Want to join in? Respond to our weekly writing prompts, open to everyone.
Want to join in? Respond to our weekly writing prompts, open to everyone.
from
Nomina Numina
This morning finds me dull, enveloped by the Grey¹, a consequence of the decisions I’ve made this year. Decisions I’ve made without regret. Decisions I’d make again and again. Decisions that will affect me for the rest of my life. A connection that is both blessing and burden. A circumstance unbidden — befallen.
The anomalous voyager faces both wonders and dangers on their journey. I find the myth of Icarus helpful, at least for my state of mind today.
“The boy began to delight in his bold flight, and, abandoning his guide, seized by desire for the sky, he steered a higher course.” — Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.223-225.
Icarus, son of the craftsman Daedalus, escaped imprisonment in Crete on wings his father made from feathers and wax, but, intoxicated by the freedom of flight, he ignored his father's warnings and soared too close to the sun. The wax melted, and he plunged into the sea and drowned.
The wax melted by proximity, and Icarus died. That is the lesson most learn in school. But what of the man who kissed the sun only to survive the fall. The one who wakes up each morning to find his senses burned, leaving ordinary life numb, joyless, and tasteless. How the supernormal blinds the normal. How I have forgotten the taste of the ordinary. How I long for any taste, here or there.
Does this merit caution? Perhaps.
But I fully admit that even if I had known the consequences beforehand — the scarring, the numbness, the Grey — I wouldn't have changed a thing. For kissing the Sun is more than just a kiss. More than just intoxication, enchantment, and euphoria.³
And so, on mornings like this one, I wake with the taste of nothing, and the memory of why. Both are gifts. Both are debts.² Both symbols of the bond I’ve embraced. One foot in the past, one in the future — the herenow and the hereafter.
#Intermundia
Notes:
It's a mistake to diagnose the Grey as melancholia or some form of depressive state. Though it has qualities that mirror depression, it is a psychospiritual state all its own, where the absence of one incurs symptoms in another. A depression of spirits, per the 19th century definition, is a better description than the modern one. Perhaps a depression of soul is a better phrasing still — where the soul is partially or wholly alienated from its counterpart.
The gift of choice to choose deserves the conviction to follow through.
Those who know, know.
By D. Bowman | Nomina Numina is a journal of my reflections, moments, and meaning-making between worlds. Reply by email.
from
Roscoe's Quick Notes

Out of all the many available options today, I'm choosing my Texas Rangers vs the Toronto Blue Jays as my first game of choice to follow. This early afternoon MLB game has a scheduled start time of 1:35 PM CDT. As usual I'll be following the game's scores and stats in real time via MLB's Gameday Service where we can also find links to the radio-call of the game provided by announcers of either team we choose.
And the adventure continues.
from Jours de J.
palette sombre clair pinceau de vert printemps
première lumière
Photo © @Andrew-Murphy
from bios
“White crosses on the church yard, I want to smash them all” – Against Me.
On Saturday 26th of September Ernst Roets, of AfriForum fame, under his new supervillain designation, Lex Libertas, an international advocacy project for Afrikaner rights, will be planting 3,000 white crosses on the National Mall in Washington. These crosses symbolise the deaths of white people by violent crime in rural areas and farming areas of South Africa. Lex Libertas says each cross will carry the name of a victim, and its preliminary list contains more than 2,203 names. The event is being staged in partnership with the New York Young Republican Club, following a conference at the National Press Club on Friday the 25th. There will be no black crosses.
In a similar period there were Black farm workers, farm dwellers and other rural residents among those killed in farm attacks. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has also said that Black people have historically made up the majority of victims of farm attacks, although the available official statistics do not provide a continuous racial series for the period in question. Race based statistics are available through AfriForum.
Meanwhile according to the Guardian UK white people are being turned down for refugee status for various things such as a partner’s marijuana conviction; a shooting during a security job in 1995, despite the applicant being acquitted; and other cases involving criminal records, misclassified information or incidents that US immigration authorities interpreted differently from the applicants themselves. The rejection notices themselves did not give specific reasons and could not be appealed. It seems that America only wants a certain class of refugee.
