Puffin Throwing, Extinct Plants, and The Gutenberg Bible
Issue #2
September 30, 2022
🤲🏼 VERSE OF THE WEEK
“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
🎃 GREETINGS
Happy Friday!
Thank you for joining me again. I hope you are having a great fall season so far!
🐤It’s puffling season on Westman Island in Iceland; a time when people go out, catch a few baby puffins and throw them off cliffs.
Normally, the puffin fledgling uses the light of the moon to guide them out to the sea, where they spend several years until they return to land to breed. However, city light pollution is causing a disturbance in their ability to navigate correctly, leading to groups of people on puffling patrol, saving the misguided youth, and redirecting them to the ocean. Read more here.
As I said before, I’m new to the newsletter scene, so if you have any helpful feedback please let me know.
Pax et Bonum,
Krista
PS 🗳️ Have you registered to vote yet? I found this really handy voter guide where you can research your ballot and check your registration! It’s pretty nifty. Check it out. The last day to register to vote is October 18th and Election Day is November 8th.
🌍 IN THE NEWS
🌀Hurricane Season
Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida Wednesday afternoon as a major Category 4 storm. Power was knocked out across wide areas of the state, leading to about 2.5 million without power. Severe flooding swept away cars and buildings, as well as downed several power lines. By Thursday Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its way across Florida but was upgraded back to a hurricane this morning once reaching the Atlantic. It’s expected to hit South Carolina later today.
Ways to help:
⛑️Donate to the Disaster Relief
🪖Russia
Votes were held in Ukraine this week to decide if Russia-controlled regions will become integral parts of Russia. The vote was passed as most Ukrainian residents and the Ukrainian government denounced it as a fixed vote and forced occupation.
Meanwhile, how to leave Russia google searches have skyrocketed since Putin’s military mobilization announcement.
💥Crashing into Asteroids
A NASA space probe slammed into a small asteroid as a beginning step of testing potential planetary defense if the problem should arrive in the future. The goal was not to blow up the asteroid completely, but rather to alter the trajectory of the asteroid. The probe, the size of a vending machine, successfully completed its mission, crashing into the football field-size asteroid. Further tracking and monitoring will be conducted to see the effects the crash has on the asteroid.
More about that:
🎯Double Asteroid Redirection Test
⛪ UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
September 30 Memorial of St Jerome
October 1 Memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus
October 1 Church Library Month
October 2 Guardian Angels Day
October 2 World Communion Sunday
October 4 Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi
October 6 Bring Your Bible to School Day
📜 THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
September 30th, 1452
The first section of the Gutenberg Bible was completed in Mainz, Germany by the printer Johannes Gutenberg.
October 2nd, 1187
Muslim general and Sultan of Egypt, Saladin, captures Jerusalem from the crusaders.
October 3rd, 1692
Puritan clergy in Salem, Massachusetts, agree there would be no more executions resulting from the witch trials.
October 6th, 1536
English reformer William Tyndale, who translated and published the first mechanically-printed New Testament in the English language (against the law at the time) is strangled to death. His body is then burned at the stake.
🐈 FUN FACTS
Gummy bears were originally called Tanzbaren in their native German, translated to “dancing bears”.
African lions catch about 20% of the prey they chase. Dragonflies catch 95%.
🌾 QUOTE
“To me, the smell is stimulating, as well as relaxing. You can see why everybody who encounters this plant becomes attached to it.”
Professor Mahmut Miski, speaking of the once assumed extinct plant Silphion found growing on Mt. Hasan in Anatolia, Turkey. After hunting for the popular plant for hundreds of years, historians and botanists accepted that it had been eaten into extinction, with Roman Emperor Nero claiming to have eaten the last mouthful. However, the professor of pharmacognosy from Istanbul University believes he has found it hundreds of miles away from its natural habitat. The yellow-flowering plant was consumed by most ancient Mediterranean cultures, including Greek, Roman, and Egyptian.
📖 READ
🏰 HISTORY DIVE
St Matthew and the Angel (1602) is a painting from the Italian master Caravaggio (1571-1610), commissioned for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. Caravaggio was commissioned in 1599 to paint two scenes from the life of St. Matthew for the Contarelli Chapel in Rome. Originally the altar was to be composed of two Caravaggio paintings and a statue of the saint in the middle created by Flemish artist, Jacob Cobaert. The church however was not pleased with the statue, so Caravaggio was re-hired to do another piece in its place. Caravaggio, unlike other artists of the day, liked to imagine Biblical scenes as they must have actually looked. Therefore, he depicted Matthew as a scruffy, unkept layman whose hand was being literally guided by an angel as he wrote the gospel. His commissioner was not pleased; it was considered deeply disrespectful to the dignity of the saint and they didn’t want what looked like a peasant hanging in their sacred altarpiece. Caravaggio was asked to paint this scene again and it was replaced with The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, which remains in the Chapel to this day.
The original painting was destroyed in 1945 during WWII. The only remaining images available of the lost Saint Matthews and Angel are black and white photographs taken before the war.
🪴 OFF-TOPIC
Plants I can’t kill, finally
Hollywood makeover
👋🏼 CLOSING
Well, that’s all I have for you today!
What would you like to see in the next publication? What did you love about this issue? Hit reply and let me know!
Also, if you know anyone who you feel would like this newsletter, please forward along.
Thanks again! Talk at you soon.
Krista