-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Today's Lesson From The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper Aestheticism and radicalism must lead us to jettison reason, and to replace it by a desperate hope for political miracles. This irrational attitude which springs from an intoxication with dreams of a beautiful world is what I call Romanticism. It may seek its heavenly city in the past or in the future; it may preach "back to nature" or "forward to a world of love and beauty"; but its appeal is always to our emotions rather than to reason. Even with the best intentions of making heaven on earth it only succeeds in making it a hell--that hell which man alone prepares for his fellow-men. ===== Fin-de-siecle Darkness at Noon End of the age postponed, or accelerated, or something HONFLEUR, France - On the beach, the light was finally subdued and the sky settled into blue near-night. As the last rays from the eclipsed sun winked out, the people gathered in the gloom broke into cheers. Holy and unholy at once, the moon-blackened sun was something to behold, bigger than itself, and somehow close to home. Flashbulbs popped like sparks down the crowded beach. So did Champagne corks. There were shrieks of joy, blunt confessions of marvel, shivers in the unearthly cool. Out at sea, the sun shone dimly behind a far curtain, the visible edge of the eye of the shadow. Spectators, agog, could not resist the self-evident. ''Look! Look! There it is!'' one woman shouted. ''The process is happening,'' her friend confirmed. The last solar eclipse of the millennium Wednesday stirred a 70-mile-wide (110-kilometer-wide) patch of human wonder along an arc of darkness from the English Channel to the Indian Subcontinent. For a little more than three hours, virtu ally all routine halted to permit goggle-eyed appreciation or ill-concealed dread. Overcast skies across the water between Britain and France had everyone in a funk as the drama mounted. But the clouds broke in the nick of time to unveil - behind protective glasses, of course - the eclipse in its golden ring of totality. Rainy and cloudy weather farther east, through Germany, Austria, Southeastern Europe, Turkey, and across South Asia, made clear views of the rarest of heavenly events more the exception than the rule. Television networks in Europe reported that 350 million people worldwide had witnessed the eclipse, total or partial, some crossing great distances for the right spot, others merely stopping what they were doing and looking up. The crewmen of the Russian spacecraft Mir, for their part, looked down on the eclipse as it moved across the surface of Earth like a smudge. The two Russians and one Frenchman aboard were the first humans to see an eclipse from space. Outside the band of totality, earthlings flocked to television screens and jammed Web sites to see the eclipse unfold. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported 1.9 million hits to its sites in 36 hours. Stock markets in Europe, meanwhile, experienced trading lulls during the eclipse. Among the temporary sun-and-moon worshipers Wednesday was Pope John Paul II, who cut short his morning Mass to view the eclipse. In the sprawling plaza in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall, 80 percent of an eclipse brought out messianic Jews, astronomical amateurs and astonished tourists. ''We've come here to sit and receive divine light and spread it on Earth,'' said Niv, an Israeli who gave his age as ''in this life, 25.'' Chaim Simka, an American Jew studying in Jerusalem, said the eclipse marked ''the beginning of the end, or pretty much the beginning of the beginning.'' He said that the moon, representing the Jewish people, was blotting out the sun, which stood for all other nations on Earth. The eclipse, he said, ''is the kickoff of the big football game.'' Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in Gaza and the West Bank ordered businesses closed for the day, but few Arab merchants complied. ''If God wants us closed, he'll tell us,'' a ceramics vendor said. Predictions of natural calamities or the Apocalypse itself have proved unfounded thus far, although a series of quakes and aftershocks rumbled through Cyprus and parts of Iran a couple of hours before the eclipse, killing one, and conflict on the Asian Subcontinent continued with a new incident between India and Pakistan. In New Delhi, 70-year-old Krishnavati Pande sat under a tree outside a Hindu temple, chanting along with sacred prayers from a ceremony honoring the Hindu sun god, Surya. But all she could think of was her pregnant daughter-in-law back home. ''During the period of the solar eclipse, she should not cut any vegetables, she should not eat anything, or stop out of the house, or fold her hands or legs,'' Mrs. Pande said. ''Bad things can happen to you if you don't follow the rules.'' Reporters at zoos and wildlife preserves reported animals seemingly disconcerted, seeking shelter for a night that ended only minutes later. Romania's state news agency said that tourists in Black Sea resorts used their bare hands to catch thousands of