Abstinence...

Latvian car, sincere owner!

The time has come...

...Only 4 days left to my exam! Glubs!

Europe - The Final Countdown



We're leaving together,
But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back,
To earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground
Will things ever be the same again?

It's the final countdown...

We're heading for Venus and still we stand tall
Cause maybe they've seen us and welcome us all
With so many light years to go and things to be found
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so

It's the final countdown!

Doomsday? ...Yesterday?

Oh-oh! What will this guy do now, that he failed in his predictions (third time he does)! Will he retire like Paco Rabanne when he predicted that MIR Space Station was going to fall over Paris? Mmmm... Bad stuff, predictions! When it comes to statements, it's better to talk about the past, don't you think? ;)

Did you see the rain?

I simply love this song... :)



Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have you ever seen the rain?

Someone told me long ago
There's a calm before the storm,
I know; It's been comin' for some time.
When it's over, so they say,
It'll rain a sunny day,
I know; Shinin' down like water.

I want to know,
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know,
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?

Yesterday, and days before,
Sun is cold and rain is hard,
I know; Been that way for all my time.
'Til forever, on it goes
Through the circle, fast and slow,
I know; It can't stop, I wonder.

I want to know,
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know,
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?

Yeah!

I want to know,
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know,
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?

"Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat"

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

Churchill's speech after Dunkirks' evacuation, May 26 1940.

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

Dwight D. Eisenhower's, D-Day's Preinvasion Speech to Soldiers

4 years between the two speeches... Years of blood, toil, tears and sweet, as Churchill said at the House of the Commons... That lead to a path of glory and victory...

Because today, ladies and gentlemen, is the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day, The Normandie Invasion... A day to remember, again, because, according to Churchill: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".


So, thank you very much!

Titanic's last passenger...

So, as if I was making some kinf of prophecy, yesterday, the last survivor of the Titanic sinking, died aged 97 years old... Millvina Dean was only 9 weeks old when she embarked the ship, being the youngest person aboard, so it's quite obvious she didn't remember anything about the shipwreck... However, she always thought it had shaped her life, as she ysed to say, because she was going to live in the United States, but after the death of her father in the wreck, she had to return to the United Kingdom...

In her last she was forced to sell some of her Titanic mementoes to pay her bills, just for example a canvas mailbag, relic of her rescue... Lately, some of the people involved in the filming of the multiawarded movie Titanic, like Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet or James Cameron contributed towards her care costs by donating 40.000 $ to the Millvina Fund, set up by her friends...

For her and her family, the journey began by chance. They had booked tickets to another White Star ship, but because of a coal strike, they were transfered to the Titanic...

At 11:40 PM, that 14th of April 1912, baby Millvina was asleep in her cot when her father heard a crash, woke the family and told them to dress warmly.

"It was so dreadful for my mother," Millvina later recalled. "It was heartbreaking. "She said goodbye to my father and he said he'd be along later." Millvina Dean said her father's quick actions had saved his family. He had felt the ship scrape the iceberg and hustled the family out of its room and towards the lifeboat that would take them to safety. "That's partly what saved us – because he was so quick," she explained.

A sailor bundled her into a sack and put her into lifeboat 13, which was lowered into the freezing Atlantic. It was a cold night, but after several hours Millvina, her mother Ettie, and brother Bertram were picked up by the Carpathia.

The surviving Deans returned to England aboard the liner Adriatic, Millvina being the object of some astonishment that such a tiny baby should have made it to safety. First and second class passengers on Adriatic queued to hold her, and many took photographs of her, her mother and brother, some of which accompanied breathless stories in the newspapers.

The Daily Mirror, for example, reported that Millvina "was the pet of the liner during the voyage, and so keen was the rivalry between women to nurse this lovable mite of humanity that one of the officers decreed that first and second class passengers might hold her in turn for no more than 10 minutes".

And that's all! No more witnesses of the most famous shipwreck in all history... Isn't it sad? It is very sad for me... Historians can't do nothing without people's stories... And so, this keeps happening and happening... What's next? Every soldier of Wolrd War I will die... and in Spain, all those people who had lived personally our Civil War will die... No more grandpa's stories near a bonfire... No more anecdotes, no more lap-stories to grandchildren... Only History books left... Don't misunderstand me, I love History books, but... it's not the same!

So, Requiescat in Pace, Millvina...

Aleo e poli!

This, 29th of May, is a day to remember... A day to fly, to the past... to the sacred past. Because a day like today, but 556 years ago, Constantinople fell in front of the armies of the Sultan Mehmed II... And this is the way it ended...


