Saturday, October 13, 2018

Gulag Holocaust

You were born an original work of art. Stay original always. Originals cost more than imitations.”
― Suzy Kassem



“Your mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid.You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation
at high speed with total clarity.”
Banksy, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall


Why Eastern Europe is not about to turn pro-immigration.

From shipwrecks to suburban bunkers, Sydney hides the stories of its past – often in plain sight and RC and TF agree  ;-)


The surface beauty of Sydney is nowhere more dazzling on a calm day than just off La Peruse area. For me, La Peruse , like Little Bay, is filled not with saltwater but a magic potion that clears the head and refreshes the soul. Every time I swim into the bay, I find it hard to reconcile that the spot is less than 10km from the city centre


Views to die for at the redesigned cafe good coffee, pleasant service, soulful food The Boatshed La Perouse
A restaurant with an awesome view. Picture: Jenifer Jagielski

DESPERATELY crying out for a bit of love, this iconic restaurant, perched above a sandy beach, finally got the attention it deserved after Peter and Harry Kouros embraced the challenge of bringing The Boatshed back to its former glory, closing up shop for two years to undertake a massive renovation.
Turning the dated and drab restaurant into a stunning sun-drenched eatery with bleached woods, copper fixtures and dusty blue and white tiles wasn’t the only transformation as the menu got an overhaul as well.
Having owned a variety of seafood eateries over the past 50 years, including two at the renowned Sydney Fish Markets they have taken the dishes from bland and predictable to modern and mouth-watering. Iconic Boatshed restaurant at La Perouse reopens




Who is not fond of Jeff Bridges Who Brings “Pass the Pigs” to 'Bad Times at the El Royale'

Drew Goddard assembled one incredible line-up for his Cabin in the Woodsfollow-up, Bad Times at the El Royale. The movie stars well-known powerhouses like Jeff Bridges, but it’s also a must-see for some of the less familiar faces it features that are bound to become big names on the big screen in the near future, and two of them are Cynthia Erivo and Lewis Pullman.
Bad Times at the El Royale The Sydney Morning Herald
'Bad Times At The El Royale' Review: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo ... Deadline
Bad Times at the El Royale review – kitsch hard-boiled thriller The Guardian



How the Gulag robbed Varlam Shalamov of his humanity | Prospect Magazine

That there is no redemption or resolution here is surely one of the reasons why Shalamov never gained the widespread renown achieved by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose own account of camp life in the novel A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich shocked the world after its publication in 1962. Whereas Solzhenitsyn’s title character was straight out of the 19th-century Russian novel, Shalamov’s shifting cast of desolate figures are far more modern creations, far less literary, far less comprehensible. Solzhenitsyn’s Ivan resembles a human being; Shalamov’s heroes have had the humanity beaten out of them.





ROCKIN’ THE GULAG: A Washington journalist has deleted her Twitter account after sharing memes praising Stalin’s gulags, the Soviet prisons where millions of people were killed or starved to death. Sameera Khan, of Kremlin-funded RT, apologized for the tweets and for any offense they may have caused. RT condemned the posts and said Khan will face a disciplinary review, reported TheWrap’s John Levine.


A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is as Creepy as You Feared - The New York Times: “…The [tech] industry’s new goal? Not a computer on every desk nor a connection between every person, but something grander: a computer inside everything, connecting everyone. Cars, door locks, contact lenses, clothes, toasters, refrigerators, industrial robots, fish tanks, sex toys, light bulbs, toothbrushes, motorcycle helmets — these and other everyday objects are all on the menu for getting “smart.” Hundreds of small start-ups are taking part in this trend — known by the marketing catchphrase “the internet of things” — but like everything else in tech, the movement is led by giants, among them Amazon, Apple and Samsung….In a roboticized world, hacks would not just affect your data but could endanger your property, your life and even national security…”

How man turned his life around after Sydney Harbour Bridge suicide ...

Researchers Created ‘Quantum Artificial Life’ For the First Time Vice


Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship Areo Magazine  I think we’ve managed to link to news stories on this project, as opposed to the overview by the instigators themselves. Apologies for the delay…..



 James Mustich, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List.  Paging through this book, from beginning to end, or just browsing it, and buying the attractive-sounding titles is in fact a good (but expensive) way to find new reading.  I see no reason why such volumes should be regarded as absurd.  Right now I am on “Bradley,” and while I don’t agree with all of the selections, they are unfailingly intelligent and at least plausible.



After 17 years in the gulag, Varlam Shalamov sought a radically new form of writing. In his bleak work, days churn by and nothing progresses Darkness  

Only pessimists survived the Holocaust, and Walter Laqueur was one of them. The scholar of seemingly everything is dead, at 97  Laqueur 

Yes, utopian projects deserve deep suspicion. Moral progress is, after all, fragile. But can our highest aspiration really be a purpose-free life  


Can Xue, Love in the New Millennium.  Is she the Chinese writer most likely to next win a Nobel Prize?  “In this darkly comic novel, a group of women inhabits a world of constant surveillance, where informants lurk in the flowerbeds and false reports fly.”  Much of the story is set in a brothel, with a rotating cast of characters.  Parts remind me of The Dream of the Red Chamber, in any case this is definitely a new fictional work of note.  Here is an atypical excerpt: “He and Xiao Yuan had one thing in common: they both valued sensual pleasures.  His greatest wish was to sit in the darkened National Theater and listen to La Traviata with her.  He thought that after experiencing that atmosphere, their sex life would become satisfying.  His idea was naive; Xiao Yuan said he was “too practical.”  She added, “Sex is a black hole.  People can’t understand all of its implications within a lifetime.”

Alarmed at the progress of his research, the German nuclear physicist Felix Houtermanssent a secret telegram to America: “Hurry up. We are on the track” 

 Lessons from the Opera House debate - are we free to do our jobs?

Premier Gladys Berejiklian's decision to allow horse racing to be promoted on the Sydney Opera House sails raises a broader question: Who are we working for?




Published Thursday, July 5, 2018 | Commons Briefing papers SN01803

This Library Paper summarises what the law says on a neighbour’s use of CCTV.

Months after escaping French prison in a helicopter, gangster Redoid Faid is recaptured

French police arrest a notorious gangster who went on the run after being broken out of prison by heavily armed gunmen and escaping in a helicopter that landed in the prison grounds, police sources say.



THE WRONG READER FEEDBACK: Shashank Bengali wrote a story about the illegal trade in human organs. Then the emails began. Readers from all over the world had written — wanting to sell him their kidneys.


DIGITAL STRIP SEARCH: In New Zealand, customs officials demand your social media passwords — or you risk a $5,000 fine.
Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony CNN

The reluctant genius and the relentless promoter. Though Max Brod turned out his own books, his life was defined by the items he seized from the late Kafka's Desk