Right as Drinking a cup of Tea

Peter Bregman wrote a nice post on 'The Value of Ritual in Your Workday' (December 2010). In this post he points at the power of 'Pause' and 'Focus'.

He starts his post with a scene from the movie 'The Last Samurai'. Peter was most moved by the scene of a Samurai drinking tea: "Sitting at a low table, he moved deliberately, singularly focused on his tea. He contemplated it. Then poured it. Then sipped it, tasted it, and, finally, swallowed it. This, I realized, was the source of the samurai's strength. His acrobatics were impressive, but they were merely a oblique demonstration of his strength. The source was this tea ritual and many other rituals like it. His power as a warrior came from his patience, precision, attention to subtlety, concentration, and his reverence for the moment."

This is my comment on Peter's post:

The most striking scene for me on this movie: Samurai with their sources ;) fighting against machineguns. Lack of fit/ adapt/ learn. Technology changed - and still does - the way battles were fought. Frontal mass attacks of Samurai against working machineguns. It's suicide! Samurai should fight with guerrilla tactics. It would so much better fit to their strengths/ sources.

Frontal attack of Samurai on machineguns is like sweeping the deck of the Titanic. You will die! Adapt or die.  The Samurai of today are the commando's. With patience and concentration they hit precise at the Right moment. "Right" as drinking a cup of tea.

Suddenly everything is lost

A few days ago I checked out a few paper books looking for a quote. I found :)  what I was looking for. 

During this browsing exercise I found also something else. A little quote I lost in some way. Not really lost but out of my daily consiousness. I lost it for more than 10 years. It's a quote I'm very fond of. Andreas Burnier, 'De litteraire salon' (1983):

"Nu ik oud ben, heb ik vele vrienden, geliefden, vluchtige partners gekend. Ik weet nu dat het meeste menselijke contact niets betekent, absoluut niets. Mensen komen en gaan, praten honderuit, vertellen hun laatste zorgen en intimiteiten, verklaren hun liefde en eeuwige trouw, zweren met bloed beklonken vriendschap, storten zich vol passie in elkaars armen en dan, ineens, is het over, de woorden verloochend, het feest tot as vergaan."

I don't want to translate the quote in Dutch literally. If you really want to know it's details ... work! perspire! It's one of my Chinese gardens. 

This is my translation in 1 tweet: "Life: people come and go. Friends. Lovers. Eternal love. Suddenly everything is lost. The party is over." 

How about you: Do you find things too, by accident, while looking for something else?

Listening to Crystal Gayle

King Offa was one of the kings who lived in the 8th century in Great Britain. To protect his kingdom Mercia against the various kingdoms of Wales he built a great dyke between his and theirs. Offa's dyke is a great earthen barrier of circa 283 km that runs between England and Wales.

In 1989 I walked with friend X the long distance path that roughly follows Offa's Dyke. Clouds. Lot's of clouds. Most of the days heavy with rain. Rain. We had a lot of it. Sun. We had more of that.

After a few days we got more and more tired. Rucksack of 20 kg. Walking 30 kilometers each day. Sleeping in a little tent in the middle of "nowhere".

One evening we arrived at the top of another hill. Beauty is subject to inflation if you see it after every corner of the road. Tired. Looking for a place to sleep. I walked back to the house we just passed some minutes ago. Another night at a Bed-Breakfast? Wow, yes please. That would be nice. Warm hot bath. Comfortable bed. Something to eat?

Setback! No beds left. We discussed about what to next. The landlord of the Bed-Breakfast walked to us. "There is another Bed-Breakfast down the road. I just called. If you want to, you can stay there. Do you want a ride in my Landrover?" Yes please!

1 hour later. Shaved. Took a bath. Sitting in a warm and cozy room of a Manor. Music of  Crystal Gayle - her music was new to me. Soup. Bread. Stew (cawl?). Wine. It was the best meal I ate in my life.

What Food, Glorious food! story do you want to share?

Tell me, is it a crime?

