7th issue, March 1997

FIRE EXTRA! Read all about the disastrous arson that destroyed the oldest tower of Nimis, known as the Function of the Ascendant. It took place on the night of the winters greatest depth and we are already investigating the case and rebuilding the tower. Click here!

ELECTIONS	Coming to an end... And what end? Whoever will be the leader has an impressive population to guide.
NEWS	Swedish Prime Minister George Persson has responded to Ladonia. The board of debate is set up.
HISTORY	We have been digging for facts and greatly rewarded. King Ladon found and King Torkel lost.
THE FEAST	Why settle for less than 46.604 years? The feast is taking shape and even blessed.
CITIZENS	Ladonia steadily attracts new and interesting citizens from here... and there?
GEOGRAPHY	The Commander in Chief is setting up a lovenest. The nobility gathers up and we are all welcome to the wall of understanding.
PROJECTS	Ladonians are indeed a festive people but silence will make us rich. And where is the Arctic Circle?
POLITICS	A new party has seen the light.
MINISTERS	Our new ministers of propaganda and property are both coming up with some disputable suggestions.
LINGUISTICS	Latin help is to be found. But who is Doris?
WORLD REPORTERS	Betsy Thaggard, Empress of the Universe incites this new series of the World according to the nomads.
POETRY	Johan Andersson, Custodian with a poem on Nimis.
AT THE END OF THE DAY	The Minister of Health traces suspects and other suspect phenomena.

Managing Editor: Lars Vilks Executive Editor: Vera Porad
The editors are not responsible for unrequested material sent to Ladonia Herald. We reserve the right to edit any contribution, and we take no responsibility as for incorrect use of the language (except our own). For letters, graphic material, questions, feedback, texts etc please feel free to mail us.

1 800 humans prefere the eonatic way of life
Ladonia has now more than 1.800 citizens. Thus Ladonia is one of the most densely populated countries in the world: 1.800 inhabitants/square km.
The election is continuing until the 1st of March. The result is regularly presented at the Ladonia Discussion Board.
Ladonia is ruled in the eonatic way through the ministers and other administrators. Other citizens can also participate in this; they can present a working plan for a department or an office - or something else. The Government has regularly cabinet meetings using mainly e-mail.

Up

CUNNING PERSSON
George in seek-and-hide game
The swedish prime minister George has actually answered, though inofficially, on Ladonias request for freedom. Two of our nobelmen, Hagert Rönn and Marcus Kullenberg, have investigated this matter. They received the following answer from the swedish government:

"The letter from Ladonia has just been registered and put in the archive. This in accordance with the policy of the prime minister concerning letters which contents obviously are not seriously meant or otherwise in need of an active decision from the prime minister or the government."
The letter is signed Mats Andersson (cabinet drafting committee) and dated 10/2.

We fully understand, the swedish democracy is ruling through sending letters and giving speeches. It is constructed by signs and fiction; nothing wrong with that, although Ladonians find it a bit uncreative. In this case it suits our aims in keeping our freedom. We quote Calvino:
"A sailingboat, a hand, an elephant..."

LADONIA BOARD
Sharpen your key-board!
The Ladonia Discussion Board is now open to use. Anyone can start, participate and comment a discussion subject. Our citizens are also welcome to tell us about what they are doing. One debate which we would like to stress is to discuss the principles and consequences of the eonatic rights of our country. Ladonia is actually not a democracy; the democracy is, of course, not enough for Ladonians.

Up

We have lost it.

Nimis! Nimis! Burning bright

In the forests of the night

What immortal hand or eye

Could fire thy fearful symmetry?

As is already quite known, Nimis was vandalized by fire in the night between the 2nd and 3d of February. 1/5th was erased which means about 7-8 tons of wood. We wonder who did it and why. It has happened before: In 1985 2/3 of Nimis was burnt down, and in 1983 a fire-bomb was placed in Nimis and the wood was impregnated with petrol (a danish school-class found the bomb in the last minute).
Now several threats and attacks have been seen lately. We presume that there should be a connection between the attack with motorsaw in december and the fire. As already has been told this initiative ended with a destroyed motorsaw. It must have been a frustrated person or persons who had to climb all the way back with a smashed machine.
It seems probable that the small attack with handsaw in January was a follow-up on this. It isn't easy to, in this way, take Nimis down, and it could be seen that after sawing a little here and a little there, the vandal(s) just left, certainly disappointed. This frustration - well - presumably lead to the great fire. Ladonia received a few weeks earlier an e-mail with a threat:

Nimis should be set on fire.
It was signed "Richard Bergh - the Action Group the Pile of Wood Will Burn".

Naturally there is a lot of activities going on in Ladonia to find out more about this outrage. As we have no police or security police in the country we have been forming an office of detectives. Our main investigators is Lieutenant Evald Örn, Sherlock E. B. Holmes and Görel the Priestess. They are optimistic about finding the very facts on this matter.
From another point of view the fire isn't that important. The lost tower, "The Function of the Ascendant", will be rebuilt. This project started the same day as the destruction was discovered. The Nimis-Builder has been obsessed with building for almost two decades and he is always building whether there'll be vandalism or not.
Now he has a great project. Artistically the fire is a part of the well-known movement Primitive-Expressionism.
Anyway, I think he could get by with a little help so:

TIMBER, TIMBER, ALLHANDS BRING THE TIMBER!

Up

REACTIONS ON THE FIRE

The first reaction came from the Minister of Classicism, Staffan Schmidt. After regretting the happening he meant that the pollution made by the vandals was extremly destructive. By making a fire with organic fuel the addition of carbon oxide to the atmosphere was to hit back on the villains. In Ladonia the pollution is Zero, and it is difficult to understand anyone who would like to change this. It may thus be a suicidal attack from these unknown persons.

