fredag den 30. maj 2014

Operatiunea Zimbrul- partea 1




Bloggerul Decenu se intreaba de ce tancul romanesc TR-85M1 se numeste "Bizonul", si nu "Bourul" sau "Zimbrul", mai pe romaneste, si am promis ca am sa incerc sa caut de ce si sa raspund. Un raspuns simplu ar putea fi acela ca numele de "Zimbru" fusese deja alocat ca porecla pt masina de teren 4 x4 ARO M461 prezentata mai sus, si TR-85M1 fiind cronologic mai tanar nu avea cum sa-si uzurpe etimologic inaintasul, nemaivorbind ca un tanc este totusi mai altfel decat o masina de teren 4 x 4. Insa raspunsul mai complicat preferat de mine are de a face cu povestea etimologiei cuvintelor respective care numesc si descriu acest tip de mamifere salbatice cornute, si mi-a facut placere sa aflu despre ele, (atat animalele cat si cuvintele alocate lor).

Am sa incep povestea cu descrierea unei scene de pe la mijlocul cronologiei ei. Era anul 1758. In blogosfera se discuta aprins in diferite limbi si din diverse perspective despre temele regionale si globale ale zilei, ca de ex, (fara a respecta o stricta cronologie re data zilei exacte),

- inlocuirea contelui de Loudon cu gen James Abercrombie in functia de comandant suprem al coloniilor nord Americane, plus esecul acestuia din urma de a captura si mentine fortul de la Ticonderoga in fata inamicilor francezi aliati cu huronii, in ciuda ajutorului oferit de ultimii mohicani,

- rapirea drei Mary Campbell de catre amerindienii Lenape si intrebarea daca acestia au tratat-o cu respect sau nu, de vreme ce se zvonise ca fusese tinuta chiar in cortul familiei sefului de trib Netawatnees/"sfatuitor inalt versat",

- ultima navalire tatara in tara Moldova, plus mutarea de cariera laterala a dlui Scarlat Ghica din jobul de domnitor al tarii Moldova, proiect in legatura cu care se ocupase deja timp de un an, la jobul de domnitor al Tarii Romanesti, si asezarea dlui Ioan Teodor Callimachi in scaunul ramas liber cam solitar in tara Moldova, care trebuie ca fusese deja cam golita de mobile si perdele de tatari si de altii, si dl Callimachi probabil totusi preferand un spatiu natural ceva mai lejer dupa ce indurase aglomeratia probabil sufocanta de mobile, tapete, draperii si diverse taburele si otomane din biroul lui anterior de Dargoman al Portii la Constantinopole

- ceremonia de inlocuire a guvernatorului regiunii Ardealului, (a dl feldmaresal Franz Wenzel grof de Wallis cu dl Laszlo grof Kemeny), in meniu fiind oferita in mod destul de probabil o selectie de bere si vin, plus fursecuri si cafea de pe piata neagra ardeleana din ce in ce mai infloritoare acolo atunci probabil, mai ales de cand se zvonise si ca dl Callimachi ar avea de gand sa restranga densitatea magazinelor turcesti legale din tara Moldova, probabil din lipsa de cherestea pt mobile si de in pt perdele, ca nu se cadea totusi sa ramana sa se vada acolo atatea magazine golase cu zdrente fluturand la ferestre si fara covoare pe jos, asa ca in vestul salbatec,

- conflictul amiralului George Pocock cu contele Anne-Antoine d'Ache in largul coastelor sud-vestic indiene de langa portul Cuddalore,

- tragicul accident suferit de popularul tanar conte de Gisors, unicul fiu al ministrului de razboi francez, ducele de Belle-Isle, pe langa Bundesautobahn 57, probabil din cauza ca nu a tinut cont de informatia ca pe Bundesuatobahn, spre deosebire de Autobahn, exista totusi o limita de viteza, insa precis si din cauza ca exista inca si azi, dupa mai bine de 250 de ani de atunci, dezbateri interminabile si probleme legate de constructia si imbunatatirea traficului din jurul acel oras Krefeld, in prezent doar teoretic accesibil via Autobahn 57, si numai dupa nu stiu cate ambuteiaje si detururi pe diverse rampe si curbe,

- pariurile aprinse si oarecum alarmiste legate de chestiunea daca de Craciun va aparea vizibila cometa despre care dl Edmund Halley calculase stiintific modern cu 50 de ani inainte ca va reveni incontinuu la cca 75-76 de ani, o cometa al carei parcurs uimitor fusese adresat din vechime de atatia bloggeri antici din China, chiar si din Babilonia, ba chiar si de cineva care scrisese in Talmud cu 2000 de ani in urma, "ca exista o stea care apare o data la 70 de ani si cauzeaza ca unii capitani de corabii sa comita greseli in navigatia lor",

- statisticile demografice, economice, si de sanatate de-a dreptul demoralizante legate de populatia orasului Stockholm, aparent in acel moment plin de saraci, alcoolici, someri, oameni suferinzi de depresie si probabil inca in doliu dupa pierderile serioase suferite in decadele anterioare, ba chiar si de cele anticipate si in viitor pt inca o suta de ani, ba chiar si oameni deosebit de anxiosi in legatura cu o epidemie de ciuma din secolul anterior mai tare decat acea anticipat ulterioara din secolul viitor a lui Caragea, care, aia veche, reusise sa diminueze populatia acelui oras odata atat de falnic cu nu mai putin de 36 %,

- succesiunea papala de la papa iubitor de arte si stiinte Benedict XIV la papa mai practic managerial Clement XIII, care totusi, in ciuda unor diverse presiuni de interese politic-corporatiste, tinea si cu ordinul Iezuitilor, un ordin care capatase o imagine din ce in ce mai proasta in societatea UE, desigur fara nici o baza in realitate de vreme ce Iezuitii par a fi fost dintotdeauna principial interesati de standarde chiar riguroase in domeniile educatiei si sanatatii la nivel chiar global...un posibil zvon de la cativa intelectuali universitari cu diplome de la niste facultati mai putin reputabile sau chiar lipsite de acreditare, care pur si simplu tineau cu dintii de catedrele lor ca de niste fiefuri in moduri de-a dreptul feudale si nu doreau sa fie pusi la examene de re-verificare a competentelor lor, desi puneau acest lucru in perspectiva oarecum mai politic corecta a necesitatii apararii autonomiei universitare impotriva unor standarde pe care le considerau exagerat de centralizate, care de fapt in realitate erau prea inalte pt competentele lor,

- intrarea armatei proto-sovietice in Konigsberg si intampinarea ei cu flori de catre populatia teuton-boema, etc.



(...va urma...)




mandag den 26. maj 2014

søndag den 25. maj 2014

Alaturi de Spanac pe Strada Hanovra


Nu am putut rezista unei invitatii de a scrie acest articol, desi nu voi participa la concurs. Am sa scriu in lb engleza deoarece mi-a cerut-o Spanac in mod insistent, desi recunosc ca eu nu prea am exercitiul de a ma exprima in scris in mod haios in lb engleza, ci mai mult birocratic comun si mai rar, ff rar, romantic, (care in cazul meu in lb engleza nu suna caraghios nici macar intrigant, ci total banal, chiar posibil cliseistic). In lb romana nu m-am exprimat in scris niciodata romantic, iar comicul imi reuseste adesea ca nuca in perete, mai mult fara sa vreau, asa ca aici pe blog. In lb franceza, in schimb, nu ma pot exprima in scris decat romantic, si de fapt imi dau seama ca singurele scrisori de dragoste pe care le-am scris eu vreodata au fost in lb franceza, pe cand in lb scandinave ma pot exprima in scris numai total caraghios ! La nivel de comunicat oral si prin gesturi e mai altfel...imi dau seama acum ca mai des am reusit probabil sa fiu romantic in niste limbi pe care nici nu le cunosc, rusa si germana !!!! Zau, daca nu e clar ca e chiar posibil sa fiu un pic si eu ucrainean, macar la niveluri asa influentat culturale din partea aia mai sudica non-poloneza ! Desi e mai mult probabil invatat din filmele dedicate celui de-al 2lea razboi mondial ! In treacat fie zis, am impresia ca tind sa evit si chiar incerc sa refuz uneori sa ma exprim oral si gestic romantic in lb inventata de dl Walt Disney, desi la nivel rational tind sa fiu de acord cu promovarea cat mai extinsa a culturii acestui limbaj pe teme romantic educative, in conditiile in care se considera ca romantismul larg social e absolut necesar si preferabil altor maniere de expresie, si de altfel maj comunicatelor mele mai serioase pe teme romantice in mediu social mai larg public live si chiar si in scris vor fi de natura promo Disney.)

