Understanding, people in cities

Thank you, Herman, for our meeting yesterday. It brought back my memory to the first year of my phd studies, I completely lost sight of. So, in a way, you are better for me than Koos. Really, I mean it. When do we meet again?
Reading David Hume, texts in the book A treatise of human nature (1888), 1978. Book one: of the understanding. A book I found in the library of the VU, april 2013.

Understanding, the main purpose of studying and writing whatshappened ( former : history, I translated the Dutch word 'geschiedenis' into the most adequate and contemporary English)

I quote from the book A treatise of human nature:

All the perceptions of the human mind resolve themselves into two distinct kinds, which I shall call Impressions and Ideas.

My question is, while trying to understand the year 2015 we are living in/through. Why is there so much attention for the paintings of Rembrandt, representing social orders, the Nachtwacht, the police at night, guarding over the safety for the city people, especially at night. While you are sleeping. And the other two paintings, representing man and woman, a couple in two parts.

My impression of 2015 and myself and other people is, feeling safe, is an big issue. Also in Europe, in the Netherlands, the most beautiful country on planet Earth, according to quite a few people. One can possibly verify this by counting the amount of tourist visiting the Netherlands this year. 'Windowshopping', just looking...and saying or thinking O, what beautiful!

How and where do we feel safe, safe enough, for there is no real absolute safety feeling. With whom do I feel safe? (We, the collectivity, the borg, the family, the company, the school, the group. I, the individual)
How and where do we not feel safe or not safe enough. And with whom not? ( can be repeated with I).


Now I noted the questions, THE questions. Contemporary whatshappened knowledge I like to join or to start. I have to do some literature again. But before I start reading the loads and loads of books and articles on this subject I think I can complete David Hume by touching:

All the perceptions of the human mind resolve themselves into three different kinds, which I shall call Impressions, Ideas and Matter.

For one cannot exclude oneself. And oneself is a body. And a body is living because of Matter.

90 minutes with Bernd IHNO Eilts, artist, photography

Because of the making of the ROSE book which will make him famous. City of Groningen, the Netherlands, NL, Europe, planet Earth.

One question out of ten:

How did you get involved with photography? ( MAS = me)

Ik denk. Mijn grootouders waren altijd aan het fotograferen. Ik was als kind al beeldend, visueel, ingesteld. Bijvoorbeeld in de kerk , tekeningen maken. Leeftijd 5 jaar tot maximaal 8. Veel aan het tekenen. ( depictive, MAS). Ondertussen zit ik vol met verhalen die ik heb gehoord, van familie, vroeger. Mijn ouders hadden altijd een fotocamera. Wij waren veel in de natuur. Voor de leeftijd van 12, type camera waar je van boven inkijkt. Ik kreeg de camera wel in handen. Rond een jaar of 5, zoals de verrekijker die altijd ergens was in huis. Dichterbij halen van wat je zo niet ziet. Toen ik 14 werd kreeg ik mijn eerste verrekijker. Heb ik drie jaar geleden weggegooid. Stuk. Een jaar geleden heb ik een nieuwe verrekijker gekocht, waarmee ik de buren bekijk. Mensen.

Ik denk dat ik foto's heb genomen, door mijn ervaring met verrekijkers. Hoe zie je wat, dichtbij halen. Ik was een jaar of 14 toen ik voor het eerst met een fotocamera ging werken. Het instrument vastpakken, inkijken, waar kijk ik naar, knop indrukken. De fotorolletjes werden naar een fotowinkel gebracht, voor de afdrukken. Zwart-wit in de kindertijd, jaren zestig, Duitsland. Kleur in de pubertijd, jaren zeventig, twintigste eeuw.

Photography is voor mij de daad. Doel is om meer te zien. Vastleggen. Noteren. Voor het vrijheidsgevoel, het visuele contact, geuren, momenten, muziek, geborgenheid.

Jumpy Europe 2015

Whatshapp (?short for whathappened, former history).

De geschiedenis van Europa verandert voortdurend. Dat geldt voor de dramatische gebeurtenissen in Oosten, voor de vredelievende ontwikkelingen in het Westen, de financiële perikelen in het Zuiden en de nieuwe impulsen uit het Noorden. Leek begin 1991 de Europese eenwording nog te kabbelen als een Zwitsers beekje. Nu is Angela er. En Hollande. Een DuitscFrans eentweetje. Waar het ook allemaal mee begon, net na de tweede Wereldoorlog. Weet u nog? Om de staal en kolenindustrie weer een kans te geven. En daarmee de inkomsten voor het continent, zoals de Britten het Europa ook wél noemen. De Britten zijn voorlopig nog in conclaaf. A very democratic thing to do. Democracy, being moved up northwest, these days?

Ik en de ander, de anderen, wij en zij, moi, I, Ich und du, you, tu and the rest of the world, planet Earth.

Whathappened 2015, planet Earth. The spirit and the beginning.

The spirit and the beginning.


Fourteen years ago two persons in planes flew into a highrise building, city of New York. How many casualties? Why didn't they do as I am going to do now?

What
I know about myself is that I hardly, very very seldom think, when I look upon things, persons or buildings, ' that is what I also want or want to do or want to be'. I think this attitude makes me different comparing to a lot of people I think to know, I have learned to know in the years going by.

Yesterday I spoke to an architect, trained at the TU Delft, departement Building studies, between 1987-1990. He really liked the study because he could start designing from scratch.

Today, carpe diem. The site visit to BeautifulPlace is planned. The beginning of Living in the Wood, thanks to the creative dialogue with me and Ingrid the Pauw, anno 2008. UN nouveauté traite de toute architecture. Sturm und Drang from MAS (= me). Financed by the families Sival en Stoker.

I cite:
Het systeem van de barok had op een dubbelstrategie berust. De gevels van haar gebouwen waren met plantenmotieven gedecoreerd. Het rijk van de mens en her rijk van de natuur waren van elkaar gescheiden gebleven. Zij hadden onderling hun kenmerken uitgewisseld en waren omwille van de ornamentering en het prestige in elkaar opgegaan.

Uit: Moderne architectuur, een kritische geschiedenis, Kenneth Frampton, p.17

A good thing to do in whathappened ( former history) is to counter. So, when I counter the content of the text above, I find myself something to do. No system, no strategy, no elevations, no human dominion, no plant dominion,  no ' kenmerken', no ornaments, no prestige.

You might think now that I am in denial. I think that is a very psychological thing to think, something I do not believe in, I do not appreciate nor value. I think what you see us what you get. The question is , how to look and what to look at or through. Not think off course. What do you factual see, hear, smell, feel?

I named myself an IT ( intelligent tracking) person. Well, that was an concept too limited. I am really a 'natuurverschijnsel', a natural appearance. The art of life for me is to act upon this as well. And
believe me, I try every day. It is in my nature to create...

Noble again, but then in literature and whathappened (former history)

I copy.

Furthermore, Mathilda soon began to bore me. She had one constant and, to me depressing subject of conservation- her husband. This man, she would say, was a noble brute. He would kill her on the spot if he found out. He worshiped her and was savagely jealous. Once in Constantinople he had grabbed an enterprising Frenchman and slapped him several times against the floor, like a rag. He was so passionate, it frightened you. But he was beautiful in his cruelty.

Eye, Vladimir Nabokov, 1965, p.6
City of Berlin, city of New York

Introducing The Noble dream, a book by P. Novick, 1988

Whathappened?

P. Novick wrote a book, titled That Noble dream. The objectivity question and the American historical profession. In the book the four figures 1 9 8 8 are printed.

P. Novick called himself and has been entitled a historian, a scholarly one. Location: Chicago

The book is introduced as follows: The aspiration to relate the past as it really happened has been the central goal of American professional historians since the late nineteenth century. In this history of the profession, Peter Novick shows ( writes, iS more factual, MAS), how the idea and ideal of objectivity were elaborated.
Tip: When you Google scholar , dream, stroll a bit, you find the whole PDF.

Francis Fukuyama wrote texts as well, which were published as a book, titled The end of history and the last man, dated 1992. Later he came back to this, he countered himself. So I heard from a former phd fellow. I have not read these published texts yet, msybe they don't have the title The beginning of history and the first man. I am waiting..........do you know what he is up to. Maybe he needs some other ideas. I have one, The beginningof whatshappened and persons , or ... and personalities, or ... and moving organisms.

Just a month ago I introduced a thing in the field of language and the words history and geschiedenis. An English word and a Dutch word, meaning quite the same, these days. I prefer the word geschiedenis, because the word itself comes very close to the factual activities of the professional field, I thought. How very American of me!

If one wants to do research as factual as possible, as neutral as possible, one has to register and count. All the other activities, like creating a text other persons are possibly willing to read and control, can be placed in the field of literature. Just for the purpose of clarifying one or two things. To avoid
misleading practices, possibly.

The only problem left now is, how to conclude on registered facts and numbers? Is it an idea to skip making conclusions? Just not make conclusions any more? To do and not to do?
Advantages: keeping an open mind, enduring a sort of factual future, embracing incertainties.
Disadvantages: maybe you have some things to add here?

I wonder, what consequences would this line of thoughts create for the Noble Prize?

What I do know is that on the isle of Ameland, NLcity or NL bv. or NL nv, whatever you prefer, commonly known as the Netherlands, earlier known as the Low lands and even earlier spoken of as Holland, one can purchase a jenever with the name Nobeltje. A great spirit. Well, as you understand, that's my opinion after the taste of it.

A last bite. In 1985 the album Hunting high an low, by a-ha , was released. The nineth song on the cd
is named I dream myself a life. The song takes 3 minutes and 6 seconds. ( a-ha is a popgroup originated from Norway, Europe. The musicians made their career in London. The group is musically categorized in The new wave. Next year, 2016, the group is programmed in the Heiniken Music Hall, Amsterdam. They are living their dream, one could say. But, what was their dream exactly? Are they
still having dreams? What sort of dreams? And who are they?

O, o. I shouldn't forget another person, a French person, named Gaston Bachelard, who wrote as well. Also about dreaming and the dreamer: For our house is our corner of the world. As has often been said (???????? Not to me, MAS). It is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word ( Wow! Do you believe that? Think about the mother and daughter and the nine sons, a blogged about earlier, domestic violence... MAS). The house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.
I know, 20 th century writing stuff again.
Are we or have we been waking up or something? And then I mean, we, all of us, people on planet Earth. And not this group of poets in France. How come? I dare to say, not by historians.

Reading tip: Dromology, by Paul Virilio. I know, 20st century stuff. Or, a looking tip for the ones who like pictures, after war periods and bunkers: Bunker archeology,  Paul Virilio, 19.. He did write texts with the theme of Fear in the 21 st century, after 9/11. Right! 2 more days to go, remember?

Cities, deaths, all the trees of the world

Roots and Earth and soil
Creators of the brave and healthy

Leaving through the lightly air
Looking, balancing my voice

Sunfulfilling flowers and fruit
Water I drink the most

Gentle persons prefer sourcy



Just one question, at the end of summer:

Why has there not been any anouncements on death casualties in cities this summer of 2015 by official media? In Europe, for instance? Is nobody counting? Or keeping up with the local counting? Is everybody moving to the city of Lagos? Smelling the yellow snow?

Wunderground.com  gives some information. I thought of as very very interesting, almost historically, umm, My misstake, I mean whathappenedly. About seasons, mortality, heath waves, cold and dark winters. Countings in the US from 1970- 2004. Cherry picking is noted, a very interesting understanding, politically. Counting, also a very hard thing to do, not only in primary schools in Europe, also in quite a few professional, scientific fields on planet Earth.

wunderground.com

Fortunately, all the trees on planet Earth are counted. Finally. A bit more than 3 billiard trees are estimated to grow on planet Earth. Published in Nature, a scientific magazine. This counting estimating number lies eightvtimes higher than previous countings. I read it in one of three Dutch printed newspapers I page through everyday. Yes, I have created time for that. How I do that? Well, maybe I tell you later. Now, there are more important things to do. It is my free saturday afternoon, after all. And a whole free sunny day to look forward to. I have this plan to create a forest in a
beautiful place, I am going to visit tomorrow. All the financial things have been taken care for. First
things first. A very intelligent thing to do.

If you want more info:  Volkskrant.nl/wetenschap.    volkskrant.nl/wetenschap