More reactions:
Det här är ju förskräckligt! Jag trodde bokbålens tid var förbi! Tyvärr är det nog som du säger, att det är lika bra att låta bli polisen... Dock bör vi inte ge vika för kulturmördarna. En idé kan vara att uppmana ladonianerna att sända drivved från sina respektive fysiska vistelseorter till återuppbyggnaden. Det kan också vara ett sätt att upprätta informella diplomatiska kotakter med andra vattenkantade orter.
Mitt största deltagande
Görel Prästinnan

För att förebygga liknande händelser i framtiden kan det vara av intresse att utbilda en interladonsk terroristbekämpningsstyrka liknande GSG9 i Tyskland eller Mossad i Israel. Vi kan aldrig ge efter för terrorism!
Ambassadören i Stockholm.

Make them miserable!
If someone Knows the Names and adresses of the involved persons I will make their lifes miserable until they regret this evil act and agrees to repay to Ladonia its losses.
I promise to do this within Ladonian, Norwegian and Sweedish LAW. An Immidiate action we should take is to soak all wooden constructions of Ladonia in a chemical solution that does not burn........ If someone knows of such a solution please notify the government ASAP.
Baron Jared von Elgvin
Minister of live roleplay
PS: Check out: http://www.applause.no/kybergenesis

To set Nimis on fire was a terrible thing to do, that person how did this must be a very sick person ( in the head). Can the swedish police help us? I don´ t know. Can we find the person how did it?
Yours faithfully
Jake and Ezra Rosenfeldt

Jag är mycket ledsen för det inträffade illdådet. Kan det vara någon fr&öaring;n ortsbefolkningen...folk pratar...kan du lyssna??? Att anlita svensk polis verkar hopplöst. Trots eländet stärks Ladonien otvivelaktigt inåt av detta. Vi föstår alla hur bräcklig friheten är, vilken ondska som dväljer sig utanför det skyddslösa landets gränser.
Johan Andersson, Custodian

Up

Let' s celebrate!
This is the minister of Depression and Irony talking:
Yesterday were a black day in the history of Ladonia. I'm still depressed and chocked, very chocked. But not surprised.
I have a suggestion of how to make this event IRONIC. I suggest that we from now on make the 3rd february to a public holiday which we call "the Day of Nimis" or "Nimis Day". And at that day, we will CELEBRATE the memory of Nimis with joy and happiness. (I know it isn't completly destroyed, but anyway?) By doing that, the action of burning Nimis gets an opposite effect. Ironic, or what?!!? And I suppose that, that were NOT the expected reaction. I also think that, even though Ladonia is an independent state, there is nothing wrong in asking the swedish police for help in bad times. I mean, think of all the tourists that visits Ladonia and that sweden earns money from.
By the way, isn't this a question for the justicedep. (if we have one) or the dep. of Law. Shouldn't we have "some kind of police or investigators". What do you think? Are this ideas good?
Yours sincerly
Lady Liliann

Father, forgive them...
I was really chocked by the fact you wrote in your message. Why did they do it? I suggest a prayer first: Father forgive them because they don´t know what they are doing.
Second: We must take care of the rest of Nimis. I also suggest a contact with the Swedish police.
Third: Why don,t try to get in tuch with the guilty persons? I will give this reward: Free of carge the person who solves the mistery and gives good information about the criminals are invited for a whole year to do their services in the church of Gislaved.
Ingemar Nilsson
church minister

The minister of chance supports the suggestion from the minister of irony. Indeed, what had been the odds for such a development, seen from the perpetrator's view? Let's celebrate the 3rd of February! For Nimis!
Svein Olav Nyberg
(Minister of Chance)

"See you in court..."
LADONIA is a friendly country, willing to cooperate with those controlling resources we do not possess ourselves. I think the Swedish Police Authorities should be contacted with a formal request from Ladonia (acting for itself and on behalf of owner, with permission). The request should report the crime and demand action to bring the guilty before Swedish Court, assuming the guilty is Swedish citizen. As a matter of fact, Ladonia should consider to outsource these kind of activities to suitable authorities. Further, Ladonia should consider this as a principle: individuals (assumed) guilty in crimes commited in Ladonia, should be prosecuted by actions taken by authorities where they have their respective second state citizenship (Ladonia is always first).
Ladonia has a number of relationships to a number of other states, and we should not bundle issues together as long as they are perfectly independent. I view this crime case independent on sovereignty issues. If Swedish authorities responds to the request without further demands, etc., Ladonia should consider to view this response as a friendly action from Sweden, indicating that Sweden accepts a free Ladonia.

REGENT! ; WE ALL MOURN WITH YOU
Sincerely;
Håvard Ness

Up

The fire increased the power
Many of our ministers wants to celebrate the 3rd of Febr every year. I have spoken to my advisers in the sphere of angels and I have come to the conclusion, that, based on the facts that Nimis was destroyed by fire once earlier on the 28th of Jan 1985, there is a strange and magical connection between the number twelwe from which The Universe was built, and the twelwe years between the two fires of Nimis. There is also a connection between the date of the fire now and the fact that the Chinese Astrological New Year starts on the evening of the 3rd of Febr this year. In numerical way the construction of Nimis always has functioned perfectly. And now again we have a new The Phoenix rising from the ashes of the foregoing, as a true manifestation of the newborn Ladonia. My idea is that the whole week in the very dark winter could be a time of celebration. And, if the terrorists want to make this evil attack again, it certainly will happen during this special week also the next time, and we, the People of Ladonia, are prepared!
So, let's celebrate!
The angels sing HALLOO and the pyramidal headquarter of the GA, twelwe meters above Håle Stenar 6 has increased in power, because of the holy smoke of the imploded treetower of the Nimis construction. The temporary regent of Ladonia and all members of the country will of course be sad at the moment, but the fireoutrage will widen our consciousness. I will later on make an investigation about the Number Twelwe and how it is connected to Ladonia. In praesentia harum.....in Ladonia veritas
Countess Kicki of Ladonia
ministress of The Guardian Angels

Some reactions have supported the vandals: Mrs Agneta Andersson comments to Helsingborgs Dagblad on the 6th of February: "Really praiseworthy that someone in this way is trying to take away this wretched thing." Mrs Ann-Louise Hallström means that "an environmental award should be given to those who set Nimis on fire" (Helsingborgs Dagblad 18.2)

Before the fire the writer Maria Carlshamre wrote in "Moderna Tider" (NOV96): "I have inside a little provocative devil who would calmly smile if a private, artistic initiative were taken to burn Nimis as a happening."
Well, we sincerely hope that Mrs Carlshamre find the occasion artistically enough to enlighten her calm smile.

