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MEDLARS AND LUCA

December 2007

THIS MONTH's THEME:

Concluding this mind-boggling year

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed;
if you think in terms of ten years, plant trees;
if you think in terms of 100 years, teach the people

Confucius


Lots of preliminary considerations

First, as the attentive reader has already noticed: every month I put a different photo of a fruit above the title, the one fructifying at the time I write, like in a real almanac, and this month it is my Medlar tree (mespilus germanica). I will add a card about this tree in the Fruit section when I will have some time. It is really something I have been wishing to do in the last months but never finding time for it, I mean to expand the collection of fruit info.

Then, what's the point with this month's blogging? There were lots of themes I would have liked to write about when I chose the title, then I decided to leave it kind of open, a freestyle blogging, so that I can throw in a lot of final consideration about this truly entertaining year (lot's of irony and a grain of sarcasm here).

I hope you enjoyed last months tragic-comic blog. It could had easily have been much more tragic, believe me, and if it could have been much funnier, it is you to judge.

This is the last blog before I get holy, during all next year, so I better rush and throw as many rackets at our society as possible in the next 25 days :) You won't be disappointed, if you know me well. Forgive me, I get fed and fueled all the time, in a continuous stream.
If people behaved, you would just see me out in the garden all the time, tranquil and happy, and I would never dream sitting here at night and hammering at the corruption of morality, and announcing mala tempora to come.

For now, good night to everybody.


Boggling blogging

Why did I call it a mind boggling year?
Because it has been a year of contrasts as never before. Between precious signs of hope and appalling degradation in the public life at the same time.

It seems like everything is in total dissolving, and this both opens for completely new possibilities and warns a global collapse at the very same time.

This is visible in all fields. In the environmental one for example, it has been a breakthrough for awareness about climate changes, though accompanied with an infinite series of studies showing we might already have passed the point of no return.

In politics, so many new scenarios in so many places, and a devastating apathy or anti-politics everywhere too.

In society, many people are fed up with the harsh mood so violently dominating many places, trying to re-develop some civilized way of interacting with others. And a landslide of truly vulgar, trivial, hopeless, jackass mass everywhere.

Never as in 2007 there has been such a frightening sense of a 'everybody on their own' atmosphere.
And so much good and deeply innerly satisfying life in many undisclosed private homes, families, individual lives.

Echoes of the already evoked globalism and tribalism. Of advanced and solid welfare democracies, and triumphantly marching liberalism, Sarkozysm, and right-wing nihilism devouring everything.

Is it possible to grasp more of what is going on, and what is going to happen in the next years?


Behaviorism

It was hard with such a long end of the week without this mighty blog, wasn't it?
Combination of lots of work and lots of things happening here on the home front, plus a short but strong cold (not good to work outside and sweat and then take your jacket off :(

Anyway, it really feels like this has been the most undefinable year ever. I am not coloring reality with my own projections, it is all too evident, and I also read all the time about the same perceptions. Take today (and it could have been any other day):

a research about adolescents and their lifestyles, by Società Italiana di Pediatria (Italian Pediatric Society)
Telling us that in 2005, 72% of the Italian adolescents experienced mobbing and bullying, and there is even a nearly 30% of them considering that smart, in stead of reacting against it.

Any pedagogue would confirm that, if you talked with them. It's like a rush, children, parents, media, politicians, journalists, all together running and trying to win the jackass trophy, while filming it with a video camera, a webcam, a cellphone, whatever, and sending it to Youtube.

Again, lots of good signals too, someone is as fed up as me with all that, and doing something about it. The question is though still the same: have we reached the point of no return?

The album "Brighter than a Thousand Suns", by Killing Joke echoes in my mind. In the "RegnYouth" blog
[update: now disappeared, but it was the source of the next lines]
it could be read, last July:


After "Night Time", Killing Joke had banished itself to one of the far corners of the globe, anticipating an Armageddon that never materialized...
"Brighter than a Thousand Suns" is a paean to Man’s courage and persistence of vision, as well as a reflection of his folly: the destruction of his communities (”Goodbye to the Village”), the pillaging of his neighbors (”Sanity”), and the emasculation of his environments (”Wintergardens”). ”

[here come the lyrics of "Rubicon"]

”The age of miracles, assent of man in strident tones
Realms of fantastic have been forged by folly speed and steel
Out of the cones stream forth, creation is not yet complete
New species come, old species fall to nature once again.
Now that I've found god on every side - and in every legion

Revolution
Points of no return
Evolution
We cross the Rubicon

The shipyards blaze, vibrant arsenals wait their turn
Idols of rational worlds to worship power, to worship strength
Great crowds excited by riot, pleasure, work
Insane crusades, destructive gesture of the freedom bringers
And all the bells shall toll, as holy banners fly
And all with talk of freedom

Revolution
Points of no return
Evolution
We cross the Rubicon

Let rage and hate of races run from Adam down
The magic of our science shines brighter than a thousand suns
Liberty in new dimensions ruthless and spectacular
Obliteration shall be poetry of 'Golden Dwans'
And as the people thrill, I stand and comprehend upon the threshold.

Revolution
Points of no return
Evolution
We cross the Rubicon”

Killing Joke: "Rubicon" (1986)

I think an Armageddon has materialized now by the way, along with some private, illusionary, nirvanas...


A nose for blogging

The cold is still visiting me a bit, so it is limited what I can perform of intellectual blogging tonight.
As you know, intelligence sits in the nose, more than in any other appendix in our carcass.

I think any case that people in Algeria got a bloody taste of that Armageddon yesterday. Abruptly reminding us of many things.

That if we don't solve the political problems of our world, we will never live in peace, and no one will feel safe, anywhere.

That our governments' concept of democracy is very mind-boggling too. Basically, when someone gets more votes, and we like them, it is excellent, but if we don't like them, then it is not democracy any more, and the result is not respected and overthrown (I am evidently referring to very same Algeria, where Islamic parties were not allowed to govern, despite being elected).
Turkey has been roughly in the same situation, with this fragile balance in between the government and the military, secularist powers.
In Iraq a similar situation showed up too.
Do not doubt now I prefer nonreligious parties, and a deep reform of our democracies. Still, the actual conditions given, what games are we playing?

That AlQueda loves Christmas more than anything else, and I still wonder if it is because Bush is Christian ;|, as they pop up every year with military precision.

That the leading mean of solution of the world's conflicts is violence. On one side and the other, and on the media, for sure. A great chance here in stead, to alert you about a great initiative by the Nonviolent Radical Party:, in 2008.
"Toward the First World Satyagraha for Peace" {page expired, but you can still follow the link above to the NRP; or read the following paper about the general concept of Satyagraha:}
Satyagraha as a Peaceful Method of Conflict Resolution
What a need for such fresh air, for breaking this obsessive and oppressive violence monopoly, to start a wave of placing the human and his/her most noble essence on the agenda again!
All my kudos to this initiative, and I told you next year will be the power of positive actions. More about that event later.


The 'ponte' (bridge) of doubts

Today I was reading a BBC article: Del Ponte exits in pride and frustration about Carla Del Ponte, walking out as a chief prosecutor at the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal For the Former Yugoslavia in Den Haag (Nederland-EU)

She walks out in "pride and frustration", so she also seems only partly satisfied about the state of things.
I had always heard mostly positive things about her, about her courage and determination, but a few days ago I was very startled when I found another interview with a swiss journalist and a prosecutor, who were investigating Berlusconi's enterprise Fininvest. They were trying to find proofs of some dirty traffics of money from drugs, white-washing. It's then they heard about Fininvest, from a Brazilian boss, a drug dealer. A long, long story, I will tell another time. They were abruptly stopped, having to abandon their investigations. Who had a part in that decision? Carla Del Ponte, it seems.
Mind boggling, to say the least.


A bassist heart-beat

When I wrote about the band Killing Joke a few days ago, I actually didn't know their bassist Paul Raven died just one or two months ago.

It was a bit weird to read about it, as I re-listened to some of their songs when I wrote my blog's entry. They were "Rubicon" and "Adoration", from the "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" album. I bought it as a cassette (yes, it was that long ago...) at the time it was published.

While watching the Youtube videos, I was raptured of course by the charismatic singer, Jeremy 'Jaz' Coleman and his odd passionate and robotic acting.
But I followed the bassist in particular, and I thought to myself: "No samplings there, that was real music played by real musicians, and look at that bassist, he must be one of the tightest ever."

I thought to myself once more that musicians seem to live a shorter life than average. Maybe stress is one of the factors, and it was even more weird to read he died of problems with the heart-beat rhythm.


Who would mind a good and long bachelor life?

Last Friday Hryhoriy Nestor, the oldest known man on earth, died, at age 116.

Peace to him, first of all.
He is quoted for putting his long life down to the fact that he never married, and he didn't find himself a mate because he was a short man and never had money.

He loved to get outside and would run barefoot through the grass.
I think I have mentioned before how much I like this, and that I consider the barefoot contact of the feet with the earth, as one of the most fulfilling experiences in life, and a very healthy one indeed.

I have always said that I want to live at least 120 years, or I want the money back :)

And I am not married either, certainly not rich, have got good genes, as my grandmother has just turned 100 years (same birthday as me even). So, chances are there.
There is one thing we should never speculate about though, and that is our death. It is not given to us to know when it will happen, so any thought about that is waste of time, and time is precious, as we don't know how much of it we have got left...


A Mauve from Space

I quoted:

“If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed...”

as an opening for this month's blog. And I did too, I planted some Lemon seeds in a pot and all what I see popping up now, is a plant of Mauve.
Hmm.. mind-boggling. Well, Mauve is a very nice plant and very useful too.

Is there anything at all that is coming out as expected, this year??


Curving the Calendar

Another thing I have been speculating about this month, is if months are subject to the laws of physics too, to relativity in particular. As this December has been running so fast, it is soon going to finish and leave the scene to 2008. It really seems like time runs faster at times, so I believe Einstein was right once again.

Not that I really mind, [no matter, never mind], I am quite confident next year will be much better than this one. Not that difficult, in fact.

Want some more science mind-boggling stuff? You could have a look at this article then:
"Neutron star clocked at mind-boggling velocity"


For those not spending this Christmas alone

Well, some holidays for me, and for you too, Merry Christmas, and see you again on Thursday the 27th.

ANIMATED TREE source?

 


Another war starting?

As you have heard in the news, Benazir Bhutto has been killed today, by a suicide attack.

It is the worst possible scenery for Pakistan, I don't know if the elections will be held or delayed, but in any case the country is most likely on the verge of civil war.

Now, she was not a pure hero, as some seem to depict her today, but it seems too that she was more popular right now than expected. Even those who were not keen on her, looked at her with some hope she could shake the status quo.

It really hurts to see a situation like this, and the thoughts go back in time, to the times of Gandhi. When he was killed too, and India and Pakistan split. I am afraid some regional conflicts in India will be ill influenced by the Pakistani events, I am thinking about Kashmir mostly.

Yes, this year has been way too violent, it is time for a change, honestly.


Still people under arrest

And have we forgotten Burma here? Certainly not.

Could this year be concluded with a wonderful news about Burma finally getting free? Of course not, what did you think, we will have to wait, and speculate about that troubled country, and wonder if it will ever see the freedom it deserves.

Sure it will. No evil lasts forever, and something tells me, the fruit of change is ripening soon. Not that the world is helping that much. Still, I am confident, what about this gorgeous coming year, 2008?

And could we add Ingrid Betancourt too to our hopeful wish list?


Happy New Year!

So, here we are. Now it is finishing for real.

With one more uncertainty, was it the government or the opposition to win elections in Kenya?
This is not only about the Kenyan elections, is it possible that at any election, no matter where in the world, the same ballet starts, where everyone claims to be the winner? How difficult can it be to find a final method that makes the result certain?

So many other simple things that could be implemented and ease our mind, so that it doesn't have to boggle all the time.
I love complexity, not uncertainty, I must confess.

I would love to be certain, next year will be much more conclusive than this. This is what I hope, and I promise I will too, as announced this blog will be a platform of positive ideas and suggestions, all next year.

Let's start in the best possible way already tonight. Unfortunately I will be alone tonight, like I have been all this year. Music will offer me company though, as it has been doing all my life.

Happy new year to everybody.