StopPard and Plicka Set to Get Their Revenge

A day at Blue Mountains'  Bullabarra and memories of my erly days in Australia come rushing back ... It is rare to be on top of the hill and not experience wind to boot filled with sun and noon light dancing in the shadows of gum trees ;-)

You think Jonathan Franzen is overrated and out of touch? He's OK with that. “I go to extraordinary lengths not to hear what people are saying about me”... Moon Talking ...

When Michael Jackson debuted the moonwalk in 1983 the world was enrapt. The dance goes back farther, to the 1930s, and pops up again in the 50s, before reappearing via mimes and West Coast poppers in the 70s. Follow the historical circuitous route of an iconic move. 
Ttrnk: How the Moonwalk Works

You know of the disease in Central Europe called dancing disease ... Lots of my friends caught that disease such as soccer players Ján(ko) Korhel...
As well as the pioneers our sister Aga Imrichova and her friend Bibiana Wiesnerová, Tonka Goldbergerová, Marta Bednárová, Anna Gurgoľová, Ondrej Hrebenar, Jozo Imrich, Janko Maslonka, Fero Hrebenak, Jozo Bizub, Miro (my memory fails me, however his dad was radiotelephone v Lendaku)  Lujzia Šoltésova Chamilova Choreographer who Stole Folkloric Moves and Steps

 Mittleuropean Folklore...

Karel Plicka the photographer who loved my mamka's cooking ...

Karel Plicka More Tatranka Links 


THE window over the main door of the Bishop’s Palace in Krakow is known as the Pope’s Window. It was from here that John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyla, used to address his followers when visiting the city where he had served as archbishop during the communist regime. This week, a different pontiff is occupying the window. Pope Francis is in Poland for the church’s World Youth Day festival (actually a week, between July 25th and 31st), which is expected to draw over 1m visitors. Although the more conservative pope died in 2005, it is not clear whose is the greater presence. Asked by Polish television on Monday night about security at the event, a government official said there was a “pact with Holy Father John Paul II” to protect it. That is from Cross Purposes via The Economist, the article is interesting more generally.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: the important European thinkers of the next generation will be religious, not left-wing and secular.

       Slovak literature in translation 

       Only part of this piece from The Slovak Spectator is freely accessible (seriously ? this is a model that works for them ?) but enough to get the gist, and some good quotes, as they note that: Slovak books in the US market struggle. 
       Indeed, the first line sums things up pretty well:

English translations of Slovak books sometimes appear in the US market but interest in them is lacking.

       And they do admit that:

Regarding the US market, the whole promotion and distribution of books, which were issued in the US, depends on the publisher -- it is hard to influence it from Bratislava

       Yes ..... I guess there's only so much the Literárne informačné centrum can do, despite all that the site offers -- including conveniently also arranging authors according to their Anniversaries and Jubilees ..... 
       So 'struggle' is surely putting it mildly ..... 

       (There are only four translated-from-the-Slovak titles under review at the complete review: Peter Pišt'anek's trilogy, beginning with Rivers of Babylon, and Daniela Kapitáňová'sSamko Tále's Cemetery Book (all of them published by UK-based Garnett Press ...)). 

Markus K. Brunnermeier, Harold James, and Jean-Pierre Landau, The Euro and the Battle of Ideas

Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, Europe Isn’t Working

Philipp Ther, Europe Since 1989

Did Frank Lowy just call for lower immigration? MacroBusiness

Zbogniew Herbert once observed "what is security? A faint-hearted formula for happiness. Life without struggle.”
“The victims of Securitas--more precisely, the half-eaten victims--avoided speaking about her. Why should they? The few who had the courage to make their revelations public met with disbelief and a sense of distaste. The conviction is very strong that the misfortune of another reduces, in a way empties, the reservoir of bad fate--that another's bad luck protects us and increases our chances of survival. This salutary illusion always wins over the simple logic of facts. It will be this way forever.” A Slavic Faint Hearted formula for happiness

That is a paper on voters anger and pleasing from Amihai Glazer, here is the abstract:

A person may vote for a candidate to please citizens who prefer the same candidate, and to anger citizens who dislike the candidate. Such behavior is consistent with high turnout (though any one vote is unlikely to be decisive), with strategic voting, and with candidates adopting divergent positions.

