Tree of Everything

In French some 'apples' are favored. Have privileges? The apples that are born and grow up in the ground are called: pommes de terre. The apples that are born and grow up in trees are called: pommes. Not pommes d'arbre!

Dutch has the same "deviation". Aardappelen (the ones that grow up in the ground) and appels. Not: boomappelen. 

Human language apparently likes simplicity. Apples-from-the-tree were first (in retrospect) and apples-from-the-ground came after 1492 from America. The newbies got as a bonus 'ground' added to their name.

Wondering: what did Eve (from Adam & Eve) eat? Ground or tree apples? In original language too? The Bible talks about "fruit from the tree of knowledge":

The phrase in Hebrew: טוֹב וָרָע, tov wa-raʿ, literally translates as "good and evil" and implies "everything." To be understood to mean a tree whose fruit imparts knowledge of everything, this phrase does not necessarily denote a moral concept of 'good and evil' (source: here). 

P.S. And the apple?  It is made up in Western Christian art. Kissing, 'Genesis Volume 1' (2004), page 193, quoting Lapide: "[T]he fruit of the tree in this passage has for almost 2,000 years been painted, sculpted and described as an apple. But the text speaks only of an undefined "fruit." How did we get to the apple, of all things, which was unknown in the Near East until a century ago? In Jerome's fifth-century Latin translation of the Bible, known as the Vulgate, the word for "evil," with which the snake's speech ends (Genesis 3:5), is malum. Malum can also mean apple, and so this false apple was projected back three lines, to end up ultimately in Eve's hands, where it never was in the first place."

Soft Targets

Woman alone with kids are a soft target for a married man with kids on the hunt.

The most interesting and responsible men are married. I repeat: are and will be married. They are in balance, take their responsibility and put most energy in their  kids and wife. A life that is for the biggest part hidden for the world outside the family. A category that doesn’t  flirt seriously and is out of the market in the game of love.

Hunting married men that lie and tell that they are divorced are double cheating. Firstly, he is cheating the woman of his kids, his wife. Secondly, he is cheating on his target. For me it is a #metoo-category. Don’t do that out of honor and of being courteous. Don’t do that to a woman alone with kids. It’s not fair in the game of love.  They know what a woman wants and needs. They abuse their target's vulnerability.

Why is it not fair? The hunter knows that he can never fulfil his target's deepest wish: a family with man, wife and kids that live their family-life. Normal. Nothing fancy. With a man that is a male role model for her kids.

He can give her love, attention and sex. He can talk deep with her. Eat with her kids and her as a family. Have short holidays together as a family.  But he can't give it to her on a daily basis. And one day he will have to tell his target that he is married with kids and that he can't give her what she and her kids really want. Will the relation last between the unmasked-hunter and target? If it will she will forever have to deal with the leftovers of his time and energy. And next to that - more importantly - she always has to be perfect in bed and on the sofa. Not  too demanding and whining. Not be a bore. If she will, she will remind him too much of his own wife and he will move on. Looking for new horizons. Looking for fresh meat. Live his adult life locked up in a (temporary?) Don Juan phase of love.

You can’t protect yourself for men that hunt. For those that are too selfish. If you find out: skip them. Don’t waist your energy on them. You are what they want: fresh meat. But they are not what you want on a daily basis: a male role model for your kids and man that protects and cares for you.

P.S. The story above is also valid for a married woman with kids on the hunt. For Doña Juanita.

P.P.S. I wrote about Don Juan before in 'Don Juan was a Great Seducer but a Bad Dad' (2010): here.

A Glimpse into Art of Impressing

 

P.S. Quote from Robert Quillen (1928). Source: here.

Story of Blackbird and Snake #cure

On a rainy afternoon a blackbird and a snake were sitting under the roof of the porch. It was already raining for hours. A porch like this one:

Blackbird (B): I love rain.
Snake (S): Why?
B: Because after rain there will be plenty of earthworms to eat for me.
S: Why do earthworms come to the surface when it's raining?
B: No idea but I love to eat them.
S: I prefer sun over rain.
B: Why?
S: I don't know how my body works but I only get enough life in every corner of my body when I recieve a couple of hours hot sun every day.
B: Every day?
S: Yes, every day!

