ramesh was here

Slide 3 of 21 (Iterative Architecture, Futuresonic):

"I don’t really like using words like “progress,” but if I was to define it then I’d use the definition the modernists used: progress is the continual realising of our imagined utopias. [I really should check who said this, or who said something similar that I’ve now twisted for my own purposes.]"

Labels: food for thought, philosophy

"Gandhi":

BIRLA HOUSE. INTERIOR. DAY.

Laughter. Gandhi is eating muli; he holds his head back to capture the lemon juice. We hear the click of a camera

GANDHI: That is how you eat muli.

Manu hands him a cloth and he wipes his hands. Another click of a camera. He is not fully recovered, but well on the way.

GANDHI (to the photographer): I'm not sure I want to be remembered that way.

It is all light and for fun. We get a wide-angle shot now and see that Bourke-White is shooting one of her favorite subjects again. She is enjoying the banter, as is Mirabehn, who is spinning quietly to one side of the room, and Patel, who sits cross-legged like Gandhi on the floor. Pyarelal is working on papers with him but grins at this.

BOURKE-WHITE: Don't worry, with luck you may not be.

And she shoots him again, as he hands the cloth back to Manu. Abha is sitting next to Manu, looking at a collection of pictures of Gandhi, obviously Bourke-White's.

PATEL: No, he'll be remembered for tempting fate.

It is wry, but waspishly chiding. Abha suddenly holds a picture up for Gandhi to see. It's one of him, ears wide, eyes round.

ABHA: Mickey Mouse.

Gandhi taps her on the head with his finger as she smiles. But Bourke-White has looked from Patel to Gandhi, clearly shaken by the implication in Patel's words.

BOURKE-WHITE: You really are going to Pakistan, then? (Gandhi shrugs, and she chides too) You are a stubborn man.
GANDHI (a grin, in the mood of their "flirtation"): I'm simply going to prove to Muslims there, and Hindus here, that the only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts – and that's where all our battles ought to be fought.

Abha has signaled to the cheap watch dangling from his dhoti. He glances at it, and holds his arms out. The two girls help him.

BOURKE-WHITE: And what kind of a warrior have you been in that warfare?

She is photographing his getting-up and leaning on the two girls.

GANDHI: Not a very good one. That's why I have so much tolerance for the other scoundrels of the world.

He moves off, but has a sudden thought and turns to Patel.

GANDHI: Ask Panditji to – to consider what we've discussed.

Patel nods soberly and Gandhi starts for the door, Bourke-White moving with him.

GANDHI (of the photographs): Enough.
BOURKE-WHITE (a plea): One more.

He has passed her, he's in the doorway. We see the crowd at the end of the garden, where the light of the day is beginning to soften. He turns, teasing in his slightly flirtatious way with women.

GANDHI: You're a temptress.

She shoots him against the door – the crowd milling distantly, waiting – then she lowers her camera.

BOURKE-WHITE: Just an admirer . . .
GANDHI: Nothing's more dangerous, especially for an old man.

He turns; the last words have betrayed the smile on his face; they have a painful sense of truth about them. Bourke-White watches as he moves into the garden toward the crowd in the distance.
She turns to Mirabehn.

BOURKE-WHITE: There's a sadness in him.

It's an observation – and a question. Mirabehn accedes gravely.

MIRABEHN: He thinks he's failed.

Bourke-White stares at her, then turns to look out at him.

BOURKE-WHITE: Why? My God, if anything's proved him right, it's what's happened these last months . . .

Mirabehn nods, but she keeps on spinning and tries to sound cynically resigned but her innate emotionalism keeps breaking through in her voice and on her face.

MIRABEHN: I am blinded by my love of him, but I think when we most needed it, he offered the world a way out of madness. But he doesn't see it . . . and neither does the world.

It is laced with pain. Bourke-White turns and looks out at Gandhi – so tiny, so weak as he walks between his "props." He has now reached the end of the garden and is moving among the crowd assembled there.

