Just three thoughts

It is interesting to see how a psychopath can dominate the news.

It is interesting to see how journalists allow themselves to be dominated by a psychopath.

The smarter one gives in. ... That is why the stupid rule the world.

Coffeetime "À rebours". ;-)

A rebours.

 Joris-Karl Huysmans (5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907)

Saturday Night Music – Lluís Llach: L'Estaca

 

Lluís Llach *7 May 1948

Lyrics: Original and English translation

Friday is Skyday

On leaving the village.

Blimey! Fourty years!

Phew. Fourty years ago, the last Sunday in July was the 30th. One week after this agnostic had "made" Station Island, fulfilling a promise to myself, I climbed Croagh Patrick on my bare feet. 
At the time I am writing this, I was trying to get some sleep on the carpark at the foot of Croagh Patrick when I got awaken by both monotone and hysteric a voice, again and again shouting "Get out of it! Get out of it!"
Carefully I opened the car door, got out and – became witness of an exorcism.

Later I asked myself: Why would people do this?

He, f.e., kept a promise
he had given to himself.

Saturday night poetry: Joan Maragall

For my Català-speaking friends and visitors.
To spare you lengthy passages in German, I have listed below when poems by Maragall can be heard, recited in Catalan by Jaume Villalba, in German by Àxel Sanjosé.
• 05:16 – 08:12
• 24:27 – 27:20
• 34:10 – 35:38
• 41:45 – 43:39
• 50:58 – 54:41
• 58:39 – 1:02:04
• 1:12:52 – 1:15:52 

May you enjoy. 

 

Joan Maragall (10 October 1860 – 20 December 1911)

Good advice!

 "At 70 years old if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to use the words 'Fuck off' much more frequently".
Helen Mirren * 26 July 1945

Happy birthday, ma'am!

Laughing Lhursday*: Irish Metamorphosis

Early this morning spake Tetrapilotomos:
'Until Wednesday then.'
'Oh, trip to Tibet?
'No, march to Mayo.'
'Ah, next Sunday celebrating once again that St. Patrick worked wonder by climbing Croagh Patrick on your bare feet?'
'What wonder?'
'Expelling all snakes from Hiberna.'
'It was no wonder, at all.'
?
'All Old Paddy did was quasi expemplifying a metamorphosis.'
?
'Sean, did you ever notice that since there are no serpents the esmerald island is swarming with priests?'
And with the corners of his mouth twitching, off he went.

* [For first time visitors]:

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

Authorised genocide

Jews do not commit genocide.
A matter of principle.
In this they are similar to Germans,
Russians, US-Americans and other peace-loving folks.
Just a pious people.
* * *
Ha! No mention of 7 October?!
That of course authorises genocide.

Carme's summer stories. July: Mountain refuge

While I was busy proofreading the 1669 pages of my opus magnum ‘Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell’, a gasp made me look up. My friend Sean was standing in front of me, as white as a sheet, staring at me with terror-filled eyes.
‘I need your help,’ he groaned. And he told me that he had been looking round an antiques dealer when a man in a white hat entered the shop. "The dealer seemed to know him, greeted him and asked what Mr. mayor was doing here. The man answered that he was attending to his secret business, turned round, our eyes met and suddenly daggers flashed in his eyes. The next moment, he pulled his hat down low over his face and disappeared."

photo: sa lluna

When I gave him an irritated look, Sean burst out: "Don't you understand, Tetrapilotomos? I have met Death in the guise of the mayor! But I know a refuge at L'Estany de l'Illa in Andorra. He certainly won't find me there. Please help me."
So I sacrificed precious time, and 15 minutes later Sean was able to be transported to his desired destination in a wormhole.

photo: Xavier Puyol

My friend's fear gave me no peace. So I decided to get some fresh air. Not far from the antiques dealer, I spotted the man in the white hat and confronted him:
"You scared my friend to death. Why?"

"I didn't want to scare him", he said. "I was just surprised to see him here because we have an appointment tonight at L'Estany de l'Illa."

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