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Open thread 2/4/23 — 26 Comments

  1. I don’t think being a concubine was a very desirable situation in most places.

    I’ve lived in a couple of places where being a lower-class woman was pretty rough.

  2. I can’t imagine that Chinese eunuchs had enjoyable lives either: “In China, castration included the removal of the penis and the testicles (emasculation). A knife removed both organs at the same time. Eunuchs have existed in China since about 146 AD, during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han and were common as civil servants by the Qin dynasty. . . . Eunuchs were employed as high-ranking civil servants because they could not have children, so they were not tempted to seize power and begin a dynasty. In addition, many in the palace considered eunuchs more reliable than scholar-officials. . . . The number of eunuchs in imperial employment fell to 470 by 1912. The Chinese government abolished the eunuch system on November 5, 1924. The last imperial eunuch, Sun Yaoting, died in December 1996.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuchs_in_China

    Of course there is the Western Italian tradition of castrating boys before puberty in order to produce a classical singing voice in the soprano or contralto range. This practice was made illegal in Italy following the country’s reunification in 1861.
    Details of the history of Italian castrati at the link:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato

    Mozart’s famous “Alleluia” from his 1773 motet Exsultate, jubilate was written for a famous castrato of the time, Venanzio Rauzzini. It is sung nowadays either by a boy soprano, as in the following example, or by an adult female:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwQKhqZ8t1g&ab_channel=AkselRykkvin

  3. I saw a video of Joe Biden descending from a plane this morning, and right behind him was, I think, Hunter. With this massive Hunter Biden scandal ongoing, why on earth is he so visible right next to “the Big Guy?” Is Hunter making sure Joe doesn’t say anything wrong, or is it the other way around?

  4. Kate…
    You didn’t see that big up-raised middle finger?
    That’s all there is from now on from the Bidens.

  5. And this failed society is now flying spy balloons over us.

    We’ve hit bottom under the Dems.

  6. An F-22 from Langley AFB shot the Chinese balloon down with one Sidewinder missile. Debris fell into the Atlantic about six miles offshore. Water depth reported as about 47 feet. Recovery operations are under way.

    Questions:
    Did the balloon collect high quality data about our nuclear facilities?

    Will NORAD formulate plans to avoid a recurrence?

    Will the Biden administration take a tougher stance with China?

    My guess is that the answers are: Maybe, no, and no.

  7. Leah on February 4, 2023 at 11:43 am said:
    “The book of Esther.”

    Her selection story was, indeed, very similar to the process in China.
    However, Esther was in the competition for empress – the chief wife – and not just another concubine.
    Contemporary readers, and those for many years afterward, would be aware of what that meant.

  8. Open Thread, Sunday, so Ukrainian war:

    Resupplying Ukraine: Arms, Aid & Escalation – What, Who, & What might be next? – Perun

  9. The Biblical book of Esther is interesting in that God is never specifically named, yet there is implied in the story the idea that a person could be placed in a certain position by God to effect a specific purpose.

  10. Those concubines had it pretty easy compared to average Chinese. Didn’t really see anything horrific about free food, housing, healthcare, clothing.

    Biggest complaint seemed to be boredom and (assumed) celibacy.

  11. In ancient times, they would sodomize boys and girls to force them to take a knee, beg.

    In modern times, they practice human rites for social, redistributive, clinical, political, criminal, and fair weather progress.

    We’ve come along way, baby.

  12. UNM calls its students and sports teams “Lobos” as in wolf, therefore the happy UNM family is a “wolfpack.”

    Hence, I keep getting emails, twice a week, from “vaxthepack” that I should get get vaxxed ASAP lest my registration be put on hold.

    However, that’s not until some future semester. Apparently they are going to keep dunning me with these emails until I get vaxxed.

    I do get tired of all the Prog Think nudging I get these days.

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