Gebruiker:Voyageur/Calendario delle manifestazioni

Settembre

Mini-Wikimania a Venezia e Treviso

Ducks, ducks, ducks...

Die Koninkryk Engeland en die Republiek Venesië het al vroeg diplomatieke betrekkinge met mekaar aangeknoop. Rondom die ambassades het spioene in wonings ingetrek om verdagte gebeure dop te hou. Hier sien ons die Britse MI5-ageende 007 en 008 op 'n geheime sending op Treviso se Piazza dei Signori, gekamoefleer as duiwe. Opmerking: Moenie brood vir duiwe en eende gee nie, om die bekende redes. Die hoë soutgehalte is eweneens skadelik vir die voëls

Note: Your baggage/luggage may be inspected by two curious Venetian ducks! Restricted items: kefir porridge & other duck food will be eaten right away!

Visitors from LA

Angelenos - here's the souvenir that Cousin Itt, our beloved hirsute Addams family guy, will love!

The Barbarians cabinet. Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan

Ottobre

La Gazzetta del Sudafrica

Sedert 2005 is daar 'n onafhanklike elektroniese nuusblad met inligting vir en oor die Italiaanse gemeenskap in Suid-Afrika: La Gazzetta del Sudafrica. En nóg 'n skakel: mycapetown.it: Italiani a Cape Town.

Novembre

100,000^th edit / 100 000ste wysiging!

3:20 pm Ennis House

GDR studies

• As requested: Third Generation Ost

• Deutsche Welle: Fall of the Berlin wall remembered in South Africa

• Fokus: Betrekkinge met Oostenryk (Materiaal: Vindobona-treindiens, Alfred Klahr-Gesellschaft: Österreicherinnen und Österreicher in der DDR, Die Presse, 2 November 2019: Wie die Stasi Österreicher in der DDR ausspionierte)

Dicembre

Boekwinkels met styl: Республика

Students, behave! No binge drinking, no empty bottles on the piazza!
Left to right: Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich; American Ambassador to the Holy See, Callista Gingrich; Susan Pompeo; US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

There are 978 registered passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants in Rome... In case you hit a traffic jam - enjoy and have a chat!

Parking is scarce? Not in the Eternal City!

Every fourth ride on Rome's rapid transport system is taken by… a fare dodger! Fare dodging costs the city more than $100 million a year! It's us poor and honest souls who keep the system running…

Moskou

• Республика-boekwinkel (respublica.ru)
• MyGuide Moscow: Respublica

Mini-Wikimania

Die idee van 'n kleiner Wikimania-byeenkoms, die sogenaamde Mini-Wikimania, het voortgespruit uit kreatiewe gesprekke tydens die amptelike Wikimania 2014 in Londen. Dit word georganiseer as 'n privaat vergadering, opleidingsessie en konferensie vir akademiese personeel uit verskillende vakgebiede, belangstellendes sonder affiliasies met tersiêre onderwysinstellings en Wikipedia-geesdriftiges. 'n Toerprogram word gereël.

Die Afrikaanse Wikipedia is 'n welkome toetsprojek waar 'n aantal voorstelle vir meer gesofistikeerde artikels (wat met 'n verbeterde uitleg, beter fotografiese dokumentasie en 'n boeiende ensiklopediese styl aangebied word) reeds verwesenlik is. Die meesterlike skryfstyl van Amerikaanse National Geographic-redakteurs is een van ons groot voorbeelde.

Mini-Wikimania a Roma - Beplande program

• Il Quattrocento a Roma
• Toerprogram: Vatikaanstad, Ostia Antica, EUR
• Simposium: Nuutste navorsing met vurige debatte (onder andere: die Etruskiese wêreld; die Romeinse toerismebedryf, soos reeds beskryf in die artikel oor toerisme in hierdie ensiklopedie - alhoewel dit nog nie voltooi is nie; geletterdheid in antieke Rome (was Romeine se geletterdheid slegs 15 persent, soos sommige wetenskaplikes beweer - en kon die oorgrote meerderheid van die bevolking dus nouliks kort inskrifte op geboue en monumente lees?)
• Etruskiese etnogenese: Ek dink ons kan - in die lig van huidige navorsingsresultate - taamlik seker wees dat die Etruskiese beskawing outogtoon aan Sentraal-Italië is en hier omtrent 800 v.C. sy opspraakwekkende verskyning maak. Hier het ons 'n Europese beskawing wat, soos die Baskiese volk, nie tot die Indo-Europese taalfamilie behoort nie.

Mini-Wikimania a Roma - Oujaarsaand

Vir elkeen wat inspirasie in die rolprent La Grande Bellezza gevind het… Ons het 'n dakterras met uitsig oor die Vatikaanstad (en die pous se vuurwerk - mits hy iets afvuur…) Nadat deelnemers die heuwel opgeklim het… ;) En daar sal natuurlik geen plek vir Katolieke komplotte wees nie ;) Selfs die wonderlike klompie Litause en Poolse voorvaders wie se bloed nog in my are vloei was Aartsprotestante...

Roma... La Grande Bellezza... en nóg 'n dakterras!

en...

La Grande Bellezza - Clip Tevere. Dankie, Apple, Inc. ! Ons het die bedrag van $1 miljoen ontvang...

Hierdie oewerpad langs die Tevere is vir die skrywer net so rustig en heilig soos Regent's Canal en Canal Saint-Martin...

Koljada / Nuwejaarsfees / Russies-Ortodokse Kersfees

Govorít Moskvá - Indrukke van Moskou se Russiese Winter

Desember in Moskou (hierdie en die volgende foto's is in 2017 geneem). Nie net in Kerstyd nie, maar die hele jaar deur word geboue in die Russiese hoofstad feestelik geïllumineer - 'n fees vir die oog!

Kersmarkte word ook in Rusland gehou - al is dit nie 'n inheemse tradisie nie...

...en lyk hulle 'n bietjie anders as elders in Europa

Musiek en sang is deel van die pret

Europa se shop till you drop paradise

Kunstenaars stel hul kuns ten toon

Wintersonstilstand- of Koliada-altaar in Pole

Wintersonstilstand-feesvuur

Hier kry ons Russiese Колядки (Koljadki)

En nóg Koljadki!

Die kollektiewe Wintersonstilstand-, Kers-, Nuwejaars- en Ortodokse Kersfeesseisoen het in Rusland begin! Die kollektiewe Russiese vakansie-feeesseisoen van 1 tot 7 Januarie 2020 beteken - ons Russiese witkoppe is op pad na Rome! Elke Russiese ma is besig om die hongersnode en wanvoeding in Wes-en Suid-Europa met tonne Russiese kos te bestry!

Daar is drie Rooms-Katolieke gemeentes wat in Moskou Kersaand volgens die Wes-Europese tradisie vier. 25 Desember is die dag van die Slawiese Wintersonstilstandfees. Van groter belang as Kersfees is die Russiese Nuwejaarsfees op 1 Januarie (daar is Nuwejaarsbome - 'n soort Sowjet-Russiese Kersboom - in die hele land). En Ortodokse Christene sal die Ortodokse Kersfees in Januarie vier. Ons noem dit - HEELWAT KEUSES!

Gennaio | January | Januarie 2020

Wetenskaplike transliterasie

Naas akademiese instellings en die Italiaanse Wikipedia het ook kunsinstellings soos die Teatro dell'Opera di Roma begin om wetenskaplike transliterasie as standaardspelling vir name uit taalgebiede met Cyrilliese alfabet te aanvaar (sien www.operaroma.it en hul spelling van Tsjaikofski op hul webwerf en advertensieplakkate orals in Rome).

Afrikaanse Wikipedia

Die doelwit was en is om alle belangrike onderwerpe, wat tydens die Mini-Wikimania-byeenkomste in Venezia/Treviso en Roma behandel is, so gou moontlik as Wikipedia-bydraes te publiseer. Omrede slegs een enkele deelnemer in staat is om Afrikaanse artikels te skryf, is daar al 'n reuse-agterstand van tekste wat nog saamgestel en gelaai moet word. Tans is daar geen oplossing nie aangesien Voyageur se werklas al groter word.

Argitektuur in Suid-Afrika

Italiaanse boekhandelaars het die grootste deel van ons wenslys rakende vakliteratuur intussen vervul, insluitende omvattende standaardwerke oor boukuns in Suid-Afrika. Net 'n paar monografieë oor vroulike argitekte uit Italië, wat ingevoer moet word, was nie meteens beskikbaar nie.

Indrukke

Julle het orals in Rome naas polisielede soldate in uniform met masjiengewere raakgesien. Die esercito of Italiaanse leër word ontplooi om belangrike besienswaardighede, strate en pleine in Rome te beveilig. Hulle is altyd daar. Die veiligheidskontroles by die ingang tot die Vatikaanstad op Oujaarsaand was 'n uitsondering en nodig (en net so streng soos op lughawens) omdat die Heilige Mis of Vespers met Te Deum, wat julle op die videoskerms kon bekyk, werklik in die Sint Pieterskerk gehou is toe ons die Sint Pietersplein betree het (net soos in die Rooms-Katolieke kerk naby my woning waar die koor ook die Te Deum aangebied het).

So was ook die pous - eg en in lywende lewe in die Pieterskerk! 'n Groepie grootbektoeriste uit Idiotistan (Duitsland) het dít, soos ek verneem het, luidkeels in twyfel getrek (en blykbaar nie die Vatikaan-nuus gelees nie: Liturgiese program van pous Franciscus tot Januarie 2020). Aangesien ons in kleiner groepies verdeel het, kon ek nie vir almal hierdie inligting gee nie. Almal kon ook na die klokkies aan die Pieterskerk se linkerkant luister - hulle is juis ter geleentheid van die Vespers gelui.

Manlike deelnemers is nog steeds mal oor hul ECCLESIA Made in Italy-priesterhemde. Myne is donkerblou (maat L in antrasietgrys was op daardie dag uitverkoop in die religieuse boekwinkel waar ons die hemde gekoop het). Kyk hier - CRAZEEEE! Sal die grys een en 'n stapel polohemde later kry.

Kon ons 'n besoek bring aan alle belangrike besienswaardighede? Natuurlik nie. Ons hoop om julle nog baie kere in Rome te sien! En al is Januarie teoreties die koudste maand van die jaar, was dit warm soos gedurente lentetyd in die son. Ek sou persoonlik nooit in Julie of Augustus hier wil wees nie - jy kook letterlik in die somerhitte.

Korrupsie? Nie by ons nie. Ag ja, die wagtyd vir Italiaanse ministers en ander politici om in 'n artikel in die prestigieuse Afrikaanse Wikipedia gelys te word, is tans tussen ses en twaalf maande. Julle ken almal my rekening by die Banca Della Bergamasca Credito Cooperativo Soc. Coop.? Dan is dit moontlik net 24 uur.

Square dance on New Year's Eve in Rome, Kabardinka in Moskou…?

After a few glasses of Prosecco from Treviso, even the most basic figures of a good ol' square dance may be too challenging for some of us… So what about a Circassian Kabardinka - Moscow-style for this year's celebrations?

Watch this: Slow Prosecco-speed Кабардинка в Москве

Nou dat daar reeds voorstelle van Armeens-Russiese kant en lede van die Armeense Gemeenskap van Kalifornië is vir 'n Wikimania-agenda, nóg 'n voorsmakie: 'n Jong Tsjetsjniese sangeres, Heda Hamzatova, sing 'n patriotiese Armeense lied, Hay Qajer, in Moskou

And just in... The Armenian stiletto heels cow pie show of

'n Wilde dans van die Ninahar-dansgroep

Febbraio | February | Februarie 2020

Eat your way across L.A.

LA-KFC rollout in the Russian River resort area

Any subscribers to the Los Angeles Times Essential California newsletter online? Read today's Is Los Angeles a fried chicken town? and let me know what you think about it. Further reading: Nashville hot chicken is taking over Los Angeles. In: Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2019.

Eataly

Still struggling with my in-depth articles on Italian cuisine...

Good Old Soviet-Russian cinema favorites

The Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (Neveroiatniye prikliucheniia ital'iantsev v Rossii) - digging up statues of lions, anyone? Sharing an apartment with your best mate Maksimka is a cinematic experience...

English-speaking expats in Moscow

Where would English-speaking expats from all over the world reside in Metropolitan Moscow? Well, in gated communities like these (Krasnogarsk region - on the outskirts the capital): Rosinka virtual tour or… in the Neva Towers (brand new with breathtaking views - sunset over Moscow or the city center! Neva Towers, Moscow)

Sport stadium roof collapse in St. Petersburg

A real tragedy - can anyone explain this? BBC News - Worker dies in Russian sport stadium roof collapse - Upsetting video scenes Faulty steel wire ropes, a demolition contractors company that does not have the necessary experience…

Kamtchatka-Alaska Vriendskapsmaande / Friendship Months (February/March/April/May 2020)

Saint Michael's Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska - wesfasade

My Alaska-handboek lê nog êrens rond… en ek besef dis tyd vir 'n Aanlyn-Mini-Wikimania waar ons tussendeur 'n klompie artikels probeer skep.

Well, the handbook is definitely not James Michener's Alaska nor Mr. Whitekeys' Alaska Almanac! 😇

An interesting science article… Live Science: Lake Baikal - The fellowship of the ice rings

Nice little songs

Oops… According to this song, composed by a lady and sung by her (and his?) sweethearts, Uncle Vova (dear President Wladimir Putin) - or maybe just this attractive parliamentary lady - wants to return Alaska to Russia!?

Russian sweethearts sing

Apologies for the propaganda - this nice little clip is presented in an anti-Russian context...

Or maybe… a little bit of folk music instead?

In a sunny meadow...

American choir counter offensive suggestions

The Children's Choir of the Little Angels of the North, conducted by Sarah Palin.

Song text:
They are afraid of gays,
and of the EU.
They sold to us Alaska.
Let's grab Kamtchatka, too.

Sirotkin - инди-музыкант

• Okay, one of my favorites, then: ДРУГ (read: Droog, feat. Sirotkin) — Облака («Cloud»)

• More of Sirotkin: Sirotkin - Выше Домов («Above the Houses» or «Higher Than Houses») + «Tbilisi version» + Навсегда («Ewig»)

• LIVE IN SPB & MOSCOW: NOVEMBER 11 + 25, 2020 - check out the website Sirotkin.Moscow.
• SPB - КЛУБ КОСМОНАВТ
• Booking: Music Development Russia • Website: MDR • YouTube Channel: MDR

Vragwabestuurder van die week

Mud volcanoes, seismic activity and drift ice might threaten our Crimean bridge? Hey, you know what: Real men reside in Moscow, sissies live in Washington!

The 21st General Assembly of the Mud Volcano Proof Building Society is not quite convinced

Vragwabestuurder Wladimir Wladimirowitsj Poetin, wat vir 'n byverdienste ook die neweberoep van president van die Russiese Federasie beoefen, was nogtans eerste toe die Krimbrug op 15 Mei 2018 ingewy is

Sodra 'n mens 'n ambisieuse projek voltooi (en dan ook nog voortyds), laat heelwat afgunstige en kleinlike kritici hul stemme hoor. Natuurlik is die Krimburg deur een van Wladimir Poetin se vriende in 'n gebied opgerig wat bekend staan vir moddervulkane op die seebodem, wat 'n risiko van seismiese aktiwiteit het en waar die laaste brug, wat deur die Duitse weermag begin en deur die Rooi Leër voltooi is, deur dryfys vernietig is. Maar dis net hoekom vir die nuwe brug volledig nuwe tegnologieë toegepas is wat in die weste nog glad onbekend is. So is die brugpilare 100 meter diep in die seebodem ingedryf! Ha! En vir die arme skepsels in Mariupol, Oekraïne is die belangrikste seeroete vir yster- en staaluitvoere nou geblokkeer en hulle moet die metaalgoed per trein na Odessa vervoer! LOL!

President Putin's Birthday in 2019

YouTube.com - Vesti News Exclusive Video: Vladimir Putin Celebrates 67th Birthday in the Heart of Russian Siberia!

Russian folk music & history

'n Liedjie wat van kindsbeen af in ons ore klink... Улетай на крыльях ветра - Vlieg op die vlerke van die wind
Dieselfde lied plus... een van die aantreklikste volke op aarde...

Poetin-portret in die hysbak

Oukei, oukei, noudat iedereen mal is oor die grappie-plus-meningspeiling wat YouTube-vlogger Bashir Dokhov gemaak het deur 'n Poetin-portret saam met 'n kamera in die hysbak van sy Moskouse woonstelgebou op te hang, kry ons dit hier ook. Waarskuwing: Die betrokke YouTube-kanaal word deur die Amerikaanse regering befonds.

YouTube: Putin Elevator Portrait Gets A Rise Out Of Riders

Marzo | March | Maart 2020

Lynn Garafola and her publications on the Ballets Russes mentioned on Berlin's Humboldt University website

Although this university's academic staff is a living testimony to German universities' varying academic standards (they teach that Afrikaans is derived directly from German - and if you try to correct them, they let their students vote on this topic by raising their hands... degrees of this institution should not be accepted without further investigation into the awarding process - LOL!), this looks like an interesting semester course: Die Ballets Russes – Ein multimedialer Schauplatz für Kunstströmungen der Moderne - Detailseite.

Stupidedia article of the week: Stalinorgel

Speaking of ballet and music, let's enjoy a fresh look at the world famous Soviet Russian Katyusha organ or Stalinorgel, as it is called in Germany and Austria: Stupidedia - Stalinorgel

If you haven't listened to Dschingis Khan's Moskau (Moscow) before - enjoy (it's not Stalin's Katyusha rocket launcher remix, though…): Dschingis Khan: Moskau

Looks like Johnny Depp has teamed up with the cashiers of my favorite Moscow supermarket… I told you so - some day our American yoghurt and Australian muesli decadence will have serious consequences… Funniest stage video ever: Dschingis Khan live in Moscow... 12min 30sec - hoo! hah! Hope our neighbors are satisfied with their new Italian washing liquid & gel with volcanic ash! LOL!

Russian River exhibits in St. Petersburg

The Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (also called the Kunstkamera) has an amazing collection of Pomo Indians baskets from California! (Website: kunstkamera.ru) My amazing Muscovite collection of non-historical American yoghurts and Russian River American pale ale (APA) has fallen victim to some Russian explorer who must have combed the wilds of our freezer in search of… just that!… LOL!

Putin joke of the day - Once bitten by a dog…

Lass ich diesmal wieder Konni, meinen Labrador, auf die Olle mit ihrer Hundephobie los oder bekommt Agent Wikipedia 007 in Berlin einen Sonderauftrag? But seriously, folks - maybe Vladimir Putin puts more trust in dogs than in humans. Quoting from Prussian king Frederick the Great... Maybe Mrs. Merkel did not listen carefully...

W. Putin, A. Merkel en Konni, die Labrador, in 2007 in Sotsji

Konni en Wladimir Poetin in 2002 in Nowo-Ogarjowo buite Moskou, die president se woonplek

Agtergrond: Mevrou Merkel is in 1995 in Uckermark tydens 'n fietsuitstappie deur die jaghond van 'n buurman aan haar knie gebyt en hou sedertdien nie baie van honde nie. Konni (1999−2014), Wladimir Poetin se swart Labrador, was 'n vreedsame hond wat tydens 'n besoek van mev. Merkel in Sotsji die kamer binnegestorm en by haar voete gelê het. Ter geleentheid van 'n vroeëre besoek het sy 'n speelhond as geskenk uit die hand van die president ontvang.

Putin gallery of the month

Just breathtaking… I mean - ladies beware! Topless pics inside!

37 hilarious photographs of Russia's greatest adventurer, Vladimir Putin PLUS: the British sense of humour

Vladimir Putin's economic policies

One English and several German sources refer to it as Ordoliberalism. I understand this is a German term and concept. It may still be acceptable in the Putin article as the president is not only fluent in German, but may be interested in certain aspects of economics.

An article (published in 2008) with some interesting key points: Peterson Institute for International Economics: An Assessment of Putin's Economic Policy

According to the president, Russia is a «sovereign democracy». Critics may argue that he is the sovereign and thus the one who decides what kind of democracy Russia should have… LOL! Hilarious joke made by a Russian academic.

Lectures, sessions, gatherings… all moved online

Just about everything has been moved online. You may now access webinars and panel discussions digitally. Username and password required.

• SCIENTIFIC - Enigmatic leaders: Lenin, Stalin and - just mentioning him, not comparing him to the other two guys - are often referred to as «enigmatic leaders». Can historians and biographers dispel popular myths with verifiable facts?
• POPULAR SCIENCE - The Dyatlov Pass mystery: Theories, case files and more....
  

+: Ruptly TV website

+: Dyatlov Group's Journal on Instagram

Russiese videosnitkuns

Ek is mal oor Russiese indie- en elektroniese musiek. Ongelukkig is hierdie genres min bekend buite Rusland...

• Kerkdiens à la Russe: СБПЧ - Часы
• Mujuice - «the king of Moscow's electronic sound»: Circle of Salt (feat. Женя Борзых)

Corona updates

Amidst the corona panic buying - a precious wedding gift in Germany

South Korean research shows that young people between 20 and 29 may be «super spreaders» - due to their high levels of social contacts. If family life is the heart of Italian culture, and we have 20+ or 30+ family members, friends and neighbors crowded around a table on Sundays, then, sadly enough, we are witnesses to a tragedy unfolding.

From another source: Transmission from asymptomatic cases is likely not a major driver of transmission. Persons who are symptomatic will spread the virus more readily through coughing and sneezing. Why are they so sure? What happens if children and younger people carry the virus, without showing any symptoms, and have close contact with the vulnerable elderly whose immune system is weaker?

Spotlight on Russian design

Dmitri Gourji, Moscow | Дмитрий Гуржий, Москва

• Gourji - Russian design with a Soviet flavor - made in Russia and Italy
• Gourji on Instagram
• Financial Times (FT), Special Report Russia, June 8, 2015: Russians look to tighten their belts after luxury buying spree - Local entrepreneurs hope national pride can boost sales
• More than Red - The Gourji Red Collection

10 Russian Fashion Designers You Should Know

• The Culture Trip

Voyageur's Guide to Alaskan contributions to American society and culture

Everything's bigger in Alaska! With the completion of the ALCAN or Alaska Highway, spacious drive-in homes have revolutionized the way Alaskans live!

Отава Ё | Otava Yo

From St Petersburg:

• Award Winner - California Video & Music Film Awards 2019
• Winner Los Angeles Film Awards

Otava Yo SPB - Enjoy!

Pompeya

Pompeya is a four-piece indie pop and rock band based in Moscow, Russia. Their music is often described as bright and breezy, a mix of '70s disco, '80s new wave and '90s pop rock. (Wikipedia)

• Pompeya: 90 - Korablove Remix - Hilarious video!

ДРУГ (Droog)

• ДРУГ (feat. JulyAfterJuly) — Не спешите

Aprile | April 2020

Rammstein: A German Hommage to the Cultural Capital of Europe

• Moskau - Москва

Teaching Russian online from Texas? Da!

An interesting article published by Russia Beyond on April 22^nd: RBTH.com Dr. Heather Rice of the University of Texas at Austin talks about the perks and challenges of teaching Russian online and whether it’s possible to fully grasp the culture of the country without knowing the language.

Danetzare Folk Festival in Erfurt, Thüringen, Germany

As requested (watch the incredible Indian dance performance!):

• IRME in Erfurt in 2015
• It's IRME again - in 2008. LOL! They're so amazing!

True Northern Wisdom

Oops… Don't ever spin your The Best of Nancy Sinatra record in an Alaskan hen barn - or you may get mumbo jumbo super XXL eggs according to the USDA's Alaskan shell egg grades and standards!

At an Alaskan Science and Engineering Fair, Ben Christman proved that chickens lay more eggs when they listen to Marvin Gaye than they do when they listen to rap, classical or country music. We're well on our way to moving up to the 49th worst state in the USDA's agricultural rankings.

-THE ALASKA ALMANAC, 33RD EDITION

Russian Christmas in Alaska

Alaska celebrates 50 years of statehood - January 3, 2009

St. Peter and Paul Church, Saint Paul Island - one of many places where Russian Christmas is celebrated on January 7

With the recent surge of interest in Russian-American history, requests for media are rolling in.... No media files in Wikimedia Commons as yet… but quite a few online resources: Selaviq (alternative spelling: Slaviq) or Christmas Starring in Sitka

Media: Vimeo: Starring in Anchorage

Why would we attend Russian-Orthodox church services or listen to their chants? Due to high rates of intermarriage with Eastern Europeans, many of us are the results of the cultural hybridization process that goes along with it - cultural elements associated with Russia or other Eastern European cultures blend perfectly into another culture.

Theologically, the Church of Scotland and the Russian-Orthodox Church are from completely opposite ends of the Christian spectrum. Rev. Ian Paisley might have blown 'em up ;) They were an integral part of the Czarist regime. However, many intellectuals in Revolutionary Russia condemned the destruction of Russian-Orthodox churches and monasteries. The Church, its traditions, architecture, iconography, liturgy and chants were regarded as precious works of Russian art.

Why would president Putin attend church services? He does, frequently, maybe regularly. In search of Old Russia and Russian identity, one may guess.

Further reading:
The Church and the Dawn of Czarist Empire: Religion and the Church Under Nicholas II

Maggio | May | Mei 2020

Our Favorite Tunes This Month

Music you may want to listen to while editing articles...

Glasgow Voices: Al Stewart

• SME/YouTube: Roads to Moscow + SING ALONG Lyrics, Guitar tablature also available
• YouTube: Russians & Americans + SING ALONG: Lyrics, Guitar tablature also available

Unfortunately, the Russians & Americans album is RARE, really UBER RARE or just outrageously expensive. As a collector, I'm salivating at the mention of it...

Plus... attempting a darker tune for Scarborough Fair (Nox Arcana)

Nóg 'n stem uit die noorde: Mari Boine - Boadan Nuppi Bealde | I Come From the Other Side

En 'n bietjie iets van die voortdurende bakleiery tussen mans en vroue: Nox Arcana - Night of the Wolf

Mapping Russian Los Angeles

• Russian Los Angeles

Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco

• Overview of Russian post-revolutionary emigration

Moscow Mini Wikimania

Nedalny Vostok • Недальний Восток

Rostov Veliki on Lake Nero and the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery - a 3-hour train journey from Moscow

You will take 100s or 1,000s of photographs!

Rostov Veliki (not to be confused with Rostov-on-Don in Southern Russia) is one of the oldest towns of the Golden Ring of Russia. Limited accommodation is available

While we are still planning the project (it's light years away), have a look at some of the proposed venues...

• Voskhod Restaurant • Ресторан "Восход" - a space age restaurant. Waitresses and waiters wear space station uniforms, while you may enjoy superb food and a splendid view of the Kremlin! A teaser video, maybe?

• Nedalny Vostok (Ресторан "Недальний Восток", «Not So Far East») in Tverskoy Bulvar 15, Tverskoy, Moscow 123104 - Pan-Asian cuisine with «Kamchatka crab done myriad ways, sushi, Kobe beef, and grapefruit sorbet», according to the Wallpaper City Guide Moscow.

Russian folk rap

Russia Beyond, May 1, 2020: Russian folk (and often racy) ‘rap’ about Putin and others

Older stuff, timeless goodie: New Year Greetings 2011: Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev dance for you

Moose Dropping Festival, anyone?

• Here you are...

• Encyclopedic knowledge: If all the 18,177,000,000 nuggets produced yearly by Alaska's 166,000 moose were stacked on top of each other, the pile would be 93,181 times as high as Mount McKinley (Denali). - Alaska Almanac, 25^th Anniversary edition

• What about the input? According to groundskeepers, approximately 50 percent of all new ornamental trees planted on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus are eaten by moose during the following winter. - Alaska Almanac, 25^th Anniversary edition

Россия - Моя история | Russia Is My History contest (coming soon)

• Russian-American Company
• Russian Alaska
• Ballets Russes

Bedside reading

Print

• Manuela Dunn Mascetti: Vampire - The Complete Guide to the World of the Undead (Penguin Studio 1992). A real classic... >>> Article on vampires - vampier
• Books about Idaho, Minnesota, the Twin Cities and more have been delivered.

Online

• Wired, 02.17.2020: Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet: «People used to think the crowdsourced encyclopedia represented all that was wrong with the web. Now it's a beacon of so much that's right.»

Press reader

• Moscow, Mikhail Bulgakov and «The Master and Margarita» are mentioned in this New York Times article (MSN News): Russia Was Ready to Celebrate a Glorious Past. The Present Intervened.

What does Putin smell like?

Honni soit qui mal y pense...

Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes…

• How to Heal a Spider Bite with a Potato... I hate spiders...
• How to Remove a Broken Light Bulb
• Idaho Potato Varieties Fingerling? Russian Banana? Yep!

Austria - frontier country

We will return shortly to Kamchatka, Idaho, Alaska en Minnesota. This week, the focus is on Austria as a European frontier country.

A vulnerable, militarized boundary, an area of expansion and one of the most flourishing provinces during

• the Roman period
• the early and High Middle Ages as a new society with Bavarian settlers

Focus of our library collection AM RANDE DES REICHES. Caution: this user is mad about it!

• Links: The Roman City of Carnuntum
• In our Wikipedia: Carnuntum
• RIHA Film Austria: Productions Stunningly beautiful!

Mary Austin: Carmel, California & New Mexico

Dressing up in Indian costume... writing in a "wickiup", a treehouse she named using the Paiute word for shelter...

Stop laughing, read this: >>> Maureen E. Reed: A Woman's Place: Women Writing New Mexico

Volgende onderwerpe in die San Francisco- en Kalifornië-reeks

• 'n Groep van kunstenaars wat hulself na die eienaar van die Italiaanse restaurant genoem het waar hulle vergader het.
• Die Indiaanse bevolking van Kalifornië was nie betrokke by pottebakkery en die bou van pueblos nie - hulle het onder meer mandjies gevleg en daarmee handel gedryf. Interessant genoeg was hul spirituele wêreld hoogs ontwikkeld - ons kry 'n Kaliforniese Droomland baie eeue voordat Hippies en ander hul Kaliforniese Droom kom verwesenlik...
• Ons vergesel Reyner Banham op toer in sy droomstad Los Angeles. Angelenos sal nooit verstaan hoekom 'n Brit - as argitektuurkritikus - mal kan wees oor en verlief kan raak in die stad se voorstadsones, sy netwerk van paaie nie... 'n stad wat deur die gesiene joernalis Adam Raphael as stinking sewer beskryf is (in watter buurt het hy eintlik beland, as ons mag vra?), maar is daar nog iets anders wat hy ontdek het?
• City of Fantasies: Reyner Banham and the Architecture of LA
• Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (1972) Poor choppy video quality...
• And in our library... yes... The Architecture of Four Ecologies by Reyner Banham. A Must Read Book, for sure!

Giugno | June | Junie 2020

Library Spotlight: The Scottish Collection

• The Art of Coorie by Gabriella Bennett

Coorie - or còsagach in Gaelic - is the Scottish version of hygge. In The Art Of Coorie, Gabriella Bennett explores what coorie is and how it has nurtured Scotland's famous creativity, despite an often harsh and unforgiving climate. The Art of Coorie explores lifestyle, homes and interiors, traditions and how to enjoy life through challenges. It looks at how to appreciate what we have and how to use the best of all things Scottish to enhance life and its pleasures.

Support the NTS: National Trust for Scotland Bookshop

Coronavirus stories

'n Woonvertrek in 'n Romeinse meerverdieping-woonstelgebou in Ostia se middestad • A Roman apartment in a multistory apartment block in Ostia (thank God they have restored the stairs leading to the first floor). Some of the apartments had balconies overlooking the street or courtyard. To prevent the risks of fire, there were no kitchens inside the building. Tenants would simply walk down the stairs and have dinner in the thermopolium across the street - a small restaurant with a lovely courtyard garden. The archaeological park is still closed, but we have scores of photographs taken in January to enjoy a virtual visit Wikipedia-wise

The way up. The stairs have been restored

Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2020: Climbing out from coronavirus: Northern California county sags under weight of economic crash

Key points

• But people here are torn — restaurateurs, campground owners, hotel managers, gym operators, tattoo artists and wedding photographers. They know that if California opens up, the virus will come to their communities. If it doesn’t, financial ruin will.
• He feels that until counties like Modoc, Yuba and Sutter began to defy state orders in the last few weeks, state leaders were ignoring the more rural areas where work could not simply shift online.
• “The asks are different for different people,” Thiem said. “I feel like the policymakers are Bay Area-centric, where they say, ‘Just go work from home.’ You know most of our economy here cannot be done from home. So to say, ‘Go work from home because you’re safer’ is different than to say, ‘You need to shut down and bankrupt your business.’”

Italy

In Italy, fifty museums and archaeological parks are reopening today.

New members and contributors

Our Faroese and Icelandic neighbours will join the Scottish networks. Translating material to Afrikaans is another challenge - timewise, at least. Kick-off event: Anchors aweigh!

• Visit Scotland | Alba: See Scotland's Coasts and Waters Virtually
• Phantom Power NATION 1 | 2 | 3 on YouTube.com: Faroese Islands • Iceland • Norway

eLearning Online Discussion Forum - Resources

• The Italian Università Telematica
• Example: Degree course in Conservation and Valorization of Cultural Heritage
• Wikipedia Course Modules - Encyclopedic knowledge & studies targeted at a broader public
• Basic glossaries in Wikipedia articles or on talk pages

Our Favorite Tunes This Month

• The Kings of Connaught: The Rocky Road to Dublin

A big thank you belongs to all Irish friends and supporters who contribute so generously and help to make everything a big success!

8^th June: Celebrate our California Girl!

Roll out the mountain of a birthday cake! With a million candles lit on top of it!

A big hug to Nancy Sinatra - today is her special day!

• Let's Get Movin' with Nancy!

This just in... Ulster Scots Music!

Ever listened to a Lambeg drum? Willie Drennan/Discover Northern Ireland, June 9, 2020 - Noiseeeee!

Plus: 4th of July Celebrations in Carrickferus, Northern Ireland in 2012

As to the last one, you may have seen the US Rangers sign... In Carrickfergus?

Here's why:

• United States Army Rangers in Northern Ireland
• US Rangers' Carrickfergus Origins

Also...

See you there: Ulster American Folk Park - National Museums Northern Ireland

Is Mise Éire | Is Mise Alba

• The I Am Ireland / I Am Scotland Writing Grants will be available soon. Prizes will also be given for contributions which we think are worth translating into Afrikaans.
• To get you in the mood: Is Mise Éire - I Am Ireland - ÉIRE
• Covid-19 restrictions, so what: RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Sibéal perform Mise Éire from home - ÉIRE
• Sibeal Ni Chasaide - "Mise Éire" | The Late Late Show | RTÉ One - ÉIRE
• Julie Fowlis agus Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh: Amhrán na hEascainne - ALBA
• Julie Fowlis agus Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh: Fill a Bhruinneall - ALBA

Note: This is a celebration of Gaelic language and culture, not of the Irish Free State that came into being and its policies (Modern Ireland is quite another thing, isn't it?). No need for our Northern Irish compatriots to burn down the place...

Flashback: Community Groups Throughout LA Unite on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to Combat Violent Crime (January 18, 2007)

• Church of Scientology International: Human Rights Forum
• Community-based solutions - any thoughts?
• Global Education - Advancing Universal Human Rights
• Church of Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center in Los Angeles, California: Bringing Human Rights Solutions to the Millions

UK: Grenfell disaster

• MSN News/The Independent: Crises like Grenfell and coronavirus expose the cracks in society, but they can also bring us together for change

Northern Irish recipe box: Aartappelbrood | Potato bread

The English Wikipedia would indeed categorize Irish soda farl as potato bread. I would recommend wheat flour, though, as shown in this lovely recipe: The Oregonian | OregonLive: Soda farls

Road legends of America

Did you know there is a place where the historic U.S. Route 66 crosses itself?

It's Albuquerque, New Mexico. Learn why.

American Cooking Basics

Conehead cabbage, pointed cabbage, spitskool, Spitzkohl... I'm browsing through the recipes right now...

America is a land of extremes.

• Yes, there is heavily processed convenience food in stores plus fast food (and there are times when you can't resist it...got my air fryer ready): Visual Capitalist: Ranked: Biggest Fast Food Chains in America
• And there are 50+ excellent, heavenly regional cuisines, one for every state. Stumbled upon this website: The Spruce Eats: American Food & Recipes
• What's in season for Northern Hemisphere dwellers? Cabbage, according to Farm Flavor. Now I am mad about spitskool (the Afrikaans equivalent of conehead cabbage, also known as pointed cabbage). It's delicious when sautéed, stir-fried, steamed, peppered, salted, whatever... Add white wine, prosecco, cider (as a drink - don't spoil the cabbage!) ... A shame it is less popular with producers and processing plants owing to its odd shape.

Québec sessions

Time to relax - have a look at this photographer's portfolio:

• Mathieu Dupuis - Ville Sublime

Victorian Urban Planning

Basic reference sources:

• Asa Briggs: Victorian Cities
• John Kellett: The Impact of Railways on Victorian Cities

Key points:

• 19th century urban planning - initially centered on railroads & downtown areas, late Victorian city: workmen's fares, early suburbanization
• 20th century urban planning - auto-centered suburbanization
• 21st century: ?

The Economics, Culture and Architecture of Tourism

• Hotels
• Railroad lodging, railroad hotels

Tune of the Day

• Lulu Belle & Scotty: I'm No Communist - A country folk song full of wisdom from North Carolina

Google Products & Wikimania Collaboration

There will be tutorials for participants with no previous knowledge of Google's online tools. They are free for private users and nonprofits (basic version) and will enable you to shrink distances and work together on the same projects. This kind of collaboration is not available in the Wikipedia namespace - when multiple editors edit the same article or file, they will encounter problems like edit conflicts. Newly added content may even be lost in the process. Online discussions on any of these platforms are private and not visible to the public.

If you would like to add useful new information, but do not have or cannot find reliable sources, other participants may help.

• G Suite for Nonprofits
• Google Meet for live video conferences
• Google Docs for text documents - invite others to edit new content before it is published or have it proofread
• Google Slides for online presentations

Transatlantic tea war with Transatlantic kinsfolk

• The Guardian, June 24, 2020: US woman sparks transatlantic tea war with brutal online brew

So what? Our British-American oolong tea (playful flavors, deeply floral, honey and juicy, it's not uncommon to have a lovely cup that's almost like a succulent slice of peach - internet description) and pecan-flavored coffee is beyond deliciousness... To name just two hot brews...

No go.

Appalachian Pre- and Post-Revolutionary Tea done right. straight from the Voyageur Lab:

• Select teas (no bags, only loose leaf tea), 1 teaspoon per person, an extra spoon for the pot
• A choice of several teapots, including a black Japanese mock-iron porcelain pot and a few designer pots
• A white tea set
• Filtered water (where applicable)
• An electric kettle with five automatic brewing temperatures
• Brown sugar
• No milk. Only very strong Assam and plain black teas may go with milk, or heavily spiced chai teas

Let's go:

• Ahmad Tea: How to brew a perfect cup of tea with loose tea, by Tea Taster Dominic Marriot

Or do it the Russian way:

• How to make Russian tea using an electric samovar

Rumors spread about Church of Scientology, Covid-19 and ozone treatment

Time to replace your laser printer filter!

Ozone treatment and sanitizers: Ozone blast has been in use for many years. Know what a pool is? I regularly use ozone and hot steam to clean apartments and offices, boats and pools, duck palaces and anything touched by non-Scientologists (LOL), so do our Moscow and Treviso neighbors, and obviously all CoS orgs and missions - but I do not recommend it as a treatment for Covid-19 patients.

We're getting the right comments there. Yes indeed, laser printers emit ozone and ultrafine toner particles. That's why we insist on ventilation systems, open windows and air purifiers when printers are in constant use. You may also ask dealers for dedicated laser printer filters.

However, air pollution in most cities may do more harm than your printer. The "open window" option may be the right one for those of us printing in health resorts (LOL).

Carolinas & Georgia Update

• Ulster-Scots Agency, 22 March 2019: Agency promotes Ulster-Scots in Savannah, Georgia
• Direct link to the video collection: vimeo.com: Ulster-Scots Agency - Savannah, Georgia
• Ulster Scots - From Ulster to Savannah: Full documentary (33 min)

North Carolina History Project

• Encyclopedia of the Old North State: Entry on Highland Scots

US–UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

•  Verenigde State • United States – United Kingdom Negotiations - Summary of Specific Negotiating Objectives, February 2019
•  Verenigde Koninkryk • Department for International Trade: UK–US Free Trade Agreement
• The first round of negotiations: video conferences from 20 May 2020, with 30 specific working groups
• The US may lower import tariffs on Scottish whisky and British cheese - better and less expensive Cranachan for Stateside consumers!
• The Spectator, 28 November 2019 (UK magazine edition): A US-UK free trade agreement will bring benefits on both sides of the Atlantic

Celebrate the States: Culture of France

• French Culture - Cultural Services | French Embassy in the United States
• Grants & Programs: Le Créative Lab North America
• K–12 Education | Dual Language

The postwar food industry

Ingredients for a Slow Cooker Cincinnati chili

Cooking...

De'Longhi Multifryer. Come on, Voyageur...
De'Longhi is a family business based in Treviso (although the multi-fryers are made in China - only premium products are still manufactured in Italy)

World War II had a lasting effect on US food manufacturing and consumption. Helping to feed the soldiers meant finding the right combination of product and packaging that would travel and be preserved. Those developments would later benefit consumers. Mass production of Florida orange juice began during World War II, but the quality of the beverage was questioned. The US Agriculture Department tested numerous oranges and grapefruits for their nutritional content. Nickerson reported on the findings that most of the vitamin C found in oranges and grapefruits was found in the rinds.
Several new products came about because of the war, including caramel milk. The thought was that sweetness in the cans of milk would encourage soldiers on the battlefield to drink the dairy product.

• Can openers → electric can openers → economical canned foods → casserole recipes
• Consolidation of small farms during the 1940's and 1950's → introduction of new chemicals → industrial food production
• Did menus change after WW II and become more exotic? Was the USA a nation of meat and potato meals? No.
• Review of food sections shows there was a more diverse palate
• World's Fairs introduced foods from foreign lands that food editors covered
• The use of creole sauce was popular in the early 1940s, even outside of New Orleans

Curious?

These are excerpts from another lovely book:

• Kimberly Wilmot Voss: The Food Section. Newspaper Women and the Culinary Community. Lanham • Boulder • New York • London: Rowman & Littlefield 2014

• What about healthy food and cooking? Slow cookers like the famous Crock Pot became popular in the US and were later adopted by UK consumers. The basement floor of one Glasgow department store was full of slow cookers when I last visited them, with several brands on display.

• I purchased the Krups Cook4Me (meant for "assisted cooking" - still in its original packaging, see a review: slowcooker.de - Krups Cook4Me) which is just perfect for browning meat, pressure cooking, steaming (although I would use a more sophisticated device for that). The only missing feature is - slow cooking. It comes with preset menus and lets you even choose the number of servings you need. Or you may set your own program (you choose the food and its weight - the device does the rest. As to the review - steaks would best be fried for only a few minutes at a very high temperature, then wrapped in foil and put in the oven. Cooking meat, vegetables and potatoes in just one device would not make any sense - unless you prepare a stew or any similar dish. What you want to do is shorten the cooking time for potatoes, cauliflower and other vegetables. Noodles may also be pressure-cooked in the Krups - a nice (German-speaking) Serbian lady on Youtube.com, called Jana or Frau Prepinović - has uploaded lots of videos to youtube.com: Cooking noodles in the Krups Cook4Me
• Also waiting for its première: The DeLonghi Multi-fryer Extra Chef. Baking pizzas or lovely Italian cakes or maybe french fries? Although, I guess the stirring element is tricky, and cleaning the device not that easy, as one Austrian consumer reports. The recipe book app (available for iPads and Android devices, got it on both) is mouth-watering... If well-known Italian chefs pose with it, it should somehow work just fine...
• Some good reviews may help create encyclopedic articles which are useful for consumers. Fads for foodies...

Celebrate the States: American Business History Center

One of their incredible articles - includes one of the first supermarket ads ever:

• Supermarket: One of the Most Important (and least known) American Inventions of All Time

Southern Gothic Literature

• Another topic for discussion. Online discussions will prevent participants from shooting each other before they come to a conclusion.

Me too !

• Create your own Gothic South novel with Prof. William (Bill) Kovarik, PhD:

It was a _______(adj)  and ________(adj) night, and the rain fell like __________(metaphor)  on the _________ (cotton or tobacco) _____ fields.  Through the fog, _______(proper noun)  could see ___________(pronoun)   ________(verb)  by the light of __(art)   _________  (adj) ___________ (noun).
“If only the  _______ (mule, horse or Model T) had not  _________ ________ ________ , ” said ______(proper noun)  as she brushed the ________(noun)  out of her ________(noun).
She listened from inside the ____ (noun) as  __________ (proper noun) made __________ (adj) noises and hurried to ____(verb)  the _______(noun).
Just then, ___________________________________________
__________ (startling event).  The ___________ rustled as it retreated into the __________.
“My God,” said _______, looking down at the ______.    “What kind of ________ could do this?”
“There’s not even any ___________,” exclaimed ________ in horror.
“Wait a minute,” said ____. “Isn’t this your _______  (relative)?”

Je parle Québécois.com

• Lâche pas la patate! (LOL) = Sterkte!

What If the South Had Won the War? Satire.

• Politically incorrect...
• ...even more so

Architectural, literary, cultural tourism | Heritage tourism

We will be coming back to that. A few random articles:

• Architectural tourism
• Re-thinking the future: Architecture & tourism
• Cultural tourism
• Literary tourism

Tourism architecture and design

• Arch Daily

Sweet State of Mine

• Die North Carolina Moravian sugar cake is meer of min dieselfde soos die Morawiese variant. No further research is needed...

Southern Living: 4^th July Cleanup

• Mama Says These Things Don't Belong in A Southern Home
• I am failing the permanent-botanicals-in-designer-concrete-pots-test! Gawd, I am mad about this deco stuff!

Cleanup... continued: Invasive plants

Spell Cemetery in Mississippi. Find the tombstones under the kudzu... LOL

Your neighbor's garden, according to kudzu...

Save the South... Start weaving kudzu baskets!

Luglio | July | Julie 2020

How to whip up a quick but epic 4^th July dinner?

Be home for dinner...

Drink list approved...!

• BBC Food - Cajun chicken with potato wedges

• Oven baked Cajun chicken breast is my favorite. I have run out of Cajun seasoning and will rely on Amazon for restocking my pantry. Best side dishes? Wedges or french fries? Corn fritters? Fried sweet corn? Salad?
• Drinks: English or Irish beer, cider, Italian sparkling water, Venetian Aperol Spritz, Italian Martini cocktails, espresso, caffè latte. Just to mention a few.
• Traditional berry dessert: Ice cream or a cheese cake with berries?
• Italian ricotta cake with grapefruits or mandarin oranges on Sunday?
• A Po' boy on Sunday?
• Entertainment? Mom an' I just figgered out how to crank the ol' Victrola that was hidden in the hay barn-style* or worse ;) ?

• One user's classic and epic reply to an Audio Asylum forum post by some wealthy audiophile with $$$, suggesting the purchase of ridiculously expensive equipment.

LOL

• Patch.com, May 6, 2020: Not One Case of COVID-19 at the Church of Scientology in L.A. - LosAngeleno.com interviews the Church of Scientology to discover what actions they have taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Now seriously folks - our favorite tunes in July

• Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew - "Two-Step D'Amede"
• The Balfa Brothers - "La danse de Mardi Gras"
• Cajun Country Revival - "You Won't Be Satisfied" (Live at Pickathon)

Italian and Italian American Studies

Here's to our lovely hosts...

• Our Part I: Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and the Production of Ethnic Identities (Critical Studies in Italian America) - Already a favorite. The history of Italian fashion in America: the gangster suit, the Italian Trade Commission's suit (LOL - this is so much fun, stereotypes around the Italian suit), stereotypes of Italian Americans (the Sopranos - LOL)

• US Citizenship Info: Italian American History and Culture
• Countries and their culture: Italian Americans

Monographies

• Senator John Heinz History Center: New Italian American Collection Book
• ABC-CLIO's Italian Americans - The History and Culture of a People. Have a look inside - what a cover!
• Maria Laurino: The Italian Americans

Community matters

Do French people care about Cajun culture and music?

They do. Cajun music festival in France: Bayou Chicot - Festival des Nuits Cajun et Zydeco de Saulieu 2010

Did you know that... (USA, CDN)

... Chesapeake Bay was blown to pieces in a cosmic catastrophe? Some of these pieces (molten glass droplets) settled as far as Texas.

More information:

• Science Daily, August 13, 2019: Studying largest impact crater in the US, buried for 35 million years
• mindat.org: A black tektite variety from North American strewnfield (Chesapeake Bay impact crater), found in Texas, USA

BBC Good Food: The best prosecco, taste tested (UK) + recipe (UK, USA, CDN)

• Bottles under £25: Aldi's best value prosecco: £7.49
• How to enjoy it: COOKIE + kate: Classic Aperol Spritz Recipe - from Kansas City

Exposing the Enslavement of Blacks in South Africa

Blocked by the Wikimedia Foundation:

• Freedom Magazine, Vol. 49, Issue I

The Spectator noted that copies of Freedom exposing the camps had been seized based on a warrant signed by apartheid advocate and government minister Connie Mulder and that “the South African Publications Control Board of Censors (run by Mulder), banned Freedom.” 

“During his ten years as Minister of Information—and as Minister of the Interior from 1972—Dr. Mulder on many occasions took action to guard the Smith Mitchell mental homes from their various critics, of whom the most persistent have been the Church of Scientology,” The Spectator reported, noting that in the 1960s Mulder had served as a director of two camps. Although he resigned from those positions in 1968 when he became a cabinet minister, he held on to major shares of Smith Mitchell investments.

Thx, but we're bilingual/multilingual

An interesting Afrikaans article with an English abstract:

• LitNet.co.za, 2 Julie 2020: Die herkoms van ’n aantal Afrikaanse uitdrukkings wat verband hou met die see | The history of some Afrikaans expressions dealing with the sea
• There are also some American French expressions relating to sea themes.

People Who Make America Great and Their Little Gift to the World: John Fowler, New Mexico

• It's American Heroes like John Fowler whose contributions will help us create a world class encyclopedia.

My photos are free and available for anybody to take, alter, or sell. The Creative Commons license does require attribution. That's all I ask. And maybe you'll let me know if you like them or do anything special with them. I am retired and like to pretend that my retirement check is my salary for my photo work. They are my little gift to the world.

John Fowler shares his work on Flickr.com.

A favorite treat has arrived in North America... blueberries!

A dish of blueberries

Blueberries - a favorite treat for humans, bears and birds - flourish from April to October. Berries to bellies!

• Boerderypotensiaal van bloubessies - 'n superkos vir verhoogde breinfunksie
• Blueberry Council
• Idahopreferred.com: Berries
• All About Alaska Blueberries

UK:

• British Blueberries

Pioneer Day | Pioneer Weekend

Fine music. Tune in

• Come, Come, Ye Saints
• Praise to the Man
• Amazing Grace

Enjoy the Place and Its Pleasures - Staff Picks at The King's English Bookstore, SLC

• Store Picks

Taking the Pioneer Pledge

• Soon online - Your Community Efforts. Child participants will receive a beautifully wrapped book gift package.
• California: No. 1 - The Channel Islands
• North Carolina: No. 1 - England & America
• South Carolina & Georgia Combined: No. 1 - Early Settlements & Savannah
• The Carolinas & Georgia: The Blue Wall
• Utah: No. 1 - National Parks • No. 2 - The Greatest Snow on Earth
• Pennsylvania: No. 1 - German & Scots-Irish Immigration
• Louisiana: Delta Parishes
• Arizona: Valley of the Sun & Saguaros
• Éire & Northern Ireland: No. 1 - Cradle of the New America
• French America: History of Montreal

More fine music

• Combined choir of the Provo Missionary Training Center in Utah, recorded in 2012: Praise to the Man
• Choir - Sing-along with lyrics - Praise to the Man

LDS Living + Scotland

• The Faith of the Scottish Saints + How the View of the Church Is Changing in Scotland

Tour the Church of Scientology of Salt Lake City on South Temple Street

• Opened in 2018, this is Utah's First Ideal Org. It serves as a home for the whole community and a meeting ground of cooperative effort to uplift people of all denominations

American Heritage Society: Limited free offer

• AHS Membership $0.00 + free digital subscription to the digital version of American Heritage

M pour Montréal: Tunes

• Jérôme Minière et Karine Vanassa: Histoire d'espions

Scientology Parent

• Why I Brought My Kids to the Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology of Salt Lake City

Tad, a Scientology parent, on Salt Lake City:

There is a lot of good in this world, and a lot of good people working relatively thanklessly to do something about the things in this society that need change.  In the times that I’ve been in Salt Lake City over the years, the area has always struck me as having an overwhelming number of really good folks who don’t really share the Hollywood glorification of debauchery and irresponsibility.  There are a lot of good organizations right on the same street as our new church, who we would love to work with, and who we can work alongside to handle the drug epidemics, the violations of human rights, and rampant immorality that is all about us.

From Seeker.com

• A Church of the AI God Isn’t as Revolutionary as It Might Seem

“LDS [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] and Scientology are both distinctly American traditions that focus on very forward thinking religious viewpoints. LDS discusses other planets and extra-terrestrial life. Scientology has an emphasis on therapy and a psychological worldview, which is quite modern and forward thinking.”

Aha, baybeee... That's why foreign backward idiots hate both traditions. Anyway, this guy made a point. Is God, as Joseph Smith knew and/or described him, the quintessential Operating Thetan?

Reward: YouTube.com: Caccini's Alleluia - Tabernacle Choir

• Lutheran theologians remain cautious about AI:

zeitzeichen.net Paysite - anyway, two sentences sum it up nicely:

Die Heilsversprechen der Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) erinnern an die gnostischen Erlösungsvorstellungen in den ersten Jahrhunderten nach Christus. Sie reichen von der Annahme einer prinzipiellen Göttlichkeit des Menschen über die Abwertung des Physischen bis zum Glauben, dass die Erlösung vom Leiden durch Wissen möglich sei. Ein Überblick von Jörg Herrmann, Direktor der Evangelischen Akademie der Nordkirche in Hamburg.

From LDS Living

• Orson Scott Card Tells Scientology Magazine: 'I Have Faith' (May 26, 2015)

Our Online Fireside for Today: American Religious Leaders

Enlightened Minds Series:

• Mother Ann and Mary Baker Eddy

Study material:

• First Things, published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life: The 50 Most Influential Religious Figures in American History

In response to his own question, “What is America?”, G.K. Chesterton replied, “a nation with the soul of a church.” Throughout the nation’s history millions of believers of various faiths have shaped that soul.

Fireside Media

• Praise to the Man

Fireside: Founding Fathers

• George Washington

"A Man may err once, and he may err twice but when those who possess more than a common share of abilities persevere in a regular course of destructive policy, one is more apt to suspect their hearts than their heads."

– George Washington, in his letter to Fielding Lewis, Peaks-Kill, June 28, 1781; Fitzpatrick 22:283

Interreligious dialogue

• Published in 2017: A Mormon's Visit to the Church of Scientology

Agosto | August | Augustus 2020

Sunstone Magazine

• Reincarnation and The Restoration: Does Joseph Smith’s Last Teaching Help Explain Pre-Mortality and Eternal Progression?
• He came damn close to something. Add an extra Scientology room to any temple close to
• a good pizzeria,
• a good Northern Indian restaurant,
• a nice bookstore and
• [censored by the Church, LOL]

* Joseph Smith, in an address delivered in Commerce, Illinois, on 2 June 1839, said, “The spirit of man is not a created being: it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal. . . .” (Journal of Discourses 6:238). The Prophet here appears to use intelligence and spirit synonymously, perhaps in part, because of his translation of the Book of Abraham.

* Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it. All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement.

* We say that God Himself is a self-existing being. Who told you so? It is correct enough; but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. God made a tabernacle and put a spirit into it, and it became a living soul. (Refers to the Bible.) How does it read in the Hebrew? It does not say in the Hebrew that God created the spirit of man. It says, “God made man out of the earth and put into him Adam’s spirit, and so became a living body.”
The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal [co-eternal] with God himself. I know that my testimony is true; hence, when I talk to these mourners, what have they lost? Their relatives and friends are only separated from their bodies for a short season: their spirits which existed with God have left the tabernacle of clay only for a little moment, as it were; and they now exist in a place where they converse together the same as we do on the earth.

* It is perhaps significant that the 1828 edition of Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language defines intelligence as, “A spiritual being; as a created intelligence. It is believed that the universe is peopled with innumerable superior intelligences.” We learn, then, from the Prophet that the first principles of men, and the mind of man, the intelligent part, are immortal and co-equal with God. Elder B. H. Roberts, in editing the text of the King Follett address for publication in the History of the Church, inserted co-eternal in brackets next to co-equal with the approval of the First Presidency, believing it more accurately reflected Joseph Smith’s intended meaning (HC 6:310–11).

The word “mind” was defined in Joseph Smith’s day to mean the intellectual or intelligent power in man, the power that conceives, judges or reasons. But it could also mean the heart or seat of affection, as well as man’s will. It is clear, however, that all of these usages lean in the direction of individualism rather than being collective in nature, although in the King Follett address it is not that clear or concise; however, the journal of Wilford Woodruff, as Truman Madsen points out, shows that the Prophet’s phrase “A spirit from age to age,” as used in the King Follett address, refers to “an entity, a person, an individual” (TPJS 354; see also Madsen 24, fn. 5). Moreover, it is clear that Joseph Smith firmly believed from 1833 until his death in 1844 that there was something about man that was not dependent upon God for its being, and that something was intelligence, mind, first principle, or spirit. (See BYU link below)

• There is a lot of 19th century stuff that goes straight into his universe - hieroglyphs, the Rosetta stone, Freemasonry. What did he actually read? Should temples have a replica of his office or desk (L. Ron Hubbard has one in every Church/Org, LOL) to honor this forward-thinking man?

• Mind Matters: Why Some Scientists Believe the Universe is Conscious
• Imagine you want to do some research, take a book from the shelf, it accidentally falls to the floor and opens the page that you wanted to read - straight away. Why?
• While browsing a book and magazine, you come across some obscure place. One or two hours later, for whatever reason, that place is in the news. Strange coincidences?
• BYU Religious Studies Center: The History of Intelligence in Latter-day Saint Thought

Ice cream potato weekend

• We declare the Idaho ice cream potato weekend open

• In Utah: Where Is the Best Ice Cream In Utah?
• Utah Home: Five of the Best Places to Scream For Ice Cream in Utah
• I guess... where it says Pecan Cavaliers!

America's First Department Store in SLC

• Utah inventions: ZCMI as 'America's 1st Department Store'
• The Salt Lake Tribune: Whatever happened to ... ZCMI? + Margaret Thatcher!

And... a Bit of Architecture & Design

• Utah Home: Re-Envisioned Mid-Century Modern Home in Salt Lake City

Bible Pouches

• When will Bible pouches become encyclopedic?

Pleasure cruise takes on a new meaning. LDS missions to that yacht should be canceled right away.

Fresh off the farm: Not applicable to Utah and Idaho

If you're referring to a person and not to an egg or something, you may run into trouble... And what do you know about our secret farm operations... The combined Village & Farm of the Damned will scare your city pants off...

• Here they are...

My offspring...

• Your article on Scientology has multiple issues...

Mindblowing article

The idea of a pre-existence of Indian ice cream has been prevalent among Alaskan theologians and philosophers for centuries

Russia's leading anti-smoking activist in action

Moscow's Mounted Anti-Smoking Unit

Im Fadenkreuz: eine deutsch-polnische Glimmstengelfabrik | Former German-Polish mouth-to-air missile plant

A mindblowing article sheds new light on the pre-existence of Indian ice cream.

Cajun cooking

The cajun chicken breasts are in the oven - now let's move on to Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta.

Mini Wikimania

The event is postponed due to current restrictions on non-essential travel and the hospitality sector, including museums and archaeological parks, which would affect our tour program.

There will be alternative arrangements for those visiting Europe for the first time while we are rescheduling the event. Like our exclusive Moscow | Idaho | Utah Winterproof™ Aran & Scottish jumpers - the sheep can't wait to be shorn for you!

Italian COVID-19 update from The Guardian (August 16, 5 pm BST)

After a meeting on Sunday afternoon with the regional authorities, the Italian government has decided to close all discos in the country and to make mandatory wearing masks in outdoor public spaces where it is not possible to practice social distancing.
The decision follows a rapid increase in coronavirus infections: for the first time since May and for three consecutive days, Italy registered more than 500 new coronavirus cases per day, most of which concern holidaymakers returning from Croatia, Spain, Greece and Malta.
The fear of a new lockdown has begun to spread among Italians, as the country registered 479 new cases and 4 deaths on Sunday.

Insurance plans covering COVID-19

• Trawick International - Safe Travels Outbound - 500 K Max - US Citizens and Permanent Residents
• Safe Travels Outbound plan satisfies Schengen visa insurance requirements by choosing $0 deductible.

US steam & convection oven

• No need to envy the Europeans.
• Have a look at this device: F. Blümlein 10-in-1 Steam convection oven, $499.99
• Family-sized with 37.2 ounce water tank: 180 minutes steam capacity
• Nice recipe book - Steamed chocolate pudding! Or try the oven-baked chicken. The ziploc bag method is also recommended for cajun chicken. Or combine the seasoning ingredients and melted butter in a small bowl.

Hidden retro gems

Where are the DSLR's and tripods...?

The Panasonic DMC-LF1 is a pocketable point-and-shoot compact camera released in 2013. Its outstanding feats are the integrated electronic viewfinder, the sharp Leica f/2 lens with very good image quality (and image stabilization) and its macro mode. These days, most people wouldn't even consider it - smartphones rule. The market for compact cameras is shrinking.

Designwise, the LF1 is a black beauty. My collection of pocketable devices includes the Sony Alpha 6000 system camera with dedicated lenses, two smartphones (Leica/Samsung lenses) and the LF1.

There are some amazing reviews like Olivier Duong's Inspired Review Panasonic LF1, published in his Inspired Eye Photography Magazine. It's sheer fun! Incredibly well done, superb lay-out and very useful information. Strangely enough, there is next to nothing about this little gem in Wikipedia, except for a very short article in the English project and 107 sample photographs in Wikimedia Commons.

Also worth reading: DXOMARK - Smartphones vs Cameras: Closing the gap on image quality. Yeah, it is difficult to take a selfie with a DSLR...

Socialist Utopia, Utopian Socialism

• Christian utopianism in America is just one of many utopian movements.
• Obviously the Socialist Utopia is still haunting conservative Germany: Das Land Utopia, FAZ 2009:

Wohnungsnot und Verfall, wo immer man hinsah

• Looks like the gap is narrowing.

The Long Read: BBC.co.uk | Joe Biden. This time the Oval Office?

• U.S. Election: Joe Biden
• Will the Democrats be able to mass mobilize low-income and poor voters? Then it's Joe Biden. I barely know him but let's give him a chance. This article is highly informative.

“The values that Vice-President Biden was exposed to as a young man were values rooted in the Church, rooted in Catholic education, rooted in the culture we were growing up in, which was Irish-American,” says Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, whose family has lived in Scranton for generations.
His biggest childhood challenge was overcoming a speech impediment – a stutter – that afflicted him well into high school. In his memoir, Biden recalls memorising a reading to avoid tripping up during class and, when he once did, how a teacher mocked his disability, calling him “buh-buh-Biden”. That teacher, a Catholic nun, received a tongue-lashing from Biden’s mother, who threatened to “knock your bonnet off your head”, in Biden’s retelling.

→ BIG PLUS +. COOL AND IRISH.

Investopedia: Political positions of Joe Biden

• Joe Biden's Economic Plan: Save the Middle Class to Save America

Made in All of America:
In July 2020, he proposed a $700 billion plan to boost America's manufacturing and technological strength. This involves government spending of $400 billion on U.S. goods and services and a $300 billion investment in research and development (R&D) and technologies like electric vehicles, lightweight materials, 5G and artificial intelligence.
"Biden believes that American workers can out-compete anyone, but their government needs to fight for them," says his website. "Biden does not accept the defeatist view that the forces of automation and globalization render us helpless to retain well-paid union jobs and create more of them here in America. He does not buy for one second that the vitality of U.S. manufacturing is a thing of the past."

• He wants to spend $1.3 trillion on infrastructure over a decade. This includes $50 billion in his first year in office on repairing roads, highways and bridges, $20 billion on rural broadband infrastructure, $400 billion over 10 years on a federal new agency to conduct clean energy research and innovation, $5 billion over five years on electric car battery technology and $10 billion over 10 years on transit projects that serve high-poverty areas.

Infrastructure

• NBC News: 50,000 American bridges are falling apart
• Statista.com: Where America's Bridges Are Crumbling

Utah/Idaho:
In Utah, driver Mike Peterson escaped serious injury when a chunk of a bridge smashed through his windshield as he drove underneath. "Another six to eight inches, you might not be talking to me today," said Peterson. 

Using government data, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association compiled a report showing that 54,259 American bridges are "structurally deficient."
So many bridges are in need of repair, says the report, that if placed end-to-end they'd stretch nearly from New York City to Miami. And experts say that at the current rate of repair or replacement it would take 37 years to fix all the bridges.

→ That's 10 terms of office.

Party Platforms 2020

Vox - Democratic Platform Explained

• Vox.com: Democratic Platform

Ballotpedia: Republican Platform 2020

• The Republican Party Platform 2020

On to the Trump Campaign...

Trump Campaign & Infrastructure

• Reuters.com: Trump team prepares $1 trillion infrastructure plan to spur economy

American Society of Civil Engineers: America's Infrastructure Report Card 2017

• America's Infrastructure Report Card Scores A D+
• Infrastructure: Find Your State and Download the Report Brochure

What about the Russian Federation?

The Moscow Times: Russia’s Massive Infrastructure Overhaul, in 5 Examples

• The Moscow Times, April 3, 2019

The Moscow Times: Russia Ditches Goal of Becoming Top 5 Economy

• The Moscow Times, July 21, 2020: President Vladimir Putin confirms national development goals delayed from 2024 to 2030

A nostalgic GDR song

• Karat: Albatros

Paul Robeson | Research

Our Moscow concierge knows 'em all! The City that Never Sleeps is always worth a literary treasure hunt:

• Joshua Parker: Tales of Berlin in American Literature up to the 21st Century Berlin, the Prussian Venice... The USA, GDR and Paul Robeson. Hilarious!
• Chapter 9: Water Crossings

* This book traces the ways Berlin has been narrated across three centuries by some 100 authors. It presents a composite landscape not only of the German capital, but of shifting subtexts in American society.

• Article suggestions: Sasha Stone, photographer
• MoMA - Sasha Stone
• Berlinische Galerie: Sasha Stone
• Fulltable.com: 1929 - Berlin in Pictures

Star Trek and Computer Technology

• Fortune Newsletters - Aaron Pressman: Datasheet, November 6, 2019 | How Star Trek inspired better computers

New COVID-19 Office-proof Face Mask Developed by Voyageur Health Industries, Inc., Bogusville

• «Ufficio» $949⁹⁹
• Maschera Italiana «Anti-Smoke Plus» $1099⁹⁹
• «Evicto Anti-Smoke» $849⁹⁹
• «Fumarole Superiore» - Coming soon
• «Sauvage» - Coming soon
• «Bordello di Berlino» - Coming soon

Update on Russia

• CNBC Opinion by Frederick Kempe, August 1, 2020: Op-ed: Keep your eyes on Russia for an August surprise of Putin’s making

Russian-built mechanical Brunsviga calculator for level 2 mercenaries, Central and Western Europe

For all the legitimate focus on rising U.S.-Chinese tensions, this summer’s sleeper surprise for the West is more likely to emerge from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
That’s because the built-in contradictions between Russia’s international ambition and domestic rot that have always characterized Putin’s rule, now into its 21st year, are coming to head in a manner that provides him both greater opportunity and peril.
The brutal effectiveness of his thugocracy state is increasing, with a military modernization that includes a newly detected test of anti-satellite space weapons, highly publicized advances in hypersonic technologies, and worldwide intelligence operations that effectively employ advanced technology and a lower-tech army of mercenaries.
At the same time, the weakness of his demographically aging, economically ossifying Covid-hit country continues to grow in the wake of lower oil prices. The World Bank projects a 6% decline in Russian GDP in 2020 in a country that already had 12.3% of its population, or 18 million people, below the poverty line.
Greater opportunity for Putin presents itself in a United States that’s distracted by the coronavirus spread, its own economic downturn, racial upheavals, polarizing November elections and divisions with and within Europe. With the chance that his friend President Donald Trump might lose the November election, Putin could calculate that now could be the time to seize new opportunities.

We'd better seek shelter under our beds. And I must admit - I am fed up with the lower-tech we have to rely on. When will I get a pocket calculator to calculate my monthly salary?

Buonanotte Treviso

Patate gourmet!

• La Colonnetta
• Angoli Ghiotti - More pics

Buonanotte Noale

• Città di Noale, Veneto

Italian Yachting Design: Monte Carlo Yachts S.p.A., Monfalcone (GO)

• MCY Home
• MCY on Instagram - Have a look at the library and galley (onboard kitchen)...

Photo of the Day

Post-election cleanup...

Goats in Mombasa, Kenya eating posters

Liechtenstein

There is a nice poem in High Alemannic German, written by a well-known female poet from Liechtenstein, in one of my larger handbooks on LIechtenstein. Although I speak and understand the language well, there is one word where we will require assistance from speakers in Liechtenstein (or maybe the Alemannic Wikipedia) sometime later... Or is there a Department of High Alemannic German somewhere at BYU?

Good Reads: Joseph Brodsky

Venezia, la Serenissima, awakes...

Presently a large, flat boat, something of a cross between a sardine can and a sandwich, emerged out of nowhere and with a thud nudged the stazione's landing. A handful of people rushed ashore and raced past me up the stairs to the terminal. Then I saw the only person I knew in that city; the sight was fabulous.

I had seen it for the first time several years before, in that same previous incarnation: in Russia. The sight had come there in the guise of a Slavicist, a Mayakovsky scholar, to be precise. That nearly disqualified the sight as a subject of interest in the eyes of the coterie to which I belonged. That it didn't was the measure of her visual properties. Five foot ten, fine-boned, long-legged, narrow-faced, with chestnut hair and hazel, almond-shaped eyes, with passable Russian on those wonderfully shaped lips and a blinding smile on the same, superbly dressed in paper-light suede and matching silks, redolent of mesmerizing, unknown to us, perfume, the sight was easily the most elegant female ever to set a mind-boggling foot in our midst. She was the kind that keeps married men's dreams wet. Besides, she was a Veneziana.

From the opening passages of Joseph Brodsky's Watermark. An Essay on Venice.

Highly recommended reading for anyone. No Utahn or Idahoan farm is too remote for this masterpiece... We'll (hopefully) soon follow in the steps of two bright Russian minds, Sergey Diaghilev and Joseph Brodsky, who came here as strangers and whose final resting place it became...

SOUNDTRACK

• Rondo Veneziano: Odissea Veneziana
• Rondo Veneziano: Deserti Lontani
• Rondo Veneziano Live in Switzerland: La Serenissima

Famous telegrams from Venice

Streets full of water. Advise.

19th century English traveller Robert Benchley

Reindustrialization: Russian Voices

• Neftegaz Magazine, April 11, 2019: Reindustrialization in USA and in Russia

Reindustrialization: American Voices

• American Enterprise Institute Blog Post - Mark J. Perry (2018): De-industrialization? Well, America’s thriving manufacturing sector just produced a record level of output in Q1
• Journal of Physics: Conference Series - Yungao Ma et al.: A Review of Advanced Manufacturing Strategies and Development in Typical Industrialized Countries

Tunes of the Day

• The Ninth Wave from Glasgow, Scotland - Best Newcomer, Scottish Alternative Music Awards 2016: Reformation (Adult content: smoking scenes)
• BBC Radio 1: The Ninth Wave - Used To Be Yours Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios with the Cairn String Quartet
• Same band, same studios, same quartet: This Broken Design

Never been to Glasgow? Enjoy some photos.

• Instagram: The Best of Glasgow

Hawaii

• Let's leave politics out of it, Hawaii is in.

Little America Group of Hotels

Great Destinations Guide SLC/Provo: Started in 1934 on the Wyoming prairie. Operates fine hotels across the Southwest. Like the one in SLC... Now I’m curious... Their mother company is... Grand America Hotels & Resorts...

Little America - 500 South Main St. | Grand America - 555 South Main St., Salt Lake City

Tonight's Gallery: People Make Glasgow

• Instagram: People Make Glasgow
• People Make Glasgow II

Scientology London

• So inspiring...

The Moscow Times: Retrospective

• Feb. 12, 2018: Muscovites Write 'Navalny' on Snow to Hasten Cleanup Crews

Background information

• Fairplanet.org, July 8, 2020: Russia Opens Doors for Immigrants
• Moscow brownies: We can't resist calling them brownies. Immigrants from the Caucasus or Armenia. They fix and install everything, even during nighttime hours, if so required by clients. You just want to kick German and Polish craftsmen in their ... when comparing them with brownies. They are good and quick. They would never disturb us in any way. They deliver superb work.
• World Policy Institute: Racism in Russia and the Caucasus (2012) - Learn why Europeans should not be called Caucasians... (LOL)

Lectures

Fairy door in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Fairy door in the base of a tree at St Thomas's Square, Monmouth, Wales

• Building Zion (LDS city planning and architecture)
• Ghosts of Hawai’i (March of the Dead)

Ghosts and Night Marchers of Hawai’i - study materials:

• Night Marchers
• The Culture Trip: Huaka'i Pō: The Legend of the Hawaiian Night Marchers
• Honolulu Magazine: Friday Night Frights: The Legend of Hawai‘i’s Night Marchers
• The Atlantic Religion: ‘Fairy Paths’ in the Gaelic world
• History Extra: The Fairy Menace
• Ireland's Magic Hills
• BBC Travel - The elusive ‘hidden people’ of Iceland (Huldufólk)
• YouTube.com: Marvels of America - Fairy Door in an Enchanted Forest

Houseplantmania

Asparagus aethiopicus "Sprengeri" with tiny white blossoms

Aren't they beautiful?

Outside Italy, I rarely succeed in growing plants. Except for this one. It is quite robust - it's killing me... Asparagus fern Be careful: the sharp spines mentioned in the article are indeed... very sharp spines. It comes into bloom in late summer and early fall - and indeed: small white blossoms have appeared... Time to add moisture by spraying water on the plant leaves with a mister.

The Victorians fell victim to pteridomania or fern craze. There are a few Edwardians like me who decide to keep the tradition alive... This is my favorite fern, although I need an Italian green thumb to keep it alive: Maidenhair ferns. Real beauties.

Why not look for other killers. Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home. A documentary on YouTube. Highly recommended. For addicts: Watch the full series: Hidden Killers Series

SLC Temple Square: The Roof Restaurant

• Some readers may have wondered why this restaurant is not covered as yet. The restaurant is temporarily closed - you'll probably get "404" messages. We will mention it later.

Photographic impressions:

• Visit Salt Lake: Roof Restaurant 1
• Visit Salt Lake: Roof Restaurant 2
• Visit Salt Lake: Roof Restaurant 3

The Hawai’i Quiz

• 1. If a Mexican mariachi band from LA dared to play La Cucaracha in Hawai’i when in front of tourists - why would they be banned from the islands?
• 2. If time travel was possible, why would Hawaiians kill the crew of a ship who sailed to the archipelago in 1826?

Answers:

• 1. Cockroaches - the most democratic insects on earth - have turned tourist hotspots into warzones, with staff in both luxury and budget hotels combating the roach problem so that you'll probably never get to see one of these creepy crawlers in your room.
• 2. They accidentally introduced mosquitoes (now a major nuisance) to the islands. They had larvae in their water barrels.

Guides:

• A Guide to Cockroaches in Hawai’i
• The Plan to Restore a Mosquito-Free Hawai’i

Sad facts:

• Civil Beat Honolulu: Hawaii 2040 - Deadly Mosquitoes Are Killing Off Hawaii’s Rare Forest Birds

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) on the Salt Lake Temple («Chartres of the Desert»)

• Faith, Taste and History - Published by LexQuest
• Read about Huxley's motoring trip to the American West in: Nicholas Murray - Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual (2002)
• Huxley flirted with LSD, but skipped LDS ;)

Yachties and Foodies

The America, a schooner yacht designed and built for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. The first British-American competition for sailing and yachting trophies was held during the fair...

Would it make sense to translate yachting articles to Afrikaans? I am afraid I lack the key vocabulary.

• History of the America's Cup
• Let's find out why dark blue and white (the color of my non-slip porcelain mug) have become the classic nautuical colors... and why do we wear shirts with 21 stripes?
• Kahla Magic Grip On Tour - Also perfect for dinner trays... does not slip... Kahla is so cool. We're buying their stuff like mad (try their second choice porcelain for a bargain - it's just perfect!). I have the Elixyr series and am mad about the Blue Harbour series... Their Berlin flagship store is a must. Not to mention WMF and Villeroy & Boch (supplier of unique porcelain bakeware)...

>>> 21 stripes: See Marinière

Museum of American Porcelain Art

Opened in 2019 in South Euclid, Ohio. See the collections...

Hotel and Private Bedroom Design

Cool career ideas... Tourism & Hospitality

• Contemporist: Hotel Room Designs To Use In Your Own Bedroom
• A Must: Virtually unknown outside Britain - Bed Throws & Runners

Techies: Tune for the Day

• Amazing clip shot with a Samsung S9 smartphone: Rooz x MoTrip: Immer Wieder
• Why we're discussing this: Smartphone digital image processing (Part 2)

Sanpete County, Utah: Collecting Treasures

• Rhonda Lauritzen: History of the Ephraim Relief Society Granary
• Friends of Historic Spring City: The Founding of Spring City
• The Wasp in the Beehive: Non-Mormon Presence in 1880s Utah - The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (downloadable)
• Sunstone Magazine: The Manti Mormons: The Rise of the Latest Mormon Church (downloadable)
• Visit Utah: Gleaning a Small Town's Harvest - Scandinavian heritage, fine arts and historic preservation define Utah’s Sanpete Valley
• Jacob Barlow.com: Ephraim Co-Op Z.C.M.I.
• Visit Utah: Das Café - A Taste of Germany Nestled in the ‘Middle of Nowhere’. Sister-run, family-inspired Das Café serves Spring City locals and visitors from around the globe Mormon Mocha! This is the place!

Settembre | September 2020

Great American Outdoors Act

August 5, 2020
Great American Outdoors Act, Historic Legislation, Signed into Law
The president signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law on August 4. This historic bipartisan legislation is the culmination of decades of work by many conservation groups and allies from across the U.S.
The Great American Outdoors Act allocates $900 million a year for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and establishes the National Parks and Public Lands Legacy Fund which directs up to $9.5 billion over five years to repair aging infrastructure in national parks, national forests, and other public lands. Voyageurs National Park’s backlog of deferred maintenance on campsites, trails, docks, and historic structures totals roughly $10 million.

Read more: Voyageurs National Park Association

11 Great Alternatives to the Top National Parks

• The New York Times, June 4, 2020

Support Newspapers. Thank you for considering a donation or subscription.

All Quiet on the Mosquito Front

Mosquito meter in Congaree National Park, South Carolina

Events in Roma Capitale and the rest of Italy will go ahead

My way back home from the shopping districts is one of the most exciting and beautiful in the Eternal City

Crossing bridges or walking along the Tiber - heaven... The riverwalk may not be among the most scenic in Europe, but it's quiet and safe. I need rivers or canals to walk along wherever I am - Glasgow, Belfast, London, Paris, Rome, Treviso, even if I can only enjoy them on a few days a year

Around the corner: green spaces and the best of Italian gelati (ice cream)!

Sharing a train station with the pope... should his Popemobile ever break down... LDS missionaries caught on this platform will end up in the Roman Catholic church choir next to my home whose Te Deum I enjoy on New Year's Eve

Ek is mal oor die kontraste... Jy is verstom oor die anderwêreldse estetiek van Rome se sakrale boukuns soos in die kerk Santa Maria del Popolo se Chigi-kapel...

...en as jy boontoe kyk...

Exciting news! A French-Italian affair with invited guests... La Belle Alliance! If everything goes well.

Video masterpieces...

• Let's get in the mood... Venezia!
• Oliver Astrologo: Italia!
• Oliver & Nils Astrologo: Venezia
• Invidio.it: Il Silenzio di Roma

• Oliver & Nils Astrologo: Roma!

Musical masterpieces - Meet Maxime, the composer

• MAXLL.CA

St. Peter's Basilica of Rome, Vatican - All Bells

• Full Peal Plenum!

Russia Beyond: A Russian Suburb in Australia

• This Russian recreated a Moscow suburb... in Australia! Why?

and...

Russia's Most Beautiful Waterfronts

• Beautiful embankments...

We can't pay them a visit, though...

Siamo noi, gli italiani

• Video: Italia al tempo del coronavirus - Una ragazza italiana

Nice candlestick

• Bootsladen Berlin
• Breton scarf

La France en Italie - 35ème Sommet franco-italien

• Ambassade de France à Rome
• Élyssée: Déclaration conjointe du Président de la République et du Président du Conseil des ministres italien
• La relation franco-italienne en chiffres-clés | La relazione italo-francese in cifre chiave

*  La France et l’Italie sont l’un pour l’autre des partenaires économiques majeurs, avec 74,7 Md€ d’échanges commerciaux sur les 11 premiers mois de 2019. La France est le deuxième client et le deuxième fournisseur de la Péninsule, après l’Allemagne. L’Italie est le 3ème fournisseur et le 3ème client de la France. L’Italie est le 1er importateur de produits agricoles, sylvicoles, de la pêche et de l’aquaculture français (14,5% des exportations françaises du secteur) et constitue un marché privilégié pour les véhicules automobiles français (4ème client de la France avec 11,3% des exportations françaises du secteur), les produits sidérurgiques et de première transformation de l’acier (2ème client avec 12,3%) et les produits plastiques (3ème client, avec 8,5%).

*  Le poids des investissements croisés La France est le 1er investisseur en Italie, avec un stock représentant 22% des investissements internationaux (81,5 Md€, sur un total de 372,4 Md€) en 2018. L’Italie est le 8ème investisseur en France (stock de 23,04 Md€), derrière le Luxembourg, le Royaume-Uni, les Pays-Bas, la Suisse, l’Allemagne, la Belgique et les Etats Unis. Plus de 2 000 filiales italiennes sont installées en France, totalisant environ 100 000 emplois.

Tune for the day

• Dalida & Alain Delon: Paroles, paroles

The French-Italian super export market of 120+ million consumers

• Where's the Idaho wine? ;)

French-Italian-American fun tune for today

• Italian belles: Cristiano Malgioglio Feat. The Jek - Notte perfetta

Last year's tunes

• Dolceamaro
• Mi Sono Innamorato Di Tuo Marito (O Maior Golpe Do Mundo)
• Danzando Danzando

Zucchero

• Miserere - Venezia

More impressions

• Cristoforo Perrone: Roma
• Daniele Oglialoro: Roma, la Città Eterna
• Frank H.: The Very Best of Rome

Next Assignment

• British Canal Network
• US Canals (Erie, Panama - any canal you are interested in)
• Colonial/US East Coast trade
• Air cargo / container ship capacity: Higher US/British exports - higher capacity utilization (85% optimum / 90% maximum rate)
• Alibris / Amazon Logistics
• Prize: eBooks (for every entry)

• Reading stuff (Logistics): GetConvey.com: The Rise of The Amazon Logistics Machine And How It Impacts Retail: A Timeline

Confessions

All penitents accepted

Canonization of Utah and Idaho residents: Not required. They are already Saints. (LOL)

Columbia University - Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America

• History of the Academy

Tune of the Day

• Bagpipe Medley - Stonewall from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Saw them live on St Andrew's Day in Belfast.

London Gets Prepared

Let the Canadians come - we've got some extra rolling stock for London Underground to throw in during peak hours!

The retail and hospitality sector are gearing up: What about a cuppa on Camden High Street?

A second life for Maggie Thatcher (centre). Now that she's siding with the trade unions, meet her when workers are staging a protest!

Voyageur's London City Walk

Old Street Station

Old Street (walk in the other direction)

Clerkenwell Road. If you walk past this building - you're still on track!

Muswell Hill/Old Street Tube or Barbican to Clerkenwell and Oxford Street

• Route A: Bus stop (TfL Bus route 43 towards London Bridge) from Muswell Hill - walk to the left) - Old Street tube station on the Northern Line - right-hand exit - Old Street - Clerkenwell Road - Oxford Street
• Route B: Barbican - Bunhill Row - (turn left) Old Street - Clerkenwell Road - Oxford Street

Canadian Family Home Evening

Celebrate the Mother Countries!

United Kingdom

• WestJet Magazine: Take a Narrowboat Trip Along England’s Canals

France

• Boating holidays in France

Basic vocabulary

• French Boating Vocabulary - Le canotage

British / French North America (for assignments)

Estimated populations in 1750:

• British North America 1 000 000
• French colonies: New France (Canada) 75 000 + Louisiane / other territories 6 000

(Source: Robert Tombs: The English & their History)

• History.com: This Day in History - May 15, 1756 - The Seven Years (French and Indian) War Begins

Sugar

• Why were the Caribbean Islands more important for Britain's economy than the 13 Colonies? Who were the "Undesirables" "invited" and assisted to settle in the Colonies? Why?
• The New York Times Magazine: White gold and Slavery

Tunes of the Day

• Jérôme Minière: La vérité est une espèce menacée
• Jérôme Minière: La Beauté
• Jérôme Minière: Les yeux tout autour de la tête

...and a Scottish tune...

• Bargainatt - Hellebore / Kate at the gate

Tune of the Day

• Линда - Недолюбили

The Coolest Objects in Roman Catholicism

With this confessional in Toulouse Cathedral, France, we could simultaneously listen to the confessions of Jerry Falwell Jr. and his current mistress (with a few LDS listeners sneaking in for fun - religious buildings have secret doors. Positively no farting in the confessioners' sections - or the Deacon will incense them)! Could our German intern please find out whetrher RC Church clergymen are paid for overtime? Is there a button for ringing the plenum of the bells?

Offering bags for certified social distancing while collecting money from the confessioners' compartments
Courtesy of Idaho and Utah State Treasurer's Offices

• Media selection: Holy Mass, June 14, 2020, with Pope Francis - Social distancing & face masks... plus incense. Cool & Roman!
• Pope Francis - Recitation of the Angelus prayer, September 6, 2020 + What is the Angelus Prayer?

American Travel Video of the Week

• Alexandra Hope: Hello Italy. A lovely Roman travel diary shot in 2016 by Alexandra Hope.

Tune of the Day

• Ennio Morricone Live In Venice 2007: Here's To You
• Ennio Morricone in Venice: Abolisson
• >>> Media: Live DVD + CD available in the Venetian Collection
• There is a Blu-ray release - unfortunately in Taiwan/ROC only. We cannot source this title in Italy. See Discogs.com: Peace Notes Live

Requested titles on display in England - Availability in Canada

• Melissa Forti: The Italian Baker >>> Import
• Valeria Necchio: Veneto: Recipes from an Italian Country Kitchen >>> Amazon Canada
• Leah Hyslop: Made In London >>> Amazon Canada

In our library (The Great British Bake Off TV Series Fallout - LOL). You may browse them in Rome.

Changing of the Seasons: The Irish Autumn Pudding

• The Irish Post, September 14, 2020: This Irish Autumn Pudding is the sweetest thing about the changing of the seasons
• …and in a few weeks' time: This Irish Cream Hot Chocolate Recipe is the perfect boozy winter warmer (The Irish Post, February 5, 2020)

The feline history of Rome

• Gatti di Roma: Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary
• Colonia Felina di Torre Argentina - Who We Are
• BBC Travel: The cats who rule Rome

London's Italian Street - An Edwardian Gem in the Capital

• Londonist.com: London's Italian Street: Sicilian Avenue - Let's envy the Canadians who are exploring England before joining us in Rome. Sicilian Avenue is part of Voyageur's London City Walk (from Old Street to Clerkenwell and Oxford Street). User Voyageur was involved in a major gastronomic scandal here a few years ago when ordering cider in an authentic Italian restaurant... The Italian waiter's reaction and comment should have been filmed... That's we call a... faux pas. Confessional, incense and offering bag! Guess who ended up ordering red Italian wine...

The Grand Tour | Le Grand Tour

• Michel de Montaigne - a French gentleman's constant struggle with greedy Italian innkeepers
  
• University of Chicago: Journal du Voyage de Michel de Montaigne en Italie
• jstor.org: Irma S. Majer - Montaigne's Cure: Stones and Roman Ruins
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne
• Book review by Perlentaucher.de: Michel de Montaigne - Tagebuch der Reise nach Italien über die Schweiz und Deutschland von 1580 bis 1581

Tune of the Day

• Benjamin Biolay ft. Illya Kuryaki And The Valderramas: Roma (amoR)

Requested: Casa Howard in Rome → Casa Heberart Guest Houses

• Casa Heberart - near the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain

The two properties, originally known as Casa Howard, were created in 2000, when the apartments are purchased and directly transformed in Guest Houses by two enterpreneurs from Rome. Then, in 2017, the “Heberarts” took over the management of the two Houses and kept the same spirit of hospitality, home feeling and exclusivity that were at the core of the founders’ vision.

We also recommend: Casa Howard in Florence

• Casa Howard Gallery

Continental Cool

• Ape to Gentleman: The French Menswear Brands You Should Know
• DMarge.com: The Coolest French Menswear Brands To Give You Italian Style

Italian fashion brands

• Top 10 Italian Fashion Brands in 2020

Karl Lagerfeld and the Fendi Sisters

• Vogue.co.uk (scroll down): With Carla, Alda, Franca, Anna and Paola Fendi, 1983

Out Today (September 17)

• Alfons Kaiser: Karl Lagerfeld. Ein Deutscher in Paris

In Style: Fendi

Eyecatcher with a well-chosen tie: President Trump and the First Lady Welcome Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez and his wife Mrs. Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval to the White House (February 3, 2019)

• Fendi: Melania Trump
• The President looks perfectly elegant as well.
• Town & Country Mag, August 26, 2020: First Lady Melania Trump's Style Evolution. A collection of the first lady's most notable style moments (184 photographs). The President's fashion statement: Gentleman-like with incredible ties. Pure, elegant colors. On a few occasions, a pattern. Perfectly matches the First Lady :) He could as well be president of France or Italy.

The hazards of a bookworm life

• My earthly problems are mounting - the Moon Handbooks shelf is bursting now that a few new titles have been added.

From the English Wikipedia: «Induced seismicity refers to typically minor earthquakes and tremors that are caused by human activity that alters the stresses and strains on the Earth's crust.»

I can only hope the huge coffeetable-bookpile towering in my studio will not collapse...

• How bookworms quit this earthly stage...
• ...not to mention our previous intern...

Our new British Demigods in Italian cabriolets (or any other car, LOL) series

• #1 Dr Michael Scott
• #2 Dr Simon Thurley

Roma - la Grande Bellezza

• From the Colosseum to Zaha Hadid's masterpiece - the MAXXI Museum of XXI Century Arts!
• Rome & the Vatican in 4K UHD

Any Romantics out there who are interested in getting married at sea?

Meet the Crew

• Getting Married At Sea
• Bad news: The Captain doesn't have a clue about the legal requirements (How to Get Married at Sea. We'll drop you off on the nearest cruise ship with experts on board.

Tunes of the Day: Roman Water Organ

• Reconstruction of archaeological finds made near Budapest (once belonging to the local Roman fire brigade) - Live performance at the Roman Museum, Haltern am See, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
• Visit the Museum Website
• First performance of the reproduction Roman (or Greek) Hydraulis Organ at Bath, England
• McLerran Journal, May 2, 2018: Hydraulis: The Ancient Roman Pipe Organ

The Oldest Playable Organ in the World (Built in 1390, Now Electrified)

• In Sion/Sitten, Canton du Valais/Canton of Valais | Wallis, Switzerland
• They should have closed the public comment section before our guys could read it.

Marittimità di Roma

• Ressources / Site web: Roma Aeterna

Itinerary September 2020

• Rome, Lazio and the Tyrrhenian Sea
• Sports: Yachting, sailing, standup paddle surfing, kite surfing, wind surfing, sailing school
• Temperatures of 25°C or more qualify as "Roman summer heat" - an excuse to leave the Eternal City at least temporarily in our quest for cooler shores, the sea breeze, the beach, water sports, the open sea or the mountains. Just as the popes did. Their former summer residence in Castel Candolfo, with a papal palace, villas and gardens, was ours for an unforgettable afternoon.

Pic of the Day

• NatGeo/Instagram: Stormclouds and beams of sunlight over Hurricane, Utah

US and Commonwealth Military Cemeteries in Nettuno and Anzio

• There are two military war grave cemeteries in Anzio and Nettuno - the Commonwealth Cemetery in Anzio and the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial (containing 7,858 graves). The Allied landing near Anzio and Nettuno, were the Battle of Anzio was fought, was part of Operation Shingle in January 1944. The operation ended with the capture of Rome.
• Our landing today was peaceful but our visit was too short to include the cemeteries in our itinerary. I recommend visiting them in the cooler winter months.

The thunder of Rome

Torrential rain and thunderstorms brought disruption to public transport services yesterday morning. Unfortunately, some inner-city subway stations could not be served. We had another night of continuous thunder and rain - it would have been a smörgåsbord for ancient Etruscan diviners who could read the gods' will from lightning, depending where and how it struck.

Fellini's Scent of Eternity

When the long-promised Roman Scent of Eternity, presumably emitted from Roman bricks and stones after heavy rainfall, as celebrated by Federico Fellini in his masterpiece Roma, failed to materialize, and sewage smell filled the air instead, Voyageur became the 125,647^th Roman tour guide being chased through the streets of Rome by angry French tourists...

The miracles of cooler days

• A high of 18 °C in Rome today: Life goes back to normal in Rome's Canadian circles, and even Voyageur is back in his office...
• The French and Québécois brigade is still meditating upon Kiton pants that sell for €770 (to me, they look like ordinary cotton chinos - buy mine, they are tagged at only €549) and hefty €5500 price tags for a coat (maybe there was an overnight hyperinflation and we just missed it...)
• The British contingent went straight to the Keats-Shelley House on Piazza di Spagna
• The Great Voyageur Tour of Rome led us to famous Roman sights like the Chiesa Nuova, Piazza Navona, the Tiber and the Tiber Island, Trastevere, and the Teatro Marcello

Tune of the Day

• A traditional Scottish song performed by a folk band from Milan: Jacobites

Keats-Shelley 200

• Launch at the Residence of the Italian Ambassador in London in February 2020
• New publication: The Graves in Rome of John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley

For Francophones and Francophiles: Centre Montaigne 0

• The School of Life's Introduction to Michel de Montaigne's Philosophy
• TV7 Bordeaux: Ciel Mon Pays - Château Michel de Montaigne
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier: «Te Deum» (ARTE Concert)

Clip of the Day: Le Monde Franco-Italien | Jean-Baptiste Lully (Giovanni Battista Lulli)

• Le Roi Danse - «Idylle sur la paix»
• Le Roi Danse - «Idylle sur la paix» (bande sonore)
• Le Roi Danse - Ballet de la Nuit: Puissance | Plaisir | Lumière
• Bonus: French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky performs Antonio Vivaldi's «Cum Dederit» and «Tecum Principium»

Tune of the Day for September 29^th

• Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen: Timelapse

Rome, Encore

• Cristoforo Perrone: Roma
• Expedia France: Rome dans une minute: dolce vita dans la capitale italienne

Spellbound by Rome: The Anglo-American Community in Rome (1890-1914) and the Founding of the Keats-Shelley House

Although this publication (an exhibition catalog with essays in English and Italian) is still listed on the museum´s online gift shop website, the young lady in charge of the store was not sure whether there were any copies left and phoned the curator. I was lucky and got one.

The list of Americans who appeared to be just as spellbound by Rome as the British and Germans is quite long. We learn that many 19th century American ambassadors to the Holy See were artists - and why. There is a fascinating essay on the life of Frederic Crowninshield, the Bostonian painter who called Rome and Italy his Second Patria - definitely one of the most important artists of the American Renaissance Movement.

American Renaissance Movement: Definitions

We get different definitions for the ARM. Examples:

• Eastern Connecticut State University: The period between 1830 and the start of the Civil War in 1861 is often referred to as the American Renaissance
• From the catalog for the exhibition The American Renaissance, 1876-1917 at Brooklyn Museum, October 30 - December 19, 1979:

Yet the conservative, largely European-oriented art had an impact in its time; overwhelmingly popular, the art projected an image of culture and civilization that many people approved of. Partaking of the air of genteel idealism and higher service, the art also gave a sense of release from the stuffy confines of Victorianism. An art and architecture of superb craftsman- ship was produced, one of wealth with tinges of exoticism that delighted in ornamental richness for its own sake. Investigation of the art and the surrounding corpus of literature and activity indicates that many people felt it implied a special connection with the grand traditions of history representing what they identified as the "American Renaissance."

The term "American Renaissance" concerns the identification by many Americans-painters, sculptors, architects, craftsmen, scholars, collectors, politicians, financeers, and industrialists-with the period of the European Renaissance and the feeling that the Renaissance spirit had been captured again in the United States. Concurrently, the Italian Renaissance (1420-1580) came into focus through the work of scholars and provided initial identification for many Americans. This was the Renaissance with a capital R. In time, other Renaissance manifestations were admired and seen as providing important models: France and England of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, America in the formative years of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and other countries, including the original sources for the Renaissance, Greece and Rome.

Selection of new Italian DVD and Blu-ray titles added to library

• A friendly lady at La Feltrinelli bookstore in Rome's Vittorio Emanuele Orlando was helpful in choosing a selection of new Italian titles. One of the highlights is a Blu-ray about the Italian architect Palladio and his influence on European and American architecture of culture and political and economic power. The young American Republic chose classicist styles inspired by Palladio for its architectural state symbols. The documentary takes us on a journey from the plains of Veneto in Northern Italy to the United States.

• This title is available with Italian audio and subtitles only.

Civic Public Architecture: The Grandi Stazioni of Italy

Piazza dei Cinquecento with the NH Collection Roma Palazza Cinquecento, a five-star luxury hotel, to the left and Rome's main station Termini to the right - a symbol of Italy's postwar economic miracle with 32 platforms. Take a regional Trenitalia train to any Roman suburb - or an ultramodern high-speed train to Venice. It has access to Rome's two major subway lines A and B. The Piazza is also the main bus terminal. For future Utahn and Idahoan visitors: Remember platform G and linea 40 - an express bus line to the Vatican City and Castel d'Angelo. Or the Piazza Navona and Tiber Island.
The majority of Roman hotels is in close vicinity to Termini.

An Italo high-speed train in Termini. Italian trains are modern, clean and comfortable - while tickets cost only a fraction of comparable fares in Germany. A 7-day flat rate ticket for the Città Metropolitana di Roma - buses, trams, trains and subway - may be had for €24

Termini's large arcade windows (on the right) are a reference to Rome's ancient aqueducts

• Milano Centrale and Roma Termini
• Front building of Termini Station, Rome
• CBS News, December 30, 2019: Ancient stucco artwork restored in "very mysterious" basilica under Rome train station (includes video)

Ottobre | October 2020

>>> October - Late Summer in Rome >>>

Tunes of the Day for October 1^st

• Malcolm McLaren ft. Catherine Deneuve - Paris Paris
• Catherine Deneuve - Paris Paris
• Benjamin Biolay feat. Catherine Deneuve - Happy hour

Online Learning Resources: Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CEA), Northern Ireland

• This week's topic: The Land of Promise
• You may also enjoy: Ulster-Scots Agency: The Maine Event - Learning in Lockdown

The classic Southern buttermilk pie recipe

• Well Plated by Erin: Buttermilk pie
• From the website:

It is believed that buttermilk pie got its start in England and was brought to America by settlers. The pie quickly became popular in the South, where buttermilk was plentiful. Texas residents in particular had ample access buttermilk; it was affordable and easy to obtain. Residents began to turn to Texas Buttermilk Pie when fruit was out of season.

• When store-bought pre-made frozen pie crusts are not available: SimplyRecipes.com: Perfect Pie Crust Recipe

Retrospektief: Pekanbedryf in Suid-Afrika

• Landbou.com, 23 Januarie 2004: Pekanbedryf ontplof weswaarts

Images of Rome

• They have all been taken to Paris. I guess most of our images will be copyrighted - for a variety of reasons. A small selection will be available for Wikipedia.

Villa Médicis - Académie de France à Rome

• Currently at Villa Medici

Centro Cultural Brasil Itália

• CCBI - Notícias

La Chiesa di Scientology di Roma in Casalotti

• Beautiful! I love the Cappella. Scientology: Brains plus taste. Basta.

Video clip for October 2^nd

• Viva l'Italia!

Tune of the Day

• Roby Facchinetti - Rinascerò, Rinascerai

Mafia-Hochrisikoland Deutschland: Geldwäsche im Immobiliensektor

• SWR.de: Mafia-Häuser

Sustained transmission of COVID-19 in non-Scientologist communities

Take their body temperature!

Seats in public transport vehicles should be reserved for Italians and Scientologists. Let others run safely alongside the bus!

Mascherina e distanza sociale / Wear a face mask and practice social distancing

Public transport rules in Rome

• How to prevent the spread of illness
• Please read the dishwashing advice carefully
• Use hygienic laundry rinse (available in drugstores) when washing face coverings and clothing
• Avoid cotton face masks - always use surgical masks
• Walk more slowly when wearing the mask
• Take a break and take it off for a few minutes when no-one else is around
• Support low-income households in your community

Long-term effects of COVID-19

• Heart damage

Tune of the Day for October 3^rd

• Ghostland - Interview with the Angel (low quality video) - one of the best video clips ever made
• Ghostland - Interview with the Angel (HQ Audio)

Roman Itineraries: Anzio, Città Metropolitana di Roma

Anzio and Nettuno are two beautiful seaside resorts and sea harbors south of Rome with spectacular architecture (seaside villas - we'll upload a few images soon). One of the oldest villas in the area we know of was built by emperor Nero. One of the highlights in Anzio is the Ristorante Tirrena, a retro style dining place on the beach. Imagine having dinner and feeling the gentle breeze of the Tyrrhenian Sea: This place is heaven - with superb food and lovely staff! Below are spectacular images created by Wikipedians.

More Canadian, British and Irish friends will come over this month and ask: I'm in Rome - how do I get there, without a car or yacht? Trenitalia takes you there - there is a direct rail link from Roma Termini (Termini to Nettuno - Anzio and Nettuno are the last two stops on the line). The ride takes about 80 minutes or so - the return fare is just €7.20! In a comfortable train with air conditioning.

Public transport

Tourist tickets issued by ATAC (Metrebus) are valid for 24, 48 or 72 hours or 7 days (the CIS card - Carta Integrata Settimanale or Integrated Weekly Ticket). You must validate them once and usually write your name and date of birth on it. You may use any tram, regional Trenitalia train, subway and ATAC bus in the City of Rome (Comune di Roma). They are NOT valid for the Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino to the city center or for some COTRAL bus services.

See the CIS ticket: CIS 7 day ticket. You may buy this ticket in convenience or newspaper stores as well.

You do not have to show your ticket to bus or tram drivers - as you cannot board buses or trams at the front door (COVID 19-related restriction). Have it ready for inspection by revenue protection staff.

For access to a subway line, insert the card into the slot to open the gate. You will not need it to exit the subway (as you would on London Underground).

G Pay and Apple Pay are strongly recommended

It is advisable to have G Pay or Apple Pay on your phone (other visitors: use Pay Pal if you do not have a credit card - a virtual debit Mastercard issued by them and linked to your bank account is just fine for G/Apple Pay). You may buy return tickets at Termini, of course, and pay in cash. For day trips to rural areas, contactless pay and downloading a PDF ticket is strongly recommended. The problem is that printed tickets have to be validated - and Trenitalia is notorious for having four validators in one small station, with none of them working. And in rural areas, ticket machines will no longer accept coins. If you have a printed ticket, but cannot validate it, report to Trenitalia staff immediately after boarding the train. You may, in the worst case, be fined by revenue protection if you don't. Tickets are valid for 4 hours.

COVID-19 restrictions

There are not many. Wear a mask and practise social distancing when asked to do so. Currently, 80 percent of seats in regional trains may be taken. Entrances to and exits from stations and trains are clearly marked. There are dedicated entrances and exits with footprint stickers on the floor to lead you in the right direction - Italians do not run into each other as Germans do. If there are four seats in a row on buses or trains, the two in the middle must not be taken (they are clearly labeled).

Police and military personnel are out in force in Rome, at airports and in major towns and cities - for your safety. Occasionally, one of them will ask you for your documento (passport or ID card for some Europeans). That's just a random control - there's nothing wrong with you. Let the friendly guys and girls scan your passport. That's it.

Hotels will no longer serve a breakfast buffet. Breakfast will instead be served in your room. Although this is food rationing in disguise (no American tourists - no big budgets there...). Expect to get a croissant or two, a cup of coffee (you may choose between Capuccino, Americano or whatever) and some juice in most budget hotels (luxury hotels will offer more). Italians have their main meal of the day, the cena, quite late and will not usually have lavish breakfasts.

General restrictions (refer to your travel guide)

Bus and tram drivers will not necessarily announce station names (there are displays in some, but even then you may not always get the required information...). Press the button if you wish to exit at the next stop.

There are fixed flat rates for cabs set by the Comune di Roma or Comune di Ciampino - €48 from Fiumicino and €30 from Ciampino to the city center (any stop within the Aurelian Wall). Beware: just one stop. If you want to use the same cab to get to two different hotels, the guys will charge you an extra fee.

NEVER, NEVER use unlicensed cabs. These are the guys who will try to pick you up in the terminal and take you to their private car on a parking lot. You will pay €75 or more for your ride. So know what the fixed fare is and take a white cab with a license number OUTSIDE the terminal buildings.

Ryanair passengers may use the combined bus and train service Ciampino Air Link offered by Trenitalia (a one way ticket is just €2.70). The airport bus will take you to Ciampino station where you board the regional train to Termini station in Rome.

One of Anzio's beaches

Storm over the Tyrrhenian Sea

The port of Anzio

I can barely imagine a more beautiful yacht harbor!

Heaven!

COVID-19 and air travel

• Business Insider, September 19, 2020: Even more evidence shows the coronavirus spreads easily on long plane flights
• Business Insider: Air Force One's million-dollar defenses can't stop mask-less passengers from spreading COVID-19
• Studies trace COVID-19 spread to international flights

Should we now ask for a seat miles away from suspicious high-infection risk multicontact individuals like

• younger party people,
• business people,
• etc.?

• Or a separate Delta Airlines / Air Canada Italian & Scientology Class? With a self-service fridge (no stewardess/steward allowed in this class)?
• LDS Class also included, of course.

Special travel advice

• CDC: Travel

Face Covering - How to Select, Wear, and Clean Your Mask

• CDC: Recommendations
• N95 respirators & surgical masks: Surgical masks may be mandatory (even if CDC recommend otherwise)
• Cotton masks are not as efficient: Nature.com: Scientific reports - Efficacy of masks and face coverings in controlling outward aerosol particle emission from expiratory activities

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: N95 Respirators, Surgical Masks, and Face Masks

• Personal Protective Equipment

Utah Resources

• Face Masks
• Intermountain Healthcare: #MaskUpUtah: Wear a Mask to Protect Others
• Read more about recent campaigns: #MASK UP UTAH, A Mask for Every Utahn

Idaho Resources

• Idaho Official Resources for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Forward Together - Take the ONE Idaho Pledge

Scientology London

• Mask up!

Darkest Humor Weekend Ever...

Superbrains from the Superstate that Makes America Great (LOL): Miscavige for President

My federal tax bill exceeds $750. You won't get a Greater America for free.
Do it, David!

Come on, Justin, just give me $1.5 million, and California is yours!

• Joe Biden scores a 30+ lead over Donald Trump in polls. Ouch. Well, okay, David Miscavige is anything but female and black, so he would not normally be a VP pick for a Democratic Party candidate who just wants to win the election gender- and colorwise. But if handling the Covid-19 pandemic successfully counts, he should be president. Whatever idiots say about the Church of Scientology, we'd probably all be alive and able to travel abroad with him in charge.
• Tie Test: Pass. As elegant as Donald and Joe.
• Wristwatch Test: Pass. Drive De Cartier, $19,100 ••• Vladimir's is worth $700,000. In a country with a few time zones more... Pass. ••• Donald: Pass. Stunning photographs. ••• Honorable mention for Ronald... ••• And here he is: Joe. Pass.

Video clip of the Day: Orgoglio italiano (Italian pride)

• Find the wristwatches hidden in this video clip!

Karen Bass and other potential Dem VP picks

• Have a look at this: Rep. Karen Bass, potential VP pick, addresses her past praise of Scientology. OMG. There are people who praise Turkey (where a certain president denies the Armenian genocide) or Saudi Arabia (tell us again who attacked the USA in 2001 - Iranians or Saudis? Travel to the US from Saudi Arabia is still not blocked.)
• Black Enterprise shares some comments by Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson with us:

“Karen Bass is a lunatic Fidel Castro acolyte, who praised Scientology and once belonged to an armed revolutionary group. She’s out.
“Stacey Abrams is so delusional she thinks she’s the Governor of Georgia, and by the way, she’s essentially unemployed. In one of her last regular jobs, she wrote bad porn novels — for real.
“Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is so transparently transactional that even Democratic primary voters who have a strong stomach found her repulsive. Pretty much no one who knows Kamala Harris likes her.”
The controversial host feels that Biden “has decided to hire exclusively on the basis of qualities that are both immutable and completely irrelevant — race, and gender” and based on that, the Democratic party just wants to win.

• George Washington vs. Karen Bass: George (not a lunatic, as we all know) did not openly comment on Fidel Castro and secretly practiced Scientology, without praising it publicly, but he never denied belonging to an armed revolutionary group. He's out, lifecycle-wise.
• How does Tucker know Stacey's porn novels are bad? Has he read just one or all of them? And how could he know who governs Georgia? Obviously someone who cares about quality journalism and lets CNN, not Fox News, broadcast from there.
• Kamala - that poor thing. I presume Tucker has checked her "Like" counts on Facebook as well?

Dark Humor ends here...

This Fall: Villa architecture

• Amazingarchitecture.com: Black villa in Harriman State Park, New York designed by Reza Mohtashami
• OMG! This is what I call a TV room!

Armenia

• Reuters: 'We want more': Armenians in America push Trump administration to support homeland
• Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin | German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin, September 29, 2020: Berg-Karabach: Eskalation eines zu oft unterschätzten Konflikts

LA Weekly article published in 2016 mentions CoS, Church of LDS and Armenian Church

• LA Weekly, January 21, 2016: Leave Scientology Alone: A Defense of a Religion that's Better than Yours

Armenian Exceptionalism

• The Atlantic, April 4, 2016: Armenian Exceptionalism - Glendale, CA

Armenians in California Politics

• The Armenian Mirror-Spectactor, June 30, 2020: California Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian Motivated by the Armenian Experience to Promote Equity

Greek Patriots

• Greek City Times, October 3, 2020: Greeks living in Armenia and Artsakh are already fighting on the front lines

• Very bad press for the Turks (LOL):

What support does Armenia expect from the countries with which it has close relations?
“We have understood from our experience that Azerbaijan and Turkey do not know the language of negotiations, they are fighting unjustly and cunningly. “The international community has made it clear that the Azerbaijan-Turkey alliance is waging war against Artsakh and Armenia with the help of mercenaries and terrorists,” said the Armenian Prime. Other countries must understand that the Turks are a danger, a catastrophe for all humanity. The issue now is not to help the Armenians defeat, but to protect humanity from the Turks,” she said, concluding the interview.

Joe Biden | Donald Trump

• The Hill, September 29, 2020: Biden says Turkey must stay out of Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict
• Trump is also known for his effusive praise of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan despite the Turkish leader’s aggressive behavior in international conflicts and against U.S. interests.
• Biden’s tweet was welcomed by the Armenian National Committee of America, according to director Aram Hamparian, who called for Trump to issue a similar statement.
• Biden’s call echoes other statements by Democratic lawmakers who are pushing for the Trump administration to halt military sales to Azerbaijan and demanding accountability for Turkish interference.
• Trump said on Sunday that he was watching the situation “very strongly” and would work to try to stop the fighting.

• Proverb of the day: You simply cannot grab mad eunuchs by the balls, but... - Makes a good tweet.

Also worth reading: United Nations - A New Era of Conflict and Violence

• UN 75 - 2020 and Beyond

Video clips for today

• Restiamo distanti oggi, per abbracciarci più forte domani!
• Uniti ce la faremo - viaggio nel bel paese

Music video for today

Filmed at Chiesa della Pietà (also known as Santa Maria della Visitazione), Sestiere di Castello, Venice, Italy

• BBC Four/YouTube.com: Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria (all-female Venetian choir and orchestra)

The White House: Flickr Photostream

• Here are some of best photographs of the White House and President Donald Trump
• No. 1: The President Works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
• Unfortunately, this photostream shows people not wearing masks... There are beautiful dark blue face coverings with the Presidential Seal on it or maybe the Star-Spangled Banner...
• These photographs are in the public domain and may be used in Wikipedia projects

Meanwhile in Moscow...

There are three COVID19-related mistakes and one political faux pas in this picture. Can you find them?

Cyber news

• The Independent, October 5, 2020: Hacktivists vs The Dictator: How Belarus cyber army is taking on Alexander Lukashenko and his goons

COVID-19 and Wisconsin's stay-at-home order

• Kenosha County Democratic Party: Actor George Takei slammed Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley over her repeated references to Japanese American internment camps in the debate over Wisconsin's stay-at-home order

George Takei:

"My parents got me up together with my brother,  a year younger, and my baby sister was an infant. [They told] my brother and I to go wait in the living room. My parents did some last-minute packing back in the bedroom. So the two of us were just gazing out the living room window at the neighbor's. And suddenly we saw two soldiers marching up my driveway, carrying rifles with shiny bayonets on them. 
"They stopped at the front porch," Takei continued, "and with their fists, began pounding on the door … literally at gunpoint, they ordered us out of our home. As it turned out, it was simply because we look like this."
Takei's family lost everything in being sent to these camps, including his father's business bank account. The rest of his childhood was spent behind barbed wire fences, with machine guns pointed at the camp's residents and search lights illuminating any nighttime activity, even visits to the latrine. 
After the war ended in 1945, Takei's family was released. But because the ordeal left them impoverished, they lived in a hotel in a low-income neighborhood. Takei said that his sister once even asked to go back "home" to the internment camp when somebody in the neighborhood staggered near the family and threw up on the ground.

• It's the old rule again: Never compare someone to Adolf Hitler or something to concentration or internment camps without studying your history books carefully. One should not denounce the President as a "fascist" or "fool" either, even if you totally disagree with him.
• How much we owe to former California state librarian Kevin Starr for a chapter on the history of Japannese Americans in California - his works are in our libraries.

Book of the month

• John G. Geer: In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns (University of Chicago Press 2006)
• Do criticisms, even harsh ones, enrich the prospects of democratic governance?
• The author claims that citizens can learn quite a bit in 30 seconds.
• The author employs four standards "to judge the quality of negative and positive appeals made by candidates in campaigns":

1. The more issues are discussed, the better.
2. The more evidence is presented, the better.
3. The clearer the differences between candidates, the better.
4. The more relevant the appeal is to governing, the better.

Wormhole theory (awe-inspiring)

Utahns and Idahoans exploring Time and Space (LOL)

• Not made for soft pinkies - Space.com: What Is Wormhole Theory?
• Is Time Travel Possible? Scientists Explore the Past and Future
• Scientific American: FOLLOW-UP: What exactly is a 'wormhole'? Have wormholes been proven to exist or are they still theoretical?
• ESO Supernova Exhibition: Do wormholes exist?
• New Scientist: Travelling through a wormhole without dying may actually be possible - Without a subscription, you may only be able to read the introductory sentences(s).
• New Scientist: Quantum weirdness could allow a person-sized wormhole to last forever
• New Scientist: Could we jump into a wormhole to save us from the world at present?
• New Scientist: You could survive falling into a black hole but it may get weird

The Orange Press on: Self-tanning creams and lotions

• The New York Times gets a bit poetical in an article about the President's tan: NYT, February 2, 2019: In the Pale of Winter, Trump’s Tan Remains a State Secret
• The Guardian gets nasty: The Guardian, 6 October 2020

A rare moment of unity in the US election, as Donald Trump marked his return to the White House by gasping along with his detractors. On Monday night, the president puffed up the front staircase of his residence, his face coated in several more gallons of paint than the front elevation of the building. “Don’t let it dominate your lives,” he panted of the virus, a bad case of which tends to dominate your death.

• Or acknowledges there is a man of color in the White House: The Guardian, 30 September 2020

Five weeks before the election, the debate pitted an ageing white male against an ageing orange male sweating like Richard Nixon in 1960. Anyone hoping for elegant verbal jousting or rapier-like wit was in for a disappointment.

• Anyway, the color suits him. Why not let him perfect his style as he likes it.

The Presidential Race: It's a Scot vs. an Irishman

And we love that.

The Dream Team

YOU can do something for your country!

I like that look of surprise on your face!

I'm on the way to the White House! I love you!

See You on V-Day!

What about our own candidate (if he chooses to stand in a future election)? Miscavige is a corrupted spelling of the Polish surname Myszkiewicz. The Lithuanian equivalent is Miškevičius. (Source: Languagehat.com)

If David Miscavige prefers to remain in his current office, there's another bomb to be dropped:

• Run Tom Run

• Tom Cruise - YouGov Ratings

Dream administration, according to our non-representative survey - a Government for Social Justice, Human Dignity, Progress and National Unity:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Mitt Romney
• Melania Trump
• Tim Robbins
• Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone - Madonna’s father was a political activist who fought for workers rights and Madonna inherited his Democratic liberal position. Madonna has been a strong supporter of the Democratic Party and many liberal social movements. She came out in support of Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign and has been an advocate for gay rights since her rise to fame in the 80s.
• Secretary for the Containment of Jerry Falwell Jr.: TBA

Policies (based on concepts developed by supercomputer HAL III who has analyzed all relevant publications and other available information):

• A Three Coastal Regional Development Plan Centering on New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (three megacities that have shaped America and from where massive investment in infrastructure in all three Zones - West, Central and East - will be co-ordinated)
• One Department for Regional Infrastructure Development for each Zone
• Community Empowerment - Policing, Education, ... No homeless American
• A Nationwide welfare system modeled on the Church of Latter-day Saints' system
• Energy-efficient higher density housing and new public transport infrastructure in redeveloped metropolitan areas, with links to all rural areas
• Open colleges and universities for the pursuit of knowledge and lifelong learning (emphasis on community empowerment)

The Atlantic, October 2020 issue

The country is at a low point. But we may be on the cusp of an era of radical reform that repairs our broken democracy.

Tune of the Day

• Rondò Veneziano: Il Mago di Venezia

Tune of the Day - Big in South Africa

• Master KG featuring Nomcebo - Jerusalema
• Same Song as Dance Challenge
• Jerusalema - Italian version
• What a beautiful woman and voice - she must perform on V-Day, in Salt Lake City, Boise, Los Angeles or Washington, DC ;) !

More on the Three Coast Model

• Thomas L. Dyja: The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream

From Amazon: Winner of the Chicago Tribune‘s 2013 Heartland Prize | A critically acclaimed history of Chicago at mid-century, featuring many of the incredible personalities that shaped American culture

Before air travel overtook trains, nearly every coast-to-coast journey included a stop in Chicago, and this flow of people and commodities made it the crucible for American culture and innovation. In luminous prose, Chicago native Thomas Dyja re-creates the story of the city in its postwar prime and explains its profound impact on modern America—from Chess Records to Playboy, McDonald’s to the University of Chicago. Populated with an incredible cast of characters, including Mahalia Jackson, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Sun Ra, Simone de Beauvoir, Nelson Algren, Gwendolyn Brooks, Studs Turkel, and Mayor Richard J. Daley, The Third Coast recalls the prominence of the Windy City in all its grandeur.

• Sir Peter Hall: Cities in Civilization

From Amazon: Ranging over 2,500 years, Cities in Civilization is a tribute to the city as the birthplace of Western civilization. Drawing on the contributions of economists and geographers, of cultural, technological, and social historians, Sir Peter Hall examines twenty-one cities at their greatest moments. Hall describes the achievements of these golden ages and outlines the precise combinations of forces -- both universal and local -- that led to each city's belle epoque.

Hall identifies four distinct expressions of civic innovation: artistic growth, technological progress, the marriage of culture and technology, and solutions to evolving problems. Descriptions of Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan London, and nineteenth-century Vienna bring to life those seedbeds of artistic and intellectual creativity. Explorations of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, of Henry Ford's Detroit, and of Palo Alto at the dawn of the computer age highlight centers of technological advances. Tales of the creation of Los Angeles' movie industry and the birth of the blues and rock 'n' roll in Memphis depict the marriage of culture and technology.

Finally, Hall celebrates cities that have been forced to solve problems created by their very size. With Imperial Rome came the apartment block and aqueduct; nineteenth-century London introduced policing, prisons, and sewers; twentieth-century New York developed the skyscraper; and Los Angeles became the first city without a center, a city ruled instead by the car. And in a fascinating conclusion, Hall speculates on urban creativity in the twenty-first century.

This penetrating study reveals not only the lives of cities but also the lives of the people who built them and created the civilizations within them. A decade in the making, Cities in Civilization is the definitive account of the culture of cities

> For our project and future city planning: 

Understand how individual humans move within an urban and suburban network:

NEW YORK: Public transport solutions
LOS ANGELES: Public transport solutions and individual mobility

This major reference book also covers cities like Ancient Rome, London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and Memphis.

Key reference works to American history and culture >>> in our libraries, of course

Small task

And there's a small task for smart LDS and Scientologist children (or anyone else interested):

The first urban and suburban transport solutions in New York City were offered by railroad companies. There were no suburban transport solutions in the early phase, so New Yorkers were carried in long-haul/long-distance trains. The main technological challenge was acceleration and deceleration. Can you guess why?

New York Times Editorial Board Endorses Joe Biden

• Elect Joe Biden, America

RealClear Politics - Latest Polls for Wednesday, October 7

• Latest polls
• Florida: Biden 51, Trump 40 (USA Today predicts a Trump-Biden tie - yesterday's poll)
• General Election: Biden 51-52, Trump 40-42

Conspiracy theory | Fake news

The fly seen on Mike Pence’s head during the VP debate was a Russian nano device. It took them two minutes to analyze and program him.

Comedy, Comedy: Salt Lake Vice

Ok with us.

California Proposition 8 - forget referendums on human rights and civil liberties. There won't be any. Vote Cruise! (LOL)

Joseph wouldn't and the Church of Scientology didn't support Proposition 8. Marriage contracts are defined by the State, not the Churches: Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

Salt Lake Vice: Give 'em what they're calling for!

What can I do for you and your friends, Voyageur?

The offenders are usually lowered down to a more appropriate level, although this procedure is regarded as a public nuisance as it leaves holes to be filled in

• The Guardian & Jimmy Kimmel
• Kamala Harris - too liberal? We had a revolution, man. How liberal is that? It's even revolutionary, full of Constitutional Utopianism. Driven by ordinary people. That's Socialist. It feels just like Continental Cuba. Pence: Fails this section.
• You get $1 million and may blow it on Rome's top fashion street - but only with the President. Whom would you like to be Head of State? Donald and Joe would be o.k., but Mike Pence couldn't beat Tom Cruise.

The President at the Wheel

President John F. Kennedy at the wheel of the Coast Guard yacht Manitou in 1962

• The author of one of my favorite French yachting handbooks wonders why so few statesmen were or are devoted yachtsmen. Like Helmut Schmidt, chancellor of Germany, who received one of his sailing boats, Laser, as a gift from Canadian premier Pierre Trudeau - and J F K
• An image of John F. and Jackie aboard their yacht captures a moment of joy
• Yachting Art: The boats of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, president, sailor and skipper
• To add Pierre Trudeau to the list of devoted yachtsmen: Image provided by Toronto Public Library
• Standard question: Where’s Vladimir? Here: Superyacht.

Alistair Cooke’s America

• The Guardian: Alistair Cooke
• The book of the same title remains one of the most remarkable publications on America ever. For Newsweek, it was “the first, and maybe the finest, tribute to the nation”.
• BBC Radio 4 - Letter from America by Alistair Cooke: Loving Los Angeles. Restored by the BBC in 2014 - MP3 file available

Camicie italiane | Italian shirts

• For Italian-made French collar and button-down double and triple collar shirts, use Google Search and 7Camicie (I cannot place a direct link here - although the different collar styles may be of encyclopedic interest...) This is a Roman company which ships worldwide. In Rome, you may find stores selling triple button-down collar shirts for less than €20 (although they are rarely Made in Italy).

New visuals for members

Read our short entry on the Parys-sindroom (Paris syndrome)

• LA | Paris
• Venice | Interiors
• Open content: BBC Culture, October 8, 2020: Why film and TV get Paris so wrong

Weird People in Döner Deutschland

Anti-Scientology activists Ursula Caberta (German Reich) and Graham E. Berry (United States Against Him) watch innocent American tourists walk into the fart trap they created by stinking up a Hamburg sidewalk

• American Scientist: Life's A Gas

Little Big Cinema: Killer in Red

• Campari's LA-style movie, filmed at Cinecittà Studios in Rome