B: I read a sign a couple of weeks ago.
S: What did you read on the sign?
B: "Fascism is cured by reading and racism is cured by traveling."
S: I love to read about the ancient egyptians, greeks and romans. About castles, knights and farmers. And I would love to know more about China and learn to write their language.
B: Really? But all that happened so long ago. A time before our grandparents were born. What a bowl of dust!
S: Dust is something you can clean. I guess I like it above all because it has a mirroring effect on me. It makes me humble. It makes me realize I am a part of a long chain of snakes. There were snakes before me and there will be snakes after me.
B: I get that same feeling when I fly. There are so many trees, valleys, pastures and woods I can fly to. The colors and views are everywhere different. It even seems to me that the clouds are different everywhere. Their colors too. And everywhere there are other blackbirds. At first they are always a bit cautious but when I tell them how much I like their piece of heaven they allow me to stay there for a while. There is always enough to eat.
S: Can you talk to other blackbirds living in other places? Is their language not different?
B: Yes and no. At first the communication is rusty but if we take the time both to adjust there is always something to eat and a place to sleep. And things to look and smell at. Blackbirds are everywhere the same.

The rain stopped suddenly. Fat clouds and lots of sunrays. The blackbird ate as many earthworms as he could. The snake moved to the big stone in the front of the porch. Slowly he felt the life giving sun reaching every corner of his body.

The eyes of the blackbird and snake met. Both realizing: rain or sun we need them both. And the clouds? They past over slowly. Moving light. Moving colors.

Francesca's You just ... Got Off?

The last time I saw our movie 'The Bridges of Madison County' (1995) - it was on Monday evening November 9th, 2020 - I suddenly realized why Francesca was sensitive for Robert. It was his smell of freedom. His acts without any preconceived benefit or necessity. It made him irresistible for her.

ROBERT Oh yeah, Bari. I've been there.

FRANCESCA No, really?

ROBERT Oh, yeah. Actually, I had an assignment in Greece and I had to go through Bari to get the boat at Brindisi. But it looked so pretty I got off and stayed for a few days. Breathtaking country.

FRANCESCA You just... got off the train because it looked pretty?

Sunday's Lunch or A Wild One

An apple and pear were on their way to the market.

Apple (A): Where are you from?
Pear (P): I am from behind the red barn.
A: Then we are almost neighbors. I am from the orchard two houses further back the road. Our orchard consists mostly of those ugly red cherry-trees.
P: Are you a wild one [slang for trees that grow up accidently on a spot and aren't planted by a farmer]?
A: Nope, I'd have loved to.
P: Me too.
A: How do you want to get consumed at the market?
P: I dream of being eaten by birds. I heard in the pear-tree that it tickles a bit. But I'd love being eaten by a bird and to fly. Fly far far away. I saw those birds so many times flying high above the tree; sometimes one of them sat on one of the branches of tree-mother; but I dared not to talk to them, I am too shy. With the poo of my bird I hope to find a wild place and grow up as a own tree-mother. Seems so cool to me to be at the center of the universe. What do you dream of?
A: I want to be bought by a family and be their sunday's dessert. I heard in the apple-tree that families are very tender and sweet. They really put you on a pedestral. I dream of lying on a nice bowl on a white tablecloth in the sun and being eaten by one of the kids. Who smells at me. Licks me tenderly and slowly and cautiously eats me.
P: Are you not afraid that you will end at the bottom of the dump and will never see daylight again?
A: I have been thinking about that too but I can't think of anything better as being the princess and highlight of their sunday's lunch. And after that never see daylight again is for me secondary.

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes. A seedless bunch of grapes joined the two of them.

Grapes (G): Can I join the two of you to the market?
A and P: Yes, you can.
G: Am I allowed to ask you a question that has occupied me for years?
A and P: Sure.
G: My tree-mother always told me to be humble because we are "eunuchs" but she never wanted to explain to us what it means. Do you know what an eunuch is?
A and P: Both hesitantly - I have no idea.
G: She also told us that our highest goal is to be pressed into a wine.
A: Seems nice to me. Being pressed and lie for many years quietly in a cellar and to be the wine that is drunk at Christmas.
P: I agree, nothing wrong with being drunk at Christmas.

The three of them arrived at the market and found all three a different market stall.

The pear was never sold at the market. She was lumped together in a corner after a few days. She was eaten by a blackbird and found her own wild spot behind the woods. She loved being a mum.

The apple was cut half on a nice plate on a white tablecloth at Sunday's lunch. The little girl smelled and licked her tenderly. She was most graciously. The little boy was a bit rude. He looked through the windows at clouds passing by dreaming of something the apple didn't understand. He ate his half without attention.

And the grapes? They were pressed into wine. For many years they have been located in a cellar of a renowned house. In the week before Christmas his bottle accidentally fell on the ground. He never knew what an eneuch is. And out of compassion noone ever dared to tell him.

Being eaten by a family like this one:

P.S. Painting José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior, 'Cena de Família de Adolfo Augusto Pinto' (1891).

Vedi e Poi

Before I travel to Napels, Italy (and I am ready to die) I first have to check out these:

• Do fish sleep? How? If yes, do they collide every now and then when they sleep in the shoal?
• Do birds sleep? How? Sitting on a branch? Do they never fall off there? Do they have special senses for this?
• Why do earthworms rise above the ground when it rains? What's in it for them?
  
• Do cats and dogs see the same colors as homo sapiens? Do they enjoy watching clouds too? Can they be color blind too?
• What senses do trees have? And grass? And corn? And flesh-eating plants?
• Was there a postal system during the crusades from Europe to Jerusalem and back? Or only snail-mail with the speed of the marching troops?
  
• Did the Vikings and ancient Egyptians (before Cleopatra VII) ever met? Or did the Vikings not travel back then; perfectly happy in Scandinavia in their villages and near their coasts?
  
• How long will it take before planet Earth has cooled down? From which % are there no more earthquakes? Why is there no earthquake- or vulcano-energy? Always renewable, right?
  
• Why are there no snakes on the North and South pole? And if we give them a thermo jacket as add-on?
  

P.S. 'See Napels and then die' is a quote from Goethe. In German: 'Neapel sehen und sterben!'. It seems that this proverb was based on an Italian original (here): 'vedi Napoli e poi muori'.

Twisted Mind

 In case anyone misses the point: this blog is the living proof of my twisted mind.

Holy Mary!

#icon #annunciation

P.S. For me it's a loophole to the sun and wamth of the Sinai, Egypt. 

Baleni

If Baleni, Covurlui in Romania is your center of the world (see 'red marker' on the map). The black sea will be the nearest sea for a swim. Athens and Istanbul will be close. The rest of Europe is behind the mountains. Spain, France and the United Kingdom are far away.

Look Through Child's Eyes

Song 'Kom Terug' from Dutch artist Spinvis: here. Lyrics in Dutch and English:

P.S. Song 'Kom Terug' is from album 'Tot Ziens, Justine Keller' (2011).

P.P.S. Painting is from Anna Silivonchik, 'I wake up, wake up...' (Зыбаю-колыбаю...), 2017.

Only Surviving Library from Antiquity

In the years to come a lot of ancient Greek and Roman - lost and unknown - books will be virtually unraveled. 

 

Where? At the 'Herculaneum Villa of the Papyri' in Italy.

Why? More than 1,800 papyri have been found to this date, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. 

When? The techniques for virtually unraveling are getting better and better.

Curious? Yes, I am very much. In this only surviving library from antiquity there will be treasures far more precious than gold. I have no doubt about that.

When Rose Can Be Picked

 

I repeat, two scans from 'Roman de la Rose' manuscript 'Francais 25526' from 1325-1350. The picture on the left and right are related.  Picture on top: harvesting grain (left) and threshing grain (right). Than we must read picture on bottom as: harvest fertility (left) and of the right:

• ... separate the edible part from the straw
• ... cut the crap (not literally)
• ... choose a fertile man among the potential fathers
• ... stop messing around and let's make love
• ... when the rose can finally be picked

In 1900 this book in old French was translated into English by Ellis (based on ‘Orleans ed. 1878’). He considered the last part of this book as too “hot” (my word) that he dare not to translate it. His words: “giving reasonable offence”.

Last week I read Horgan’s (1994) translation based on ‘Felix Lecoy edition 1965-1970’. She dared to translate the last chapter ‘The conquest of the rose’ into English too. What was considered too hot for the 1900 eyes? Quotes:

"If she commanded, he obeyed; under no circumstances would he refuse to gratify her every desire. He could lie with his sweatheart, and she would neither resist nor make complaint. They played such games of love that she became pregnant."

(…) "He may pluck it [the gift of the rose] while the two of us are alone here. I should have received him long ago, for I can see that his love is true."

(…) "There to fulfil my pilgrimage. I had laboriously brought with me my scrip and my staff that was so stiff and strong that it needed no ferrule when going on journeys."

(…) "However, I continued my assault until I noticed a narrow passage through which I thought I could pass, but first I had to break down the barrier. This tiny, narrow pathway that I have mentioned."

(…) "Nothing, however, could have prevented me from sliding my staff all the way in. I did so without delay."

(...) "For I was the first to do so, and the place was not yet in the habit of collecting tolls."

(…) "Therefore I forced my way into it, for it was the only entrance, in order duly to pluck the rose-bud."

(…) "I can tell you that at last, when I had shaken the bud, I scattered a little seed there. This was when I touched the inside of the rose-bud and explorered all its little leaves, for I longed, and it seemed good to me, to probe its very depths (…) with the result that all the rose-bud swelled and expanded."

(…) "I plucked with joy the flower from the fair and leafy rose-bush. And so I won my bright red rose. Then it was day and I awoke."

 

"And my staff that was so stiff and strong," how does that sound in old French? Quote from Ellis (appendix line 22142ff; bold by JD):

Ge qui l'en rens mercis cent mile,
Tantost comme bons pelerins,
Hatis, fervens et enterins
De cuer, comme fins amoreus,
Après cest otroi savoreus,
Vers l'archiere acueil mon voiage
l'or fornir mon pelerinage ;
Et port o moi par grant effort
Escherpe et bordon grant et fort,
Tel qu'il n'a mestier de ferrer
Por jornoier, ne por errer.
L'escherpe est de bonne feture,
D'une pel souple sans cousture ;

These lines in translation by Horgan (around line 21312ff):

"I thanked him a hundred thousand times, and promptly made my way, like the good pilgrim I was, with heart as ardent, ferfent, and loyal as any true lover, towards the aperture, there to fulfil my pilgrimage. I had laboriously brought with me my scrip and my staff that was so stiff and strong that it needed no ferrule when going on journeys. The script was well made of a supple, seamless skin.”

P.S. Translation by Ellis digital: here.

A Visual Image of New Science

In 2016 Carlijn Kingman wrote her master thesis ‘The Institute of Utopianism’ on the faculty ‘Architecture and The Built Environment’ in Delft, The Netherlands. Thesis: here.

Her conclusion:
“This elaboration into the rotten structure of the waver ivory tower of science, the science paradigm of positive rationalism, has led to a proposal for a new paradigm shift: the science of complexity.
Finally, in order to communicate and elaborate on newly born outlines of this new paradigm of science, I have translated its goals and elements into a metaphorical program of requirements: cartography chambers, the agora for debate, stairs and bridges to connect it all, and more. With this metaphorical program of requirements, together with the manifesto which describes a set of guidelines to create valuable architectural utopias for tomorrow, I will set off to create my own utopian design: the institute of utopianism, a new of science to stimulate the emerge of plural utopianism, a utopia which aims to become its own parent.”

A proposal for a paradigm shift into a science of complexity. Metaphorical requirements: cartography chambers, the agora for debate, stairs and bridges to connect it all, and more. A call for plural utopianism. Her four utopian project attributes:

Resulting in this 'Vertical Section of New Science':

Who did she consult for her utopia's? She has taken into consideration the following 29 utopias (I have added the division into centuries):

[-5th century]

• Plato (427 BC - 347 BC). The Republic.

[5th century]

• Augustine, Saint (426). The City of God.

[16th century]

• More, Sir Thomas (1516). Utopia.
• Bruegel den Elder, Pieter (1567). Luilekkerland.

[17th century]

• Andreae, Johann Valentin (1619). Christianopolis.
• Bacon, Francis (1627). The New Atlantis.
• Campanella, Tomasso (1637). The City of the Sun.

 [18th century]

•  Mercier, Louis Sebastien (1772). Memoirs of the Year 2500.
• Ledoux, Claude Nicolas (1775). The town of Chaux, the royal saltworks.
• Spence, Thomas (1795). Description of Spensonia.

[19th century]

• Fourier, Charles Francois Marie (1822). Traite de l’Association domestique agricole.
• Buckingham, James Silk (1848). National Evils and Practical Remedies.
• Bellamy, Edward (1897). Looking Backward.
• Hertzka, Theodor (1888). Freeland: A Social Anticipation.
• Morris, William (1890). News from Nowhere.

[20th century]

• Wells, H. G. (1905). A Modern Utopia.
• Corbusier (1924). Ville Radieuse.
• Lang, Fritz (1926) Metropolis
• Hilberseimer, Ludwig (1927). Groszstadt Architektur.
• Huxley, Aldous (1931). Brave New World.
• Zamyatin, Yevgeny (1937). We.
• Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• Friedman, Yona (1958). Mobile Architecture.
• Situationists International (1958). Situationist City.
• Nieuwenhuys, Constant (1959). New Babylon.
• Archizoom (1970). No-Stop City.
• Le Guin, Ursula K. (1974). The Dispossessed.
• Koolhaas, Rem (1978). Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan.
• The Wachowski Brothers (1999). The Matrix.

What strikes me is that her writers are mainly dating from the 19th and 20th century and that all of them are from Europe (including North-America). My visualisation of the numbers:

Are there no writters of utopias in Africa, China, Oceania and South-America? Is it possible that science, positive rationalism and utopias have the same root constraint? Are we solving the right constraints by embracing more complexity and plurality?

Strange Fruit

Mostly we think of kings and knights in castles when we think about the Middle Ages (between 500-1500 in Western Europe). A society that was deeply religious and where woman were treated with courtly love. No sex? But the real medieval world was less black and white and more naughty than we might presuppose. 

What to think about the phallus tree in the ‘fertility fresco’ (Massa Marittima, Italy circa 1265)?

 

What to think about the phalli harvested as fruit from trees in ‘Roman de la Rose’ manuscript Francais 25526 (Paris, France 1325-1350)?

 

 

What to think about this pilgrim badge displaying three phalli bearing a crowned vulva in a procession (Brugge, Belgium around 1375-1450)?

 

According to Reiss, these badges - many of them have been found - were sold at religious places and at the end of the pilgrimage thrown into the water. Reiss: "Thus, by buying a phallic badge at a shrine, a pilgrim might have been purchasing a particularly potent symbol of fertility. By depositing it in water (another symbol of fertility), the pilgrim would be magnifying the power of the badge.”

These humorous, sexual objects were certainly not purely religious. Sexual body-parts must be viewed as having multiple layers of meaning: religious, fertility/ sex, humor/ satire/ rude and protection (Reiss page 167 and 176).

What to think about watercolor 'Beauty Revealed' from 1828? Sarah Goodridge sent a selfportrait of her breasts to Daniel Webster when he was a new widower and it was likely intended for his eyes alone.

P.S. Fertility fresco pictures: here.

P.P.S. Whole ‘Roman de la Rose’ manuscript 'Francais 25526' can be found: here. Scans with phalli: 106v, 135v and 160r. It was great fun for me to scroll through a complete Roman de la Rose manuscript. Wondering about the colors, the images and the creativity. Mark, that the picture on the left and right are related to each other just like the harvesting and threshing of grain. Scan 131r:

In that case the picture on top of the three Roman de la Rose pics must be: harvest fertility and ... cut the crap (not literally) ... choose a fertile man among the potential fathers ... stop messing around and let's make love ... when the rose can finally be picked.

P.P.P.S. Reiss, Ben. "Pious Phalluses and Holy Vulvas: The religious Importance of Some Sexual Body-Part Badges in Late-Medieval Europe (1200-1550)." Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture 6, 1 (2017): 151-176. Copy: here.

Eirene

Look how beautiful. A Fayum portret from a young woman with the name Eirene from 40 AD (around). The text under her head is in demotic and reads: "Eirene, daughter of Silvanus, her mother is Senpnoutis. May her soul live before Osiris-Sokar, the great god, lord of Abydos". Almost 2,000 years old!

 

P.S. Source wiki commons: here. 

P.P.S. More details. For Borg it is: "the most beautiful sight in the world" (German: der zierlichste Anblick der Welt).

Sociological Equivalent Splitting Atom

 Wade Davis in 'Rolling Stone' August 6, 2020 (here):

"More than any other country, the United States in the post-war [after 1945] era lionized the individual at the expense of community and family. It was the sociological equivalent of splitting the atom. What was gained in terms of mobility and personal freedom came at the expense of common purpose."

Of splitting the atom! Individual gain first, second and third and the rest ... externalities (my words). Let me repeat, according to me we should learn more about externalities. At universities, at schools, in offices, in factories, in the military, at churches and at home.