That was circa 2008, and I am sure it was written before then, so it is time to raise the status of Amihai Glazer.  That is the same Glazer who coined Glazer’s Law, which is a rough rule of thumb for analyzing microeconomics puzzles — “It’s either taxes or fraud (or both!”).  That may be true for this election cycle as well.

Earlier this week, New York magazine published interviews with over 40 journalists about what’s wrong (and right) with the media, along with a survey sent to 113 journalists about problems in the media. The interviews are fascinating. They excoriate the media for being addicted to conflict, gorging on Trump, cutting deals and being clueless about its audience (and the rest of the country). I highly recommend reading both articles in the series — they’re really good. But I also hope someone conducts a similar project entirely at the local level and outside of major cities To get a different perspective on the media we went beyond (Sydney) way way beyond

At Last: The Smithsonian is Hiring a Beer Historian

H.L. Mencken, who died 60 years ago, was irritable, unpredictable, bigoted, brilliant — and he's as relevant as ever...  I told Youse (sic) Sooo  

Stone Temple Consulting Group – Are Links Still a Powerful Ranking Factor? (New Study), 20 July 2016 by Eric Enge: “This report will demonstrate the continuing importance that links play in rankings. [The author] share[s] data that shows that all that talk of a decline in the importance of links as a ranking factor is grossly exaggerated.”

“Never underestimate the willingness of a man to believe flattering things about himself,” said Paul Samuelson. Just ask a success about luck's role in life...  Bohemian Touches 

Let me tell you a totally true story, in which I haven't even changed any names to protect the guilty.

The scene is early Spring, 1988, Hudson dorm, University of Missouri. I woke up early one afternoon and for no good reason announced to my roommate David, "Tonight I shall drink until I puke. And you will join me." DRINKING GAME: And why I, the VodkaPundit, will not be playing

Papa's drinking lesson

What’s in a name? Apparently quite a lot, because here The Independent shares the titles of famous literary works with the title those books were originally given by the author. In a lot of cases, the difference is vast. Think… Continue Reading →

In the interview below, he says that dialogue is his strong suit, and he’s talking about playwriting, but listening to him it’s clear from whom his characters have inherited their often terrifying lucidity. So talking to this fearsomely articulate man can be a little daunting, and would be even more were he not so unfailingly polite and even kind: Ask him an awkwardly worded question, and he instinctively, helpfully offers you a much better answer to the question you should have asked ... Sir Tom Stoppard does not merely talk in complete sentences. He talks in complete paragraphs An interview with Tom Stoppard 


What does that cliché mean, anyway? Build your Bohemian language muscles by finding out

Mindfulness Has Gone Corporate—Why Has America Appropriated Buddhism for Capitalist Ends? Religion Dispatches. “In other words, mindfulness is a technique that asks Americans to quite literally sit down and shut up.”

“Chairman Michael McCaul and Senator Mark Warner introduced the Digital Security Commission Act on February, 29, 2016. The purpose of this Commission is to collectively address the larger issue of protecting national security and digital security, without letting encrypted communications become a safe haven for terrorists. This Commission brings together the most capable experts and stakeholders from law enforcement, the technology industry, the intelligence community, and privacy and civil liberties communities to discuss the challenges and advise policy makers on this complex issue. The Commission will provide recommendations on the best path forward for the security of our nation and the public safety of Americans. The Majority Staff of the House Homeland Security Committee released a new report entitled,“Going Dark, Going Forward: A Primer on the Encryption Debate.” This first Congressional in-depth analysis of the issue summarizes the Committee’s findings, based on more than 100 meetings and briefings Committee staff and Members have held with key stakeholders over the past year. In addition to providing insight into arguments on all sides of the encryption debate, the report lays the groundwork for a Commission  proposed by Homeland Security Chairman Michel McCaul (R-TX) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA).”
A one-pager of the Commission is available, here.
A section-by-sections of the Commission is available, here.


Ethics survey: Banking, media and big business on the nose