Panic on the streets of London

Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be sane again?
The Leeds side-streets that you slip down
I wonder to myself
Hopes may rise on the Grasmere
But Honey Pie, you're not safe here
So you run down
To the safety of the town.
But there's Panic on the streets of Carlisle
Dublin, Dundee, Humberside.
I wonder to myself,
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play
On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down
Provincial towns you jog 'round.
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ.

The Smiths, Hang the DJ.

El mundo según Fabián Casas (I)

Porque es en los cruces donde la vida se vuelve interesante, donde la diferencia nos potencia y donde el miedo, que nos vuelve esclavos, recula para convertirse en pasión. Detesto la idea de país, el Himno Nacional y todas esas estupideces que lo único que muestran es el patetismo de querer resaltar algo que uno ya es por fatalidad, porque nació acá. Sé que la historia nos muestra que a veces los opresores y los oprimidos están construidos con el mismo barro. Por eso, en ocasiones, antes que a los seres humanos, como decía Ferdinand Céline, prefiero a los animales. Pero sí recuerdo que me sentí muy orgulloso de vivir de este lado del mundo cuando en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires se celebró la primera unión civil entre personas del mismo sexo.

Fabián Casas, Breves apuntes de autoayuda.

Dad is a serial rapist

-Dad?
-Yes, Billy?
-Everyone at school is saying things about you.
-Who is everyone?
-Like, kids, you know. Everyone.
-What are they saying?
-That you're a serial rapist. And a pervert.
-You mean, like what they painted on the house?
-Dad, did you, um... uh... with... Johnny Grasso and Ronald Farber?
-Yes.
-What did you do?
-I touched them.
-What do you mean, exactly, touched?
-I fondled them.
-What for?
-I couldn't help myself.
-What else?
-I... I unzipped myself.
-You... you mean, masturbated?
-No.
-Then what?
-I... made love.
-What do you mean?
-I fucked them.
-What was it like?
-It was... it was great.
-Would you do it again?
-Yes.
-Would... would you ever... fuck me?
-No. I'd jerk off instead.

Happines, Todd Solondz.

Siglos de honradez extrema

Ayer recorrí unos diez kilómetros por las cercanías. Pues bien, es exactamente lo mismo que en los libros de moral, que en esos pequeños libros alemanes ilustrados; todas las casas tienen aquí su papá, su Vater, extraordinariamente virtuoso y honrado. De una honradez tal que uno no se atreve a dirigirse a ellos. Por la noche toda la familia lee obras instructivas. En torno de la casita se oye soplar el viento sobre los olmos y los castaños. El sol poniente dora el tejado donde se posa la cigüeña, espectáculo sumamente poético y conmovedor. Recuerdo que mi difunto padre nos leía por la noche, a mi madre y a mi, libros semejantes, también bajo los tilos de nuestro jardín... Puedo juzgar con conocimiento de causa. Pues bien, aquí cada familia se halla en la servidumbre, ciegamente sometida al Vater. Cuando el Vater ha reunido cierta suma, manifiesta la intención de transmitir asu hijo mayor su oficio o sus tierras. Con esa intención se le niega la dote a una hija que se condena al celibato. El hijo menor se ve obligado a buscar un empleo o a trabajar a destajo y sus ganancias van a engrosar el capital paterno. Sí, esto se practica aquí, estoy bien informado. Todo ello no tiene otro móvil que la honradez, una honradez llevada al último extremo, y el hijo menor se imagina que es por honradez por lo que se le explota. ¿No es esto un ideal, cuando la misma víctima se regocija de ser llevado al sacrificio? ¿Y después?, me preguntaréis. El hijo mayor no es más feliz. Tiene en alguna parte una Amalchen, la elegida de su corazón, pero no puede casarse con ella por hacerle falta una determinada suma de dinero. Ellos también esperan por no faltar a la virtud y van al sacrificio sonriendo. Las mejillas de Amalchen se ajan, la pobre muchacha se marchita. Finalmente, al cabo de veinte años, la fortuna se ha aumentado, los florines han sido honrada y virtuosamente adquiridos. Entonces el Vater bendice la unión de su hijo mayor de cuarenta años con Amalchen, joven muchacha de treinta y cinco años, con el pecho hundido y la nariz colorada... Con esta ocasión vierte lágrimas, predica la moral y exhala acaso el último suspiro. El hijo mayor se convierte a su vez en un virtuoso Vater y vuelta a empezar. Dentro de cincuenta o sesenta años el nieto del primer Vater realizará ya un gran capital y lo transmitirá a su hijo; éste al suyo y después de cinco o seis generaciones, aparece, en fin, el barón de Rothschild en persona, Hope y Co. o sabe Dios quién... ¿No es ciertamente un espectáculo grandioso? He aquí el coronamiento de uno o dos siglos de trabajo, de perseverancia, de honradez, he aquí a dónde lleva la firmeza de carácter, la economía, la cigüeña sobre el tejado. ¿Qué más podéis pedir? Ya más alto que esto no hay nada, y esos ejemplos de virtud juzgan al mundo entero lanzando el anatema contra aquellos que no los siguen. Pues bien, prefiero más divertirme a la rusa o enriquecerme en la ruleta.

Fiodor Dostoyevski, El jugador.

Zivilisation braucht Repression

Sie haben also keine persönliche Geschichtsphilosophie?
Doch: Den Darwinismus. Ich bin kein Hegelianer. Ich glaube wirklich an den Zufall, nicht daran, dass wir Menschen uns vom Tier zu einem Engel entwickeln.
Aber natürlich gibt es Bedingungen, unter denen sich höhere Stufen der Zivilisation entwickeln. Sie haben es gerade schon erwähnt: Gleichzeitigkeit. Die Dichte großer Metropole. Und Stabilität. Es ist etwas dran an dem, was Flaubert sagte: Ich bin im Leben ein Bürger, damit ich in meiner Kunst radikal sein kann. Um ein Revolutionär zu sein, brauchen Sie Stabilität. Freud brauchte dieses bequeme bürgerliche Leben mit vielen Büchern um sich herum und mit viel Zeit, um nachzudenken. „Interessante Zeiten“ sind ein Fluch. Denn dann kommt man nicht zum Denken. Freuds Epoche war repressiv, aber sie bot diese Stabilität.

Sie wollen aber jetzt nicht der Repression das Wort reden?
Oh nein. Freud hat zwar gesagt, Zivilisation braucht Repression, aber er hat auch gesehen, dass sie ihre eigenen Probleme produziert. Ich glaube nicht, dass gute Kunst Repression braucht. Aber es gibt sowieso keine absolute Freiheit. Schauen Sie uns an!

Rüdiger Suchsland, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Ein Gespräch mit David Cronenberg.

Illusions and lies

Edmund Burke anticipated what would become one of the chief sources of the dynamism and discontent of modernity, namely the fact that beliefs -in transcendence and authority- must become accountable to reason. However, for Burke, far from arguing progress in our condition, "the Empire of light and reason" exposes us to truths we cannot bear for, he says, as powers withers away, our illusions will also fade, and this new nakedeness will leave us immensely vulnerable, exposing and revealing both to ourselves and to others the true ugliness of our condition. Scrutiny of social relations by the implacable gaze of reason can only tear down the harmonious web of meanings on which traditional power, obedience and fealty rested. To be tolerable, human existence requires myth, illusions, and lies. Only lies and illusions can make the violence of social relationships bearable. What Burke is saying is that Reason's indefatigable attempts to unmask and track down the fallacies of our beliefs will leave us shivering in the cold, for only beautiful stories -not truth- can console us.

Eva Illouz, Love, reason, irony.

Echoes of the future

There is obviously some strange correspondence between the general outline of a life and that stream of petty events which a person is constantly involved in and regards as insignificant. I can now see quite clearly that the course of my life was already set, determined before I had even begun to think seriously about the way I wanted it to turn out: I was even given a glimpse of it in simplified form. Perhaps it was an echo of the future. Or perhaps those things which we take for echoes of the future are actually its seeds, falling into the soil of life at the very moment which in distant retrospect comes to seem like an echo out of the future.

Victor Pelevin, Omon Ra.

Mannesmut und Orgasmus

Welt am Sonntag: Nehmen Sie auch an den gegenwärtigen, den sogenannten "Neuen Kriegen" anteil?

Friedrich Kittler: Einer meiner Doktoranden ist Oberstleutnant der Luftwaffe, stellvertretender Kommandant eines Geschwaders. Der hat Tornado geflogen, jetzt bringt er den Leuten den Eurofighter bei. Ende Mai geht es für ihn nach Afghanistan, wir müssen vorher noch das Rigorosum durchziehen. Der Mann vertritt eine echte Ethik des Kriegers. Er sagt, die Bundeswehroffiziere hätten großen Respekt vor den Taliban-Kommandeuren und umgekehrt. Das würde teilweise auch für die amerikanische Armee gelten, aber nur teilweise. Denn während die US Army sich an Kriegsrecht hält, kommen nachts die Special Forces, und die schießen auch Frauen und Kinder um.

Welt am Sonntag: Worüber promoviert denn Ihr Offizier?

Friedrich Kittler: Darüber, dass es Unsinn ist, den Krieg am Computer zu planen und letztlich auch als Computerspiel zu betreiben. Entscheidungen vor Ort sind nicht simulierbar.

Welt am Sonntag: Will er zurück in die Zeit, als es noch keine Computer gab?

Friedrich Kittler: Er will zurück zu Clausewitz, zur preußischen Auftragstaktik. Die funktioniert auf eigene Faust. Der Kommandant gibt das Ziel aus, und die Soldaten finden die Mittel. In der amerikanischen Armee dagegen wird mit Kadavergehorsam gedrillt. Das beschreibt auch der Jerusalemer Militärhistoriker Martin van Creveld: Ein Wehrmachtssoldat war im Zweiten Weltkrieg an Kampfkraft zehnmal stärker als ein Amerikaner.

Welt am Sonntag: Dann geht es im Krieg am Ende gar nicht um V2-Raketen und Verschlüsselungsmaschinen?

Friedrich Kittler: Es geht um Mannesmut, wenn man es so nennen will. Auch die "Aufschreibesysteme" waren wohl mal ein Akt des Mannesmutes, fürchte ich.

Welt am Sonntag: In letzter Zeit haben Sie sich vom Krieg ab- und seinem Gegenpol zugewandt, der Liebe.

Friedrich Kittler: Über die Liebe will ich im Moment nicht sprechen. Da war ich nicht immer so tapfer.

Welt am Sonntag: Was interessiert Sie an der Liebe?

Friedrich Kittler: Was mich an der Liebe interessiert hat? Der Orgasmus. Wenn man in den Augen der Partnerin nur noch das Weiße sieht, dann ist man auch selber weg. "Im schwindelnden Augenblick des Koitus sind wir alle derselbe Mensch", hat Borges einmal geschrieben.

Andreas Rosenfelder, Welt am Sonntag. "Wir haben uns selber, um daraus zu schöpfen".

(Are you also involved in the current, so-called "new wars"?
One of my PhD students is a lieutenant colonel in the Luftwaffe, acting commander of a squadron. He has flown Tornado jets, and now he's training people to fly the Eurofighter. At the end of May he's off to Afghanistan, and we have to get his doctoral viva out of the way beforehand. The man advocates a genuine warrior ethic. He says that the Bundeswehr officers have huge respect for the Taliban commanders and vice versa. This applies in part to the US army, but only in part. Because although the US army obeys the laws of war, the Special Forces come in at night and kill women and children.
What's your officer writing his PhD thesis about?
About the fact that it makes no sense to plan a war on a computer and to wage it like a computer game. In situ decisions cannot be simulated.
Does he want to return to a time when there were no computers?
He wants to return to Clausewitz and Prussian assignment tactics. These work on initiative. The commander outlines the objective and the soldiers find the means. In the US army, by contrast, it's all about drilling soldiers into slavish obedience. This is also described by the Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld: a WWII Wehrmacht soldier was ten times stronger in terms of fighting abilities than an American.
So war has nothing to do with V2 missiles and cipher machines?
It's about courage, if you can call it that. And the "Discourse Networks" were probably also an act of courage, I fear.

Recently you've moved your focus away from war and turned to the opposite pole, love.
I don't want to talk about love at the moment. I was not always so courageous there.
What interests you about love?
What interested me about love? The orgasm. When you see nothing but the whites of your partner's eyes, then you are gone yourself. "All men, in the vertiginous moment of coitus, are the same man," Borges once wrote.)

But I can pretend

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone,
But I have a light
The day is done,
I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or maybe just happy
I Think I'm just happy.

My heart is broke
But I have some glue
Help me inhale
And mend it with you
We'll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down
And have a hangover
Have a hangover.

Sit in the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn
Wake me up

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone,
But I have a light
the day is done,
I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or Maybe just happy.

Nirvana, Dumb.

Ai-yi-yi!

Marcus Bachmann plopped down on the seat next to me, in the back of the plane. He pointed at my laptop and asked if he could take a look. “All I want to know is what they’re saying about me,” he said. “Newsweek came up with the word ‘silver fox.’ Tell me what ‘silver fox’ means.”

“Do you want me to tell you honestly?” I asked.

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s something gay!” he said. “Because I’ve been called that before.” Marcus is a psychologist who runs a clinic that employs people Michele described in 2006 as “Biblical world-view counsellors,” who “reach out and try to bring the medicine of the Gospel to come and heal people.”

I explained that “silver fox” probably had more to do with the color of his hair.

“O.K., I can handle that,” he said. Tera, the assistant, assured him that it was a positive term.

“It’s better than Porky Pig,” Marcus said, with a laugh.

Marcus announced that he would now analyze everyone around him. He asked for three characteristics that a close friend might use to describe me. I demurred. He kept pushing: “So reporters are not that vulnerable?” “Maybe it’s a man thing.”

I tried to change the subject by asking him about the similarities between psychologists and journalists. But he would have none of it. “You are still asking questions about me!” he exclaimed. “That’s a trademark. Ai-yi-yi!”

Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker. Leap of Faith.

Sota una col canta el poeta

D'esquena al mar i a la muntanya; completament al marge
de l' activitat industrial; sota una col, canta el poeta:

Des d'una àrea de servei,
la meva terra
és com un parrac grapejat;
un país vençut pel davant
i pel darrere,
d'atrotinada dignitat.

Adéu turons amics,
adéu rieres,
boscos d'alzines i de roures i fagedes.
Muntanyes del meu cor,
adéu estrelles,
adéu al mar pur de cristalls i de turqueses.

Lleugerament trastocat, el poeta continua cantant:

Sona una guitarra
i el solet no vol sortir
a veure la terra promesa
com fa el seu darrer sospir.

Hola pudors d'inferns
brutes i abjectes
d'animals escorxats amb to de sang i merda.

Adéu olors d'abans:
fenc, trepadella,
d'espígol dolc i farigola a l'escudella.
Adeu amor, bonica,
la millor amiga.
Adéu rateta que escombrava l'escaleta;
I allà a sota una col
canta el poeta:
Homes i dones del cap dret, adéu per sempre.


Quimi Portet, Homes i dones del cap dret.

Steve Jobs, un model?

No diré que no era un visionari, però hi ha un corrent venerador cap a la figura de Steve Jobs que trobo exagerat. Sí, potser va ser un geni, però n’hi ha molts i n’hi ha de millors... Jobs no era el millor
exemple amb l’elitisme dels seus productes, amb una filosofia i exigència professional que sovint sotmetia i humiliava els seus treballadors, alguns amb idees bones, més obertes i no tan enfocades al negoci. De tot això en van sortir els iMacs, els iTunes, iPhones, iPads: ginys que han revo lucionat el món dels gadgets, però també han generat una falsa necessitat. En aquest cas la temptació representada per una poma mossegada (el logo d’Apple) es pot dir que no enganya a ningú. Si a més mirem de controlar tot el procés de fabricació, des del disseny fins a la venda, passant per la manufactura en naus immenses i deshumanitzades de la Xina, tot plegat converteix Apple en l’únic i absolut beneficiari dels seus productes. Un engranatge perfecte. Només falta una actualització constant i un contracte de permanència i ja tenim el client ben entabanat. Això sí, cada dos per tres surt un nou iPhone i l’anterior ja no val res. Hauràs de renovar-lo, si no cauràs en l’oblit, despenjat d’aquesta falsa elit. En aquest sentit Windows, Linux, fins i tot Android, són més per a tothom o no preten canviar a ningú. Molts ordinadors encara funcionen amb Windows XP. Segurament es deuen penjar més que el te- lèfon de l’esperança, però quin producte d’Apple encara funciona 10 anys després de la seva creació?
Apple es va fer famosa per aquell anunci del 1984 on trencava els motlles d’una societat sotmesa i dictatorial. Després de 20 anys s’ha girat la truita en contra seva, i ara els titelles són els que compren iPhones sense preguntar-se per què carai hem d’utilitzar un connector diferent de tota la resta, per què no es pot carregar música o arxius des de l’ordinador sense l’iTunes o no se’n pot canviar ni la melodia per una de nostra. Jobs era un empresari brillant, no un exemple a seguir. Voldria que els nostres fills tinguin valors més transcendents que un consumisme salvatge com a clau de l’èxit.

Arnau Galofré, carta publicada al diari ARA.

The most important tool

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Steve Jobs, Stanford Speech. (2005)

("Tener presente que pronto moriré ha sido la ayuda más importante con la que he contado para tomar las grandes decisiones de mi vida. Porque casi todo –todas las expectativas externas, todo el orgullo, el miedo a quedar mal o al error–, todas estas cosas simplemente se esfuman en presencia de la muerte, quedando sólo lo que es realmente importante. Recordar que vas a morir es la mejor manera de evitar la trampa de pensar que tienes algo que perder. Porque ya estás desnudo. No hay razón alguna para no seguir a tu corazón".)

A human-dolphin sex story

A self-described sex cult survivor, peyote enthusiast, and Wiccan, Malcolm Brenner claims to have had a nine-month sexual relationship with a female theme park dolphin in the '70s:

She began raking her teeth lightly against my arms and legs which was indescribably erotic. Some might find it frightening, I found it erotic [...]

The dolphin initiated the whole sexual thing. As I mentioned, she was in isolation—she'd be using me to satisfy her sexual needs [...]

Here is an excerpt from Wet Goddess, in which the protagonist diddles his dolphin lover while his prudish human girlfriend watches, unaware:

She rolled in my arms, bringing her head up and pushing us farther out, so my feet came off the bottom. A second later, I felt her genital slit pressing the waffled soles of my sneakers. But her efforts seemed half-hearted compared to her usual flagrance, as if she found the audience inhibiting.
Cut that out! I thought.

Ruby was gentle and circumspect, but she wouldn't stop. She stared blankly, pretending she couldn't receive me, trying to convince me that human-dolphin telepathy was a stupid fantasy I'd dreamed up while getting stoned one night.

Gawker. A man's dolphin sex memoir suddenly very popular.

Amazon customer's comment –Franklin H. Fischer– on Wet Goddes:
(I've owned a guinea pig for a couple years now. Her name is Fluffy, and I'm pretty sure she flirts with me. She squeaks enthusiastically when I pet her back, lets me feed her alfalfa sprouts by hand, and sometimes lightly nibbles on my fingers.
After reading Wet Goddess, I now know that Fluffy IS flirting with me and signaling that she wants a more intimate relationship. I told her it's time to stop playing games and let's do this if we're gonna do this. She seemed receptive, so I'm taking her out on a date this Friday. We're doing a tour of a mulching company and will sample some wood chips at the end of it. After we've had our fill, we'll go the McDonalds playland because they have those tubes you can crawl in, and I know Fluffy loves crawling thru tubes.
Look, I know people are going to judge when they see me walking around town with a gorgeous guinea pig in my arms, but whatever. They're just jealous haters who don't understand the bond one can feel with a different species.
There will be obstacles to overcome in this relationship, but there are challenges in every relationship. It's all about compromise. I'm trying to teach Fluffy to stop pooping on herself, and she's teaching me how to drink water from an upside-down bottle.)

A beast in every fighting man

“Ask them, ‘Do they understand why we shot this dude?’ ” the lieutenant told his interpreter. During their last patrol to Qualaday, soldiers in the platoon had attacked Mullah Allah Dad with rifles and a fragmentation grenade that blew off the lower halves of his legs and badly disfigured his face. The soldiers claimed that Allah Dad was trying to throw a grenade at them. Two days after the killing, however, a company commander attended a council during which the district leader announced that people believed the incident had been staged and that the Americans had planted the grenade in order to justify a murder.

“Tell them it’s important that not only the people in this village know, but the people in surrounding villages know, that this guy was shot because he took an aggressive action against coalition forces,” the lieutenant told his interpreter. “We didn’t just [expletive] come over and just shoot him randomly. We don’t do that.”

Last month, in a military courtroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., 22-year-old Jeremy Morlock confessed to participating in the premeditated murder of Mullah Allah Dad, as well as the murders of two other Afghan civilians.
[...]

One of the earliest investigations into U.S. war crimes took place in 1902, when a Senate committee agreed to examine mounting allegations of misconduct in the Philippine-American War. The conflict cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and though many of these deaths were from disease, veterans testified at Congressional hearings about rampant brutality by American soldiers. Years later, the ongoing violence in the Philippines would inspire a young George C. Marshall, on his first assignment fresh out of military school, to tell a fellow officer: “Once an army is involved in war, there is a beast in every fighting man which begins tugging at its chains. And a good officer must learn early on how to keep the beast under control, both in his men and himself.”

Luke Mogelson. A beast in the heart of every fighting man. The New York Times.

Men are finished

Women now earn the majority of college degrees. Men play video games. Women thrive in information-age jobs. Men go to prison. Women hold families together. Men watch football. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Slate/Intelligence Squared U.S. live debate series will ask and answer a fundamental question about modern society: Are men finished?
[...]
The debate proposition is "men are finished." What does that actually mean? A modern, post-industrial economy that seems better suited to women than men has led many experts to wonder if men are being permanently left behind. Education and employment statistics point to a clear and growing dominance in women's status at home and in the workplace. Are men primed for a comeback, or have the old rules changed for good?

Slate, Men are finished.

Sense servitud reiau

En nòm de Crist. Sàpie tot eth mon que deuant Nos, JAIME, pera gràcia de Diu, rei d’Aragon, de València, de Cerdenha e de Corsega e comde de Barcelona,

compareisheren Guilhèm de Montcorbau, shivalièr; Joan de Casarilh; Ramon Arnau de Castelhars; Guilhèm de Santa Maria de Cap d’Aran; Guilhèm de Montanèr, de Puig; Bernat de Castelhvaquèr; Sanç de Canal, de Canejalho, procuradors e sindics de toti es òmes e des comunautats dera nòsta Val d’Aran, pregant damb insisténcia e suplicant umilment, tant en nòm d’eri, com en des comunautats, qu’es sues libertats, franqueses e immunitats e costums observades ena nomenada Val pendent longtemps pes nòsti predecessors, mos dignèssem confirmà-les pera nòsta benignitat reiau, es quaus mos son presentades per escrit en capítols. E Nos, benignament inclinat entàs sues supliques, volent reconfortar ena justícia a toti e cadun des abitants dera nomentada Val coma naturaus e fidèus nòsti e assolidà-les en sòn estat pacific e tranquille atau com correspon ara dignitat reiau, per açò auem determinat de confirmà-les e sus bèra ua d’eres auem hèt provisions e ordenaments, atau com se dideràn ara seguida:

I

Prumèr concedim e conmfirmam eth capítol segontes eth quau es òmes dera Val d’Aran possedissen es tèrres, es vinhes, es cases, es casaus, e es arbes frutèrs, liures e francs, sense cap usatge ne servitud reiau, subvencion o precària, e que les pòden véner coma pròpies, sense eth requeriment o vènia deth senhor. Conservam, totun, tostemp entà Nos e es nòsti, sus eres eth sextèrç de blat que per cada casa mos an de dar cada un.

II

Tanben concedim eth capítol segontes eth quau an e possedisen es aigües franques e liures, e qu’en eres pòden pescar e bastir mòles e arrossar es prats en comun, sense eth requeriment dera nòsta potestat.

III

Tanben concedim eth capítol segons eth quau an e possedissen es bòsqui, e es sèuves francs e liures, e que deth madeish lòc pòden extrèir era husta, es cabirons entàs tets des cases e tota sòrta de husta entath sòn usatge e era sua conveniéncia. Tanben pòden caçà-i ancipids, o esturnids e faucons. E aqueth que prumèr tròbe es nins ds nomentadi audèths, pòt cuelhé-les des nins quan volgue. Tanben pòden caçar, enes madeishi bòsqui, ossi sanglièrs, cèrvis, e tota auta sòrta de bèsties, vené-les a qui volguen, sense eth requeriment dera nòsta potestat.

IV

Tanben concedim eth capítol segons eth quau an e possedissen s sòns peisheus e es sòns bòsqui francs e liures, e hè-ne usatge com quinsevolh cap de família hè usatge des sues pròpries causes. Tanben enes sues montanhes e peisheus pòden es sòns animaus e dalhar èrbes entar iuèrn e hèr a pàgar as òmes de l’auti lòcs vesins que talhen èrbes enes sues montanhes, e aucir anhèths des sòns peisheus o enes barratges des sòns peisheus e ds sues montanhes, e cremar es èrbes que sigueren dalhades pes òmes de d’auti parçans vesins contra era volentat ds cònsols o des jurats, sense eth requeriment dera nòsta potestat.

V

Concedim tanben eth capítol segontes eth quau es cònsols o jurats de quinsevolh lòc dera Val pòden hèr a pagar as abitants deth lòc d’a on son eri sense cap contradiccion, tant shivalièrs com escudèrs de quinsevolha categoria, o es sòns enviats, entàs sues montanhes o viles, o entàs bosqui, se treiguessen profit dera comunautat de vesins, ei a díder, des montanhes barrades e possedissen o portèssen husta o arbes enes bòsqui barradi, abantes deth temps acostumat, aquiu a on es sòns vesins en ua epòca determinada an costum de talar per mandat des cònsols o des jurats; ei a díder, que pòden aucir es anhèths o es oelhes e minjà-se-les o ben trèir de sues cases quinsevolha causa e obligà-les a redimí-les, segons que demanen e exigisquen es guanhs des excedents, e açò sense eth manament deth jutge o dera nòsta potestat.

VI

Tanben concedim eth capítol segons eth quau es òmes dera Val mos an de seguir, a nosati e as nòsti successors, en exèrcit e ena cavalcada damb es sues pròpries despenes a cargue d’eri pendent un dia. E se pera nòsta volentat o era des nòsti successors mos auessen de seguir en aguest exèrcit o cavalcada mès d’un dia, alavetz nosalti, o eth nòste lòctenent, auem de provedir ed aguesti òmes en totes es causes qu’agen de besonh.



VII

Mès sus eth capítol segontes eth quau cap òme dera nomentada Val non pòt èster capturat o retengut captiu, se pòt aufrir ua fiança sufisenta trèt que sigue manifest qu’ei un lairon, o un usurpador, o qu’age hèt un crim de lesa majestat, aurà de comparéisher, totun açò, deuant un judici es dies e es ores enes quaus eth jutge l’age citat. E se bèth un dera Val cometesse un omicidi, se non ei que lo hèsque a traïson, pòt arténher era libertat se pague sòs as amics en nòm deth mort, cossent damb era longa costum observada des d’antic, ei a díder de pagar 1000 sòus jaquesi per shivalier mòrt, o persona de categoria semblanta, 600 sòus jaquesi per òme liure o mainatge, 300 sòus jaquesi per servent e tanben per libèrt, e atau pòt evadir era responsabilitat s’er omicidi pòt èster satisfèt cossent damb era costum. Pera extraccion d’ua daga o eth lançament d’ua sageta, o d’ua lança, o d’ua pèira, o de quinsevolha auta sòrta d’arma, en tant era sang non gesque, demorarà immune ara pena deth jutge. Atau, peth benestar e tranquille estat dera nomentada Val e d’aqueri que i abiten, ordenam que sus aguestes causes se hèsque a servir era ordinacion hèta per illustre Jaime, de bona memòria, rei de Malhòrca, oncle nòste, quan auie jos eth sòn domeni aguesta Val, que la demanèrem com ua des sues leis, era quau, Nos, dam coma boma rasonabla e justa, e des d’ara damb just coneishement confirmam e aprovam.

VIII

Tanben concedim eth capítol segons eth quau quinsevolh òme dera Val se vò véner es cases, es tèrres, es vinhes, es prats, es mòles, o d’auti bens immòbles, a de requerir as sòns germàs, se les auesse, o as sòns cosins, o parents mès pròpers per linha de parentiu, per se volessen comprà-les, sense que sigue obstacle çò qu’en lengua vulgara se nomente “TORNERIA”, pòt vené-les licitament a qui volgue, encara que sigue alien ara “TORNERIA”. E dempús d’un an e un dia, cap de parent non pòt ecuperar ua causa venuda, e mès s’abantes i auesse agut requeriment per part deth venedor, e s’es familiars e parents non auessen estat requerits peth venedor dempús de jurar que non an agut coneishement dera venta hèta, que la poguen recuperar se vòlen.

IX

Sus eth capítol, totun, segons eth quau se bèth un des òmes dera Val bastís ua casa, o ua mòla, o ua vinha o sémie era tèrra e plante arbes en lòc dera comunautat de vesins, es cònsols e es jurats d’aguesti vesins, un còp convocat eth pòble e tota era comunautat de vesins, pòden des-hèir aquestes cases, aguestes mòles, aguestes vinhes e bracar es arbes, pèisher es èrbes damb es animaus, e dalhà-les e retornà-les ar usatge es vesins sense cap requeriment des jutges; atau, entà evitar er escandal que se poderie produsir, ordenam e tanben volem qu’eth nòste casterèr dera nomentada Val, damb eth requeriment des cònsols e de tota era comunautat d’aguest lòc hèsque çò qu’abantes s’a dit.

X

Tanben concedim eth capítol, segontes eth quau es òmes d’aguesta comunautat an era possesion, usatge e costum e era manèra des de hè ja tant de temps qu’era memòria des òmes non la rebrembe, que s’un òme, dempús de contrèir matrimòni, auesse convengut o hèt convèni damb era sua hemna sus causes aquerides o per aquerir, se’n gessesse bèra carga l’auràn de pagar as sòns creditors a parts iguales. E se hèn melhores o guanhs, tanben s’ac auràn de dividir a parts iguales, s’estant er un viu e er aute mòrt non an deishat hilhs. E açò tanben se manteng s’eth hilh d’ua família, o era hilha, auesse hèt un convèni damb es sòns pairs sobre bens ja aquerits o per aquerir dempús deth convèni, que s’auràn per indivisi enquia qu’eth nomentat convèni e er assentiment de cadua des parts siguen trencadi. Tanben servís çò que s’a dit s’un estranh hè un convèni o un contracte similar damb un aute estranh. Mès s’era hemna non auesse convengut damb eth sòn òme, o non auesse estat hèt convèni damb es nomentats o damb d’autes persones abantes dites, alavetz es bens dera hemna no poiràn vedé-se amendridi de cap manèra pes deutes o gravaments deth sòn òme. Açò s’enten entad aquerò que hè ath foncionament dera casa e non pas en cas de delictes u’agen etat cometudi.

XI

Sus eth capítol, totun, segontes eth quau es òmes dera nomentada Val, comunautat en temps des nòsti antecessors, auien en possesion er usatge e era costum de crear es pròpris notaris e escrivans e determinats “saigs”, s’ac exigien es sòns demerits, les podien privar des sòns cargues, respècte ara quau causa supliquèren que les siguesse integrament restituïda per règia majestat; atau nosati concedim que poguen crear notaris e remplaçà-les damb causa, mès non pòden instituïr ne méter “saigs”, ja qu’an d`èster metudi per nosati o pes nòsti oficiaus e an d’exercir era jurisdiccion reiau. Per aguest motiu, damb era escrivania dera nomentada Val ara nòsta cort.