And in Ohio, where 206 Afrikaners had initially settled, the cash assistance runs out after four months and the onerous requirements, bureaucratic and financial, mean that getting a driver's licence can take up to nine months and cost around $500. The new rules require eight hours of driving-school lessons, 24 hours of classroom instruction and 50 hours of supervised driving before applicants can take the driving test. And you need a licence and a car to get to work. Resettlement agencies said roughly half of the 206 Afrikaners who had settled in Ohio had subsequently left the state, with the licensing requirements a major factor. White man, you are on your own.
Since the genocide visa was announced, more than 13,000 South Africans have been “settled” in the United States under the refugee programme. Some have found low-wage jobs, while others remain unemployed or dependent on the shrinking refugee assistance payments and food banks. Recently it has been reported that a family of these refugees is unable to return to the USA after visiting South Africa to use their medical aid. A dream deferred.
Amerikaners was established in 2025 by white South Africans following Donald Trump’s executive order creating a refugee pathway for Afrikaners, and was subsequently designated as a referral partner for the US Refugee Admissions Program. It assesses prospective applicants who say they face racial discrimination in South Africa and refers eligible cases into the American refugee system. They explicitly state in their documentation, “returning can undermine the basis of the refugee claim.”
Meanwhile the Institute of Race Relations is running its Ticking Boxes campaign, arguing that South Africa should stop using the apartheid-era racial classifications — Black, Coloured, Indian and White — to determine who qualifies for jobs and business opportunities. The IRR says race should be replaced by disadvantage as the basis for economic empowerment, and wants BEE replaced with what it calls Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged. The Institute of Race Relations seems to exist to make itself redundant.
While the administrative quagmire of B-BBEE has been used as a shield for tenderpreneurship, nepotism, corruption among other things, it is hard to reason that it is not conceptually necessary. Any white person that was educated during apartheid has a significant educational advantage over any Black person educated under the Bantu system. These advantages have generational consequences. A white parent is better equipped to help their child with their homework. The larger structural inequalities of 400 years of colonialism will take generations to redress. Slavery ended 161 years ago in America and its legacy is still being grappled with. Let us not forget that apartheid was, essentially, slavery. B-BBEE is, in this way, less about the immediate economic redress and more about the education of white people into the material and conceptual realities of Black lives. That B-BBEE is badly administered is a separate issue. Structural inequality continues to exist.
The United States has recently announced visa restrictions on South Africans responsible for or complicit in policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination or the incitement of imminent violence against minority ethnic or racial groups. America is now offering Afrikaners refugee status because it says they are victims of racial discrimination, while threatening visa restrictions against South Africans involved in policies intended to redress racial discrimination, and they have arrived at this amidst pressure from groups such as AfriForum, and the Fox News timeline, who use race-based discrimination to represent an alternative reality, a non-existent genocide, that has been debunked so often that it is now boring.
AfriForum has spent years documenting alleged racial discrimination and farm attacks and lobbying internationally on behalf of white Afrikaans speakers. We must remember here that Afrikaans is not only a white language, many of its words and formulations come from Indonesian, Malay, Khoi, San and East African languages, picked up on the farms, the stables, the road crews, and in kitchens where the Dutch and French put their slaves to labour. The earliest identified book written in Afrikaans was a Cape Muslim religious text, written in Arabic script. Afrikaans is by die kombuis langs.
Institute of Race Relations, AfriForum, Amerikaners, Lex Libertas, none of these organisations could exist without ongoing racial or cultural conflict. These are realities they have to construct, concepts made real by repetition, alternative timelines, in order to pay their salaries. They exist to sow division. And the material reality in the USA does not seem to be better for them than it is in South Africa. Bittereinder, jy word aan die neus gelei.
Consider this picture from the AfriForum website, taken in Klerksdorp. It shows Samuel Temboer, Reinhardt Bögershausen, George Thamsanqa Latha and Johan Taljaard, the road crew fixing potholes as part of AfriForum’s Ons Doen Dit Self campaign. It is a photograph of men standing in a break from their work, men of different races, including two black men, on of them wearing an AfriForum shirt, smiling before returning to labour in building the white enclave.

from Jours de J.
les armes plantées en signe de paix sur le rivage
laisser le grand fleuve emporter nos peines ondoyer nos corps pour nous faire entrer dans une nouvelle danse
photo © @rarotonga
from Jours de J.
quelle importance si nous file entre les doigts une vie sans couleur ni saveur
non, ces jours inodores je ne les retiens pas je les ai déjà oubliés d'ailleurs
qu'ils rejoignent la transparence sans profondeur de l'eau endormie
photo © @leti.00
from Jours de J.
l’ombre agile descend les degrés suivant les marches
lumière de travers seul garde-corps de nos trébuchantes vies
photo © @WildAtHeart
from
Turbulences
Il y a, quelque part, Ce « nous ».
De quoi est-il constitué ?
D’un socle de croyance ? D’une culture héritée ? D’un lieu de naissance ? Peu importe en fait.
Il n’est pas très exigeant, Ce « nous ».
Ce « nous », Qu’on appelle aussi « identité », Peut être fait d’un peu de ça, Ou de tout à la fois.
Mais peu importe en vérité, Prenons-le tel qu’il est.
Et puis il y a « eux ».
« Eux », partagent aussi, Entre eux, Quelque chose qui les uni. Quelque chose qui les défini.
Une histoire héritée, Un leader éclairé… Bref, si vous m’avez suivi, Une autre identité.
Sur le papier, Les choses semblent simple : Eux avec eux, nous avec nous, Et les vaches sont bien gardées.
Mais rien n’est jamais simple. Et nous avons changé. Eux aussi ont changé, Comment s’en étonner ?
Alors certains, chez nous, Comme d’autres, chez eux, Ont du mal à l’accepter.
Nostalgiques d’une simplicité, Qui n’a pourtant jamais existé, Ils refusent la complexité, Dont la vie est pourtant tissée.
Alors, pour se rassurer, Ils s’inventent une vérité. Un récit, sur lequel se hisser, Pour espérer encore dominer.
« C’est eux qui ont commencé ! Notre civilisation est menacée ! » « Nous devons nous protéger, Sinon nous serons submergés ! »
Fort bien. Ceci étant posé, Maintenant qu’est-ce qu’on fait ? Des murs, des barbelés ? Des fossés, pour nous protéger ?
La guerre c’est simple. Âmes sensibles, laissez faire, Ce n’est pas beau à voir, Alors regardez de ce côté…
Il y aurait bien un autre chemin, Une autre possibilité. Mais je n’ose en parler, Vous me prendriez pour un fou.
Un fou, Parce que, on ne sait jamais, Au bout, il y a peut-être la paix. On pourrait même finir par s’aimer.
Alors c’est sûr, vous avez raison, Elle est complètement folle cette idée…

from
The Solar Ledger
Evaluating the true potential of a plug-in solar system starts with understanding your actual household energy demand. To figure out whether a DIY plug-in solar setup makes sense for my home, I analyzed my electricity usage over a full 12-month period—from August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026.
While utility billing cycles rarely align perfectly with calendar months, I used a linear regression cost model to overcome this. As discussed in my previous article on building an open data pipeline and cost impact model, this approach lets me calculate energy consumption and estimated costs for any custom date range with high accuracy.
A key technical detail when evaluating plug-in solar is how standard North American residential electrical panels work. Most homes receive 240V split-phase power divided into two separate 120V “legs” or lines. Because standard plug-in solar microinverters plug into a standard 120V wall outlet, they only feed power into one of those two legs.
