Friday 29 April 2016

So you think you have a right to be rescued?

In 2011 Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller produced a video titled  Liquid Traces - The Left to Die Boat Case.

This short film is currently showing at the As Rights Go By exhibition in Vienna's MQ complex. It's at Q21.

The story concerns the fate of 72 men women and children who were fleeing in an inflatable boat from Gaddafi's Libya.

Having run out of fuel the refugees sent out a distress call.

They were subsequently supplied with biscuits and water by a military helicopter.

No further assistance was forthcoming. No rescue attempt was made.

Nato ships and fishing boats were seen in close proximity but ignored appeals for help.

After more than two weeks the small refugee boat drifted onto a beach on the Libyan coast.

There were only 11 survivors.

You can watch the full 18 minute film Liquid Traces - The Left to Die Boat Case  here.





Wednesday 27 April 2016

Mr O's enigmatic we


Arik Brauer's Autumn War (detail)

Yesterday's Peace Prize 
Recipient Mr. O 
Is on the TV news 
Yet again. This time 
I scribble a note. 
It is something he says.  


"Occasionally we 

have to twist the 
arms of countries 
that wouldn't do what we 
need them to do."


Hello Mr O

Who is this we 
That you speak of 
And where are these 
Countries that wouldn't (sic) 
Do what we need them to do?

The Arm Twister 










Sunday 24 April 2016

Karlskirche, Vienna


The Karlskirche is situated in the centre of Vienna just across the road from the Musikverein (the home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and near to the U-Bahn station of Karlsplatz. Click here to learn more.  Ressel Park, from the where the building may be seen to best advantage, is dedicated to the Bohemian (Czech) inventor of the screw propeller. 


Viewed from Ressel Park

A place to reflect 

Lift takes you up! 
This post will be linked


Saturday 23 April 2016

Vienna Today


FBI on the rack 

Hillary in the cafe´

Mr & Mrs Lugner in town

Friday 22 April 2016

Queen's Corgi says: BBC ain't what it used to be.


  For some considerable time I been worried about falling standards at the Beeb, particularly in regard to the absence of the red pencil. Or maybe it's the blue pencil. In my place of work it was green ink.

  Things reached a new low today when a photo (on the BBC's website) of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh flanking President Obama and the First Lady was captioned:

                 "Queen and Duke of Edinurgh had their photo taken with the royal couple"

To quote a royal spokescorgi: "That takes the biscuit!"

No pencil / no pack drill. Ruff, ruff.







Bible Study they didn't teach in Sunday School (Part 2)




Punishments for Sin 

Leviticus 20: 9 -

'If anyone curses his father or mother he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother and his blood will be on his own head. 

'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife - with the wife of his neighbour - both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 

'If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonoured his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. 

'If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads. 

'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death. Their blood will be on their own heads. 

'If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you. 

'If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 

'If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.' 

.  .  .  

'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.' 


Everything is Meaningless 

Ecclesiastes 1: 1 -

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem:

'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.' 


Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

Naked a man, comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. 

I said: 'I am determined to be wise' - but this was beyond me. 



Thursday 21 April 2016

Bible Study they didn't teach in Sunday School (Part 1)




Curses for Disobedience

Deuteronomy 28: 15 -

.However if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees . . . curses will come upon you and overtake you:

You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.

The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.

The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.

The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.

The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.

Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no-one to frighten them away.

The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumours, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.

The LORD will afflict you with adness, blindness and confusion of mind.

At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no-one to rescue you.

You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.

Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no-one will rescue them.

Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.

A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labour produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.

The sights you see will drive you mad.

The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.

You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all nations where the LORD will drive you.

(and so on . . .)

By now I may think I have got the picture.  Maybe you do too. We'd both be wrong. All the above is mere foreplay. As we shall see.










What does the Koran actually say? (Part 2)





Unlike N J Dawood's revised translation of the Koran (see Part 1 below) the New International Version of the Holy Bible has a many translators.

The preface informs the student that the NIV was translated by over a hundred scholars working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. 

  
Consider the Biblical Flood in Genesis, the greatest punishment ever inflicted on mankind:

  The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become . . . and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures . . . and birds . . . for I am grieved that I have made them.'

 . . . the ark came to rest on the mountain of Ararat.


And now consider the account from Hud in the Koran:

  God said to Noah: 'You shall not plead with Me for those who have done wrong: they shall assuredly be drowned.'

  The ark came to rest upon Al-Judi, and a voice declared: 'Gone are the evil-doers.'


WHAT RELIGION? PIR'S DO-IT-YOURSELF TEST


Are the following quotations taken from the NIV translation of the Holy Bible or the revised Dawood translation of the Koran?

1 - Tell of Abraham, who said to his father and to his people: 'I renounce the gods you worship, except Him who created me, for He will rightly guide me.'

2 - 'Lord,' said Moses, 'I have killed one of their number and fear that they will slay me. Aaron my brother is more fluent of tongue than I; send him with me that he may help me . . .'

3 - Those that obey God and His apostle, those that revere God and fear Him, will surely triumph.

4 - Give good news to the righteous. God will ward off evil from true believers. God does not love the treacherous and the thankless.

5 - Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies.

6 - Whenever in their anguish, they try to escape from Hell, back they shall be dragged, and will be told: 'Taste the torment of the Conflagration!'

7 - They journeyed on until they fell in with a certain youth. Moses' companion slew him, and Moses said: 'You have killed an innocent man who has slain no one. Surely you have done a wicked thing.'

8 - If you punish, let your punishment be commensurate with the wrong that has been done to you. But it shall be best for you to endure your wrongs with patience.

9 - On the day when the earth is changed into a different earth and the heavens into new heavens, mankind shall stand before God, the One, who conquers all. On that day you shall see the guilty bound with chains, their garments pitch, and their faces covered with flames.

10 - They set up false gods as the equals of God to lead men away from His path.

11 - Go, my sons, and seek news of Joseph and his brother. Do not despair of God's spirit; none but unbelievers despair of God's spirit.

12 - Joseph's brothers arrived and presented themselves before him. He recognized them, but they knew him not.

13 - A voice cried out: 'Earth, swallow up your waters. Heaven, cease your rain!'

14 - Moses threw down his staff, and thereupon it changed into a veritable serpent. Then he drew out his hand and it was white to all who saw it.

15 - It is God who splits the seed and the fruit-stone. He brings forth the living from the dead, and the dead from the living.

16 - If you fear a breach between a man and his wife, appoint an arbiter from his people and another from hers. If they wish to be reconciled, God will bring them together again.

17 - God will wrong none by as much as the weight of an atom. A good deed He will repay twofold.

18 - 'Lord,' said Zacharias, 'how shall I have a son when I am now overtaken by old age and my wife is barren?'

19 - 'I come to confirm the Torah which preceded me and to make lawful for you some of the things you are forbidden. I bring you a sign from your Lord: therefore fear God and obey me: God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore serve Him. That is a straight path.'

20 - There shall be no compulsion in religion.


Scroll down for answers.



























Quiz answers:


Maybe you guessed?

The quotes used for the quiz were all from Dawood's revised translation of the Koran. The best quote, in my opinion, is number 20.







Wednesday 20 April 2016

What does the Koran actually say? (Part 1)




N J Dawood was born in Baghdad and is best known for his translation of the Koran.

The Dawood translation (revised) is published by Penguin Books, as is a parallel English-Arabic edition.

In this troubling age of never ending conflict maybe something can be gleaned from a study of the Koran I found myself thinking the other day.

Today I read the third chapter, The Imrans. 

Here are some very pertinent extracts:

  
  And remember the angels' words to Mary. They said: 'God has chosen you. He has made you pure and exalted you above womankind . . .'

  His name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. He shall be noble in this world and in the world to come . . . 

  'Lord,' she said, 'how can I bear a child when no man has touched me?'

