"The cheapest way to get your 100 calories is to buy fats, processed starches and sugars. A hundred calories of broccoli costs 51p, but 100 calories of frozen chips only cost 2p. Good-quality sausages that are high in meat but low in fat cost 22p per 100 calories, but "value" fatty ones are only 4p per 100 calories. Poor quality-fish fingers are 12p per 100 calories compared with 29p for ones made with fish fillet that are higher in nutrients. Fresh orange juice costs 38p per 100 calories, while the same dose of energy from sugary orange squash costs 5p".

The result? Rising obesity, and the associated diseases, among Britain's poor. This is one reason why life expectancy can differ so radically within just a short distance in Britain, as you go between low-income and higher income areas: by as much as 28 years - yes 28 years - according to WHO.

One of the areas investigated by Engels was 'Little Ireland', populated by those who escaped the Irish famine of the 1840s. The area that was Little Ireland is close to the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

However, taking masters courses at the UvA/ILLC I did also learn so
much more than I expected to. Below are some of the more useful things
I learnt and wrote in my note books, in direct quotation from my
lecturers:

All of these [infinite numbers] have their own personality. Aleph-one
is sort of dull, stubborn; aleph-two is more liberal. Of course,
aleph-zero is countable--a joyful character.

These days, we think of singular ordinals as more friendly objects,
and the regular ordinals are... not so friendly.

You can make enormous leaps in a proof just by saying 'Similarly,' and
hoping for the best.

Every initial segment [of a set of numbers] is like made of cheese or
whatever.

This proof is better understood in the darkness. [Turns off the light
in the classroom.]  Some proofs have that property.

And now..! The great invention of... somebody... hmm.

I am already two minutes overtime and someone up there has a birthday
and I was promised some cake, so I will take cake down and prove this.

Simple things should have simple proofs. This is not entirely true.

Arabic and Chinese are the most interesting machine translation
languages to the US now. Farsi might become part of that group soon if
the Iranians stick their heads far enough out.

If the last element of this list did not exist... Something terrible
would happen.

If I were cruel, I would exchange the regular symbols with ones like
0, or 1, or even Ω or ∆; but I'm not. But there are people
out there...

I will wash my hands before dealing with this holy subject of the
axioms.

Counting on your fingers is not enough [with infinite numbers]. Well,
it depends on your fingers I guess.

This deadline is more fair, since everyone will have the same 'no
time' to work on the homework.

There are no miracles in mathematics, nothing comes from thin
air. Except... the empty set comes from thin air.

The reason they call them heuristic methods is that you can do
whatever you want.

[There is one exception to the product of probabilities being lower
than each individually]; the chance of a series of unfortunate events
is always higher than each unfortunate event happening individually.

• Tekstboek: blz. 21 (B1) + blz. 22 (-B2) + blz. 23 (B3+B4)
• Werkboek: (blz. 14 niet!) blz. 15A + blz. 16+ blz. 17
• TIP: startpagina.nl -->taal-->vertaaltekst
• Tanja vertelt een verhaal over psychologie op 13 oktober
• Herman vertelt een verhaal over zijn oude Volvo deze week

The Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin Movement is a communist party in Botswana without parliamentary representation, led by Themba Joina. It won only 0.29% at the last elections.

From Wikipedia.

Anti social behaviour

The city of Sint-Niklaas has a policy for the anti social behavior on the great square and the small squares around it. On the main square there are 8 CCTV’s and they will place some in the near future on the Sint-Nicolaas square and the Houtbriel.
Each of these CCTV’s are directly screened to police and they will turn into action when they see something which can’t happen.
I think that’s a good idea, especially when there are happenings in the city.

Also they try to promote to drink non alcoholic drinks by youth. One summer ago they set up a promo campaign where you did get a scratch-card when you drunk a soft drink. There were many prices like a new bike, cinema tickets and a lot other things.

Though they have good idea’s there is something which I should do when I was mayor of the city.
I should put neighborhood keeper in each neighborhood. Somebody who will pass through the neighborhood a few times a day and is well known in the neighborhood. He should be a local point of approach for local problems or disputes between neighbors.
They have neighborhood keepers in Antwerp and it works, so why shouldn’t we try it?

எழுத்து: மைத்ரேயன்

The sense of the sacred என்பதுதான் நவீனப் பார்வையில் the sense of Sublime என உருமாறி விட்டது என்று எனக்குத் தோன்றுகிறது. பின்னது அழகியல் பார்வையில் உச்ச நிலை சாதனையாகக் காட்டப்படுவது. அனேகமாக கவிதையில் காணப்பட வேண்டும் எனக் கருதப்படுவது.

நவீனத்துவம் என்பது

• ஏதோ அறிவியல் பூர்வமானது/ சார்ந்தது,
• பொறியியலும்,தொழில்முறை உற்பத்தியும் சேர்ந்து கொடுத்த பயன்பொருட்களின் ஏராளத்தால்
• மனிதரின் வாழ்வில் நேர அவகாசத்தைக் கொடுத்து
• அனைத்து மனிதரையும் சிந்தனையில் இறங்கவாய்ப்பு கொடுத்து
• பெருவாரியான மக்களை உடலுழைப்பில் இருந்து மெல்ல விலக்கி
• நுகர்வாராகவும், படைப்பாளராகவும் மாற்ற வழி செய்வது

என்றெல்லாம் ஒரு புறம் ஒரு பார்வை இருந்தாலும், அடிப்படையில் இந்த கருத்தியல் உருவாக ஒரு காரணம் romanticism. இது குறித்து ஐசேயா பெர்லின் (Isaiah Berlin) ஒரு சிறு ஆனால் பளீரென்ற கட்டுரை எழுதி உள்ளார்.