To estimate how much electricity usage a single-leg solar setup can offset, I divide total household energy consumption by two. Assuming a clean 50/50 balance between Leg 1 and Leg 2 is an approximation, but it is the only practical approach available given that my utility only provides whole-home consumption in 30-minute blocks.
Estimating that each leg represents 50% of energy consumption holds up best during peak summer months, which account for the bulk of my annual grid import. My central air conditioner runs on a 240V circuit, drawing power equally across both legs simultaneously, and it represents roughly half of my summer electricity consumption. The remaining ~50% of summer consumption primarily consists of discrete 120V loads whose phase distribution is unmetered.
In the winter, when the AC is idle, almost all consumption shifts to those 120V circuits. Because I haven’t mapped individual branch circuits to their respective legs, I can't be as confident about how evenly balanced that winter usage really is, but without panel-level monitoring an even split remains the most sensible baseline.
Here is the breakdown of my energy consumption across all 12 months, along with the estimated daily usage per leg:
| Month | Daily Energy Usage per Leg (kWh) | Total Energy Usage per Leg (kWh) | Cost per Leg | Effective Rate per kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August (2025) | 15.0 | 465.2 | $76.99 | $0.17 |
| September | 10.2 | 305.8 | $52.64 | $0.17 |
| October | 7.0 | 216.2 | $38.96 | $0.18 |
| November | 5.5 | 164.4 | $31.05 | $0.19 |
| December | 7.8 | 241.8 | $42.87 | $0.18 |
| January (2026) | 8.2 | 253.6 | $44.67 | $0.18 |
| February | 7.8 | 217.6 | $39.17 | $0.18 |
| March | 7.4 | 228.8 | $40.88 | $0.18 |
| April | 6.1 | 181.5 | $33.66 | $0.19 |
| May | 6.6 | 203.9 | $37.08 | $0.18 |
| June | 14.1 | 421.5 | $70.32 | $0.17 |
| July | 15.1 | 468.6 | $77.51 | $0.17 |
Looking at the monthly trends, November 2025 represented the lowest usage month of the year at 328.8 kWh total (an average of 5.5 kWh/day per leg). On the opposite end, July 2026 hit the highest usage peak at 937.2 kWh total (an average of 15.1 kWh/day per leg).
The total estimated cost for the single leg of energy over this 12-month period was $585.77. This figure represents the absolute maximum theoretical savings a plug-in solar system could have achieved under Dominion Energy Virginia's rate structure. Because a standard plug-in solar setup cannot generate enough electricity to fully offset this demand (even if oversized by 25%) this amount sets a firm ceiling on expected cost savings.

Energy consumption changes significantly across the seasons due to heating and cooling demands:
Note: I started charging my EV at my house in June. Charging raised my total electricity usage for June and July but the overall trends for the year remain consistent, I’ve now just raised my baseline electricity usage.
By analyzing a full year of energy consumption, I establish a clear understanding of the maximum impact a plug-in solar system can have. In the next post, I’ll demonstrate the grid-power offset potential of the previously modeled 1,200 W and 1,500 W systems at a more granular level and the expected payback periods.
Tags: #Solar #PlugIn #Balcony #Modeling
from Lastige Gevallen in de Rede
Bij deze laten we u weten dat we de juridische regels hebben aangepast op sommige passages met betrekking tot invoer van de heilige geest met die door ons toepgepaste middelen om dit heilig gemaakte in de geest te transporteren
Aanpassingen met betrekking tot verantwoordelijkheid na invoer van de geestesmaterie.
Regel 5.1 addendum 3 hebben we wederom herschreven
5.1 ad 3 Hierbij aangetekend dat aangaande het gebruik van de geheiligde geest tijdens het rijden van een op fossiele brandstof voortgedreven of elektrisch opgeladen voertuig wij u er op wijzen en hierbij verklarende dat afdoende is beschreven dat deze geest niet verantwoordelijk kan zijn voor alle mogelijke ongemakken veroorzaakt tijdens het transporteren van dit voertuig van de plek van oorsprong naar de plek van bestemming omdat het enkel daar was deze reis te voorzien van meerwaarde door aanwezigheid maar niet gebruikt kan worden om dergelijke middelen op dergelijke falende wijze te besturen.
