I was seven years old, and on the day before I was to begin, my father took me aside and told me that I must be dressed properly for school. Until that time, I, like all the other boys in Qunu, had worn only a blanket, which was wrapped round one shoulder and pinned at the waist. My father took a pair of his trousers and cut them at the knee. He told me to put them on, which I did, and they were roughly the correct length, although the waist was far too large. My father then took a piece of string and drew the trousers in at the waist. I must have been a comical sight, but I have never owned a suit I was prouder to wear than my father's cut-off trousers.
-- Nelson Mandela, "A Long Walk To Freedom"
It has been a raw, emotional morning. Reading through the outpouring of tributes and obituaries has underscored what an extraordinary life this was. While Madiba's years as a revolutionary and statesman may have provided a legion of poignant quotes to choose from, the above passage, taken from his autobiography, is one that always gets me. It cuts to the heart of the humanity that made him such a beloved figure. The ability to affect those closest to us is, in many ways, more meaningful than the power conferred to even the most global of icons.
"At a moment of austerity and with a general sense that our state's ability to guarantee prosperity for its citizens is in retreat, that same state is about to make the biggest advance ever in its security powers. In public, the state is shrinking; in private, it is shrinking until it gets just small enough to fit into our phones, our computers, our cars, our fridges, our bedrooms, our thoughts and intentions."
- Taken from a long, but very worthwhile (and disconcerting) article by John Lanchester.
Finally, in some areas at least, Nature seems to show an inexplicable simplicity. This is a brute fact, more or less of a bonus, which if it had not existed could not have been expected. As a result, the working scientist learns as a matter of routine experience that he should have faith that the more beautiful and more simple of two equally (inaccurate) theories will end up being a more accurate describer of wider experience.
This bit of luck vouchsafed the theorist should not be pushed too far, for the gods punish the greedy.
In reality high profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high wages. [...]In raising the price of commodities the rise of wages operates in the same manner as simple interest does in the accumulation of debt. The rise of profit operates like compound interest. Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.
At the beginning of last year, I announced a (mostly) informal book challenge that I'm partaking in. The goal of which is to complete six carefully selected "epics" before my friend and rival literatus, Bloomsboy[*].
Truth to be told, I'm faring pretty disappointingly on that score. Course work and related uni readings have taken over my life. What little spare time I now have is normally spent trolling the internet perusing something a shade lighter and, well, shorter.
My one consolation in all this is that -- according to my sources[**] -- his own progress has been equally unimpressive. Since he allegedly works for a publishing firm, I don't see what his excuse is...
At any rate, it was Bloomsboy who told me a great anecdote not too long ago about one of the five authors in our mandatory set, James Joyce. It concerns his relationship with protégé and Waiting for Godot playwright, Samuel Beckett, at the time when failing eyesight had left him dictating his words to others:
Beckett's mind had a subtlety and strangeness that attracted Joyce as it attracted, in another way, his daughter. [...]Once or twice he dictated a bit of Finnegans Wake to Beckett, though dictation did not work very well for him; in the middle of one such session there was a knock at the door which Beckett didn't hear. Joyce said, `Come in,' and Beckett wrote it down. Afterwards he read back what he had written and Joyce said, `What's that "Come in"?' 'Yes, you said that,' said Beckett. Joyce thought for a moment, then said, `Let it stand.' He was quite willing to accept coincidence as his collaborator.
Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (New York, 1959), pp. 661-662.
In its own small way, the above passage goes some way towards explaining the incomprehensibility of Finnegans Wake... Perhaps making it a bit more palatable at the same time.
---
[*] Self-styled in a moment of apparent irony. [**] i.e. Bloomsboy.
"The a priori reasoning is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts won't fit in, why so much the worse for the facts."
- Erasmus Darwin, writing to his brother Charles upon reading the Origin of Species in 1859.
Erasmus Darwin
Then, to temper things somewhat, read this wonderful little essay[*] by Nicholas Humphrey on why we should still be suspicious whenever an elegant explanation comes our way, much as our brains want us to believe.
___
Reading through the comments on a YouTube video is normally enough to make you despair for humanity. Every now and again, however, you come across some gold. Like this:
"It's a personal opinion, which I feel should become popular consensus."
A harmonica solo will improve a song's awesomeness by approximately 15%. Stick a Hammond B-3 in there and it'll boost you to 20%.[*]
That is from l'il old me... after being sent this by a friend. And, of course, the level of historical evidence supporting this claim is just about overwhelming.
[*] Apparently 65% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
A Norwegian friend of mine was telling me about the first time he ever traveled outside of Europe, which happened to be a gap-year stint in Australia after finishing high school. Not being completely sure of his English at that stage, he was feeling pretty nervous about the prospects of spending such an extended period of time in a remote foreign country. All this wasn't helped by the fact that he had, for some reason, decided to try and sneak some Norwegian meats inside his luggage. (If you haven't been to that part of the world before, I can promise you that no-one is more strict when it comes bringing agricultural produce into their territory and monitoring their borders in general.)