Some hours before the final attack, people gathered themselves in Hagia Sophia, which bells had been tolling all day long...and so, everyone was there, even the Basileus, Constantine XI... Everyone knew it was just a question of time... The walls of the city, a part of that long long wall... will fall, and then, the Jenissaurs (the Sultan's elit soldiers) would enter... and then... only destruction... And because of that, all of them were praying... But, unfortunately, praying wasn't enough. Some hours after that meeting Ottoman's armies destroyed part of the Theodosian wall, and entered the city... Chaos, mayhem... Some pople were souting on the streets, saying "Aleo e poli!", "the city is lost!"... Constantine, the last Basileus of the Last Rome died fighting in the walls, next to his subjects and brothers and sisters in pain... His body was never found and it is said, that an Angel came down from heaven and took him away, to a hidden cave... And there he is, still, waiting for the day that Byzantine armies return, to guide them and lead them, and take The City again...

So, that was the day... The day the last trace of the Roman Empire was erased by a crazy man... The day that 50.000 citizens fought bravely against an expert army of 100.000 men... A day dyed with the blood of brave Greek...This was, so, the day of The Fall of Constantinople...

"This is the night of the Greek. I've seen their sad eyes plunged into the melancholy of centuries... Outside, the bells are tolling for Dead, for the Last Rome". Mika Waltari, The Dark Angel.



Hail to the Fallen Majesty!

Īssavienojums

Sveiks!

Prāta Vētra - Īssavienojums

Cik dīvainas ir tās paralēles
Kas ved mūs pa takām kalnā
Kad tu mani trīsreiz piekrāpsi
Es pazudīšu ar salnām

Tad stāvēshu dzelzceļa malā
Turp atpakaļ vilcienus vērot
Rītdiena nekad nepienāks
Džeimsam nav par ko sērot

Ja piepildītos, kau 5 domas no 100
Tad tā pirmā par tevi, otrā par mums
3,4,5 vien atkārtojums
Tālāk skaitīt nav vērts, vien apmaldīties
Lai tie zina ka mums - Īssavienojums

Jau stundu kā bendzīns beidzies
Un kāpēc man būtu kur steigties
Ja nav nekā kam iesākties
Nekas arī nevar beidties

Un atmetot spītīgās domas
Un īpašumtiesības projām
Es saoņaini skatos debesīs
Vai tiešām reiz jāaiziet bojā?

Ja piepildītos, kau 5 domas no 100
Tad tā pirmā par tevi, otrā par mums
3,4,5 vien atkārtojums
Tālāk skaitīt nav vērts, vien apmaldīties
Lai tie zina ka mums - Īssavienojums

Ja piepildītos, kau 5 domas no 100
Tad tā pirmā par tevi, otrā par mums
3,4,5 vien atkārtojums
Tālāk skaitīt nav vērts, vien apmaldīties
Lai tie zina ka mums - Īssavienojums!

American Dream

Curious, this stuff about the American Dream... It shifts, it changes, it adapts to crisis times... and yet, in these times, more people think they've achieved the American Dream than before... Curious, isn't it? I'll leave you with this video about a national poll made by The New York Times and the CBS News.

But before, let's see Obama's latest record breaking:

Now, enjoy!

The Turn of a Friendly Card

Some music today? Double Post!

Alan Parsons is a music engineer, which started to work at Abbey Road Studios when he was 18. He's also responsible of the making of "The Dark Side of the Moon", by Pink Floyd.


His band, The Alan Parsons Project, released many albums and had some hits, just like Eye in the Sky, this one, and one of my favourites:

Don't think sorry's easily said
Don't try turning tables instead
You've taken lots of Chances before
But I'm not gonna give anymore
Don't ask me
That's how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you're thinkin'

Don't say words you're gonna regret
Don't let the fire rush to your head
I've heard the accusation before
And I ain't gonna take any more
Believe me
The sun in your Eyes
Made some of the lies worth believing

I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind

Don't leave false illusions behind
Don't Cry cause I ain't changing my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain't gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the Signs are deceiving

I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind...




But, as this is a double post, I'll choose another Alan Parsons' song, my favourite in fact... For me, one of the best songs ever... Specially the ending, which is simply epic! It's The Turn of a Friendly Card, divided in two parts, and extracted from the namesake album, a thematic album about gambling. And so, this is the song! Be patient and listen to it until the end!

Part I

There are unsmiling faces and bright plastic chains
And a wheel in perpetual motion
And they follow the races and pay out the gains
With no show of an outward emotion

And they think it will make their lives easier
For God knows up till now it's been hard
But the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
No the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card

There's a sign in the desert that lies to the west
Where you can't tell the night from the sunrise
And not all the king's horses and all the king's men
Have prevented the fall of the unwise

And they think it will make their lives easier
For God knows up till now it's been hard
But the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
No the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card

But a pilgrim must follow in search of a shrine
As he enters inside the cathedral...