ANIMAL REACTIONS
On the day when the great fire was discovered, Feb 3d, 4 black sheep were seen close to Nimis. It is the first time sheep have been observed in Ladonia. On the 17th of February a raven croaked and circled at a distinct point. At this place a big wooden box with handles and a hole was found.

FURTHER NOTES ON LADONIAN HISTORY (1)
King Ladon had a little lamb
It has been told that at the very dawn of the eonatic King Ladon came to the piece of land that was to become Ladonia. He had to descend the mountain side. In his company was a wise lamb. The lamb could not climb and jumped down into the new country thus offering its life. King Ladon mourned the dead lamb and - as a habit in those days - ate it. It happened in that time of the year known as the greatest depth of the winter, the five days between 28th of January and the 2nd of February. Ever since the Ladonians celebrate the occasion with a great feast and naturally having roast lamb for dinner.

FURTHER NOTES ON LADONIAN HISTORY (2)
King Torkel had a vision
Our new and enthusiastic citizen Count Torby, Lord of Roses has through qualified researches found a hitherto lost piece of our history.
Facts concerning the reign of King Torkel (probably 900-999 AD) reveals he was loved by his people and did not hesitate vaulting a cup with his subjects.
In his late days he became rueful and abandoned himself to melancholy. In this dark night of the soul he had a vision. He saw Ladonia conquered by the Swedes.
King Torkel passed to immortality riding his horse out from a cliff and into the sea.
The Ladonian national painter Duke Torbjörn Brush (appr. 1840-1870) has in two paintings captured some moments of the life of the beloved king in breathtaking strokes. These treasures from the Ladonian history of art are exposed here.

Up

DIGGING - GEIR STENE
Take out your spades and your hoes
Urgent; - to the citizens of Ladonia go digging ! The need of being placed in space and time is necessary for the country Ladonia. It is necessary so that the people of Ladonia can build their identity as Ladonians. An identity is very much related to history, and there is a enormous lack of history in Ladonia, since the country is created recently. I suggest that the ministry of history is made, Urgent. Let the message from this new department go out; Every citizen should do some archeological work, but not the same work that has been done by other nations. Let me explain: Every nation has a self made history. But it´s sad to look at, all of them has a very selective kind of history; it´s the history of the few, the history of the male, the history of the (economic) rich. In short the history of a powerful leadership. Bonaparte Napoleon sent archeologists to the pyramids of Egypt, and created a imperialistic history of the country that fitted him, and the French leadership of the time.
This is also true about the Scandinavian history (even if Bonaparte did not make it! ) , who show us a wrong, and often violent picture of the Vikings, and has given us an idea of the common people as primitive and knowledge-less. You all know that this is wrong. In Scandinavia, (where also Ladonia is placed !) we had a well developed system of peoples guverment for as long time ago as a thousand years. Just remember the "Tingplass" (the judgement-places.) This is also the fact of every society in the world. They are all looked upon as primitive and simple minded. And some cultures ( read the western culture) has developed and become sophisticated. They now say that there is undeveloped countries and the industrialised countries. To become of a "higher standard" you would have to make useless things - so to speak. Today they celebrate the idea of Democracy - as if it is a government of the people, as if it is an idea of freedom.
Look around in the western world - there is a great lack of possibilities. Ask anyone if they feel that they have influence. Ask anyone if they feel free to do what they like. Only the very economic-rich can confirm that they feel freedom. The rest have a strong feeling of being in someones pocket ( maybe the bank, maybe the office of social affairs) There is something rotten about this kind of history. The history is made by someone who need their people to believe that everything is all wright, that they do not need to worry. But in all these nations, people lives and get their identity from the history that they have. Without a history - no identity. They are right about this: It´s better with a bad history than none at all.
So people of Ladonia let us make our own history - like Bonaparte did. But let us make a more suitable history for the Ladionan people. Go digging in the past. Find the legends about the ancient Ladonia. Let us dig for the female history. The history of the wellknowledged farmer and hunter. How the people struggled against aggressors. How they - our forefathers and foremothers were able to created the creative society of the modern Ladonia, that we have today. How did we changes from a money system to a creative exchanges system ? Why did we keep all the noble titles. And how did we make them possible for all to buy ? There is a lot of questions to be answered. The hopes for a future to exist, depends on the idea of a existing past.
Geir Stene

Up

Now we' re in it for the real thing!
The proposal on a great feast of the upcoming polar star Thuban has taken a new turn. Minister of the Subaquatics, Lord Peter Kimay means that we must be aware of changes in the experiences of time. 4 000 years isn't enough. Actually small potatoes as the minister suggests that the feast should go on for 46.604 years and start in the year 1998. The feast committee agrees on this. We are from this great vision able to construct a fair outline of Ladonian history:

1. The Time of King Ladon (beginning of eonatic time)

2. Ladonia conquered by the swedes and danes (10th century)

3. Ladonia occupied (10th century - 1996)

4. Rise of Ladonia (1996-1998)

5. The Age of Thuban (1998-48.602)

6. Four black sheep and a raven

The Church Minister Ingemar Nilsson has commented the suggestion from Lord Peter:
Jag är självklart beredd att hålla högtidsgudstjänst vid detta firande, som visserligen ligger långt fram i tiden. Men enligt bibeln är tusen år som en dag för Herren och en enda dag som tusen år. Även i övrigt finns vissa möjligheter att vara med. Förslår att firandet inledes kl 8.15 den dagen.
Brief summary: The Church Minister offers to hold a service at the celebration. To the ladonians concerned about not being able to participate due to the length of the feast he has these soothing words from the Bible: A thousand years is like one day for the Lord, and one single day is like a thousand years. The minister suggests the celebration to start at 8.15 am that day.