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I am not sure if many people know that the names of Hanover Square and Hanover Street, for a time globally famous in the latter part of the 20th century with the assistance of equally famous Han Solo, were also earlier regionally famous with the help of the 1st Earl of Scarbrough, lord Richard Lumley, a gentleman originally from northern England, once, early in his career, Master of the Horse for lady Catherine de Braganza, herself a gentlewoman of potuguese origin for a while Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, who taught the British how to enjoy their cup of tea. Lord Lumley was one of the group known as the Immortal Seven Englishmen who invited in 1689 in writing William Henry, Prince of Orange, born in The Netherlands, at the time lieutenant governor of the Dutch provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel, to overthrow King James II of England in a Glorious Revolution and become King William III of England. I think they admired his obvious administrative bureaucratic skills, in which the Protestants had been known at the time to excel, sometimes even to the detriment of their scholarly more intellectual or more spiritual exploits, (with some obvious notable exceptions). But he was also the son-in-law of James II, so it wasn't such a big deal, anyway not more than a habitual family squabble over who would be ruler of the Free World, and in fact they even paved the way for the USA to become ruler of this Free World, since they encouraged the colonists to revolt against some tea import taxes established by James II, obviously not thinking that the colonists would actually wish to become totally independent. After William Henry, Prince of Orange, graciously accepted this offer he probably felt he could not refuse, Lord Lumley decided to dedicate some of his time to real estate development in London, and, being a strong supporter of the Hanoverian Succession, in which the son of Sophie of Palatinate, (herself daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia), and of Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Luneburg, (ruler of the Principality of Calenberg, Prince Elector of Hanover, ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales), would become George I, King of the United Kingdom and Ireland, he decided to develop a fashionable residential address in London, an address which has remained quite fashionable today, although it is dedicated more to office space, e.g. for the London office of Vogue, rather than to personal residences, and to name it Hanover Square.

Meanwhile, on the continent, the region of Hanover described a rather swampy territory later known as Lower Saxony, a territory generally known to have been earlier and traditionally inhabited by some people known as Saxons because they seem to have favored for hundreds of years a type of knife with a straight blade called seax, a rather crude and not very aesthetic tool, (the most talented and creative Saxon designers having most likely chosen to continually emigrate both westward and eastward to be nearer the more inspired celts of the UK and Ireland, or nearer the descendents of the dacians of Transylvania and Moldavia, where they most certainly would have found better opportunities for apprenticeship with traditional master toolmakers for learning to make more varied and better designed types of tools, as fit for an European medieval civilization, the seaxes being found useful over time only greatly modified and assembled in the guise of scissors, first in Finland and Estonia by master tailors, later in Italy by master hairdressers...I kid u not, pretty much all the ethnic and cultural social groups of Europe, including even the Scots and the Welsh, were making fun of the Saxons and their seaxes at the time of Charlemagne, only much later, actually at the very time Lord Lumley was reviewing the plans for the Hanover Square development in London, did Friederich Handel manage to improve a tad their image in the eyes of the always pretentious European intellectual crowd with the help of a rather risque operatic concert presented at the International Carnival of Venice in 1709 !) That Hanover region also contained a town, with the same name as the greater region, established there in the middle of the 17th century.

During the 18th century Hanover was joined in an official "personal union" with the United Kingdom. Hanover's ruler was the same person as the King of the United Kingdom. Even while still engaged in that personal union, in 1803 the territory of Hanover was practically occupied, even annexed by the French, advancing East under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. After the abdication of Napoleon and hist first exile to Elba, Hanover became independent in 1814 and even became a real kingdom, the Kingdom of Hanover, between 1814 and 1866, initially still in a personal union with the UK. That personal union ended with the ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837, because of the Salic Law that governed many of the monarchies in Europe, which did not permit females to become monarchs in those various lands which kept appearing and disappearing over time across this continent, so between 1837 and 1866 the king of the Kingdom of Hanover was an uncle of Queen Victoria, Ernest Augustus. He was not well liked by the new class of Hannoverian intellectuals because he wanted to change the Constitution, which he considered too liberal, and even dismissed the brothers Grimm, along 5 other professors, (Dahlmann, a historian and politician, Gervinus, a political and literary historian who wrote the first comprehensive textbook about the history of German literature, Albrecht, a constitutional jurist, Ewald, a theologian and orientalist, and Weber, a physicist scientist, who alongside world famous mathematician Gauss invented one of the the first ergonomically functional electromagnetic telegraphs), all known as the Gottingen Seven, from their professorial positions at the University of Gottingen, because they protested publicly against his political-administrative leadership style. So pretty much most Hannoverians were probably ready at the time to divorce the UK and be annexed by Prussia, (although they initially officially declared war against her, but that was because they were probably in love with her anyway.) Apparently, after WW2, in 1946, the British tried to reinstate a German province named the Land of Hanover, within the same theoretical borders of the earlier Kingdom of Hanover, but the Hannoverians preferred instead to merge with 3 other regions or former small states, (Oldenburg, Brunswick, and Schaumburg-Lippe), into a larger state known as Lower Saxony, while declaring Hanover as the capital of that new state.

From a small fishermen and ferrymen village along the river Leine during earlier Medieval times, later more rapidly expanded as a town during the times of the Hanseatic League due to its situation at a relatively busy crossroads for commercial travel over land and water, today's Hanover is a real city with 1/2 million people (and a little over 1 million counted altogether in the larger metropolitan area). It has sadly lost, maybe forever, its entire Jewish population because not one single rabbi was willing to remain there after 1951, even if some of the survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp tried to resettle in Hanover and retain a rabbi among them, but he left, and no other was ever willing to replace him. Most of the remaining people left to America. Very few of them had originally been from Hanover anyway, because most of those had been deported to Poland, and obviously couldn't come back. Plus they had been blamed to have started WW2, or anyway Kristallnacht. Yes, the official story, for both sides, even for many of the Jews themselves, was that Kristallnacht was initiated as a retaliation to the action of a Polish Jew originally from Hanover, Herschel Grynszpan, who had shot a German embassy official in Paris, (himself, allegedly, maybe ironically, at the time, under investigation by the Gestapo for "aiding Jews".) Hanover's infrastructure had been bombed to almost total destruction by the Allies. Who the hell were they expecting to clean and reconstruct it ? The former prisoners from Bergen-Belsen, (the very ones who were showed emaciated, starving, dying, in the news after the libration of that camp) ? Maybe import some re-imported Polish Jews again ? Maybe some non-Jewish Poles would have been a better idea ? Let them work to reconstruct Hanover, since Poles are "known" to be hard workers. But everyone had to wait for that until the Iron Curtain fell, so pretty much this is maybe why the architectural soul of today's Hanover is actually boring, (with the exception of a reconstructed originally creative type of bridge design named Lavesbrucke, imagined by neoclassical architect and construction engineer Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves in the first part of the 19th century, who also designed a rather pretty and probably sunny giant Barbie dollhouse type home for himself.) This is also maybe, with a higher degree of speculation involved, why today Hanover has absolutely no good German restaurants, just a mixture of various pseudo-exotic postmodern locales from some younger entrepreneurs from Greece, Italy, Africa, and an occasional French one. German cuisine has lost its soul once it chased almost all of its traditional Jewish mothers and grandmothers away. They were the ones who had been feeding for several generations the starving Saxons who had remained in the center of Europe, maybe also several of the other Germanic tribes, maybe not all, of course, and sometimes maybe even against a degree of reluctance or ambivalence from the part of some of the more highly educated own daughters and sons who wished most of all, as many studious youngsters seem to do, to assimilate. (I am not speaking from a strictly Jewish experience here, but from the experience of a rather reluctant, better said, risk adverse, occasional and almost accidental pastoral wanderer, with absolutely no special expertise about food or even pastoral literature.)

Among the famous and important people with lives and destinies intertwined with Hanover's are 2 philosophers, (although one of them wished to identify herself as otherwise, considering maybe at her historical time of her life that the business of philosophy may be a rather egotistical, also maybe singularly subjective and not always lucid one), the first, (chronologically), being Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, (the local University of Hanover deciding to name itself after him relatvely recently, in 2006, probably having reassured itself that by this time the fans of Monsieur de Voltaire would not be making fun of them for doing so after all, since it had managed to develop into a more complex educational institution since it had been first founded as a vocational technical high school in 1831), the second thinker being Johanna "Hannah" Arendt, (who is known to have been written the books named The Origins of Totalitarism, The Human Condition, and Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil, and also a collection of biographical essays about interesting people such as philosopher Karl Jaspers, Pope John XXIII, and renowned author Isaak Dinesen/Karen Blixen, in a volume named Men in Dark Times, and who preferred to call herself a political theorist rather than a philosopher). Also known as being originally from Hanover are 2 astronomers, brother and sister, Frederick William Herschel, who apparently discovered the planet Uranus and its two major moons, Titania and Oberon, plus to other moons of the already known planet Saturn, and Caroline Lucretia Herschel, who discovered several comets, one of which, a periodical comet which orbits the Sun in 155 years, is named after her, comet 35P/Herschel- Rigollet, (Rigollet being the one who had the chance to see it from France in 1939). More recent famous people include the winner of the 2010 Eurovision contest, artist Lena, who sang the song Satellite, the musical group Scorpions, and politician Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schroder, (who would have been about 21 years old when the band Scorpions came into existence, whose father, a senior lance corporal in the Wermacht, had been killed in combat during the latter stages of WW2 on the territory of Romania, near Cluj, a few months after the birth of his son, son who would be later decorated with the Grand Cross category of the Romanian Star Order around the time he was still Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.)