Regel 45.8.6 met betrekking tot omgang met de media tijdens het gebruik van de door ons verstrekte geest hebben we de regels aangaande dit gebruik driewerf verbeterd.
45.8.6a Bij veelvuldige inzet van het door het door ons aan u verstrekte middel tijdens het verkeren in gezelschap van alle media is het verplicht om u te houden aan de wettelijk normen en limieiten voor gebruik voor toepassing van dergelijke geestesproducten. 45.8.6g U dient er ten alle tijden voor te zorgen dat u kunt aantonen dat u zich aan deze normen en limieten voor het gebruik van de geest heeft gehouden. 45.8.6h Laat u deze plichtplegingen rondom persoonsgebonden bewijslast achterwege verliest u alle juridische rechten met betrekking op het door u verkregen geheiligde aangaande ongemakken ontstaan tijdens het gebruik van media onder invloed van een genuttigde geest.
Regel 79.7 aangaande legitieme doorverkoop van door ons geheiligde producten is voor de duidelijkheid aangesterkt
Doorverkoop van een door ons verstrekte geest gekoppeld aan u eigen geest is ten strengste verboden tenzij u het product eerst officieel afziet van gebruik deze en vervolgens door een van onze gelegitimeerde heilige geest product verkopers tien jaar laat beheren, drie jaar opslaan, vijf jaar keuren, twee jaar herinrichten van de opgewaardeerde en voor hergebruik klaargemaakte nogmaals ingeheiligde geest.
Regel 100.1. Met betrekking tot verwijdering van u digitale account bij ons zelve of een account bij bedrijven die bij ons onder licentie staan.
Een eenmaal geactiveerde account kan alleen op de voorgeschreven wijze en onder onze voorwaarden verwijderd worden door degene die de geest heeft aangekocht en beheerd. Gegevens aangaande de digitale account blijven vanaf mei dit jaar na verandering van de internationale wet digitale accounts blijven nog zeven,zeven jaar in het bezit van de administratie afdeling van de hoofdvestiging.
Regel 1111.22
1111.22 Wij zijn alleen verantwoordelijk voor kwalijke effecten tijdens gebruik van de geheiligde geest als kan worden bewezen dat u eigen van geboorte tot de dood aanwezige geest op dat moment niet actief was en u dus handelde nadat dood was ingetreden. Hetzelfde unieke moment waarop u verplicht afscheid neemt van al uw bij leven en welzijn rechten.
Wij hopen dat we u hiermee voldoende hebben ingelicht over de door ons en voor ons ingevoerde veranderingen aangaande het gebruik van onze producten en metname die van de aan ons merkgebonden geheiligde geestesmaterie.
Wilt u weten welke rechten wij allemaal wel hebben en u dus niet, klop dan aan bij een advocaat die u wel kan betalen voor een kort, dus nog net betaalbaar gesprek aangaande het gebrek aan daadwerkelijke boeiende toekomst met de nodige meerwaarde voor u en eventueel u nakomelingen. Maakt u zich liever niet druk kijk dan gerust naar alles wat er op dit moment zoal te zien is op televisie, streamingsdiensten, sportzenders, in bioscopen, of denk eens niet te lang en diep na over een mogelijke nieuwe verslaving aan niet al te moeilijk verkrijgbare verdovende middelen, niet geheel toevallig ook verstrekt door een groot scala aan bedrijven allemaal bij ons onder contract.
from
Rippple's Blog

Stay entertained thanks to our Weekly Tracker giving you next week's Anticipated Movies & Shows, Most Watched & Returning Favorites, and Shows Changes & Popular Trailers.
new The End of Oak Street-1 Mayday-1 Coyote vs. Acmenew Resident Evil= Moana+1 Spider-Man: Brand New Day-1 Mutiny+1 One Night Only-6 The Whisper Mannew Supergirl= Lanterns= Reacher= Ted Lasso+1 Lioness+1 The Gentlemen-2 Silo= Stuart Fails to Save the Universe+1 Dark Matternew Slow Horses-2 Star Trek: Strange New WorldsHi, I’m Kevin 👋. Product Manager at Trakt and creator of Rippple. If you’d like to support what I'm building, you can download Rippple for Trakt, explore the open source project, or go Trakt VIP.
from Anarcobaloncesto
Si dejamos a un lado el baloncesto profesional y simplificamos al máximo, podemos decir que la organización de nuestro deporte está estructurada de una manera muy sencilla y absolutamente vertical. En la cúspide de la piramide están las federaciones. Les siguen los clubs, y en la base, los jugadores que, a pesar de que son los que verdaderamente sostienen el invento, son dejados casi siempre al margen de cualquier tipo de decisión que les afecte. El pegamento que mantiene unido todo esto es la figura del entrenador. Una figura impuesta para garantizar el orden y el control en toda la estructura. Paradójicamente (o no tanto) es, con mucho, la parte más débil del sistema. En entrenador es, pues, la primera figura de poder con la que se encuentra cualquier jugador. El entrenador es el que decide qué tipo de formación (siempre que exista) va a ofrecerle, qué compañeros va a tener, cuántos minutos va a jugar, cómo debe jugarlos y qué decisiones ha de tomar por el supuesto bien del equipo.
Sin entrar demasiado a fondo en la cuestión podríamos decir que la tarea del entrenador tiene, tradicionalmente, una doble faceta: por un lado, entrenar durante la semana; por el otro, dirigir los partidos de competición. Hoy en día existen muchos entrenadores de 5x5, de los mal llamados de formación, que llevan a cabo sus entrenamientos semanales como si se tratara del partido del fin de semana. Podríamos decir que únicamente dirigen, con el obligado repertorio estándar de gestos, gritos y malas caras, y en un estado casi permanente de mal humor (tengamos en cuenta que su modelo de referencia es el entrenador profesional histriónico) ya que los jugadores nunca hacen exactamente lo que ellos quieren. Para esta clase de técnicos todo es mucho más sencillo. Ellos solo saben (es un decir) dirigir, los jugadores ya han de venir previamente formados por quien sea. Poco importa, ese no es su trabajo. Su trabajo es dirigir para vencer. Si no se gana la culpa recaerá siempre en el jugador, que no ha sido formado adecuadamente.
Por suerte este es uno de los grandes cambios del 3x3. No se permite (es norma Fiba) la presencia de un entrenador en los partidos. Sí que son bienvenidos para preparar una competición o mejorar el nivel de los jugadores. De modo que el entrenador permanece en la sombra: entrena, cuando existe, entre una competición y otra, y en los partidos, si es que va, se queda en la grada. Su objetivo casi único, es entrenar para que los jugadores aprendan a tomar decisiones y funcionen por sí mismos. Justo lo contrario de lo que ocurre en el 5x5 donde las decisiones las toma el entrenador e intenta evitar que el jugador piense y actúe por sí mismo. El posible éxito es siempre suyo. Si la decisión no ha sido acertada será el jugador el responsable. En el 3x3 el entrenador ha de hacer honor a su nombre, es decir entrenar. No ha de dirigir en absoluto. La interpretación de lo que ocurre en la pista y la dirección del proceso de la competición pertenece en exclusiva al jugador. La labor de formación alcanzará por fin y quizás su máximo exponente. Formar para que cada jugador, con su reducido número de amigos (llamémosle también equipo por ahora) sea capaz de pensar y evolucionar por sí mismo. Finalmente el entrenador como acompañante de un proceso, no como actor protagonista. Hay que tener en cuenta la gran diversidad de provincias y de clubs que existe en nuestra geografía. De lo que hablo aquí es de un modelo de organización bastante extendido y con una forma de comportamiento social muy parecida. Los clubs los forman chicos y chicas, que son organizados en equipos por sexo, por edad y a veces, aunque no siempre, por nivel. Al frente de cada uno de ellos hay (es obligado que haya) uno o más entrenadores. Son los encargados del control. Cada federación obliga a tener un entrenador por equipo, formado previamente en y por las propias estructuras federativas. Su presencia también es obligatoria en todos los partidos de la temporada. Se les suele formar sobre todo para competir, para ganar, sin importar el nivel en que se desarrolle su particular competición. El modelo de referencia es el baloncesto profesional. Considero que el baloncesto de formación está dejando de existir como tal. Solamente, cual aldea gala, persisten algunas entidades y entrenadores que, a contracorriente, intentan que sus jugadores vean el baloncesto de otra manera que no sea la exclusivamente competitiva.
from An Open Letter
I again stayed up really late today playing sober to death. I started recording some videos, and when I watched them back to listen to my voice to see if I was ashamed, I felt like I looked really good and muscular. And because of that I put on a shirt. I wanted to post a video of me with a good take on my close friends story, and I didn’t want it to be a thirst trap. What a weird thing that I am now conscious of. I used to feel uncomfortable with my shirt off because it just felt like inappropriate, but now I am worried about people admiring my body. And I worry about being attractive towards people that I am not trying to attract like friends. And it’s such a weird thing because it ends up looking the same way, I tried to hide my body and I am on edge looking around to make sure no one notices.
I wish I could sing in a way where I wasn’t ashamed of it. I can’t get out of my head the thought of a friend seeing it and thinking it’s cringe or bad. And it sucks because I found playing and singing or sad songs are a great way for me to express feelings, which is something I’ve always struggled with. And now there’s that same shame tied to it. And I think it’s because when I sing these songs and someone criticizes it or points out anything, it feels like they are giving me feedback to not share my feelings. But in reality, I know they’re just talking about the delivery. And the medium, I guess. But it feels like such a gut punch otherwise.
from
Midus
20 ianuarie 2012
Cred că pe undeva am scris că am terminat facultatea la Timișoara. Timișoara, scânteia evenimentelor din decembrie 1989, Timișoara cu maghiari, germani, sârbi…
Doi maghiari (sau unguri, după cum doriți), unul din Sighetul Marmației, altul din Bocșa, mi-au fost colegi de cameră în cămin. Și ne-am înțeles foarte bine în românește. Alți maghiari (inclusiv din Harghita și Covasna) mi-au fost colegi de an sau de grupă. De asemenea, ne-am înțeles foarte bine. Am învățat chiar și câteva cuvinte de bază în ungurește, precum și pronunția unor grupuri de litere și a literelor cu diacritice.
Mai ales atunci când înțelegeau cuvintele (nu vreau să fiu răutăcios, dar, de exemplu, Mihaly G. învățase româna ca pe o limbă străină până la liceu, așa că uneori ne înțelegea mai greu, în special când vorbeam prea repede; altfel, un tip deosebit de inteligent).
În fine, nu țin minte niciun eveniment neplăcut legat de conflicte interetnice cât timp am stat în Timișoara.
Răsfoind câteva articole pe Deutsche Welle, am dat și de un material despre locuitorii maghiari din Harghita și Covasna și despre opiniile lor privind autonomia Ținutului Secuiesc, care întărea ceea ce am scris mai sus. Surprins, plăcut, postat! Se intitula „Surpriza din Ținutul Secuiesc”.
Ca să termin într-o notă amuzantă, iată o conversație cu Mihaly G.:
— Măi, Mihaly! Ce înseamnă „nem tudom”? — Nu știu! — Cum nu știi, că e în ungurește? — Păi nu știu înseamnă!*
*Nu am pus ghilimele la „nu știu” pentru că așa a sunat exprimarea lui!
from
Silent Sentinel
The Last of A Generation
You are the last ember of a fire that once warmed an entire era.
The quiet strength of a generation who spoke more through action than words, who prayed through storms and endured more than they ever told.
You and your siblings stood like roots beneath our family tree— invisible to many, but holding everything together.
You passed down recipes, remedies, rhythms of speech and silence, and lessons folded into laughter and long Sundays.
You loved with your whole being even when the world made love hard.
You gave your children your best, even when the world gave you so little.
And still, you made a way.
Now, as you stand near the edge of this long, brave line— we see you.
We see the legacy in your eyes.
We carry your rhythm in our walk.
We carry your hope in our bones.
Your generation didn’t just survive.
You anchored us. You carried us.
And now, we rise— not in your shadow, but in your light.
Thank you for every seed sown in silence.
For every sacrifice that went unpraised.
For being the bridge between the old world and the new.
We won’t forget.
We won’t let your name vanish into dust.
We are the harvest of your faith.
#ArchitectureOfGrief
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from Anarcobaloncesto
Nos dicen que el baloncesto 3x3 nació en las calles. En mis recuerdos, corrían los años sesenta del pasado siglo, nació en el patio del colegio. Los juegos en los patios escolares han sido casi siempre sinónimos de anarquía. Con el tiempo, el baloncesto en los patios de los colegios casi ha desaparecido y ha cedido su protagonismo a las pantallas, pero también es cierto que han ido proliferando las canastas y las pistas públicas en multitud de plazas y jardines, lo que ha servido para que la popularidad del 3x3 crezca poco a poco junto a otras actividades o juegos urbanos. Prefiero hablar de actividades o juegos en vez de deportes. Sobre la diferencia entre juego y deporte hablaré más adelante.
Hoy todavía demasiada gente relaciona la palabra anarquía con descontrol o desorden. Sin embargo, la Real Academia de la Lengua, en su primera acepción, la define simplemente como ausencia de poder público, y después como desconcierto, incoherencia o barullo. Establece como sinónimos de anarquía los adjetivos desorden, caos, confusión y desgobierno, Los antónimos son ordenado, disciplinado y metódico. Aún se puede leer de vez en cuando en algunas crónicas deportivas que tal o cual equipo (de baloncesto, de fútbol, etc) jugó de un modo muy anárquico; otras veces se refieren a que un determinado equipo hizo un juego de “patio de colegio”.
El patio del colegio, pues, representaba el caos, el desorden, la confusión, la indisciplina y el desgobierno frente al orden que nos imponía la autoridad en el aula. Sin embargo, la mayoría de la veces se trataba de un falso desorden. Era más bien un orden anárquico, diferente, que los propios participantes establecíamos para estructurar nuestro juego, sin ser del todo conscientes de ello. Por otro lado, no era sencillo jugar partidos en un patio lleno a rebosar a la espera del timbre que nos devolvía a todos a las clases. En la calle ocurría algo parecido.
En el patio, en los días festivos, los partidos de 3x3 (o veintiunos como los llamábamos entonces) se sucedían uno tras otro casi sin interrupción. Los jugadores iban desapareciendo y apareciendo en un flujo continuo hasta que se apagaban las luces y se cerraban las puertas del colegio. Los que quedaban al final de la tarde posiblemente no habían iniciado el juego al principio de la misma. Muchas veces se desarrollaban varios partidos conjuntamente en una misma canasta, todos con parecida estructura. Lo importante era el juego en sí mismo, no los jugadores. Lo importante no era ganar, era seguir jugando.
El baloncesto, que empezó siendo un juego, hoy es un deporte en toda regla. Tiene sus normas que han de ser aceptadas por sus participantes, si no, sería otra cosa pero no baloncesto. A partir de ahí, una vez iniciado, el juego puede ser anarquía en el sentido antes expresado, o, por decirlo de otra forma, reconvertirlo en un juego volviendo a sus orígenes o intentar tenerlo todo bajo control, para que siga siendo un deporte y un negocio. Las federaciones y los clubs se han convertido, hoy en día, en empresas de servicios.