Apex. A Hero's Heroes

Chuck Yeager was the best of the best in the 1950s. As Tom Wolfe puts it - in 'The Right Stuff' (1979):

"For every militairy pilot knew where the apex of the great ziggurat was located. You could point it out on a map. The place was Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert. 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Everyone knew who resided there, everyone knew the name of the individual who ranked foremost in the Olympus, the ace of all the aces, as it were, among the true brothers of the right stuff."

On which shoulders did Chuck stand on? Who are his heroes? He gave an answer to this question on facebook (May 6th, 2015):

P.S. "Col Boyd" is Albert Boyd (1906-1976). He was Chuck's commanding officer at Edwards and a test pilot too. Not John Boyd (1927-1997) of whom I wrote before: here 

50 Words For ...

The Sami languages have as many as 300 different words for types of snow, tracks in snow and conditions of the use of snow (source).

The people of the Cook islands have many words for the age, freshness and use of coconuts (Frisbie, 'The book of Puka-Puka' (1929)). More than 50 words?

The Ma'aza have more names for watercourses than any other topographical features (Hobbs, 'Bedouin Life in the Egyptian Wilderness' (1989)). More than 50 words?

What words are #top1 for
... Farmer in 8,000 BC? Different for the 20th Century farmer? Different 21th Century?
... Sailor in the 17th Century? Different for the 21st Century sailor?
... Singer?
... Writer? Different for a songwriter?
... Hooker?
... Soldier?
... Historian?
... Greek in year 2015? Different than in year 2005?
... Someone who loves listening to 'fado menor' music (listen: here)? Different for the singer?
... Lovers?
... Earthworm?
... Egyptologist?
... Bookreader?
... Someone who lives on the back of the Moon?
... Glider pilot? Different from a fighter pilot?
... Individual 'homo sapiens'? Different from species 'homo sapiens'?
... Oak (tree)? Different from a poppy (flower)?
... Blogger?
... Virtual assistent (VA)?
... Trapper who lives for 10 months a year in a lodge and makes use of a canoe?
... 'Poeta' or 'poetisa'? In Europe? In South America? In Australia?

Turtles All The Way Down

For a couple of months now my son T walks with me on a Sunday morning. For at least four hours every-time. He likes walking. At first mainly for keeping his sixpack into shape but slowly I seduce him with:

• history stories: questions and answers on what happened really
• images: questions and answers on what happens to facts - past, present or future - if we just take another metaphor
• dreams and fantasies: questions and answers on what could have happened if  ... or happens if ...

A couple of weeks ago we talked about the beginnig and the ending of our Universe and on why planet Earth moves. I told him the story about the 'Turtles All the Way Down'. He liked the story.

Since then the two of us have an inside joke '"Planet Earth is moved by a turtle ... or was it an elephant?"

P.S. The picture of the elephant is fake. It's made digitally by artist Marcel Laverdet.

Sim. E Tua Glória

Faz de mim um instrumento de teu prazer, sim, e ...

Música: aqui

Becoming Fruit

The ancient Egyptians wrote down their wisdom "long" (read: >1,000 years) before the ancient Greeks. Read these, proverbs of more than 3,500 year old and still sound so modern:

1. "Men need images. Lacking them they invent idols. Better then to found the images on realities that lead the true seeker to the source."
2. "Grain must return to the earth, die, and decompose for new growth to begin."
3. "Be patient with a bad neighbour: he may move or face misfortune."
4. "Social good is what brings peace to family and society."
5. "When the governing class isn't chosen for quality it is chosen for material wealth: this always means decadence, the lowest stage a society can reach."
6. "An answer brings no illumination unless the question has matured to a point where it gives rise to this answer which thus becomes its fruit. Therefore learn how to put a question."
7. "Man, know yourself... and you shalt know the gods."

Sources: here, here and here.

Why Give Water?

Ancient Egypt proverb out of the 'Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor': 

Do not act arrogant my friend. In the morning you will be held accountable for your failed expedition for the King. "Why give water to a goose (literally bird) at dawn before its slaughtering in the morning?"

A more literal translation, including the hieroglyphs (source: here)

Numerous As

The love for islands or the joy of being alone (solitude). Where does it come from - and where does it go to? Observation: the roots are ancient and examples numerous. Question: something all 'homo sapiens' need every now and then?

Three "random" pictures of islands, moving in some transmission medium, I like very much.

Title 'Provence' (2004). Artist: Mildebergius (born 1965) from Estonia. 

Title 'Braslav Lakes' (2010). Artist: Anna Silivonchik (born 1980) from Belarus. 

Title 'Fantazya' (2012). Artist: Dilek Isiksel (born 1948) from Turkey. 

Nor Divine. Nor Unspoiled. Nor Virgin

A desert traveler writes (2015): "It's no longer imaginable: the divine desert only for me and the camels. Back then [30 years ago J.D.] there were no cars and there was no GPS."

Strange assertion for a historian like me. It must be a 'Golden Years' (David Bowie) kind of view on the traveler's, travels of thirty years ago. But ... back then the desert was nor divine, nor unspoiled, nor virgin, nor without cars, nor without GPS.

Navigation is of all time - no exception for navigating in the desert:

Transport is of all time - no exception for transporting in the desert:

New techniques give new (im)possibilities. With their own (dis)advantages, limitations and range. A walking man can, under a full sun, in "the" desert survive 3 days without water. A camel can walk for 3 weeks without water. A motor vehicle can drive for months without water. A man and camel need food for fuel and a car gasoline. A ship is bound to water for transportation. Etcetera

What's my point? William Roe Polk in his book 'Passing Brave' (1973): "Abu Jurj, it is all gone. Labid is dead. You were right about the truck. It has killed us [the camel and the nomad J.D.] all." Read for trucks: cars, trains or airplanes.

What rests is romanticism. 'Romanticism' defined as "fallible people who pursue the dream of perfection." The camel as transport for salt and other commodities is gone. Since 1900 the camel, in the Middle East, is one of many ways of transport for the tourist, traveler and soldier. A source of revenue for the tourist leader, writer or filmmaker. The desert is a place - with and without a camel - where you must be able to survive as a soldier.

Source photo: Dany Marique

Only Passionately Curious

10 Lessons from Albert E=MC2

1. Follow Your Curiosity “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
2. Perseverance is Priceless “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
3. Focus on the Present “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
4. The Imagination is Powerful “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
5. Make Mistakes “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
6. Live in the Moment “I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.”
7. Create Value “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
8. Don’t be repetitive “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
9. Knowledge Comes From Experience “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”
10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

P.S. Picture is from Anna Silvonchik, 'Over the Hills and Far Away' (2007)

P.P.S. Source of the 10 lessons: here

They Are Missing the Point!

Darkly despondent. Goofily exuberant. Grand folly of a record. English magic. Biggest stylistic jump in Kate Bush's career. 

Many adjectives on KT's CD 'Aerial' (2005) but so ... meaningless. Michael Bonner even says of the first disk ('A Sea of Honey') - in UNCUT. Kate Bush. The Ultimate Music Guide (2015 Issue 3) - that it's a collection of unconnected songs. Unconnected!

Is "everyone" still missing the point that Kate Bush is a mystic on her CD 'Aerial'? Someone who reaches beyond good and evil? Beyond sky and sea? Beyond music and silence? Beyond dead or being alive?

P.S. I wrote about this on July 26th, 2009 'Kate Bush. Mystic on 'Aerial'. Invitation to be nondualistic'