Word that comes from the Greek for "godless"

 Belief that there is no God

 

Case in point: Athena. Regarded as the goddess of wisdom and war, the female counterpart of Ares, and also considered the goddess of all things crafty such as in the gifts of cooking and sewing, but also a skilled and courageous immortal in the craft of war in how to fight, parry, and plan tactics. She lent a hand to the likes of Hercules, Perseus and Odysseus, so they could go down in historical myth as heroes. Athena was immune to romantic love and never had children ... except for one she had inadvertently. According to myth, Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire, tried to rape Athena when she visited his workshop for weapons. While she managed to get away, some of his semen fell on her thigh. She wiped it away with a piece of wool and threw it to the ground, but in true mythological fashion, a son named Erichthonius was born from the discarded semen.  

Goodness gracious!

"écrasez l'infâme"  

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."




... Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, historian, and philosopher
   

Containment is the name of the game for survival

 The world may have changed but containment strategies have not

 

The ‘Spanish Flu’ of 1918 lasted 2 years in 3 waves with 500 million people infected and 50 million deaths. Although the actual origin of the disease was France and then it spread to Spain, it was the Iberic country that informed about the consequences of the pandemic that disseminated due to the mobilization of troops in WW1. Most of the fatalities happened in the 2nd wave. People felt put upon by the quarantine and social distancing measures imposed at the outset and when they were lifted, there was rejoicing in the streets. A few weeks later however the 2nd wave hit with a vengeance killing tens of millions.

 

A look at earth as seen from Mars

Mars was about 127 million miles from Earth at this time.

An observer on Mars would be able to see the Moon orbiting around the Earth, and this would easily be visible to the naked eye. This composite image of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars, combines the best Earth image with the best moon image from four sets of images acquired on Nov. 20, 2016, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  

--- a modern pianist who tried to be Romantic

… considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century

"You see, so much applause, so much public. Then, in half an hour, you feel alone more than before”

         … Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-95) Italian classical pianist, reputedly did not enjoy giving concerts.

Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand.

“Will a day come when the race will detect the funniness of these juvenilities and laugh at them--and by laughing at them destroy them? For your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon--laughter. Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution--these can lift at a colossal humbug,--push it a little-- crowd it a little--weaken it a little, century by century: but only Laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand." (excerpt "The Chronicle of Young Satan," Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts).


 ... Samuel Clemens  (1835-1910) [aka Mark Twain], American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer.

Spatial relationship

"Eight Bells"

“Eight Bells” features two mariners, nearly identical in appearance and outfit.    The pair depict two types of looking, one peering out in the distance, the other focused on something close at hand. In their spatial relationship, the two individuals can be construed as a striking metaphor of the scientific counterpoint duality of exploring on one hand the immense vastness of the cosmos and on the other the deep intrinsic probing of microscopic nature. Painted in 1886 this is one of Homer’s most celebrated paintings.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American landscape painter and printmaker

Pictured at 44 a quiet, strong-willed, terse, sociable nature; and dry sense of humor. Harper's sent Homer to the front lines of the American Civil War (1861–1865), where he sketched battle scenes and camp life, the quiet moments as well as the chaotic ones. He was very private about his personal life and his methods. Perhaps Homer's austere individualism is aptly captured in this curious admonition to artists and painters.

"Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems. Leave rocks for your old age—they're easy"