Subscribing etc

I am confused by the "follow" option on blogger. What does it do?

In a space station

Breasty Pirate Enrages Local Priest

Breasty Pirate Enrages Local Priest, article.
'I curse you. I curse this place. I want to see this destroyed. I want her destroyed.'
If he really spoke like that, he is rather out of touch with the world.
(By the way, I don't think there's such a word as "breasty". It must be one of those words newspapers make up for their headlines.)

(Update: actually the title refers to the article which lead me there.)

Drei Variatione Der Sonne

Sonnenvariationendreifachbild

(Thanks to Walter.)




Today's sunset.

(Nikon D90, Nikkor 70-300mm VR.)

René Maltête

René Maltête photography. This guy was fabulous, I can't believe I never heard of him.

Fundamentalists

It seems that the story now in some quarters of the conservative West, like Fox News, is that the reasons many Europeans dislike Dubya is that he's a Christian! And that "Europe is no longer a Christian continent, it's a pagan continent, and they hate Christians".
My comments to that:

• Europe has not been all that Christian for a long time now. It's a great mix of many beliefs.
• It's not a choice between "Christian" and "pagan". That's a false choice, like the one between, um, "intelligent design" and "divine creation" or however that nonsense goes.
• I don't know a single European who "hates Christians". What they don't like are fundamentalists from any religion, especially when the fundamentalism is used to wage war.
• I personally have strong doubts that Bush is really a Christian. I can't see that bubble-head being sincere about any devotion. I think that if the USA were, say, mostly a hindu country, a person like him would don the dress and lingo of hinduism to further his political career.

Pascal offered:

Here are the descriptions for three authentic candidates to their country's leadership:

- First one is associated with seedy politicians and consults astrologists. He's had two mistresses, smokes like a factory and downs 8 to 10 martinis a day.

- Second candidate has already gotten fired from two jobs. He sleeps until noon. In college, he used to smoke opium, and he downs a quarter liter of whisky every evening.

- Third candidate is a medal-awarded war hero. He's a vegetarian, supports legislation against animal cruelty and experimentation, firmly believes in family values, and is also an amateur artist. He barely drinks the occasional beer, and never had any extra-marital affair.

Now, which whould you vote for, based on that CV?

Take your time, think about it.

Now I'll tell you the names of these three persons.

Each once got elected as leader of a major country.

#1 : Franklin D. Roosevelt.

#2 : Winston Churchill.

#3 : Adolf Hitler.

Gabriel & Dresden "Tracking Treasure Down"

The Politics Of Sex

The Politics Of Sex, David Steinberg article.
"...there's a clear and dramatic difference between people whose basic reflex is to embrace sex, and people whose basic attitude about sex is one of worry and concern -- and this difference in sexual perspective is what the most virulent political battles of these times are all about"

I think there's a lot of truth to that, and I suspect this is symptomatic of a deep difference, related to where a person stands with mental energy, how he/she handles emotion. Namely, does he tend to want it flowing, or does he tend to want to keep it stuck? Making and keeping it flowing is the healthier option in the long run, but it can be a painful and frightening experience if one is quite stuck. Heck, it can be so even at the best of times, and at the worst it can be virtually impossible, or only very, very slowly and gently.

---
I asked David what "four-legs-good" means, and he explained:
"this is a reference to George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, where the pig class, to solidify their control of the animals that have overthrown their human oppressors, teach everyone to think very simple-mindedly that anything with four legs is good and anything with two legs is bad."

Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D

Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D, wiki article. The movie and the 3D is getting very good reviews. I hope it will work well also on a home screen, because I rarely have the patience these days for movie theatres.

Taxi and jeans

I'm just watching season 1 of Taxi. Generally I prefer TV shows from the nineties and forward, but Taxi is one of the good ones from the late seventies. Andy Kaufman was funny, and Marilu Henner was hot. And still is, she had a guest part on the outstanding Greg The Bunny.

Watching this reminds me of one of the few things that I miss from the seventies: tight jeans on pretty girls. That was heaven. How can such an excellent, simple, and sexy fashion just go away?

Rollei Compactline 90

Serious photographers of some age will know the venerable German brand Rollei, a classic high quality camera for pros and discerning amateurs. Recently we were told the brand had dies along with the company, but it seems not. See the newest Rollei at the bottom. In more than one sense...
A red Rollei with "smile detection". Sigh. What's next, a Hasselblad with every Happy Meal?

Hahn on Bach