Així havien quedat, doncs, el senyor Waltari i la seva novel·la: al llimb dels petits plaers que es recorden amb afecte però als quals no vols tornar per por que ara el plaer no sigui completament diferent... o hagi deixat de ser un plaer. Però si hi ha una cosa segura a la vida és que el món fa molts tombs, i en un d'aquests tombs vaig començar a rebre a casa el catàleg de nous segells de correu... de correus de Finlàndia! I què hi havia, al darrer?

Vet aquí que enguany s'està celebrant també el centenari de Mika Waltari i s'ha fet una sèrie de segells commemoratius amb imatges relacionades amb algunes de les seves obres (el llançament oficial és el 9 de setembre, segons la notícia publicada al lloc oficial del centenari i el centenari, exactament, el 19 de setembre). Com en tota mena de celebracions d'aquesta mena s'estan celebrant un munt d'actes i activitats que, si us interessa, podeu veure al lloc web del centenari (malgrat ens quedin molt lluny). Feu clic a la imatge per accedir-hi.

Més informació sobre Mika Waltari:

• Fundació (gairebé tot en finès).
• Centenari.
• Pàgines sobre l'autor a Pegasos, Wikipedia i El poder de la palabra.
• Fitxa de la pel·lícula The Egyptian a IMDB.
• Registre de l'obra a Librarything.

LHA director Kay Shelton attended the talk and sent back a glowing review:

Jeff Mahl got a standing ovation at the Geneva History Center on August 23. He described how he listened to his great-grandpa's stories. When he was 14 and had to write a history assignment in school, that is when he realized how famous and important his great-grandpa was. Then he really paid attention to all of the stories, and thought they were better than anything on TV at the time. George Schuster lived until he was 99, he still shoveled snow at age 98, and still had a drivers' license when he was 95.

Then, Mr. Mahl began his talk by putting on a driving jacket and sitting in a chair, and told the story in first person, like he was Schuster himself, with a PowerPoint. Schuster found out the day before the race that his boss wanted him to be in it and had very little preparation. E.R. Thomas chose him because he was a mechanic.

There will be a documentary out sometime in 2009 on the "Greatest Auto Race on Earth." It will be released in Canada, Germany, France, and the U.S. He is a very nice man and if anyone gets a chance to have him as a speaker I highly recommend him. There was a $25 charge for the ticket — they brought him in conjunction with the very fancy annual auto show Geneva holds (Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Bugattis, Astin Martins, etc.). He signed the 1966 book I found [see below] and told me that it was very rare. His picture is in it as a little boy. He also re-published The Great Automobile Race: New York to Paris (originally published by the Thomas Motor Company) in 1992 with his own introduction. There is no date on the original book but it has to be 1912 or earlier as that is when the Thomas Motor Co. went defunct

I also have the book - an incredible, enjoyable journey:

One other thing of interest in that Olympics was that the Home Nations representated themselves in some sports.

For example, in Hockey there was a English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh side. (This before before the independence of Ireland and the partition of Northern Ireland.)

They competed with France and Germany to get the medals.

England won gold. Ireland won the silver. Scotland and Wales shared the bronze, as there was no 3rd place play-off.

England and Ireland representated themselves at Polo.

The IOC rules about countries competing only if they have an IOC committee in place where enforced at these London games.

This was a British ploy to prevent the situation that had happened two years previous in the 1906 Intercalated Olympics - basically a mid term Olympics between 1904 and 1908.

Peter O'Connor, an Irish long jumper, high jumper and triple jumper, was sent to Athens by the GAA and the IAAA, Irish sport authorities. Of course, Ireland at the time was not independent from Britain and hence Peter and other Irish atheletes found themselves listed as representing Britain.

In a controversial long jump competition, Peter came second, but as the Union flag was raised to represent his silver, Peter climbed the flagpole and waved his Irish flag instead.

He later won the gold medal in the triple jump.

That's why the IOC ruling was enforced in 1908 by the London Olympics, to try and stop any such political statements. However to primarily appease the Irish they allowed the Home Nations to represent themselves at some sports; particularly in those sports where Ireland had a good chance to win a gold medal.

A knock-on effect of this ruling was that Finland - at the time ruled by Russia - was listed as Russian. This was particularly upsetting for the Finns as Russia had not even bothered to send a team.

They decided to have no flag instead.

