Almstriden/The Elm Fight

For those of you not familiar with the above Youtube-sequences from the 'Elm-fight', I can tell you that this is one of the cornerstones in the Swedish environmental movement.

When the politicians in Stockholm in 1971 decided to build an entrance- and exit to the new subway, situated in the park of Kungsträdgården, they faced a unanticipated protest storm.

People 'occupied' the trees and police was called in to deal with this but the protestors did not surrender and in the end, the politicians had to change their decision.

The incident got worldwide coverage but some people around the world found it hard to understand the engagement displayed by the people living in Stockholm and Sweden concerning this issue.
It became a proof of the fact that the environmental movement was marching ahead and that issues around our daily environment, was becoming more and more important.

Even if you don't understand Swedish, the short sequences above speaks for themselves.

The School in Finland - Best in the World!

According to one of PISA's (Programme for International Students Assessment) studies about schools in the world and their quality, Finland recently came in first place.
Different studies use different variables and I don't know the exact ones used in this case but the list looked like this:

1. Finland
2. South Korea
3. Japan
4. New Zealand
5. Australia
6. The Netherlands
7. Switzerland
8. Estonia
9. Germany
10. Belgium
11. Poland
12. Island
13. Norway
14. Great Britain
15. Denmark
16, Slovenia
17. Irland
18. France
19. OECD average
20. USA
21. Hungary
22. Sweden
23. Czechia

Ludwig Wittgenstein

This day in 1951 one of the most interesting and maybe hard to understand-philosophers died, Ludwig Wittgenstein.

During my theological studies I of course came across the ideas of Wittgenstein and some extraits form his works, notably 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'.

I'm no specialist in the thinking of Wittgenstein but he was a fascinating intellectual and many are the stories around him and his very few friends, among whom we find Bertrand Russell, of course.

One of the most funny but also perhaps misleading anecdotes is the one when Wittgenstein and Russell discussed what we actually are able to know and perceive as human beings.
This discussion is - according to Russell - said to have ended with the two philosophers arguing whether or not there was a rhinoceros in the room, leading them to crawl around the room looking for it.
This is taken from my memory, wherefore I can't promise that it's correct in detail.
Many people regard this story being idiotic and as such something that confirms that philosophers are dealing with questions of no common interest at all.
Personally I think it shows the contrary!

I share with you some Youtube-sequences displaying Anthony Quinton and experts discussing Wittgenstein and his thinking and writing.








(Photo Ludwig Wittgenstein copied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrSuJWqD1toi47cva5UHy5RwMYm0GfFGwITBaKtMUS9H1lw4sjaMhhbCDdhUY7AyY2v2tm6O1JSe8JqG5kWN3_-W0ZNzTzEiM-pPco652FvW1hS6H3prylXR1jBkaTBQ8kpwq4A/s1600/wittgenstein-buona.jpg)