tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-108504812024-03-13T17:00:28.473+01:00Dionysian Spring...flows with milk the plain, and flows with wine, Flows with the wild bees' nectar dews divine...Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-66450049016093622882014-06-03T15:09:00.002+02:002014-06-03T16:10:41.075+02:00Malaysian flight 370<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/92251790" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>This here video clip ('courtesy' of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/heres-what-the-worlds-tallest-buildingand-a-flying-planelook-like-from-space/360850/">The Atlantic Magazine</a>), taken from space several hundred kilometers from Earth, obviously, of a flight passing the <a href="http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/">world's tallest building</a> brings the missing Malaysian Airlines' flight MH370 (a Boeing 777-2H6ER on its way from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members) in mind in a flash. It seems we, the humanity, can see what is going on in our airspace with amazing accuracy.<br />
<br />
Note that in the video, the satellite's angular movement is quite fast, because its trajectory is at fairly low altitudes. Hence, the building is tilting noticeably away from the satellite's movement, and from us, the viewers in the sky. And also the aircraft's apparent trajectory seems to be moving away from us, the observers.
<br />
<br />
This is amazingly accurate picture, though!
<br />
<br />
Down here, on the ground, worth some nimble interpretation may also be what <b>Jay Carney</b> (the then president <b>Barrack Obama's</b> spokesman, who has resigned since) meant, exactly, in the first days after the flight disappeared, when stating in a White House press briefing that the aircraft is actually in Indian Ocean (south-west of Malaysia), while the search aircraft and vessels were at the time still deployed searching east of Malaysia. Sounds now, many weeks later, more than intriguing, doesn't it? What Carney said, after some unnamed Pentagon official had first hinted the same, is like this:
<br />
<blockquote>
“It's my understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily conclusive, but new information, an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean, and we are consulting with international partners about the appropriate assets to deploy.”</blockquote>
That statement precedes the later speculation that the aircraft's engines had been running up to 7 hours after the last contact over South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam. INMARSAT calculated later on that the aircraft's probable course could have been along a circular route either northwest and southeast of Malaysian airspace
<br />
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<a href="http://aviation-safety.net/photos/aircraft/750/20140308-0-P-d-1-750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://aviation-safety.net/photos/aircraft/750/20140308-0-P-d-1-750.jpg" height="221" width="320" /></a></div>
The problem with MH370 seems to be that, after the flight had levelled off at 35,000 feet, something/someone inhibited/damaged the aircraft's location (e.g. ADS-B that broadcasts certain location specific data 'continuously') transmissions and all other communications from the aircraft including the Secondary Surveillance Radar replies. What that something/someone was, is anybody's guess.<br />
<br />
There are (unconfirmed, naturally) reports that MH370 had climbed to 45,000 feet, which is well above the maximum operable flight altitude limit specified for this type of aircraft, after it had disappeared from civilian radar at the time when its control was being handed over from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian) ACC (Area Control Centre) to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) ACC. The last radio communications where quite normal and innocent enough at 01.18 Malaysian local time:
<br />
<blockquote>
Lumpur ACC: 'Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9 Good Night.'
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
MH 370: 'Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero.'</blockquote>
After the flight disappeared from the civilian surveillance systems and reached 45,000 feet (again according to these unconfirmed reports), it had descended in sporadic steps to 23,000 feet, and had then climbed to 29,500 feet at the time when all radar contact was lost with the flight, including by military surveillance.<br />
<br />
All that could imply that the aircraft was not flown by a functioning human being or an aircraft system. However, it has been widely interpreted as meaning that somebody/something was flying the aircraft and trying to avoid being detected by surveillance systems.<br />
<br />
The plot thickened further, when, day after Carney declared that the search area will be moved thousands of kilometres south west of Malaysia in that briefing at the White House, a CIA admiral (can't find the name now) went public and angrily asked how the hell the White House can tell such a thing (that the aircraft is in Indian Ocean). And White House went quiet for awhile.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the search continued Heaven knows where, until INMARSAT used, a week later or so, their expertise to calculate the probable locations and the search was moved eventually to Indian Ocean and intensified using military units from several States and an Australian general (ex-chief of their armed forces no less) was put in charge of the search (instead of SAR experts from one of the participating states).<br />
<br />
So, that would be a good start for a beautiful conspiracy theory.<br />
<br />
Of course, what happened could as well be explained in terms of technical problems and flying several hours until the fuel run out. But that would not be as interesting as a good, old-fashioned and solid conspiracy, would it?<br />
<br />
Intriguing times we are living!?Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-50936596784337461022014-05-22T15:14:00.000+02:002014-06-03T16:02:41.554+02:00Selina Meyer for President<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7v49ZEl5szvrA72GnJ8Jh79CAYL_-MzMTgquGmEMbTlRDlNoAsh89dtuHFiN2gsg1PpKRuGkafm_1MHparQeUMR0VZOlMI_XWw4sq-nbGrFhLtL9d3dZQPMtMHujU4SEIBZfNLQ/s1600/Vice_President_Joe_Biden_jokes_with_Julia_Louis-Dreyfus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7v49ZEl5szvrA72GnJ8Jh79CAYL_-MzMTgquGmEMbTlRDlNoAsh89dtuHFiN2gsg1PpKRuGkafm_1MHparQeUMR0VZOlMI_XWw4sq-nbGrFhLtL9d3dZQPMtMHujU4SEIBZfNLQ/s1600/Vice_President_Joe_Biden_jokes_with_Julia_Louis-Dreyfus.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She even looks the part...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Incidentally, I support the <a href="http://www.hbo.com/veep#/"><i>Veep </i></a>in all its shapes and forms.<br />
<br />
I, naturally, also support <b><i>Selina Meyer's</i></b> campaign to be the next president of the USA.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/files/2013/01/hillarywellseley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/files/2013/01/hillarywellseley.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and so does she!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In her absence, any woman with a degree from, say, the <a href="http://www.wellesley.edu/">Wellesley College</a> would do. Especially a one, who has <a href="http://www.sojust.net/speeches/hillaryclinton_commencement.html">this to show</a> in her résumé from 1969, and who has always had an excellent dress sense.<br />
<br />
Definitely, I would also support <b>Julia Roberts</b> for the same position (or any position, for that matter), if being the most powerful person on Earth can be called a mere position. Although, judging by her film <i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/jun/17/gender.world">Mona Lisa Smile</a></i> (2003), it seems likely she would be more interested in finding a <i><a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/12540/26-beatnik-slang-words-and-phrases-we-should-all-start-using">Red onion</a></i> and being a beatnik in the Village than being President, and I can't really judge her harshly for that.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-34968931179528786532013-07-16T04:35:00.000+02:002013-07-30T04:39:28.382+02:00The Newsroom, series 2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hbowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/newsroom13_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://hbowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/newsroom13_02.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hbowatch.com/the-newsroom-the-genoa-ti/">http://hbowatch.com/the-newsroom-the-genoa-ti/</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just stopped watching <b>Aaron Sorkin's</b> <a href="http://hbowatch.com/category/The-Newsroom"><i>The Newsroom</i> series 2 episode 1</a>.<br />
<br />
The bastards opened a whole bunch of captivating storylines without closing any just to make sure that, come next Sunday, I'll be sitting my nose on the TV screen and salivating like Pavlov's dogs into their empty food bowls. And shameful for not feeling any shame at all.<br />
<br />
The biggest question: Why is Maggie looking like that red and spiky-headed girl with the dragon tattoo?Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-47845922179332543152013-07-15T04:06:00.000+02:002013-07-30T04:37:43.521+02:00Of Mankell, and Hamlet, too<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRK5kHiuititm7RM-S61wGTFvohPtDKv2fCpfaxww6FfKgM1DnrjfZyKROMrElnpqVoITkSUf35MWtmFQfQfxyL-NMzvSWbbvSDDXA6TfjnzraqLVh23uqTl-YuYJFBWXuzzqjNA/s1600/Mankell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRK5kHiuititm7RM-S61wGTFvohPtDKv2fCpfaxww6FfKgM1DnrjfZyKROMrElnpqVoITkSUf35MWtmFQfQfxyL-NMzvSWbbvSDDXA6TfjnzraqLVh23uqTl-YuYJFBWXuzzqjNA/s320/Mankell.jpg" /></a></div>
Picture from <a href="http://henningmankell.com/author/">Mankell's WEB site</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Henning Mankell</b>, an optimist even after 4 past marriages and 40 published books (first in 1973) of which only a quarter involve Wallander:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"...Too few writers accept they have a moral responsibility to take a stand"</i>.<br />
<br />
The Guardian reports in an article called <i><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/15/henning-mankell-not-miss-wallander">Henning Mankell: 'I shall not miss Wallander'</a>.</i><br />
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I've always thought that every writer takes a stand, since, supposedly, the books are not published by accident, but, rather, by purpose. At least from a point of view of this, an eternally blue-eyed, reader.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8oe6oCtDReL2iirKtRqd1tSrcKyEzaYyjoyU5oXvms7PQTBCNyKcTgdG1TOlVs7Tb6bSZeaxJPsiLCKAcqTqTjbi8UYyV4Wh86OyEdxnC13nhbNc3IClfYJjWEise8zfoa1AUA/s1600/Olivier+Hamlet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8oe6oCtDReL2iirKtRqd1tSrcKyEzaYyjoyU5oXvms7PQTBCNyKcTgdG1TOlVs7Tb6bSZeaxJPsiLCKAcqTqTjbi8UYyV4Wh86OyEdxnC13nhbNc3IClfYJjWEise8zfoa1AUA/s320/Olivier+Hamlet.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivier as Hamlet in 1948</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A problem may be how to make that 'stand' palatable to readers and not boring like the 'stand' most often is. But then, perhaps Mankell really means that the writers have a moral responsibility to take a stand similar to his. Looking at the Nobel winning writers, it may be that the Nobel judges have the similar stand to Mankell's. Which is Ok with me.
