The Philosopher’s Attic

So it seems that the weather gods will not bless us with snow, ice or even usual December cold for Christmas this year. On the contrary, we’ve had stable 10° for the last few weeks now and I think today was the first morning that my car was frosted over…
While the scientists still bicker about whether this is all due to global warming or not, I “dugg” this up: a picture from 1911 when the Niagra falls were frozen over.
This picture actually reminds me of Anna Karenina, but that’s a different story. The picture really is quite amazing and it reminded me of the stories my grandpa and dad used to tell me about the Rhine being frozen over in Basel. “That never happened…!” will some of my Swiss friends say. Well, but it did.
The winter of 1962/3 was one of the coldest of the 20th century and it was the last time that the Rhine froze completely over.
Pictures: One - Two - Three
(courtesy of www.wetter-schwoerstadt.de)

It started in November and the ice stayed until March of ‘63. People were able to wander from Bad Säckingen to Kaiseraugst on the Rhine, taking skates and eating saussages (Wienerli) at the various stands that immediately started to spring up all around the border. Speaking of border, I wonder what the border control had to deal with… seeing that the Rhine is the natural border between Germany and Switzerland.

That same year we had -13° in the Alps and Guam was almost completely erased by a Taifun. Oh, and Patras was under water by the end of December. By January, Spain and Portugal were frozen as well, Venice was completely blocked and Rotterdam had no drinking water any more. 125 days of frost in a row.
Guess what was on the front pages of the news by the time the calendar wrote April: “Are we steering towards a new Ice Age?”

Hmm… so within 40 years only have we come from a new ice age to global warming. What a nice synthesis Hegel would be able to construct out of this… *sigh*

Btw: the Rhine hasn’t frozen over since 1962 because a new water electricity plant has been constructed at Schwörstadt and this plant controls the height of the water according to the water power needed, thus making it impossible for the Rhine ever to freeze over again. No, it’s not due to Global warming…

Technorati Tags: Rhine, ice age, Niagara falls, Basel, Global Warming, 1962

Digg: read more | digg story

I have been pondering this for quite a while. Wondering whether I should write it up, adress it or simply ignore it, like some people would say bad behaviour is best treated.
I have a long line of absent friends that disappear for a while, only to pop up once in a while. They’re friends nevertheless and even if you haven’t talked to them in a while, you know that they’ll be there when you need them.
Then there is another class of friends. The ones that I forced (ah, yes!) out of unacquainted love. I never have never walked through life discarding people, just because I was unable to see what role they were supposed to hold in my life. And just because love doesn’t happen, does it mean that this person is forever lost to us? No. Friendship between men and women do exist and they do work… as long as some basic laws are not broken.
Hope has to die: It’s a known truth that hope in love dies last and that you can hold out for years on end, just hoping that one day the beloved one will see, finally know what the lover has seen all along and say “this is right”. If a friendship is something that you hold on to just because you cannot get what you really want at this exact moment (sex, proximity etc.), then the friendship is a lie. And on top of things, you are asking your “friend” to give you something which he/she is obviously not able to give. Unfair? You bet.
Love is a gift: Not unlike faith that comes completely unwarranted, unasked and without inhibition, love is a gift. You can believe in Christ and state that its the one thing that will redeem this world or you can simply state that its due to some basic chemistry in the body that makes love just happen… either way, it either does or it doesn’t. No rational explanation, no Jesuit-style list of pros and cons can convince you, no matter how good the reasons are, no matter how hard you wish for it, you will not change that. It’s hard, it’s painful. Get over it.
Vita brevis est: Life is short. Too short to fool around. Too short to throw people and their feelings out, just because you cannot get over your hurt pride and believe me there is a lot of hurt pride once the word is out.

This list could go on and on… what use would there be?
The Bottom-line is this: Yes, I am getting married. Yes, I am happy. As happy as I can get I suppose and as happy as you could not make me. Yes, I will have a life without you, but not because I wanted it that way. YOU decided it. And if having no contact with me whatsoever makes it easier for you to keep up the story of how I wrecked you over, well, then I will have to live with that. I gave what I could and more. I have tried.
Can you really say the same?