I tried to write something in German here; wasn’t sure if it was correct so I just ditched it. Schade.
Fact of the matter is I’m going through a kind of mini-“this is the first day of the rest of my life” feeling, as if the loose ends that had been hanging low were unexpectedly and simultaneously tied up—or rather, cut off.
Not “as if”, actually. One nagging little piece of emotional baggage in particular had been bothering me for absolutely yeeears (or did it just feel long?), and I never expected internal resolution to come that easy, so suddenly, that it would smack me up the head so hard and definitively and completely in its obviousness when it did so just a couple of days ago, so… yeah. I’m proud and happy about it. Take that, Skalomann (like Skallamann only for skalomata).
Kein Weg Zurück now then, but in a good way, perfect for what’s coming up next, i.e. having to wake up super early, follow questionable orders, enjoy rations of even more questionable quality and so on and so forth.
Re-imagining data as radioactive waste we don’t know how to safely store. Nixon in your data center. Eroom’s Law as an example of how data-driven thinking can make things worse for an entire industry. A plea to stop gratuitously collecting data and start treating it as the trade-off it is.
A talk about the corporate side of our culture of total surveillance. The odd story of how advertisers destoyed our online privacy and then found themselves swindled by robots. Six fixes that I think could restore Internet privacy. Capitalists who act like central planners, and an industry that insists on changing the world without even being able to change San Francisco.
Happy new year! I wish this is your year’s soundtrack. May you swim with the seals all the way.
Found this awesome little song from Ran Prieur who had this to say: Doctopus – Wobbegong is a garage rock masterpiece, and an example of the elusive raw and intense happy song that I mentioned a few weeks ago. This is their only great song.
This book originally lent to me by Orestis from uni. In fact, if I recall correctly, he’d borrowed it from someone else first. In a weird twist of fate, I have become that shadowy person responsible for lent books gone AWOL. The person everybody loves to hate.
It’s not hard to get what this book is all about: it’s 366 maps that are much more infographics about human life on Earth than they are maps.
Greece doesn’t rank high in almost any of these expected or unexpected lists and their respective cartographic representations, apart from the follwing two, which stuck out for me—links are to the book’s source website, Worldmapper, which contains all 366 maps included in the publication for your viewing pleasure).
“The Asian regions (Southern Asia, Eastern Asia, Asia Pacific and Japan) are where 65% of mopeds and motorbikes are driven. Mopeds are less powerful than motorbikes, having slower maximum speeds because of their smaller engines. Some mopeds can also be pedalled. This form of transport has an advantage over cars in that motorised bikes can be taken on narrow roads and paths. On the other hand the rider is more vulnerable to injury.
Malaysia and Greece have more than one motorbike / moped for every five people. Considering that some people will be too young to drive, this could be one bike per three people in the relevant age group.”
If this book could have always up-to-date info, and not stuck in 2008 at best, it would earn its 5 stars. But I’m sorry review, I’m afraid I can’t do that.
In this popular puzzle, a man has committed a crime punishable by death. He is to make a statement. If the statement is true, he is to be drowned; if the statement is false, he is to be hanged. What statement should he make to confound his executioner?
I got this book after reading The Tao Is Silent and deciding that Mr. Raymond Smullyan must be one of my favourite people out there. A logician, a magician, a pianist, a Taoist and a mathematician? (it rhymes!) What Is The Name Of This Book?(link leads to full text online, in case you’re curious—CTRL+F “Was I Fooled” to get a small taste) is a small journey through all kinds of logic puzzles, paradoxes, stories etc, most of them in the style of knights & knaves, that is puzzles in which the solver has to figure out from a series of statements which can be either always true or always false, depending on if they are made by a knight or a knave, who the knight and/or knave is.
Most puzzles in the book were based on similar themes and got a bit repetitive after a while, but really, how creative can you get with just logic, 0s and 1s that is? At this point it has to be said that lately I’ve been more interested in “irrational” puzzles, ones that have to be solved by acuteness of observation or thinking outside the box rather than clear-cut logic, i.e. those that try to trick you into blindly and thoughtlessly following logic, when using logic alone for solving the puzzle ends up being a hindrance, not a tool. I’m talking about games such as the ones Alberto from Spain taught me and I now play with groups of people whenever I get the chance.
