-- L.U.G. --

A magnificent collection of music from the band London Utter Ground -- L.U.G. --


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaxitcquYRA

Dilige

Augustine was right again, as situationists see it; to reduce the whole Christian ethic to the single maxim, 'Dilige et quod vis, fac' (Love with care and then what you will, do). It was not, by the way, 'Ama et fac quod vis' (Love with desire and do what you please)


Situation Ethics, Joseph Fletcher's.

The most

The most distasteful aspect of Silvio Berlusconi’s behaviour is not that he is a chauvinist buffoon. Nor is it that he cavorts with women more than 50 years younger than himself, abusing his position to offer them jobs as models, personal assistants or even, absurdly, candidates for the European Parliament. What is most shocking is the utter contempt with which he treats the Italian public.

From The Times June 1, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6401859.ece

Play something ugly

[...] “Camaraderie” also has the distinction of being inspired by the late trumpet great Lester Bowie, the forward thinking co-founder of the acclaimed Art Ensemble of Chicago. Roy Hargrove recalls their meeting. “I was playing a jam session one night in Italy and Lester was there listening. I was playing all my bebop. He came up to me and said, ‘Man, take it out!’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Stop playing all that pretty stuff. Play something ugly!’ So I started playing less inside…screamin'...makin’ a lot of noise. Lester lit up like, ‘Yeah!’ It was a lesson for me.” [...]

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist/default.aspx?aid=2905

grrrr...

There's an art of knowing when.
Never try to guess.
Toast until it smokes and then
twenty seconds less.

pIeT hEiN

[...] perché in ogni rottame
della vita di qui è un trabocchetto
di cui nulla sappiamo ed era forse
in attesa di noi spersi e incapaci
di dargli un senso.

Ho tanta fede che mi brucia; certo
chi mi vedrà dirà è un uomo di cenere
senz'accorgersi ch'era una rinascita.

Eugenio Montale

May 8, 2009

The number of Americans who are officially unemployed now stands at 13.7 million.

Lovely!!!

E come dicono molti, beata lei che può divorziare da sto tanghero che ci appesta la vita e ci ridicolizza ogni giorno in tutto il mondo. Potessero farlo tutti gli italiani che non lo vogliono....

www.corriere.it, Lettore_810503, 03.05.09 |13:06

"Mi domando in che paese viviamo - ha raccontato Veronica l'altro giorno a un'amica - , come sia possibile accettare un metodo politico come quello che si è cercato di utilizzare per la composizione delle liste elettorali del centrodestra e come bastino due mie dichiarazioni a generare un immediato dietrofront. Io ho fatto del mio meglio, tutto ciò che ho creduto possibile. Ho cercato di aiutare mio marito, ho implorato coloro che gli stanno accanto di fare altrettanto, come si farebbe con una persona che non sta bene. È stato tutto inutile. Credevo avessero capito, mi sono sbagliata. Adesso dico basta".

This Life is less than shadows [...]


Amir Minai of Rampur, Hindustani Lyrics --
The Project Gutenberg, [EBook #17711]

Up above

Up above
Aliens hover
Making home movies
For the folks back home

Of all these weird creatures
Who lock up their spirits
Drill holes in themselves
And live for their secrets

Subterranean Homesick Alien --- Radiohead

knowledge vs wisdom

Simply put, knowledge corresponds to the past... it is (like) technology. Wisdom is the future, it is (like) philosophy... it is people's hearts that moves the age. While knowledge may provide a useful point of reference it cannot become a force to guide the future. By contrast, wisdom captivates people's hearts and has the power to open a new age. Wisdom is the key to understanding the age, creating the time. -- Daisaku Ikeda

From the song "Wisdom", album ‘Future 2 Future’ -- Herbie Hancock

Invisible Cities I --- Italo Calvino

Marco enters a city; he sees someone in a square living a life or an instant that could be his; he could now be in that man's place, if he had stopped in time, long ago; or if, long ago, at a crossroad, instead of taking one road he had taken the opposite one, and after long wandering he had come to be in the place of that man in that square.
By now, from that real or hypothetical past of his, he is excluded; he cannot stop; he must go on to another city, where another of his past awaits him [...].

L’AQUILA, Italy

Thousands Mourn Quake Victims at Funeral Mass --

The funeral service was led by the Vatican’s second highest official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who told the mourners that death teaches us that “everything can stop in a moment.” When everything ends, he said, “All that remains is love.”

GrOokS

Those who have no wisdom
yet count their wealth by what they get.
You who have the grace to live:
count your wealth by what you give!

Clarissa Meister-Petersen & Piet Hein

To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good.

Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, Book One.

Second is exactly the wrong place to be.

So Timothy Geithner is now treasury secretary, and his success or failure at that job will soon leave his own tax problems as a forgotten footnote. Daschle, meanwhile, knows that for the rest of his life, and in his obituary, the key fact about him will be that he had to withdraw from a big government position because he didn’t pay his taxes. And, if anything, Geithner’s case is more egregious. The amounts involved are similar. But look at the differences. In his new job, Geithner is in charge of the Internal Revenue Service. Furthermore, Geithner broke a well-known and uncomplicated rule involving the way employees of the International Monetary Fund pay their Social Security taxes, whereas Daschle’s error was in the murky area of when a perk like a car and driver gets treated like taxable income. So what explains why Daschle had to withdraw and Geithner didn’t?

It could just be that Geithner is a better card player. He knew when to hold’em while Daschle was too quick to fold’em. Or it might be that Treasury secretary is a hotter job than secretary of health and human services at the moment. People are scared to death and wouldn’t care if Geithner had chopped his mother’s head off if he is in other respects the best qualified candidate. It might be that Geithner’s indiscretion really was about taxes, which aren’t all that interesting, whereas Daschle’s is actually about being Senate majority leader and then making $5 million over two years as an influence peddler. It’s only about taxes the way they got Al Capone on taxes.

But the main reason that Geithner survived while Daschle didn’t is that Daschle came second. Second is exactly the wrong place to be. The malefactor who comes first gets away with it because the issue is new and we’re not entirely sure how angry we are supposed to be about it. The one who comes fourth or fifth likely gets away with it because we’ve started to get bored with the story line and, anyway, our bloodlust has been satisfied. But the malefactor who comes second feels the full fury of our wrath.

Michael Kinsley
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/?hpid=opinionsbox1

When we were young....

Among Washington’s BMWs and limos is this.” [At this point, the ad shows the ancient green Pontiac passing a fancy black limo.] “Since 1971, the old Pontiac has served its owner well. Sure, it’s rusted and it burns a little oil. But after 15 years and 238,000 miles, Tom Daschle still drives his old car to work every day. Maybe he’s sentimental. Or just cheap. Whatever the case, isn’t it too bad the rest of Washington doesn’t understand that a penny saved is a penny earned

London - the Swiss Alps, one way

Off-peak rail fares are higher in Britain than anywhere else in Europe, the Liberal Democrats are to say today. They looked at "anytime" single rail tickets across Europe, and found that in Britain, £10 only takes travellers an average of 26 miles. In contrast, £10 in Serbia provides 512 miles of rail travel. The Lib Dem transport spokesman, Norman Baker, said: "In Serbia, £10 will take you almost the distance between London and the Swiss Alps while an English ticket will take you only as far as Basildon."
Press Association -
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
The Guardian, Monday 19 January 2009

Great... wonderful... terrific... fantastic!!!

Timothy F. Geithner, the man tapped to lead the nation out of the greatest economic crisis in decades -- and who would oversee the Internal Revenue Service -- trekked to Capitol Hill yesterday to explain to senators how he made almost $43,000 worth of mistakes on his own tax returns.

By Michael D. Shear and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 -- and posted by Giulio Gambarota....

Joyful Aura or Inexcusably Flirtatious/Slutty Chick ?

From a reader: "Would you be interested in doing a column on the tension between married and single women? Cocktail parties can be miserable between us. The men are attracted to some of us happy singles because of the joyful aura. Their wives think we're out to get their deadbeat husbands. In reality, there is total sympathy for their unhappy lives."


cookgirl1 > The woman who originally wrote in must either be an inexcusably flirtatious/slutty chick since men seemingly won't leave her alone, or she is completely out of touch. Could it have been a joke? I mean seriously, no one could be that self-centered, could they?

Alice1231 > I don't think either married or single women have a lock on the 'joyful aura' thing. If you are threatening your friends, you might want to rethink your actions. Or you might want to rethink your friends.

hereandnow1 > I'm a single woman and I find this notion to not only be offensive, but degrading to all women and men as well. Personally, the person who wrote in needs in a massive reality check because I highly doubt too many people notice her and if they do, I'd bet it's mainly pity. Most people who think that highly of themselves tend to be pitied and mocked by everyone else.

Hax-Philes, 2009 The Washington Post Company