To skip

I'll skip this blogpost. Today I don't feel like writing and posting.

More exact: I don't want to talk about it.
More honest: I don't want to talk about it in public.

Listen with me to this song: Maria Mena/ Just Hold Me. Why?

You!

Yes, You! We Need You.

 

You probably never heard of Richard Hennig (?-1951). Or have you? I don't blame you for that. He wrote in German the four-volume book 'Terrae Incognitae' between 1930-1935. And updated it until his death in 1951. It's a very interesting, unique compilation and critical asessment of the main expeditions before Columbus' (1451-1506) using the original reports. He starts with Queen Hatschepsut's expedition to Punt around 1493 BC and ending with Cousin's expedition to the New World in 1488. 

The original reports of 199 expeditions translated directly in German. WOW. Including a critical analysis of the reports and links to names, places, archeological evidence etc. Hennig's exhaustive work has - as far as I know - never been repeated by anyone. Nor in German nor in any other language.

I have a dream. We - species 'homo sapiens' on planet Earth - need someone who refreshes Hennig's work. Are you able to do the job? Do you want to spend your money to let someone else do this job? Fund?

To do:

• Collecting original reports of all "main" expeditions before 1492. Did Hennig miss main expeditions?
• Translation of reports in English
• Asessment of reports. Including pick out relevant archeological, historical etc evidence
• Summary
• Publishing on internet and linked to Wikipedia 

The wisdom of the crowd is OK but on this we need an editor. You?

Footnote. On internet and Wikipedia there are lists of Expeditions (English) and Entdeckungsreise (German) but these are not deep enough. They don't give access to the original texts.

Owl. Biased Greek Symbolic Use for Sure

Yesterday evening I tried to translate Jane Friedman's bookcover. I noticed she used valid - all of them - hieroglyphs the ancient Egyptians used more than 2,000 years ago. 

 

I wrote a little e-mail to Jane asking what the 'enigma' was behind her bookcover. I  was not able to translate the transliterated hieroglyphs, 'b-p-w n-w f-i-rw n-rw wA-y-s' with the owl as determinative, in plain english. Within a few minutes she wrote back, explaining that I gave her far too much credit in the carefulness or accuracy of her selections of hieroglyphic symbols. And yes there is a message in the bookcover: lower the bar and decode it direct! A message that only makes sense to 1 other person on the planet.

Today I don't want to blog about her secret message to her Other One - her love? Today I want to share with you the hidden history behind the (ab)use of the 'owl' as symbol.

In our time and age, in our Greek biased culture, the owl is the symbol of wisdom. For the ancient Romans the owl was connected to funerals. And for the ancient Egyptians? We don't know for sure what the story is behind hieroglyph Gardiner G17. For them the owl was perhaps an ill omen, which it was desirable to behead when caught. It is remarkable that when mummified owls have been examined all have been beheaded. (Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

I didn't ask Jane but I know for sure the symbolic 'owl' she used on her bookcover was a symbol for 'wisdom'. Biased Greek Symbolic Use for Sure.

Empty Mind in Early Morning

Poem 'Een merel' (dutch) from Rutger Kopland (born 1934):

"Er is iets in de zang van een merel

het is voorjaar, je wordt wakker

je ligt te denken in de nacht

het raam staat open - er is iets

waarvan de vogel zingt

en je denkt aan wat je moet opgeven

er is iets in je dat leeg is en het stroomt vol

met het zingen van die merel"

The poem above in 1 tweet "The mind is empty in the early morning. The singing of a blackbird fills everything in and around me up."

You can't read dutch - to check out the details? Work! It's one of my chinese gardens ;)

Next Big Thing

Skip the mobile phone. Remember the days that the phone was stuck by a thread? Forget the iPad. Take a huge step over tablets. Tablets in cars or airplanes. So 2014!

The Next Big Thing isn't something mobile we carry externally. The Next Big Thing will not be displayed on glasses or on the window of our car. The Next Big Thing is close. Real close on/ in us species 'homo sapiens'. The Next Big Thing is a head-up display on our corneal. Beware this is an image!

Our iCorneal is a scanning laser that displays images, video, translated media and lots of extra information on our personal clear transparent medium. On our corneal.

Composition

Summer is coming. Time to think and dream about 'Where To Go To' this year's summer. 

I loved to stroll in the streets of Obidos (Portugal). The walk on Offa's Dyke in Wales (United Kingdom) was satisfying more. I met God in the church of Czestochowa (Poland) more. My favorite place for skiing is Voralberg in Austria more. The view from the mont Ventoux (France) was breathtaking. I long for the colours and smell I saw on the coast of Alicante (Spain). One day I'd love to have a little hotel somewhere along the mediterranean sea in Egypt. I could live in Germany. I'm very content with my old house and little village (The Netherlands) I live in. But ... - take a breath! 

there is only one place on this Earth I immediatly felt at home: Lake Annecy (France). To be more exact: it was home. It felt natural and familiar. The views. The course of the streets. The composition of the mountains and water everywhere. I know it sounds stupid and crazy but I must have been there before. 

We travelled via Verdun and the Jura to Menthon-Saint-Bernard on the edge of Lac D'Annecy (english 'Lake Annecy'). It was a bit windy. The air was full of rain - but it wasn't raining. When I drove into the valley I knew where to drive to. I knew what the next view would be. I just knew ...

Question: Ever been to a place you must have been to - somehow - before? How?