Beauty will save the world.

Dostoyevsky once let drop the enigmatic phrase: “Beauty will save the world.” What does this mean? For a long time it used to seem to me that this was a mere phrase. Just how could such a thing be possible? When had it ever happened in the bloodthirsty course of history that beauty had saved anyone from anything? Beauty had provided embellishment certainly, given uplift—but whom had it ever saved?


However, there is a special quality in the essence of beauty, a special quality in the status of art: the conviction carried by a genuine work of art is absolutely indisputable and tames even the strongly opposed heart. One can construct a political speech, an assertive journalistic polemic, a program for organizing society, a philosophical system, so that in appearance it is smooth, well structured, and yet it is built upon a mistake, a lie; and the hidden element, the distortion, will not immediately become visible. And a speech, or a journalistic essay, or a program in rebuttal, or a different philosophical structure can be counterposed to the first—and it will seem just as well constructed and as smooth, and everything will seem to fit. And therefore one has faith in them—yet one has no faith.

It is vain to affirm that which the heart does not confirm. In contrast, a work of art bears within itself its own confirmation: concepts which are manufactured out of whole cloth or overstrained will not stand up to being tested in images, will somehow fall apart and turn out to be sickly and pallid and convincing to no one. Works steeped in truth and presenting it to us vividly alive will take hold of us, will attract us to themselves with great power- and no one, ever, even in a later age, will presume to negate them. And so perhaps that old trinity of Truth and Good and Beauty is not just the formal outworn formula it used to seem to us during our heady, materialistic youth. If the crests of these three trees join together, as the investigators and explorers used to affirm, and if the too obvious, too straight branches of Truth and Good are crushed or amputated and cannot reach the light—yet perhaps the whimsical, unpredictable, unexpected branches of Beauty will make their way through and soar up to that very place and in this way perform the work of all three.

And in that case it was not a slip of the tongue for Dostoyevsky to say that “Beauty will save the world,” but a prophecy. After all, he was given the gift of seeing much, he was extraordinarily illumined.

Excerpted from Beauty Will Save the World: The Nobel Lecture on Literature by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Link

Say something

I noticed that i hadn't posted much in the last week. Sort of surprised me, not sure i have anything to say, or whether i should say anything at all. Like a book, you open it and expect there to be text ... you open the blog and expect there to be a new post, assumptions.

So i'm here saying something. I had no idea what i was going to say, until a few moments ago, and frankly, there's no way i could not post this :D

ONLINE PIRACY IS BAD yadda yadda ... But how is it that lawyers can break the law and nobody complains?

Then i found the Piece de resistance ... Anti Piracy gets nailed Wooyaa!!

More intruiging than the articles are the myriad comments following. My favourite quote of the lot:

“We are anonymous, we don’t forget, we don’t forgive. We are legion.”

We need anonymous. Desperately. We need the freedom to stand up and say what we want, WITHOUT reprisals for doing so. I use this blog because so far it is the most ... convenient way to say what i want. Until some lawyers decides he can extort money out of me, because well, he thinks he can. Criminal scum, that's what they are. ALWAYS. I mean, where do politicians come from you think? And if you have any doubt of my comments, these same lawyers then went on to open their entire email archives to the world, WHERIN there was much inside for an average person to get MURDEROUS over. Like attitude.

Anyhow ... Long live anonymous!!

Toyrun GP 2010 Press release

ANNUAL TOY RUN GROWS TO INCLUDE CARS AND BICYCLES

The annual Gauteng Toy Run, which was established 28 years ago, will spread its wings this year to include cars and bicycles as well as motorcycles and will now take place over two days – November 27 and 28 – instead of only on the Sunday.
A 35km training run for cyclists will take place from 07:30 on the Saturday and car enthusiast clubs will deliver toys to the MTN Expo Centre, Nasrec, between 10:00 and 15:00. The traditional mass motorcycle ride will take place from various starting points in the province to the Expo Centre on the Sunday morning.
“We are delighted at the big increase in interest in the Toy Run in Gauteng this year and the fact that we will have even more toys and educational equipment to distribute to underprivileged children,” said an executive of the organisers, the Motorcycle Toy Run Company, Graeme Cartwright.
The first Toy Run was staged in Johannesburg in 1982 by the Italian Motorcycle Club in an effort to uplift the image of motorcyclists by encouraging them to help underprivileged children. Since then the Toy Run has gone national and an estimated 70 000 motorcyclists take part in mass rides to more than 25 locations around the country on the last Sunday of November each year.
More than 40 000 motorcyclists are expected to take part in the Johannesburg event, starting out from seven different venues around the city between 08:45 and 10:00 and riding to the MTN Expo Centre. They will use the N3 and N1 highways and will provide an amazing spectacle for onlookers.
This year the SAPS Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund will be arranging entertainment to raise funds for recently orphaned children who have lost a police officer parent who died in the course of duty. Besides live entertainment there will be stalls selling a variety of goods and full catering will be available on the site. Additional entertainment this year will include drifting demonstrations, helicopter flips and displays of classic cars and motorcycles, with more attractions still being finalised.
Families who come to the MTN Expo Centre by car will have secure parking areas and they will also be directed on separate routes to the venue so will not be caught up in the mass ride of motorcycles.
In addition there will be a separate event for off-road motorcyclists at Dirt Bronco’s near Krugersdorp on the same day, with more than 3 000 motorcycles and quads expected to participate.
No entry fee is charged provided each motorcyclist, car driver or cyclist brings an educational pack or toy. (A selection of gifts and educational packs will be on sale at the entrance with the cooperation of Makro). Gifts are required for children from babies to 18 years-of age, with preference for educational packs, while toiletries will also be welcomed by the older children.
The items collected in Johannesburg – the target this year is more than 50 000 items – will be distributed to worthy welfare organisation by service clubs such as Rotary, Lions, Round Table, Ladies Circle, Rotary Annes and Rotaract, as well as the Salvation Army.
“We are looking to a record turn-out this year as we aim to make World Cup year a very special time for the underprivileged children we will be able to provide with gifts during the festive season,” concluded Graeme Cartwright.

Greek wisdom

Isocrates:

“Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress.”

I'm also putting together some Rene Guenon quotes, brilliant writer along simliar lines. Why is it so hard for the westerner to see his faults, which lie so open to everyone else?

Eclipse

Fuck yeah

Update

Just me, here, still. Last week was a nightmare, i had a car to repair that wouldn't. Fortunately, i have friends. 2 of them arrived saturday afternoon and proceeded to make me look stupid. However, since the car is now running, and the wife is now happy, i can look stupid to anyone who asks.

So the stress is over, and my body and mind can start healing. Of all that i learned between metal and flesh, it was my skin and body that was really astounding. The blood and oil mixed freely, but the body heals itself. The metal needs to be beaten into submission, and any scars left stay. My fingers were phenomenal, often proving to be the best possible tools for getting into obscure corners and applying force. Really wonderful little tools my fingers are. Once they heal from all the nicks and scratches i'll feel even happier.

As has happened before, i tackled what was supposed to be a straightforward job. Remove bits, open box, replace inners, close box, replace bits, drive. HA! They lied with pretty pictures. There is no WAY to do this job without removing half the front end, selling your soul for all the odd shaped tools, and having at least 2 people on hand to put bits back. And patience. Lotsa patience.

I've also discovered my absolute favourite thing to do in the garage: clean tools after the job has been completed. There's an absolutely amazing feeling in cleaning the tools all nice and shiny, but especially when the stress is over, and the car is running better than before. That's my zen feeling for the day, total bliss and knowledge that the world is ok again. Did i mention how stressed i was over this?

Back to work, and the daily grind. This morning's ride was a mixture of flying and riding really fast ... like i had wings on. Traffic was the usual pathetic misery and fustration, for the cagers, shame, poor little fools. Perhaps one day they will understand how they are wasting their life and energy for nothing.

The other nice news was that i will actually have a holiday this year. First time in .... many years. So, if i make year end, it'll be a good one :)

peace and love

One Stoned Crow

I've made a new online friend, One Stoned Crow. First i found the blog, then i found the photo's ... and now i can't wait for more.

http://onestonedcrow.blogspot.com/

http://onestonedcrow.tumblr.com/

Some guy staying in Namibia, seems to travel a bit, lots of pictures from that side of the world, as well as other interesting bits and bobs.

Highly recommended reading for getting out the city. My favourite picture from him so far is this one:


peace

Stoned

From.

That round house

Tinyhouseblog.com

The house cost £3,000 (about $4,700) to build and is located on the edge of a wider sustainable eco-village. It’s about 6.5 meters (21 feet) wide. Tony and Jane try to get 70% of what they need from the land. They grow their own food, make wine from local berries, use a composting toilet, collect downed wood to make woodcrafts which they sell, and their water is piped from a mountain source and heated by a woodstove. Electricity comes from three photovoltaic panels on the roof and a small (200w) wind turbine situated about 70 yards away in a field. For cooking they use an old gas caravan cooker, the woodstove and a dutch oven. Guests sleep in another roundhouse called “the Den” nearby. They live on several hundred pounds a month and have no bills.

“We are not going to survive in these numbers for the next few hundred years – people will have to live a lot simpler.” -Tony Wrench

Floodland

Johannesburg - Residents of the Witwatersrand may in future experience more and bigger earthquakes due to water rising underground in mined-out basins.

It is unclear what will happen in reality, but the possibility exists that earthquakes will occur more regularly in Johannesburg and that some of them could register up to 5 on the Richter scale, said Olaf Goldbach, a geophysicist at the CSIR.

Also we covered this before:
Millions of litres of highly acidic mine water is rising up under Johannesburg and, if left unchecked, could spill out into its streets some 18 months from now, Parliament's water affairs
portfolio committee heard on Wednesday.

The acid water is currently about 600 metres below the city's surface, but is rising at a rate of between 0,6 and 0,9 metres a day,
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Now aside from going under, were going to do an impression of a washing machine while we're at it.

An earthquake hitting 5 on the Richter scale is not to be sneezed at, we'll see a lot of side effects from all the badly built townhouses. Gonna be fun.

Freedom

"Freedom! To fill people's mailboxes, eyes, ears and brains with commercial rubbish against their will, television programs that are impossible to watch with a sense of coherence. Freedom! To force information on people, taking no account of their right not to accept it or their right of peace of mind. Freedom! To spit in the eyes and souls of passersby with advertisements."
— Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn