If you read the story of the Buddha backwards, it's about a guy who cannot be said either to exist or not exist coming down to earth surrounded by legions of supporters. They all abandon him after hearing him talk. He falls asleep and finds himself under a tree, forgetting that life is suffering. Then he undergoes the rigors of asceticism, but it ( Read more... )

I made a Max Weber playlist on iTunes this morning, per Julia's suggestion. Not working with the whole music collection here, but it was none too difficult in finding songs that work. I think listening to this playlist will get one pretty close to a complete verstehen of Weber's angry, historical precedent-listing, anti-socialist, juristically ( Read more... )

昨天太太跟我说我的日记内容让他着急着急。凄楚呀！可能太过分了，咱们徐人的思想。觉得不好意思，连一句话都不想说了。

就要跟大家说明：这个写日记的性格，这个不断地沉思“乖”有什么意思的家伙，这个怪怪的王八蛋，只是性格而已。

别着急了！喝点冰水，吃点水果，练习呼吸。我还活着，百分之百。

发现新汉字：迥。

迥迥迥迥迥。“芝加哥迥的要命啊“ ”太热，蔬菜市场太迥了” “达到成功也迥越迥、满迥迥的迥呢” 迥-更好听汉字没听过！

I own up to being a man of poor character - if you cross me, what with my short temper, I'll give you what for. I am quickly irritated and I suffer no fools. But I also suffer from exactly the converse character flaw - I am too moderate, too eager to please, too guarded, too good-natured, ill-equipped to argue, 太温柔 ( Read more... )

The hyperlinks on Harpers.org sent me to this essay by Theodore Dalrymple on how stupid the self-esteem cult is. This whole journal that he writes for - "In Character" - is ultra-conservative and 'contrarian' and traditionalist and all that. Likewise, Dalrymple's politics are totally abhorrent. But I almost agree completely with Dalrymple re: ( Read more... )

My friend Alan is really into magic. When he read Mauss's The Gift and Weber's vocational lectures, the moral of both studies, to him, was that magic is good and that people should live more magical lives. I really like talking to Alan, because he is about spreading joy and light, fantasias and wonder. He still talks back to police officers and ( Read more... )

The author is called Tony Judt, a professor of history in his 60s who came of age in the sixties, and the name of the piece, Girls! Girls! Girls! It details his sexual adventures and experiences before and on faculty, particularly about escaping being castrated from every different kind of woman there is out there, e.g., administrators, feminists ( Read more... )

Tale as old as time - some anonymous dude rises from the mists to greatness and to claim his fortune. Jude the Obscure asks, what happens to those other anonymous dudes who try to step up to the mantle ( Read more... )

In honor of moving down to the ground floor into less commodious accommodations, I wish to present some fascinating photography of German prison cells.

How much space does the modern need to live (well)? These photos lead me to think of L'Assommoir, where Gervaise moves to and subsequently adjusts to smaller and smaller living spaces until she ( Read more... )

In my attempt to train google to act more like ask jeeves, I googled "Are Brahmins picky eaters?" just to see if Indians have mean and nasty things to say about other Indians re: food habits. Nothing of interest turns up - just Westerners making fun of Brahmins for being 'notoriously fussy' and what's that all about?

There's definitely an ( Read more... )