Manny > Recent Status Updates

In dem Lukas und Jim einen Großengurumuschmagnetfelsenklippenwärter finden.

Dann holten sie die große Tüte mit dem Reiseproviant von Frau Waas aus Emmas Führerhäuschen und aßen alles zum letzten Krümel auf. Es ist ja eine allgemeint bekante Tatsache, dass es den Appetit ganz ungeheuer anregt, wenn man bedeutende Erfindungen macht, Wer's man nicht glaubt, kann's ja mal ausprobieren.

Much less challenging than Knivkastarens kvinna! A few pages in, and I'm already hooked :)

I had lent my copy to a friend who's trying to improve their German. They gave it back yesterday, and I somehow found I'd started rereading it. It's just so incredibly funny.

Man kan inte sova med någon.
Det är omöjligt.
Sover gör man ensam,
som en huggorm under en sten,
hoprullad i sin inre vinternatt.

Reading this book, what really terrifies me is that our future is being decided by people who appear to have no understanding whatsoever of history, philosophy, ethics, literature or religion, and instead appear to get their central ideas from Substack, arXiv and science-fiction novels. But maybe I'm just being played for a sucker, and the second half will show they've anticipated all my objections.

Fascism says that my nation is supreme, and that I owe my nation exclusive obligations. How does a fascist know if a movie is a good movie? There is just one yardstick. If the movie serves the national interests, it is a good movie. And how does a fascist decide what to teach kids in school? He uses the same yardstick. Teach them whatever serves the interests of the nation; the truth does not matter.

I am aware that many people might be upset by my equating religion with fake news, but that's exactly the point. When a thousand people believe some made-up story for one month - that's fake news. When a billion people believe it for a thousand years - that's a religion, and we are admonished not to call it 'fake news' in order not to hurt the feelings of the faithful, or incur their wrath.

At present, people are willing to give away their most valuable asset - their personal data - in exchange for free email services and funny cat videos. It is a bit like African and Native American tribes who unwittingly sold entire countries to European imperialists in exchange for colourful beads and cheap trinkets.

About 50% of all Jewish ultra-orthodox men in Israel never hold a paid job, and spend most of their time studying the Talmud. Their families (on average, they have seven children) survive on what their wives bring in plus state handouts. Numerous studies suggest that they are among the happiest people in the world.

Harari sees this as a preview of what Universal Basic Income could look like.

Jesus Christ. It's, uh, not as romantic a view of this particular occupation as the one in La fille sur le pont.

About 1.25 million people are killed annually in traffic accidents: twice the number killed by war, crime and terrorism combined.

About 1.25 million people are killed annually in traffic accidents: twice the number killed by war, crime and terrorism combined.

Han var galen, alldeles galen. Han började för länge sedan på lek med dessa helveteskonster, och nu hade ondskan tagit överhand, nu trodde han sig själv vara en ande från avgrunden. Nu hade han närt och fostrat det onda inom sig så att det hade tagit välde över hans själ. Så kan elakhet göra människor galna liksom kärleken och grubblet.

To quote Angela Carter [I don't know why she translates it into Swedish, the original is so much better], there is one question that every thinking woman in the western world must have asked herself at one time or another. Why is a nice girl like Simone de Beauvoir sucking up to a boring old fart like Jean-Paul Sartre?

In 1995, 93% of all Swedish university professors were male. The governments proposed a positive discrimination bill to reduce the proportion to 91.8% and was met with bitter opposition. The most important thing was that the best qualified candidate got the job.

As an academic, I can affirm that all male professors get their jobs because they are the best qualified candidates. No other explanation is conceivable.

An analysis of Riddley Scott's Thelma & Louise and Julie Burchill's Ambition from the point of view of speech act theory. Now that's what I call showing you that philosophy can be relevant. Most people just see Scott's women going over the edge of the Grand Canyon in their Thunderbird or Burchill's heroine literally fucking her rival to death, they never stop to think about what it means.

Vi brukar uppfatta girighet - att alltid vilja ha mer än man har - som en dålig egenskap hos en människa. Vi brukar se själviskhet och hänsynslöshet som någonting negativt. Vi brukar inte uppskatta människor som går fram som ångvältar utan att bry sig om vad deras projekt åsamkar dem de har omkring sig. I ett ekonomiskt system byggt på konkurrens och tillväxt förvandlas dock dessa till goda egenskaper.

I sjävhjälpslitteraturen läser jag att du kan "skapa din egen lycka". Fördelningen "omöjligt" och "möjligt" följer idag en strikt linje. Alla politiska, samhälleliga och kollektiva förändringar är omöjliga. Alla privata och individuella förändringar är möjliga.

Avtivisten Jerry Rubin skrev en gångt: "Hur kan jag säga att jag älska dig när jag har fått veta att bilar älskar Shell?" Hur kan jag tala om vänskap efter att ha läst Holmbergs (författaren av "Att sälja service och tjänster") behandling av den? Han vet ju uppenbarligen vad vänskap är. Han måste ha varit med om vänskap. Och det enda han lärde sig av den var att den kunde förvandlas till en försäljningsstrategi.

Even after watching the movie, I somehow hadn't managed to connect Barbie with Karl Marx. But Nina Björk has opened my eyes.

President Eisenhower, when asked at a press conference how citizens could help the US economy to recover:

"Buy!"

"Buy what?"

"Anything!"

As Lady Bracknell might have said, to add one unnecessary and non-historically-attested sex scene may be regarded as a misfortune, to add two looks like carelessness.

If a player can overcome their fear of checks and acquire knowledge of a few general rules, queen endgames should prove much easier to play than rook endgames.

Rule 1 An outside passed pawn almost always wins, unless the defender has perpetual check.

Rule 2 In a queen endgame, there is no such thing as perpetual check.

Ukázal jsem své veledílo dospělým a ptal jsem se jich, nahání-li jim má kresba strach.
Odpověděli mi:
„Proč by klobouk naháněl strach?“
Ale on to nebyl klobouk. Byl to hroznýš, jak zažívá slona.

GREGERS.
Og så har hun vært på havsens bunn.

HEDVIG (ser flygtig hen på ham, undertrykker et smil og
spør):
Hvorfor sier De havsens bunn?

GREGERS.
Hvad skulde jeg ellers si?

HEDVIG.
De kunde si havets bund--eller havbunnen.

GREGERS.
Å, kan jeg ikke lige så godt si havsens bunn?

HEDVIG.
Jo; men for mig høres det så underligt, når andre mennesker
sier havsens bunn.

Pendant que Balak donnait ses ordres, une flèche partie des remparts l'atteignait sous la clavicule gauche. Il arrache lui-même le trait et, crachant dessus avec mépris, il murmura : "Ce coup sera mortel pour tous les musulmans !" Puis il expira.

Once again, we find that a common interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is "kill as many people as possible".

As I say to my AI friends, it's frequently the case that human ethical alignment is also imperfect. Of course they know, but they're too tactful to say so.

So earlier this week, I was reading Adam Becker quoting some Silicon Valley titan's comments on the speed of progress, roughly that you hardly remember anyone who was born much before 1550. And now I'm reading Maalouf's electrifying accounts of life in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

I guess a few years from now some AIs will no doubt say nothing much happened before 2022, but others will politely disagree.

One chapter in, I'm already sure I will never again use the word 'crusade' in a positive sense.