The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility. - Vaclav Havel

Quote(s)

"The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility." - Vaclav Havel

"Compared to others under the Communist black curtain, we cannot call ourselves real men. Through the great tragedies of all these years, we still don’t have a righteous giant like Václav Havel. In order for everyone to have the right to be selfish, there has to be a righteous giant who will sacrifice selflessly. In order to obtain "passive freedoms" (freedom from the arbitrary oppression by those in power), there has to be a will for active resistance. In history, nothing is fated. The appearance of a martyr will to completely change a nation’s soul and raise the spiritual quality of the people. But Gandhi was by chance, Havel was by chance; two thousand years ago, a peasant’s boy born in the manger was even more by chance. Human progress relies on the chance birth of these individuals. One cannot count on the collective conscience of the masses but only on the great individual conscience to consolidate the weak masses. In particular, our nation needs this righteous giant; the appeal of a role model is infinite; a symbol can rouse an abundance of moral resources. For example, Fang Lizhi’s ability to walk out of the U.S. Embassy, or Zhao Ziyang’s ability to actively resist after stepping down, or so-and-so refusing to go abroad. A very important reason for the silence and amnesia after June Fourth is that we did not have a righteous giant who stepped forward." - Liu Xiaobo

F.U.

School students and privacy http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/how-schools-are-tracking-students-using-their-mobile-phones-20170714-gxb6qq.html https://www.familyzone.com/

Laws of Strayan Mathematics https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/turnbull-war-on-maths

... why it will never work https://youtu.be/S9JGmA5_unY

... and why it’s more complicated than just maths. https://risky.biz/bannedmath

Qatar https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/uae-hacked-qatari-government-sites-sparking-regional-upheaval-according-to-us-intelligence-officials/2017/07/16/00c46e54-698f-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html

RIP (aka Things Coming to an End ... aka The End Times)

Maryam Mirzakhani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani

Liu Xiaobo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

Jeremy Strode http://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/news/jeremy-strode-executive-chef-of-sydneys-bistrode-cbd-dies-20170717-gxcw9i

Chuck Blazer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Blazer

Tamara Miansarova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TamaraMiansarova <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJw9sKg4Z0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJw9sKg4Z_0

Mary Josephine Gaudette - aged 115 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MarieJosephineGaudette

Abdul-Rahman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul-RahmanbinAbdulazizAlSaud

A very ugly situation http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/womans-body-found-in-melbourne-cbd-apartment-building-20170716-gxc60x.html

Martin Landau http://www.aintitcool.com/node/78188

George Romero http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2017/07/17/remembering-george-romero/