Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Wright ‘couldn’t be casual about anything
Martin Luther Was A Stout, Lusty, Physical Guy – Here’s Why That Mattered
"Luther physically embodied the Reformation. His massive size mirrored the bulky Saxon princes who protected him from Rome. Excommunicated, the rebellious priest married a former nun; he fathered children and celebrated family life as the antithesis of monasticism. He liked to eat, drink beer, and have sex, even as sin was ever present. ... Luther's physical monumentality became a positive view of the (male) body, a reflection of a positive image of Lutheranism, portraying an earthy and heroic wrestler against the Pope and Satan." … [Read More]
History's Child by Charles M. Boyer
“Everything we have been through here was the result of succumbing to the temptations of our era—to which no one is immune who has still to be struck down by the disease of putting his faith in force and retribution. Vengeance and envy are the prime motives of human behavior.”
“This book, which I have now nearly finished, may never see the light of day. There is nothing easier than to destroy a book, unless it already circulates in samizdat or has found it ways into print (as used to happen to books in the Gutenberg period of Russian history). But even if it is destroyed, it may, perhaps, not have been entirely in vain. Before being consigned to the flames, it will be read by those whose expert task it is to destroy books, to eradicate words, to stamp out thought. They will understand none of it, but perhaps somewhere in the recesses of their strange minds the idea will stick that this crazy old woman fears nothing and despises force. It will be something if they understand that much. The thought of it will be like a little pinch of salt to sprinkle on their privileged rations, or a garnishing to whet their appetite for that other literature designed to edify and instruct people of their kind, functionaries to whom nothing matters, neither life, nor man, nor the earth, nor anything—dimmed by their breath—that lights our way. Heaven help them. But will they really succeed in their task of universal destruction?”
“This book, which I have now nearly finished, may never see the light of day. There is nothing easier than to destroy a book, unless it already circulates in samizdat or has found it ways into print (as used to happen to books in the Gutenberg period of Russian history). But even if it is destroyed, it may, perhaps, not have been entirely in vain. Before being consigned to the flames, it will be read by those whose expert task it is to destroy books, to eradicate words, to stamp out thought. They will understand none of it, but perhaps somewhere in the recesses of their strange minds the idea will stick that this crazy old woman fears nothing and despises force. It will be something if they understand that much. The thought of it will be like a little pinch of salt to sprinkle on their privileged rations, or a garnishing to whet their appetite for that other literature designed to edify and instruct people of their kind, functionaries to whom nothing matters, neither life, nor man, nor the earth, nor anything—dimmed by their breath—that lights our way. Heaven help them. But will they really succeed in their task of universal destruction?”
`A Little Pinch of Salt'
The Final Days Of Oliver Sacks
On that long August afternoon a little more than two years ago, Oliver completed his notes for the book he knew he would not see. He titled it “The River of Consciousness” — the title of one of the 10 essays — and dedicated it to his longtime friend and editor at The New York Review of Books, Bob Silvers. He wrote a letter to Mr. Silvers to share this news, and within days, he received a tender letter back. (Mr. Silvers died this year.) With that, I think he felt he had done everything he could. … [Read More]
Historical analogies are simplistic, misleading, and essential. We compare because it's necessary, even inevitable Cold War
Why Writing A Book Is Very Different Than Writing For TV
"Prior to my book I had, at least in some small measure, learned how to generate ideas by myself. But there was always the instant feedback of the audience to tell me where I’d misstepped, and I’ve never created a show without a co-creator, because it’s how I (and my co-creators) like to work. So the book was a new animal." … [Read More]
Luisa Casati lived with albino blackbirds, a cheetah, and a life-size wax replica of herself. What can she teach us about thenature of bohemianism? Bohemians at the Gate
To Rorschach, the depressed suffer because their sense perception is actually too good. They’re only too aware of their own shortcomings and their responsibility for their failures, the role of luck in their successes. They’ll see a bear, a bat, a pair of legs, never a ‘tiny king from a fairy tale greeting two queens’.
Hermann Rorschach was a Swiss psychiatrist who started creating personality tests when he was bored during the First World War. In a gorgeous sanatorium by Lake Constance, he would complain to his colleagues that it was ‘the Germans’ duty to kill as many Frenchmen as possible, and the Frenchman’s duty to kill as many Germans as possible, while it’s our duty to sit here right in the middle and say “Good morning” to our schizophrenic patients every day.’ His father, Ulrich, was a painter who spent years writing a treatise on ‘the laws of form’, which he thought would apply to everything in nature, if only he could figure out what they were. His obituary in 1903 reported that he had been depressed and delusional, and that his last years were filled with ‘unspeakable torments’
Designed by an expert on Swiss phallic cults, the Rorschach test remains influential among Argentines, Japanese marriage counselors, and American courts... Imrich Rorschach Inkblot Test
Algorithm can identify suicidal people using brain scans The Verge. This study is complete crap. 17 subjects and 17 controls. Way way too few to conclude anything. Plus despite calling them “subjects” and “controls” it’s well known that study subjects tend to show results that please the researchers. The researchers must have somehow screened for people with suicidal ideation. Those people must have inferred they were hoped to produce some result when told depressing words. Think they might have been able to work themselves into some sort of upset state, particularly when the instructions were to concentrate for 30 minutes???? It really offends me when stuff like this gets picked up by the MSM as if the findings were reliable.
Stuck! The Law and Economics of Residential Stagnation Yale Law Journal (DK). “Americans are not leaving places hit by economic crises, resulting in unemployment rates and low wages that linger in these areas for decades. And people are not moving to rich regions where the highest wages are available.” Oddly, place, family, friends can be more important than the almighty dollar. What’s wrong with these people? (The author is a “sharing economy” fan.)
Intergenerational social mobility Understanding Society
Why Are Socialists Always Talking About the Working Class? In These Times. A symposium.
How To Be A Socialist Without Being An Apologist For The Atrocities Of Communist Regimes Current Affairs
Socialism is surging on college campuses Vice
Today’s opioid crisis shares chilling similarities with past drug epidemics Chicago Tribune
California’s opioid death rate is among the nation’s lowest. Experts aren’t sure why Los Angeles Times. Via Twitter: “WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED.”
Smoking Marijuana Causes ‘Complete Remission’ Of Crohn’s Disease, No Side Effects, New Study Shows Bloomberg
Antidote du jour. “A 450-pound Seal Sunbathing on the Runway Delayed Flights in Alaska”: