Ecco subito aggiornato il geotag

Sono tornato a Roma dopo 12 ore di autobus: ho dormito quasi bene stavolta.

Peccato per il film hanno messo stavolta un film di Pieraccioni orrendo, come tutti gli altri, quello fastidiosssimo dove parla tutto il tempo con lo spettatore nel suo odioso toscano spiegando la sua visione del matrimonio. Insieme a Sconsy o comecavolosichiama, che non c’entra una cippa con il film però evidentemente in quel periodo era reduce dal successo di zelig e andava messa di traverso nel film, dove appunto interpreta il suo personaggio e basta. Un capolavoro ancora purtroppo non compreso.

Io intanto ascoltavo altro sull’ipod.

Cari autisti della SAIS: ma perchè mettete sempre gli stessi film? L’altra volta, all’andata, mi avete stupito invece, mettendo due prime visioni: La Matassa, anche se in realtà ero l’unico nell’autobus a non averlo visto, ed era pure in tema per quelli che viaggiano in sicilia, ed avete pure messo “Si può fare” che è davvero un bel film (lì però ero l’unico ad averlo visto). Per la prossima volta fatemi vedere Baaria che tanto al cinema di mio non ci andrò mai a vederlo e dura tanto così il viaggio passa più velocemente, oltre ad essere pieno di siciliani e sicilia.

About Author: Mr. Khalid Hashmani is a Washington DC-based veteran human rights activist. He is the founding President of Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) and Chief coordinator of Sindhi Excellence Team (SET) that participates in advocacy activities on behalf of rural Sindhi.

Khalid Hashmani

Author’s note – Last Tuesday (September 15), SAIS organized a presentation by Dr. Zaidi (introduced him as as one of Pakistan’s leading political Economists) on the topic of multiple identities of Pakistan and how Pakistanis increasingly feel that they belong to the Middle Eastern region and not to South Asia. There were several interesting comments from the professor who ignored Sindh and Sindhis all together in his presentation and pretended that Karachi was a separate unit from Sindh. My impressions on this presentation and follow-up question and answer session are shared below.

By: Khalid Hashmani

Washington DC. September 12, 2009 – This week a senior leadership team of MQM headed by General Musharraf, Governor of Sindh, and Mayor of Karachi accompanied by a large cast supporting delegations is visiting Washington DC. Their mission is to secure a lion’s share of recently allocated US Aid. This team also includes Dr. S. Akbar Zaidi, who is well connected to US think-tank organizations. Last Tuesday (September 15), Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) organized a presentation by Dr. Zaidi (introducing him as one of Pakistan’s leading political Economists) on the topic of multiple identities of Pakistan and how Pakistanis increasingly feel that they belong to the Middle Eastern region.

According to Dr. Zaidi, although Pakistan has not changed its borders in the last 38 years, it is undergoing a marked identity change. In a way, there are competitive tendencies between its South Asian identity and Muslim identity. Pushing further, Dr. Zaidi said that in a way Pakistan had been excavated from South Asia and placed in the Middle East region.

In the first part of his presentation, Dr. Zaidi explained that the term “South Asia” was created by the US State department for an area that used to be known as Indo-Pak subcontinent few years ago. He added that Pakistanis seem to be very proud of the fact that their country has been part of several civilizations and feel in varying degrees to belong to Middle East, South Asia or Central Asia. Not only that, but because of being a neighbor of China, they feel affinity with Chinese Muslims and also consider to have been influenced by Chinese Civilization. There is even a confusion in some international organizations on the question of identity of Pakistan. He gave the example of World Health Organization (WHO) which lists Pakistan in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.

Commenting on the “official” point of view, he said increasingly, Pakistani officials are branding Pakistan as a Middle Eastern country with focus on its “Muslim” heritage. When dealing with Chinese, they cite the impact of Chinese civilization to promote business relations with China. He called this as “Multi-polar identity” for the sake of profit making and said that these aspects have increased identity crisis among Pakistanis. He questioned as to who has the right to decide whether Pakistan was a South Asian, Central Asian, or Middle Eastern country?

Emphasizing the “identity” changes in India and Pakistan, Dr. Zaidi said that people in both countries view their identities differently. He continued pressing this point by adding that even in India the liberal view that Pakistan belongs to South Asia is rooted in their sadness due to breakup of Punjab and largely confined to North India and as well as migration of large number of Indians to Pakistan and vice versa. He said “partition” is now genuinely celebrated in both India and Pakistan. The fear of Pakistanis is that in a South Asian association, India would be dominant player is a factor that is pushing Pakistanis towards their Muslim identity. Dr Zaidi said that the Pakistani establishment, which is mainly composed of senior military officers believes that the notion of “South Asia” was miss-construed as it implies India’s dominance where Pakistan is marginalized. The establishment thinks that now that they too are a nuclear power, they should be treated and considered equal to India. He added that in fact India is changing too – India is becoming more Hindu India as Pakistan is becoming more Muslim Pakistan.

Talking about major ethnic groups and provinces of Pakistan, he said that despite “Sarhadi Ghandi”, whose role is largely exaggerated, people living in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) feel more closer to Kabul than to the rest of Pakistan. He said that Baloch trace their history in a totally different direction and do not think that they have anything to do with Asia. He continued that is is only Punjabis and Mohajirs who feel that they belong to “South Asia”. Dr. Zaidi emphasized by saying that “in fact Pushtun and Baloch would contest being part of South Asia.”

Dr. Zaidi did not mention Sindh and Sindhis until a member from audience pointed that out and expressed disappointed for Dr. Zaidi’s failure to talk about the sufi and non-violent Sindhis whose civilization has survived for thousands of years. The same member of audience also criticized the failure of Mohajirs to assimilate with Sindhis. Dr. Zaidi said that Mohajirs and Sindhis will never be able to bridge their difference and are in fact diverging further. Another member of audience then told Dr. Zaidi that Karachi will always remain part of Sindh and increasingly become Sindhi even if Mohajirs refused to learn Sindhi language as more and more Pathans will start learning Sindhi and adapt Sindhi as their first language as the earlier migration of Pathans did.

Talking about economics and migration, Dr. Zaidi said that some say that Pakistan is a Middle Eastern country as many Pakistanis have migrated to to UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other gulf countries. He continued that old “Karachi-Bombay” business hub is being replaced by “Karachi-Dubai” business hub. He said that Urdu had become second language in Middle East. He backtracked from this argument in the Question-Answer session, when a member of audience pointed out that more Indians than Pakistanis had migrated to the Gulf region and what he said about spread of Urdu in these countries was in fact the use of Hindi language as Indian films had been popular in that region for decades.

Talking about civilian-and-military interests in Pakistan, he said the perception of Pakistani military was that the military would end up loosing its clout if relations between India and Pakistan improved. It is for this reason that they have always sabotaged civilian regimes whenever they tried to have good relations with India. He said many Pakistanis feel that Pakistan is ruled by Saudi Arabia and the USA. The visits by Pakistani civilian leaders such as General Musharraf and Mr. Nawaz Sharif to seek intervention of Saudis on their behalf in Pakistan is an indication of that influence.

An 11th hour intercession by the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the sale of Chrysler to Fiat. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg apparently provided the motivation for the deal in a short statement. The move follows weeks of protests by a group of Indiana state pension and construction funds that own a piece of Chrysler’s secured debt. The government has been heavily pushing this deal through also as a way to smooth the bankruptcy of GM, which took place last week. This last minute action by the Court was a surprise to many. A number of bond holders had been strongly protesting the agreement, stating that they had not been given a fair shake. It is likely that the deal will go through at the end of the day but also interesting that the Court made a similar move at this time. The Obama administration has been going full steam on the auto industry bailouts over the past months. The Italians haven’t made any statements yet about the Court’s decision.

In other news, the European elections were held this weekend in member states of the European Union. The center-right parties in most countries, including Italy, prevailed as did some of the most racist and xenophobic parties and candidates. The biggest losers were the socialist parties which fared very poorly with the except of Greece. The percentage of voters was also quite low by European standards, about 43%. The move to the Center-right is not surprising in these dire economic times but does strikingly contrast with America’s last elections. While the future of Europe is not in doubt, this low voter turnout is not a good sign.

Interestingly, at a reunion over the weekend of alumni from the SAIS Bologna Center, much of the talk was about European integration and whether it had been a success following the fall of the Berlin Wall. One professor in particular mentioned that the cost of integration had been the lack of expenditure in research and development and innovation. It was an interesting and provocative idea.

Another professor mentioned that for the first time in its history, a majority of Europeans are not keen on the European Union. These last elections give pause for thought. Communicating across all the nations of the EU is quite difficult but it does seem that there has not been a true, process of integration.

One place where there has been very successful European integration is at Cafebabel.com, an online magazine of the Babel International association. It was started in 2001 mainly by Erasmus students. It gives interesting information and shows what a united Europe could look like.

I found this interview with the Director of German weekly Die Zeit informative for what it says about the possibility of integration in Europe and leaves out.

Photo of the day – Hudson River

This article orginally appeared on Altacucina Society’s website.

On my recent trip to Italy, I focused on tasting a maximum number of dessert wines, I found the passito version of Albana di Romagna to be interesting and unknown, at least to me. What I discovered with pleasure is that Albana is renowned for its honey, apricot, spice and magnolia flavors. It ages very gracefully and can keep for anywhere between six to 10 years.

Albana hails from Emilia Romagna, a region in Northern Italy, that is home to a significant number of indigenous grape varieties, many of which are largely unknown to the American public. Albana di Romagna was the first Italian white wine to achieve DOCG status. Many disagreed with this choice, stating that it was not up to the task but nonetheless, it was given the denomination in 1987.

I lived in Bologna, an amazing and beatiful city when I went to graduate school at SAIS but I have no recollection of drinking Albana di Romagna passito. Bland white wine, ostensibly made from Albana, yes but not a delicious passito. Bologna is a fabulous place to live and has much to recommend it including the food, the stores, the museums, the streets, the “portici”, the cafes, the market, the opera and the University. Insomma, it is a gem of a city. You can also find Albana more easily in that neck of the woods.

Albana di Romagna has a very long history and is often said to have been the favorite wine of Galla Placidia, Theodosius II’s daughter who is supposed to have tasted it in 435 A.D. Her mausoleum in Ravenna is one of the gems of Roman architecture. While there is no way to verify that she actually tried Albana di Romagna, it was mentioned in an Agricultural treatise in 1300 A.D by Pier de Crescenzi of Bologna.

The grape is grown all over the region from Bologna to Rimini but plantings are concentrated near the cities of Forli-Cesena, Ravenna, Bertinoro and Bologna. There are a number of different clones of Albana.

Generally it is grown on hills where it is subject to winds from the Adriatic Sea, rain from the Appenines and humidity from nearby rivers. It grows well on limestone soils with marine organic materials.

Albana is made into a variety of styles including secco, amabile, dolce, and passito. Albana can also be a made into a sparkling wine but it can use only the DOC denomination for the sparkling version. Albana is a relatively light bodied grape variety with good acidity. It also can contain considerable residual sugar and therefore is well suited to the sweeter styles of wine made from it. While the dry, off-dry versions of this wine are not considered to be that worthy of note, the passito is another story.

Producers have a lot of leeway in the way that they produce Albana di Romagna passito which is not usually the case. Generally production rules, especially for DOCG wines are very strict and meticulous. Instead for Albana di Romagna, producers can choose their method to dry the grapes. It can be done either on the vine, in small boxes, on wooden grates, or indoors using air. The wine can be vinified in wooden barriques or in stainless steel. The length of time for vinification is also not specified. The one rigid piece of the legislation governing the production of Albana di Romagna wine is the date that it is sold on the market. It must be on the market by September 1 of the year following the harvest for the entry level passito and on December 1 of the year following the harvest for the Riserva passito.

Some of the most famous producers of these wines include Umberto Cesari (Colle del Re), Fattoria Monticino Rosso, Leone Conti, Zerbina, and Baciami. The wines are imported by Opici Wine Co., Martin Scott Wines, JK Imports, Michael Skurnick Wines, and John Given Wines, respectively. Many of the most famous Italian brands are not currently available in the U.S.