அதற்கு முன் என் வாதத்தைச் சொல்லி விடுகிறேன்.

Sacred என்பதை நாம் புனிதம் என்று தமிழில் சொல்கிறோம் என்பது என் புரிதல்.

புனிதத்தை உடைத்து - அதாவது கேள்விகளுக்கும், சாமானியரின் உணர்தல், அணுகுதலுக்கு அப்பாற்பட்ட தொலைவில் நிற்கும் தன்மையை உடைத்து, அதை எவரும் அணுகும் படிச் செய்வதே நவீனத்துவத்தின் முதன் முயற்சி.

இதில் பல கூறுகள் உண்டு. ஒரு கூறு புனிதம் என்பதே பொய்மை என்று நிறுவுவது. இது ஃப்ரெஞ்சு தடாலடி சிந்தனை.

இன்னொன்று புனிதம் மேலாட்சியாளரின் கட்டுப்பாட்டில் சாமானியரிடம் இருந்து விலக்கி வைக்கப் பட்டிருக்கிறது. இது ஒரு கயமைச் செயல். இதை உடைத்து புனிதத்தை சாமானியரிடம் திருப்பிக் கொடுக்க வேண்டும். இதை பூடகமாக்கப் பட்ட நிலையில் இருந்து வெளியே இழுத்து சாமானியருக்கு விளங்கும் வகையில் கொடுக்க இலக்கியமும் உணர்ச்சிகளால் ஆன தர்க்கமும்தான் உதவும். இதற்குக் கவித்துவம் உறுதுணை என்று ஒரு வாதம்.

இதுதான் romanticism. இதில் ஜெர்மானியச் சிந்தனை மேல் தூக்கி நிற்கும். இந்த வழிமுறையை அடுத்த கட்டத்துக்கு நகர்த்திய 'பெருமை' திருவாளர் மார்க்ஸைச் சேரும்.

ஹேகல் முந்தைய கட்டத்தில் சில மாறுதல்களை மட்டும் செய்து அதன் உள் ஒழுங்கைக் குலைக்காமல் வைத்திருந்தார்.

எதையும் அழிக்கும் நல்ல மனம் கொண்ட மார்க்ஸால் அந்த ஒழுங்கை ஏற்க முடியவில்லை. தன் சுயவாழ்வின் squalor எல்லா சிந்தனையிலும் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்பது அப்பெருமானாரின் துணிபு போலும்.

மூன்றாவது கூறு இன்றைய எவாங்கலியக் கூறு. இதைக் கால்வினிசம் என்று ஆங்கிலத்தில் கூறுவர். அல்லது வேபர் சொல்வது போல நவீன முதலாளியம் என்றும் சொல்லலாம். இங்கு புனிதம் தகர்க்கப்படுகிறது, ஆனால் அழிக்கப் படுவதில்லை.

• அன்றாட புல்லரிப்புகள்,
• செயல் நேர்த்தி உள்ள புதுப் புது நுகர் பொருட்கள்,
• தொடர்ந்த தொழில்முறை முன்னேற்றம்,
• நுட்பச் சிக்கலின் பரிணாமம்

ஆகியன இதன் உட்கூறுகள்.

கால்வினியம் உழைப்பை - அனேகமாக சாதுரிய உழைப்பை, லாகவ உழைப்பை முதன்மைப்ப்டுத்தி, மொண்ணை உழைப்பைக் கீழிறக்குகிறது. This does not rule out the divine as well. But simply reverses the logic and contends that the state of one's blessing (wealth that is) is a clear indicator of the divine intent and pleasure.

அதாவது the divine ஐ அடைய நாம் பெரும்பாடு படத்தேவை இல்லை. உலகப் பொருட்கள் மீது வெறுப்பு எல்லாம் கொண்டு துறவற மனத்தோடு இருக்கத் தேவை இல்லை. மோனத்தவம் எல்லாம் செய்ய வேண்டாம். உலகப் பொருட்கள் மீது குவி கவனத்தோடு செயல்பட்டு நம் சாதாரண வாழ்வை மேலும் மேலும் மேம்படுத்த உழைத்தால் போதும்.

அதில் வளப்பம் கிட்டினால் அதுவே the divine has blessed us என அர்த்தம் என்று சொர்க்கத்தைப் பூலோகத்திற்கு இறக்கி சொர்க்கத்தையும் கடவுளையும் புனிதத்தையும் ஜனநாயகப் படுத்தியது இந்த சிந்தனை. இதனுடைய ஒரு இழிந்த உருவில் இந்த சிந்தனையில் the cute is the sublime, and therefore the sacred.

இந்த இழிவைத்தான் Andy Warhol ஒரே நேரம் கிண்டலும் செய்தார், வணங்கவும் செய்தார். அது ஒரு சிரிப்பை உள்ளடக்கிய வணக்கம். மத்திய காலத்துடைய வழிபாட்டு முறை போல, பயம் கலந்த வணக்கம் அல்ல.

