Christmas

Wachenhausen, Winter 1995

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.


Charles Dickens [1812-1870]

Το φεγγάρι που γυρίζει

Luc Viatour / www.Lucnix.be

Kάνω να ζωγραφίσω το φεγγάρι που γυρίζει
ζεστό και σκονισμένο από ταξίδι μακρινό
τα μάτια μου θολώνουν, κι ο αέρας π' αρμενίζει
μου λέει τραγούδι ξένο, τραγούδι αλλοπαρμένο...

Σωκράτης Μάλαμας [Τα παιδιά μες στην πλατεία, 1996]

In memoriam Christopher Hitchens

Dan Kitwood, Getty Images

The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.


from Letters to a Young Contrarian [2001] 
by Christopher Hitchens (13 April 1949 - 15 December 2011)

Amundsen at South Pole - 100 years

14 December 1911: Roald Amundsen arrives at South Pole.

Germany declares war on USA - 70 years ago

The government of the United States of America, having violated in the most flagrant manner and in ever increasing measure all rules of neutrality in favor of the adversaries of Germany, and having continually been guilty of the most severe provocations toward Germany ever since the outbreak of the European war, brought on by the British declaration of war against Germany on September 3, 1939, has finally resorted to open military acts of aggression. 
On September 11, 1941, the President of the United States of America publicly declared that he had ordered the American Navy and Air Force to shoot on sight any German war vessel. In his speech of October 27, 1941, he once more expressly affirmed that this order was in force. 
Acting under this order, American naval vessels have systematically attacked German naval forces since early September 1941. Thus, American destroyers, as for instance, the Greer, the Kearny and the Reuben James, have opened fire on German submarines according to plan. The American Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Knox, himself confirmed that the American destroyers attacked German submarines. 
Furthermore, the naval forces of the United States of America, under order of their government and contrary to international law, have treated and seized German merchant ships on the high seas as enemy ships.
The German government therefore establishes the following facts:  
Although Germany on her part has strictly adhered to the rules of international law in her relations with the United States of America during every period of the present war, the government of the United States of America from initial violations of neutrality has finally proceeded to open acts of war against Germany. It has thereby virtually created a state of war.
The government of the Reich consequently breaks off diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declares that under these circumstances brought about by President Roosevelt, Germany too, as from today, considers herself as being in a state of war with the United States of America.
Germany's Formal Declaration of War Against the United States on 11 December 1941

Japanese American Grocer the day after Pearl Harbor

Picture by Dorothea Lange

A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 13th and Franklin streets, on December 8, 1941 - the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war.

Pearl Harbor anniversary

Photograph from a Japanese plane of Battleship Row at the beginning of the attack

The attack on Pearl Harbor (called Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.
The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Of the eight damaged, six were raised, repaired and returned to service later in the war. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. 
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day (December 8) the United States declared war on Japan. 

Τσαρούχης εν έτει 1989

Χαλκιδική 2011 / I.A. Daglis

Στην Ελλάδα ζούμε πολυτελέστερα απ’ όσο μας επιτρέπουν τα μέσα μας, πέρα από τις οικονομικές μας δυνατότητες και τις ψυχικές μας ικανότητες. Αυτό ήδη μας δημιουργεί προβλήματα και θα μας προξενήσει μεγάλο κακό. 


Γιάννης Τσαρούχης [Λίθον ον απεδοκίμασαν οι οικοδομούντες, 1989]