Moscow, March, 1886
My little Zabelin,
I've been told that you have taken offense at gibes Schechtel and I have been making. The faculty of taking offense is the property of noble souls alone, but even so, if it is all right to laugh at Ivanenko, me, Mishka and Nelly, then why is it wrong to laugh at you? It's unfair. However, if you're not joking and really do feel you've been offended, I hasten to apologize.
People only laugh at what's funny or what they don't understand. Take your choice.
The latter of course is more flattering, but—alas!—to me, for one, you're no riddle. It's not hard to understand someone with whom you've shared the delights of Tatar caps, Voutsina, Latin and, finally, life in Moscow. And besides, your life is psychologically so uncomplicated that even a nonseminarian could understand it. Out of respect for you let me be frank. You're angry, offended...but it's not because of my gibes or of that good-natured chatterbox Dolgov. The fact of the matter is that you're a decent person and you realize that you're living a lie. And, whenever a person feels guilty, he always looks outside himself for vindication: the drunk blames his troubles, Putyata blames the censors, the man who bolts from Yakimanka Street with lecherous intent blames the cold in the living room or gibes, and so on. If I were to abandon the family to the whims of fate, I would try to find myself an excuse in Mother's character or my blood spitting or the like. It's only natural and pardonable. It's human nature, after all. And you're quite right to feel you're living a lie. If you didn't feel that way, I wouldn't have called you a decent person. When decency goes, well, that's another story. You become reconciled to the lie and stop feeling it.
You're no riddle to me, and it is also true that you can be wildly ridiculous. You're nothing but an ordinary mortal, and we mortals are enigmatic only when we're stupid, and we're ridiculous forty-eight weeks of the year. Isn't that so?
You often complain to me that people "don't understand" you. But even Goethe and Newton made no such complaints. Christ did, true, but he was talking about his doctrine, not his ego. People understand you all too well. If you don't understand yourself, then it's nobody else's fault.
As your brother and intimate, I assure you that I understand you and sympathize with you from the bottom of my heart. I know all your good qualities like the back of my hand. I value them highly and have only the greatest respect for them. If you like, I can even prove how I understand you by enumerating them. In my opinion you are kind to the point of fault, magnanimous, unselfish, you'd share your last penny, and you're sincere. Hate and envy are foreign to you, you are open-hearted, you are compassionate with man and beast, you are not greedy, you do not bear grudges, and you are trusting. You are gifted from above with something others lack: you have talent. This talent places you above millions of people, for there is only one artist for every two million people on earth. It places you in a very special position: you could be a toad or a tarantula and you would still be respected, because talent is its own excuse.
You have only one failing, the cause of the lie you've been living, your troubles, and your intestinal catarrh. It's your extreme lack of culture. Please forgive me, but veritas magis amicitiae. The thing is, life lays down certain conditions. If you want to feel at home among intellectuals, to fit in and not find their presence burdensome, you have to have a certain amount of breeding. Your talent has brought you into their midst. You belong there, but...you seem to yearn escape and feel compelled to waver between the cultured set and your next-door neighbors. It's the bourgeois side of you coming out, the side raised on birch thrashings beside the wine cellar and handouts, and it's hard to overcome, terribly hard.
To my mind, civilized people ought to satisfy the following conditions:
1. They respect the individual and are therefore always indulgent, gentle, polite and compliant. They do not throw a tantrum over a hammer or a lost eraser. When they move in with somebody, they do not act as if they were doing him a favor, and when they move out, they do not say, "How can anyone live with you!" They excuse noise and cold and overdone meat and witticisms and the presence of others in their homes.
2. Their compassion extends beyond beggars and cats. They are hurt even by things the naked eye can't see. If for instance, Pyotr knows that his father and mother are turning gray and losing sleep over seeing their Pyotr so rarely (and seeing him drunk when he does turn up), then he rushes home to them and sends his vodka to the devil. They do not sleep nights the better to help the Polevayevs, help pay their brothers' tuition, and keep their mother decently dressed.
3. They respect the property of others and therefore pay their debts.
4. They are candid and fear lies like the plague. They do not lie even about the most trivial matters. A lie insults the listener and debases him in the liar's eyes. They don't put on airs, they behave in the street as they do at home, and they do not try to dazzle their inferiors. They know how to keep their mouths shut and they do not force uninvited confidences on people. Out of respect for the ears of others they are more often silent than not.