Super Kid Sais is the name, which I use as music composer. I wanted to have a catchy name  as a musician; and I like super hero stuffs, as well as kid stuffs, so chose Super Kid Sais. Also, it’s SKS, standing for Super Kid Sais as well as my official full name Shishir Kumar Singh.

Music is my real passion and I see music as my 1st choice for professional career. New Age, Western Classical, Smooth Jazz, Lounge and Soft Pop are in my good list. I like music of all type though, depending on the individual track, but Rock, Hip Hop, Metal are in my bad list.

As a composer I want to make music of  every genre. And some of self made genres too.

Yanni, A R Rahman, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Lucky Ali etc are my most favourites in music. And many New Age, Smooth Jazz, Lounge musicians whom I listen on www.sky.fm also.

If  you have any spare time, please have a try on my music tracks:

http://ilike.com/artist/Super+Kid+Sais

I’m still waiting to getting a good chance to join music school in Europe or Americas. And to lost totally in world of music.

I am just finishing my second semester of Chinese language study.  I love the language, and commit a substantial amount of time each week to learning.  Last semester, a combination of great teaching and a helpful study partner (Hao Hao) sent me leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of my class.  Even though I missed a lot of class time due to illness, and laziness, I ended up on top of the language.

Last semester we used a variety of different tools including spoken words, practice of phrases, and sentence construction to understand grammar.  This was perfect, because it combined the numerous styles of learning and allowed all students to do more than just memorize – we LEARNED.  This style, which was taught to our teacher when she earned her degree in language retention was perfect for the many levels and speeds of learning that our class had.

Unfortunately, this semester has been a different story.  Our class had a new instructor, who used a very different teaching style.  It seems language teachers from an older school of thought feel it necessary to memorize vocabulary and sentences to learn a language.  Unfortunately, this style of learning is very difficult, and doesn’t mesh well with most people’s retention styles.

When it was clear that our class did not memorize the vocabulary, we spent a substantial amount of class time going over vocabulary with the hopes of memorizing the words.  This was useless and wasted a large portion of our learning time.  Unfortunately, the more we got behind, the more frustrated the teacher got.  We pulled ourselves into a vicious cycle, and I’m ending this semester feeling that I didn’t learn a single thing.

What changed in language teaching recently that has restructured the styles of thought?  How do you tell a teacher you aren’t learning from his style of teaching?  These questions are difficult ones to answer, and our class struggled the entire semester.  Although we were all eager to learn, the combination of our own frustrations and the teachers lowered expectations and inefficient teaching style left us all in the dust.

I hope, that next semester I can approach my Chinese class with knowledge of my learning strengths and weaknesses.  Because I am so behind, I worry that I won’t be able to catch up.  This is a scary thought, but it is clear that I will have to teach myself in order to figure out the language on my own.

Right now, I feel humiliated and frustrated.  Even though I spent more hours each week working through homework assignments then I spent on any other class, I know that I have learned less than I did in my first semester when I lazily swept through the material.

I had the occasion to see Il Divo about Former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti for the second time this evening. I first saw it last year in Milan and was very taken with it. The film by Paolo Sorrentino gives an interesting view on a very complex figure, Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti was Prime Minister of Italy seven times and is currently a Senator for Life. He was also accused, convicted and acquitted on conspiracy, corruption and murder charges during the last 20 years. As perhaps the most influential Italian politician of the last 50 years, any student of Italian politics and business should not miss this film. When I was in graduate school in Bologna at SAIS, (Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Affairs), my favorite class was one on Italian politics held by Gianfranco Pasquino. Discussing the film last week with a mentor and colleague in public relations in New York, he rightly said it was very much inside baseball. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of studying Italian politics, I suggest a quick reading of political happenings in Italy from 1960s to 1992. If you have no time to do any reading before the movie, surely it will pique your curiosity to read up about Andreotti and Italy after the film. Films like this one don’t come to the United States too often so I highly suggest making the effort to see it.

Photo of the day – Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

Altare della Patria

The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family with about 375 living languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Southwest Asia, and parts of the Sahel (including some 300 million speakers) of (Arabic Dialects). Afro-Asiatic also includes several ancient languages, such as Ancient Egyptian, Biblical Hebrew, and Akkadian.