Labels: food for thought, philosophy

E.W. Dijkstra Archive: What led to "Notes on Structured Programming" (EWD1308):

"Finally a short story for the record. In 1968, the Communications of the ACM published a text of mine under the title 'The goto statement considered harmful', which in later years would be most frequently referenced, regrettably, however, often by authors who had seen no more of it than its title, which became a cornerstone of my fame by becoming a template: we would see all sorts of articles under the title 'X considered harmful' for almost any X, including one titled 'Dijkstra considered harmful'. But what had happened? I had submitted a paper under the title 'A case against the goto statement', which, in order to speed up its publication, the editor had changed into a 'letter to the Editor', and in the process he had given it a new title of his own invention! The editor was Niklaus Wirth."

Labels: classics, programming + logistics

Sacco and Vanzetti: "I would not wish to a dog or a snake, to the most low and misfortunate creature of the earth — I would not wish to any of them what I have had to suffer for things that I am not guilty of. But my conviction is that I have suffered for things that I am guilty of. I am suffering because I am a radical, and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I am an Italian, and indeed I am an Italian... If you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already"
- Vanzetti spoke on 19 April, 1927, in Dedham, Massachusetts, where their case was heard in the Norfolk County courthouse.

Labels: food for thought, politics

Ad hominem:

An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin, literally 'argument against the person') involves replying to an argument or assertion by attacking the person presenting the argument or assertion rather than the argument itself. It is a logical fallacy.

An ad hominem fallacy consists of asserting that someone's argument is wrong and/or he is wrong to argue at all purely because of something discreditable/not-authoritative about the person or those persons cited by him rather than addressing the soundness of the argument itself. The implication is that the person's argument and/or ability to argue correctly lacks authority. Merely insulting another person in the middle of otherwise rational discourse does not necessarily constitute an ad hominem fallacy. It must be clear that the purpose of the characterization is to discredit the person offering the argument, and, specifically, to invite others to discount his arguments. In the past, the term ad hominem was sometimes used more literally, to describe an argument that was based on an individual, or to describe any personal attack. However, this is not how the meaning of the term is typically introduced in modern logic and rhetoric textbooks, and logicians and rhetoricians are in agreement that this use is incorrect.

Labels: philosophy, programming + logistics

Tu quoque:

"Tu quoque (Latin for 'You, too' or 'You, also') is a line of one's defensive argument based on the concept that the adversary party also engages (or has engaged in the past) in the act for which one is accused by that party. This argumentative move works by showing that a criticism or objection applies equally to the person making it. It can be considered an ad hominem argument, since it focuses on the opposite party itself, rather than its positions.

An example of its use in court was in the Nuremberg Trials, where the defendants attempted to introduce a tu quoque argument, in claiming that the Allies too had committed crimes similar to those of which the Nazi regime was accused. (This line of defense was eventually not allowed by the court's judges.)"

Labels: philosophy, programming + logistics

Believers still throng Mahim- The Times of India:

"Nature has blessed us," said Allaudin Ansari, a resident of Malvani, Malad, who came all the way to experience the 'miracle' and carry some of the water back in a plastic bottle. "While science has its own limits, nature and the powers of Allah have no limit," he said.

Sirujaddin, another believer, said, "I came to Mahim all the way from Gorukhpur after I heard of the incident. I have been drinking the water for the past three days."

"How can scientists say it is polluted?" asked a miffed local Mohammad Javed. "Seawater is the purest form of water," he said. Many pointed out that only "the water at the centre of the creek" was sweet, while the surrounding water was salty. This in itself was enough to convince the believers that a miracle had occurred.

Social worker Rashida Kazi is convinced of the miracle. "People say Mahim is not a good area. I feel this is probably a sign from above to prove the virtue of the people of Mahim," she said. The hullaballoo over the pollution levels in the sea leave her bewildered. "After all, a few months ago the water we received from the municipality was no less polluted," she added in indignation.

"The water has often gone into my mouth while bathing," said paanwalla Mohammad Farukh, among the first to reach the spot on Friday night. "I drank the water because everyone was drinking it." Mohammad Javed, who also regularly bathes in the sea, said the water was sweet and "fragrant" on Friday like never before.

