Renovations are taking place at The Parish™. A very cool find…
A recycled stone with an ancient inscription. The lettering looks quite early, late antiquity.
Rome!
Today’s Wordle: 3
Welcome registrants:
CarthagoDelendaEst
Christ is the way
Deusdedit
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A great photo of the corona of the sun taken during the solar eclipse over Antarctica.
JUST IN: Dutch Cardinal Willem Eijk will celebrate his first Traditional Latin Mass (vetus ordo) in Oss, Netherlands, on Sunday, March 15. The Pontifical Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, the diocesan church where the traditional Mass is… pic.twitter.com/tcoiFOwJnt
— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) February 13, 2026
White to move and mate in 4. HERE
White to move and mate in 4.
[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.]
That’s not what the solar corona looks like. Probably AI generated.
I love the discovery of a repurposed stone. I would be interested in the translation.
The eclipse photo appears to be an AI product. The solar magnetic field would not produce a corona like that.
P.S. My condolences. My heart is breaking, yet rejoicing. My prayers are with your mother, you, and your family.
Thank you for both inscription and corona photos! I’m curious about the former, but have not attempted to search for more information, yet.
And I wonder how things went with Cardinal Eijk, not having searched for news about that, either.
All I see on the inscription is “REDDIT.”
I am no Latin scholar, but if the inscription is
TERTIA QUE VIXITAN
REDDITA QUE VIXITAN
it might well be early Christian.
The closest sense I can get from Google Translate ? is something like
“third that lives,
returned that lives”
Sounds like a reference to the Trinity, perhaps specifically to the Holy Ghost, and to the Resurrected One (Christ)
My apologies! I have somehow been misreading/assuming Cardinal Eijk was celebrating on 15 February! I have not found more details – but obviously they may be forthcoming nearer 15 March!
@The Bruised Optimist: I’m pretty sure it’s part of a funerary inscription. VIXITAN concatenates and abbreviates VIXIT ANNOS, usually followed by a number, meaning ‘lived for [so many] years’. TERTIAQUE VIXITAN could refer to a third child who died at a specified age, and REDDITAQUE VIXITAN could be someone who having been ‘restored’ (to health after illness? freed from slavery?) lived for a certain number of years. Others may well correct me. Without full context and proper expertise in such inscriptions I’m not really sure.
1. Qxf7+Rxf7 (or Kh8)
2. exf7+ Kf8 (or Kh8)
3. Nh7+ Ke7 forced
4. f8=Q# mate
If 1… Kh8 2. Qxf8# mate
If 2… Kh8 3. f8=Q# mate