The term “Afroasiatic” was coined by Maurice Delafosse (1914). It did not come into general use until it was adopted by Joseph Greenberg (1950) to replace the earlier term “Hamito-Semitic“, following his demonstration that Hamitic is not a valid language family.

The Hamitic family is located in Nile Valley’s Land of Ham, example. (Cush/ Nubia/ Egypt and West Asia).

The name is now most often spelled “Afro-Asiatic”, though both spellings are in use. Some replace “Afro-Asiatic” with “Afrasian”. I myself often utter plain “ol’ Asiatic !”

Though i sometimes prefer,  Afri-Asiatic-West Asian Individual scholars have called the family “Erythraean” (Tucker 1966) and “Lisramic” (Hodge 1972).

The term “Hamito-Semitic” remains in use in the academic traditions of some European countries. Afro-Asiatic is one of the four language families of Africa identified by Joseph Greenberg in his book The Languages of Africa (1963). It is the only one that extends outside of Africa, via the Semitic branch.

There are no generally accepted relations between Afro-Asiatics and any other language family.

The name  ”AFRICA “ came into Western use through the Romans…   it is not the native name.

The “Original people of AfRICA” never referred to it by that name.

Africa/Egypt was called

” Ta-Meri/ Ta-mery = ታመርይ,”…  ”Kampt /Kemit/kmt = ክምት ,”… or  ”Sais = ሳኢስ“… by  Ancient Asiatic inhabitants…

The Romans used the name Africa terra — “land of the Afri” (plural, or “Afer” singular) — for the northern part of the continent,

“The North Africa Sahara” as the province of “Africa” with its capital “Carthage”, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.

The origin of Afer may either come from:

Phoenician `afar, dust; 
-the Afri, a tribe—possibly Berber—who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area; 
-the Greek word aphrike, meaning without cold; 
-or the Latin word aprica, meaning sunny.

The Moorish historian Leo Africanus (1495-1554) attributed the origin to the Greek word phrike (φρικε, meaning “cold and horror”),

combined with the negating prefix a-, so meaning, a land free of cold and horror. But the change of sound from ph to f in Greek is datable to about the first century,

so this cannot really be the origin of the name…

Egypt was considered part of  ”ASIA” by the “Ancients,” and first assigned to “Africa” by the geographer Ptolemy (85 – 165 AD)

, who accepted Alexandria as Prime Meridian and made the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the “boundary” between Asia and Africa.

As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge.

Afri (singular, Afer) was the Latin name for an ancient people located on the shores of the southern Mediterranean Sea near the city of Carthage, nowadays Tunisia.

The first record of their existence was made during the Punic Wars (264-146 BC) between ancient Rome and Carthage. The name may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in other Semitic languages), or with Berber `ifri, cave. The classical historian Flavius Josephus asserted that the region had been invaded by descendants of Abraham’s grandson Epher, who gave it their name.

ቢልልይ  ጋምበላ

Lunch date today with JW was nice. Not too absorbed in him, and he had forgotten some discussion points from our first date. We sat in the park at McPherson Square and he reminded me how important it would be to give my leftovers to a homeless person. Good guy.

Best part: He was in a suit, and I looked cute as a casual 10 years his junior.

Worst part: We couldn’t stay longer. And I am worried he drinks too much given how much he talks about drinking.

Lessons learned: There is great benefit to being on even ground with someone.

Next steps: We’ll see each other next week if he gets in touch after being out of town. I suspect he will, but you never know! For now, DF tomorrow, PR the next day, ladies night tonight!!