"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first
and Honest people are screwed first."

"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. !
It will destroy you."

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship.
There is no Friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am
I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when
you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."

"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind.
But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years.
For the next five years, scold them.
By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend.
Your grown up children are your best friends."

"Books are as useful to a stupid person
as a mirror is useful to a blind person."

"Education is the best friend.
An educated person is respected everywhere.
Education beats the beauty and the youth."

"You have an unusual equipment for success, use it properly"

hmmm, i wonder what "it" is ;)

you wake up too late, no time even for cup of strong coffee although you needed a whole bucket, so you just wash your face and run to the busstop...

The Gay Science: Friedrich Nietzche

"God is Dead"
- Nietzche

"Nietzche is Dead"
- God

"Nietzche is God"
- Dead

On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense: Friedrich Nietzsche

There are ages in which the rational man and the intuitive man stand side by side, the one in fear of intuition, the other with scorn for abstraction. The latter is just as irrational as the former is inartistic. They both desire to rule over life: the former, by knowing how to meet his principle needs by means of foresight, prudence, and regularity; the latter, by disregarding these needs and, as an "overjoyed hero," counting as real only that life which has been disguised as illusion and beauty. Whenever, as was perhaps the case in ancient Greece, the intuitive man handles his weapons more authoritatively and victoriously than his opponent, then, under favorable circumstances, a culture can take shape and art's mastery over life can be established. All the manifestations of such a life will be accompanied by this dissimulation, this disavowal of indigence, this glitter of metaphorical intuitions, and, in general, this immediacy of deception: neither the house, nor the gait, nor the clothes, nor the clay jugs give evidence of having been invented because of a pressing need. It seems as if they were all intended to express an exalted happiness, an OIympian cloudlessness, and, as it were, a playing with seriousness. The man who is guided by concepts and abstractions only succeeds by such means in warding off misfortune, without ever gaining any happiness for himself from these abstractions. And while he aims for the greatest possible freedom from pain, the intuitive man, standing in the midst of a culture, already reaps from his intuition a harvest of continually inflowing illumination, cheer, and redemption-in addition to obtaining a defense against misfortune. To be sure, he suffers more intensely, when he suffers; he even suffers more frequently, since he does not understand how to learn from experience and keeps falling over and over again into the same ditch. He is then just as irrational in sorrow as he is in happiness: he cries aloud and will not be consoled. How differently the stoical man who learns from experience and governs himself by concepts is affected by the same misfortunes! This man, who at other times seeks nothing but sincerity, truth, freedom from deception, and protection against ensnaring surprise attacks, now executes a masterpiece of deception: he executes his masterpiece of deception in misfortune, as the other type of man executes his in times of happiness. He wears no quivering and changeable human face, but, as it were, a mask with dignified, symmetrical features. He does not cry; he does not even alter his voice. When a real storm cloud thunders above him, he wraps himself in his cloak, and with slow steps he walks from beneath it.

On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense: Friedrich Nietzsche

As a genius of construction man raises himself far above the bee in the following way: whereas the bee builds with wax that he gathers from nature, man builds with the far more delicate conceptual material which he first has to manufacture from himself. In this he is greatly to be admired, but not on account of his drive for truth or for pure knowledge of things. When someone hides something behind a bush and looks for it again in the same place and finds it there as well, there is not much to praise in such seeking and finding.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Tiziano Terzani

Indeed, the penetration of Asian societies by western materialist values was, for Terzani, the story that spanned and defined his career. The Chinese readiness to sacrifice everything for economic ends, the Japanese mania for growth, the betrayal of the promises of the Vietnamese revolution, the Indian drive to acquire nuclear weapons and the Islamic world's dangerous flirtation with jihad were all aspects of the same deterioration.

What was being lost was what was different, authentic and supportive of a tolerable human existence, while what was being gained was a material improvement which was probably not sustainable, and, worse, which brought with it the prospect of social division, conflict, and war. Terzani was not alone in such opinions, but he was distinctive in the vigour and passion with which he expressed them.