Ruccola

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The World might fell apart,
stars collapse,
galaxies may run away...
but ruccola, oh, ruccola,
it has to be!
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Brave women, brave men: Janet Montgomery McGovern

In his post "Among the Headhunters of Formosa by Janet B. Montgomery McGovern" blogger Balancing Frogs gives pretty thorough account of this superb book, written by one brave woman back in 1920-ies. I wrote about it in Croatian, in astrosailor on "Headhunters..." , but since with Mr. Brendan we both found the same lack of information on author, who obviously was an interesting woman, I decided to search deeper. With help of a friend, genealogy researcher Nora D. in USA, who was already helping me very much in work on a genealogy project for my island, I got to the Daily Northwestern newspaper in Illinois, from January 5, 1939, where an obituary was issued few days after the death of Ms. Montgomery McGovern.

I copy it here:

The text is:

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"Mother of Prof. McGovern dies"

,

"Mrs. McGovern was a world traveler, author, teacher Mrs. Janet Blair Montgomery McGovern died on December 30. 1938. in Loma Linda, California. She was the mother of Dr. William Montgomery McGovern, professor of politycal science in Northwestern University. Mrs. McGovern was born in Rome, Ga., on October 9. 1874 and was the daughter of a distinguished soldier in the Confederate army, Col. Alexander Blair Montgomery and his wife, Ella Janet Mitchell. After graduating from Shawter College, she also studied at Oxford University in England, where she took a degree. She taught at Briarcliff Manor and the Kyoto Girls school in Japan. Mrs. McGovern travelled extensively in Europe and Asia an as the result of her travels she published several books, including "Among the head-hunters of Formosa" and "Butterflies of Taiwan". She was also newspaper correspondent for several periodical including the New York World, the Literary Digest and the Kobe Chronicle. The last few years she was a tutor in anthropology at the university of New Mexico. As the contributor to the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute she attracted considerable attention."

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From this article we see she remained active after her return to USA: she wrote scientific articles, was a tutor in New Mexico and, obviously, respected enough that a newspaper across the country would mention her passing away with reverence. Her son was a model for Indiana Jones (only that his life was much more adventurous than Harrison Ford's role), but I suppose she should be a model for Brave Woman of the times. Here I am at least putting the online available information straight.

Russell

Since some time I am reading Bertrand Russell's classic work on history of philosophy "History of Western Philosophy". It is so classic that it is a shame to say I stumbled upon it only so old as I am, when I should read it some 25 years ago. Well, I obviously had more important things to do, and to read about Western philosophy, I had to submerge in this Confucianistic island of Formosa.

When it is like this, I notice that after living in Greece, and visiting it recently, I appreciate Russell's illumination on Greek philosophy. I am speaking as a delighted reader of Homer, rather than as a 21st century tourist, sure.

What kicks in Russell's writing is witty comments from time to time, so nice is how he makes the matter alive with this, not dusty-philosophy of the forgotten library shelves.

I reccomend this review, indeed. Take your time with it, it is not something to be swallowed...but rather licked with pleasure when time permits, and mind is at its leisure mode.

OLPC or One Laptop Per Child -crash of responsibility

I found Ivan Krstic blog which explains what happened with the project I found good idea some 2 years ago when I heard about it. I.Krstic explains-and more so with his essay here, which tells more about himself and people involved than the OLPC project.
Here is more on this, from yahoo news: yahoo on OLPC

But, then, projects are made by people. And when it goes for large humanitarian/educational projects, we know they are almost bound to fail.

But also we know that what matters is these few kids who will actually benefit from the scheme, even of it is the one to fail gloriously. So, at the end, maybe N. Negroponte's idea of "getting as many laptops out there", and anything else (after all disillusions I can imagine he had along the way) is not so much futile.

OLPC, Requiescat in pacem.

About MS Win-Mac-Linux I will not say nothing. In this world of multitude of possibilities for OS (1,2,3,...huh, what is after 3??? Our hyper-giga-mega tech civilization learned to count only to three? Seems so. Long way to go, guys, be happy your latop is running at all, not which OS it is running!) . I am running Linux. If I would run Windows world would not change as much as is dot on an "i". But I do not like to pay Bill's bill, that's all, I prefer to pay my own bills.

