Mainau Declaration(s)

"An enormous responsibility lies in the hands of political leaders today. [...] A mentally ill or power-obsessed dictator could then [...] doom the civilised world, but with it also his own country, to radiation death. [...] Such a possibility must never occur, and hence the need for truly international control over the development of nuclear weapons, or better: peaceful coexistence of all peoples. [...] Today, war is no longer 'the continuation of politics by other means'. In a bomb war there are no longer victors and vanquished."
Otto Hahn, 13 February 1955

Five months later, 15 July 1955, the Nobel Prize Laureate initiated the Mainau Declaration at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Among the 52 signatories worldwide were the physicists Werner Heisenberg and Max Born, as well as 15 other German and international Nobel laureates.

Two further declarations followed in 2015 (on climate change) and 2024 (on nuclear weapons).
Mainau Declarations

Coffeetime with Lemprière's Dictionary

Lemprière's Dictionary

Saturday Night Music – Anna Lapwood

Anna Lapwood *28 July 1995

Royal Albert Hall Organ 

Friday is Skyday

Soon I shall be dead.
Even without warmongers.
She takes all easy.

***
Morirem tots
no cal tinguin pressa
a eliminar-nos.
(Carme)

***
Si no és avui
serà qualsevol dia.
Llarga l'espera.
(Paula)

***
És al capvespre
que esperar ja no et cansa.
Has posat anys.
(Helena)

 

 

 

 

 

70 Years Russell-Einstein-Manifesto

Bertrand Russel on 9 July 1955:

I am bringing the warning pronounced by the signatories to the notice of all the powerful Governments of the world in the earnest hope that they may agree to allow their citizens to survive. 

Russell-Einstein-Manifesto

Bertrand Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) 

Albert Einstein ( 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955)

Feast for friends

Plenty to nibble on for the hoverflies in Seanhenge.

Bridge ...

... over untroubled water.
This creek is getting thirsty.

34°C in the shadow

Whilst I was sitting
on the bench before the house
enjoying the shade

Inconspicuous

Others may laugh.
White root, fern, poppy, etc.
each time let me smile.

Well, the little things ... ;-)

 

First potatoes

Today ... well, yesterday morning I got curious... 
and opened the first potato host. 
Some of the "girls" could have been a little bigger,
 but they tasted all the better.

Rain ... after all ... RAIN

What a garden view!

Rain! After all. ...

The rain barrels thankfully filled again.

Thank you, bees and bumblebees

What in April began ...

... is now bearing fruit - bees and bumblebees be thanked.

Saturday Night Music – Alfred Brendel

 

Alfred Brendel (5 January 1931 – 17 June 2025)

Franz Schubert (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828)

Laughing Lhursday* – Been there

* [For first time visitors]:

Typo in the title?
Nah. It's just that I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration. ;-)

40 years ago.

;-)

Good news:
Daughter and grandchildren have been taught
 how to perfectly spell and pronounce. ;-)

Beers & Books (422) – Also the donkey has a soul

Also the donkey has a soul

Peter Bichsel (24 March 1935 – 15 March 2025)

Bloomsday again

121.

Coffeetime with Daphne

..., not with mug Daphne, though. ;-)

Daphne du Maurier (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989)

Saturday Night Music – Grigorian: Song to the Moon

Asmik Grigorian *12 May 1981

What I see when I turn around

...

Update: 
The photo shows about ten per cent of my exquisite little library.

On the left shelf from top to bottom. 1+2: French literature; Irish literature below. 
Centre shelf: 1+2: Russian authors; 3-5 (up to the owls): Italian authors; 6: South American literature.
Right shelf: 1+2: African and Asian literature; 3: Icelandic and Scandinavian literature (Faroe Islands, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Danes; 3+4: Catalan, Portuguese and Spanish literature. 5. continuation of Latin American authors, plus (not in the image) Iranian authors.

Laughing Lhursday* – Two Daphne

Two Daphne – the writer and the mug*.

* Inspired by Mark. ;-)

Daphne du Maurier (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989)

* [For first time visitors]:

Typo in the title?
Nah. It's just that I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

Heralds of long-awaited rain

Last Friday, 12:45.

Beers & Books (421) – Woolf: Monday or Tuesday

Monday or Tuesday

Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941)  

It is fragrant all around Seanhenge

On the lower balcony, the climbing hydrangea is fragrant,

while jasmine and ...

... elderflowers perfume the front.

And the roses ...

... are a delight to behold

Beers & Books (420) – The tale of prince Biribinker

Prince Biribinker is a strange child:
raised by bees, he pees the purest nectar 
and when he does his big business, 
confectionery is served in royal society. 
Everything could go on as sweet as honey 
if the old magician Padmanaba didn't have his fingers in the pie.

Christoph Martin Wieland (5 September 1733 – 20 Januar 1813)

Saturday Night Music – Nunca vas a comprender

 

Rita Payés *29 September 1999

Coffeetime with architect of ruins

Coffeetime with 
The Architect of Ruins
and
Skaumo

 
Herbert Rosendorfer (19 February 1934 – 20 September 2012)

Unforgotten

 

Tankman

Tian’anmen* massacre

* Mind you, Tian'anmen means "Square of Heavenly Peace" ...

... But on the whole ...

„Ich liebe den einzelnen Menschen, jeder, der mir näher kommt, den ich näher kennenlernen möchte, im Großen und Ganzen, mit Ausnahmen. Aber insgesamt betrachte ich die Menschheit doch ein bisschen als Ungeziefer, weil sie unsere Erde zerstört.“   

                                                         * * *    

I love the individual human being, everyone who comes close to me, who I want to get to know better, by and large, with exceptions. But on the whole, I see humanity as a bit of a vermin because it is destroying our planet."

Herbert Rosendorfer (19 February 1934 – 20 September 2012 

 

The price of apathy ...

Plato (427 BC – 347 BC)

Not just on battlefields

Blutroter Klatschmohn
blüht nicht nur auf Schlachtfeldern.
Er liebt das Leben.

Springsteen in dangerous times

 

Bruce Springsteen * 23 September 1949

 

P.S.: Thank you very much, SME. 

Saturday Night Music – Mathilda ;-)

«Telephone Operator [A Weaver of Public Thought]»
(Gerrit Albertus Beneker – 1921)
*
Relat conjunts

 

Udo Jürgens (30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014)

 

For my English-speaking visitors: In Spain, telephone operators in former years were called ‘Matilde’.

 

Laughing Lhursday*

KEEP THE GATE
CLOSED
No matter what
the hens
say!

* [For first time visitors]:

Typo in the title?
Nah. It's just that I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

A Birthday Blues

So much four years after to Route 66 I would have liked cheerfully to welcome him to "Club 70", today.
But alas! Andrew, my friend, has died.
In 2008 stumbling upon eachother in the blogosphere, Don QuiScottie (not Don Quijote) and Seanso (not Sancho Panza) became friends (not only) on their diverse "windmillish" quests to impress his Dulcinea / Margaret. ;-)

Ha! And what fun it would be if they were both still alive, Claude Prescott and Andrew Scott, now that the new Pope is a Prescott ;-)))
Deep believer Claude here, bantering Andrew and me there.

Together with Jams, my very special friend I consider(ed) us a four-leaf clover.

It's like Andrew wrote to me as a dedication in one of his books in 2017:

Sic!!
I might (soon) end blogging,
but before moving to my last dwelling six feet under
I do thank for such wonderful friends.

And thus, at least for now, I do end with Andrew's poem  for me:

Thank you, my friend.
Whilst you might be celebrating with Claude and Jams tonight, accompanied by a pint of Guinness and a wee dram of Talisker, I shall be smiling a lot, whilst revisiting certain comment sections.
Sláinte!

Personal note: New attempt

Hundreds of unwanted visits every day from China, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, South Africa, Modugno (Italy), Council Bluff (Iowa); on one day alone more than 1200 from an 800x600 Linux user from the United States - I had had enough and set Omnium to ‘private’.

Today a new attempt. Should the above happen again soon, I will set the blog permanently to ‘private’ and only grant access to my blogger friends by invitation.

I ask for your understanding.

Sofia Gubaidulina: Ich und Du

 Sofia Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025)

Baiba Skride *19 February 1981

Saturday Night Music – Sofia Gubaidulina

  

 The forgotten Piano / El Piano Olvidado
[You can choose either English or Spanish subtitles.]

Sofia Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025)

Saturday Night Music – Mozart y Mambo

  

Sarah Willis *23 February 1968

Johann Wolfgang Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791

Mambo

Happy Bolero, Monsieur Ravel

 Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937)

Alondra de la Parra * 31 October 1980

Saturday Night Music – The Demon

 

 

The Demon

Anton Rubinstein (1829 – 1894)

Dmiti Hvorostovsky (16 October 1962 – 22 November 2017)

Asmik Grigorian *12 May 1981

Personal note

As one or two of my friends may have surmised, for one reason and another (at least) currently I feel little or no desire to blog.

I have not cancelled, though, a few scheduled posts.

And I will still be available via e-mail (seanjeating at gmail dot com) ... unless I have moved to my last dwelling six feet under. ;-)

Take good care of yourselves, and be kind to each other.
Sean

Monochrome Monday

In the woods ...

Beers & Books (419) – Ospina Pizano

Solo un poco aqui

María Ospina Pizano *1977

Saturday Night Music – Duo violine & cello

Gabriel Bianco * 25 April 1988

Anastasia Kobekina * 26 August 1994

Cold

. . .

The bad is called good

We live now in an era where normal values have been displaced.
The good is called bad, the bad - good.

Anna Politkovskaya (30 August 1958 – 6 October 2006)

On the road

It's become wintery again

Dark suspicion

I've got a deep dark suspicion
that pretty soon we should start
looking around for another planet
for ourselves. 

Wolfgang Borchert (20 May 1921 – 20 November 1947)

Saturday Night Music – Carnaval de Venise

Niccolò Paganini (27 October 1782 – 27 May 1840)

Olivier Pons *1970

Gabriel Bianco * 25 April 1988

Friday is Skyday

...

Laughing Lhursday*

Hens have two legs
I have two legs.
Ergo, I am a hen.

* [For first time visitors]:

Typo in the title?
Nah. It's just that I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

A process of discovery

As a writer, I write to see.
If I knew how it would end, I wouldn't write.
It's a process of discovery.

John McGahern  (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)

Beers & Books (418) – By the Lake

Oh, a book by John that I don't know yet?
So I asked my bookseller to order it for me in the USA.
A few days later I held ‘By the Lake’ in my hands,
opened it and started reading.
‘The morning was clear. There was no wind on the lake.’
A déjà vu? I know that one, don't I?
And right:
Exactly the beginning of ‘That They May Face The Rising Sun’.
Vintage International had just changed the title.

John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)

 

Monochrome Monday

Silent serenade.

Nice little glimpse

 

Anastasia Kobekina * 26 August 1994

Saturday Night Music – Anastasia Kobekina

Anastasia Kobekina *26 August 1994

Friday is Skyday

...

Laughing Lhursday

14:04

15:16