Still, there’s plenty in What Is The Name of This Book? to make one think, and as a collection of quips, stories, anecdotes as well as logic puzzles, it does have a certain value. I would say that it’d make a great companion to Logicomix.
I’m making it my gift to dad this New Year’s; let’s see if he’s going to like it at all, him being more of a rational thinker than me and all. Maybe he can use these stories in his English classes in some way as well.
Δώρο απ’ το Λενιώ. Το έφερε στη Βουλγαρία όταν ήρθε με τα υπόλοιπα τα κορίτσια να κάνουμε τον Μινώταυρο. Μην ρωτάτε.
Ξαφνιάστηκα πολύ ευχάριστα με αυτό το βιβλιαράκι. Μέσα σε 50 μικρές σελίδες, με ταξίδεψε σε έναν άλλο κόσμο, μια άλλη εποχή που δεν είναι τόσο μακριά, όμως είναι τόσο μακριά. Οι λέξεις που δεν καταλάβαινα, σχετικά πολλές για το περιγραφικό αλλά και απλό ύφος του κειμένου όμως όπως ήταν αναμενόμενο με το διάσημο ναυτολεξιλόγιο του Καββαδία, με έκαναν να με ρουφήξει το μυστήριο πιο πολύ. Ακριβώς όπως όταν ταξιδεύεις.
Πόσο παλιό είναι το ταξίδι… Πόσο λιγότερα κάνουμε σήμερα από τους ανθρώπους του κάποτε όταν ταξιδεύουμε. Συνεχίζουμε όμως να χρησιμοποιούμε την ίδια λέξη.
Δεν θυμάμαι ποιος ήταν, αλλά κάποιος δεν είπε ότι περισσότερη σημασία απ’ αυτά που λες έχει το τι δεν λες; Νομίζω ότι το διάβασα εδώ. Με έκανε να το σκεφτώ ο Καββαδίας αυτό γερά. Και τελικά μέσα στη μια ώρα (και αν) που μου πήρε να το διαβάσω, με πήγε μέχρι το Χονγκ Κονγκ, γνώρισα κι εγώ τη Λι, πατήσαμε και οι δύο το πόδι για πρώτη φορά στη στεριά, είδα μέσα απ’ τα μάτια του Δράκου.
Σκέφτηκα να του δώσω 4 αστεράκια για το μήκος (δηλαδή ήθελα ΚΙ ΑΛΛΟ!), αλλά θα του δώσω 5 αστεράκια για το μήκος (ΓΙΑΤΙ ΗΘΕΛΑ ΚΙ ΑΛΛΟ!)
Αυτό το βιβλίο είναι προφανώς για νεότερους σε ηλικία αναγνώστες, οπότε δεν ήταν ούτε πρόκληση ούτε ιδιαίτερα καλογραμμένο ή ενδιαφέρο. Το βρήκα ως και βαρετό, κάτι που δεν μου συμβαίνει με όλα τα παιδικά βιβλία. Κάτι τέτοιες φορές σκαλώνω περισσότερο στην μετα-ανάγνωση: προσέχω την μετάφραση και τι θα έκανα διαφορετικά εγώ, ή παρακολουθώ τον τρόπο γραφής του συγγραφέα ως μέσο, και όχι την πλοκή απαραίτητα. Μου συμβαίνει και στις ταινίες αυτό καμια φορά…
Πάντως η θεματολογία προφανώς μου άρεσε: ο συγγραφέας πετάει σε κάποια φάση το πραγματικό γεγονός ότι υπάρχουν πολλές περιπτώσεις κρουσμάτων από θορυβοποιά φαντάσματα, που είναι απ’ τα πιο πολυμελετημένα παραφυσικά φαινόμενα και μεγάλο ποσοστό των υποθέσεων παραμένουν ανεξήγητες.
Τέτοια βιβλία θα παίρνω στα παιδιά μου για να τα εισαγάγω από νωρίς στο κυνήγι του παραφυσικού!