Jens Bjorneboe, "The Sharks"

From "The Sharks", Jens Bjorneboe,p.175,

"Only the very strong can live with no fear of losing their autonomy. Still, this is the precondition for loving: not to want power-not to want to OWN someone.

There can be talk of love only when one gives up one's self-assertion, when one lays down arms and capitulates fully. When one no longer defends oneself. Love is the absolute yielding, the total surrender-unconditionally. It knows no reservations, no defence.

Love creates no need to be the strongest, it knows no lust for power, no personality struggle. Love is pure devotion, absolute self-surrender. Only one who is strong enough not to fear losing his personality can love. To love, one must be able to foresake oneself, to make the other free."

Strange to find these words which I could sign, so clearly laid in the last writing of Bjorneboe. But, thinking of 'Moment of freedom', his trilogy which I recommend to anyone as a re-collection on humanity, maybe not so strange. He knew, for certain, power of ... love.

When love is mentioned, thoughts of God are not far away, this is recognized even by such an ateist like me. Bjorneboe laid it well, also:

The Sharks, p.183:"...man before me was quite simply a GOD, filled with a fathomless supernatural power. And at the next moment I was overwhelmed by one sensation, stronger perhaps than any other feeling I've tasted, stronger than the deepest mortal terror I knew, it was the vast, indescribable experience of my own STUPIDITY. Of stupidity and shame."

Very nice encounter with God (Neptune in this case), indeed! And how appropriate feeling. Bjorneboe really had good sense of humorous reality. Not to feel fear, excitation...but shame. Like she-monkey catched to masturbate with banana :-D

"The Sharks" is very strong reading. VERY. Rarely I find such a concentrated, well laid text. And it is on an eternal topic, where it is not, really, easy to write something new or original. Except for clean-cut factual approach, Bjorneboe is here to be praised for intensivity in his style, indeed. This makes 'The Sharks" a literature gem, a feast. Highly recommendable.

Chernobil, 22nd anniversary-brave Elena

End of april 1986 one region of Ukraina died...or at least got lethal dose. People moved out for few hundred years, and it became a monument of human...stupidity or reason? We can discuss it, but from safe distance, as it is not good idea to put Academy in Chernobil.

The best warning I found online is blog
Elena
Lots of good text and pictures. Lady is crazily brave, biking through the Death Zone. Fast. My bow, Elena.

If you are green, you will become blue, watching this. Rest of us can only...grow gray. It is old blog, few years ago...but do not worry, it will not be outdated for few centuries more.

Show this to kids, think it yourself. I am a physicist, and know well we do not have third choice, except atomic and, hopefully soon, nuclear energy. Windpower is nice thing, but more to remind us we are in NEED, urge for energy.
For producing food, in the end of the chain...

22 years passed. In 578, by some moderate estimates (300-900 years) real estates prices in the region will move from zero, where they are now.

Peter Nadas' Family Story

Nadas is, after I read his "A book of Memories", which is a work unusually thick in feeling, not only paper, one of most pleasant european writers for me. This booklet, on the contrary to the 1st book, is a thin one, but language is the same, peculiar, and reading often has to be back and forth, to understand what's up. From the very beginning when it is not clear at all who is mother, who father and how to hell the change occurs... Nadas is a master of word, and plays, sometimes, a kind of game with a reader.

Imre Goldstein's translation from Hungarian transfers, I feel, the taste of Nadas' language.

For a book "The End of a Family Story", to enclose Jewish family history of last 10 or so generations in 250 pages of small "Penguin" is a formidable achievemnent. And not to tell ther stories all the time, just follow the boy's story and what his grandpa told him...

Highly reccomendable reading, albeit for connesseur's palate only, I am afraid, as many could be repelled by non-transparent language of Nadas. He is, in English rendition, somewhat similar to Salman Rushdie, probably it is because of Middle East air of the jewish stories inside, which are so pregnant with desert sands and winds, anciet cities and people.

If you want to touch today's Literature of Europe, Nadas is for sure one of its most pleasant eminences.