The Coffee Guy's blog

This is a Very Famous Blog about Darmstadt

So out and about in the environs of some of my ancestors and still currently the home of some of my kin, we were given a private tour of the town.  To start, lets introduce my Very Famous tour guide AB.  For all intents and purposes, a fully fledged local.

Knowledge of AB bas been gleaned both from the book and experience.  A proper blend of interpreting both is how you should receive information from your Very Famous guide. We did.  As we strolled the inner sanctums of Darmstadt, each turn revealed another gem in the city of industry, science and technology. 

Bohrium (1981), meitnerium (1982), hassium (1984), darmstadtium (1994), roentgenium (1994), and copernicium (1996) were discovered in this Very Famous city. The existence of the following elements was also confirmed at GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research: nihonium (2012), flerovium (2009), moscovium (2012), livermorium (2010), and tennessine (2012).  As familiar as the average person could be with those elements, I might have just dropped a name or two off the top of my head and hit my big toe.

Even the Very Famous Frankenstein Castle resides in Darmstadt.  The namesake of that Very Famous Horror story.  But above that spectacle, is the Very Famous Mathildenhohe, or the Wedding Tower, also commonly referred to as the Five Finger Tower.  If seen, this becomes self-explanatory.  Many Very Famous Russian and Art Nouveau construction and design examples are found in the inside of the city reachable on a brief walking tour.  Jugendstil as it is known in Germany, relates to many still standing and gorgeous buildings in and around the central areas of town.

Many of the Very Famous parks and squares in Darmstadt are adorned with statues and monuments of the founders and original land lords of the region.  A column 33 meters tall holds a statue of the Very Famous Ludwig I, the first Grand Duke of Hesse the region in which Darmstadt resides.

The largest employer in Darmstadt is the Very Famous Merck the pharmaceutical company.  Many locals use the extensive and intricate tram/streetcar system for travel inner city and trains to nearly everywhere in Europe.  The Very Famous European Space Operations Center and the EUMETSAT, The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, both call Darmstadt home.  Additionally, there are several electronics research centers in the area.

Hence the statement that the Very Famous Darmstadt can definitely be a destination.  Regardless of the fact I have relatives in residence in Darstadt, and the nearby Pfunkstadt, (my mother’s birthplace), has more of my family in residence.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Dungarees Diligently Distinguish the Desired

Revisiting is not the norm, however repetition can both be comical and a reminder.  All blues are not the same, some are light, some are dark and some make you cry.  Thought is the origin, not the result.

From whence cometh the cotton habiliments?  Leg worn and knee scuffed, true or actuated dyes worn thin through ardour.  Truth be known, there is only one true.  The one which fits each time, the one that shapes as known, the one that wears as belief, the one that has proven to be “the” one.

Passing judgement is a tough course.  You have to have the resolve and steadfastness to be believed and followed.  Inner knowledge can be swayed as fashions trend here and there.  Fro and to with the likes of Parisian critics pining to be on the inside.  No, my statements were true before and hold water in the watered-down world of the 24-hour news cycle.

Cycles on and circuitous arguments for others pale by distinction not only because of weak premises, bet because seams, zips and button cannot be closed or clothed.  Clotted cream courses my veins at age and the tried never gets tried by courtesans.  Dissagrweemnets I have staved off with fact and fervour.   Fakes and foibles of others cannot budge my belief.  Cogito ergo sum.

Let the Levis rest Lannah, I need a dark espresso today.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Friendship not Fiends Foster Fellowship

Minds do not make a person: its how that is used that does.  Malevolence does not make a leader: benevolence will.  Warmheartedness breeds friends: willfulness will shun them away. 

To chat, as a verb describes a pass time I enjoy.  Seeing the understanding in the other's eyes and motions only makes me want to delve further in the mind of my interlocutor.  How does it work, parse, and understand? From where does that idea germinate?  Sounding ideas off a sponge requires patience and the will for things to grow.  The cognitive process is circuitous.  The loops and zags, popping through the dendrites of one’s grey mater is game of patience.

To enjoy that process you must pause and stimulate.  Pause with inputs and triggers, stimulate with verse and vocabulary.  Dissonance will only arise as blocks and barricades to the process are spat forth.  Ingest all that exudes and you will to be showered with more.  Ideas and concepts discussed and hashed out resolving the issues of the day.

Issues do not arise betwixt and between to build walls, but arise to meld and morph minds mixing in the miasma.  The joy, (pull up the song Joy by Carlos Santana at this point and listen while you read) is in the change and not the stasis. Equipoise has never gleaned newness, or originality.  The world must proceed through the universe as we must.  Whence thou could resist the evolution of mankind?  Or not.

To evolute, or to hold in stasis, you have no option.  Trundle on in the world, unfortunately or with promise.  Pressing needs oft determine your path, its best to have options.  Options discussed are the fun of the journey.  It is in your cognition of those that make for joy.

Jump it up a notch Julia, make it an Americano.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Feigning Family Fun and Frivolity on Fests

Firstly, fraternize flat-out with the friendlies.  Flesh out some feasting, then follow-up with gum flapping.  Avoid the three no nos’: Politics, religion, and sex.  Fear and loathing will only follow.  Do not fast as the host or hostess will take offence.

Doth thou ever do any of this?  We have all fallen for the begged question and inuendo of the wry.  Whilst one can abstain from the event, that too becomes a snub.  Enter with a smiling face, hug and greet all equally.  And to this point you are safe with my direction.  Me on the other hand, will break all of the aforementioned rules on etiquette.

That which you are not familiar with will make you stronger, unless of course it is another metal and not your mettle.  Water and oil can go together as long as they have a binder.  No clasp un opened, no button unzipped.  Purse those lips and smile as a Biel.  As you can.

Enjoy the surrounds as the world is outside and that which is distant can seem closer through a mirror.  The curvature of the world can be sensed in under 50 miles.  Observe the nature of the world as well as nature in the world.  Naturally lean to those that smile, and aver your enchantment with the company at hand.

Dwelling can be old and it can be a structure.  Move along and brighten the world with positions of familiarity.  Brighten the world with a return smile and don’t worry about that sneer you suppress with your upper lip.  Keep it stifled and note the source.  Back pockets are for secrets and pocket knives.

Darts and daggers are for warfare while butter knives and arrows are for congenial encounters of celebration and festivity.  Dine and chat, smile and nod, sometimes you will learn more for listening than opining. 

We all have these times when we would like to be elsewhere yet we don’t want to miss something.  Interest will always get your ewe or nannie.  Resilience and understanding are trails we suppress but are solid within ourselves.  Trust in strengths, and don’t show your weakness to those who don’t understand.

Oh, and by the way, never preach like this to the great unwashed.  I just tried for my own self gratification.

Double shot today, Sheila, strong like the will.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

With 2 Cats in the Yard, and a Friend

“Life used to be so hard, now everything is easy ‘cause of you.”  Well, “cats” can be just people, and a friend can be a cat.  When Mr. goes stalking, we all look up and attend.  Attendance is not mandatory, obligatory, nor ambulatory.

I ride, some ride in cages.  I cage too but not if the temp is conducive to the ride.  Whilst the heat of summer is not upon us as of yet, I await those days for comfort and the ride.  The bitumen reflects the heat upward washing the view and raising the corn.  Those days of abandon have not met me yet.  There will be more and there won’t be less.

Pandering to the populous is never on my cognitive awareness chart.  I strum a different kind of instrument.  The instrument of justice does not touch me.  But decking can be a relaxing and enjoyable experience with two cats.  Chatter that does not matter waddling it way through topic and tropic.

Those times are the filler in the pillow of life.  Nothing hard and discomforting, no dispute, no discrimination.  Those troubled topics tenor the times with terse remakes best left for the solitude of singularity.  Jabs and jests of jocularity are just what the proffers of betterment have prescribed.  Under orders of course, but not a loop.

Distractions and attractions and actions mused and discussed.  Not subject or Mr. too small or too sly.  Mystery abounds outside.  Inside, just the house. Outside, the rest of the world.  Inquisitiveness and breath waft through the winds of chatter.  The milky miasma of mornings alerted by aromas of Java and the sounds of the city.

Slip in smooth Sonya, no splash.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Voice Your Vote and Vanquish the Villains

Duty and obligation are oft used interchangeably: they are not always so.  Duty, derives it existence from the requirement or owing of something. Obligation, has a moral root from the belief that you must perform something.

You as a member of a democratic society, have an obligation to go to polls and place your ex on a spot and vote.  Your have no duty to do so.  You do not owe me or any other person you action to make your make on the ballot.  Your moral requirement is derived from your acceptance by residing where you do.  A representative democracy places a moral obligation on you to state who will be the person to represent you.

You cannot simply say, “I don’t care who gets in, they are all the same.”.  by accepting to live here, you are obliged to do the smallest part of your obligation and pass your say on to a representative.  Society does not operate by rules or laws, it operates because we all agree there is a moral obligation to act in certain ways.

Now you may say my guy I voted for was not elected.  That may be true, but you completed your moral obligation to voice your opinion and toss your hat the way of the person of your choice.  That is all that is required.  The elected are then entrusted with your morality through them.  You are now absolved of responsibility until the term of office is complete.

You owe no body anything that you should vote.  When this occurs, it is called patronage.  Somebody paid you for your vote.  In a representative democracy, it is known as corruption.   While this does happen more often that one might think, it is not the reason to vote or a good reason to vote.  Corruption is unavoidable with the human spirit.  Freedom of thought is inviolable.

These times occur at various terms and opportunities as we all live and age.  When you are able, morally you must. 

Foam it on the top Fabriana, make your mark.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

When Ingenious and Industrious, Tribulations are Trivial

Hobby is an unknown word or action to many if not most.  Too many it is rare; occupation is a must.  There are those that think they could become active.  Activity is a mindset.  I feel Atlas is about to Shrug.

Intensity and determination do not mean speed, it’s a formula for concentration.  Grey matter needs exercise as much as red matter.  One thing that makes me smile every time is watching the act of being industrious.  Mind by means, making mother earth better.  It is not merely the acts themselves, but the actions entwined in those acts.

It is a pleasure to savour the labours of others.  Respect and reflect on the processes from body part to brain and back again.  Some repetitive, some talented, some unique, and some definitive.  From idea to design through implementation.  How obvious it is from the etymology, from the Latin “diligent” and “assiduous”.  Exactly how I saw it, and see it.

I am the opposite; I prefer the privacy of my mind while I persevere in my toils.  Me plugging away, solving problems and plotting my diligence.  To be the watched or the watcher both have their benefits.  I could have sat back and beheld for hours.  But here as I toil on one task, pondering another, my mind is discovering new techniques, subtle changes and alterations, new roads to the end.

I posited about the GNP a while back, it too is wrapped up in this.  There are so few with the drive for new different and the creation of objet d’art.  To me, any “thing” you have done is that described as such.  Colour, texture, material, materiel, medium, and the message all ooze forth from the crania of the masses.  You have to let it out after you excavate your brain.  Play with it and cajole it into that which pleases you solely. 

When the weight of the world is too great, the forces acting upon it will need to scratch that itch.  It will not be smooth, there will be jostling of the orb to reach JUST that spot.   Shrug as you would.

Rainy day Rhonda, make it a hot pour over today.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Sun and Swill on a Sunday

As the gold orb rose, and the Riff Raff rousted, plans proceeded preciously preening probable uses of the hours.  It only lasted a few, and I was out for it all.  As air nearing the lake to the east became cooler, we rode west young man.  Into the reserve not using mine.  The S was sipping but for a few needed twists to catch up at times.  And I did.

Fresh and nippy, burping and squawking at the beginning, expected after a long cold winter.  All that should and could tan did by all reports.  Some had donned too many and some not enough.  Herds and heards about as we wended our ways.   Each decision based on which was the turniest, and which would deliver the most fun. 

Hill and dale welcomed up at each juncture.  Some on muscle power had us using the French contractor routes.  Some gravel and some lined, most were free of encumbrances.  Sightseeing stops added and passed the golden orb hung up all day.  Stopping for a tube steak and pommes frites added a fresh resolve to rip’r again. 

Thinking of others and pass times of theirs, glad that all would be out that day.  As expected, vintage and resto’s shared the bitumen readily and often.  Shined up and ready for the ocular receptors.  Playing “my car, your car” in my head.  Would I wonder if?  Spring breezes pushing and pulling on my decisions on which direction would be next.  See a turn, miss a turn, take a turn for the better.

Each dodge and weave a new sense and sensibilia.  Winter begone my friend.  The super-tropics brings a shorts summer, stilted again this year with a shortened spring.  Eagerness to make rotations on the twos, decisions to be made on which ones.  I try to keep the wear and tear even, but sometimes the decision is made for me by the destination.

T'was good to get out twisting and turning till the sun tipped off the horizon.  Next day, next bike, next ride, next adventure.

Make the steam curl Maria, I like the aroma that way.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Productivity Problems Plague Populations

The innate need for nations to produce has been lost in the th9ought that we can be come an information world.  Get this, nothing can be done without labour.  Nothing can be done with out resources.  Information and technology are not labour or resources.

The big lie is that we as a nation can be thought of, and driven by, Information Technologies.   There is no measurable production from this sector.  Why, now after some A.C. 750 plus days into the world of Coronus pandemonium, do our leaders promote our failing economy with “work from home” mantras, “green tech” platitudes and such like pabulum of the oratory? 

The resourcefulness of entrepreneurs stifled by bureaucracy and NIMBYism.  Get out of my way and life.  Most of the first world a is governed by what we might affectionately call a representative government.  Unfortunately ALL these electees defer to the “staff” studies, reports form their underlings, research done, introspection and consultations out the wazzoo, and nothing from their brain.

These people have been elected because of that THEY said they believed and stood for.  W e did not elect them because of the staff on hand.  “Unproductive” civil servants are there to execute plans and not create or define them.  They produce nothing.  They are a net loss against the productivity of the doers.

If it is not tangible in a tactile sensile way, you have not produced.  Hence the weakness of economies.  GDP is the strength of and economy.  GDP is what a country had produced as a whole on AVERAGE per person.  The more tech and information and no producers we have, the lower the GDP and the weaker our economy will be.

Get out of the way!

Make a Macchiato Margie, froth it up.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.

Quintessential Quilting Qualifies Quarterly as Quality Quakes

At what point does a quilt become a mosaic?  Both have a salmagundi of pieces and colours.  Both are assembled. Both can depict a scene. Both are considered both art and craft.  Both can be of varied media.  Both are an expression of performance.

I know of a few who partake in the activity in various mediums.  That which is appealing is that which is a manifestation of an idea, a fugacious vision retained and brough forth.  Placed in detailed orientation on a breadth and width.

The eyes of those that behold, all see a new form.  All see that which relates to their past and present danger and pleasure.  It is not the “I” that matters, it it’s the “eye” that sees and enjoys the vision.  In fact, the eye sees all as a quilt of reality.   The mind or brain derives its conclusion.

Whether or not the description belies the reality is of no importance: it is the act of placing an image in front of an ocular interpretation that arrives at a conclusion which has import for the world.  World views vary as do images depicted.  Whence has thou depicted that which you wish to show the world?

The one whom dost do that which comes from within, sees that which is of interest or disinterest.  The need to exude is unstoppable.  The need to show cannot be quelled.  It just comes out.  The product cannot be pushed asunder.   It is.  As you are: cogito ergo sum.

Mark Hull Du Calumet, First of the coterie of York, Son of Don, Scion of Karl in the House of Pfunkstadt, Connubial of Suzanne, Yeoman to the Hun of Honda, Prevailing in the Seat of Hespeler, Having been again to Australia, and now Grandad's Land, and for some, from The Dark Side. Not am Main nor ab der Elba, but down the Donau, and with Turkish Chai. #garagelurker2019, also A.C., Cee Minus.