Είναι απ’ τα βιβλία που μπορεί να διάβαζα 1-2 σελίδες για τρίτη φορά και να μην θυμώμουν καν ότι το είχα διαβάσει άλλες δύο. Τόσο αδιάφορη πρόζα. Δεν ξέρω γιατί, αλλά αυτό το βιβλίο δεν βρήκε καμία επαφή μαζί μου. Καμία. Δεν μου έχει μείνει τίποτα, εκτός από το γεγονός ότι κάποιες αράδες κάνανε κρα ότι ο συγγραφέας έζησε πριν 200 χρόνια, οπότε και μπορούσες να είσαι όσο ρατσιστής ήθελες με ακόμα λιγότερες κοινωνικές επιπτώσεις από το αν έλεγες ακριβώς τα ίδια πράγματα σήμερα.
Τελικά, νόμιζα ότι θα ήταν ενδιαφέρον λόγω του τίτλου του… πόσο άδικο είχα. Και πόσο διαφορετικός είναι αυτός ο Έμερσον από τον Thoreau, με τον οποίο συχνά τον βάζουν στην ίδια κατηγορία απλά επειδή ήταν και οι δύο Αμερικάνοι και έγραφαν «ρομαντικά» για τη φύση τον 19ο αιώνα.
Σαν να βάζεις την Rowling και τον Aleister Crowley στο ίδιο ράφι στο βιβλιοπωλείο γιατί και οι δύο έγραψαν για μαγεία.
That post sums up my negative feelings about the holiday period well, so read up if you’re itching for some Xmas-bashing clichés. But it doesn’t correctly represent the way I feel about it now, or maybe ever. It’s bad, sure, but there’s some good left in it. Christmas is Darth Vader.
This time of years is a great opportunity to make and bake stuff. This time around I thought I should try making melomakarona for the first time. I followed a vegan recipe that substitutes honey with grape syrup plus another batch without syrup. I must say the results were quite satisfactory.
Then of course you have Christmas or solstice parties and family gatherings. It can get annoying explaining for a millionth time to extended family your plans, or worse, the lack thereof, but hey, free food, good food, praise for my melomakarona.
Food as gifts is a great idea actually. It doesn’t have to be expensive, you can take the time to personalize it, prepare an experience as well as a real physical thing, and it can work for both people that like having stuff around as well as not.
I just realised that I have hardly received any presents this year. I was thinking that I truly, really wouldn’t mind if I received nothing at all. Less of said stuff to worry about.
No, I’m not being honest here: If I had to say, I’d like it if somebody got me a new jacket or some smaller jeans, or a shiny new, yet unassuming, journal/notebook/sketchbook to take with me to the army as a tool for rerouting my vital energy. They say that serving in the Greek army can get very boring, but I say “how can anything get boring, when you have something to write or draw on at hand?” In fact, I expect the lack of distractions and the army environment to give me some interesting ideas and the time to carry them through.
I was also thinking of getting myself a new (used) large sensor compact digital camera, as I’ve finally missed taking pictures. But then I figured that spending so much on something which I wouldn’t get to enjoy almost at all because I’ll be in the army, is indulging on some fetish compulsive spending for no good reason, which ironically is the very definition of the festive spirit… Instead, I got a couple of rolls of colour film for my OM2n and got ready for action. Results soon to come.
A couple of final notes about Christmas:
A lot of people are noticing that the weather is acting freaky, with temperatures much closer to those we’d have at Easter rather than Christmas, and perfect sunny days to boot (and it’s not just in Europe). All this plastic snowy decorations and allusions to the cold north, home to Santa Claus, which just isn’t so cold any more, make Christmas feel even more like a simulacrum: a veneer of stuff, rituals and cultural behaviours over something that has been so far-removed from the physical world it has ended up symbolising nothing at all apart from its own mere existence. Just like Halloween.
Santa’s workshop … 19-year-old Wei works in a factory in Yiwu, China, coating polystyrene snowflakes with red powder. Inside the ‘Christmas village’ of Yiwu, there’s no snow and no elves, just 600 factories that produce 60% of all the decorations in the world. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex
