honor, vengeance, and war: a review of "Host and Guest"
In the modern imagination, civilization’s antithesis is enemy tribes, intensely concerned for honor and vengeance, perpetuating endless cycles of physical violence. A civilized world means peace and global friendship, with the doings of state courts and state prisons being of little relevance or salience to most persons. Synetic Theater’s Host and Guest, adapted from Georgian [...]
Tagged: review
COB-28: bureaucracy better than spouse
Bureaucracy is always there. The paperwork never ages, it never changes, it never disappoints. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, you might as well love and cherish it because it will be with you until death. The final part your heirs are required to do for you. Love [...]
the mules' mistake
My lover’s soft eyes shine through the dark. She won’t stop crying ‘til that old cart is placed back behind the weary mules that truly don’t mind pulling a home. We’ll come to the top of the mountain. It can’t be doubted. There I’ll rest and love my big-hearted watermelon.
some peculiar legal institutions
About 2360 years ago, an influential Athenian got a law passed to help some of his friends avoid being imprisoned for not paying a debt to the city. Other Athenians subsequently charged him with legislative corruption. This case would fit easily into a twenty-first century struggle for a well-functioning republic. In support of this indictment, [...]
Tagged: antiquity
musical cross-modal couplings
Most humans and at least one parrot like to dance. That involves extracting the tempo from a song and projecting that tempo onto a regular pattern of non-sound-generating movement. That projection occurs at a low cortical level of perception-action cycles. Projection works in the opposite direction, too. Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray’s Argument to Beethoven’s [...]
Tagged: music
economists
Ph.D.’s to be in a course on the economics of transition – boards of equations occasionally quavering voice of the professor stopping apologizing for the lack of good theory in this area. If I knew what he thought that I assumed that he was thinking I would have laughed. The transition, to a Russian the [...]
modern luxury is free
Stop into Robeks smoothie shop in Arlington, Virginia, and you can pick up a copy of DC Modern Luxury for free. It’s a large-format, about-200-page, glossy magazine (cover price $5.95 per issue) that helps you figure out what to do and what to buy if you’re extremely wealthy. I picked one up when I went [...]
Tagged: advertising