“Mr. Lévi-Strauss […] regularly visited an antique shop on Third Avenue in Manhattan that sold artifacts from the Pacific Northwest, leaving Mr. Lévi-Strauss with the “impression that all the essentials of humanity’s artistic treasures could be found in New York.” — Claude Lévi-Strauss Dies at 100, NYT, November 2, 2009
“The “one shot, one kill” mantra that was drilled into infantrymen for decades has been replaced by training that emphasizes shooting foes multiple times. One Marine warrant officer put it this way during training that I observed at Camp Lejeune in 2006: “Anyone worth shooting once,” he said. “Is worth shooting twice.” — The M-16 Argument Heats Up, Again, NYT, C.J. CHIVERS, November 3, 2009
“For if there is one thing [Ayn] Rand’s life shows, it is the power, and peril, of unjustified self-esteem.” — “Ayn Rand’s Revenge,” NYT, ADAM KIRSCH, October 29, 2009
For Some Parents, Shouting Is the New Spanking -
“If someone yelled at you at work, you’d find that pretty jarring. We don’t apply that standard to children.”
My Friends
If I may brag for just a little bit. My friends gave me a computer to take with me to Singapore for school. What could I have done to deserve such good people in my life? It’s not the gift so much - since they know very well that I would’ve disapproved of any such extravagant gesture - but the fact that knowing this, they kept it a secret until the very end and even led me on about helping me ship my own computer… this is what warms my heart. I’m actually a little unpredictable and usually would’ve sniffed out the plan or messed it up somehow, but they persevered. They truly know me. I love these folk, and I hope they know I would do anything for them at a moment’s notice. I could do with everything gone from my life, but without my family, without these friends, I would have absolutely nothing. They say that a man can best be measured by the quality of his friends, and if that’s true then I’d be a giant in this world if I were only half as good as they are. Friends - I love you all, I miss you all already and I promise to give it everything I’ve got and then some until I return.
Synchronised blinking stops viewers missing the action -
“[M]oviegoers who sit through a 150-minute film have their eyes shut for up to 15 minutes[…] And because we tend to watch films in a similar way, moviegoers often blink in unison, researchers find.”
“The aim everywhere - not least at the leading edge of biological research - is to effect a genetic substitution[…] to achieve the linear and sequential reproduction, cloning or parthenogenesis of little celibate machines.” — Jean B.
Happenstance or Homage?
Herzog’s “Aguirre, Wrath of God” has a ship in a tree, Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” has a chopper.
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Happenstance or Homage?
Shots from Abel Gance’s “Napoleon” and David Lynch’s “Eraserhead.”