A very insightful comparison

I first heard both of these songs as a college student in the Southern US back in the 80s. I (still!) have a cassette tape version of Peter Schilling's album with both on it. I was taking German at the time (I've had four semesters; it was a long time ago, and I'm currently trying to recover from that with study), and, to be honest, I preferred the German one (I also preferred "99 Luftballons" by Nena to "99 Red Balloons"). I think both unpack more information in a subtler way. I did not know about David Bowie's "Space Oddity" then (it came out when I was young and buried under a rock at home before I discovered pop music of the time) and only made the connexion later. This was a great video, and I really appreciate the comparison of the text and the ideas behind them.



Also, I do not read music, or play an instrument, but this guy explains to me exactly why I react a certain way to this song's lyrics vs. chorus:



And just for completeness, here's Nena's "99 Luftballons".

Exceeding expectations

 

27 Books

Added:

Most adorable thing I've seen this week

 So I thought I'd share it here...

This lowland tapir calf (Tapirus terrestris) was born July 8th 2026 at the Hertfordshire Zoo (@hertfordshirezoo.bsky.social) & is getting some scritches for his itches. Babies have these watermelon stripes to aid in camouflage on the forest floor, but they disappear after ~6 months.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) July 28, 2026 at 9:11 PM

For more about my skills and experience (hire me!)

Go to my LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eilir.

 

A little sad

Obviously, I've been listening to/watching a playlist on YouTube today, and this came up. It always brings tears to my eyes. I hadn't seen this animation before. This song is for my mom It came out the day after her death. It's almost her birth anniversary — she would have been 79 on August 3rd. She passed in 2017.

Beautiful to rediscover

Haven't listened to the cover of 'Bird Set Free', my favourite Sia song, by the Brigham Young University Women's A Capella Chorus, Noteworthy, in a while. They do a lovely job, and I love what they do with the T-shirts.

 

This was sweet...

Swedish Library Forgot to Close Its Doors and Something Beautiful Happened: They say a reader does not steal and a thief does not read. In the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, that's definitely true.

It was All Saints' Day, a national holiday, and the library traffic was light, but still well-used.

Unbeknownst to the staff, a door had been left unlocked the previous evening. Throughout the day, 446 visitors entered the library, unaware it was officially closed. Families gathered in the children’s section, individuals browsed the shelves, and others perused newspapers—all behaving as they would on any regular day. Some patrons even borrowed books using the self-service system. By day’s end, 246 books had been checked out, and remarkably, every single one was returned on time.

Third try was not the charm ☹️

Well, I tried again. I went to the Kentucky Blood Center for the third time this month after being deferred twice for low iron. Hemoglobin on the first stick (right finger) was only 11.9, but she really had to squeeze to get it out, so it may have skewed the results. Left finger on second try was 14.2 so yay!!!!

Unfortunately, the stick didn't get the vein well, and even with adjustments from another phlebotomist, the little tiny bag wasn't filling up fast enough, so they had to abort, and it left a bruise. I can come back and donate after my hematoma has healed, they said.

Sigh. I did get another $20 gift card to Amazon, though. But I did want to donate. The stars are not aligning. I haven't had this much trouble in about 25 years.

I made it, or, two more books and a challenge completed!

Granted, they were both short, but still...

#24 Food Journal Magic: A Daily Food and Fitness Diary to Create Lasting Weight Loss That Stays Off Without a Diet by Alegra Loewenstein

This is not actually a food journal, but how to set up one and what to include, and how best to execute it. I was a little disappointed for that reason. I was able to find a food journal that allows me to write directly on it for the Kindle Scribe, which, of course, I am not including in the reading challenge, though. That is: Food Journal and Weight Tracker by No Yellow Snow Media, and it allows you to export the data via email so you can just erase the information and reuse the pages as needed.

THIS BOOK COMPLETED THE Goodreads 2026 READING CHALLENGE!!!!!

# 25 My Novel Work Book: A step by step guide for novice writers by Roger Alderman

This one basically shows you how to outline a novel in 12 chapters using classical format along the lines of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. Some spelling errors could have used an editor's eye (it's self-published), but otherwise, the book is adequate. It got me thinking. I have wanted to be an author since I was a child. Granted, I've published over 30 pieces of writing, from book chapters, book reviews, articles, etc., and I mean went-through-a-committee-and-editor published in a book or journal, but I never feel like a published author. I would like to write a novel. Not the Great American novel, but still. Something people would enjoy reading. Seeing my name in print, or at least in digital form. 😉

Interesting

A Crisis in the Humanities: The norms governing scholarship now often serve to protect a rigid orthodoxy on certain politically charged issues—with ideological tests substituted for proper academic standards

We begin from what ought to be a platitude: The humanities and the social sciences are academic disciplines aimed at understanding the human world and the larger reality of which it is a part. There is room for debate about what it means to “understand” a historical episode, or a literary text, or a social phenomenon. But it should not be controversial that, like all academic research, scholarship in these disciplines is in the business of asking questions; that these questions have answers (when they are well-posed); that these answers are not simply evident and can therefore only be arrived at indirectly, by appeal to evidence and argument; and that it is the role of academic disciplines to cultivate methods for collecting the evidence relevant to their questions and for assessing scholarly proposals on the basis of it.