இனி பெர்லினின் சில பத்திகள்.

....[in] Fichte's word, 'Frei sein ist nichts-frei werden ist der Himmel' (To be free is nothing- to become free is very heaven'). Failure is nobler than success. Self-immolation for a cause is the thing, not the validity of the cause itself, for it is the sacrifice undertaken for its sake that sanctifies the cause, not some intrinsic property of it.

[இப்படி ஒரு மனப்பாங்குதான் தமிழ்க் கவிஞர் நகுலனை ஆட்டிப் படைத்தது என்பது என்
கருத்து. சுசீலா என்ற பெண் இலக்கே அல்ல, சுசீலா மீதான உளைச்சல்தான் ஈர்ப்பே. ]

These are the symptoms of the romantic attitude. Hence the worship of the artist, whether in sound, or word, or colour, or the highest manifestation of the ever active spirit, and the popular image of the artist in his garret, wild eyed, wild-haired, poor, solitary, mocked-art; but independent, free, spiritually superior to his philistine tormentors.

[இது தருமு சிவராமை அப்படியே வருணிக்கவில்லை?  அவருடைய சீடர்கள் அல்லது புரவலர்களின் அணுகலும் இதில் வருகிறது. ஆனால் தருமு சிவராமு கிட்டத்தில் போனால் அப்படி ஒன்றும் ரொமாண்டிக் சிந்தனை உள்ளவராகத் தெரிய வரமாட்டார்.]

This attitude has a darker side too: worship not merely of the painter or the composer or the poet, but of that more sinister artist whose materials are men- the destroyer of old societies, and the creator of new ones- no matter at what human cost; the superhuman leader who tortures and destroys in order to build on new foundations- Napoleon in his most revolutionary aspect. It is this embodiment of the romantic ideal that took more and more hysterical forms and in its extreme ended in violent irrationalism and Fascism.

Yet this same outlook also bred respect for Individuality, for the creative impulse, for the unique, the independent, for freedom to live and act in the light of personal, undictated beliefs and principles, of undistorted emotional needs, for the value of private life, of personal relationships, of the individual conscience, of human rights.

The positive and negative heritage of romanticism - on the one hand contempt for opprotunism, regard for indivdual variety, scepticism of oppressive general formulae and final solutions and on the other hand prostration before superior beings and the exaltation of arbitrary power, passion and cruelty - these tendencies, at once reflected and promoted by romantic doctrines, have done more to mould both the events of our century and the concepts in terms of which they are viewed and explained than is commonly recognised in most histories of our time.

The pilots, the more senior of whom earn only about $800 per month, appeared genuinely content and particularly excited about the mid-air camaraderie when U.S., Norwegian and British fighters approach.

Stekachyov said he usually gives them a thumbs-up.

"In the air we meet like colleagues," he said. "It's really nice to socialize with our foreign counterparts. It's not like some make it out to be. There are always nice gestures and smiles."

Hat tip: Ares (of course, which notes, regarding the nice gestures, "We'll see how long that lasts.")

P.S. Back in the day, Russians were freer with nice gestures and smiles, like this:

Una de ellas la descubrí hace mucho tiempo, pensaba que era un hecho aislado, pero con el paso del tiempo me he dado cuenta que hay mucha gente lo hace y mucha gente que lo permite. Me estoy refiriendo al fenómeno de cambiar los nombres a la gente, principalmente a personajes históricos e ilustres.

El economista Karl Marx no se llamaba Carlos, ni su compañero Engels se llamaba Federico. El líder nazi Hitler se llamaba Adolf y no Adolfo, y su rival soviético Stalin no se habría dado por aludido si alguien le hubiese llamado José. El músico Wagner no es ningún Ricardo y Mozart no tiene nada que ver con Amadeo. Incluso al personaje de La metamorfosis de Kafka, Gregor Samsa, hay quien se atreve a llamarle Gregorio.

También ocurre con personas de hoy en día, como el entrenador madridista Schuster, a quien hay gente empeñada en cambiarle su nombre, Bernd, por Bernardo. Por no hablar de Carod Rovira.

Puede que sea un caso aislado y la gente que hace estas cosas sean una minoría desproporcionada, pero la verdad, no me imagino que en Inglaterra llamen al ex presidente Aznar Joseph Mary, en Francia hablen del dictador François Franco ni en Alemania lean a Friedrich García Lorca.

Desnominadores ite domum!

"Det kommunistiska manifestet har jag velat göra länge. Det är en litterär text av högsta kvalitet, det är politisk propaganda när det är som bäst och det är också ett fantastiskt material att göra konst på."

Min favoritpassage i Manifestet är följande:

"Ni förfasar er över, att vi vill upphäva privategendomen. Men i ert nuvarande samhälle är privategendomen upphävd för nio tiondelar av dess medlemmar - den existerar just därigenom, att den icke existerar för nio tiondelar. Ni förebrår oss alltså, att vi vill upphäva en egendom, som har till nödvändig förutsättning, att det oerhörda flertalet i samhället är egendomslöst.

Ni förebrår oss med andra ord, att vi vill upphäva er egendom. Alldeles riktigt, det vill vi."

Premiär är den 29 september på Teater Tribunalen på Hornsgatan, Södermalm.

On 30 May 2008, the Supreme Court in the Netherlands judged in a dispute between the sons of the real estate broker Endstra who was murdered in 2005 and two journalists that for the creation of a copyrighted work it is not required that the author intended to make a creation.

In 2003 and 2004, the real estate broker Endstra held fifteen conversations with detectives of the Criminal Intelligence Unit in all secrecy. Endstra told them that he was extorted for many millions by Willem Holleeder. He also accused the Holleeder-organisation of a large number of liquidations. Without Endstra's knowledge, these conversations were recorded on tape and the majority of these conversations were literally typed out later. For safety reasons', these recorded conversations were held in a driving car and are also known as ‘the back seat conversations' or ‘the Endstra tapes'. Not four months after the last conversation, Endstra was murdered.

The police started an investigation into this liquidation and the extortion by the Holleeder-organisation. The transcripts of 9 conversations and summaries of the other back seat conversations were added to the criminal file and were obtained by two journalists of the Dutch newspaper the Parool. These journalists published these conversations in a book with the name ‘the Endstra-tapes' only omitting too many ‘ers', dots and certain personal information and adding a preface and an epilogue.

It is not a total surprise that Endstra´s sons are not happy with this publications and try to enforce through the court that this book must be withdrawn from the market. For this, they inter alia assert that the back seat conversations were conducted in an interview form and that these interviews are to be designated as a work in the meaning of the Copyright Act and are therefore copyrighted like a painting or lecture. For publication thereof, permission is required from the Endstra heirs.

A brief explanation is not out of place here. A product is copyrighted in the Netherlands if there is an expression that ´has its own original character and bears the personal stamp of the author´. In other words: a work must be somewhat original. Beautiful or ugly, good or bad, little effort or years of work, this is all irrelevant in the judgment whether something is copyrighted: as long as there is an original expression this will in general be copyrighted. Concrete examples of works that may be copyrighted, are novels, paintings, software and this article, but also television formats, musical improvisations, games and lectures. But this is not the end of it. In 2006, the Dutch Supreme Court determined that also a scent may qualify for copyright protection. In the same year it was also affirmed that kinetic schemes may also be copyrighted. It is therefore clear that a large diversity of works in the Netherlands enjoy copyright protection. Also conversations and interviews can be regarded as copyrighted works.

Back to the Endstra-tapes. Both the District Court Amsterdam and the Court of Appeal Amsterdam did not find that these conversations are copyrighted. These courts see the conversations as a businesslike transfer of information. It is assessed that the requirements applicable to qualify for copyright protection in the Netherlands are low, but not so low that there is no threshold at all. Before there is a work in a copyright meaning, this work must have been ‘conceived as a coherent creation' by the author. An author must intentionally want to make an intellectual creation, as the Court of Appeal told. Although Endstra undoubtedly thought about what he wanted and did not want to release to the detectives and therefore applied a certain selection, he did not intentionally couch his story in this design, which means that there is no copyrighted work.

Actually, the Court of Appeal says here that if someone does not intend to make a copyrighted work, no copyrighted work is created. Endstra thought he was only transferring information hoping that on this basis the Criminal Intelligence Unit would catch Holleeder and mates. He was not writing crime fiction and therefore does not deserve copyright protection according to the Court of Appeal.

With the introduction of this ‘intention requirement', the Court of Appeal seems to add a new requirement to the copyright protection requirements. Wrongfully, according to the Supreme Court. It is true that there must be human labour and therefore creative choices, but it concerns a characteristic that is to be known from the product itself. It is not important whether the author has intentionally wanted to create a work and has intentionally wanted to make creative choices. In other words: it does not matter whether Endstra opted for making a work and intentionally made particular original choices. If in the Endstra-tapes sufficiently creative choices were made, these conversations are copyrighted. Whether this is also actually the case will be assessed by the Court of Appeal The Hague.

Some lawyers have asserted that such view is incorrect because there must be an ´intended creation´, it being important whether this creation is destined for publication. I myself think that the Supreme Court is right though. Also unintended creations deserve to be copyrighted. Contents and intention are, just like the question whether something is ´beautiful´, irrelevant in the answer to the question whether something has an original design. In addition, the intention requirement is not completely logical: the creation of a work is for example not the primary approach of this piece of text by me. The primary object of this article is to inform you, not to create a copyrighted work.

Furthermore, in practical respect it is naturally very hard to find out whether a particular form was intentionally chosen. It can in any case not be inquired from Endstra anymore...

Böyle bir şeydir kapitalizm.

]]> http://columnistenblog.wordpress.com/?p=57 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:01:24 +0000 juffertje http://columnistenblog.ca.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/vies/ Nog aan vieze dingen gedacht vandaag? De haren in het verstopte afvoerputje thuis? De zooi die u aantreft achter het oude kopieerapparaat in het magazijn op uw werk?

Goklustig ben ik niet, maar ik wed dat u vieze dingen ook vaak aanraakt met uw blote vingers. Ik bedoel niet wat smerige sokken of koude automatenkoffie, maar dingen waar uw neus echt van gaat krullen. Dingen die u voor geen goud aan zou willen raken. En toch deed u dat. Thuis. Op uw werk. En de directrice die u een hand gaf op de school van uw kinderen heeft die vieze dingen ook aangeraakt.