5. They do not belittle themselves merely to arouse sympathy. They do not play on people's heartstrings to get them to sigh and fuss over them. They do not say, "No one understands me!" or "I've squandered my talent on trifles!" because this smacks of a cheap effect and is vulgar, false and out-of-date.
6. They are not preoccupied with vain things. They are not taken in by such false jewels as friendships with celebrities, handshakes with drunken Plevako, ecstasy over the first person they happen to meet at the Salon de Varietes, popularity among the tavern crowd. They laugh when they hear, "I represent the press," a phrase befitting only Rodzeviches and Levenbergs. When they have done a penny's worth of work, they don't try to make a hundred rubles out of it, and they don't boast over being admitted to places closed to others. True talents always seek obscurity. They try to merge with the crowd and shun all ostentation. Krylov himself said that an empty barrel has more chance of being heard than a full one.
7. If they have talent, they respect it. They sacrifice comfort, women, wine and vanity to it. They are proud of their talent, and so they do not go out carousing with trade-school employees or Skvortsov's guests, realizing that their calling lies in exerting an uplifting influence on them, not in living with them. What is more, they are fastidious.
8. They cultivate their aesthetic sensibilities. They cannot stand to fall asleep fully dressed, see a slit in the wall teeming with bedbugs, breathe rotten air, walk on a spittle-laden floor or eat off a kerosene stove. They try their best to tame and ennoble their sexual instinct... What they look for in a woman is not a bed partner or horse sweat, [...] not the kind of intelligence that expresses itself in the ability to stage a fake pregnancy and tirelessly reel off lies. They—and especially the artists among them—require spontaneity, elegance, compassion, a woman who will be a mother... They don't guzzle vodka on any old occasion, nor do they go around sniffing cupboards, for they know they are not swine. They drink only when they are free, if the opportunity happens to present itself. For they require a mens sana in corpore sano.
And so on. That's how civilized people act. If you want to be civilized and not fall below the level of the milieu you belong to, it is not enough to read The Pickwick Papers and memorize a soliloquy from Faust. It is not enough to hail a cab and drive off to Yakimanka Street if all you're going to do is bolt out again a week later.
You must work at it constantly, day and night. You must never stop reading, studying in depth, exercising your will. Every hour is precious.
Trips back and forth to Yakimanka Street won't help. You've got to drop your old way of life and make a clean break. Come home. Smash your vodka bottle, lie down on the couch and pick up a book. You might even give Turgenev a try. You've never read him.
You must swallow your pride. You're no longer a child. You'll be thirty soon. It's high time!
I'm waiting...We're all waiting...
Yours,
A. Chekhov
My thanks to: Letters of Note
Monday, 22 July 2013
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Cloud Chambers
by Chris Drury
These circular chambers made outside, work on the principle of a camera obscura. The interiors are dark, the entrance being from a door or curved passageway, the floor or viewing surface is white, and there is a small aperture or lens in the ceiling or wall. Images of clouds, branches, waves, landscape, are thus projected inside.
A large preoccupation in my work has been the exploration of what inner and outer nature mean. These cloud chambers are still, silent, meditative and mysterious spaces. Outside, they are discreet objects which sit unobtrusively within the landscape; are in fact made of the material of the landscape. They are often built partially underground, so that in these dark spaces what is outside is brought in and reversed. Clouds drift silently across the floor.
These circular chambers made outside, work on the principle of a camera obscura. The interiors are dark, the entrance being from a door or curved passageway, the floor or viewing surface is white, and there is a small aperture or lens in the ceiling or wall. Images of clouds, branches, waves, landscape, are thus projected inside.
A large preoccupation in my work has been the exploration of what inner and outer nature mean. These cloud chambers are still, silent, meditative and mysterious spaces. Outside, they are discreet objects which sit unobtrusively within the landscape; are in fact made of the material of the landscape. They are often built partially underground, so that in these dark spaces what is outside is brought in and reversed. Clouds drift silently across the floor.
Much to see on a wonderful website, enjoy!
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Closer To Fine
I'm trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
The best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously, it's only life after all
Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it, I'm crawling on your shore.
I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.
I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper
And I was free.
I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.
I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
I went in seeking clarity.
I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.
I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.
We go to the bible, we go through the workout
We read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
Thank you Indigo Girls.
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Over there
"Over there" is a puzzle that has confused the Blind for a long
time....
As my guide dog and I stood at the checkout of my local store, I
asked the cashier a simple question. "Where are the Avocado Pears
please?" Her response was hurried, but sincere, "Over there."
Appearing from the station, I asked a passer-by. "Please sir, can
you tell me where I can catch the My City bus?" Before disappearing
into the afternoon throng, a kind voice offered a pleasant
response, "You can catch it over there."
So many things live over there -- Avocado Pears, bus stops, spray
cans, my shoes and even toilets ! A never ending supply of
important and indispensable items all reside in this place which is
blanketed in mystery and conspiracy. I stand in bewildered silence
after learning that something is over there! It is a place I have
never been, and have no hope of finding on my own.
My guide dog is quite clever in finding chairs, stairs, escalators,
helping me cross streets, and can even find me the buttons on a
lift; however, when I tell her to find "over there" her bottom hits
the floor and a shake of her ears tells me that she is as confused
as I am. We will not be going "over there" today.
Over there has caused me a bit of annoyance, a lot of puzzlement
and, on occasion, made my heart race. I have discovered that "over
there" can be a dangerous place.
One day, while crossing a street, I heard a driver's irritated
voice shout out a warning of a truck bearing down on me from over
there. Vixen skilfully dodged the oncoming vehicle and pulled me to
the safety of the curb. Our hearts were both racing as we took a
few moments to compose ourselves. Close encounters with over there
can be frightening experiences.
Although many blind people have wondered as to the exact location
of "over there", few have dared to venture forth in an actual
search of the mysterious place.
Once, while standing in line at the Chemist, I asked the cashier
where I can find the Aftershave. With a cheery smile, she said, "It
is over there." With a sigh, I decided I would take the extra step
to unravel the riddle, which had frustrated my associates since the
beginning of time. Taking a deep breath, I smiled at the cashier,
and deliberately asked, "Where is over there?"
I imagined the girl's shocked expression. I felt her sharing
concerned and condescending looks with her fellows in the store.
The silence grew apparent as they pondered the possibility of
allowing a blind person access to the forbidden place. She had no
choice; she would have to tell me how to find "over there". I had
won! Excitement swept through me as I waited in eager anticipation.
A victorious smile crept to my face, my hand tightened on the
handle of Vixen's harness; we would soon be going over there!
The cashier's voice was full of resignation as the decision was
made. "That way," she said!
"Date a blind man: It will give you a good feeling all over!"
Just another example of how Blind Barry Blomkamp takes his daily
frustrations and turns them into adventure and fun.
Celebrated SA Inspirational Speaker and Entertainer, Barry Blomkamp
cuts right through the mumbo jumbo of 'motivation talk' and
delivers a message that is real, genuine, unique and truly
inspiring... This despite never seeing his audience!
At the top of his business career, Barry was dramatically knocked
off his 'bullet-proof pedestal' by a devastating car crash. Barry
was very lucky to survive... but the impact left him totally blind.
Barry Blomkamp lost his beloved business, his young family was in
massive shock, and he now had to deal with a future of complete
darkness.
The concept of Barry's story is Unique, powerful and is guaranteed
to change people for the better... and provide ABILITY.
With the tightening economy, nows the time to train your staff to
perform at their peak potential and increase profitability.
Barry has been on the Public Speaking Circuit wowing audiences for
many years. With over 500 performances behind him he has a notable
standing of being one of the very best in the business.
Meet this incredible Blind man and the beautiful Vixen by clicking
on their brand new sexy site at
www.TurboTalk.co.za
time....
As my guide dog and I stood at the checkout of my local store, I
asked the cashier a simple question. "Where are the Avocado Pears
please?" Her response was hurried, but sincere, "Over there."
Appearing from the station, I asked a passer-by. "Please sir, can
you tell me where I can catch the My City bus?" Before disappearing
into the afternoon throng, a kind voice offered a pleasant
response, "You can catch it over there."
So many things live over there -- Avocado Pears, bus stops, spray
cans, my shoes and even toilets ! A never ending supply of
important and indispensable items all reside in this place which is
blanketed in mystery and conspiracy. I stand in bewildered silence
after learning that something is over there! It is a place I have
never been, and have no hope of finding on my own.
My guide dog is quite clever in finding chairs, stairs, escalators,
helping me cross streets, and can even find me the buttons on a
lift; however, when I tell her to find "over there" her bottom hits
the floor and a shake of her ears tells me that she is as confused
as I am. We will not be going "over there" today.
Over there has caused me a bit of annoyance, a lot of puzzlement
and, on occasion, made my heart race. I have discovered that "over
there" can be a dangerous place.
One day, while crossing a street, I heard a driver's irritated
voice shout out a warning of a truck bearing down on me from over
there. Vixen skilfully dodged the oncoming vehicle and pulled me to
the safety of the curb. Our hearts were both racing as we took a
few moments to compose ourselves. Close encounters with over there
can be frightening experiences.
Although many blind people have wondered as to the exact location
of "over there", few have dared to venture forth in an actual
search of the mysterious place.
Once, while standing in line at the Chemist, I asked the cashier
where I can find the Aftershave. With a cheery smile, she said, "It
is over there." With a sigh, I decided I would take the extra step
to unravel the riddle, which had frustrated my associates since the
beginning of time. Taking a deep breath, I smiled at the cashier,
and deliberately asked, "Where is over there?"
I imagined the girl's shocked expression. I felt her sharing
concerned and condescending looks with her fellows in the store.
The silence grew apparent as they pondered the possibility of
allowing a blind person access to the forbidden place. She had no
choice; she would have to tell me how to find "over there". I had
won! Excitement swept through me as I waited in eager anticipation.
A victorious smile crept to my face, my hand tightened on the
handle of Vixen's harness; we would soon be going over there!
The cashier's voice was full of resignation as the decision was
made. "That way," she said!
"Date a blind man: It will give you a good feeling all over!"
Just another example of how Blind Barry Blomkamp takes his daily
frustrations and turns them into adventure and fun.
Celebrated SA Inspirational Speaker and Entertainer, Barry Blomkamp
cuts right through the mumbo jumbo of 'motivation talk' and
delivers a message that is real, genuine, unique and truly
inspiring... This despite never seeing his audience!
At the top of his business career, Barry was dramatically knocked
off his 'bullet-proof pedestal' by a devastating car crash. Barry
was very lucky to survive... but the impact left him totally blind.
Barry Blomkamp lost his beloved business, his young family was in
massive shock, and he now had to deal with a future of complete
darkness.
The concept of Barry's story is Unique, powerful and is guaranteed
to change people for the better... and provide ABILITY.
With the tightening economy, nows the time to train your staff to
perform at their peak potential and increase profitability.
Barry has been on the Public Speaking Circuit wowing audiences for
many years. With over 500 performances behind him he has a notable
standing of being one of the very best in the business.
Meet this incredible Blind man and the beautiful Vixen by clicking
on their brand new sexy site at
www.TurboTalk.co.za
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Umair Haque
Beyond the allure of today's latest fads and fashions, beyond the advice I and others can give you about money, sex, and power and how to get it all, fast, here are four essential, timeless truths.
Life is shorter than any of us truly expect.
Human potential is vaster than any of us truly know.
Joy and sorrow cut sharper — and flee faster — than any of us can truly understand.
And so: the great truths of a life well lived have always been love, beauty, and accomplishment.
...
None of us are here not to make a difference. Let me put it like this. The industrial age's great binge has left us with a kind of existential hangover. We don't know why we're really here anymore. Is it "money"? Is it "growth"? Is it "productivity"? Here's a not-so-secret: we are here, each and every one of us, to live. Wholly, fully, uncompromisingly. And we always have been. The mercilessly vicious cycle of working harder, get poorer, feel emptier, buy more...work harder — it's not just a recipe for economic stagnation: it's a formula for a kind of existential suicide, for billions of bleak seconds every second of human life squandered. So you're going to have to refuse, reject, and revolutionize it. You're going to have to pioneer building not just "an economy" or "a business" — emptier and emptier concepts — but lives worthy of the privilege of living. Remember my four timeless truths? The great challenge — that, for a moment, dazzled by the fools' gold of plenty, we forgot — is this: inspiring, elevating, and enabling people to craft lives that honor the truth of life.
