In the news, Monday, July 26, 2021

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JUL 25      INDEX      JUL 27

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from BBC News (UK)

Canterbury Cathedral stained glass is among world's oldest

New research indicates that some stained glass windows from Canterbury Cathedral may be among the oldest in the world. The panels, depicting the Ancestors of Christ, have been re-dated using a new, non-destructive technique. The analysis indicates that some of them may date back to the mid-1100s. The windows would therefore have been in place when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, was killed at the cathedral in 1170.

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from Front Porch Republic

“Magically Turning White”: A Family Story of Slavery, Racism, and Redemption
By Mark Clavier: Brecon, Wales. On 15 November 1772, a freeborn Martinican “mulatress” named Marianne delivered a healthy son, whom she called Jean-Pierre. Little else is known about her except that she was the widowed daughter of Elizabeth, who had once been enslaved. When Jean-Pierre was baptized in his local Catholic church, he wasn’t given his own father’s surname but that of Marianne’s late husband. He was illegitimate and, consequently, carried and passed down to his sons the family name of a man he never knew and to whom he wasn’t related. That name was Clavier. Jean-Pierre was my great, great, great, great grandfather.

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from IndieWire

Lucasfilm Hired the YouTuber Who Used Deepfakes to Tweak Luke Skywalker ‘Mandalorian’ VFX

YouTube is full of deepfake videos that attempt to improve on polarizing visual effects in movies, but rarely do these videos lead to actual studio jobs. A popular deepfake YouTuber who goes by the name “Shamook” announced this month in the comments section of one of his videos that he joined the team over at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic. IndieWire has now confirmed the hiring with Lucasfilm. The news is notable as one of Shamook’s most viral videos is a deepfake that improves the VFX used in “The Mandalorian” Season 2 finale to de-age Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. The video has nearly 2 million views on YouTube.

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from Mises Institute
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED

Canada's Left Is Pushing Some Albertans To See the Benefits of Secession

Talks of separatism are not just limited to the United States. When Canada is brought up in political discourse, it’s usually done to juxtapose its relative stability to the US. Often portrayed as the tamer, more socially stable version of the US, Canada has become a darling of American progressives. Even some American celebrities, caught up in the hysteria of former president Donald Trump’s successful 2016 run, hinted at moving to Canada. Conventional views of foreign countries can be quite misleading, however. The last few weeks have been rather dicey in Canada. The controversy kicked off after the discovery of the supposed mass graves of First Nations near the former sites of four Canadian Indian residential schools in the provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. Although there is growing evidence that these discoveries do not point to a genocidal act inflicted on Canada’s indigenous population, the radical Left went about its usual routine by instantly pouncing on the discoveries and using them as a pretext to burn down churches and topple monuments of famous historical figures across Canada.

Secession and the Production of Defense

Jörg Guido Hülsmann examines the economics of guerrilla warfare and how secessionist movements can succeed against a larger state.

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from Spokane Daily Chronicle

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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