huh?!

Some spammer added a comment/article to my post about my hometown Graz, telling me all the things I did already know about the city (and some of them I had already written). But here comes the funny bit: after mentioning the "excellent connection of Graz to Vienna Airport" (3 hours, haha!), the article says:

Graz is also noted for its excellent transport planning policies which have ensured the city benefits from efficient public transport, low levels of congestion and good environmental conditions.

Right under this - how should I call it? wishful thinking? - comes a picture of the inner city, drowned in smog.

I really don't know if this guy and me are talking about the same city. But you never know, maybe some things have changed in my absence?

Ah, I'm really looking forward to coming back...

the planet

Here are the links to an award-winning series of documentaries, called "The Planet".
The series aired on Swedish television, so don't be irritated by the Swedish commentators in the beginning, and the Swedish subtitles - everything else is in English and good quality. Enjoy!

The Planet - Part 1
The Planet - Part 2
The Planet - Part 3
The Planet - Part 4

touristic procrastination

Each time I go to Copenhagen, I have this plan in my head of things to do and see. But somehow I always end up having visited none of the points on my list, because I usually stumble upon something else that keeps me for hours.


This time: the Botanical Garden. This is like the most magical place on earth (if you assume that the earth ends somewhere around the borders of Copenhagen, humhum). And the little hill in the center is the place to go if you're in for some dazzling olfactory experiences... *mh!*

appendix & update

The cliffs near Ales Stenar

Afterword to my trip to southern Scania.
Not a lot of pictures.
Plus, I didn't take my camera to lovely Stenshuvud National Park.

Anyway.
I just hate stealing the illustrations for my blog from the Web...

My life here might be pretty idyllic, however, the topics I'm currently dealing with aren't. The spring term is nearing its end, the deadlines for papers, presentations and assignments are approaching, merciless professors are handing out even more papers, students are frantically working and missing the most beautiful days of the year :(

But, let's face it, I am learning a lot, right now...

Park at Häckeberga castle

I have just finished an enormously interesting book dealing with King Leopold's colonial terror regime in the Congo. In only ten years, the people working for the Belgian used up half of the Congo's population - an estimated 8-10 millions - in the chase for rubber and ivory.

Obviously, the other colonial forces wolfing down the African cake weren't any better. Still, cutting off heads and hands doesn't become an acceptable act, just because everybody does it.

The international movement against the Congo atrocities sprung from one man, E.D. Morel, and was one of the first and biggest, regarding human rights. Mark Twain participated in the Anti-Congo protest marches. Today, however, the whole story is forgotten.

All in all, Hochschild's book was a totally enjoyable and enlightening read:
King Leopold's Ghost

I am currently reading another high-class book for my course on religious terrorism:
Charles Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil. Kimball presents five warning signs of corrupted religion, and tries to offer a series of correctives for each of them.

This course belongs, in a way, to one of these academic experiences that have deeply transformed my way of thinking, of researching, and my overall approach to relevant matters.

Let's face it - whether you're having a spiritual practice or not, whether you like religion(s) or not - they're gonna stick around for quite some time... And they are shaping our political, economical and social reality to such a great extent, that we ought to find a way to talk about and deal with these matters without being either afraid of being looked upon as a loony, nor ending up in the realm of blind beliefs, or total speculation.

Ales Stenar

With my group for this course, I am preparing the presentation of a Ugandan rebel/religious terrorist group, the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). This group is (partly) responsible for one of the worst humanitarian emergencies worldwide - I doubt however, that anyone in the West has ever heard about it. Here is a blog on all recent developments: Uganda Watch

The deeper I delve into the subject, the crazier and hazier it gets. I ended up in a spider's web, where everyone seems to have their hands entangled in some dirty business.

The idea of a second, invisible reality known in many traditional myths, is often presented as an enormous spider's web that connects all beings, spirits, thoughts, places, and times.
Working here in Lund, I start to understand...

scanian paradise

Warning! All pictures are stolen - didn't have the time to upload my own - yet...

Since my days here in Sweden are numbered, I took the opportunity to explore more of the country this weekend. Scania can be so heartachingly beautiful!
The people may be a bit reserved, but nature definitely isn't - at least this time of the year - and shows off in its most provocant colour combinations: bright blue sky, painfully yellow rapeseed fields, imbedded in fresh greenery, framed by the dark blue Baltic Sea...

Häckeberga castle

Some idyllic lakes and castles on the way...

Ales stenar

Ancient stone monuments...

Stenshuvud National Park

... and a multitude of national parks.
Stenshuvud definetely is my favourite. The forest there seems to have been cut and pasted from a children's fairy tale book.

Not to mention the breathtaking atmosphere on top of the stonehead: the shoreline can be seen for several kilometres (nothing but fine white sand and according soundscape), there is wind, and wild birds, and peace.

Yep.

I hope Greece can keep up with that ;)