XII

Sus eth capítol segontes eth quau es cònsols o es notables des òmes d’aguesta comunautat an e aueren era possession, er usatge, e era costum de tractar e confirmar era patz, de proïbir e méter penes e portà-les as contradictors e desobedients, sense cap requeriment, ne er assentiment nòste, ne des nòsti oficiaus, estatuïm e tanben ordenam qu’es nomentats cònsols e notables, se vòlen pòden sonque tractar e convier sus un acòrd amistós entre es discordants, mès non pòden hèr es autes causes que se contien en capítol, pr’amor que pertanhen d’ua manèra especiau ara nòsta jurisdiccion, e atau les volem e manam expedir a tràuers deth casterèr dera Val.

XIII

Tanben en çò que hè ath capítol segonts eth quau es òmes dera comunautat auien era possession, er usatge, ea costum que se quauqu’un des òmes dera nomentada comunautat, herie a un aute e trucaue damb sang o non, que se po-
desse arténher era patz e era concòrdia d’ua manera amigabla, sense que siguesse dada o aplicada era lei per part nòsta, se deuant nòste o des nòsti oficiaus non siguesse requerida, quina causa demanèren que siguesse restituïda intègrament. Atau determinam establir entath benestar e tranquille estat d’aguesta Val que sigue conservada aguesta ordinacion, èta per adés nomentat rei de Malhòrca, quan auie eth domeni dera Val e a mès, en demanà-la es òmes dera nometada Val, coma ja s’a dit, siguec acceptada per eri coma ua des sues leis, era quau tanben nosati jutjam coma bona, rasonabla e justa e, coma ja s’a dit, la confirmam.

XIV

Tanben confirmam eth capítol segons eth quau es òmes dera Val an era possession, er usatge e era costum de hèr era patz e d’auer ua trèva, d’an en an, damb eth nòble comde e Comenge e Arnau d’Ispània e damb d’auti vesins dera comunautat. Atau determinam respóner e ordenar qu’ac hèsquen, segons siguen acostumadi, en tot auer present, que se nos o ben nòsti les ordenéssem çò de contrari, dempús de dar dètz dies ad aqueth o ad aqueri damb es quaus auessen hèt era patz o aquera trèva.

XV

Tanben concedim eth capítol segontes eth quau ei e siguec costum ena Val d’Aran qu’eth jutge ordinari ecote es parts litigantes sense cap despena, ne cap salari que siguesse dat pes parts, senon qu’eth nomentat jutge jutjaue en sòn judici a cargue deth rei, en tot híger, maugrat açò, que s’eth nomentat jutge per requeriment des parts qu’auien de litigar damunt d’eth, o ben d’ua d’eres, auesse de gésser de casa sua entà anar tà un aute endret dera nomentada Val, dehòra deth lòc designat entà escotar es causes, alavetz se li a de hèr era provision e qu’aquiu madeish se hèsque çò qu’ei costum de hèr.




XVI

Concedim eth capítol segontes eth quau des deth començament e encara ara ei costum ena Val d’Aran, que se bèth un diguie o proferie bèth insult, o bèra paraula desaunèsta, com leprós, tradidor, omicida, o d’autes paraules qu’ocasionèssen mau o vergonha, trucaue a bèth un damb eth punh ena cara, o en cap, o en còs, se comprometien deuant d’uns arbitres, ecuelhuts per ua e ua auta part e decidien quina quanititat de sòs a pagar s’impausarie ad aqueth qu’auesse hèt aguest insult e injúria, cossent damb era importància e era qualitat des persones. Atau ordenam e decidim us aguestes causes, que se mantengue era nomentada ordinacion hèta peth rei de Malhòrca quan auie aguesta Val jos eth sòn domeni, qu’atau com è dit, sigue acceptada com ua des sues leis a demana des òmes dera nomentada Val, era quau tanben Nos acceptam coma bona, rasonabla e justa, e la confirmam atau coma ja se contié mès ensús.

XVII

Tanben en çò que tanh ath capítol segontes eth quau ei costum ena Val d’Aran, observada des deth començament enquia aué, qu’es cònsols dera Val dAran, amassats en lòc de costum, acostumen a constituïr e convocar era Cort dera Val, era quau, pendent un an pòt regir e encuedà-se’n des ahèrs dera nomentada Val. Atau establim qu’aguesti cònsols pòden méter e designar bères persones aunèstes entà tot açò, mès non qu’agen eth nòm de corts, senon eth de procuradors o jutges de patz, o conselhèrs dera Val.

XVIII

Tanben sus eth capítol en quau i a contengut qu’ei ua antiga costum dera Val d’Aran que quinsevolh que volgue pòt engatjar ath sòn vesin per un deute clar e reconeishut, e se non reconeishie eth deute qu’auesse convengut per pròpria paraula deuant deth jutge, un còp age estat demostrat deuant deth jutge e auese perdut en judici, aurà de hè-se cargue des depenes. Establim e odenam entà evitar que se suscite entre eri cap disputa, ço qu’adés s’a dit, sigue hèt peth nòste casterèr dera Val.

XIX

Tanben concedim eth capítol segontes eth quau ei costum que se bèth òme dera Val marchaue dera vila a on a neishut e establie era sua residéncia en ua auta, non pòt hèr us des montanhes, ne des bòsqui, ne des terrens comunaus dera vila a on a neishut e d’a on se n’a anat, ne hèr a pèisher es sòns animaus, ne arrossar era èrba, ne bracar era husta, ne explotar tèrres naues, enquia que non age eth sòn domicili o fixe era sua residéncia. E se bèth estrangèr establie era sua residéncia en bèra vila receberà era sua part comunau, com aqueth que siguec e ei hilh d’aguesta.

XX

Tanben volem e concedim qu’eth casterèr dera Val o d’auti oficiaus nòsti non se mèsclen en ofici des auti en çò que se referís a excèssi o delictes, sense compdar eth cas que sus aguestes fautes sigue reclamada deuant d’eri era Querimònia. Sonque poiràn intervier per rason deth sòn cargue, encara que non sigue reclamada era aplicación dera Querimònia enes cassi des quaus pogue seguir era pena de mòrt o era mutilacion des membres.

XXI

En çò que hè ath pagament o ath salari qu’an de percèver es notaris dera nomentada Val, creat pes proòms dera val, pes protocòus e d’autes escritures qu’agen de hèr establim e manam qu’es nomentats notaris agen e receben per ua carta d’un simple deute, ena quau non intervengue jurament, tres dinèrs jaquesi; s’era carta includís jurament, quate dinèrs dera madeisha moneda. Per convènis auràn de recéber sies dinèrs dera madeisha moneda. Per convèni damb declaracion, nau dinèrs. Per ua carta de vena o de crompa receberàn sèis dinèrs dera madeisha moneda. Per un testament qu’arribe as 500 sòus, perceberàn 18 dinèrs, e, se siguesse de mèsvquantitat, dus sòus. Tanben per cada huelha dera acta dera comunautat que li siguen agats très dinèrs, e per ua còpia dera madeisha acta, dus dinèrs per cada huelha. Entà ua auta classe d’escritures seràn utilizades es madeishes tarifes. E se calie qu’es nomentats notaris gessessen dehòra dera vila entà protestar o hèr d’auti protocòus o d’autes escritures, a mès deth salari nomentat, auràn d’èster provedits de totes es causes de besonh.

XXII

Atau donques, pera madeisha instància e suplica ds procuradors de des sindics nomentats, hèta a nosati, tant en sòn nòm, com en des comunautats d’a on son aguesti procuradors, establim, concedim e ordenam entà tostemp, per nosati e pes nòsti qu’aguesta Val, per aguest nòste estatut, sigue tostemp amassada ath nòste reine d’Aragon e ara sua corona, e ne per venta, n per donacion ne permuta, ne cap aute procediment, pogue èster de cap manèra separada, ne alienada d’aguest reine ne dera sua corona. Atau, donques, manam as procuradors, veguèrs, bailes, jutges judiciaus, delegats reiaus, jutges, atau com ath casterèr dera Val tant presents com futurs, e as sòns lòctenents, que totes e cada ua des causes epausades mès ensús, qu’an estat concedides, establides, porvedides e ordenades, que siguen plan tengudes e observades e que toti les hèsquen observar inviolablement entà tostemp e que non i contravenguen ne permeten qu’arrés i contravengue per cap motiu.

E com testimòni de totes aguestes causes, manam hèr aguesta nòsta presenta carta, corroborada damb eth sagèth dera nòsta Majestat que i penjam.

Datat en Lhèida eth dia dètz des calendes de seteme der an deth Senhor mil tres cents tretze.

Signatura de Jaime, pera gràcia de Diu, rei d’Aragon, de Valéncia, de Cerdenha e de Corcega e comde de Barcelona.

Ne son testimonis Felip de Saluci, Odon de Montcada, Guilhèm de Montcada, Berenguèr d’Angulària, Guilhèm de Cervera, Signatura de Guilhèm Llobet, escrivent deth nomentat senhor rei, eth quau peth sòn manament hèc a escríuer e la barrèc en lòc eth dia e er an prefixat.

Era Querimonia. Lleida, 10 setembre 1313.

Conceived in sin and born in corruption

One of Rajaratnam’s most enthusiastic informants was Danielle Chiesi, a former teen beauty queen from upstate New York. She worked at a hedge fund called New Castle, which was owned by Bear Stearns. A bottle blonde in her early forties, Chiesi lived alone in midtown and slept with men who gave her stock tips. She said that when she profited from such tips she felt “mentally fabulous.” By 2008, Chiesi had entered a relationship with Hector Ruiz, the chief executive of A.M.D. (Ruiz has denied that it was intimate.) Rajaratnam, hearing of Chiesi’s highly placed source, told Kumar that he had established a new inroad at the company, noting, “Your value to me is a bit diminished.”

In October, 2008, Kieran Taylor, an executive with Akamai, an Internet-services company, told Chiesi over the phone, “Danielle, I have a major present for you.”

“Drugs?” she asked. “I hope not.”

“Information, information.”

“I love you for that. When am I going to see you?”

After another phone conversation with Taylor, Chiesi told Rajaratnam, “I played him like a finely tuned piano.” She was eager to impress Rajaratnam, flirting with him as if by reflex, and passing him secrets without expecting much in return. Rajaratnam kept his distance, and declined to tell her when her information confirmed tips from other sources. After receiving one tip, he warned, “We got to keep this radio silence.”

“That is my pleasure,” Chiesi said.

“Not even to your little boyfriends, you know?”

“Believe me, I don’t have any friends.”

Rajaratnam’s view of human nature was not so different from that of Willie Stark, in “All the King’s Men”: “Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud.”

[...]

A month after Rajaratnam’s arrest, Bharara gave an unusually dark speech at N.Y.U.’s law school, speaking of “epic frauds surfacing with increasing frequency.” He noted, “There is a lack of faith in the economic system; a lack of belief in the markets; and a lack of trust that the playing field is level.” He made no apologies for ferreting out insider trading by using wiretaps, a practice that was unpopular on Wall Street. “When sophisticated business people begin to adopt the methods of common criminals, we have no choice but to treat them as such,” he said.

[...]

One day, in the eighth-floor cafeteria, I noticed Rajaratnam standing alone by a refrigerator case, contemplating the beverage choices. By unspoken agreement, reporters had refrained from approaching him, but it was a chance that seemed unlikely to come again. In court that day, he had been carrying a small paperback. I walked over and asked what he was reading.

Rajaratnam recoiled. “Why?”

“I saw you had a book. I just wondered what it was.”

He smiled in a shy way that seemed self-protective. “No, it was just some papers.”

In a mere ten seconds, Rajaratnam had managed to lie. I didn’t blame him. I was sorry that I’d broken the invisible barrier. He was facing the end of his freedom, and it was a kind of cruelty to make him engage.

George Packer, The New Yorker. A dirty business.

Let the weapons flow

Bin Laden was George senior`s clan
Not so long ago
Set George up
With a retirement plan
Lots of low tax , Doe
Go down White House
Way down in pay-off land
Tell the
CIA
Leave the Saudis alone.

There is oil and gas
In Uzbekistan
Oil and gas must flow
So we depose the taliban
Weirdoes` summer go
Bend down
Congress
Kneel down and lend a hand
Tell the people
Liberty must go.

There is more to gain
In war then peace
Let the weapons flow
Destabilize the Middle East
Enrich the CEO
Go down brother
Way down on florida`s sand
Tell the
Justices
Not to let my people vote.

The VP (= Vice President) had a heart attack
Oily blood , you know
While he`s still here
Let`s bomb Iraq
Give the rubes a show
Lie down, people
Lay down your Bill of Rights
Tell
James Madison
We had to let those amendments go.

The opium crop was blown away
Let them poppies grow
Thanks to US troops
It`s back today
Only goes to show
Go down
Wall Street
Sell off my shares today
Tell my broker
Put it it all in blow.

The Fugs, Go down Congress.

Dysfunctional electorate

[...] When you’re scientifically literate, the world looks different to you. It’s a particular way of questioning what you see and hear. When empowered by this state of mind, objective realities matter. These are the truths of the world that exist outside of whatever your belief system tells you.
One objective reality is that our government doesn’t work, not because we have dysfunctional politicians, but because we have dysfunctional voters. As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, If I were President...