Up

HUNGARY
Nomads at the Puszta
From Budapest and Székesféhérvar, from Szeged and Gyöngyös, from Pécs and Debrecen... they have arrived to Ladonia. We greet them very welcome all our hungarian friends. The connection between Ladonia and Hungary has suddenly grown strong and firm.

HUGO MONSTER
Someone down under?
We would like to find out more about Hugo Monster who sent this application. Anyone brave enough to get in touch with him?
Hugo Monster
address: Höger om Mount Everest
postcode: 1
city: Drakstan
date of birth: 1884-03-13
place: China flyttade sen till Italien o MB
nationality: Svensk
length: 30 cm
eyes: Red
citizen: Common citizen
email: gnr14@hotmail.com

Up

WALL OF UNDERSTANDING
Confess, release, free your mind!
Trond Ivar Hansen, number: 1565
I would like to propose the stone (or wall or some other object) of help and understanding. The idea is from the film "THX 1138". As we now burdens are often easier to carry when you have told them to someone, like a friend, a priest. The object should have written on it these four sentences: "I understand", "Interesting", "Tell me more about this" and "What do you think is the cause of this?". Confronting the object modern people can tell about all their thoughts and problems, and the object will give response and understanding, like a friend.
email: tihansen@online.no

A castle for love for the commander
Jag önskar ett vackert ställe att slå upp mitt slott! Slottets namn är "Annimoure" efter en fager jungfru. Naturligtvis vore jag hedrad om platsen för bygget bar samma namn! Gärna med utsikt över något av regementenas exercisområde. Commander in chief Ladonian Force Unit
Greve Henrik von Persson
Brief summary: The commander in chief of the Ladonian Force Unit wishes to establish his castle "Annimoure" in Ladonia. He applies for a location from where he can overlook the military drill camp.

THE BIG STONE OF THE NOBILITIES
Mingling for real
A special place has been chosen for our nobilities who are visiting Ladonia. South of Nimis there is to be found a very huge stone close to the Swedish border. This is a gathering place for our nobility.

A citizen view
Henrik Löwendahl-Nyrén has taken some very beautiful pictures on his trips to the homecountry. These can be wieved at: http://goofy.rsn.hk-r.se/ladonia

Up

CELEBRATION DAYS
Steal, play, push and burn!
Trond Ivar Hansen has come up with some suggestions for the ladonian almanac:

I would like to suggest a day for the almanac. The day could be called the "Key-day" or "The day of the throwing of keys". On this day people should throw away all their keys in the nearest avaible well or the sea. Of course they have to remember to unlock their doors, unless they have to stay over at night with friends. (After a while maybe people will no longer buy new locks and every house will be open).
Another day could be "Thiefs-day", when everybody is supposed to steal all they can from each other. I also suggest "Naked-day" (in summer), "Day of silence" and "Play-day".

Well, we do hope that the Ladonians will be cheerful enough to take this expropriation manners with an easy smile. You always have the possibility to steal back next year what was stolen from you this year! Remember, we can take nothing with us when we pass to immortality. This is what the Naked Day suggests.
The day of the great fire, Febraury 3, should become Public Holiday by suggestion of the Minister of Depression and Irony, Lady Liliann and supported by many ministers.
The 5th of February should be nominated The Great Pushing Day. A day when we push things forward or out of the ditch and up on the road again.
The ladonian time span is very long and there is indeed necessity of more to celebrate.

A REPORT FROM THE READING CIRCLE PROJECT
The Arctic Circle lost?
From The State Librarian:

The Artic Circle project (see Ladonia Herald, January 1997 and Projects) rolls on. There are of course several problems in the mid-winter time when the Circle is covered by deep snow. But there seem to be still some other problems which have to be solved. On Jan. 28th, 1997, Mr. Geir Stene of Norway <geistene@online.no> wrote: "I've been living in Mo i Rana for a short time of my life. But long enough. I must tell you this about the artic circle; It's not where it's said to be! They builded the artic circle center about a houndred meters of the circle. I walked over a 150 meters in both directions ( that is north/south ) to make sure that I, myself have been there. But I would never claim that I have actually stept on it, I maybe just stept over it ... "
The State Librarian (SL) solemly admitts that he has never passed - nor even seen - the Artic Circle. The most solid information the SL has is based upon his globe and his Atlas. There the Artic Circle is a black line, and the SL had hoped that all the Ladonia State Library contact persons around the world would easily find the black line. But if the black line is not where it is supposed to be, we got a problem. How can we be sure that the Artic Circle samples we are getting are the real thing? How can we be sure of anything?
Mr. Geir Stene continues his letter by describing the moment he passed the Circle:
"As far as I can remember i did read at the time - it might have been Hamsun - or Viggo (the comics). But maybe the artic circle instead of beeing a reading circle is a writing circle - since a lot of people didn't look up - their heads were deep down in a lot of postcards. The only sign of contact with the outer world was the antennalike pencils in their hands."
The State Librarian welcomes this new theory: Instead of reading circle it is a writing circle. Or in pure scientific terms: It is not an input but an output!

Up

A NATIONAL PRODUCT
Selling silence to the Swedes
Bengt Erlandsson has presented a promising idea:

I would like participate in the development of our national products. I already have a lot of ideas of what we should produce and export, especially to the demanding swedes. One very valuable natural asset that Ladonia has in possession is the total and utter silence. The people of a modern industrial country today is urging for this product, beleive me! After a noisy day at work, screaming childrens at home, 36 channels of noisy rubbish on the TV, pepople are prepared to pay anything for a piece of clear and fresh silence. And Ladonia gots it!
Allright, the silence is not 100% pure everyday, but these days we can lower the price a bit. One thing that I haven t really figured out yet is how we practically shall export the silence. Simply recording the silence on tape would mean that we were in the hands of the Japanese tape manufacturers, and that doesn´t really feel good. Well, I´ll figure it out soon.
email: bed@svep.se

ROSES
Let a thousand flowers bloom!
Rose castle in the strange town of Oskarshamn 13/2 ­97
Since I have not been visiting our country yet I really don´t exactly know the appearance of flowers in Ladonia. But, I have obeserved that the sacred buildings (Nimis, Arx etc.) suffer from a serious lack of them. My suggestion is this (if the honorable state secretary, creator of the said works, don´t mind), why not let beautiful roses grow up, preferably of the climbing sort, and let them contribute to the whole. Roses are beautiful! Now, this could also be a new product of our nation, export of roses. Virtual or real (this I hope will be of use for venerable Vera Porad).
But first, I assume, we need to get our hands on some good planting soil. Is there possibilities to open some kind of business with our neighbour countries? Or do I have to dig it out of my compost? Maybe some of the Ladonian citizens can help?
This project initiated by:
Count Torby, lord of Roses

Gunnar Jarl, Minister of Unschooling is ready to provide the manure:
We have an already working production at Björksäter that I suggest as a national product. Our main assets are Soil, Water, Air and Sunshine. Our basic product is manure. I'm sure this production is taking place in Ladonia aswell. Here at Björksäter the production is mainly performed by four to five head of cattle working fulltime 24 hours a day from september until may each year. A lot of other livestock takes part too but it is from the cattle that we collect manure. The manure can later on be used for refined production of vegetables, grain and hay and in addition some gases released to the atmosphere.
Gunnar Jarl

Up

NEW PARTY
Extremities drinking beer
Per Johansson has started a new political party:
I would start a new party that would be called "Moderatkommunisterna" so that people from all the parties can join and bring worldpeace!( and free beer for everybody)
email: perka_nr1@hotmail.com

Up

FROM THE MINISTER OF UNSCHOOLING
A matter of life and death
Gunnar Jarl is new minister of the department of unschooling:

Since institutional school systems all over the world are the major shapers of conformity of thought Ladonia should not have any compulsory public school. The Ministry of Unschooling advocates the idea that learning is a matter of life (and death) and not of teaching. Teaching also is a matter of life (and death) and is sometimes a good tool for learning. The National Curriculum encourages all learning and teaching taking place in Ladonia.

Non scholae sed vitae discimus (Seneca jr)
The e-mail of our new minister Gunnar Yarl is: yog-jarl@algonet.se

MINISTRY OF DEPRESSION AND IRONY
A depressed homepage
The Ministry of Depression and Irony is to be found on: http://www.algonet.se/~mikey_w/lillan/ministry.htm (el .html)

NEW MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA
Lord Viking wants order in the cabinets
Lord Aslak Viking number: 97-1450

Honorable Lars Vilks, members of the Ladonian Government, fellow Nobilities, and the Proud People of Ladonia:
There seems to be a number of ministeries that could (and should?) be arranged within a fewer number of "super-ministeries". For instance, the ministery of football should be a sub-ministery within the ministery of sports and recreation. The ministery of jazz within the ministery of culture, etc... This is not to bring unnecessary order, but to make it a little smoother for the citizens of Ladonia to correspond with the ministeries. At the same time, the perhaps most important ministery is missing: the Ministery of Propaganda. If we, the proud people of Ladonia, wish to be successful in our on-going battle with the Swedish Crown, we surely need a strong and tactical propaganda ministery ­ for both domestic and international purposes. To this task, I Lord Aslak Viking, volunteer.
Furthermore, there should be dedicated mail and e-mail (alternatively Internet dialogue) addresses to all ministeries. This too, for the simple purpose of making communication between the people and the government easier. A similar channel to the House of Nobilities (where one or two nobles are appointed as spokesmen/women for the Hose) could result in interesting dialogues and perhaps constructive tasks for the house to perform ­ in the best interest of Ladonia.
Best regards,
Lord Aslak Viking
Iustus et Veritas
email: micco@pyramid.se

Up

NEW DEPARTMENT AND MINISTER OF PROPERTY
Factory for sulphuric acid in Mare Jenny
Our new minister is Jens Heed:

Ladoniens behov av att denna ministerpost besätts torde stå klart för alla som känner till det minsta lilla av landets historia. Ett land grundat i en appropriering av egendom kan naturligtvis inte under en längre tid klara sig utan en entydig regel för denna typ av handlingar. Exakt hur denna regel skall utformas kan jag idag inte svara på men jag föreslår att Ladonien tills vidare förklarar all appropriering av egendom för ogiltig.
Tills klarare regler i denna fråga kan presenteras föreslår jag oxå att Ladoniens nuvarande gränsdragning inte ifrågasätts. Om dessa regler inte godtas så vill jag härmed även tillkännage min appropriering av ett stycke land. Jag gör då anspråk på ett område av 3 gånger 5 meter vid vattnet nedanför Nimis där jag avser att uppföra en liten fabrik för tillverkning av koncentrerad svavelsyra.
Ministerns huvudsakliga område skulle alltså vara egendomsfrågor men jag kan även tänka mig att ha hand om andra egendomligheter som kan dyka upp.
För övrigt vill jag meddela att jag har en ny mailadress; jens@heed.se