  He replied: 'Even thus. God creates whom He will. When He decrees a thing He need only say: "Be," and it is . . . '

  When Jesus observed that they had no faith, he said: 'Who will help me in the cause of God?' 
  
  The disciples replied: 'We are God's helpers . . . and follow the apostle. Count us among your witnesses.'

  God is the supreme Contriver. God said: 'Jesus, I am about to claim you back and lift you up to Me.'

  Jesus is like Adam in the sight of God. He created him from dust and then said to him: 'Be' and he was.

   Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian. He was an upright man, one who submitted to God . . . 





. . .  to be continued


   

Tuesday 12 April 2016

DOUBLE TAKE


THE AUSTRIAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS ARE WALTZING MERRILY ALONG THANKS MAINLY TO THE ENTERTAINING ESCAPADES OF INDEPENDENT OCTOGENARIAN CANDIDATE RICHARD LUGNER AND HIS DELIGHTFULLY BUBBLY "FIRST LADY". 

AUSTRIA'S WOULD-BE ÖBAMA (ABOVE), A MERE SEPTUAGENARIAN, IS A MORE SERIOUS PROPOSITION.  

THE LEFT HAND IMAGE IS TO BE FOUND ON  THE OFFICIAL ALEXANDER VAN DER BELLEN ELECTION POSTCARDS NOW CIRCULATING FREELY IN RED VIENNA. 

THE MAIN TALKING POINT ABOUT THE GREEN POLITICO CONCERNS THE SORRY STATE OF HIS TEETH. THEY ARE  APPARENTLY FAR WORSE THAN PREVIOUSLY BELIEVED,  JUDGING FROM PERSISTENT MEDIA REPORTS.  

OBSERVERS ARE BLAMING THE STATE OF THE GNASHERS ON A LIFETIME OF INHALING THE EVIL WEED. 

AT ONE TIME THE SELF-CONFESSED TAR AND NICOTINE ADDICT WAS HABITUALLY SMOKING 60 A DAY ACCORDING TO ONE TV REPORT. 

THE STORY THAT A TOP HUNGARIAN DENTIST HAS BEEN SUMMONED TO ÖBAMA HQ HAS BEEN RUBBISHED.

IN MY QUEST FOR POLITICAL RECTITUDE, I'VE CREATED A COMPUTERIZED VERSION OF THE OFFICIAL ALEXANDER ÖBAMA POSTCARD  SHOWING THE HOFBURG CANDIDATE IN HIS "NEO-INDEPENDENT" POLITICAL COLOURS.  

WHAT ABOUT MY NON-EXISTENT X? THAT IS ANOTHER QUESTION.



Sunday 10 April 2016

The Neighbour's Fence


He saw his neighbour
building a fence
and he said to him:
What are you doing?

They are on the way!
I'm building a fence
to keep them out . . .

Why
do you want
to keep them out?

Because I don't
want them here!

It's wrong
to build fences
he preached

and proclaimed,
all red
in the face, and

to his friends
he complained:
My neighbour's a fascist!

But strangely now
he's building fences himself.
He's fencing land

all over the place.
All thirteen roads
that lead to his border.

And he's telling other
neighbours
 they also need fences.

When the people
first came
he ordered a soldier

to open
the doors. Now he's
 figured a way

to begin
sending people
back to their wars.

His neighbour
the fascist
is watching . . .  amused.




Snakes in the Grass



The first translation is mine. The second translation is from the NIV Bible. 

The 17th century phallic erection may be found in the vineyards of Neustift in Vienna. 



The standing figure with halo of stars on top of the pillar and the Globus is presumably the Son of God. 

God's curse, appears at the foot of the pillar where it may be seen by any snakes in the garden, who are warned they face violent death. 

The closing words of Genesis 3 verse 15, where it says the serpent shall bite the heel, do not appear on the monument.   







