the canyon like an ant through a conch...
The totalitarian phenomenon is not to be understood without making an allowance
for the thesis that some important part of every society consists of people
who actively want tyranny: either to exercise it themselves or
— much more mysteriously — to submit to it
~Jean-François Revel, born around this date in 1924
Some of our most important thoughts, feelings, and experiences are inexpressible. But can we know something if we ... can’t articulate it?
Should you make your “to-do” list transparent for everyone to see?
The hazing became the subject of a national scandal when a congressional investigation into the death was launched. Ultimately, congress declared that West Point was not accountable for Booz’s death, but the committee was harsh in its assessment of the academy. Congressman Edmund Driggs issued a fiery denunciation: ‘[the hazing] was atrocious, base, detestable, disgraceful, dishonourable, disreputable, heinous, ignominious, ill-famed, nefarious, odious, outrageous, scandalous, shameful, shameless, villainous, and wicked’. It was a serious embarrassment for West Point, and senior military figures pledged to mercilessly stamp out the culture of hazing.
They failed. As recently as 2015, at least 30 freshmen cadets at West Point were injured during a mass ‘pillow fight’ brawl organised by their seniors. Rumours suggested that the injuries were due to some cadets concealing heavy objects in their pillowcases. Twenty-four cadets suffered concussions.
Antipodean V Bohemian Groups - We Are All the Same ...
Some of our most important thoughts, feelings, and experiences are inexpressible. But can we know something if we ... can’t articulate it?
Should you make your “to-do” list transparent for everyone to see?
By Vlad Tarko penned brilliant biography of Elinor Ostrom, it reminds me of NSW PAC female leadership . Here are two excerpts:
She went to Beverly Hills High School, across the street from her house. “I’m very grateful for that opportunity,” she later recalled, “because 90 percent of the kids who went to Beverly Hills High School went on to college. I don’t think I would have gone to college if not for that environment.” She recalled that her “mother didn’t want me to go to college — [she] saw no reason whatsoever to do that…”“Basically I put my husband through law school,” she recalled…Her own [first] husband objected to her getting a PhD, which led her to divorce him.
This book captures the essence of Elinor Ostrom.
The Difference Between Chance And Luck
Luck is chance viewed through the spectacles of good or bad fortune. It’s really good news, at least for you, if you win the lottery, and it’s really bad news if you’re one of the passengers on the plane when it crashes. Chance, then, is the objective reality of random outcomes in the real world, while luck is a consequence of the subjective value you place on those random outcomes. Luck, we might say, is chance with a human face. Understanding this gives us a clearer view of reality, and a clearer view of reality means we can choose better courses of action.”
People are intensely loyal to groups which abuse newcomers. Why? Were those Czech Army Experiences Worse than Joining the Loyal Crown Employees or Joining the Intense Employees of Certainty of Life ...
In the autumn of 1900, Oscar Booz, a 17-year-old student at West Point military academy, was hazed by fellow cadets. Tabasco sauce was forced down his throat on three different occasions, and he was coerced into boxing a much larger student who savagely beat him. After the fight, he became ill, moved home and died.The hazing became the subject of a national scandal when a congressional investigation into the death was launched. Ultimately, congress declared that West Point was not accountable for Booz’s death, but the committee was harsh in its assessment of the academy. Congressman Edmund Driggs issued a fiery denunciation: ‘[the hazing] was atrocious, base, detestable, disgraceful, dishonourable, disreputable, heinous, ignominious, ill-famed, nefarious, odious, outrageous, scandalous, shameful, shameless, villainous, and wicked’. It was a serious embarrassment for West Point, and senior military figures pledged to mercilessly stamp out the culture of hazing.
They failed. As recently as 2015, at least 30 freshmen cadets at West Point were injured during a mass ‘pillow fight’ brawl organised by their seniors. Rumours suggested that the injuries were due to some cadets concealing heavy objects in their pillowcases. Twenty-four cadets suffered concussions.
Antipodean V Bohemian Groups - We Are All the Same ...
When You See Your Novel Translated From The Language You Wrote It In To Your Mother Tongue
“To have one’s novel translated – on one hand, an honor. On the other – you might as well be trying to have sex using another person’s body.” Now imagine that that body used to be yours, and you remember it. Boris Fishman tells the story of reading from the Russian translation of his A Replacement Life at a book tour event in Estonia.
The CIA’s Reports on Philosophers
Via the interesting and often rather amusing Twitter feed of Nolen Gertz, aphilosopher at the University of Twente, we learn of what is surely just some of the work that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has done on philosophers. (more…)
Another day, another lawsuit charging a social media company with
material support for terrorism. This time it’s Twitter and IS attacks in
Paris, Brussels [Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare; Tim Cushing, Techdirt] More: And yet another (Dallas police officer versus Twitter, Facebook, and Google; listed as one of the filing attorneys is 1-800-LAW-FIRM, no kidding, complaint h/t Eric Goldman);
