serving documents on other law firms, filing them in time at court, and court appearances, etc. All of which require reliable and timeous transportation.

I have often pointed out that if all the firms who demanded candidates have cars were prevented from doing so, and thus could not afford the cost to firm of an intern, those competing for jobs where cars are provided by the firm would be competing against hundreds of more candidates for each job of that nature. Most firms which don't demand a candidate with a car, are situated in the centre of town, where no car is required by many such firms. Take away the jobs you see as bad, and the demand for jobs you see as good sky-rockets, and every candidate for an internship has to not only offer more to get the job, but is likely to get less in return.

Something similar happens when laws protecting tenants from rent increases are passed. It stops being as profitable to rent out property, and so many new developments never happen, and rent protected apartments seldom are maintained or kept up to standard by landlords.

Minimum wages, and hounding employers for paying less than sentiments prefer, usually just make it illegal or undesirable to hire the young, new graduates, and those needing to be upskilled. Candidate attorneys, for instance, are competing with legal secretaries and messengers and drivers for similar work, but messengers, legal secretaries and drivers don't need to be extensively upskilled to be of any value to a firm. Firms take into account the hassle of hiring someone into what they pay them. If you aren't worth the effort, you won't get the work.

In the legal industry, if interns wanted the industry to give them better pay and conditions on average, allowing more firms to afford hiring candidates, would mean less candidates compete for each job, forcing firms to offer more to get them. Instead, government has pumped out so many law graduates, that few get work in industry, and even fewer stay in industry longterm.

Any money paid for an employee is ultimately paid by the customer in the end of the day.

And yet, employees in South Africa so often have an entitlement attitude. The employer is almost seen as owing them reparations for the fact the employer has etched out a better living than the employee. South Africa officially has the worst labour relations in the world, ranking 137th of 137 countries surveyed.

Employers are seen as the bad guy in South Africa. Extensive labour laws, and a conciliation process which are designed to force employers to bend the knee, make hiring any potential new talent a massive risk. South African youth often complain that all the jobs advertised demand years of experience, while they are just out of university or high school. They usually have to get work with jobs not advertised, which nonetheless see many people competing for them. Make it easier to fire an employee, and it is easier for that employee to find another job when fired or retrenched, because employers will take more risk. Make it easier to fire an employee, and you don't need them vetted by past employers, as extensively, to reduce risk. South Africa has such terrible youth unemployment, as it is such a risk to take a chance on an untried youth.

While vaunted by the government, black economic empowerment has also bled the economy dry. Why would whites, who often have the savings, build or expand a firm, if they have to give large portions of it away? How to compete with the international market, when it is illegal to hire the best person for the job? In skilled industries, important jobs just go vacant. South Africa's skilled and university educated population does not adhere to the demographics of the population as a whole, leaving skilled employees who would work hard for a job, locally, unemployed, and employers unable to find workers they can legally hire. Government literally threatening for example UCT with having its accreditation for its LLB (law degree) taken away if it did not pass more black students, and a university industry which does its best to pass the right number of graduates of the right demographics, will not solve this, as making university easier to pass, or easier to pass for some races and not others, negates the value of a university degree as something difficult to get. Students who went to top private schools, are still likely to outcompete students who have government education, if what union controlled government schools do can be called education.

The Pareto Principle and Price's law indicate that a very small portion of a population will always be the most productive. It is why retrenchments at a firm often cause a death spiral. Employees who are worth something, leave, leaving the less productive co-workers behind. There are fascinating graphs showing the South African economy and emigration from South Africa, and the dramatic loss of productivity as the young and skilled take skills they can't use locally, to foreign shores. Why live and work in a country, where your skin colour hurts your future? And why stay in a country, where the economy is going down, because many of the best skilled, and most educated are leaving, and causing the country's economy, which is always something which is based on productivity, to lose steam?

The upcoming expat tax, for another example of South Africa's bizarre treatment of productive people, is likely to cause many South Africans who are testing the waters overseas, to pay the price and financially emigrate, meaning it would be expensive for many of them to return for the five years following that, without paying the South African government quite a bit for a failed financial emigration, thus keeping even more productivity out of the economy.

South Africans overseas, in contrast, have a much vaunted reputation for being hard workers, and highly capable. Why not, though? These are people happy to just have a decent job at decent pay, where they felt they had no or a far lesser future in South Africa. They are also often raised under a capitalist mindset, contrasting the Marxist theories of exploitation that are so pervasive in South Africa, itself.

As long as employers are presumed guilty until proven innocent, and are treated as potential bad guys off the bat, South Africa will continue to lose both its best potential employers, and many of those employees who want to be judged on the merit of their productivity, and how well they personally do their job, to places who value both.

Nothing in this essay constitutes, or in any way should be relied upon as, legal advice. For that, make an appointment with your attorney, disclosing all the nuances of your specific matter to them.

Written by Marc Evan Aupiais.

A CV isn't an afterthought. It is the thrust of your attempt at employment.

Lawyers are document specialists. If your curriculum vitae is not perfect, you will struggle to get a job at a law firm. A CV isn't an afterthought. It is the thrust of your attempt at employment.

When I was looking for my first job as a candidate attorney, I spent two or three months perfecting my CV, carefully looking for any spelling error, or weakness in the flow or content of my writing, and the formatting of the document. A CV to a law firm should display mastery of written English wording, effective communication, and perfect grammar. Those are your primary tools as an attorney.

I then got out a copy of Horters, and carefully emailed the directors of many firms in my area. Secretaries in law firms often throw the CVs of candidates for jobs, who walk in, in the bin, and delete those sent to them via email. Sending your CV to a secretary is thus usually a bad idea.

Your letter of motivation is likely your most important part of your CV as a new law graduate. You should make a firm want to scoop you up as an asset to them, though by showing, not telling. Listing your subjects later in your CV, (but without your marks,) can also show them you are worthwhile. Unless they are asked for, don't attach transcripts or scans of your ID and degrees. Say they are available on request.

My email had a heading stating what job I was looking for, the email explained a bit about me and my desire for a job at their firm, and then referred to the attached PDF with my letter of motivation, CV and two letters of recommendation inside of it.

I asked that if theirs was not the desk that dealt with human resources that the email be forwarded to that desk. I sent to about a dozen firms a day, until I got interviews at a few firms. Don't CC a hundred firms in your emails, send to each individually. Also, send from a professional email address.

I still got replies to my CV to be a candidate attorney, years later, when I had already qualified and been admitted as an attorney.

Saying a CV is not important, is like saying your particulars of claim or plea are not important. Your documents need to be perfect long before you argue at trial, and your CV must be top notch, so that when it gets you interviews, you are entering an interview, having already made a good impression with your accuracy and good form in document creation.

Advocates may specialise in arguing on court. Attorneys are primarily about the paperwork. If your paperwork, in the form of your application to a firm for a job, is lacking, you have missed your first opportunity to show that you have the skills to do the primary job of an attorney.

Would you rather receive a professional, polite, nicely emailed application from a candidate for a job you need done, or would you rather have a sweaty graduate, in casual wear, walk into your firm, hand your secretary a scrubby, badly drafted document, and say they demand a job? Or, worse, demand to speak to you, taking you away from your work and clients, to demand a job? There is a reason people often prefer email to phone calls, it allows them to go over what is said to them, such as why you would be an asset to their firm, at their own pace, and in comfort. Seeking a job at a law firm is best done by email.

If you want a job in law, foremost is your documentation, in getting one. Email a good CV out to a lot of firms. If you aren't getting replies, then you really do need to spend a few months perfecting your CV.

Peace and deafening sounds

Article by Marc Evan Aupiais

Have you ever truly wondered who you are, what thoughts are yours, and what is just parroted from others, friends, family, culture.

We are told to ignore our internal critic, the voices of doubt within our own minds. Yet, if we do that merely because others tell us to, we aren't thinking much at all. But what is thinking, really, truly?

I will often sit in my home office, alone, in the dark. I sit here, white noise, or calming music on, and I let my mind wonder. The same can be done in the early hours of the morning before the world awakens or late at night. Solitary, with this entity that is me.

At first, I hear nothing in my thoughts. I am silent, still waves upon an ocean. But dive with the whales and the sharks. Go deeper in, and the stillness on the surface is illusory. Currents and rip tides pull back and forth. It is so noisy, every straining worry rushing within my head, I cannot hear a thing in this deafening cacophony of competing thoughts, concerns.

Like a Great White Shark, the doubts and fears eat into me, but I do not put them out of mind. I sink deeper still. I hear them, I lend my ear to them, to my many concerns. I let myself sink deeper, still. I look with more depth, a deep dive into fear, anguish, concern. I let my mind make its painting of the future. I let my fears flow through me. I let my hopes touch upon the sword of the night, and swim towards the pieces which still remain after the fears and concerns have fed upon a frenzy.

I sink deeper still, and I look at my thoughts in depth, both fears and hopes under the microscope.

I sometimes surprise myself in conversation, whether with my own internal voice or with other people. I will say something I did not know I believed, but upon tearing it apart, I realise I really do believe it, it makes sense to me. It is easy but pointless to deny such nuanced thoughts are the real me, and I find, often, upon expressing them, they make more sense than more defensible positions, and they convince even me.

A defence mechanism of human beings is to truly believe our motives are more noble or more 'rational' than they truly are. A wise man however will not hide from the darker thoughts and resentments within. These are not overcome by suppression, and nor are our fears. We hide who we truly are, even from ourselves, for fear that the true us would become a prey item, or be chased from the village with spears, as a predator. But, however often we vocalise our false narrative within our cranium, the true us knows what we truly believe, and we would become aware of far too many more truths if we listened to it, to truly be able to risk ignoring what we actually, deep down, think.

When I have doubts, I listen, because it is me who is speaking. I softly float upon my doubts and interrogate their substance. I do the same with my hopes, I expose them to the light of my critical internal eye. I discover who I truly am, by observing myself. By seeing my behaviour, how I act, who I am in the wild, and in past scenarios. No matter how noble I may present myself to myself to be, I look at my past and the record within that, and unless something has truly changed since then, I expect I know what I really aim for in life, and oddly enough, my real motivations, what I truly hope for and fear, are far more convincing to myself and others than the noble lie my mind may otherwise make up within me.

As for those thoughts I gain from others, I can look back in my own life to see the terrible destruction many of these have wrought upon me. Ideals and oversimplified lies of the land are not often beneficial. Other thoughts of others, however, I have tested and found true. But we cannot blindly accept the thoughts we think are ours. Most are not original to us. So often I have made a deep and witty observation in my mind, only to hear someone else make it just a few minutes later. Clearly, it is not me who originated that thought, but something else, culture, perhaps. A widely read mind, or one which hears many diverse worldviews, is more likely to hold unique thoughts, as compared one with little exposure, which accepts mere opinions as fact.

I continue to sink into my thoughts, and to softly interrogate them, for the concerns which are truly mine, and upon those, I meditate and pray to my God, and also - to my own subconscious, probing and inquisitive questions, I ask, and find that thoughts emerge within me which I can interrogate. Because I know that the real me is far deeper than the voice and images I produce within my mind. The real me is hidden from me, and it is that which the conscious me desires to truly know and communicate with, and it is that me that is really in charge of my life, and which, in communication with the part I type with now, with that, it often surfaces the thoughts of my mind, and, I interrogate those thoughts, I weigh them, against truth, and the nature of my soul, of my blueprint, as I have observed myself in the history of my own memories, and the recollection of my mind, even that which is less certain, less clear, for that memory which is only subconscious.

And into this, I calmly sink. For who I am is not the vocalisation in my head, that vanity is a product of an over-busy modernity. The true you is a stranger, whom you have a lifetime to interact with and to get to know. But as long as you think you know yourself, you will never set aside the time you need to, to truly build and know your soul.

I am the rare pro-lifer who opposes abortion in the case of rape.

I am the rare pro-lifer who opposes abortion even in the case of rape. For me it is about principle, I am not allowed to kill someone for being incredibly inconvenient to me or for reminding me of a person or event that has done terrible harm to me.

I also oppose abortion in the case of parents or a mother who is incredibly poor.

I am sure you would not suggest we kill living children in poverty, or that we sterilize the poor so they cannot have any children. The poverty of the modern world is nothing compared to the poverty just twenty years ago, which is nothing compared to the poverty of a few centuries ago.

As global populations have expanded, we have found more resources and become more efficient, with more minds finding solutions to problems, in voluntarism (capitalism).

For every human being that has ever lived, life is full of pain and suffering. But what is the purpose of our ability to feel both, except to keep us alive a little longer?

I want every human being to have what chance it can to live a fulfilled life. I know my life, behind the curtain of appearances, has been full of suffering, like all lives are, but I have meaning in my suffering. And that has made all the difference in my life.

There are people who believe all life is is pain and suffering and that it is therefore better not to have lived than to feel pain. They are called anti-natalists.

They have some fascinating arguments. I recently read one such argument as presented in Quillette. Ultimately, they argue for the eradication of all life in as painless a manner as is possible, as they deem pain, rather than death, to be evil.

I believe pain is a good, as it keeps us from death, longer. e.g. I will not stare at the sun as it would hurt my eyes, and thus, I am not blind.

Eugenics, and the sterilisation of the poor are both also recent events in the West. The poor and the stupid were prevented from having children, or sterilized when they came to hospital to give birth.

The argument was that it was good for society as a whole and would prevent there being more people suffering at the bottom rungs of society. I don't believe that was the effect of sterilisation.

I think many poor people were denied the thing which makes life worthwhile, meaning, by not being able to be parents. Having responsibility for the welfare of another fills life with deep meaning.

The criticism of Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Zizek, of their debate, is unfounded.

I find the criticism of both Jordan B Peterson and Slavoj Zizek to be unwarranted.

They had a good and enlightening discussion that benefitted everyone. I suspect the alleged former fans didn't know much of either before losing their appreciation of either figure.

Peterson has deep and systematic understanding of communism.

Communism is also not limited to the communist manifesto, which he had read before, and read again in detail before debating Zizek.

Marx wrote a lot more than it, and most of what he wrote, Peterson has a good grasp of.

Zizek prefers works of Marx other than the communist manifesto. Even when I studied him in University, he was not a true communist. He likes some of Marx, and those parts he discusses are actually parts Jordan Peterson has a grasp of, while disagreeing.

I am very impressed with Jordan Peterson's performance in the debate with Slavoj Zizek, and think those who are now attacking him or Zizek over the debate need to re-evaluate their thinking and their fickleness. Displaying fickleness isn't attractive as a trait.

Like those who recently felt the need to disown Stefan Molyneux and claimed his positions had changed (untrue), the rush of new former Jordan B Peterson fans leave me with the impression they had never read a word he has written, nor watched his lectures at all. Virtue signalling.