MINISTER JARED REPORTS FROM BRAZIL
Excellent reception at the embassy
Baron Jared von Elgvin
Minister of live Roleplay

I have just returned from a short trip to Brasil where I have been on hollyday. When we arrived there we immidiately reported to the Ladonian ambassador Humberto Saccomondi.....
He turned out to be a very nice person who worked in one of the biggest newspapers in São Paulo.....One of the first things he said to me was: " Jag brukade bo i Sverige och jag kann fortfarande tala lite Svenska".
I was shocked in a country where one of thousen speaks english to meat a peson that understood what I said in Norwegian.....
Anyway I would like to congratulate Ladonia on the choise of ambassador in Brasil.... A fine choise. Humberto Saccomondi is doing a great job...

Jared Elgvin, Rustadgata 52, 3187 Horten
NORWAY
Tlf: +47 330325
e-mail: jared.elgvin@norcontrol.no

Up

SENTENCES AND APHORISMS

Doris on the run
State Graphic Designer Vera Porad came across this rather cryptic, but useful sentence:
Ja! Så springer benen på Doris!
(Yes! So rush the legs on Doris!)

LATIN

Don' t ask what your country can do for you...
Steinar Midtskogen sent us following:
Opto me administrum voluptatibus impensisque effrenatis fieri.
Et memento:
Noli rogare, quid patriae tuae facere possis,
sed, quid tibi facere possit patria.
(ut mea fert opinio)
Saxius Media Silva
email: steinarm@ifi.uio.no

Brush up your latin, it' s out there!
The Minister of Propaganda, Lord Viking has a very helpful suggestion:
I would like to respond to a note in the Ladonia Herald, in which some latin phrases are mentioned to be somewhat worn out. There is a useful English-Latin word list on the Net, which could be referred to for new citizens. And by doing so, making it easier to come up with more creative words and phrases.
The address is as follows:
www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm

Up

The Empress of Ladonia, Betsy Thaggard from Austin, Texas reports from her corner of the world where she passes her nomad existence.
In a near future the World Reporters will have a page of their own at the Ladonian site.
You can also become a World Reporter! Be a TV-camera for the other ladonians and tell us what you see and hear where you are, whether this be New York or Mo i Rana. But please, keep your reports fairly short and relevant. Mail Vera Porad.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TEXAS
Sex and drugs in God' s country
Greetings to my fellow Ladonians ... or (as everyone thinks we say here in Texas) Howdy, ya'll! (We don't really talk that way except when tourists are around). As your Charge d'Affaires in Austin, Texas, USA, I feel it is my duty to take you on a short mental visit to what the non-athiests in these parts call "God's Country." You probably think that title sounds pretentious; I used to, too, but having lived 19 years of my life in Dallas, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys football team, I've learned to adjust my perspective. See, the Cowboys are known as "America's Team" (or were, until 1/3 of the players broke various drug- and sex-crime laws over the past couple of years), and it was said that their home playing field -- the indoor, dome-like Texas Stadium -- has a hole in its roof so God can watch his team play football.
So you see, there's a whole lot of questionable theology being thrown around this state. Most of us just blame it on the Baptists. (No flaming e-mail, please! I'm only the messenger!) Texas was for many years the largest of the United States and will be again when Alaska melts. Texas was its own country for a few years in the 1830s, and during that time, my great-great-great grandparents settled in the northeastern corner of the Republic, in what is now Ladonia, Texas. (Really!) So you see, affiliating with secession is a family tradition, one that I'm proud to carry on as a citizen (and unofficial Empress) of this Ladonia. (See Ladonia Herald, Fourth Issue, November 1996 for my credentials.)
In fact, I have just shared breakfast with two visiting citizens of Ladonia, Texas, your virtual Sister City. They report that their town has been approved as an official historical site by the Texas Historical Commission. This is a rare honor, especially in a sleepy little off-the-beaten-track town of 700 population, and it involves some kind of plaque being installed on the town square, probably during Frontier Days in July, but that's all I can explain about it. I visited there two weeks ago, and I'll send pictures when I've scanned them. Ladonia, Texas, is nearly as mythical as our European Ladonia, and I'll explain why in my next missive. For now, I'll just hint that it is partly due to poke sallet.
But I digress.
In Austin, life continues as portrayed in Richard Linklater's film "Slacker" (cf). Austin is a liberal oasis in the middle of the Southern Bible Belt, and we're also a stubborn, sometimes derogatory lot. This year, for example, we protested global warming by setting several records for cold, icky days. (Ice, snow, even sleet are major productions here because they don't happen very often, and the city is very hilly, so everyone freaks out and uses the weather as an excuse to either stay home or test their car insurance by having wrecks.)
Today (15 Feb), however, it's a sunny 68 degrees F (that's about 20 C, I think). The lakes will be crowded with pleasure-boaters, especially Town Lake, which is actually the Colorado River in disguise. On days like this, I like to e-mail my friends in Canada and the UK and let them know just why I live in Texas while they're stuck freezing their butts off until June. As I said, we Texans are a derogatory lot. Some Austinites eagerly anticipate the coming of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music, Film and Multimedia festivals (http://www.sxsw.com/sxsweek.html) next month, where destinies are sealed, hearts are broken, and eardrums are bruised by loud music and lousy sound systems in our movie theaters. The heart of Austin's party life is Sixth Street, which at its best is a semi-well-mannered Saturday night drunken brawl. SXSW only increases the bedlam and bacchanalia as we're besieged by crazed musicians, filmmakers, computer geeks, and the corresponding groupies and wanna-be's. (They don't call this place "gonzo" for nothing. Don't ask me what that means. Use your imagination.) It's what everyone thinks Texas is all about. Next installment: an illustrated report on Ladonia, Texas.
Adios, y'all
Betsy Thaggard
Citizen # 96-927,
Charge d'Affaires to Texas and unofficial Empress of Ladonia

***alis volat propriis***

Up

A POEM FROM JOHAN ANDERSSON, CUSTODIAN AND POET
Johan Andersson is a rather well-known poet and playwriter. His play "The Snake" was performed in Swedish radio on the 4th of Jan.

Livet sköljer iland
På vår strand
Krokiga
Knotiga
Obegripliga
Fjärranifrån budskap

Låter dem rulla
Vid våra fötter
Tills vi lyfter dem

De svävar i våra händer

Tiger om sina ursprung.

Vi fogar samman
Budskapen

De växer mot skyn

Svävar i varandras händer

Oklara
Krokiga
Knotiga

De reser mot himlen

I trots reser de
Bort från förklaring
Och förståelse

Ur vattnet
Från jorden
Genom luften

De
Den
Som en

Plötsligt fångad
I människors
Land

Sargad av
Eldens tand

Märkt
För att märkas

Svart för att svärtas

Oförklarad
Oförstående.

Men budskapen
Fortsätter
Rulla iland

På vår strand

I trots

Sända av livet.

Vi ställer
Inga frågor

De tiger
Om sina ursprung.

Främlingar
Som kommit i hamn

Up

At the end of the day; Hidden Orders of Magic.
Now, in deepest winter the great dog star Sirius rules the sky. I invite your imagination to the past, when her light which now enchants us still was rising up against gravity from her immense interior in the form of unspecified energy, and when one deep winter night before the Ladonian awakening local barbnarians set fire to oldest Nimis and destroyed two of its original three towers.
Last Sunday night (February 2, 1997) another fire struck Nimis and the remaining old tower comprising one fifth of present day Nimis was lost. After the first fire I had brought a nail and a brittle stone from the remains and planted them in the woods on the peninsula above to see what would happen, and the stone broke into two halves as I pressed it down into the dirt. When I then revisited the site two months later, somebody had placed a cross country orientation control post exactly between the two little stone halves, and I wrote about it on the culture page in the local newspaper.
This inspired our governor of state very much and he immediately brought some of those magical stones from Nimis home. One he threw into a pond as a private conceptual work of art. A relative of his died the same night. Next stone he threw into the bay off his village. An earthquake (Richter 4.2) occurred the following night in the bay.
So this time too I brought stones and nails from the fire site, more of them than first time, and planted them in the woods above Nimis, behind a stub alongside the little gravel road which winds up from the highway and eventually ends with a parking place next to an old farmhouse, from where a footpath takes you over the crest anddown to Ladonia on the steep northern shore. I was clearing the last sand from the burnt brittle stones out of my pocket when I suddenly noticed the headlights of another car further down the hill. That was very unusual.
At such a time on a dark winter evening I had never seen anybody up there, not even our governor of state. The trees around were lighted in a growing intensity and as the car passed I saw it was a rusty old Volvo 245 with two men in the front seat who seemed to have peculiarly small heads. I memorized and noted down the registration number, waited a little, and begun to follow the odd vehicle. But it stopped almost immediately some 200 meters ahead, just short of a sharp bend leading up to the parking place where the road ends. I pretended I only wanted to find a spot where to turn back and and did so with some resolution, whereafter I drove away downhill, but before entirely vanishing behind the slope I slowed down, turned off the engine and extinguished all lights to scout the doings of other car.
It took great pains to turn around as well, and on the very spot where it had come to a halt instead of continuing to the spaceous parkingplace just ahead. I restarted my engine and drove aside, so the men who now seemed to have repented their mission could pass, whereupon I simply followed them all the way down to the highway, and east towards Arild. They went slowly as if wishing me to overtake them, but I didn´t and they pulled over on a parking lane. I continued behind the next bend, turned back, &c. and could establish after a while that the men once more changed their route and eventually disappeared in the opposite direction away from Arild. Thereafter I alerted our governor of state and we both returned to the parking place in the woods, but by then everything was calm up there. According to the car registry the owner of the suspicious car lives in a nearby farm.
The last remains of the tower had still been smouldering on the afternoon when our governor of state had come to his daily work in Ladonia. The men with small heads must have been extremely curious about the final waste of their arson the night before, and not only do ciminals return to the site of the crime, the physical results of their efforts, being as it were a part of a greater subtle extention beyond their visible bodies, with some inspired manipulation on my part, actually had disclosed them - in a particular moment of apparently flowing time, linked to apparently burnt rocks and nails.

Up

The preceeding month I had tried to break through this apparent flow of time through experiments with the mine clearance game available in most desk computers. One was playing it in my office where working staff would disturb me from time to time. I used a 24 x 30 squares field with 359 mines (the first step out always being free the risk of subsequently hitting a mine was 0.4993). I begun by avoiding mines and really mustered my pride to the task. I jumped around the screen in large strides, consciously guided only by a certain kind of fair glow I imagined safe squares would sometimes emanate when I stared at them, and sometimes I even felt quite correctly when this imagination could find no more squares with the positively right kind of glow. After two days it could be seen that when left at ease I struck mines in 252 cases of 526, and when disturbed in 67 cases of 107 (Z = 2.66; p =0.008), thus significantly worse when my attention was claimed by my staff. Next my passion turned to what actually seemed easier, to hitting mines. First day the excess hits were 24 in 105 attempts (Chi square 5.49; p < 0.03) and second day 40 in 164 attempts (Chi square 9.76; p < 0.003), and especially the second day my chart of records announces a subjectively "energetic and tranquil mood" prior to dramatic accumulations of hits.
This all seemed very beautiful and inspiring, but soon doubts begun to appear, consuming considerable amounts of energy in sorting their consequences out, and my proud experiments were reduced to worst case studies with estimates of 3% - 6% benefits from possible unconscious memories of recently used squares and the lagging behind of an increased chance of finding a mine with considerably less flattering levels of achieved significance, and finally I had to admit that since there was no way to prove that an unconscious resonance with such a (how you might walk out of a tavern) "random walk" type of variation over time of the mines in the field did not occur, no time barrier could be reached and penetrated with a positive proof in this manner. And indeed, it has been known for some 70 years that total randomness is not common in nature, apparent random variables express themselves as the pitch fluctuation in agreeable music (Foss R, in Fractal Images, eds. Peitgen & Saupe, Springer Verlag 1988).

- And does it matter? I wrote in my diary. I dropped this frustrating "science" and went to an art museum to make ink scetches of the portrait of an artist I like very much. The sound of the pen against the paper soothed my soul, shiny black lines appeared, every single one an entity with its own character, its own story as it were, and when they became vowen together, they begun to yield a greater expression, a kind of totality that even bore a likeness to an instant of life, caught in my note book. I went out again into the snow and cold and Nordic early afternoon darkness, relieved and revivified. The world is full of miracles. Asking for statistical significance is just a demand on God for special favours to the ego.
Some years ago I made an appointment in Heathrow Airport with a woman of ascetic ways and certain powers she called "giving light". On my arrival the pilot proudly announced us to be ahead of schedule, however, a little later we were told all gates were unfortunately occupied, we had to shut engines down and wait for a bus. But no bus arrived. We had to wait a whole hour and when I finally reached the arrival hall full of apprehension, the woman was nowhere to be seen, my heart sunk, but when I made a last searching round she suddenly arrived, panting. She said she was always late.
-- If you are interested in PSI experiments just use a dice to guess odd and even numbers, my old academic psychologist and statistician friend adviced. The mine clearance experiments seemed to him a bit questionable on two accounts, first and foremost because they were according to old established learning sublimations for sexual extasy, and secondly, too many uncontrollable artifacts would be hidden in the computer program. Purity and simplicity were essential. So I tried the dice, but found it very boaring.
-- Of that I have no doubts, he mused.

Up

A long time it seemed impossible to succeed better than chance. The large patterns of mine fields had expressed a strange life of their own I had been able to deal with. But when persisting with the boaring dice, gradually I found when I was concentrating on the outcome of a throw, odd or even, that sometimes a number flashed by in my mind, and often the one that actually turned up on the dice a moment later. Last Sunday (9 Feb.) I made two concluding experiments, small in scope but difficult, and recorded the following: I held the dice, closed my eyes, and inquired, odd or even? "Odd", I felt, threw it, and got a five. Repeating the procedure, I saw six dots, thought "well, even", and got the number six. Strange, I thought, concentrated again, saw three dots, thought "odd", and got a three (probability 1/2 x 1/6 x 1/6 = 1/72). Thereafter I became exited, afraid to loose the power, and of course lost it. In a fresh second attempt I again closed my eyes, saw at first a square box, then a bud grew out of the box and formed itself as the number five, and a five I got when I threw the dice. Then I saw a two and got another five, thereafter a five and got a two, and finally a six and got a six (with the mistaken succession we could compute the probability 2/6 x 3/6 x 3/6 x 2/6 = 1/36). Of course, again my ability vanished as soon as I realized that an unusual faculty was about to emerge.
Now, I have slept a very long night and my morning is already late afternoon with golden sunrays behind the curtains of my studio. My favourite gregorian chant monks are singing from an old mid-century recording. Maybe guessing ahead of time is vanity. Maybe on the other hand, the random walk aggregations of mines in our legendary fourfoldness of Einsteinian time-space tells us something about gravity.

The way our late winter earth in this earliest feeling of spring, with twittering finches in the snow clad shrubbery outside, which is my garden, keeps swinging around our sun is maybe founded on a similar hidden principle, and the way our sun moves about among other suns, and yet more suns in our enormous unfathomably large milky way, surrounded by other similar worlds, yet more of them clustered together, beyond counting on our side and on the far side of the Great Wall in remotest outer space, all belonging together in a gentle inexplicable tendency of falling towards each other, seeking intercourse with the similar and yet at the same time are gently kept afloat in this vastest of imaginable sceneries, as data since the twenties suggest it keeps expanding - we could say around the teacup on my desk - where I sit and listen to the benedictine monks and the happy finches in my garden, enjoying the infinite love and grace of God. What happened when I threw my dices with a burinig inner quest has of course the scientific designation synchronicity (CG Jung, Eranos conference 1951, see Collected Works Vol. 8), and pushes a door ajar to the unknown in ourselves.
Time and space such as we know them are maintained by the psyche, as is our conception of the universe, and its four dimensions which seem linked with the peculiar order creating number of the psyche, the number four (ML von Franz, Number and Time, Rider 1974), the wholeness number and primitive quaternity. And beyond, any patterns of relations could be intertwined with our order creating quaternity in what is far greater than our commonly conceived and enormously vast but strangely void universe, in a bewildering chaotic manyfold and divine majesty, for us to revere and explore. And at this point, all of you fellow Ladonians and Peoples All Over the World, I bid you a fond recreation in your days as well in your nights which I trust all are as good and peaceful as you wish them to be and as they always have been!

Your Minister of Health.

Up

Frontpage (frames) | Content (no frames) | Back Issues (no frames)

CONTACT INFORMATION

You can send us e-mail or use the adress below.

Lars Vilks, temporary regent of Ladonia
Anders Löwdin, Minister of Internet

Lars Vilks
Box 1
S-260 43 Arild
Sweden

© Copyright 1997 Lars Vilks and Arrive Inter Media
Created : 1997-02-24