P.S. I wrote before on 'History of Dealing with Externalities' (10-2018).

P.P.S. Source picture: here.

Bless You Darling

 After World War 2 Balasa wrote to Paddy on January 27th, 1946:

"I forget nothing of the past, and all you gave is, and will always be a great treasure - I hope that you think of me in the same way. Do write. Love."

P.S. I wrote about this love couple before in  'Among Lemon Groves' (3-2020) and 'Living History' (3-2020).

Everything

August Willemsen writes in his book 'De Taal als Bril' (1987) on page 24:

"De vertaler (...) schrijft andermans werk. Dat mag misschien niet creatief heten, het stelt hem wel de merkwaardige eis dat hij moet weten wat de schrijver weet.
Hij moet vertrouwd zijn met het land van de schrijver en, uiteraard, met de taal daarvan. Maar ook met de regio of de stad van de schrijver en de taalkundige eigenaardigheden dáárvan. Met de tijd van de schrijver, de geschiedenis van diens land, de literatuur daarvan en de speciale literaire traditie waarin hij eventueel zijn plaats heeft. Met andere talen, literaturen, kunsten, kortom: met ‘alles’ waaraan de schrijver, direct of indirect, refereert. De vertaler moet weten wat de schrijver gelezen heeft, moet op de hoogte zijn van diens literaire invloeden en voorkeuren, en eigenlijk van zijn hele leven. Hij moet weten wat er óver de schrijver geschreven is. En dat alles bij iedere andere schrijver opnieuw.”

Translated (by Google Translate):

"The translator (...) writes other people's work. That may not be called creative, but it does make him a curious requirement to know what the writer knows.
He must be familiar with the author's country and, of course, with its language. But also with the region or city of the writer and its linguistic idiosyncrasies. With the writer's time, the history of his country, its literature and the special literary tradition in which he may have his place. With other languages, literatures, arts, in short: with 'everything' to which the writer refers, directly or indirectly. The translator must know what the writer has read, must be aware of his literary influences and preferences, and in fact his whole life. He must know what has been written about the writer. And all that with every other writer again." 

P.S. Painting is from Carel Willink, 'Landscape with overturned statue' (1942).

Forced

 

Alternative

Alternatives for 'Show Me Your Library and I'll Tell You Who You Are':

* What are your favorite color(s)?
* What countries don't you want to visit?
* How does your first lover describe you?
* Your biggest regret in life?
* The first three smells that come to mind?
* Tell me about your mother in law?
* What is the next language you want to master?
* The one book you never want to read?
* Imagine you could reproduce yourself with anyones DNA. Who is number 1 on your list?
* Favorite poem?

* Favorite painting, watercolor or other piece of art?

* Favorite quote?

* ... - there must be more

Decrypting

Enjoy your summer holiday. What are your plans for this summer?

I'll be offline for the next four weeks. My project for this summer: decrypt a couple of 17th century Dutch  encrypted VOC/ WIC manuscripts. After the decryption, translate them into Dutch and English.

Need Whispers

Lovely song from band 'Men I Trust': here.

There's a voice I always trust
It's friendly helping hand tells me leave,

I must
'Cause I can't stay forever
'Cause I can't stay forever
By my window
'Cause I can't stay forever
'Cause I can't stay forever
Rather chase a gentle breeze
Set my thoughts by taller trees
'Cause I can't stay forever
'Cause I can't stay forever
By my window
'Cause I can't stay forever
'Cause I can't stay forever
I need whispers that make me move
Riding the country for driving's sake
Sync me within the outside world
So I can better miss my home

Petit à Petit, l’Oiseau Fait son Nid

Little by little, the bird makes its nest. This is the metaphrase of the French phrase: 'Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid'.

That's how birds make their nest. How writers write a book. How people build a city. How the Germans killed 6,000,000 jews in World War 2. How wars start and ... end. How everything has been built in our milkyway and ... will end.

Question: Is the metaphor 'Begin and End' correct? Some say x-, y- and z-coordinates, time and movement were born with the birth of the universe. If that's true what dimension do we need to understand birth?

I repeat what dimension?

Sonderausgabe

Very happy with a new atlas I bought:

I can browse for days in atlases like this. This one is in German on the "Ancient World", from the 3rd millennium BC until the 15th century AD. Mark, that its center is mainly the mediterranean sea. In this book ancient China, India, Africa, Australia, America and ... - there must be more - do not exist.