October 2008
106 posts
What we need is to restore our self-confidence?
“The Economist does not have a vote, but if it did, it would cast it for Mr...”
– Economist
“The reality is that Wachovia’s management, including Chief Executive...”
– J Weil, on the human aspect
“One egg. Many black beetles squashed in the road. Inside they are brilliant...”
– Orwell
Struggled with presentation on climate change and America this morning — a topic not of my choosing. A trial run to my 27 yr old house brother last night revealed that my statements on causes provoked a strong response. And my ‘solution,’ that we can expect nuclear war to overtake any climatic problems as a more pressing concern was welcomed by none. I hoped to make a happier...
Before me floats an image, man or shade, Shade more than man, more image than a shade; For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth May unwind the winding path; yeats
“Blood on the steps”
– The Man Without a Face
Don’t read this if you want to continue to feel good about America.
Limits?
“Ist das der Morgen?”
The only thing worse mentioning the endorsement from hell, is mentioning it twice. Reverse psychology from ObL? From me?
“Then, as Mr. Paulson divulged to The Times this week, it turns out that even...”
– IBID
“It is starting to appear as if one of Treasury’s key rationales for the...”
– NYTimes
Tomorrow to another city, smaller, to live with a German family for a month — the recommended destination on arrival. Must intensify pursuits and find a local source of income.
The French Strike Back →
Eugen Onegin
On yestereve our man wandered to the local opera. In typical fashion, he had planned not ahead, still managing to get a lofted seat high above and without much of a view for a price that was still not cheap, although less expensive than might be expected. He arrived early, wearing a mottled grey sportcoat of special tailoring, which Chinese friends occasionally said reminded them of the...
Thanks to NS for this article, from which I offer the following two excerpts:
For the Jews, then, the Muslim Conquest, bringing rulers who practiced toleration toward them as well as toward Christians and Zoroastrians, was not unwelcome. During the first period of Muslim domination, Christians, too, discovered that they would have religious freedom, so long as they (like the Jews) did not seek to...
“Obama, for generational reasons and well as his background, epitomizes a...”
– A friend, on the appeal of the likely next president
Hell is to see the face of the God who loved you for the first time just as it fades behind the portcullis that seals your abyss: just as it fades behind the same sharp iron gate that you used to seal your heart while it still beat with vibrancy in your chest.
Griff
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who...”
– Letter to the Ephesians (ESV)
“Keep it cerebral” has been the watchword of a sort of strategic Muslim-Christian debate that was launched a year ago and is also bringing pundits together on American campuses such as Yale and Georgetown. Mustafa Ceric, Bosnia’s grand mufti, came to Cambridge to remind fellow clerics that Islam, and Muslim scholarship, has deep roots in European history. Mindful of the row he caused by...
“With 250,000 foreclosures a month (at the current rate), the damage is going to...”
– John Robb
“The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its...”
– Ben S. Bernanke
Finishing my private course evaluation. Never approached perfection, but good enough for teacher to recommend I skip the next course. My three pronged approach involves doing the course work for this course, in the afternoons doing the course work for the next course, and using most if not all time in between to memorize words through an online flashcard vehicle. I have also been attempting to...
While some readers might assume I mean ‘virtual’ in a pejorative sense, I do not. This venue is virtual, although I hope it is in some sense convertible. What I do mean to suggest is that convertibility is important, although this in various respects depends on varying possibilities as to ideal forms for humans and human society.
As for the various aspects of involvement in economies,...
When one assesses the value of any virtual product in today’s financial system, how can one assess the ‘real’ value? Buffett avers the only legitimate axis is historical, whether or not a given service has been historically convertable (fundamental analysis always has and will be, as with many other offerings of his chosen purchases), but this fails to adequately describe the...
Virtual Worlds, Virtual Wealth
The most helpful paradigm for analyzing the financial system (including present crisis) may be the creation of virtual worlds. Today I may create a virtual world on the Internet. Tomorrow a thousand persons may decide they wish to play in my world. In the beginning their purchases may be insulated from any real world system. However, as the world evolves it will likely involve some system of fees...
Der Herr… will nicht, dass jemand verloren gehe.
“Every man for himself.”
– Ford²
If I am not my brother’s keeper, whose keeper am I?
Es geht um Leben und Tod.
Continuing…
We have also a problem with the presentation of these intellectual forms, which by their nature are incomplete and more easily malleable than their lumber and stone antecedents — the choice of materials also if it be a declaration of ‘marble’ declares a more stolid structure and investment which should stand the test of some time. Can such a claim even be...
The "Other Side" on Georgia →
Economist Readers Vote Obama →
Not sure what this establishes, but interesting.
“Saw a lizard this morning, walking up the window pane. About 4” long, rather...”
– Orwell
I am aware of only minimal meta-dialogue about intellectual projects, which was a good way to end this dialogue with NS, who rightly asked me what my point was in returning dialoguing with him if I did not plan to appropriate his intellectual framework. As most dialogue (and political systems, religious belief) is generated as a function of proximity, which is function of space, which is...
WSJ | Why the US Will Stay on Top →
Spiegel | Pamuk Interview →
Is a market economy nothing more than an invitation to engage in excessive gambling? And what about the democratic principles that are so closely linked with the market economy, a concept that was used by the West to achieve dominance over the world? This vision of democracy is also at risk.
Suddenly, everything seems possible. Nobody knows which banks will suffer a meltdown and what will be...
Meant to offer some commentary on the Dalai Lama’s remarks, posted earlier, but can think of nothing but questions. Who can comment on who is or not a Muslim? Does the DL have the credibilty to make define the proper limits of what constitutes a Christian? Buddhist? Would Arafat qualify as a ‘freedom fighter’ instead of a ‘terrorist’ by the DL’s private...