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ITALY: ST. JOSEPH'S DAY

Saint Joseph is the beloved patron saint of many generations of Italians. On this, his feast day, the town of Pitigliano holds a festival. The townspeople offer prayers to Saint Joseph and then break into dancing and revelry in the piazza. At sunset children, teens, and adults dressed in sackcloth form a procession through town.

(no subject)

Reflections on conformity as a threat to individuality:

"If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing
conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present
system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning
which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for
self-initiated learning."
-- Carl Rogers, American psychologist

"I, for one, hope that youth will again revolt and again demoralize
the dead weight of conformity that now lies upon us."
-- Howard M. Jones, American author

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."
-- John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States

"The young always have the same problem -- how to rebel and conform
at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents
and copying one another."
-- Quentin Crisp, English-born American author

i did cry for the Kursk

Russian Submariners Celebrate

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Mindful of lost comrades, the submarine service celebrated Submariner's Day on Monday, with the navy's top admiral saying that despite problems Russia's subs were still a force to be reckoned with.

An assembly with an honor guard and speeches by top officers was held at the Naval Engineering Institute in St. Petersburg. Fourteen graduates of the institute were among the 118 sailors who died when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in August.

A stone memorial plaque was unveiled at the city's Naval Institute of Radio and Electronics, four of whose graduates died.

The Kursk sank in the Barents Sea off Russia's northern coast. The government is still investigating, but several Russian and foreign experts say the likely cause was the explosion of a torpedo in the weapons bay.

In Moscow, Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov, commander of the Russian navy, said that the world still heeded Russia's submarine force, which he said was second only to that of the United States.

Thanks to this, ``the leading players of world politics consider our interests despite a situation where the country is still in crisis,'' he was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Money troubles since the 1991 Soviet collapse have curtailed the building of new submarines and the ability of remaining ones to patrol as they once did. Russia continues to train new submariners, however.

"Submariners are a special brotherhood,'' Vice Adm. Rudolf Golosov said on ORT government television. "Either all come to the surface or no one does. On a submarine, the phrase all for one and one for all is not just a slogan, but reality.''

things I forgot to write down today

The car is well again. New plugs for the engine. Thank goodness I have an honest friendly mechanic.

Mike told me about a lovely Czech band, the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa.

Should I worry when I get dizzy?

I think too much about lives that were not and are not and will not be.

I finished the Rachilde book, a disturbing piece of work.

I don't want to get up tomorrow.