The official report on the London games stated "it might on another occasion be better to consider separate entries from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales…as well as from both New Zealand and Australia"

Even in the imperial mood of 1908 came the realisation that separate teams were the way forward.

One hundred years later and we're still having the debate in the UK!

In fact all the subsequent entries of the UK team were amateur teams predominately based on the English national amateur team.

The politics of football is completely different today than it was in the early 20th century with few teams taking part, and even in the early seventies when an English based UK amateur side was competing in the 1972 Olympics.

The UK has not fielded an joint footballing team since 1974 when the English Football Association scrapped the distinction between professional and amateur.

As football has grown around the world, becoming a truly global game, other nations having been looking at the UK and asking why have they four teams representating the UK, each with a vote in FIFA.

So any suggestion of a UK Football Olympic team would only provide weight to their argument and threaten the existence of the Home Nations teams.

That is why it seems that there is a remarkable weight of opinion that the UK should not enter a joint football team in the 2012 Olympic Games:-

Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA:

"If you start to put together a combined team for the Olympic Games, the question will automatically come up that there are four different associations so how can they play in one team.

If this is the case then why the hell do they have four associations and four votes and their own vice-presidency?

This will put into question all the privileges that the British associations were given by the Congress in 1946.".

Gordon Smith, Scottish Football Association chief executive:

“We don’t want anything to do with a British team and made that clear from very early on.

“I have met Gordon Brown, but our position remains the same. A Team UK would raise questions in terms of our future as an autonomous footballing nation.

“Right now we have our own association, league and national team and that is not something we are willing to compromise.

“I don’t see a change of heart on this. There’s no backing for this from our administration or our supporters.”

Alan Duncan, from the Association of Tartan Army Clubs:

“When is Gordon Brown going to realise that nobody wants a Team UK, a position that could threaten our own independent national side?

“To be honest, nobody up here takes anything that Brown says seriously anymore.

“He has proven time and time again that he is more interested in being English than Scottish. He even admitted to supporting the England team.

“Scotland is focussed on trying to qualify for World Cups and European championships.”

Craig Brown, former Scotland manager:

“In my opinion, it would be axiomatic that such a ‘temporary’ merger could lead to the eventual permanent combination of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales into a single footballing entity in future major tournaments such as the World Cup and European Championships.”

Malcolm Clarke, Football Supporters Federation of Engand:

"The FSF is opposed to a single UK team in the Olympics.

We believe that such a team would be an entirely artificial entity given the existence of separate teams from each of the 4 countries in the UK in all other forms of International football, which is a tradition of very long standing which fans from the 4 countries wish to retain.

We share the fears of fans from the other UK countries that this precedent might be used to challenge the separate existence of those teams in the future, notwithstanding the assurances given by FIFA that this will not happen."

Philip Smyth, Amalgamation of Official NI Fans Clubs :

"The Amalgamation of Official NISCs is opposed to the concept of a United Kingdom representative team participating in the 2012 Olympic Football Tournament.

We feel that such a move would undoubtedly lead to increased lobbying for an end to the present individual representative status of the four British Associations, a scenario which International fans throughout the Home Nations would be opposed to."

Paul Corkrey, Football Supporters Federation Cymru :

"The Olympic side has our best wishes but it could mean the death of a country's football team and the Welsh should not have to pay that price."

Why then does Gordon Brown seem 'determined' to have a UK Olympic football team in the 2012 Olympic Games?

Only the government and the English FA are in favour.

Now it seems the Prime Minister is having talks with Sepp Blatter on the matter.

Is he mad???

Is his Britishness agenda so important that he risks the national teams of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland?

Sepp Blatter has taken the view that if the UK was insistent on entering then:

"They should enter only a team composed of players from England"

That view is probably why the English Football Association itself seems in favour of a UK Football Olympic team.

As in the past, any UK team will be an English team, in all but name.

If Gordon Brown is really serious about a UK Olympic football team, I suggest the Home Nations play off for the right to represent the UK.

A joint team will be the beginning of the end for the Home Nations. The other nations just won't stand four separate teams in FIFA if a UK team was submitted.

Wouldn't the best way forward be the Home Nations representating themselves at the Olympics?

That makes much more sense.

"At the close of the Kilmarnock-Celtic match at Parkhead, R. Templeton hurriedly returned to Kilmarnock, and appeared in a new role in Bostock & Wombwell's menagerie.

In the presence of a crowded house the left-winger, for a £10 wager, colly entered the cage of a lion.

He patted the lion and calmly turned the animal's tail amid the plaudits of the crowd.

Messrs Bostock & Wombwell presented Templeton with a gold medal for his courage."

Also on this day Third Lanark announced the appointment of a new manager, Eddie Tarbat, a schoolteacher and former Airdrieonians player.

Πριν από 100 χρόνια (το 1908!) το πρώτο animation της ιστορίας με τίτλο "Fantasmagorie" παρουσιάστηκε στο ευρύ κοινό. Δημιουργός του ο Γάλλος Émile Cohl που έμεινε στην ιστορία σαν "Ο πατέρας του κινούμενου σχεδίου" που για την δημιουργία του δίλεπτου κινουμένου σχεδίου χρησιμοποιήσε 700 σχέδια. Προκειμένου να τιμηθεί η 100ή επέτειος από την δημιουργία του film δημιουργήθηκε το Fantasmagorie 2008, μία 3D επανέκδοση του αρχικού film.

I found my cousin about 10 min later buried deep in the crowd and we made our way inside. Our seats weren't the usual infield box seats, but they did jog my memory a bit for we were sitting in the outfield and I haven't sat there since April. Despite being so far from the batter's box, it was nice, however, to have a change of scenery.

The game was an exciting one. Cantu hit a 3-run HR and the Marlins were winning the game up until the top of the ninth when our no good closer, Kevin Gregg, allowed two men to get on base with only one out. When his potential second out came up to bat, Gregg pitched to him a ball that was neither a 'ball' or 'strike', nay, it was a 3-run HR that allowed the Cubs to steal the game away from the Marlins. As I bowed my head in defeat, I could hear the thousands of Cubs fans cheer, including my cousin and her husband. (They are from Chicago) I have never felt so alone. I looked down onto the field and pondered on my chances of breaking my leg if I jumped in an attempt to run over to the pitcher's mound and knock some sense into Kevin Gregg. Eventually, I decided that suffering an injury was a huge possibility, as was being hauled away by the Miami Dade police. Kevin, you escaped the wrath of the Infamous One this time, but next time you may not be so lucky.

As we exited the stadium, a 70 something year old woman pointed at all the Marlins fans as she held her nose and yelled "Smells like dead fish! Get out of here, dead fish!" My patience was wearing thin, but I bit my tongue and as I walked by and she pointed at me, she was lucky only to have gotten an evil glare. Despite the game being another heartbreaking loss for the Marlins, I did have a good time. My cousin's husband even caught a ball! Hopefully, if I attend Sunday's game, it will end on a better note!

Division One

Aberdeen 4, St Mirren 2; Clyde 1 Hamilton Academical 0; Dundee 2, Heart of Midlothian 1; Hibernian 2, Airdrieonians 0; Kilmarnock 4, Partick Thistle 1; Morton 0, Celtic 5; Motherwell 1, Third Lanark 0; Queen's Park 0, Falkirk 2; Rangers 7, Port Glasgow Athletic 0.

Division Two

Albion Rovers 3, Arthurlie 3; East Stirlingshire 1, Leith Athletic 3; Raith Rovers 1, Dumbarton 1; St Bernard's 2, Cowdenbeath 5; Vale of Leven 3, Ayr 0. Abercorn and Ayr Parkhouse were also members of the division but did not take part in league action on this occasion.

Highlights of the day included Jimmy Quinn scoring four goals for Celtic at Greenock and Rangers 7-0 win, which was against a team reduced to 10 men trhough injury for all but the opening minutes of the match. Rangers' final goal was scored by Alec Bennett who had transferred from Celtic over the summer; this factor seems not to have caused him problems and there were loud cheers when his shot entered the net.

It isn't every day that someone turns 100...

Today, a fine gentleman in England, Jack, (who is also Jan's grandfather) has reached this amazing mile marker.

Here are a few images of what things looked like in 1908 when Jack was born:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="London's Olympic Games 1908"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="345" caption="Calendar from 1908, It looks like Jack was born on a Tuesday..."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="330" caption="Model T Ford Ad in 1908"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="299" caption="Indian Head Gold Coin 1908"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="368" caption="Early Motorcycle? 1908"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Coke ad 1908"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="1908 England Map"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="337" caption="Trafalgar Square, England"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="What people dressed like in 1908"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="230" caption="Happy Birthday from the States!!!!"][/caption]

As usual there was a five-a-side tournament, the results being as follows:

Semi-Final: Rangers 1, Clyde 0; Celtic 5, Queen's Park 0

Final: Celtic 1 Goal, 1 Point, Rangers 0

The successful squad comprised Martin Moran; Davie Hamilton; Jimmy McMenemy; Willie Loney; Jimmy Quinn (who scored the decisive goal against Rangers).

The Church Basement Roadshow blew through Indianapolis last night like a good ole' prairie storm. Presented by emergent theologians Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette and their 1908 high plains preacherman alter-ego, this "rolling gospel revival" showed the postmodern church at its finest.  And most fun.

Revival!

130 people showed up on this steamy August Monday night.  Using a time machine and/or rip in the time/space continuum, the trio effortlessly and expertly moved between the year 1908 and the year 2008.

The ninety minute revival was full of zaniness. The guys were dressed up in dapper 1908 garb but they brought some costumes for the volunteers. I ended up, no joke, in a pair of long johns and others in overalls and prairie dresses. We were urged to respond raucously with "AMENS" and "Glories." Jumpin' and hollerin' was encouraged.

Damn it, this was a revival!

1908 and 2008

The indirect conversation between the 1908ers and 2008ers was believable. And effective. Tony Jones blogged about 1908 last month on the God's politics blog.

One of the most interesting points of this comparison was the emerging Christian theologies of 1908. The fundamentalist Christian movement and the Azusa Street Revival was about to take off while the publication and popularity of Albert Scweitzer's The Quest for the Historical Jesus offered a new way of studying and thinking about Jesus. This scholary approach to examining the life of  Jesus would eventually bring us the Jesus seminar

Outside of these new ways of doing church, 1908 was a time of great technological advance and social struggle. The airplane and automobile was about to go big time, the great manufacturing cities were being built, and the distribution of wealth and the use of child labor was as bad as ever. Throw in the entrenchment of Jim Crow (Plessy vs. Ferguson was less than 10 years old) and the lessons of 1908 should not be forgotten.

Trucker Frank

Trucker Frank is prominently featured in Tony Jones' The New Christians. He pretty much embodies the possibilities, past and future, of the emergent church. I'll let the video tell the story but trucker Frank is part of a house church, once got excommunicated from a Christian bookstore, and got fired as a pastor after he compared church members to the church's potted. fake plastic flowers.

There was a bunch of youth group kids from Carmel up front who were having a great time during the entire show. Afterwards these kids were bragging later that they were all going to wear their TRUCKER FRANK FOR PRESIDENT t-shirts to the first day of school.

There were also about 10 homeless men who attended who were just as proud of their Trucker Frank t-shirts.

I, too, will be proudly wearing my Trucker Frank for President t-shirt.

Round 1: Third Lanark bt Queen's Park; Rangers bt Celtic

Round 2: Third Lanark bt Partick Thistle; Clyde beat Rangers

Final: Clyde (2 goals, 1 corner) bt Third Lanark (1 corner)

Clyde were represented by McTurk, Walker, Robertson, Dickie and Speirs

The main action north of the border came in the newly formed Scottish Junior League (the third incarnation of this competition) and results in the opening round of matches were as follows:

Bellshill Athletic 5, Pollok 0; Blantyre Victoria 3, Burnbank Athletic 3; Neilston Victoria 0, St Ninian's Thistle 0; Yoker Athletic 3, Duntocher Hibernian 0.

Permission had been granted to Queen's Park (Hampden Eleven) [i.e. the club's third string] to defer their opening match until 22 August and as a result neither they nor Springbank played in the first round of fixtures.

A trophy for the competition had been donated by the Scottish Weekly Record (a sister paper of the Daily Record). This particularly version of the Scottish Junior League ran until 1946, therefore lasting considerably longer than its two predecessors.

Taken from the New York Times, January 20th 1908.

ok, ci sarebbero un sacco di cose da dire, non so da dove iniziare.

Venerdi' 11, prima di partire ho incontrato una ragazza italiana intenzionata a trasferisi a Toronto per lavoro, cercava i locali, anche se magari non potevo permettermelo ho voluto dire anche la mia...

Diritto verso l'autobus partiti in perfetto orario, mi sono trovato accanto una tipa che per tutte e due le ore e mezzo di viaggio non ha smesso di spippolare col cellulare.
Modi friendly e informali dell'autista che strillava che saremmo partiti.

Il motivo principale per cui sono tornato a London per una decina di giorni e' la festa della madonna paesana, in concomitanza con quella del paese natio in Italia e un pranzo col parentado che si terra' domenica.

Come gia' sapevo la mentalita' e' rimasta un po' indietro, la processione rimasta tale e quale agli anni 60-70 senza evoluzioni, come invece e' avvenuto nel paese in Italia, la festa successiva al Club e' stata come assistere al festival canoro di Napoli negli anni 60. La cantante piu' recente e alla moda pareva essere (una sola canzone) era Laura Pausini.
Giovani presenti piu' per compiacere i genitori che per volonta' propria.
La religione, formalmente, e' parte integrante del quotidiano. Almeno nel parentado. Almeno nelle apparenze.

Il giorno dopo la festa sono passato (..) dal Club e, con una domanda del tipo "Hanno costruito la moschea a Firenze?", sono rimasto bloccato per due ore a (s)ragionare sull'invasione dei selvaggi musulmana dell'occidente imperialista civilizzato. Una festa.

Ribadisco che la mia visione di London e' molto parziale, mi trovo in una sorta di campanaccio di vetro dove i musulmani nel giro di cinque/dieci di anni conquisteranno l'intera Europa, dove i gay-che-trasmettono-malattie devono essere rinchiusi in riserve indiane ben lontane dai veri uomini e le vere donne e dove se hai un figlio devi essere sposato/a altrimenti sono guai.
Se inizio a dire qualcosa mi fanno avere la scomunica direttamente da lassu'?

Quando ho detto di essere stato al Gay Pride di Toronto si sono tutti "preoccupati". Qualche volta sembrava di essere nel 1908 anziche' nel 2008. Sono rimasto un po' sconvolto da questo atteggiamento, specialmente di coetanei.

This was also the day when the opening ceremony took place for the Summer Olympic Games at White City in London. Around 1,000 athletes took part in the parade before King Edward VII; most wore athletic dress, the exceptions being the German team who wore blue serge suits and the USA, whose athletes were "arrayed in lounge suits according to individual taste." The attendance was a disappointing 40,000 - only around half of the stadium capacity - mostly due to the high cost of tickets (see entry for 22 June 1908).

E’ davvero ottima l’iniziativa del sindacato dei giornalisti calabresi che ha tenuto un'assemblea pubblica per ricordare il terremoto che all'alba del 28 dicembre 1908 ha distrutto Reggio Calabria, Messina e, con le due citta', un gran numero di comuni. "La riunione che proponiamo - ha sostenuto il segretario Carlo Parisi - va intesa quale premessa di un piu' vasto e partecipato concorso di iniziative da parte di uomini e donne di Reggio e dell'intera Calabria, quale omaggio alla memoria dei morti ed alla tenacia dei vivi e di fare tutto questo attraverso interventi destinati a durare nel tempo, a testimonianza del forte tributo di fatiche offerto dalle generazioni che si sono succedute nel tempo ed anche dalle giovani leve che ora si vanno affacciando all'impegno pubblico''. Tra gli interventi interessanti ne cito due. Quello di Antonella Freno, assessore comunale ai grandi eventi, che ha ricordato che l’amministrazione cittadina, tra le iniziative già decise, ha deliberato di realizzare una mostra a villa Zerbi con scritti, testimonianze e documenti dell’epoca. La seconda di Eduardo Lamberti Castronuovo che ha evidenziato l’idea di costruire un museo permanente in ricordo del terremoto.

The following obituary appeared in Birmingham's Sporting Mail on the following day:

"The death took place last night at Southampton of George Smith, the centre-forward of the Southampton Club. He had only been ill a few days, the cause of death being pneumonia, following a cold contracted by playing cricket. Smith was a native of Preston, and from there went to Blackburn, subsequently joining Aston Villa. He was very popular with the Aston crowd, and did excellent service for the club. Before joining Southampton Smith was for some little time a member of the Plymouth Argyle eleven. Last season he was one of the best forwards on the Southampton side, and in the English Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge played a capital game against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Smith had only been married a few weeks."