Un avatar blogosferic al triadei Pleşu-Liiceanu-Patapevici mă învinuia  că propag zalmoxismul şi tracismul. Dar trebuie început studiul istoriei cu lectura atentă din Herodot. Unde scrie despre Zalmoxis. Ce este zalmoxismul? Legătura vechii noastre civilizaţii tracice cu valorile de civilizaţie universalistă din dinastia saitică. Din “renaşterea saitică”. Thales din Milet şi Pitagora vizitează Sais. Nu ştim dacă Zalmoxis a fost la Sais. Istoria spune doar că Zalmoxis a fost sclavul lui Pitagora, care a primit învăţătura la Sais. Corăbiile milesienilor făceau legătura între Delta Nilului şi Delta Dunării. În Vechiul Testament, dar şi în Noul Testament este amintit Sais, oraş aflat în “delta biblicelor sinte”, cum scrie Mihai Eminescu, cel blamat de revista DILEMA şi de HR Papapievici. Realmente scrierile lui Mihai Eminescu sunt dificile! De altminteri în GENIU PUSTIU el avertizează că gramatica generativă (desigur, nu foloseşte termenul inventat  de Chomsky, doar semnificaţia lui)  produce la început un discurs românesc pentru privilegiaţi. Nicolae Densuşianu a fost primul cărturar român care a citit în grila corectă Epigonii. Dar şi pe Novalis (Discipolii la Sais), precum şi pe Dimitrie Bolintineanu (Conrad). Din cauza aceasta, el leagă miturile care descriu Delta Nilului, de miturile care descriu Delta Dunării. Şi compune un mit nou (după David Hume, miturile descriu realitatea), chemat “Dacia preistorică”. În fine, mai sunt Cassiodor şi Iordanes. Care descriu fenomenul ’socii’-alizării traco-daco-moesilor şi ilirilor. ‘Socii’-alizare numită prescurtat tracism.

Titus Filipas

JW finally got me after some phone tag. He’s a fast talker and wants to meet up for drinks next week. Not sure why he keeps asking to get drinks, but I’ll take it step by step, try my best to communicate that we’ll likely never drink together.

Best part: We finally connected, though it took almost a week for him to call after our street corner meeting.

Worst part: We’re going to touch base early next week to figure out how to meet up early next week. Kind of up in the air.

Lessons learned: Baby steps are steps nonetheless.

Next steps: See what happens when we chat early next week.

Según relata el filósofo y estadista griego Platón (427-347 a.C.) en sus diálogos Timeo y Critias, hace 12.000 años, al oeste de las Columnas de Hércules (el Estrecho de Gibraltar) había un Estado insular llamado Atlántida, cuya civilización desapareció bajo el mar con el continente en que habitaba. Cuenta que la avidez de poder de esta civilización desató la guerra con los atenienses, mientras que el resto de los griegos se habían doblegado ante poderoso contrincante, los atenienses lograron vencerles y liberar a los esclavos del pueblo atlántico. Hace alrededor de 9.000 años, la furia de Zeus ocasionó violentos terremotos e inundaciones, todos los atenienses en edad de guerrear fueron tragados por la tierra y la Atlántida desapareció bajo las aguas del océano. Hasta aquí la narración de Platón, que aseguraba que estaba basada en lo narrado a su vez por el sabio Solón (639-559 a.C.) un escriba del templo había relatado la historia a Solón en Sais, la capital del Bajo Egipto. No se sabe cuáles eran las fuentes de los egipcios, cuya civilización surgió 5.000 años después del supuesto hundimiento de la Atlántida. Platón es el único autor del que se conoce algún relato acerca de la Atlántida. Según el zoólogo británico Philip Sclater (1829-1913), Lemuria fue una franja de tierra que hace siglos conectaba la isla de Madagascar con la India. Llegó a esta conclusión porque son las dos únicas regiones donde viven lémures; dado que estos mamíferos primates no habitan en los otros territorios que se extienden entre África oriental y la India. La teoría de Sclater fue refutada a principios del siglo XX, después de que no fueran halladas pruebas arqueológicas del fragmento de tierra perdido; no obstante, su observación fue utilizada como prueba de la teoría de la tectónica de placas. Algunos grupos esotéricos atribuyeron a Lemuria las mismas cualidades que a la Atlántida. Lemuria puede considerarse un lugar de leyenda, pese a que la teoría de la tectónica de placas no ha sido demostrada con absoluta certeza. Mu fue un continente que a diferencia de la Atlántida se hundió bajo las aguas del Pacífico. James Churchward lo describió como un país con una cultura muy desarrollada que fue aniquilada junto con su continente por una erupción volcánica hace 50.000 años. Churchward no fue el primero que hacía mención de Mu, ya que el abate francés Charles-Etienne Braseur de Bourbourg ya había hecho pública su teoría acerca del continente sumergido en 1864. Como fuente mencionó el Códice Troano que él mismo había traducido. Junto a la mítica Atlántida y Lemuria, dice la leyenda que en el extremo meridional de la India existió también una isla o continente sumergido, supuestamente bajo el Océano Índico que se llamaba Kumari Kandam. Existen muchas más ciudades legendarias con sus defensores y detractores. Se dice que en los continentes africanos y americanos existieron antaño ciudades e incluso países a los que se les atribuye una gran riqueza en oro. Durante siglos se han emprendido expediciones sin resultados concretos para encontrar El Dorado, Cibola, Quivira, Ofir, Piru, Punt y algunos más. También Shambhala, capital de Agharta, legendario país situado en las montañas del Himalaya, según la tradición budista. Unos afirman que es real, mientras otros consideran que sólo existe en la mente. También en el Himalaya, cuenta la leyenda que existe un lugar idílico llamado Sangrilá donde sus habitantes han alcanzado la eterna juventud. ¿serán Shambhala y Sangrilá el mismo lugar? Avalón (isla de las manzanas) es un lugar situado en el Otro Mundo según la saga artúrica. Todas las versiones coinciden en que el Otro Mundo es un lugar místico e irreal equiparable a un sueño en el que se puede actuar conscientemente, repercutiendo en la realidad. Según la leyenda sólo un reducido círculo de personas tenían acceso a Avalón; aparte de Morgana Le Fay y sus ocho hermanas, las moradoras de la Casa de las Vírgenes y las criadas de Merlín. Fuera de ellos eran muy pocos los elegidos que podían entrar en aquel lugar. La leyenda describe dos caminos de acceso a Avalón, uno era por agua, pero había que saber cómo llamar a la barca y a la tripulación; el otro era por tierra y sólo lo conocían los habitantes de Avalón. Dicen que hubo quien logró llegar después de tomar el camino por error. Uno de los requisitos indispensables para acceder a Avalón era la niebla. Tenía fama de ser una isla apacible con poderes curativos, donde Morgana Le Fay y sus hermanas dominaban el arte de la medicina. En ciertos relatos se habla de heridos que habían sido rescatados por ellas con la ayuda del barquero Barinthus para sanarlos y, así fue como llegó Arturo a la isla. (texto extraído del libro Enigmas de la Humanidad)

with Christopher Chivvis, in: Survival, 2009, 51, 2, p. 105-122.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, many American observers expected that the new Germany would more or less follow in the strong Atlanticist tradition of the old West Germany and its Conservative leadership in particular. A rejuvenated, reunited Germany is now seeking a more prominent role in international affairs, but its foreign policy is evolving away from the staunch Atlanticism that predominated during the Cold War. Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany unquestionably sees the United States as a crucial ally, but also sees Russia as an inevitable partner for the stability of the European order. The bottom line for most German leaders is that the isolation of Russia is unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs. It would deprive the West of its few remaining economic levers over Russian policy and leave Europe and the United States with only cruder means of influencing Russian behaviour. Meanwhile, Russian nationalism and even militarism could accelerate. The sense that Germany has become Russia’s last strong link with the West only intensifies German concern, driving German leaders to redouble their efforts to maintain good relations.

Read more (.pdf)

Thanks once again to sgmagicidol for uploading our illusion performance from episode 4 of Five Stars Carnival!

This episode was all about ‘Magic Babe’ as she took the dominant lead in the performance of this illusion. She opened with her dexterous “Dance of the Sais” that shows of her twirling skills with deadly Japanese Sais.

Incidentally, Ning has two pairs of Sais and both pairs are licensed under our Police Force’s “Licensing Divison, Arms & Explosive Branch”. One pair made us run in circles to get the license approved (that’s another story) but in the end, the officers in charge gave the green light.

This led to our “Spiker” illusion presentation which utlizes an illusion designed by the brilliant Jim Steinmeyer. However, we have changed the intended presentation of the illusion from what was originally designed and how it is presented by several magicians around the world.

The biggest change is that Ning is the protagonist in the illusion performance and is the one in control. Typically, in this illusion, a female audience member is used and it is presented in a comedic manner. In our performance, the role reversal with me being spiked is played dramatically.

Ning looks gorgeous as usual in her sleek black costume BUT she is not just eye candy, although I have no doubt she grabs your attention off the screen straight away. Her dominance is immediately established with her “Dance of the Sais” with firm and strong lashes of the weapons through the air. The use of the spikes and the fact that she levers the spikes through me extends her dominance as the female magician in this act… no hint of her being an assistant in any way.

Typically, Ning dons a mask with this illusion but she highlighted the importance of not wearing it for TV because they would not be able to establish her face and recognize her in the short airtime that we had. Good call!

Enjoy the performance below or on YouTube here.

În anul 1171, Saladin îi alunga din Egipt pe cruciaţii latini care împresurau oraşul Cairo, declara sfârşitul oficial al califatului fatimid, şi proclama  sultanatul ayyubid, ce va dura până la 1250 AD. A fost o perioadă uimitoare, în general prea puţin cunoscută, de hibridizare culturală între spiritul strategic militar kurd, al kurzilor de atunci, care mai păstrau în fiinţa lor ceva din spiritul roman (la primul contact militar între arabii islamici în Jihad expansiv şi kurzii parţial romanizaţi, arabii îi considerau pe kurzi nişte romani integrali!), şi vechea înţelepciune egipteană (spusă chiar şi în Noul Testament prin episodul „Fugii în Egipt” – în “delta biblicelor sinte” ţinea să ne reamintească Mihai Eminescu acel episod, dar poate cu trimiteri şi la cetatea Sais din Vechiul Testament), o cunoaştere prudenţială păstrată de preoţii creştini ai religiei copte. Se forjează atunci spiritul managerial ayyubid. Acesta  este amintit chiar şi pe Marele Sigiliu al Statelor Unite ale Americii, unde pe revers este reprezentată o piramidă egipteană cu vîrf retezat – fiind interzisă  pe sigiliul american chiar amintirea elitei conducătoare islamice din sultanatul ayyubid, adică vîrful piramidei. Există vreo doctrină oficială americană care să explice secretul şi semnificaţia piramidei  egiptene  cu vîrf retezat?  Se mărturiseşte  doar atât:  America are un succes managerial excepţional pentru că este ajutată de Providenţă. În perioada egipteană ayyubidă se situează şi  cruciada a cincea. Codul managerial ayyubid va fi preluat de cavalerii templieri şi va fi transmis apoi masonilor. Codul managerial ayyubid intră în cultura europeană  prin mijlocirea templierilor care clamau : „Ex Oriente Lux!”. Mihail Sadoveanu,  un mason, va spune  : ‚Lumina vine de la Răsărit!’, fiind aplaudat frenetic de ignarii proletcultişti. Folosind codul managerial ayyubid, cavalerii templieri strâng o avere imensă. Regele capetian Philippe le Bel  i – a deposedat  şi  apoi distrus pe cavalerii templieri. Câţiva templieri care au scăpat de la execuţie au fugit în Scoţia. Tradiţia managerială din Orientul cruciat este păstrată acolo sub forma de cunoaştere ezoterică. Dar ea alimentează, în esenţă, cu ştiinţa prudenţială, curentul cultural scoţian ce evoluează în timp mai întâi ca Renaşterea scoţiană (Mihai Eminescu îl aminteşte, aluziv, la începutul proiectului de roman Geniu pustiu, pe regele  James IV care a patronat Renaşterea scoţiană), apoi ca Iluminism scoţian. Regele James VI al Scoţiei, care a patronat cea mai bună traducere a Bibliei într-o vernaculară, trăieşte în perioada de trecere de la Renaşterea scoţiană la Iluminismul scoţian. În fine, vechiul spirit de cuceritori al Templierilor creează în Scoţia un  impuls imperial. Scoţienii încearcă mai întâi proiectul nebunesc al creării unui imperiu în America Centrală. Eşecul va determina o migraţie ulterioară masivă în America de Nord, va stimula şi unirea cu Anglia. În fine, în primul deceniu după 1700, un scoţian ajuns în America de Nord devoalează Codul managerial ayyubid şi al templierilor, pentru a crea în America de Nord masoneria de rit scoţian.

Titus Filipas