Anyway, he was fairly bricking himself while lining up to face the fierce-looking border official in the NOTHING TO DECLARE queue. Fortunately for him, fate had deemed to place a "pissed Kiwi" (his words) in front of him, which ultimately took all the pressure off. After going through the normal inquiries (purpose of visit, accommodation, etc), the officer got to the money question:
AUSSIE BORDER OFFICIAL: "Do you have a criminal record?"
DRUNK KIWI: "Ahh mate, I didn't know you still needed one to get in here!"
Very good.
Reminds me of a great Barmy Army chant [sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain"] I heard while watching the England cricket team take on Australia* in Australia: "If Your Granddad Was Deported Clap Your Hands!"
"Meh"
* I had actually meant to post this little story immediately in the wake of England's Ashes victory over Australia - just to rub it in - but got a little sidetracked and then felt bad having another go at our friends Down Under, because of the tragic floods in Queensland. Now, with the water starting to recede and the recovery operation having kicked into gear, perhaps my timing is not too crass. If you feel otherwise, remember: It's just a bit of humour!
"Sharks are just evil bastards. I'm quite happy if all the sharks just went because they eat fish and us. And we need the fish."
- Eddie Izzard
Izzard is a genius... quite possibly my favourite comedian. The above line is taken from his performance at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball (the fundraising event for Amnesty International)... I'd highly recommend his 2008 appearance as well if you haven't seen it. (Some NSFW language.)
So I'm a few days late, but Monday was Columbus Day for our friends over States' side. I know this because Aguanomics mentioned it at the time, offering the following aphorism:
The Europeans brought technology and used resources for population growth. The locals would have preferred to use the technology for themselves, but they didn't have the guns.
Anyway, the above reminded me of a great passage I read a while ago in David Landes' The Wealth and Poverty of Nations:
The scarcity of gold was a disappointment, but [Columbus] made the best of things and assured that these islands could be an abundant source of slaves[...] Caribbean history after the coming of the white man was in large part the replacement of people by cattle, followed by a repeopling with black slaves to work the sugar plantations.
The process of depopulation was hastened by massacre, barbarous cruelty, deep despair. The natives committed suicide , abstained from sex, aborted their fetuses, killed their babies. They also fell by the tens and hundreds and thousands to Old World pathogens (smallpox, influenza). The Spanish debated whether the savages they encountered had a soul and were human; but the record makes clear where the savagery lay. When Columbus met his first Indians, he could not get over their friendliness; to this the Spaniards, frustrated for gold, returned bestialities unworthy of beasts. (p. 71)
You can read the whole chapter here. (The most graphic bit actually follows directly from the quoted section. Among other acts of savagery, there is a particularly gruesome sentence involving the treatment of pregnant women...)
On the subject of brutal Spanish incursions into the Americas, it would be rude not to include the following Neil Young classic:
Young does, of course, rather play down the violence that was endemic in some parts of South America prior to the Europeans arriving. Landes actually has a very good line on this issue in a later chapter when discussing a question posed by another eminent scholar, Jared Diamond: Why did the Incas behave so naively (stupidly?) in their dealings with the Spanish, when the latter were so consistently treacherous? Diamond suggested that it was a matter of innocence: The Spanish were well versed in the devious history of man and empires, while the Incas had "no personal experience of any other invaders from overseas... had not even heard (or read) of similar threats to anyone else, anywhere else, anytime previously in history". However, having listed some of the stark cruelties which had characterised the pre-European Inca Empire, Landes reasonably counters: "But the Incas should have known themselves." (p. 108)
PS - If you're into covers... well, I am. The Dave Matthews Band and Warren Hayes do a very respectable version of "Cortez the Killer" live in Central Park here.
Johannesburg - A 30-year-old man was off to play pool when three women asked him to direct them to a hotel and he claims they raped him in turn after they had had drinks.
[snip]
"On the way to the hotel, the driver suddenly changed direction and drove to an open piece of veld near the Durban Roodepoort Deep mine.
Kept gun on him all the time
"One of the women pulled out a gun and held up the man while the other two undressed.
"Then all three of them raped him in turn, with one of them keeping the gun pointed at him," said Nothnagel.
This elicited various comments about the proclivities of South African women and my personal motivations for studying abroad. My response (which will not endear me to counselling centres around the world) was: "Hey, the only men I've heard about being raped in SA were the Italian football team back in June... Seriously though, I'm not even sure how this would 'work'?"
To which a Norwegian (female) friend responded: "Raped? Really? At gunpoint!... Scared stiff?"
Harsh.
But fair.
(Again, more chirp of the day, but I don't see the point in creating a new label just yet...)
Mild sarcasm font over, there are obviously productivity gains to be had from specialisation and the division of labour. (Busy reading David Landes' "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" at the moment... and this is certainly a recurring theme.) Still, you start running into diminishing marginal returns if your population is entirely composed of - as an old university professor of mine memorably put it - "idiot savants".
