Open Thread WE 26 JAN 22 ~


~

Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.
-- Albert Camus

~

I prefer the mystic clouds of nostalgia to the real thing, to be honest.
-- Robert Wyatt

~

It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.
-- Frank Zappa

~

An Obsessive Tune

Night passed and the morning came,
though, tossing and turning, I got nowhere.
A journey, dear friend, to wrong places.
If you want to lose the way, we
will go together, on condition
that first you forget your name.
No one wants to be forgotten, it is true,
but may they, life after life,
be reminded of their absence.
When will dreams be recognized, and truth?
Even after waking, how can we know the truth
when everyone around is sleeping
the sleep of memory;
An obsessive tune fills my mind.

By Mohan Rana translated from the original Hindi
From Ret ka Pul (Bridge of Sand, 2012)

~

Hello folks. The inspiration for this theme comes from a passage in a novel in which a character reflects on the life of an old friend. He breaks down the origins of the word nostalgia.. from the Greek nostos "a return home", and algos, "pain".

Pain of the return home. A very accurate description; despite their blurs, words could sometimes be so exact. It was a paradox until how the brain worked, then it became less surprising. A model of the mind's interaction with physical reality, blurred at the edges.

From Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

~

Galata

I am in love with a tower
I am one of the fluorescent white seagulls
spinning like magnets
round its axis by night

We squeezed into a black and white shot
It was an extended autumn, cool and light
My beloved was majestic
A story older than stone and roots, at the end
of the last chapter I was always there

It became a habit, I would lift up my head on the ferry
to look for the tower, check it was still there
I would pay homage

Of course it was a challenge to stay in one piece
in this city, not to be pounded, what did you expect?
Out of its time, the tower was the only thing left standing
when everything else came crashing down
And as I gazed at it, I asked myself
why my heart was always so naïve
a fool, to be blunt, as we’d call it between ourselves
till our eyes swam with tears
and we were laughing

I would call it the tower of the wind
The person at the summit, neighbour to the clouds
Istanbul would spin round it in devoted circles
The stones of past centuries would slip
with today’s rain
‘Shall we lower the sky to Galata
and live forever?’
said a snatch of graffiti
and I wanted its author to ask me
every time I walked past

I opened my arms to embrace it
My stone beloved grew warm between my palms

By Karin Karakaslı from the original Turkish

~
~

This is an open thread so reminisce on anything.
Covid comments can go into The Dose thread.

harmony.jpeg
Share
up
9 users have voted.

Comments

Lookout's picture

Speaking of nostalgia, we had an old friend from our college days spend yesterday and last night with us. We went and visited our old music buddies up the valley, and reminisced about old times, departed friends, and funny stories and happenings. Health issues were also a topic. One friend just got new hearing aids and the technician was setting it up. She asked how does my voice sound....he said "Angry." She continued adjusting without a word. Would have thought it would have brought a laugh...it did for me.

So a trip down memory lane, followed by a nice meal, a little wine and a campfire. We had 50's yesterday, so it was pleasant to visit with old friends and enjoy the evening.

Caught a good analysis of the US generated Russian conflict...(28 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j5alqfsxio]

Take care and be well. Thanks for the OT!

up
8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Camus is interesting. From what I understand, he didn't like the concept of hope....it seems to me he regarded it as something similar to childish fantasies. Even so, he believed in persisting in the battles against (for lack of better words) the things that are wrong. It has been so long since I have read him, The Plague would be a good place to start.

Thanks for the poetry.

up
6 users have voted.

@randtntx

where on earth do find this stuff?
Doesn't matter, but thanks for sharing.

up
3 users have voted.

@QMS . Tinariwen is an interesting group of musicians:

Tinariwen (Tamasheq: ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ, with vowels ⵜⵉⵏⴰⵔⵉⵡⵉⵏ, pronounced tinariwen "deserts", plural of ténéré "desert") is a group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, but returned to Mali after a peace accord between 1990 and 1995. Considered a pioneer of desert blues, the group first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001 with the release of the album The Radio Tisdas Sessions, and with performances at Festival au Désert in Mali and the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinariwen

Glad you liked it!
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Here is another on from them;

up
2 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

Oddly enough, very few have any nostalgia for paperwork. Kind of have to pity those that do.

It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.
-- Frank Zappa

That is somewhat the thing about nostalgia, it is seldom for the pain or the painful things, there are few who reminisce about the agony of some major injury, physical or psychological. Momentary "glories" yes, but humiliations seldom.

Nice and comfy as nostalgia may be, it isn't real, and very likely wasn't either. Wink Thhus is has been said "be here, now."

be well and have a good one

up
6 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

mimi's picture

video. I remember listening to Joan Baez almost obsessively in the mid sixties while being alone with my mother at home and doing homework. You brought something back. A lot of sad nostalgic memories. Our last happy hours were in 1967 I look back at her now sixty years later. When I was young I never fully understood her strength. Took me a long time and a painful return home during the last six years to understand.

I miss my mother so much. She died 2005. Since 1967 when I was sent into the wilderness of life, I had not lived with her together again. When my son and I came back to visit, we always lived at her place in our home compound, I own that one now on paper, but can't live in there or do anything with it. Speaking of evil people. I will never forgive those who were responsible for that separation.

Ok, now I am crying and that's not what I wanted to do. Do you still believe we can overcome someday? I have lost my belief we can.

Anyhow, let's walk hand in hand. May be we then can overcome one day. The truth will make us free... I wonder what JOan Baez think about it today.

Thanks again.

Thanks so much for Joan Baez songs.

up
7 users have voted.

@mimi

the pain of not being able to go back home way

up
5 users have voted.

https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2022/01/24/in-texas-driverless...

HOUSTON: A giant 18-wheel transport truck is barrelling down a multi-lane Texas highway, and there is no one behind the wheel.

The futuristic idea may seem surreal, but it is being tested in this vast southern US state, which has become the epicenter of a rapidly developing self-driving vehicle industry.

Before driverless trucks are allowed onto roads and highways, however, multiple tests must still be conducted to ensure they are safe.

Self-driving lorries are operated using radars, laser scanners, cameras and GPS antennas that communicate with piloting software.

“Each time we drive a mile or a kilometer in real life, we re-simulate a thousand more times on the computer by changing hundreds of parameters,” explains Pierre-François Le Faou, trucking partner development manager at Waymo, the self-driving unit at Google’s parent company Alphabet.

Waymo is building a logistics centre in Dallas that will accommodate hundreds of autonomous semi-trailers.

up
3 users have voted.

@humphrey @humphrey driving his brand new Mercedes crashed into a tree. No traces of drugs were found. No robbery either.

The Rolling Stone reporter had shamed a US 4**** General however. He lost his Commander in Afghanistan cushy job when Hastings wrote about the Generals' anti-Obama remarks to his troops....

up
5 users have voted.

NYCVG

zed2's picture

Their cartoons are world famous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV41khJKhBs

up
0 users have voted.
zed2's picture

zed2's picture

This is Beastars

up
0 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

It's taken me a long time to realize this.

Excellent opening essay.

up
4 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic

compared to many on this site, I am just a shade tree mental mechanic
the philosophical shavings are what is left of the original idea
the challenge is to come up with something new and different each
week. Most times, like this AM, it was on-the-fly after a cup of java.
I can understand why we lose many open threaders.
thanks again

up
4 users have voted.
zed2's picture

These self driving car companies are getting waivers of all liability from the government. You already cant sue the government for almost any mistake they make, even if its not a mistake, i.e. is intentional.

.. Nor will your loved ones be able to sue Gargoyle if one of their self driving trucks kills you, Splat!

All in the name of protecting "infant industries" from their own "oral hazards"

up
0 users have voted.