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By the by, I don't read much crime at all and have only read a few of Mankell's books, although have watched with intense interest both the Swedish-made Wallander-films and the ones made with <b>Kenneth Branagh</b>. I liked the Swedish ones better. Branagh's version of Wallander was too angsty, Shakespearean sort of way, which, obviously, is no wonder at all. Branagh's Hamlet is probably as good a Hamlet as they have ever been. Recently I watched <a href="http://www.criterion.com/films/621-hamlet"><b>Olivier's</b> (1948)</a>, <a href="http://www.kenbranagh.com/quest.htm">Branagh's (1996)</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/hamlet/characters/hamlet.shtml"><b>David Tennant's</b> (2009)</a> versions back to back in one day. All are splendid adaptations and well worth watching.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-79434353120536999662013-07-01T14:41:00.000+02:002013-07-30T14:44:37.646+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezGM2uqJ_02Y64LSKQkTC3GN4K8zWBYZNC039wg_ep3fb2-Cg73gC6A7Xh0UZxYKXsfceEi4KuhCZZ_o2nbeHn-6eYK8096CwBXNSm0BpKVqa5WzAUQ-waBXYQ17jn-MpAZ7wFg/s1600/Alps+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezGM2uqJ_02Y64LSKQkTC3GN4K8zWBYZNC039wg_ep3fb2-Cg73gC6A7Xh0UZxYKXsfceEi4KuhCZZ_o2nbeHn-6eYK8096CwBXNSm0BpKVqa5WzAUQ-waBXYQ17jn-MpAZ7wFg/s400/Alps+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Picture Hanhensulka: a Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) in Victorian Alps, Australia <br />
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Everybody knows that the Australian national poet, 'bush poet', is <b>Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson</b>, who is well-known world-wide for the often misunderstood words of a poem called <i>Waltzing Matilda</i>, the unofficial Australian national anthem. It should, for all fairness, be the official anthem, too. Try to sing the current anthem, (by an order of the <b>Queen Elizabeth II's</b> representative in the Land of Oz, the Governor-General, since 1984) ‘<i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8tswkr25A0&feature=related">Advance Australia Fair</a></i>’ (you know: <i>'Australians all let us rejoice / for we are young and free...'</i>), composed by a Scot, <b>Peter Dodds McCormick</b>, who called himself <i>‘Amicus’</i>, and if you tried, you'd know what I mean.<br />
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Patterson is also, and rightly so, depicted on our 10-dollar note, perhaps partly to reflect the normally very low income of those, who step on the path to immortality by the way of writing poems.<br />
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The reason I started contemplating the <i>'Australia Fair'</i> is that I took the picture of this <i>Superb Fairy-wren</i> in the Victorian Alps east of Melbourne, in an old prospectors' site, 8-mile Flat, on Howqua River not far from where the Australian movie, <i>The Man from Snowy River</i>, was made. The film is based on <a href="http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/patersonab/poetry/snowy.html">a poem of the same name</a> by 'Banjo' Paterson. A part of the poem goes like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side,<br />
Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough,<br />
Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride,<br />
The man that holds his own is good enough.<br />
And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,<br />
Where the river runs those giant hills between;<br />
I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,<br />
But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen..."</blockquote>
<i>Superb Fairy-wrens</i>, on the other hand, live in large groups and are very difficult to capture with camera due to their constant movement, swiftness and tiny size: full-grown between 10 and 14 cm. There are about 8 different species of Fairy-wrens in Victoria.<br />
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By the way, it may seem strange, when one considers how the two main political parties in Australia treat the asylum seekers, who come to these here shores to save their lives, literally, that <a href="http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/nat_anthem.html">the Australian national anthem</a> has even these beautiful but so little truthful lines:<br />
<br />
"...For those who've come across the seas<br />
We've boundless plains to share...<br />
---<br />
In joyful strains then let us sing,<br />
Advance Australia Fair."Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-68461836370096580582013-06-16T04:47:00.000+02:002013-07-30T14:20:51.848+02:00Twain and a Mysterious Stranger<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHvTxiIlFx_NeG5VIA3r5TP_lnlXv1nikdGpOUK_VpLN5vxXGquzU6DaFsHw5ntBr51AARr-yoJ6lHJYQg-0xnv0FHy6sjnWx7DhK9kleHCdN7SwEqo8kPq5VzA_7_T96b7B0N2A/s1600/Mysterious-Stranger-Mark-Twain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHvTxiIlFx_NeG5VIA3r5TP_lnlXv1nikdGpOUK_VpLN5vxXGquzU6DaFsHw5ntBr51AARr-yoJ6lHJYQg-0xnv0FHy6sjnWx7DhK9kleHCdN7SwEqo8kPq5VzA_7_T96b7B0N2A/s320/Mysterious-Stranger-Mark-Twain.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://www.classicreader.com/book/1370/9/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let's recall an angel, called <b>Satan</b>, from the pages of <b>Mark Twain's</b> posthumous (1916) story from 1590, the 'Austrian Middle Ages' as Twain calls the storytime, <i><a href="http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Twain/Mysterious-Stranger.htm">The Mysterious Stranger</a>, Being an Ancient Tale Found in a Jug, and Freely Translated from the Jug</i>, (<a href="http://www.classicreader.com/book/1370/9/">Chapter 9</a>) to tell us about just wars:<br />
<br />
<i>"...and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers...but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation...will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception..."</i><br />
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One would, perhaps, be forgiven to think that in certain types of thing, the times have not really been a-changin' that much at all.<br />
<br />
<br />Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-70080813106591977742012-04-20T18:42:00.000+02:002012-04-22T07:04:32.058+02:00Why to Get Rid of Chick Flicks?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkncnvJGbPuehugh2Q18-bxrvPvJKn0PoD4usYMhcDsEWz0e79kmIAIh73fNmiUkfGCD0IY7vM033_yjS9jQiy8TPwarO0pLcJ_FIMAQuSYv8xV0ZdI652CZpB1RXHejne9Hh8A/s1600/ThelmaAndLouisInAmazon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkncnvJGbPuehugh2Q18-bxrvPvJKn0PoD4usYMhcDsEWz0e79kmIAIh73fNmiUkfGCD0IY7vM033_yjS9jQiy8TPwarO0pLcJ_FIMAQuSYv8xV0ZdI652CZpB1RXHejne9Hh8A/s320/ThelmaAndLouisInAmazon.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
<b>Dear Reader</b> would probably never have thought the kind of thoughts refered to in this posting and asked her/himself:<br />
<br />
Why to get rid of Chick flicks?<br />
<br />
Chick flicks refered to above, of course, mean female-centric movies like, I don't know, <i>On Golden Pond</i>, <i>Gone with the Wind</i>, <i>Legally Blonde</i>, <i>Ghost</i>, <i>Pretty Woman</i> (OK, this might be better suited for certain types of men than women, although it, surprisingly, is a modern <i>Cinderella </i>story, no more, no less), <i>Sex and the City</i> (either), <i>Black Swan</i>...<br />
<br />
Well, you know, <i>chick flicks<b></b></i>.<br />
<br />
Even though nobody may never have had a question about it, the <i>Washington Post</i>, as ever, has on answer (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/roll-the-credits-on-chick-flicks/2012/04/19/gIQApUJ4TT_story.html"><i>Roll the credits on chick flicks</i></a> by <b>Melissa Silverstein</b>). And the answer seems to be: because they
<br />
<blockquote>
"taint all movies about women, even ones that are not regressive and demeaning".</blockquote>
Autch.<br />
<br />
Is the same true for the chick lit? Surely not.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-19728343460401752272012-02-25T00:20:00.004+01:002012-02-25T13:44:49.446+01:00Anna Karenina and Other Hairy Tales<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPE7qsXjv_OQTUx2Q9s2-MDTgmRFprXhrDwwkQgA_Ii6rFSZ2JPELIRxVJf9Tf2qQia86xfOJ1xPTby6RL97xEV_uCPTfavP46RvSjNc_12C0fGLk_VzjVRZjWe9DL4bMtBWhE5A/s1600/AnnaKareniPenguinSpecialEdition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPE7qsXjv_OQTUx2Q9s2-MDTgmRFprXhrDwwkQgA_Ii6rFSZ2JPELIRxVJf9Tf2qQia86xfOJ1xPTby6RL97xEV_uCPTfavP46RvSjNc_12C0fGLk_VzjVRZjWe9DL4bMtBWhE5A/s320/AnnaKareniPenguinSpecialEdition.jpg" /></a></div>Picture:<a href="http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780143035008,00.html#">Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions</a><br />
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<i>Anna Karenina</i> is a book best gobbled when one is bound by one’s pubertal angst. It is more painful to swallow once one has tasted real life in great quantity. Funny that a writer like <b>Leo Tolstoy</b> got it so right for both. <br />
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Of course, it’s not the only such novel: think of <b>Daniel Defoe's</b> <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> (for youths it’s an adventure, for adults a metaphor for the British Empire), or almost any of the <b>Jane Austen’s</b> novels (for youths the life’s passion is in the initial burning kisses, adults know that the real life starts only after).<br />
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If you havn't read <i>Anna Karenina</i> yet, <a href="http://www.literature.org/authors/tolstoy-leo/anna-karenina/">here is a chance</a> to do it on line. And check, if the most famous clichéd quote from high literature really goes: <br />
<blockquote>"All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way..."</blockquote>Of course, the translators always insert their marks in the original text, after all translators are really interpretors on behalf of those who don't read in many tongues.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-5840827535402037062012-02-24T20:50:00.003+01:002012-02-25T01:23:47.300+01:00Dreams and Angsts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdR64dZSFlTV9ktnTrqSQGvaPqvgtijzjgmZ108rNAeU8b8siXY6H9wqpZg_LrSt87lbPFAL9hfv_ty9Z8kqiWJ6uYZC7opYHxG3se_09Cl6NA3a6Q5BvfeLzK7sAD7Ok6KxJ_JA/s1600/UmbertoEcoInChigacoTribune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="212" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdR64dZSFlTV9ktnTrqSQGvaPqvgtijzjgmZ108rNAeU8b8siXY6H9wqpZg_LrSt87lbPFAL9hfv_ty9Z8kqiWJ6uYZC7opYHxG3se_09Cl6NA3a6Q5BvfeLzK7sAD7Ok6KxJ_JA/s320/UmbertoEcoInChigacoTribune.jpg" /></a></div>Picture: <b>Umberto Eco</b> as seen by <b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-ae-1113-lit-life-20111109,0,6590292.column">John Macdougall's</b> camera</a> in <i>Chigaco Tribune</i> on 14.11.2011<br />
<blockquote>"Because now I am excruciatingly aware, each time I pick up a book, of all the books I am shunning in order to focus on the one in my hand." </blockquote>The above quote is from an article, <i><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-ae-1113-lit-life-20111109,0,6590292.column">Umberto Eco and the guilty pleasure of re-reading</a></i>, by a cultural critic <b>Julia Keller</b> in <i>Chigaco Tribune</i> on November 9, 2011.<br />
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The older one becomes the more angsty urgency there is to read those books that should have been read a long time ago but never were for reasons of laziness, inattention, carelessness, active avoidance and other human failings. We all have only this finite time. As always: When one turns to embrace somebody, one's back is turned to all others. <br />
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I may have mentioned this already, <b>Dear Reader</b>, but my dream has been for a long time to read <b>Dostoyevsky </b>in Russian. I’ve even started learning Russian, several times in fact, just that particular dream in mind. Variations of the dream include <b>Pushkin</b>, <b>Turgenev </b>or <b>Tolstoy’s</b> <i>Anna Karenina</i> but funnily enough not his <i>War and Peace</i>. <br />
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I mention this in passing here because an angsty urgency has hit again and out comes the Russian learning material. <b>Ludmila</b>, a second-hand book dealer in the Saturdays’ book market in Melbourne’s <i>Ian Potter Museum of Art</i>-building, one of the post-modern buildings in an important Melburnian landmark, the <i>Federation Square</i> complex, has already got a request to look for a new Russian text for a desperate beginner.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-44143070221256830062012-02-17T01:57:00.023+01:002012-02-25T05:13:29.047+01:00Days and days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9y2gwb_2owv3nTLEgzuB6O3a3l804psnbt41VDgVYWq7U_y_2AV-S9dxfEPiif3xJYtBnWNOThcIhB88JY5akgzsA8_pCLDs9TAUX5u0wGAc93IM8DLgNr67l4b2xwjItQ_cJbQ/s1600/AuringonlaskuStKildassa20120217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9y2gwb_2owv3nTLEgzuB6O3a3l804psnbt41VDgVYWq7U_y_2AV-S9dxfEPiif3xJYtBnWNOThcIhB88JY5akgzsA8_pCLDs9TAUX5u0wGAc93IM8DLgNr67l4b2xwjItQ_cJbQ/s320/AuringonlaskuStKildassa20120217.jpg" /></a></div>Kuva Hanhensulka 2012, A sun sets in St. Kilda.<br />
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February 17 was like any other day, only different. <br />
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Obviously, <b>Dear Reader</b>, there are dates in ones life that are more important than some others. This one is used to mark the passing of one lifetime. One tries to ignore it as much as possible. <br />
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It was easy when there was a cushion of parents to rely on. Funny thing is that even at a mature age, as long as they are there, one is still a child, well, to a certain extent at least, feeling protected against one's fate. <br />
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Of course, the fate always wins at the end. <br />
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Fortunately for the individual, they will not know about it, since life is without a start or the end. For the person, there is no birth nor death, only the existence and its opposite, which we will never know, in person.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-44524513703868925432012-01-07T13:18:00.003+01:002012-02-25T00:49:00.969+01:00The Artist of Disappearance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296h/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/12/13/Style/Images/books1214charles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296h/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/12/13/Style/Images/books1214charles.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>The reading year 2012 has started. The first finished novel (actually a collection of three beautiful novellas) is by <b>Anita Desai</b> called <i>The Artist of Disappearance</i>. <br />
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Book's three novellas fit in 156 pages (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and share some big themes like problems of modernisation of society, solitude, social alienation, nature of art, role of artists and such things somewhat familiar from her previous books.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-83906743575438068882012-01-06T10:35:00.031+01:002012-01-17T14:12:26.621+01:00Whitman, Shakespeare and Company<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjB2wULdbKTFCRwk2jcCdXHnuh1SJW0MoKnEseOr5WKFMotG5EvCrNT9pu4T1gHuZh7Y2qYGe6RbSsOzsudirg8gkIiVN9KqSgf9d1zTlDqeK6GdQ5_MiTcS-Gb6Jym2YFG-Rmg/s1600/DSC01483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="237" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjB2wULdbKTFCRwk2jcCdXHnuh1SJW0MoKnEseOr5WKFMotG5EvCrNT9pu4T1gHuZh7Y2qYGe6RbSsOzsudirg8gkIiVN9KqSgf9d1zTlDqeK6GdQ5_MiTcS-Gb6Jym2YFG-Rmg/s320/DSC01483.JPG" /></a></div>Picture by <i>Hanhensulka</i><br />
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The picture is of <b>Walt Whitman</b> and is located on a wall next to the <b><a href="http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/">Shakespeare and Company </b>bookshop</a> in St. Michel on the left bank of Seine opposite Notre Dame in Paris, France. The previous owner, an American called <b>George Whitman</b>, died in December 2011 in Paris at 98. The text (translated into French by <b>León Bazalgette</b> about hundred years ago) is from from Walt Whitman's poem 'To A STRANGER' from his life's work <i><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1322/1322-h/1322-h.htm">"Leaves of Grass"</a></i>:<br />
<blockquote>"Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you..."</blockquote>The <i>Shakespeare and Company</i> is presently owned by George's daughter, <b>Sylvia Whitman</b>. Neither she nor George is related to Walt the Poet.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-9445854509432603472012-01-05T10:20:00.002+01:002012-01-15T10:33:24.331+01:00Tilda has no errors, or does she?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/ydfcO.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="http://i.imgur.com/ydfcO.gif" width="500" /></a></div>Aargh! Apparently there is an error in this, if one can call it like that. The photo is linked to the image sharer site <i><b><a href="http://imgur.com/">imgur</a></b></i>.<br />
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The picture depicts <b>Tilda Swinton</b> as 'Orlando' <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107756/">in film</a> by the same name, which is based on <b>Virginia Woolf's</b> book <i><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/05/winter-reads-orlando-virginia-woolf">Orlando: A Biography</a></i>. The book tells a tale of a woman (or a man) who exists through space and time starting in the Elizabethan England.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-17422573301503926282012-01-05T10:06:00.000+01:002012-01-15T10:11:41.643+01:00Aurora Borealis 70N, 30E<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/21294655" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/21294655">The Aurora</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/terjes">TSO Photography</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>. Video is by a Norwegian nature photographer <b>Terje Sørgjerd</b> from <i><a href="http://vimeo.com/terjes">TSO Photography</a></i><br />
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Ah, nostalgia. Here, it's been three days close to plus 40 deg, today was better but we'll get the heat back shortly. <br />
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On the other hand, through the warm, flowing tears or nostalgia I do remember the frost biting my cheeks, fingers and toes. Oh well, there it is...Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-65887561173678745342012-01-04T09:46:00.003+01:002012-01-15T10:03:41.094+01:00It is no Stradivarius, just a naughty violin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.theage.com.au/2012/01/03/2871204/violins2-200x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="177" width="200" src="http://images.theage.com.au/2012/01/03/2871204/violins2-200x0.jpg" /></a></div>Picture: <b>Satu Vänskä</b> of Australian Chamber Orchestra plays her million(+)-dollar <i>Stradivarius, taken </i>from <i><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/">The Age</a></i><br />
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It is a truth most likely that World is full of judgements governed by <i>Wanker Index</i> (WI). <br />
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I don't know how the index works but can give wine tasting by us ordinary mortals, who don't carry a dog's snout to smell things, as an example, or food tasting, appreciation of poetry, hiphop or music in general for that matter. It seems that judging violins also falls under the spell of WI. <br />
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Today's <i>The Age</i> reports of a finding by <b>Dr. Claudia Fritz</b> of University of Paris that modern violins are indistinguishable from, or better than, the <i>Guarneris </i>or <i>Stradivari </i>raped by time and lauded by hordes of opera and symphony loving rankers (like this blogger, by the by). <br />
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I wonder if WI also governs the use of plural with an 'i' for all instances of nouns ending with '-us'. Naah, most unlikely.<br />
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Read more in <i><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/milliondollar-stradivarius-loses-out-in-playoff-with-modern-violin-20120103-1pjjd.html">'Million-dollar Stradivarius loses out in play-off with modern violin'</a></i> by <b>Ian Sample</b> and <b>Gina McColl</b> in <i><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/">The Age</a></i>Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-56059083386202309562012-01-03T10:14:00.002+01:002012-01-15T10:18:04.179+01:00Facebook celeb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pad1.whstatic.com/images/4/40/Facebook-version-of-you_20111117-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="339" width="625" src="http://pad1.whstatic.com/images/4/40/Facebook-version-of-you_20111117-04.jpg" /></a></div>Want to be a Facebook celeb? <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Life-Seem-Awesome-on-Facebook">This is how</a>.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-85700974887816539622012-01-02T09:43:00.000+01:002012-01-15T09:45:24.861+01:00CheersNothing is so cheerless than an old <i>facebook </i>entry (apart from an old, unchanging blog posting, maybe).Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-78945359792454640802012-01-01T06:46:00.003+01:002012-01-15T13:13:04.148+01:002012The morning stirred up<br />
like yesterday and before <br />
Still, it’s a new yearHanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-83700962509888581462011-12-31T09:40:00.001+01:002012-01-15T09:43:01.496+01:00Arab Spring and another wisdomThe still continuing 'Arab spring' shouts loudly 'al shaab yureed asqat al nitham', or in English 'the people want collapse of the system' or something like that. <br />
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Perhaps they get it and more permanently than intended; this 2012 is, after all, the last year in history (according to some interpretations of Mayan wisdom).Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-54211166485095731742011-12-27T09:33:00.002+01:002012-01-15T09:39:23.283+01:00A Twenties Memory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thewrap.com/sites/default/files/Getting_Even.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="341" width="200" src="http://www.thewrap.com/sites/default/files/Getting_Even.jpg" /></a></div>Not my memory, mind you. But a short story by <b>Woody Allen</b>, <i>"A Twenties Memory"</i> in his 1971 book <i><a href="http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/woody-allens-midnight-paris-take-one-40-year-old-short-story-33921">"Getting Even"</a></i>, turns into <i>"Midnight in Paris"</i> in mere 40 years. <br />
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The <i>"Midnight"</i>, his best picture for quite a while, might still rescue Allen's battered reputation from the gutters. I loved it.<br />
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The linked article, <i><a href="http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/woody-allens-midnight-paris-take-one-40-year-old-short-story-33921">"Woody Allen's First Stab at 'Midnight in Paris': A 1971 Short Story"</a></i>, is from <i><a href="http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column/odds">The Odds</a></i> by <b>Steve Pond</b>.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-22689856305225703982011-12-26T09:27:00.000+01:002012-01-15T09:31:20.831+01:00Would you rather be hanged than stoned?Islam is such a sensible and lenient religion, isn't it. How about all us gentle-hearts come out in chorus and excuse Islam because 'all this is part of their cultural heritage' and we should, naturally, embrace multiculturalism with all our hearts.<br />
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Read this article <i><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/25/us-iran-rights-stoning-idUSTRE7BO0F820111225">Iran says woman's stoning case might change to hanging</a></i> in <i><a href="http://www.reuters.com/">Reuters</a></i>.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-3773503440391055902011-12-21T09:09:00.000+01:002012-01-15T09:21:38.083+01:00IBM bares the Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/6466946407_dcae15820f_o-625x415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="415" width="625" src="http://cdn.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/6466946407_dcae15820f_o-625x415.jpg" /></a></div><br />
IBM, who first estimated that the world needs about six computers and then that nobody would want a personal computer, now says that we'll be carrying mind-reading phones by 2016. Oh well...Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-89785846586345889232011-12-20T09:14:00.002+01:002012-01-15T09:24:38.584+01:00Havel and Kim Jong IlIt's easy to say that all Nations get political leaders they deserve. <i>Cometh the hour, cometh the man</i>. Maybe a people that has no desire to better its lot would get what the history lobs at it. It is difficult to say why the Czechs and Slovaks deserved an imperfect humanist like <b>Vaclav Havel</b> and the Koreans a perfect tyrant like <b>Kim Jong Il</b> as their leaders. The answer may lurk in history and time, and Nation's soul, or somewhere.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/damien_ma/kim%20um%20looking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="330" width="615" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/damien_ma/kim%20um%20looking.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Well, hopefully they'll not issue a...a...Hey, what's <i>fatwa </i>in Korean? While you think that you may want to read the article <i><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/12/kim-jong-il-might-be-gone-but-the-satire-will-live-forever/250196/">Kim Jong Il Might Be Gone, But the Satire Will Live Forever</a></i> in <i><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/">The Atlantic</a></i>.<br />
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The Turkish version of the nations' destinies goes like this: <i>'It is not only the fault of the axe but the tree as well'</i>. Somehow <i>'Cometh the hour, cometh the man'</i> sounds more optimistic and kindly. Perhaps both influenced by their environments?Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-78742908958589668572011-12-15T09:02:00.000+01:002012-01-15T09:22:37.708+01:00The Hand of God and Januszczak's foreskins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.waldemar.tv/os/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/hand-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="373" width="560" src="http://www.waldemar.tv/os/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/hand-art.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Dear Reader, I'm almost sure that spiritually you reside somewhere between <b>Christopher Hitchens</b> and <b>Jesus of Nasareth</b>. If so, it may be of interest to read <b>Waldemar Januszczak's</b> take on the Christ's foreskin and that sorts of thing, in case you find them palatable in the countdown to Christmas, the highlight of the Christians' annual calendar of commerce and overeating. The article is called <i><a href="http://www.waldemar.tv/2011/07/the-hand-of-god/">The Hand of God</a></i>.Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10850481.post-22681587053721823762011-08-20T04:42:00.003+02:002011-09-29T05:01:10.630+02:00Freewheelin' Europe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20110819&t=2&i=482403627&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=2011-08-19T150237Z_01_BTRE77I15OD00_RTROPTP_0_APPLE" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="304" width="450" src="http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20110819&t=2&i=482403627&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=2011-08-19T150237Z_01_BTRE77I15OD00_RTROPTP_0_APPLE" /></a></div><br />
When the bottom is reached, it will hurt. If there is a bottom in this European bog.<br />
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Looks like Bob Dylan was forecasting the European Union's dim economic future with his album '<a href="http://gothamist.com/2006/04/18/nyc_album_art_t.php"><i>Freewheelin</i></a>' (1963) with such tracks as "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "Boots of Spanish Leather".Hanhensulkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309053732296007526noreply@blogger.com0