why most history is pretty much total BS

[wertham]

because the only people who bother to write it down

are usually paid propagandists.

or shills for one side or the other.

and don't even get me started on genealogy.

god only knows how many bastards ended up ruling Europe


of course, you knew that already
but I'm just now wising up.


what got me thinking about this
was this National Geographic doc
debunking DVC and HB/HG

it featured a "medieval scholar"
who was so incredibly omniscient
that she could say with absolute certainty
that the Priory of Sion never actually existed

which seemed a bit odd
in light of the fact that in order for a society to be secret
it must remain unknown to history

[StellaMaris]

Hey Wert, where have you been?

I hate to break this to you, but NOTHING is real. It's ALL complete BS.

[RogerXXII]

god only knows how many bastards ended up ruling Europe

Well, I guess that makes me God????

Besides, it wasn't as many as you'd think, if you mean actual technical bastards, as opposed to "bastards". If it's the latter, and you happen to be from the US... I'd advise you to "sweep around your own back door".

;-)

[wertham]

Hey Wert, where have you been?

I hate to break this to you, but NOTHING is real. It's ALL complete BS.

Well, at least YOU are real.

(I think.)

BTW: How much did you detest Angels & Demons?

[ProfessorW]

This all makes me think of a song by Brassens. Reality is in the eye of the beholder...

[wertham]

This all makes me think of a song by Brassens. Reality is in the eye of the beholder...

After watching so many of these crappy Nostradamus TV shows on A & E or The History Channel or what have you, I should've known better than to waste my time on "Is It Real?" The Nostradamus Effect (2006)
... but I guess I keep thinking that one of these days they'll finally get it right. Or maybe even quote the poems accurately - free of interpolation. This one is wrong in so many ways that I was ready to give up on it as soon as they got to their first anti-christ.

I must admit that I used to spend/squander a LOT of time reading and translating Nostradamus - just so I could actually try to interpret this mumbo-jumbo for myself... and hopefully find some method in this madness .

There isn't any.

Once you eliminate all supernatural explanations for this very sketchy prophecy racket, you're left with the only logical explanation: that Nostradamus was simply studying historical patterns and focusing on the inevitable outcomes. (Or maybe rigging the deck a bit himself?)

About 90% of the poems pertain to France and Italy before 1700, so none of this is actually relevant to our times. Even the infamous 1999 poem pertains to Angouleme; and last I checked, there's still no sign of monarchy in France, so that prediction was a total dud.

So what was this guy really all about and why should anyone care? As long as The History Channel keeps buying this bullshit, there's probably going to be a market for it. Nostradamus was an apothecary (no record of a medical degree from his studies at Montpelier) who probably hooked up with the French Humanists in the 1530s and 40s... then tried his hand at writing almanacs in the 1550s, which brought him to the attention of the superstitious Catherine de Medici - who probably should've known better than to dabble in such rubbish.

[wertham]

Well, I guess that makes me God????

Besides, it wasn't as many as you'd think, if you mean actual technical bastards, as opposed to "bastards". If it's the latter, and you happen to be from the US... I'd advise you to "sweep around your own back door".

;-)


speaking of bastards...

thought you might get a kick out of this:

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3137632

[RogerXXII]

Nostradamus plagiarised his "Centuries" from earlier verses by an obscure monk from the Flanders area. He merely adapted them to suit his group's purposes which, in the main, consisted in exploiting Catherine's pathologically superstitious nature. I worked quite marvelously well. The fact that it also worked out fantastically and most lucratively for subsequent generations of exploitative charlatans is not relevant to the original text.

[wertham]

Nostradamus plagiarised his "Centuries" from earlier verses by an obscure monk from the Flanders area. He merely adapted them to suit his group's purposes which, in the main, consisted in exploiting Catherine's pathologically superstitious nature. I worked quite marvelously well. The fact that it also worked out fantastically and most lucratively for subsequent generations of exploitative charlatans is not relevant to the original text.

Which monk would that be? Are you talking about the Orval prophecies? Not sure if there's any evidence supporting that, but...

Stella can tell you about my adventures in research with Peter Lemesurier. (Who put some really good ideas in his head, he?) Peter has done the best work I've seen... as far as putting the rubbish out. There was much more to it than simply updating De Septem Secundeis. Turns out Michel's DAD actually invested in the printing of a book of prophecies c.1525. Incredible, but true. Then there's the stuff he dedicated to Jeanne d'Albret, which makes his relationship with the Queen/Queen-Mother problematic...

[RogerXXII]

Then there's the stuff he dedicated to Jeanne d'Albret, which makes his relationship with the Queen/Queen-Mother problematic...

I see it as more explanatory than problematic. PsyOps are not a modern invention.

[wertham]

I see it as more explanatory than problematic. PsyOps are not a modern invention.

If you consider all the circumstances, limitations and restrictions a man like Michel had to contend with - living in a Catholic stronghold like Salon in the 1550s & 60s - then you will soon realize that it was not only problematic, but quite possibly suicidal.

Where did his Huguenot/Lutheran sympathies land him c.1561? In the hands of the Inquisition, of course. (Many of his poems pertained to rigged papal elections, and various conspiracies amongst the cardinals, so the Vatican had good reason to detain him.) He could've played this game the same way his mentor the spymaster Rabelais did... then he would've been at liberty to play secret agent in Italy with impunity.

[DoctorX]

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce."

-- Karl Marx