Here is a video presentation of today's touristic Hanover highlights:





























fredag den 9. maj 2014

9 mai


Am citit pe wikipedia ca Ziua Victoriei (sau a Eliberarii), din 9 mai 1945 este sarbatorita astazi in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia si Herzegovina, Georgia, insulele Canalului Manecii Jersey si Guernsey, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrghizstan, statul german Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Regatul Unit, Rep Moldova, Munenegru, Rusia (Federatia Rusa), Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Prezint cateva videoclipuri muzicale marcante pt aceasta zi care mi-au placut.







In ziua de 9 mai, in Romania se sarbatoreste Ziua Declararii Independentei Romaniei de sub fostul Imperiu Otoman (1877). Si acea zi este ff importanta pt poporul vorbitor de lb romana. Daca pt Regatul Norvegia au trebuit sa treaca aproape 100 de ani de la Declararea Independentei acestui stat in 1814 pana ca el sa devina cu adevarat independent in 1905, (declaratia initiala fiind precipitata de o neplacere cauzata de perceptia unei respingeri dupa uz de catre Regatul Danemarcei, ce voia sa scape de portiunea norvegiana destul de pietroasa care-i statea in carca si sa o dea Regatului Suediei), pt Romania a durat numai 1 an, poate in parte si datorita ajutorului oferit de poporul rus impotriva turcilor, desi desigur si pt ca romanii, de fapt vorbitorii de limba romana materna, sunt oameni de obicei harnici si disciplinati daca le spui ce trebuie sa faca, si, mai ales daca sunt cat de cat cointeresabili intelectual, si ca trebuie sa o faca pentru binele hranirii sufletului lor de poeti, suflet din care ei spera sa isi hraneasca la randul lor si copiii, in mare parte chiar avand dreptate sa creada asa ceva, aceasta nefiind o pozitie chiar total naiva, doar intermitent naiva, (sau poate superficial naiva, tinand cont si de perspectivele in care sufletul unei om poate fi exterior lui, incaltandu-l mai mult sau mai putin plutitor desi chiar destul de utilitar si protector, sau, cf o imagine mai recent formal romantic clasic culta a dlui Percy Bysshe Shelley, chiar transportandu-l asa ca o corabie), insa totusi o pozitie chiar dainuitoare in literatura si arte, (chiar si de tip naiv sau folcloric, nu numai cult), domenii in care de altfel limba romana a si rezistat, chiar daca deloc in mod cumva "neaos", sau "pur", ci chiar amestecat si pestrit, insa cu atat mai autentic si mai rezilient reproductiv, uite asa exact ca firele snurului de martisor, si ca spiralele in trepte de ADN, si chiar si asa ca Coloana Infinitului a sculptorului de expresie culturala romana C-tin Brancusi, (desi dansul fiind artist formal modern a preferat culoarea gri uni asa la suprafata, insa si asta fiind important de spus in cadrul culturii sec 20, ba chiar si a 21 inca, din cand in cand.)

Desigur ca fiecare limba materna a cuiva este importanta, si nici nu doresc sa reduc unicitatea nimanui la scoarta sau covorul limbajului sau, fie el mai pufos, mai stufos, mai sapiential gutural, clincanitor, sau musculos, sau ceva mai neandertalian cranian presupus (din burta de mine) lung vocalic, si nici macar la schelele cooperativei gramatice. Plus stiu ca vremea celebrarilor si omagierii diversitatii limbilor deja a trecut, in clipa de fata altceva trecand in prim plan pe agenda mondena ONU. Doar ca eu sunt obisnuit de mic sa aud oameni vorbind in multe limbi in jurul meu, si uneori am fost curios despre ele, alteori nu, insa desigur ca in momentul de fata ma preocupa de vreme ce luni iar am lucrare de control la lb daneza.