disoriented fish swimming in shallow waters. In the shadow of Egypt's Pyramids, the eclipse evoked the magic of the ancient sun gods. ''There's a special power, physical sensation, vibration,'' Rosanna Pinero, 31, of Spain told The Associated Press. Only foreigners ventured into the blazing sun at Giza to watch as the moon slowly blocked out 60 percent of the sun; most Egyptians stayed indoors out of fear or superstition. Here in northern France, hundreds of thousands of spectators hugged the shore as the moon began to take its bite out of the sun. There were last minute scrambles for the indispensable disposable glasses. One father of a family begged a kitchen knife from a picnicker to cut too few pairs of glasses into the right number of lorgnettes. A businessman, David Houzelot, and his friends from Paris, running late, pulled off the highway at noon and waded into a field crowded with watchers. ''At 12:10, people no longer moved. Everybody stood still outside their cars. Even animals, cows, dogs, wouldn't make any noise,'' he said. ''Suddenly we were cold, the night fell, and we got to see solar explosions behind the moon. I was all excited, I was jumping around, there was an amazing vibration in the air, like a communion with nature.'' Not far away, in Epernay, the Kelly family from Alexandria, Virginia, found an open space to try out their homemade eclipse boxes. ''The best part was when it finally went to night. Or almost night, like four o'clock,'' said Elizabeth Kelly, who is almost 9, in a telephone interview. '' Her brother Samuel, 10, corrected her in the background. She resumed, ''It was about 6 or 7 at night.'' Almost right away, it was morning again. Just the barest sliver of emerging sun seemed to bathe the air with light and heat. ''That's it. It is finished,'' said a woman on the beach. International Herald Tribune, August 12, 1999 Aluminium Market Alcoa Makes Surprise Bid for Reynolds Reaction to merger of Canada's Alcan, France's Pechiney, and Switzerland's Algroup Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminium company, yesterday launched a surprise $5.6bn bid for Reynolds Metals, the third biggest, just hours after Alcan of Canada, Pechiney of France and Algroup of Switzerland announced a three-way merger. Alcoa's dramatic move signalled a period of upheaval in the industry as the big players scramble to avoid being left behind in a wave of consolidation triggered by low prices and pressure on margins. Trading in Alcoa and Reynolds was suspended in New York as Alain Belda, Alcoa's chief operating officer, released a letter to Jeremiah Sheehan, chief executive of Reynolds, modifying merger proposals tabled secretly in March. Neither Alcoa nor Reynolds would comment. However, the cash and share offer valued Virginia-based Reynolds at $65 a share, well above Tuesday's New York closing price of $55 7/8, but below the company's high for the year of $68. It is believed Reynolds management is unlikely to support the bid. Merrill Lynch, which is advising Reynolds, refused to be drawn on the group's strategy. One rival banker said: "The offer from Alcoa does not factor in a particularly attractive premium. The question comes down to what the institutional investors in Reynolds want and whether a deal will be allowed." Some observers said the offer might be an attempt to stymie the proposed Alcan-Pechiney-Algroup merger by forcing competition authorities in the US and Europe to launch inquiries. "I really can't believe that Alcoa and Reynolds think the competition authorities would allow them to merge. But it may well be that they are sending a warning shot to make clear they want the whole sector put on ice," said Angus McMillan, a senior consultant at the Brook Hunt consultancy in the UK. Mr McMillan said Alcoa and Reynolds would have about 4.2m tonnes a year of worldwide aluminium smelting capacity, comfortably ahead of the 3.3m tonnes by 2002 claimed by Alcan and its merger partners. Alcoa/Reynolds would have 1.6m tonnes of smelting capacity in the US - about 42 per cent of US capacity. The US Justice Department went to court last year to stop Alcoa's $250m purchase of an Alabama aluminium rolling mill from Reynolds. "The DoJ shot [Alcoa] down once on a small deal. Why would they let them buy up the whole company?" said James Kelleher, analyst at Argus Research. In London, Jacques Bougie, chief executive of Alcan, said the proposed merger with Pechiney and Algroup was expected to be concluded within six months. The deal values the merged group at E16.5bn ($17.6bn) after the proposed demerger of Algroup's chemicals business. If the deal goes through, Alcan shareholders will hold 44 per cent of the merged group. Pechiney shareholders will have 29 per cent and Algroup's 27 per cent. The company will have its headquarters in Montreal, with a regional headquarters in Europe. It will report in US dollars, and will be listed in New York with subsidiary listings in Canada, France, Switzerland and possibly London. The Financial Times, August 12, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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