Toiletrolletjes.

U geeft uw kinderen de lege toch niet mee naar school, hoop ik. So disgusting.

Vorige week was er een leerzame cursusmiddag over ‘Engels op de basisschool’. Een tiental Britten, een enkele Amerikaan en een handvol Nederlanders met een flinke tik voor Engels. Wat doen we na het lezen van het beroemde boek van Eric Carle genaamd Rupsje Nooitgenoeg? Met eierdoosjes de rups knutselen? “Impossible! What about salmonella! There were raw eggs in those boxes”!

En dan die toiletrollen die je overal ziet op Nederlandse basisscholen! Sophie, een perfect gecoiffeerde Britse dame, ging bijna over haar nek: “You see them everywhere. And you never know whose fingers touched them.” Waarop Pat aanvulde dat je op een aantal Britse scholen geen toiletrollen mag gebruiken bij handvaardigheid: “Tissue paper rolls are the only ones allowed.” De Britten knikten: die Hollanders hadden een flinke tik van de molen gehad als ze gewoon met die vieze toiletrollen knutselden. Ons gelach getuigde niet van de spreekwoordelijke Nederlandse tolerantie.

Een scheiding zo groot als het Engelse Kanaal doemde op in de groep. “Wat als je de Engelstalige variant van ‘Komt een muisje aangelopen, stilletjes in zijn nekje gekropen …’ zingt?” vroeg Ellen, een op en top Britse leerkracht. De Nederlandse leerkrachten vroegen zich inderdaad af wat daar mee was. Wij begrepen de vraag niet. Ellen vervolgde: “Dan loop je met je hand over de arm van zo’n kind en kietel je hem of haar in de nek. I wouldn’t do it nowadays”. De Nederlanders keken elkaar vragend aan: “Waarom niet?”

Al snel ging het over bloot, zonder dat het woord ook maar eenmaal genoemd werd natuurlijk. En bloot betekent automatisch wantrouwen, misbruik, pedofilie.

Kinderen vragen hun schoenen en sokken uit te trekken om een versje over wiebelende tenen te zingen? No way. Wij lachten die malle Britten uit. Het lachen ging over in gehoon toen Jessica zei dat als een Britse 4-jarige kleuter in zijn broek had geplast, veel juffen in Groot-Brittannië er niet over zouden piekeren om hem te helpen met verschonen en omkleden. Arm kind.

En arme Britten: nog steeds Victoriaans bang voor vuiligheid zoals bacteriën en bloot.

En arme Hollanders: ze willen zo graag tolerant zijn, maar het lukt ze maar niet. De horken.

Living in the United States these days you might have noticed an obsession with all things ‘green'.  What once might have been Irish pride has turned into a ‘movement' towards ‘environmentally friendly living'.  This movement has permeated all aspects of our life.  No television show, newspaper column, politician, or advertisement is complete without giving us their take on ‘green living'. Everybody seems to have ideas as to which water bottles are better to drink from and so on...And new and conflicting theories have swept all of us into a big whirl wind.  We are taking in these theories and trying to live according, hoping to build a ‘green' utopia.

Now imagine that this new movement's doctrine also included something about how copulation was an alternative energy source and would help cut back on your electricity costs.  Yeah, you could imagine how many people's ears would perk up when that commercial aired.  Even the right-wing conservatives would become aware ‘active' ‘green' activists.

Alright, so there you have an idea of the frenzy that the ‘sex question' had in the NEP-era society.  It was all the hype, all the rage and every wanted to know what this new movement meant for their lifestyles and their future. Like the ‘green' movement.  The ‘sex question' was all over the media, all over politics and all over everyday interactions. What better way to get otherwise apathetic citizens interested in revolutionary doctrine than to talk about sex?

There was a feeling of openness in the air in the Soviet 1920's.  Imagination, discussion and experimentation were a critical part of forming the ‘New' post-Revolutionary society. Not only the economy and government had been uprooted, but the basic unit of society-family had been also.  

        The ‘sex question', половой вопрос, was referred to by Marx and Engels, but it was one of the leading Revolutionary feminists, Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai who got the sex riddle rolling.  Her theories were the ‘attention getters' of the sex obsession and most subsequent doctrines were attempts to dismiss or uphold her theories.  As citizens tried to follow and implement these theories, they found no answers, only confusion, distraction and ambiguity.  Soviet society, subsequently was trampled beneath the raging ‘sex movement'.  

 Kollontai's overflowing ‘glass of water'

 One of the more common phrases heard when talking about sex and the Bolsheviks is the ‘glass of water' theory.  This phrase is a misquoted reference to one of the theories of Kollontai.  Kollontai was to the Bolshevik feminists what Betty Friedan was to the feminists of the 60's. Kollontai encouraged women to take control of their lives, free themselves from the chains of the hearth and be masters of their sexuality. She felt that marriage and the need for ‘love' were bourgeois and distracted one from true revolutionary productivity.  It was her words,that became (somewhat twisted) the popular creed of the ‘sex movement' activists:

"The sexual act must be seen not as something shameful and sinful but as something which is as natural as the other needs of a healthy organism-such  as hunger and thirst."

 Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations  http://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1921/theses-morality.htm

 It must be noted here, that Kollontai was just one Bolshevik theorist.  Although her ‘glass of water' theory was a hit with the people, it was vehemently opposed by many other theorists of the Revolution, Lenin included.

 The Communal Water Jug: Free, Communal Love

 Kollontai was first and foremost an advocated for women's liberation.  Kollontai specifically encouraged women to become ‘new women', women of the revolution, stalwart and unshaken by passions and petty feelings of love and jealousy.  The ‘new woman' should be equal to man in all ways, including in libido and stamina.  Women, together with men should build communism, and not just stay home while their husbands build it. She agreed with Marx and Engels that monogamy and marriage were harmful to ‘the commune'-the basic unit of Communist society.  She writes,

"The stronger the ties between the members of the collective, as a whole, the less the need to reinforce marital relations."

And she gave the collective a few pointers about how good communist relationships should be:

 "All sexual relationships must be based on mutual inclination, love, infatuation or passion, and in no case on financial or material motivations."  The bourgeois marriage, therefore, which was typically a sort of ‘economic arrangement', was strictly prohibited, as opposed to passion-driven adultery, for instance. 

For some couples, one night stands turn into two night stands, then into year-long posts.  This gives the seeds of love and devotion a place to take root. Such a couple, according to Kollontai, could still be good communists so long as they didn't let their exclusive love for one another become more important than their love and duty to the collective. Marriage creates a sort of property and property creates jealousy, greed, and selfishness:

 "A jealous and proprietary attitude to the person loved must be replaced by a comradely understanding of the other and an acceptance of his or her freedom."

[caption id="attachment_139" align="aligncenter" width="426" caption=""The Sex Question" Left: Every woman should do her part Right: Every man can and should satisfy his sexual needs"][/caption]

 A communist wife is first and foremost, a communist with a duty to the collective.  Her life, her body and her love are public property and will be utilized in building Communism, however the commune sees fit.  The wife, who once might have accused her husband of checking out her friend's backside, will put aside her jealousy and recognize that they are all comrades.  Afterall, her friend's backside is one of the marvelous structures of communism and, therefore, all three should celebrate the glories of Communism together.  

Like for the hippies of Woodstock, in Kollontai's idealized communist society indiscriminate sexual relationships would build a ‘free love' utopia.  When two people (or more I suppose) unite sexually they create a bond, a thread which connects them. And from the literal weaving of bodies, Kollontai proclaims, the great tapestry of Communism will be woven:

 "...The more such threads connecting soul to soul, heart to heart, and mind to mind - the more strongly will the spirit of solidarity be inculcated and the easier it will be to attain the ideals of the working class-comradeship and unity."

 "Make Way for Winged Eros" (1923) As quoted in Richard Stites, The Women's Liberation Movement in Russia: Feminism, Nihilism and Bolshevism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), pp. 346-91.  http://www.worc.ac.uk/CHIC/suffrage/document/sexrevoa.htm

 For those of you who got sucked into this blog thinking it was going to be something pornographic or kinky, here's my kinky bit of advice, straight from the wisdom of the Bolsheviks.  Some of you may have tried playing ‘master and servant' to spice up your sex life, but here's smokin hot idea for role play, maybe as something special for Valentines day:

 "Financially independent and thirsty comrades, openly and unabashedly weaving a communist rug"

 Oh yeah baby...

 Next post: Why Lenin wouldn't put his lips anywhere near Kollontai's greasy ‘glass'...

Ann asked herself for a split second if she should maybe think it over twice, but she pulled herself back together and forced to stick to her decisions. The difficult ones had to be taken with certainty and a vast foot dug deep in the ground where she stood. On the night of the fifth of July, whilst she sat staring out the window in the train, seeing everything pull by on high speed in the dark, she decided to give up art. The young woman was acting like a child when she gave up as soon as one thing wasn’t going her way. She knew it was going to hurt, but she figured that it was better to put a beast out of its pain instead of leaving it to rot. Maybe there was a positive side to it, now she didn’t have to deal with all the nasty critique, or try to live up to the hopes of her family when she saw the glances in their eyes when she talked about her art. From now on she would be a perfect woman, she would take the education that would please her parent and live an empty life. Yes, that was exactly what Ann Elise Nearborough would do. From this moment onwards she would stop with hanging her nose above the heavy paint fumes, sharpening pencils to use them on the attractive paper skins and dragging her camera along with her everywhere she went. She would just quit with everything that made the fibres in her being tingle with pleasure, because she had hobbled over a tiny bump in the road that had made her car do aerobics.

maar ik weet dat jij
er dwars doorheen
kijkt
ik wil je blik vangen
maar
jij ontwijkt

die eindeloze
blauwigheid
van je ogen
lijkt me een zee
aan herinneringen
welke haal je nu boven?

ik heb zo’n voorgevoel
ik glimlach
draai iets mijn hoofd
en juist op dat moment
kijk je.

blikken kruisen
je glimlacht
misschien is uit die
zee van jou
die ene herinnering
opgedoken
waar we
-allebei-
zo van houden

*

Ik zie het nut niet in van
constant rondjes lopen en
je eigen voetstappen hertreden.
Hetzelfde is met naar een
muur kijken, eindeloos staren
naar een simpel, betekenisloos iets.
Dag in, dag uit je opmaken voor
mensen die niet kijken
naar wie eronder zit.
Dat de wereld maar ronddraait
en haar seizoenenjas verwisselt,
terwijl ze niet doorheeft dat
er iets mis met mij is.

