XX by Dafydd ap Gwilym

Today's St. David's Day reminds me that it's time after these two to enlighten your hearts with a third poem by another great 'David' - Dafydd ap Gwilym.

Although it is not May, yet, I do not have any doubt you will enjoy. :)

I made a tryst in the May brushwood, (graceful Dafydd and a handsome girl). An honest woman, she who met me. On the fair hillside under a dark bank, I gave her the kisses she was seeking, finding no fault in the pretty creature; and she got from me — bright generous jewel — two for every kiss she gave.

But in her declarations, far bolder was my girl than I, and when I heard my gentle creature speak so plain I fled at her challenge into my shell, and Startled, hid her words under my unlucky chatter.

But there under the oaks my fate was spun, and this new colour woven in :

"Rude Dafydd, you never came just to meet me, without hoping for all the embraces you remembered, and no refusal ? "

"For pleasure, not for this I came - but still for love of you, ­‑ Fair foolish creature, I know I shall not have you!"

"But I never came just for your sake to the wood, but hoping to leave it freed from maidenhood!"

”A maid you’ll be though, unrevenged on me, and here you'll see nothing that's not pure as snow, nor hear any but pure and proper speech." (O Mary, even if you wish this, I do not: nor will I submit!) "You'll be spoken ill of, and not without reason, that you came to meet me here. I am wise now through having lost my wits, and I would not care to feel the hurt and fury of your father, which I felt a little while ago."

"Stop your clever excuses and let what may be, be. Out there in the meadow, or in some byre, it's safe enough!"

"This easy going brings down the black faced wrath of relatives, and though this is harmless, there is the great archdeacon. liberal when he wishes, but excommunicating whom he likes in his own district if he is not given generously forty Shillings"

"O hard and nasty you are Dafydd, here under the leaves of the hillside! Shall a good Welshman lack the grace to give these forty Shillings?"

"What if I have not these forty Shil­lings, so early on the bold summer's day?"

"Get it from me then, and owe me a song and pay me fairly when you wish."

Then I could make no more clever ex­cuses, but stayed there since she did not refuse me; and with this handsome creature found perfect pleasure.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi

Well, the Irish have to wait another 16 days until they can celebrate that St. Patrick worked wonder by expelling all snakes from Ireland exemplifying a metamorphose - the esmerald island is swarming with priests, since. :)

Not so the Welsh. Today they are celebrating St. David's Day.

St. David's Cathedral

Wish therefore, I could be in Sicily and enjoy eating some delicious Welshcakes. :)

Hoisting St. George's Cross

'Hoisting' a flag? Me? Never!

One should never say never (and, actually, I am mostly - noticed I did not write ' always'? :) - trying to avoid superlatives).

Today I am 'hoisting' a flag.
No, not the Irish. The English. The Cross of St. George.

Why?

By visiting James at nourishing obscurity you will understand.

A fine excuse

During the past decades, whenever it happens - and I got the feeling it does happen quite frequently - I do wonder what Mrs. J. could mean by stating I know why the devil beat his mother-in-law.*

Anyway, why would I not write at least ten or twenty posts these days, why not even visiting regularly my 'seldom borings', let alone leaving comments?

I suppose it's just due to that my brain's not (yet) able to perform around 167 trillion calculations per second.



* She'd not find a proper excuse, you know. :)

Devils in disguise

A German designer has debuted a digitally-enabled burqa that can broadcast a photo of the wearer to nearby mobile phones. Markus Kison calls it the "CharmingBurka," and says it isn't forbidden by Islamic law.

Ha ha, ha! Oh, what did I laugh. And immediately I intended to share my laughter with you.

So far, so funny.

Not that I changed my mind, but after - indeed, even while - reading the article I asked myself yesterday night:
How many 'modern muslim women' wearing a burqa would wish to 'lifting the veil using a bluetooth-burqa'; and how many would be able to afford it?

Quite.

So what is the marketing masters' mission?

Kison's broadcast technology started as a marketing tool; the so-called "Bluebot" system is meant to send digital advertisements to passing phones.

Ah yes. So what can we learn from this both clever and cynic advertising stunt?

One does not need wearing a burqa to be a devil in disguise.

Peace be upon them

Well, what would a most pious and peaceful Muslim do as soon as he has left the mosque after his Friday prayers?

Yes.

Le petit verbicide struck again

Julian Le Grand has struck again. This time the 'leading Government adviser', i.e. without being elected being paid by the United (?) Kingdom's taxpayers calls for alcohol ban in supermarkets.

Surely le petit verbicide will call his latest effusions again "libertarian paternalism".

And what would I do? Sentencing the 'nasty little control freak' to severest swearboarding in the devil's kitchen?

No. Variatio delectat. Longrider, take over.

Malta, media & malheurs

“As a result of new corporate policy, di-ve.com will not, for the foreseeable future, cover political activities and statements as part of its day-to-day operations.”

Nothing wrong with it, so far. They could also have announced that in order to increase their readership from now on to change from English to a rarely spoken Hindu dialect. That's freedom of enterprise.

So why would quite a few people be not amused? Well, on the same day the Maltese news web portal published this notice (February 4th), in Malta parliamentary election was scheduled to be held on March 8th.

Thus, an act of self-censorship? A ban on politics? Yes, says the European Federation of Journalist. EFJ General Secretary Aidan White calls it

"a craven act of self-censorship at a critical time when the public needs reliable political coverage to be able to make informed decisions on the elections. Cutting political news is a shocking violation of responsibility."

Are these indeed the words of the EFJ General Secretary? Or have these lines been written by someone who recently jubilated, 'In November I'd not know how to write shornalist, and only three month later I happen to be one!'?
Apart from that the adjectives craven and shocking in this context are pretty redundant, does Mr Aidan think that the public does not need reliable political coverage as long as the times are not critical?
Well, and what evidence does Mr. Aidan have to call the decision (whose?!) an act of self-censorship? Perhaps it was just a 'gentlemen's agreement'? Or why would the notice be published on the same day the election date is being announced, and presumably only a couple of hours after one could have read within this article:

A democratic Malta must realise the media scenario is changing and evolving, even with the general aspirations of the rest of the country which are increasing. Readers and our audiences are ever more demanding for more news and better quality, and they are giving every indication of a society that is maturing and expecting more. Our society is becoming ever more discerning when it comes to the media, and yet the exigencies such a role brings for the media is not being properly recognised by the parties and institutions.

There are quite a few questions one could ask.

But the EFD, the Journalists’ Committee and the Institute of Maltese Journalists needed obviously all resources to write a 'joint letter' to the company's chairman:

“We hope you realise your company’s decision is a disservice to your own customers, to the Maltese public in general and to political parties that need journalists to disseminate and analyse their programmes before our country is called to vote.”

Oh dear. Does the public need journalists 'to disseminate and analyse the programmes of political parties' who'd write such sentences on their own behalf? Do political parties need them? Journalist's who seem not even able to investigate on their own behalf?
Apropos, 'our country'. Our? Whose? The journalists' country?

Nitpicking aside. What happens to the political editors who are not political editors anymore? Filling the space by writing articles about the open days at car dealers etc. without which those would not take out an ad?

What, by the way, if di-ve.com's advertising partners took political responsibility? They could f.e. publicly declare:

“As a result of new corporate policy, we will cancel our ads for the foreseeable future, in which di-ve.com does not cover political activities and statements as part of its day-to-day operations.”

Said Adlai Stevenson:
'Newspaper editors are men who separate the wheat from chaff, and then print the chaff. '

'And the best of these would become General Secretaries', he did not say. Perhaps a craven act of self-censorship?

Virus warning

Someone under the name MALABEI tries to spread a computer virus under different bloggers. He or she writes everywhere in the reactions the message "See HERE". I want to warn everyone not to click on its message or on its name.

h/t Internation Musing

Update, 23:00:
Within a couple of minutes I had strange visitors from Argentina, Brasil, USA (4), Portugal, Slovakia, Egypt, Norway, Macedonia Spain.
Two left a 'comment', which I allowed myself to delete.

el principito would wish 'saludo bloggers'.

Agamagra Blackray would like you to 'See here'.

Tonight's Thoughts

Denk ich an die Welt bei Nacht,

bin ich um den Schlaf gebracht.

Thinking of the World at night
puts all thought of sleep to flight.

Heine's dead - long live Heine

Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
dass ich so traurig bin ...

I don't know what it may signify
That I am so sad ...

Heinrich Heine (December 13th, 1797 - February 17th, 1856)

Nachtgedanken / Night Thoughts

Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht,

Dann bin ich um den Schlaf gebracht.
Ich kann nicht mehr die Augen schließen,
Und meine heißen Tränen fließen.

Thinking of Germany at night
Just puts all thought of sleep to flight;
No longer I can close an eye,
Tears gather and I start to cry.

Eyes travelling 23 million light years

What would an astro-physicist do in a starlit night?
Sleeping?
No. He'd let his eyes travel. Last night it was a 23 million light years trip to M51.



Object details

NGC Number:
5194/5195

Object Type:
SA(s)bc
(HII: Sy2.5)

Constellation
Canes Venatici

RA/Dec:
13h 29m 52.7s
+47° 11' 42.62''

Distance:
23 kly

Apparent Dimension:
11.2' x 6.9'

Visual Brightness (V):
8.1 mag

Date:
16.02.2008
01:50 bis 03:15

Equipment:
Cass. 50cm f/10
SBIG STL-6303E

Detail screens:
L: 4 x 300sec
R: 4 x 300sec
G: 4 x 300sec
B: 4 x 300sec
(Binning: 1x1)

Temperature:
CCD-Chip: -25°C
Draußen: -3°C

Software:
CCD-Soft
ESO-MIDAS
IRAF
MaxIM DL

Justice à la Turkiye

Not that I were surprised.

Observers voiced disappointment with the conduct of the trial of 19 persons for the January 2007 murder of Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink after a third hearing was held yesterday [February 11th] in the Istanbul suburb of Besikta. The press is not being allowed to attend the trial. Full article at Reporters without Borders.

I am not even surprised that while millions would demonstrate either for or against a headscarve ban, 500 people demonstrated in a square to demand justice.