Part II

There are unsmiling faces in fetters and chains
On a wheel in perpetual motion
Who belong to all races and answer all names
With no show of an outward emotion

And they think it will make their lives easier
But the doorway before them is barred
And the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
No the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card...



For me, simply Amazing!

Cold Snap

Hi! You may not know me, but I'm quite famous indeed! I'm more than 15.000 years old (much older than my Nemesis), but I became famous quite recently, I'd say! It was a slow journey... 50 years to separate from my ancestors, then 3 more years travelling more than 3.000 Km., to be just in the place I was destined to be... And that's a lot, bearing in mind that only 1% of my kind goes that far towards the South. How am I? Well... I'd say I'm quite special! Only 2 or 3 of my kind are produced every year! Some people said I was 30 m. tall and 120 m. wide... But I woulnd't believe people in shock, frankly! And, even though, they didn't see me! Of course, I was staring at them... But I was so invisible... No wonder they didn't...

But I did... And I remember clearly that night... 14th of April, 1912... So peaceful, so dark... So difficult to foresee... Those lights in the distance, like an entire city coming my way... Me, floating unrelenting towards our rendezvous. And then, in a blink, that creepy sound... Iron bending and twisting... almost screaming... water flowing... And suddenly, people screaming, bells, flares... panic! People immersing theirselves in the ocean, to not come up again, distant prayers... I guess I also heard the song "Nearer, my God to thee", but I'm not really sure... But, quite appropriate, isn't it? And then, lights disappeared, and only sound remained... It took some time, but the lightful city finally disappeared in the sea... and only the screams remaind, crying for help... But a lot of people didn't get help and died there, frozen... floating without course... just like me... But I don't feel bad about that... After all... I'm just an iceberg! Maybe this iceberg:

Or this one:


This is just another way of telling that, that 15th of April, 1912, the most famous ship of all times, the Titanic, sank after hitting an iceberg. 1.517 people died that night, only 706 survived... Nowadays, there's only one alive survivor of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, but she was only two months old at the time of the sinking, so I don't think she remembers nothing about it... But it's nice we do remember about it, don't you think?

Year of Wonders

Curious but real is the history of Eyam during the Plague, in 1666.

Eyam's an English village in Derbyshire, England (my beloved England), but it's also known as the "Plague village". Why?

The medieval Plague arrived to Europe from Constantinople through the Mediterranean Sea, and spread quickly accross the continent during the XIV Century. You, Catalans, suffered it specially that year 1348.


There are some curiosities about the Plague, also called Black Death because of the black-purple buboes of the diseased. In the beginning, medieval doctors thought the disease spread through the air (That's why some of them called it "The Great Pestilence", similar to the Spanish name), and so, one of the means they used to fight against it was burning some kind of scented herbs, to "clean" the air. They also used that typical masks you've surely seen in some medieval draws, to keep their noses far from the patients, dead or alive. Nowadays, we know that is caused by a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis, which spread by fleas thanks to other animals like the black rat.

And even if it wasn't a "new" disease, and was quite known before (it's believed that Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius died because of Plague in 180 A.D., in Vindobona -No, not strangled by his son Commodus), this was a horrible epidemic that killed almost the 50% of European population... in 4 years! And more than 75.000.000 in the 14th Century.

...But forgive me again! I start talking about something and then I end up with other subject! We were talking about Eyam!


So, long story short, the Plague reached Eyam in 1665, brought in a flea-infested bundle of cloth delivered to the taylor George Viccars, from London (you can see the entrance of his house in the previous picture)... who was the first to die, within a week. When people started to die, apparently without reason, they all turned -of course- to the priest of the town, looking for some answers. And so, the Reverend William Mompesson decided to take some precautions to slow the spread of the illness... One of them, for example, was to celebrate the church services outdoor, in a place called Cucklett Delf, to allow the assistants to separate themselves, reducing the risk of getting infected.


But, the most famous decission, and the one which made this town so popular was to self-isolate themselves to prevent the spreading of the Plague disease to other towns. And so, for 16 months, nobody entered or left Eyam. Families were forced to bury their own dead, and trades with other towns were made in a non-presential way, leaving money and the goods (food, medicines, etc.) in a place called nowadays "Mompesson's Well", where the water was believed to "clean" the coins from the disease... However, they also used vinegar.


When they finally decided to put an end to the quarantine, already in 1666, there were only 83 alive villagers, out of a population of 350. And so, not a pattern of infection could be established. For instance, Elizabeth Hancock never became ill, but she buried her 6 children and her husband in 8 days. Ah! The unofficial undertaker didn't die, either.

But why "Year of Wonders"? 2 reasons: The first, that's the name of an interesting historical novel about Eyam's case, written by Geraldine Brooks. The other, a poem written by the English poet John Dryden, in 1667... Because he believed that 1666 was really a year of wonders, "Annus Mirabilis"... Really? Plague... The Great Fire of London (with Capital Letters)... Wonders? Dryden chose to interpret the absence of greater disaster as miraculous intervention by God... That's a nice lesson for these times of crisis, don't you think?

However, it was really a "Year of Wonders" to Newton, who saw an apple falling from a tree, got inspired and formulated his theory of gravitation.

Uncanny Stories...

Once upon a time, in the 19th Century, there was a man in Honey Grove, Texas, called Henry Ziegland. One fine day, in 1893 (Old stuff!), this nice man decides to walk out of his girlfriend, who committs suicide. But then, the brother of that subbed lady, tried to avenge his sister by shooting Henry... Missing the shot! The bullet barely injured Henry, grazing his face and getting encrusted on a tree behind him, but that brother thought he was dead and so, thinking himself (and his sister) avenged, ended his own life with the same weapon.

20 years after that, Henry decides to remove that same tree of his property and so, tries to saw it... But, unable to do that manually, he decides to use some dynamite. In the explosion, that bullet which had originally been intended for Ziegland, became dislodged with such a catapulting jolt that it was shot violently into Ziegland's head, killing him at last...

And the most strange thing is, this story's regarded to be true...This is what we call a Serendipity, an unexpected discovery or action, fruit of a big big big coincidence.

A lot of discoveries in the history had been fruit of some serendipities... Albert Einstein, for instance, recognized some of his findings were serendipities... Niels Bohr spent several time thinking how atoms were. One night he saw in a dream a possible shape of the atom, and he drew it on a paper... When he finally found out the configuration of the atom he realized it was just exactly the same as the one he draw previously. According to Umberto Eco, Columbus discovery of America was a serendipity!


And, this is one of my favourites! In 1898, Morgan Robertson -a well-known short stories American writer- wrote the book Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. It's the story about a huge ship, called Titan, which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg... Is it familiar? Yes! Robertson described one of the most famous shpiwrecks of the history, the RMS Titanic, 14 years before happening! And even if he wrote the novel long before the Olimpic-class Titanic had even been designed, he described some of the features of the ship and the wreck:

- The Titanic was the world's largest luxury ship (882 feet, displacing 66,000 tons), and was once described as being (nearly) "unsinkable".The Titan was the largest ship and the greatest of the works of men (800 feet, displacing 75,000 tons), and was considered "indestructible".

- They both were launched from Southampton in April.

- The Titan and the Titanic carried less than half the number of lifeboats needed (Titanic 20, Titan 24).

- They both crashed with an iceberg, 400 miles away from Terranova, on an April night.

- In both cases, more than half of their passengers (Titanic 2207, Titan 2500) died screaming for help.

Curious, huh?

More Irish stuff...

This is a traditional Irish song, about a highwayman who's betrayed by his own wife or lover... There are a lot of versions of it, but I do really prefer this, Thin Lizzy's one, Metallica's version. If you want to know more aobut this song, visit Wikipedia:

Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

As I was going over the Cork and Kerry mountains
I saw Captain Farrell and his money he was counting
I first produced my pistol and then produced my rapier
I said “stand and deliver or the devil he may take you”

Yeah

I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny
I took all of his money, yeah, and I brought it home to Molly
She swore that she’d love me, no, never would she leave me
But the devil take that woman, yeah, for you know she tricked me easy

Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There’s whiskey in the jar-o

Being drunk and weary I went to Molly’s chamber
Taking money with me and I never knew the danger
For about six or maybe seven, yeah, in walked Captain Farrell
I jumped up, fired my pistols, and I shot him with both barrels, yeah

Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da, yeah-yeah
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There’s whiskey in the jar-o

Yeah, whiskey
Yo-ooh, whiskey

Yo-ooh, yeah, ooh
Yo-oo-ooh, yeah

Now some men like the fishing and some men like the fowling
And some men like to hear, to hear the cannonball a-roaring
Me I like sleeping, especially in my Molly’s chamber
But here I am in prison, here I am with a ball and chain, yeah

Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da, yeah-yeah
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There’s whiskey in the jar-o, yeah

Whiskey in the jar-o, yeah

Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da
Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da, hey
Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da
Musha rain dum-a-do-dum-a-da
Yeah

No leaf clover!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my Irish fellows!

Just remember, if you want to swim today in a river... You can find it's totally green! Take care!


That's just what they do in Chicago, since 1961: dying the Hudson river of this Irish green colour. And the thing is, they found out how to do that by chance! Some plumbers discovered that the dye they used to detect leaks into the river turned green, not just any color green, but the perfect color green! And so, they decided to use that to surprise the public in St.Patrick's Day!

Slán leat!