"a little more time",
from those who feel they haven't lived enough.
But enough time before a death
is the very first breath.
Dingo the Dissident
Saturday 30 June 2018
Friday 29 June 2018
Thursday 28 June 2018
It should be obvious to all,
and to every general
that there has never been
an undefeated army,
and never will be.
that there has never been
an undefeated army,
and never will be.
Wednesday 27 June 2018
Most novels
involve sexual 'betrayal',
a phenomenon which incurs more opprobrium
than shopping one's neighbours
to the secret police.
We betray each other all the time
in more-damaging ways than the merely marital.
a phenomenon which incurs more opprobrium
than shopping one's neighbours
to the secret police.
We betray each other all the time
in more-damaging ways than the merely marital.
Tuesday 26 June 2018
On 'The Modern Novel'.
Many modern novels describe the fracturing of families
in societies which are being deliberately fractured
by 'capitalist enterprise'.
I am lucky in that I never had to cope with a 'normal, nuclear' family
but was brought up by intelligent, independent-minded women.
I am lucky in that I was encouraged to read novels at an early age.
If men read novels, they tend to be thrillers
with frequent mention of breasts and guns.
But they tend to prefer 'factual' books, usually historical.
Good novels are, however, social-anthropological
(which women excel at)
and it is a great pity that they are treated as entertainment,
categorised as 'literature',
and not publicly recognised as Narrative Collections of Insights.
Since the collapse of poetry (in English, certainly) they are now
the only (necessarily oblique) accessible source of wisdom.
in societies which are being deliberately fractured
by 'capitalist enterprise'.
I am lucky in that I never had to cope with a 'normal, nuclear' family
but was brought up by intelligent, independent-minded women.
I am lucky in that I was encouraged to read novels at an early age.
If men read novels, they tend to be thrillers
with frequent mention of breasts and guns.
But they tend to prefer 'factual' books, usually historical.
Good novels are, however, social-anthropological
(which women excel at)
and it is a great pity that they are treated as entertainment,
categorised as 'literature',
and not publicly recognised as Narrative Collections of Insights.
Since the collapse of poetry (in English, certainly) they are now
the only (necessarily oblique) accessible source of wisdom.
Monday 25 June 2018
Sunday 24 June 2018
Back in the USA,
"Back in the 1960s, [New Economics Guru Milton] Friedman
envisaged a society in which we’d all be wealthy, thriving entrepreneurs.
What we got in reality was a pay cut, reduced holiday or sick leave,
a chronic skills deficit, credit-card debt and endless hours of pointless work.
If anything, the story of human capital theory in Western economies has been about
divesting in people, not the opposite."
continued in AEON >
The result is a fragmented, polarised society of loners
who are obsessed by the ethos of self-serving competitiveness.
Blindly attached to money, insecure and paranoid - no wonder
so many are so unwell today.
envisaged a society in which we’d all be wealthy, thriving entrepreneurs.
What we got in reality was a pay cut, reduced holiday or sick leave,
a chronic skills deficit, credit-card debt and endless hours of pointless work.
If anything, the story of human capital theory in Western economies has been about
divesting in people, not the opposite."
continued in AEON >
The result is a fragmented, polarised society of loners
who are obsessed by the ethos of self-serving competitiveness.
Blindly attached to money, insecure and paranoid - no wonder
so many are so unwell today.
Saturday 23 June 2018
Bordeaux (where the wine comes from)
is starting to collect via dinky street-ashtrays
the 200 million cigarette-butts/ends
that have been dropped on its streets every year.
At present, however, they are being stored in a warehouse
until the authorities decide whether to use them entire as fuel,
or to divide up the components for separate recycling.
the 200 million cigarette-butts/ends
that have been dropped on its streets every year.
At present, however, they are being stored in a warehouse
until the authorities decide whether to use them entire as fuel,
or to divide up the components for separate recycling.
Friday 22 June 2018
On Tortured (and torturing) Genius.
With great talent
comes great stress.