Without a clue

I worked freelance at The Aspen Times as a nightlife correspondent: seven hundred words for fifty bucks, an article a month. Then I thought, Hey dummy, you published with The Aspen Times, you should go to New York and write for their Times! It didn’t work out. I lived with my parents on Long Island and delivered Chinese food. To avoid the embarrassment of being seen doing this, I took a gig at a restaurant two towns over. My first day, a girl opens her door to me, and it’s someone I went to summer camp with. “Darin,” she says, somehow unsurprised to find me on her doorstep. “Good timing. Come in, I just ordered Chinese food.” I told her I knew, I knew.

I finally got a job at a financial technology newsletter, where I wrote stories with openings like: “Morgan Stanley is reported to be buying the Telerate trading platform to replace its Thomson real-time, turning from Unix to tcb/ip servers, with four hundred real-time end users.” I never bothered to learn what any of that meant; I wanted to keep my mind free for fiction. I was going to write, write, write. I thought I’d be fired instantly. When my boss said, “Telerate’s TIB is in trouble with its real-time market data platform—find out if data delivery is ... ,” I didn’t know whom to call, what to ask, even what I was supposed to do if I found out. Some kind woman gave me a list of questions to ask, and some numbers to call. Three years I worked there, interviewing people without a clue what I was asking.

Darin Strauss, The Paris Review. Delivering Chinese.

The moral hierarchy

Ostap Karmondi: A popular modern Russian writer, Viktor Pelevin, has said that the main character of much of modern cinema and pop-literature—all of pop-culture—is a black briefcase full of money. We mostly follow its fate, and the fates of the other characters depend on it.

David Foster Wallace: [...] One consequence of what American scholars call a post-modern era is that everyone has seen so many performances, that American viewers and American readers, we simply assume now that everything is a performance and it’s strategic and it’s tactical. It’s a very sad situation and I think the chances are that nations go through periods of great idealism and great cynicism, and that America and Europe, at least Western Europe right now, are in periods of great cynicism.

DFW: For someone like me who grew up in the sixties at the height of the Cold War and whose consciousness was formed by, “we are the good guy and there’s one great looming dark enemy and that’s the Soviet Union,” the idea of waking up to the fact that in today’s world very possibly we are the villain, we are the dark force, to begin to see ourselves a little bit through the eyes of people in other countries—you can imagine how difficult that is for Americans to do.

OK: Let’s talk about good times and bad times. It’s a common belief that we have some moral progress, some social progress, some political progress. But looking at the twentieth century it seems that it was the cruelest century of them all. It’s unbelievable what people did to other people and what we still do to animals. We’ve actually built concentration camps for cows and chickens who live only to be killed and it structures their entire lives. Do you believe in social or moral progress? Or maybe you disagree with what I’ve just said and you don’t think that the picture is so dark?

DFW: It is certainly true that as technology has progressed and economic mechanisms have progressed, it is increasingly possible to perpetrate terrible, terrible cruelties on other human beings and on animals. You and I, I think, agree that one of the great unspoken horrors of modern capitalism is the phenomenon of what’s known as “factory farming.” Here in America, because it’s cheapest, animals are raised in such large numbers, in such close captivity, in such miserable conditions that if you assume that they have nervous system and are capable of suffering, it is the great horror of America right now. It’s not a view that most Americans are very interested in—most Americans believe that there’s a moral hierarchy and the needs of people come first.

Ostap Karmodi, The New York Review of Books. An interview with David Foster Wallace.

A psycopath walks into a room

Robert Hare, the eminent Canadian psychologist who invented the psychopath checklist, ... recently announced that you're four times more likely to find a psychopath at the top of the corporate ladder than you are walking around in the janitor's office...
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Picture a psychopath and you might think of Norman Bates. But Ronson says successful businessmen can also score high on the checklist. While researching his book, Ronson visited the Florida home of Al Dunlap — known as "Chainsaw Al" — who as CEO of appliance maker Sunbeam was notorious for his gleeful fondness for firing people and shutting down factories.

"So I turned up at his house, and it was full of sculptures of predatory animals," Ronson says. "And he immediately started to talk about how he believed in the predatory spirit, which was word for word what Bob Hare writes about in the checklist: Look out for their belief in the predatory spirit."

NPR. A psycopath walks into a room. Can you tell?

Wohl kaum überlebt

Einen Schritt weiter geht der britische Paläontologe Simon Conway Morris von der University of Cambridge. Wenn Aliens existierten, so würden sie nicht nur ähnlich aussehen wie wir, sondern vermutlich auch ähnlich denken, argumentiert er unter Verweis auf die starke Konvergenz der Evolution. Für Morris spricht das allerdings nicht für, sondern gegen die Existenz solcher Wesen. Anderenfalls müsse man davon ausgehen, dass zumindest einige dieser Zivilisationen die Fähigkeit entwickelt hätten, unserer Erde einen Besuch abzustatten. Das hätte die Menschheit wohl kaum überlebt. Morris wirft deshalb die Frage auf, was schlimmer sei: die Vorstellung, allein im Universum zu sein, oder jene, uns selbst zu begegnen.

Christian Speicher, Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Die Anderen und wir.

A human cannonball

There was an Air Force pilot named Mike Collins, a nephew of former Army Chief of Staff J. Lawton Collins. Mike Collins had undergone eleven weeks of combat training at Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas, and in that eleven weeks twenty-two of his fellow trainees had died in accidents, which was an extraordinary rate of two per week. Then there was a test pilot, Bill Bridgeman. In 1952, when Bridgeman was flying at Edwards Air Force Base, sixty-two Air Force pilots died in the course of thirty-six weeks of training, an extraordinary rate of 1. 7 per week. Those figures were for fighter-pilot trainees only; they did not include the test pilots, Bridgeman's own confreres, who were dying quite regularly enough.
Extraordinary, to be sure; except that every veteran of flying small high-performance jets seemed to have experienced these bad strings.

In time, the Navy would compile statistics showing that for a career Navy pilot, i. e. , one who intended to keep flying for twenty years as Conrad did, there was a 23 percent probability that he would die in an aircraft accident. This did not even include combat deaths, since the military did not classify death in combat as accidental. Furthermore, there was a better than even chance, a 56 percent probability, to be exact, that at some point a career Navy pilot would have to eject from his aircraft and attempt to come down by parachute. In the era of jet fighters, ejection meant being exploded out of the cockpit by a nitroglycerine charge, like a human cannonball. The ejection itself was so hazardous—men lost knees, arms, and their lives on the rim of the cockpit or had the skin torn off their faces when they hit the "wall" of air outside—that many pilots chose to wrestle their aircraft to the ground rather than try it… and died that way instead.

Tom Wolfe, The right stuff.