Monthly Archives: December 2019

“Women have their place in the world, but they do not belong in the Canyon of the Colorado.“

The Atavist Magazine: The Wild Ones. “People said that women had no place in the Grand Canyon and would likely die trying to run the Colorado River. In 1938, two female scientists set out to prove them wrong.”

“Not least among the journey’s many dangers, according to “experienced river men“ who refused to give their names to the national newspapers covering the expedition, was the presence of women in the party. Only one woman had ever attempted the trip through the Grand Canyon. Her name was Bessie Hyde, and she’d vanished with her husband, Glen, on their honeymoon in 1928. Their boat was found empty. Their bodies were never recovered.

Unnamed sources told reporters that the two women in the crew were “one of the hazards, as they are ‘so much baggage’ and would probably need help in an emergency.“ They were scientists—botanists, to be precise. “So they’re looking for flowers and Indian caves,“ a river runner said. “Well, I don’t know about that, but I do know they’ll find a peck of trouble before they get through.“

In fact, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter had come from Michigan with much hardier plants in mind. Tucked into side canyons, braving what Jotter called “barren and hellish“ conditions, were tough, spiny things: species of cactus that no one had ever catalogued before. Clover and Jotter would become the first people to do so—if they survived.”

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7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 and finally 63

The New York Times Magazine: Does Who You Are at 7 Determine Who You Are at 63? “In 1964, with “Seven Up!“ Michael Apted stumbled into making what has become the most profound documentary series in the history of cinema. Fifty-five years later, the project is reaching its conclusion.”

“To spend time with a child is to dwell under the terms of an uneasy truce between the possibility of the present and the inevitability of the future. Our deepest hope for the children we love is that they will enjoy the liberties of an open-ended destiny, that their desires will be given the free play they deserve, that the circumstances of their birth and upbringing will be felt as opportunities rather than encumbrances; our greatest fear is that they will feel thwarted by forces beyond their control. At the same time, we can’t help poring over their faces and gestures for any signals of eventuality — the trace hints and betrayals of what will emerge in time as their character, their plot, their fate. And what we project forward for the children in our midst can rarely be disentangled from what we project backward for ourselves.”

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Winterzeit ist Grünkohlzeit!

NDR Doku – Wie geht das? Grünkohl – Norddeutsches Supergemüse.

“Nach den ersten Nachtfrösten beginnt wieder die Grünkohlzeit. Vor allem in Norddeutschland gehört Grünkohl zu den beliebtesten Gemüsesorten. Er ist ein wahres Superfood, kalorienarm und reich an Eiweiß, Vitaminen und Ballaststoffen. Grünkohl gilt unter anderem als beste Gemüsesorte zur Vorsorge gegen eine Krebserkrankung und liegt damit noch vor dem Brokkoli.

“Früher hieß es, der Kohl wird erst durch den Frost süß. Aber die modernen Sorten haben sowieso schon nicht mehr so viele Bitterstoffe”, sagt Gottfried Gerken. Er ist der größte Anbauer in der Region Langförden. Hier, zwischen Vechta und Oldenburg, ist das Hauptanbaugebiet für das Kultgemüse.

Quasi gleich nebenan befindet sich auch der Grünkohlspezialist ELO-Frost. Fast alle namhaften Supermärkte und Restaurants beziehen ihren Grünkohl tiefgefroren von dem Unternehmen. Bis zu 70 Tonnen am Tag werden dort verarbeitet.

Mehr Vielfalt gibt es in Rhauderfehn. Nirgendwo in Niedersachsen gedeihen so viele Grünkohlsorten wie auf dem Acker von Reinhard Lühring. Seine Leidenschaft gilt vor allem den alten Sorten und deren Veredelung.

Und an der Universität Oldenburg gibt es am Institut für Biologie eine eigene Grünkohl-Forschungsabteilung.

Die Reportage aus der Reihe “Wie geht das?” zeigt den Weg des Grünkohls vom Acker bis zur Gefriertruhe und stellt Menschen vor, für die Grünkohl viel mehr bedeutet als eine Beilage zu Kassler und Pinkel.”

Als gebürtige Norddeutsche bin ich natürlich ein Fan von ganz klassischem Grünkohl mit Pinkel, aber es gibt natürlich noch viele andere Zubereitungsmöglichkeiten. Zum Beispiel:

BR Fernsehen – Unser Land: Rezept Wintergemüse: Grünkohl mal anders. “Es muss ja nicht immer Grünkohl mit Pinkel sein! Eine Nürnberger Landfrau zeigt uns mal uns ganz andere Gerichte”: Grünkohl-Quiche, Winter-Minestrone, Grünkohl-Smoothie und Asiatische Bratnudeln mit Grünkohl.

“Donald Trump claims executive power, but he also claims an arbitrary power to act without any system of law or procedure to constrain him.”

The New Yorker: Stop Saying That Impeachment Is Political. Daily comment by Adam Gopnik.

“Recall that both modern-day impeachments in this country were launched against Presidents who had won overwhelming reëlection victories. Impeachment in this sense is anti-politics; it presumes that there exists a constitutional principle that overrules the politics of popularity. The point of an impeachment is not to do the popular or the poll-tested thing but to have the courage to do an unpopular thing, because what is at stake is a larger, even existential matter. […]

It is the unprecedented gravity of our moment, still perhaps insufficiently felt, that makes this confrontation essential, whatever the political consequences. Pelosi, too, now acknowledges this fact. As she told The New Yorker in September, about Trump, “He has given us no choice. Politics has nothing to do with impeachment, in my view.“ The political consequences of impeachment are no longer the primary or even the secondary issue at stake; more important is the survival of the principle of the rule of law against the unashamed assertion of arbitrary power.

Postponing a reckoning until the next election implies that what is at issue in Trump’s attempted extorting of the Ukrainian government are a series of policy choices, which voters may or may not endorse. According to this reasoning, if Watergate had happened during Nixon’s first term, and he had been reëlected anyway, attempted political burglary and obstruction of justice would have become acceptable practice. By invoking law against arbitrary power, the Democrats may not “win,“ and who knows what the political outcome will be, but, as Pelosi says, there is no longer a choice. Law and arbitrary power remain in eternal enmity. You pick your side.”

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