At last I realise that I am fortunate
in suffering from neither.
comes great stress.
At last I realise that I am fortunate
in suffering from neither.
Thursday 21 June 2018
Found in my Midsummer Cracker:
Capitalism is also totalitarian.
The manipulation of the masses
through the manipulation of debt
is so much subtler
than concentration-camps or the Gulag.
'Grip and Grin'
is, I have discovered, the neat term
applied to important public handshakes,
and not to the 'genital grab'
practised by some societies - men to men
and women to women - and, like the handshake,
signifying friendliness.
Kids quite like it,
but not hysterical American mommas
who would, of course, associate it with
a sinister kind of fake friendliness,
or with President and Commander-in-Chief Trump.
Nor is it the same anthropological phenomenon as
the grabbing of one's own crotch to ward off bad luck.
applied to important public handshakes,
and not to the 'genital grab'
practised by some societies - men to men
and women to women - and, like the handshake,
signifying friendliness.
Kids quite like it,
but not hysterical American mommas
who would, of course, associate it with
a sinister kind of fake friendliness,
or with President and Commander-in-Chief Trump.
Nor is it the same anthropological phenomenon as
the grabbing of one's own crotch to ward off bad luck.
Wednesday 20 June 2018
Tuesday 19 June 2018
Two Haikai
Any time of year
full moon is like a disc of
pitted human skin.
月
Fluttering fly-past.
That old raku bowl is a
pleasure to drink from.
楽 raku = enjoyment, fun, entertainment, comfort...
full moon is like a disc of
pitted human skin.
月
Fluttering fly-past.
That old raku bowl is a
pleasure to drink from.
楽 raku = enjoyment, fun, entertainment, comfort...
Monday 18 June 2018
Sunday 17 June 2018
On the mystery of the disappearance of the Neanderthals.
I don't think that they were all butchered
by homines 'sapientes' (and/or eaten),
but simply 'absorbed' (under pressure of rape, etc.)
by the craftier species - thus, perhaps, providing
an anti-ambitious, anti-competitive, unobsessive
(opt-out/dissident) gene, which, unfortunately,
is far too recessive.
by homines 'sapientes' (and/or eaten),
but simply 'absorbed' (under pressure of rape, etc.)
by the craftier species - thus, perhaps, providing
an anti-ambitious, anti-competitive, unobsessive
(opt-out/dissident) gene, which, unfortunately,
is far too recessive.
Saturday 16 June 2018
Friday 15 June 2018
Thursday 14 June 2018
On the Planet of the Apes-blinded-by-Self,
the problem with Love
is not that it 'alters when it alteration finds'
but that it desires
- indeed, requires -
to be requited, and if unrequited
(oh, the horror!),
It and the Lover may seem worthless -
at least for a time.
This is a childish error.
is not that it 'alters when it alteration finds'
but that it desires
- indeed, requires -
to be requited, and if unrequited
(oh, the horror!),
It and the Lover may seem worthless -
at least for a time.
This is a childish error.
Wednesday 13 June 2018
"Suffer the little children..."
Tuesday 12 June 2018
Wikipedia on the wonderful Michel Petrucciani
who was born with a debilitating bone disease:
In certain respects he considered his disability an advantage,
as he got rid of distractions like sports that other boys tended to become involved in.
And he hints that his disability was helpful in other parts of his life.
He said:
"Sometimes I think Someone Upstairs saved me from being ordinary."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUxQLU_eqfU
In certain respects he considered his disability an advantage,
as he got rid of distractions like sports that other boys tended to become involved in.
And he hints that his disability was helpful in other parts of his life.
He said:
"Sometimes I think Someone Upstairs saved me from being ordinary."
Monday 11 June 2018
One of the many useless bits of information
that the English do not know
is that nearly 99% of smashable
and effaceable religious (Catholic) art
(as well as a large number of churches,
abbeys and monasteries)
was destroyed by the recently-established
Church of England
(when Michelangelo and Cellini were alive, elsewhere)
in its hysterical, iconoclastic phase.