I WILL 
SET ENMITY 
BETWEEN YOU O SNAKE 
AND THE WOMAN 
AND BETWEEN YOUR SEED 
AND HER SEED 
SHE WILL STAMP 
ON YOUR HEAD

BOOK OF MOSES 
Ch. III v. XV 

* * *

I will put enmity
between you and the woman
and between your offspring 
and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.
(Genesis Ch. 3 v. 15 NIV)


This post Linked


Saturday 9 April 2016

George Carlin's Greatest Speech

Idea of Heaven


Heaven or In-the-Sky (am Himmel) is on a hill above the wine growing area of Grinzing, Vienna.  I jogged up the hill but it's also possible to go to am Himmel by car or public transport. 


I took the narrow path 

From Grinzing through the vineyards 

And up the wooded hill to find . . . 

An amphitheater and an apple tree

A circle of stones 

Some wild flowers*

A renovated chapel

And a restaurant with a car park

Visit http://www.himmel.at 

*Cowslips are known in Austria as 'the keys to heaven' because they are said to resemble the bunch of keys held by St. Peter, the doorman of the heavenly portals.


Thursday 7 April 2016

With Mission Accomplished he rambles



This morning
fear overtook him again.

 It seems a long time ago
 now no-one's in charge of my mind
around here
my brain's gone to waste

"I hope they will leave me in peace!"

Often he feels
their eyes
are upon him
 peering and planning
with malice


No-one can help him
 my veteran
afraid of the war

  Every boy must be a brave soldier 
  . . . decorations and military bands 

It was how he wanted to spend his whole life
but his courage did fail him


Their long curly hair
 and the blonde manes of lions
 were shaved from their skulls
by the merciless barber
 five minutes per head
heads heading for glory and honour


He was an overgrown boy
the pride of his mother
the pride of his father
the pride of his girl
a girl with a posy of flowers
 "God, what have they done!"


No peace of mind
the mind falls in pieces
bitter the battle
for more self control
  those boys were taken too soon

 there was no sign of God on their side
 it was the Devil they saw
 it was the Devil they heard
Saying "War is a beautiful word!"


Before God and the world
some friends took their own lives
whenever death's face
appeared in the air
 "Why am I weeping?"


In a minute
the doctor will come
 "Someone up there please answer his prayers!"
His prayers go unanswered.


Delirious ramblings
 this side of freedom
Farewells to friends
 We were "the best men and boys"


We're now suffering
all over again
 My father's in heaven
 His crown's made of thorns.


Rejoice! that the war
is now at an end
- Mission Accomplished! 

Who are these ghosts
and why
are they whispering . . .

silently whispering  . . .

What is it
they say . . .

Listen to what they are saying . . .

Mission Accomplished! The 
seeds 
of 
the next war 
are
already 
planted 















Tuesday 5 April 2016

Hart Crane's Forgetfulness



Chioggia


Forgetfulness is like a song
That, freed from beat and measure, wanders.
Forgetfulness is like a bird whose wings are reconciled,
Outspread and motionless, -
A bird that coasts the wind unwearyingly.

Forgetfulness is rain at night, 
Or an old house in a forest, - or a child.
Forgetfulness is white, - white as a blasted tree, 
And it may stun the sybil into prophecy, 
Or bury the Gods. 

I can remember much forgetfulness. 


Hart Crane (1899-1932)



Saturday 2 April 2016

Mars, God of War


The statue is in a Vienna park. It is an 18th century copy of a Roman statue of Mars.  

Ares (or Mars) was the son of Zeus and Hera. The statue in Rome is also a copy. The original Greek statue dates from 320 BC.

There are other copies in Europe. One may be found in the Spandau Borough of Berlin.







My own theory is that the rocks in the asteroid belt and the two captured moons of Mars (which resemble asteroids and not moons) originally comprised a planetoid or large comet that was involved in a collision or near-miss with Mars and that the stresses and electrical discharges of the impact or close encounter broke up the unknown heavenly body.

The event, similar and maybe around the same time as the one here on Earth that destroyed the dinosaurs, would have wiped out most Martian lifeforms.

The face of  the God of War was left deeply and forever scarred.

Debris from the event was flung far and wide, and even today Martian asteroids are found here on Earth.



This post is linked to Inspired Sunday