Luc Magerman, 'Chechiaista'

My good friend Frans (from Belgium) forwarded me an article about the passing of Luc Magerman, a most colourful and interesting character who coincidentally also wore a chechia. 

Mr Magerman taught in such an inspirational way that he inspired dozens of young people to study biology, chemistry or medicine.
He joined the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster; the church whose god looks like a tangle of spaghetti with two meatballs and a colander as headgear. "Joining the Church and becoming a pastor was his way to question the absurdity of faith in the Christian creation story," said his brother Kurt.

Famous is how he proved that human hair contains proteins by setting his beard alight. 

Mr Magerman was born in the town of Zottegem, which is worth an anecdote in it's own right: When Dutch speaking people hear the place name ‘Zottegem’, they smile because the word ‘zot’ means ‘crazy', a person who is a ‘zot’ is a fool. ‘Gem’ means ‘place’ or ‘home’, like in English place names that end on ‘-ham’ (‘-heim’ in German). ‘Zottegem' is then 'the town of the fool'.

But in old Dutch, the word ‘zot’ meant ‘sweet’, a contraction of the modern Dutch word ‘zoet’ with the same meaning. Zottegem therefore means ‘the sweet town’, ’the pleasant place'.

Thank you, Frans