Yet the old liturgical musical tradition
pretty well - and uniquely - survived
and evolved to modern days.
is that nearly 99% of smashable
and effaceable religious (Catholic) art
(as well as a large number of churches,
abbeys and monasteries)
was destroyed by the recently-established
Church of England
(when Michelangelo and Cellini were alive, elsewhere)
in its hysterical, iconoclastic phase.
Yet the old liturgical musical tradition
pretty well - and uniquely - survived
and evolved to modern days.
Sunday 10 June 2018
In a world where people are defined by their employment
(or employment prospects),
the ludicrous category of 'nationality',
and the hue of their skins,
I am pleased to have rejected
my given 'nationality',
and never to have had a job.
For most of my life I've been paid to be poor
(which suits my innate frugality)
but have always regretted
my 'Caucasian' pallidness.
the ludicrous category of 'nationality',
and the hue of their skins,
I am pleased to have rejected
my given 'nationality',
and never to have had a job.
For most of my life I've been paid to be poor
(which suits my innate frugality)
but have always regretted
my 'Caucasian' pallidness.
Saturday 9 June 2018
"...he knew that most elderly people
were not wise at all
but only wore a thin veneer of cheap wisdom
as a sort of armor against the world."
- David Guterson: Snow Falling on Cedars.
but only wore a thin veneer of cheap wisdom
as a sort of armor against the world."
- David Guterson: Snow Falling on Cedars.
Friday 8 June 2018
In our culture of aggressive control
it is not surprising
that the word kind
so rarely features
when we describe others,
especially male others.
that the word kind
so rarely features
when we describe others,
especially male others.
Thursday 7 June 2018
Wednesday 6 June 2018
Lightening the mood with a picture
taken at the famous cemetery of Père-Lachaise in Paris :
an elegant combination of two motifs
rich in antique symbolism: the snuffed-out lamp,
and the ouroboros of infinity or eternal flux
- in this case, perhaps representing immortality ?
Tuesday 5 June 2018
There was a time when
amongst most of humankind
dalliances or long connections
between people of the same sex
evinced no more opprobrium,
no more excitement
than not-eating-meat.
That time, which expired less than two centuries ago
with the onslaught of European colonialism,
probably will not recur; nor will
economic vegetarianism.
dalliances or long connections
between people of the same sex
evinced no more opprobrium,
no more excitement
than not-eating-meat.
That time, which expired less than two centuries ago
with the onslaught of European colonialism,
probably will not recur; nor will
economic vegetarianism.
Monday 4 June 2018
Always aposiopetic...
When I moved into this inexpensive house
on the edge of the mediæval village of Caylus, south-west France,
mindful of all the warnings about old age,
I noted that there is no step from the street into the house,
no raised thresholds to impede a wheelchair,
and that if I had to I could live on the ground floor
which has a lavatory in both senses, kitchen,
living-room, balcony, and large study
which could easily accommodate a bed.
That said -
I could have a totally-incapacitating stroke
or massive heart-attack,
or fall off the balcony on my head...
on the edge of the mediæval village of Caylus, south-west France,
mindful of all the warnings about old age,
I noted that there is no step from the street into the house,
no raised thresholds to impede a wheelchair,
and that if I had to I could live on the ground floor
which has a lavatory in both senses, kitchen,
living-room, balcony, and large study
which could easily accommodate a bed.
That said -
I could have a totally-incapacitating stroke
or massive heart-attack,
or fall off the balcony on my head...
Sunday 3 June 2018
Saturday 2 June 2018
Friday 1 June 2018
Our destructiveness
is much more enticing
than our intelligence
or reason.
We are the cunning
rather than the intelligent primate.
The toxicity of our reason, alas!
mostly overrides our kindness.
Understanding is (perhaps)
the opposite of cleverness.
than our intelligence
or reason.
We are the cunning
rather than the intelligent primate.
The toxicity of our reason, alas!
mostly overrides our kindness.
Understanding is (perhaps)
the opposite of cleverness.
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