This may come as some surprise but 

is it a crime 

that 

I still ...?

Top2000. Liedjes naar taal. Veeeeeeeel Engels

Heerlijk al die liedjes die de afgelopen dagen langsgekomen zijn. Eigenlijk ken ik ze allemaal wel. Meeste vorig jaar bij #top2000 #jaar2009 voor het laatst gehoord. 

Vorig jaar heb ik de nodige uurtjes gestopt om uit te vinden wie er informatie heeft over de taal van de songteksten. Niemand kon of wilde me helpen. Dit jaar #jaar2010 zelf de puzzel gelegd. Wij Nederlanders houden veeeeeeeel van Engelse muziek. Om precies te zijn 1.693 liedjes van de 2.000 hebben een Engelse songtekst. Dit is 85%.

Hoe zit het met het Nederlands? Als je zo naar de radio luistert, lijkt er veel dialect gezongen te worden. Als we de tijd nemen om te tellen en naar de details te kijken valt het best mee. 93% van de liedjes in het Nederlands zijn Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands. Inclusief Andre Hazes. De rest, dat zijn 16 liedjes, zijn in een van 's lands dialecten. (Ja ik weet dat Fries een taal is.) Mij verraste het. En jou?

Wat me ook opviel - ben ik de enige - niet 1 Surinaams, Turks, Marrokaans of Indisch liedje. Zijn we zo gelijk in muzieksmaak? Of is deze verklaring beter: gescheiden werelden, eigen zenders, eigen "zuilen"?

 Details of the list above. Details of my complete 2000 list (source)
(c) @JeandD99

 1st, 2nd and 3rd blog on this subject.

History of Religion (Maps-of-War). Footnote The Netherlands 1990-2010

What do you think of this? Five thousand Years Religion on Planet Earth in 90 seconds: Brief history of most well-known religions 3000 BC-2000

I loved the brief or big picture. The religions that are born, grow up, get older, much older. And die? At the same time I realized it's only focused on the "mainstream" religion of people and countries. Always there must have been people who believed something else. Not mainstream but smallstream.What happened to them in all those centuries?

In The Netherlands the picture above is since 20 years no longer valid. In #nl the mainstream religion is "no religion". 44% of the Dutch say in 2009 that they no longer belief in God. Better: they are not registered in a "formal" religion. 

Index. 'Geen kerkelijke gezindte' = no religion; 'Katholiek' = Catholic; 'Hervormd' = Dutch reformed church; 'Gereformeerd' = reformed churches; 'PKN' =  Protestant church in The Netherlands; 'Overige gezindten' = other religions.

Source: Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek 'Terugblikken: een eeuw in statistieken' (December 2010)

Top 2000 #music #nl #2010 Non English & Non Dutch Languages. Artist & Song

What artists and songs are on the playlist if we skip English and Dutch in #top2000 #music #netherlands #year2010 #lyrics? This is the list of year 2010.

 Details of the list above. Details of my complete 2000 list (source)
(c) @JeandD99

 First blog and second blog on this subject.

Top 2000 #music #nl #2010 Peak Position Languages

If we skip English and Dutch how does the world look like? World? The world of languages Dutch like best for their #top2000 #music #netherlands #year2010. Look at this wordle:

Peak position for each language used in lyrics:

Want to check out the details of my list yourselves? Click here (source)
(c) @JeandD99

First blog on this.

Top 2000 Year 2010. Music in The Netherlands

On 25th of December the 12th edition of Top 2000 starts. 2.000 songs "Dutch" like best. Any idea what song "we" like best? Check out here.

Any idea what language "we" love best to listen at? Answer: English. In year 2010, 85% of our lyrics are written in English. Dutch lyrics are 2nd.

And all the other languages? Hardly interesting for "us" Dutch. Sorry, English is our lingua franca in music.

Want to check out the details of my list yourselves? Click here (source)
(c) @JeandD99

Second blog on this.

We exchanged campfire for TV and other social media. In 5 pics