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/
Life is shorter than any of us truly expect.
Human potential is vaster than any of us truly know.
Joy and sorrow cut sharper — and flee faster — than any of us can truly understand.
And so: the great truths of a life well lived have always been love, beauty, and accomplishment.
...
None of us are here not to make a difference. Let me put it like this. The industrial age's great binge has left us with a kind of existential hangover. We don't know why we're really here anymore. Is it "money"? Is it "growth"? Is it "productivity"? Here's a not-so-secret: we are here, each and every one of us, to live. Wholly, fully, uncompromisingly. And we always have been. The mercilessly vicious cycle of working harder, get poorer, feel emptier, buy more...work harder — it's not just a recipe for economic stagnation: it's a formula for a kind of existential suicide, for billions of bleak seconds every second of human life squandered. So you're going to have to refuse, reject, and revolutionize it. You're going to have to pioneer building not just "an economy" or "a business" — emptier and emptier concepts — but lives worthy of the privilege of living. Remember my four timeless truths? The great challenge — that, for a moment, dazzled by the fools' gold of plenty, we forgot — is this: inspiring, elevating, and enabling people to craft lives that honor the truth of life.
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Bikers against Tolls Again
BIKERS AGAINT E-TOLLS - MASS RIDE 15 JUNE 2013
Shaun wrote;
NEWS FLASH ......Just got back from JMPD .......they are very happy with the way the last event was organised ,i had to sit through nearly an hour of video footage taken by their own guys .........a few issues were raised
... a/ALL BY LAWS AND STATE LAWS APPLY
so no urinating in public
b/NO ALCOHOL TO BE CONSUMED OR SOLD PROIR OR DURING THE PROTEST
... my ex mate displaying two bottles of OBS in his back pockets and consuming them will not happen again
C/THE PERMIT IS GRANTED FOR A CONVOY STYLE SLOW RIDE IN FORMATION AT 40 TO 60KMS PER HOUR .
those guys who thought it was a breakfastrun and flat out dash from one point to the next ,breaking away from the convoy ....please dont do it again .
D/PROIR TO AND AFTER THE MASS RIDE
there will be a group announcement made to start the ride and on return the Mass Ride will be declared over ,then all supporters are free to participate in the "BIKER FLEA MARKET EVENT "
You are then responsible for your own actions and me as the Convener is released from my guidelines as set out by JMPD .
E/JMPD WAS VERY LENIENT LAST EVENT AND RESPECTED US ,PLEASE LETS HAVE A GOOD EVENT WITH RESPECT FOR THE PUBLIC,FELLOW SUPPORTERS ,POLICE AND JMPD
IF YOU SHOULD WITTNESS BEHAVIOUR BY ANYONE WHICH WILL ENDAGER OUR REPUTATION AND FUTURE EVENTS ......PLEASE DEAL OR REPORT THE MATTER TO A COMMITTEE MEMBER SO WE CAN ASK THE PERSON OR PERSONS TO LEAVE ,THEN THEY REALLY DO NOT HAVE THE SAME CAUSE OR FELLOW SUPPORTERS IN MIND .
THANK YOU
RESPECT TO ALL
_________________________________________________
My sincere congratulations, truly an astounding achievement by Shaun and his crew.
I should add a link, but i received this via e-mail, published in it's entirety, with the exception of Shaun's surname.
Shaun wrote;
NEWS FLASH ......Just got back from JMPD .......they are very happy with the way the last event was organised ,i had to sit through nearly an hour of video footage taken by their own guys .........a few issues were raised
... a/ALL BY LAWS AND STATE LAWS APPLY
so no urinating in public
b/NO ALCOHOL TO BE CONSUMED OR SOLD PROIR OR DURING THE PROTEST
... my ex mate displaying two bottles of OBS in his back pockets and consuming them will not happen again
C/THE PERMIT IS GRANTED FOR A CONVOY STYLE SLOW RIDE IN FORMATION AT 40 TO 60KMS PER HOUR .
those guys who thought it was a breakfastrun and flat out dash from one point to the next ,breaking away from the convoy ....please dont do it again .