*

Words are trying to come
but they can’t come out.
Swollen and so sore,
lips can’t speak, but still
we all know what’s behind.
Heads crack and stomachs churn,
still we can’t ask why.
It’s all lifeless and useless,
nothing left to express.
Been here, done that and
I’ve been used and used.
Nothing can compare
with the hope that lingers,
that little piece that believes
all the lies that’ve been told
to keep the body from the cold.
I’ll believe them, all of them,
because the little girl inside
clings onto her Disney’s,
her fairytales so tightly,
it’s a heartbreaking sight.
So when you set a trap,
like all the others do,
I’ve recognized it from a mile,
from first eye contact to first smile.

*

Je hoofd beveelt
het hart te spreken,
maar woorden staan
als verdwaalde noten.
Lege bladzijdes,
pagina na pagina
blijven mijn ogen smeken.
Gedachten verstikken
onder mijn verstand,
als een deken voor de kou.
En ondertussen heeft
het wapen zich verscholen,
tussen de vingers
van mijn hand verstopt.
En de pennen die
schreeuwen, om het
hoofd te legen en
het hart te smeken
te spreken.

*

Je valt best tegen
eigenlijk
ben je niet meer
zoals ik het wist.
Jouw ogen zijn wazig
grijs bewolkt
is dit wat ik wilde,
is dit wat ik heb gemist.
Hoe klinken je woorden
leeg, schel
we klinken zo luchtig
maar weet je het wel.
Blijf ik dan voelen
zwakte
zoals ik eerder heb gedaan
of blijft voor jou dit
sprankje
nog even bestaan.

Geef me één ding,
als herinnering.
Geef me één ding,
waardoor ik jou niet
en jij mij nooit vergeet.
Geef me één ding,
waardoor ik weet dat alles
niet voor niets is geweest.
Geef me één ding,
een kus, een hand, een lach,
en ik ben nooit meer bang.
Werp een blik en, laat
die even rusten.
Denk aan die nacht
waarop wij voor het eerst kusten.
Vergeet-me-nietjes en madeliefjes
in de nazomerzon plukten.
Geef me één ding,
een kans, en vergeef me
als ik nog in je hart ben, en
Geef me dan nog één ding
waardoor ik jou niet
en jij mij nooit vergeet
Geef me één ding
waardoor ik weet dat alles
nooit voor niets is geweest

*

Je ziet niet
wat ik zie.
Je bent niet
waar ik ben.
Je bent weg,
maar zonder mij.
Je houdt niet
meer van mij.
Je zal niet
houden van mij.
Je laat los,
maar ik niet.
Ik hou vast,
stevig aan jou.
Jij wil gaan,
je mag niet.
Ik hou vast,
aan jou altijd.
Ik hou vast
totdat je ziet
dat ik er
ben met jou,
dat ik er
wil zijn met
Jou.

*

Words are trying to come
but they can’t come out.
Swollen and so sore,
lips can’t speak, but still
we all know what’s behind.
Heads crack and stomachs churn,
still we can’t ask why.
It’s all lifeless and useless,
nothing left to express.
Been here, done that and
I’ve been used and used.
Nothing can compare
with the hope that lingers,
that little piece that believes
all the lies that’ve been told
to keep the body from the cold.
I’ll believe them, all of them,
because the little girl inside
clings onto her Disney’s,
her fairytales so tightly,
it’s a heartbreaking sight.
So when you set a trap,
like all the others do,
I’ve recognized it from a mile,
from first eye contact to first smile.

]]> http://omtersaaist.wordpress.com/?p=1150 Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:16:39 +0000 pieterr http://omtersaaist.net/2008/08/31/europa-stimuleert-de-wetenschap/ Het hoeft niet altijd kunst en cultuur te zijn, scheikunde mag ook wel eens aan bod komen!

(Mét aandacht voor raciale en seksuele diversiteit en niet-stereotype rollenpatronen :-) )

the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in marx and engels, by hal draper, explains how marx and engels used the term 'dictatorship of the proletariat' not to mean a specific form of government but rather to denote the class rule of the working class once it has overthrown the bourgeoisie. in this vein draper attacks the understanding of the term elaborated by plekhanov, who proclaimed "when we come to power, we will allow no freedom for anyone but ourselves".

anton pannekoek's world revolution and communist tactics, written for an organ of the comintern in 1920, effectively combats statist visions of working-class power and bureaucracy in the workers' movement, and looks at the new organisational forms workers must use to re-shape society: "the formation by the workers of the soviets, their own organs of power and action, in itself signifies the disintegration and dissolution of the state. as a much more recent form of organisation and one created by the proletariat itself, the trade union will survive much longer, because it has its roots in a much more living tradition of personal experience, and once it has shaken off state-democratic illusions, will therefore claim a place in the conceptual world of the proletariat. but since the trade unions have emerged from the proletariat itself, as products of its own creative activity, it is in this field that we shall see the most new formations as continual attempts to adapt to new conditions; following the process of revolution, new forms of struggle and organisation will be built on the model of the soviets in a process of constant transformation and development".

ubu saved from drowning: worker insurgency and statist containment in portugal and spain 1974-77, by loren goldner, is of particular interest in that focuses on the struggles of the portuguese working class rather than merely the history of the sects that aspired to lead it (much like mailer's the impossible revolution). the fact that the portuguese revolution represented the end of an era of class struggle rather than the beginning of a new one, and that the onward march of state capitalism had also petered out by the end of the 1970s, by no means devalues the lessons of the portuguese revolutionary crisis, which saw mass working-class mobilisation, factory expropriations and efforts at workers' self-management.

Today she admitted that Owen Glenn told her "pretty much what he said in the letter to the privileges committee". That letter says that Peters solicited the donation, which Peters has denied. So Helen admits that she has known of a "conflict of evidence" since February, but there is no evidence (yet) to show that she knows who is lying. The snake is clean at this time, but see my warning here.

Glenn has little or nothing to lose by lying, and Peters has much to gain by concealing the truth. That, and Peters' track record, causes me to think that Peters is lying. Also, Winston and his friends in parliament are clearly trying to cover up the stench of rotten scampi and other foodstuffs.

You will find the audio of Helen's statement from this morning here. Near the end one of the tame journalists says, in regard to John Key refusing to deal with Peters after the election, "Do you think that was a premature call to make and what's your response?". Clark replies "From a natural justice and fair process perspective I think it is not a good approach". Thankfully I wasn't drinking coffee when I heard that, otherwise I would have been off to hospital with third degree burns.

This is the woman who made smacking illegal despite the opinion of more than 80% of NZers. It should have been a conscience vote for parliament, but Helen forced her cronies to vote on party lines. What about natural justice and fair process for the parents who have been wrongly accused of assault and separated from their children before conviction? See here, especially cases 11, 15, & 19. This is the woman who said on the radio several years ago that she wouldn't make smacking illegal.

This is the woman who bought in the Electoral Finance Act to stifle free speech in election year. I can give my opinions here because it is a blog, but if I used any other method of communication I would have to comply with the regulations of the State that I am opposed to.  That is not free speech, that is speech with a ball and chain. Helen justified the EFA by saying that she didn't want money buying elections: not only does the evidence show that money doesn't buy elections, the Helen Party (commonly called the Labour Party) and Winston have received very large sums of money from Owen Glenn and others.

Helen's definition of natural justice and fair process is "Whatever suits me at the time". I wouldn't be surprised if she has the words of Engels tattooed on her body somewhere: “A means can be justified only by its end”.

The best way to deal with a snake is to cut its head off; you will find the tools in a ballot booth this year.

Norovirus is highly contagious and is well known for outbreaks in hospitals, nursing homes, cruise ships, and the like. According to the Mayo Clinic you're contagious as soon as you have the virus but it can take up to three days to see symptoms; in other words you can be spreading the bug around for up to three days without knowing it. Then you're sick for a couple of days, and once you're feeling better you're contagious for at least three days more, or up to two weeks in some cases. Most people assume that they're not contagious once they're feeling better so they cease any precautions and spread the virus around. It's a highly unpleasant bug causing vomiting and diarrhoea, amongst other things.

Obviously a bug like this will spread like wildfire in a hospital, or any place where people are in close proximity: a sick person just has to leave a small quantity of virus particles on a surface and the next person who touches that surface has the bug. Dunedin Hospital was described as "locked down" but it wasn't really, because staff and a few visitors were going in and out. Most visitors weren't allowed in but they could drop off items for patients, and the virus was able to get into the hospital on those items. The "lock down" might have helped a bit but it was pretty much window dressing, because unless you lock everyone inside the building - and don't let anyone in - until at least three days after the last person appears well you haven't got a true quarantine. A true quarantine is effective with viral illnesses but obviously that's impractical for a hospital. A submarine that goes to sea for several months is in true quarantine if it doesn't surface, and in those cases there will a lot of viral illness early on, then everyone will be fine for the rest of the trip.

Now National wants an independent investigation to see if the hospital had applied the so-called lock down soon enough. This is typical of the modern attitude which says that if something goes wrong, someone must be to blame. People cannot accept that bad things happen without apparent reason, because they have been bought up to expect life to be fair. If people believe that the natural order of life is fairness, then perceived unfairness is someone's fault and someone owes them restitution*. The "poor" haven't got as much money as the guys in the rich part of town? That isn't fair, so it's the government's duty to steal money from the rich man and give it to the "poor" man. Someone caught norovirus? That isn't fair, so someone is to blame for not locking down the hospital soon enough.

I live in a small house, while many people live in huge houses. I have clean water to drink, millions of people of people don't. Life isn't fair: as anyone who has had norovirus will tell you, "stuff" happens.

**********

* this is a Marxist attitude. Here Engels attempts to foment the sense of perceived injustice and unfairness that is rife today. Note that he mentions "social fairness", which today is usually called "social justice" to make it sound like a moral issue. Engels considers social justice to be above and law and morality: in other words, whatever achieves this nebulous goal of social fairness is justifiable simply because it is achieving social fairness.

Abajo los links a los artículos del debate: