when i was in moscow, i knew many people who had lived through the stalin period. mainly the parents and grandparents of my friends. it was a fearful time and people did what they could not to be fingered. they never knew who might report them, what the consequences might be of a loose word here, an incautious observation there. as one of the writers from the nation boldly notes, this seems to be the direction that the united states is taking now. As a legal concept, can someone explain the difference between George W. Bush’s “enemy combatant” and Josef…
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If you refuse where you have always granted you invite to theft. some days you just look up from your book and find that the world is rich in reflection and sense. for me such a day was when i discovered one of the maxims of publilius servus, the first great author of mimes (circa 80 BC). very little of his writing survives apart from his maxims. but they are as applicable today as when he wrote them. the roman world was perhaps the most similar of all the ancient ones to our own. what makes us so similar? good…
Leave a Commenton my flight back to canada for a family funeral, i have at last come across something to give me a sense of pride in my nation. a happy change from the regular despair at the consumer morass and wretched architecture of modern day north america in its canadian iteration which makes up every trip back across the atlantic. the international herald tribune, as imperialist a rag as pravda, saw fit to take notice of canada in its lead story. canadians had almost become americans before 9/11, they note. but american jingoism, intolerance, christian bigotry and aggressive military action has…
1 Comment“The Queen has every right to feel insulted at the way she has been treated by Bush. The repairs will cost tens of thousands of pounds but the damage to historic and rare plants will be immense. They are still taking an inventory.” from the sunday mirror.
Leave a CommentWriting situated within the context of a personal website does not need to be as high in quality as writing that has to stand without this “support.” A piece of fiction is good if these things are irrelevant: (1) when and where it was written; (2) whether ruminations from beebo.org.
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on my second to last night in vienna, i went out to the staatsoper with anna and astrid. i can’t imagine better company for an evening at the ballet in vienna. anna is a former dancer and knows the history of the company and many of the dancers. astrid is terribly up to date on modern language german speaking theatre. my contribution would be a wide knowledge of classical ballet companies.we had some time to wait and sat together in the quite lovely café at ground level. while we were there an older lady came and sat with us. i…
2 Commentsthe worst thing about doing web development is one can never seem to leave the computer.some blame it on lousy websites with poor design and slow technology (try buying an airplane ticket online). but i think it’s more the plight of the cyberdamned. i.e. webdevelopers. if you’re not working, you’re reading. if you’re not reading, you’re banking. i have started buying books again, just to have the occasion to read something that isn’t on the screen. the more we try to do online, the more entrapped we become. umberto eco shared some interesting thoughts about technology and reading recently with…
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this is my favorite café in vienna. much of my personal life has transpired here. always important meetings. here is a picture of anna-lapin with the other anna, the last time i saw her.
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