D/PROIR TO AND AFTER THE MASS RIDE
there will be a group announcement made to start the ride and on return the Mass Ride will be declared over ,then all supporters are free to participate in the "BIKER FLEA MARKET EVENT "
You are then responsible for your own actions and me as the Convener is released from my guidelines as set out by JMPD .
E/JMPD WAS VERY LENIENT LAST EVENT AND RESPECTED US ,PLEASE LETS HAVE A GOOD EVENT WITH RESPECT FOR THE PUBLIC,FELLOW SUPPORTERS ,POLICE AND JMPD
IF YOU SHOULD WITTNESS BEHAVIOUR BY ANYONE WHICH WILL ENDAGER OUR REPUTATION AND FUTURE EVENTS ......PLEASE DEAL OR REPORT THE MATTER TO A COMMITTEE MEMBER SO WE CAN ASK THE PERSON OR PERSONS TO LEAVE ,THEN THEY REALLY DO NOT HAVE THE SAME CAUSE OR FELLOW SUPPORTERS IN MIND .
THANK YOU
RESPECT TO ALL
_________________________________________________
My sincere congratulations, truly an astounding achievement by Shaun and his crew.
I should add a link, but i received this via e-mail, published in it's entirety, with the exception of Shaun's surname.
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Forest wars
Ok not really, not "wars" as such, metaphorical wars about who is bigger. A world wide biggest forest by city pissing competition, held in cyberspace. Yes, that's metaphorical too.
The city of Johannesburg is supposed to have the largest inhabited, man made forest in the world. Have, be, you know what i mean. So of course, because every knows it's true, someone has to come along and prove it wrong, it's how us humans work. We're NOT the largest inhabited, man made forest in the world, they say. We're big, and foresty, and well, we don't inhabit the trees as such, but well, we like them a lot, they'll tell us some more. We just grew a lot of them, really forest, i mean fast, and, it's a mistake, of some sort.
So then came along:
Nechama Brodie argues that while Johannesburg may not be the “largest man-made forest in the world” it can claim to be the “largest man-made urban forest”.
Yes, she know a hell of a lot more about this than i do, in her words:
It just takes a lot more digging, using a Google spade.
My kinda gal.
My Spidey senses, for what they are worth,
Research at it's finest. Anyhow, names and numbers are presented and parsed, and the conclusion is unanimously:
Given that, and given all of the other cities listed and mentioned above, it appears that Johannesburg is the largest man-made urban forest in the world.
Well done Johannesburgers. And Nechama Brodie.
The city of Johannesburg is supposed to have the largest inhabited, man made forest in the world. Have, be, you know what i mean. So of course, because every knows it's true, someone has to come along and prove it wrong, it's how us humans work. We're NOT the largest inhabited, man made forest in the world, they say. We're big, and foresty, and well, we don't inhabit the trees as such, but well, we like them a lot, they'll tell us some more. We just grew a lot of them, really forest, i mean fast, and, it's a mistake, of some sort.
So then came along:
Nechama Brodie argues that while Johannesburg may not be the “largest man-made forest in the world” it can claim to be the “largest man-made urban forest”.
Yes, she know a hell of a lot more about this than i do, in her words:
It just takes a lot more digging, using a Google spade.
My kinda gal.
My Spidey senses, for what they are worth,
Research at it's finest. Anyhow, names and numbers are presented and parsed, and the conclusion is unanimously:
Given that, and given all of the other cities listed and mentioned above, it appears that Johannesburg is the largest man-made urban forest in the world.
Well done Johannesburgers. And Nechama Brodie.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Think Bike
This is a great effort! With all the crash footage around they can run a long way with this theme. And yes, it's the message clearly needs to be put out there to those who are considering riding a motorbike.
Another suicide laner hit the deck yesterday, and another seperate bike crash (unconfirmed) today. Both on my 30km stretch to work and back. And i hear the same arguments about why people think the suicide lane is safer, against all argument, against all advice from those who have done it before ...
What gets me the angriest, is the fact that these guys actually mess up the biker lane, my biker lane to be sure, but the same one that would be safer for them, if they could only see it. The goodwill from cars every day really astonishes me, and in a twisted way, i'm the only person on earth who sees it.
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Blanket run
It was a damn fine event. Well done to all.
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?
"Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches of other lives-
tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey,
hanging from the branches of the young locust trees,
in early morning, feel like?
Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?
Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides
with perfect courtesy, to let you in!
Never to lie down on the grass, as though you were the grass!
Never to leap to the air as you open your wings over
the dark acorn of your heart!
No wonder we hear, in your mournful voice, the complaint
that something is missing from your life!
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?
Well, there is time left -
fields everywhere invite you into them.
And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away
from wherever you are, to look for your soul?
Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!
To put one's foot into the door of the grass,
which is the mystery, which is death as well as life,
and not be afraid!
To set one's foot in the door of death,
and be overcome with amazement!
To sit down in front of the weeds, and imagine
god the ten-fingered, sailing out of his house of straw,
nodding this way and that way, to the flowers of the present hour,
to the song falling out of the mockingbird's pink mouth,
to the tippets of the honeysuckle, that have opened in the night,
To sit down, like a weed among weeds, and rustle in the wind!
Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?
While the soul, after all, is only a window,
and the opening of the window no more difficult
than the wakening from a little sleep.
Only last week I went out among the thorns and said
to the wild roses: deny me not, but suffer my devotion.
Then, all afternoon, I sat among them.
Maybe I even heard a curl or tow of music, damp and rouge red,
hurrying from their stubby buds, from their delicate watery bodies.
For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters,
caution and prudence?
Fall in! Fall in!
A woman standing in the weeds.
A small boat flounders in the deep waves,
and what's coming next is coming with its own heave and grace.
Meanwhile, once in a while, I have chanced, among the quick things,
upon the immutable.
What more could one ask?
And I would touch the faces of the daises,
and I would bow down to think about it.
That was then, which hasn't ended yet.
Now the sun begins to swing down. Under the peach-light,
I cross the fields and the dunes, I follow the ocean's edge.
I climb, I backtrack. I float.
I ramble my way home."
~ Mary Oliver,
"West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems"
runningcauseicantfly
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Been too long
Hi, just hi.
Been a while since i had anything to post, or maybe it was the time to post, having the opportunity and will, and the same time.
hmmm. In the meanwhile:
www.motogymkhana.co.za
peace and love
Been a while since i had anything to post, or maybe it was the time to post, having the opportunity and will, and the same time.
hmmm. In the meanwhile:
www.motogymkhana.co.za
peace and love
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Saturday, 6 April 2013
Civil obedience
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem.": Howard Zinn, from 'Failure to Quit'
Sunday, 31 March 2013
Monday, 18 March 2013
RideApart
How and Why Motorcycle Lane Splitting is Safe and Good – RideApart
It's a long one, but thoroughly enjoyable. Every part of this i relate to, still dreaming of a gopro, to show you and others how it is every day for me. Wondrous and free.
peace!!
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Je crois entendre encore
I still believe I hear
hidden beneath the palm trees
her voice, tender and resonant
like the song of a dove
oh enchanting night
divine rapture
delightful memory
mad intoxication, sweet dream
in the clear starlight
I still believe I see her
half drawing her long veil
to the warm night breeze
oh night...
hidden beneath the palm trees
her voice, tender and resonant
like the song of a dove
oh enchanting night
divine rapture
delightful memory
mad intoxication, sweet dream
in the clear starlight
I still believe I see her
half drawing her long veil
to the warm night breeze
oh night...
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
My own way to burn
"The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves-or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control.
If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn."
Sophie Scholl - 1921 - 1943 - German student, a member of the White Rose society, a non-violent anti Nazi resistance group.
If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn."
Sophie Scholl - 1921 - 1943 - German student, a member of the White Rose society, a non-violent anti Nazi resistance group.
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Liquid Sunshine
Wow.
Just, wow.
My thanks to Terri for tweeting about this, found at the following site:
"
Eruptive events on the sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the sun's atmosphere, the corona.
On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the sun's lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays -- a phenomenon known as coronal rain.
"
Wow.
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